Well, the deed is done! Jesse and Andrew are married, and it really was a wonderful day.
I can't believe how lucky we were that we didn't get a hard frost until the night of the wedding. The grass stayed green all through the end of summer with the rains that kept coming, and the flowers in the garden are still in full bloom. The wedding was in town at the church, but all the photos were taken outside - most of them in the yard here, or across the road in the pasture with the cattle and Jesse's horses in the background. The whole wedding had a real harvest and country flavor.
The house here has just been over-flowing with noise and confusion for the past week or so. Our son Wayne and his wife Jacqui, along with their family, a six year old girl, a set of three year old twin boys, and a five month old infant, have been staying with us. they made the trip from Australia for the big day and are staying for the whole month. It's lovely to have them, although getting used to toys and noise after spending the past three years in the peace and serenity of a no kid environment takes some adjustment. The way I see it, they'll be gone too soon and I'd better enjoy rocking babies and coloring pictures while I can.
Harvest is off to a pretty slow start. The farmers were going great guns over the Labor Day long weekend, but then the rains started and the fabulous crops began their slide in grades and worth. Being so busy with wedding plans, I had been unaware of how little combining was actually done, but friends at the wedding dance were saying that they weren't even 25 % done yet. The next trip I made to town I took note of the unharvested fields and, sure enough, there is a lot out there - and the stems are starting to break down which makes picking it up with the combine all the more trickier. I've also heard that a substantial portion of the crop has sprouted which is also a very bad thing.
Glen had taken a lot of time off to prepare for the wedding as well, so he is back to work in the oil field to catch up on lost days. He has arranged for a neighbor to come and combine our barley so that he doesn't have to take more time off. They were supposed to be going yesterday but ran into all kinds of hold ups ( a very typical occurrence in harvest) and only got set up at dark last night. They should have been rolling this morning first thing, but again were held up with a soaking fog throughout the night. The temperatures are really high this afternoon so they should be going soon. We don't have much to do compared to everyone else, but it's still nice to have it done.
It doesn't feel much like fall out there. It's beastly hot and the steers are off their feed (their appetites pick right up after it cools down at night, but during the heat of the day they just go looking for shade to lay in). At least the colors are telling us it's September - and that's only since the frost on Sunday morning - the maples are gold and the sky is the powder blue that only September skies are. My porch smells like apples, I've more cucumbers than we'll ever be able to eat, and if those tomatoes ever begin to ripen, I'll have to make tubs of salsa and tomatoe sauce.
