The Farm

Paul, Brad, Eduardo and I fenced in another 10 or 15 acres West of Walmart. Dawson (Tori's boy) and I fenced out a corner of my old pasture to give the horses access to ditch water for the winter. Dawson built a bridge across the ditch but fell in the water on the first try. After that he became more brave and could walk across easily'. Dawson needs to come back to help me finish the fence and remove a large Russian olive tree from the ditch bank.
I tried out a rotary mower to use behind our little green tractor. It will be used to cut the bad weeds in my pastures and also the weeds in Paul's orchard.. The orchard had too many rocks so Grandma and I spent a few hours hauling them off. Grandma is an experienced rock picker from our days on the Shoshone ranch. The 5 foot mower is a little too small so the dealer is bringing me a 6 footer next week. If it works in the orchard, I expect that Feed will be borrowing it next year.We spent Thanksgiving in Clinton with Rula and her Sons family. Her son Stan is a retired highway patrol officer and now working for the Clearfield police department. Stan knows how to catch hawks and train them to hunt. I want him to capture a large goshawk in my pasture which keeps wiping out my tame ducks.It must be hard on phesants also because they have almost disappered from from the Perry area.

Our trip to Ukraine

I spent my 85th birthday on a Delta Airline plane heading for a Ukraine River Cruise down the Dnieper River. With stops in New York and Paris we finally arrived in the capital city of Kiev. After a city tour we collapsed from jet lag, and slept through our free time. The Kiev temple is about half completed but we didn't have time to visit it.
We passed thru 5 locks going down the river, but it seemed most of the cruise was thru large lakes created by power dams along the river.
The highlights of our shore tours was watching the Cossack riders perform at Zaporozhye, visiting the white palace at Yalta on the Crimea and touring the port city of Odessa. At the white palace we saw where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin divided up Europe after world war 2.
At Odessa we met 2 Mormon missionaries, Elder Lloyd from Kaysville, UT and a German companion. They took us to the Odessa branch chapel which is in a rented building . The church is renting most of their meeting places in Ukraine. The missionaries are having great success in proselyting and teaching English to the youth. Since Ukraine didn't gain their independence from Russia until 1991 it is slow in breaking away and has a lot of Russian influence in their monuments and language.
The exchange rate was 5 UAH for 1 dollar with prices about the same as at home. The streets are crowded with newer mid size cars. The fuel prices are high through out Europe, at least 5 dollars per gallon. Parking places are at a premium in all the large cities.
The 18 hour flight time was almost too much for us and we expect to cut back on future travels.

Activities

Moved 10 cows to Freds unused pasture, they are doing great.
With Pauls crew we fenced in 5 more acres near Walmart. The 12 mares and colts moved right in. We may have to move out in a month because pasture has been sold. Have received a request to fence in much more but may be running out of fence material.
Thursday,nov 6,2008 After a half hour probe Dr Larsen declared me cancer free for a year. By then I will be 86 and may be ready to retire..
Brad announced the arrival of our 36th great grand child on 5Nov2008. His name to be Bryan
George Baxter. Thank you Brad for the pictures of a beautiful baby.