Our Weekend

We had a nice weekend...pretty busy but nice! Jeff had about 120 bales to take to this guys house (a co-worker who has goats and needed hay). So he was up and out the door at 8:30 a.m. He had to drive 40 mph he said on gravel roads for 10 miles to get to Chad's house. He unhooked the trailer and left. Then he had to take the dog to the vet to get his distemper shot. Jake weighed in at 123 lbs.!! I was SHOCKED because last summer he weighed 119lbs. and then we found out he had a thyroid condition so he got on some meds. Well he seemed to be losing weight (or so we thought). He had a bad leg and after he got on the pills that all seemed to get better. I think the vet scale is WAY OFF...but I think I might have them re-run his blood work and see if they need to adjust his meds. We have a CHUNKY DOG I guess :)!!

On Saturday morning I decided that the beets were ready to be picked. So at around 9 I was out in the garden picking beets. Some of them were pretty big...tennis ball sized and other's were the size of golf balls. I got them picked and went into the house to start cleaning them and boiling them to get the skins off so I could can them. That took about an hour (to clean them and boil them). I peeled the skins off of them all and sliced them. I then made the "pickling solution" which consisted of water, vinegar, sugar, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks. I had to boil that for a little bit (this is quit the process I tell you) and then I had to put the sliced beets into the "solution". Finally it was time to put the beets into jars and then they got pressured canned for 35 minutes. I only got 3 quarts of sweet pickled beets so if they don't taste good...I won't feel bad about dumping them..he he :)!

I was done with the whole canning experience at around 12:30. We had lunch and got ready to go to Dells for the tractor pull. I decided since it was HOT I was going to wear a tank top and shorts. That was the best decision I have ever made...I was so much more comfortable! They changed a few things this year at the pull...for the better I might add. They decided that most of the tractors couldn't park in the main pit are until it was their class to pull. This seemed to ease some of the congestion. Since Jeff was in earlier classes he got to pull his tractor into the pits pretty early. He did AWESOME again this weekend!! In his first class he hooked first and pulled 292 feet!! GREAT!!! The other guys in this 85oo lbs. Open Farm class were 30 feet behind him. HE GOT FIRST PLACE!! YIPPEEE!!!! It was so great to see him do so good!! He was just BEAMING!! In the 95oo lb. Open Farm class he got 4 or 5th place. This class is a really competitive class and Jeff was right in there with the rest of them with regards to measurements. He tied with one guy pulling 303 feet and was only 3 feet behind some of the guys have been doing this for years (and some of the guys that have spent MAJOR $$ on their tractors). Jeff was happy with this class but is always trying to think of ways to make the tractor pull further :)! We were in Dells until about 11 p.m. and got home at midnight. I still got sunburned even after putting on sunscreen...and it's one of those nice tans on only one side of the body. Oh well!

On Sunday morning we headed down to Inwood for church and had our usual family time. Of course the guys and even us ladies had to watch the tractor pull video from the night before. That seems to be the tradition now each Sunday (and then everyone can see my great skills with the video camera...ha ha)!! We got home last night and watered the garden. I discovered that my snow peas are ready! YUM! So I picked a handful of those. I'll have to remember to keep checking everything now because it seems like everything will be ready pretty quick here.

And just an update on our little duckling...he/she is still alive! Apparently now that it's the only one left...it stays with the bigger ones and the cat hasn't gotten it yet and hopefully won't get it either. The duckling is 1/2 the size of it's mom already so I have a feeling the cat will leave it alone because it's almost bigger then the cat now. So hopefully this one will stick with us for awhile!

Happy Monday everyone. I'll stop rambling now :)! We hope everyone had a great weekend and we also hope you have a great week! God's blessings to everyone!