Nothing

You know, I was going to write something but the writing wasn't going where I wanted it to go so I discarded it.  Perhaps later it will do what I wanted it to do.  But, back to nothing.  My mind is somewhat blank and I have work to do.  There is a vacuum pump problem at the barn that needs to be addressed.  I have hay to bale.  I have 5-6 acres of new ground to sow.  And, truth be told, you probably have something better to do then read this so.  Until next time...

Memories

I mentioned on Facebook that I was camping with my wife's family this past weekend.  There are things about camping that are grand and glorious and then there are things that are, well,  less so.    A fire is always a must.  Not a roaring smoke free fire or a perfect hot dog roasting fire, lots of good hot coals.  Most camping fires I have been responsible for NASA would be proud of.  I am sure they wonder what sort of rocket or shuttle has been launched.  A silent shuttle to be sure, unless to much gas has been used, but lots of smoke.  Beautiful smoke.  Lung filling smoke.  Nicotine free of course but glorious blue smoke wafting through eyes and nose before winding gracefully through the trees. I enjoy and appreciate the nostalgic feeling one has when tears are streaming down his face. Cooking is also an incredible experience.  I was able to create a rather impressive fire one morning.  It was the  result of some sort of raw meat which ha falling into the fire and is turning into something resembling charcoal but is also causing a roaring blaze.  Grease will do this.  If you don't believe me try it sometime but please do it outside.  Your mother/wife/children will appreciate it.
And then there is the tent that I never could master.  So many little stakes and pegs.  Rods with some sort of stretchy stuff you have to thread through holes,  bending and twisting them so the roof of the tent is dome shaped instead of flat, like a pancake, on the ground.  Then, once the tent is erect you can place things in it to sleep on.  Sleeping bags, air mattress, foam mattress, etc.  Most air mattress I have used are always flat by morning.  Why is this?  It could be brand new, never used, fresh from Wal-Mart and by 1:00 in the morning it will be flat and some root will be annoying you nigh unto death .
And of course there is rain.  Glorious rain.  Rain that makes the crops grow and the fires smolder and sputter.  Soggy hot dog buns are always a great treat.
Then there are elephant ears.  Cooked over a pot of oil which is sitting somewhat precariously over the fire.  A few accidental slops and you will have another roaring inferno.  This is something men greatly enjoy watching.  Women?  Not so much.
Then you have all the incredible work of taking the tent back down and packing everything back up and going home to a hot shower.  Your shower.  Need I say more?
I must admit this past weekend I did none of this, I slept in a little cottage which was equipped with an AC, shower, restroom and a bed.   However, I did try to cook over the fire.  But I am digressing from the title.  The memories that were made.  Looking back on this weekend.  The children spent hours and hours riding bike and playing.  The rest of us sat around the fire talking about days gone by and swatting at the bugs buzzing around our ears.  We remembered previous camping episodes.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  We laughed about the ugly and proved to ourselves that we had matured in the last ten years.  I think we had a great weekend....
Oh, did I mention I had more elephant ears than any one else.  They were really quite awesome...

The Most Important Thing

Over the last three years I have slowly come to realize what the most important thing is. Perhaps I have known it a long time but it didn't really sink in.  I was in the middle of, what I would consider, a huge building project.  This project was moving about as fast as a glacier.  I made phone call after phone call leaving messages.  Trying to get some sort of take on what the builders status was. When was he coming?  Was he coming?  We need to get this done.   I wasn't ready to "dump the builder" I liked him and he did good work.  I was really struggling with how to be a Christian in the middle of the headache and aggravation, ok, I may as well be honest and call it anger.  I came to this  realization.  Six  months after the barn or project is completed and we move the herd moved into the barn I will have forgotten all the grief, pain, aggravation and anger that went with it.  But, six months after the project was complete I knew the builder would remember what kind of person I was.  If I was unable to rise above the circumstances and live in peace he would remember this and never do business with me again.  Worse than that it would affect his view of Jesus.  One of the questions I still continue to struggle with in these situations is how should a Christian deal with these issues.  I am speaking specifically about business deals.  How does Jesus affect the way you do business? 

