Thou dost show me the path of life

in thy presence there is fullness of joy… Ps 16:11 NOAB

In 1964 the children’s book Flat Stanley written by Jeff Brown was published. In the story a bulletin board hanging over Stanley Lambchop’s bed fell. It completely flattened Stanley which led to a series of books highlighting adventures that only a flat person could experience.

Three decades later Canadian third grade teacher Dale Hubert started the Flat Stanley project. His students created their own flat people who went on to have adventures of their own.

To my surprise and delight I hosted a flat person for several weeks. Flat Rylee arrived in West Tennessee in a manila envelope delivered by the US Postal Service.  Inside were instructions from my granddaughter’s first grade teacher and a letter from Rylee.

Flat Rylee sits on fouton in Grandmother’s cabin

Over the course of her visit Flat Rylee joined me at work, went to the feed store and library and helped with the farm chores.

Flat Rylee sat down in the hay stack with Sonny

 

Flat Rylee tipped into the Brahma Sonny’s fenced space and sat down in the hay stack with him.

When Sonny became curious about what Flat Rylee was doing there, she left to visit the horses.

Sonny notices Flat Rylee

From a tree she watched as Jack, the Palomino paint, and Bebe, a line-back filly, ate their breakfast.

Jack notices Flat Rylee while Bebe dines

Flat Rylee also visited the local library where she received a yellow kite and a pink flower. She joined librarians Kecia, Laura and Mary Anne in the children’s corner at the tea-table. There she met stuffed pals Love Bug, Angel Bear, Ms. Kitty, Giraffe and Llama Llama.

When it was time for Flat Rylee’s visit to end, she returned home with several 4X6 color prints and a brief description of our travels together.

Any time Flat Rylee cares to visit, she is most welcome.

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee

or thirsty and give thee drink? … And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ 

 Matt  25:37, 40 (NOAB)

Christian youth  in the Mid-South commenced special projects April 21, as part of World Vision’s 30-hour famine awareness program. A child dies from hunger-related causes every 8-12 seconds according to the World Vision Website citing United Nations’ statistics.

Local Youth Ministries, while fasting, took on special projects including  helping out at a local food pantry and on our farm.

Farm gets a make-over

Initially six youngsters and two adults arrived Saturday morning ready to work.  First several youth carried hay in tarps to the outside animals as I related the story of how three pet cattle and two horses came to be in my care.  Later three more teens and an adult arrived adding their labor.

Earlier this year in a rush to provide my farm pals high, dry ground tree limbs were piled outside their newly fenced areas. Stacks of debris were so close to the fence line it has been difficult to deliver feed.

Hauling debris

As discarded branches and pieces of tree trunks were cleared new life walked paths I trudge daily and filled the air with their conversations.  What a blessing and joy it was to have the assistance of BB, Caleb, Colton, Ethan, Kristen, Lindsay, Sam, Will, Zach and their adult counterparts Andrew, Kalee and Lisa.

Take delight in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart  Ps 37:4 (NOAB)

Mock orange bloom

Jesus came and stood among them and said…

“Peace be with you.” John 20:19 (NOAB)

Sonny close up at gate

Sonny peers over gate after trees removed

Recently Sonny brought down several two-inch diameter trees, 15 ft. tall or more. From the cabin the crunching of branches under hooves and backside scratching on hanging debris rang, “I’m looking for a way out!”

This morning with axe and loppers I loosed remnants from root and stump. Next they were thrown outside of Sonny’s space.

When finished I sighed. Now he can amble around clutter-free and peace filled me.

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof

the world and those who dwell therein  Ps 24:1 (NOAB)

The earth is the Lord's

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for

the conviction of things not seen.  Heb 11:1 (NOAB)

Sunshine and laundry

When the element in the dryer of a stacking unit released an electrical odor late in January, I unplugged it. I knew it was close to the one year warranty but there were just a few items pressing in on me.

