Far Away And Long Ago

We got word and photo's of Dan from his far away post in Afghanistan. 

Here he is just before heading back "home"   from work on   July 4th.

This is of the same sunset background as an earlier photo but this one has the flag on July 4th.









Going to work on the bus                              Leaving work in the HMMWV

 













Dan and his cousin Ryan from Iowa met up in Afghanistan. 
                                                                                    Ryan had
messaged Dan that he was going to be in BAF and wanting to sell a guitar, so they called each other and "hooked up" at Ryan's B hut.  They were able to sell the guitar to one of Dan's friends.  Dan said it was nice to see Ryan, and apologized for the blurry image.  

     I  think it is pretty wild that they were able to get together.  Small world..... and not long ago (just over a year) this photo was taken at Ryan's parents house in Hills.

      Ryan should be heading home the end of this month after his 1 year deployment.  Daniel is almost 1/3 of the way done with his year over there.
     That is Dan in the photo below,  laying down some cable.   Just another day at work in Afghanistan for him.

 

     On a sadder note, this was posted on Facebook about an Iowa man from Ryan's unit, shot and killed on 7/9 ... just weeks before he was to come home.

http://militarytimes.com/valor/army-sgt-1st-class-terryl-l-pasker/6567860

Please keep all of our soldiers, men and women, Army, Air Force and Marine in your prayers.

      After my very long hard working day on the 6th, I was exhausted on Thur. the 7th.  I did walk the side pasture in the morning with Round-up and red flags in hand.  I was marking the holes which the dog had dug in an effort to uproot the ground squirrels last spring.  I wanted to be able to easily spot them while driving the tractor around to fill them in with dirt.  I was spraying any left over big weeds with the Round-up.  Kaysha was out walking with me, but soon became too hot, so went to lie in the shade of a tree. After feeding
Bambi and myself
lunch, I read my book in the lawn chair and took a nap.  This is what country life was like in John Denver's song... Life On The Farm.  Abbey captures this dream of farm life on the front porch rocking chair.  I helped Joe tear out part of the old manger to make a walk way.  Once he is home from his day job at State Farm.... he starts on his farm jobs.... one taxes his brain, the other his body. 

     Not long ago Missy fell into this pool, but she is back at it turtle hunting.  She is standing in an inch of water on a cinder block.  You can see the reflection of a lawn chair I put up to block sunlight and slow algae growth... not much help.

     One of the turtles is in the bottom right of the photo, by the slide.  The other is on the step where she is about to step.  You can see them both together in the green water in this next photo.  It turns green in about 4 days after I drain and re-fill the pool.  So I have given up.  The turtles and ducks don't seem to mind.

     Kaysha is a little more selective, preferring to drink cold clean water.  This is the second, smaller pool I drain and refill more often. 

     I also dump and refill this little bowl once or twice a day.  It gets frequent visitors.












     Friday morning was also fairly leisurely, with just a bit of mowing.  Courtney was here about 11:30 and the "fun" began.  We had to load Zorro to take him back to the U of I for his bimonthly Shock Wave Treatment.
It seems like such a long time

ago (almost a year now) when Zorro was ridable and would easily load onto the trailer.   We were pleasantly surprised by an under 10 min. loading time... and off to Champaign we went.  The treatment only took 5 min. but with the sedation time, we were there for about a half hour.  Reloading was not near as quick, taking about an hour.
     Brother has adopted one of the grain troughs for his day bed.  It has dried grass for the chickens to nest and lay eggs in, but they use one of the other two like this one.
     Cathy and Ralph arrived early evening, on their way back to Ohio.  We enjoyed chatting & tilting back a few cold ones.

