What Happens to the Wheat

They finished cutting the winter wheat yesterday and began harvesting the spring wheat.

The truckers bring the wheat from the field and
transfer it from the truck into the grain bins using an auger.
It will be stored until trucked to market.


We keep a supply of cleaned wheat in the house and
use this electric grinder when whole wheat flour is needed.
Today as I made bread from the wheat raised on
our farm, I thought about how much easier it is
to make bread now compared to earlier
generations or even when my children were small.


With my Bosch mixer, with little effort I can mix
the dough for five loaves of whole wheat bread.
I used to mix the dough for eight loaves in a large bowl
and then kneed it by hand.


Dough ready to form into loaves.


Ready to bake.


Fresh out of the oven and the kitchen smells great!


The final step - getting a slice of freshly baked bread.
The other four loaves will go in the freezer.


Although I am sure my grandmas baked delicious bread without having the appliances available today, it is nice to have them; and we are fortunate to have our own wheat.

Wheat Harvest Has Begun

Wheat harvest began last Friday and the yield is good so far. Once the wheat is ready, they keep the combines cutting as long as the weather conditions are okay. It is raining this evening, so they won't be able to get an early start tomorrow, but they will be anxious to get right back in the field as soon as they can.

Combines cutting the first field of winter wheat.

Transferring wheat from the combine into the grain cart.

What We are Doing

Weston came over yesterday to show me the sparrow he found. It hopped around when Weston set it down, but it couldn't fly yet. He still has his snapping turtle. It is nice having grandchildren as neighbors. They enjoy life and investigating their world.

Weston with the sparrow he found.

It was rather cool when I was out checking on the flowers and garden this morning, but yesterday was hot. Grasshoppers have been the worst I remember, but after the aerial spraying it has been much better here at the house. I had an appointment in town one afternoon two weeks ago and had checked the plants before I left. When I got home about three hours later, the grasshoppers were hopping all over. I carried my potted plants from the porch into the garage and sprinkled Sevin on the garden plants until I ran out of the powder. When Sam got home that evening, he sprayed around with something they had in the shop. The rhubarb is in one corner of the garden, and it was so covered with grasshoppers that on one large leaf you could barely see any leaf showing.

Right now the plants in the garden are doing well, and I hope we can keep the grasshoppers under control. Where are the seagulls! :-) [Thinking about the Utah pioneers and how the seagulls saved their crops.]

Sam expects they will start with the wheat harvest next week. They are haying now. I have been helping with getting things ready for the publication of an historical book for Martin's centennial celebration in 2011. We have finished with the histories and pictures of the past and current businesses and most of the organizations, schools, and churches. The big job yet is completing the family histories and photos to be ready by August 1 for the lady putting everything on her software program for the publisher.

I have enjoyed reading the books I got for Mother's Day from Marla and Beth. There are three in the series by Nancy E. Turner about a pioneer woman and her family in the Arizona Territories. I finished the second one yesterday and started "The Star Garden" before going to bed. I recently finished Richard Paul Evans' "The Walk," which is the first of a forthcoming series.

Sam has been reading some books he got for Father's Day and just recently finished Glenn Beck's "The Overton Window" (which I also enjoyed reading) and Bob Bennett's "Leap of Faith" (which I haven't read yet). He is currently reading "The Silence of God" (which is a story about an LDS family at the turn of the century in Russia), and he has "Three Cups of Tea" waiting to be read next.

We are also followers of the Glenn Beck show on Fox T.V. as well as subscribers to his online "Insider Extreme" program, which includes "Beck's University" Wednesday evenings focusing on history about the Founding Fathers and others who have contributed to our nation's history.

We enjoy being with the members in our small branch in Rosebud. On Sunday I was the speaker in sacrament meeting and Sam conducted, and he was the teacher in Priesthood/Relief Society. I continue to teach the junior Primary and to do sing time for the combined Primary. There are two brand new babies in our branch. The mother of one is the grandmother of the other, so one baby is the uncle and one is the nephew. They should be good buddies as they grow up.

Well, that is some of what we have been doing lately. We are always interested in what you are doing.

Weston's Snapping Turtle

While Weston was fishing last week, he snagged a baby snapping turtle. I don't know if Weston has named his turtle, but it got to meet people at the park on the Fourth of July before the fireworks displays.

Weston showing me the snapping turtle he caught.

Since it is a snapping turtle, it still gets respect even though it isn't big enough yet to do real damage with its snapping. However, this won't be a pet to keep for long.

Saturday evening, we were invited over to Brent & Tauna's for supper and to watch the children do their fireworks. While we were waiting for it to get dark enough, Weston put his turtle on a towel in the middle of the floor and let it move around. It is interesting to observe the difference in this turtle compared to the box turtle we found and took to Denver that I showed in my last blog entry.

The box turtle could enclose its head and legs completely inside its shell for protection; but the snapping turtle has only a small ribbing of hard shell on the underside and cannot protect its head, legs, and long tail by pulling completely inside the shell. Its defense is to have a strong snapping with its jaws.

A snapping turtle can strike a considerable distance sideways and can maneuver its head far back over its back. I read that they can strike as fast as a rattlesnake - so quick that the eye can hardly follow it. Their sharp mandibles and strong jaw muscles make it possible for a medium-sized snapping turtle to amputate a finger that gets in its way.

Box turtles are kind of interesting and cute. Snapping turtles can be interesting, too; but they are ugly (sorry, Weston). Although the shell of an older snapping turtle is quite smooth, Weston's young turtle's shell has ridges and is very rough. An interesting fact about snapping turtles is that they don't eat until they are under water.

I have been reminded about the time Grampa Harold had thrown a large snapping turtle in the back of his pickup. He and Sam went to pick up Brent in the field; and Jeff, who was about three years old at the time, wanted to go along; so they had him jump in the back of the pickup and off they drove. It took quite a bit of hollering before the guys remembered there was a snapping turtle back there cornering Jeff. Fortunately, they stopped in time and Jeff was brought up to the cab safely away from the turtle.

Spending the evening of the Fourth at the park walking around and visiting with friends is a special community tradition, and it was a very nice evening for it. Some years it has been chilly while other years it has been very hot, but this year it was comfortable weather. Watching the community fireworks ended the day. We thought about the numerous times we watched fireworks brighten the sky from our window in Moscow. The display of those fireworks was similar to what we had here except for not as many at one time, but we saw them almost weekly throughout the year.

Tauna's brother Mike and his family were here for a short visit and joined us for church in Rosebud Sunday morning. It was nice having their children in our small Primary. We enjoyed watching a show on T.V. Saturday narrated by John Stossel entitled "What's Great About America," which seemed another nice way to celebrate our nation's birthday. We are grateful for the blessings we enjoy here.