Home School Convention

My wife and I are in Winston Salem NC attending a home school convention. We are having a very nice relaxing time. Lots of good sessions about raising children. Raising children, realizing when you lost your child's heart. What or when does this happen. Good stuff, really. I found Norm Wakefield very honest about his mistakes and was challenged to do better at loving my family. Understanding my wife and my children. Understanding also that when I have lost my children's heart is often because of something I have done...
Quite a challenge....

June 11

Sat. I was on my home from the vet when I couldn't hardly get stopped at a routine traffic check. This caused some fear in the heart of the officers. So the interview that followed was off to a rough start before we ever got stopped. I had the trailer, I thought, listed as farm use. However, the tag was still on it. Only it was bent in such a way that they couldn't see it. This caused them to believe I was being sneaky. I didn't intend to be...
Anyway, they wondered why I had trouble stopping. Well the trailer brakes weren't working...
After I said that I knew I was in for some trouble. There were some other minor issues but this license thing was the biggy. He wrote me up for wreckless driving or bad brakes. I wonder what that means...
I was told that if I had not had the tag on the trailer I would have been exempt from the inspection violations...
I distinctly remember trying to return them to my DMV office and was told "why turn them in? they are permanent tags you may want it sometime" I said "ok" But I failed to remove them from the trailer. What a dummy I am... So, now I get the privilege of meeting Your Honor on June 11 in Bedford...
Part of me wants to be mad the other part thinks I probably deserve whatever they decide to do....
If I don't show up at court they will literally throw me in the slammer...

He Arose

May I be the first to wish you a meaningful Easter. When I went out to milk the moon was rising. Beautiful, not quite full, just past, orange ball in the east. I was thinking about the full moon while milking and I wondered if it was full moon those many years ago... Then, on my way back to the house, I heard my first Whippoorwill of the season. I stood out side listening for 5-10 minutes enjoying the solitude and beauty. At on point it struck me that the lone singing bird was singing HE AROSE over and over and over...

Spring

As most of you know by now, I am doing %90 of the night milking. I really like it... I would much rather stay up till 2:00 then get up at 3... Anyway, I think spring is finally here. I almost didn't need a jacket tonight. There is also a very full moon, very bright. It made the stars quite pale. So what season is your favorite? I honestly don't know if I have one... I am always ready for the next one...

Life

Well, here is a quick update for those of you who are still checking this occasionally. Cows are milking well. Spring is springing. It looks like we are two weeks away from cutting small grain for hay. We have two new families of kittens apparently. Please come and get some... Or at least run over some of them accidentally...
In other news, I have a great wife. Wonderful kids, most of the time... I have to be honest, you know, kids are kids after all...
Of course parents are parents after all as well...
Ok, I think that's it...
Oh, what does it mean to be obedient unto death?

Mending

I am finally on the mend. My family is on the mend. How nice... We finally went in to Urgent Care on Sat. evening. Aleya had a raging fever because of two ear infections. I was on the verge of pneumonia. So, I spent yesterday sleeping and today I worked. I am feeling tired now but still feel better than I did this morning. Wow, it was miserable.
Thankfully the wife never got sick, not even the slightest sniffle. Which is or could be annoying but I decided the benefits from her not being sick while everyone else is sick highly out weighs the fact that she avoided the whole thing...
She was somewhat proud of her ability to remain healthy. She should be, every direction she turned someone was sneezing, wheezing, coughing or some other such thing in her face...

Memories

Rachel's dad is currently looking at a photo album from his childhood. He is reminiscing about his growing up years. Good memories are such a blessing. I have lots of them and I hope you do as well. Memories determine how homey your home really was. There are so many people who don't have good memories concerning life in general. This is a sad state of affairs and we, people, let this affect how we relate to those around us. When we don't move past our hurt and pain we end up causing others pain and the sad cycle continues.

Pit-Y-Full

Sunday night I was getting the cows in when I heard this splash. I knew, right away, what it was and I wasn't happy. An animal had gone for a swim in the manure pit. So, I get this board and poke her and she lunges around. She finally gets out of my reach. So I toss my board out on top of the manure and walk out on the board. I poke her some more. During one of my pokes I lost my balance and fell in the manure. Once again I wasn't happy....
About that time she decided she had had enough of this swimming lesson and I was able to direct her attention to the open gate.
Now, I wasn't covered from head to toe but I was covered from toe to waist or so.... What a mess...

Kaiden James

Spooked

Last night, about midnight, I heard this rumbling noise. I assumed it was ice/snow sliding off the barn roof. The noise spooked the cows and they had a glorious time racing around the barn. The bad thing was they tore a gate down and my high cows got in with the low cows. So about 25 high cows went through the parlor twice. I didn't milk them but it took longer to finish milking. Anyway, today Dwayne, the neighboring farmer, wondered if I had heard thunder last night. He said his wife had seen lightning and then heard this rumbling of thunder about midnight. So, have experienced my first thunder snow. It sounded completely different from a thunderstorm. A more muffled sound. The lightning probably would look different also. Wish I could have seen the lightning. Have you ever seen/heard a thunder snow?

Shock

I was shocked to discover Becky Sauder has kidney cancer. VOP had the privilege of spending the night in their home while we were on our Nov. tour. Richard and Becky lived in our area here in Gladys years ago, when I was a lad. I remember Becky as always being quite cheerful and friendly. I was never uncomfortable when she was around. So, I am in a state of shock.
From the information I have received from Karen, Becky's daughter. They are hoping to remove one kidney. For further information visit Karen's xanga site. reflectthelight.

Blogging

I just noticed I have been jotting things down on this blog for since August of 05. I had no idea it had been that long. What a shock...
I am wondering how long you have been reading this blog?