Finally placing a call to the manufacturer I was two weeks late from delivery of my recreational park trailer to be covered. Just the service call without parts would be $129 so I decided to forego repairs. I have faith the funds will be there in God’s time.

In the interim my laundry has been accumulating.

A good second use for a deck post is tie-down

Predictions for today, my day off, included near 80 degrees. So I purchased a flexible polychord, anchored it to a tree and the recreational park trailer, finding another good use for a deck post having it serve as one end of a clothesline.

This God—his way is perfect

the promise of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.  Ps 18:30 (NOAB)

For three days I cut grass with a push mower and delivered the cuttings to my farm pals: Sonny, Holly, Buff, Jack and Bebe.

Hay is scarce. Following droughts in neighboring states farmers and ranchers learning of available supplies in West Tennessee traveled with their trailers and hauled full loads back to their animals.

Following breakfast grain Bebe diness on hay

The local farm supply held out serving locals until there was no more.  Last weekend I found someone who had older rolls of mixed grass. Two rolls were delivered the next day. While it lacks that fresh, sweet scent my group is accustomed to at least the cattle will eat it with a sprinkling of green. Except for the edges it is too rough to feed the horses.

Jack eats Bermuda with breakfast

Buff washes up while standing in the morning sun

Yesterday I connected with the person who delivered nine square bales of Bermuda a week ago, and he brought us 15 squares.

We have hay. We have fuel. We have grain and chow for all of us. Everyone is in relatively good health.  And we have a safe place to sleep and good tenants for neighbors.

Life is good on the farm thanks to God’s grace.

Early morning on the farm

 

Bebe waits patiently

Sonny catches scent of Bebe

Jack heard Sam outside, stops to watch him

Mel nearly full grown

at 10 months 

Monarch visits rocker

butterfly season

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Shoes and strings offer fun for Mel’s offspring

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In these hard times

community matters

Whether it is the haiku and birder communities on twitter or the thoughts and prayers of former colleagues and my Unity family, I am encouraged by all of them. Yet it is the support of the community I sought to leave that has most surprised and delighted me.

I have long known the kindness and generosity of my next door neighbor who has been there for me when pipes froze, the water heater went kaput and the electrical connection to the trailer hitch began to spark sending smoke into the ethers.

Then there is another neighbor who has been supplying me rolls of hay at cost and who has helped me at crucial times like when Sonny’s horn was broken. This friend sprayed the bleeding remnant at intervals allowing it to heal without infection.

Since my first pink slip two and half years ago I have received support and encouragement from a cohort of librarians at our local library, my haven from home where the Internet connection far surpasses an air card and where computers were available to me before the purchase of my laptop.

This library and the women who work there were my lifeline whether it was during  job searches, house hunting or writing. Through the years they have become dear friends providing ideas, connections and always hugs.

But the real dawning came when members of my local church gave me an assortment of holiday foodstuffs at Thanksgiving that brought home the meaning of community.

Only a hint of snow

or was it

In the morning there was just a hint of its arrival. Scarce, icy droplets glanced off and melted before hitting the ground.

By mid-day the drops turned to flakes floating through the air, and amateur forecasters said there would be no accumulation.

As the temperature dropped one layer carpeted, then two. Well after dusk it was still falling.

In for more snow

Snow is falling and just beginning to cover the ground

Jack surveys the landscape

Bebe finds some hay under the snow

A cardinal looks on as Buff’s photo is taken

Snow is here through the night

Nature’s splendor

  through land_scapes

 

Snow replenishes

Apparitions at water’s edge

Stretching skyward

Pond long view

 

 

 

Happy talk, keep talking happy talk

from South Pacific repeats and repeats

Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics and Richard Rodgers’ melody have been repeating and repeating in mind ever since learning that my cabin-on-wheels is being delivered this week: “You got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”

So what is my dream? To write and do photography from our new 400 square foot home while caring for my large and small pals on the farm, as well as listen to Spirit and follow as guided.

