We love this summer weather, but we’re praying for rain. Our crops are suffering because of the lack of moisture. Wayne tells me not to make a fuss; God is in control.
Cleaning out the cupboards, sewing on a dress, and working on a paint order are on the agenda for today. On my morning walk, I noticed several things that need to be watered, so the girls can do that and harvest some things from the garden. They also need to clean the north end of the buggy shed. They have their stamping supplies set up out there, and it’s in dire need of organizing. They’ve spent many happy hours there. Sometimes a neighbor girl named Sharon joins them, much to their delight.
With Wayne and Brian both working off the farm long hours this spring, it created a challenge to take care of the crops. Brian was at home two days in a row so he could spray the cornfields. One such morning he was spraying, I was picking strawberries, and Karah and Emily were doing laundry. All of a sudden our peace was shattered with the sound of a team of horses come galloping up the lane!
From the sound I knew they’d hit the cement between the barns at full blast! I couldn’t see them because of buildings, but I moved quickly, praying instantly and constantly. I was afraid! Where was Brian? Were the girls out of the way? How would I stop those huge horses? Then CRASH! And all was quiet. With the force of the crash I knew if Brian had still been on the cart, he would have flown off now. As I rounded the house, I saw Brian coming up the lane, and he appeared to be okay. The horses and the forecart* were in the barn, but the sprayer was stuck outside the barn.
Whew! Relief! Brian was okay, and with some minor repairs on the sprayer and the barn door, all would be well.
Brian and my dad got the horses unhitched, hitched to another cart, and then they went several miles to a shop with haybines.* Brian said the horses needed work! I went back to the strawberry patch still weak from the excitement and filled with thankfulness that no one had been hurt.
These horses are normally not spooky like that, but when Brian left the forecart to raise the booms of the sprayer, they took off. We think they could only see the booms from the corners of their eyes and were startled, plus being well fed and full of pep they decided to head home.
June 2 was picked out for the day a group of us friends wanted to go to Fort Wayne to garage sales. I was excited because it had been 12 years since I had last gone. Most of the other women said their men were going along too. I tried to convince mine to go along. I figured the chances were slim to none because he figures that’s not something he would enjoy. When I mentioned it to him, trying to convince him to go along, he threw me off, giving me no satisfaction. Going to garage sales? Whatever!
Well, that morning I got up at 4:45 and got ready. The driver was to start picking up at 5:00. At 5:00, Wayne rolls over in bed and says, “What shall I do?”
I said, “What do you mean, ‘What shall you do’?” He perfectly well knew what he wanted to work that day. We repeated that several times when I discovered he was actually thinking about going along! I was astonished to say the least.
He went and we had a blast! The fun time we spent with friends was just as fun, or more so, than the garage sales. Now I want to go again. The bug bit me. But, alas, now I need to clean for church, garden, sew, and paint. Yes, life goes on without me going garage-saling again this week.
I didn’t buy peaches to can this year because they were pretty well golden. Sixty dollars a bushel for Baby Gold peaches, which is what I normally can. Figuring I get 25 quarts per bushel, that’s $2.40 a quart. By the time I add the sugar and can lids, I’d be pushing $3 a quart. We like the Aldi brand peaches, so that is what we will be eating this year. I did freeze Red Haven and Carolina peaches in small containers for lunches. Those weren’t quite so expensive. We like to make slush with frozen peaches, strawberries, and 7UP, but that will need to be limited this year.
It’s also the season of hobo pies and s’mores by the fire. It takes a lot of s’more supplies with growing children. Mom and Dad like them too. Our favorite is still the Ritz cracker, Hershey bar ones with roasted marshmallows oozing out the sides.
I used Max to go to town, and he does okay… except he doesn’t back up. That is a must in town—to back away from the hitching rail. Wayne must put in another bit to see if that will help. He’s got one tough mouth. Max doesn’t look like the same horse we bought. Feed and exercise have done him a lot of good.
We bought another horse named Daisy. I haven’t driven her yet. They say she backs up fine, stands good to hitch and at corners, and goes a good clip. She’s a sharp-looking little mare. We got rid of our old horse, Girl. She gave us years of service, but the older she got the ornerier she got. The children cheered when the truck came to get her because they had hated when we’d use her.
Brian says he will be home the next few days, so I’m putting him to work. The old, glazed-tile building needs cleaning out, except the area of the woodshed where the girls have their playhouse. There is plenty of trash to be burned and just general cleanup. He is one handy guy to have around.