All In A Name

The name of our farm is "Airy Mont Farm".  I have gotten more strange looks over this name.  Where did that come from?  Did you say Dairy Mont Farm?  Or maybe Dairy Mart Farm?  I always wonder if these folks simply need to purchase a nice pricey pair of hearing aids.  But I digress, Airy Mont Farm.  If you have ever planted your feet on our farm in the spring you will understand where the name comes from.  The farm buildings are located on a hill and we get more than our share of wind.
But there is more to it than this.  Years ago Merle Yoder coined another name for our farm, "Malfunction Junction".  I am really disappointed I can't take the credit for such an appropriate name.  It fits so well.  If you read my previous post you read about a decision which led to some hay being rained on.   Well, we raked it yesterday only to have it rained on again last night.  Another form of Malfunction Junction.  It never ends.  Some days we spend a considerable amount of time trying to find ways to make this name remain true and faithful till the end.  We spend so many days working toward this goal that I had "Malfunction Junction" printed under "Airy Mont Farm" on our checks.  The bank was somewhat surprised.
But wait, there is more.  We are in the process of purchasing another farm in Pittsylvania county. (Should have closing in a couple weeks.)  This property has an incredible number of creeks and streams as well as bordering Straight-stone Creek.  (Which I would call a small river and I assume this "Creek" is quite offended by it's poorly chosen name.  It isn't very straight either.)  Anyway, lest I ramble on forever I have been pondering names for this property.  We had quite a list.  Double Creek, Triple Creek, Rolling Creek, on and on the list goes.  None of which struck me as the appropriate name.  Earlier this week it came to me that perhaps it should be called Troublesome Creek.  Malfunction Junction and Troublesome Creek.  After all we have a reputation to uphold.

Making Hay

Monday morning I made decision.  It is what a boss does, at least he is suppose to do this.  I made the decision to mow hay.  Very little chance of rain the last time I had checked and I have no idea when that was.  You know, one thing you can't trust is the weather man.  Poor guy.  So, Mr. weather man says 20% chance of rain, we mow hay.  By Tuesday morning there is 60% chance of rain.  Now is when the dilemma beings.  Rain, we need it.  How to pray?  We need rain yet we have hay on the ground.  We WANT it to rain.  Yet we DON'T want it to rain.   So, we assume it will rain.  We ted the hay several times and by 4:30 in the afternoon we start baling.  The sun is shining brightly much to our delight.  Finally about 7:00 we decide it really isn't dry enough and we need to wait.  Thirty minutes later I see this very wide, dark, ominous cloud looming on the western horizon.  At 8:30 it begins to rain.  It is now 9:15 and it is still raining.  Apparently I missed this one.  I messed up the decision.  But, we needed the rain worse then we needed the hay.  

A Brief Jaunt Back To Blogging?

For some unknown reason I actually checked this blog this morning.  I haven't looked at it in months.  While glancing over a few of the posts I got this uncontrollable desire to post something.  Not that anyone will see it.  After all, if one doesn't ever post why would one keep checking back?  So, perhaps I will begin posting occasionally.  There are things about blogs that are much nicer than book face.  (I did that on purpose) one being the room or ability to type for as long as one wants.  Plus, I know that it will not clutter up someones wall or drive any one mad.  So, I see the clock has ticked past 7 and I am now late for work which is a bad thing when your the boss.  So, until next time...  If there is a next time...

Kaiden James

Lazy Acres

View off of our deck at Lazy Acres Equestrian Training Center. Beautiful place...

The Bridge and A Planet

This turned out much better then I anticipated... I don't know what planet that is but I am sure it is one...

Kids

Sweet

A Nerve Racking Expierence

I was traveling home with a load of wood today when, quite frankly, I ran off the road. The details of this little ditch clearing episode are, basically, a result of laziness. Before leaving Long Island Lumber I noticed my tailgate was not shut properly. I decided I would drive nice and slow and everything would probably be fine. And, I was right, for about two miles. I was in a nice long straight stretch of road when life became somewhat more exciting. I heard a noise and, like all good drivers, I used my mirror to see what was going on. However, when I did this I dropped my right wheels off the rd. I was not going extremely fast up until this point. At this point in time it felt like I was going 100 instead of 35. Some more pertinent facts. At this point in the rd. there really is no ditch just a drop off of approximately 3 feet. I really didn't want to navigate this terrain so I tried to ease the truck back on the rd. My ears then told me that the rear tires where under duress and the truck was really feeling like it was going to turn over. Also, the board fence was getting much closer to the truck then I liked. I decided maybe navigating the dropping terrain would be a better approach to life. Thankfully, there was a truck width of grass between the rd and the board fence. I managed to ease the truck into this grassy expanse without turning over. I got out of the truck threw the wood out of the rd. Shut the tailgate properly. Went home. Got my pickup and retrieved the wood. What a shaky afternoon...

