All of this plus Hazel – no big deal, right? I had to take a very long walk with all of them just so they could calm themselves down! We’re all resting now and then we’ll walk again – Molly doesn’t have the opportunity to run free in town so she has lots of pent up energy waiting to be burned off. I’m somewhat concerned about Blanche who pants after every walk – longer than I think is healthy.
Yesterday was a college football day and with Iowa barely beating Penn State, it was an exciting day – not to mention Oklahoma and Texas! Great football!
The field across the road has been transformed!
The last pass….
You have no idea how much I love to watch this!
This field will be coming up.
For two days now a series of trucks, tractors and honey wagons hauling manure have been traveling on our road, driving as fast as is humanly possible on the gravel road. The smell is indescribable. It’s a fact of life for Iowa pork producers but I’ll be so glad when they’re finished. They drove all night long!
Here are the reader quilts:
The chicks have found their way outside and also to the feed room.
Don’t think you can probably tell from this picture but the wind blew about 45 mph yesterday! Awful!
Today is much cooler and calmer but no less stinky – they’re hard at it!
I think I’ll go sit on the other side of the house this afternoon.
I don’t understand why they are hauling manure? To fertilize the fields?
Denise C – yes, the manure is actually very valuable as fertilizer
Miss Sally J, I think your red black and white quilt is beautiful. Would you care to share the name of the pattern.
I think it is the disappearing 9-patch.
Betty
Sitting here reading your latest post with Akira panting like crazy in the background. We walked 4 1/2 miles with a friend and that’s a lot for her. If you are concerned about Blanche, it may be worth mentioning to the vet next time you have her in. She’s young yet, but laryngeal paralysis is something I wonder about when panting seems to be a bigger issue than it should be. Our Mariah was diagnosed at 12 but had been panting heavily for years before we actually got the diagnosis. And they actually can’t diagnose without doing the surgery I don’t think—that was a lot of years ago. We opted to do it and she lived another 4 years so was well worth it to me—16 is pretty unheard of for Goldens. I’m hoping I get that many years with Akira and Skyler!! Can’t imagine life without them!!
Good to see the pictures of your chickens!! I’ve been wondering about them after you lost so many this spring. Did you ever determine what was getting them?
I love the harvest season as well!!
Wow, 16 years with a golden is incredible! I do know CSU has a veterinarian program second to none.
Pig manure really is stinky. Good idea to try another sitting spot. Sally J., you were very busy the last few months. I love seeing all the quilts! Our leaves are falling here in Central Ohio, but they are mostly curling up, turning brown, and falling. A few are turning colors, but it’s not like it used to be. It is a beautiful fall day today🍁🍁
your comment about Blanche made me think of two walks – long and short but I figured that would not go over well with you ….. BUT how about a short walk that takes you back by the house and drop Blanche off and to the next part for the others to make it a long walk????
Great solution to the multiple dogs and the walk.
Mary,
Was a brisk 37o this morning and just 43o after noon! Deer season opened today so many hunters are out! Our gates are closed n posted…NO TRESPASSING , NO HUNTING NO FISHING! Plus the National Forest has restrictions since the fire is contained and crews are still working!
Don’t blame you for sitting on the other side of your house with the fertilizer ongoing!
I sewed the long Cat over the Pumpkins long ago so need to have it out for October. Saw another Pumpkin 🎃 one on a quilt ladder so am going to set it out, too!
Thanks for the pictures today! Enjoying football games.
You are definitely the dog whisperer and proving that you are their best friend, contrary to the old saying. We live ten miles east of a big Smithfield /Farmland plant, but luckily none of the area hog confinements are near enough to keep our windows permanently closed. A friend in the next county is ringed by hog confinements.
Love this very newsy newsletter!
I miss those shots of Iowa fields. You have 4 dogs? I have 2 right now, one is my Dixie and the other one is Raider who belongs to my son Mark who is in Vegas until Wednesday.
Yesterday was a GREAT football day – Texas got beat and A&M did a number on (previously) #1 Alabama. We were definitely whooping at our house (a big Aggie Family – dad ‘28, son ‘95 and daughter ‘01)!!
That WAS a GREAT game seeing Alabama get beat!! So glad my Sooners overcame Texas as well!!
