The first week of June on Thursday, Luke had his first 4H horse project meeting. We decided we would see how Ace does for Luke. Mark wanted to Rope on Tex and Ace needed more riding time. Ace was great for Luke, he was pretty chill and worked well. Luke is still convinced that Tex is the only horse he likes to ride. The weather has been sporadic, one week ago it was 45 degrees and today 90 degrees.
Sunday the Ferrari kids were baptized at the Stratford church. It was neat to see each one of the kids make their public declaration of walking with the Lord. I ask our kids all the time why they havent taken that step. IT is a step and a choice they have to make on thir own. I will just continue to pray for them. Pastor Jim unveiled Janet's painting that was made into a baptistry canvas behind the baptism water. it turned out amazing! I had a small role in it and it made my heart happy. I had the painting in my house on my wall for many years. Giving it back to the church gave Jim the idea to trun it into the baptismal painting, and today we saw it for the first time. It was beautiful! The water from the stream in the painting looked as if it flowed right into the baptismal waters. After rchurch, our families had lunch at the local restaurant along with Pastor Jim and his wife. pastor Jim has a miraculous story of his life. he had a brain stroke and is not only lucky to be alive, but lucky to be living a full life with the damage that doctors could not explain. he should not be walking or talking. He is a really neat pastor and a neat guy.
The second week of June was kind of long and lonely. Luke was gone to camp all week. Jake works daily at Nate's, gets done and goes to the shop and works on his own stuff. I make him come home by 9, or I would never see him. He showers, then eats and I visit with him and we watch a little tv till late. Mark has been hauling all week and takes a lunch with him. The days have been long and I don't enjoy it much. I wonder if this is what it will be like as an empty nester in a few years. I didn't have anywhere I needed to go and didn't have anyone to get together with. I did a lot of cleaning and organizing, but that gets old in a hurry. Normally I like to be outside, ride a horse, ride a bike, take a walk, mess with my plants or animals. I rode horses one morning in the indoor. It is so much cooler in there, but the air is thick and I sweat without doing anything. While tied to the wall my horse almost flipped himself over pulling back so hard because he didn't like the sound of the overhead fans. I don't like doing horse stuff when nobody is around, it just doesn't feel safe. It has been so hot this week, in the 90's everyday. It is too early for all this heat. I get up early to feed horses and water plants but it's still so hot. It gets better just before dark around 9PM. The flies are awful, they bite so hard it feels like pin pricks. The horses are tormented by them all day long. They hide in the barn and stomp. The steers are probably worse than the horses, they get covered. We need rain and the crops are getting too dry. If we don't get a good rain soon, the damage will start.
Luke went to Hidden Acres for "Fishing Camp". It was different because of the pandemic. Parents had to go through a drive through process when dropping off. Luke had his gear and poles and was excited for his week of camp. He went alone and joined a group of kids he didn't know. His counselor seemed nice and energetic. I think he enjoyed it for the most part. It had its ups and downs as any camp would. He had to hear some of the kids talk about some pretty heavy and disturbing stuff that he wished he didn't have to hear. He wouldn't even share it with me. He did a lot of fishing, they didn't catch much. There was a day of heavy rain. In a drought year, the heavy rain was like an instant flood and there were areas of deep rain. The boys got to spend their last night along the river in a tent. They went off camp and stayed with what they brought, clothes on their body, pillow, and blanket. They decided to swim in the river and that meant a bunch of wet underwear to sleep in. UGh! It was an experience and I was proud Luke took the step and made the choice to go to camp. This is the last year he could attend as a camper.
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