Vampires, Fungi, and Real Estate Closings

25 May 2011, 1044, Wednesday, Liberty Middle School

I won’t bore you by apologizing for the fact that it has been a month since my last entry.  Okay, now that we have that out of the way.

At my last entry, I was preparing to go to the movie set of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”.  As a reenactor, we get the opportunity to work on movies from time to time.  It is a good source of income if it is handled correctly.  It is also a great chance to make a little money doing what I love to do.  As it turns out, I did not get to do what I love to do for money.  We spent all of our time either on set waiting to be asked to go on camera, or hanging out with our horses in the woods.  We still got paid, but we didn’t do anything.  We were the vampires, I guess.  I don’t mind a whole lot.  I was not terribly excited about being in a vampire movie anyway, so it all works out.  We made some good contacts for future movies, though.  My only claim to fame is giving my seat up in the chow van to an actor named “Jimm” something.

Rebel has been sore in the back.  I got him up and running for the movie, but he is not doing well again.  We had the vet back out and we are treating him for a fungus on his back.  Hopefully, he will be back and ready to work come Saturday.  The Pflugerville cousins are coming out and we are hoping to tag some cows and calves.  It will be much easier to pen if we have more than one horse.

We are still chipping away at the Savanna.  The tallows are pretty big and there are a lot of them, so I am dodging a lot of trees that need to be cut.  We are either going to have to go in with a couple of chainsaws and start cutting, or knock ‘em down with a bulldozer.  It’s all a question of what we want to spend, time or money.

The real crisis now (as it is for much of Texas) is rain.  This is normally the wettest part of the country, but we have had scarcely a drop in several weeks and what we’ve had to date this year is way under norms.  Even our grass is starting to lose its green.  Tanks are low and we have had a calf and a horse die from getting stuck in the deep mud leading to water.  To solve for this problem, we ran some hose and a lot of PVC out from our spigot to a water tank just on the pasture side of the fence.  It has gotten some use, but I don’t think the whole herd is watering there yet.  They need to find it quickly and get used to using it.  We are also toying with the idea of attaching a windmill to the old well in the camphouse and running some water to the old field.

The biggest news right now is that we are going to close on the house tomorrow.  The buyer will sign on Friday.  We are very excited, thankful, relieved, etc.  God is faithful.  What we are learning is that He is always faithful.  He was just as faithful when we didn’t have a buyer as He is now.

I have steady work until the end of next week.  After that, I am still trying to figure that out, but I’m not worried.  I do expect to have more time for blog entries though.

“Hang On, Jason, Hang On!”

20 April 2011, Wednesday, 1336, Liberty Middle School

We did get our offer.  We had a real struggle at first because it was so much lower than what we had originally hoped for.  It’s a little tough to swallow when the house you made a good down payment on and have been paying on for 5 years nets you a pittance in equity.  I guess that’s what comes of a bad economy and the extreme reduction in the space program.  Enough said on that.  Frankly, we were upset and bitter.  Angry because God’s provision did not work out the way we thought that it should.  We got some encouragement through our friends and family, but what has helped us turn the corner was the realization of how ungrateful we were.  Here is the thing that we have been praying for for quite some time now and we got upset about it.  We had to get on our knees and repent of our crummy attitudes.  You know, it helped.  We are once again, grateful that this giant albatross hanging around our necks is almost gone.  Also, things are moving pretty swiftly.  We have already had the inspection and that seems to have gone well, with minimal problems that we have to tend to.  But you know, it doesn’t matter if it’s going well or not.  We are just happier because we are not second-guessing God.  Now, I wish I could tell you that we have absolutely excised our gripey nature, but I’m sure we have not completely.  Like most things, it’s a process.  So, be patient.

I have gotten in the habit of telling stories to the classes I sub for.  Not long ones, of course, because I have to accomplish what the teacher has asked me to, but just something to keep kids from having to read a book or do a word search for an hour.  I dare say that for the most part, they find my stories entertaining.  They ask for them whenever I show up.  By the way, I do realize that it’s largely because they would rather do anything than work.

The other day, I told a couple of stories about how I sometimes thought Dad had it in for me.  As a boy of about 12 or so, maybe younger, we were branding calves.  I was afoot in the roping pen full of cows, trying to get my rope on something.  I succeeded, but not the way I wanted to.  I threw a loop out and instead of the cute little light calf I was aiming at, I got my rope on a big heifer.  Before I even had time to realize what was happening, that heifer jerked me off my feet and started dragging me around the pens.  In the background, I was vaguely aware of everyone in the other pen shouting at me.  My Granddad, Grandmother, cousins and everyone were all imploring me, “Let Go, Jason, Let Go!”  But somehow, above them all, I heard the voice of my Dad, “Hang On, Jason, Hang On!”  Hang on, I did.  That cow took me for a couple of laps through the mud and manure, but I managed to get my feet under me and get it stopped.

Several years later, we were all out penning some cows.  They made a good run and we chased ‘em down.  My cousin Shannon kept up nicely and I was impressed so I rode over to her and by way of encouraging her slapped her shoulder with my hat.  I was on ol’ Ranger that day and this horse was calm to the point of being asleep half the time.  When I started waving my hat in the air, he woke up and started to buck.  Up and forward he leapt, immediately throwing me out of the saddle and onto his rump.  Knowing this is no way to ride a horse, I was about to push off and get clear, when I heard my Dad again, yelling across the field, “Hang On, Jason, Hang On!”  Ranger pitched forward and I was back on the saddle if not exactly in it.  I rode (“clung to” is a better way to say it) to that horse until he stopped bucking and running.  Sometimes in front, sometimes in back, sometimes on his left, sometimes on his right.  Of course by the time he quit, the only hold I had on him was with my arms around his neck and both feet dragging the ground, but by thunder, I did not get thrown.

After telling those stories to the kids, I mentioned it to Anna and told them to her.  She said that I needed to really listen to what I had just said.

Both of those times, my Dad encouraged me to stick it out.  He kept me from letting go of a rope in a pen full of agitated cows, leaving me lying on the ground and he encouraged me to stick with that horse, keeping me from hitting the ground hard.  He figured I could hang on, even when it didn’t make sense to me or anyone else.  When I was about to join the Cadet Corps, I told my Dad that I wasn’t sure I could get through it.  He told me that he had seen me get drug through a pen full of cows without letting go and he figured I could do this.  He was right.