Korwin Dale

Korwin, my nephew, Jon's son, was diagnosed with a slipped femur. Have you heard of such a thing? I never had. Anyway, they went to see an orthopedic surgeon Monday evening and they threw him in the hospital and by Tuesday afternoon he had been operated on. If I am not mistaken they put three pins in his hip area. I believe this is to keep it from slipping any more. There is a fuse plate that fuses things together at some point in our life. The fuse plate fuses the thingy to the thingamajig. If the thingy isn't right, to low because it slipped, then he would have had a limp the rest of his life.
They operated so quickly because he could have done major damage if he had tripped and fallen on the hip. If something like this would have happened he could have really messed things up and would have needed a hip replacement at some point.
So now you are up to speed on Korwin and his slipped femur. Hopefully this information is accurate. If not I am sure Korwin will have plenty of time to set me straight...

Retreat Roundup

We had a very good weekend. lloyd talked about phrasing of songs. How to communicate the song to the audience. How to interpret the song. How to sing a song in a way that will allow the song to speak itself. If that makes sense...
We, VOP, cornered Lloyd for about an hour on Sat. evening and had our own private critique session. This was very helpful. We learned a few things that made an immediate difference in our sound. We will be trying to use what we learned this weekend to make songs become more real or alive to the listener. That is the reason we sing, to minister...

Concert

We had our first program tonight with Joe in the bass. Went very well. We plugged in several new songs and they went well.
Tomorrow we will know how many folks will actually be here for the retreat.
I am looking forward to it. I have plans of finding it very helpful and am hoping VOP will be able to put Lloyd Kauffman's ideas to practice.
Well, have a good night everybody...

Quartet Retreat

The quartet retreat has come upon us at a rapid pace. I feel totally unprepared for the weekend. Which is ok, because, I don't have anything to prepare for aside from some music. At this point we have around 20 people registered and there are a few coming that haven't registered. So, it should be a decent turn out. If your in the SMBI area we would love to have you stop in for the Sunday afternoon concert. Starts @ 2:00 in the chapel.

Home

Our first flight on the trip home was uneventful. Jack was nervous but nauseous. We had a lovely stewardess on this flight. Really interested in the children. She came back one time and chatted with Rachel for 10-15 min. about the children, adoption, and life. She made it a point to talk to the children. I was impressed. She heard one of the children talking about being hungry so she brought a bag of M&M's and gave them to us. I think they were selling these for $2. I noticed later she brought us a small can of Pringles. I don't know who was hungry this time but they were free as well.
Due to trying to be cheap I had bought my ticket separate using my Father In Laws air miles with NW. This means I only had to pay $10 for the ticket. Well, when I booked it I must of clicked on the wrong flight. Which means, Rachel got stuck with all the kids from Atlanta to RDU. Thankfully this flight is only an hour long. She managed fine aside from being somewhat stressed out.
Oh, I nearly forgot, on the plane from Tuscon to Atlanta they had these TVs on the back of the seat in front of you. You could watch TV, play games, or watch your flight. This was interesting. They told you how cold it was outside. How fast we were going. How much of a tailwind we had. All kinds of neat facts. Plus they had an aerial map showing where we had been and where we were going. Very cool indeed.

Good Bye

For some odd reason, I was totally unprepared for the good bye ceremonies this evening. Rod's family is fairly emotional and apparently so are my girls. I had known this but had forgotten. So, I was surprised when my girls started sobbing and continued for quite some time. I don't have a problem with it but I was surprised.
So, in the morning we will be headed for the airport using the hotel shuttle service. Our flight leaves at 7:30 so we will be heading out bright and early...
Please pray that Jackson doesn't experience such nervousness that results in hurling his cookies, or peanuts as the case may be...
He has already informed us he isn't ready to go home and this is based on his fear of flying or fear of something, what I do not know...

Life After Ugh...

Life has greatly improved, I must say. I was back to normal by yesterday morning. Rachel had a slight illness right after I did. Rod is currently unavailable for comment. He is holding his bed down. He feels right miserable. Apparently this is a very short lived bug. Yesterday we took the children to the Phoenix Children's museum. Very neat place. They had a play store which the children enjoyed. They had a paint room and they had a drum class... Jayden was really bopping around in the drum class... I had to laugh at him... He definitely has something in him my other children don't have... Rachel has two aunts living in Phoenix and we met with one of them at the museum. Last evening we met the other aunt at McDonalds for ice cream. They covered lunch yesterday and the ice cream last night. Very nice of them... Today we are planning to go to a huge used bookstore here. That should be interesting...
Oh, I should mention the hot tub. I haven't got in it yet but I would like to... It is out side.
Also, the backyard is about 20X50. It is surrounded by fences. The girls had these annoying flutes they were whistling on and we sent them outside. So, they are outside whistling away and soon the dogs started to join them. So, I took a peek over the wall to see the dog. I couldn't believe it. On one side we had a huge Great Dane, snarling at us. The other neighbor had three dogs, don't know what breed, yapping at us... The kids thought the Great Dane was pretty amazing...
Ok, enough for now....

Ugh

Well things went well until we had boarded our plane in Raleigh. Jackson, Sierra, and I were together with Rachel, Kaiden, Aleya, and Jayden directly in front of us. The plane was extremely hot and Jackson was very nervous about the whole idea of flying. He kept telling Rachel he wanted to drive to Phoenix, poor kid. So, as I was saying, suddenly Jack has an upheaval in his stomach. I frantically try to catch what I can but I am completely late and have started moaning to my wife when another upheaval comes forth. This is much worse then the other and I am too late on the draw again. We stripn him down to his shorts, wrap him in blankets and land in Atlanta an hour later. We put fresh clothes on him and head for our new gate. We board the plane and everything is great. Jackson wants a snack and a drink. So I let him have a little. He keeps it down so we let him have some more. By then we are feeling quite comfortable about it. He falls asleep. Sometime later he starts moving around and here comes some more. All over the seat and his shirt. I want to yell at him, TELL ME WHEN YOUR GOING TO DO THAT... But I don't I mopped it up took his shirt off and went to ask the unhelpful steward for a blanket. (The first flight we had two very sweet and helpful grandmotherly types of people for our attendants, not this one...) So, this happened several more times but I was begining to be quite good at having the bag ready. You miss some you catch some. Well, we finally land in Tucson and due to the children and the nakedness of Jack we calmly sit and wait till everyone is off the plane before we start dragging our things together. We were just getting up and the steward said "Ok, lets get out of here...) I looked at him coldly and said "Son, our boy has been puking the whole trip and you have done nothing to help. Never asked how he is doing, nothing. Now you want to rush me off the plane... You need to lighten up." Ok Ok I didn't say that, I wanted to but I didn't. I did look at him coldly and, holding up a bag of puke, said "do you have a trash can?" He looked back just as coldly and said "There is one at the front of the plane." I couldn't believe it. So, imagine this. A three old boy straggling off the plane with a thin blue Delta Airlines blanket trailing behind him. A mother holding a five month old. A 8 yearold dragging a backpack. A five year old wanting to do something. Another 3 year old strolling along nonchalantly. And then Dad... Whewee, Dad has a large suitcase, another carryone, and the bag of puke. trying to make it off the plane... I was not happy.... They were extremely unhelpful on this last flight....
Now, I have been spending my day today sleeping and sitting in the bathroom... So, whatever he had it was more than a nervous twitch...

