The Sun in the Sky And Homemade Pie

 

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3 KJV

Coming out of the garage looking due east in the morning, a few things catch your eye.  First, the sunrise really stands out.  The sun's rays at first yield a pinkish hue and then, as if to catch everyone's attention and announce, "It's morning.  Get a move on!" The yellow-red beams shine brightly.  They light up a bazillion acorns that have fallen overnight from the live oaks overhead.  It is amazing how many acorns are on the ground.  

The squirrels are going to be SO fat.  There are two less squirrels in the population.  My neighbor popped two out of the live oaks in the front.  It's squirrel season and we'll be thinning out their number.  I'm okay with them eating acorns, but when they get in the pecan trees, that's another story, entirely.

The Toyota Tacoma is in really good shape for a 2000 model, but it is in dire need of a polish.  We've done it before, but it seems to fade quickly.  That's my project for the fall.  I'm going to watch some You Tube videos on how to make your paint job come alive again and I'll use compound and a rotary buffer and then wax to make it look like new again.

It was my birthday on the 12th.  Tricia asked me what kind of cake I wanted.  Instead of a birthday cake, I chose a birthday pie.  There is nothing like homemade pie and a cup of coffee.  She asked me what kind and I answered, "Chocolate pie with meringue."  She surprised me with two pies!

The first is chocolate pie with homemade crust and meringue.  Look at the peaks on it!  It was so doggone good.  We finished it up tonight.

The second pie, the lagniappe pie, was a homemade pecan pie.  The pecans were from our trees and they were harvested before the squirrels got them.  So good and the crust was buttery and flaky.

In the late afternoon, I took a walk to check the mail at the mailbox and kept walking out into a field in front of the house and took a photo of the painting that God was doing on the canvas of the western sky.  Breathtaking!

We are so blessed.  We may not have everything we want, but we have everything we need.  Yes, from the rising to the setting sun, His Name is to be praised.

What Brings You Joy?

This is Belle.  She's our Great Pyrenees dog.  Right off the top of my head I can think of only one other creature with the adjective "Great" before its name.  That would be the Great White Shark.  If you had the adjective "great" preceding your name, you might be tempted to become prideful, but Belle isn't like that.  She's not pretentious or grandiose in the way she carries herself.  She's just Belle.  She's a people person and enjoys spending time with us.

Take the other morning, for example.  I was trying to study for our Sunday School lesson on the back patio.  Belle wanted in on the study.  She's so big that when she gets near, there's no room for any study materials.  How could you turn that face away, though?  I think she's smiling, but that just may be me assuming things.  She seems happy, anyway.

Our study in on the Book of Acts, and it is talking about the explosive growth of the early church, brought about by the Holy Spirit and the change that came over the apostles due to the Spirit's power, changing them from fearful men who denied Him to bold witnesses of His power and deity.  They became witnesses of who Christ is and what He's done for you and me.  As believers, we're called to be His witnesses as well in a world that is growing ever darker.  It seems hard, and I won't lie, sometimes it is hard, but we're not to do it in our own power.  In fact, we can't do it in our own power.  He will embolden us.

We drove 3 1/2 hours to North Houston the other night to share a meal and fellowship with 3 other couples.  Tricia has a high school group that she's in touch with, so it was the four girls and their husbands in attendance.  We visited and ate a great meal and enjoyed one another's company for several hours just conversing across the table.  One of the girls asked a question as we sat around the table.  She and her husband had once been missionaries in Israel.  She wanted everyone to consider and communicate to the rest of the group something in their lives that brings them great joy.

I like "ice breaker" types of questions like that.  We have a list of them that we keep on our kitchen table.  Instead of small talk, it is interesting to get deeper and probe to really get to know people and what makes them tick, what's important to them, what they value.  When the question was asked, my mind immediately went the something that had occurred the night before.  I'll show you the photo first:

The sun was going down.  The field directly across the street from our house is a big hay field.  The owners of the field had cut the hay the day before and fluffed it.  A baler was brought in and they made round bales.  You could smell the cut hay as the aroma wafted across the landscape.  On an otherwise hot day, the cool of the evening was settling in and the sun sunk low in the western sky.  The very hand of God was painting a masterpiece on a big canvas.  Tricia and I were walking down the road taking in the spectacular view.  I happened to have my phone and snapped a photo as we stopped to admire it.  

