Dahlias, slippers, and steak fry

The attempt to revive my blog continues! 

Fall is always a busy time on the farm, Ryan took two cows to the locker this last week and we have a batch of chickens out on the pasture along with our Thanksgiving turkeys. Weather has been good this fall for all of them; honestly with climate change it's getting harder and harder to raise poultry in the summer. June is hot more often than not anymore. 

I'm literally watching this little guy out my window as I type this up, as he wobbles around on new legs from being born this morning. It's a rainy day to enter the world, little calf!

The dahlias have been awesome this year, we ordered some bulbs from Old House Gardens and they've done beautifully. Dahlias are annuals here, although you can try to dig them up and replant them. I know Ryan will try. In the meantime, I've ordered some for next year already. ;-)

Under my needle this last week I finished a pair of slippers for H, which she's been begging for since July and I haven't wanted to tackle. I used this pattern, which was ok. I shortened it by 1.5" in both pieces to change it to a size 4 for her.

I lined them in minky, which makes them super soft inside, but I think is part of why I had trouble getting them to fit together. The minky is so thick I probably should make the top piece a bit larger to accommodate the bulk. The pattern is also a bit wonky, but is nice for how well it finishes seams. I'm also continuing to quilt the lake-and-sky quilt, which is super slow going. 

As it's early fall now, the kids had an impromptu dance session on the driveway while I sat in an Adirondack chair and watched the sunset. Simply lovely.

I also took the following pic when some friends and their kids were over Saturday afternoon last weekend:

I adore this picture because those three boys are sons of these three (oh so young-looking!) handsome guys:

Can you match the kid to the dad? None of the three are actually in the same order in both pictures! This is something I never had growing up - lifelong friends starting in elementary school, and I think it's completely awesome. 

Yesterday Ryan and I went to the Polk County Democrat Steak Fry. I've heard there were over 12,000 people there, and I believe it. It was crazy. I think all of the major democratic presidential candidates were there, as well as most of the "minor" ones. 

If you look closely, you might be able to see a podium in the background of that photo, in front of the giant Iowa flag! I don't have a candidate I'm supporting at this point, I really haven't made up my mind. There were a couple candidates (minor ones) that I'm definitely not supporting after hearing them yesterday. A couple were a total mess! Those ominous-looking rain clouds you see definitely did open up and pour right at the end of the event and on the last candidate speaking - poor guy. Based on the crowd reaction, I think the caucus in Iowa will come down to between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, but we will see. Iowa's famous for last-minute momentum. 

The steak was surprisingly good, even if it didn't come from our farm!