7-30-11 Saturday

And another week is over. Blink.

Monday and Tuesday flew by with the Keever crew here. Also we had quite a few runny noses starting; Kate had a dandy sore throat. Didn’t seem to slow anyone down though; I just had to do a lot of nose-wiping.

Wednesday started out nice and slow, so slow that I spontaneously decided to do some Morton errands and hit a few garage sales. Tori called me at 10:00 – I had forgotten my appointment with the electrolux consultant! Yikes! So I raced home and had a very informative meeting with Billi, taking lots of notes to help in my presentation to Dad. Dad was home a little early from work, so he was able to meet with Dave about the lake that is going to be started in the next few weeks. The cows had to be moved up from that pasture by Monday. Yikes again! Not that we were completely surprised, but it kind of crept up on us, you know? The lake is marked out in flags, and I’ve been meaning to get before px but keep forgetting to take my camera down there.

Thursday started out nice and slow, and stayed nice and slow. Billi dropped off a ‘loaner’ vacuum that we can use until ours gets here, and she gave good instructions to me & the kids on how to use it. Very helpful. And very nice to have a sweeper again!!!!!!  I finally gave some piano lessons too, and Tori froze some zucchini for me. Josh was a good helper!

 

Friday we woke up to pouring down rain – all told we had .6” by the time it ended. Which was good for the garden and crops, but which was NOT good for the Precision conference!! I thoroughly enjoyed my morning there in spite of the mud (heehee just took off my sandals and went barefoot); there was a LOT of fascinating information presented. For example, I was amazed by a measurement tool (can’t remember the fancy name) that the R&D engineers invented which measures soil compaction. Which is important because soil compaction directly impacts seed germination and root development. Listening to all these speakers using these scientific terms reminded me of my college days; although I never took any agronomy classes I imagine these sessions weren’t very different. Very very interesting. Also it was fun to meet some of the people that I hear about so often. With Dad, Levi, and Jesse all there at various times and doing various things with various people, I hear lots of stories and names. Not that I’ll remember them all, but it was still good to put some faces to the names. I’m glad my men enjoy their work and co-workers. They work for a great company which is doing a great service to growers – building great products which are helping them to get more yield (crop)($$$) from their available resources (soil).

Friday morning while I was gone, kids did Friday jobs and played. Since it’s still terribly hot out (upper 90s), they’ve been spending some time in the basement. Kate put new batteries in these old trucks (old as in Levi played with them) and they are now working like new.

 

This truck is from Keystone, where Dad worked before OSF, which was when we lived in Morton, which was 15 years ago. And it’s still going strong! Yay for sturdy toys!

Then yesterday afternoon I came home quite tired (which I couldn’t figure out because we didn’t do that much walking)(used a gator), and it wasn’t long before I developed a nasty stomachache that kept me in bed all afternoon and evening AND kept me up much of the night. No vomiting or diarrhea, but extremely painful cramping. Don’t know where it came from or why, but I’m ready for it to leave already. It seems to be some better today, but I’m still moving very slowly and eating only plain toast and chicken broth. The good news – I lost 5# already! It’s definitely not my preferred way to diet, and NO it has NOT been a fun 24 hours, so I guess I can rejoice in the one good thing that came of it! And hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!  And if not – I will rejoice in my (otherwise) good health and pray more fervently for those who do not have the gift of good health.