Back to the answer of the question.  What brings you joy?  Tricia's turn was first and she described what I described in the preceding paragraph.  She took my answer!  It is uncanny how we are so alike in our thoughts sometimes (and then how different we can be at other times, ha ha!)  I often talk about simple pleasures in life.  Looking at a pastoral landscape like this just brings me joy and peace and happiness.

You know what I missed, though?  I missed an opportunity to point to the Creator.  To give credit and glory to the Master Painter who painted that masterpiece in the sky.  Lord, forgive me for that.  I don't ever want to seem "preachy," but I don't want to ever miss that opportunity again.  In everything, we should point to God and give Him the glory.  That remarkable sunset didn't just happen.  God put us in that exact location to view a beautiful moment.  We didn't need to travel anywhere or spend any money.  We have a benevolent God who gave us exactly what we need.  We have a wonderful Savior in Jesus, a great family, people who love us.  We have air in our lungs and another day to enjoy His blessings. 

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

 

For Every Time, There is a Season

In the late afternoons, Tricia and I try to get our steps in.  We have a step counter and the goal is 10,000 steps each day.  In our 3 acre pasture, if we don't cut corners and walk the perimeter, each lap is about 700 steps.  We walk, we talk, and we enjoy the sights and sounds of a country afternoon.  We are both in our mid-50's and, though we are active people, it helps to have some sort of an organized fitness routine and hold each other accountable (because I like to eat!)

The neighbor that lives in the house bordering our pasture hollered at me last week.  He said, "You're walking as I'm about to go inside and eat McDonald's," as he held up a brown paper bag.  On our walks, Tricia and I talk about our kids, goals, to-do lists, hypothetical situations and what we'd do.  It's a nice time.  We watch Belle run like wild in the pasture.  The cows, taking advantage of the relative coolness of the afternoon, munch on grass.  We can hear the crunching as they pull the grass with their tongues.

Time is fleeting, though.  Since we passed the Summer Solstice, the days are getting shorter.  In fact, for our zip code, here are the average sunrise and sunset times for the next six months:

July                 6:20 am    8:13 pm

August            6:38 am    7:50 pm

September      6:56 am    7:15 pm

October          7:14 am    6:39 pm

November      6:37 am    5:15 pm

December      6:59 am    5:14 pm

Look specifically at the sunset times I've highlighted over the next several months.  Notice that just as the sunset is getting earlier, the sunrise is getting later.  The days are shortening.  For egg production, this is a bad time of year.  A hen's reproductive cycle is based on daylight hours.  It begins and picks up in spring when daylight hours reach 14 hours per day.  As the days get shorter, the amount of eggs the hens lay are reduced.  

We've pulled down our "Eggs For Sale" sign down that we keep posted by the road.  We have loyal customers and all are on the honor system.  We have an outdoor fridge in the garage and they pick up the amount of eggs they need and leave money in the butter dish in the fridge.  We're picking up only a dozen a day max right now and that's not enough for us to eat AND sell.  Our principle is to "eat all you can and sell the rest."  Right now, there's none left over to sell.

Our hens roam free on the 3 acre pasture, eating bugs, worms, grass, frogs, and whatever else they find to eat.  The yolks are rich and dark yellow.  The solution to increase egg production in the shortened days would be to put lights in our henhouse.  That's what the big egg production companies do to maximize production.  We decided not to do that early on.  Just as we need a break, the hens do, too!  We let them rest in the fall and winter.  They'll pick back up in the spring.

To Put in Place

The days are long now.  Tricia and I have embarked on a new routine.  After we milk the cow and do the afternoon chores, we walk.  We take Belle with us.  Tricia sets a fast pace.  As you can tell, I've drifted behind.

I have a goal each day to walk 10,000 steps,  That equates to about 5 miles.  There is a step counter on my phone and that's how I track it.  The trick is to get your heart rate up, so you've got to try to do your walking all at once and briskly.  You burn between 250 and 600 calories in a walk of 10,000 steps, depending on your weight.  It is enjoyable.  Tricia and I talk about plans, goals, and sometimes I just ramble.

On days that Tricia doesn't walk with me, I generally will listen to a podcast.  I like listening to the Art of Manliness podcasts.  They are on a wide variety of topics that are really interesting to me.  The podcast lasts for about 45 minutes, which is perfect for the walk.  Yesterday I listened to one that discussed a concept called "Mises en place."  In French that means "to put in place."