It is hard to believe that Hazel is 4 1/2 already! My how time flies by. She has learned a lot in her last 4 plus years. The beans have been combined on our farm where we live. Our tenant had some problems with his combine, so had to take it in to be repaired. My retired husband gets so antsy at harvest time. When he farmed he was usually the first one in our county to have his crops out, so delays just drive him nuts! You cannot take farming out of the farmer! We still have corn across the road from us that is not harvested. A lot was accomplished this past week. It is suppose to rain in our area tomorrow, (SE Iowa) so my husband was so thankful the beans were finished yesterday. I always enjoy all the quilts and the farm pictures.
I know how you love watching the corn grow. Have you ever thought of baking cookies and running across the road with fresh cookies during harvest, I bet you could get a ride in the combine. I love riding in the combine.
Pig manure! The absolute WORST!! You can’t escape it when they are spreading it. Awful.
Love the first quilt of the cat jumping over the pumpkins. I think I have that pattern…somewhere.😬
Poor Blanch. I hope she is not I’ll. Does she go to you for love and affection?
Oh boy. I can remember my Uncle Pat and Aunt Mikes(Marcene) farm in SD and the smell of silage. Pe ewwww
Another interesting post, and the pictures! We had oats growing in the fields around us and the geese LOVED it when the oats were harvested. There were also a few SandHill Cranes that came in to feast.
When I read about Blanche panting, my first thought was maybe a heart problem. I’d have it checked out.
Our son-in-law was here overnight with a hyper Springer Spaniel. We love dogs, but our 2 cats do not, HA!
That game between OU and TX was a great game to watch. Talk about a come back!! Our grandson goes to OU and that’s one he’ll remember. Nice finishes from all the readers, Loved all the new fall patterns too, Mary!
Yep everyone looks pooped in the first pic! I know I would be!! So is pig manure good for gardens and such or no. I know some manure isn’t as desirable. That would be awful having to smell that all day long. I watched the OU/Texas game for about 15 sec. (after TX scored the first 2 TD’S) then changed the channel. I was so mad and don’t care for Rattler at all. What a shocking (but GREAT) turnaround. We’ve been having winds here today and supposed to have big storms tonight. Lots os pretty quilts today.
What great pictures so fun I enjoy all of them all the dogs look so happy oh my to anyone who has not smelled those honey wagons have no idea what yo talking about kinda goes with country living hopefully they will be done soon
You’ve got an unending supply of Hog manure. They built a confinement farm right next to my uncle’s land. They hauled out all the wonderful, black Iowa dirt and replaced it with clay. Boy was he upset!! He said there are 5000 sows in each barn. THAT is a lot of manure! Now, just what other blog could you hear about and not smell hog manure? A fact of life in the country.
We got 1/10″ rain yesterday. That should help get the fire out. It was 70% under control the last I heard. You ask how we can live with the possibility of fires. Just like we live with horrible storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, flash floods. We all know things can happen and if they do, we just get busy to do what is necessary to recover. Life goes on. A farmer has to be an optimist. Combining the corn is beautiful. Good weather, no rain, it all goes into getting the crop harvested. The results of a year of hard work and worry. If you don’t get the crop in, it is a loss for the year.
Today’s quilts are great. Love to see your old patterns. It is so nice that new and younger people are seeing your patterns. You and Connie are so prolific with ideas. And now using the new fabrics, too. Back when, I had a list of all your patterns because I couldn’t remember if I had them when we visited the shop. Kind of like buying the same piece of fabric, again. Yah, I liked it.
Take care, everybody. Betty in Rapid City
It’s so great to be home again and read your blog. We were gone a week and I have decided I do not like being gone that long. We traveled through the forest-burned areas from the past two years. What was once a beautiful drive through colorful fall leaves is now a blackened mess. Oh, there are some places the fires did not touch and they are still beautiful, but then you come to a sickening place again. Back and forth. So weird how some are saved and another (home) next to it is gone.
Years ago when our kids were little, we had to drive past a pig farm to get to my parent’s home. Oh, how they cried, held their noses, and dove under covers. I was almost that bad myself!
Wonderful quilts today, ladies. I love the stretched-out cat!
Sorry…I should have posted, Sue in Oregon.
