My Day's Sweetness

~ Sam and Tom ~

Just so you know, my day has plenty of sweetness that outweighs, mostly, all the hard, messy, cold, dangerous work. Dave was always a night owl and I'm a morning person; it worked out well because he would have his quiet time in the evenings, after I'd gone to bed and vice verse in the mornings. By the time he was ready for coffee, I'd been up a couple of hours, made coffee, had devotions and started breakfast. Being a creature of habit (aren't we all?), I still get up early and it's not unusual for me to be awake at 4:30 but, usually, it's more like 5:00 or 5:30. Every now and again I'll sleep in until 7 or 8 o'clock and then feel like I've wasted half my day. Anyway, lately it seems several of my posts have been on the whiny side so here's some sweetness. (If it bores you beyond tears...you've been warned, smile).

 One reason I get up so early is so I can have devotions. Each morning, unless there's an emergency, I sit in the sun room and read the Bible and other devotions then listen to Pastor's Youssef and Begg on XM Radio. If I can't get beyond first gear, sometimes I'll stay and listen to Chuck Swindoll as well. Dave used to get such a kick out of Pastor Swindoll's last name; he'd say, "What a perfect name for a preacher? Is he a swindler?" Not to my knowledge but he is a good teacher of Scripture.

The stacked books on the left are knitting, crochet and a novel or two. The books on the right are devotionals and Bible studies. The knitted wash cloths have scented soaps inside and are given to folks who have made my life a bit easier this past year. The women at the feed stores, auto repair and other places while the men receive short bread.

 I light a Wood Wick Candle because I enjoy the glow, fragrance and the sound. If you're not familiar with Wood Wick candles, instead of a cotton waxed wick they have a wooden stick wick.

All of us have our routine; Sadie sits to my left and starts out her morning (after treats, of course) by holding hands. She'll raise her paw and use it to nudge me until I take her paw in my hand and we sit, quietly, for a few minutes. 






Sam reclines on my right and when he feels Sadie is receiving too much attention, he'll slide over and tuck his head under my nightgown. By the way, if you like flannel nightgowns, Lanz makes the Most Wonderful flannel nightgowns! I've worn them for decades and they wear like iron and, when worn out, make excellent cleaning cloths. Recently, I found some at TJMaxx and they're more than 75% less than the price I found on the inter-net. 

Meanwhile, Sadie has stretched out so she can lay her head in my lap, 

while Tom sits on my stomach, sometimes resting his lower end on the top of Sadie's head. It's all right, we're all friends here.

In the past day we've gone from snow on the ground to bare ground. It's gotten above freezing, several days in a row, and everything has started to melt. (Which reminds me...I never did hang the laundry out today.)

I opened up the alfalfa field so the horses and alpacas can graze it; there's a lot of good pasture to be eaten and the manure they drop will aid in the new growth come spring.

I wait until 8:00 or thereabout to give Carly her morning meds with her breakfast. Some days I have to find her and other days she's still asleep. I'm disgustingly simple when it comes to the animals and try to make their lives as kind as possible.

When the dogs and I go to the barn, we check on Harry Shetland. He's an old wether, as old or older than Carly, and I'd love to bring him to the yard but he's better off at the barn, with no other sheep. He has the barn cats and guinea's for company, he's safe and I take him water and food twice a day.

He's blind and far safer where he can't be run over by the other animals. I was going to put him down but he's still enjoying his food and will move toward me when I shake his pan and call him. During nice weather, he can get in the sunshine and, at night or in bad weather, he can turn and go into the barn and lay down. He has free choice hay so he always had good food and water. I've noticed he prefers me to bring him fresh water in the morning and afternoon and he'll take a good long drink while I hold the bucket. Sometimes, he'll drink from the bucket when it's placed on the ground in front of him.  These animals are a study in patience for me; I can't become frustrated or get rushed or they'll panic and we'll be right back where we started. It's much easier for me to go slow, speak quietly, gentle and low and move slowly. Heck, it's probably good for me as well!

'PacaRose is doing fine, eating well, defecating properly and enjoying life with his bros.

The sheep are grazing the yard while the three guinea's wander amongst them. Generally, the guinea's roost in the sugar maple tree and have proven to be excellent "watch dogs". I've decided I'll always have guinea's as they are comedians as well as "watch dogs". They know when Sadie chases them, it's all for show; she just likes to hear them raise a ruckus.

