Whoops

This weekend was our yearly revival. A preacher who pastored our church for over 14 years returns each fall with his wife and two grown sons who are now ministers and the three men hold a meeting. Our community loves their "homecoming" as many lives were touched while they lived here.
Rod is not only a great person, father, minister, and husband but is part comedian and has a great sense of humor. He won't mind me sharing this story with you...I'm pretty sure he won't?! ...Maybe he won't find it.
He and his wife had just moved to our community. The boys who were about 6 and 7 loved to come visit our ranch so Rod would bring them out to visit. On one occasion the threesome arrived with one of the boys wearing a cap they'd found along the road. Across the top of the navy blue cap- advertisement of "Mable's Whorehouse" printed in large white letters. My dad and mom didn't know what to do or say when they showed up at the house and the small boy was wearing the illicit hat. They didn't say anything.
Later that day they received a phone call from Rod's wife. Exasperated and apologizing. She said when her boys returned home she almost fainted. Besides being livid that he had let the boys pick up a hat along the side of the road and wear it, she sat amazed as Rod defended himself. He just couldn't figure out what the big deal was about letting their son wear a hat all over town that advertised "Mable's Warehouse" on it. Yep, he had let his youngest advertise old Mable's establishment all day long in and around our small town-thinking she sold tools.
My dad has never let him live that story down, and brings it up each year when they hold their meeting
That incident years ago didn't effect the poor guys preaching career. Tonight he shared a wonderful sermon charging us to rely on God during sufferings here on earth, and melodically recited this cute poem he had memorized.

Two frogs fell into a can of cream,

Or so I've heard it told;

The sides of the can were shiny and steep.

The cream was deep and cold.

"O, what's the use?" croaked No. 1.

"Tis fate; no help's around.

Goodbye, my friends! Goodbye, sad world!"

And weeping still, he drowned.

But Number 2, of sterner stuff,

Dog-paddled in surprise,

The while he wiped his creamy face

And dried his creamy eyes.

"I'll swim awhile, at least," he said-

Or so I've heard he said;

"It really wouldn't help the world

If one more frog were dead."

An hour or two he kicked and swam,

Not once he stopped to mutter,

But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked.

Then hopped out, via butter!

-T.C. Hamlet

Hebrews 12: 1-2: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

When Irish Eyes Are...Laughing?...Jigging?

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My husband's family is Irish. This weekend we enjoyed a reunion of this robust, musical, borderline rowdy bunch. Descendants of 11 siblings- 8 boys, and 3 girls- whose legendary roots began when patriarch Augustus came over from Ireland in the early 1800's, met to carry on traditions such as the "Laughing Song" and "jigging" (an Irish dance which the 8 brothers performed throughout their lives). I had watched Brad's grandfather, W.S., perform this dance over 30 years ago at a reunion when he was about 70. This week I watched in amazement as a nephew of W.S. (a Dallas preacher in his 60's, who could also play the harmonica, bass guitar and sing) cut a rug once again.
Yesterday descendants reminisced as they viewed a film from the late 40's of the 8 brothers in their prime, enjoying life, each other, and this legendary dance. A circle of well dressed men (as in suits and ties) was formed by the 8 brothers. One brother would take center stage, do his best at jigging, then shuffle back in line, letting the next brother take a turn. It was a slow methodical extravaganza with each brother's dance a little different than the previous. In many ways it reminded me of the Irish Immigrant dance scene from the Titanic, but suited and a little less rowdy.
Memories of the "Laughing Song" included the fact that the brother's performances were improved after a trip to the trunk of their cars. Yesterday someone had a copy of the words so we gave it our best shot...no trips to the car--honest--cross my heart. It had everyone laughing...it's just an infectious song. Youtube it-George Johnson's Laughing Song. We think it must have originated here in the 1890's.
I'm mostly German. No "Laughing Songs" or jigging at our reunions. We eat, talk about the weather, the markets, and go home. I'm not complaining, that's all I knew...Until I married an Irishman.

