Corn dogs!

Skyler enjoying a corn dog yesterday at lunch.  Note how he eats the hot dog out of each piece. :)

Insert Grawlix here!!

Hail.  I hate it.  We had hail here yesterday.  It shredded my sweet corn leaves and messed up some other plants as well.  Not to mention the 1" of rain it dumped in 15 minutes.  It reminds me that mother nature can and will wreak havoc at anytime anywhere.  Let's just hope that we don't have any more severe weather.  Except that monsoon season seems especially early and stronger this year.  Sigh...

Here it comes.

Piling up.

1/4" and bigger.

Harder!

Faster!

3/8"!

Flooding.

Bullet holes in the zucchini.

Shredded corn.

It smelled like silage being cut.

Shredded.

Flooding in the rows of peppers.

Lodging corn.

Another view of lodging.

Sometimes the lodged corn will right itself as long as there aren't any more winds.  Yeah right!

I know it's only a garden and my livelihood doesn't depend on it.  Think about if it did.  Imagine this happening to 2000 acres of your livelihood.  Welcome to farming.  Remember, if you ate today, thank a farmer!  Only 2% of America's population is farmers.

Whew!

Shoveling is hard work!

Cooling...

Both pets cooling off in the shade yesterday afternoon before the rain hit.

Sleeping with a Deere.

He got a new combine toy at the farm store yesterday.  He never put it down all afternoon and fell asleep with it in his hand.  It was the first toy in his hand today too.  I wish a $5 toy kept me that entertained!

A happy 4th was had here.

We walked down to the annual City Parade.  Skyler really loved the parade.

Important to stay hydrated while watching a parade.

Rolfe excavation/Rolfe for mayor truck.  Pretty sure I know the passenger inside. :)

Really well done Noah's Ark float.

The only JD in the whole parade, 6x4 Gator.

A really well done West Jordan float.

You know it's hot when goats take cover under the swather!

After the parade, we had some old fashioned hot dogs on the grill for lunch.  These are like the L3 dogs that L3 serves during their open houses.

Plump deliciousness!

I made some home made fried chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh picked garden green beans for dinner.

It turned out awesome!  Even Altair enjoyed it.

A special thanks to my Mom for watching Skyler at our house yesterday while he napped so Altair and I could go see "The Lone Ranger" movie.  It was SO good!!  Everyone should go see it.  :)

My sister came over and we lit a few fireworks in the backyard.  Skyler would watch and say "ooh, fire" and sometimes cover his ears.

The only proof I have of lighting fireworks.  My sister snapped this of me with a blow torch and sparkler.  I see nothing wrong with any of this.

4th of July.

A kid in the corn!

Yes, another post with corn pics.  Skyler found out how much fun it is to run down the corn rows last night.  It was hard to get him to stop he was having so much fun!

A really big truck and some corn.

We spotted this Komatsu haul truck frame Sunday.  Look at the size of that radiator!

And, my sweet corn is looking pretty good!  Won't be long now.

Riding up Butterfield Canyon.

On my favorite (and mostly unknown) trail. It was epic.

Looking west into the Tooele valley.

The first part is open and gravely.  It gets much better!

The post stream crossing meadow.  Everything smelled like alpine wonderness.

My riding partner Maizey dog came along.  She was having the time of her life.

Singletrack at its finest!  The trail is super narrow and lined with overgrown vegetation.

One of the "pop out" views along the trail.

Lupine flowers were everywhere.  So were the wild roses.  Again, the smell was divine.

Here comes my other riding partner.

So hot!  She laid down in the water to cool as most Border Collies do.

Still cooling...

This is what we got to experience back down in the valley.  Uggh!

Not to be outdone by our adventure, Skyler had to wear my helmet.

And try on Altair's.

So pleased with himself he got the straps buckled!