It was about efficiency and the talk was from a chef who wrote a book based on how to tame the chaos that goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant.  Even though you may not work in a restaurant (I don't), it was an interesting talk.  First, mises en place.  Everything must be put in place.  A chef has everything prepped, everything within arms reach.  Everything is there so that you don't have to move your feet.  So, at your desk, if you are right handed, is your phone where you have to reach across your body?  Your pens?  Reorganize your workspace to make the most of your motion and effort.

Lists!  I am definitely a list guy.  Lists are good and chefs use lists.  However, have you ever found that of the seven things on your list for today, you only got four done.  The other three move to the next day, which already has nine things on it, so you are always chasing your tail?  Yeah, that's me.  The podcast explained that a list is nothing without a calendar and an element of time.  When you make a list, have a calendar and allocate time, schedule the item at a particular time, so it gets done.  

The call back.  The podcast says that in the kitchen of large restaurants it gets crazy.  Yelling, movement, clanging, banging...  Despite that, there is communication.  It's the call-back.  Someone comes in and says, "I need 3 filets medium rare and 2 chopped salads."  The meat guy calls back, "3 filets, medium rare," and the salad guy says, "2 chopped salads comin' up."  Once the orders are called back, the first person leaves, knowing his communication was retrieved and understood.  That's a good concept in business (or marriage!)

Clean as you go.  If a kitchen at a large restaurant is dirty, people can die!  Bacteria, cross-contamination.  It'll get you.  Cooks keep their work area clean - for safety, but also for clarity.  If the dishes and cutting boards, pots and pans are piling up, you can't think straight.  Once it piles up, it seems overwhelming, but if you clean as you go, it's manageable.

Lot's to think about.  Those concepts work in the kitchen, the homestead, or the workplace.  Tomorrow, I'll think some more about how to implement some of these ideas to tame the chaos.

Right now, I'll finish getting my steps in and enjoy the sunset.

Photos On An Afternoon Stroll

Afternoons are nice times for strolls.  Tricia and I have started a new habit of walking in the afternoon.  I'll talk more about it next week, perhaps.  There's always lots to look at.  Sometimes from a new perspective.  Afternoons are usually slow and less fast-paced than earlier in the day.  I walked through the garden and caught the sunset against the healthy sweet corn.  I expect the corn to begin tasseling in the next couple of weeks.

The green onions are all flowering now.  The honeybees are absolutely LOVING them.  They were flying all over the place.  Try to count how many are on the flowers.  They were buzzing loudly and flying this way and that.  We let them get after it.

Here is a close-up of two honeybees knee deep in onion flowers.  Onion flavored honey, anyone?

I have two stragglers that still need to be transplanted into the garden.  The first is a couple of sweet basil plants.  The next that will be transplanted is tomatillo plants.  My first plants died due to some issue with our grow lights.  I replanted them and about 5 plants are shown below.  It is our first attempt at growing them.  We want to grow our own to make homemade tomatillo salsa.  We had a post on it a couple of years ago.  You can read it here: Blog Post on Tomatillos  I can't say enough how delicious this is hot out of the oven!

Our final stop is on the back patio.  Tricia had an idea of splitting off some of our Louisiana Iris that grows in the ditch and planting some near the patio.  She did and they are very happy here.  It has been dry so the leaves are yellow, but the flowers are breathtaking.

Here is a zoom-in of the Louisiana Iris.  The colors are so brilliant, they make your eyes hurt!

I wish everyone a very good weekend.  Hug your mommas for Mother's Day!

The End of the Day

The end of the day comes.  Nightfall awaits.  Tricia and I sit on the front porch and watch the gloaming of the day.  There is peace and quiet.  The colors of the sky are painted on a canvas stretched out by God.  Nightfall comes.  We don't watch the news.  We briefly catch glimpses on the Internet of civil unrest and violence in our cities by mobs.  Fires, Broken Glass, Shattered Dreams and Lives.  Innocent people who had nothing to do with Minneapolis are hurt and killed.  It is deeply troubling.  When did fellow Americans become enemies?

