A busy weekend.

On Friday evening the farmer and his family were host to our area homeschool group. We had about 75 homeschool parents and children come here to the farm to cook some food on the grill, fellowship together and listen to the trucker tell his stories:).

Each of the families brought their own meat to cook on the grills I had waiting, and something to share with the group.

My children hid 4 cases of pop cans, each numbered on the bottom, around the acreage, then I sent the kids off to find them. As they returned with a found can of pop, it was marked off of the list, then thrown in a tub of ice water. When all the cans had been found, after about 45 minutes, everybody could drink a can if they wanted one. Not a single parent objected to the fact that their children were drinking soda at 8:00 oclock at night, rather, most of they were thankful for the peace and quiet while the children were running to and fro hunting for the sodas.

By the time all the cans were found, darkness had arrived, whereupon the children started a game of capture the flag. That lasted right up until the guests departed, so that we had most of an hour and a half of uninterrupted adult conversation without the crum crunchers hanging on mothers arm.

Our home is surrounded by a large corn field. So the one and only rule was repeated often and loudly.

DO NOT GO INTO THE CORNFIELD !!!

I did not want to be trying to console some distraught mother, because her child had wandered off into a corn field a mile long. Thankfully, everyone obeyed the rule, and there were no search parties required.

On Saturday we repeated the process, only this time it was our local church family as well as another local church of like faith and a few other guests that I had invited.

This is the 5th ? annual cookout with our church family. We do a couple of things differently at this event compared to the one with the homeschoolers. First, "the church that shoots together works together", so we set up a couple of clay pidgeon throwers and blasted some holes in the sky. This year the sheriff did not come to investigate the gunfire.



I was busy cooking, so I can't personally testify to the accuracy of this report, but I heard that this young lady was a very good shot, and did better than many of the men.


The other thing we did different, is that I bought the meat through my local meat vendor, 45 ribeyes and 60 lean hamburgers. US Certified Angus Beef Choice Grade I did the cooking on the grill, with some assistance from my younger brother and my pastor. My lovely wife baked up 80 some baked potatoes in electric roasters, then the guests each brought something to share as well. I'm sorry to say that I had to charge something for the meat since I'm not independently wealthy, and couldn't afford to give everyone a free meal. Lord willing someday I can do that.
There was a tremendous amount of food left over on Saturday night.

We again hid the pop cans, the kids now expect that game. And most of the older kids played volleyball in the back yard under a light I had set up. We have a trampoline, two swing sets, a (very cool) tire swing, set up the badminton net, as well as the volleyball net, had an old tractor wheel rim set up as a fire ring with a bonfire in it, so that there were numerous things for everyone to do.


Sunday we went to church, took the lovely Mrs. farmer to Pizza Hut for her birthday, and then we rested. Monday we took back all the picnic tables we had borrowed, enough to seat 120 people.

Thanks to everyone that came, thanks to those who loaded/loaned picnic tables, and the most thanks to my lovely wife, who puts up with my desire to be the host with the most.