Saturday, June 13, 2009

of headstones and gardens, deer and chores, and rain.

I was up and at it by eight this Saturday morning only because Micah had to get a ride to his summer job down the road on a farm. It seems he helps dig old grain, rebuild fences, lift huge tires, chase cows back behind their fences and general stuff like that. He is quite enjoying it, but today sounded like a road trip for him and the farmer because they went to a farm auction to buy some sort of older seeder I believe.

Yes, as I was saying up early and nothing to do at the house so I headed to the office for the morning and did some paperwork. The morning in the hot office was nicely broken up by a family that had come to lay a new stone in the cemetery and I was free to hear the story of great grand dad who, I believe, died in the 1920's and in need of some eternal recognition in stone. So I got them aimed in the correct direction and left them to their work, which was their desire.

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The afternoon was about cleaning the house and chores and moving furniture about. We even got our garden in - well, Lauralea did that. We got half barrels and filled them with soil, so our garden consists of tomatoes, strawberries, and hot peppers. While working Thomas called my attention to two deer wandering through the yard. A mother deer (whatever the formal title for her might be) and her very little tiny just born one. The little one was still a bit wobbly on it's feet but mom led right past us, through the yard. Later on in the day I was walking the field here and heard some noise in the trees, I looked and saw the bigger deer standing there deep in the brush, watching my every move. They two may have found a resting place there in the trees. Cool.
Days like this help me feel more and more at home here.

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The weather. Today was the warmest it's been yet this year and that was about 28C. We've had no real rain to speak of yet this year, and in the past week we've had a number of killer frosts which have played a mess with the gardens and grain farmers. The grass in front is so burnt that merely walking on it causes it to crunch and break, so it's getting to be a concern.
The rain causes the hay and grasses to grow, which in turn feed the cattle, but since it hasn't rained, the grass isn't growing and since the grass isn't growing, there is no feed for the cattle. The farmers only have days of feed left, and there isn't more around. They would sell the cattle but nobody has feed, so no one wants them and the price drops. Ten or eleven days and things could get really desperate around here.
Then there are the grain farmers who have been frozen out in some places already, and the tiny seedlings that struggled past the frost have nothing to drink. A report on the radio said that even if the rains came and were normal from here on out, the crop this year would be considerably less than the average year. Good thing many of these farmers are eternal optimists, but I am getting concerned for some of them. Could be a very tough summer. I'm praying, for rain.

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Tomorrow is a full day around these parts, and we'll be traveling a good deal. Church is at camp and then later in the day we have an appointment in another town, so I best get some sleep.

Hope your Sunday is good and you can find your spirit at rest with some other like hearted people.

Blessings and good night.

1 comment:



Play nice - I will delete anything I don't want associated with this blog and I will delete anonymous comments.