Motorcycles

Do you own a motorcycle? Would you allow your child to ride an ATV or a motorcycle? Why or why not? Are they really more dangerous?

White Chocolate

Our company informed us this weekend that white chocolate was invented so black babies could get dirty. I thought this was pretty funny. By the way our company was Gary and Darlene Schwartz from Fort Wayne IN. They have adopted three black babies.

Recital

Tonight at 7:00 Sierra has a recital. She has been taking a music class taught by a lady from church. The whole class will be singing. I think there is 4-5 in the class. We are looking forward to it.

Still At It

I am hoping we can finish chopping today. Time will tell...
If not we will be at it tomorrow. We also have company coming this weekend. People we new back in our SMBI days. Days I have almost forgotten...

Leprosy

What causes leprosy? Also, is it still a problem today? I think it is in Africa and some countries with pour nutrition. Also, why were lepers considered unclean in the Bible? I don't believe they have discovered a cure for leprosy or am I mistaken?

Slow Going

Yesterday we spent a lot of time running or making noise and didn't have much to show for it. At least that is how I felt. The vet was here in the morning so I was tied up helping him for a couple hours. The we didn't have enough people to keep all the equipment running. The barley has dried enough that we need to chop right behind the mower. The person chopping was also doing the mowing. This makes for very slow progress. Hopefully today will feel more successful.

Small Grain

Even the best plans get delayed. I was planning to chop my barley last week but I decided to wait till this week. Here's why. One, Sonny's left early Friday morning for IN to attend a graduation. Two, it rained last weekend. So this week is suppose to be nice and sunny, except at night when it will be nice and moony, so we should be able to get done.

Mothers

Where would you/we be today if you would not have had your mothers influence in your life? I realize our society is full of mothers who are not God fearing. I am very thankful for the mother God gave me. For those of you who know my mother, I am 90% of the reason her hair is gray/white. Time has a way of easing painful memories. In other words, Mama would tell you I was a good little boy. And I was, occasionally...
Mama, I love you...

A Question For Mothers

What is the most memorable mothers day you have had and why?

CAT Results

We got Sierra's test results back today. She is supposedly ready for 3.5 grade in reading. 2.1 in math and 3.3 in language. We were really pleased. Especially math. Math has been a struggle for her.

Mud Hole

Remember when I posted on Cousins? In that post I mentioned that some of the girls had found rich fulfillment in a mud hole. Here is the proof...

Buffalo Baptist

VOP is scheduled to sing at Buffalo Baptist church tonight. They are having revivals. I also just scheduled a program for our reunion tour in Lancaster PA at Pleasant Valley High School on July the 13th at 7:00 PM. I have one more to schedule. Maybe he will call me or email me some day...

Hobbies

What is your hobby? Sewing, reading, mowing grass, horticulture, scrap booking? The list goes on and on....

30 More

I successfully finished planting 30 more acres of corn today. I am glad these two fields are finished. They are the rockiest ones we farm. I discovered a wheel bearing has gone bad on the planter so I need to fix that before I plant the rest of my corn. I have another 80 acres to plant. Hope to mow hay tomorrow and chop barley next week.

Music

Here are two pages of Good Christians, Now Rejoice which we are hoping to record on our next album. These are pages 10-11 of 15. This is a beautiful song. Another amazing arrangement by Tim Rumsey. This is to be sung Jubilantly with a marked tempo of the quarter note at 96. So this song is just a scooting along. I hope you can see it if you enlarge it.

Yard Sale

Well, we had another yard sale today on Wisecarver Rd. It was a grand success based on several things. One, the %40-%80 chance of rain, depending on what site you checked, never materialized. Two, we sold three-fourths of our junk. The only disappointment was the amount of baked goods we brought home. The good thing about it was the fact that a lot of it was bread and dinner rolls which we will eat. Their was some pies and cookies which I will eat also. I am very weary and worn and happy all at the same time....

Life and Rain

I am amazed at how much my daily activities revolve around rain. What I do depends on the rain. For instance, I have thirty acres of corn to plant but because we were so dry I decided to wait. It started raining in earnest about 2:30 yesterday afternoon and was still raining when I finished milking at 5:30. A beautiful, slow drizzle which allowed many drops to soak into the ground instead of racing in a mad torrent for the streams and rivers. Because of the lack of rain I have been somewhat relaxed at work. I must admit I was beginning to feel somewhat agitated about the lack of water falling from the sky. We tend to live in a very dry spot. In the summer I spend a lot of time thinking things like If only it would rain one more inch it would finish this crop. How does rain effect your daily activities? Or do you have an office job and you don't really care whether it rains or not?

Another Farm Photo

This photograph was taken from the North side of the farm. Amazing how nice everything looks from a distance.

The Farm

My Brother-In-Law took a solo flight the other evening after work. While he was up he took some pictures. (You can read his rarely updated blog at Bool's Blog on my side bar. He may post lots of cool things now.) Anyway, this is how it looks from the air. That is our other house across the road.

James Herriot

I have noticed in my brief time spent browsing blogs that quite a number of folks have James Herriot listed as one of their favorite authors. I am wondering why? What does he do in his writing that makes him so good? Is it the humor? Is it his humaneness? Is it his honesty? Or is it only because he is, or his editor was, a literary genius?

