Summertime

Grandpa with his happy little grandson! 

Thanks to neighbor Kenny for delivering us an orange-colored friend to frolic with our 2 female cats. His name, by the way, is TomCat. We hope to discover some little kittens creeping and crawling around the farmstead in a couple of months!

News flash: Our apricot tree is bearing fruit for the first time in years!! Tom thinks apricots make the perfect garnish to a gin on the rocks.

And I picked enough cherries from our tree to make a cherry pie for Father's Day! 

Chatsworth had an EF-0 tornado (65-85 mph winds) on Saturday. It cut a narrow path through town tearing out limbs, ripping trees from their roots, and damaging some homes. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries although I'm sure people were plenty frightened!!

I always want to throw a party. So when nephew Kurt and his bride Ashley made plans to visit IL, it became the perfect reason for an extended Schlatter family get together. 

And how about our great-niece, Yirenny (center), who is off to Harvard in the fall!?

Kathy and her grandson Zahony

Chillin' by the pond

The Funk family flanked by Grandma Jeanne and niece Shayna.

The gator and ATVs are always good fun.

Venny and I on the top of the grain bin checking out the view.

Dez and her daddy.

The weather prediction was for 60% chance of rain, but it held off while the kids jumped off the rope swing. 

Yoshanny and Xiony

Dez and Xiony on the gator!

A year later...eMerging from the pandemic in March

 

Charlotte at her 5th birthday party! Next thing you know she will be driving! It was a beautiful day with the Manieris and Selkows at Sugar Grove Nature Center!

March in Illinois = prairie burns! 

Who doesn't delight in a prairie burn, especially if you're a child under 10 (or a man pushing 70) and you need to bring over the garden hose as backup? 

Let's be clear, I was eyeing this old farm scale for the junk pile. Then Mick expressed interest in it...after which I told Tom that we need to keep and get it restored. I have pathetic moments as a human, I know.

Old Iron Powder Coating and Restoration in Chenoa fixed that old scale right up! Tom says they used the scale when he was a kid to weigh wagons of grain here at the farm. 

Surely you've seen the commercial where the college-aged son has barely moved out and his mother is seen wielding a sledge hammer to his bedroom? 

My new study has a fresh coat of paint - mostly done by me, and industrial pipe shelving - inspired by Tom. I have great respect for DYIers who have the stamina and patience that I apparently don't for such projects. 

It was great to finally visit Mom and Dad in Utica, NY! We got right to the important stuff like frying bacon for breakfast and having dinner at Ventura's. The bartender was so happy to see them that he delivered 2 straight up Manhattans to the table as we were sitting down! 

Mom and I stopped to sit a spell in the hallway.  

Here is Tom again, this time trying to save the oat seeder from the prairie burn. This is an annual exercise. I always thought prescribed burns are like painting a room - 90% preparation. Tom likes to burn first and see what happens! 

A photo emerged from Dan in Moab during a little snow storm. Mothers appreciate these gestures.

In my new role as part-time farmer, I help Tom with various machinery repairs. Have you heard? Being a mechanic gives one license to rattle off any number of swear words when things go wrong. A favorite line of Tom's is actually something that Craig used to say after learning what swearing was all about. "Shit, damn, fart!"   

This picture is from the inside of the grain truck. It shows 2 footholds and a handhold (notice the industrial pipe theme?). Now, if a person finds themselves left behind in the grain truck, they can climb out!

Looking for bolts. 

Tom is an excellent mechanic, in fact he is a perfectionist. However, perfection begets eccentricities. His modus operandi is to get the project started and plan as you go. This is 180% from how I operate. I prepare all the requisite parts before starting a project. Not Tom. He will drill holes and then go off looking for bolts to fit in the holes. This is where I start muttering "shit damn fart." 

Truckin' and travelin' with BadAss Barb!

 

I learned to drive this truck at the local community college in January and passed the test to get my commercial truck driver's license. Well, I flunked it the first time because I couldn't get it parallel parked (who knew?)...but the 2nd time was a charm! Now I feel comfortable and safe driving our grain trucks for farming! 

We visited Karen and Joel in February in Gainesville, FL. They are expecting a baby in May!! Here we are on a hike at a state park. Below is a picture of them with their cat on the back porch. 

Mark and Diane Kerber have a great place in Ft. Myers Beach. It is a 2 block walk to the beach, and a short walk to the downtown area. They ride bikes all over the island. We really enjoyed our visit!

A former Illinois State student of mine, Alex Harrison, works at Big Cypress National Preserve in southern Florida. He invited us to Gator Hook trail for a swamp walk. We didn't see any alligators on our walk, but we saw them everywhere else in the preserve. Alex said they usually stay out of sight if they hear or sense intruders in the area. At one point we were up to our chests in the swamp! Tom asked Alex how often he takes people on this walk, to which Alex replied, "um, we don't usually take tourists on this walk." 

Next we traveled to Key West to visit Tom and Carol, and Kelly and Thomas! We rode bikes, drank beer on Sunset Pier, and ate wonderful food prepared by Chef Carol.  

2021 here we come!

We decided to take a road trip over the holidays. I've always wanted to go to Big Bend National Park in Texas. On our way we checked out the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City. You've never seen so many banjos under one roof! The banjo was created by enslaved Africans in Colonial America and the Caribbean. All kinds of music are made by them including African roots and folk, jazz, bluegrass, and folk music. I play me some clawhammer and bluegrass banjo. 

A ubiquitous oil pump on the Texan landscape! 

Big Bend National Park - in addition to being beautiful, it was sunny and 75 degrees!

Santa Elena Canyon was cut by the Rio Grande forming the border between the US (on the right) and Mexico (on the left).

Kayakers on the Rio Grande

Not much social distancing at this country bar in Alpine. It was open mic night. We had a ball and crossed our fingers, eyes, and toes that we'd stay healthy (and we did).

Sign at the entrance to a restaurant in Austin, TX.

We came home a few days early to beat the January 1st ice storm.  It was pretty, but we worried about the trees!

Humiston Woods hike along the Vermillion River.