We've been having a bit of a tough time here.  My human sister got married and we weren't invited.  We went to a KENNEL!  It was crazy in there.  Full of barking dogs, lots of smells.  We were ready to get out of there.

Then we took some friends on a walk down Old Elk Creek Road and Osker got covered in burrs.  His ears were stiff with burrs.  It took hours to get him cleaned up and he lost a lot of hair.

Then Dad decided we smelled like the kennel so we had to get baths!  Geez!

Now things are getting back to normal and we have some time to relax.

Mostly watering and mowing going on around here.  Folks are taking a break.

The guy who usually cuts and bales the hay got sick so our neighbor and Dad ended up baling for him.  120 bales this year that we give to a couple different ranchers.

 First mow on the new cover crop!  Looks like a hayfield, but it is helping keep the dust down!

FINALLY!!! Crusty is off the property!  We don't care where it goes or what happens now!  Mom got to sing her double-wide song:

Chorus:
Double-wide, double-wide
She waves goodbye with Dave inside

Party house for the last 8 years
Don't worry she sheds no tears

Musty & moldy deep inside
But all this time kept us warm and dry

Off to a new life, wishing it well
She's happy in her new house and out of that hell!

 My friends from Dad's college came to visit!  Eight of us went into the woods.  Two chain saws going, people hauling, bucking, clearing brush, and loading the truck!  One and a half truck loads in record time!  It was a beautiful thing!  The guys even unloaded, stacked, and split it!







Then we found out our friend Nancy LIKES to weed-whack!  She took Dad's heavy whacker and went at it!

Osker was showing off while they were here and caught a gopher.  


The half-a-wide is still here, but guess what??  The new owner called tonight and guess what he said???  He said he'll come get it TOMORROW!!!!

Yang, our naughty chicken had been laying her eggs in a secret hiding spot.  Mom kept asking me and Osker to "find it"!!!  We knew where she was hiding, but do you think we were going to tell when we could watch a bunch of humans walking all over the place clucking like chickens???  It was very funny!  Mom finally found the stash in a corner of the greenhouse!

I recently turned 4 and I must admit that Life is Good!!  I get 3 meals a day, still have my chair, and go to the creek each day.  So what's up with this new "out of the kitchen" command??  I'm a gourmet!  I love food!  I can smell what's going on better than humans.  I spend a lot of time keeping this floor clean and if you know anything about my parents, you know it's a constant job!  This is what I get in return?  Geez!

In other news...  The seedlings are coming up!! We started spreading straw to help keep the moisture in.  Nice yard; sewer pipe, rock pile and wait... what's that in the background??  Yes! It's Crusty!  Still here.  We talked to the guy today--first time he answered his phone in weeks and he said he'll come get it Friday!!!

My brother Matt used the box cutter to scrape and smooth the front yard dirt mound.  The chickens jog behind the tractor looking for fresh bugs!

Gee!  Crusty is still here!  "Tomorrow" it will be hauled away!

Then Matt dug the trench with the ditch witch for the new telephone line.  It goes right across where crusty was.  He and Dad got the conduit installed and the phone guy came today to put the new line in!  Wish we could say it's the last ditch we need to dig...

 My buddy Billy came to visit and he knocked down the pile in the back yard!!!!  The chickens loved that one! 

Then he ran the disc attachment around the whole area to break up the compacted soil.

Mom bought a nitrogen fixing cover crop to seed all the exposed soil.  This will hold the dust down and provide organic matter as we mow or till it in.  She spread the seeds and was fortunate enough to have a mule-boy to follow along pulling a board to lightly cover the seeds.  Now a couple weeks of watering!

 There were no dead bodies under the double-wide, and no cache of Indian artifacts.  What we did find was 4, 66 ft long concrete footers that concrete blocks stood on to hold up the house.  Dad and Matt were breaking them with our tractor and sledge hammers, when an Elk Creek miracle occurred and Jim drove by on the backhoe and dug them out and broke them up for us!!!

We were left with a very heavy pile of concrete debris and had no idea what to do with it.  

Then, the miracle continued when our excavator from up the road offered to take the pieces to widen a section of his road, and sent his dump truck down.

 It was challenging loading the heavy pieces into the bucket of the tractor and getting them into the truck.  The dump truck was 8' high and the tractor bucket goes up 9'.  Slow and steady we got 'er done!

Mom has been attacking the 3 year old pile of compacted topsoil and now finds herself in a precarious predicament!!


Also, still looking at half of crusty!  It's going to be moved "tomorrow"!!!

After many "tomorrow's" the new owner finally wired money to the trucker, and the crew showed up yesterday.  They pushed half of the house back (with the help of our tractor pulling).

 To avoid hitting trees they then pulled one end of the house around to get it aimed down the road. 

 They parked the first half in the field so we can look at it until more money is wired to the trucker.  Then they pulled the second half down and parked it while they cut the roof overhang back 6" (with our saw).

After all the lights and signs were attached half of crusty headed out the front gate narrowly missing the barn roof.

Mom and Dad celebrated!!