Oh Crumbs....

So, I noticed this spot on my finger. It was feeling and acting like a pimple that was ready to pop. But, being the man that I am, I tried popping it anyway with very little success. It kept hurting so I starting putting stuff on it. Within 24 hrs I was able to "pop" it. But this didn't fix the problem. It didn't really get worse but it wasn't getting better. Then today the back of my hand started hurting and by 7 this eveing my finger was so swollen. I couldn't believe it. So I was told in no uncertain terms I needed to go see a Dr. So I went. And, what do you know, it's infected. DUH...
Anyway, I finally figured out what actually happened. While I was washing down after helping Marshal finish up the milking tonight, I noticed a major spider web. This spurred some spot in my mind and I recalled an incident on Thursday morning, a week ago, where I was walking through a bunch of spider webs on my way to get the cows. I also remembered that one of the pests lodged in my hair. I also remember a sting on my finger and I distinctly remember giving it the shake. So, apparently this is a spider bite gone bad... Or good if your the spider I guess....
I am currently on antibiotics and I feel better already. Allthough I have enough Ibuprophen in my system to feel good until late March so maybe that doesn't mean much....

Another One?

The Zehr Dwarfs

Updated Photo

Kaiden is doing so well. Here is an updated picture of his lips. I don't know what all I have posted but if you notice his lower lip is starting to pull back together. If you take the mouse pointer and draw a line where you think the lip line is you will notice how much lip is missing. The big question is how much of this will regrow without surgery. Nobody knows. The people we have talked to have never seen anything like this. His upper lip doesn't look as bad to me or not as deep. So, time will tell...

Updated Photo

We feel like he is doing better. The pain has definitely diminished. We keep wrapped up as much as possible. This keeps his lips moist and reduces the pain etc. He was very happy when he woke up this morning.

Trucking Silage

Jack was pleased as punch...

The Facts Of The Case

For those of you who do not know what happened and don't understand what happened here is what happened. It all began several years ago with our struggling sweeper cord. It had developed a short in the cord which I fixed. Here is how I fixed the cord. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a plug. I then cut the wire and used the plug to reconnect the wire. So, now we have a plug to plug the sweeper into the wall and another plug close to sweeper. When I wired the plug I put the male end on the wall side and the female end on the sweeper side. So, when Kaiden was playing with the cord he managed to pull it apart and put the male end in his mouth. Unfortunately, it was still plugged into the wall. He had pulled apart the plug where I had fixed the short. If I had used the female end on the wall side he probably would not have been burned as bad but I don't know for sure. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion on how this actually happened. He wasn't playing with bare wires. I had trouble figuring out right at first. This makes sense. If you look at the early pictures you can see where the prongs touched his lips. He put it in his mouth upside down which explains why the upper lip is in worse shape then the lower lip....

Kaiden loved riding around the unit in his little fire engine.

He received some balloons and a teddy bear from our church. Thanks! He loved the balloons, and the teddy bear did a wonderful job of distracting him while the nurse changed the dressing on his IV.

He spent some time looking out the window, lots of activity to watch. He giggled when I took him over there.

Kaiden is looking and feeling lots better today. This pic was taken this morning. The dr is saying he can maybe go home by Monday but maybe not til Tues. They will evaluate Monday. They are keeping him because of the risk of infection until the lip scabs, and also their is an artery in our upper lips, and if he would start to bleed it could be a big bleed. So we are just waiting for him to scab over basically. They are saying surgery won't be for a couple weeks. The good news is the plastic surgeon said she doesn't think his lower lip is going to need anything, but his upper lip will.
He is happy.. when he is being entertained... otherwise he is very buggy. He would love to get down and crawl around and explore, unfortunetly his mother won't let him.
He is supposed to be going to sleep, but is playing in his crib right now... His nurse decided to hold off on pain meds.. so he hasn't had any since about 5:00... he really doesn't seem to be in any pain.
Thanks so much for your prayers!

