All's Well that Ends Well

More projects were happening today at the Me-Mo (short for Meacham-Morrow) farm. I (Cris) didn't get much sleep today as I had to help... ok supervise... ok ok watch the workers.

The Page County rural water crew was on hand to place a relief valve (like a fire hydrant) in our yard today because the neighbor mowed the over the line across the road. Hey at least Karen doesn't have to take the blame for that lawn mower mistake.

Digging the hole for the workers.
(ok, it's really to move the cherry tree which was in the way)

Sure is a lot of work to move this much dirt.

The real hole digger.

More construction.

The hole that I dug to fix the water pipe.
They finally found the pipe buried 10 feet under ground!

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We did more storm damage repair yesterday and today. During the "Big Storm" a hugh tree limb flew out of the tree and landed on the electrical pole for the well. It broke the pole and damaged the wiring for the outlet and well pump. The electrician, with my help of course, worked for 2 days to fix the electrical problems. He put in a new pole, breaker box, outlet, and wiring. The rural water crew was even nice enough to dig our trench for the wiring. Finally we have safe power (the old wiring was done incorrectly and the ground wire was HOT!) and a working well pump and outlet. Our electrician was excellent!

The new electrical pole.

Hooking up the wiring.

Digging the trench for the underground wiring.

Finishing touches.

Horse and Kitty Show

The weather has been so nice here that Aspen and I (Cris) were able to go horse riding several times this week. Our last trip I took the camera to take some pictures of us and the scenery on our ride but... I left the camera in the truck. Here are "after the ride" pictures.

Aspen rode bare back with her new horse hair bozzel.

Aspen and Resa!

River and Cris.
River is smiling for the camera.

Cris' big boy River.
River got scared by a Donkey who he saw just standing in the field.
Sometimes he is quite a chicken for such a big horse.

The horses and their ride.

While we were unsaddling the horses and getting ready to go home Aspen heard a cat mewing. She told me I needed to catch it for her and make sure it was alright. I caught it and we removed all the stickers from the cat's fur. Once I handed the cat to Aspen she told me it was her cat and she wanted to take it home. With an offer of cleaning her room so the cat could live there (I think I've heard this promise before) I suckered and let her take it home to live outside. The cat lasted 2 minutes outside before it was living in the house with us.

Aspen and the "new kitty."

So far the cat says she likes the name Donkey.
I think she is just mocking River.

Batting Clean-up

This weekend brought a combination of yard work and watching pro football and baseball on TV.  The weather was drizzling rain and overcast, perfect for both types of activities.

Here is us (and Jared, of course) cleaning up the last of the limbs.  Now we just wait for the contractors to get here to do their jobs!

Loading the cart for hauling

Driving the cart to the woodpile

Making a new woodpile

Hey!  This is heavy!!!

Happy Karen!

I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay....

Lots more to go

Karen and Drake help loading the cart

Homecoming week! 22-8 win over Clark-Osceola

In small town Iowa football is big and homecoming is bigger!  All week long the high school students have been decorating their cars, the school and the town.  This afternoon was the Homecoming Parade and tonight was the Homecoming Game.  

Hi Grandma!

Aspen marched in the band, then ran to the back of the parade lineup and rode her horse, Resa.  Half the town goes to the parade and the other half are in it.  

Homecoming Parade

Cardinal Pride!

Freshmen normally don't get to march on the outside edge of the band, but Aspen got to today!  

Bringing up the rear

Aspen and Resa

At Parade Rest

The football stadium was packed ...well our side was.  The opposing team had seriously like 20 people.  

Cris and I are really enjoying being parents of a High School student.  Jared met us at the game and sat by us.  We also sat by Jen and Dana from the hospital (who are great fun!)

Medic 3...and before the game

Playing the National Anthem

The "Tunnel" for the football team

Halftime show

More of the halftime performance

After the performance...the band walks into the Cardinal Circle.  Aspen is in the middle

And Us being goofballs.....

Making an Entrance

The insurance assessor came this morning and looked at all the damage to the house and the property.  Once he saw everything, then it was time to get back to work.

Today we played demolition with the trellis at the front of the house entrance.  Jared and his son Drake helped out a great deal.  And to be clear, yes I did help too!!!  I just took pictures as we went.

Starting the tear down

It's shaky...it's not attached to the house at all!

tearing out the front

Banging away

showing Drake how to use the power tools

The posts are coming down!

Hauling it to the truck

Everything cleared out....

...And decorated.

Bonfire time!

Things that go Splat in the Night

Tonight was an eventful night for Cris.  We took a short trip to Shenandoah- She hit a deer on the way there and a coyote on the way home.  Both idiot animals ran into the road and there was no way to avoid them.  (By the way, if there ever is an animal in your path, do NOT swerve to avoid it.  More accidents happen from people trying to miss the critter than by hitting it straight on.)

Then, at home tonight....Cris went downstairs to the basement and a Ribbon Snake looked her straight in the eye with its beady little eyes.  (Did I mention Cris is much hateful of snakes)  Then it slithered right down past her on the stairs, while she screamed like a girl.

Snake According to Cris

Actual Snake Size

There was no way to get it outside safely without it getting loose in the house (soooo not an option) so she opted to chop its head off with a shovel and that was the end of her epic battle with the 20 foot (actually 2 foot) snake. 

Actual size of small spiders

 A few spiders have managed to make their way in the house (Aspen screams with each one from the tiniest spider to ones she swears are baseball size)  Any that are found...join the snake in a quick demise. 

Baseball