I love watching grain come out of the combine to fill a truck! I’ve been known to stop and watch!
I have the same pillows on my sofa that Telly is resting her head on. I put them on the sofa in the fall. Such pretty quilts and wall hangings!
I planted 50 daffodil bulbs today. Husband offered to dig so took him up on it. The ground is very dry so glad I wasn’t digging. Has looked like rain all day but so far only a little drizzle early this morning. Then took the hummingbird feeders down. Haven’t seen any for a week or more. In the 60’s and 70’s during the day. Temperatures that I like.
Hi Mary, WE have the same here in Shenandoah Valley, tractors coming & going, plus fertilizer trucks. Thank you for taking care of Blanche and the other dogs.
Carolyn b
Regarding Blanche’s panting. Maybe walk her less far until she builds up stamina. Difficult with so many dogs but she is the newbie.
Hazel coat looked pretty white.I guess she hasn’t been digging lately.haha
The same going on here, trucks, tractors, chopper, they sure did chop this field behind me in a hurry, it’s amazing how well this new equipment does the job. Some of the trucks had to be pulled out, it’s been pretty wet here this summer.
The quilts are beautiful. Thanks Mary!!
My present rescue that is 7 yrs old panted a lot and when I would take her to a park for a walk, she would go almost the whole way, then just decide to sit and rest. I would end up picking up all 45 lbs of her and carry her back to the park. I talked to the vet and she didn’t detect anything with her heart nor nothing seemed abnormal to check further. She decided that being an abused rescue we don’t know what she went through so it was suggested we let the dog just stay in our own fenced in yard and do her own thing. And she is not panting, sleeps well, and ever so happy so each year at the appts we talk about it’s best to just let her live out her life happy in her own safe yard and not what I wanted to do for her. I often think how much more content we all are once I accepted she didn’t need those walks. Thanks for the quilt show! Always lovely to see.
Our neighbor,who is renting our acres this year, called me the other day to ask if he could spread manure on the corn fields that have been harvested. I had the windows open for a few minutes, and then thought better of it. Good fresh country air! I had my Pfiser booster shot on Saturday. It packed a wallop. I loved the pictures of the dogs. What a beautiful pack! As usual, the quilts are wonderful. Take care.
Here in NW WI the corn is being cut and the fields are also being sprayed with wet manure. Smell our dairy air! A necessary part of the whole cycle. We are so grateful when things dry down. Wild and windy today along with blue skies and sunshine. A perfect fall day.
The wind blew here yesterday….BLEW. Today was better, just breezy. Temperature is perfect. But we do have snow in the forecast.
That farm equipment is amazing. Harvesting in a few hours the entire field.
Looks like the cat and pumpkins pattern is quite popular. All the quilts are great.
All your critters are happy. They do keep you busy. Not knowing Blanche’s past, maybe she didn’t get to walk much. I hope she acclimates to your life style soon. She is thin.
Tonight we had pulled pork barbecue, it was delicious.
In first picture of corn field, your coleus are beautiful. Sad the season for them are close to end. From Rockford, Il.
Saundra – the coleus did fantastic in that old trough – I’m going to plant it completely with coleus next year!
What a beautiful quilt show; thanks for posting, Mary. I love the quilt on your patio table.
SueAnn- Yes my red and white quilt is the Disappearing 9 Patch. Thank you for liking it!!
Hi Mary! Yes, the fields are looking like winter. I had to laugh about the smell being ‘indescribable’. Such a good description. I’m a farm wife on a gravel road and normally it’s peaceful until those poop haulers start! Ugh! You do not want to hang any clothes out on a clothes line this time of year…..they might blow to the neighbors or get dirtier or stinkier than when they were washed! The dust is the worst , Ugh!
Joy – oh, the dust is just thick on everything/ I’m so hoping it rains this week to wash it off- keeping my fingers crossed
We had ‘THE STINK” on Wednesday & Thursday last week, so I too know the undesirable and indescribable stench you referenced. It’s nasty!! And….Yes, it is the price of living out in the country. Fortunately, it’s only for a few days/weeks each year and the rest of the Spring, Summer and Fall make living on an acreage wonderful.
Michele – I think they’re already done going by here so it doesn’t last long, thank goodness. And I sure don’t want to move to town!!!