I can’t tell you how many times, this move and change in our lifestyles has been rough. I can’t tell you how rough it has been.  I can’t remember how many times I have thrown up my hands and said, “I can’t do it.”  But now, when all the reasons to let go are going through my head.  When I struggle with worry and fear, I can hear it.  It’s that voice from my Big Father.

“Hang On, Jason, Hang On!!”

How to Milk a Wild Cow

Monday, 1156, Liberty Middle School Library

Just got a text from Anna telling me that we are getting a good rain.  Praise God!  We need it.  The grass is green, but it needs some water to get it growing good and we also need to have the tanks filled.  This will certainly help.  It is supposed to do it again in a couple of days.  That’s what we need.

It’s been awhile, so I may have to skip around a lot.  I’m sure some of you are curious to know about the calf that we weren’t sure about milking.  In short, we are assuming a happy ending.  Now, in long…

How to Milk a Wild Cow:

Last Thursday, we still had not been able to determine if the little calf was nursing or not.  The cow still had an enormous bag, so we decided that we should bring them in.  I wanted to know if milk was actually coming out.  I saddled Rebel, we got the dogs, and Anna got in the gator.  We found them by the Cross fence of the Savanna I and Savanna II.  The dogs got them stopped and we found our cow.  We had about 35 or 40 of them.  I didn’t know if they would follow the gator or not, but we started off with them toward the house.  Our dogs still haven’t figured out exactly what they are supposed to do.  A well-trained cow dog will bark at the front of the herd in order to keep them from running off.  Ours clearly do not understand this and wanted to be sure that these cows kept moving.  Move they did.  They ran all the way to Bobcat woods and split up.  Fortunately, we only needed the one pair.  Penning one pair as opposed to 30 is easy, right?  Absolutely not.  Since cows are herd animals, they frequently do not do well when by themselves.  At the start of Bobcat Woods, I kept trailing Cow 3 (the one we want) along with a few others.  I just kept moving them and generally pushed them north.  That went pretty well and the dogs showed up too, which was helpful in this case.  I got them to cross the gully and lost a couple more of them, but my pair and another cow were still moving in the right direction.  They started fine, then ducked into the tallow thickets in the Tallow Flat.  Fine, Rebel and I kept them moving.  Rebel was in fine form, by the way.  He could be sent around a tree left or right with just the flick of the wrist.  He knew what we were doing and he did it well.  It’s about this time that the other cow dropped off and they separated.  I believe that she had a calf that was left behind.  I managed to get #3 into the Old field, but she froze up.  She just stood there.  So, Anna went back in the gator to try to get the other cow up with us.

As I waited patiently, I could hear the Gator moving back and forth and Anna yelling at the cow.  Eventually, the cow came out into the Old Field to join us.  I want you all to appreciate how difficult this is.  She was not on horseback, the cow was in the woods and wanting to go the other way.  I wish I could have seen it.  I guess she just worried that cow into doing what it was supposed to.  Nevertheless, when I disengaged #3 to get them together, Anna’s cow jumped back into the thicket.  Anna tried again, but we eventually decided to come on with what we had.

Now, we are down to just one cow and her calf and a couple hundred yards to go.  She really did not know what to do.  Here is where the dogs helped us.  They got between her and the pens and started baying at her head.  #3 would run at them a couple of steps and I would close the gap.  We did this for about halfway.  Then, she turned around to face me and wouldn’t look back.  I kept gentle pressure on her and she basically backed another 75 yards or so.  Once we got close, she figured out what to do and drove to the gate pretty easily.

Okay, now she was in the pens, we had to get her all the way to the front lot, into the crowding chute, down the running chute, and into the squeeze chute.  This actually all went really well.  Anna was on foot now, shutting gates behind me as we got closer.  Cow and calf work their way into the running chute…and…. Out they go, into the Meadow Lot.  What?  I had made a rookie mistake and not opened the last little gate into the squeeze chute.  The cow was still in the pens, but we had to turn her around, go back down the chute to the crowding pen, turn her back around and then into the chute.  Whew!  This actually went pretty well.  She got into the chute and we squeezed her up.

Her calf had followed her the entire time so she was right there in the chute behind her momma.  Now all I had to do was milk her.  Even though I have been messing with cows since I was a little kid my only experience with milking one was at a summer camp when I was about 12.  It’s just not something beef farmers get around to doing.  Happily, I didn’t have any trouble.  I had to drop one of the access panels on the side and reach under.  I don’t know the dairy business, but I do know that you don’t want to milk from behind.  The milk flowed.  That eliminated the possibility of the bag being clogged.  We decided that if we could get the calf up to the cow that we could get it to drink.  I got behind and opened the back gate up just enough to get a hand in and then drew up the calf.  That’s when the bad stuff started to happen.  The calf got startled and found a hole in the chute and made it to the Old Field.  This was just too much for the dogs.  All three of them took after her.  I love dogs.  They are wonderful and loyal animals that deserve a special place in heaven.  That day, I was ready to send them all there.  They chased the calf all the way across the field, catching it by the ears and the skin and pulling it down.  I would race up as best I could with a bum knee, yelling.  The dogs let off enough to let the calf get up right before I got to it, then pulled it down again.  Finally, I kept my mouth shut and caught the calf, throwing it and holding it down.  Any time a dog came within reach of foot, hand, or hat, I let them have it.  It makes me mad just thinking about it.

Anna showed up with the rope and we tied up the calf and carried it back.  Back where we started except we were pretty upset.  We tied the calf behind the cow and did everything we could to get her to drink, but she was too rattled.  I squirted milk in her face and the most I got out of her was to lick her lips.

We decided then (after a call with the boss) to leave her in the pens and Anna would come check on them in the morning and watch for a couple of hours.  This would mean getting some water and bringing it back down and then keeping the dogs in the house.  The next morning, after all this inconvenience, Anna came to the pens and they had gotten out.

Sometimes it is important to find what good you did.  We learned a lot.  We learned that the cow was giving milk.  We learned that we could pen a solitary cow with her calf using a couple of dogs, a Gator, and a good cow pony.  We also learned that our dogs cannot be trusted with a loan stray calf.  Finally, we learned how to milk a wild cow.  So, although it felt like a waste, it wasn’t.  It’s important to remember that.

