Mulching, Sorting, Dipping

This weekend was one of the most spectacularly beautiful - ever. Mid-60s and sunny, it made me so happy to have useful, productive things to do outside.

But first, I had to check out the local karaoke scene on Friday night. Met the bar owner, the kind-hearted but sad old alcoholic, a truck driver who sang 'You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me Lucille,' and a couple of other characters I'm sure to run into again. To be honest, it wasn't anything close to the Red Balloon in KC, but since the Balloon is one in a million, that's to be expected. However, the beers were cold and cheap, the people were fun, and the book has a few gems in it that I can work with, so it's karaoke game on as far as I'm concerned!

Saturday, I took the truck and my dog and checked cattle. We had a missing bull at one farm. Mom and Dad hadn't seen him for a couple of days. This is typically cause for a bit of alarm, as the bull could have gotten out on a neighbor's farm and that's no fun. When that happens, you have to call your neighbors, get him in, fix the fence, it's a pain. However, Kip and I successfully located him, just chillin' under a tree by the creek. Good deal.

Next, Kip and I went to another of our farms where my Dad has had some bulldozer work done. There is a creek running through this farm, and the creek is so deep that it separated off a few acres where we couldn't get to it with a truck. Not ideal, because you want to be able to access your whole farm for various reasons. So, with all the dozer work, we put some grass seed down on it, and I worked most of the day Saturday spreading out hay on top of the seed. It'll probably take a couple more days of working to get it all covered, but I made a good dent in it. While I was working, I listened to my Cardinals drop yet another game to the Cubs. Boo, Redbirds.

Sunday was a busy day too, Mom and I worked on sorting some of the things in a recently-deceased family member's estate. I cannot fathom keeping some of the things this elderly family member kept. Newspapers from the 60s, calendars from the 80s, bank statements and ledgers from the 40s ... I am fairly certain the trash man never went to that house. But he's got his hands full now!

Sunday evening was a 'neighborhood' party. A neighboring family on one of our farms had a son they were going to baptize in the pond behind their house, then have a bonfire and dinner. I have to be honest. I didn't really want to go. I was totally exhausted from working outside all weekend, so it took some convincing, but I finally went. And had a wonderful time. People are just so different here. You walk in to a room of strangers, and walk out with a whole passel of new friends.

So, a jam-packed weekend of funning and farming and cattle and conversation and now, I am going to bed!