Cousins

Grandpa and Grandma Kauffman were here for the weekend. They brought a couple of my nieces with them, Kassie and Lyssa. They spent 90% of their time outside riding bike, feeding calves and playing in a mud puddle. Well the mud puddle only happened once. I believe the weekend was success. Tears were rolling out of little eyeballs when little girls had to part ways. I guess it is better that way then being glad they will be parting ways.

SMBI Quartet Retreat

Some of you may be aware of this fact but for those of you who are not, VOP was asked to put together the SMBI Quartet Retreat which is scheduled for the last full weekend in Sept. For some odd reason I was delegated to doing the calling. We came up with the topics we wanted addressed and are trying to find people willing to talk about them. Anyone but us of course. It is very difficult to line things up when people won't return phone calls. I have contacted 10 people for this one topic and will be calling number 11 today. This same phenomenon occurs when trying to line up programs. It is very discouraging.

Fire Wood

A fellow from church has decided to give me fire wood. He thinks he will have a two ton dump truck load every couple weeks. This wood is scrap from his business. He, Myron Yoder, makes mats for loggers to use when it is muddy. The logger lays them in the drive and then drive on them. He has just recently started to make mats for pipe companies. They lay them down in the mud when they are laying the pipe line and then drive their track hoe over top of them. So he will have lots of scrap wood. He told me I could sell what we can't use. We figure one truck load is worth $250-300. I think this is great. We will see if we can drum up some customers. You need some?

Future Operator

I am hopeful Aleya will one day be very efficent on this machine as well as others we have around the farm. She enjoys riding along...

Dairy Farmers?

How many of my daily readers, or otherwise, are dairy farmers?

Renters

Our house was rented a month ago or so. They are moving in Sat. We are very glad to say the least. The couple has retired from the daily grind. They have a 40 year old son who will be living with them. He has health problems. He has had open heart surgery. They also have adopted a son and I believe he is in 7th grade. They are very nice people, very respectable.

My Day

I went to pick up my equipment purchases today. Several things happened to add excitement/anger to my day. Okay, that sounds rather strong lets say frustration. First I couldn't get the truck in reverse. It is an old Ford road tractor and the linkage is real loose. It is an interesting vehicle to drive to say the least. I left about 45 min. later then I was planning due to the reversing malfunction. I arrive at the farm about 1:15 and am greeted by no one. I spend an hour trying to find someone who will give me permission to run the tractor with a loader. It was a very nice John Deere 6300. I finally talked to some on the phone at 2:00 and they informed me they would be their in ten minuets. I got the impression they didn't really want me driving the tractor. I was loaded by 3:30 and hit the road. I was about an hour from home when a tire lost it's cap or the rubber casing. I manged to get roughly fifteen more miles out of the tire before it blew. I then found someone at a service station to put my spare on for the high price of $20. Took him about 10 min. I arrived home about 6:45. What a long day. I hate hauling equipment because I am always worrying about chains coming loose and items falling into the road or on top of some poor little Volvo....

Sale Results

Well, let me think....
I purchased a mix wagon for $500. Fairly decent Van Dale 285. I then purchased a manure pump that was sold for parts for $200. I think we will be able to turn this into a working pump without much difficulty. I also bought a three point hitch whirligig. I am unsure what they are called. We used one to broadcast our small grain last fall. The one I bought has a few parts on which were missing on the one I had. I paid $50 for this. I had decided I wasn't going to spend more then $3000 total. OF course everything I wanted went for more than that. The pump I wanted sold for a tad over $3000. Interesting sale and I will need to continue to watch the sale papers.

Todays Activities

In roughly 30 min. I am headed to a sale just east of Richmond. A fellow farmer is going out of business and is selling his equipment today. Their are several items which interest me greatly. The first of which is a Calumet 30 foot manure pump. Their is also a 21 foot manure pump listed as a parts machine. The second item is a pull type manure spreader. Their are two of these listed and I believe they both have 3350 gallon tanks. The third item is a very nice looking pull type, Gehl, dry manure spreader. Item four is a Gehl dump wagon in lovely condition. The Gehl has a cousin listed as well. A Fargo for parts. And fourth they have a Culti-mulcher listed. A culti-mulcher is a cross between a culti-packer and a harrow. This is used after disking and before planting. It will leave the soil looking like a ball field, supposedly....
Due to money issues I very well may come home empty handed. But, you never know, they maybe giving stuff away. We shall see.

Flower

What is your favorite? Which one do you like to grow the most?

An Odd Discovery

Several weeks ago we were working in a flower bed by the house and found this small hole. It seemed rather shallow and I assumed something had dug a little hole. When I was coming in from the barn Monday morning I noticed the hole opening was larger. I took a shovel and stuck it down in the hole expecting to hit bottom. When my arm was buried to the shoulder I thought I had found the bottom. That evening I decided to see how deep it actually was. I took my flashlight and shone it down into the murky depths. My flashlights beam was unable to find the bottom of this hole. So next I dropped a rock down the hole. I discovered that it is almost two seconds deep. However, I am not sure how to convert that to feet... This past weekend we had between two to three inches of rain which caused the top of this hole to cave in. We have since decided that this has to be an old well. The odd thing is that no one has any memory of it ever being drilled. It is not a hand dug well it is to small. The house was built in 1962 and my grandfather has no memory of this well. I think they must have dug this well for the barn only they didn't find water and they capped it off. we have done some earth moving around the house in the past few years and slowly took the cap off. Here is what scares me. When you leave the house via the basement the path is about 6-12 inches from the top of this well. I shudder to think about some child getting off the path to smell the flowers and suddenly they are 40 feet down... I need to figure out how to fill it. Yes, I have a big rock covering it at the moment...

