Close to Harvest Time!

A perfect autumn day and DC, SC and HC stopped by in the afternoon. HC had great fun with some little pumpkins we got for him at a local pumkin patch. He is talking so much now and says a word very close to pumkin. He also gets very excited when we pick apples off the new little apple trees in the front. He looked quite amazed the first time we walked over to the tree and he saw apples hanging on it!

The crops are maturing fast now. The soybeans in front of the house are loosing their leaves (these are the ones that were gold in a previous post). HC kind of disappears in the tall soybeans!

Family Fun!

DC, SC, HC, AC, TK, Zoey and Elza came for dinner last evening. Elza and Zoey were entertaining, as usual. HC enjoyed them, as long as they didn't get too close (it had been a while since he had been around them).

After HC left, Elza and Zoey enjoyed his toys!

Autumn Gold & Red

Autumn is evident on the farm with the soybeans turning gold and the native sumac starting to get brilliant red leaves. The photo below is the small filed of soybeans in front of the farmstead. The old grainery that Farmer Ken's grandfather built in 1922 is showing its age, but continues to stand. The "plan" is to have a new building in place, before 2008, when the farm will gain status as a Pioneer Farm in Nebraska. Farmer Ken's grandfather, Peter Olsen purchased the farm in 1908 and Farmer Ken is third generation farmer.

The photo below is the small field of soybeans south of the "bottom road". The sooybeans closer to the trees got less moisture and will mature quicker, as evidenced by the more gold to the left of the field.

The photo above is the wonderful bright reds of the native sumac that adds so much fall foliage color in this part of the plains.

Fun times in the west

After 2 weeks and over 4,000 miles touring the western United States Parks, the young Danish cousins were in Green River Utah. Farmer Ken and I, and Doris and Bill met them Monday at Arches National Park.

We toured the park together. The above photo is one of the arches with a rock wall behind.
We decieded to have a little fun and go off roading, which eventually took us out of the park and on a creek bed when the road disappeard. We had fun "pushing" the truck off a rock for this photo. (I don't know if you can see, but the Glow Worm is the one driving and for those of you who have traveled with us, the Glow Worm is special fun!)

We all drove over to Grand Junction for a whirlwind tour of the valley, including, the Colorado National Monument, a hike up Riggs Hill, a stop at "our local winery" and various other activities filled the 2 days they were here. We enjoyed dinners on the patio watching the sun setting behind the monument. One of the fun parts of touring, was getting to be the first customers to taste and buy the first Syrah wine bottled at Two Rivers Winery (our "neighborhood winery")! We gave it a "gold" medal!

The final day we traveled to Frisco to our condo, so that the Danish cousins would be able to get to DIA early Thrusday. A quick trip up Loveland Pass, put us in 40F weather and snow, but was breathtakingly beautiful as always!


We have enjoyed having family and friends visit this summer and are now looking towards autumn and harvest. The days are definelty cooler and teh nights are the greatest sleeping weather.
It was a great summer!