Don'tworry, be happy

The last week and a half has been so intense.

But I think we can say that the busiest (maybe just the most stressful) part of our harvest is behind us. I'm pretty sure that we are done cutting unless some late orders come in. Now we just have to process the rest of the trees that are cut and in slings.

Today is our last scheduled fly day.

The guys have been busy bailing and loading.

The last week or so has been crazy busy. Lots of trucks!!!!! It is so nice to see them headed down the road.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the shop with the guys.

This family and these guys are truely something to be thankful for. We fixed 6 turkeys. Three on the Traeger, one in the oven and two that a friend smoked for us. We had mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans and rolls and lots of pies and a big Costco Thanksgiving cake.

We have spent our Thanksgivings in the barn/shop with the crew for the past 20 years. It's a lot of work but even more fun. It's just a small way to thank them for all their hard work. I think they enjoy it too.

Hey I said we were almost done. Now quit standing around and lets get to work.

Thirty One Years Today

LOVED YOU ONCE, LOVE YOU STILL



















ALWAYS HAVE, ALWAYS WILL

This is awesome!!!!

Well, yesterday I told you about Mindy and Louis and that they were expecting a baby. When she went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, they did a pregnancy test to confirm that she was pregnant. At that time they told her that she was probably due around the first of July. Then.... last Thursday, she had an ultrasound and they measured the little teeny tiny baby and said, "oh, I think you are a little farther along than you thought." So....today when her doctor looked at the ultrasound, she calculated things and then called Mindy. She told Mindy that her due date is the 8th of June!!!!! That is mine and Jay's birthday!! How cool is that?!!!!!!! The doctor had no idea that the 8th of June was our birthday. I just think God is so cool!

guess what?

Mindy and Louis

sitting in a tree,

K......I.....S.....S.....I.....N......G!!!!!!!!!!

first comes love,

then comes marriage.

Now they're out shopping

for a baby carriage!!

Another day

Today we picked up a few hours of fly time that we hadn't scheduled. That is good. It does change things, tho. The cutters kept cutting and the slingers kept slinging. But we needed a hooker. And then we needed some extra help.

So we got the "boys" to help us out. They love when they "get" to help.

They know just what to do. They know that you have to turn your hat around so the helicopter doesn't blow it off.

They know that you have to go fast.

They know that there is always cookies or donuts for the workers.

Caleb can work and eat cookies at the same time.
They know that they get to turn in a time sheet. They also know that Nana pays them even if they put 50 hours a day down. They should get paid just for being cute.
And when you smile while you work, you get paid even more.

Blessed

Today was another busy day for the guys. The cutters were cutting. The slingers were slinging. And some of the trees were carried out of the fields by hand. Those were the trees that were already close to the landing area.

What a day! Sometimes it was raining, sometimes there was even a little snow mixed in over at the other farm.

Every once in a while the sun would come out and it was so pretty.

On our way home we got to see a beautiful rainbow. We could see both ends at the same time. It looked like it was right there in front of us. We had to stop and take a minute to soak it up.

We felt blessed with it's beauty.

And then we came around the corner and saw this.

I know these boys were blessed with something but right now I don't think it was brains.

When I lay my head down tonight and I pray for God to give me courage and strength, I think I will ask Him to give me an extra shot of patience so I can deal with all my blessings!!

Breathe in....breathe out............

Bailing and sorting

After the trees are flown to the landing area they are carried to the shaker. The shaker is behind the little tractor.

The guys put the stump into the shaker for a few seconds. It shakes most of the loose needles out before the tree is moved to the bailer.

At the bailer it gets pulled thru and wrapped with twine. This makes them tightly bundled so that you can get more trees on a truck.

After they are baled they get sorted into size piles.

Some buyers take straight loads but others want some of this and some of that. That is what we use the pallets for.

Some trees are stacked on the pallets so that we can move a pallet of trees to a truck rather than move a truck to another pile. I'll show you more about that later.

Besides all this we have other activities going on. Taylors football team won the league. It was the first tiime in over 30 years that they won the league outright. Now we have a playoff game on the 21st. I am really excited for them. Also, Connor and Caleb started basketball last weekend. Their team didn't have a sponsor so we decided that we would sponsor them. Their Paw would really like that. We got to pick out a mascot and name for them.

They are the Jay Hawks. I love that!!!!

And then you have Princess Kenzi. She had two halloween costumes. One day she was a lady bug and the next day she was a princess. She is pretty much a princess everyday.