DOA

Last night I had one of the nastiest jobs I have ever had. I had a cow with a dead calf. This is nothing new except for one small detail. This calf had been dead for quite sometime. In fact, it wasn't in one piece when I was finished removing the calf from the cow. Talk about disgusting...
You know, it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't smell. I tried hard to breathe through my mouth which helped immensely...
Another cow had twins one lived and one died. They were both bulls.
I had another cow fall in the holding pen while I was milking last night. I was sure she was never going to get up again. Tonight she was up and we milked her. Answer to prayer...
Whew, I am tired...
Till next time

3 X Milking

After struggling to pay the bills last week I decided it was high time to bite the ole bullet and start milking 3x a day. Our current schedule is 10 at night, 6 in the morning, and 2 in the afternoon. Nobody is overly fond of the night milking so I told the guys I would do this milking. It is taking right at 3 hrs to milk. This puts me back in the house about 1:30 or so. I like it for some strange reason. I think my body is slowly adjusting. I usually sleep till 8:30 in the morning and then I try to take a nap between 4 and 6 in the evening. I would rather do it this way then get up at 3 in the morning. So, for you local yocals, if you can't sleep for some silly reason feel free to stop in and chat with me about life. Come on in and I can put you to work and listen to you ramble at the same time....
All right enough rambling....

Life

I have, after much agony, decided to go to 3x milking. Milk price is dropping which means less cash flow. So, we will try the 3x here for several months and see what happens. Hopefully this will make a lot of difference and we will live happily ever after....
I will be singing at another wedding today....
Need to pick up a heifer at Dr. Gardner's...
Need to feed this eve.
It's 0 this morning...

Quartet Retreat

I feel it is my duty to inform you, the reader, of a dilemma... (He he) The Dilemma is this. We have one person registered for the retreat. Yes, you read right, One. So this could mean several things. The first being only one person is coming. This would be an economic catastrophe. Second, it could mean that you haven't registered yet. Which is fine if you don't want too eat... Right now we are planning on feeding one person so if you haven't registered and you show up you will be driving to Breezewood or somewhere for food...
So, you better register don't you think....???!!!!

Dusty Job

I had the daunting task of bedding stalls today. (A stall is what the cows lay down in to rest. At least they are suppose to.) We have been getting loads of sawdust by the semi-load from different furniture plants. The last load to come in looked like powder. I also noticed rain doesn't make it very wet. Or, it has the ability to soak up lots of water/moisture. This load looked like sawdust from a belt sander. Very fine and powdery. This means it is very dusty...
I bed 80 stalls and the bed-pack barn, carrying this powder with the Bobcat. Needless to say I was a dusty mess by the time I finished. The cows seem to like it. It looks very comfortable.

Mud

Rain is a good thing, really. It truly is. I wish, however, we could space it out a little more. Why not have more rain in July and August and a lot less in Dec. and Jan. We have red clay for soil. It is really amazing stuff. In the summer it acts like a brick. Hard, and very difficult to work with. In the winter it is greasy and very slippery. I managed to get a dump truck full of wood stuck today. It isn't stuck really, just spinning.

Mile Stone

The other day Sierra was riding with me on the Bobcat and I let her drive. I didn't help her but I was sitting on the seat. After she did this several times I asked her if I could drive the tractor while she drives the bobcat. No, she didn't think so. I suddenly had this brilliant fatherly idea. I told her to let me get out. She did. I got out and sat on the bobcat bucket while she started driving. She wondered if this is what she would be doing while I was on the tractor? I said yes. She said ok. So, I asked her if I could go get the tractor? She said yes. I went...
Today, she drove the bobcat every time I needed her to. It was great.... I am proud of her...

09

Well, 2009 is here. Can you believe it? I wonder what the year will bring...
VOP is stepping into uncharted waters with a new bass. I have discovered it usually takes a year for the group to gel when there is a personnel change. There will be social changes, as well as vocal changes. I have also discovered the social make up of the group has a big impact on how good we are vocally. How well we get along affects how well we sing... So these are all changes coming in 09.
Work: Wow, I don't know what the year will bring... I am firmly settled into phase one on expansion. At this point I am sitting tight and waiting to see how things develope.
Family: Who knows what 09 will bring. More kids, I doubt it.... Death? who knows....
So much is unknown....
Because of the unknown it is of utmost importance for me to dig deeper. Develope a deeper relationship with my Father.... The things that I do know should push me into a deeper relatioship...
I wonder alot why this relationship is so difficult... Why do I struggle so with it? I must not be commited enough...
So there you have it.... I really doubt whether 09 will be much different than 08... This morning wasn't. It was beautiful, cold morning....
God Bless us one and all as we seek his face....

Life Improved

I must say life without illness is an immense relief. It feels good to feel good...
In other news, Ben, Fred and I went and looked at some buildings on the old Frazier place today. This is a 250 acre farm in Altavista. Beutiful place which is for sale for only 2.5 million. I think I will buy it...
A gentleman thought I could use the lumber for a building project I will be doing this spring. I am thinking it looks like more headache than it is worth. He wants me to take all three buildings a lot of lumber I can't use. I don't have anywhere to store it either. So, it may get turned into eternal smoke...
And still in other news of a completly different nature. Sonny, his wife, Ruth, and two of there 5 children headed across the pond to visit some relatives. They will be spending, roughly, 10 days in Ireland. They are in the air, I hope, at this very moment....