The good and final news is that on Saturday, Dad, Anna and I went to get a cow out of the neighbor's pasture and we saw the cow and calf with the herd.  It has been over a week.  If the calf was not nursing it would be dead.  Problem solved.

In other news, we got word yesterday that we may have an offer on the house soon.  Please pray.  It would be very exciting to have that off our plates.

01 April 2011, 0804, Friday, Liberty Middle School Library

It seems that the only time I have time blog is when I am not at home.  Hey, whatever works.  I’ve been working a lot this week, which is good, but there is not much to report ranchwise.  Rain was in the forecast on Tuesday, but we didn’t get any.  This is getting to be a bit of a problem.  Yes, it does give us the opportunity to mow whenever it’s daylight, but we need the grass to start really growing and the tanks to get really full for summer.  Isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast for Monday.  We’ll see.

We looked at the cows on Wednesday night.  Half of our cows now have calves.  This is very exciting.  I hope to start tagging the calves around the middle of next month.  There are plenty of people who have volunteered to help us with that.  Hopefully, we can oblige them.  Working cows is about the funnest and coolest thing that we do out here.  It connects us with our past, is exciting and it keeps you on your toes.  I can’t wait.

We may have one problem calf.  On Wednesday, we found a really new calf on a cow with a huge bag.  It looks like the calf can nurse, but we are going to have to check again today to be sure.

That’s about all.  We are still looking for the right balance between fulfilling all righteousness and waiting on God.  The Bible instructs us to wait on Him, but it also admonishes us to work.  It’s things like this that make it apparent to me that an actual relationship with God is indispensable.  When I have worked cows with my Dad, Granddad, and cousins in the past, we were able to anticipate and interpret what the others were doing.  For instance, we would ride into the field and see a bunch of cows.  Dad would say, “You go around the left, and I’ll go right and come from behind.”  That might be as much as we would talk before we shut the gate on them.  He would give general instructions.  Of course, like in war, as soon as you start doing the plan, the plan falls apart.  I would look across the herd and see Dad take off to a little copse of trees.  I would then shift my position, knowing that he may have heard or seen something.  We might have changed the plan half a dozen times before the job is over, and not discuss anything until we were done.  We are in each other’s heads, as the saying goes.

How we should long to be the same way with God.  “A little sleep, a little slumber…and scarcity comes..”, or “Wait on the Lord”.  Who can say which applies in each situation.  God can, of course, but so can I when I am as close to Him as I am my Dad; when I am “in His head”.

28 March 2011, 1317, Monday, Liberty Middle School Library

I know that you all have been curious to hear about the success of the burn box and have been wanting to see pictures.  Alas, I have been a bit under the weather, which has hampered me a bit.  Okay, enough with the lame excuses.

Since I am not telling you about how our mobile home burned down, or the pasture burned up, it is safe to say that the burn box was a success.  In fact, it was quite successful.  The piece of tin that is propped up for an opening also functioned as a flu, feeding a steady supply of oxygen into the fire.  This fire got hot.  Because the wood and brush that we fed into it was necessarily small, it burned very quickly.  The bottom line is that we had a well-contained, fast-burning burn pile that answers safety and legal concerns.  We had to have someone man that fire consistently, which turned out to be Anna.  She was amused by this considering the fact that she was the one who almost burned the ranch down back in October.  As a further safety precaution, we periodically wet down the outside borders of the box.  Of course, it was also fun to just spray the tin with water and watch it steam.  Good Stuff!!

We also managed to take a couple of loads of tin and old farm implements off.  This is really satisfying because it raises some cash and also cleans the place up.  We made a lot of progress during the visit.  My hat's off to a great crew.  Not to mention that we also had some great visits and enjoyed playing games (and eating queso).

Everything rocked along as usual until Tuesday.  I did not get a job that day, so I decided to ride Sarge.  I had ridden him on Friday morning and he did really well.  He gave a couple of hops once or twice, but for the most part did exactly what I asked of him and also showed me that he can turn quick.  He's got a good lope and a smooth trot.  Tuesday was different.  I don't know if it was that the wind was blowing hard or his back was maybe sore, or if he just plain didn't want to me to ride, but I couldn't get on him.  Whenever I put weight on the saddle as if to get up he balked.  I put my foot in the stirrup once and stepped up and he jumped away and got away from me, bolting at a dead run.  Anna was working over by the horse barn, so I hollered out to her that I was okay.  It can be a little upsetting to see the horse your husband is supposed to be riding gallop by with no rider and a crazed look in his eye.

Not to be deterred, I figured that I would at least keep messing with him on the ground to help him calm him down.  I caught him, led him around a bit, and started over.  Finally, I stepped up high in the stirrup, thinking that if it goes well, I'll just swing in to the saddle.  This kind of noncommittal attitude is not the way to ride a horse.  Once on, I can ride him if he starts to buck.  It's that moment before getting seated that's touch and go.  I was already pretty tense and he probably keyed in on that as well.  Sure enough, he shied...hard.  I slipped out of the stirrup and landed hard on my right foot, twisting my knee pretty badly.  I heard and felt a little 'pop'.  I hobbled clear a couple of steps and sank to the ground as Sarge took off toward the barn again.  "I'm okay!" I yelled to Anna, calling myself a liar at the same time.  I put some weight on my leg and it held, so I hobbled over to Anna and she saw that 'okay' may not be the exact right word.

After that, I was done with riding for the day.  I managed to catch him easily enough and get him unsaddled, iced my knee over lunch and then we did our other work.  Progressively, my knee has greatly improved.  It is still stiff and sore, but I can move around without a perceptible limp.  I am very grateful for God's protection and preservation throughout the whole incident.  I intend to do a little research on some tricks I can use to help him.  I shy away from the 'horse whispering' kind of stuff, but I'm willing to try in this case.  My commanding sergeant in my reenacting unit has some ideas that I will try.  If that doesn't work, we'll just do it the old fashioned way and snub him up to another horse.

Not much else happening.  We have spent some time mowing.  Anna has been doing the short and tedious work on the Kubota while I hit the bigger fields with the John Deere.  We are still needing the house to sell pretty badly, so if you think about keep that in your prayers.  However, we are continuing to learn the difference between taking appropriate action and worrying.  It is so easy to not take any action and say, "I'm casting cares on God", but that is not right.  It's much easier still to scramble around taking a bunch of action and worrying about things out of our control when God really is taking care of things for us.  A very fine line indeed.  We struggle with it, but the lesson is worth it.  Anna supposed that by the time we do sell the house, we will be so at peace that it will be anticlimactic.