High Wind

We had a high wind advisory today. These high winds were also causing some newly laid shingles to flap in the breeze at my rental property. I breezed, literally, over to the house and scrambled up the ladder where the full force of the blast met me. While I was fixing my problem I felt the house shudder from the mighty blast. These winds are suppose to blow until noon tomorrow.

Jesus Love

Last night Sierra asked me how much I love her. I stated that I loved her a lot. She then said "I bet you love me more then Jesus." "Well, no" I replied "Jesus loves so much more then I am able to love." This really confused her and then she wanted to know how much Jesus loves her and how much and how much and so on and so forth. I tried to wisely answer her questions but for some reason I got the impression I was not making a lot of sense. How do you explain to a 6 year old that Jesus loves much more intimately or deeply then I even know how to love?

Man-Child

Jayden has some asthma trouble. Here he is getting a breathing treatment. Isn't he sitting their like a man?

My Wife The Saleswoman

I was a little surprised my wife would write something like this. When I asked her about it she said it's all true. The people that have bought them from her love them. If you want one after you read this please let her know...


My sister gave me an Ultimate Cloth when she was here visiting. I used it to clean my windows the next day and fell completely in love with it. It is awesome. I called my sister the next day and told her I am going to buy some and sell them as a fundraiser for our adoption expenses.

Since I started selling them I have sold 25 cloths, and it has only been 2 weeks.
As soon as people try one they buy several more to use and to give as gifts.

ALL you do is wet the cloth and wring it out very tight, then wipe your windows, mirrors or whatever. It cleans them and leaves them lint and streak free!

You have to see it to believe it.

It cuts your cleaning time in half and saves money for you as you don't have to buy all those cleaning chemicals. And for all of us adoptive mothers I know we don't have time to clean or money to spend on chemicals. :-)

It is chemical free! So is not hard on your health.

It has 100's of uses.... and cleans everything with a streak free, lint and spot free clean.

All you do is wet it, wring it out TIGHTLY, and wipe. With ‘vacuum power’ it removes oil, grease, dirt, fingerprints, soap scum, hairspray, dog nose prints, bugs, tar, and lots more from anything.

If you are interested in buying one of these cloth, or are just interested in knowing more about them, email me at rgzehr@brookneal.net

They cost 6.00 plus .50 cent shipping per cloth.

Just an additional note, it is nice to have a separate one for windows and dusting. I have found if I use my dusting one on my windows it does leave some lint behind.

Thanks, and have a great day everybody!

Rachel

http://precioustreasures.bravehost.com/

Another Question

It hit me this morning while I was milking that this would be a great question...
Are you ready????
What is your favorite candy bar?
Mine used to be snickers but I have navigated more towards the Resee cup in the last several decades..
By the way, why is a snickers called a snickers? Do they make people snicker?

Click Track

We have been using a click track to learn our music for the last several albums. We are beginning to work on our next album and Jon is suppose to drop off my click track this afternoon. I am so excited. I love learning new music. This is the first Christmas album I will have had a part in making and this makes it more exciting for me. We were hoping to have it available by Christmas of 07 but I don't think that will happen. But you should be able to get one before the next Christmas season....

Another Restaraunt QUestion

Is it wrong to eat at places that sell liquor/beer? Such as Pizza Hut, Applebee's, Olive Garden or other such places...

Poll

How many times in a month do you eat out? Now, I ain't talking about no fast food joint, I mean a nice sit down place. A place like Denny's, Bob Evan's, Cracker Barrel, or some other sort of spot...

Easter

What are your Easter traditions? Family gatherings, sunrise services, egg hunts, or nothing really.
Do you think God poured out His wrath on Jesus the day Jesus was crucified? This is a very prevalent teaching in some circles. Is this teaching based on the words Jesus screamed while hanging on the cross? My God my God why hast thou forsaken me. Was Jesus really forsaken? Was He all alone?
If God forsake His Son what kind of a God is He? It is hard for us to understand how Jesus was human and divine. I believe Jesus felt alone, forsaken, maybe even forgotten. I do not believe God poured out His wrath on Jesus. God does not pour out His wrath on His people. God is a God of mercy. True, their will be a judgement and if it were not for God's mercy we would all end up in hell. This is why I celebrate Easter...

Rotten Apple

Tonight my wife found a slightly rotten apple under the kitchen sink. This apple was in the sort mushy stage. She then cut it open so the girls could see what it looked like. After this she smelled it. She got this amazing look on her face, a very contorted look. Then she wondered if I wanted to smell it. To which I responded, Are you kidding me?!? She called this science but I am not sure what they learned. I guess that things which are mushy and rotting stink...

