Dear Reader,
What a summer! July and August have flown by and it's nearly Labor Day! August was a beautiful month with the most wonderful weather! And the entire Fam visited me in early August. The weather was perfect during the entire visit. We had so much fun!
Before we get into all the photos of the family on the Land, I want to share with you some of the pictures from when Chris Henkel brought his grandsons out to fish. Chris has come out a few times before when they were smaller, but this year he was here twice and the kids had a ball! Chris and one grandson caught some big ones! The last picture in the first row shows what I think is dicamba damage to a once-healthy field of corn. Dicamba is a bad chemical that Monsanto and others are bringing back to fight the super weeds. Dicamba is a very volatile chemical that drifts easily. This year there are a LOT of chemical violations - probably most of which will not reach the Illinois Dept of Ag's office, and will be settled between neighbors. But this is what Dicamba does. The idea is to use Dicamba to kill the super weeds that the other chemicals have ALREADY created through years of spraying. My only thought is: What kind of super weed will Dicamba produce? For, Dear Reader, it WILL produce some horrific super weeds given a few years. All in the name of making lots of money for the chemical companies, and making lots of people sick down the line. I guess you know how I feel about the tremendous amount of spraying that is going on in the name of producing food. Think what these companies could achieve if they worked (as the organic people do) to grow delicious food without chemicals! And yes, again, Dear Reader, it CAN be done, and IS being done. (There's just not enough money in it for the big guys.)
Some egrets came to visit the Land, too. So I have included pictures of them also. The blue heron seemed to welcome them. The last picture in the second row shows the natives that are coming up around the "frog" pond.
And then the Heim Five arrived! Oh, what a fun vacation! It was all about fishing as you can tell. I told Angela after they had been at the cottage for about half an hour and Jeff was already out fishing, that this really was Jeff's Fishing Vacation. She agreed!
All the pictures are pretty much in order. And there are a lot of them, as any proud Grammie would do!
The pictures of Katie and Chloe in Row 9 show them making a fort entrance in the back of the house where there is a little secret place. They made a "fire" with some small sticks on top and yellow colored leaves to look like the fire, with red apples they found for the "ember" look. Grammie was very impressed! What imaginations!
Katie, Chloe and Jack all got to touch the fish that Jeff hooked and that was quite the experience. Then they all caught a fish, especially when I found the little fishing pole and Dave Haury came (and helped them along with their Daddy). Katie stayed by her Dad's side and caught many more. She seems to enjoy fishing the most. But Jack and Chloe were thrilled to finally reel in a fish!
David Vanderbilt came over to visit (Ken was in Florida). He brought donuts for the kids and they were a hit!
But the most fun were the bonfires and the kids discovering the willow tree's long branches (thank goodness Dave Haury did not have time to prune them up like I wanted!). They swung back and forth late into the darkness and then more swinging each day! They had a special fort under the branches, too. Hours and hours of fun!
And then, before you knew it, it was time for them to leave. So sad! I cleaned house for a little bit after they left at 8am, then decided to relax on the sofa and woke up 2 hours later! I think I was worn out! But I wouldn't trade that visit for anything!
About a week later....the huge willow branch that the kids were swinging on.......came crashing down!! And then a little while later, the last huge branch came down, too! (see last pictures). So relieved the big branches stayed strong while those three little munchkins were swinging on them!
The farm house has been made to look like a hunting lodge and its nearly complete. There is a hunter who has recently looked at it, and he's coming back to see it next week. I have mixed emotions about selling both farms, but we'll see what comes of all of this.
Dave's huge totem is in the barn at the farm - and that's another crazy story which includes our neighbor out there - Ted Miller . But we finally have totem resting in the barn until Dave can build his own cabin.
All in all, life is speeding by with lots of great adventures. And isn't that the way we want to live, after all?
Enjoy this beautiful weather, dear Reader. It is amazing!