Summary 71 -102

By this time in the book, it is the middle of summer. The temperature outside is less than comfortable. The Brende's are facing the issue of food preservation, since it is in the middle of thier growing season. One thing that they had difficulty with was theier milk. They couldn't figure out what to do with it. It was Mrs. Miller that who said "Cottage cheese," which fueled thier ideas. Cheese, custard, butter, and cream cheese all were things that could be made with milk. Still, the Brende's were having a hard time. Mrs. Brende wanted to take a break from this lifestyle and search for a house where they were to live the following year. And so they went out looking for some houses, traveled in a car, and realized that where they searched they were forced to have a car.

The Brende's soon realized that they didn't now their community very well. They decided to attend a church service to posssibly reverse that. They, being Catholics, did not have a local option, so they decided to attend a different denomination service. This service became memorable for them. The sermon was best described as boring and it became memorable for Eric when he saw plenty of church members bobbing their heads during it. He couldn't help himself, but to follow suit. It did remind him how separate they as Catholics were from everyone in the area.

A local neighbor had a project to be completed. He wanted to add a section to his already standing barn. This project required help from many people. He decided to go to this barn raising, as it was called. He hoped to get to know neighbors more and show that he could be of help. At first, he didn't do anything but watch. Then he helped pour concrete for the new section's foundation. This was tiring work. A project like this is almost always done in the fall, but the farmer wanted it done now. Eric enjoyed how the rest of it was assembled. Specifically, the wood attachments. Beams were notched out at the ends and assembled like a puzzle in order to create corners. Before long, the wood framing built the entire section of the barn. All of this was done in the heat of the summer, whether comfortable or not.