A time for travel..........

It is Thursday already, wow, does time ever fly. In just a few more days, the Lord willing, the whole family will be together for the first time ever with this many people. 13 All together, that should fill the house up nicely for the holidays.
We here at home are soo excited. Pete and Rebecca are going to get us a tree tomorrow. And we are getting the house nicely decorated for Christmas.
We wish all of you that have to travel a safe journey, where ever you may go or however far you need to travel. May God go with you.

Quick update........

It has been a very busy week. Alternating between being in the warehouse and paper work. And then some work in the house in between. Mom has been decorating in the house, and it starting to look really nice.
It has been snowing here some more the last few days. We actually have snowbanks on the side of the road this year. And it is still fall, at least technicaly. Since winter doesn't start until the 21'st. We have not had a winter like this for many years. This coming weekend, we are getting a Nor'easter. And then milder on Monday. The system is still forming, so no idea as to what we are getting exactly.
I guess we will know on Monday. How has your winter been so far?
Stay warm, and we'll chat later........

Snow.......

It is finaly here. Just finished plowing yesterday. Timing, or what. And then today it was white outside when we got up. It snowed of and on all day. We propable got about 10 cm. And then the wind came and blew it all in the woods. Oh well, it saved some shoveling. It made for nasty driving though.
Pete and me were busy in the house today, fix and repair, for the coming guests. It will be a nice surprise for them.
I hope you all have a great weekend. God's Blessings to you....

A quick road trip.........

Today we went to Nova Scotia to pick up Pete's new wheels. He bought a '91 VW Jetta GTX. His first car ever.

And here it is. We had to go all the way to the Annapolis Valley. Almost in Upper Clements. Klaas & Feije and Brian & Stanley came too.
The one thing it really needs yet though is an engine. It has a Flinstone drive in it right now. Down the road it will probably be upgraded to a 16 valve, lots of hp engine. Right Pete?I think Pete is the happiest guy in Rustico right now.
It is a good feeling to be able to make someone happy......And for the rest? Home sweet home. Oost,West, thuis best!

Carrots are done........

Well, after a long battle with the weather, we are done with the carrots. The last ones staid in the ground because they had too much wireworm.
So now it is cleaning equipment, and greasing and oiling. And then on Monday we can park everything in the shed and hook unto the plows. The outside work is mostly done, so let it snow. Just a short one for now. I'm going to bring the kids in bed.
Talk to you later.......

Just for old time sake, here are a few more pictures.....

On the left we are digging carrots at the 55 acres, such nice scenery. It was a Kodak moment.. And on the right is a picture of the yard. Marten had trouble keeping up and wanted a little stockpile in the yard. Looks like he got lots.....

Great weather......

We are getting lots of carrots out of the ground. The weather has been just great this fall. Today we shattered the record of most trailers loaded in one day. The previous record was twenty one tractor trailers. Today when we got to work, there were nine trailers waiting in the yard. And by the time that I quit digging at 8:30 this evening, Marten had loaded twenty six trailers. Wow, what a busy day. We dug fifty four tandem loads from Harvey's fields today. No major breakdowns. Thanks be to God for all his blessings.

Digging again.............

The next three blogs contain info about carrot digging. I tried to upload video into my blog, but that didn't work. So, I uploaded into U-Tube first and then downloaded into my blog. But it uploads in a new blog every time. That is why I have three new posts. Well, four including this one. Hope you can figure it out.
Have a great weekend.....

carrot harvest

windrowing carrots

carrot harvest

Digging carrots at Blue Bay Farms Ltd...............

I thought that I would try to upload a video of digging from my camera. So, here goes.............Sorry, tried,and didn't work. So the next bit of text goes with the above video's.
This is the carrot harvester, it can also be used to harvest potatoes. We can harvest about twenty acres of carrots in a good day. The yield is about one tractor trailer of carrots from one acre. That means a lot of carrots from 150 acres. This other machine is the windrower. As the name suggests, it digs carrots unto windrows. The harvester comes by after and picks them up. We dug a few more truckloads today. And also loaded five tractor trailer with carrots. The plan is to start full speed on Monday. Hopefully the weather will stay nice. We had beautifull digging weather today. Next week is supposed to be quite a bit colder. But then again, it is almost November. So we can expect some cooler weather. All the equipment is running good. We are getting into our respected grooves again. It took a few loads, but it is just like riding a bike. The crop looks great. We are all healthy hear and doing well. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees now. The lawn is still very green though. Elisabeth mowed the lawn yet today. We are supposed to get some night frost on Monday and Tuesday night. That should take care of the mowing. The barn is kind of empty now. I was in it this afternoon. We were just thinking back on all the laying hens, meatchickens, piggies, lambs that were raisewd in there. And the sheep, cows for milk and meat we kept, and of course our horses. A little trip down memory lane. And now it is all empty but for the mice and raccoons. But they are no fun to play with.
I tried the videos, they work on my site but I don't know if they will work for you.
So here are some pictures.
Here Tineke uses the rubber flail topper to clean the tops of the carrots.



