A good harvest

I didn't take a lot of pictures before harvest of our crops this spring.  I guess I didn't want to jinx us.  But I couldn't resist a snap of our colorful canola field and the fluffy clouds above.

This was early in harvest when we were cutting a beautiful field of winter wheat.  We had a lot of evening thunder showers go through during harvest, and we never failed to be nervous that we'd receive hail again.  But we were fortunate and avoided the worst storms.  And yes, we are very thankful.

A few areas to our south were getting rain, but we were still cutting away.  The contrast between the light and dark skies was beautiful!

Still in the sunshine here. but we did soon have to stop cutting when the rain caught up to us and made things too tough to continue cutting.

We were unloading into our quonset.  We were just getting started here.

The wheat pile grew a lot.  Roger can still get the truck in and close the door, barely.

Rainbows in the sky on the way home

This was taken on one of our last days of harvest.  For the most part, the guys took a break at supper time and came to the house to eat our evening meal.  But this was  our last chance to have dinner together in the field, and the crew appreciated dinner being delivered since they were working a half hours drive from home. Yes, delivering a hot meal and packing up everything needed is a feat in itself, so I appreciate all the times the crew came home for dinner.

David says "this lawn chair is a lot more fun than being confined to a high chair!"

How many kids can you fit in and on a combine??

Our hardworking crew!

Future Farmers

Cutting the last few acres of Spring Wheat

Spectacular and colorful sunset on the ride home.

Just about every evening that I was driving home, I had to stop and take a picture of our beautiful Montana sky!

Some gorgeous rainbows too!

I tried the Panoramic option on my phone camera to get the full circle.  It worked pretty well except I couldn't hold the phone completely straight as I panned across the sky.

My post last year about our massive hail storm created more hits to my blog than any other.  I wasn't really trying to garner sympathy, but lots of folks did express their care, which we appreciated a lot.  But I feel I need to balance that out, by expressing our thanks and gratitude for a good crop  this summer that  made it all safely to the bin.  We put in a long and busy summer, and we are thankful when all goes as well as it did this season. And, I won't whine about low wheat prices.  Sadly, they are at an all time low, but we hope to weather that issue also and keep on keeping on.

Till Next Time,
Linda

some memories from August

This dear gal is going to marry Kevin Benjamin.  Megan will gain quite a few nieces and nephews who heartily approve of the match up.  I think that I do too :)  Little Zoey was sure enjoying helping with the presents at the bridal shower.

All kinds of delicious ethnic foods were served at the brunch

The clever shower theme was all about Travel, of which Megan has done a fair bit.

Roger and I  enjoyed attending the wedding of Brittany Kumm.  Her two sisters are the second and third bridesmaids.  Three years ago their Dad's funeral was held in this church.  I had worked with Dr. Kumm  for over 20 years. He died tragically in a drowning.   As you would know, he would have been sorely missed on this occasion.  When the girls were younger, Dr. Kumm would sometimes bring them along to work, so I got to know them a bit and was touched to receive a wedding invitation.

this Ford Excursion limo should be big enough for the whole party!

A little birthday celebration for Annie

David is loving a little corn on the cob!

Sunday afternoon dinner with Darrel and Ruth and Grant and Kelley and sweet kids.

Brother Dale and his son Bob and his wife Tania stayed here for the night while they were here  for James Trevithick's funeral.

Our little fashionista

Happiness is sharing a bowl of ice cream with your favorite cousin!

Having fun playing the game of life...making up the rules as they went.  Sometimes Life is like that.  What is that saying?.... "plans are what you have until you know what you are doing"

Floating by on the Missouri

On our anniversary, Roger and I enjoyed a lovely meal at our local Grand Union.  After dinner, we enjoyed a little walk along the levee and across the old bridge.  It was a beautiful evening to enjoy a few pleasures from our home town.

This shot could be titled "Bloom where you are planted"  This is a hearty rose bush that keeps on blooming without much care and attention given it.  The only kind that makes it around here.

