Back to Normal

Well we got all of the wheat cut and it's back to the normal grind. That's ok with me though. Wheat harvest could be compared to a long vacation - You get to take a break from what you normally do, so it's exciting and fun, but by the time it's over, you're ready to be back home. During wheat harvest this was my day:

Get up, get around, turn the sprinkler on the garden/hose on the trees, feed the dog and bucket calf, do a daily devotional, make coffee (lots of coffee) :), pack snacks/drinks, throw in whatever laundry I had time for /pick any peas ready in the garden/hoe the garden (Roshel helped me with the garden some when I didn't have time), leave for the field, wash combine and tractor windows, climb in the tractor and chase down any full combines and have them dump in my grain cart, unload the grain cart on the semi (repeat the last two steps continuously), stop for supper, start again and keep going until the elevator closed or the wheat got too tough to cut for the night - usually around 10 or 11 p.m. (all the while taking any free time while waiting for the combines to fill up by getting out of the tractor and doing jumping jacks, pushups, dips, or step ups off the steps of the tractor, etc.).  Once in a while if the semis were filled really quickly, we would have to wait for them to get back before we could cut anymore, and then I'd have a chance to take a quick walk.  Admittedly the last few days I was getting really tire and I took to sleeping during any of these longer breaks.  To some people this may not sound like much fun, but I loved it.  The best part is that you work hard and at the end of the day, you can see what you accomplished.  Plus we all get to do it together as a family.  I really like that Taylor and I get to work together, each with our own important role to play (he ran one of the combines).  Here's some pictures from harvest and the grain cart I drove.

The most memorable part of harvest, thankfully, did not happen to our crew, but we were able to witness it. A lady was driving her combine to another field and as she went by a house, she got to close to their tree row.  The edge of her header caught the tree and spun her completely into the tree row.  The header was pretty much trashed.  I felt bad for her, but I was sure glad that it wasn't me that did it.

Fortunately I only got fired once during my time as grain cart driver! It was ok though. We started cutting the Sunday before Father's Day. After we got back from church and ate a quick lunch before heading to the field, my father-in-law, Stewart, told me "You know next weekend is Father's Day. Well come Friday, you're fired. I'll rehire you again on Monday." It was so sweet, I got to go home and spend Father's day with my dad and family! :) It was a great weekend! That Friday night my hometown was having their annual 'movie on the square.' They have some people sing in the evening, and then they play some Walt Disney or other animated movie on a big screen on the courthouse square. My mom and sister had been asked to sing, so I got to jump in and sing a little harmony with them. I wished I could have practiced with them beforehand, but it still went pretty well. Singing with my family is one of the things I've missed the most living out here, so it was nice to have a chance to do it again. The movie they played was Happy Feet 2. I haven't seen the first one, but it was still cute and the music in it was pretty fun, plus we went to Dairy Queen before the movie started and got blizzards to eat while we watched. Saturday was nice too. We didn't have anything specific we had to do, so we spent part of the day making apricot jam and taking a couple walks. I had also swung by a garage sale in town and happened to see that they had a couple of bikes for sale. So for $40 I got fairly new 21 speed bike. Kolden brought his bike he got for his birthday over to Mom and Dad's and frequently throughout the day we would go out and ride bikes together. Each session lasted for maybe two minutes, but it was fun all the same.

Here's a link to a video I took while at home.  Annie started out trying to ride Kolden's bike and then it turned into a race!  Annie cracks me up - So cute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EHFidZdbws&feature=youtu.be

 Later that night Dad helped me change the oil in my Jeep. In the past I would just help him while he changed it, but I wanted to make sure I could do it, so I had him guide me while I did it. Everything went pretty well except for the fact that my aim leaves a little something to be desired. I strategically placed the oil pan so that when I took the plug out, the oil hit the edge of the pan and splattered all over me and the floor, with just a little going in the pan until I readjusted it. By that point I'd already made a pretty big mess. Dad told me that if I change my oil at my own home next time, I may want to buy five bags of oil dry on hand. :) After I finished up and took a shower, Mom, Dad, Katie, Kyle and I all watched a movie together. It was a really nice weekend, and I couldn't have been happier that I had gotten fired. :)

During harvest I got a new bucket calf.  She was pretty feisty little thing. Taylor had to make a running dive to catch her and it took both of us to hang on to her to get her into the back of the truck and up to the house.  When I went out to feed her for the first time, she didn't really run from me as much as run at me.  And after I got her fed, she ran back into her hutch and started pawing the ground at me.  I decided to name her Pepper because she was fiery.  She has calmed down a bunch though, and now I can pet her, although she still doesn't like Taylor.