This is the windrower, it is operated by Klaas. It digs three rows and dumps them on top of three rows beside.
Then the digger comes by and picks up those rows and puts them in the truck.Here all three of us in one picture, hard at work.
The truck takes the carrots home, where Marten and the crew transfer them unto tractor trailers.

Anyway, that is the general idea. Hope the video works for you. I know that the pictures will work. Wishing you all a great weekend. God Bless you all.

Slow internet ahead............

Hey all,
Just a few lines, pictures will come later, when our internet works better. It is kind of slow right now for some reason. Pete is scratching his head over it.
We started digging carrots today. It looks like a good crop. We had the usual little problems with starting something new. Pieces of equipment falling appart. Tractor computers on the frits. But all in all, we loaded 9 ten wheelers. And tomorrow we are getting 4 tralers to fill. That should take care of the morning. And then on Monday, when we are allowed to start hauling, we can go full tilt. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it was today. It was nice and warm,sunny and hardly any wind. It has been a beautiful fall for harvesting. We are very blessed, both with the weather and the crop.
Have a great day today! And I hope to get you some digging pictures soon.
Randall

Sad day............

Today started with the sad realisation that Sapho had not eaten her grain. So I went to look for her and found her down in the field. She had worked herself into a hole and could not get up. This was the third time that she did this. This time however she did not recover. So no more Sapho to feed in the morning or look at while driving by. She will be missed by all of us.
Randall.

Still digging....

After two weeks of digging, we only had one rainy day. If the weather holds we might finish next week. This week saw very good production, 180 loads went in the warehouse in the last 6 days. After six days of constant digging, we were all glad to see Sunday coming tomorrow. Yesterday was an expensive day. Theside elevator belt on the harvester broke completely off. So the potatoes were falling on the ground. Upon further inspection, we noticed that the belt was done and had to be replaced. So,after a quick phonecall, a trip was made to Donnie Allan for a new belt. We were mobile again within an hour. Too bad I didn't bring my camera yesterday.
Another load of PEI potatoes. Yukon Gold. Above, on the right,
Klaas, windrowing
Here are three more pictures taken from the cab of the digger. The field is Exton's. You can see Rustico Harbour as well in the background on the right. The last picture gives you view trough the front window of the digger. My view.
Thanks for your visit, and hope that you will visit again, don't forget to comment.

The last day on the road..........

Wow, it is almost over. Almost home again. We are staying in a hotel in Fredericton right now. Reflecting back on the trip. Here is a picture of Mike and Klarina's place.. They were nice enough to put up with us for a night. The next day we said goodbye to MaryThen she went to Washington to be with Isaac and we went to see Dianna, Jordan and Micaiah. The weather was real bad. Heavy rain and bumper to bumper traffic going trough New York. But we made it. The weather cleared up after that and staid nice for the rest of our trip.

It was wonderful to finaly hold our first grandchild. We spend a great week with them. Even went for a swim in the ocean yet
Then it was time to head farther South and West. And was it ever busy on the roads. The closer we got the more lanes there were on the highway. Sometimes as many as six lanes each way.
Here is a picture of the twin bridges were we crossed into Delaware. It was great to see Mary and Isaac again too.
Mary preparing supper for us. We were also able to visit the D.C. Zoo with her.
What a great time we had there. The elaphants were the favourite of some of us as well as amazonia. It was also the first time for the kids to be on the subway. What an exciting day. But like all good things, that too came to an end.
Then it was of to Matt and Amanda in Fredericton.This was our last stopover. After a bit more shopping this morning we left for home. We are all glad to be home again. As much fun as it was to be away. There is no place like home. This was the last picture I took.
It was taken from the top of the Confederation Bridge. It links PEI to the mainland.
So after a trip of a little over 4300 Km, that took us to our whole family, we are home again. Thanks be to God for all His Blessings.

A "quick" trip to see the kids & grandkid.........