Cabin exterior with porch that will face my large pals (Photo provided by Pinnacle Park Homes)

Kitchen (Photo provided by Pinnacle Park Homes)

Loft (Photo provided by Pinnacle Park Homes)

Placed and ready

for tie-down

Placed and ready for tie-down

 

After eight days of waiting for the ground to dry my cabin-on-wheels that has been sitting in the circular drive now awaits tomorrow’s tie-down. A crew of five took several hours pulling up old stablizers, placing tracking pads, spotting, backing up, pulling out, re-aligning and making another attempt at the tight space to get the unit to fit like a glove facing the woods.

Pulling up previous stabilizers

Placing tracking pads under wheels

Ready to back in place

Placed and ready for tie-down

Settling into his new home

The Brahma Sonny has found a favorite place to recline

The Brahma is settling in to his new home

The Brahma Sonny in repose

Living simply

and simply living

With the cabin behind them up on the hill Sonny and Bebe share a meal

This weekend is filled with joy and sunshine. Our move completed by day’s end Friday all tasks ahead seem lightweight by comparison.

Jack

Oh there is a creosote post to place, some wire to tighten, contents of plastic containers to sort, writing, photography and advertisers to obtain to sustain us.

Holly at her new home

Most importantly all 18 pals are safe and becoming acquainted with their new surroundings.

Jack and Bebe with Buff in background

Life is simple, and we are simply living.

Nikki is learning the window sill is off limits

Tiger stripes Ty, Mimi, Nikki and orange tabby Gordy inside the cabin

Thanks to you, God, for peace now.

Spring rises

over the Charolais-Angus bull’s space

Flowering tree blooms three days into spring

Cabin will now keep us cool or warm and cozy

as weather fluctuates

 

Not only canines Peek and Sam watch the HVAC installation but so does The Brahma Sonny

 

While the cabin has a fireplace unit that has provided some heat when the temperature drops as it did last night, it has not been sufficient to make our home toasty.

And during the last few days temperatures have reached the mid-80′s. Even with windows open and two ceiling fans, it was a  might too warm inside.

All that was remedied today when the heating and air conditioning installers attached an outdoor unit to our small living space.

Yesterday I created a dog run with the gate yet to be mounted knowing the installers would need access to the bedroom with the electrical panel where canines Peek and Sam stay.  The dog run was secure enough for the work to go forward and be completed today.

Peek and Sam watch HVAC installers from their newly created outdoor run

Holly initiates grooming

in the early morning

 

 

Holly started the grooming session this morning through strands of barbwire

 

 

 

 

Then Sonny reciprocated

 

And he continued to affectionately groom her

 

 

 

 

 

Holly does have his full attention

When the sense of touch

 is really speech

It was a simple writing exercise: Combine three words in a timed piece of writing using one of the words in a leading sentence. In today’s meeting of the Collierville Christian Writers Group the words were book, yesterday and Georgia.

Last to read, I could not get out what came to me on the page. I choked. Melancholy had not been my mood upon entering the room. I have a good life. I adore my pets and thoroughly enjoy a simple lifestyle which includes writing and photography. And after all it has been 17 years.

What I wrote follows:

“Georgia on my mind” streaming through WUMR took me back to you and all the yesterdays we shared. After you left I was numb and stayed so for months or was it years? I’m not sure. I don’t remember when I wanted to live again. It just happened. Books you introduced me to were a cocoon.

After the meeting, another writer asked if I had sought out a therapist after my husband’s passing. I told her the only therapists I met with regularly were 10 wagging tails. With drapes closed sitting on the carpeted floor and as tears flooded my eyes, seven orphaned pups my mother-in-law asked me to rescue from her farm as well as three I already had would gather round me. As they tumbled over each other and played tug-of-war my sadness turned to smiles. The orphans rescued me.

As for books, truthfully, it was Raymond Moody’s 1975 book Life after life which got me through. Moody, a psychiatrist, interviewed 150 people who had experienced near death. In his study Moody identified several common components of a near death experience. They included an impression of being outside of one’s physical body, floating or traveling through a tunnel and meeting and communicating with a being of light.