Speaking of Anna, I was giving her a hard time the other day for the way she talks to the horses.  Growing up, I learned the traditional approach to speaking to a horse, which is to use low, reassuring tones.  However, Anna grew up around dogs and cats.  People speak to dogs and cats differently.  I've never heard her actually say "cootchie, cootchie, coo", but she doesn't talk like John Wayne either.  It tickles me to hear her call Sarge after taking laps around the barn without me as if she would call a dog.  "Here, Sarge!"  I pointed this out to her.  The result is even more amusing.  "Heeere, Saarge," she says slowly and in a false and deep bass.  It's as if she recorded her voice and played it back at half speed.

18 March 2011, 0719, Friday, Home Patch

I can’t believe Spring Break is almost over.  Wednesday, we went out to Clear Lake to mow, plant some plants and fix some little things.  We were actually pretty successful.  I have a request out for kids to mow on a weekly basis.  It will be cheaper in the long run than going down there every week.  We got home pretty late, though.

Yesterday, I got up and rode Sarge again.  He did pretty good and I worked him into a lope.  He still fidgets a bit when I first get on, but he’s getting better.  It is also a bit of a production getting him saddled.  He shied away from me at one point and I didn’t have him tied.  I had to follow him around a bit to get close enough to grab the reins, but he never ran away from me.  This is only going to work out if I ride him a lot more frequently than I do.  I will probably start feeding in the afternoon and riding after work.

Mike and Shannon and their kids came in Wednesday night even later than us.  We finally got started on our project around lunch time and then Nathan and Denise and their crew came in.  (These are all cousins from Austin area, for those of you who don’t recognize the names).  We had six kids from ages infant to 14.  We put them to work and they did good, but our crew kept getting smaller.  In the army, we have learned that you can’t get a lot done on a travel day, which was what this was for a lot of people.  Furthermore, those of us that didn’t travel got in pretty late the night before.

Our project is to clean up the area around the horse barn.  There are stacks of old tin and usable tin; old wood and salvageable wood; brush, metal, and a huge cattle guard with trees growing through it.  There is also a giant tree that has been down since hurricane Rita.  It is astonishing how fast progress can be made when you have a lot of people.  It is also astonishing what happens when you get a bunch of smart engineers on a problem.

The burn ban is still in effect and I expect it will be indefinitely.  The rule is that you can burn stuff as long as the fire is covered so sparks don’t fly out.  Nathan and Mike had the idea and constructed a burn box.  They put some t-posts in, wired some tin to it, and laid some tin on top with one tin up at an angle facing the wind.  This should meet the law’s requirements and we should be able to burn brush in it.  We are testing it out today.  Of course, a picture will be posted of it in use.  My only stipulation on its construction was that it be not too close to the house, but close enough to be reached by the water hose.  That could prove important.

The puppies are still a delight.  I will miss them when they are gone, but they must be gone.  Put the word out!  They are still in the cute phase.  I am positive that they were indoor dogs at one time because they are almost completely house broken.  Whenever we take them outside, the first thing they do is go to the bathroom.  In a week, they have only gone to the bathroom in the house about four times and that is only because we have been forced to leave them inside for extended periods.  So, take the puppies.  It is becoming part of our greeting to people.  “Hello, I’m Jason, this is my wife, Anna.  Are you interested in a house in Clear Lake or some puppies?”  We are thinking about throwing them into the yard and making the whole thing a package deal.  You want the puppies, you have to buy the house.  You want the house, the puppies will be in the yard after you close.

Dad is coming in today and bringing the flat bed.  We will be hauling off some heavy old farm equipment, but I will probably keep the cousins on the same job they were doing yesterday.  I’ll let you know.

16 March 2011, 0828, Wednesday, Home Patch

We have upwards of 13 calves now.  It is tricky trying to find, count, and match them to their cows when you are busy trying to catch and kill your dog.  I keep hoping that they will eventually learn to come when they are called, but so far it has not happened.  Belle and I are in a general spat right now.  I am losing patience with her.  A lot of this revolves around the puppies.

Sunday night, we were coming back from a calf cruise and we saw five puppies about 6 weeks old in the old field.  That’s not close to anything, really.  I still am not sure how they got way back there.  We had left Belle and Dixie locked up in the trailer, but Tye was with us and he managed to run three of them off, but we managed to catch two of them.  We drove up and down 105 a bit and asked a couple of neighbors if they knew anything and then we posted a note down at the gas station.  We haven’t heard anything yet.  So, we now have two extra puppies that we are trying to find a decent home for.  There is no way we can take them now.  Belle is not taking it well.  She will not accept their presence and is starting to get fresh with me as well.  She is locked in the room right now, because she is ignoring me.  I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do with her.  She needs additional training, but with everything else going on, that isn’t very practical.  She’ll probably get better when we find a new home for the pups, but that’s not the point.

It’s the third day of spring break and I have not accomplished near what I was hoping to.  I guess that’s no surprise.  We have spent more time on the puppies than what was planned, but there is also some recuperation from subbing.  I didn’t know how exhausted I was.  Yesterday, I did manage to ride Sarge.  He needs more attention as well, but he is a good horse.  He gave me a little bit of trouble when I rode past the barn and didn’t stop, but he never offered to buck.  I will probably start feeding in the afternoon and riding when I get home from work.

I did promise the story of rat tractor and antler tire.  The tractor just refused to start one day.  I realized that I had left the lights on, so I tried jumping it.  No joy.  I drug it over to the house to hook up an all night battery charger to let it charge all night, although I didn’t have much hope.  The voltmeter said that the battery was pushing 13 volts, but Dad figured it was worth a shot.  So, I pull the tractor right up to the house, or at least Anna did, with me steering.  I untied, jumped in the truck and drove off to get the charger from Grandmother.  Thump, thump, down the camp road.  It sounded like a flat.  I hopped out and took a look.  Sticking out of my back right tire was a deer antler.  I knew this antler well.  I had been carrying it along with me for years.  I had offered it to Smokey as a chew toy, and had designs on the shank for a knife handle.  In the move, it had come out of a box so I tossed it in the yard.  Now, it is easy to look back on this and say, “Of course he ran over it,” but in the real world, you think you are going to remember it.  In any event, I got the truck back, put a charge on the tractor, and waited for the morning.

