A Short Sunday Something

So it's not much of a title but at least it's a triple :-) (kinda an inside IEW writing joke, sorry)

Our "regular" Sunday School teacher is busy being the Swine Superintendent at the Fair this week so our Pastor filled in for him this morning. Then for the morning message he preached on Christian Baptism--appropriate since there's a baptism scheduled for this afternoon at Five. It might be in the rain, (it's raining now) since the forecast calls for a 75% chance of rain at 6pm. Although the official (constitutional) church belief is in immersion, it appears that the candidates may also be sprinkled! [One thing Pastor emphasized is that we should have a spirit of humility in presenting our beliefs, since not only are we commanded to love one another, but also that ultimately, there is only one faith and one baptism (Eph 4:5).]

I would also like to share a snippet from one of the songs:
Tho my heart grows weary,
I never will despair
which I thought was a good reminder to 'keep on keeping on.' For after all He Lives!


On another note: A few of my chickens have turned broody. And at least one downright mean. She tried to destroy my flashlight--pecked it so hard I'm surprised it didn't break the lens. Before I could reach right under no problem--seems she's a might protective now though.... So any how we've decided to let the hens be and see what happens, all we'll be out is a few eggs, and we might get some chicks. We'll have to see how it turns out.


Well in keeping with the promise of "Short" I'll sign off now,
Matthew

P.S. Jonathan's 18th birthday is tomorrow, so drown him in birthday comments!

Time for more Chicks

Yesterday was butchering day. The day that the broilers went from pen to freezer.

Thanks to my Whizbang Chicken Plucker (from Mr. Kimball's (over at the Deliberate Agrarian) plans) and a sharp knife processing is pretty much a breeze. Kind of a messy, slightly bloody breeze, but a breeze none the less. It gets easier once you've done a few hundred or so too.

But all that is now done. Finished. For this time.

Now I'm ready to start all over again with a new batch of chicks. So if you are in the area and would like some tasty, homegrown chicken (rather than that nasty, "plain gross" chicken from the store) please try some of our PotterVilla Pastured Poultry.

For more on the chickens check out the link above, or visit our website pottervilla.net where we also have info about all of our other PotterVilla Associates services.

I guess you could say that this has been more or less of a infomercial post :-) [Brought to you by PotterVilla Associates!]

'Till next time,

Matthew
(PotterVilla Pastured Poultry)

A Graduation, A New Job, and Some Other Stuff

It seems like I always start out by saying that it's been awhile since I've posted....So I'm not gonna do that this time :-)

Instead I'm going to jump straight to the headlined news....

Jonathan has now officially graduated, and is planning on doing some Interesting Things. (For further details you'll have to beg him to post)
As you might be able to tell we had a very formal graduation ceremony! ;-) The place was packed out. It was just about standing room only--the camera man (that's me. Well actually I was substituting for the real camera man--he was graduating, and the real video camera man--he's the principle; which left only me to run both cameras. Quite dangerous really.) did get a chair, which was awfully handy because I needed all the stability I could get to keep the camera still. And I guess the dog did lay down through most of the proceedings. So it wasn't quite standing room only....

Now that I think about it there were fewer people there than at my graduation. (Grama was here for his open house (I managed to avoid that horrendus experience where droves of people decend on you like a swarm of bees [the difference being that, as I understand swarming bees {honey bees anyway} don't sting]) but had to leave before the official ceramony, where she was here for mine)

Our other big piece of newsworthy news is that Dad is officially employed again after ten months of being off work! We are thanking the Lord for this encouraging turn of events. He's had several interviews that didn't pay off, but then he had one through a certain recruiting agency (what it's called I don't remember, and it doesn't matter in the least) and the next morning they called up with a job offer. Yesterday was his first day. So far so good. {he's now been there for a week. Still so far so good. }
It is classified as an "indefinite contract position" which means, in practical terms (money) that he is an hourly employee with no benefits--however there isn't a time limit on employment. It's a very different situation than what any of us are used to. The company--Tenneco--is "one of the world's leading designers, manufacturers and distributors of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket."-from the tenneco website http://www.tenneco.com/Overview/ The plants Dad will be working at are in Jackson and Grass Lake, about an hours drive from here. But all and all, it seems to be something that will work, for now at the very least. The company does sometimes hire the contract workers to work directly for them.

