what's up in the coming week and we have been blessed with rain

After being so dry for so long we have had some really abundant moisture in the last 10 days-about 3.90" here and over 6" on the ranch. It's somewhat soggy over there. Lots of wind (hard wind-out of electricity for 6 or 7 hours-blew some lines down somewhere) and a little bit of that four letter word stuff-snow. The next week is shaping up to be busy if we can get some harvesting going. we had a freeze Friday morning (ice) so the milo should get ready to harvest now. we have 2 more loads of calves coming Tuesday and that will fill us up. We need to move some cows off of leased grass as the grazing season leases expire Nov 1 and it's time to think of preg checking cows and vaccinating and worming them. Anybody have the next week off??
We are open to thoughts as to what the economy is planning for us ordinary people and also how the election will end up. I've been teasing Ann that her cats are even going to vote Democrat-you can imaging what kind of response that got!!
We have our care group from church coming tomorrow evening and we really look forward to gettting together and sharing and visiting about our families and what's going on with God working in our lives. Our pastor is preaching through Romans and I think our discussion will be along those lines.
How about the Sooners and Cats this afternoon? Just about enough points. Leoti won one game this fall with a score of 6-2 and some thought it was a really boring game.
We pray that you all have a good week next week and that you give God thanks for how he has blessed you. Bob and Ann
p.s. Ann has been busy mass producing teddy bears this week-I think she has 20 to make for a lady in Leoti.

Another inch!!! We're thankful it's not snow with temps in the low 40's. Our hurricane cattle from the deep Mississippi and Louisiana probably are thinking that Ike may have been better.

How about that?? Our rain gauge dumped out a total of 1.25" this morning. what a blessing!
We had very hard wind all day Friday,Saturday and Sunday with rain starting about 2Pm Sun and then more during the late evening. Ann is subbing today and we are catching up on some odd jobs. Rained hard enough during the night that the roads are firm. According to weatherbug we should have had about 3" on the ranch. Hope it didn't wash things-we'll go tomorrow to check and work on some things over there.

It's Fall

Fall must certainly be here-as are the millipedes. Every fall our family room is invaded by millipedes. At precisely 9 PM Ann' s laminate floor comes to life with the herd. It's kind of funny because they're right on time and you don't notice them until you look down and the floor is moving. They are dark red and about 2" long and 1/8" diameter. Spraying around the house with Tiempo helps until it showers or rains and then here they come.
Had a call from one of the NeW Orleans songwriters that we have fed for in the past and he asked for all of our available pen space. First arrivals are in the morning. It's great to have the business but his cattle are usually difficult to care for and keep healthy. He buys what he thinks are bargain cattle and they can be really stale when they get here. We'll do our best and that will keep me pretty busy for awhile. He hinted he wants to keep us full for a length of time-we'll see. This particular writer is Boyd Robert' (Rowbear)(cajun deluxe). He and some others come every fall to Scott City and hunt and then put on a concert. They are good friends of a neighboring feedlot that we do business with-last fall they hunted here and did fair. Rivers Rutherford is the big name among the bunch and is a really nice gentlemen and down to earth.
Tried corn again today-too wet-milo's really needs a freeze to be ready. Ann substituted today at the grade school-lots of sickness I guess.

It's been a couple weeks since our last update but things keep moving along in our yearly cycle of things. We have harvested some corn and are waiting for more to dry enough to bin. It's been extremely dry the last month. .56" moisture in September. Most of the wheat is drilled and up and awaiting the blessing of a soaking rain. the feedlot pen renovation is mostly complete for this time and we have the feedlot about 40% full. Dust has been a real problem the last couple of weeks. Ann has been busy subbing and volunteering and helping me.
We just returned home from a weekend in Hutch and got to watch Aubrey march in the Buhler Frolic Days parade,Luke play a rec league football game in Buhler, enjoy worshipping Sunday morning with the Bernings and absorbing a message about integrity and then Jackson played a flag football game in the afternoon and then we headed home..so it was a worthwhile trip.
To share a concern-with the free fall of the stock market the commodity markets have fallowed suit so we are looking at much lower prices for our outputs while our inputs (fertilizer, seed,chemicals,fuel,repairs,etc.) have reached new highs this falls-we would ask for your prayers for this situation be corrected. We know that without a doubt God has a plan for each of us and he has blessed us mightly with a great and caring family and a fantastic life.