The Deal At This Point

Ok folks,
Here is what we know. Kaiden will be here through the weekend. The pediatric plastic surgeon was in this morning. She said, "we will be good friends before this is over." The muscle on both lips has been damaged which means he will not be able to control his lips like before in regards to controlling drool and things. It could very well affect his speech and who knows what in the future. They will not do anything until next week. This would, I think, be a consultation with the pediatric plastic surgeon. I am assuming she will put together a game plan for the future.
We are very thankful his life was spared. We are somewhat nervous about the future. Fear of the unknown. Will he always talk funny? Will his face look funny. Things like this are what goes through a parents mind. Yet we realize God is in control and I keep asking myself what God is trying to teach me through this. One thing I realized is think I have become the dreaded work all the time kind of man. I have not been home much for the last several months. Home and awake at the same time...
Some thing needs to change. Surely God could have used something else to teach me this. Maybe it has more to do with trust in Him. The Father. The one who died for each of us.
We appreciate your prayers...

Kaiden

Another view.

Kaiden

I think this is still in ER in Lynchburg.

Kaiden

In the ER

Frank's Slide

Huge rocks. If I am correct they never tried to rescue anyone. It was pretty much hopeless I guess. They put a memorial up and left it at that. More information would be grand if anyone has some.

Frank's Slide

At some point in history a mine collapsed in the middle of the night. This caused the side of the mountain to slide into the valley burying the whole town in the process. I don't know how populated the town was.

Kootenai River Valley

Here the Kootenai river is actually flowing N back into Canada. One of very few rivers in the US that flow N. If I remember right, there is only one other river that flows N and I believe it is in OR.

On The Rocks

Chad took this picture for us. What a bunch of a goof balls... This was taken N of Bonners Ferry...

Silver Butte Pass

We wondered if we were going to make it across Silver Butte Pass. The road was worse then a lot of my access lanes to my fields... Notice how close the branches and things are to the van.

New Truck?

Here is the newest member of the Airy Mont Fleet. We spent most of the day yesterday trying to get the body the box off. There is a huge winch centered directly behind the cab and attached to the frame. A very tight fit. Something is still somewhat attached. So far we have had one minor issue. The boom rocked out of it's cradle and landed on the cab which ruined the windshield. Hopefully we can get it off today, maybe.... I really want to get it off before I leave....

Stuff

I think I have every thing loose on the truck. Hopefully we can take the body off next week.
(I will try to post a picture so you know what I am doing. A picture will tell the story much better than I) The milk tester was here this afternoon. Cows tested at 74. I was surprised and pleased. For as hot as it is they are doing quite well....

A Truck Load

You can a haul anything with a dump truck....

Fish Feed

We were tossing bread out to the carp.... I thought this was worse then cramming cows into a free stall barn...

Fuel Pump

I was leaving a gas station in Breezewood when I first noticed a lack of enthusiasm. I felt a shudder, a weariness, a trembling of the limbs course through the veins. A shot of adrenaline was administered to this tired body part and with renewed energy and power we resumed our journey. Yesterday death came upon us with amazing quickness and without warning. We were traveling in a caravan and due to unforeseen circumstances, a vagueness of direction, we stopped for a conference of drivers. While sitting in the ECP parking lot a shudder once again was felt and a sigh was heard. The sigh of death. With these final thoughts the life giving organ went into cardiach arrest. The surgeon gave the ignition a quick turn and with one final shuddering attempt it sputtered and death became apparent. The surgeon cranked and cranked and cranked. The more he cranked the crankier he became. After numerous cranks he realized it was futile. He made phone calls to other more expierenced surgeons and discovered he didn't have the resources at his brain cells to correct the problem. The surgeon discovered, once again, that he really wasn't a surgeon. He did discover he could use his cell phone which he did with great abundance. He discovered he was good at it and continued to use it just to prove he could do something....
The tow truck came and couldn't tow the AWD so the surgeon and his family continued to wait for a roll back. After while the roll back showed up and loaded the van. He then hauled the van 200 yds to the shop. The surgeon considered straining his muscles by pushing his van to the shop. He realized this may cause him serious injury and possibly be the death of him so he wisely refrained from such strenuous activity.

Blogging

I have been receiving threats and strong opinions concerning my lack of blogging. Ok, not literal threats. Anyway, I will try to resume a more disciplined posting lifestyle...

Kaiden

This is for you Joy. Thanks for your input in his life. Though it may seem brief to you and us, it is hard to put a finger on how much of an impact those two weeks with you had or affected his life...
Thanks again
Glen

Story Time

Crop Checking

I was showing the girls the rye head. Trying to decide when to chop...

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.