Saskatoon visit!

Well, it was time for the followup appointment to see the plastic surgeon to decide if Stan wanted any followup surgery this winter on his skin graft site. The option is still there, but "the jury is still out" The doctor is willing but Stan is still weighing the benefits against the risks of infection etc., with the level of improvement predicted and is yet to make up his mind for sure. We have decided to have a chat with the original surgeon in Regina who did the work and hopefully his input will be very helpful.

It sure looks like fall today! The leaves had changed and now a few brisk winds have hit and they are history! Sad to see bare trees from now until Spring. Stan worked taking off some of the last crop yesterday. I think the combine should have one more go at the wheat field and it can be cleaned up and put away until the next harvest. It is a satisfying feeling to know we have the crop off and in the bins.

The family is all doing great. I watched the babies in their swimming lessons and they looked pretty comfortable in the water for a couple of prairie kids. What wonderful opportunities are available to them. It just doesn't seem that long ago that I was the Mom in the water playing "motorboat" and now my babes are the Moms! and being so great at it, too!!

the video

As promised, here's the video of Dad wall climbing. He didn't seem to think it was a big deal, but the rest of us sure did! And while some of us were sore the next day, Dad said he works much harder than that on the farm each day. We're proud of you, Dad!

A family going places!!! Up!

You'll recognize these climbers, Stan, Stephen, Monica, Roy and Robert. Linaya and Josiah were able to get a little taste of climbs to come.

Finally all together!

Well, it finally happened. We had all nine of us together at once. Stephen was home for a week, some of that time in Gravelbourg and some in Saskatoon. He got connected with a little combine dust to remember his prairie roots and a little of the hustle and bustle of being around two babies to remind him of fun his family can be :-) He brought his climbing gear with him so most of the family went with him to a wall climbing facility, his Dad included! That was fun to watch, but I didn't try. Well, someone needed to hold Linaya and Josiah!! (Pick me!)

Harvest is over except for cleanup on weedy patches and sloughs. We are tired and ready to be finished and rest up. It all went well with no really no holdups this year for weather or repairs. We have had some work done on our house that started July 1st and has dragged out with a few delays. I'm also ready to have that finished and to get things finally cleaned up.

Fall is definitely here. I have started checking the thermometer to see if it is freezing or has frozen. I don't have a huge garden, but there are still things like squash and tomatoes that should be rescued. The leaves are starting to turn colors which is beautiful and sad at the same time.

All is well ...

This was just one of those evening when everything just seemed to feel good. The day was beautiful followed by a colorful sunset. Harvest is going well, and I had to admit to myself that it really doesn't have a lot to do with the yield. (Not that yield is not a good thing!) It just seems incidental how much crop is coming off. I was realizing that this is the first harvest I have been able to enjoy in two years! Two years ago we were flattened by the worst hailstorm we have ever experienced in magnitude of damage and area affected. Harvest that year was a matter of "housekeeping" so we could get things tidied up for the next seeding. Last year found us both in Regina and Saskatoon and thanks to Gerry and Tim and Robert "and company" a boutiful harvest went into our bins. It was a sad drive for us between Regina and Saskatoon as we watch other farmers in their fields and we were wishing it was us. I have loved this year at home. I've enjoyed my garden produce, picked apples for juice and baking and even made a little chokecherry syrup for old time sake. And best, the best, is that I'm back in the field with my husband every day :-)

Eventful week

Well, we are busy harvesting the duram wheat and we had visitors for two days! Robert took some of my turns on the combine so I had more time in the house visiting Monica, Linaya, Melissa and Josiah. Both babies had combine rides and we had a nice visit. They sent a visual message off to Uncle Stephen in Oklahoma. That will be our next highlight in the fleeing summer! They'll be back in a couple of weeks, hopefully Roy, too, and we'll get some family pictures. :-)

Time out

Somewhere between midnight Monday and breakfast on Tues., Stan decided we would take a couple of days between crops to go find our old camping spot at Cypress Hills Prov. park! We were packed and on the road by lunch! How's that for impulsive. We even went over to meet "Scotty" the T Rex in Eastend on the way. Two sleepovers in the woods and we're back on the farm and Stan is already out in the combine finishing off the rest of the Canola. I think our life will be interrupted from time to time with self imposed "time out"s. It seems to have a calming effect to disconnect and then carry on.

