MY BROTHER

This is MY BROTHER, the one on the left. Isn't he cute? The other two on the right of him are his first cousins. This was about 58 years ago. His birthday is Sep 9th so that is why I am featuring MY BROTHER on this blog. There has been many memories through the years. We were raised on a farm with loving Christian parents. There was just the two of us. There was always plenty of fun things to do on the farm. Lots of animals and pets and open spaces to run and play. Even the work seemed like fun. Time has gone so quickly, we both have families of our own and even they are grown and expanding our families. He has three wonderful children and I have 2 precious daughters as you have previously read.

This is MY BROTHER again on the left. The tallest one. He is about 6' tall. That's his wife next to him, me and my husband and our parents sitting on the bench. The big red barn is getting old. Many hours have been spent in that barn milking cows, feeding calves and tending to other animals. Now it is mostly used for shelter for part of the nurse cows over the cold ND winter.
There is also a area used to process the deer meat every fall. That big red barn also used to be the back up for when we played base ball. It would act as the catcher to stop the ball when the batter missed the pitch. I remember many of windows were broken out during those base ball years. Maybe a few were also shot by accidental B-B gun hits.

When we were children, MY BROTHER would often sneak bites from the bottom of my chocolate Easter Bunny and fluff up the Easter grass in the basket so I wouldn't notice until it was half eaten. MY BROTHER loved sweets and still dose. Well a couple years ago when we were visiting at Eater, seems we both had the same idea, we had purchased a chocolate bunny for each other as a surprise and both had taken a huge bite from the bottom of the bunny. When I said I had a special gift for him, he also got out the gift he had for me. You should have heard us laugh. Now those are special fun memories.

This is MY BROTHER decorating a Easter egg.

This is our family, MY BROTHER again at the left, the tallest one. My parents in the middle and me to the right.

MY BROTHER helping with the Christmas meal, carving the turkey!

MY BROTHER loves pop corn. Here he is with a big bowl of pop corn balls.

Again, MY BROTHER to the left. He loves to hunt! He has hunted for many years and usually gets his prey. He hunts ducks, geese, pheasants, coyotes, fox and deer.

MY BROTHER showing off the nice rack on this buck he shot.

MY BROTHER with another Buck deer.

MY BROTHER , again to the left, works hard. Him and my nephew to the right have taken on almost all of the farm work. My father still helps some during harvest.
MY BROTHER has to bale up over 700 big hay bales for the winter feed for the cattle.

MY BROTHER runs one of the combines when my father isn't in it. My nephew runs the other one. Mostly MY BROTHER is in the grain trucks.

MY BROTHER on his way to the grain bin to unload the golden ripe wheat.

This job keeps MY BROTHER very busy during harvest. The trucks are not very big so have to be unloaded often and quickly driven back out to the grain field.

MY BROTHER unloading the golden ripe wheat.

MY BROTHER in the combine giving my grandsons a ride and telling them all about the job of the combine and how it works.

MY BROTHER lifting one of my granddaughters so she can peek

at the wheat in the grain truck.

MY BROTHER taking time from his busy harvest to show my daughter and grandchildren the heads of wheat, hand rubbing some out to let them see the grain kernels and let them taste the wheat. My grandchildren just love him and all the attention he gives them. He will make a wonderful loving grandpa one of these days.

I love MY BROTHER and wish him a very special Happy Birthday.

I pray that God would bless him with many healthy happy years.

Labor Day weekend wedding

It has been quite some time since I have blogged! We have been gone to enjoy the wedding of My Niece. We are back to work now with school started and getting the bus route planned and down to a art. It seems like just when we think that we have it down, we are assigned 2 or 3 more students to either pickup or take home. It keeps us alert and after the first week it gets much better. Labor Day weekend was a busy but enjoyable time. Our whole family, except for one, our youngest son-in-law who had to work, gathered together in ND to celebrate the marriage of our Niece and her boyfriend of 6 years. Above is the group picture, not the best picture but at least you can get an idea. All these people started from a marriage 61 years ago of my parents sitting in the center. They had two children, My brother and myself.

This is at rehearsal, the bride and groom with the paper plate of shower ribbons. Rehearsal went very good. There was laughter and emotional tears.

The rehearsal supper was in my brothers (the brides father and mother's) yard. what a beautiful evening and a beautiful yard. Lots of mowing and clean-up went into the preparations.

My Husband and oldest son-in-law did a great job with grilling the many hamburgers, brat wurst and hot dogs. There was plenty of food and a lot of visit time to get acquainted with new family members and the wedding party.