As mentioned in an earlier post my husband Floyd thanked God daily for the gift of life. It was his first utterance upon waking. While he had his share of trips to the emergency room I never faced what if—what if he should leave before I was ready to say goodbye.

When he did leave at age 54 I thought about all the ways in which he had gone before me, teaching me what he knew. If he could pass through the veil of death, then surely I could too. It was no longer such a scary prospect.

Not only was Floyd my mentor, he was my comic-in-residence. Rarely a day went by without laughter in our household. Yet he did not joke about others but rather poked fun at himself. If you heard laughter in a crowded room and Floyd was present more than likely he was entertaining a gathering.

About six months after being widowed I had a dream. However this was not a dream in the traditional sense. In it Floyd was levitating above a wall that did not go all the way to the ceiling. He reached over the wall and tousled my hair speaking to me. Oh, not the way people usually talk to one another. He was speaking through touch. I perceived him say, “You need more laughter in your life.”

Upon waking I was certain that he had actually touched me through time and space, another dimension, another reality. Could it be that this life is really the dream?

A spring greeting

from rural West Tenn.

A bird’s neighborly welcome

Buff says, Come over and let’s get acquainted

Howdy, Jack says

Holly says Hello and welcome visitor

A regal good morning to you from Sonny

Precious Bebe says Good morning too!

Nature creates an opening

for fellowship            

Mower on loan in yard freshly cut

A local farmer and friend came through for me yesterday loaning me the mower he salvaged from three push mowers. My friend has a pet peeve. He told me it infuriates him when people move out from the city and cut their grass down to the nub.

This is a farming community not town where neighbors compete for the best looking yard, he said. So he set the mower a bit high off the ground.

This was OK by me since it was better to cut the tall grass, which it did. He also sharpened the blade to get the most obtrusive weeds, which it did.

Afterward I looked around and felt gratified. Perfect it was not since the rough edges remained. Yet perfect it was in the sense that it is part of nature.

My brother reminded me yesterday that all is not supplication or even listening and following what is heard. There is fellowship, fellowship with God.

In nature there is a heightened awareness of the Divine and always fellowship.

A tree frog finds refuge

following the storm

A tree frog sits on porch rocker after night of stormy weather

Settling into life

on our new farm

Sonny and Holly together

The Brahma Sonny and 12 year old heifer Holly have been extraordinarily lovey-dovey of late. It must be spring!

Palomino paint Jack has moved to a space adjoining Buff, the Charolais-Angus bull who has been spending time up against their shared fence.

Sweetest of all, chestnut Bebe, whose leg was injured the end of April, is nearly healed. She began prancing about as her grain was served yesterday. New tissue has filled the gouge and a sulfur-oil antifungal crème is being applied to complete the repair. Soon her bandage will be reduced to expose the edges of her wound to the air.

Tiger stripe kittens Ty and Mimi turned one year the end of May and both are solicitous of affection just like their mother Nikki. Tab, Alma, Gordy—orange tabbies—and sister Audrey enjoyed their first anniversary the beginning of June.

The only long hair in the group, Gordy, goes everywhere including the kitchen counter despite my admonitions. He is quick, whether leaping in the air on fly-catching missions or escaping capture jumping from the loft to the living room below.

When storms arrive, which have been occurring frequently, Peek, an all-American canine, panics. So she, and another canine Sam, and 17 year old feline Patches join me in the living room where we watch through the glass door tree branches sway and listen to the rain and sometimes hail spitter-spat on the metal roof.

Watching nature’s showy display with some trepidation we see lightning strikes and hear the thunder on its heels.

By grace we are settling into our new home.

July has been

a busy month

Pulling poison ivy vine from tree

Rev. Jim and son Tom arrived early one morning and began stretching three strands of barbwire up the hill expanding Buff’s space among the trees and ground cover of pine needles. Buff did not have a clean, dry square-foot of ground before Rev. Jim and Tom went to work. After a very wet spring Buff’s previously fenced area was tramped down and muddy.