A lot of my days, thank God, are simple and full of the work that it takes to keep this place going. I have two horses I throw hay to every morning and afternoon; I should get on the tractor and give them a round bale but, truth be told, my bones have been a bit creaky lately. Hard as it is to believe, it's just easier to climb in the loft and throw down a few square bales and tear them apart.

Daddy John, wife Ashley and their families have opened a restaurant (the restaurant business being, as Daddy John says, "the nearest thing to milking twice a day as I've ever seen!") and Ashley requested some knitted goods to display and sell. I had some things ready, then decided to knit some other things, and my poor hands are repaying me by not working properly. As in, I can do almost anything I want to do if it doesn't include picking up or holding things, knitting, or typing for any length of time. Ben and I go to bed together, nightly, with aspirin and a glass of alcoholic beverage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big drinker but Dave used to tell me, "Take some aspirin and drink a beer or glass of wine and you'll sleep a lot better." This was the same man who would tell me, "Don't you think you should wait until your head hits the pillow before you fall asleep?"
Ah...such Precious Memories.

Blessings ~ calm week ~ healthy animals ~ Andy Griffith ~ good music ~ sleep ~

Snow Day on the Farm

It's been another great day on the farm, albeit extremely cold, windy, snowy and exciting. At some point last night, the rain turned to sleet and, early 0'dark thirty, sleet turned to snow. Since Dave died, my sleeping arrangements are...crazy. The three dogs and I sleep together and there are mornings I awake and we're piled up like a litter of puppies...but we're warm and cozy and, in this ole farmhouse, warm and cozy are passwords to nirvana.

This is the de-icer, put into the livestock water trough, to keep ice from forming. It might be hard to imagine how much of a thrill this is in my life, but think...Sunday morning I was chopping two inches of ice in this trough and, at dusk, had to chop ice again before "installing" the de-icer.

I'm not the only one who is thrilled, the gold fish are happy to be warmer. Ummm, those orangey spots in the water are the gold fish; bought three for $1 at WalMart and have done what guppies goldfish tend to do...procreate. If anyone wants any, they're yours for the asking...and getting.

The weather report says six inches of snow before morning and we're halfway there now. The right photo was taken about 4:00 and the one below was taken about fifteen minutes later...see the difference?

 Against my better judgement, I had to go to town today. Roads were icy and snowy but the trip still had to be made and when I got home, chores had to be done. In the winter, I do chores twice a day, about twelve hours apart so I can give the animals a bit of extra food as well as cast my eye over them to make sure everyone is okay. Even so, there are times I'll still need to go outside later on to check on someone, open a gate, give extra food, etc. Today, by 3:30 I was in flannel nightgown, bathrobe, warm socks and wool slippers with the intention of staying inside until daybreak tomorrow.

Then I noticed the bird feeder was empty and the internal argument began...fill it now or wait until tomorrow? Self said, "You're already in your nightgown, robe and slippers; you should wait until tomorrow." At the exact point I was ready to agree, a sparrow flew to the feeder and found it empty. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! So yes, I got a container of bird seed and very slowly, very carefully went down the snowy, slick back stairs, filled the feeder and then crept back up the snowy, slick stairs and then inside the house.

I am such a sap! On the other hand, I'll sleep well tonight, knowing that the birds will have food when they show up at 0'dark dawn in the morning.

Remember these green boots? Useless, I tell you...totally useless! At least in the snow they are useless. "Why", you may very well ask? Because they are rubber, have no traction and are slick as greased lightening. Useless! After filling the bird feeder, I came back inside and looked out another window and saw sheep at the back gate. So...for this trip I slipped off my woolen slippers, slipped on these rubber boots, grabbed a walking stick and headed outside. Where my feet promptly slipped out from under me and I landed, flat on my back, in the snow.  AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Nothing broken, not even my pride, and the sheep are now finding the open gate and beginning to wander into the yard where they'll have grass and warm water to drink.  Things like this...making sure the animals have food, shelter, water make me happy even at the same time I'll feeling tired from the exertion. Yes, the work is physically demanding but it's good work, meaningful work (to me at least) and work I love.  The sheep, below, is one of Carly's relatives, another Shetland and happy to find food. Can you tell the poor little thing is nothing but skin and fleece? Not! -chortle-

 It makes me happy, knowing Carly has an extra ration of sweet feed with her arthritis meds. it makes me happy, knowing I've done my best for her poor arthritic bones. It makes me happy, knowing her last days are filled with as much caring as it's within my power to give. What doesn't make me happy is not knowing when to say good-bye to her. There's a saying: if you have live stock, you'll have dead stock and that's true. The big question is: when to say good-bye? When is she in so much pain the meds aren't enough any more. It's the age old question for me...when?

