Corned Beef and Cabbage

 Normally, the old farmers wife makes corned beef and cabbage for me on St. Patrick's Day.  It didn't work out this year, so the Saturday before last, she decided to make it for our noon meal.  She had felt a little achy when she got home from work on Friday, but when she couldn't smell the corned beef and cabbage cooking Saturday morning, red flags went up.  I could smell it the minute I walked in the door, and it always smells up the whole house.  I persuaded her to go for a Covid test after lunch, and the quick test and the long test (48 hours later) both showed her positive for Covid.  

Sooooo ......... we began our quarantine!   Fortunately, she never ran a fever, had trouble breathing, or lost her sense of taste.  She was tired and achy off and on, and has a head cold.  If she didn't know about Covid, she probably would have continued going to work and just toughed it out.  We have made very little effort to isolate from each other, but so far, I have not been affected.  She goes off quarantine tomorrow, but I will have to wait a little longer just to make sure.

I spent some of my quarantine time doing a little Swedish Death Cleaning.  My hope was to get all the back rooms in the basement decluttered.  I have made great progress, but I will probably run out of time.  I had hoped to move a lot of my basement and garage tools and hardware out to the shop. But the shop cleaning and reorganization that was supposed to happen first hasn't happened yet, so my house project won't get completed.

Because of the quarantine, we missed communion last night.  We were able to listen in on AC Central, so we felt a little connected and blessed.  It's just not the same experience as being able to partake with the Body of Christ.  Hopefully we will be able to participate in the makeup communion in April.

  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.                                                                                                                      After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.      I Corinthians 11:24,25

                                                          

We Survived

 Once again we have survived another winter here in Central Illinois.  The wind blew so hard one night that we had mini snow drifts in the house.  

After our two plus weeks of frigid weather, I went out one morning to a 15 degree, calm, sunny day that seemed balmy compared to the previous days.  Then, that afternoon and evening we had 6 plus inches of snow.  I dug a snow cave for the grand-kids to play in, but the weather warmed quickly in a few days, so it didn't last long.

I attended an in person farm meeting the end of February and enjoyed my first Wiegand steak dinner since February of last year.  Hopefully they will continue.

With the more spring-like weather, I was able to get caught up on my manure hauling.  Now I am pruning fruit trees and starting to get machinery ready for spring.

We had a couple of hogs butchered at the local locker, and we made a quick trip to Burlington one afternoon to deliver meat to Son #2 and his in-laws.  It was short, but we enjoyed our visit.

Uncle Russell received a unique gift from his sons for Christmas and the story made the front page of the Bloomfield Democrat last week.  They were able to track down and purchase the first tractor he bought when he started farming, and they bought it and returned it to him for his gift.

A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.       Proverbs 17:8