The men pulled vines from trees, helped remove large fallen tree limbs and did not leave until Buff was released into new quarters. By day’s end Buff had repositioned himself and sat in every corner, tasted the foilage and rubbed against sapplings, scratching his backside. A content bovine is he.

Buff tastes foilage

Rolls of hay protected

by a blue tarp

Improvised tie down

A large roll of hay lasts a week since the horses and cattle do not have any pasture on our new farm. For close to a year now the nutritional value of the hay we have been receiving has been minimal. Despite a reasonable price, the hay was a year old and had been left uncovered. In some cases, I had to remove half the outer hay to get to clean, dry layers.

Changing the animals feed to a higher quality grain to compensate for poor forage helped but was still insufficient nutrition. And at the end of each week I became anxious about where we were going to get the next roll of hay and what the quality would be. Each roll seemed to vary in the amount of waste.

Rolls of hay delivered

Through a gracious gift from friends Jimmie and Dee we received 21 rolls of freshly cut hay last week. Jimmie and Dee own a nearby farm where much of their land is in pasture. Without animals they just wanted the grass to be cut and hay not left in the fields which is what happened last year when a contractor cut and baled but never returned to collect it.

After a year with the hay left in the fields to rot, using a tractor but no spear Dee pushed the rolls off into outlying gullies and treed areas. Once again, it was Rev. Jim, their minister and mine, who put us together. For arranging to have their grass cut, baled and hauled, I could keep whatever percentage the new contractor would agree to share and deliver.

Grass cutting on Jimmie and Dee's farm

It took me a couple of months to get someone to do the work. Yet, in the end, 67 rolls were baled, and we received 21 rolls which will last us through November. More than likely there will be another cutting this summer.

Relief, joy, grace and hay abound.

Hay bale released

Bebe improves exponentially

following farm visit by vet

Bebe three days after vet visit

Injured three months ago my sweet filly, Bebe, had reached a plateau with her recovery. There was a lip along the inside leading edge of her leg just below the hock, and skin would not cover it.

So last week I called our large animal vet, Amy, who arrived Friday and trimmed a half-inch of granulated tissue.

With instruction to clean, apply prescription strength medicine and bandage daily, Bebe made marked improvement in 24 hours.

Now three days later it is obvious she will most likely heal without residual scarring, for which I am immensely grateful.

Outdoor water arrives

with perfect timing

For nearly a week we have had a superb outdoor faucet thanks again to Rev. Jim and one of his grown sons, Jake.

Jake prepares outdoor faucet

When we moved to this new location a previously installed faucet leaked in two places. Wanting to avoid pushing it to a gusher, I opted to fill buckets from the kitchen sink and haul them outside including up the hill to provide water to Bebe, Buff, Jack, Holly and Sonny—outdoor large farm pals.

Jake completes installation of new freeze-proof faucet

All this week with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees and higher heat indices (117 yesterday), oh how thankful I am to run a long hose out to three and just haul buckets from there to the Charolais bull and filly.

And Rev. Jim, who grew up in Arkansas and knows about farming, has been instructing me in best uses of fertilizer, i.e. for the garden, as well as helping me plan for planting seasonal grasses for rotating my horses and cattle.

Rev. Jim rakes equine manure for garden

This former suburbanite may one day be a real farmer!

With a whip and a snap yesterday’s storm dismounted

four rolls of hay

Chores completed I bathed then sat down in my chair with a book around noon yesterday. After what seemed like a few minutes waking I saw through the glass doors a steely sky and stood up.

While I snoozed to my amazement wind whipped, grommets snapped and four rolls of hay dislodged and dismounted from their placement. Rain was coming down soaking the outer layers of all seven rolls formerly protected and now exposed to the storm.

Makeshift cover

I pulled together every available tarp and did not return to the cabin until all were covered. It has been nearly a month since 17 rolls of hay were delivered and double-stacked. The four rolls that had been in standalone positions are all but gone.