So many folks tell me, "take them to market, sell them off. They're too much work for you" but I'm not listening to those folks. Dave and I had an agreement, never take anything to market and, as long as I'm able, I'll honor that agreement. Just because he's dead, doesn't mean our commitment is void.

When I first got animals, I would brush the snow off their coats and break the icicles to make the animals more comfortable. It took me a while to learn that snow is a great insulator and breaking the icicles doesn't make any difference at all. Leaving the snow on their backs keeps them warmer and more comfortable; brushing it off makes them colder.

High in the maple tree, two guinea's are roosting, huddled together, gripping tightly their hold on the branch. The white guinea was wandering around, on the ground, and I'm not sure if s/he's confused, hungry or what, perxactly. There's no way of knowing so I scatter food on the snow, hoping the guinea will, eventually, wander over and find it. I bought a bag of chicken scratch for them and am trying to gentle them by feeding them. I'd love for them to become tame but it's going to take some time. The dogs like chicken scratch, I suppose it's the molasses and corn combination, so I am constantly shooing dogs away from guinea food. It's a delicate balancing act, keeping the animals fed, sheltered, watered and in good health. It's also my job and I like to think I'm good at it; so far, anyway.

Blessings ~ snow ~ guinea's ~ sheep ~ dogs ~ work of my hands and heart ~

It's Beginning to Look Like Winter...

~ left, week's worth of wood ~

Snow is expected, 70% chance, from Wednesday through end of week. Tomorrow, 70% chance of rain and temps are low, low, low and I've been beavering away at outside chores to prepare animals, farm and myself. The wood rack is full and the wood stove is readied as well, all it needs is a lit match laid to the kindling and heat! I always like to wait until 1 Dec to start the wood stove but I'm no hero and when it's wet, cold, windy and just plain nasty, that's reason enough to light the stove and get cozy. 

I like to combine trips to town, make my gasoline count as well as my time but, lately, I've had to run errands every single day. It seems I just can't get a grip on life but, rather, life has me by the neck and is running me ragged. When I do go over the mountain, I always see this bee's nest, right. I think it's a paper wasp nest but empty now that's it's cold. It hangs over the edge of the road and, in warmer weather, I hardly ever have the moon roof open when I pass. 

Gray Tom Cat, left, likes to curl up with Sam who is resigned to his fate. Tom isn't above slapping someone when he doesn't get what he wants and Sam is the gentlest dog it's ever been my pleasure to know. Tom has almost figured out, I'll slap back, but Sam just heaves a sigh and pretends it's not happening.

Twice a day, I've been chopping ice in the livestock water tough and yesterday, made a mad dash to Tractor Supply to buy a de-icer for it. Chopping ice is no fun, especially when I tend to drench myself from the stomach down. Then, I have to deal with ice, freezing water, single digit temps, sub-zero wind chill and all while in wet clothes. I don't mind admitting I've stood there, chopping ice and cried the entire time. The livestock tank has had an air lock for more than a week and, every day, I've taken a broom stick and rammed it into the overflow pipe, hoping to break the air lock. Today, thank God, the air lock broke and water is flowing freely again. 

Carly, the 19 year old Shetland living in the yard, presents a problem regarding her drinking water. Her water has been freezing several times a day and drinking water is just as critical for four-legged animals as two-legged. The blue bucked has an electrical cord which is plugged into the studio outlet. Now, Carly, the dogs and cats have warm water 24/7. I only have to remember to fill the bucket every week and to clean it every couple of weeks. The only downside...I had such a $40 bucket last winter but sometime between then and now...it walked. I've got a pretty good idea where it went but the game isn't worth the candle so I bit my tongue and shelled out money for a new bucket. 
~ left, blue electric water bucket ~

~ Big Red Jack, right ~

Lately, I've been buying equipment that Dave and I should have bought years ago. I don't know why I've waited this long...sometimes something can be right in front of my face and it takes me years to see it. Like the mortar work on the foundation. Since we've lived here, our foundation has had gaping holes where, over the decades, the mortar has fallen out. In October, my eyes beheld the holes yet again and, as the light dawned, I thought, Quikrete! See here where I bought some Quikrete, mixed it up and filled the holes and it's made a difference in the comfort level inside the house. 