The next day, the tractor still didn’t start.  Anna had pointed out that Dixie seemed to be pretty obsessed with the tractor itself and that it was possible that a rat had gotten in there.  Seemed reasonable.  When we finally checked under the hood, there sure enough was a big rat’s nest.  Dad called the mechanic and he managed to get the thing fixed with minimal cost.

The tire was not a real problem either.  They used the warranty to cover it, so all it cost me was the warranty on the new tire.  They were pretty excited about the whole thing down at the tire shop in Beaumont.  I decided that it might be some fun if I left the antler in the tire.  I know they would be talking about me, but I figured they would appreciate it.  The guy who actually did the work said he was keeping it.  To each his own.

Today, we are off to the house in Clear Lake to mow.  We are really in a quandary and need your prayers for direction.  Someone in the neighborhood with a similar house eventually sold it for about $20,000 less than what they were asking, and $17,000 less than what we are asking.  Should we hold out somehow, or take the brutal hit and dramatically lower the price?  There is no way to know.  We can’t see the future, but God can.  The tough part is hearing clearly what God is saying.  That’s where we need prayer.

Well, I had better go.  Please nag me about the blog, pray for our situation, and give these puppies a good home.

09 March 2011, 0633, Wednesday, Home Patch

Here is a good summary of what is going on in a spiritual sense.  Anna wrote this and I am very proud of her.  I will post some run of the mill stories when I have an opportunity, but this is important and may even be useful to some of you some day.

Romans 14:17 (Amplified Bible)

17[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Rigteouness, peace and joy are like stair steps.  Righteousness is the top step, then peace and joy is the bottom.  If you don't have joy, hop up a step and check your peace.  Do you have it?  If not, then that's probably why you don't have joy.  If you don't have peace, you aren't going to have joy-step up.  Check your righteousness.  What about it aren't you believing?  Have you gotten into works, things you're trying to help God with?   Of course, this only applies if you righteousness to start out with, by choosing Jesus to be your righteousness for you. 

Recently, I've been very frustrated that our house hasn't sold yet.  You can imagine all that would go along with that-paying the mortgage for a house you aren't living in, having to go back to mow, do more painting, make repairs, lowering the price of your house, and for me, having to go back to work.  I couldn't and still don't understand why God just doesn't sell the house.  He can do anything, regardless of the housing market.  He's God!  He created Jupiter!  So, this is a wildernes time for us. 

I've been reading Exodus, Numbers and am now on Deuteronomy.   Good text for us to relate to right now.  The Israelites were taken out of Egypt, taken across the Red Sea on dry ground, complained, given the 10 commandments at the same time Aaron made a gold calf,  given manna, complained, given meat, complained, their clothes didn't wear out, their feet didn't swell.  God said they were a stiff-necked people.  It's amazing how much grace and mercy he still showed on them.  Many died because of the complaining.  In Deut.1:35 he called the complainers "an evil generation."  Now that's something to really consider-God is clear on how He feels about complaining!  Deut. 1:27 says that these forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.  In that context, why did they complain?  Altough, being in a wilderness situation ourselves, it's easier to understand.  It's hard to be thankful when it seems like the One who put you in the place where you are experiencing problems is God, what do you do?  Your emotions are raw, you are confused, hurt, and things are uncertain. Trust can be a four letter word.   The scriptures you normally can meditate on and tell yourself over and over don't seem to be working.  God is where your help comes from.  But if it doesn't seem help is coming-then what?  You know the scriptures and God are right, but connecting them to your situation doesn't always compute.  That's confusing.  I got overwhelmed by something financial the other night and Jason got me some tissue because I was crying.  At one point, I couldn't find the tissue and I started panicking.   At that moment, it felt like the tissue was the only thing I had control of and I couldn't even find that!  Needless to say, I felt silly about it afterwards.  It's weird sometimes how you freak out-it's not always predictable.

At this point in our journey, it seems like we are on the other side of the mountain, but not yet to the edge of Canaan.  Or maybe, we're still on the last loop of the mountain,  as far as the house getting sold is concerned.  Did you know that it took 38 years for the Israelites to travel from Kadesh Barnea to the Valley of Zered.  Look at your bible maps, that wasn't very far apart.  I was trying to imagine what their trip was like.  How long they spent at each location.  Since the whole trip could have taken less than two weeks, it was an interesting thought.  Imagine, after the tabernacle was constructed, what the process was-tearing down, putting back up.  Certain people carried certain things, did certain things for the tablernacle.  The tribes were broken up into groups of threes.  Each group had to wait for their turn when it was time to make camp.  There were over 600,000 of them-not counting women, girls, boys 19 and under and the Levites!  How long did it take for group 4 to wait to make camp, and what if they only traveled a few hundred yards?!  It would be tedious to bring the tabernacle knowing you hadn't gone very far.  Talk about waiting and frustration!  They were very faithful, when God said go, they went, when He said stay, they stayed.  Cloud by day, fire by night.  Except for when they got freaked out about the inhabitants of Canaan and we all know what happened there.  

I think we're dealing with the frustration and waiting better. Deuteronomy 8:16 says that God wanted to humble and test the Israelites, to do good to them in the end.  We've definitely been humbled and tested, and we know that God is doing whatever He's doing and it's for our good, even thought we can't imagine how that will turn out to be.  We still don't like that the house haven't sold yet.  It really is rediculous how perfect a house has to be for the buyers today.  A few years past, even when Jason bought our house, a buyer would have to do their own painting and repairs if they didn't like something.  Thanks to the house fix-it-to-sell shows, buyers have no imagintion, as Jason calls it, and they can ask for a lot because they know the market is bad.  I saw a movie where the wife was a realtor and she said the house was originally over a million dollars but it had been reduced by $700,000.  The buyers just kind of looked at her and said they would wait because they think it would come down some more!!!

Something I noticed in the chapter 8 was that God said that they would destroy their enemies little by litle.  (Duet 7:22)  I guess this gave them time to gain confidence after each victory and also relect on Who was giving them their victories.  Also, it gave them time to rest in between.  God is big on rest!  We haven't been constantly discouraged-it comes in waves and seems to be coming less often now.  Or maybe, we're reacting to it less strongly.

