Days With the Duerksens

We expect to finish harvest today - we really don't have that much wheat compared to a lot of farmers around here.  Chelan's a little disappointed that it will be over so soon because things have been going so well - for the most part.  There have been a few minor repairs - the biggest one being that the combine door shattered last night after they finished for the day!  Yes, I said the glass in the door shattered!  After a few phone calls and a trip to Abilene for a new door, the combine is back in the field for the day. Harvest is an important time in the life of a farm.  It's crazy busy, crazy windy, crazy dusty, just plain crazy!  I'd be lying if I said we don't miss Dad during harvest.  We definitely feel his absence and the days are long.  That's why we make extra trips to the field for rides or to take him food -- that's where our family time is these days! Last night, the kids played in the wheat for a little bit.  Enjoy the last ...

We began harvest on Fri., June 21.  So far, it's great wheat!  With hot & windy conditions expected in the next week, harvest will be over before we know it! Better move before the dust hits! So much activity - it's easy to get confused! clogged air filter lots of 4-wheeler rides!

Cambry spent her mornings this week at Kauffman Museum for their "Watercolor My World" camp - one of the 5 or 6 Uncle Carl's Camps they offer during the summer.  This was just the kind of camp she needed - she couldn't wait to go back each day. Today, they finished camp with an Art Exhibit - a showing of the paintings they had created during the week.  It was neat to see how happy she was to show us and I loved seeing her exhibit!  Thank you, Grammy, for making this week happen! Her first painting - "Bird"  She told me that she had named it "Birdle" but they left the "le" off!  :) "Color Bible" Grammy & Cambry

Preparations are under way and the excitement is building for Harvest 2013!

Here is another one of my projects from my class last week - a video I had to make.  I used pictures from our family's attempt at recreating The Nativity last Christmas.  I say "attempt" because Delaney was not cooperating - she had an ear infection.  It's a good memory, though! I think I was supposed to create something I could use in class, but this was the first thing that popped into my head, and since I am not currently teaching, that's just how it is! The Nativity

I made it a goal this summer to take the kids on some field trips.  I had this same goal last summer and we didn't take a single one!  I'm approaching it differently this summer - they are earning their Friday Field Trips!  When they have collectively earned 20 tickets in their bucket, we get to choose from our list of destinations.  They earn their tickets by:  being respectful, being helpful to others, doing a task or a chore the first time we ask/suggest they do it, by being polite, and by generally just making good decisions. Last Friday, we took our first trip to Sand Creek Trail at Bethel College (my cousin takes her boys there every once in a while - that's where the idea came from).  My goodness has it changed in 12 years!  When I was at Bethel, it was just getting started.  I remember walking on it a lot my junior and senior years.  It's really beautiful now - nice landscaping at the entrance along with a "...

On Mon day, Amy an d I trekke d out to Frien ds University to take a workshop about using websites in the classroom.  It was okay - the teacher was . . . not a real overachiever!  I was expose d to websites that millions of people know about but that I  di dn't know existe d!  Taking a class like this remin ds me of how long it has been since I have been in a classroom. I ha d never hear d the term "wor d clou d" before, but when I saw what it was, I realize d I ha d seen examples everywhere!  So, here are my very fast an d simple  examples from tagxe do.com an d  wor dle.net.  I also learne d about a website calle d Big Huge Labs.  You can make all kin ds of fun things there like the inspirational poster I put together on the bottom.  Y ou'll notice that I  di d  NOT have teaching on the brain for this class! This one is from wor dle.net - Cambry is having fun playing with this site! If only there ha d been a cow sha...

You know it's summer when this tall, tall grass . . . gets cut  down into these very thick rows . . . an d turne d into these bales! Chelan sai d this one cutting yiel de d more bales than the last 2 years combine d!  We are so thankful for a rainy spring.  Summer reare d its ugly hea d this week, though - almost 100  degrees the last few  days! Other signs of summer . . . These . . . turne d into this yummy jam!  Is there anything better than Club crackers with fresh jam?? Cai den helping in the fiel d tractor ri des - very reluctantly on  delaney's part! Cai den taking control of the 4-wheeler - he looks so grown-up an d rea dy to be a farmer himself! Fishing!  Cambry caught this large Catfish, but wante d nothing to do with holding it!