In "Other Stuff" news....

The Chickens are doing well, they survived my method of overwintering them (portable coop with a couple of extra layers of plastic and a heat lamp for the coldest of nights) on the garden and are now happily ranging over part of the backyard. I put up a (fairly short, 39" I think) woven wire fence with a few hog panels for a gate, and that has kept them in with a very few exceptions--for which we have Baxter! We have not had to clip wings or anything. They are just happy staying in. Perhaps it's because they know Bax will get them if the get out. I had one die of unknown cause and one that needs to be butchered but were still averaging 7 eggs a day out of 9 hens (not counting the one to be stewed).
This is their current home:
I am also in the process of raising a small batch of broiler chickens. They're currently just over five weeks old. Since I was getting quite tired of filling their one gallon fount over and over and over again I bit the bullet and payed out the 4o bucks for a bell-matic poultry waterer. Those things are pretty slick. Plus it helps ensure that the birds always have a supply of water.

The garden is doing quite well these days, we've had quite a bit of rain and warm temps--not so good for the lettuce, but the corn and tomatoes are gobbling it up. The corn (which I got planted none too early) is up even to Jonathan's knees (he's 6'5") [ It's now about 4 days later and the corn has shot up to roughly waist high]. I was really late planting this year, for reasons I don't clearly remember, but it's been a fairly cool year too. Or at least up 'till now--tomorrow it's supposed to be 90 degrees. Too hot for mid June, in my humble opinion.


Following is a picture of where I hope to have a garden next year. It is just across the road from us. The spot where I plan to rent is right up to the road so it would be feasible to have a little stand if I come up with enough extra produce to make having such a thing worthwhile. I had hoped to have use of it this year but the people farming it currently had already seeded it to wheat by airplane before the soybeans were harvested (which was when the owner talked to them about letting me have it). I still want to keep some sort of garden where it is now too. Perhaps extending the hoop house and installing the wood stove I bought this spring at an auction. Another big project we've been working on is our roof. A major hail storm (golf ball sized hail) ripped through our area last summer devastating many crops (or completely wiping them out in the worst hit places) and damaging almost all of the roofs in the path of the storm--ours included. So the insurance company paid to have the house and garage roofs torn off and replaced. We thought it sounded like a good way to make/save some money so we did most of it ourselves. The second story roof is just too steep and high for us to feel comfortable working on it, so we hired a contractor to do that part.
We were able to borrow a skid steer from the W.'s (they have the farm I help on). That sure made things a lot easier....Here we're using it as a scaffolding. This roof is the same pitch as the second story, it's just about 20 feet closer to the ground!


It don't look too bad, does it.

Our neighbors to the east (they're a middle aged couple and a pug named Molly) replaced their roof and some siding last summer. Then some time this spring, (late March or early April I think; can't remember just now) their whole house burned to the ground. They barely escaped with their lives. Her hair was badly singed and his back looked like it had been badly sunburned. (The dog made too, not much the worse for the wear)

Our city has two fire departments, one on each side of the railroad tracks (their volunteer) but they still had to call in tankers from two or three other departments to get enough water to control the blaze.

Now several months afterwords, and after an excavator, bulldozer and several semis worked for a couple of days it looks like this:They asked us to mow it for them, and I ended up getting a brush hog from the farm to come in and get it all knocked down--it was just too thick for our poor mower to handle.

