The kids are counting down to their last day of school this week. Friday is the day. Graduation was held yesterday and JW had to play in the band for it. He said it was boring. It rained most of the day, so my garden is going great guns. This morning it’s sunny on the Knolltop with lots to do. We have a couple of plumbing repairs to make in the barn and the maunure spreader needs a quick fix too. Jake has a game tonight and Sarah and Luke have practice. I will actually get to bring all my kids home today after school, I’m looking forward to that. This morning Bobby is at school having donuts with the kids. The elementary school has a “muffins with mom” before mothers day and “donuts with dad” before fathers day. It’s really kind of fun and they always have a great turnout. Well, I’ve got to get on my day, with those repairs and then I’ve got a couple of stories that need to be written, if I don’t get moving I’ll never get anything done. Plus my coffee is perked and ready to drink!

Yesterday we spent the day at the ball field watching JW’s team play in their district game. They faced a team they had mercied twice before. But this team came to win and our team thought they had already won…and they lost. It was awful for those boys. They should’ve won both games easily, but instead came home empty handed. Although JW is just a freshman and will have three more years to win, the seniors on the team took it pretty hard. They rallied back from five runs down to score seven runs in one inning. But then they just couldn’t hold the Tekonsha Indians.

Last night should’ve been a less than hectic evening on the Knolltop. There were only two practices and no games, but somehow the night was full. When I came home from picking up JW from practice Bobby left to go to Luke’s practice. Jake, Sarah, JW and I were home to take care of chores. We began milking and the neighbor called and wanted the boys to help move some hay. I told him he’d have to wait ’til 8:00 when Luke got home. JW said he had lots of homework so I told him at 7:00 he could go in and get started and hopefully be done by 8 so he could go help the neighbor. Everything was great until Bobby called from the ball field and wanted JW to come over and pitch for batting practice for the boys. We finished milking, let the cows out and jumped in the pickup. Jake and Sarah were having a great time on the slip-n-slide so I left them home to have fun. On my way back home I noticed the neighbors on the corner were out visiting so I stopped in to see what was up with them and to ask a couple of questions. After talking over the price of corn, steers, corn bins and new pick ups I saw the other neighbor headed to my house to pick up the boys. I hightailed it home and we ended up standing around for another half hour visiting about the price of pigs, corn, corn bins and how much money we’re losing in farming. Finally Bobby and the boys made it home, Luke changed his clothes and headed out to move hay, JW decided he needed to stay home and do homework and I finished up putting hay out and washing the pipeline. Jake and Sarah were bummed when I told them to put the slip-n-slide away but it was 8:30 and time to wrap up the day! When we finally all gathered in the livingroom to download for the day, we ended up watching the national spelling bee championships, which was a lot of fun. We all decided they were smarter than us since we had never even heard of any of the words they were spelling!

It’s another hot and humid morning here on the knolltop. We’re on our way to see Sarah honored as Student of the Month. We get donuts and juice. I’ve said before they need to offer milk, but they just don’t take my suggestion. But I still offer it, what kind of dairy farmer’s wife would I be if I didn’t? I’m looking forward to this little ceremony. The teacher said she enjoys Sarah’s stories about cows and the farm. I can’t imagine what kind of things she might tell! I’m just glad she’s proud to be from a farm and that she is telling farm stories. If we farmers don’t tell the world about agriculture, who knows what unqualified person might step up to the mic!

I’m searching for someone who reads my column in the Farmers’ Advance. This person used to email me quite a bit especially when I went back to work for a short time at the paper. He gave me a lot of good advice and I wanted to contact him again, but unfortunately when my computer gave out last summer, it took all the email addresses with it! So now I’m hoping that man reads this blog and will contact me again. Thank you!

