Falling Down, And Getting Back Up

For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.  Proverbs 24:16

The Bible is speaking of men who trust in the Lord, and though they may fall over and over again, he won't stay down.  He depends upon God to provide a means for him to get back up.  God sustains you.  He is the rigid framework that holds you up.  He dusts you off and sets you back on your way.

Speaking of falling down, we had a 1 inch rain yesterday.  It was pleasant, refreshing.  After the rain ended, I glanced in the garden and what I saw was a little discouraging.  I didn't think the rain and wind was bad, but it evidently was, because about a third of our sweet corn was lying on the ground, blown over.  It had fallen and on its own, it didn't look like it would rise again like our righteous man in the Proverb.  The sweet corn is beginning to tassel, and it's important for the corn to be standing tall so that all the kernels will be pollenated.

Tasseling

My mind began thinking of quick ways to stand it up and support it.  I grabbed the sledgehammer, some baling twine and four t-posts and went to work.  I hammered in a t-post at the beginning and end of both rows of corn.

Here is the second row:

I tied the baling twine together to make a long rope and I encircled all the corn and tied it back off.  The idea is that of a 'seat belt' for the corn.  It will hold the corn upright even when the strong winds blow.

Corn that was just blown over on the ground is now standing tall again.  Time will tell if my sweet corn seat belt will work, but at least for now, there will be no tickets for seat belt violations in our corn patch.

But wind blowing the corn over is not the only problem we have in the corn patch.  Take a look at this right here.  Can you see how the tops of the corn on the first several stalks have been eaten?  That damage is not from a bug, or worm.  No sir, that is damage from a goat (or nine others), but who's counting?   

The temptation is much too strong, and the goats fall to the temptation, leaning way over the fence to eat the corn.  What to do?  Barbeque the goat?  That will come later. 

For now, I'll simply build and obstacle.  The obstacle will prevent the goat from leaning in and eating our corn.  I simply got a cattle panel and tied it into the fence to prevent the goats from standing on h ground and gobbling up our corn.

Three days and counting and the cattle panel worked!  There was no new damage to the corn from the troublesome goats.  There are new challenges everyday - from wind knocking the corn down to meddling goats eating the stalk.  Every day is new.  Though we may fall, we get back up!

A Summer Thunderstorm

As I was driving home from work on I-10 (kids, don't try this at home), I took a picture of a rainbow.  If you look closely, you can see it is a double-rainbow.  That rainbow has deep meaning.  In Genesis Chapter 9, right after the Great Flood, God tells us that the rainbow is a token, a sign, a reminder of a covenant that God made with Man and all living creatures that He would never again destroy the earth by flood.  

As I drove eastward, the skies were increasingly dark.  I was hoping that the rain would hold off.  I had things to do and that put a damper on my afternoon plans.  Have you noticed, by the way, that the days are getting shorter?

I quickly changed out of my work clothes and put on my 'farm' clothes.  Tricia and I quickly walked out to the barn to do the afternoon chores.  It was about 6 pm.  And then, the bottom fell out.  It rained cats and dogs and possums and nutria rats.  The wind blew like a hurricane.  The thunder rumbled and the lightning popped too close for comfort.  All of a sudden the lights went out in the barn.  The fans grinded to a halt.  

She is very hard to see, but Rosie is waaayyyy out in the rainy pasture.  We had to go get her.  I ran back to the house to get my rain jacket.

We were protected from the rain by the tin roof.  Raindrops falling on a tin roof is a very relaxing sound.  If I had a hammock, I could have fallen asleep.  We gathered the eggs and killed time waiting for the storm to pass.

And then.  It did.  The ferocious summer thunderstorm passed on by, bringing its torrential rains and winds to our neighbors down south.  The thunder still rumbled in the distance, but the clouds began to clear out and the fresh scent of rain and wet leaves and broken branches filled the air.  The sun, with a last gasp of effort, cast its rays over the rain-soak landscape as if to bid farewell to the hot summer day. The chickens rushed out to find bugs and spiders that the storm had blown out of the trees and onto the ground.

Rosie tried to make up her mind whether she wanted to walk through ankle deep mud to go out and eat the wet grass.

She finally made up her mind to trudge on out there.  The storm dropped the temperature to a reasonable level and she was able to enjoy the cool air and eat lots of grass before it got too dark.  We made our way back to the house, but the electricity was still out.  In fact, four hours later, went I went to bed, the electricity was still out.  Tricia told me that sometime during the middle of the morning, the power came back on.  She got up and went to turn out lights.  I slept right on through it.  