I was really excited Tuesday.  After Taylor got off work, we drove up north to his friend's house and picked up four kittens. They had a bunch of cats and needed to give some away.  I've been wanting more cats ever since my first two, Flynn and Quinn, died.  (They were killed by the T-O-D "truck of death."  Both of htem met their end in the fan of Taylor's truck).  I'm hoping things will go better this time because now we have a she where we can park our vehicles, so hopefully they won't be able to get in there and make a habit of climbing underneath them for shelter.  I have two orange ones and two tiger striped ones.  The orange kitties names are Skip and Bang (I name the one Bang for the show the Big Bang Theory because of the "soft kitty, warm kitty" song on it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGt5H3_ygdQ

Taylor named the other two Leonitus and Prescilla. I'm not 100% sure what Bently thinks of them or what he would do with them if we weren't around but so far so good.

Like everywhere in Kansas it's been really hot out here. Once while we were harvesting the thermometer on the tractor read 115 degrees. Thankfully I'm used to the "land-of-near-100%-humidity," so even though it's hot, the heat is dry and pretty tolerable. It also cools off fairly well at night, too, so that's nice.

Western Kansas Fact: When putting up mailboxes, road signs, etc, anyone out here should consider the fact that very large machinery, especially combine headers, frequently travel the dirt roads. So anything put on the side of the road should either be set back off the road quite a ways, or be very short so headers can be raised above them. Otherwise they are likely to get damaged. During harvest, when we would move to a different field, it frequently looked like the combines were going through some sort of obstacle course to maneuver around the road signs and mailboxes.  Thankfully I didn't have to worry about it because my grain cart isn't that wide.

My favorite scripture recently has been: "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."  Mark 6:31 The lesson with this one reminded us not to make ourselves too busy. Even the disciples doing God's work in the presence of Jesus Christ needed to stop and take a break sometimes. It reminded me that God knows we're not machines, and he doesn't expect us to be some type of energizer bunny, but it also made me think that I can't allow this to be some sort of excuse where I allow myself to bow out of any requests God may make of me.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Lyndee

Running Behind

Hey everyone, sorry I'm running behind on my next blog post. We're harvesting right now and we don't generally leave the wheat fields until 10-11 p.m. As soon as we're done I'll try to get the next one up. Have a good day! Lyndee

Sunrise, Sunset

A lot of times when I meet someone who is from western Kansas or is at least familiar with the area, and I tell them that I recently moved out here, they ask me how I like it.  However the way they ask it is often comical.  Rarely do people ask me that question in a positive way (like if you made a dessert you've had before and you know it's amazing, you might ask someone trying it for the first time how they like it - with the anticipation that they will think it's awesome too).  No, most times when someone asks me how I like western Kansas, it is with a cautious and mildly pitying look on their face.
I'll admit, it is different out here than it is where I grew up.  But I can honestly say that I do like it.  Maybe there isn't as much rain, and generally you can count the number of trees in sight without taking off your shoes (sometimes you only even need one hand), :)  and you may even have to kill a rattlesnake occasionally, but like any place it has its good qualities too.  For instance there is basically no humidity so even when it's hot, it's still comfortable, the whole place is run on agriculture and you can see wheat fields for miles and miles and miles, there aren't too many people around (this is a plus for me, but some people may see it as a downfall).  And in my opinion, the area's best asset -

Western Kansas Fact:  The sunsets/sunrises out here are absolutely astounding.  Uninterrupted by hills, trees or buildings, the mastery of God's artwork fills the sky and takes your breath away.  Here's a few examples and I've only been out here since last Aug.

The picture for the profile of my blog is another example, and I haven't edited them at all.  These last two pictures I took when Taylor, his brother, Jayce and I went out to check wheat fields to see how soon we'll start harvesting.  We should be starting sometime this week, and I'll be driving the grain cart so we'll all be pretty busy.  I'll try to keep you all up on how harvest goes, but I don't know how much time I'll have.  If all else fails, I'll make sure to post all about it once we're done.

My favorite scripture this week was  
"I have heard your prayer . . .;surely I will heal you.  On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord."  2 Kings 20:5
I loved the lesson that went with this scripture.  It talked about how we can ask for things in our prayers, but we can't expect for things to happen without putting forth any personal effort.  One passage read, "When we ask the Lord to do something, we must also be ready to do our part."  It made me think about the things I prayed for regularly, like being a better disciple, and whether I was truly sincere enough to begin the process myself rather than leaving all the responsibility on God.

Hope you all have a blessed week!
Lyndee