UBJ +

Some recent Uncle Bill Jokes.

What do you call a cow with no legs?

 Ground beef.

A cow with two legs?

  Lean beef.

A cow with a nervous twitch?

  Beef jerky.

What do you call two pigs after a tug-of-war?

  Pulled pork.

A couple of weeks ago Jon and I drove down to Centralia to visit Phil.  I received the most thorough "pat down" that I have ever had.

Saturday morning was the outside work day at church.  As Head Trustee this year, I had to be there and oversee.  We had a decent turnout and got just about everything done that we planned on.  I hustled home afterwords because our neighbor wanted me to harvest his wheat in the afternoon.  It was a little wet yet, but he wanted it out so I finished late afternoon.  He was in a hurry to get it harvested because his pits were full.  He was actually following the combine with the liquid manure spreader.

After his wheat was out, I moved the equipment to our field and took off the front end rows to make ready for Monday harvest.

We spent Sunday in Forrest as part of a Potluck group invite-a-guest day.  We had a blessed day in church and enjoyed the worship and fellowship.  At the potluck table, we were the youngest in the group by at least ten years.  We had a very enjoyable evening with the group!

Monday morning our early corn started tasseling.  We worked on wheat all afternoon, but didn't get finished.  The wheat has a beautiful stand this year and is weed free.

This morning we sorted and moved Hoop building pigs in preparation to ship them tomorrow.  We finished harvesting wheat this afternoon.  It was good quality and yielded excellent.  A huge difference from last year!  Cousin Lee showed up with his baler and made our large round bales.  In the evening we started hauling them home.

What do you have when a tornado hits a chicken house and the birds are swirling around in the air?

  Poultry in motion!

He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
Psalm 147:14

Boxing

Growing up in the '60's and '70's, boxing was a much bigger sport than it is today.  It was a popular Olympic sport and popular worldwide.  The sport has lost its luster in recent decades, for good reasons.

Muhammad Ali died last week.  He was considered one of the greatest boxers of all time and was one of the most celebrated and significant sports figures of the 20th century.  And he would tell you that himself!  Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, Olympic Champion at 18 and Heavyweight Champion of the World at 22, he had Parkinson's Syndrome that resulted from boxing related brain injuries.  Growing up, I didn't understand or appreciate the social/political side of Ali.  I just saw him as a great athlete, great boxer, entertaining personality, and a braggadocio.  He won the Heavywieght Championship three times, and ended his career with a record of 56 wins and 5 losses.

In hindsight, I can see how he was such a polarizing figure that people either loved or hated him.  His conversion to Islam (including changing his name to Muhammad Ali from Cassius Clay - his "slave name"),  his refusal to register for the draft during the Vietnam war resulting in years of legal battles, his ban from boxing for almost four years (thus forfeiting millions in income during the prime of his career), his work in the civil rights movement, and his trash talking mouth, all contributed to his reputation.  I have a greater respect for his non-boxing activities now than I did back then, and I understand why he was so inspiring and controversial.

Billy Crystal's eulogy at his memorial service is both amusing and informative.

I enjoyed watching boxing growing up partly because most guys did, and partly because my dad used to box when he was young.  He and his cousins and friends used to box together for fun much like kids nowadays get together and shoot hoops.  Some of his friends were actually pretty good boxers on the AAU circuit.  We still have my dad's two pair of boxing gloves down in our basement.  When we were kids we used to get them out when we had cousins or other company over and have boxing matches.  But when we got old enough to really hit each other hard, it wasn't so much fun anymore and we retired the gloves.

Dad's old well worn boxing gloves.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
I Samuel 17:10

Good Reads

I just finished reading Forty Chances-Finding Hope in a Hungry World by Howard G. Buffet.  Howard is the son of Warren Buffet, one of the richest and most respected businessmen in the world.  Warren runs Berkshire Hathaway, and is known as the "Sage of Omaha".  Howard farms near Decatur, Illinois and serves on several large company boards of directors.  Early in his life, his father and mother set up a foundation in his name for philanthropy and gave him the responsibility to direct it.  He started using the money to fund wildlife conservation, but evolved into addressing food insecurity around the world.  Seeing his stewardship, his parents added almost three billion dollars over the years to his foundation.  He uses the money from the foundation to fight hunger and poverty, provide water, teach modern Ag methods in third world countries, support micro-loans, and come along side Governments and NGO's in their fight against poverty.  He travels the world seeking opportunities to help, and holding organizations accountable that receive funds.
The name of the book Forty Chances, came from a talk he heard at a farm meeting he attended where the speaker mentioned that the average farmer grows about forty crops in his career from when he takes over from his father until he turns the farm over to his son.  Howard asked himself the question; am I making the most of my forty chances?  The book consists of forty stories about his life and work in philanthropy.

Another excellent book addressing the alleviation of poverty is Banker to the Poor by Muhannad Yunus.  Dr. Yunus established Grameen Bank, a bank devoted to making micro-loans to the poorest people in Bangladesh.  An economics professor by trade, he pioneered micro-loans and micro-credit coupled with teaching financial principles.  He would set up groups of willing people (often women), for teaching, accountability, and support before making loans.  His goal was to teach self sufficiency rather than have the poor rely on handouts and welfare.  His methods, which spark personal initiative and enterprise, have been copied by over 250 organizations in over 100 countries around the world.
I was impressed that Jenna got to meet him in 2014, and was impressed with her whole trip.

Another good book for anyone interested in relief work or philanthropy is When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.  This book is from a solid Christian perspective, and addresses how so often when Christians try to help the poor, do relief work, or do short term missions, we do more long term harm than short term good.  We often try to alleviate poverty by treating symptoms rather than addressing causes.  Good intentions focused on solving poverty materially can have unintended consequences if we don't understand root causes.  The book points out when we need to change our attitudes about how we work with the less fortunate and underprivileged.  It offers concepts, principles, and strategies to equip us to help.

 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Galations 6:10