Got The New Syrup Arch Into The Shack

Today dad and I went down the road to look at some high tensile wire that was for sale. We ended up purchasing it, and then I got a little tour of their barn which houses horses now. I got to see a silage unloader in a silo for the first time. All the stories I have been told about these, I had to just imagine it, but now I got to see one in person which was pretty cool. When we got home, my sisters and I drove down to our bridge on the road and put out 2 flag poles with flags on them. Dad had done some welding and fabricating and made it so the bridge had a flag on either side of the guard rail for the holiday. Dad worked on brush hogging and weed whipping the trails behind the farm and along the crick. I later went over with our loader tractor to where we bought the wire and picked it up with my sister. The drive was maybe 2 miles, but it took us 15 minutes to get there one way with the tractor going "max" speed. We brought it back to the farm and I set it on a hay wagon in the barn. I put away the loader and then came home. Paige and I went back to the shack later and helped dad get the arch into the sugar shack. He had gotten rollers under it, and now I helped crank it in with the come along. 

We had the back side on dollys so it would roll, and then we put one under the middle too. When the front end was almost off the trailer, we used farm jacks on each side of the arch and jacked it up. We then pulled away the trailer and then set the arch down on some blocks so it was still up, and then we went and jacked it up outside the shack and then removed the blocks and put rollers under it. We eventually had it set down on just rollers and I cranked it in all the way. 

Mom had gone this morning and picked up 26 quarts of fresh picked peas from Peterson Farms for us. That is about 39 lbs. She also picked up some for friends and family which was another 26 quarts. She was in the kitchen all day canning and processing them for storage. She canned 21 quarts, froze 4 quarts, and I used 1 quart to eat for dinner. I made dinner again with all fresh ingredients and our own venison and potatoes. My sisters and I went and took down the flags from the bridge since they don't have a light on them and put them in the garage. I fed the steers 12 scoops of grain and a bale of hay. Later tonight we were able to watch fireworks in all directions light up the night sky. We could see Grand Rapid's fireworks way off in the distance. We lit a couple lanterns and were able to watch them go up and come down very close to where they were let go which almost never happens. But since the air was not moving, they just went right up.