What are You Thankful For?

(Photo by Jenny Dake)

Life on the farm is nothing short of AMAZING!!!  Is it work?  Oh, yes, it is...more so for my parents still than us, as they still farm wholeheartedly.  

                              I would not take anything for my upbringing and my children's raising and teaching from the farm.  The life lessons instilled, from a baby in a playpen in the dairy barn, (which I don't remember :) ) to learning to work together and loving it, are invaluable.  

             Priceless...

Give thanks for where you are today as we enter this Thanks-Giving season; it is the reason for joy, True joy, from our God and Creator.

On the farm, and out of doors, you get to really see God's handiwork ALL around. 

"You are my God, and I give thanks to You;

You are my God, I extol You.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting."

Psalm 118:28-29

Do you live on a farm, in the city, America, other countries?

Where do you see Jesus at work today?

What are 3 things you are grateful for this day?

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

A Calf Rescue

After some extremely cold temperatures this week, a lot of ice, snow, and utility companies working around the clock, here is a story of how our community comes together when someone, or even a baby calf is in need.  

Jenny rode with my sister and her children to view some beautiful scenery around the area, and just happened to drive down a road we do not travel as often.  

They saw a calf in a pond swimming in circles trying to keep it's head above the water, when they decided to go and try to get help.  

Another gentleman had arrived right before and my sister decided to call our uncle, a prominent farmer in the area, who they knew would know what to do.  He arrived along with several other men and a lady neighbor as well.  

The story now begins to get exciting, or nerve-wracking, whichever you prefer.  A friend brought his tractor over and my uncle hoisted himself upon the end of the front end loader, where the spear for feeding round bales of hay is.  

Take note of exactly how he is sitting atop the loader with only the spear, which comes to a point on the very end, to hold him when he stands.  A point my aunt was none to happy about, to say the least. :/  I will add here, my uncle will be 71 this year, so she had a little reason to worry.

They now drive off into the pond, and my uncle takes a lariat rope to attempt to lasso the poor calf and pull it to safety before it drowns.  It is still circling the area where it fell through, and by this time is going under every now and then, trying to keep it's head up. 

I must say this is the most impressive move from the entire endeavor!  My uncle only took two tries to lasso the calf!  I do believe that is pretty amazing, with it mostly under water and continuously moving!  He is the true hero of this story!  Yeah, Foster, or as we call him, Uncle Bo!!!

As he is struggling to pull this 200, now 250 lb. or so soaking wet calf out of the water, Clifton must get out of the tractor and climb around to help him pull.  

They finally succeed, but just as they get this calf out of the water, the ice breaks and it goes back in!  Agh!  Poor thing...The men on the bank throw another rope to tie to the first and pull the calf the rest of the way out of the water.  Success, so far...

All this time Jenny has been photographing the entire endeavor, and now, she and my two nieces run over to rub it and try to get it warm.  A lady neighbor had blankets in her car and my sister had one, so they bundled it up and kept on rubbing, as Jenny blew on its nose to keep it from icing over.  What a sweet picture!  It was a little heifer calf, which is a girl, for you non-farmers. :) 

Success!  Only now, during the excitement, the tractor had died in the pond as water was very close to the engine, which could be bad; they enlisted the help of another friend and neighbor who brought his backhoe down to pull the tractor out of the pond.  

Oh, the drama of farm living!  Now, Uncle Bo and Clifton must wait to be pulled out.  My uncle said he was freezing!  It had been in the teens that morning!  Brrrrrrrrrr...

The story has a great ending!  The calf belonged to a friend and now is at the vocational school in a heated stall for the Ag. students to work with and learn from.  The tractor was taken to our local tractor company, but was ok.  A line had collapsed, keeping the water from entering the engine, which would have been devastating financially.  

The lady friend had called our local radio station, and they asked for Jenny to send some pics in.  She did, they put it on their morning fax, somehow Channel 9 news saw it and wanted to interview Jenny, the photographer, and our uncle.  That was exciting!  Everything went great, and they were on the news!  The reporters did a superb job in editing and putting together the story!  It was wonderful! 

A pic has been circulating on facebook and instagram, and all we can say is what an exciting adventure it was, as they went on a drive to view and photograph the beautiful winter scenery and happened to be at the right place at the right time.  

What joy is in the making of another memory!

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

Another Storm

A couple of storms ago we had a tree fall across the road and the fences on both sides.

We ran down and met mom and dad and my sister's family to hurry and get the tree out of the road and fix one side of the fence because the cattle were in that field.  

This tree was also used as a fence post.  We were not very sure what kind it was.  Dad thought it might be cherry and the leaves on cherry trees are poisonous to the cattle, so we were trying to get as much of it out of the field as possible.

My dad and his trusty power saw.  So, as he sawed we moved the brush to the other side and stacked firewood to get later.  We fixed the left side you see and, thankfully, the storm was just finishing when we got down there.  We had a couple neighbors stop by and help; that sure was nice.

Just another days' work on the farm, well, an evenings' work.  It keeps one on their toes, and there is never any boredom.

God is so good, and we are so blessed, all 8 of my parents' grandchildren and both, my sister and I and our dahhling, hard-working husbands all live on our century farm.  

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Hay - 2014

It's hay season again!  Dad had already put up a field across from our house, and he and I mowed the field in front of his house, then the girls had all been tedding and raking for him.  This 1st pic we were having to wait while Dad went to help Julia with the rake in another field, sooooo, to pass the time we visit and read the newpaper!  How funny!

Fast forward to now, we are all finished with the 1st cutting of all the hay on the farm, and with this wonderful rain we have had recently, we should get another good  2nd cutting at some point. 

Our cousin C wanted to come and help haul hay, so here are some pics of him working in the Big Field with us.  

If you do not know how we put up hay, square bales or round bales, go here to part 1 of hay season and check it out.

Great job all!  It's much more fun working together!  Training younger men and ladies will prepare them for the many years ahead.  That's what generational faithfulness is about, though only one part of it.  Great job Cousin C!!!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody