Arnold Days

It's starting to feel like fall around here!

We haven't had that first frost yet, but the nights and mornings have been chilly. I'm guessing Colfax has around 10% of its fall color right now.

This has been a bumper year for acorns-- so forget walking barefoot on the lawn! The grass may hide them, but bare feet will definitely notice the acorns.

The corn and peas are done, but the endless supply of beans we're getting continues to amaze me. I had no idea that if you go out and pick beans every few days, THEY KEEP COMING. I'm not sure when we first started getting beans... probably July. So this is going on two months of continual beans!

I've really enjoyed the garden this year. It's good to be outside, coaxing life and nourishment out of the soil. Usually the chickens, our little dog Coco, and baby Leila are out there with me. Leila gobbles down any cherry tomatoes she finds like they're candy.

We're even growing our own pumpkins. We have three big ones right now (though nothing near the size of Jodi's pumkins!), and lots of mini pumpkin gourds. Of course, I've been using the miniature pumpkins around our house for those famously kitschy seasonal displays of mine.

Speaking of displays... here's David's senior picture on the mantle of our fireplace.

Last weekend we attended "Arnold Days", an outdoor celebration at Jon's brother Eric's country bar (not far from their hunting shack). One attraction was this tractor with steam engine. The conductors (including a conductor-in-training who must have been around Emma's age) were all dressed in pin-striped overalls and hats, like Grandpa Bragg has.

The tractor pulled a small canopied trailer that gave rides to children (and me!). The fun part was that the steam engine was multi-purpose; besides powering the tractor engine, it steam-roasted corn on the cob in an attached compartment.

The main event, as far as Emma was concerned, was the greased pig contest. We had talked to our farmer neighbor beforehand and made arrangements to house the pig, if Emma actually managed to catch one. We optimistically brought along a dog kennel with us, to bring the pig home (Jon was more than a little hopeful-- he's had so many of his other childhood farm fantasies indulged recently).

This was the first greased pig contest I've ever been to. I was hoping it wouldn't be too traumatic or tortuous for the pigs involved... and in the end it wasn't so bad. It went fast and no pigs were hurt, though I'm sure PETA wouldn't have liked the terrified squeals of the pigs as they were greased up with dish soap, prior to the contest.

There were three age groups. The first group was kids six and under; Emma was in the middle group, and cousin Seth Hurlburt was among the oldest.

The first piglet, released for the six and under crowd, almost immediately darted under the fence and escaped into an open field. Two of the little kids who'd wanted the pig burst into tears... their big chance was running away!

Luckily a group of enthusiastic older kids made chase and brought back the renegade pig before it made off into the woods. The contest was restarted... and this time one of the little kids caught the pig.

Of course, that was immediately followed by more crying from the little kid group.

There weren't any tears during Emma and Seth's parts of the contest, but that doesn't mean there was no disappointment...

Let's just say that the Hurlburt pig kennel came home empty.

Of course, it was fun just visiting with the spectators... among them were sisters-in-law Tammy, Sally, and Ann, and my mother-in-law, Jane. The kids had lots of supportive family to cheer them on.

A few of the people who came to Arnold that day arrived on horseback. One young lady was kind enough to give Emma a ride.

More recently we had Jonathan over for supper. He came in time for a batch of home-made tomato soup (Sally's delicious recipe-- a big hit, Sal!) and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Jonathan played with the kids and got to see for himself that yes, his father does wear reading glasses now.

Last night we went for a fall drive to the Weyerhauser area, where we'd heard fall color was pretty good. We ate at the Blue Hills Supper Club, which sounds pretty civilized until you remember that we were dining with a one year-old.

We wanted to do something fun because Jon will be leaving us again soon. After next weekend he'll be heading to Superior to do power-line work.

This is good news because it's close enough for him to come home on weekends. It also means better pay and a continuation of our insurance benefits... no small thing in this day and age! Still, we're glad that Jon was able to have the whole summer "off" with the family (though he hasn't exactly been vacationing!).

Susan's Big News

Recognize the little pumpkin in the back of the wagon?

It's Susan, my wonderful stepdaughter, when she wasn't much younger than Leila.

Susan's 21 years old now, a year away from her master's degree... and engaged to be married (big news hot off the press!).

We found out last weekend, when Jon went to West Virginia to visit Susan and David.

Her fiance's name is Jay Johnston; you can see him for yourself below. Susan and Jay have been dating for over a year now. Their wedding will be a few years off, since she plans to finish school and get her career started first.

I haven't met Jay yet, but understand that he and Susan will be coming to Wisconsin for a visit in December. We'll all get to meet him then!

Jay spent time with Susan, Jon, and David during Jon's recent visit. Of course I had to ask Jon what he thought of him-! I was happy to hear him described by Jon as intelligent, personable, and "he treats Susan like a queen."

Susan seemed radiantly happy, which also says a lot.

During the visit they made an outing to Little Beaver State Park, which is about 20 minutes from Beckley. Susan and David's little brother Logan came along, as well.

They saw Kate Falls, and took a dip in the water. It was spring-fed and pretty frigid, I guess.

It's a long drive to West Virginia, but Jon was really glad he made the trip. It meant a lot that he got to hear Susan's news in person, and that he got to know Jay a little and see the two of them together.

Jon said David was "still David" (which is a good thing). He just had his senior pictures taken, and we were given a nice framed black and white photo that Susan had picked out.

The car came back loaded with some of Logan's former play things, passed on to Leila. Everything was in real nice condition, including this fun plastic car that can be pushed along by an adult.

Of course, no blog would be complete without a few pics of Leila. She wore her Badger outfit recently (from John and Jim, of course!) during Mom and Dad's recent visit to Colfax.

Mom and Dad brought me a bunch of canning jars. They have hundreds of jars, saved from back in the 1970's, when they did a lot of canning. But the jars are still in great shape and look just like what they sell now.

The jars arrived here just in time-- I need to make salsa, and fast. It's getting to be that time of year when it's hard to keep up with the garden. While Dad was here I showed him my nifty apple peeler/corer, which was lent to me by a neighbor. It makes peeling apples a breeze and the task of making applesauce much less daunting.

Mom picked up this cute teddy rocker at the antique/quilt shop in Ladysmith. It was only $18-! I used to have a similar one that cost much more when Michael was a baby, and unfortunately hadn't kept it after Emma outgrew it. So I was happy to get this similar one; Leila just loves it and rides on it daily.

I'll end with an old picture of Susan (which Grandma Jane had published in a Country Woman years ago).

Congratulations Susan and Jay!

See Ya, Kids...

It's that TIME again...

Me and Leila looked on as 3rd-grader Emma and 5th-grader Michael tried on new backpacks full of school supplies.

Their bus carried them away just minutes later-- while a blessed silence descended upon our house.

Actually, we weren't sure if Emma was even going to make it to this first day back. For the past week and a half (the whole tail end of her summer-!) Emma has been recovering from a miserable "flu" that we learned was caused by cryptosporidium.

No one else in our home or neighborhood was sick, but somehow Emma contracted a nasty water parasite that can take up to two weeks to fight off (and has been known to kill people!).

We're not sure exactly how she got it, but suspect it may have had something to do with her work at our neighbor's farm (along with a careless lack of hand-washing).

Here are the kids (and neighbor kids), on the last day of summer. From left to right: Emma, Makayla holding Leila, Michael, Daken, and Janetta.

Now, that doesn't mean that we plan on keeping Emma away from the farm. Nor will we be building her a bubble-wrap cocoon, spraying her with disinfectant, or keeping her in the house under my watchful eye 24 hours a day.

The benefits of an active, useful, outdoor lifestyle outweigh the risks (in my opinion). I like to see the kids climb trees (just not too high!), pick (edible) berries, play in the dirt, build a fort, hold chicks in their hands, water plants with rain water, roller blade, ride bikes, etc., etc.

All these things have potential risks.

Case and point: Leila, running down the path. Her feet are bare and she might step on a pebble. She could trip and stub a toe.

She could even step in chicken poop.

If any of those things happen, it's not the end of the world. Mommy will help her, and she will get better.

Meanwhile, she gets to enjoy the simple pleasure of cool brick and soft grass under her feet.

If some of these pictures look familiar, it's because I "borrowed" them from Laurie's blog. They're just too nice to only print once.