Now and then...

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Big John and Little John of the Deere brotherhood.



Any day I get to spend on a tractor is a good day.



Cara, ready to get to some mowin'



I woman-handled that unit onto a pallet by myself - yeah, I'm that strong! (actually, I'd say it's more about smarts than about strength)

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I figured since I've referred to my mill days I'd dig out a few pictures from my summers at the Weyerhauser OSB 2000 (Hudson Bay, SK) just for fun.



Forklift work in the finishing end.



Knife grinding room where we sharpened the knives for the stranders.



Knife grinding room - working that angle grinder.



A few of the ladies I worked with in the finishing end.

Practicing my bucket skills...

My first time working with the bucket. This morning I moved the entire compost pile - that's less than half the pile pictured here. What a smelly job! I also learned how to put the tractor into 4-wheel drive, a necessary know-how when one gets the tractor stuck in the compost pile ;-)

What is one girl to do?

I had quite the haul from my garden yesterday, including these flowers.




That's 50 cucumbers, in addition to the 50 I picked last week and at least 40 I picked the previous week - and I only have 3 little plants! And yes, that watermelon did come from my garden.

Road trip and birthday weekend...

As we all know, every good road trip starts with Alicia in the trunk of a car.

Thursday evening we very strategically packed all of Joanne's stuff into 2 cars.

And Friday morning we hit the road!



Lunch at a rest stop in Ohio. Don't you love our assortment of veggies? They're all from our gardens.



My birthday cupcake - trying to make sure the breeze doesn't blow out the candle before I do.



Make a wish...



Presentation of "26 things we love about Alicia" - a birthday tradition. Joanne started it off by reading the first few items from the list.



We pulled off at a sketchy gas station in the middle of nowhere. I had no idea what was going on or what in the world we could possibly be waiting for at such a place when Cara called to tell me what she loves about me!



After 11 hours in the car we finally arrived in Maryland! A nice man wearing pyjamas, in an effort to get the perfect shot, crawled on top of his car to take this picture for us.

And here's Andrea telling me what she loves about me.



Apparently one of the things they love about me are my hugs!



After supper at Uno's we got back to Andrea's parents place where we were to take up residence in the camper for the night, but not until Carrie Skyped in to wish me a happy birthday and finish off the list of things they love about me.



Present time!



A sock monkey from Carrie!



And an awesome t-shirt from Cara, Joanne and Andrea!





Freaky picture, but cool t-shirt! Andrea even drew a picture of my Steiner.



On to Harrisonburg, Virginia on Saturday.



Tailgate/trunk lunch.



That's me.



That's me being stupid in an attempt to entertain Andrea.



Proof that you can fit that much stuff in a vehicle.



And Joanne's dad doubted us?



Joanne's new room at the JMU peace house.



On the spur of the moment we decided to paint the room before moving in.



2 hours and exactly one can of paint latter, Joanne has a purple room.



Now we're finally ready to start unpacking the cars.



Sunday morning Andrea gave us a tour of Eastern Mennonite University, her alma mater, and where Joanne is the newest associate campus pastor.

Andrea and I drove back to Maryland early Sunday afternoon. We went for a walk in the country once we got back. Some quads flew past us on the road and I said to Andrea how much fun that looked, so she took off to her grandparents' farm to borrow their quad so that we could take it for a spin.





But the quad died on us on our way back. My chaplaincy skills are good, but not quite that good.



We spent some time with Andrea's family Sunday evening. Here her dad is making popcorn over a fire - my first experience of fire-popped pop corn. It was yummy!



On Monday Andrea and I made the 10 hour trek back to Indiana.




The beautiful but long trip back.



"Wild and wonderful" - just like Alicia (according to Joanne).

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A closer up look at my new friend.

Carrie also surprised me by giving me a flight to see my new niece or nephew when she/he is born this fall!



The list of 26 things my friends love about me which Andrea and Joanne presented to me once everyone had read their part.

Rainy mowing day...

...so I sharpened the Steiner's blades, as well as the 15 footer's blades. Once again, my work at the mill has come in handy. I never thought those two summers in the knife grinding shop would serve me so well.