I like Deut 9:6 where it says:  "Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people."  And "..you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you."  (D 9:24)  He's still giving these rebellious, complaining, stiff-necked people the land!!!  Wow, talk about grace.  It's not because of their works, but because of God and His purposes. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified Bible)  8"For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;".

We're still waiting.  God is giving Jason work, which we're thankful for and I have a job still in Houston, although I wonder if that's considered going back to Egpyt.  Maybe that part doesn't apply to me.  Doors have been closed in Beaumont, except maybe one that I need to check on today.  Everything here at the ranch is going pretty good.  We haven't had the chance or money to do a lot of clearing, repairs or additions.  We are watching to cows start to have babies, which is neat.  Everything is getting green again which is great.   I have vegetable seeds growing like weeds.  I don't have a garden yet to put them in so I'll be figuring that out.   Things are mostly fruitful except for one area-the house.  If I could be a fly on God's desk to see what is taking place and why the timing needed to work out this way.

To see more about what's happening here or to catch up, Jason has a blog.  He makes putting hay out sounds interesting.  This last time, there was a black widow on one of the rolls that I was taking the strings off of (to keep the roll together).  I poked my knife right through it!  Ha ha-take that!

Pray for us, our house to sell and for the land to continue being fruitful and for safe birth of the calves.  Thank you!

04 March 2011, 0801, Friday, Liberty Middle School Library

I’ve been pretty busy.  I’ve had a sub job almost every day for the last three weeks and it looks like it will keep up for awhile.  It has been rough sometimes since most of my jobs are at the 6-8^th level, but I found that actually telling them stories from Iraq or the movies helps keep them under control.  I’ve been here so consistently, that I am actually getting to know them.  That helps a lot.

But since this is not a blog about substitute teaching, (that blog would be called “Sub” does not mean subhuman) I will talk about the ranch.

The biggest news is that we are finally having calves.  My intent was to upload a bunch of pictures, but it’s been so hectic that I haven’t gotten them all sorted out.  We have about 6 now.  The first one fell on the day of or right after the day that they were supposed to based on the cow management program.  I’m impressed by that.  Others have been coming pretty regularly.  Yesterday, on the way home, Anna told me that there was a cow on the camp road.  Actually, she said “road”.  I had a mini-heart attack and then she told me that she meant the camp road.  When I got home, I changed clothes and we got in the gator to look for her.  Never found her, but I caught Rebel and led him back to the barn to saddle up.  It felt good to ride as I hadn’t done it in awhile.  I caught up with Anna in the Savanna and she gave me another mini-heart attack by saying that she saw a cow with stuff hanging out of her.  I thought it may be a prolapsed uterus, but it was just her amniotic sack.  She was about to give birth.  It is possible that I worry too much.  Anyway, we came up to her and me being on the horse and having the dogs with us made for a mess.  There was another new calf and cow there and the dogs, who had been good up until now started barking at the calf.  I knew how to handle this.  If I could catch one of them in the act, they would not single out a calf ever again.  (Maybe I’ll tell the story of the spinning dog on another occasion.)  I began the chase with this objective in mind.  It did not go well.  With three dogs, I couldn’t catch one of them.  We ended up chasing the poor cow and calf halfway across the Savanna.  I actually got them off once by riding past and calling them.  That was at first.  Then I made the mistake of turning around and passing them again.  That was when the rodeo really began.  People talk about herding cats, but herding dogs is almost as tough.  The old cow finally stopped when her calf tripped and fell to the ground.  I dismounted, hoping to still catch a dog.  I threw Anna the reins and I managed to catch Dixie, who was by the way, the least to blame.  I shoved her head to the ground and began to scold her.  I looked up just in time to see the cow take a run at me.  I guess she had had enough and she figured that since she couldn’t catch a dog, she might have better luck with this fool on foot.  I scrambled up into the gator and had to grab Rebel to lead him out of the way.  Anna was on her own, I guess.  In any event, the cow calmed down and the dogs were beat even if it wasn’t by me.

We tied them up in the back of the gator and went off to check on the cow that was about to calve.  She was grazing happily and seemed actually a ways off from birth.  We’ll have to check on her soon.  As infuriating as the whole episode was, I have to take my hat off to my horse.  I was reining him all over the place.  Left, right, spin your back around.  Not once, did I even think about what to do.  It was like I had four legs.  He never got excited and barely broke a sweat.  He’s a good ol’ horse.

Coming soon will be some more pictures of calves, the story of the antler tire, and rat tractor.  I appreciate those who have nagged me about the blog’s absence.  Please keep it up.  It is you who are keeping me writing.  Thanks!

21 February 2011, 1030, Monday, Liberty GCEC

Still no calves.  I haven’t spotted any buzzards or any sign that the cows are aborting, so it is probably just that they haven’t started having calves yet.  In fact, counting 283 days from when they were first exposed, they shouldn’t even start until tomorrow.  Tomorrow, I will go check again.

Saturday, we put out hay.  Only one more time before we get to start putting out from the Hay Storage Place.  Life will be considerably easier at that point.  I also took the John Deere down to the mechanic to get the flat fixed, but he couldn’t find the hole.  The cap had come off the valve stem, so it is possible that the flat came from that.  I’ll have to keep an eye on it.  We also managed to take a load of scrap tin to the recycling place in Liberty.  That earned us a bit of money and it helped tidy the place up a bit.  I loaded up the back of the truck with some more tin and scrap.  It is amazing how much you can pick up and it doesn’t necessarily look better.  Or rather, you have to remember what it looked like before you did anything.  I was so proud for picking up some old barrels and water tanks on the side of the road.  I pointed out to Anna where they had been, but she couldn’t remember what it looked like before.  Oh well.  I’ll have to take some pictures next time.

18 February 2011, 1043, Friday, GCEC, Liberty

Not much has happened agriculturally since yesterday.  I fussed and fussed with the darn master bedroom toilet, but only made it worse.  Now, we will just have to use the guest toilet until we can get a plumber to look at it.  I confess that I have no idea what is wrong with it.  It used to leak around the bolts, so I replaced those.  It was holding water, but when I flushed it, water would gush from between the tank and where the tank meets the seat.  I took it off for the 12^th time and put the old seal back, thinking that maybe the new seal didn’t fit.  No luck.  I guess it just didn’t seat correctly.  In thinking about it, I might try again.  However, in all my messing with it the tank fell off the counter and it has a hairline crack.  There may be something that will seal it, so I’ll have to look on line.