     After Cathy and Ralph left Saturday morning, I finished up my second cup of tea while Joe hit Farm and Fleet and TSC.  I had spotted (nearly stepped on) a baby robin out in the yard during morning chores and moved
                                                      it to under the closest shade tree.
There was no worried mom to be seen.  Once Joe returned with needed supplies, it was back out to the barn to get some work done.  I checked on the baby robin and it was still there.  Both times I got close, it would yell and open it's mouth.  At noon I took Roni to Marj's to see what she thought about his progress dealing with his lameness.  He has improved the past two weeks, but still moves differently on his back right leg.  At this point we are going to try light exercise to see if that helps.  It will increase blood flow and loosen up any sore, stiff muscles. Once home, I checked on

the baby bird and finally decided to intervene.  I moved it again to keep it in the shade and gave it some drops of water, a worm (Not easy to find in the dry dirt) and a June bug.  Good thing the barn kitties sleep all day.
     I filled the holes that I had marked out in the side pasture with dirt while Joe did some mowing.  Then we hung

a gate, graded the dirt floor + added lime to the calf stall.  After that we finished walls in the third horse stall.  We continued hot tiring work through out the afternoon.











     Late afternoon I moved the robin to a cage because the barn cats were awake and out of the barn.  He really took to the store bought baby bird feed I've had in the freezer and fed him.    

     Abbey is at first fascinated by this new creature, but soon becomes bored by its chirping. 

After dinner I rode Roni for about 25 min. and feed the robin baby again. 

     Sunday morning I was sad to see the baby robin did not survive the night.  He had a proper burial in the manure pile.  After Church Joe and I worked out in the barn most of the day... and it was a scorcher.  At least we were out of the sun.  We hung both new stall gates, put in a floor board, added a ton (literally) of lime, packed it and watered it down in the third horse stall.  Then we re-vamped the manger that is part of the new stall.

     All the farm animals have really been drinking a lot of water, so I keep busy refilling buckets, tanks, ponds, and dishes.  The ducks are helping themselves to any water dish they come across, making a mess in the process.  I rode Roni after dinner for a little over a half hour.  He is doing great under saddle....like he never took two weeks off.

   
     I decided to ride Monday morning since it was going to get so hot. (105 with heat index)  I eventually took Roni for a lap around Becks.  He was wonderful.  Every now and then he hesitated, not wanting to go forward, but I gave him the slightest leg pressure and he continued.  He is turning well, stopping and starting well, and staying calm and relaxed.  Most of the time we walked... when I do bump him up to a gait, I get different speeds and some bouncy stuff.  So I need to work on that with Marj's help.  I continued
                                                     cleaning, sorting, organizing, and
setting up stuff out in the barn.  Joe worked for a bit out in the barn, and then we were off to Growth Group.  Linda made her really tasty scones.... our study and fellowship time was good too.   This pile of boards came from old barn doors and the dismantling or cleaning up of other stuff out in the barn.  It was being used to build new walling in the stalls.

     Tuesday I decided to give Roni and my tired knees a break.  It was already sizzling at 8am.  I hand weeded around, fertilized and watered the 23 pine trees planted last spring.  After Bambi's feeding, I was in for lunch, Blog work and a nap.  The trouble with air conditioning.... it is hard to leave the house on days like this.  I should
have at least cleaned house in
preparation for Courtney staying here next week while we are in Michigan.  I did more weeding and watering in the afternoon and continued barn clean up and fix up with Joe's help.  The result of working so hard on one project, is that other things get neglected or fall to the way side.  After mowing, the chickens love to pick hay seeds from off the mower deck of the tractor.  What a helpful crew.

     We got much needed rain over night and this morning.  I even slept in because the sun was not beckoning me to get up.... although I heard the rooster crowing and ducks quacking.  I didn't do much worth mentioning, except more clean up out in the barn and mowing.  I rode Roni during dinner time since Joe was golfing.  This time we had fun going down to Brian's and back.  Then it was off to Marj's to help her son Adam release Bambi.

Adam rescued him from beside the road a month ago.  Now Bambi has a beautiful 80 acre woodland with other deer to live in and with.

 

Bambi was a sweet and gentle creature that we all enjoyed.  He and Adam and the rest of us all took a second look back.... who knows when our paths will cross again.
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