With neither tractor nor spear I have been pondering how to tackle the large stack. Now I have another two months before addressing this issue. By then, perhaps another fortuitous event will occur—like the wind!

Coffee ministry provides

overseas and locally

Gabrielle visits Jack (Photo by Maggie S.)

Last week I started a part-time job as the manager of a church coffee shop which is actually a ministry. The coffee sold by the cup, in bulk and as beans is grown primarily in Rwanda. It is both a reconciliation project and provides growers with a fair living.

The coffee shop opens for a couple of hours in the mornings and evenings. Volunteers work some of the shifts, and I work others, as well as order and shop for supplies and record the accounts. A college freshman who has been in the position during the summer trained me last week, and she will begin Friday pursuing her educational goals.

It has been 19 months since my former employment ended, and I was surprised to discover how working again made me feel—useful. Yes, I volunteer one day a month at our local food pantry which provides gratification; however, being paid in exchange for work has an added benefit that extends beyond the financial reward.

Gabrielle with Jack at gate (Photo by Maggie S.)

Moreover, my new 15-hour a week position allows me time for other pursuits: taking care of the farm, writing and photography, all through God’s grace.

What’s a little barbwire between friends?

Sonny’s share of hay captures Holly’s interest

Holly is welcome to Sonny's hay and even his grain

A lick of the ear shows appreciation

Cooler weather brings relief

and Bebe’s bandage is removed

Bebe with bandage removed

Bebe eats hay in cool of afternoon

Cool Jack

After four and a half months Bebe loses the bandage

Jack in profile eats hay

Another September day

just before a sprinkling of rain                                                               

Jack comes downhill to Sonny to see if more food is on the way

Cats move

to new digs within cabin

In preparation for a spiritual retreat, Walk to Emmaus, the end of October I have been pondering how to arrange for pet care for my domestic critters. In meditation this morning it came to me to move the cats downstairs from the loft into the bedroom.

Since my cabin is required to be not more than 400 square feet according to Recreational Park Trailer Industry Association standard my loft is for storage only. I cannot standup in it but rather crawl about on knees and have calluses to prove it.

It was half a day’s project to clear the bedroom of plastic containers filled with clothing and labeled: long sleeve blouses, short sleeve blouses, work jeans, good jeans, good T’s, sweats, fall slacks, wool slacks, boots and shoes….

Six of the 10 felines had been fed when the move began. Later the remaining four had their opportunity to dine in new quarters. There are many advantages to having them in the bedroom. For one thing several will no longer be able to scratch their litter boxes and send treasures with clumping litter particles to the downstairs landing in my bucket chair.

Also they will not be able to see my comings and goings registering their complaints when they are ignored as I haul groceries into the cabin and cook dinner. They will not have the freedom to run up and down the stairs giving chase or eluding capture. Nor are they going to jump at will from the loft to the living room or shinny up a support beam to outsmart and out maneuver me.

They also will not be jumping up on my sink when my back is turned, checking out dishes that may have been left from breakfast or strolling across my kitchen counter to snoop around the oven range. And the roughhewn wood trim which displays claw tracks will be rubbed out successfully with sandpaper because they will not be back tomorrow to mark them again.

Moreover I can leave a water dish out on the floor, as well as let a couple out at a time to play and roam in a closed room.

The two dogs are fine with the new arrangement because they are spending time in the living room; and Sam is in the bathroom when I am going in and out of the bedroom just in case someone scurries by me.

Much more remains to be done. The loft needs sheets removed that were used as carpet cover and a thorough vacuuming. Then plastic boxes will be placed upstairs and arranged for easy access, or so I plan.

It is getting on toward evening and from the pitter pat on the metal roof I can tell a light rain has arrived. Jack has come down from the hill to see if any food is being delivered. I let out the last two one-year olds to explore their new surroundings and am heading outside to give hay to the outdoor crew before a full-fledged storm rolls in.

