Time or Money

Once upon a time, a fellow wondered why we didn't just buy a new dump truck instead of trying to fix the old hag we were working on for the last century. By the way, we worked on that thing for 9 long months and still were not able to use it for silo filling, that, my friend, is frustrating. Anyway, I told him "I have more time than money. My time isn't really worth anything because I don't get paid by the hour." Now, I realize this argument has lots of holes in it. One is the fact that I could be doing lots of other useful things with my time, like playing a round of golf, instead of having angry fits while working on da beast. (Why is it that manufacturing company's never put something together in a manner that makes it easy to fix?) So, how do we, or what do we, base monetary decisions on? Fix it yourself or pay some one to do it for you while you do something else? Are there times when it makes you money to pay someone else money?

Entertainment

Is there a difference between attending a sporting event and attending a contemporary christian music concert? If so, what is it?

Moving

I was informed we were going to relegate the pretty couch, or sofa, to the basement and return the ugly one back to its previous position of prominence. The interior set of basement steps is open on one side, that is, there is no wall, just a railing. One other side note, at the time of this expedition there were drops of precipitation falling out of the sky. So, instead of going out and around the house, treading on soggy grass, we went up and over the railing before gently lowering the item into the belly of the house. All went well on sofa #1. I was able to discern a few gasps and groans emanating from my wife's throat. These gasps usually referred to the fact that she was not a strong person and that she didn't believe it was possible for the item to fit through the hole we were attempting to fit it through. We discovered a few minutes later that couch #1 was the light couch. As we were preparing to transport couch #2 in the reverse manner of couch #1 I, being the wise man I am, thought this looked a little more daunting, impossible really. It is easier to drop something then it is to pick it up. We went the long way, out and around the house in the wet grass. As previously mentioned, #2 was heavier and within a few lumbering strides the gasps I heard while moving #1 were being repeated. I was beginning to find this little jaunt rather amusing and thought I wouldn't need to read the comics for a few days. After half a dozen rest stops we arrived at the front porch. Here there are three steps that need to be navigated along with the front door. We creaked #2 up the steps, put it on its side to slip through the door. We then had to navigate over toys and such things that were strategically scattered in our path. We have a piano that needs to go to the basement. What am I gonna do?

Football

College and Professional football is rapidly approaching and if I am not mistaken local high school's began there season last night. I do think the college game is more interesting however, I enjoy the NFL also. Some people tend to be very supportive of a certain college or city's team. I must confess that I fall into this category. Unfortunately It has been proven over the last 15 years that I have a very poor track record and would make a general manager. Also there are a few teams that I absolutely cannot stand and I am always hopeful these teams lose every game they play. The most obvious school is, of all things, a cow school whose campus is located in Blacksburg. The Hokies. What is a Hokie? Why is there mascot a turkey? Wait, I digress. The main reason I have developed such a poor view of this university's football program is really quite simple. They are rivals. I have been true to the Cavaliers UVa.) since I was a teenager, none of this bandwagon fan mess for me. The other team is actually a baseball team. Da Yankees. Oh I can't stand the Yankees. They buy everything they want plus the kitchen sink. So I hope they do not make the playoffs. But I am sure they will the Yankees always do.
So back to the Hokie Pokies who thinks they will not make it to a BCS bowl game? I hope they don't but, like the Yankees, they probably will just to spite me..

Escatology

While milking last night, I was also listening to the radio.

Love Worth Finding

Pastor Rogers, this is how they referred to him, was speaking about the end of the age. He made a couple interesting points but before I mention those points, I must ask a question. Are you Pre. or Post. (I can't remember how to spell these big words but I think you get the idea). Now, back to Rogers interesting points. God put Noah into the Ark before he destroyed the world. Also, God took Lot out of Sodom and Gomorah before destroying the city with fire. Why would God not do this again? I hope He does.....