It’s been like July the past few days here on the Knolltop. But I like it. Because we live in an old farmhouse we don’t have central air. Our upstairs gets really hot during the day and as the kids climb the stairs to go to bed I hear grumblings about how hot it is up there! So this morning when I woke up and walked through the livingroom to make the coffee, there were two bodies on the couches who must have overheated upstairs. I remember as a kid having to sleep in a hot upstairs. We just put a fan in the window and went to sleep. I don’t remember it being that bad. Speaking of being hot, Jake had another game last night and he was sweaty from head to toe. He was the catcher and when I looked at his hair I could see little grains of dirt mixed in with the sweat from when he throws his mask on the ground to scramble for the ball. When he puts the mask back on he has to empty out the dirt, but a lot goes right in his hair. Gramps and Grandma made it to the game and Grandma was commenting about his little red face and the sweat on his nose and how he really needed to just lay down and take a break because he was getting too hot. She sprung for ice cream after the game. I think Jake likes to sweat.

I’m making a plea to all Ayrshire breeders today. I have a young man in my 4-H club who wants to buy an Ayrshire heifer to develop. He has had Holsteins in the past, but wanted to venture into another breed. I’ve called and called and called but to no avail, I cannot find a heifer in the price range for this kid. He is very discouraged and wants to give up, but hope springs eternal! So if you know of anyone who would let go of a heifer please contact me at my email address. Thanks!

Well, I had another victory yesterday. Yes, I know those of you who know me well, will not believe this….especially my mom. I got the whole garden planted yesterday! The victory isn’t the fact that it’s all planted, the miraculous aspect is that usually I buy the plants that I plan on putting in and when I get home from the greenhouse I put them in the backyard until I get ready to plant. In the meantime, they get dried out and wilted then I have to bring them back to life a few times and then when I finally get around to planting them about half of them have died from heat exhaustion! Then I have to go back and buy more plants. But yesterday was different. Yesterday, I tilled up the ground then went to the greenhouse, came home and put them right into the dirt! I think that’s a first for me. Now if I can just keep the chickens out of it!

Well, it’s back to school and things as normal…well as normal as normal gets. It’s a beautiful day here on the Knolltop and I’ve got some outside chores to do. I haven’t planted one flower, so I ought to get that done and I haven’t planted anything in my garden yet….but my 12 rows of sweetcorn are up! I think I’ll have enough for us and the coons this year! Better get the kids going, they aren’t going to want to move out this morning….I don’t blame them!

So today is the day of parades, grilling out and rememberances. It’s amazing to me what men and women have and are still willing to sacrifice for the rest of us. For our freedom people have been willing to stand in the gap. They’ve been willing to leave their homes only to head into a war zone to be shot at, to eat less than desirable food and work their tails off to protect this country and to hopefully provide freedom to other people. Most of us don’t deserve this kind of sacrifice. We exploit our freedoms and take these wonderful heros for granted. My father was a in the Air Force and used to jump out of airplanes to help save fellow soldiers who went down in a crash or were in trouble for some reason or another. He doesn’t elaborate on much, but has told us a few great stories. I don’t have the slightest clue how scared he was or how much he hated it or if he enjoyed being a hero, he really doesn’t take much glory in it even though he deserves it. One story I won’t ever forget was one he told about when they jumped in on a situation where they were determining who was dead and who was alive. One of the medics pronouced the pilot of the aircraft that crashed as dead. My dad had to make the final call because he was the highest ranking officer there. When he went to check on the pilot, he found a pulse and that the man was still alive. They put an IV in his foot and ended up saving his life. That is a hero! I’ve often wondered where that man is and how his life turned out. I wonder if his family knew that my dad saved his life. I wonder if his children and grand children knew that if it weren’t for my dad and his determination and tenacity in that situation there would be no children or grandchildren. I also wonder how many other countless stories there are just like this one that we’ve never heard about. Again, these people are amazing and deserve more than just one day to be remembered. Let’s also remember to pray for those in service today and all of their families…that is the most powerful thing we can do for them. Prayer can changes everything.