Signs Of Fall

At MCC, just out side of Gregg's back door.
Quite a few trees are changing colour already.

Sandhill cranes in a harvested oat field. We will
usually see sandhill cranes in the spring heading
north and this time of the year headed back to
the southern US or northern Mexico.

Fresh Roast Chicken

Prepped and ready for the oven.

Approx. an hour and a half later.

A Tour Of Grassfields Farm

Today the R's and the three L's visited,
Grassfields Farm. The tour was set up
by the West Mich. COOP. The farm is just
west of Lamont, MI. We all arrived at the
farm at 10 AM.
Jesse is the cheese maker; he and some of the
family members gave us a good session on fresh
milk cheese making.
This is about 550 gallons of fresh milk, being
heated, the first step in the cheese making process.

The aging room. Because they use fresh milk,
they can only make aged cheeses, at least 2 months
old. This aging ensures that no bad pathogens
remain in the cheese. Currently they make 6 cheeses;
gouda, cheddar, edam, leyden and garlic and
onion gouda and a dilled gouda. They are all very good.

Grandma and M in the best seats on the wagon,
just before starting on our tour of the pasture.


The farm milks about 150 cows. Most are
Holstein and a Holstein-Jersey mix.

The following is a video of M checking out the chickens.
The first segment is showing M checking out some
grown chickens, waiting in crates to be butchered.
The video ends with Jay prepping two chickens.
The ending is quite graphic, so if you chose not to
watch, please stop the video as soon as you see
Jay placing the chickens in the orange road cones.
We don't display this video as any sort of animal cruelty
protest; only to show where our food comes from
and how chickens are processed on a small poultry
operation.
We purchased one of these birds and plan to enjoy
roasting it on the grill tomorrow.

A Sunday Visit With Family

We had brunch with the Holland Robinsons.
Al and Bettie A are visiting.
Ah,,sorry Al and Bettie, I didn't get any pictures
of you.
Seems as though my camera was M centric once again.
A is showing Lala how to play the baby grand.


M and C enjoying some quite time, and M is
enjoying his own Minute-Maid orange.
He had a pretty nice orange mustache after
he was done.

'norin giving A and M a ride in Great Grandma/Grandma's
yard wagon.

Ready For Service!!!!!!Sir!!!!

Unloaded, cleaned, re-loaded and ready for service.

These are Granny and Gramp's. They had a number

of salt and pepper shakers, but these are the

ones that meant the most to me. They were

given to Granny and Gramps as a gift from

my Dad. No one grabbed these before the thrift

store volunteers began to take things; so I did.

Saturday Evening At Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan shore as seen from the B's backyard.

M & Em checking out the hammock.

There are 345 steps down to the beach, sorry,

I didn't count, but I do know that there are more

steps coming up than there are going down.

Sun set.

Great Uncle Paul and M getting the
bonfire going.

Paul, M and MJ enjoying the fire, the view
and the company.

Saturday Lunch With Family and Neighbors

Sunday Fun

Both M and L were with us today.
Grandma and M spent some quality time
in the garden.

Michael's Open House

We had an open house today for
Michael. It was to celebrate his
GRCC graduation, his receiving his
green card and his enrolment at
Western Michigan University with
a full ride scholarship.
Grandma R made this quilt for Michael.
It's a fence rail pattern; in red, white
and blue.

This is Susan Reed, Michael's immigration attorney.
Susan works for Global Ministries, here is a local site.
Susan guided Michael's case through the morass
that our immigration system has become and
prevailed. THANKS SUSAN!!!!

Olympics Fever

L was with us overnight. She and M & Em
enjoyed a meal of Chinese food in honor of the
Olympics start.
Then we watched the opening ceremony.


The L's are really keyed up about something.
Not sure if it was the food or watching the
opening.

L tries some rice.

Listen close.....L is whistling.
She purses her lips, rolls her tongue and just whistles.

A Day Of Firsts

M came over while E and Checo went to see
the Batman Movie. M had a great 2 hour or so
nap and then had a job to do.
He helped Grandpa make banana bread and
lasagna.
Grandpa had things ready for M when he awoke
from his nap.

Another big first. M had his first "number one"
in our toilette after his nap.

M washes his hands after his triumph.

A sticker indicating M's success.

M learning how to operate the
Kitchen Aid mixer.

M's first loaf of banana bread.

L Doing Her Crawl

M At St. Joe The Worker Festival

M moon walkin' at a church festival.