Sweden 7b

Lukas and I are at Texabo, my mother-in-law's farm from way way way back. We're trying to lift this impossibly heavy stone, called the drängalyft (that is, the farm hand's lift). It was the true test for a man looking for work on a farm. If a man could lift this stone, it was a sign he was strong enough and so he'd be hired on the spot. You can tell easy from this shot that I'd've died of hunger in Sweden if the only job available for a guy was that of farm hand. I'm doing a bit of research into this stone, how common it is across Sweden, the weight of it, etc. More to come.

And though Mikah loves his food, especially the godis (candy), I'm telling you, he is not trying to eat this dandelion. He's blowing on it so that the seeds can spread and next season morfar will have that many more weeds to mow.

We came to Sweden with swing in hand. But there aren't any medium-sized trees to be found. Not at the Barnarp house, anyway. There are the smaller and very colorful apple trees, and these mammoth ones. The ladder is extended to practically twice its original length. And guess who got to climb it and do all the work of putting up the swing? You guessed wrong if you said me. Nope, it was my father-in-law. He's very iffy about letting a PhD in English and Creative Writing touch any of his tools. And this job required power tools, at which I'm not so adept.

A couple of other birthday party shots. Tina looked at the birthday blog and noticed I'd not put up hardly a shot that showed any other kids. She thought that wasn't so nice. I thought, You know, my brother's going to insist that I made up the whole party story and faked the pictures and in reality nobody showed up. But here's the proof. There's two Fredericks (one who spells it Fredrik), Simon, Benjamin, and Björn (I'm assuming that's the 'o' to use on his name).

And the same boys on the bench outside the back door. I'm still shocked they sat long enough for this photo. They were so full of energy.

A couple of other notes: Lukas is trying to make the argument to stay up long into the night to watch a movie because, he says, "It's still morning," even though it's close to 9PM. You see, the sun will not set completely here this time of year, and so though it gets a bit on the darker side, it don't by much. Not to be taken in by a fast-talking kid, we, his parents aren't falling for his line of logic.
Also, I was remiss yesterday to mention Anonymous in my list of folks helping keep the blog going with comments regarding how we Americans are so cool and in control. That's my reading of it, anyway.
And, Michelle, you'll have to keep coming back to the blog because Tina is on the verge of deciding what Avon products she's about to order, and I told her I'd post her list. And so if you don't visit often, you just might miss placing her order. And the more you visit, the higher my counter for the blog goes, and then I don't have to keep visiting and visiting my own site to make it look like my blog gets hit by a ton of folks. If you would, too, let your parents, Leslie, Jenny, the Coopers, and Amber know we're thinking about them and praying for them. And Brad and Terri and the girls, the Bygels, the Reeds (the whole bunch of them out at the homestead), the Carrs, Emmett, Peggy, the Smiths, Miss Dortha, the Ungers, Tyler, Max and Hazel and their bunch, Berverly, the Escudiers, the Southerlands, and the rest. I'm trying to go row by row at church and so if I'm forgetting anyone, I'll blame it on this Swedish air.