Friday, June 9

What fun to spend most of a day with our great grandson, Anthony.

Our first job was to work on our tiny garden – which consists of two tomato plants, a cucumber, a pepper, oregano, and mint tea.

I pointed out weeds to Anthony and he willingly dug them up.

As we worked our way around the garden, we stopped to cut some mint tea – a favorite job of his.

Then we had to do more weeding, so he pulled my wagon to the other side of the garden.

After a snack for lunch, we decided to walk to Jere and Kristen’s house – a one mile excursion. We wanted to watch Great Grandpa and Jere work on a small barn that Jere and Kristen and their family were turning into a chicken house.

I showed him how to play with his shadow.

We stopped to visit my sister-in-law Brenda and niece Karen (who just moved into the farmhouse a few weeks ago). After Anthony said hi to everyone, we settled in Brenda and Steve’s sandbox for awhile.

We were there when Steve and Brenda’s youngest son Tristan left for Alabama – where he is settling after spending several months as an intern with a prison ministry.

He learned to like the south, so after his term with We Care was completed, he found a job in the area. Steve and Brenda’s oldest son Kurt and his wife, Alix, live on Prince Edward Island. Tristan told me that the home place is almost the center point between his and Kurt’s house. I think one is something like ten miles farther.

After the sandbox, we visited the chickens on the second floor of the old barn – where my parents raised chickens.

I gathered many eggs in this part of the barn when I was a young girl.

Our next stop was to visit Travis’ cattle.

We could barely see them, so I used my flash as you can see by their eyes.

They soon became interested in us an came out into the sunlight.

This one was very interested in us.

Anthony loved walking by this feeding area in the dairy barn complex.

Corn was looking good in this no-till field. (Remember this was June 9 – two weeks ago, so it is much taller as I post this today – June 25.)

About the time we got to the Lehman farm – half a mile into our walk – we could see Jere and Great Grandpa arriving at Jere and Kristen’s place. They used the Lehman’s field lane to get to the chicken barn.

Before long we met these three friends (a Lehman grandson, a friend, and our grandson Ian) celebrating the end of school.

A field of buttercups near Jere and Kristen’s house.

We found two pretty mushrooms on the edge of Jere and Kristen’s yard.

As we walked up Jere and Kristen’s lane, we met these three again. They came back to Ian’s house for a fishing rod. This is what the end of a school year should look like. 🙂

By the time we got there Jere and Cerwin were removing the old roof from the barn they were updating. Jere was using a post to knock it loose.

Jesse and Jared were removing things that had been inside the old shed.

Popsicle time

Back to work

Pretty lilies on the way to the swing set.

You can see the Hershey Heritage Farm in the background – where we were looking at chickens and cows.

It’s interesting to walk with a three-year-old boy as there so many things to discover.

We also stopped to watch some farm equipment in the field.

Some Lehman cows

Looking back on the barn project.

Anthony wanted to walk to the top of the hill to see some cows at the Lehman farm.

We had to stop and examine these bird tracks – maybe from a Canada goose who lives next to the pond.

I thought his pants would fall off from the weight of all the “pretty” stones he found and stored in his pockets.

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Three-and-a-half-hours later we arrived back home. I love having a little person in my life!