Tomorrow will finally be a ranching day.  Those are fewer and further between and I grow frustrated at my inability to do the thing that I came here to do.  I will enjoy tomorrow as much as I can.

Today, I am still watching “The Patriot”, but I brought in some reenacting weapons to help them understand how the technology worked.  That’s an attention getter.  It’s also been interesting walking around in the discipline problem school with a rifle and pistol.

17 February 2011, 0734, Thursday, GCEC Liberty

Not much has happened since my last entry.  I have been subbing every day this week, which is good because we need the money, but I have not been able to do any ranching.  Subbing has been hard recently.  I got word that several students hate me.  I guess this shouldn't be a surprise.  I make them do boring work left by their teacher.  If I do my job, then they will hate me.  I'm just not used that.  When I taught before, I was well liked by my students, so this is a bit of an adjustment.  Oh well, can't be helped.  I will continue to do what I am paid to do.
A student actually locked me out of the classroom the other day.  That was really humiliating, but I take no small satisfaction that he rides people's horses for money and that I was at one time thinking of sending him some business.  Not any more.  Is it wrong to take pleasure in that?
The weather has been nicer.  I am anxiously awaiting the birth of some calves.  On Saturday, we will go take a look.  I will post a picture of our first.
I'm showing the movie "The Patriot" in Social Studies at the alternative school.  Some of them are pretty interested in my reenacting experiences.  One kid asked me what my weirdest reenacting experience was.  After class was over, I remembered it.
We were galvanized (playing Yankee) at a national event, Raymond, MS.  This was a tactical event, with no or few limitations on when action could occur.  In layman's terms, we were not playing to the crowd, but for fun and we could be attacked at anytime.  Anyway, we were making our breakfasts one morning and noticed that we had gotten a lot of flat biscuits (tortillas).  Someone commented that they figured they could throw their tortilla further than anyone else.  That's how it started.  Before long, it escalated into a fight between companies.  Horses were tugging on their leads to avoid the strange white discs flying through the air.  Company commanders were forming their lines to present the maximum firepower to their opponents.  When we were done, it looked like the wilderness that the Hebrews passed through with manna all over the ground.  We retired to our camps, laughing and joking.  Suddenly, a group of riders appeard across the field.  Confederate Cavalry was riding in fast.  One of our Vietnam Vets yelled, "INCOMING!!!" and we grabbed our pistols and returned fire as best we could.  However, amidst the fray, I saw confused Confederate troopers being pelted with Yankee flat biscuits.

14 February 2011, 1024, GCEC

You know what?  It's been too long to even try to explain my absence.  So I won't.  Suffice to say that I've been busy and distracted.
The weather has been cold up until yesterday.  I have gone to putting out 6 rolls of hay every 5 days, just to get them through the cold.  They will still have hay through most of April.  What I am really excited about is that I only have to go out to the New Hay Field twice more and then all the hay we have left will be at the Hay Storage Place in the Old Field.  This will make putting out hay much easier.  I have also decided that 6 rolls at a time is about right.  This will give every cow room at the buffet.
Dad was down Saturday and we looked around a lot.  The cows look good.  They are not fat, but they are not skinny either.  They look like cows in the winter.  I had finally started entering the cows into my management software and realized that we need to start having calves right now.  At least, according to the vet, they should be having cows in the next week or two.  Or maybe a week or two ago.  I took some pictures, which will I will enter into the computer as well.
We also spent a lot of time looking at equipment and trash and supplies stacked around the Cathedral Oaks.  There is a lot of scrap that still needs to be taken off.  Also, we need to start stacking stuff in the red barn.
Over all, things are pretty smooth.  I will enter another post soon.  Not like last time.

27 January 2011, 0819, GCEC Liberty

I know it has been awhile, but I'm back.  Frankly, our situation gets a little tricky at times and defeating discouragement is a constant battle.  It is true that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but it is spiritual and it is internal.  Anyway, it doesn't make for the best of blog entries, so I tend to bypass.  Now, don't think that if you dont' see a new post that we are down.  It's probably just a lack of discipline working as well.

It looks like the oil well is not going to be right in our front yard.  That is great news!  There will still be one somewhere, but the rep from the company seems very concerned with disrupting our lives as little as possible.  Praise God for that.  Also, it won't be happening until the fall.  There is a geologist running around doing a lot of tests.  Yesterday, he had some trouble in the thick stands of tallow trees in the deep woods next to the horse pasture.  He offered me daily what it would take me a week of subbing to earn just to drive around with him in the Gator and knock them down.  Wow!  That's almost a week's worth of subbing.  I though about calling in and canceling my sub jobs for the rest of the week, but I knew that wouldn't be right.  So, we decided that if Anna could run over trees, then she would.  By way of a test, we took him around in the Gator to see if it could handle the job, and sadly it could not.  What we finally decide was that he would do what he could on his own and if he still had work to do on Monday that I would escort him around with a chainsaw and help him out.  He should be calling me today.  That will be good money and good exercise if it works out.  I was about to offer him a horse and take him around mounted.  A horse can go just about anywhere.

After showing around the geologist.  Anna and I got back to what we were attempting to do.  That lovely job was to fix the septic tank.  I had made a gamble and was waiting until the excess water leached out and then all I would have to do is patch up the hole with some concrete.  I lost my gamble, becuase it rained all Sunday and most of Monday.  Swell, we had to pump it.  Most of our job consisted of sitting on the septic tank in a lawn chair dangling an electric pump into the inspection port.  I watched the sunset and Anna read a Thoene novel.  How redneck are we?

We finally got it well-drained and we mixed up some concrete, but the dirt hole on the outside of the septic system kept filling with water.  I ended up applying mixed concrete around the ingress hole as best as I could, but also just dumped a bunch of concrete into the hole.  The water should mix with the concrete and form a decent barrier.  If it's not perfect, then I will redo it in the summer when it is dry.

I have to say how faithful God is.  We are still struggling with knowing exactly what to do, but He has provided me with plenty of work this week and possibly some good money for next week.  Things are going well, but even when they seem to not be, God is still good.

