More Purchases

What a day it was yesterday. A very long one... I arose at 3:30 AM and milked before heading to Harrisonburg. Walter McClure and I went to the herd sale of Daryl Heatwhole. A fine looking herd of cows it was of which we bought 28. We had them loaded and headed toward the home ranch by 5:30. We finally had them unloaded and headed toward the parlor by 11:30 PM. I finally headed to bed by 12:30 AM. I am nervously excited about this turn of events. Well, I better go make sure they are still alive....

More Rain

We are having an unbelievably wet spring. The clouds showered upon us 1.5 inches Saturday night. It appears that we may well have got another 1.5 inches last night and it is suppose to rain all day today. What a blessing....

Caterpillers

How many of you or your children catch caterpillars and put them in jars in hopes of watching them do whatever it is they do? How many of them live? Sierra is working Caterpillar #2 as of a few minutes ago. #1, April, died or something so she found another one. I remember running around catching fireflies and putting them in a quart jar. Ah, to be a child again.... Life was much simpler as a child....

Online Shopping

How many of you do your shopping on line?

Work

Work is endless. There is always something that needs to be done and should have been done last week. Is this just poor management or what? I find it interesting, though, if I had no work to do I would go out of my mind. I would be so bored with life and I would probably get into trouble. Was working not part of God's plan?

Rain

It has been raining since Sat. night. Not solid but quite often. I was planning on chopping some more this week but that has been placed on the back burner. I am in the process of trying to tie up some loose ends in regards to more cows arriving on the premises. There is a sale in NC next Wed. We should be able to find the last 25 cows at this sale. I don't feel overwhelmed, yet, but I do see things that have got to be done, soon....

Games

What games do you and your family play on a regular basis? Board, card, word, pictunary, which I hate, etc. Do you and your spouse agree or like the same kind of games? I like Rook, Rachel doesn't. We do both like scrabble but we would not land in the genius category...

Fear

Our SS school lesson was on fear. The question Is fear a sin? was asked. What is your opinion?

Covered

We finished chopping yesterday and covered the trench last evening. I feel very good about our accomplishments this week. Next week we move onto other endeavors... It is raining this evening. I must say I feel very blessed. This is the wettest spring we have had in the last 4-5 years. The cows are milking decent considering all the ration changes and inconsistencies that have abounded in the last two months. The rest of my small grain crops are looking good. I don't deserve these blessings. My hearing is returning. My wife loves me. My children love me. I love me... God loves me even though I love myself more than I should.....
Anyway, Have a good night everybody....

I Is Tired

Funny I am so weary when I get home these days. When I was young long days wouldn't have really bothered me. Now I am bothered. I keep telling myself I sure am glad I don't have to do this again this fall...
Maybe I am just getting lazy in my old age....
We cut 36 loads today we have 30 or so left to cut tomorrow and hopefully cover trench. Well, it's off to bed I go...

Deception

I have been deceived. For the last two weeks or so I have been deceived. I have been living in a state of, I think the word would be, surprise since the truth has dawned on me. I was hopeful the truth would be truth. (Does that make sense?) Now that I have your attention I will tell you the boring details. Unless you are a farmer you will probably be tearful with boredom. The rye crop is really good. Not just good but really good. The neighboring farmer told me last night he has never seen a crop of rye this good. I looked at it all winter and wasn't overly impressed. I walked out in it and wasn't overly impressed. While I was gone last week it must of grew like crazy because now it is waist high, on me, and just pushing heads. It is thicker than hair on a dogs back. We start chopping today....

Question

I was reading in Genesis chapter one tonight and I am now wondering something. If I am not mistaken God created male and female. I think it was verse 26 or 27. If he created male and female why did he need to create or make Eve in chapter 2? Or is this male and female referring to the animals and fish and things of nature? However, I believe this takes place directly after he created man. I am sure someone can answer this or explain this too me...

Heading Home

Rod's and Carla headed for OH yesterday afternoon. Rachel, Jayden and MIL headed for a ladies retreat where MIL was scheduled to speak. Dad, myself, and the rest of my children stayed put at Grandpa's house last night. This afternoon my tribe will be heading for VA. I am so glad it is only a four hour trip instead of the eight hours we used to have. Whew, that always drove me bannanas.
We are planning a very busy week at work. We will start mowing rye Monday and then chopping by Tuesday afternoon, I hope. Time will tell...

Passed Out

I wasn't present for this odd occurrence but apparently a sip of a Frapachinno (sp?) resulted in a seizure late Friday evening in Hagerstown MD. Donna Kauffman wanted a sip of her daughters flavored coffee. Rachel Zehr reported that Donna, after sipping this frozen treat, complained of a major freeze headache before laying her head back on the headrest. After a few seconds in this position her eyes rolled oddly up into her head and Mrs. kauffman slumped over the steering wheel. This maneuver cause quite stir in Rachel's heart and she started trying to communicate with her mother. Mrs. kauffman was vocally unresponsive but her body did began to twitch and jerk in response to her daughters inquiries also her foot slid off of the brake pedal causeing the vehicle to twitch oddly and scaring the grandchildren. Sources say that Rachel frantically put the van in park and began waving at her sisters who were traveling in another vehicle. These ladies came running to the scene trying to decide if emergency services should be contacted. At this point Mrs. Kauffman revived and wondered where she was exactly. They filled her in on the details and removed her from the drivers seat. Family members report that Mrs. Kauffman had been under some stress a little earlier in the day and they wonder if the cause of the seizure like symptoms were a result of stress and a freeze headache. Sources also claim the family is unaware of these kind of symptoms at any other point and are unaware of anyone in the human race who has suffered a seizure from sipping a Frappachino. Family members are not overly concerned at this point, however, if another one of these freakish things takes place a Dr. will need to be seen.