The girls’ playhouse has changed to a store right now. Sometimes I go to the pantry to get an item I want and can’t find it. I’m pretty positive I still have some, so I search some more. Then it dawns on me, “Oh, it’s probably out in the store!” Jolisa is exactly as I remember myself at her age. Having a store was a huge dream, and I had one on our old back porch for a long time. Making paper money, signs… well, anything having to do with a store and paper, was a blast. I wonder how many receipt books I filled out for my pretend customers. I saved all the paper too—anything, for that matter, until my drawers moaned and groaned and bulged under the weight. I wish I could ask my mom some questions now. I’m sure of the fact that she would agree Jolisa inherited my jumpy busyness. I have slowed down though. Oh my, yes I sure have.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12 NIV). God’s promises are still that: God’s promises. Even in these perilous times we live in. He did not promise us all joys and no sorrows, but he did promise to be with us every step of the way.
For these last several months, it seems God has shut off all water faucets from the heavens. No rain period. Every morning the sun comes up gorgeous; every night the sun goes down gorgeous. A long time ago they said if we don’t get rain in the next few days the crops will surely fail. That was weeks ago and still no rain. Our corn has had less than half-an-inch of rain since the planting in May. You can only imagine what it looks like.
We do water the garden a bit, but does it justify the money spent on diesel to pump the water? I had thought the green beans looked decent because the plants were loaded with flowers. When I went out to pick the first picking, the bugs had eaten into many of the beans. As I picked, I threw away at least half of the beans. I promptly sprayed the plants and hope to harvest enough to can later. I’m guessing the insect’s food supply is low too, and they were searching for new delectables. The yellow summer squash plants died on me too. We’ve only gotten enough of those for one meal, and then it wasn’t enough for Wayne and me. We let the children eat them.
We had high hopes of feeding heifers again this winter with our own feed. We are again reminded of who is in control. We are just as children. We sometimes need to be reminded in a clear, loud voice and learn to be content as the Lord sees fit. I thank him for the reminder.
The week of July Fourth my sister Freda and some of her family from Oklahoma visited here for a week. During that time we had two big family reunions here, so we had cleaned the shop good for those days. Now for church in two weeks we only need to give it a good going over. That was the week of 110 degrees. Mercy! We did survive. It took a lot of water. The evening we had the Rabers (my mom’s family) here it took 25 gallons of water.
Since Freda was here she’s gained another granddaughter named Edna Irene. That name is mighty precious and gave me a fresh dose of longing to see my mom, whose name was Edna.
This morning Karah and Emily were again doing laundry. With cleaning for church, there is always laundry to do. It almost makes me sick though because it’s so terribly dusty. Cleaning seems to be in vain. Even the laundry comes back in from the lines dusty.
Halfway into laundry, the girls convinced me to wash the upstairs bedding, doilies, and curtains. They’d much rather clean the whites (sashes) of the windows. I thought they didn’t know what they were getting into. I’d much rather do the laundry then wash those whites. I took up their plea, and they did super.
This afternoon Karah ironed the doilies and some of the curtains while I washed the upstairs windows. The two girls put all the things back in place. They want to be stylish so they hardly have anything standing on their furniture, especially nothing childish. They were all excited because I finally took the time to paint some sayings and daisies on their walls. Now they sigh and say they still need to get rid of those girlie curtains. They really need something more mature. I should say so. After all, they are 11, 10, and 8. Mature indeed.
Yesterday I scrubbed and rewaxed the kitchen floor. After all the time and energy it took, it doesn’t feel clean as it normally does. I discovered because of the open windows dust had settled on the wet wax and dried into the finished product. It appears clean but is a tad rough.
I’ve had to think of the people in Kansas who endured the “dirty ’30s.” We might not have dust storms, but we do have a lot of traffic on our dirt road, including semitrucks, school buses, cement trucks, dump trucks, and hordes of other traffic. They don’t go slow just because I don’t like the dust. No, they’ve got places to go to in a hurry. I guess I’m thankful for that too. All this traffic means the world is going on, and people have work and places to go. But must they go so fast?
For supper tonight I used a grill basket to grill chunks of button mushrooms, green and red peppers, onions, pineapple, and smoked sausages. We love kabobs, but it is easier to just toss it all into the grill basket. I tossed a salad of cucumbers, cauliflower, and lettuce. For dessert we had fresh peaches and blueberries. Pure summer!
