This past weekend was full of events, stories, fun, and lessons. I need to get some of them down.

Saturday morning started with a family shopping trip to Menards for material for a new chicken tractor. If you don’t know what those are, you haven’t been to my house and looked out the back window. We have these portable pens for our chickens, one made of 2×2’s (good idea), and one made of 1″ PVC (not so great idea). Each day we move them around our pastures, giving the chickens access to fresh grass, while at the same time fertilizing, mowing, and clearing bugs and weeds out of the way. So the PVC tractor’s life has come to an end… wood is easy to repair, glued PVC, not so much.

On the way home, Erin, Colton, and I took the “messy road,” as my son likes to call it. It’s the state road that’s technically closed right now, but is still mostly paved, and on Saturday, there was no construction traffic, and we were in the truck… ADVENTURE awaits! So we took that road to the Orchard County Store‘s fall festival. A straw tunnel, corn maze, and miniature pumpkin decorating made for a great time.

From there we went on home, waited for Adam to show up, and started our “work day,” which equated to taking nine years of scrap metal, wood, and junk and separating it into an organized mess. The highlight had to be the old reel mower that weight 500-600 pounds that Adam and I more or less flipped, end over end, until we got it to the new “fenced in” scrap pile, and then rolled it up a hill. Such hard labor had not been done in a while. In the end, it finished as all good work days do, with a fire, full of toxic smoke in pretty colors that rivaled a rainbow.

Fast forward to Saturday night, around 10PM. Colton’s in bed, we’re getting ready to head to bed early, when suddenly, the evening goes down the tube. One of our lovely dogs (Ruby), has stolen a round bone from the other dog (Otis) and has been chewing on it. Normal behavior, no big deal. But now she’s done it. She’s got it stuck on her lower jaw. Half of it’s in her mouth, behind her canines, while the other half is stuck under her chin. What to do now… Of course, Chet has the answer… if we can’t pull it off, we’ll hacksaw it off! What a novel idea! I’m sure the dog won’t mind. After about 45 minutes of trying, I give up. After a “pleasant” discource with Erin, we decide that even though we’re both frustrated with the situation, and with each other, the real creature with frustrations is the one standing on 4 legs, waiting for us to do something productive with this mass of bone stuck in her mouth.

So I head into the 24 hour animal hospital, which is about a half hour drive away. After about 15 minutes, and $200, I’m back on my way home. Fun night, but all ended well… except the bank account and my good night’s sleep, I suppose.

So, that’s the first day of the weekend, and part one of my recount of it, as I pile up rocks to monumentalize the wonderful family God has graced me with, as well as friends, experiences, and a life I wouldn’t trade for anything. Stay tuned for Sunday, and more chronicles of Adam, Tabi, Katie, Paige, Colton, and me and my wife… along with probably a few other minor characters.