I went to the hospital on Tuesday, to see David’s new baby, Melanie. I didn’t want to bother Elizabeth on Monday, right after she had a cesarean delivery. I got to cuddle and feed that tiny bundle of joy. I felt so blessed! They brought her home yesterday and all is going well, although Melanie kept David busy all night. She wanted a bottle, to be changed, and cuddled every two hours (or less). Now, she’s sleeping for four hours straight. Ha ha on Dad!
I’m busy shelling out more beans, picking a few stray beans that are still in the garden, shucking the last of the corn, and pulling some watermelons out of the greenhouse to seed. In a few days, the high will be in the thirties, so winter’s coming. Will found that a part on our remaining tractor with a front-end loader’s axle is broken. Today, he is getting the wheel off and the part ready to weld. He hopes he can weld it. Some things just don’t take a weld well, but, we’re hoping. Our Ford 660 won’t lift the round bales; they’re too heavy. Neither will the Kubota. Our Oliver is needing a big overhaul, so it’s also laid up. It never rains but it pours. Will did pick up a new-to-us big round baler at an auction. Our old baler broke down six times this summer and it wore him out repairing it. He ran the new baler through its paces, and it seems to be a nice baler with very low hours.
Well, I’m going out to seed out the last of our tomatoes. We sure had a great crop this year, despite crazy weather and no watering in the Wolf Garden. It’ll be good to be done with something! Maybe I’ll sneak over for a while to snuggle Melanie when I’m done.
— Jackie
Can you put up a reinforced garage tent or is it too windy?
Congratulations to your family. I’ve followed you for years and it’s really nice to see David grown up and having a family of his own and a beautiful life as I remember when he was young.
It seems like just yesterday when he was a boy, helping me out around the homestead! We sure had fun. Now he’s a man with a family and we still have fun!
Great news on your blog…bins in, baby home, tractor running…Congrats! It helps to counteract the hard freeze and big mechanical project ahead.
Digging the root crops are a task, do you do it by hand, or have some easier way? And the cabbage, oh my!
Haven’t had a freeze here yet in mid-Iowa, and plan to get garlic in this week. I’d pulled the garden a bit early due to a planned trip and have finished canning the last tomatoes. My shelves are full and I’m so grateful, having seen what is going on with Israel. With the dysfunction of our congress and all the world events, I’m happy to read how so many like-minded folks are putting up firewood, food, and forethought to next year’s gardens.
Thanks for your dedication to helping us all, and making us smile.
We dig our root crops by hand. Beets, carrots and turnips/rutabagas are easy as you just loosen the soil and pull them up. Potatoes are more work. Will goes ahead and turns up the hills and then we both dig around by hand to find the potatoes.
We, too, watch world events and feel so blessed to not have been born in a country that is so war-torn and bleak.
Congratulations on your new bundle!! Isn’t she cute!!!
I just love all the information and pictures that your share. Thanks!
Thank you, Cindy! We sure love Melanie and her big sister, Delilah!!
Love your picture with Melanie the new blessing to the family.
You are so fortunate to have Will who can repair things. It saves you a lot of money but enough is enough. Hope you get everything done in your garden before winter sets in.
Blessings Ruth Ann
I’m so happy to have Will around, who can do almost everything and well, too! But, gee, I sure wish he didn’t have to be working on equipment so hard. He’s got to tear the engine out of one of our Oliver tractors to rebuild the clutch, etc. That’s a big job and the weather’s getting nasty. Unfortunately, we don’t have a nice big shop for him to work in; it’s out in the weather, regardless. Ugh!!
Melanie and Granma such a wonderful picture.
yes, it is good to arrive at the end of the season. what gorgeous beans the Hondo are!
am trying my first attempt at saving tomato seeds. hope i am as fortunate as you are in the success.
enjoy baby Melanie as often as you can. don’t need to tell you how blessed you all are.
I love those pictures that David took.
Not only are Hondo beans beautiful, but hugely productive, early maturing AND tasty, quick to cook, too! They sure are an unexpected winner. I’m sure your tomato seed saving will turn out just fine.
I do know how very blessed we are!!!
I love those pictures of you and Melanie. Grand babies are just the best and fill you with peace and joy. Baby snuggles are so wonderful. It sounds like your gardens are winding down and maybe things will slow up a little for you, although I expect you will be just as busy filling seed orders and doing more canning. I hope Will is able to weld to part on the tractor. This close to winter he will need it to feed cattle and working on stuff in the cold is never fun or easy. Sending prayers for a blessed week:)
I love those pictures, too! It’s so wonderful to snuggle with one so little.