I'm certainly not smart enough to figure it all out or come up with solutions other than the Golden Rule and to Love One Another.  I do know One Who has all the answers, though.  One Who was innocent and had His Blood spilled.  One Who Loved the world enough to die so that we may live.  One Who offers hope, and love, and peace, and an abundant life despite the circumstances.  May those who love the darkness come to know the Light.

Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord

From this time forth and forever.

From the rising of the sun to its setting

The name of the Lord is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations;

His glory is above the heavens.

Psalm 113:1-4

My Father's World

It is nice to go outside at sunset and just enjoy the colors in the stillness of the evening.  The day is done.  The chores are done.  It's time to slow down and just enjoy.  God is certainly an artist.  He created and designed it all and he just wants to share it with us.  We just have to take time out and watch.  Sadly, we often are moving too fast to enjoy Our Father's World.

"This is My Father's World" is a hymn written by Maltbie Babcock in 1901.  Mr. Babcock was a Presbyterian minister in New York, and he died when he was only 42 years old.  As I think about sunsets and enjoying God's Creation, it reminds me of Maltbie Babcock as he definitely took the time to observe His Father's World.  I read IN THIS ARTICLE the following:

"Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck noted Babcock’s practice of “taking morning walks to the top of a hill north of town where he had a full view of Lake Ontario and the surrounding country.” It was said that he had a frequent expression before leaving for these walks, “I’m going out to see my Father’s world.”  

Here are the lyrics to this beautiful, old hymn:

This is my Father's world, 
 and to my listening ears 
 all nature sings, and round me rings 
 the music of the spheres.  
This is my Father's world:  
 I rest me in the thought 
 of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; 
 his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world, 
 the birds their carols raise, 
 the morning light, the lily white, 
 declare their maker's praise.  
This is my Father's world:  
 he shines in all that's fair; 
 in the rustling grass I hear him pass; 
 he speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world.  
 O let me ne'er forget 
 that though the wrong seems oft so strong, 
 God is the ruler yet.  
This is my Father's world:  
 why should my heart be sad?  
 The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!  
 God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise Ye the LORD.  Psalm 150:6

The End of a Long, Hot Day

From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3

The dog days of summer.  They are sweltering and hot.  And humid.  Just walking outside to go to work, I can feel that bead of sweat running down the small of my back before I'm ten feet out the door.  It is uncomfortable, but relief is on the way.  

Even in the summertime, there are moments in the evening just before the sun goes down that are cool and beautiful.  Often Tricia will look out the kitchen window and say, "Let's go out in the front.  The sun is just right!"  And we'll run out the front door and enjoy God's grand finale.  It's when He causes the sun to cast long shadows across the landscape.

It's a peaceful time.  The day is done.  It's time to relax and breathe in the fresh country air - even if it is still a little too hot and sticky for my liking.

The chores have all been done.  The hens are making their way to their roosts.  The calves are separated and calling for their mommas.  The goats are off somewhere getting into trouble, who knows?  And who cares?  We'll just watch as the "credits start to roll" as we take in the final moments of the day.

From the front porch, you can watch as the sun dips below the trees on the western horizon.  Just a simple way to enjoy the serenity of a late summer afternoon.

And if you are really quick, you can hold the sun in your hand!

Good night, everyone!

Springing Forward

A wise person once told me to NEVER seek employment that is east of where you live.  The reason?  You'll be commuting to work in the morning with the sun in your eyes and then commuting back home in the afternoon with the sun in your eyes. Even though I wear sunglasses and use my sun visor, it is still an annoyance for sure.

Here is my morning commute down I-10 toward Lafayette:

And here is what I see as I turn off of Highway 26 in the afternoon...

As the last photo evidences, there's not much time to do any gardening, chores with the animals or knock anything off the 'to-do' list before it gets dark.  That changed today with Daylight Saving Time.  Now when I get home, I can get some things done!  The spring garden isn't going to plant itself!

Of course, I'll still get to enjoy some nice sunsets, but I'll get to enjoy them leaning against a shovel instead of behind the wheel in a car.

With the extra daylight this week, I'll try to:
*transplant all the tomatoes into the garden,
*move the cows through the yard to eat the remaining winter grass,
*mow/mulch the leaves and weeds in the yard & move it to the garden compost pile,
*plant some corn, beans, squash, cucumbers, etc.