September goings-on

We know it's been awhile since our last update. September has been blessedly cool with some rain at times. Grass is good for September-cows and calves doing well-we weaned calves from the first-calf heifers and plan to do the mature cows soon as time permits. We are getting some cattle in the feedlot also. The milo and corn really needs warm weather to mature for harvest.(notice earlier I said that September has been blessedly cool). The feedlot pen remodeling project is going- Russell is doing about all of that while I do other things. We cut silage the 3rd of September so we have at least some of the fall harvest done.
I had a very good 6 month checkup with the urologist Tuesday. He scoped my bladder again and every thing was healed and no new growths. He didn't seem to think there was any need to continue followup scopings. ( it's not the most comfortable thing to have done-having a camera slid up you can guess where.)
Our church is ready to begin a building project to add a larger fellowship hall, classrooms and a montrously big kitchen. We have a large youth growth meeting once aweek and feed them a meal. All of us are looking forward to having more room and to be able to enlarge our mission to the youth.
Ann has been busy canning and some substituting and looking after me. We do enjoy life together.

August

We have had an interesting August so far. The first two week-ends we went to out of town weddings. One of my two nephews got married in Manhattan on the 2nd. I was glad to have him finally decide to marry his girlfriend. While in Manhattan we drove around the campus to see how it looked after the nw corner was hit by a tornado. I was expecting a lot of trees and shrubs to be gone. We were pleasantly surprised. The campus really looked good - there are so many trees and shrubs and plants of many kinds on campus! (We don't have that abundance of trees here.) We could see on a few trees where big limbs were gone and a few places where new trees had been planted, but it pretty much looked like nothing had happened. There were a few buildings that needed roof work done and some boarded up windows. The reactor building looked like it needs quite a bit done to it. I don't know what the plans are for it.

The second week-end of August we went to a wedding in Wichita. We drove to Hutchinson on Friday to stay with Jennifer, Jerry, Aubrey, Luke & Jackson. On the way we met my sister at a resaurant in Great Bend for supper. Surprise - there was another couple from Leoti eating there on their way to the same wedding. Eastern Kansas has been having rain. Western Kansas has had spotty rain - our farm not a lot. During the night in Hutchinson, we woke up to rain. When we woke up in the morning it was still raining. My first thought was, "Emily is probably thinking Oh My! Will this ever stop?" The wedding was planned for outside at Botannica. After breakfast we drove down to Winfield to see my mother. It rained on us until a few miles north of Winfield. Then back to Hutchinson. While at the Bernings we were introduced to Wii. Of course, we tried it. The grandkids were better than we were. I bowled better than I ever have at a bowling alley though. Late afternoon Sat. we headed for Wichita. When we got to Botannica, the wedding had been moved inside. It was a good thing because it rained pretty hard while the ceremony was taking place. They had prepared for a hot outside wedding though; the programs were fans that spread out to fan yourself with and they had a bottle of cold water for everyone - not needed though. After the ceremony, after everyone had gotten their food from the buffet, after most people had gotten their cake and the dance had started the electricity went off. One whole side of the rooms was glass, it was not dark outside yet and there were candles on the tables so it wasn't too bad. The bride and groom just went with the flow and visited with guests. A generator was located and the dance went on. We headed back to Hutchinson though so we could visit a while. Sunday we went to church with the Bernings - a very good sermon. After lunch we headed home taking Lane with us. He had been visiting the cousins. Was he ever glad to see his mom!

After many, many days of temps over 100, it turned cloudy in the middle of the month. The temperature dropped and it rained here, there and most everywhere in the western part of the state. We had quite a few days of temps in the 70's. Wow for August! The cooler temperature sure helped the rain to do more good. Pasture grass is growing! It really looks green for August.

Now we are looking forward to a few days in Colorado. Bob is getting his fly fishing gear ready. I have a new fishing pole to hold. I'm making a list and adding and adding of what we need to take. I'm looking forward to getting some Colorado peaches to can and make into jam and of course eat. We are also looking forward to spending time with some of Bob's family. Maybe we will have a picture of a big fish or a string of fish to show everyone (and maybe not).