In the above photo, the Big Red Jack is being used to lift the lawn mower so the tire can be replaced on the wheel. While mowing leaves, I cut the wheel too sharply, too often and the tire came off...what a drag! Everything is fine now...tire back on wheel and mower back in barn.  I always talk to the folks who work at the store, ask their advice, etc. and was told this jack is strong enough to handle an SUV or pick-up truck. It makes sense to upgrade just a tad in order to have a piece of equipment that will serve many masters.

This winter, I'm going to make it as easy and safe on myself as possible. The round hay feeder has been moved from over the hill to behind the stable and barn. I've frightened myself silly way to many times, driving the tractor, carrying a huge round bale of hay over the hill in slick, snowy, icy weather. The location isn't totally protected from the wind but the stable and barn are blocking the wind quite a bit and the horses have shelter just to the left of where they're standing. Boys and Girls, this is as good as it gets this year; Mama is tired and winter is yet to arrive! 

This skull is...your guess is as good as mine! and is what happens when I let the dogs enter the house without checking to make sure they have nothing in their mouths. Should I be ashamed to admit that?

Oh well.

Thank you for reading and for those who follow...following. There are close to 500 followers to this blog and when the number reaches 500, I'll have a giveaway. The treat will be a $50 debit card...just in time for Christmas. You bless me so much and I am so grateful; God bless you, yours and the work of your hands and heart!

Blessings ~ a day of national celebration this week ~ yesterday's Sabbath Keeping, it sure blessed me! ~ work to keep me busy and healthy ~ good equipment ~ a full wood rack ~ electric water bucket ~

Chat Time!

~ Morris Knob, background ~

Patrice, Everyday Ruralty, is hosting Chat's on the Farmhouse Porch #114 and I'm playing along. Actually, yesterday, I sent Patrice a note with five questions for her Chat. I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing but, as it turns out, Patrice was open to my suggestions and here are the questions and my answers.

~ Sadie and Gray Tom ~

1. How many animals do you have? Three dogs, Sadie Lovebug (Rhodesian Ridgeback), Sam P. Spade, Secret Agent (basset hound-terrier-spaniel mix) and Sophie Lauren Butterball (broken coat Jack Russell). Sam and Sophie are rescues. The house cats are Gypsy Rose Lee, Hattie Cat, Levi Lilly, Tippy and Gray Tom who lives outside but runs inside every time the door is cracked open. The American Curly horses are geldings HayJ and Dandy Man and the mares are Lightly, Peaches, Dani Girl, Izzabella, Tumbleweed and Bodacious. Carly Shetland, a 19 year old Shetland ewe, lives in the yard and gets arthritis pain meds twice a day. The other sheep include Romney's Shetlands, two Merinos, a Merino Shetland cross and a Suffolk Columbia cross. Most have names but, tell the truth, I've forgotten some of their names...my bad. There are also four rescued alpacas, 2 geldings and 2 studs but no names there either.  Most of the barn cats do not have names and I like it that way; I'm trying to gentle some of them so I can take them to the county pound.
OH, almost forgot the 3 guineas who flew in on the last storm...haven't named their either.

~ Sophie and Sam ~

2. Have you begun Christmas plans, travel, decorations, crafts, menus, etc.? No, I haven't even begun thinking about Christmas...but I do know I'm staying home this year. I'm not going anywhere except to the barn to take care of chores. Maybe I'll have smoked salmon, sour cream, capers, red onion and dill on crackers for dinner and for supper, more of the same. Sounds good.

~ Sophie ~

3. Do you celebrate Harvest or Halloween? Halloween has become something extremely different from when I was a child. When I was a child (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), Halloween was simple fun where we could roam from house to house, gathering candy and having fun. So, I celebrate Harvest Season...these last few weeks of Autumn are an opportunity to gather apples to can for apple pie, put up green tomato pickles, make kiwi jam, blueberry conserve and I even bought a mini watermelon to munch on tomorrow.