Mountain Climbing

Upon arriving at grandpa's house for this brief vacation I was informed we would be going on a little hike Thursday. Another family had taken this hike and greatly enjoyed it and, naturally, we thought our family would as well. I must admit I was somewhat skeptical from the begining but managed to my thoughts to myself. We, four adults and eight children, were dropped off at the top of the mountain, or hill if you are from Oregon. When we were dropped off the grandparents gave us some pertinent information concerning the trail we would be following. Be careful, they said, the trail isn't marked very well. We have never gone down the trail so we don't know where it is or what it looks like... Great, I thought, this sounds exciting. Nobody has ever tried this but I doubt it will be very difficult. Well, our tribe wandered around the top of this mountain for about 45 minuets before finding a path we thought was correct. While we were doing our wandering, I was beginning to feel like an Israelite in the desert, the grandparents were coming to meet us from the other end of the trail. They had taken our vehicles to the exiting end of the trail. We discovered we had never found the correct trail. The only reason we found the correct path was because Grandpa met us back up at the top, basically, and showed us the way to go...
I am sure there are lessons to be learned from this little experience. One of them is the fact that the further you carry 40 lbs the heavier it gets...
It was a grand experience and I think every one should take there children on such a hike as this at least once. Who knows, maybe it will help your children develop a great desire to climb Mt. Everest someday.

Hearing

About two weeks ago I had a terrible soar throat. Couldn't hardly talk, it was awful. Apparently, this malady has moved from my throat to my ears. However, my ears don't hurt like my throat did. My ears also are hearing about as good as my throat does. Well, it isn't that bad. People will be talking all around me and I won't hear a word. This does have it's good points... I am finding it extremely annoying. So, I went to the Dr. He ooo'd and ahh'd over how badly infected my ears were and put me on some ear drops and amoxicillen. I hate amoxicillen... Anyway, this malady has made singing difficult as well. Sunday when we sang I could hardly hear Jon and he was standing right beside me. Josh and Ben should have stayed home as much as I heard them.... I am hopeful this will be improving in the next couple of days...

Off

I am leaving in the morning for 4-5 days. Rod's are home for several weeks so we will be spending some quality time crammed into Grandpa Kauffman's house. I think I am looking forward to it. I am, I am, it's just that, well, that's a lot of people/children in one house all the time. It'll be great....
Really....
We are planning on chopping rye next week. That will be a very busy week. I think it will be fun. You make a lot better time cutting small grain then corn silage I have learned...

Busy, Busy, Busy,

You get the idea, it was a busy day. Hoof trimmer was here. Trimmed 53 cows. I started milking before leaving early for voice. Was late.... I wonder if I am retaining anything in the vocal area...
So much to do so little time....
Whew....

John Sines

I had the privilege of meeting John Sines today. VOP was asked to participate in a fund raiser to for Operation Smile. Operation Smile helps pay for surgery to help repair cleft lips or cleft pallets.
Operation Smile targets individuals who live in third world countries. It is a very neat organization. Anyway, John Sines was participating also. I met him before the concert and chatted with him some. He is very down to earth, very nice guy. Easy to talk to and fun to be around. He is a dedicated Christian as well. He wrote a tribute Dale Earnhardt after his death. He also has the number one song on the Country Christian Charts for the months of Feb. and March. I am not a country music fan per say but John Sines is very talented. Has an amazing vocal range. It was cool to meet someone who is famous...

Installing Lights

I hung 7 lights in the parlor today and I have four more to go. I have not wired any of them yet but if it rains and I am unable to mow the grass tomorrow I may work on that. Bruce Thompson told recommended improving the lighting in the parlor. We are hoping improved lighting will help cow flow. Bruce says we should be able to milk 80-90 cows an hour in our parlor. So far I have come no where close to this rapid pace. I think I could cut another 30 minutes off my milking time if cow flow was better. We shall see...

Purchase

Five milking cows, one dry cow, one springing heifer and two far off heifers were purchased yesterday in my name. The cows and springing heifer showed up last night about 9:00. I am unsure were the other two heifers are at this point. I should know more today. Now that I spent money I don't have I can tell Mr. Phillips in our meeting today that I really need some money and his bank really should help me out....

Sale

Today may be a big day for me. I have a gentleman attending a herd dispersal sale in NC. He may or may not buy me some cows. I can't wait to find out. I should know something tonight or this afternoon....

April Fools

I would love to hear the best April Fools trick you have ever heard. I have always wondered what the point of April Fools was or is? Is the goal to bring laughter to the world???