It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on the blog so I thought I would just share some odds and ends from the last part of the summer.
Henry Doorly Zoo (July 21st)
In July we met Emma and Aaron at the Zoo. Jillian was visiting in Nebraska then and she wanted to go too. She invited her good friend Kelly and her son Sully. . . such a quiet, easy going little guy. The Henry Doorly Zoo is so large it would be difficult for just Ken and I to do it in a day, but with little ones and the July heat we there for most of the morning and then had to leave. I know Emma enjoyed watching the monkeys but I think her favorite thing to do was walk through the misters. Oh, that feels good on a hot day. While we were there we ran into Megan, Steve, Bubba and Berkleigh.
I think everyone had a good time and we talked about going again, maybe when the weather cools down.
Burwell Rodeo (July 29th)
We made it to Burwell for the Saturday night rodeo. It was a quick trip, drove back late Saturday night/Sunday morning. This is my favorite rodeo and it was great like always.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxw_Z5qMRvM&feature=youtu.be
Walks with Zelda
I’ve been working with Zelda on being on a leash so that we can take walks down the road. Then later, when she listens better, she won’t have to be on a leash. But the way it’s going so far, it will be quite awhile before she’s off the leash. I told Ken the minute you put the leash on her it’s like being tied to a pinball machine. She’s jumping, jerking, twisting, taking off in a burst of energy, then running back and almost knocking your legs out from underneath you. I tried using a choke chain collar on her, but she just wasn’t smart enough to figure out that if she would quit pulling on the leash the collar would loosen and she could breathe again. So Ken suggested that I try cinching a leash around her middle. That seems to work pretty good. When she starts acting like a pinball, I just hold the leash straight up and she does here little dance around in circles, then settles down and we are off on a walk for awhile. Every once and awhile she’ll have to stop to spin circles to see if you can get that leash off, but for the most part she’s getting better about our walks.
Eclipse (August 21, 2017)
Earlier in the month, Jamo had asked if Caleb could come out and setup for the eclipse since he was coming back from Las Vegas for it. We said sure, Aaron, Kalie and Emma were already planning to come out. I had talked to Nancy at Kelsey Ebke’s wedding and invited her if she wanted to come so she did. And she talked with Dennis the day before and invited him so we had a nice group of people out for the viewing. Caleb and his friend (can’t remember his name) had a camera set up that took a picture every 30 seconds I believe Caleb said. It was kind of an overcast day and unfortunately became very cloudy about 20 minutes before the full eclipse and the clouds didn’t lift until about 20 minutes after. So we didn’t get to see the best part, but it was just fun sitting out with everyone and chatting. We don’t usually get to do that, especially during the Steele Picnic so this was nice. Emma had a great time. She spent some time talking to Uncle Dennis. He doesn’t hear too well so when she was done he asked what she said because he couldn’t make out any of it. We told him she just jabbers right now, so he didn’t miss a thing.
More Livestock??
So a couple of years ago, when we first started talking seriously about putting up the Party Barn, I had found some playground horse swings that someone had for sale in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Ken wanted to get them put up before the Steele Picnic, and actually before the birthday party of Olivia Onwiler on August 26th. When Aaron was at our house, he helped Ken get started augering the holes and I helped him finish up later. Between the three of us, mostly Ken, the horses were rearing (pun intended) and ready to go by the time Olivia and her parents came to Steele Farm. I didn’t get any pictures of the party because we were giving horse rides in the corral, but when I did walk by it looked like the kids were having a great time. We had put the glider that Ken got at an auction over by the horse swings so that parents would have some place to sit and watch, and we put the bounce house next to the horses as well.
A lot of Olivia’s classmates from Blessed Sacrament came to the party. They and their parents were pretty excited about the kids getting to ride horses. JJ Onwiler was very hesitant about climbing on a horse, but after Ken got him up on McLintock and took him around a few times, with Peggy walking along side, he was ready to ride some more. Don and Peggy had to do some good parental talking to JJ about facing his fears. Between that and Ken’s reassurance that he wouldn’t let anything happen, JJ ended up having a great time. . . . along with all the others.
Nebraska State Fair (August 28th)
We had a great time at the State Fair this year. We decided to go on a Monday and there’s not a lot of people or events going on then like the draft horse competition we usually like to see, but we found another horse event that we really liked. It was the Ranch Horse Sorting. We did walk around some but spent the better part of the day watching this competition. I like that the playing field is pretty even for men and women in this event. You need a good horse and hope that the cattle cooperate, which they seldom do. Some of the teams were just men, just women, mixed men and women and a few were husbands and wives. Of course you’ve got to consider that many times on the ranch, the wife has to help out with the livestock so the two of them work pretty well together. It was fun to watch.
There was another younger cowboy there that teamed up with his wife, and again with a few other ranch hands to compete a number of times. He had a medical problem with the right side of his body. His arm would jerk uncontrollably and so would his right leg if he didn’t keep it in the stirrup and keep weight on it. He had a tremendous horse, because even though this guy’s arm was jerking around the horse was trying hard to do what was expected of him. The more excited the guy became during the competition it seemed like the more his arm would jerk, making it hard for him to rein. In this event one person blocks the gate to keep the wrong cattle from going through while the other one tries to cut out the steer they want from the herd and move him toward the gate. This cowboy mostly chose to be the cutter. He did a good job in each of his competitions and everyone was quick to praise and congratulate him. I have so much admiration for these hardworking people who take time out from the farm or ranch to show their skills and have some fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIc39HKaLDo&feature=em-upload_owner
Brianne and Zac’s wedding (September 2nd)
We were thrilled to be invited to Brianne and Zac’s wedding in Fullerton. With Aaron and Kalie both in the wedding, Kalie a bridesmaid and Aaron an usher, we got to entertain Emma for a while. To kill some time we took her over to the park across the street from the Church and let her swing. She and Grandpa really got into it.
The Dance:
Later at the reception Grandma Darlene got to introduce Emma to all of the people who had heard so much about her and who had been keeping her in their prayers. It was great to see how excited they all were to see Emma for the first time.
Ken and I did a little dancing, polkas, waltz and two-step. One time we did a solo dance since no one else was dancing to Billy Jean by Michael Jackson. Ken told me that I must have really changed him because there was a time when we would never had gotten up in front of all those people to dance. I think it was a change for the better, don’t you? We had a great time!