Child Like Faith

Sierra has asked Jesus to come and live in her heart. This makes me very happy... It is also a huge responsibility. This thing of your children's souls. Their salvation. It never ends, does it? They will always be my responsibility. Even after marriage. Hopefully to a much lesser degree but still my responsibility...

Reading

This evening I discovered a rather interesting thing. Aleya seemed to want me to read her a book and she wanted me to start in the back of the book. So I did. However, I read it all backwards. For the first little bit it was quite funny then it became long and boring so I then read one sentence properly and the next one backwards and this too added humor to the story. Have you ever tried this or something like this?

Finished

Finished the rye today. Cut 14 loads on 27 acres, not so good. Now it is on to other things. Haul manure and plant corn...

Field Work

We started chopping rye this morning around 10:00. By 6:45 this evening we had covered 25 acres and cut 32 loads. I was real pleased. That is very good tonnage for small grain.

Play House

For those of you who don't know, this is an old cattle hauling box. We took it off of the truck I put my ash spreader on. The other day Sonny propped the wooden ladder up against the box. The wooden ladder used to be the gate on our deck. My good wife then made some furniture out of old paneling and firewood. The girls have been playing in the house for hours the last 4-5 days. In this picture Aleya was sad because I told her she couldn't go with me on the tractor. She is being comforted by her older sister. Looks like they are sitting on their front porch...

Radio Advertising

Every week men are given a gift called Sunday. Every week this gift is wasted on things like yard work, running errands and loved ones. This week pick up the remote and watch the best bowlers in the league square off for a chance at greatness....
It appears to me that our culture is being slowly and almost imperceptibly being taught that laziness is something we as humans should strive for. Their is also the fact that church is something that isn't even worth mentioning. (Maybe that is a good thing. They didn't say Sunday's are wasted going to church.) I am somewhat surprised someone hasn't jumped up and down and screamed over adds such as this. Maybe the bowling league is so desperate for people's interest they have to glamorize it to an amazing extent to catch someones interest. Have you heard adds such as this about other products? Such as beer, wine, or glamorous vacations?
Disclaimer: I have paraphrased the add. I cannot remember the exact words but I believe I am fairly accurate in the intended meaning or gist of the add.

Poor Management

I just read a little snippet in the Hoard's Dairyman concerning a farm in Maine which has fallen into the hands of the EPA. Apparently this 250 cow dairy was discharging cow manure into a local stream. After three separate "Notices Of Violation" which spanned four months they lost their operating permit. Under the Clean Water Act, the farm is now facing some serious fines. These fines could be as high as $32,500 a day and would be back dated to October of 2006. So, they would be looking at roughly $5,850,000 worth in fines. I guess that is correct, I was never very good at math. It seems to me this dairy has fallen into the hands of a poor manager...

BONK!!!

For starters I could not figure out what this incredibly annoying noise was. This incessant clanging in my ear. Oh yes up I must get. To the barn I must go. I was pulling the crowd gate to the back of the holding pen BONK occurred. This crowd gate used to be electric. Had a motor on it which drives a pulley which had a piece of cable wrapped around it. The pulley would pull the gate forwards or backwards. However, this handy apparatus stopped working quite a few moons ago. So we rigged up a rope to pull it forwards and backwards. The end of the track has this metal bracket that was held in place by the cable. Now it is held in place by the rope. I welded a pulley on this bracket for the rope to run in. The rope runs in this pulley most of the time however this morning was not one of those times. The rope came off of the pulley the gate hit the bracket and it fell out of its proper place and cracked me soundly on the head. I holler, scream, utter unutterable epithets and hold my head in my hands. Then to top it off when I crawled onto the metal gate at the back of the holding pen to put the bracket back in its proper place I received quite an electrical jolt from a stray fence wire. This caused me great distress which I expressed by yelling loudly. These things always tend to happen early in the morning when my body is telling me it should be in bed. This morning I agreed with my body...

Hmmmm?

I stopped in to pick up an alternator today and when I walked in the guy said "Man, what happened to you? You have gained some weight!" Later, I was telling Sonny what this fellow said and he told me he was explaining to the Dr. the other day who he worked for. The Dr. said "Oh, he is the skinny one?" To which Sonny replied "Uhhh, he ain't so skinny any more." I think I must be fat now...

Daily Activities

Today was rather busy with things not really pertaining to work. I did manage to get a few odds and ends down this morning before leaving for a memorial service. My great Uncle, Dallas Tester, passed away and the had a memorial service this morning. I would much rather go to a memorial service than a funeral...
After the memorial service I stopped at Lowe's and bought two trees. One was a Silver Maple and the other was a flowering Cherry tree of some sort. So, I planted those this evening after which I made a sand box for the kids. After this was finished I told Sierra I was thinking maybe we, her and I, could go on a date. She was overjoyed with this thought and promptly went and brushed her hair. We went to Altavista and found our selves sitting in Hardees. We had a fun evening. Girls are amazing, they just chatter on and on...

VOP

We are singing this evening in South Boston, not Massachusetts. We are then headed to Josh's parents for an after church party . Should be home by ten or so...

Supper

Jackson loves his food, most of the time, cookies especially. Jayden does as well. Jayden, however, doesn't react to other things in the same manner Jackson does. Jackson says, I love my cookies....

