July 18

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

This was Jackson and Brianna's 8th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  A lot has happened in those 8 years!  They are a wonderful couple and have a beautiful family.  We are so proud of them and love them soooo much.  They sure look good (still!) together!  :) 

We babysat the boys so they could go to 1000 Hills restaurant to eat supper.  Then they went to the rodeo at the fair (this was the official opening night).  

Mav didn't want to make a special supper - he just requested deli ham, peas and boxed mac and cheese... ugh.  But hey, he was happy.  So that is what we did.  :D

 

Mav had gotten Jonathan to take him downstairs to the ‘new’ old toys storage area and he found this truck and helicopter.  That was quite the present back in the day!  The boys saw this toy in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and it could only be bought at Hess gas stations - which are only in the southeast.  This must have been 2006 because we finally got Matt and Lindy to get one for us and bring it here when they came for Jennifer’s Truman graduation.  Still works!  Jonathan put a new battery in the helicopter and it worked!  Mav was pretty excited about it all. 

Eat a little, play a little... :D

After supper we went outside to play with bubbles. I had gotten him a new set to accompany the current set so that we have enough for two kids to play together.  However, the bubbles that came with it were cheap and didn't work well at all.  Not to remember - get the good bubbles or it just isn't worth it.  Mav was coming to me to show me that the big bubble maker doesn't work with the cheap bubbles... I'll get on that asap!!  :D 

Mav sure has a wonderful Uncle Jonathan!

He heard a plane up high but couldn't spot it

Marvin had been trying to get Carlile to sleep for awhile.  He would go to sleep then jerk himself awake and cry.  He had sucked down his bottle so fast - he was so hungry!  But I think it upset his stomach.  I went in to relieve Marvin and was able to finally get Carlile to sleep.  Sweet snuggly boy...

As long as I sat there by him and touched him when he jumped, he slept pretty well.  :)  

More Haying

We ended up haying early this year due to the drought.  The grass wasn't nearly as high as we would have liked, but it was burning up so it was time to bale and get as much as we could.  We ended up with about half as much hay this season as last year.  So we are in real trouble.  Praying there will be enough rain over the summer to possibly get a 2nd cutting.  

June 4

Jackson was cutting hay and shared this photo he took of his view from inside the tractor.  Pretty spectacular.  This hay was baled on June 6 - see post and photos here...

June 12

Jackson was cutting hay in the 40 and I brought him some fries and a Coke.  It is so pretty back there.  

That's a good man right there.  

Jackson's view again. 

June 14 

This was the day to bale what Jackson had cut a couple days previously.  Jeremy was back in the skid steer and using the grapple to pick up the bales.  That worked so well.  Really thankful that the fellas don't have to do the old fashioned way of walking along and picking up each bale and heaving it up to the trailer.  Jackson was making bales and Jonathan was raking.  

Jackson

Jonathan - he was raking in some pretty rough, bouncy ground there. 

Jackson 

Our tractor was doing wonky things with the fuel gauge
so we had to bring some to the field for Jonathan. 

Jackson's view

June 15

Jackson cut more grass this morning.  He and Alan were going to do big round bales of this (and other) hay.  Again, we only got about half of what we needed.  It ended up just being 8 big round bales and one tiny round bale.  This drought is awful.    

Alan baling and Jackson raking. 

Jackson's view

Video June 13 and 15 - Pool deck and haying

Building stalls

The fellas have been working hard on building out the stalls in the new barn.  These will be the larger, foaling stalls and Jackson intends for this to be the breeding barn. They are doing all the inside work themselves and I am quite used to the sound of hammers going for many hours.  :)  One thing Marvin noted that is quite impressive about both Jackson and Jonathan... when they get tired of hammering with one hand, they just switch to the other!  Completely ambidextrous on that.  Marvin laughed and showed them how he hammers when his right arm gets tired... he just has to use both arms together!!  Both Jackson and Jonathan have always been able to interchange hands on most tasks.  I find that amazing - I can't do much at all with my left hand.  

Anyway, on to photos of some of their work.  It is really coming along... and in the midst of all the other jobs they are doing here at WCR (and beyond!).  

May 18

I really like these new stall fronts from American Stall.  

May 22

I went down to the barn to check on the boys and they have really been working hard.  Look at all they have done.  This is looking so good!  I love seeing them working together and am thankful for these wonderful sons. 

I was chuckling on this day because I was hearing hammering coming from about every corner of Willis Creek Ranch.  Marvin was working on the back deck and the boys were working in the new barn.  :)  I decided to walk down and take a look at their progress and smiled at the sound of their hammering. 

May 30

The boys have made more progress on the stalls in the new barn.  You can begin to see how it will have 3 large foaling stalls on the right and 2 on the left.  Looking good!