Yours till next time,
Linda

A day on the lake

It was a windy day,, but we put the boat in and enjoyed some time on the water, in spite of the choppy waters.  The kids favorite place to be is in the drivers seat.

This kid loved riding on Grandpa's lap  but he also loved the water and wanted to jump right in.  I love his sunny smile that can light up any day! I also kinda love Roger's relaxed and smiling face when he gets in the boat!

He went with his Daddy on one short and slow tube ride

These two girls were extra brave....no need to go slow or keep it short!

Yes!  This is a fun day!!

After lunch, Grandpa decided it was too windy to take the boat out, so we just all enjoyed time on the beach.  I think the kids enjoyed that just as much as boating.

Sarah doing a few back flips on the sand

Eva is gathering sand for the sand castle

It was a cooperative effort

I wonder how long their little sand and rock castle withstood the waves?

The building crew

Time to wash off the sand before loading up to go home.

This is the part where I'm really glad someone is there to help Dad

Everybody loves a perky sunflower, at least I do!

We kept busy all summer with haying and then harvest, so getting a day at the lake is a rare treat.  This day was far from perfect, but I'll love all these sweet memories posted here.  It was windy. So no water skiing was done. We had let the motor home sit after coming home from convention without draining all the water, and it smelled pretty musty.  We hadn't had a chance to get the propane tanks refilled, so I couldn't run the hot water heater or make a pot of coffee or keep the refrigerator cold (although a big ice block did the job fine) and we had a flat tire on the boat trailer....but other than that, it was a great day :)

I'm going to work back and try to get some catch up posts done.  I'd also like to work on some digital annual photo books.  My daughter got a couple done this summer and hers are great inspiration to get going on that.  So yes, you could say I'm looking forward to a the slower pace of fall.  I was just bemoaning how early that it gets dark outdoors, but maybe longer indoor evenings can be good for other things!

Till Next Time,

Linda

Fun afternoon in the Highwoods and a conversation about cameras and being frugal and other stuff....read on....

This post is a catch up post from last Fall also.

It was right after we had returned from Mandan convention and we got to have Larry with us for a week, giving him a little time to catch his breath before he joined Dean and Joe and helping in their meetings and visiting the different homes in the Great Falls and Shelby area.  This day was remarkable for mid October, because it was just like a beautiful summer day. (80 degrees as we drove to our picnic spot)  There was evidence of Fall because of the colorful trees and foilage.

Don't you like this bowing tree?

.....And these beautiful red leaves?

The dappled sunlight reflecting in the creek was so pretty.

Larry and Joe K.

Looking at the fish visible in the creek

They must have been "THIS BIG!"

Betty and Dennis joined us for the afternoon and evening too.

Everyone looked happy and relaxed.

Especially Larry

Another sign of fall....when the sun goes down it cools off fast, and we were happy to have a fire and grab our jackets.

We didn't have marshmallows to roast, but Dennis decided to try roasting a rice krispie treat.  It was quite goood!

All in all, it was a very special afternoon and evening of hiking and sharing time around the campfire.

When I posted some pics on face book soon after that time, a friend said , "I see everyone but you!"  Yeah, I was there.  I responded " that's the advantage of being the one behind the camera!"

Ugh, I hate selfies.....might have helped if I hadn't tucked my chin in.....whoops, shouldn't have brought that to your attention ;) .Another pet peeve of mine: people who are constantly posting selfies.  A few are OK and interesting, but its gets excessive sometimes.  Hmmmm, maybe I should delete this one??  Ok, I am not referring to any of my dear friends and family who check this sight out! 

 This post also leads me to another conversation that I've thought of having with my readers:  Can you tell if these pictures were taken with a phone or a high priced camera?  And next question: what do you grab when you want to snap a picture or catch some action?  The nice thing about our phones is that we usually always have them with us and available, and if you have upgraded your phones in the last year or so, your camera is no doubt takes excellent pictures.  But sometimes, a phone just won't do justice to your photo or subject.  I like especially love my zoom lens and versatility of my Canon.  Yes, I could learn to use both much more effectively if I set my mind to it.

The Lost if Found!!

