Gotta love garage sales!

Yesterday was our big community garage sale day. In total there were 36 garage sales between two towns. Our first salers arrived at 7 am( early birds) when we were still setting up, it wasn't due to start until 8 am. Right off the bat we sold a chipper we'd been given in return for some labor in cleaning up an elderly couples homestead. Mike never had the time to get it all tuned up and the blades sharpened. So..... we opted to sell it and get it out of our way. We priced it at $25 and it sold to our first saler. We also had a pull behind sprayer, that we only used twice. We marked it reasonable and it sold to our third saler. Cortney had more stuff than Mike and I did and she did quite well. She had some books, VHS movies( younger kids, and some Disney movies), some clothes she'd outgrown, an older bike( still in good shape), a couple of board games, etc..... All total she made $55, which is good considering her highest priced item was $5 down to $.50 We made $65 from our few items but they were items just sitting taking up space. My Dad had several items in the sale, many were big ticket items( A new self propelled mower, a tiller, a leaf blower, a generator, hunting scopes, and expensive fishing stuff. He made the most, selling the mower, generator, tiller and many of his fishing tackle and reels. It's amazing but sitting around and answering questions and I was beat. Mike worked on the wood splitter off and on between questions and helping load items. Today, Addy, our Dexter went to visit the bull. Mike was hoping we'd get her to load easily. I put the halter on her and she lead right into the trailer. She got her two front feet in and then hesitated and I simply gave a gentle pull and up she came. We only had to take her 8 miles to our south, what a blessing to have another homesteader so close who loves Dexter's as much as we do. She doesn't haul well, she moves around, a lot! When we arrived and pulled back to the bull's corral area, he got excited and began bawling, Addy quickly answered. The bull is quite the handsome fella, his name is Abe. We got Addy unloaded, with some excitement, she hopped out before I had the lead rope attached and I only had hold of her halter. All was fine, Mike grabbed her while I got the lead hooked. We then led her into Abe's corral, removed her halter and the chase was on. He wanted to meet and greet and she was busy looking for Bessie and Button, so couldn't be bothered. She was fairly excited and was pacing the fence, hitting the hot wore twice. Mike and I stood and talked with our new friends in hopes she'd calm down. She found the hay feeder and that was the end of pacing the fence lines. She's such an oink! She's due to come into heat on the 16th and Abe was checking her pretty close, showing signs of interest. She'll stay for a week, we'll pick her back up next Sunday. Praying she takes this time, if not she'll get one more shot in July. If she doesn't take then she'll most likely end up in the freezer, as we can't afford to feed her for nothing, no milk, no calf. We've contracted for 4 tons of alfalfa hay and are waiting to hear about the grass hay. The man we've purchased from isn't wanting to set a price, but we can't save $$ if we don't have a price either. If we can't get him pinned down for the 12 ton we want, we have another source and the price is already set for this hay. Last year grass hay was selling for $120 a ton and alfalfa for $100 a ton. I'm getting the feeling both of these prices will rise this year. We'll be taking a cutting off our back pasture, which should yield us about a ton. We then pasture it the remainder of the Summer and Fall. We worked on weeding and watering the corn, onions, carrots, the salad garden, and potatoes. The potatoes are the most important right now because they need to be hilled up. Mike worked on them for several hours, until his knees couldn't take it any longer. Cortney worked on the onions and moving the bubblier from row to row. I worked on weeding beans and replanted in a few areas that the seeds didn't come up. The corn rows had a few areas in which I filled in with seed I'd soaked for a quicker start. It was getting cloudy and ominous looking in the South West, so we opted to get the garden hoes and such put away and the pump shut off. Once in the house it began to spit some rain, within moments it was pouring. It rained a good steady rainfall for about 20 minutes. Mike checked the rain gauge after it had subsided and we received 4/10th of an inch, what a blessing! Well.... it's late and we've got a busy week ahead of us. Cortney is helping teach, Vacation Bible School at a local church. This will be her fourth year as a helper/ teacher. She's such a natural when it comes to children, they simply love her. She'll be gone from 8am to noon all week. I will enjoy the time to myself, although I will be busy without Cortney's help. Blessings to you and yours