Riding off into the Sunset

Image Credit

Riding off into the sunset evokes a feeling of finality.  In other words, "my work here is done, it is time for me to go."  Happy trails to you... and all that.  As I was gathering my thoughts tonight for the blog post, the visual of riding off into the sunset came to mind.  Not because anything is ending.  As a matter of fact, a new beginning has occurred as I posted about IN THIS POST. 

The reason the riding off into the sunset imagery comes to mind is that that is exactly what I'm doing now in my new job.  An old friend from when I was the Business office manager at the Jennings Hospital told me that his cardinal rule for accepting employment is that his workplace must always be located west of where he lived.  I didn't understand why that geography played such a determining factor in his employment decision until he clarified and told me that if you live east of where you worked, well then on your morning commute, the rising sun would always be at your back and consequently, the setting sun would be at your back on your commute home in the afternoon.

That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?  I violated my former coworker's rule and now I see why that was an important factor to him.  I have been getting my money's worth out of my sunglasses - that's for sure!  The commute to work to my new job is exactly the same mileage as the commute to my old job, but it takes me between 5-10 minutes less to get there, because it is primarily all Interstate 10 miles (with no red lights or school zones.)  But in the morning... Yep, the sun is right in my eyes. Same thing on the way home.  It is as if I-10 is the runway for the sun.

How is the actual job itself?  Well, I'm the General Manager of a Restoration Company and I have zero knowledge of construction, so my learning curve is quite steep!  I have been learning new computer systems and new policies and procedures and just a whole new line of work.  With the flooding damage in the area, we're busier than a mosquito at a nudist colony.  It has been only three full days on the job, but I can see that it will be months before I am fully trained and comfortable in the new job.

Because of the shorter days, it gets dark faster and there's not a lot of time to get things done around the house when I get off in the afternoon like earlier in the summer.  And I have a lot of garden work to do!  Until I have an opportunity on weekends to get out and about and get some things done around the homestead like till, pull up rows and plant the Fall 2016 garden, I won't have many photos or stories to share with you, but I'll do my best to keep my ramblings going as much as I can.  It is not time for me to ride off into the sunset yet in that regard - just on my way home from work.

At The End of the Day

Ecclesiastes 1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

² “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

³ What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
⁵ Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hastening to its place it rises there again.

The repetitive cycles of the seasons and the days always intrigue me.  Each morning the sun rises in the eastern sky and each evening it takes its place in the west slowly dipping beneath the horizon until all that is left is a brilliant tableau of God’s handiwork.  I like to walk out across the land during that time and just observe and listen as everything around me – both man and beast – prepare to rest after a full day.

It is not only the sun that moves in a predictable pattern.  Animals have set routines as well.  Each of our (oh, I don’t know 70, maybe?) chickens has their own personal roosting place where they sleep at night.  Some roost in the hen house.  Some roost out in the chicken tractors.  Some roost atop the woodpile.  And there is a new group that has taken a liking to roosting on top of the hay ring.

Settling in for a long summer's nap

These four birds – three barred rocks and an Aracauna, are settling in for the evening and I really like the silhouette of them against the painted sunset.  These old girls probably gossip a bit about scandalous barnyard happenings before closing their eyes and dreaming about whatever chickens dream about – worms or bugs, maybe?

A balancing act

How in the world do they sleep balancing on the top pipe of the hay ring?  Anyway, they sleep there until around 5:30 the next morning when they hear the creak of the gate latch as we sleepwalk into the pasture with our milking buckets.  Then they hop down and follow us to the barn, eagerly anticipating the hearty breakfast that we’ve prepared for them – a bucket of fermented grain and laying pellets.

As I walk back to the house this evening, I hear the sound of cars and trucks passing by on the road home, neighbors heading back to their own “roosting spots” after a full day and I take another look at the sunset.

Before I walk inside to see what Tricia has cooking in the pot for supper, I take a last look out in the pasture and take in the stillness of the evening and capture a full moon rising up over the barn, illuminating the landscape.  The cows are appreciative of the moonlight as they’ll take advantage of the lighting to eat grass out in the pasture past their normal bedtime.

A Full Moon on the Rise...

As for me?  Well, I’ll go inside and eat a nice meal and enjoy my own routine until bedtime, and then we’ll get up and do it all over again tomorrow.  The sun also rises tomorrow...

