Life at the Plattner Ranch. From the hum drum to the adventures, to our corny sense of humor, to my ramblings. Welcome to a peak at our world.
Jesse just came into the house squinting and with black around his eye.
Me: “Jesse, are you ok? What did you do?”
Jesse: “A piece of aluminum hit my eye when I was working.”
Jesse: “That wasn’t the worst part, the worst part was when I wiped my face with my dirty hands!”
That guy!!! He pulled one over on me! 
Goofball!!!!
I forgot to add – his hands were already scrubbed!!!
On Saturday, August 11, Javan participated in the banjo competition at the State Fair. He didn’t win a prize but he did an excellent job. He has only been taking lessons for one year.
The first two links are closer up so you get a look at his facial expressions but I didn’t get from the very beginning of each song so I included the third link if you want to see the few seconds of each song that I missed but it was from Chad’s cell phone so he couldn’t zoom in.
These links take you to youtube so children ask your parents before you watch the videos. I can’t control what other videos you have access to.
Tonight Chad and the boys were moving the pigs and goats. To do this they first make a new trail through the woods, make a temporary holding, move the fence and then release the pigs and goats into their new pasture.
At one point Jesse was at the barn and Chad hollered at him to cut off electricity to the fence. Chad waited and waited and then he heard Jesse’s reply “o.k.!” The next moment Jesse heard Chad respond with a yell when he got shocked!
He realized SOMEHOW there was a mix up in their communication.
When he checked with Jesse he found out that it took him a minute to process the request (his mind was probably preoccupied with something else) when he said o.k. it just meant that he received the instruction and would now obey.
Unfortunately for Chad he took it as meaning – mission accomplished!
It may be one of those “you just had to be there” moments, but this will serve as a reminder to bring us a good chuckle in years to come. 
We came home from Chicago to find that Jamie had her puppies. There were 9 of them and they all survived. We wondered for awhile because Jamie hid them pretty well in the woods and the children couldn’t find them. We thought maybe a predator got them. They are 4 1/2 weeks now. We will try get some new pictures to post soon.
“Mommy, I found a “LITTLE frog!”
If she kisses it will her frog turn into a prince? 
It reminds me of a children’s song by Buddy Davis (Answers in Genesis)
Once upon a time in the land of make believe
There stood a shiny castle where a beautiful princess grieved
She lived in the castle all alone with no-one to share her life
So she strolled down to the magic pond and said “I’ll be a frog’s wife.”
And there she caught a green frog and kissed it on it’s lips
She blinked her eyes and to her surprise that frog turned into a prince.
Refrain: Everyone knows it’s a fairy tale, it’s a quantum leap of faith
Cause a frog is a frog and a man is a man only God can create.
I’ve thought it through and I think like you this fairy tale doesn’t make sense:
Why, you can kiss a frog for a million years that frog won’t be a prince.
Verse 2: Once upon a time in the land of make believe
Twas millions of years ago in a primordial sea.
Pond scum somehow evolved, changed to a frog and then,
With evolutions magic kiss the frog became a man
This is a made up story, it is a nursery rhyme:
you can kiss that frog till the cows come home and all you’ll get is slime.
Refrain: Everyone knows it’s a fairy tale, it’s a quantum leap of faith
Cause a frog is a frog and a man is a man only God can create.
I’ve thought it through and I think like you this fairy tale doesn’t make sense:
Why, you can kiss a frog for a million years that frog won’t be a prince.
Jolene showing the comparison of our garden onion (the big one) to a store bought onion.
We have tried to pasture our calves in the back yard as part of the rotation but they keep finding a way to get out. The boys are getting pretty good at rounding them back up.
We went to a presentation at the park on unicycles and the children had opportunity to try one out. Javan looked promising so Sarah let us borrow hers. He is doing very well, still working on mounting without a support.
We had some beautiful evenings earlier this month so the children started sleeping outside under the stars.
When Javan woke up his pillow was wet with dew wherever his head wasn’t covering.
Jonas fell asleep on the back of the couch. Probably looking over someone’s shoulders at blogs or looking at a book someone was reading.
He even changed positions multiple times.
We celebrated Jubilee’s birthday at Oak Run. The children swam in the lake and went for a boat ride.
Grandma Plattner is gifted at baking creative cakes.
We also attended the Thresher Reunion. They still bring out a threshing machine and you can watch (or help) the men thresh. There are a variety of farm life or old fashioned activities to watch or try. Here Todd is helping Jonas get some milk out of a cow.
Javan is the most interested in animals on our farm. Jared prefers to drive (actually they all do, but it is something Jared excels at and lives for ~ well almost). Jesse is my engineer / techy!
Learning to sheer.
Dragging him back to the barn.
We had Todd Steiner’s family over on a Sunday evening. The children started playing in a bunch of corn Chad brought home from work and had scattered out to dry. It was very messy and Chad used the leaf blower to blow the children off.
Jeremiah and Micah – about a month apart.
I also had the opportunity to take some pictures for Tori.
This is my absolute favorite because she looks so natural here.
July 20th was the evening for our annual Father Son Night. They get together for food, games, a program (usually music and a speaker), and fellowship.
We decided a few years ago that we wanted to have some friends over and make a night of it too, it was mostly by word of mouth whoever was available could come. This was our biggest group so far and we were glad for everyone that could come.
