Flooding and Baseball

I've been busy the last week or so due to the flooding on the Missouri River. I've been documenting the rise of the river and flood preparations in our area through photographs for work. Spent Wednesday night this week helping fill sandbags--some of which were used to build a berm around a farm house on the river bottom near Running Water. Below is a photo of what is known as "The Bottom Road" east of Running Water, South Dakota.

The Corps of Engineers is increasing the flows through the dams on the Missouri River daily and the news here is filled with the efforts of citizens and the National Guard to protect property affected by the flooding caused by the increased releases from the dams. The flooding is having an effect on the local economy, as all of the boat ramps and campgrounds in our area are closed because of the flooding.

On a lighter note, Zane had his first Teener baseball of the year yesterday and they won 18-8 over Colome! He pitched one inning and didn't do too bad! He's hoping his cousin Chris who pitches for the local amateur baseball team can work with him today on his pitching. He's playing first base this year and loves it--so it's back to "living at the ball park" for the next couple of months!

It's supposed to be hot and humid the next few days--hopefully the rain will hold off until the farmers can get the soybeans in the ground. We had over 2 inches of rain last weekend--it's dried out over the top of the fields, but it's a sloppy mess underneath. Larry nearly got stuck twice yesterday trying to work up a field for planting. The corn is starting to really grow and some of the area farmers are starting to cut alfalfa--besides trying to get their crops in! It's going to be busy the next few weeks!!

8th Grade Graduation

Today was the last day of school for the year, and Zane's 8th grade graduation was tonight. The kids looked great all dressed up--hard to believe that in 4 years they'll be taking the same walk to get their high school diplomas!

Zane and Kolby

A meeting of the minds--trying to decide how to get organized for pictures!

"The guys"

Zane and Wyatt

Zane and Hunter

Kelsey, Zane and Jaclyn--Kelsey's mom Vicki and Jaclyn's mom Julie and I all worked at the Good Samaritan Center when we were pregnant with the kids--Jaclyn was born on Halloween, Zane November 25 and Kelsey on Thanksgiving November 28.

Zane gets his diploma and some words of advice from Dr. Knudson

Mr. Sunne, Zane's math teacher, gets a hug from Zane. Mr. Sunne is leaving this year.

Grandma Esther and Grandma Shirley with their youngest grandchild

Grandma Shirley (my mom), Becky, me, Zane, Katy and Grandma Esther 

Christopher, Zane, my brother Rich and my sister-in-law Krista

Hanging on to his cake and trying to keep it from sliding!

Ice Cream cake from the DQ in Yankton--lots and lots of frosting!!

Science Project

Zane's science teacher brought an incubator to school and Zane brought eggs from the farm and they've been patiently waiting to see if chickens would hatch. The eggs were scheduled to hatch this weekend, so he brought the incubator home on Thursday after school. His teacher told him that "your mom will know what to do with it since she grew up at the hatchery"!! Dad had a chicken hatchery and feed store for 30 years and we grew up helping at the hatchery. All weekend Zane's been closely watching the incubator and yesterday we could see that there were a couple that were trying to peck their way out of the eggs--every once in awhile we could hear them chirping! This morning there are two chickens in the incubator! They're going back to school with him this morning!

Chickens in the incubator - May 9, 2011

Just hatched!

Mother's Day weekend

It finally warmed up! We were in the 80's and pushing 90 all weekend and even though the wind was nearly "gale-force" I'm not complaining! We need the warm temps and wind to dry out the fields for planting.
Saturday morning Zane left for the Yankton Jr. High track meet at 7:30. I headed down to Springfield to take photos for the paper at the city-wide Rummage sales. They had a good turnout--lots of bargains! I didn't do any rummaging--I have enough to have a sale of my own!! From there I headed to Yankton to the track meet. Zane participated in shotput and discus. After Zane was done throwing, we headed back home and I dropped him off in Tabor to help my brother Richard with mowing. I got back home and hopped on the lawnmower! It was over 80 so I worked on my tan and got my yard mowed and also mowed for one of our customers.

Zane throwing shotput at the Yankton Jr. High Relays

Phyllis, Zane's friend Kolby's mom,  and Shelby waiting for the boys to get done throwing.

Sunday morning Zane left at 5:45 a.m. for Sioux Falls with mom, Richard and Krista for Kelsey and Raquel's AAU Jr. Olympic volleyball tournament. Becky and I went to church, then came home and started laundry. We headed out to the farm later in the afternoon to see how Larry was doing with field work. He was working on field cultivating the big field north of the yard and is hoping he can start planting corn Monday. The thermometer on my truck showed 90 when we got to the farm! From the farm we took a drive down by the river. The river is really up due to all the water being released from the dams, and with the wind blowing like crazy, it was full of whitecaps! There were a few people out trying to fish on what little shore is left since the water is so high. We didn't try fishing--with the wind blowing like crazy it would have been hard to hold the line in the water. 
We got back home and Becky started cleaning out my flowerbed on the south side of the house while I did some more laundry and started making supper. We grilled for supper--Carribean jerk marinaded chicken breast, pork chops, and I also made oven potatoes, pasta crab salad and cherry-pineapple dessert. We have left overs for a couple of meals for this week! Becky did an amazing job cleaning out the flowerbed and also dug out the grass that had grown up between the slabs of sidewalk--what a great Mother's Day gift!! With the hot and humid weather, they issued a tornado watch until 1 a.m.--fortunately we didn't get any severe weather. Zane got home about 8 p.m. and Becky's friend, Kristina, stopped over to visit. The girls headed to Becky's as Kristina was spending the night at Becky's. Zane worked on his homework--nothing like leaving the homework until Sunday night!! I put a couple of rows on another dishcloth and then called it a night. It was nice to sleep with the windows open and the fans running!! We're supposed to have warm weather and wind most of this week so the farmers will be busy trying to get the corn in! They're talking about a chance of severe storms Monday and Tuesday--hopefully it won't develop into anything!

Had to run get a half-inch wrench to adjust the stop on the cylinder on the field cultivator--it was digging too deep!

Larry and I on Mother's Day

Working up the field north of the yard on Mother's Day!

My hard-working farmer "playing" in the dirt!

Tulips at the farm

Crab apple blossoms

The thermometer on my truck on Mother's Day!

Nicky finally sat still so Becky could get a picture of her--of course she had to park herself in the flowerbed!

Warm weather and Tripp Music Contest

It was nearly 80 here yesterday and we're finally having a stretch of nice weather! The grass is growing like crazy and we're busy with mowing! One of the spring traditions in our area is the Tripp Music Contest--usually held the first Friday in May. I'm not sure how many years they've had the contest, but I participated in it in 5th - 8th grade back in the 1970's and it was held even before that! Zane played a solo on his tuba "Russian Medley". Here are a couple of photos from the contest:

Zane playing his tuba at Tripp Music Contest. Grandpa Wayne would be so proud of him!

Linda Haar, one of our high school English teachers and our drama coach was his accompanist.

Miss Haar and Zane after his solo was finished.

Happy Easter

It's Good Friday and the sun has finally decided to make an appearance here in southeastern South Dakota. It's in the 50's--almost a heatwave compared to the weather we've been having!
Hope you all have a blessed Easter!

Mother Nature's Confusion

The calendar says April 15--it's supposed to be Spring--not in South Dakota! Mother Nature must be having a "Senior Moment" as we're supposed to be having the 75+ temps we had earlier this week--not this "crap"!! We're still in a winter weather advisory until 1 a.m.


This is the view from my back door a few minutes ago.