A New Appreciation for Mom’s Day

Yesterday as you well know was Mother’s Day.  I’m not sure if I “get” to celebrate it yet, seeing as my token into the club is still curled up in my cozy uterus, but either way I have a new found appreciation for my own mom as I keep adding on the days that this little character is late to the party.

I was reminded again of the story of when my mom was pregnant as me, sitting at a nephew’s football game…10 days late.  She said that everyone kept on asking her when she was due as they took a seat next to her on the bleachers, “Oh about 10 days ago.” was her response, slowly followed by that person slowly, painfully, trying to not be obvious about their need to instantly not sit right next to the gal that was about to “pop!”.

So yesterday when a young guy in his twenties asked me, and my response was in the, “Oh about 4 days ago”, and he looked torn between running to go boil water and get towels versus just plain running…I had to laugh.  I doubt this is the only humor I’m going to appreciate from my mom as this journey continues, actually I know for a fact that she will be grinning in many moments yet to come as these life challenges of being a mom come about.  But I have to say I’m lucky, so lucky, to have a mom that is willing to grin along with me, even in tough times and annoying times like when you just have to be patient because sometimes life just happens to you, especially when it comes to being a mom!

family-49 (2)Thanks to Murray Photography for all these beautiful wedding photos…that I still LOVE to look at!

Happy Mother’s Day to all your moms out there!  You deserve all the thanks in the world…because you really do make it a better place!

 

Drones for Farming?

A few days ago I met up with a group of farmers to see a demo of a drone in use from HoneyComb.  Drones have started to gain in popularity for their ability to look at your fields with an efficiency that is pretty incredible.  We walk our fields very regularly, looking for weeds, trouble areas, fungus, slug damage and other issues that might come up.  This takes a lot of time, and your ability to walk an entire field, every square inch to see all those areas is pretty slim.

IMG_1166IMG_1163Although this technology is still new in regards to the types of information it can provide, I have no doubt that the extent of information is pretty limitless.  The key is getting information that will be useful while at the same time saving you and your bottom line.  We were joking that it could be used to scare geese off fields, joking mostly, but just might be another application.  HoneyComb has some great articles and examples of drones in use on their Facebook page as well.  Click HERE to check it out.

IMG_1156With the drones that we saw demoed on Wednesday it would take only 15 to 20 minutes to cover 50 acres completely.  Then you wait for the information to be uploaded to a server and sent back to you with information about your crop.

IMG_1158It’s pretty incredible and something that we have been hearing more and more about.  And people say that farmers aren’t embracing the wave of the future??  I think not!

Honor Flight

“We can’t all be heroes, some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they go by.” Will Rogers

This past week my Grandpa and my mom headed off to Washington DC to go on an Honor Flight with other veterans of WWII and see the WWII memorial for the first time.  Yesterday we got to welcome them home from their trip, along with a full honor guard and tons of people!

10269547_10202793612774593_9039543656488375306_nI didn’t know what to expect, but the tears in the soldiers eyes as we clapped for them filing past us, shaking hands, smiling, taking our pictures, thanking us for being there.  But really, we were thanking them.  For all their service, sacrifice and honor that may seem like a distant past to many of us, but when you stop and think of the freedom that we attribute to them, it’s astounding what an important role these men played in our lives and for generations yet to come.

photo(4)

We had a great group there from our family to celebrate my grandpa, 29 of 50 were able to come and cheer him on!  30 if you include this little baby that still hasn’t thought it time to show up for the party yet.

10245555_10203717851890923_4591434451317223646_nI haven’t gotten to hear too many stories yet about the trip, they saw a ton and looked like they were ready for a rest by the time they hit Portland Airport.  But one of the coolest things they did do, was a mail call on Saturday night.  My grandma said that mail call for the service men was the most looked forward time of the day.  All of us family members wrote letters to grandpa and to other veterans thanking them for all they have done for us.

10308392_10152477521245712_6230605224972673598_n

And one of the best things they did for us was sing “God Bless America” right there in the Portland Airport, it was incredible!

Vetrans singing, “God Bless America”

My grandparents were married right before my grandpa went off to the war.  They are both 90 years old, have been married for 70 years, and have 50 people in our family to show all of life they have lived.

10314702_10152477520750712_3344308120551816676_nThank you to all of you who serve to keep our country safe, we can never say it enough!!