It Is Finished

Last evening at 5:30 the last load of corn silage was deposited at the trench. At 7:30 the trench was covered. Covering a trench is one of the nastiest jobs there is. After spreading a 40x100 foot sheet of plastic over the silage we pulled a heavy felt material on top of the plastic. This helps it seal better and, theoretically, we have less spoilage. Then we threw hundreds of tires, snakes and other assorted creatures, on top of the felt, this is to keep the prevailing winds from blowing felt and plastic into the surrounding counties. In eight working days we cut 192 loads of silage (960 tons). This should be enough to feed 80 cows 5600 lbs a day for 343 days. I guess they will go hungry the other 22 days. We are so glad to be done, however, next week we start on the neighbors.....

Happy Anniversary 

Parents

The picture above was taken in June. In honor of their anniversary I thought I would post it on here for everyone to see. The truth be told, I don't know how long they have been married but it has to be more than 35 years. Their oldest son is 35. I proudly present to Mr. And Mrs. Milo Zehr. I love you.
Glen

Weeds

The month of July was rather dry, very little rain. Why do weeds flourish with so little water and the crops that you need shrivel up and die? Is this related to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit?

Mennonite Singles Connection

I was wondering today, while sitting on the tractor, if some poor single soul has found a connection yet in the blogging world. I can see it now, "Sir, where did you and your bride meet?" "Well, Mr. Reporter, we met at mennonitesinglesconnection.com Otherwise known as bloggerspot. Maybe someone should purchase a domain and in five years this site would be worth billions. Just remember you heard it here first and that you will need to write me a check for over half of the proceeds. Of course, there probably is such a thing out there and I have not heard of it. So, in closing, has anyone found there true love in blogger land?
GZ

Deliverance

I mentioned in an earlier post that VOP has just finished recording. Here is a list of the songs along with the arranger, or deranger, depending on your view point.
1. Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing (Tim Rumsey)
2. We Pray To Thee (Unsure of the arranger I know it is an old King's Heralds Piece)
3. Didn't My Lord Deliver (Wayne Hooper)
4. Old Rugged Cross (Walt Harrah)
5. Come To Me (Wayne Hooper)
6. Set Me As A Seal (Rene Clausen)
7. Down By The Riverside (Kirby Shaw)
8. Holy Is The Lord (Morten J Luvaas)
9. Man Of Sorrows (Jon Zehr)
10. Create In Me (Walt Harrah)
11. Wonderful Peace (Wayne Hooper)
12. Kids Song Medley including This little Light Of Mine/He's Got The Whole World In His Hands/Jesus Loves The Little Children (Tim Rumsey)
13. Bright New World (Unknown)
14. Benediction (Jon Zehr)
I must say this recording session was by far the most difficult I have been a part of. Physically and emotionally draining. It isn't very fun to realize your not as good as you thought or do not know the songs as well as you thought. Also, have you tried standing for 12 hours a day? I don't believe the songs were harder but our engineer (McVey) pushed us farther than he ever has before (which we wanted him to do). We worked hard on making everything rhythmical, specifically breaths. We discovered when we all breathed together at the beginning of the song the take would invariably be a keeper. He also managed to get us to do more note bending then we have done in the past. One day Josh's dad, Nathan, was there and we were working on Wonderful Peace. He was there roughly two hours and we were a big disappointment to him I am sure. When he left we still did not have a keeper. The reason for this is based on the fact that we had to unlearn what we had learned. We were not being rhythmical and it sounded pathetic. We did finally get it down and it sounds fairly good now but at the time I was beginning to hate the song. It was very draining emotionally and physcalogicaly. Some people think when we are recording we are on vacation, not true, my little friend. I know some people wonder why we would spend so much time on one song. We as a group have decided the better the product, the clearer the message. I am currently listening to my copy of the reference CD and am listening for whatever I think sounds goofy. In all honesty I think this is the best album I have been a part of. However, I am not sure that it is better than the Love So Amazing album recorded by the original group. Going back to four guys was not really an issue in the studio because we do a lot of dubbing. It is more difficult in a program, I have not figured out how to sing out of both sides of my mouth. The two Rumsey pieces were arranged for five voices so we asked Lyndon to help on those two songs. It was fun to sing with him again. We flew McVey in from Colorado to be our engineer. Due to his schedule we were only able to do a very rough mix before he needed to go home. He is currently working on the album in his spare time and will be getting us another reference CD in a few weeks. Because of this we are hoping the album is available by Thanksgiving but I think it will be the first of the year.

