I missed my deadline for last week's paper because I was having too much fun at the big birthday

bash we threw for Renay on Sunday, June 20th. She is now eight years old.The party started mid-afternoon and we invited the Rabbits to join us. Ceilee, Jess and Skyler drove up together from Columbia to be with us, too. The celebration featured games, refreshments, a yummy supper cooked by Laird and Jo, fireworks in the evening, music and, of course, lots of presents. Many people made the gifts they gave Renay.

Jo and her friend Shoshanna came back to Sandhill on the 15th after their trip to Tennessee to attend a festival. Shoshanna had to leave for her home in Washington, DC the next day and we took her to catch the train in Quincy.

Doug, our visiting Merchant Marine seaman, also left that day on the same town trip. He will be going back to the Maritime Academy in Maryland in June to work on his next rating certificate before going out to sea again this fall. We picked up another visitor, Geo, while we were at it. Geo has been touring a number of communities and will be with us until Monday.

Jo will be here until July 14th this summer. She is then planning to attend a career orientation at a culinary school on the East Coast she hopes to attend after she graduates from high school next year.

Some of our crew has been travelling in the last three weeks. Our interns Susie and Kristen both were gone for a while during that time. Susie went up to her hometown, Chicago, to be a part of her brother's wedding as one of the bridesmaids. She was there from the 9th to the 15th. Kristen went to Lawrence, Kansas on the 17th to work as a volunteer at a music festival and came back on the 21st. We enjoyed

hearing their stories of their experiences while they were away.

Stan headed to Nebraska on June 21st for his longest farm inspection trip of the season. We expect him home on July 3rd. I have to admit I miss his morning coffee. He is usually our earliest riser and has a pot hot and ready for the rest of us slowpokes.

Gigi and Renay went over to Illinois to see our friends Ned and Jane at their farm on the 24th. Renay had a nice time with their daughter Gracie. The girls swam in the farm's spring water pool and had a good day together.

We are busy trying to finish getting in the final batches of spring seedlings. The frequent rains put us a bit behind schedule, but we are getting caught up. Lettuce, cucumbers, melons and sweet peppers are done. Winter squash is going in today and there are a few more hot peppers to finish up.

The nice pay-off of all the hard work is the harvests. We have had abundant lettuce, greens and kohlrabi. We have begun digging carrots and have eaten our first cole slaws of the season. We

are also in the middle of an abundant small fruit harvest. We have had wonderful berry crisps for dessert several times and have also put some away for future processing.

Our thoughts have been with David Herr, who was recently injured on the job. I appreciate the article Mrs. Priebe put in the paper last week to let folks know about the fund raising effort on David's behalf. Dr. Herr and his family deserve the support of their neighbors at this time.