After the meal, a fun Bonn fire was lite and roasted marshmallows and smores were enjoyed by many. They even had fireworks and sparklers for the children. The weather couldn't have been better for a great evening under the star's.

Hear is a picture taken at the rehearsal. Below is the same part of the service but at the actual wedding. The pastor did a wonderful job and as it should be, the marriage was centered around Jesus and how He is the center. This message was meaningful to everyone in attendance, not just the bride and groom. We should ask His guidance and will for everyday of our lives.

Our two lovely daughters sang this wedding Hymn. Gracious Savior, Grant Your Blessing. What a beautiful job they did singing acappella. The words to this prayer are so very special. I wish every Bride and Groom could pray this Hymn from the depths of their heart.

Their wedding rings on the page make it even more meaningful. The roundness of the ring symbolizing eternity and how marriage with Christs help will last through out this life time on earth.

You can also see the pencil marks on the Hymn to help my daughter's as they sang. They sang all 5 verses as the unity candle was being lite.


This is the mother of the bride. She looked almost as pretty as the bride. Her gown was absolutely gorgeous with just enough sparkles to make it shine. She didn't even look tired but I know with all those wedding preparations she had to be exhausted.

All the flowers and decorations were fall colors and theme with a lot of wheat and cat tails used at the reception.





This is a picture of the bride. I love the serious look as she contemplates the life long commitment she is about to make.

This is My parents with the bride, their granddaughter. They both looked so nice. Here you can see how beautiful the bride was and her lovely gown.

Here is the three generation picture with My father in center, My brother at the right and my nephew at the left.
Three very special people in my life!

Here is the bride with her older sister who was a very big help in many areas of preparation and planning of this special day.

The evening ended about 14 miles away for the reception. It was beautifully decorated with lights and fall leaves, wheat and cat tails. The cake was beautiful but simple with their small initials and the large letter "R" for their last name.

September 1st was also my mothers 86th birthday. After the wedding toasts they surprised my mother with a birthday cake and everyone singing "Happy Birthday" My Mother and father will be celebrating 61 years of marriage on September 11. My father will turn 89 on September 20th. What a special blessing from God and a wonderful example for all of us.

The following day was gift opening and the last gift to be opened was very touching. It was a special photo album that My mother, her grandmother had kept from the time she was a new born baby. My mother had also done that for our two daughters. Lots of special memories.

Wow! look at all the wrappings from the gifts. They finished the afternoon with opening the many cards and greetings from friends and relatives. It was so much fun to all be together.

The older we and our children, grandchildren get, the less and less this is apt to happen.

Every one goes their own way, to their own homes and jobs, but we take these special memories with us! THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

No end to all the Weed's

This is the dreaded dandelion weed. Actually, some people don't count this in as a weed because of the pretty yellow flowers and the green leaves that are eatable. They can sure cause some problems in a yard though. This area of our lawn is in the hot (very hot) sun and is not as thick as it should be. This hot summer took a tole on our front South yard and now with the recent rains the weeds are really taking over that area.

I have been picking a lot of weeds lately, seems like hours and still it seems like there are so many. We have had a lot of rain lately and the weeds have really shown up. They are also easier to pull out of the ground when the soil is wet. I'm sure many of you will recognize many of the weeds I am about to show you and talk about and relate to my weed problem. The weed above, is the most prevalent in our lawn right now. It starts so Innocent and small, but in just a few days it will be as big round as a dinner plate killing and chocking out the lawn under it.

We don't have many of these painful, prickly thistles this year. But even 2 or 3 are too many, right? In the Word of God, in Genesis 3 verse 17 and 18, as a result from sin, God tells us, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field". He was not just talking to Adam and Eve after the very first sin but to all of us as well since we are all born sinners. Just as the weeds are everywhere and effect us all so is sin in all our lives. It is a good thing God loved us so much he sent a solution to our many sins, His only Son was the answer, John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Last year there were many of these weeds, lucky the roots are shallow and easy to pull out. This year there were very few, I found this sneaky pesty weed very close to the edge of our raised garden. Sometimes, just like sin, they think they can sneak into our lives without us even noticing.

This weed is one of those grass looking weeds that sticks and clings to your cloths or hair and it's hard to get rid of it, it hitches a ride to be secretly distributed to other placed. It is also like sin, I especially think of gossip with this weed, how it sticks with you and is spread secretly from person to person cosing many more problems and causing it to grow, grow, grow.

About 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a Garden show with question/answer time. This weed above, I think they called it a pig weed, is capable of producing many thousands of seeds and the horticulture specialist told us only a small percent of these seeds grow the following year. Many of the seeds will lay dormant for up to 7 years. So that explains a lot, why there are always so many weeds. You think you have them under control and they just keep coming back year after year. Kind of like our sin right?