Yes, I lost my camera.  I went to grab it when our family was together for Larry's birthday and could not locate it in it's usual spot, or any other place that I thought to look.  For about two weeks I searched high and low.  I looked in our car, our motorhome and every nook and cranny of my house.  I even posted it as a lost or possibly stolen item on our local rummage sale sight.  Nothing came up.  I was SAD.  I started looking at replacements and got depressed thinking of having to spend the money on another one and thought about just doing without, but couldn't stand the thought of that.

One day we rode with Tom and Jo to go to Abby's basketball game in Chinook.  As you know, that is a couple hour ride both ways and gave lots of time for thinking.  I just couldn't quit thinking about where my camera could be and when I last had used it.  I was so sure that I had used it for the pictures posted above of our time in the Highwoods, and then would have had it by my computer to download the pictures onto my computer.  Wrong!  It turns out all of those pics were taken with my phone!  Maybe I should be looking high and low for my lost memory...and I don't mean camera memory card, but the stuff up in my noggin....or lack there of.....but that is another subject.  Right after we got home I went to search in our motor home again.  I looked in every cupboard and place to hide in it possible.  In the very last cupboard I searched, I moved aside some towels and there it was!  Can you imagine my screech of happiness and little happy dance?  It was right where I had hid it when we were at Mandan convention.  I didn't use it at all there, unfortunately, but I felt I had to hide it away because, well, the conv. grounds are right in the middle of town and we wanted to keep our belongings safe.  The point of telling you all this is that if I hadn't been so sure that I had used my big camera AFTER our trip to Mandan, I would have searched in the motor home more diligently, and not just have taken my husbands word that it wasn't there ;) This also leads to the thoughts about how we use our cameras and what everyone loves to use. My daughter who is an excellent photographer actually took two major trips last year without her big camera,  but she did have great pictures to share of both trips.  I think one trip, it was a conscious choice to leave it behind...on the other, it was accidently forgotten and left at home.  But thank goodness for the handy dandy iphone!

 Another lost and found item

My spare car keys had also been missing for awhile.  That didn't cause me quite the same concern, but I have always liked to have my spare tucked away....just in case.  One day, I decided to go check at the car dealership about getting a replacement.  I thought it wouldn;t be a big deal, right?  Wrong again.  They could replace it to the tune of $200.00.  I said I would think about it, and immediately went home and did another big search.  I found them in the pocket of a jacket that I had not worn for several months. Another happy dance and shout might have happened when I found the keys.  Fortunately I looked before that jacket was donated to Good Will.

My husband and I both like to get all the use out of things as we can, so losing or throwing away things does not make us happy campers.  Roger is a master at fixing and making do.He hates to pay someone else to do what he thinks he can do himself. Case in point: our furnace was behaving very erratically this winter.  When we talked to our furnace guy about the problems it was having, he said  "oh, I better come give you an estimate on a new one! Your model is getting some age and is known to cause problems" Of course, this man sells furnaces and hates to fix someone elses old model.  I didn't think it was that old.  It was the highest efficiency one we could get at the time.  Roger ordered 3 different parts on line, and the third one was the charm.  It's been working well since and hopefully bought ourselves some time before we have to bite the bullet and get a new one.  We did install a carbon monoxide detector as a just in case.

 I also like to recycle and up-cycle.  I cook at home most of the time, and hate too much use of ready made mixes and convenience foods, although, I'm known to fall back on the easy way from time to time.  We try to recycle and cut down on garbage.  Our town of Fort Benton has a recycle effort and collects stuff once a month.  I have sworn to never own a Keurig coffee maker, because I hate the idea of all those disposable plastic cups.  I don't even like to use paper plates and plastic ware very much.  I do have a pretty good amount of dishes and silverware, so its usually not necessary.  There are exceptions, of course.  Harvest suppers in the field and picnics at the lake, for instance.  So I don't make it my religion or anything, but I try to be conscientious most of the time.

I'd love it if you'd leave a comment about your favorite camera and ways to recycle and reuse.  I'd also be real happy if you told me that I'm not really loosing my marbles......

Till next time,
Linda