Goodbye Cows!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy around here. Two weeks ago we got word, through a neighbor farmer, that as of August 1st the truck would no longer be picking up our milk. What? We couldn't believe it! Arthur did some checking, and yes, it was true. Our local processor in Thief River Falls is closing. The next nearest processor had a quarrel or something with the other milk companies and decided that they would not pick up any milk except for Land O' Lakes. We don't sell to Land O' Lakes, and they are not picking up any new patrons, so that left us with no truck as of August 1st.

We did a lot of quick thinking, and praying, and decided to sell them at the next available dairy auction which is tomorrow. It was a difficult decision. We had to decide which cows to sell. Which ones were cull cows. Which calves we should keep and raise. Which bulls to sell. Can we live without a milk check? And all that kind of stuff.

Even though the decision was made for us, it has been difficult. We have been involved with milking since before we even got married. Back in high school Arthur borrowed money to buy his first milk cows! In some ways we feel like we are deserting the dairy industry in which the small farms are disappearing in favor of mega farms. We feel like the dairy industry has deserted us by weeding out the unimportant farms like us. We feel like we are giving up a business that we will never be able to pass on to our children or grandchildren. We feel like we are giving up a way of life that we really wanted our grandchildren to experience. It wasn't so much about the money, but giving up a way of life.

Tonight the truck came to get our cows. These are the spectators that watched. My Mother-in-law with a pile of her grand and great grandchildren!

It's pretty neat watching two layers of cows fill a truck!

Bye! You're a good lady! Keep on milking for the person who buys you!! (This is the cow that is pictured in the Wiktel phone book!)

Had to add a picture of my handsome farmer! I told him that now that he's not a dairy farmer, he can truly be a cowboy with just beef cows! (The girls insist that dairy farmers are farmers and not cowboys!)

Sarah, our niece, also has helped a lot with milking and we will miss her smile around here!

So the cows are gone and will be sold at the auction tomorrow. It's sad too because the prices are about as low as they can be for cows so we aren't going to make a lot on them.

It's okay though. God is in control! We have talked for so long about when the right time was to sell the cows and He made it easy for us! Arthur has a list a mile long of stuff to get done so I don't think he'll be missing them too bad. He needs some rest so a few mornings to sleep past six won't hurt him either. So that's how it goes. The pretty ladies are gone, the barn will be mostly empty, but life goes on. Now I gotta get to bed so I can make it to the auction!

Mini Vacation

Sometimes you just need to get away! For the last couple of years we've been going on a short trip between Priscilla and Hosanna's birthdays to shop, and just have fun. We headed down to Iowa this time and after a lot of bad roads, and seeing tons of cars and semi's in the ditch, we arrived at our hotel. We love these suite hotels so the girls can have one room and Arthur and I the other. Plus there's the nice "living room" area and kitchenette.  We stayed in one other nice hotel like this one, and then in a Super 8 one night. Strange hotel. If you ask we'll tell you about it!

You can't go shopping for just clothes and such! Arthur needed to shop at Scheels and felt he was ready to guard the presidents! Too bad he didn't have his white hat on!

I posted this below, but one of the reasons we went to Iowa was to go to a Patch the Pirate Concert. Their team preformed the Ocean Commotion CD/book minus a couple of songs.  There were a lot of people so we didn't have the greatest seat but still really enjoyed it.  We would've been there earlier and gotten a better seat but the roads didn't cooperate! Anyway, the girls really enjoyed listening to Patch the Pirate when they were young and so we thought we'd go. We're glad for the picture too!

Another thing we did since we were in Iowa was visit missionary Bill Adams. I first got to know him and his wife way back in 1984 when I spent time helping them in France. Throughout the years we've kept in touch but he doesn't head up this way anymore, at least since his wife Mary went to heaven. So, we thought we'd go visit him! We had such a good and edifying visit and it was fun to reminisce about those days long ago in France. Believe it or not, this 86 year old man still travels to France every year to preach and serve in the church there! This picture was actually taken last time he was at our place and I neglected to get a picture of him now like I really wanted to.  It was especially encouraging hearing how the church in Europe, and the middle east are growing.

Other than that, we ate out, sang on the road, laughed, swam in a hotel pool, and shopped till we dropped! It was so fun! I treasure these days with our adult daughters because I know they can change so fast. God is so good! I'm so thankful for a husband that patiently waits in vehicles, or on benches so we can shop! We are so thankful too for Isaac and my niece Sarah who did chores so we could be gone!! Family is just so precious! 

End of Maze 2017 Review

Well, the 2017 maze has officially been over for over a week now. It went so fast!! One of the best things we did this year was to add a roof over the farm ball game and over the cornbox. It made it so people had someplace to go when it sprinkled or even rained and made it so they hung around till the rain stopped. Plus, it gave a lot of shade on hot sunny days. I'm so thankful to have a handy husband who can do this kind of thing along with the great help we had in the form of church boys, nephews, and sons!

My favorite thing in the store this year was the jars of candy. Not that I liked the candy so much but I loved the long row of jars. 

To show our workers how wonderful we think they are, we took them bowling. Caleb M. and Jessica J. had the top guy and girls scores!

Then our wonderful workers joined us for an afternoon of cleaning up the maze. It always amazes me how it takes weeks to set up, and just hours to take down! Maybe we need to have a workers set up party as well to make it go faster!! 