My Plight

Last evening about bedtime I was very tired and didn't feel good. I didn't tell my wife this because I knew she wouldn't appreciate my poor health. When you mother five chillins I guess you would hate to see them all get sick. So, I took some Ibuprofen and went to bed. This morning while milking I started feeling bad so I took a few more. As long as I stay on them I don't feel too bad. Aside from aching muscles and feeling chilled. If I am catching what my parents had when we were there for Christmas I will start feeling queasy sometime soon. The queasy part makes me nervous. I hate being queasy...
There was something else improtant I was going to tell you about but it has slipped my memory....
maybe next time...

Good To Be Home

It is good to be home, yes it is... Even though I am scheduled to milk in the morning. Three comes earlier everyday... Anyway, we had pretty nasty driving until we got to Berkley Springs WV. From then on things opened up and we were able to make pretty good time. I have a big day tomorrow. I messed up and synchronized a bunch of cows. This means I have 13 cows to breed tomorrow afternoon... Well supper is ready so I must go....
Merry Christmas everyone....

Robert Shaw

Jon found a VHS (video) of Robert Shaw conducting the Messiah. We are going to be watching this in a few minutes. I have always loved the music or choirs he has conducted. I really like the spiritual album. I have heard a few snippets about how he got the sound he got. Robert Shaw was a perfectionist and got what he wanted. Anyway, I am looking forward to watching him conduct. watching people conduct has always intriguer me. Maybe this is because I enjoy conducting.

Games

So far today I have played two games of Sequence and several rounds of Rook. We have also had the Zehr Christmas. This will continue through tomorrow afternoon when some of us will be leaving.
We are currently under a winter storm warning, or something of that nature. We are suppose to have 6-12 inches of snow fall upon the roof sometime today. As I type the sun is shining and this snow accumulation looks some what unlikely.

Still Traveling

We left Middlefield OH after lunch today and headed to my parents in Meadeville, PA. We will be here until Tuesday evening. We will then head back to my in laws before heading home on Wed. So far things are going well. It was cold today and I heard it is suppose to drop down under 10 by morning.
My sister and her family are already here. My brother and his family are in route. It will be nice spending time together it will also be nice to be home for Christmas day...

This Is A Test

This is a test to see if I have set up my face book page to automatically update these posts onto my facebook page....

Lazy Day

Oh What a great day. I spent a lot of time doing nothing, really. I spent time on facebook. I was making new friends. Or something like that. VOP has a facebook page also. Feel free to take a look at that and become one of our fans...
Glad Songs has a top 10 downloads on there home page. Because I am a member of VOP I have the ability to see how many times a VOP song has been downloaded. As of this afternoon Tiny King seems to be our most popular song. Drummer boy is right on its heels. What is your favorite song on the new album?

Glad Songs

For those of you who are not aware, there is a new website called Glad Songs. You can find it at gladsongs.com. Sorry, I am to lazy to put the link in. Anyway, I went to the site this morning and listened to somethings. One of the groups was called the Table Singers. I have never heard of them. They were really good. They reminded me of the Mennonite Hour Choir. From what I could tell the group was singing in the late fifty's. I don't know if they are still active or not. So, slip over and check it out.

Half Way

Well, our Christmas travels have begun. I am currently sitting in my in-laws living room enjoying the high speed internet connection. We arrived on the premises about 45 min. ago. uDad has wood cutting plans for in the morning and then we will be leaving for OH about lumch time. Dad has been cutting wood along Rt. 30. If you SMBI and go west take hard look up the mountain on your left after you pass the second runaway truck ramp. Personally, it makes a man feel like a real woodsman when you lug your wood off the cliff down to the sleigh, I mean truck...

Kaiden James Zehr

This morning at 10:10 we had a conference call with a lawyer and a judge in Fl. This five minute phone conversation finalized Kaiden's adoption. We are thrilled about this... The judge made some comment about us being repeat customers... Very friendly group of people. Very personable. This begining to feel like old hat to us...

Scheduled Events

We will be leaving on the 18th and headed to OH for Christmas with my wife's people before heading to my parents on tthe 21st. We will be headed home on the 24th. Fred will be gone the 26th-28th. Sonny's leave the 29th for Ireland. They will be gone for 10 days or so. We had plans on going to MX to visit Rod's but we then remembered Kaiden would need a passport. We were planning on going the middle to end of Jan. This is begining to look unrealistic at best. Kaiden's adoption will be finalized this Wed. the 17th. I guess there is a chance we could get the paperwork done and back before we were planning on going but I doubt it.
There are a smattering of VOP events the biggest one on the schedule is the Quartet Retreat held at SMBI. If you want information about this event shoot me an email. glen.dairyfarmer@gmail.com

Wedding # 3

So, I am now sitting in a cheap hotel room in Harrisonburg. A group from church is scheduled to sing at my cousins wedding in the morning. I am getting a cold and my singing voice is leaving. Fortunately I am singing bass in this group which is a good thing.
So, we leave for home as soon as the wedding is over. I need to chore in the afternoon. My family is at home also. So we head home as soon as possible....
The wedding involves another of my first cousins. Galen Yoder who is marrying Coleen Roher. He picked some rather tough songs. Prayer of Thankful Praise, to name one.

More Phony Issues

I was trying desperately to update this blog last night and my internet connection was awful I finally quit trying. This morning it was worse. The phone had this rediculous noise on it. Finally I went to the barn and used my hairdryer to dry out the external box. Now it works... This boxis located directly beneath the deck at the front of the parlour. There is a big door in the front of the parlour also. I think when we wash the parour floor down water is going through the bottom of the door and running down on the box. I need to find a good solution to this problem. Think think think... I feel like pooh bear....