Speaking of the farm...We've been baling hay. About 80 acres of it. This time around it's been almost all round bales which just involves moving them with the skidsteer...for second cutting we get to square-bale almost all of it. So if you need something to do on those 80 degree days in the middle of July, let me know. Part of the reason we've round baled so much of this first cutting is that it's been so dog gone hot. The thermometer has been reading right around 120 degrees in the sun,with humidity up around 60%. I've always wanted to help put up hay someplace like, oh maybe Alaska, where you could be comfortable working in a ligh jacket while mowing away hay. Ah, well, as they say make hay while the sun shines. It sure does get hot in that sun though, even though I slather on the sun screen in the morning my face still got so burnt that my nose is starting to peel--that first time I ever remember that happening. What ever happened to the cool year that "they" were predicting?!? Must be we're back to global warming now. :-)

Well I think that's about all the interesting or important happening from around here to I'll sign off for now...

Matthew

Busy

Contrary to popular opinion, we're still alive and kicking. Though Busy.

Look for more someday when it's not 12:30 in the morning. :-)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

God bless,

Jonathan

The Price of Free Land

Today, I got paid for January work from my employer. I was calculating what I could do with it, and then the various claims began to set in. I eared approx. $300:

• %15 manditory, off the top, for Social Security--and the government is cutting me a break. I don't have to pay income tax yet, just Social Security. If I had to give them income tax, it'd be more like %25 or %30. And there's almost no chance I'll get anything back from the SS fund. At best, I'm donating to my parent's retirement. At worst, I'm giving to some person who has no business getting my money. - $45.
  
• %20 tithe and contributions--This is the least grudged of the bunch, since I'm not only depositing to my heavenly account, there are rewards down here, too. - $60.
• %32.5 to my savings account, saving for something in the future. With the amount I'll be putting in, after a year, I might be able to buy some socks, maybe. (I'm kidding, but it wouldn't even be enough to buy a quarter acre of land or a truck that would run. Oh well, I've got to start somewhere) - $97.50
• The remaining %32.5 will be spent sooner saved for later--things on my list include a new chair mat for my computer (the old one was nearly impossible to move around on, but it helps save the carpet.): $25; a new non-stick, 8" sandwich frying pan, which after almost twice a day use for 6 mo. is loosing a major portion of it's non-stick, and possibly killing me (you know about those things, slow, but sure): ~$10; and, a gift for Mom's up coming birthday (the 10th): $20. I can't say what it is because she reads what I write. (Hi Mom!). That leaves about $42.50. My desired next purchase would be a new 1 Terabyte (8,796,093,022,208 bits [a bits is a 0 or a 1], also known as really, really big!) hard drive, which would really help when I go to reinstall my various operating systems. I would also come in handy if and or when I start the media restoration digitization and archival service, and start working with big files (I'll spare you the bit count :)). I'll need to work this much again next month (maybe more, as my employer is re-negotiating my wage) to put with that $42.50, and I'll be able to pay the $95 for the Samsung model that I would like.
  

All of which brings me around to a column that I read on freedom, by Chuck Baldwin. I'm not going to paraphrase, so here's the quote:

"For example, we will work for 30 years or more to purchase our own property. After having done that, however, the property still does not belong to us. We are required to pay the State--for the rest of our lives--a property tax (to support concepts and ideas that many of us find reprehensible and detestable, no less), or armed agents will confiscate our property and throw us on the street. Pray tell me, what is the difference between this and the feudal system of old? In reality, none of us own any property. We are all serfs paying the feudal lord. Beyond that, our feudal masters even dictate to us what we can and cannot do with this property we supposedly own. We do not even have the right to manage and control our own land. And yet, we Americans put up with this illegitimacy and still have the audacity to say, "We are free." Again, we don't know the meaning of the word.