It was great to see Jordan and Dianna again. And also to meet our newest family member, Micaiah. What a feeling it was, to hold him in my hand. He sure is a gift from God. And to see how Jordan steps up and helps out however he can, is just what being a family is all about. Great job guys.



And then it was of to Isaac and Mary.
They are finaly together again as well. Isaac started medical school. He says it is a lot heavier workload then what he had at Calvin. But that is understandable. Hats of to you Isaac, I know you can do it.
Mary was quite happy to show us around. We spend one day going on the Metro to the Zoo in downtown Washington D.C. That was a lot of fun. The kids specially loved it.
The tigers were one of the favourites and so was Amazonia, with all the fish and plants native in the amazone. Some of the fish were huge.


The next day we went to IKEA. Mary had some window shopping to do. They need a few articals of furniture yet for their appartment.

I'm trying to upload some pictures yet, but the internet is kind of slow here in the hotel in Portland, Maine. I'll keep trying. Well, it took a while but the pictures are on.

Well folks, thanks for your visit and I hope that we will see you again soon.
Randall.

Some pictures.......

Hi all,
A few words and pictures from New Jersey. We are having a great time here.
The baby is very beautifull. Dianna and Jordan are doing great. They are getting right into the parenting thing. You know, the short sleepless nights and the 24-7 care facility. But they are loving it. Don't you think that this is just the most precious baby you can possibly find anywhere?




We are staying on the Coastguardbase, in temporary housing. It feels very safe, with all the security.
The weather is hot/warm and sunny. Much better then the downpour we had on the drive over. And the bumper to bumper traffic going trough New York on September 11. I wonder why it was so busy. It took two hours longer the it did in January with Pete.
Here are a couple of pictures from New York. The bridge is called : The George Washington Bridge, in N.Y. Hanging on the arch was the hugest American flag ever.
In the other picture you can see Mary and Rebecca driving behind us.
But, we made it safely to Jordan and Dianna's.

It's a boy...........

Well folks, it is official, Dianna and Jordan have a new baby boy. Born at 1:29 in the afternoon. Name: Micaiah Ray Spangler. He, it's a healthy, 9 lb, 6oz. baby boy. Mother and son are doing well. Father is...very, very happy and proud of his new family. We hope to see them in New Jersey next week, the Lord willing. I'll post pictures when they become available.

p.s.
Saturday September 8
Dianna had a seisure this morning. She was transferred to another hospital for diagnosis and observation. We would appreciate all your prayers for them at this point. We'll update as we find out more.
Thanks, Randall.

Our new table, chairs and hutch.........

Hello all.

Glad to see that you made it to our page once again. And we have some NEWS for you.
Check out the new dinningroom set. It just came today. We really neede some chairs.
The old ones were all falling apart.

It has been a while since I last blogged. It isn't as much fun when there are only a few people reading it, and commenting.

But I hope that we are back on track now.

As you can see, I have updated my links to the other kids. Matt and Amanda have moved to Fredericton. They started a new blog. The link is on the top right.
It is called:A Small Window Into Our Lives
Everyone started blogging again. Keep up the good works guys. Love to see them.
More next time.

The Wedding.................

The rehearsal went smoothly

After much anticipation, the day finaly arrived. And what a day it was. Lots of friends and family getting.
Mary and Isaac posing for pictures. The beautiful bride and the handsome groom.



The parents with the bride.



We were blessed with beautifull weather during the day. The pictures were taken behind the house in the garden.
They were taken before the ceremony. This way we would have nice clean pictures.
You should see Caleb's tox at the end of the evening.
Just like the last two Weddings, we had to have a John Deere with refreshments.

Another wedding coming up..............soon!!!!!

Hi folks, it has been a while since the last update.
Here is the next one for all you guys that still check. I thought that I would update you on the upcoming wedding, between Mary and Isaac.
For those of you that don't know Isaac, I will tell you a bit about him.
Isaac lives in the United States. He went to college with Mary. One thing lead to the next. And now he is driving to PEI to get married.



They had several classes together at Calvin College. They both graduated this spring.Together they illustrated this book for Piet Buma.


Here Mary is working on the invitations. As you can see, it took lots of coffee.

As you can see, the warehouse is being majorly overhauled again. Mary and Elisabeth are doing all the painting.
A lot of talent right there!
A Tuscan scene they said.
And that is what it is going to be.



The lights are up, the stage is set. The hall is fit for a Royal couple.
Let the ceremony begin!