LIfe

I realize some of you may be getting tired of my lack of posting. Of course, some of you may be thrilled... Well, if your thrilled your not reading this anyway. I don't know why, but I have been so tired lately. By the time we get the children to bed and Rachel get's Kaiden fed and in bed it is usually 9:30 and I am exhausted and don't feel like trying to find something to expound on. Such is life. When I was getting up at 4 to milk it wasn't so bad. Now I am getting up at three but am still going to bed at the same time. Maybe I am just a wimp...
So, that is why I haven't been posting as often...
We finished cleaning up the milkhouse. Wow, it looks good. Next week we need to move some rock out of the new ground land. I really need to get this land sowed.... We also need to clean out some cow pens and haul some rotting silage. So we move on. I can't believe Christmas is so rapidly approaching....

Clean Up

So far this week Fred and I have been diligently trying to find the floor in milkhouse. For some reason, I didn't realize it had disappeared. Reality set in when the milk inspector showed up. Reality always sets in when he shows up. It was really bad. I have put Fred in charge of keeping it looking respectable. However, it looked it a bit daunting, cleaning up all the residue, so I decided I needed to help him clean up the mess he didn't make. It will be looking good by this evening I think...

Happy Boy

Kaiden has been fussy for the last week or two. We finally moved him into the boys room. He is getting more sleep now. Especially his naps. He used to be in the office and if we, I mainly, tried to do anything on the computer he would wake up. This practice would cause a certain amount of stress on the mothering department. He is happier now that he is getting more sleep. Anyway, here he is grinning happily at me... He is begining to giggle some also...

Dead Phone

Our phone was dead all day yesterday. I have no idea why. This morning I checked when I left to go milk and we had a dial tone again. Very strange indeed.
So, It was nice not having a phone for the day. I was thankful no one could harrass us. Of course there was the cell phone but the service for that apparatus is poor in the house which aids the silence.
SO how many of you are off spending your hard earned money on this day splurge and spending? I went last year for awhile and was not impressed. I will more than gladly stay home, feed a few cows and spend my day in a leisurly fashion. The ladies are planning on going. Rachel, Sierra, and Carla. Yes I would say Sierra is now a lady, most of the time....

Land Clearing Gone Wrong, Sorta...

We have been clearing some land. By this I mean we had roughly 100 acres clear cut twenty -five years ago that never was grubbed and put into farming production. So now we have 100 acres of junk. After waiting on a logger for a year and a half he came in and is chipping everything. There are no logs in this timber it is all junk. So I have been very pleased with his work. The problem came when I had a guy come in and grind the stumps. It would probably be fine if we were going to graze it off but we are not into grazing. Fortunately we only did about 20 acres. We spent a pile of money on something that still is in poor farming condition. I had another gentleman stop by today and look at it. He thought he could have done a much better job for less money. So, now he is going to smooth out the humps, bury the rocks and grub out an acre or two the other guys missed. Hopefuly he can do this in two to three days. We won't be grinding any more stumps in the future. It cost way too much for the amount of acres covered...

Weather

The weather has been very odd for us. It was cold all week. It feels like Feburary. I know most people would scoff at us for considering highs of 40 cold but the last several years we have been having 70 degrees for a high temperature. So this is a major switch for us and I am wondering if we are going to have a very cold winter....

Work

The cows milked a little over 5000 lbs this morning. That is the best they have done yet. Hopefully they milk another 4500 tonight we shall see. We are about ready to start preparing some new ground land. I really need to get it sowed here in the next several weeks. We had a company come in and grind the stumps. This worked decently but not as well as I was hoping. It is fairly rocky also. So, we will need to pick up some rocks and some sticks. I don't look forward to this tedious task. Hopefully the hunt club guys will be up to helping with some of it...

Kyoto

Last night 5 couples from our church went to Kyoto for supper. I was impressed. The food was really good and the cook didn't hit anyone with a knife while showing us his skill. For those of you who don't know Kyoto is a Japanese restaurant. They cook your food right in front of you. I had steak and shrimp and four different kinds of sauce. The only sauce I didn't like was the mustard sauce. If you have never eaten at a place like this you should try it once.

Home Again

We were getting on I 75 last night at 8:15. I arrived home at 10:30 this morning so it took us just over 14 hours to get home. We had a really good trip. Met some old friends of mine. Funny, Brian Miller hasn't changed a lick in the last 15 years. We went to the beach Sunday afternoon. We spent roughly five minutes on the sand. This was about how long it took us to walk from our van to the water's edge and back to the van. The wind was really howling and it was cold.
This coming Thursday is our first practice with Joe. The new CD has arrived. Tom, yours is in the mail and Nevin, I need your mailing address. Till next time....

On The Road Again

I am currently sitting in a dark hotel room in Spartan, SC. At least I think I am in Spartan or Spartansburg or something Spartanish. We, VOP, are headed to FL for the weekend with a stop in Barnwell, tonight.
We had the company who manufactured our new album overnight us a box of 100. The rest of the order was suppose to arrive last night. They didn't. The box they sent was suppose to arrive yesterday morning and they didn't arrive until 2 in the afternoon. We left at 4:30. We like to have things barely arrive on time. This helps keep the blood moving through your body at a rapid pace. This is a result of madly pacing around the house and occasionally banging your head against the wall for added effect. You also need to stare wildly out the window once in awhile this adds to the drama that is unfolding. Unfortunately none of these antics changes the facts only your facial features will change and possibly the walls of your house from all the head banging...
So, life goes on...

Frozen Bagels

For breakfast this morning I had blueberry bagels. I was in the process of preparing one for the toaster when I made a fascinating discovery. I was calmly slicing my frozen bagel with a bread knife when I made this discovery. I must admit there was some amazement concerning the sharpness of the tool I held. I was slicing the bagel and was trying very hard to control the speed of the knifes exiting of the bagel. Of this I was very unsuccesful. I now have a cut on my pinky to prove it. The cut was quite deep and what so shocking was the amount of blood which flowed from my battle wound. It was very little. I am assuming the frozen bagel slowed the amount of blood passing through my pinky. So, the moral of the story is this. When you are cutting things make sure your hands are frozen...

Begging

Aleya has been after me for the last several months, begging for a Shetland Pony. Here she is expounding on all the different places we could put it. I am still rather skeptical and have no plans of purchasing a pony. Maybe when she gets a little older, say like 20 years or so... I am kidding about the 20 years at least 2-3 would be a good plan for now I think...