Jackson

...but I hate bugs, wind, flys and any other living thing that creeps crawls or blows in my presence...

Mud Boy

You may not be able to tell but my brown/red boy fell in the brown/red mud. He looked like he had been working so hard and now on the picture the dirt hardly shows up. He seemed rather proud of his mud slide. He smeared mud all over his face with his hands...

PI Count

We have been running some very, no, extremely high PI counts. (Unfortunately I cannot remember what PI stands for but it has to do with bacteria in the milk.) About a month ago I was informed we had a count of over a million. This caused me some consternation and I checked the inside of the tank. Their was a very nice build up of milk stone on the agitator paddles. So I had to squeeze my over sized body down into the tank. I was armed with a brush and a bucket of pipeline cleaner. Their is only one way to enter or leave the tank and that is through a hole in the top. This hole is circle about the size of a manhole. The problem is the ceiling is only two feet from the top of the tank and it is hard to bend my body the way it needs to bend to get through the hole. I always get nervous when duty calls me to enter this claustrophobic space. I am worried the lid will fall shut while I am in their and somehow I will be unable to get it open and then I would be stuck in their for hours and I would suffocate and die. So far that hasn't happened...
I was pretty sure cleaning the paddles would fix our count problem but it hasn't. It has been lower but it is still not low enough. I think we discovered another problem this morning in the vacuum line so I will try to clean it now. I believe the PI count affects the shelf life of the product. Souring milk would make all the customers grumble I am sure...

Garbage Disposal

Upon moving into the farm house we discovered, much to my chagrin, that our kitchen sink seemed to have a much larger drain then we were used to. How did we discover this? Things started ending up in the knives of our disposal. Sippy cup lids for one example. Today after supper I was told that a piece of my wife's mixer had fallen into the jaws of this disposing machine. I had to detach this piece of equipment from the sink in order to work on it. I was able to retrieve the mixer part and the disposer is still working. This is not a job I like to do but I must admit the praise on receives after completing the task makes it all worthwhile.

Rocky Garden

I have been digging up my garden with a shovel. Our garden is a little strange. We use 4X4 squares. So, while I was digging I kept finding rocks. As I found them I would toss them in a five gallon bucket and then deposit them in a mud hole located in the drive way. This evening the boys were out helping me. I noticed they were busy taking the rocks out of my bucket. So I decided if they were smart enough to take them out surely they would be smart enough to put them in. I told them to put them in the bucket and showed them what to do. They picked all the rocks and put them in the bucket. One of them weighed 4-5 lbs and Jackson was able to pick it up and drop it in. He was proud as a peacock. So was I...

Time

Do you think it should be daylight savings year round? I think I would like that. How about you?

First Grader Quote

A young lad's mom said the other day that her son was very serious when he came to her and said "I think I'm going to just live at home with you and Dad all my life. Just have an apartment in the basement. Because the only two things I would really want to marry is a gun or Great Grandpa. And you can't really marry a gun and Great Grandpa is too old, isn't he?"

Mom said, "So why do you want to marry Great Grandpa?"

Son said, "Because I just love him so much."
Editors note, sorta...
I have removed names from this post so the people involved in this quote are not embarrassed in any way, shape, or form...

Rain

It started raining around 7:30-8:00 last evening. It stopped about 6-7:00 this evening. I am unsure how much it rained but it was a lot. We were getting very dry. The hay has really greened up and the rye is looks like it may have grown six inches today in the rain. It will be interesting to see how much it grows in the next week. The forecast is calling for temperatures ranging from the high fifties to the high sixties. How is your spring shaping up?

Blessings Jar

We have, well my wife has, come up with this really neat idea. First you buy some marbles or take them out of your Chinese Checkers game. Then you take a quart jar and as your children bless each other they get to put a marble in the jar. You explain to them what a blessing is or how they can bless other people. Being cheerful, helpful, nice to their siblings, and a whole host of other things. You also explain to them that they will not get to put a marble in the jar every time they bless some one. You need to bless all the time even when you are not rewarded for it. After the jar is full we will go do some thing special as a family.

Found! (Sorta)

Well, this morning they, the steers, were all back around the barn. They had tore our fence down again and they were all out in the field but are all accounted for. We have come to the conclusion that several stray dogs are making sport of them. Finding great joy in scaring the daylights out of them and watching them run wild. Crazy dogs. Tonight we are planning to keep them in the barn and see if that makes any difference.

Lost

Yesterday evening we took 12 steers and put them out on some pasture. This morning their were only 7 left. We looked all around the farm. 360 degrees to no avail. We never saw a track or any other sign of their presence. It is so strange. Usually bovines tend to come back, we shall see. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post Found!

Mom & Dad

How many of you call your in laws Mom & Dad? Or is it Dad & Mom in other words which one of them do you mention first? (Are you going to Mom & Dads or Dad and Moms?) Or is it on a first name basis? I am finally beginning to call my in laws Dad and Mom?

Spring

Today was a lovely spring day. 70 degrees with a clear sky. Usually this kind of day would make me want to hook to my corn planter. This spring, however, I will be chopping small grain before I begin to plant corn. So I am itching to start mowing rye and barley. Still early to do this but I need to get my equipment up to speed this week. Days like this make me glad to be alive also. What are you doing this week?