For He Will Give His Angels Charge Concerning You, To guard you in all your ways

Today I praise the Lord. We lost a calf, but it so easily could have been our oldest son. An electrical line that ran from our barn to an old branding shed had blown loose last night during a rain storm. We had just turned some calves out in the lot yesterday. Our son realized one of the calves was down so went to check on it. The calf was dead. He didn't notice the line, and went ahead and roped on to drag it off. It wasn't until he had secured the rope to the calf did he notice the line dangling. It was then that he realized it had been electrocuted. Luckily the breaker had blown when the calf touched it so it wasn't hot when our son was working with the calf.
I pray daily for the Lord to encamp his angels around my family. Thank You Lord
Psalms 34: 7; Psalms 91:11

A Trip To The Sale Barn

We sorted cattle last week and dropped by a local auction barn to check on an upcoming sale. Sale barns have been a part of my life. During earlier days most communities had a local sale barn. Today it's been whittled down to the "survival of the fittest." With auctions being offered via satellite and internet a lot of buyers go that route instead. I still love to visit them.

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Unloading cattle for the sale




The Auctioneer will auction from the center
as cattle are brought into the ring. Ring men
are located around the perimeter of the ring
taking bids.

Buyers are seated "theater fashion" and
bid in various ways; raising a finger, tipping
their hat, winking, nodding their head etc.
Seasoned buyers have a trademark bid that
the ring man will recognize.


Most sale barns have a cafe, but most are not
this nice and clean.



The homemade pies here were hard to pass up

Naked and Hungry

AG PRODUCERS...Check out HSUS' 100 point Change AGENDA FOR ANIMALS. It includes a White House Animal Protection Liaison appointee (such as Carol Browner...read link below) and also within their site--our President promoting their agenda. Couple this with more White House Socialist minded czar appointees, and the handwriting's not too hard to read. I urge all of you to join Barbara Jacques and I in boycotting ABC CBS NBC CNN (they've been banned from my home for the past year) These news outlets have been relentless in portraying ag producers in a very negative light. No one else will fight this battle for us. It's up to us to let citizens know that...COLD, NAKED and HUNGRY is what WE ALL WILL BE without AG. I say WILL because these liberal efforts at AG destruction so far is succeeding; for instance the success of HSUS in banning horse slaughter or HR 503/s.727. For those of you that don't know, this has devastated not only the horse industry as a whole but the poor horses as well; there is now no market for old horses so many are left starving along roadsides, in peoples pastures without water, etc because of the owner's inability to feed them. For non producers information; the HSUS is the Humane Society of the United States. You see their ads asking for 19.00 to save an abused animal. This is not your local pet shelter. A good portion of that money goes to legislate ag producers out of business. Their main objective is to put an end to Animal Agriculture.
Please Pass This On and Please read the article on Carol Browner...it gives you a glimpse of the ideology guiding this administration.
Andy

Biting The Hand That Feeds You

I received this email from a great friend and fellow agriculture producer this morning. I want to get her message out all across the nation: What I want the citizens of our great nation to gleen...NAKED, HUNGRY, AND COLD-THAT'S WHAT YOU'D BE WITHOUT AG! (The news channels listed have been banned from my house for over year)

TIRED OF HOLLYWOOD!

I am fed up! Last night, the show CSI Miami was the straw that broke the camel's back! This show depicted American farmers and ranchers as evil crooks who cared nothing about human life, only money. They showed cattle standing in sewage that drained onto crops and killed people with E.coli. Another victim died of botulism from an ear of corn that had been genetically modified. They had it all, including cover-ups and even stealing land from a poor family farmer. One of the lines in the script stated how ignorant and uneducated rural people are. The show ended with all the CSI agents going home and tending their organic gardens and raising their own food. There was not one accurate detail in this show. It was all propaganda.

