The shop has been very, very busy since we announced our closing.  We have had visitors from many locations – some quite a distance away.  As we run out of things in the shop, we are taking those items off our website.  Please remember that next Monday is the last day our shopping cart will accept a credit card.  After that day you will be able to view the shopping cart but you will have to call us to place your order.  The shop number is 641-923-3893.  We will keep the shopping cart current as far as availability.  The last Hundred Bolt Sale will end on Sunday, August 31 and then we will have 10 days to get ready for the Retirement Sale which starts on September 11.  Connie and Mary Baker will be leaving for Columbus and the Country Living Fair on the 9^th and Mandy, Joan and I will be here to help you.  Lori’s mom is very sick and we hope she can join us in the shop sometime during the sale.  Lori has her plate very full with a son moving home with a baby and now her mom being diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.  Please remember Lori and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

The goats love coming out into the yard after 5 o’clock but tonight may have been the last time.  They found one of my hydrangea trees and butted it over and over until the bark was stripped off and I’m not even sure it will live.  Grrrr…….

Susannah is feeling very well and my vet thinks she’s out of the woods.  Mastitis can be fatal and I think we caught it in time with antibiotics along with some painkillers and I am so thankful I did not have to take her to Iowa State.  My next “goal” is to get her hooves trimmed but I need Rick to hold on to her so I can trim – maybe this weekend.

Colton, the kitten, is going to the vet next week – it doesn’t look like he will be getting another home so he has to be neutered and get his shots if he’s going to live here.

We attended a surprise birthday party last Sunday for a friend of Rick’s and because of some heavy unexpected rain showers, the party moved to a very clean “garage” that had this view out the back door.  To any Iowan, this is a beautiful field of corn!

With all the rain we had last weekend, one of our big old walnut trees simply tipped over and caught in another tree.  So many of you have suggested I have something made with the walnut wood but to be perfectly honest, I don’t like walnut wood.  It’s too dark so I think it will make great, hot-burning firewood.

Remember my night blooming cereus?  Here it is in full bloom outside – with about 15 blooms in various stages of just beginning to bloom, at the height of bloom and many that have begun to droop and fade.

Yesterday I snapped this picture of Telly in the front seat of my van as she rested her arm on the window ledge.

Connie and I hope you have a lovely Labor Day Weekend!

Mary