Notes

There are times in the dairy industry when writing a note is crucial. For example, if I am not going to see the person that is scheduled to milk the next milking before the next milking and I need to tell him something important, I will write a note. Some of these are very short and to the point while others can turn into epistles. Following is a note that my brother wrote concerning a problem he noticed one night while bringing in the cows.
Dear whosoever milketh,
On her travels last evening, an old, bony, black, skinny hag of a cow with an unreadable tag fell in the mud. She refused to get up. So I left her. So she may still be there. And you may have troubles. Or she may have gotten up as soon as she saw my car drive away. Or she may get up as soon as she sees you approaching. Or she may never get up again. Or she may have died. Anyway, toodle loodle phooey!
Jon.
Although the news was not overly cheering, the way it was presented caused me great mirth, if mirth is possible at 5 in the morning. It's all about the presentation folks.
By the way, her name was Empire and she went to the happy grazing grounds yesterday, the exact time this occured is unknown.

Waving

I have noticed there is an art to waving. The wave needs to be properly timed. If you wave a second to late, your fellow motorist will wonder what he did to offend you last week. If you wave to early, your greeting is finished before the oncoming vehicle is within discerning distance of the shaking appendage. So how do you learn the correct and most profitable waving technique? You need to practice while you driving on America's wonderful highways, unless you are traveling in PA because their highways are terrible. As we all know, perfect practice makes for a perfect wave. While practicing this fine art you need to be careful. I have seen some fledgling wavers appear to be losing control of the vehicle because there hands, and other body parts, appear to be climbing through the car/truck windows to get your attention. This is unnecessary and can be hazardous to your health. The properly timed flicking of the fingers can take care of the job without causing a major crash. So lets remember to keep the waves coming but to do it carefully.

Kids

Daddy we have a castrophe!
What Sierra said after her sister crawled out of bed one night.
Whoaaaa
Aleya after watching the dumpwagon dump for the first time in her life.
I freaked out!
Sierra referring to Daddy backing a bushhog down a hill and into the woods.
meed me
Aleya's version of feed me.
Do you think we should go in and discipline her?
Sierra referring to her sister being naughty, like she has anything to say about it......
Good night
What daddy says when he needs to go to bed......

HTML Dummy

This is something I know nothing about. When my friend at yoderpianist gets around to helping me, I will put lots of links and other good things on this blog. I try not to be snob, you know, I am just not computer literate....

I'm Not Necessary

I had to be gone today, VOP had a photo shoot for our new album, Deliverance. When I got home I discovered that they had cut 27 loads. As the sun dropped out of sight we had cut 37 loads. The previous two days combined we hardly got 30 loads total. My conclusion, based on this evidence, is obvious. Golf tomorrow, swim Friday, and golf again Saturday. When the boss is gone, the hired man gets more done. What is not to like about this arrangement?

Storms

Last night around eight, a thunder storm came rumbling through. Preceding the storm was a very unique cloud, a mushroom like cloud. I was hoping for a tornado sighting but I didn't see a funnel. Rats....

Life

Monday we started cutting silage. For those of you who don't know, this is an annual trial. On Monday the clutch went out on our reliable truck. (We still have not gotten the homemade truck working.) We calmly borrowed the neighbor's truck got it running and cut sixteen loads yesterday. The homemade truck is so close to trying I can taste it. I will be really disappointed if go this entire harvest season and that truck doesn't see any action. Oh, yes I almost forgot, a bearing went out on the chopper. This took us close to two hours to fix. Such is life at malfunction junction.

Cheerfulness

My wife may have discovered something today. She made a chart for Sierra that consisted of jobs for her to do. If she did the job cheerfully she got a check-mark. She will, of course, receive some sort of reward, however what struck me was Sierra's cheerfulness. Are children that work more cheerful than those that do not work? I don't know that I am more cheerful because I work, all though when I work and see progress I also feel good about myself, thus I am probably more cheerful. When things go sour, I can be very morose. So, how does work relate to your outlook on life? By the way, we will see how cheerful Sierra is tommorow when she looks at her chart...