A slight breeze, modest sun and my outdoor pals

Early October with Sonny in repose

find October pleasing

Sonny believes in sharing

as long as the sharing is with Holly

Holly has learned Sonny gets two helpings of grain

In an effort to stimulate weight gain Sonny has been receiving two helpings of grain in the morning along with a cup of alfalfa pellets.

Sonny shares his grain with Holly

Foxy Holly has learned when she finishes her ration and meanders down Sonny’s way he will share with her. And she does not really need any extra. Workers installing our HVAC system said they had never seen a bovine with such a flat topped backside.

Getting every last pellet

Atop 22 ft. ladder

caulking under eaves

Caulking under eaves of metal roof

Standing on 22 ft. extension ladder

Challenges open the door

for dreams

We are in the rainy season and flooding has begun. With insufficient shelter save for some trees I dream of completed fencing on high, dry ground and adjoining fields of pasture with run-in shelter for my big pals.

Flooding behind Sonny's space with more rain expected

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve the coffee shop will close, a perfect time to work on my e-book. If in keeping with your will for me, God, may such be well received providing for those in my care?

Day one of rain

This is my prayer leaving 2011 and entering 2012.  I acknowledge 2011 has been the best year with your abundant gifts.

Cabin sports remnants of snow

with  a drop in temps to freezing in the midst of rainy nights

Cabin sports remnants of snow

Seeing art

 in stacked rock

Tennessee Department of Transportation workers have been moving earth and heavy rock beside a road that crosses a river and bottomland. Recently someone stacked several pieces at the westside entrance  to the road construction, depicting art in the balance.

Longview of stacked rock at beginning of road construction

Rock sculpture

Welcoming the New Year

with peace and joy

 

Fed grain to lure her into the new space Holly rests

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A future and a hope by God’s grace

For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.  Jer 29:11-15 (NOAB)

I signed two documents in my attorney’s office on Jan. 10, 2012. The first document was a purchase agreement set to close within 30 days. The second document, a handwritten note from the seller prompted by complaints about animal odors, had me agree to reduce my “four” large pets by half that number stating that the land would not support them all and move the remaining animals 300 yards from the nearest rental unit on the property. It is worthy to note that an acre of ground is nearly 70 yards squared and easy to see that 300 yards away would place us on someone else’s land.

After losing my farm in 2010 and moving to an adjacent property, I agreed to remove a damaged mobile that had been on the seller’s land, move my own structure there, house my animals on the treed tract of land, developing it with fencing, and have an option to purchase the entire 5.88 acres within the year.

We were a little more than two months out from exhausting the one year option when I received Christmas money to fence additional space for the Brahma Sonny and heifer Holly getting them up on high ground, out of mud and 45 yards from the nearest mobile home.

Two days into the New Year Sonny and Holly were moved to their new areas. But it was the expansion of the baby bull Buff’s space higher up into the trees that drew the ire of another bringing the owner out of retirement and back to Tennessee to get me to agree to the terms of the handwritten note or face eviction.

With a foreclosure in my recent past finding someone to finance the manufacture of my cabin-on-wheels was nothing short of a miracle. Yet now I needed to finance an even bigger chunk, the land on which the cabin sits.

It turns out that 2011 was the best year of my life: I found Jesus, was baptized and took the Walk to Emmaus, committing myself to discipleship and living my life as an obedient child of the Most High.

Just as the Scripture promises, God has a plan for my life to bring me hope and restore me. It took just 15 days for the LORD to part my Red Sea, allow me to walk on dry land to the other side and close on the purchase of the 5.88 acres.

Happy Birthday Jack and Bebe

may you enjoy many more years in excellent health

Jack, the Palomino paint, will be 10 years old Mar. 20, and Bebe celebrated her seventh year of life Feb. 8.  Plans to move them both to higher ground was delayed by alternating frigid then wet weather. Also there was the threatened eviction countermanded by the miraculous land purchase.