Presidential

So, now what happens? What is you opinion on the election? Is our country headed into some form of communisim? A socialistic approach to living?

Nope

Just so you know, I didn't go trick or treating...
I have never gone and have no plans of ever going. My children didn't go either and I have no plans of them ever going. I was wondering if people still do this? I have not heard any horror stories concerning razor blades in apples or strichnyne lazed candy.

Work

We wrapped up the fall work yesterday. After, it seems, many moons of agonizing and struggle we have finally finished the fall work. What a relief. We have about 20 acres of new ground to work on here in Nov. but that shouldn't be too stressful.
On a different note, topic, or discussion. Did you go trick-or-treating tonight?

Ramblings

I finished hauling manure today and plan to finish planting tomorrow. For this I am greatful...
Now onto other interesting topics and unsettling things I have heard. I heard on the news the other day that someone had been trying to sue God about something but because God couldn't be reached they threw it out of court.
I heard on Dobson tonight that a gentleman in Massachusettes (sp?) got thrown in jail because he was in a tiff with his school. They were trying to teach his preschooler about same sex marriage and things of that nature which the father was adamantly opposed to. The school higher ups actually called the cops and had him handcuffed and thrown in the slammer for the night. From what I could gather the family had gone all the way to the supreme court concerning the issue and hadn't been very successfull...
On a more light note the World Series was postponed because of weather. It seems that the commisioner, Bud Selig, has taken it upon himself to make up rules as he goes. Basically he got lucky because the game ended up being tied when he postponed it because of the freezing rain and slop they were playing in. Selig has been quoted as syaing he wasn't going to let the World Series end in like that. Meaning, if the Phillies would have been leading after the Tampa Bay Rays top of the 6th inning the series would have been over. Not just the game but the Series. They are finishing game five tonight starting in the bottom of the sixth....
It's a strange world we live in.....

It's Over

Just like that it is over. Done. Finished. You work hard for several days and then it is over. What a disappointment... But I guess I am glad it is over. It would get old trying to keep going at the pace for a long period of time. I am referring to the Fall Festival, if you haven't figured that out yet. It rained all morning and that affected how long people stayed on the grounds. I did notice, though, the people who came for the auction did not get up and and leave half way through. They sold 900 and some odd halves of chicken, I think. Mr. Irvan Swarey told me they served well over 600 free cups of coffee. That, my friend, is a lot of coffee. As far as a doller amount on the day. I have no idea and won't venture a guess.

Farming (And Other Stuff)

We sowed another 30 acres of barley today. I am hoping to cover another 35 tomorrow and then start on rye Friday. We shall see. I still have one big day of manure hauling left before we can finish planting. I will be so glad when this fall work is done. After we finish the fall work I have decided to go to a 3x milking schedule. (If we can work out the scheduling...)
This Saturday is our school sale or Fall Festival. Rachel and I will be involved with the auction quite heavily, along with Randy and Anita Martin. We love working with them and we are looking forward to it. I love this event. I love watching our church pull together in this way...

Hired Man

Fred Knicely took me up on my job offer this evening. For this I am grateful... Sonny and I are about ready to give up the ghost.
I have never had more than one person working for me full time so I am sure there will be a learning curve on my part.
I managed to disk 30 some acres of land today. Hopefully we will get some barley sowed tomorrow.
I think I am getting a cold...
Our school sale is this weekend... I always enjoy this and look forward to it.

Ooo Yuck

Why do children, when they turn 6-7 or so, start saying this when they see parents hug or even kiss. I remember saying this to my folks. I have noticed though, when my oldest daughter says "Ooo Yuck" she is always smiling... I always felt secure at home when I witnessed something tender between my parents. So, why the Ooo Yuck?

Still Analyzing

I downloaded the final mix of Drummer Boy last night. I am currently listening to it. I must say, Jon is sounding really good. I don't know if he has ever sung this good on an album that I have recorded with him. Jerry told me while we were recording that Jon was singing really well. He was and I am proud of him...
Oh, Jon and his wife were married 14 years yesterday... Happy anniversary...

Still Mixing

As I mentioned in yesterday's post we had several more songs to mix. They were all "big" songs and would be time consuming. I have been checking in with Jon all day and following the progress. The progress seemed to be quite slow. I was told the song was sounding really good. That is encouraging. We have photo shoot scheduled for tomorrow late afternoon and early evening, whatever that means. The album has to go to the production by this weekend for us to have it for our tour in Nov.

Stuff

After going to bed at 1:00 Sat. morning. Rising at 7:20. Mixing all day and knowing I had promised to milk Sunday moning, I was hoping to leave Alive Studios by 8:00 Sat. evening. That would have put me to bed by 10:00 or so. We left Alive around 10 wihich put me to bed about 12:15. Up at 3:30 and will be leaving in a few minutes for a program at Evergreen Baptist Church in Appomattox. I was scared to lay down after milking. I was afraid I would feel really bad if I slept for an hour and woke up feeling groggy. We still have three more songs to mix on Monday. However, I am not planning on going up. I think some of the other guys will be. I think the album is sounding very nice. If you are interested in ordering a copy you can email me at glen.dairyfarmer@gmail.com I try to check this several times a week. You can also use our website and send an email. However there is no information concerning the album up yet.

Mixing

Well, it has been a long day. We finished three songs today. We spent a long time figuring out EQ's. Then we spent a long time talking about all the different people Jerry knows and the people he has worked with. Very interesting... But, I think tommorow will be better. I think it will be more productive. We all hope so. I don't think we will finish so someone will have to be here on Monday. I can't come back, much as I would like to. Till later today, maybe...

Sprinkles

It is sprinkling this morning. I am glad. I have three loads to go to finish the field I am working on. I will try to get that finished this morning. I have to be gone this evening and the rest of the week. I will be back Sat. night and will be milking Sunday morning. I then have to be in Appomatox to sing Sunday morning and will be following that up with a program in South Boston at Faith Mennonite in the evening. This is a lot of running around. Friday and Saturday will be spent back in the studio mixing the Christmas album, Tiny King. I should be available for you to purchase by Thanksgiving. So, I hope it rains while I am gone becuase I wouldn't be able to work if I was at home so it would be nice if the rain would fit into my schedule so nicely...