The silence of the moment was suddenly saddened on Tuesday by call from our son, Stephen, to say that one of his best friends, Brian, had just died in a taffic accident. Moments like that make me so grateful for a cell phone. There is nowhere I wanted to be more than on the end of that phone when he needed to call. My Dad saw 97 years and Brian didn't get to see 27 years. Please pray for healing for Stephen and the Windell family.

Day 2 of August, Day 3 of Harvest

Well, as I sat on the combine listening to Simon and Garfunkle, the motor humming, the Canola grinding through and Stan headed home to empty the graintruck, I was struck by the sense of familiarity and the feeling that all was as it should be. Okay, the crop is not as "great" as some years, but we have many little seeds to put in the bin and compared to the gopher infested fields of the Mankota area, south of us, we have it pretty good. The biggest pest problem we had this year appears to be a truck or SUV with occupants feeling big "under the influence" and small on intelligence that went roaring around is standing crops. It affected about six of us neighbors and the mystery is yet unsolved. Don't worry about aliens. They were lacking the accuracy for crop circles. Stan is hoping for a little break between taking of Canola and moving on to harvest Duram wheat. Harvest was here way too soon but there's no pause button!

Family and farmin'

Well, we have been trying to get siding on our house since July 1st and we keep hitting "glitches". Three and a half weeks until Stephen is home and maybe it will be done by then. My garden is doing quite well in spite of me not watering it and the temperatures have been up there for a couple of weeks now. I love the fresh veggies. I have been picking Saskatoons, from a UPICK , raspberries from the home patch and beets, potatoes and little zucchinis from the garden. Hurray! summer. Stan just finished the last? or possibly semilast?? spraying on those chickpeas. When the heat shuts them down and they stop growing is the day we stop spraying. I'm rather attached to my water truck.. I get to read and watch my duck family grow while I'm filling at the dugout. The harvest is probably a little closer because of the hot weather and we're gearing up for that. That is such an exciting time. I really look forward to it. I'll post a couple more pics from the reunion and family times. :-)

It's July!

Here we are sitting on the edge of two anniversaries. July 14th was the day we said goodbye to my Dad and July 18th when Stan had his surgery and God gave us our miracle. For a long time we have been adding "and it hasn't even been a year" to all progress statements. Now we will move over the spot on the calendar.

Summer is speeding up. We have the Bell reunion behind us and I am sorry it went by so fast. As with anything that involves a group of people, the conversations seemed too short. You can't stay up late enought to use every moment.

We are back in business spraying chickpeas today and we have contracters here putting the new siding on our house to repair hail damage from two years ago. My grass has changed from shades of green to shades of burlap so my mowing has finally slowed. (The exception may come with a big rain, but probably a little touch up mowing around the house will keep it down)

We were in Saskatoon a couple of days this week and spent time with our family there. A joy, as always. The wee ones always make us smile!

Reunited!

Well, this was the weekend of the Bell reunion and we had a wonderful time. Most of us were around all week, with the remainder showing up from Thurs. to Sunday afternoon. The weather cooperated and we spent a lot of time outside between our houses on the farm, Dad and Ruby's in Gravelbourg and an afternoon at Thompson Lake. I'll try post some group shots. More details may follow.

Hit one for the home team!!!

Looking twice?? Yes, that's Stan up to bat and playing ball at a good ol' fashioned ball game and BBQ. We had a great afternoon with friends and the mosquitos and the guests ate well :-)

Seeding has been finished now for three weeks and we are kept busy with spraying chick peas with fungicide, spraying out weeds and mowing all the green and growing grass from the wonderful rains we have been getting. Our crops look like they are doing well and we can just hope there's no hail in our future.

Our family reunion fast approaches for the last week in June and we look forward to lots of fun and pictures together. It has been a while since we have had so many little "Bell" cousins on the farm and we are looking forward to a great time. Stephen just booked his flight home for a week in August so there's another reason to smile.

Additional pictures: Fun things to do at the farm!

You can drive Grandpa's tractor...
You can hang out in the birdcage chairs... (Peek!)
You can ride on Grandma's shoulders....

You can try out the new toddler swing on the deck...
or you can just get totally involved in the new toys.... (note how Linaya's sitting up on her knees and feet :-)

Seeding is done!

