Taking a Break

Haven’t posted much in a while.  Thought I should get back to it.  Joshua has his new album out on CD and iTunes.  It was a long and difficult process, but I am pleased with the results.  We pretty much took this year off from farming.  Hopefully after the break we can get back into things, we just needed to take a sabbatical.  Laura’s book has been doing fairly well, I would like to see it reach a larger audience.  It is so well written and encouraging I think many people would enjoy and benefit from reading it.  Zechariah has been expending his energy running, biking and lifting weights.  I would like to see us do a 100 mile bike ride on the tandem this next year.  Samuel is in his final semester at Union and will graduate this December with his Bachelors in Political Science/History – I just hope he is able to find a good job after all of this hard work.  We just got back home from a short business trip to Baltimore.  I was able to take the family and visit with our friends the Browns.  Had a great time.  Made it back by Georgia just in time to see Harriet’s oldest daughter get married – we wish them well.  Now back here on the couch feeling a little sick I am glad I have tomorrow off.

Gas, Corn and Food

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the creeping price of food, along with gas.  We have such an interconnected process that when you mess with one part you mess with all of it.

When the government decided to mandate Ethanol mixture in gasoline and not open up more drilling, they did a few different thing things: 1.  they removed corn used in animal feed from the market; 2. they reduced the gas  mileage (ethanol has much less energy in it than gasoline) ; 3. Ethanol left in a small engine over time may deteriorate the seals causing the the 2 stroke engine to fry (don’t ask how I know); 4. Higher market prices for corn cause meat prices to go up; 5. Increased diesel prices cause everything else to go up; 6. leaving me with less expendable income so I don’t buy that Mocha or go out to eat; 7.  Less money available to spend in the local economy equals higher unemployment

So what can we do about it?  Not much except to convince the government to stay out of the market place.  The unintended consequences of “good intentions”. You can do a little bit to help yourself like growing more of your own food, being more selective on your purchases – but long term only the people that started this chain reaction can reverse course.

I take great comfort in this:

Psalm 47:1  O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.
2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues peoples under us And nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.
5 God has ascended with a shout, The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm.
 8 God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.

sherman

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Winter White Visits Again

 

Well this makes the second snowfall this season.  Laura has been making the most of it while typing and editing her book.

                               

Zech has been busy playing outside in the snow and taking pictires.  Maybe I will get out a bit later and make a snowman with him.  The lady bug mailbox looks happy but a bit cold this morning.

Around the Place

We have had a whirlwind of a fall.  Can't believe Christmas is right at hand.  Try to get ahead cutting wood back in September and here we are about a week and a half from needing to cut some more.  The trees are down but so is the saw.  I am not sure what to make of it.  Four years of moderate use and the piston gives out on my MS 310 Stihl.  Get it rebuilt and 45 minutes of cutting later (one truck load) and the thing won't start.  Took it back in and it is worse now than the first time.  I don't think the diagnosied the failure mode properly the first time.

Sam drove the truck off of the retaining wall after unloading the wood.  Guess he thought it was a 4 wheel drive monster truck.  It tore out a few cinder blocks but the truck seems o.k. so far.  I will run it down to Hunstville later this week.

Well that's about it for now.  Hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas, looking at the cradle focused on the cross.  He's coming back again real soon.  Don't be caught unaware.

Sherman

Well it has been another few months since my last post. Between seasonal activities, work and facebook it can be hard to set aside time to keep things uptodate.

We traveled to California in August and have been preparing for winter lately. Cutting wood canning food and preparing to process pigs in December. The kids have been involved with a Christmas Dance for the Dicken's Festavil.



Samuel graduates in December from the Community College and then heads off to a four year school.



Joshua is working on putting a band together, finishing his guitar and starting on his surf board.

I have tried and tried to get some pictures to upload but it just isn't working today.

The Chicken Coupe

We finally finished the chicken coop after several weeks. The ground was rocky and the pole setting was tough. Joshua and Samuel did most of the digging. Zech helped we do a lot of the finish work.

It is 12' by 16' pole barn structure with metal roof and siding with a window in the rear and an open front. We installed three nest boxes made of ols 5 gallon buckets with a small land roost. The feeder is made from a left-over peice of corner trim and some scrap 2" by 4".

Well that's all for now. And we are off to California for a few days of vacation before school starts back up. Sherman

Long Break since our last post...

We have been sick, busy, lazy, distracted and generally forgetful when it has come to keeping the blog up to date.

We took a trip to Missouri to buy a 16 ft trailer from Laura's folks. Buttinz wanted to go but she didn't care for the cramped conditions.

Our two oldest boys went to church camp with the youth from Theta Baptist. They had a very blessed time. From the sermons to the songs (live band Lazar Lazar).

This has been a mild summer. So much for global warming. We had some deer coming up close to the house the other day. The boys are looking forward to the early bow season in August.

Our pigs are growing little by little. They are funny to watch but will taste even better come late fall.

Mike and Krista came up for a visit and we all had a blast. It was a really good time had by all.

Well I will try to keep things more current, we are going to California for a few days in August.

Till then

sherman