Slowing Down to Enjoy the Sunset

I had a conversation with someone recently who shared with me that the quest for the “simple life” is often so busy that you don’t have time to enjoy the simple pleasures and benefits of the life that you live.  The frenetic pace to get things done on a small homestead farm often rivals the pace of corporate life (or the ‘rat race’, as we’re apt to call it).  That is a lament that I can certainly identify with.

Tasseling corn silhouetted by a beautiful sunset

From the ringing of the alarm clock in the morning to the point at which we lay our heads on the pillow, it seems that we’re at full-throttle.  A simple existence has turned into a very complicated, busy one – just in a rural setting.  Funny how that works.  My wife and I have been discussing this conundrum for a while now, wondering if we ever take time to enjoy this ‘simple life’ and enjoy its benefits.

A few minutes later...

I enjoy working hard and I like staying busy, but as an admitted workaholic, I am coming to the realization, with gentle prodding from my patient wife that maybe realistic perspective and reachable goals need to be instituted and employed around Our Maker’s Acres Family Farm.  Tricia has always told me that despite popular opinion, it is expensive to farm.  Our discretionary income only allows for so much capital to be employed and that amount doesn’t seem to be increasing as fast as the cost of goods and services.  Furthermore, Tricia and I aren’t getting any younger and our supply of farm-hands are slowly but surely growing up and leaving the homestead.

A peaceful summer sunset

So I guess the epiphany that I’m awakening to is that I need to make it a point to enjoy each day and value the very things that we currently are too busy to enjoy, if that makes any sense.  How does one do that and still get everything done?  That’s something that I’ll be considering over the next month or so.  We pray each morning for wisdom.  Perhaps we’ll be blessed with knowledge of how to do things more efficiently to ‘stretch’ the precious time we have.  Maybe we’ll decide to down-size the number of animals we keep or the size of the garden or re-think some of the projects that we have in queue.  Maybe it makes sense to mechanize somewhat and invest in a small tractor.

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3

As I sat outside in the cool of the evening and captured a time lapse of the sun setting over the tasseling corn in the photos above, I thought that the sunset is a metaphor of our lives.  If you don’t take the time to stop and enjoy it, it is gone before you know it.  There used to be (still might be?) a soap opera that came on TV around lunchtime when we’d break to eat at the farm when growing up.  The narrator always said at the beginning of the program, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives…”

The half-brother of our Lord said it best in the Epistle of James, Chapter 4, when he said:

³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

Our lives are indeed brief and momentary and we need to ensure that we fill them with things that are of eternal importance.  Please pray for us in this endeavor.

Choosing what to look at - Mud or Masterpiece

They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.  

Psalm 65:8 (NASB)

We've had a little rain lately, transforming the area around the barn to a dreadful swamp of muck and mire.  It sticks to your boots and it stinks.  I'm taking the photo below from inside the barn where it is high and dry.  Once we finish milking the cows and open the gate to the barn, Daisy and Rosie, slowly and reluctantly slog out to eat hay. Annie, our Nubian goat, likes walking through the mire even less, lifting her feet high, prancing in lady-like fashion so as not to get her "shoes" muddy. When the muddy area finally dries, I'm going to order a load or two of fill-dirt and build up the land around the barn.

The foot rot that we treated Daisy for that I was mentioning in a previous post, was undoubtedly brought about by the mud that encompasses the southeast corner of our property - or more accurately, by organisms that live in the mud.  You see, what looks like mud to you and I, if you put it under a microscope, is actually soil mixed with cow poop and urine and is teeming with living bacteria, including a bad one, (Fusobacterium necrophorum), that causes problems.  As an update, our treatment of Daisy's back left hoof with iodine has been successful and she's no longer limping.  

Mud!

After feeding all the laying hens, making sure that their trough of crushed oyster shells is full, turning off the lights to the barn and heading back inside with our buckets of milk, we look westward.  It is the end of the day.  We thankfully notice that the days are getting longer - ever so slightly.  This will enable us to start working on a chore list as long as my arm during daylight hours.

It's funny though, many times I dread my "real job" - sitting in an office behind a computer all day.  I never dread working on our little farm.  Every day is different and even if there are challenges and hardships, there is a sense of freedom, contentment, fulfillment and satisfaction I get from being outdoors and working on our little farm to get projects completed that I don't get elsewhere.