Signing Kaiden's Cast

Mobile Home

Say What?

After moving the grain bin we decided we had time to move this building yet. The building was lower then the truck. We took the bobcat and the tractor we used on the grain bin, cut the poles off, lifted one end of the building and drove the truck under it. This was Sonny's idea and worked very well. The dump body on the truck is a heavy duty garbage truck so it could hold the weight with out a problem. I don't think you can get more redneck than this....

Moving

I needed to move the grain bin so we can grade for the new barn. I was in the tractor and Sonny was in the Bobcat. (He is not in the picture) We picked it up and slid/carried it 50-100 feet to it's temporary home.

Now What???

Ooops

This happened last week. You facebook people will remember a status concerning our ability to turn trucks over....

Musical

Kaiden loves music....

Christmas Letter

Hello one and all…
Good evening from the warm confines of the Zehr household. The night is very dreary. It is raining again. Why, I do not know. We have had more rainfall this fall then I can ever remember. Unfortunately, this really doesn’t mean much. As the years continue to slide by I realize my memory seems to have been left behind on some path in the past. I am hoping it will catch up with me here soon. But enough useless chatter about the weather and my lack of grey matter. I will try to bring you up speed on the many wild happening of the past year.
My wife continues to teach our children here at home. This seems to take up a lot of her time. When you mix in the cooking, cleaning, laundry, husband, and all the other things she does, she is a very busy lady.
Sierra, turned 9 in Sept. and is in the process of becoming a 21 year old. This past year she has started helping her mother with most of the household chores. Such as a little cleaning, some cooking, most of the baking, and a lot of laundry. She loves taking care of Kaiden and continues to prop him on her hip. She enjoys singing and she enjoys school until math becomes involved. She must get this trait from her father. He seems to have very little joy in his life where math is concerned.
Aleya is in first grade and is learning to read. School is a little more difficult for her. One reason for this is her energy level. She loves doing things and we have been amazed at her ability to imagine things. When I came in this evening she was a turtle… Where this comes from I do not know… She loves animals and enjoys feeding a calf twice a day, unlike her sister who doesn‘t enjoy the chore.
The Boys. It is hard to mention one of the boys without the other. Jayden and Jackson are 4 1/2. They are always doing something. This summer they spent a lot of time wandering around the shop watching dad work on trucks and other pieces of equipment. It was very common to see them poking a screwdriver in this and sticking a piece of metal in that and in most respects fixing things about as well as dad was…
Kaiden is our youngest and is just over a year old. He endured quite a bit of trauma in September. He burned his mouth very bad with an electrical cord. He was in a hospital in Richmond for 5 days, and then a couple of miserable weeks recovering from that. The doctors were pretty certain he would need plastic surgery, but he amazed us all, and it looks like we will be able to avoid that. We have an appointment in June to make a decision, but the dr’s are very hopeful! Praise the Lord!
I am still farming, singing and trying to balance this with family life and church life. This seems to be a very difficult thing to accomplish. The farm continues to grow. We are currently milking 140 cows and it looks like we could easily be milking 150-160 by spring. We desperately need another barn. I am trying to be patient and let things play out before I rush in and make some silly decision. I have two men working for me. They are doing a wonderful job and I am thankful I have them on the payroll. They make it possible for me to be involved in Voice Of Praise.
VOP was rather busy this year. The highlight of which was a 10 day tour to the NW. We flew out rented/borrowed a van and drove around this beautiful corner of the world. It was good to meet new people as well as reconnecting with some old friends. We are currently working on another album. Hopefully it will be available by the summer of 2010.
Life continues to be one of joy and trials. It is so easy to wonder at times what God’s plan is and why he allows things to happen. The truth is, Jesus probably wondered the same thing. I am thankful Jesus was faithful. That He carried through with God’s plan. Without His life my life would be a complete shambles and full of depression. So, may we all realize anew the reason for the season. May we rejoice in the coming of the Messiah and eagerly await His return.
May God richly bless you
The Zehrs