21 January 2011, Friday, 0751, Home Patch

Today is the day that we will learn what the oil company intends to do.  Dad will be meeting with them in a couple of hours, but I will be at work.  Yesterday, we looked around to see if we could find where the well had been in the past, but there is no telling.  That was at least 25 years ago.  We also put out hay.  It was interesting watching his technique.  You think you have it down to a science and them someone comes and shows you something.  For instance, I did not know that you could tip a roll over with the fork on the back of the tractor.  I didn’t think it would go high enough.  You see, all the rolls must be put out on their ends like a donut.  This enables us to pull the hay wrap off.  I was always dropping the hay, then coming around and spearing it, lifting it way high into the air and then dropping it off.  This is kind of fun, I admit, but all I have to do apparently is to poke it just a little bit, then back up.  I also saw Dad drop the hay from the spear in such a way that it will land on its side like a kolache, although this is a tricky maneuver and he met with slightly less success.  (excuse the food references it’s breakfast time)  This is an important move when you are dropping the hay from the New Hay Field to the Savanna over the fence.  You have to go back around and pick the rolls up, and if you can do that without having to tip them, then you have saved time.  I’m actually excited about the next time that I put out hay.

This will be four days from now.  We have decided to put out hay every four days instead of three.  This is back to the ratio of 1 roll per day.  Of course, I could go back to 2 every two days, but that may be harder on the roads, I’ll have to do the math later today.

I’m off to work.  I need to seek my certification, but I really resist the notion of becoming a professional teacher.  That is not why I moved out here, but I will let it rest in God’s hands and be obedient to whatever He wants.

20 January 2011, Thursday, 0818, Home Patch

No job today, so I will do work around the house and some administrative stuff.  I also need to put out hay, but haven’t decided whether to take it from the New Hay Field, way out there, or from the closer and easier Hay Storage Place.  I will probably try to get as much as I can from the New Hay Field before shutting that operation down.

Dad is coming in today and we will make a trip to the courthouse for legal records regarding the oil well.  Other than that, I am not sure what we will do.  I know Dad wants to load some hay to take back to Normangee.  I have a job tomorrow, so I will not be able to meet with the guy, but Dad will ask all the right questions.

Yesterday, after I got home, I tried to fix a problem with our septic system.  Apparently, the hookup guy did not think it necessary to concrete over the hole that takes the intake pipe.  There is a rubber diaphragm there, but it still will take on standing rainwater and make the tank level go high.  Did I mention that the hook up guy was one Jason Crow?  I guess that’s the price of doing it yourself, but when I think of what I might have paid a professional, I’m still glad I did it myself (with help from our ever present Belgian Cowboy).  Water is collecting in a ground hole outside the intake port, so I tried pumping that out with my shopvac, but it was taking too long to drain into that hole, so I am going to try to let the leach field take the water for the next couple of days, then I will pump out the rest with a gasoline-powered pump.  Tricky business, that.  As nasty as the water at the top of the septic tank is the stuff below the water is worse.  I would really like to avoid messing with that.  I will give it until Saturday and monitor it closely.

19 January 2011, 0751, Wednesday, Home Patch

I have pretty much made my peace with the oil well.  The worst thing that can happen is that we put up with the increased traffic for a couple of months, they find oil or gas, and then put a pump in.  In that case, when we decide to build a house, we will just find a different spot.  Or, we can even move the mobile home.  That is what it is designed for.

So, there is nothing I can do about it.  The oil guy is coming out on Friday and if I am not working, I will meet with him.  If I am, then Dad will take care of it.  I am sure he will represent our interests well.

Yesterday, we took a trip to Clear Lake and closed our checking account.  We also made a brief stop at the house.  Everything looks good.  I am tired of making that drive, though.  Of course, it is more annoying when we are going down to check on a house that we don’t want.  It may be easier when we are just visiting friends.

I don’t know much else.  The sun is shining again and I will put hay out tomorrow.  I may start taking hay from the Hay Storage Place close to the house.  Bobcat Woods is getting pretty muddy and we are in the wettest part of the year.  That way the roads will last a little longer.

I don’t know much else.  I could regale all of you with what chores, errands, and tasks that I plan to do, but I always seem to do something like fix the toilet, so I guess that I will tell you what genius ranching thing I have done after I have done it.

All right, I have a job today, so I am off.

13 January 2011, 0702, Thursday, Home Patch

Oftentimes, while plagued by thoughts regarding money, or calf crop, or resources to make the ranch what I envision it to be, I looked out the front window and enjoyed our view.  “At least, we are living here in the country, and I look out my window and see grass and horses,” I would say.  The thought comforted me.  I learned last night that the oil company who owns the mineral rights on this land will be putting in a drilling rig right in that view.  For about three months there will be thousands of vehicles coming and going.  There will be no privacy, no peace.  There will be noise and headache.  If they find oil or gas, then there will be a permanent well, an eyesore serviced by whomever at the company’s will.

Our peaceful life in the country has now been stolen from us.  That’s all we had, God.  They drilled here 25 years ago and decide to come back within months after swe move here.  How is that not God’s will?  Why would God will such a thing?  I am completely discouraged.  Nothing has turned out like I had hoped.  Furthermore, I can’t do anything about it.  The thought even occurred to me that we should move back to Clear Lake, but what can I do there that will pay the mortgage?

Anna, bless her heart, pulled up some scriptures.  The one that strikes home is to “trust in The Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will set your paths straight.”  Ugh.  My understanding is the first two paragraphs of this blog entry.  It makes no sense.  Yet, by faith, I acknowledge Him in this way.  I do it here publicly for everyone to see.  I acknowledge that my hopes, aspirations, and vision are subject to His.  For whatever reason, God is the one who has brought the oil company back here at this time.  God will make our paths straight.  “Straight” means along with His will.  My understanding is not good enough here.  I have to rely on Him.

So, I will go about my business.  I will substitute teach.  I will put out hay.  I will fix fence.  God has put me in a place where I have absolutely no control over my circumstances.  There is no illusion of control.  Were I an accountant, or an engineer, I would have long fooled myself into thinking that I could save enough money to do what I want; that the bills that I pay are because of my hard work.  Not here, not now.  I am completely in God’s hands.  I can work as hard as I want to and it won’t make the oil company go away, it won’t make the house sell, it won’t make the cows have calves.  I will work because that is my part, but it won’t make a difference.  God has us right where He wants us.  All we can or even should do is obey what He has told us to do today.

Pray for us, when you think of it.  Thank you.