~ my small sheep flock ~

4. How do you heat your house? Oh my. Hopefully, less expensively than I did last year. Earlier this month, the heating man came to clean my furnace and he found a broken part. He said he thought my oil bill would be less than last year...such a blessing! I also have propane heaters and freestanding gas stove and a wood stove. I still need to move the wood from the barn to the back porch but the chimney and stove are cleaned and ready to be put into service. Oh joy!

~ Levi Lily ~

5. Do you like dishes with white centers or centers with patterns? I really don't like the food to fight with the dishes so prefer white centers either with patterns around the edges or all white.

~ rose gray alpaca stud ~

Blessings ~ Patrice ~ Chats ~ my 4-legged family ~ Harvest ~ Christmas ~ this farm & valley ~

Another Day of Grace

~ maple, overhead and l to r - oak, maple, tamarack ~

I took a break and had a toes-up on the lawn while the dogs, cats and Carly wandered around me and the yard. There are ancient maple, hemlock, oak and tamarack trees in the yard which provide shelter, shade and color at varying times of the year. While the dogs alternatively gave me sloppy kisses, then trailed the scent of something, I watched the tree branches move lazily against the sky.

~ Carly, old bones sleep a lot ~

Do trees live in three-quarter time, rooted to the ground and struggling to be free? In days of old, before the Fall, did trees roam the earth, clapping their branches in praise to the Almighty? Are they, now, conscious beings, doomed, or permitted, to live at a slower pace? The Good Book says, "a time to be born and a time to die" but it doesn't say if all living things are living at the same pace but in their own time, in their own space.

~ Sam and Sadie ~

This season of grief, of mourning, since Dave died, leaves me with no one to talk to. No one who looks at me other than strangely when I talk about trees as cognizant beings.

~ curious creatures ~

Some years back, Tumbleweed was a rescue, as are so many here on the farm, including Dave and I. He and I rescued each other, a gift of grace from Abba. Tumbles was a birthday gift from Dave; this black American Curly mare who had known harshness, perhaps mistreatment, in her early life. When Dave found out we had to pay for the privilege of rescuing her, he shook his head and muttered, "Only you would pay to rescue." I brought her home and put her in a small lot where she had fresh water and I could feed and touch her every day. I wanted her to get used to me, to begin to trust me and I, to trust her.

~ Tumbleweed, American Curly horse ~

As I was coming or going, she would come to the fence to watch me and nicker a greeting. The dogs and I would go into her lot to give her love and she would patiently stand, letting me brush her. When I started to move away, she blocked my path; she wanted more love and attention. When I told her, "Later", she would prance off sideways, keeping me in her line of vision and, all of a sudden, would throw her head up and begin racing the small lot, bucking and kicking and watching me watch her antics. Tumbleweed ran for the pure joy of knowing I took joy in watching and she'd run in larger circles around me, but always, watching me, watching. It was a memory moment and a good one; this farm is full of such moments and some threaten to overwhelm, then suffocate.

If you're still reading, say a prayer for those of us here at Thistle Cove Farm. Especially me...for good health, safety and wisdom to take care of those in my stewardship. For me to prepare us for winter, for me to have the heart to keep going. When Dave first died, I thought the grief would kill me; now I'm afraid it won't. When Joy, his wife, died, C. S. Lewis wrote in A Grief Observed, "Her absence is the sky and spread over everything." O dear God, how this strikes me at my core! Lewis also wrote, "When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of 'No answer.' It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent, certainly not uncompassionate, gaze. As though He shook His head not in refusal but waiving the question. Like, 'Peace, child;you don't understand.'" (emphasis mine)

~ do you see them? ~

They are both right, I don't understand and thought I'd be further along by now. When I first met Dave, Cathy had been dead for eleven months. I confess, I remember thinking, "Why does it still hurt you like it does? Why are you still grieving so desperately?" 
God, help me, now I understand and, almost, wish I didn't. 

Grief is physical and damn hard work. It's unrelenting in its assault, a constant daily fight and the only peace I get is when I'm asleep. Thank God, I sleep well due, I'm sure, to the physically demanding work of keeping the house, farm and animals. 

It's a tender work, tenuous at best, living the grief down and trying to move forward. Just last week, a young woman asked, "What's it like, burying a spouse, the work of grieving?" I told her, "Nothing I'd wish on my worst enemy" and yet, most of us will experience it. Statistics show women are widowed, on an average, at age 52 and more women than men will bury their spouse. Even so, there's no joy in knowing. 