Allaina, Jolene, Ali, Leah, Laina, Grace, Elizabeth, and Tirzah.
Jubilee, Allison, Johanna, Maria, and Nora.
Maria, Johanna, Elise, Tirzah, and Seth.
Jenni and Kaylie
Maria, Meg, and Hannah.
Tirzah, Mary, and Nora.
I wish I would have gotten a picture of each family. Our newest addition was 19 days old.
Our only Mother Daughter game – I decided not to include “we all fall DOWN!” You’re welcome Mary! 
Our program was late in the evening after most had gone home.
Here we have Ali on the guitar, Leah on the guitar, Jolene on the fiddle, and (not pictured) Laina playing the CD.
Getting in that "Back to School" frame of mind...
Mary had a little lamb. His fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went. The Lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school each day. It was not even the rule.
He made the children laugh and play, to have a lamb at school.
And then the rules all changed one day, illegal it became;
to bring the Lamb of God to school or even say His name.
Every day got worse and worse. And days turned into years.
Instead of hearing children laugh we heard gun shots and tears.
What must we do to stop the crime that's in our schools today?
Lets let the Lamb come back to school and teach our kids to PRAY!!!
Borrowed from a friend of a friend
July 13th we left on a short weekend trip. First we stopped somewhere along the way for Chad to visit a company PPI does business with. First the rest of us stopped at a filling station for fuel. It so happens that they didn’t have an awning over the diesel pump so Javan and Jared got drenched pumping the diesel for me. We were thankful for the rain and hoping we would get some at home! The children and I then took a quick tour of the town and scoped out restaurants; we settled on a Mexican Restaurant and so finished our time. We got back to pick up Chad just as he was coming out – perfect timing!
On a side note… When we left home Jonas just threw his shoes in the van so when we got out at the restaurant he had to put them on but was having a bit of trouble. I assigned an older brother to help and the task still proved difficult. I went around to give a hand and found that it was an IMPOSSIBLE task! Jonas had grown out of his shoes but had failed to tell me that they were getting too small! Thankfully we had his church shoes so I set about the task of finding his bag and digging them out but ALAS I could BARELY get his church shoes on! We did manage, however, and so we were able to enter the “NO SHIRT, NO SHOES, NO SERVICE” establishment! They were impressed with our children sitting so nicely and so the children were rewarded with a piece of candy before we left.
After picking Chad up we continued driving a couple more hours to St Joseph, MO and found a hotel for the night. After checking in and carrying our bags in, we went out for a treat, but the first stop was a Goodwill in hopes of finding Jonas a pair of shoes. We struck out but I did find Jubilee a really cute skirt, plus a skirt for me when I’m skinny again, and a shirt for one of the boys. Jonas ended up wearing his church shoes all weekend with strict instructions to keep the on ~ they were a pain to get them on. For our treat we went to Sonic and split milk shakes. They were half price after 8 PM. 
Saturday AM we went to the Pony Express Museum, I didn’t remember that the Pony Express was used for only a year and a half! The museum is in the remodeled barn where the first Express rider left from.
The first rider getting ready to leave.
Trying out the saddles.
Isn’t she a CUTIE?! Who needs a horse when you have a trunk?!
They had dress up clothes, so most of them found something to put on.
The lady that was on duty that day was really nice and informative. She volunteered to take some pictures for us.
After we took these we were going to take a little walk, first though, a couple of us went back in to go potty. The lady saw us come back in and when we were done with the restroom she was standing there with 4 books for the children! I guess they made a favorable impression. I said “Oh, these will be great to add to our school year! We homeschool and will be focusing on Early American History this year!” She said “well, let me get you a teacher pack.” It was big and full of lots of reproduceable activities and information. THEN she said “well, take this video too!” ALL for free!
From there we walked past Jesse James home. We didn’t go in because we were limited on time and it wasn’t worth paying full price just to see a whole in a wall from the bullet that killed Jesse James. If we had more time to take the entire tour of the house and the adjoining Patee House Museum we probably would have done it.
If it weren’t for the outlaw, it would have been harder to choose Jesse’s middle name. He has a Grandpa Dale and a Grandpa James – guess who’s name he got!!! After he suggested naming our baby Jemelia Bedelia if we had a girl I thought maybe getting ribbed for being named Jesse James would have been ok! Jesse’s lots of fun and is always trying to make us laugh!
From here we drove to Adrienne and Harriet Strahm’s house in Kansas. We were going to a reunion that afternoon in Sabetha and while we were there Chad wanted to take a tour of the company Adrienne works for – I can’t remember the name! So, the children and I stayed and visited with Harriet and their children while Chad went with Adrienne.
Around 3:30 or so we went to the reunion. We had a nice supper, a time of fellowship, a singing, and some more fellowship before going to our hosts home for more food, fellowship, and overnight! We stayed with Steven and Kelly Elderman – I think I got that right. She is expecting their 7th baby in November. They had one lined up with most of our children from Jolene on down with an extra thrown in there somewhere.
Sunday was churched and an early supper. We drove home that night. It was Jared’s birthday, so we made a stop again to Sonic for milkshakes. We would have gone to Culvers but there wasn’t one where we wanted to stop. I LOVE Culvers!
I think we arrived home about 1230 AM. It was a good trip.