Stan finished seeding the last of the crop on Saturday evening! That is great!
The girls and their babies have been here for the weekend and Josiah managed to get his first tractor ride on the last field. Look for those pics on Melissa's blog. What a fun time we have had. I bought a baby swing to clip on the deck beams and after a cool weekend, we finally had enough heat on Sunday afternoon to enjoy being outside.
It is showering today so I'm hoping Stan will give himself permission to take the day off. It has been a busy time around here.. There will still be some spraying to keep up with on weeds and fungicide for chick peas but the moisture was great for seeding and we are very optimisitic about a great crop.

Babies on the farm!!

The first picture is Linaya and Monica in the tractor with Stan. Her little feet were just a-bouncin' as if to say "Let's keep this thing moving!"

The next is Josiah wearing his John Deere shirt and socks from Tim and Sarina.

The last is Stan and Linaya enjoying what we refer to as "the birdcage chair" on our deck.

Seeds, seeds and more seeds...

It has been a busy farm since the last post! Canola is in the ground, this will be the last day for seeding chick peas (Stan's hoping there's enough seed in the bin to finish!) Next comes the duram wheat! I planted potatoes and have the garden tilled and ready to plant the rest. I spent most of yesterday on the riding mower. The rain really freshed things up around here. The weekend was a wonderful break in stride to have Roy, Monica and Linaya home to visit! Robert, Melissa and Josiah had been here recently too and it has changed the farm forever to have our next generation coming to visit! I'm even more excited about planting carrots!! Stan had "his little girl" (Monica) riding on the tractor with "her little girl" (Linaya). How fine is that! (I'll find pics later.)

Update from the farm

Hi there, Due to the fleeting nature of our computer service lately, I decided I had better blog while the "blogging is good". Stan is happily seeding the crop of 2007. I have hauled the first loads of water on my water truck and things are feeling as they should. We had about 1/2 inch of rain the other day so the conditions are good for seeding the Canola.

Stephen has been in Mexico all week to work on a school for handicap children. It has been a work in progress for the last two years sponsered by Memorial Road Church on the OC campus. He called home to tell me that there had been a terrible storm in Piedras Negras, Mexico, where a team of 14 of them have been working. He knew there had been death and many injuries and wanted to assure me they were all safe. The next day I found out that the school had been completely destroyed!! They are staying the rest of the week to do cleanup and salvage. Hopefully the project will be continued as there are people from Oklahoma who sounded willing to pay contractors to go in and rebuild to the prestorm status. I had been thinking he was away from the Oklahoma tornado season and he was safer in Mexico! Guess he's being looked after no matter where he is.

Baby days!

We had a good trip to Saskatoon. Another Dr. is done seeing us and WE will choose if there comes a time we need to see him. We have been to a lot of what I call "command performances" when they say "come" and we go! The medical community in general is always impressed by Stan's progress and he continues to improve. Hurray!

We had a nice visit with family. Josiah's not ready to "fill Grandpa's shoes" but he has been trying on his hat! Linaya's becoming a more independent young lady who really tries to feed herself and loves her solid food. I was just commenting to Stan that babies aren't just a blank slate you write on. They already have their own little personalities and likes and dislikes. We just love them so much!

First full day in the field!

The flocks of geese are moving over and Stan is back in the field. Ahhhhhh It's finally Spring.
Yesterday started out with a broken hose on the outfit because of the cold and nowhere to find a new one as everything is closed up for a long weekend. As it happens, there was a piece of hose exactly the right length left in a storage shed and work continued! He is spreading Edge for weed control. That is often a job done in the fall, but not last year. Notice he's using AutoSteer that uses GPS. That's the little screen to the right of the steering wheel.
I had an exciting week because I finally got around to ordering new kitchen countertops. It had been thought for last year, but by the time we got home in November everything familiar was just too wonderful to change. We head to Saskatoon for an appointment on Tuesday. We get our "baby fix" :-)
Easter weekend. Jesus lives, God is good.

Another who fought the good fight, finished the course and kept the faith

I am thinking of the large group of family and friends who are thinking of Cecil Bailey today and celebrating his graduation to his reward. Cecil and my Dad (Manley Jacobs) were LONG TIME friends and another of God's warriors has returned home. They used to encourage each other by telephone and would often comment on who would go first. They stood outside Pansy Bein's funeral making the pact "If you go first, I'll come to your funeral" and "if YOU go first, I'll come to yours!" God blessed them both. I am happy for them, I am still at little sad for us in their absence. I took this photo of Dad and Cecil at the Radville Reunion 2005.