Old and New/Used

We hauled a battered canoe back from the BWCA on its roof. We hauled my red kayak on it. We pulled our camper around the Rocky Mountains with it and to upstate New York as well as other destinations. It hauled us to Canada and to Florida. We took countless weekend trips with it. Our kids learned to drive in it. At times it was used as a bus hauling Bandos and the Cross Country team. Sometimes it was used as a truck. But alas, retirement was approaching.

I still really like our old van. It was the perfect size for our family, it was great for traveling, and it could pull our camper with ease. The body is in great shape, and it still doesn't burn oil. But it is a 1997 model and it has 244,000+ miles on it. I'm not sure that I would trust it to go on a long trip anymore because at that age anything could happen.
So our transportation consultant brought out to the farm a couple of used vans for us to test drive over the last couple of weeks. We settled on a 2008 Chevy Uplander with 49,000 miles. It is very nice, but I worry about all the electric and electronic gadgets on it because I know they can be maintenance nightmares. It is a little smaller than the Astro, but is a more comfortable ride and gets better gas mileage. I wonder if it has another 200,000 miles in it?

The old Astro will be cleaned out and advertised for sale. It will be a bittersweet parting.

And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

Exodus 14:6

Chaplin & Marx

I was listening to the radio in the combine cab last week, and the announcers started chatting about Charlie Chaplin. Charlie was an actor/comedian from the early years of motion pictures. Another early actor/comedian from the early years was Groucho Marx. I thought of some of my favorite one liners attributed to them.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plain than any politician.
Charlie Chaplin

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.
Groucho Marx

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.
Charlie Chaplin

To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.
Charlie Chaplin

I intend to live forever, or die trying.
Groucho Marx

I must confess, I was born at a very early age.
Groucho Marx

Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.
Groucho Marx

Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
Job 8:21

Saturday Evening

The trough supper and grain bin singing for the young group seemed to be a success, based on the amount of food consumed and the favorable comments. The food was dumped on the tables into foil "troughs" and then everyone sat around the table and ate out of the troughs with their fingers. Some of the girls were a little tentative at first, but the guys dug right in. The food consisted of chuck roast chunks, sausage chunks, rolls, small potatoes, baby carrots, sweet corn, mushrooms, grapes, and watermelon.
After supper, the group strolled over to the new grain bin for a singing. The evening was beautiful and the hymns emanating from the bin added a special ambiance to the moonlit night. I did have to shut down the grain driers for a few hours to give them some quiet for the singing. The old farmer's wife and daughter did a great job hosting.
Tomorrow we will get our shop back.

And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

Genesis 24:20

Clean Shop

We have started corn harvest. About a month earlier than last year.

The women have been feverishly cleaning the farm shop in preparation for a "trough supper" and grain bin singing for the young group this Saturday night. There has been lots of scrubbing, window washing, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming and rearranging going on in there. I hope I can find all of my tools and parts when it is all over. Occasionally you can hear piercing, high pitched screams when daughter #2 finds (apparently) giant prehistoric arachnids.
I keep telling them that it is a farm shop and it doesn't have to be too clean. But it will indeed be much cleaner than it has been in years.
But what if some of our equipment breaks down and we need to use the shop for its intended purpose? Will we get kicked out?


Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
Job 14:4