Work

Well, well, well. Thanks to Sonny we got some hay baled today. Thanks to the folks renting our house we picked two-thirds of it up and on the trailer. We didn't unload it though. I managed to cover roughly 20 acres of ground with manure...
Lots to go yet and I am wore out...
Till next time...

Aleya

Aleya turned five on Sept. 27. It is hard to believe it has been five years since we headed to FL to pick her up. This picture was taken Sat. Oct. 4. I was taking her to McDonalds for breakfast for her birthday. I was planning to take her on her birthday but I was delayed at the barn and by the time I got in the house she had already eaten. She has always been one to eat the minute she wakes up.

VOP News

We have Ben's replacement. After close to a year we have found someone. We are looking forward to moving ahead. However, Ben will be sorely missed. I have high hopes that in a year or two Ben will be ready to return to the fray. But, for now, we are excited to announce the arrival of Joe Miller. His first singing engagement will be a laldies conference around South Boston some where...

Kaiden

Aleya & Kaiden

Dairy Do List

Here is what is going on today....
First, I need to meet with Shannon Wisecarver. He is chipping some new ground land and I need to discuss some driveway options with him.
Second, I need to go to Rustburg and pick up Delvin's manure pump.
Third, I need to locate a tractor that will run the manure pump.
Fourth, I need to work on the manure pump.
Fifth, I need to fix some tires on the manure truck.
Sixth, I need to milk this evening.
Seventh, Finish up some feeding for Sonny.
Whew, I didn't realize there were that many things to do today...
I wish now I hadn't made the list...
Oh well....

Chopping

I said i would post a picture and here it is, finally. Unfortunately this is not my truck or chopper...

Feed

We finished chopping my corn today. I have more feed on hand than I have ever had. The trench is piled way up, probably 10-12 feet over the top of the ground. Meaning the face from the floor will be pushing 20 feet tall. The new trench is full. I have, roughly, 250 tons of triticale piled on the ground. I have a 40 by 100 bunker silo full of triticale. I am feeling very blessed. I can't believe it. We just started feeding the corn silage we cut the end of August. I am anxiously awaiting the cows response. Hopefully they decide it is time to stop playing about making milk and start making some. I would love to see them run the tank over....
Time will tell.... By the way, we cut 106 acres of corn in 13.25 hrs...

New Dimension

It is fun to watch how the baby has affected our family, Sierra probably the most. She is three years older then she was when the twins arrived. She is alot of help. What strikes me how much of a mother she is. Maybe all girls are this way, I don't know. The way she carries him, taks to him, and so on. Very neat. The boys want to hold him more than I anticipated. Aleya, has shown a maternal side as well. However, it is not as noticable as Sierra's. This is due partly to her age, I assume, it could very well be her personality... What do I know...
Life is good...

JoAnna

Kaiden meeting JoAnna...

Settling In

Well, let's see, we are home... Trying to get settled back into the routine of life, or make a new one. It is kinda cool to have a baby in the house, especially a good one... It's neat watching the children relate to a baby. Jackson yanks Kaiden's socks off everytime someone shows up. He likes to show them Kaiden's toes. Jayden loves his fingers and the girls, they just like having a baby to cuddle.
On the farm front, Surge is still trying to figure out why the ID system isn't working properly. It ID's all the cows but won't send activity information on all the cows. Right now it is missing 20 cows a milking. Not good...
Sonny is gone so I am holding down the fort. Next week we finish chopping corn and then we need to get serious about spreading manure and planting small grain.

Home

We, surprisingly, received clearance to go home at 10:30 yesterday morning. We left at 12:30 stopped in Savannah and sold my old van for $200 dollars. Disappointing but I couldn't see any other solution to the problem. We got home at 10:00 to a house full of children. Rachel's parents brought the rest of the tribe home. They will be leaving about lunch time today. I need to take the rental vehicle back by noon. I think we will be purchasing a 2003 Astro. I have always wanted one so now I get to try it out.
Kaiden is amazing. We have never had a baby this good. He eats and sleeps and looks around, fussing only when he is cold or something. Anyway, much different then our other children...

Sierra

Sierra is happy as a lark...

Small

Little Guy

Kaiden

I told you he was small. His head fits in one hand...

Wow

We met Joy, Kaiden's foster mom, at Heart Of Adoptions about 10:30 yesterday morning. I was shocked at how small Kaiden is. I must have been expecting something the size of Jay & Jack. Silly of me I know. But Kaiden is so little. Like a new born not 3 weeks old. Also, he is so good. Sierra fed him just before we left the agencyat 11:30 and, except for two squeeks he made no noise until we were at the hotel which was 4:30. Then last night he ate about 10:30 and slept till, I think it was 5, however, I can't remember. I do remember waking up at 2 and asking Rachel if he was okay. She told me she had just checked to make sure he was alive. He is something. Joy said he was like this but we were somewhat skeptical...
Sierra is in her glory. She is alwayas wanting to carry him everywhere. She is such a little mother. I think it is great. She is growing up.
The van... My van was towed to the mechanic to tune of $70, he went a block and a half. Must be good money in towing, at least in the city of Savannah. The mechanic towed it for me and he seems like a very honest man. He told me it would cost me $1800-$2000 to fix the transmission but he thought they may be able to change the oil and filter and it might get me home. This would cost me $100. So I told him to check it out. He also told me that if they drop the pan and find a bunch of metal shavings they won't fool with it. So, I think he is treating me fair. He could really take me for a ride if he wants to.