On a bed of pine needles Jack and Bebe eat Bermuda

Finally both Jack and Bebe spent their second night on a bed of pine needles among the trees. While it took Jack seconds to decide to enter and dine on fresh hay, Bebe needed coaxing to walk between two trees, pawing the ground between them then following a waving fist full of Bermuda grass.

Space between the trees is entrance to a bed of pine needles

For thou hast delivered my soul from death

yea, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. 

Ps 56:13 (NOAB)

You are in the wilderness now but not for 40 years, I vow.  You are safe.  We are blessed to have this land. The trees serve not only as fence posts but shelter as well. And soon there will be warm, dry weather.  We can plant grass. You’ll see.

In the forest looking toward Jack and Bebe

Jack flanked by Bebe

Holly, our beautiful heifer

There is no market for pine,” he said—“Nothing here but pulp and fence posts.  Lumber harvested after Katrina is still plentiful and construction is down, you know“ from one among an extended family who still logs with horses and mules. “Since you just want to create pasture, perhaps you can find someone just to take if off your hands.  I recommend heavy equipment to clear the rest.”

Every now and then I peer through the brush to glimpse the golden hue of Shangri-La less than 100 yards away.

Shangri-La

And which of you by being anxious

can add one cubit to his life span? Matt 6:27 (NAOB)

This was my first Ash Wednesday, and my first Lenten season. In the past I heard people mention giving up something for Lent but never gave much thought to the practice.

Now that I am a Christian Lent has new meaning.

While volunteering to serve breakfast and luncheon meals at the most recent Emmaus Walk for men, I met one of the table leaders from my October Walk. It is hers and her husband’s ministry, she explained, to give copies of Sarah Young’s 365 day devotional book, Jesus Calling.

At my Walk there was a table with various books worth reading that people were sharing with one another. Jesus Calling was among these books.  I picked it up, read a few pages and put it down. I was mostly interested in reading Scripture and evidence that Jesus was who he said he was, the Son of God, the Way, the Truth and the Light.

Yet upon reconnecting with Charlotte I found an interest in receiving this pocket-size devotional. It is written in first person, as if Jesus was speaking directly to the reader.

For the date of Jan. 4 (my birth anniversary) it reads: “I WANT YOU TO LEARN A NEW HABIT. Try saying, ‘I trust You, Jesus’ in response to whatever happens to you.”  As challenges arose, which they invariably do, I reminded myself to trust and a peace enveloped me.  Curiously, solutions just as easily wove in and out of my life.

Then it came to me: For Lent, I am going to give up worry. To fully understand the significance of this Lenten gift, it is important to know that as a child my family knick-named me the Worry Wart. Through the years I have made improvements but never truly released my worry habit. Old and familiar, it returns.

For the first seven days of Lent, I had immense peace.  I told God, after Lent I was not going to take worry back.

Then something occurred that challenged me again, a person popped up with personality traits that pushed buttons, and there was worry running around talkie talking in my mind.

Repentant, asking forgiveness for not even making it into my second week of a 40-day commitment, I returned to trusting in Jesus, his Presence beside me, before me and within.

Have no anxiety about anything

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. Phil 4:6 (NOAB)

A week before new tenants were scheduled to move in I had my first walk through of a mobile home purchased the end of January and learned of minor repairs. It would be another several days before I would discover the furnace was not operational and there were plumbing issues.

Ceiling above shower repaired

The end of February I learned how to remove a door lock, have it re-keyed at the local hardware store, remove mildew above a shower, treat the ceiling, place steel wool around pipes leading into cupboards and replace a strip of metal where carpet in the living room met kitchen linoleum.

But the 1994 Coleman furnace required greater expertise than I possessed.

New shelf paper in master bath

Through prayer and supplication a solution emerged.  An HVAC contractor was called out and he diagnosed the problem: either replace the starter and additional parts or install a new furnace.  I did the former and the day before the tenants brought their three cats and began moving in there was heat.

For them it is a temporary home until they have a new residence built. For me it is thanksgiving for God’s grace.