Mouse-capades

Seems there's been a little mousy-ness going on here at our farm-ette on Amish Highway 35. It involves these two special kids ...

Mitch & Abbi have always been two peas in a pod, in spite of the 8 year age gap. Mitch is now a *ahem* mature 20 year old and Abbi is marching along in his dust as a 12 year old in pretty nail polish and cowboy boots! They share a love for anything outdoors, have both enjoyed the menagerie of animals around here (both dead & alive), and both enjoy a good prank.

Mitch was always my helper and Abbi' protector when she was small. I never feared sending her outside with him, to discover the world!

Now fast forward to several weeks ago ... the 20 year old man and the 12 year old girl ... when each of their individual lives were about to collide for another long summer. For the last year and a half they have shared space in one of our buildings. He with truck pieces & parts, grease, boom box, and a red-neck flag hanging on the wall. (pictured below is the gem of a truck that has been a work-in-process for about 4 years, sad looking, isn't it?)


She with her horse stall for Kaia and a collection of pink bridles & harnesses, saddles, fly spray, oats, and hay.

Several weeks before Mitch moved home from college Abbi found a cute little dead mouse in the bottom of Kaia's hay bin. One day I was sitting outside watching her ride, and she told me how she found the mouse and threw it into Mitch's space. Then she asked "when is he coming home?" And every now and then we would check on the location of the mouse, and sure enough, it hadn't moved, and she would again ask ... "when?" She could hardly contain her excitement! The day came when Mitch arrived, and it didn't take him long to find his little gift, like about 5 minutes! When he came in from his shop, I asked him if he found Abbi's surprise. "Yes", he confirmed, "and I taped it by it's tail, from her horse stall handle." hmmmm ... sneaky! Yup, it didn't take her long to find it, scream, and demand that Mitch take it off. Since then Abbi & I have had conversation about the cute little moles that our dog kills and places on my front steps!

But for now, all is fair in love and war ... or however that saying goes. Mitch still works on Big Red in his shared space and Abbi lovingly cares for her horse in her part of the space.

Pomp and Circumstance

Our oldest has graduated from college! No need to throw job offers her way just yet, since she has a few more classes to take to complete her double major of Business & Psychology.

I'm not sure where the years have gone ... and before I know it my 6th grader will be walking across a stage to receive her diploma too! But before I get too far ahead of myself, here's a few photos from the weekend celebration.

Alli & Kyle attempting to stay dry after graduation! Kyle graduated with a bachelor's degree in Accounting, and has luckily secured a job at a local accounting firm.

The sculpture outside of the RFC didn't provide a lot of protection from the rain that hung around all weekend. But it made a great place for a photo!

We hosted a party at our place for Alli and one of her roommates, Ashley. Ashley is from another Indiana town several hours away, so her parents helped us put on a party for their friends and our families. Ashley and many of Alli's other college friends have become like our own "daughters", and we will miss them when they all move on to bigger & better things!



At a local benefit auction we bought a certificate for an ice sculpture.

We thought it turned out pretty "cool"! (No pun intended ... well, maybe a little)


This was the beginning of many blurry photos ... somehow the

camera's auto-focus was switched off!
Then we figured it out and got some more great pictures ...

Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, and cousins came to party with us!

Thanks to ALL for making our weekend so special!