Hello from Mary Jo

Hi, Everyone!

Now that I have sent my belated wedding gift to the newlyweds and have seen Janice's post, I wanted to write a bit on the family blog. I am sorry we missed the wedding. I had just recently recovered from some kind of "flu" that settled in my back and wasn't really relishing a 6-hr drive. Paul was having a cement floor poured in a new big storage building he put up on the farm and was frantically picking up irrigation pipe (by himself) before the custom-farmer got there to combine the beans. We just decided it probably wouldn't be sensible to add a week-end trip to the mix. I have had several gab-sessions with mom about the affair and so "almost" feel like I was there. She told me how beautiful the mother of the bride looked, and tried to describe the dress, so I was excited to see Janice included the picture of herself and Ed.

This organic farming is proving to be very time-intensive, but Paul is extremely pleased with the yields he is getting (if you remember he was combining wheat the day of the family reunion). His custom-farmer is a young guy with lots of land, big equipment, uses the genetically modified seed, pesticides, herbicides, etc. and he is interested to see that Paul's yields are favorably comparing with his. (Of course, the labor is much more intensive on the organic method...and you couldn't do it on all of the acres he covers.) Paul claims he is loving it all, so I guess if this is how he wants to "retire", I'm glad. His health is good (still gets regular cancer checks) and he's in good shape for a 65-year old, so we are grateful.

I've enjoyed Joan's vet reports...although I wouldn't care to be participating in the various procedures she had described! Now I have a story for her. We have six 4-year old laying hens, that are "free-range". We lock them in a movable pen each night. We've had one that was determined to be a setter for a large part of the summer. Their nests are in another building (their "winter quarters".) Paul had been faithfully carrying her from the nest to the secure roost each night. One evening we had been out, it was well past dark, and Suzanne had locked the pen on the others, who were on the roost. Paul decided she'd be OK. The next morning, he found a big pile of feathers in the nest and on the ground in front of the nest. He figured something had eaten her. Imagine his surprise when he found her in some tall grass, looking tough, but alive. She was bald in many spots, and limping, so he left her alone. Later, she turned up in the pen. We kept her in there for several days with food and water, and each day she was better. When she let us examine her, it was obvious a big hunk of skin was torn off her thigh/breast and that was why she was limping. It is now 4 weeks later. Her feathers are growing back (except where she was skinned), she is active, runs and scratches, and competes with her sisters for grasshoppers and scraps. We call her "Toughy". We were absolutely amazed she could survive and didn't at least succumb to an infection in the wound. And we wonder how on earth she escaped from what ever had her trapped in the nest and then drug her out.

I hope some of you who took pictures at the wedding will share...always love to hear from you all.