Self-Defense

When is it appropriate to defend ones self against an accusation which you feel is false? Does it ever do any good? Why do the accusers always appear to win? Surely you can think of some instance, whether it be from your school days or some other recent incident, in which you were accused of something inaccurate. Did it do any good whatsoever to present your side of the story? Also, let's assume for a minuet that the accusation is accurate but you were not informed of the issue and were thrown out on your ear without being talked to 1st. Then what? How do you react to this? Do you lay down and die? I must say that we as Christians sure are a strange bunch at times...

New Blogger

While at my in-laws this past week I decided to update my blog to the new blogger. I didn't know what it was but I decided it must be better than the old one or they wouldn't have updated it. Now, when I log in, I see a page that has my last 25 posts on it and how many comments have been made on each post. I like that. I also get to label each post now which seems to be real sophisticated. I don't know that it will be of any help to any one but it looks cool. Have any of you updated to the new blogger or I am the only one that is still using blogger at all?

We're Home

What a day... We were unable to leave until 12:10 PM. Drove through snow half the way home. Van didn't have a working cruise which caused some discomfort in my right foot. So tis good to be home. Kids have been sleeping for almost an hour. I am headed to the happy snoozing grounds here directly. Have a good night everyone... By the way, how many of you have driven without a cruise control in the past week?

At Work With Dad-In-Law

Our day started with a breakfast date with Rod, Dad, and I. We then headed to his office. Dad works at pallet shop and he is shop manager. He spent 90% of his time on the phone. The other 10% he spent running round and round the shop trying to get things done and keep things going. He also sent me to the bank to make a deposit and then back to the bank to make a payment he had forgot to send. Picked up lunch went and went to True Value Hardware store. I then went to Sully's to pick up the van. Sully's had to work on Dad's van. The brakes were shot. The front rotors were cracked. What a day. I am exhausted and I didn't even do anything much. Wait, I did help unload a van trailer. This fifty-three foot trailer was loaded with hay equipment. We are off for home tomorrow sometime...

Stuff

My luggage was dropped off last night around 8:00. It felt good to put different clothes on. This morning I went over to Rod's house and cut up some firewood. I am not sure what I will be doing the rest day. Probably not much of anything. For those of you who know what we have been going through as a family I will say this. We have seen some marked improvement since last nights prayer service.

Delays And Stuff

The flight out of Lynchburg was a little bumpy. It felt I went over a knoll way to fast several times and we had to go back and find my stomach among the clouds. In Charlotte I changed airlines. The flight from LYH was US Express and my other flights were Delta. It took me almost as long to get to my new gate as it did to fly down to Charlotte. I didn't run but I sure was moving at a rapid clip. The flight from Charlotte to Cincinnati was nice all though we did experience some turbulence. Had a very nice steward. I got some coffee on this flight and he actually came back and wondered if I wanted another cup of coffee. I was pleasantly surprised. I landed at 2:20 and my flight to Akron was suppose to leave at 3:55. I wandered around trying to find something to eat. I finally settled on the great American fast food legend, McDonald's. I then sauntered back to my gate and settled down to wait. I spent most of my time reading but after while that became somewhat tedious so I put my book away and began to watch people. I always find this quite interesting. At 3:45 we were told our crew was late and our departure time was pushed back 15 min. About 15 min. later they pushed it back again. This continued for two hours. I am not kidding. We finally left the ground about 5:30. The crew was stuck in Richmond VA. They had weather issues as well as a maintenance problem. So we had to wait till they got their before we could leave. Sorry, I am not done yet. I landed at Akron and went in search of my luggage. (I had to check one bag due to size.) Well, this bag never showed up. Delta said they never checked it into their system in Charlotte. He then said this is nothing. Cincinnati is pretty good but Atlanta is terrible at not getting luggage onto the proper flight. He has had as many as 15 bags per flight not show up. I think they need a new system in Atlanta. Anyway, I am here and in spite of the problems I had a lovely day...

I'm Off

My brother should be here any minute to haul me to the airstrip. I am armed with a bag of Peanut M&Ms. I also have placed a James Herriot book in my brief case along with another book entitled Father Hunger Fathers, Daughters & Food by Margo Maine, Ph.D.
I don't know if I will get much reading done or not but I plan on trying. It looks like a beautiful day for flying. I am excited about it. I love flying. Absolutely, positively love it. Did I mention I love flying?

Mood

How many of you suffer from depression? Okay, I know no one will anser that question. It is far to revealing. I tend to be a fairly even keel kinda guy. At least I think so. I have noticed that my moods tend to change with the weather. It is not unusual for us to have a week of cloudy weather. Each day the clouds are hiding the sun my mood darkens. I become more irritable and drive my family crazy. Hopefully that is an exageration. However, when the sun pops out it changes the whole day. Makes me feel like singing. Have you noticed any correlation between the weather and your mood?

Leaving Town

My wife and the children are in OH this week. I have been informed that my presence would be a good thing. Why is it a good thing? Let's just say that our family has expierenced some turmoil in the last several weeks. I have a flight leaving Lynchburg Sat. morning at 11:00. I go to Charlotte, then Cincinatti before heading to Akron. I hope to bring the family home next week. In case your wondering, I am being intentionally vague, I think.