So despite the mud, at the end of the day there is peace and tranquility.  There is real beauty if you stop long enough to look around, but the choice is ours as to what we focus on. 

God's Masterpiece

Many times (more often than I'd like to admit) I'm guilty of only looking down at my circumstances and seeing only the 'mud' and in doing so, I miss looking up and seeing a magnificent portrait painted by the very hand of God.  I must constantly remind myself that his signature is everywhere and many times I miss it.

Sunset

Do you ever take the time to watch the sunset?  Sometimes life moves so fast and we're always so busy.  In the late afternoon, it is nice to enjoy the light show that God puts on every afternoon.  The picture below was taken many years ago of me by my bride.  We were living in Houston at the time and decided to make a spontaneous trip to Austin, Texas to watch the sunset over Lake Travis at a restaurant called Oasis Cantina. They advertise the time of the sunset and when it sets, they ring a bell and make a big deal of it.  Here is yours truly enjoying the sunset there many years ago - around 25 to be exact.

Fast forward a couple of decades or so and I'm still enjoying the peacefulness and beauty of a sunset. After a busy day and rushing here and there, it is nice to just sit back and watch the show.

Daisy is oblivious to the sunset

I read a quote the other day that said,

"Don't whine about how good things used to be.  Enjoy the Now.  Because the Now is gonna be how things used to be in the future."

Daisy lives in the NOW

That's some pretty good perspective right there.  This particular afternoon was stellar. God was painting a great picture on the western horizon, there was a slight cool breeze blowing and there were no sounds apart from the sound of grass being pulled from the ground by some hungry milk cows, my belly was full.  Life is good. One must make sure to enjoy it.

We live lives of relative ease and we take things for granted.  In certain parts of the world today, people will put much time and effort into getting water for their family, going down to a stream or walking to a well and hand pumping a bucket full that they'll then carry back to their home.  We simply turn a faucet on and the water is there. We don't even think about it.  Our ease has given us extra time on our hands. Unfortunately, we often use that time to complain rather than being grateful.

I have to watch myself in this regard as I'm prone to focus on things I don't have rather than being thankful for the things I do have.  I don't have to think about it long to realize that I'm blessed beyond measure.

Psalm 113:3

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Late afternoon stroll

Lately it's been hotter than an asphalt parking lot at Wal Mart on a July afternoon.  We wake up in the morning at 5 am to go out and milk the cows and the air is heavy, still, hot and humid.  The cows labor in their breathing and mainly slumber in the shade all day long panting.  It is only in the late afternoon that the cows 'catch their second wind' and get up and go out and graze in the cool of the afternoon.

I'm kind of the same way.  I like to go walking and just checking out things around the farm when the sun starts to go down.  I walked through the garden and picked a 'mess' of yellow crookneck and straightneck squash.  We have a recipe for a squash casserole that is delicious and I can't wait to cook these up.


Yellow Squash

I picked a small bucket of Money Maker tomatoes which Tricia promptly cut up and made a fresh tomato salad with olive oil, basil and purple onion.  

Homegrown 'maters

The cucumbers are producing nicely and we enjoy cool, refreshing sliced cucumbers each evening with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.  Very refreshing.
 

We gotta make some pickles

Chinese Mosaic long beans continue to produce.  Tricia likes the texture and taste of them with one requirement - she wants them cut up prior to cooking them.  She says that a potful of 18 inch long beans remind her of intestinal worms and ruins her appetite.
 

Chinese Long Beans

Anaheim peppers almost ready.
 

Anaheim peppers

Purple Beauty Bell Peppers are starting to load up.



Still small, though

The heirloom tomatoes are just about to start ripening.  Here is a nice, big green one.  Russ was just asking me last night when we're going to make Fried Green Tomatoes.  Maybe tomorrow night that will be on the supper menu.


Homegrown Heirloom Tomatoes!

Finally here is our first Ronde de Nice Squash.  It is essentially a round zucchini squash that originated in Nice, France.  I think they're cool looking.

Ronde de Nice Squash

As the sun goes down I watch as old Red (the Rooster) calls his hens to come in and roost in the chicken tractor.  You can see them entering the tractor and assemble themselves on the roosting bars.  Once they're all in I close the door to keep them safe from nocturnal predators and I'll let them out first thing in the morning.


Last call

Walking back to the house I take another peek at the setting sun.  Good night all... 

Good Night