Yes, our gardens are sort of winding down. I’ve got all the tomato seeds saved and all of the tomatoes canned I could. Now, I’ve got to pull the root crops, get them into storage and start canning some of them up. Will was able to get the tractor’s axle welded and it’s back into commission, making hay hauling and cattle feeding much easier now. He’s still got the other Oliver tractor to pull the engine to rebuild the clutch and we don’t have a heated (or unheated) shop. I feel sorry for him!! Thank you for your prayers.
Congratulations. What a beautiful picture of you and the baby.
Thanks Bette! I love those pictures too. David took them at the hospital when she was only a day old.
You look so happy to be holding that sweet baby!!!!! Enjoy her while you can!
Yes, I was!! I know how fast they grow. My grandson, Mason, is getting his driver’s license and granddaughter, Ava, just shot her first deer. I remember when THEY were little, tiny babies, too. Whew!
Pretty baby! Congrats. We had 9 for a low last night in Copper Basin Alaska! Hopefully the mud will freeze up soon. Don’t know what to expect for the spring as everything is soaked. Good luck with the tractor repair!
Thanks Howard! Will got the axle welded and it’s back in commission. But now he’s got to pull the motor on our other Oliver, and we don’t have a shop. We haven’t had 9 degrees yet, but before he gets it finished, I imagine we’ll see it. I feel so bad for him!!
What a beauty! Babies are so precious. I love cuddling them.
I think so too! Cuddling babies is so very nice and that fresh baby scent in wonderful. (Until they puke up their milk on your shoulder.) lol I love that too!
She’s beautiful! Congrats!
Thanks Georgia! We love having an addition to the family. We have my dad’s highchair that his grandpa made him by hand and right now, Delilah sits in it. But, before long, Melanie will be in it and Delilah will be moving on to a “regular, big people’s chair”.
Gorgeous! The baby, not the beans. I admire you, Jackie, you and Will, always getting new ideas, using your creativity. He complements you, and you, he. How wonderful. Something I pray for all the time, to have. But, my desire is to have it on a homestead. Well, we’ll see! Regards from far north California where we had yesterday and day before at 92F, and today 88F.
Sigh….88 degrees…. We won’t see that until next summer. We’re due for snow by next weekend or so. Ugh. You’re right; it’s nice to have Will here to do the things I can’t and help me when I need it. Know that I really am grateful to have such a guy!
What a joy. Babies are a great way to remember our best values and greatest priorities. Happy harvest.
Yes, they are! She is such a good baby too. David and Elizabeth sure have a wonderful pair of daughters.
There is nothing like a newborn to make one forget “the busyness “ and enjoy their beginning. It’s seems to me the more I need some machine the more likely it breaks down. We are still lucky to have a machinery dealer. Our little town has lost its hardware store, grocery and lumber yard. All were owned by individuals who retired. Enjoy Melanie
You can bet I will! Will got the one tractor’s axle welded and it’s back, feeding cows and loading hay. Now he has to pull the engine on our other Oliver to rebuild the clutch. Ugh! And winter is coming like a freight train too.
Having Melanie around helps take the curse off of all the breakdowns!
What a beautiful blessing to take your mind off of all of the issues!
Isn’t she adorable, though? We love her already!! Big time.
Congratulations to all. Grandchildren are such a blessing and help us stay young with them around. Enjoy that time with her, as you are aware how quickly they grow up. I need to pick the rest of my tomatoes and dig up the potatoes still. I have tomatoes that I put in the freezer that I will can up when I have time. Working full time and bringing in the harvest and dealing with it has to be done in stages as I just don’t have the time all at once. I don’t know how you and Will do it as I get tired just thinking about all the harvesting you both do and I am younger than both. So happy for you that seeding out is ending at least for the tomatoes.
Yep, I got her done today!! Yea!! Now there’s potatoes, cabbages, carrots, beets, turnips and rutabagas to pull and get in. But I’m not complaining; it’s wonderful to have all this bounty at hand!!
Congratulations for your newest grandbaby! Such a wonderful blessing! I’ve heard we’re going to get very deep snow this year in northern Minnesota!
She is a beauty. Congratulations!!!!
Thank you Sandi!!
Oh! How exciting! Congratulations to everyone! Lots of love from California!, Mia and John
Nothing like the joy of a new grand baby. So wonderful that they live so close to you. I am enjoying the great grands now. Family is everything !
Yes, it is so great that they live right down the driveway, only half a mile away. That way we can see them often. I miss my other adult children and grandchildren, as they live much farther away, as in hours and states away. I miss so much that way!
While I could have chased the money, especially during the Y2K years, we kept a stable home base for the kids. Pretty much equal distance (read: short) from both sets of grandparents and two sets of great-grandparents on my side. I had one set of grandparents a few blocks away from our house and the other set wasn’t far away. Plus plenty of aunts, uncles, and cousins near by.
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