Helping Out

Something that takes time but needs to be intentional these days is to encourage our kids to help out and pat them on the back when they do. Often Jackson is the last person at Grandma's on Mondays so Jan has him help clean up.

When kids are included it's not as much about getting the job accomplished as it is about learning to work, accepting responsibility at an early age, and helping them focus on something other than themselves which will serve them well later in their lives. These young men wanted to go swimming so I told them if we picked up one big load of rocks I would take them.

Often kids start out wanting to help when they are young but adults don't take the time or have the time to work with them. These little guys are "fenced" in because they want to go help Grandpa. Notice Amelia is in the background helping Grandma keep an eye on them.

Little people need to be told "good job" when they help out. Big people need it too and Dana, our Dekalb seed sales guy, has always done an excellent job of encouraging us in the seed business and has always offered to help if we need anything.

Last week was another big hay week. With the hot weather, low humidity, and wind, you could just about mow one day and bale the next.

Of course sometimes when baling field borders and waterways the bales don't always cooperate. This one rolled down into the pond. Kurt had to go in and wrap a strap around it while Alex pulled it out.

I try and get in the batwing every day to mow road ditches. This job also allows me to check on crop progress.

Post spraying has switched from corn to beans and is going at a full pace.

We haul "hot loads" to the field meaning our spray gets mixed and loaded at our local CPS. Larry and Justin are mixing this batch. We can haul from 300 to 450 acres per batch depending on how much water we use.

One day we were loading from the semi to the sprayer on the road and a vehicle came along. The driver decided just to go around us in the ditch which surprised me because it was a deep ditch. Well he didn't make it. After we pulled him out the driver was very friendly and very intoxicated.

The corn crop was showing the effects of high temps, wind, and low humidity this past week by curling leaves to try and save moisture.

Early Saturday morning a rain shower came through and like most summer rains it was spotty. We received 2 tenths of an inch where we live south of Osky.

The corn crop immediately responded to the little bit of moisture and will soon be head high.

On Friday morning Jan and I decided to take a half a day off together and head south. I needed to check on some tires at Mayberry Farms in Memphis, Mo. and she had a number of stops as well.

When I get into Amish country I always respect their lifestyle, their work ethic, their in-house community spirit, and their dedication to their faith, however I sometimes wonder if their way of life lacks helping out in their communities to be Christ's love to their world around them.

One of Jan's favorite stops is a meat locker in Rutledge, Mo. run by a Mennonite family. She loaded up on some of our favorites and bought all our kids some treats. She was disappointed they were out of ground bacon, a favorite of ours. 

 While we were shopping a Mom came in with her 5 daughters and 1 son. The kids were all well behaved and the older kids helped out by taking care of their younger siblings while their mother shopped.

Our 3 and 4 year olds helped out last Sunday at church by singing at our Sunday School recognition.

Our church does an awesome job of potlucks. We have so many good cooks. Eating together is a good time of fellowship and has been that way since Bible times.

Malaki came over last night to stay with Grandpa and Grandma. His parents, Karl and Kristin, are youth leaders and are taking our youth group to central Missouri this week to help folks with flood damage. Having high schoolers take a week of their summer to help others is a great thing. I can't wait to hear about their experiences some Sunday morning when they return. I'm headed to church early this morning for their send off, so I need to wrap up. Have a good week.