Virtually everything we do and say is monitored by the great Nanny State. Practically every service, every act is regulated by the State. Ask any independent business owner how many regulations, laws, acts, etc., demand fulfillment, and how many fees, taxes, permits, etc., are required by various government agencies and bureaucracies before he can perform a single task. For example, the federal government actually dictates how some restaurants can seat people or serve tables. Farmers are told what and how much to plant--and even to not plant. We cannot buy a gun, drive a car, marry the person we love, or even install a toilet without saying, "Pretty please?" to a dozen despots. And we still wave the flag every Independence Day and brag about how "free" we are. Again, we don't know the meaning of the word."
chuckbaldwinlive.com

"America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation." - Laurence Peter

"They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him." - 2 Peter 2:19

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." - 1 John 5:13-15, 19-20

May God bless you and keep you, and may He make His face shine on you and give you peace.

Jonathan

Piano Results

It's only been two days, which might be a record for a new post. :)

Anyway, Rachel (a local homeschool friend, as well as an accomplished musician) dropped by wondering how the congregational accompanying went, and since the last time I commented, Matthew thought it was long enough for a post, so I figured I'd do as he suggested first off.

Sunday went very well. No major blunders, no major mistakes--what more could a pianist ask? :)

As to whether I've done this before, only the occasional Sunday night when our usual pianist wasn't around, and when the group was reduced to the group of regulars who can almost completely carry a tune piano-less.

I've been putting in some good hours with the tech support job, and plan to put in a few more before the end of the month. And, today is band, so it's definitely been and being a full day, after having my first appointment at 9:00 this morning.

But supper's ready, so I'm going to sign off.

"Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him--to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen." - Romans 16:25-27

May the Lord bless and keep,

Jonathan

Annoucing Weather Quotes

It's been a while. No, it's been quite a while. Actually, it's been 6 months, 4 days, and approximately 4 hours since my last post. Fortunately, Matthew has been keeping the blog somewhat sputtering with life, but most would admit that our writings have been few and far between. Like almost once a month.

I will begin by calling your attention to one of the new features of our sidebar: I installed a 'Cellar' which has some 'Buried, but tasty, morsels.' The first item of business in the cellar is the music player control, of which you can finally see the entire thing (a known problem with our previous setup). To get to the cellar, look for a picture of an underground canning storage center, otherwise known as a 'Cellar.' Some of you may have one of these at home. Anyway, click either on the picture or the text below. At the bottom, there's a link to get back. It's got some other interesting stuff down there too.

So, if you don't want the music to play, and have lost the controller, it's down in the Cellar.

Next order of business: On a contract basis, I've started doing tech support for the company mom tutors with (you remember that from back 3.5 eons ago, right? A homeschool supportive, though not exclusive, company that provides English speaking tutors to Koreans? She teaches them over the internet?). It's kind of challenging work, as the software they use is about 90% broken, as in it doesn't work. However, we're now working on transitioning over to another program, that's much nicer in terms of technical foundation.

And here's the third and final major announcement: I'm going to graduate this year. I've decided that I have spent enough time focusing primarily on academics, and that I'm ready to start focusing on other things, like starting various businesses that I've had ideas for for quite a while, and learning new skills, etc. One might also argue that I'm getting tired of Integrands and Anti-differentials. While I don't plan to go to college, there's still some more things I'd like to get wrapped up on the academic front--we're a little over a third of the way through the calculus book, which I'd like to finish, and we're a little further back in the Adv. Physics book. If I can still add 2 and 2 by the time I get all that done, I think Adv. Chemistry would be interesting, too. But my primary focus will be shifting from stuffing my head with new things that I probably won't use that much, and switching to useful things.

Here ends the first part of the post.