Last year my sisters decided I needed to get away after the maze so we went to Fargo to shop. We did it again this year and enjoyed a couple of days together not only shopping but laughing and talking. I love these ladies!! (Even if I do look the oldest with my grey hair, I'm really the youngest!)

Arthur loves this time of year and when he needs a break, he goes duck and goose hunting. There are always willing people to go along to make it easier to leave the work behind! Here Daniel and Jeriah enjoyed an early morning hunt with their grandpa.

Okay, this is out of order but when I downloaded pictures, I thought you might enjoy seeing Priscilla's table full of pretzel sticks decorated to sell at the maze.

Hunting with Eli, Will and Josh.

And one more early morning hunt with a bunch of ducks and a goose. Will, Eli, Josh and Arthur.

Meanwhile, Josh went home again and we will miss his wonderful help around the farm and his humor in the house. He is a wonderful young man with a heart to please God.

As far as the maze goes, it was our 9th year, and our biggest so far. We also had the biggest day we've ever had! If you know our area, you probably wonder where they come from.  A lot come from Canada and the rest from towns around here. It was a good year and no one got seriously hurt, we got a lot of tracts out, and pretty much had a problem free season. A big thank you to our workers and others who prayed for us. It is very emotionally and physically tiring but we survived! :)
Next on the list is finishing up a few fall things, like cleaning out our very messy garage and getting the rest of the carrots dug up. Priscilla wants us to do the Roseau craft show again so there's things to make for that. My winter "after the maze is done" project is to paint / fix up our stairs and hall upstairs. Maybe even this fall if I can get to it. Our office is also a disaster from not being cleaned during maze season. So there's all that paperwork and craft stuff to deal with.

So, that about sums up the last few weeks. I'll try to post more often now that the maze is done. God bless you all and don't forget to memorize a verse this week!

July is Almost Over!

My July file of pictures is pretty big as we've packed a lot into this month. It almost makes me glad to turn the page on the calendar on Tuesday! Here's a brief summary of the last couple of weeks!

This week Arthur had "Farm Camp" here on the farm with a great group of boys and other leaders! We're missing a few on the picture, but you get the idea!

They got a lot of work done, including putting up part of a fence at the maze. I can't wait for this project to be done! It will look so nice!!

Most people play capture the flag, but up here, we play "Capture the Bones" with old cow bones!!

The guys put up a ton, literally, of hay and stacked it in the shed, all in very hot weather!

Aimee, Ella and I did cabin inspection each morning and then gave a noon report. It's a good thing. I can't imagine how the bunkhouse would look if there wasn't a daily clean up!!

We all headed over to the maze one night so Silas could grill burgers. Mmm! Thanks, Silas!

And the roof for the farm ball game got a long ways done. This will be great for keeping balls from flying over and keeping out of the rain.  I'm told it's tall enough to back a trailer under if we need to store hay from the rain :)

Before farm camp, my wonderful sisters and I gave my mom a surprise 75th birthday party!

I was so glad to have Ella around to help since the girls are at camp. She came along to get things ready and to pour punch. Thanks, Aimee, for sharing her!!

My mom was really surprised! It was their wedding anniversary so my dad used that as an excuse to get her to town. She was really surprised that her brothers and their wives came up, er, down, from Winnipeg.

We also did the maze float for the Roseau Fair Parade. Between the two parades we passed out about 4,000 maze flyers! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful young people to help us when we get desperate!!! You too, Linda!! Roseau County Ford let us drive a brand new 2017 truck in the parade! Probably hoping that Arthur will take a hint when he test drives it ;) Maybe someday!

Well, I know I'm missing things, like how wonderful of time the girls are having at camp! Two weeks left and they'll be home. Yeah!!

Have a wonderful Lord's Day tomorrow!!

The Last Week, Or So!

A lot of work has been done in the last week. The guys started the week, okay, this would be last week, with building some walls in our dirt basement and had cement delivered to shore up two sides that were starting to collapse. Arthur said it should be good now for another 100 years!

Over at the maze, the guys built a shelter to go over the corn box. I guess this was "practice" because they are going to do the same thing over the Farmball game, only a much higher roof.

Heidi was sitting in the cornbox watching!  Her smile always makes me smile!

Meanwhile, I spent my time working on our maze parade float. Isn't Farmer Bill adorable! The blocks turned out pretty good too. That's Eli under the float!! No, he's not hiding from work like some might think ;) he was painting the wheels a nice yellow color.

We had a 4th of July picnic over at Arthur's parents. Lots of people, lots of food, and lots of fun!

Then we headed to the parade. Here's some of the cousins just waiting for the parade to begin. It was hot!

And here it is! We actually won a parade award so that was fun. People loved the float, and enjoy all the orange shirted workers that pass out maze flyers.  A BIG thank you to them for bearing the heat to walk that far!!

We had to make a quick walk in the maze to see if the corn made it to the "Knee high by 4th of July"! Yup, it did!

Meanwhile, Miriam and Jessica headed off to camp to join Hosanna and Priscilla. I'm not sure I can run the house without her, but so far so good :) Miriam works so hard it might take three of me to do what she does!

Have a wonderful week enjoying the gorgeous weather God is sending our way!!