Knolltop Farm Wife

I'm searching for someone who reads my column in the Farmers' Advance. This person used to email me quite a bit especially when I went back to work for a short time at the paper. He gave me a lot of good advice and I wanted to contact him again, but unfortunately when my computer gave out last summer, it took all the email addresses with it! So now I'm hoping that man reads this blog and will contact me again. Thank you!

It's been like July the past few days here on the Knolltop. But I like it. Because we live in an old farmhouse we don't have central air. Our upstairs gets really hot during the day and as the kids climb the stairs to go to bed I hear grumblings about how hot it is up there! So this morning when I woke up and walked through the livingroom to make the coffee, there were two bodies on the couches who must have overheated upstairs. I remember as a kid having to sleep in a hot upstairs. We just put a fan in the window and went to sleep. I don't remember it being that bad. Speaking of being hot, Jake had another game last night and he was sweaty from head to toe. He was the catcher and when I looked at his hair I could see little grains of dirt mixed in with the sweat from when he throws his mask on the ground to scramble for the ball. When he puts the mask back on he has to empty out the dirt, but a lot goes right in his hair. Gramps and Grandma made it to the game a...

I'm making a plea to all Ayrshire breeders today. I have a young man in my 4-H club who wants to buy an Ayrshire heifer to develop. He has had Holsteins in the past, but wanted to venture into another breed. I've called and called and called but to no avail, I cannot find a heifer in the price range for this kid. He is very discouraged and wants to give up, but hope springs eternal! So if you know of anyone who would let go of a heifer please contact me at my email address. Thanks!

Well, I had another victory yesterday. Yes, I know those of you who know me well, will not believe this....especially my mom. I got the whole garden planted yesterday! The victory isn't the fact that it's all planted, the miraculous aspect is that usually I buy the plants that I plan on putting in and when I get home from the greenhouse I put them in the backyard until I get ready to plant. In the meantime, they get dried out and wilted then I have to bring them back to life a few times and then when I finally get around to planting them about half of them have died from heat exhaustion! Then I have to go back and buy more plants. But yesterday was different. Yesterday, I tilled up the ground then went to the greenhouse, came home and put them right into the dirt! I think that's a first for me. Now if I can just keep the chickens out of it!

Well, it's back to school and things as normal...well as normal as normal gets. It's a beautiful day here on the Knolltop and I've got some outside chores to do. I haven't planted one flower, so I ought to get that done and I haven't planted anything in my garden yet....but my 12 rows of sweetcorn are up! I think I'll have enough for us and the coons this year! Better get the kids going, they aren't going to want to move out this morning....I don't blame them!

So today is the day of parades, grilling out and rememberances. It's amazing to me what men and women have and are still willing to sacrifice for the rest of us. For our freedom people have been willing to stand in the gap. They've been willing to leave their homes only to head into a war zone to be shot at, to eat less than desirable food and work their tails off to protect this country and to hopefully provide freedom to other people. Most of us don't deserve this kind of sacrifice. We exploit our freedoms and take these wonderful heros for granted. My father was a in the Air Force and used to jump out of airplanes to help save fellow soldiers who went down in a crash or were in trouble for some reason or another. He doesn't elaborate on much, but has told us a few great stories. I don't have the slightest clue how scared he was or how much he hated it or if he enjoyed being a hero, he really doesn't take much glory in it even though he deserves it. ...

Well, I got all those sweet rolls done and baked and delivered. I found out this morning, I made a few too many, they had some left over. Better too much than too little! It's been a busy weekend, I've had teenagers galore over here for two days and now they've all gone home and taken two of mine with them! Just Jake and Sarah are left here. Tomorrow we'll watch Luke in another 3 on 3 tournament and JW will march in the parade with the high school band. I think we might try to get some dehorning in too....who knows. These holiday weekends kill me, I can't wait to get back to the mundaneness of the week days! Is mundaneness even a word?