This is creeping Jenny, It is very hard to kill or get rid of! I talked to one of our chemical companies and they said they have to be sprayed 3 times a year for 3 to 5 years to control their growth. This weed has the ability to twine around good plants and choke them and kill them.

Again, like sin twines around us choking us off from Gods Word, His Love and Forgiveness. If we are continually around sin, letting it grab us and twine around us, we could be choked off. It is only with His help, that we can keep the weed's in our life under control, but never gone. that's why we are thankful for Gods constant forgiveness through Christ Jesus.

As I was picking weeds, I noticed where our lawn was the thickest and healthiest, there very few weeds, that is more the answer then picking the weeds, keeping the lawn in good condition with water and fertilizer. The thicker the grass, the harder it is for the weeds to get hold.

You got it, just like sin, If we are healthy in our Christian lives, Bible reading and studies, prayer, attending Church and having a close christian relationship with other Christians we have a better chance at fighting off the sin (weed's) in our life. The more we neglect these very important things the thinner and weaker our lawn becomes and those weeds just start taking over. Once they have a hold, it is very hard to get rid of them.

Now that we have had some moisture, we have noticed lots of little mushrooms growing. These also could be considered weeds if they are in your lawn.

I'm sure many of you recognize this weed! The hard thing about this weed is the root is so deep and hard to get out of the ground. unless you can catch it when it is just a new baby weed it is almost impossible to get rid of it completely. OK, by now you know I am also going to compare this to sin. If we let it grow and grow the root also will take hold deep in our heart and sometimes we don't even want to get rid of it!

Hear is another sneaky weed, growing as close to the edge of our sidewalk as it possibly can.
This one also has sharp stickers that hurt my hand when I try to pull it from the ground. You got it, just like sin, God certainly created weeds to remind us of our sin.

Hear is another weed that can grow very fast covering a large area and kill whatever is under it. It seems like weeds grow twice as fast as the good plant. A LOT LIKE SIN!

I often think about Ephesians 6 verses 10 - 18 God tells us to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. I will let you read the rest of it. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Fish! Fish! Fish!

This week my husband and I had the opportunity to spend a couple days at beautiful Custer State Park and do some long overdue fishing. The weather has finally cooled off. It was in the 60's at night and about 80 Degrees during the day. It is a absolutely gorgeous area with the lake nestled down between the Black Hills and big bull pines. I did not take my camera and It was more beauty then I could have even captured on a photograph. Wow, God sure has created some special places for us humble sinful people to whiteness. Some time I will take my camera to give you an idea of how special this place is. Stockade has now become my favorite Lake. My other favorite lake is so very low that it is hard to even dock the boat or safely boat around.

Here is a sight you can see some parts of Custer State Park http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/external.asp?url=www.custerresorts.com

The camp ground was very full but quiet. We woke up to 5 deer close by so we quietly watched them for quite a while before heading to the lake about sun rise. We caught a bunch of fish. We had to release a bunch as well due to the size limit on Bass is over 15 inches. We caught and reeled many that were 10 - 14 1/2 inches. Those are really fun fish to catch and even jump completely out of the water as you real them in towards the boat. They feel like such big fish and are hard to release. We also caught a lot of Northern Pike. Now they are big and so much fun to catch. They hit very hard and sometimes if you aren't using a steel leader they chump of the lure and are gone. They have very sharp teeth.

This is the bucket full of fish as we emptied them from our live well in the boat. The top fish is a nice size Crappie that my husband caught. Too bad we only caught one, they are good eating fish too. The next fish is the only 15 inch keeper bass, and I landed that one.

Here they are, most of them Northern Pike.

You can see that the Bass is 15" and the longest Northern Pike is 25 inch's. Most of the fish were caught using spinners, Yellow or green. I love fishing with spinners. My husband caught this largest Northern early morning with a top water lure as he was fishing for bass. Now that was a surprise when this big fish came up out of the water with the lure in his mouth.

This is a close up of the Bass and Crappie.

A close up of some of the largest Northern Pike. Next time I will take a picture of their big sharp vicious teeth.

My husband, bless his heart spent over an hour cleaning all these fish. We figure we got about 12 lb of fish. I won't even guess at the amount of heads, skin and insides that we had,and you ask what we do with all that stuff? We bury/plant it in several different holes in our garden. That's why our garden dose so good with growing blue ribbon vegetables. See blog below!

This is the difference in the fish filet's, This is the bass, the Northern in in the picture above.

We plan to take some of the fish meet to My parents in ND. They love fish and are no longer able to go fishing and catch them themselves.