VOP Practice

We are suppose to be singning at a wedding next Friday afternoon at 3:00 in the afternoon. Because of this we decided we better start working on the songs. We got together this evening and spent a good deal of time laughing. It was great. It has been a long time since I laughed so hard. Great fun. I love it when practice is fun...

Anger: What Is It?

How would you define anger? Do you have an anger problem? I do. Of course, that depends on your definition. So, I want a definition.

English

I was told today that my last post was very funny. I said really? How come?
Well you said you read and drank coffee.
Why is that so funny?
You read coffee?
Oh, yes, I drank a book and read coffee. Actually, I read a book and drank coffee.
Some people sure are sticklers...

Lazy Day

I had off today so I was able to do some things I have needed to do that I never seem to take the time to do. Namely some cleaning up outdoors. This afternoon I read and drank some coffee. I also spent some time on the phone. What a great day...

Email Weather Updates

I subscribed to an eamil weather service (it's free) and they email me the severe weather information. Here is what I got this morning. Have you ever heard of this before?
FIRE WEATHER WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
354 AM EST FRI FEB 23 2007

...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND WINDY CONDITIONS TO PERSIST TODAY...

.A VERY DRY AIRMASS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE AREA TODAY. ALL
THE WHILE...GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE LATE
AFTERNOON HOURS. RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL FALL QUICKLY AFTER
SUNRISE...WITH FIRE DANGER QUICKLY INCREASING BY LATE MORNING.
ASHE-ALLEGHANY NC-SURRY-STOKES-ROCKINGHAM-CASWELL-WATAUGA-WILKES-
YADKIN-GRAYSON-CARROLL-FLOYD-ROANOKE-BOTETOURT-ROCKBRIDGE-PATRICK-
FRANKLIN-BEDFORD-AMHERST-HENRY-PITTSYLVANIA-CAMPBELL-APPOMATTOX-
BUCKINGHAM-HALIFAX-CHARLOTTE-
354 AM EST FRI FEB 23 2007

Hot Springs

Their is a town called Hot Springs in VA. The odd thing is the temperature doesn't fit the name. Last week one day they had a very steamy 12 degrees. Maybe they make up for it in the summer.

Playing House

When Rods were here several weeks ago we discovered that Aleya and Alyssa spent hours on the top bunk playing with doll beds and housy types of things. They drug these things up their themselves. Hours of fun...

 

Spring Like Weather

Is spring actually here? As I type this it is 53 outside so we had a very springy type of day. I can feel it in my bones. I am feeling a very slight urge to pull the corn planter out of the shed but alas I have other things to take care of. We have close to 50 acers of rye/rye grass to cut so I need to get the necessary equipment ready to roll. I love spring. Spring= New Life

Flase Accusations

Have you ever been falsely accused? If so, how did or do you react?

Dry Heaves

Sierra was rudely awakened around 12:30 with an incredible stomach problem. She depoisited the contents of her stomach in her bed. The good mother gave her a bath and did several loads of laundry in the night. About 1:15 I was rudely awakened by this incredible wail coming from the office the location to which Sierra had been moved. Rachel was out of the bed in a shot. After several more strange noises I went to investigate. Much to my dismay she was having dry heaves. I don't htink I have ever expierenced this and based on the wails she was emitting I don't think I would relish the expierence. When I returned to the house after milking Sierra had received another bath and looks extremely weary and weak. How many of you have had the dry heaves...

Nascar

How many of you pay any attention whatsoever to Nascar? Do you think it is a silly sport? Personaly, don't you like my honesty, I love it...

Rats

Well, things didn't turn out the way we were hoping last night. The King's Singers were stuck in SC trying to fly to Dulles. After sitting on the plane for a while they decided it wasn't gonna leave. They got off of the plane and boarded another to Charlotte. They landed around 2 and had a 3 hour lay over. They landed in charlottesville right around 7. The concert was pushed back to 8:30 . But because of these things their was no rehearsal. That was disappointing. The concert was good but, in my opinion, not great. They appeared weary and tired. They are very nice guys and I was able to get their autographs after the concert. After the day they had I am sure they were wishing for a bed but they were willing to visit with those who stayed around to visit.

Valentine's Day

Today is the day set aside to love on the one you love. Maybe that should be plural. You know, children, friends, and family. Anyway, it this day is usually spent eating chocolate and staying in fancy hotels. Tonight Rachel and I had planned on going to hear the King's Singers in Charlottesville VA. We were really looking forward to it. Free tickets always helps. It is nice to have a brother who seems to be in the know... Anyway, yesterday Rachel seemed quite ill. Aches and pains and things of that nature. Aches associated with the common cold only this one seemed quite worse than normal. She just said she feels good except for her throat and her ear. So, I don't know what is going to happen yet but I am hopeing we can spend our evening enjoying the superb talents of this amazing group of singers. They just released a new album titled The Quiet Heart. This album is a collection of Salvation Army Hymns and is very good. I am hoping they will include several of these in their concert tonight. I am sure they will also include a few titles to help people celebrate this day of love. We are looking forward to a high class evening.