This, if ya'll 'll get my point, is what you'd call the second half. I'm done making those dull, boring, tedious, stuffy things called 'announcements'. Now, I'm (hopefully we're) gonna have some fun. and I just might stop writing in complete sentences. 'Cuz I said so. Now, wasn't that fun! Exciting! and enough to make an English teacher about bust? :)

Sunday, over to the church, I'll be playin' the piano. For congregation singin'.Ya see, our regular pianist has done gone and messed up her shoulder. The right one, I believe. But she went and tricked it by bein' a lefty. :) Anyhow, she can't play the piano, and is goin' to therapy 'n all to prove it, so I (being the next-in-line for the bench [Mom resigned her place in that line a while back{It's really a lot of stress}]) am gonna do if for her. As of now, I'm supposed to be in two places at once. At the piano and At the computer. I still do the projector presentation too (you remember that, right?). It aught to be interesting. :) And it's my week to play the offertory. So, It'll be a downright ball, I'm sure. Then, there's a Solo and Ensemble competition that I'm doing stuff for, that will be on the 21st. So I'm keeping busy with music. :)

I'm afraid I'm running out of apostrophized words, so it's going to be back to the kings English. Two points for my teacher, eh?

In the way of other interesting tidbits, the weather has warmed up some, not tons, but you can at least go out side without having to wear facial protection from the wind, which has really slowed down in the past couple of days. If you came here looking for a story of Michigan weather, since I haven't been outside enough to tell you about it (there have been some pretty pressing things inside), head over to Jonathan Bartlet's place for a harrowing story of heroism in heat-less North Dakota Winter, where a little forethought and some sleep did and could have, respectively, saved the day. I hope that satisfies your taste for snow. :)

Mom and I have also been doing some literary analysis: so far, we've done 'Great Expectations' by Dickens, and are working on 'To Kill a Mocking Bird', by Lee. Other things on the list include 'Paradise Lost' by Milton, 'Macbeth', by Shakespeare, along with some others.

Now, enough of me, and here's someone else:

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job." - Douglas Adams

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President -- I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered" - Thomas Jefferson

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one. - Rush Limbaugh

"When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel." - Deuteronomy 17:14-20

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts and established in love, through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." -Ephesians 3:16-20

Ever in his peace,

Jonathan

A Quick Note

The weather here remains a touch on the chilly side: Highs around 5 degrees F for the last few days, although there hasn't been much wind which makes it quite tolerable (for me anyway). To day that's changing. The high is supposed to be 16, but the wind is roaring around at 20 mph (which makes for a slight wind chill...of about -15). It's been a struggle to keep the house even above 65, but our furnace just isn't big enough for this weather. There is also a lot of complaining from people (like at church, or the store) about how cold it is. But (except for the house heating issue) I kinda like it. I like Winter pretty well, about as well as Summer and Fall...Spring is nice too. Some day I'd like to go out west (say to North Dakota) in the winter to see what cold is really like. I look at it as sort of a challenge--to survive (or even thrive) even when the temps are really cold, plus I like the cold and snow; snow isn't nearly as wet as rain, and so is easier to work in, and in the winter there aren't any flies or misquotes!

Yesterday afternoon Dad had a job interview with the Board of Water and Light in Lansing. This is the first door that has seemed to open in six months. We're thanking the Lord for this opportunity and praying His will be done. It is a job that is still related to his field (electrical engineer) and isn't too far away, about 35 min. The interview was conducted by a panel of two engineer type guys and the head HR person, and Dad said that he thought the interview went pretty well. They told Dad that they'll contact him towards the end of next week to let him know whether or not they want to continue the interviewing process (which consists of at least two or three more interviews with different people). We'd definitely appreciate your prayers in this matter.

Well I'd better get out and feed my chickens so I'll sign off for now,

Matthew

How's This For Lack of a Better Title

Dear Readers of this Blog,
I have an important announcement to make:
(but don't worry, it's nothing serious)

It has come to my attention that there have been wars, I mean complaints and rumors of complaints that there has been very little action on this blog. Which means, I guess, that I should dispel all of the myths and conspiracy theories which I'm sure don't abound in the blogosphere. So here's the grand abolishment of all of the above: We Haven't Written Anything Lately. And so there you have it. (in other words (to condense the prior paragraph) there hasn't been any action on this blog.) (And all this merely proves that I can write all that and basically say absolutely nothing!)

