Fair Week

Fair week is a gathering of community for projects, entertainment, competitions, food, fun, and fellowship.

However these jobs also seem to land on fair week: Combining oats. Baling straw. Baling 3rd cutting alfalfa. Spraying 3rd pass soybeans. Trucking leftover seed. Repairing broken machinery. Dozing timber and pasture jobs. Getting hog sheds ready for a new batch of pigs. Sweetcorn. And vacations.   

This week's visit is going to be extra pictures and fewer words.

Above BJ and Dean are adjusting the knotters on the old twine tie baler. BJ was baling grass bales for their families 4-H projects.

Below, well, it's a long story. I'm just glad Dean hit the ground "gracefully".😊

We combined oats around our new pond. The moisture was 12.4%. The testweight was 33#. Yield was excellent.

Mark cleared some hills and took down a building site for Larry.

We continued to work on spraying 3rd pass soybeans.

Alex hauled some leftover seed this week for custom hire.

Jim and Dean are both excellent at fixing and repairing. Sometimes things get wore out. And sometimes like below, it's an oops.

Believe it or not 3rd cutting alfalfa is baled and in the barn.

Karl got ready for new pigs this past week. Below his daughter Sydnie is helping. Big brother Malaki helps all the time. Thanks for the picture.

The sweetcorn is just getting ready and we are playing loud music with the radio in the center of the patch. Sorry Bev. The coons seem to like KCWN 99.9FM. So we had to find a more rowdy station.😊

Brian and Becky's Ezra baled the straw for me this week. Notice the hurting corn in the background. We are dry. Yesterday was 100 degrees here with a 21 mph SW wind.

I've been under the weather this past week. Nothing serious. Just God reminding me I'm totally dependent on Him. And family and help. Mark asked if I needed help and Kurt and Jackson helped him. What a blessing.

BJ and Cassia's Natilie and Adi both did very well Monday evening in the dog obedience competition. Thanks for the picture Cassia.

Mark and Stacy's Amelia won Grand Champion in the pen of three chickens. Thanks for the picture Stacy.

Mark and Stacy's Allison picked her own flowers from their families place and did well in the arrangement competition. Thanks again Stacy.

This is Amelia with her Reserve Champion bucket bottle goat. Thanks again Stacy.

Doug and Ginger's Ben won the overall rate of gain with 4.48#/day. The judge wasn't crazy about this steer in the ring. I kind of like him.😊

Allison and her rabbit. Thanks again for the picture. Stacy, you probably don't remember but you and Becky showed me the ropes on writing a blog back in 2009.

Our family works hard. We also play hard. Friday evening at the fair was a redneck chain car race. Carter, on the right, asked BJ and Cassia's John to drive the car chained to the rear of his pickup as they raced around an obstacle course. They won the feature and were given a double trophy and $1000. John's little sister Natilie is holding the flag. Thanks for the pic.

 

There were also motorcycle heats and a feature on this course. Kudos to our son's Kurt and Mark. And grandson's Ethan, Elijah, Anton, and Jackson for racing and doing well in those races.

It's vacation season. Thanks for the picture Suzanne. She and Mike spent a week in northern Michigan attending a reunion with Suzanne's extended family. Mike was in charge of devotions for the family gathering throughout the week. Good job Mike.

Sometimes bad things happen on fair week. I can recall a handfull of tragedies over the years. A hailstorm. Jim, in an accident on the way to the fair 40 years ago. Carl, on the last day of the fair 5 years ago. 

Last Saturday Harold was on his way home to Otley with his Ford 7000 tractor after the 20th annual Red Rock Threshers Tractor Ride with close to 300 tractors participating. Harold was hit and killed west of Pella. Our sympathies to Ruth and the kids, which are our kids age. Harold and I were Cadet counselors together in Hawkeye Council for many years. Someone told me his Ford 7000 used to be his father-in-laws. The Ford 7000 below used to be my father-in-laws.

This past week Junella had a stroke and died. She and Wes were neighbors to Kurt and Emily near Leighton. Family, we promise to keep you in our prayers as you process this very unexpected grief.

There have been a lot of fair weeks in my life. My first year of 4-H was in the 1960s. My dad helped put an old green tarp over our farm truck with the stock racks up and parked it in the camping area. I stayed at the fair all week with friends. When I was just ten years old. I showed "club calves". I remember the Sunday before fair week I was driving our 801 Ford tractor. My dad was sitting on the blade with "Herfy's" halter tied to the blade. Trying to get him to lead better.

At the time of this picture 30 years ago our four older kids were at the fair with their market hogs. Jan's mother Francis took this picture of Kurt and Karl. She quietly enjoyed the fair. I miss her.

This is Kurt and Emily's youngest, Lane. If you look at the previous pic you can defiantly see the resemblance. He and his brothers Jackson and Jayden helped me combine oats.

If I just had tunnel vision I might call this a rougher week. Missing much of the fair in order to stay close to the bathroom. Watching our crop suffer this past week. Continuing to read about our country sliding to who knows where. But when I take the blinders off and look back on all the past fair weeks, God has been present. And He has given us all a purpose. "For such a time as this". I can summarize our purposes, "Act justly, Show mercy, and Walk humbly with our God". Micah 6:8

Lane, thank you so much for helping Grandpa. I promise to finish strong, so you and your generation can continue to enjoy fair week.