Hmmm

Well, I am currently sittitng in a Double Tree Inn west of Tampa. They just ripped me off 10 bucks to use the high speed internet. Needless to say we won't be staying here tonight... Here is the big discouraging or annoying, or what is God doing news. We were on I 95 toolilng merryily along when we decided to switch drivers. (Rachel was driving while I ate.) After settling in the drivers seat I put it in gear. Nothing happened. I restarted the van, still nothing. After trying this method several times it started moving. So I sped up until I reached the high speed of 30 mph. After which the engine kept picking up speed and the wheels didn't. So I pulled over onto the shoulder. Thankfully we were at an exit and I rolled down the exit. The van started working again but was continually getting worse. We were able to limp into a GATE parking lot. I made a few phone calls and we decided the van is not worth me putting a new transmission in (It has 200000 miles on it). We took a taxi to the Savannah Int. Airport and rented a car. So, we finally got to our motel at 3:00 this morning. We are leaving here in about 30 minutes to find a bank. Then we pick up the baby. Then we figure out what happens next....

Plans

Sonny is gone to the annual youth camp this weekend so I have weasled my brother and his sons into helping chore. Korwin rode his bike down and helped me finish milking this moring. Very nice of him. Our plans are to leave for FL as soon as I am done feeding tomorrow. I am hoping to leave by 1 or so. Plans are to pick the little fellow up at 10 Monday morning. Sonny's family is heading for IN on Thursday so I need to be home Wed. night sometime. We are praying we will get clearance to come home on Tuesday or Wednesday by noon. Thanks for your prayers...

Home

Jon and I left Hburg at 3:30 AM this morning. Got home about 6. I slept till about 9:30 AM before heading out to work. I have been reaclimating myself all day. I milked this evening. I will be milking mornings till we leave for FL to pick up kaiden. Not sure what these plans are for sure. I will be sure to keep you posted. As far as the mixing on the new album. We didn't get anywhere near finished. We actually only mixed one song. There is a reason why Jerry has won 10 Dove awards over the years. He is very good which means he is also picky. He wants it to sound muscial and wants the reverb and eq's to be right. So it tool awhile to get some of those things figured out....

Still At It

Well, I finished Sleep Sleep about 1. Then we ate lunch. We are now giving my voice a rest before I finish One Small Child. While I rest we are in the process of mixing. This is taking far too long and I really need to get home. I was planning to milk in the morning... I may be showing up in time for milking (3:30 AM). Whew... Exhaustion rules...

Uh Oh

It looks like I am losing my voice. I have a solo and one other song to finish. I tried to finish the other song tonight and I sounded so bad we decided to wait until in the morning. Hopefully a night of sleep will improve this dilemma.

News

Kaiden James Zehr
Born Aug. 26 In Tampa Fl.
Wt. 6lbs 10 ounces Length 21 inches..
He is currently in foster care...

Moving On

Well, here are the plans. I am leaving with the guys in about thirty minutes. We sing at Rivermont tonight. Service starts at 6:30 after which we are headed back to the studio. If we get there in time and Jerry is still there we will probably do some recording yet tonight. We will be there till late tomorrow night. Whatever we get done in that amount of time is what we will have on the album. We will be coming home tomorrow night and then I will be trying to get back in the groove on the home front.

Day, What is it?

It always amazes me how easily time disappears. The world disappears time stops. We have been in the studio, everyday this week, from 8:30-11-11:30 at night. So, we have come to the conclusion we will not be able to get all the songs done we had originally picked. We have dropped two hard songs and added several easier songs. We also may record several songs around one mic as a group. We will see....

Whew!!!

Let'd see. I went in the studio at 2:00 and finished at 6:00. Jon is working on his now. I hope his goes faster than mine. Anyway, just a brief update...

Moving On

So, finished First Light last evening and moved forwards. We finished uup Tiny King before heading for sleep. Ben has been laying down both of his bass parts for our first Rumsey piece, Good Christians Now Rejoice. He has been sinign since 8:30 this morning... He should be finished in about 15 min. Then I will begin laying down my tracks. Looks like we may only get one song down today. We really need two so we shall see...
I love recording.... Seeing these songs come together and hear them all put together...

By The Way

If you want to hear a clip of some songs, you can visit Bool's Blog by clicking on the link on the side bar...

More Stuff

Well, yesterday was discouraging. We were working on In The First Light. We never finished the song. It is an 11 part song so it is very long as far as studio time. We worked on it for 12 hrs yesterday and got about two thirds finished. Consider we are stacking each voice 4 times, meaning we will have 44 voices on this song. The song is going to be an awsome song. The problem is getting all the songs done we want to get done. Hopefully today will go better. We still have 3 more tough songs to do. We shall see....

Long Days

Well, we are striving forward. It is a very time consuming process. We are recording in amuch different manner than we ever have before. It is much more relaxed in one sense but is taking longer per song in the studio. We are recording each person individually. We go in as a group and put down one track which we use as a guide. Then we each go in by ourselves and put down our parts. It is fun and I am enjoying it. After everyone has laid down their part the song is pretty much finished. Jerry Yoder, the enginer/producer, is editing and mixing as he goes so we there will be very little if any post recording work. Jerry Yoder has quite a resume. He has 10 dove awards and is a drummer. He lives in Nashville, however, his roots are Grantsville MD. In fact, I think he is related to me. He has been fun to work with. Well, time to get some more food or something. We finished two songs yesterday and are just now finishing up our first song for today. WE have to get two a day or we won't get all our songs done this week. It will be a long evening....

Plans

My wife and family are leaving in the morning for Her parents. I need to chore in the afternoon and then I will be leaving with Jon and Ben for Harrisonburg. We will hook up with Josh at the studio Monday morning at 8:00. We will be attempting to record this album in an entirely new way for us. I will fill you in on those details next week. We would appreciate your prayers.

Bi-Focals

Did you know Benjamin Franklin invented bi-focals? I didn't know that. He also said "A man who sleeps with dogs will wake up with fleas."

Rain Facts

One of my neighbors had five inches of rain. Another had six inches of rain. Another neighbor said he had 3 inches of rain. I wonder who is right?

Rain

It started sprinkling yesterday afternoon. It started raining sometime during the night and by 2:30 this afternoon we had received 2.5 inches. It is still raining.... We needed it in the worst sort of way...
So, now we wait for things to dry out and then we will get back in the saddle. Of course I will be gone next week so I won't be doing much saddling as far as work goes.