The Event ~ Josh on the Farm

A year ago, Josh started talking about spending the following summer here on the farm.  That's kid talk ~ dream talk.  Kids think it would be fun to spend the summer on the farm,  and say they are going to, but more fun stuff like baseball and sleeping in and being lazy ends up taking priority.

So for a year Josh talked about coming to the farm this summer.  Yeah, right!!  Wait a minute. . . . .
Oh my gosh - Josh is here - to stay - for seven weeks!  And work!  And get up early!  Oh, that's because he's not just a kid.  He's an eager young man, wanting to learn, and embracing the farm life, and appreciating nature and valuing time with his grandfather, and building memories.

One day Josh will look back and recall the summer of 2014 when he went to a country rock concert with Grandma, and then to a baseball movie with Grandma, and then dancing to 50's music with Grandma, and out for ice cream with Grandma.  Oh, and we went to the Cattleman's Ball together too!  And his time here is only half spent!  Oh, Grandpa was with us (except for the movie), but there is something sweet in these "grandma dates"!

The Cattleman's Ball is a big event on a ranch in Nebraska.  This year it was at a local ranch nestled in the hills south of Gering.  Tim's real estate office helped serve the breakfast brunch to those wealthier people who paid the $350 for the two-day tickets.  So Josh even put on an apron and helped serve the brunch.

Josh is putting in a lot of hard work.  He first started out by helping to rebuild a John Deere tractor.  A lot of hands on experience in mechanics.

 

Oops, Grandpa didn't tell him "No sleeping on the job!"

Then he learned how to drive tractor and move big round bales and brought in about 100 bales from the fields to the stack yards.  And loading by hand, hauling, unloading and stacking by hand 60 bales of horse hay.  In His daily chore is feeding the eight steers in the corral at 6:30 a.m. 

 



One evening we went to the Sugar Valley Rally, an antique car rally held here every year.  While there, he picked out a few of his favorite cars that he'd like to own someday.

Guess this isn't an antique. . . .

 



At least it's mobile. .  .

 

In between farm work, Josh has painted shed doors, corral gates, trimmed trees, dug holes, cleaned barns, mowed lawns, and has been offered jobs by three other people!





A noon power nap!

After several attempts and some lack of confidence, Josh finally regained his confidence and learned how to run the stacker of small square bales.  And then learned to bale small squares.  When not driving tractor in the field, he was kept busy with many small fix-it projects around the yard, like tearing out the back deck so we can replace it, painting the bench in the rock garden, mowing Great-Grandpa's lawn every week, etc. 

 

 

Tailgate suppers are always my favorite part of hay harvest.  Food just tasted better on the go and in the field!  It was an eventful time having Josh here for seven weeks.  We will miss him when he returns home in mid-July.  Grandpa is going to be lost without Josh's help.  I hope he goes home with some real life-enduring and eventful memories.  And I hope he remembers to turn his socks right side out! 





You gotta love this face!

 

Another Grandma date!