I am happy :-) to report that I'm now feeling quite a bit better after being under the weather for about a week (off and on). I am sad :-( to report that now Mom and Jonathan seem to be suffering from the same blasted bug.

However, (as some of you may have guessed by now) I'm not feeling particularly serious tonight, so bear with me. (it was you who asked for a post after all) (although perhaps that could be developed into a strategy for generating comments, you know that whole prolonged absence bit...)

Here's a piece I wrote some time ago but never really finished, and of course never posted. But perhaps it will amuse y'all for a bit so have at it. (While your readin' that I'll just mosey on and write a bit more--see ya in two shakes of a dog's tail (provided you have a slow tail wagging type))

"The shades of evening come all too soon, daybreak is later, and still there seems to be no time to rest.

Tonight I stayed home from AWANA because of an incident I had with a logging chain. The whole thing started (and ended) at the W. family farm....We were trying to accomplish a simple task--take hay to the sheep in the first field which is covered in about six inches of snow and is not affording much forage at this point in time. To do this we load round bales on to flat rack hay wagons with the skid-steer and pull them out to the field with a tractor. I warmed up the ol' Ford 7000 and hooked onto the load. The main problem with that choice of horsepower is that Ford (as we affectionately call her) don't have enough weight to say so, and thus in the winter she is apt to sit and spin. Which is what she did. We got her started with a little push from the skid-steer and and I made it as far as the road. Where I stopped to let Daniel climb aboard. That was a mistake. Now I couldn't get started again. (This could (should?) have made us think about getting the bigger tractor right there) So once again I got moving with a shove from the skid-steer (which now has new tires that make it possible to actually do more that just sit and spin-and that was on concrete in the middle of the summer) and this time I kept on going. The road was so icy that Ford did a lot of spinning even once she was going. (Another clue) Now to get to the pasture, you drive down the road aways (maybe a 1/4 mile) and then through a couple of railroad ties and down a lane. Or I should say UP a lane.... Now can you guess where I next ground to a spinning halt? Yup, half way up the hill. Great. Now what? Well, Daniel came up with his Dad's old four wheel drive pick up. He pushed. The tractors wheels spun. The truck's wheels spun. We didn't move so much as an inch. So we went back to the "farm" and got the International 1066 (the "10") and a couple of little chains. Now I mentioned chains seemed kinda small for the job at hand, but we were in a hurry (as usual) and Dan didn't know where the big chains were. I said I didn't want to be around when the chains snapped. (Now in case your thinking ahead here, what you think happened didn't.) So we get the two tractors hooked together, and Dan pulls with the 10. The chain came unhooked. I re-hooked it. Again Daniel pulls. The hook and about four links of chain pull off of the one chain. I re-hook again. Once more the 10 moves forward. Then it happened (don't worry yet). The chain snapped. And landed in a pile in the snow. So we take another trip back to the house where my truck is parked with three logging chains in the back. Unfortunately the chains were frozen in. Fortunately I was able to get them out. Back to the hill where Ford sits stranded. This time we have enough chain that the 10 will be on level ground to pull. So we're laying out the chains and hooking everything up....I hook one chain to the front of Ford, but this one has a frozen link in it. It's not good to pull on a link of chain sideways so I throw my weight into it to break it loose. It broke loose all right. The chain from the tractor that is. The hook came up and hit me just under the eye, leaving a nasty gash (well maybe it's not that bad, but it sure don't look too pretty either), and more of the chain hit me in the mouth. Thank the good Lord for that permanent retainer that the orthodontics people put in--that's the only reason I can think of that I am writing tonight with all of my teeth still in my head. The one tooth is moved slightly out of position but considering the force of the blow, not bad. Apparently the cut on my cheek bone was bleeding quite freely, since the blood was dripping off of my nose and chin....So I did what anyone would do in such circumstances--grabbed a handful of snow and held it to my cheek. Works quite well really, the snow is cold, the pressure helps stop the bleeding, and the snow also absorbs quite a bit of the blood. It is also fairly prevalent. The injury sustained didn't kill me by any means so we continued hooking up the tractors and pulled the hay into the field. I wasn't much help pushing the bales off since I was clutching snow and ice to my face, but we got 'er done and I drove Ford home and deposited the wagons by the hay pile and parked her in the barn. Then we went to the house to wash the extra blood off and see exactly what was what."

