Priorities

Our washing machine started leaking water early this fall.  The repairman said a hole rusted through the tub in a spot where it couldn't ( or wouldn't pay) to be repaired.  We decided to wait until after harvest to shop for a new one.
Harvest is officially over -  the double crop soybeans are finished - and rain has stopped any tillage, so we decided to go shopping tonight.  Except tonight was the first night of the "Books to Benefit" book sale in Normal.  So instead of washer shopping, we went used book shopping.  Two dollars for hardbacks and fifty cents for soft covers.  This tells you something about our priorities; we would rather buy books than have clean clothes!
The old farmer's wife wonders if we need intervention.;)

I have lived in our farmhouse all but four years of my life.  Last week we had something take place that was a first.  I found a snake in our basement!  I walked into the furnace room to the wall where my coveralls are hanging, and there was the snake slithering around under them.  Its head was hidden, and I didn't know if it would try to bite me, so I stepped on its tail end and waited for my wife to bring me a leather glove so I could pick it up.  It was small, so I took it outside and released it.  It will be a while before we will be able to go into the back basement rooms without a little wariness.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Genesis 3:14