The long days of summer

Life has been racing along, as usual. The rain has stopped the harvest, unfortunately. Clem is getting a bit antsy, but he luckily hadn't swathed anything before the rain. The peas, lentils, and oats are in the bin, with just wheat, barley, and flax left standing. If it ever quits raining, he should be able to straight-cut the wheat and barley, and maybe the flax, and finish quite quickly. However, we haven't yet been able to order the weather we need, and after 11 years on the farm, we are still trying to learn patience!!

Adam and Stephen have started football practice - 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day. Apparently the school thinks we don't make enough trips to town already. So far they have only been to one morning practice together - one or the other decides to sleep in - so we are thinking that the two of them will make one good player! School starts next Tuesday, the 28th. Too bad, it's been so nice to have them laying on the couch watching the Simpsons twelve times a day, with the TV real loud. Or fiddling with all my office tools as they sit at the computer playing Runescape and on MSN or Facebook. But I guess I will adjust to a quiet house with no shoe blocking the doorway (yes, only one of those huge shoes is needed to impede the entering or leaving of this house, although there are usually a minimum of three there lest I actually manage to get by one without stumbling). I have taken out a small loan and purchased all the supplies they will need until at least November ("Mom, I'm out of loose-leaf", "Mom, I lost my calculator", "Mom, are there any....." - well, you get the idea).

To break up these last days of summer, Adam decided he should open every cupboard and drawer in the shop, gather all of Clem's good tools, haul them out to the shelterbelt trees, and build himself a tree house. Naturally, there is no good wood in the trees, so he has had to scrounge lumber and fence posts from other parts of the yard, and haul them over there, as well. The result is a strange looking platform high in single tree that I wouldn't climb onto for all the money in the world. He and his brothers and friends seem quite pleased with themselves, though, and I haven't heard the theme song from the Simpsons for a few days.

Even the neighbors came to check it out. Lyle the engineer suggested another support beam!

Marg Allcock, our landlord on two quarters of land, invited the Wrights and us to her home in Outlook for a visit. She treated us to supper at the Matador hotel restaurant. Yummy! Her daughter-in-law, Gail, was visiting from Vancouver, so it was a good time to catch up on all the news.

I'm off to lunch at Denzil with the aunts - hope we can find something to talk about!!!

Thanks for checking in.
Chandra