Life as Usual

Only 2.5 weeks left in Indiana before we begin the drive to California.  How did time go so fast!? I can't believe it.  I have a trip to DC, a week visit with Patrick, and less than a week of work left!  And still so many other small things to squeeze in.

This post is just a bunch of different things I have done in the last couple of weeks.

First is some fun with the kiddos, of course.  The weather has been cooling off and much less humid.  So we spent some more time outside doing things like rolling down the grass hill behind the church, tackling me, doing my hair, and playing frisbee.

Darrel took me to go on a trail walk.  But it was so overgrown that I chickened out.  I have been more weary of overgrown wilderness since my snake sighting. Yuck.  So instead we drove around some of the back country roads and ended up at an old graveyard.  Most of the people buried there were born in the 1800s, and even a couple born in the 1700s.  It was weird to see how short their lifespans were back then, or how many infant and children graves there were.

Notice the couple was both born in the 1700s

Old decaying gravestones.

Notice how short their lifespans, and both I assume from the same family

Some only had little square blank stones like this one.

This is a morning view from the back porch of David's middle brother Brett's house.  Pretty sweet.

I've also been getting lessons in canning (or "jar-ing" really) from Cathy.  She has let me help make pickles from her home-grown cucumbers, and jar green beans from her garden.  We also got a bushel of peaches to cut up and freeze for the winter months when they don't get much fresh produce.  There has also been a lot of shucking and cutting corn from the garden to freeze.

And here is a picture from the lake by their house where David took me for a sunset kayak ride.

Oh, and just a side note about how much of a stud I am, I helped David and two other guys chop down a 60 foot oak tree.  And chop it up into logs for firewood and drag the branches out into piles in the forest so they could dry out.  So I had my first experience of using a chain saw, and getting raw hands from dragging logs and branches without any gloves on.  Just humor me in thinking I am stud on this one.

And just for fun, here are the Miller boys in 1996.

The Indiana State Fair

David took me to the Indiana State Fair on Wednesday.  I loved it.  But it was quite different than a fair in Orange County.  At the OC Fair you would never see Amish families, men in worn coveralls, crazy rednecks straight out of a bad joke, Tractors from the early 1900s that still run, or people missing many teeth.

We met up with some of the family for a mini circus.

And the kiddos got to ride a pony. 

And pose for a picture. The blonde boy in the middle is their cousin on the other side of the family.  He smiled all day but barely said a word. Too cute.

We went to the swine building and saw some very large pigs weighing 1300 lbs.  And we got to pet some babies born last month.

We watched a sheep get shaved.

And went to the cattle barn.  The cows give 9 gallons of milk two times a day.  And when their utters are full they walk quite awkwardly.

Petting the baby cows.

All lined up in the automatic milking stalls.  Quite entertaining to watch.

David and I then went to look at the old machinery from the early 1900s.  They had demonstrations of steam-powered tractors that were hooked up to saw logs.

We also walked around to see the evolution of the tractor from the early 1900s to present day.  This was the oldest John Deere we saw, 1936.  This picture is for Dad.  I would have bought him a tractor too, but we would have no where to put it.  They aren't too expensive.

There was also an old blacksmith demonstration.  They were making pretty neat things out of metal without any kind of machinery, just hot coals and hand tools.

Our last stop was through the Draft horse barn.  I have never seen horses this large in my life.  Some farm boy said they were 19 hands tall.  I have no idea what that means.  But from the picture it looks like this guy is 8 feet or more tall.  The horse and David are standing on the same ground, so you can see just how huge they are!  Their butts were taller than my head!

Boys will be Boys

Most of the people I hang out with are boys.  This is natural of course because David is a boy.  We have hung out with a few of his lifelong friends a lot recently.  And we always do something manly and outdoors.  Which I do enjoy, most of the time :)

We have dunking contests to see who has not lost their skills from High School Varsity. (these are sequences of pictures in order)

Ethan:

 David (tongue out for effect):

Then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire in front of an old barn.  Ethan's sister joined.  Hooray for more females!

The things boys do when they have known each other from birth... hey, at least they are all still close after so many years!

Then we rode a quad (the largest and most powerful I have ever driven, it could drive over and through anything) over to climb some 30-50 foot overgrown cliffs and trees.  I opted to stay on the ground and watch.  Apparently they have been climbing these since they could walk.

Oh the life of boys who grow up in the country.  But seriously, that 700 cc quad (not yet pictured) could go about 60 mph, carrying 3-4 adults, could drive through any kind of underbrush, over large fallen trees (or through them if they were dry rotted), and up steep ricky hills without the slightest struggle.  Its a beast of a thing weighing about 800 lbs and used to carry deer and elk carcasses through the forest after they have been shot.