Christmas in August?

Sunday afternoon we left Fargo after enjoying ceremony leftovers for lunch at Linda and Maxine's and drove to the farm. Grandpa EIO, Gordon, and Reid, with the help of Merle and Travis, were frantically combining wheat at Gordon's. Since Ellen flew home from Moscow, Idaho, and Reid and Alysha drove from Plano, Illinois, it was a rare opportunity for all of us to spend time together, without the pressure of the holidays.

The time went quickly. Ellen and I drove to Amy's in Volga on Monday afternoon to meet Josie Forbes. The remainder of our time was spent with family...Grandpa Orville came over Sunday afternoon for a visit and Grandma Darlene spent the day with us on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning our family and Maggie, Reid and Alysha's beagle, set out on a search for monarch butterfly caterpillars. After preoccupying the horses with a bag of corn husks and cobs from last evening's supper and a few fallen apples from the tree in the backyard, we began trudging through grass taller than Collin and Aaron to inspect nearly every milkweed plant in the pasture...looking for very hungry caterpillars.
After about an hour, the boys started looking at me with suspicion, doubtful the caterpillars even existed. In retrospect, I think our search was ill-timed, as we did witness a number of Monarch butterflies fluttering about the pasture. I'm thankful for the giant leopard frog who single-handedly salvaged my attempt at an adventure by allowing the boys to catch him over and over again.