Last week one evening I made homemade tortillas. We filled them with grilled chicken breast strips, onions, peppers, sour cream, and BBQ sauce. These were delicious. They were also very simple to make and were filled with whatever we had on hand.
I told Wayne that with the cabbage ripe in the garden I want to make egg rolls again. Several of the children groaned, but I want them to give egg rolls one more chance. I didn’t like them the first time I ate them either.
With school starting before long, I will have some major withdrawal symptoms to deal with. Withdrawal from my girls. I’ll be lost without their help. It’ll just be Jesse and me. And Jacob, who cries outside the door if we ignore him for too long. I tease Wayne that he talks sweeter to the dog than he does to me.
Karah will be in the sixth grade this year, Emily in the fourth, and Jolisa in the third. Karah and Emily are growing like weeds, catching up with me. Jolisa is still quite a bit shorter than her sisters. She’s curly haired, freckled, and always bouncy. She’s gotten the brunt of washing dishes this summer. Jesse was to help her this forenoon, but finally she couldn’t handle his dawdling so she sent him on his merry way.
I wanted to treat the girls to a day in town before school started, so this morning I did the laundry. By 8:00, Brian, Karah, Emily, Jolisa, Jesse, and I went to the Shipshewana Flea Market to get school shoes and some dishrags I really like. We also loaded up on socks. We didn’t get much else. It all fit in one handbag, minus the shoes.
It was 12:00 by the time we were done at the flea market. We met my sister-in-law Nettie and her six daughters at East of Chicago Pizza for lunch. We had met them at the flea market, so we planned to meet for lunch. The children all thought it was a grand idea.
After a leisurely lunch we walked across the road to the fabric store. I bought fabric for Sunday dresses for Karah, Emily, and Jolisa. I also needed fabric for a shirt for Wayne and school dresses for Emily and Jolisa. By that time I was so tired I could hardly think straight. When I got out to the buggy, Brian informed me with emphasis that we’d taken half an hour. Way too long, according to him. He was very patient with me all day though. In fact, all the children did super.
On the way to E&S, the bulk-food store, the road was extremely busy, so I dreaded the thought of crossing the road to enter the parking lot and then to get back on the road again. That is a hazard we face going to town with the horse and buggy. We survived but not without stress. Our horse was extremely tired of waiting by then. We had to wait a while on a break in traffic, and then he was a bit unruly.
We traveled on to Dollar General to stock up on toiletries and cereal, and then we headed home. It was past 3:00 by that time.
There was laundry and groceries to put away, floors to be swept, a cape and apron to finish for a wedding that Colleen wanted to go to that evening. Plus supper to make, and cucumbers to harvest, and…
Then a neighbor lady came to ask if we would babysit her small son from 4:00 to 9:30 tonight. That turned out to be a big, major blessing because it put pep into the girls’ steps, motivating them to get their jobs done so they could play with Adrian.
I had to set the timer at five-minute intervals, two for work, and one for babysitting so all was done in perfect fairness. For three sisters born in three years and three months’ time, perfect fairness is very important. Luckily this little Adrian loves their smothering attention.
Supper was kept extremely simple. Toasted cheese with tomato sandwiches and muskmelons from the garden. The girls finished cleaning up the kitchen and are now spraying off the walks and some of the buggy wheels. Wayne is working on the silage chopper head again. Seems that thing gets lots of attention. He’s just making sure all is in perfect working condition for when harvest begins.
The girls also got their school supplies ready. I overheard them say that gathering their supplies does make them excited to begin another school year.
Tomorrow two of my sisters, two sisters-in-law, and my married nieces are coming for a cookout before school starts. I will need to get moving early in the morning to get some cleaning done and prepare the cook site. It’ll take a bunch of coffee to ward off this chill in the air.
Rain! We’ve had rain! Wonderful, amazing, awesome, fabulous rain! Get the picture? We felt unworthy when those first raindrops came, but how we praised God. The lack of rain was a good lesson for us. Now it seems to rain so easily. We should mow the grass every three days. The corn and hay are growing like crazy and looking amazingly different than several weeks ago. There is a lot of corn that is permanently damaged. It really depends on when it was planted. The weeds grow too. I don’t remember ever seeing so many weeds in the pasture, fencerows, and cornfields.