Frigid

Yes folks, we are having real winter this January!  Daytime high yesterday of minus 11 with the night time temps in the minus 20's.  Church, schools, businesses, and deliveries have been cancelled for up to three days.  Our friends up North must think we are wimps here in central Illinois.  Our D-I-L, raised in Minnesota claims they didn't cancel outside recess until it was below zero!😉

Us livestock farmers are still out everyday taking care of business.  Just a little slower and a little more bundled up.  And we take a lot of warm-up breaks.  With hot chocolate or cappuccinos.  I had to start our Massey Harris 44 today with the hand crank, because the cold battery couldn't supply enough juice to turn the engine over!  It has a gas engine and still has a 6 volt system.  We have a block heater, but we should also add in a battery warmer.  We use this tractor just about every day on our feed wagon.

One evening last week the temperature in our bedroom was 61 degrees.  We are again enjoying our flannel sheets.

Gus has an insulated Dogloo with a blanket covering the door, plenty of bedding, a heated water bowl, and plenty of high energy feed.  I still try to get him to come into the heated shop, hog house office, or even the garage, but he refuses.  I'm not sure why, but maybe he's afraid of being closed up.  In the summer if there is a thunderstorm he will follow me right in, but not in the winter.  He is half Norwegian Elk Hound, so maybe he is bred for cold weather.

I enjoyed eating beef tongue sandwiches growing up, but for some reason I haven't been able to convince my wife to make them for me.  Last week she found a recipe online that she decided to try, and she cooked us a beef tongue.  It was very good!  I think she will make it again for us.  First you have to get past the look of the thing!  Don't judge your meat by its outward appearance!

Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?
Job 6:30

Nor'easter

We had our first big time snowstorm of the winter last weekend.  Actually, it's been a long time since we had a good old fashioned snowstorm.  The snow and winds came out of the Northeast, which is backwards from our usual west-northwest winter storms.  Which means all the drifts were in the wrong places!  The normal snow fences and blockers didn't help this time, so I spent a fair amount of time this week rearranging snow.  We received 10+ inches of heavy wet snow.

As a trustee, we get the job of deciding whether or not to cancel church.  I have always thought we should just have church and those who can make it should come, and those who can't should stay home.  But I now realize that those who often put forth the most effort are those who perhaps shouldn't be going out in inclement weather or on icy roads.  Particularly the elderly, older single females, or those with handicaps often desire the fellowship and come regardless of the safety concerns.  Often, those who could handle the weather the best are the ones who will stay home.  So I have changed my thinking and now tend to err to the side of caution and safety. 
We called off church for last Sunday, and we called it off on Saturday night already so that we didn't have to worry about making the decision early in the morning.

Today we had another snowstorm, but with much less than predicted snowfall.  The wind blew strongly all day which caused drifting and poor visibility on the roads, so our evening services were cancelled.  We will have church tomorrow, but the temperatures will be in the deep freeze.

It was a busy week for meetings including 360 Yield Center, Ag PhD, Precision Planting, and an Industrial Hemp Forum.
The growing of industrial hemp (low THC cannabis) is now legal in Illinois, so it will be interesting to see if this will become a viable alternative crop for us.  As of now, there is no infrastructure to process it, and the rules and regs are still in the process of being determined.  There were over 200 people at the forum, so there is a lot of interest in it, and there are a lot of potential uses and products that can be manufactured from hemp.  Everything from food to feed to fiber to health products to oil seeds to polymer composites to insulation to bedding to paper to much more can be made out of the various parts of the plant.  Stay tuned!
Hemp used to be grown around here, but after WWII it was banned because of the popularity of marijuana's (high THC cannabis) use as a recreational psychoactive drug.

The steak line at Precision Planting's Winter Conference.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Genesis 1:29

Over

Her stomach started feeling off Sunday evening.  Mine was a little funny during the night.  She was sick in the night, but I was able to get out in the morning and work until about 10:30.  Then I spent the rest of the morning in the recliner.  She was sick all day, but I made it into the afternoon, before I had to stay pretty close to the bathroom.  We had to miss Schlipf Christmas in Gridley in the afternoon, and New Years Eve services in the evening.  We had a pretty good night and were feeling much better on New Year's day - just a little wrung out.  Our family Christmas with our children and grandchildren started at noon.  I was napping when they showed up, and managed several more naps throughout the day.  I was able to supervise grand-kids in the basement from my recliner.
I didn't have much of an appetite for all the good food present for both meals, but fortunately my daughters and D-I-L's left some food for when our appetites came back.  This included stuffed mushrooms, oven sliders (ham&cheese, beef&french onion soup), cheese cake, and turtle stew!

This little guy was pretty excited about the cookies he helped make!

My book haul for the season.

Thursday evening we had our last Christmas at the old Sourdough Ranch with the Romersbergers.  Now it's book work, file cleaning, and tax prep time.

And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
Exodus 23:25

Flowers On The Wall

I finished reading three books between Christmas and New Years.  One, Statler Brothers Random Memories, written by brothers Harold and Don Reid (two of the Statlers) was a gift book I received for Christmas. I think I have been listening to and enjoying the Statlers since I was in Jr. High.  Someone asked me once when I was in my early twenties which style of music was my favorite, and I answered, Statler Brothers style. 
The Statler Brothers were small town Virginia boys who never moved away from their home town, and never lost sight of their roots.  They started out as a southern gospel quartet singing in local churches, and progressed to singing at conventions and contests.  In 1963 Johnny Cash heard them sing, and in 1964 he hired them to be his backup singers.  They continued to sing (and record) independently, but were with Cash for eight plus years.  By the time of their retirement in 2002, they were the most awarded act in county music, receiving over 550 awards in their 40 year career.  They cut 44 albums and had dozens of hit singles, along with their own television show.  Several of the albums were all gospel, and they usually included a gospel song on each of the other albums. 

The last thing they did before going onstage before every concert or performance was to huddle together with their band and say a prayer together.  They also always sang a gospel song at each concert.

Besides a little history, the book explains the story behind their most famous (popular) songs.
They have been called "America's poets".
I enjoyed the nostalgic book, and I still enjoy their four part harmony.

When the unexpected is inevitable, counteract with the obvious.
                                                                                  Harold Reid

I took our old Maytag wash machine (that malfunctioned during harvest) out to the shop, and I had some time to take it apart and work on it.  It cost me $22 to fix it; much less than the repairman's service call to come and tell us that it wasn't worth repairing!  It had a pin hole leak in the tub, and I was able to patch it with JB weld.  The $22 was for a spanner wrench to get the tub out.  Since we purchased a new washer for the house, the old one is now installed in our shop bathroom so that we can wash our dirtiest coveralls out of the house.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6