Grumpy Kids???

Every afternoon at 3:15 the county scholl bus passes the farm. I am usually getting the cows in to milk and 90% of the time I am close enough to give a friendly wave. I have never seen my act of friendliness reciprocated. Is this a common problem? Why do these children seem so listless and uninterested? Why do they stare out the window and see nothing? Am I the only one who has had this expierence? Quite frankly I find it annoying. Like a slap in the face. An attitude of disrespect and unfriendliness. Of course I may be wrong.

The Week Ahead

Sonny is off to Ministers week at SMBI so I will be holding things down here. I have two or three loads of litter to spread in the morning then I plan to sit back and only take care of the things that have to be done. My wife and I are headed for a King's Singers concert on Wed. evening. I am really looking forward to it...

Weekend Plans

My folks are coming in this evening and will be here until Monday forenoon. This morning I hauled a few loads of litter. Truck is working great now.... I have to milk this evening so feel free to come and give me a hand...

Sierra's Return

Rachel just left to pick Sierra up in Harrisunburg. Sierra went home with Uncle Rod's and spent the week with her Grandma Kauffman. Aleya missed her greatly and is anxious for her to get home. Speaking of Aleya, her and Rachel got into a very deep discussion this morning about the heart. Jesus wants to clean your heart. Aleya told Rachel "If you get run over by a car and Jesus cleaned your heart then your heart will go to heaven?" "Yep" said Rachel. A second later Aleya said "If you get run over by truck your heart will go to heaven?"

Biblical Names

What was Saul/Paul's last name? Why are last names never or rarely mentioned in the Bible? I can't think of one person who is known by his last name. Am I mistaken???

Hydraulic Difficulties

We have been engineering an ash/chicken litter spreader for the last several months. We have been trying to get our first load off for a week. Today we spent all day trying to get the thing to run. We mounted it on a truck and are running the hydraulic system off of a pto unit. We have put in relief valves, variable speed control valves and return lines and we still have not figured out why it will not work. It appears that our variable speed control valve box didn't work. However, we then discovered that our pressure line was not the pressure line but the return line so we had oil traveling through the system backwards. A few minuets ago we tried again and everything was running backwards. So in the morning we will switch a few hoses around and we should have it.
we hope...

Broken Bones (almost)

This forenoon I was making up some hydraulic hoses with my hose machine. This machine uses reuseable fittings and is really slick. Well, like a dummy, I got my hand caught between a stationary pice of tubing and one that wasn't stationary. My hand was stuck and was sending a series of painful feelings to my brain. I was able to reverse the rotation of the metal piece and back it off of my hand. To my knowledge their are no broken bones. Just a swollen and sore hand.

Judgement Day

I was told the other day that judgement may occur between Feb. 6-8 or 22-24. When I heard the news I instantly began to take an inventory of things. Things that needed to be addressed. Things that may affect the judges decision. Would I pass the inspection? What happens if I don't pass? Okay, I knew the answer to the last question but it still made me think. I came to the conclusion that their were many things to do. I had one room that needed an amazing amount of attention. So to this room I strolled armed with the tools I would need to win this battle. Tools that would increas my chances of passing the judges inspection. I have done my home work. I am ready. Come and inspect every nook and cranny if you wish. I have nothing to hide. I don't know if he will come on those specific dates but I was told he would. I have to trust the one who told me these things because he is suppose to know. He has the inside track and fills me in on these yearly inspections. Once a year I am warned that the judge is coming. You see, it is required by law that my dairy is inspected every so often and tommorrow may be my judgement day.

YCC

YCC stands for Young Cooperative Conference and no this is not a new Mennonite Conference...
This is a conference that is sponsored or put together by the co-op we sell our milk to. This co-op is known as Maryland & Virginia. The YCC is for people between the ages of 18 - 40 who own or work on a farm who sells their to milk to the co-op. This years conference is being held in Athens GA at the University of Georgia. I want to go and if we can work out babysitting arrangements we will be going. Here is the really cool part. The co-op pays up to $400 worth of travel expenses plus they cover all food and lodging cost. They have a speaker scheduled for one day and then one of the days they are palnnning to visit a 1200 cow dairy. This dairy milks in a 60 cow raotary parlour. I want to go...

Deer

My nephew, Kyle, wanted to go spotlighten. So tonight we went out for about 30 min. We saw 23 deer. One of the bucks was very nice, 8-10 points. The event was a huge success.

Company

Rod's are here as is Aunt Carla. Is family ever company? Anyway, they will be here tommorrow and leave Sunday for home. Should be fun, the house will be full of kids. Eight kids six or younger. Ah yes, don't you wish you were here?

Let's See

My mind is currently rather blank, not that you would notice. My mind appears blank quite frequently. However, in this period of blankness I had a thought. This thought was one that concerns you, the reader. I ponder at times what to post about and so I usually just go with the flow. Basically the first thing that strikes me and I think it may be of interest to someone so I peck out a few random thoughts. Now I am asking you what you would like to see me post about. Trust me I have opinions on lots of things and may be willing to share them with the blogging community. Whether I do or not will depend solely on the topic. Ooops I better go my lunch may be burning...