Pie II

Daughter #2 baked me a fresh cherry pie yesterday - from scratch! Am I fortunate or what to have two daughters that can bake real pies? The way to a man's heart . . . . .
(and no, I won't let them go!)

I spent several evenings the past week running air lines around the perimeter of our shop. Before we had a nice heated shop, we didn't use air tools. Now we are all set up for convenient use anywhere in the shop.

It has been very humid the past couple of weeks. It has sprinkled or rained about every day. The wheat is mature, but it won't dry down until we get some sunny days. We are eating cherry pie and waiting for harvest.

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Exodus 34:22

Name

The only place in the Bible that my name can be found.

And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God. Joshua 22:33,34

Pie

Today, the old farmer's lovely wife made him a fresh cherry pie! With cherries from our own cherry tree. I ate my piece with a big slab of Schwan's ice cream on it.
Life is good!

But not for everyone.

In the latest issue of Compassion magazine, I read this startling statistic. "The combined wealth of the world's three richest people is greater than the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world's poorest 48 nations." That is mind boggling.

The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Proverbs 29:7

Compassion International has a child sponsership program that we have used for years. Change the world, one child at a time. www.compassion.com

Quick Trips

The old farmer made a couple of quick trips in the last week. It was almost like back in my younger days . . . but not quite. On Wednesday night I drove to Bloomfield, IA, and delivered some seed corn because they had to do some replanting. I spent the night, then Thursday morning I headed up to Des Moines to attend the World Pork Expo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. And yes, it is big time! It is good to meet hog farmers and exhibitors that I have met from throughout the Midwest over the years. There is lots of free food( all pork of course!), lots of exhibits, lots of new products, and educational seminars. I drove home Thursday night. On Saturday night we drove out to Fort Wayne(Leo), Indiana for my niece's graduation party. We got to their house at 2:30 Sunday morning - kinda late for us old folks to be out. The party was Sunday afternoon. We had a nice day and came home on Monday. Illinois has the most consistently good crops. Iowa is behind us and wet, and Indiana is behind us and dry.

Thistles

I spent the day spraying thistles, by hand, on foot, with a backpack sprayer. Not my favorite job. Thistles are hard to kill because they can grow from seeds or from deep underground roots. Tillage doesn't necessarily help, because cut up roots can still produce a plant. They are perennial plants and the wind scatters the seed. Once you have a patch show up in a field, it can take years of persistent spraying to eradicate them. They are a curse, and we can thank Adam and Eve.

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; Genesis 3:18