It's beginning to look a lot like . . . Halloween?

I woke up this morning to a huge surprise. . . lots and lots of snow. I looked out of my window before I put my glasses on and couldn't believe my eyes, so of course I grabbed my glasses and looked again. Sure enough, there was snow all over my front yard.

So . . . I was going to post pictures of the outside of my house with the corn stalks and the fall decorations but I guess you get to see the snow instead. The apple trees that were bowing down under the weight of the apples are now bowing with snow and apples that I didn't pick fast enough. My rose bush hasn't bloomed in months because of the heat. Last week the weather finally cooled off enough and the bushes began to bloom again.

The best part is that it is almost 6:00 p.m. and the snow is still coming down! Do I dare get my hopes up for a snowday on October 13th? We'll have to wait and see. . . :-)

Enjoy the pictures!

Potato Harvest

Thursday and Friday were teacher inservice days and I had the days off so I went out to Jerome to help with harvest. I got to stand at the dirt eliminator and pick dirt clods out from amidst the potatoes. I only get to help for a few days each year so I always treasure this time. Picking clods of dirt off of a conveyor belt that is moving rather quickly is a great time to do some self-reflection and discover some self truths.
I learned that my hand-eye coordination really needs some work, (just because I could see a dirt clod did not always mean I could grab the dirt clod.) I also learned that there are muscles in the back of my legs that do not like it when I stand in one place for several hours in a row. You know in Breaking Dawn when Bella has to learn to move around and fidget so that she blends in with humans? Well I tried to pretend I was a vampire and stand without moving my legs. It's harder than it sounds and mostly because of those muscles that begin to scream.

I also learned that cousins are a wonderful blessing. I have some pretty awesome ones too. Annie and Donna are troopers. They work hard and never complain. They look forward to helping with the harvest as much as I do. Annie is optimistic and happy-go-lucky. She is not fazed by the thought of more work or potato trucks waiting in line to be unloaded. Donna is a good counter part. She plans ahead and likes to know what's next. She gets bored easily and likes to entertain. I couldn't ask for better people to work with.

I also learned how important family really is. Harvest time is always a great time to be with family. Everybody has a job to do and it makes us feel good to be needed. Even those people who couldn't take off time from their regular jobs usually come out after work to help. Alex worked on the harvester in the field, and Jake came out to stand on the dirt eliminator with me. I was glad that he came out to help, and so were Annie and Donna. There is something wonderful about having him come up and give me a big hug even though I am covered head to toe in dirt. (That's true love!) The girls love to see him too and they fought over who got to stand next to him on the dirt eliminator. In the end they put him between them and I had to stand on the other side. :-) I don't have any pictures of Jake out there because by that time it was dark and we were working by large flood lights, plus I was too tired to think about taking pictures.

Yea for Harvest!!!