This comes on the heels of The Larry King Show on CNN last week as well as multiple hits by the media who has used the full range of lies and false information to slam American agriculture. Articles by the New York Times and Time Magazine, and the movie Food Inc are just a few examples. They are trying to upset the balance of our world food supply and they are so arrogant they don’t realize the devastation they are bringing about for our nation and the world. If they actually wanted to make a difference they could have easily worked in some information on food safety. This actually would have been very helpful and would have done some good. Nothing like this was mentioned in any of the articles or shows.

I may be one of those ignorant rural people, but I AM SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW that I don’t have to watch their networks any longer. NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN will NOT be airing in this household ANY LONGER! Trust me, life will go on without their daily dose of propaganda.

Hollywood has been trying their best to teach our children to be shallow, greedy, violent, and void of any morals what so ever. Here are some suggestions for shows that I would like to see on TV. I want to see a show on the hundreds of young people that die each year from eating disorders because they think they need to look like a movie star. I want to see a show exposing the numbers of deaths that could be credited to the violence that Hollywood feeds our children on a daily basis. I would like a show exposing how many illegitimate children are born each day because Hollywood has taught our children that it is cool to have casual sex. The sequel can be a show about the spread of HIV and how many people die each day from that disease. Let’s talk about substance abuse, and how “the stars” have taught our society that it must be okay because they drink and take drugs all the time with no
consequences. But let’s be very clear….….it is not about the money.

For those of you who are not involved in agriculture, it is very doubtful that you have any idea of the battles that are fought every single day in order for you to have food on your plate. I hope you will take a stand against the garbage that these networks are feeding to us and to our families. PLEASE TAKE A STAND AND TURN TO A CHANNEL OTHER THAN CBS, CNN, NBC, OR ABC!!!! It may surprise you how little you miss them!
Barbara Jacques

Glamor On The Farm? Forget It

Mud, dogs, dog poop, cats, cat poop, more dogs, neighbor’s dogs, horse manure, cow manure, wet dogs. Ranch life pleasures are innumerable, but these things are sometimes hard to appreciate.
It had finally gone on sale. The cute little floral print dress I’d been eying, in my favorite clothing catalog for the past six months was on sale. Visions of wearing it to town...away from dogs and other varmints, mud and excretions, danced in my head. I quickly called in my order knowing that if I waited too long my size might be gone. I had a small problem, my husband and I would be leaving on Saturday to visit our daughter and son-in-law and wouldn’t be back for several days. I wanted that dress. I placed the order, relieved that the order taker promised a three day arrival...Friday. That would work. Friday arrived, no dress. No problem. I’ll leave the UPS man a great big note on our back door with great big explicit directions to leave the box inside our unlocked house. Neighbors, kids, family and friends were alerted to watch for the cargo.
When I returned home, I anxiously looked for the UPS box. I searched the back porch, the back entry hall, the pantry, kitchen...nothing. I called all alertees inquiring about the package. They had seen nothing. I called the company. It had gone out as planned and I should have received it by now. Several weeks went by, and the dress fetish relinquished..
One cold afternoon with temperatures in the teens and snow blowing, I pulled out of our driveway to go to town. As I drove out I noticed a lifeless, frozen, snow covered heap in my front yard. I stopped and made my way to the middle of the yard. Brushing the fresh snow away revealed a box covered not only with frozen snow, but frozen poop as well. Stuck like super glue to the ground was a box. It wouldn’t budge. I kicked it hard prying it loose. The return address: J.Jill Inc. My dress! So much for the UPS man’s direction taking. After some questioning I found out he had left the package on a bench under our carport. Lilly, our Old English Sheepdog thought he'd left it for her. The company sent a new dress, free of charge. Lilly would end up destroying that one too. Washing instructions recommended; hand washable, line dry. So I hung it on the line...for her amusement she thought. I would later find it ripped and tattered...once again in the yard. Glamor on the farm? I'm having trouble finding it.