Farewell Barry, We Hardly Knew Ye

Last week was a busy week at work. News reports showed that a hurricane would be moving across our area.  I work for an oil company, and we spent an abundance of time filling all of our customers' tanks with fuel and delivering oil to ensure their inventory was stocked in the event of disruptions in supply.

Tricia and I spent time as well at home, walking around outside, securing anything that could blow around during the storm, and preparing for the storm.  We took the swing down that hangs from chains off of the big live oak tree in the back yard.  In an earlier storm it was blown into the tree and was broken.  We brought the American flag inside so it wouldn't get wet and exposed to the weather.  We laid the basketball goal down as in an earlier storm, it blew over and bent the rim.  We put stakes and ropes around a tree that falls in windy conditions to help prop it up.

Then we waited.  The storm was slow in getting here, but Barry finally arrived.  We were blessed to not have any damage.

Barry didn't quite pack the punch that some prognosticators predicted, but it always helps to be prepared.  Barry's effects were less than some thunderstorms we get during the spring and summer.  We always think about where our exposure is with these storms.  One of the biggest is the loss of power and thus possibility of losing all of our meat in the freezers.  We've thought about getting a generator, but we can't bite the bullet in spending money on something that we may never use. 

When all was said and done, we got less than 3 inches of rain and gusty winds that knocked down some dead branches from our trees.  The power only blinked on and off a couple of times.  I think the animals actually enjoyed the inclement weather as it cooled things off and allowed them to comfortably eat grass in the pasture all day long.

Against the Wind

While vacationing last week, Tricia and I had the opportunity to kayak.  I've never really kayaked (is that a verb?) before.  It's a lot easier than canoeing, I thought.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.  With both of us paddling, it wasn't really work.  It was serene.  We just glided over the water, taking in the beautiful scenery.  One time, however, going over some rapids, we had to get out and carry it.

We quickly learned that you could paddle upstream but that you were going WITH the wind.  Conversely, you could paddle downstream, but you would be going AGAINST the wind.  It's hard going against the wind!  My wife and I have gotten to where we think exactly alike (on most things).  We remarked about going against the wind and we both immediately began singing Bob Seger's song, "Against the Wind."  We both laughed.  We're kind of strange like that.

But it got me thinking about that song.  What a great song.  I cut & pasted the lyrics below.  To me it is a song about changes - about the passage of time.  About relationships that once seemed so strong, but now are distant.  I love the line, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."  When you are young, you think things are hard, but often as you get older, things get harder.  It's a song about being young once and then growing old, searching, getting lost, being free and then finding yourself tied down by "deadlines and commitments." 

I think the message in the song is that you never give up.  It may not be easy, but you keep striving.  You keep running against the wind.  Here are the lyrics:

Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in darkness with the radio playin low
And the secrets that we shared, mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Til there was nothin left to burn and nothin left to prove

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Against the wind
We were runnin against the wind
We were young and strong we were runnin against the wind

And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was livin to run and runnin to live
Never worried about payin or even how much I owe 

Movin' eight miles a minute and for months at a time
Breakin all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin
Searchin for shelter again and again 

Against the wind
Little somethin against the wind
I found myself seekin shelter against the wind

Well those drifters days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out 

Against the wind
I'm still runnin against the wind
I'm older now but still runnin against the wind

Well I'm older now but still runnin against the wind

If you wish to listen to the song, you can click the arrow below:

We're older now, but still running against the wind...

Spider Webs Filling the Sky

Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day.  Blue skies, sunshine, cool weather and a nice breeze completed the recipe for a glorious day.  As I took care of a few 'to do' items in the garden, I glanced upward and saw that the sky was filled with spider webs floating in the air, being carried by the breeze.

Tree limbs, fences, everything was covered in webs.  If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the sunlight reflecting off of the webs caught in the power lines.

In reading on the Internet, I learned that these are indeed tiny spiders that climb to a high location and releases stings of spider webs into the air.  The wind catches the webs like a parachute and carries the spiders away.  They have been found over 900 miles away from shore in the middle of the ocean and as high as 16,000 feet up in the air.  Just below you can see a very long web that has landed and is draped over the live oak tree and caught in the fence.  It would be interesting to know how far away it traveled from prior to landing here.

Why are spiders doing this?  They are dispersing to find new habitat.  Most of us hop in a car or truck or call uber or lyft, but these tiny spiders have it all figured out.  Eventually, though, they land just as they did below.  Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

I for one, hope that as soon as they unpack, they get busy eating pests in the garden!