I can’t believe the last time I really wrote anything about what the heck was going on was in October. So much has happened since then.
Some not so big things…and some quite large.
And I struggle with the whole catch-up scenario. But, I must. I need to finish out 2019 so I can pull the entire year together and get printed.
So…let’s just get started. See where it goes and how it goes.
We got through the fall harvest. Jim and The Beast went one way and I went another. A local farmer/friend of ours hired me (again) to run their combine. So we were still in the world of harvest, just not together. Jim finished mid-November and I was only a few days behind him.
Nora was supposed to spend the day with me in the field. But we didn’t work, so she spent the day making me look beautiful instead. …and we went to the park to play. Colten and Taylor’s “diaper keg”. What a great evening!!When the sun went down, it got pretty chilly so we kept the fire good and hot!Putting the Cottage on Wheels in its winter home. Jim and The Beast in action. Thanks for the pictures, Joe!One of the final sunsets from the cab of the combine (for me).After the corn was finished, it was time to clean everything up and put away for another year. Backing the corn head into its winter home.
We had been invited by MacDon to attend their 70th anniversary dealer and staff meeting in Phoenix. We both wanted to go but knew there was no way if we were still in full harvest mode. The meeting was a week off and we were both done. So, we decided to rent a car and drive to Phoenix.
We saw beautiful sights and had a wonderful time. It was an awesome way to end the 2019 harvest season!
Making our way into The Arches National Park – Moab, UT.After this picture was taken, we got back in our car and headed for Monument Valley. I got online and rented a cabin for the night. It was pitch dark when we arrived. The next morning, I opened the blinds to this AMAZING sight! 👇The view from inside our cabin. “Our” cabin. Jim was thoroughly soaking up the beauty of the morning. From Monument Valley, we made our way to The Grand Canyon. 👇The Desert View Watchtower is a 70-foot-high stone building located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The view from the top of the tower. I told him to smile….Arrived in Phoenix after dark.The first day of the MacDon event included a tour of a gold mine. Of course he went around to the back of the buildings. What took him back there in the first place? Was it the propane tank or the dirt bike? 🤷♀️Making our way to the Dolly Steamboat for a lunch cruise. Sharing our table with friends – Jim and DeAnn Deibert. The MacDon equipment show. That’s a whole slug of Jims (and one that probably wishes he was). The evening meal took us to the Corona Ranch and included Mexican food and a rodeo. Waiting for the rodeo to start with Mark and Candi Rathe. Gene Fraser of MacDon. The second day began with a tour of T & K Red River Dairy in Stanfield, AZ.The day ended with our final meal together at Chase Field. And, of course, it included the infamous MacDon bagpipe players. Checked out of the hotel the next morning and began our trip back home again. Just one of many sights on Highway 66.
Taylor was due November 30 but knew she wasn’t going to be allowed to wait that long to deliver. Her doctor told her he felt she needed to be induced (due to her pregnancy being labeled high risk because of her blood pressure) on November 25th. We got back home from our Arizona adventure on the 23rd.
Layne Parker was born at 9:31 on November 27th. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5″ long. When Colten let me know the baby had been born, he didn’t tell me if it was a girl or a boy. He said to find out, we had to go to the hospital to see them (this was after a very long labor and c-section). I told him Taylor needed to rest. So, we went up that evening. This was not a very nice thing to have done to an excited Grandma!
When we entered the room, we were greeted with a baby and a bow…it’s a girl!
Taken on Thanksgiving (in the hospital).Our little Gloworm. They’ve come a LONG ways since my babies were under lights for jaundice. Nora turned five on December 5 – her “golden” birthday. I got to go have lunch with her at school on her birthday. We inked her up for a Christmas ornament and for a page in her baby book. She was NOT happy with us!Nora’s 5th birthday party. Round two of many more elementary Christmas concerts. I helped at Eli’s kindergarten Christmas party. So much fun! ❤And later that day, we watched Nora’s preschool Christmas concert. One day while Taylor came over to hang out, I talked her into helping me wrap presents. Jamie’s 34th birthday. Still Jamie’s birthday but we made Christmas cookies to be decorated the next day at Gramma’s house. The traditional cookie decorating on the afternoon of Christmas Eve at Gramma’s house. It was so nice outside on Christmas, we walked to the park to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine. Christmas with the Rathe’s.Baby Wayne (as the kids call her because they can’t say their “L’s” very well) – one month old.
And, finally, this concludes the last few months of 2019. Thank you for following our journey. 2019 was one very long year filled with challenges, adventures and lots of love! See ya in 2020!!!
I didn’t have time to prepare for the last day of wheat harvest 2019. It just happened.
The last time I was in the combine, cutting wheat, was Friday, September 6. It seems the weather pattern is in some sort of weirdness where it rains every Friday. (It’s supposed to rain again in two days – Friday.)
If I had known this was going to be the last day I was going to climb the ladder and watch that header cut my favorite crop, I would have done things a whole lot differently.
I would have prepared my soul for the last acre. I would have soaked it all in a bit more. I would have taken a few more pictures.
