Cats

So many cats . . . so few recipes!

The old farmer and his wife finally joined the modern world and bought smart phones.  Now I can make phone calls with an expensive phone that has to be charged every day instead of a free phone that I charge every week or two.  And now in social situations, I can stare at my hand instead of paying attention to what's going on around me.
Since the new phone has a decent camera, I am going to try to take more pictures.  While feeding the cats last week, I snapped some pictures for my granddaughters.  I feed cats in two different places, plus one group eats dog food.  All but one or two of the cats are wild.  They will only let you get close when you feed them.  Many won't even show until after I am gone, so I have never gotten a count of how many we actually have right now.  It's at least 20 and maybe as high as 30.

The barn cats.

 The darker and black cats seem to like to eat from the dog dish.  There are 4 or 5 of them in this picture.

 The shed cats.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
Psalm 34:10

Thanksgiving

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 69:30

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:17






Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
Psalm 75:1

Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Psalm 97:12

Snow and Culture

The first snow of the season came Friday night/Saturday morning.  I spent the day Friday preparing and thought we were ready for it.  It came as wet, heavy snow and by late morning power lines were going down.  We lost power before 11:00 and the automatic generator started, which powers the hog house ventilation and the well.  After lunch I went out to hook up the big PTO powered generator that runs the whole farm, and spent two hours trying to get it to run and failed.  Since we can't do chores without power, at about 5:00 my brother drove the tractor to a neighbor's farm a few miles down the road and borrowed theirs.  We had the borrowed generator running about 15 minutes when Ameren restored our power!
I was expecting the snow, but was totally surprised by the 6 degree temperature on Sunday morning!  If that isn't a record low for this time in November, it has to be close.

We quickly finished chores Saturday evening, and the old farmer cleaned up and put on his going to town clothes.  Nephew Ned was in town as he is performing with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra this season.  I really enjoyed the music selection.  The concert opened with an Overture by Verdi, then came Suite from the Firebird by Stravinsky.  The last work was a Concerto by Dvorak that featured a famous guest cellist.  Ned spent the night with us, we visited late, so it was a short one.

Sunday afternoon, we hustled over to Morton to experience the Morton Community Chorus' performance of George Frideric Handel's great oratorio, Messiah.  Both of our daughters, a son, and a son-in-law were singing with the choir.  It was an impressive, inspiring performance and was a great way to start the Christmas season.  Since first singing it in High School, it has always been my favorite choral work.  Handel composed it in 24 days in 1741, and the scriptural text is based on the King James Bible (Psalms from Book of Common Prayer).  It begins with Old Testament prophecies, continues with Christ's Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and ends with his glorification in heaven. It is the best known and most frequently performed choral work in Western music.

After the performance, we made a quick supper stop at Culver's, then headed back to church for the Sunday evening hymn sing.  Marshall and Jan shared their story of their call to be missionaries in Mexico, and a brief synopsis of their twenty years of work there.  They shared some of the challanges, victories, and changes seen during their time in the field.  We are thankful for God's provision and protection.  We pray that God will continue to bless the church that was planted in Ixtlan.

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Revelations 19:6

Grilling

Last Friday night was the Hospital Lumiere Benefit Auction.
The weather was very windy during the day; too windy to grill outside.  Our shop was available, so Friday afternoon the grilling crew showed up to utilize it to grill the pork chops that are served for the meal.  They brought four grills and an experienced crew, so everything went smoothly.
The winds came from various directions, so at times the shop was filled with smoke.  I think it will smell like grilled pork chops in there for a long time to come!

We had the opportunity to babysit our two granddaughters that evening, so we didn't make it to the Benefit.  I am told that the pork was good.

After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.

Numbers 28:24

Visit

Last Friday, I took the day off and Jon and I drove down to the Centralia Correctional Center to visit Phil.  He had been transferred there from Western Illinois this past summer.  It was a nice day for a three hour drive and I enjoyed the southern Illinois countryside.  Centralia is a little more laid back than Western was.  We actually walked from the reception room/pat-down area to the visiting room without an escort!  And only two of the six doors we had to pass through were locked!  Phil has a little more freedom also.  Instead of being locked in his cell 23 hours a day, he can leave his cell and go to the day room anytime he wants.  Also, he can go to the yard daily if he chooses.  He also attends school; he is taking an electronics class.  We had a nice two hour visit, then we headed back home.  I always say this, but it is such a wonderful feeling to walk out of a heavily guarded brick fortress surrounded by a double fence topped with razor wire.  It reminds me how blessed I am to have my physical and spiritual freedom.

Kay and Larry, our fun, nomadic cousins from Texas were in the area visiting relatives over the weekend.  They live in a camper and stay in Texas in the winter, New Mexico in the summer, and travel the country whenever they feel like it.  Sunday afternoon and evening we had an open house for them and invited all the Romersberger cousins in.  We hope they enjoyed the visit as much as we did.  We hosted about 30 people all together.

Monday morning as I was walking across the barnyard, I noticed water bubbling up out of the ground.
Another water line leaking.
My brother went to rent a backhoe, then I started digging.  I found the T in the line that was leaking, but also "found" a second water line that I didn't know was right on top of the first.  Long story short, it took several splices and 22 stainless steel clamps (I double clamp everything) to get it all put back together.  At least it happened during nice weather.

And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isaiah 24:22

Timber!

Our barn windows were looking like they belonged in a haunted house.  We finally bit the bullet and hired Qualified Builders (B-I-L Herb) to replace them for us.  We rented a lift for a week, so we were able get a lot of other projects done around the farm including installing two new yard lights, changing bulbs in two others, and some tree work.

New lower windows.

Herb working off of the lift on the upper windows.

The new upper windows look good.  Now the rest of the barn looks bad.  We will either need to paint it again or put on metal siding next summer.

While we had the lift here, we decided to take down the big old walnut tree that borders our driveway.  It has been backed into many times by cars because it is right on the edge of the drive.  It is a nice shade tree, but it is a dirty tree, dropping walnuts on the driveway all fall.  My Grandpa planted it and a number of other walnut trees in the yard back in the late 1930's.  We will still have three left after this one is down.

There were some thunderous crashes as the large branches toppled, along with walnuts flying everywhere. At the end of the day, my arms were tired from holding the chainsaw.  I left the main trunk standing until I get some advice about saving it to cut up into lumber.  With a little help from my sons, we finally got it all cleaned up today.  We intend to plant a Red Maple in the general vicinity in the spring.

He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:
Daniel 4:14