Despite their best efforts, it appears that the kiddos will not have Indian Corn to sell with their pumpkins this fall. Unfortunately, it seemed doomed from the start. The seed was poor to germinate and what did poke through the ground did so over a 2 or 3 week period. Then every time the wind […]

Read more on "Update: The Pumpkin Patch – Crop Failure"

With all the excitement last week, the kiddos ended up spending some time with each of their grandparents at some point during the week. Some of this time was already planned, while other visits were the result of our unexpected stay in the hospital. Either way, the kiddos had loads of fun with each grandparent […]

Read more on "Hanging Out With The Grandparents"

So when I picked LuLu up from daycare yesterday one of her teachers said LuLu talked about nothing but fireworks all day. It came as a shock to me. With the DW on bed rest, and Potato Boy and Sissy away for the night, we weren’t planning on any fireworks – and we hadn’t mentioned […]

Read more on "Fireworks"

What a difference a week makes! The Dear Wife (DW) was discharged from the hospital mid-week and sent home on bed rest. It took the rest of the week for the kiddos and I to adjust to the new “normal” – we’re hoping for at least 5 or 6 weeks of this. I must admit […]

Read more on "Back Home"

So here’s the view from my temporary “bed” – For those of you that don’t know, Kinnick Stadium is the home of Iowa Hawkeye Football — which means we’re located across the street in the University Hospital. Apparently, the kiddos little sister didn’t feel like waiting until September to make her grand entrance and thought […]

Read more on "A New Home Away From Home"

Most of the weekend was pretty quiet. I was able to get caught up in the garden a bit on Saturday. I noticed there are green peppers and summer squash that will be ready in a couple days. There are also tiny green tomatoes, and blooms on the cucumber, zucchini, and green beans. I picked […]

Read more on "Weekend Review"

We were told by the previous owner of our house that along the fence line across the road there were several patches of black caps. Around here, “black caps” normally means wild black raspberries, though wild blackberries often get lumped in the same pile. Either way, they’re normally a sweet purple berry hidden between thorns […]

Read more on "Hunting For Blackcaps"

The kiddos have been working hard to keep the weeds back and Pip has been working even harder at keeping the rabbits away. All the hard work is starting to show.

Read more on "Update: The Pumpkin Patch – A Strong Showing"

Last week I wrote about Sissy’s first adventure showing cattle and mentioned she was working on another “project” this year even though we wouldn’t be returning to the field day. Sissy joined 4-H last fall and has been working with a steer named Cubbie off and on since last November as her first 4-H project […]

Read more on "Cubbie"

The Iowa Simmental Association hosted its annual Junior Field Day over the weekend. (For those of you not current on your breeds of beef, here’s the wiki link.) With a few other conflicts already on the calendar, we were on the fence about going this year. Turns out it wasn’t an issue as Sissy couldn’t […]

Read more on "Field Day Weekend"