Still here and there

Our grandson likes to follow daddy on the bench at church softball

I am still in Manitoba for a few more days, been busy with a number of things, getting ready to teach English  a week after I get back, hanging out with the kids and grandkids, rearranging the house.  Three Four (I forgot Max is home from university for the summer) twenty-something guys have strange ideas on ideal living- the kitchen couch is back in front of the stove "where you (they) can sit and watch your (their) food cook."

This week was the annual French farm tour days, on the first day it started pouring as the picnic lunch was about to be served, so it moved inside the new gym. I helped stuff take home bags on day one- full of promotional items from ag groups. Yesterday the sun shone, so they ate and played outside after learning about dairy farming. Highlights for the kids? Trying to hand milk a cow and feeding calves with bottles.

The help eats too, I am wearing a purple shirt

There they are (Garry sent it but I haven't been on the ball)

Meanwhile Garry is busy in Ukraine with his hay (really straw, that's what's going under it) shed building project. There were photos of them making posts in the last blog post. The students were digging  post holes on Wednesday. I heard that they had half the posts up on Thursday and were putting the rest in today. I don't know when Monday they were getting a crane in to lift the rafters in place, but Garry has promised me photos, so I will update this post when I get them. They got four up before Garry left with Victor to pick up the new (to us) van in Germany.

Garry in a better field

The difference between a field that was plowed vs. disced last fall
The better (taller, greener) side was plowed

I got photos of the fertilizer too! one...

Two... yes that's Max Rudei... If you are wondering
this part of the field has not been worked in several years
the main part is the green in the distance

Meanwhile he is still wanting rain. I was talking to him earlier in the week while a thunderstorm rolled in, but he thought it was going to miss them again, Lightning, thunder and a few big rain drops. He told me that they were going to do something new- fertilize the irrigated corn field by adding it with the water this week.

Three...Looks very high tech in the photos

Apparently there was a good rain last week, but that only fell on half the fields. We have had no significant rain since March he tells me, so the corn fields that did not get rain are looking really bad and the ones that did look good in the morning before the hot sun beats down and curls the leaves. He says the corn is shoulder high in those fields.  Sunflowers look a little better, they are more drought tolerant.