Now y'all have a good time readin' that did ya? Almost written in a kinda entertaining style if I do say so myself. (Which I guess I just kinda did)

Well for Christmas this year, What's that? Oh, you want to know how the whole story turns out? Now this is where all them big time authors would leave you hanging till the next post...which in my case might be some time right along about the middle of May...2010 ;-)

But I guess I'm in a kinda ramblin' mood tonight so why not finish up the story 'eh?

Here goes: I went in the house washed off the blood, got a professional (sort of (no offense)) opinion from Mr. W. ("it don't need stitches"), got a wet cloth to hold against it (in a continuing effort (and becoming more successful) to stem the tide of blood), got into the truck and drove home. Mom patched 'er up really good with one of them there surgical sutures replacements, the steri-strip, butterfly bandage type thingys. So in the long run (now that it's healed) I've got a little scar under my left eye (to match the one over my right eye on my forehead that I got from banging my head on a bed headboard when I was little (all you little kids out there take note: jumping on the bed is potentially dangerous. And I'd do it anyway (provided your folks don't mind)). Nothing to fuss over really.

Now on to more interesting things.

Grama came up on Christmas Eve, so we've been doing lots of game playing (in between feeling really poorly and just laying around watching the old TV shows we got for Christmas on DVD (like Hogan's Heroes and Gomer Pyle) At least with all the laying around and doing nothing I've got pretty well rested up. And I managed to avoid, Um that is to say, I very unfortunately missed out on the two extended family Christmas parties. (I'm such a Scrooge :-)) Oh well, at least now I'm ready to get back to work. All the laying around has half killed me, especially all of the feeling well enough to do a little but not well enough to do much (if ya catch my drift). And I reckon I'd better jump back into doing something before I get too used to doing nothing (it might be catching, kinda like this blasted bug) (not exactly sure who I'd catch it from, but ya'll know how it goes.)

And now I can't think of anything especially exciting (telling the end to that there boring story done made me forget them all) so I'll sign off. (With nary a promise nor hint of another post anytime soon.) (so there!) (But the next one I just might try to make a little bit serious....You never know ;-).....)


Matthew

Busy as Usual

Well I can finally believe that it's November (now that the month is better than half over...) the trees have been completely striped of their leaves by the cruel wind and rain, snow has fallen, regular deer season has started, and the days are getting shorter.

I'm working at a deer processor's again this year, which is always interesting (managed to slice my thumb pretty good, so I have it all taped up which is making it difficult to type! But so far I've been able to avoid cutting my knuckles off with the bone saw like I did last year which is nice). In the last three days five of us (me boning, two guys cutting and two packaging) have done 72 deer. The guy that owns the place (Mr. S.) hired another cutter this year to help him keep ahead of me, so the days have been a lot shorter this year than last. Today was an especially short day since we only had 17 deer to do. Business is a bit slower this year. And we're faster, which makes business seem really slow. Maybe someday I'll try to do something like what Mr. Kimball did with his "How to Butcher A Chicken" blog except for deer. (although it probably won't be quite as thorough, or as professionally written. But maybe it would help someone)

Mr. W. has had surgery on his foot, and is back home recovering. We aren't cutting deer tomorrow, so I reckon I'll mosey on out there and see what's up. Mr. W. is going to have a really hard time just sitting around with his foot up. Although chances are that it will be harder for his family than for him.

I've got to figure out what I'm going to do exactly with my layers for the winter too. And if it should happen to warm up enough I need to finish up my garden cart. (if I'm home)

Well Supper is ready so I guess I'll go eat.

Till later,

Matthew