~ now do you see them? ~

It's a cycle, this circle of birth, life and death. Once born, everything has a season of life and then death no matter if it's trees, grass, animals or humans. I'm not sure about the trees and grass but I do know animals and humans grieve; desperately in some cases, and some never, quite, move on. It's not that they aren't willing but they aren't able and only God knows and, right now, He's not saying other than, perhaps,

"Peace, child; you don't understand."

Joining with Jen at Finding Heaven Today, the Soli Deo Gloria party. 

Blessings ~ many, but for the life of me, I can't see through the tears to count them ~

Farm Chores

life beautiful giveaway ends Friday, Sept 14.

~ stables at Thistle Cove Farm ~

Behind the stables is a livestock water trough that, fairly often, gets an air lock. The upper left end is where the John Deere is stored, the hay loft is top middle and the lower right is where the Ranger lives next to the tack room. But I digress.

So, I drag out my cut off broom handle, wrapped with black electricians tape and chunka, chunka, chunka the water overflow pipe until the air lock bursts loose and water flows freely again. This particular trough feeds two other troughs so it's vital it works at all times. 

Cattle, horses, sheep, cats and various wildlife are dependent upon this water.

Give me land,

lots of land 

Under starry skies above

Don't fence me in

Let me ride through

The wide open country that I love

Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself 

In the evening breeze

Listen to the murmur

Of the cottonwood trees

Send me off forever

But I ask you please

Don't fence me in.

If you don't know, calves are the closest thing on four legs to teenage boys I've ever seen in my life! I swear, if they could talk, all you'd hear is, "HEY! Watch this!" Some of my fences are in terrific condition and others...hmmmm, not so much. Especially now. The Boys, as they are mostly called around here, decided it would be fun to see how many fence posts they could break. Then one calf decided it would be fun to go over the fence, down the bank, out into the road and na na na na na his friends who stood watching. Thank God, all of them didn't decide to do likewise; it was hard enough dealing with one escape artist. 

While I'm using the car to maneuver the calf back down the road, an older gentleman comes up the road. I'm waving him...go to the right, go to the right! when he pulls up and stops. "Do you need any help?" 
Wellllll. Yes. But. This feller looks to be in his mid 70's, perhaps older...? So, I'm torn between saying yes, and praying he won't keel over of a heart attack, or saying no and him thinking I'm an ingrate. As I've heard all my life.
So, I say yes and I head to the driveway so I can open the gate so the calf can, hopefully, be persuaded to go into the barn lot. In the meantime, I also walk to the upper pasture and call the others...."HERE BOYS, COME HERE BOYS. MOOOOOO BOYS!" Oh yeah, it's a sight. You and a camera could be contenders for American's Funniest Videos $10K prize should you film this!
Eventually, all is well...the small herd of calves head to the barn, Daddy John -as I now call him because he has a son named John, then there's John C. and John M. all in the valley and it's getting confusing. So Daddy John is headed up the road on his John Deere which, as almost everyone knows yellow and green are the only colors decent tractors come in, and he herds the calf back to the barn lot. No mean task because the dratted calf has decided to go down the road while his buddies follow alongside the fence. "HEY!" they call out. "We want to come with you!" Meanwhile, the dratted calf is bellowing, "But I want to be with you guys!"
Why do I have cattle?

I take a pile of metal T posts, my post driver and the dogs and I head to the pasture. It takes a while but I'm able to jury rig the fence so the cattle will stay in. Right. As long as they don't decide to go through the fence again, they'll stay in.

See. As they say around here...good enough for gubmint work! 
There's plenty more going on around the farm but I'm too busy, just now, to sit at the computer very long. This morning, the temperature was 46 degrees F so Autumn is on her way and in a hurry. There are still are few hummingbirds hanging around but I trust them to know their business, when this feeder is empty, almost empty now, it won't be re-filled. 
My good news...as I'm going around the farm doing chores, as God brings your name to mind, you're tucked into prayer. Doesn't that sound wonderful!? It does to me too! smile

Blessings ~ Daddy John ~ old feller who was willing even if not much able ~ metal T posts ~ post driver ~ Roy Rogers ~ stables ~ John Deere ~ Ranger ~ the strength to do the work God sets before me ~