Pain & Suffering

I have been thinking about pain and suffering a lot the past several years. I have several questions concerning this topic. Can trials be a temptation? I would say yes. The devil can use pain, suffering, and trials to his advantage. To get you to lose your thirst for what is right and to blame God for the trials we face. The Bible tells us that God will not tempt us more than we are able to bear. With this in mind, I have come to the conclusion that pain & suffering is a complement from God. If I couldn't endure the pain or trust God to help me grow through the pain, He wouldn't allow it. Someone once said: "Pain is the weakness leaving you."

Light From Heaven

I am in the middle of what I would call a good read. I realize that some folks may consider me a sentimental fool but I find this book to be one of those that is hard to put down. Light From Heaven was written by Christmas Carol Kauffman and is based on a true story. The father in this story is a faithful church member and studies his Sunday school lesson without fail. He rarely misses church and is considered by most to be a devout Christian. However, the life this man lives at home is not consistent with how he appears in church. The question that has been running through my mind concerns hypocrisy. How many people are able to put on a wonderful Christian image on Sunday and on Monday will yell at their spouse and beat there children. I wonder also about things that are less obvious. Like saying thank-you or please. What kind of example am I. Would people call me or you a hypocrite? What, exactly, would you consider hypocrisy. Perhaps we can ask the question this way. Is everyone a hypocrite to a certain degree?

Music

When you listen to music, whatever the style, what criteria do you use to determine whether it is enjoyable? What do you base your criteria on? Is it possible for a group to be to professional?

Coffee

For the last eleven and a half years, since I got married, I have been the only person in our tribe that enjoys the hot cup of coffee. I found it rather boring to drink this cup alone so for quite a few years the coffee mugs sat wining in the cupboard because they were rarely used. When Sierra was born my sister, Juanita, gave us a coffee maker, bless her heart. I then proceeded to use this machine with great regularity. I noticed several weeks ago that my youngest daughter, Aleya, (almost two) has a developed taste for coffee. I water it down a tad or put an ice cube in it and she guzzels it down. I do believe, that I now have someone who will share a cup of coffee with me.

Post Script

How did your grandparents enhance your development spiritually and emotionally. How did they make you feel special, or didn't they?

Grandparents

I made a post on Xanga which no one commented on. This could mean several things. One, nobody reads this blog, two, nobody cares, three, nobody has kids yet, or four you have never had a reason to think about it. Here is the question. What is the role of your parents in the lives of your children? Is it to give them candy and all the things they want? What is the best way for your parents to help your children grow spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.
GZ

Toe Trimming

Ah yes, the art of toe trimming. This may sound gross to some of you but for some creatures this is a necessary form of hygiene. The other evening, much to my wife's dismay, I trimmed my own toes. Today, I had the privilege of helping trim digits of others. This turned into a rather hectic affair. These creatures did not appreciate our helpfulness. First they were sorted out of a large group and herded into the operating area. This area was not very large and was full of restraining devices. After gathering these individuals together we were able to prod them onto the operating table. Once on the table they were chained down, this enables the Dr. to trim without getting kicked. This race had a few wart's while others had abscesses. Some of them bled, others kicked and splattered me liberally with muck. One specific individual kicked me gleefully on the thigh but what can you expect from a cow?

Trucks

I feel like I did nothing very fulfilling today because what I did was not fruitful. I spent the day trying to figure out why my dump truck won't dump. It is a hydraulic issue and I have talked to great minds but they seem to know not why it doesn't work. I have tried every conceivable option and nothing has helped. It looks like the corn will be ready to chop in a few days and I need this truck. After working on a truck for 8 months you would think it would be in working condition. Maybe this is why the farm has been nicknamed malfunction-junction. Hopefully tommorow will bring some progress along when it comes.
GZ

Here are the two boys. Jayden is on the left and Jackson is on the right.

Better

I had been using Xanga but I think I like this better. I must go to work now so improving my blog look will need to wait.
GZ