Thankful

 Prior to harvest, I bought a new (used) tractor and field cultivator.  One of my neighbors retired this year and was selling his machinery.  I had been looking to upgrade my tillage tractor, and he had just what I was looking for.  It was a low hour machine at the right price, and I moved up about 100 horsepower and fifteen years of age.  I advertised my old tractor, but didn't expect much interest until after harvest.  I had it advertised on an online farm machinery site, an ag newspaper, and Facebook Marketplace.  After harvest, the interest came from Marketplace.  A dairy farmer from Wisconsin bought the tractor and a farmer from Missouri bought the field cultivator.  We had enough good weather after harvest that I was able to finish all the tillage that I needed done with my new tractor.

I had been shopping for a UTV (side by side) for a couple years.  I had the old farmers wife convinced that I needed one.  I just couldn't find one in my price range that was made in America and that I could get parts and service for locally.  This fall I found two advertised.  One in Iowa City, and the other in Bloomington.  The one in Iowa had more options, but the one in Bloomington had the right price.  The seller in Bloomington agreed to deliver it to the farm, so now we are the proud owners.  I think the old farmers wife and the grandkids have spent more time with it than I have!

Uncle Russell passed away mid November.  He was the non-local uncle that we spent the most time with growing up.  We went back and forth a lot as Uncle Russell farmed the farm that Dad and my Uncle Roy bought in Iowa.  Dad and Russ spent a lot of time doing books and settling up while us kids played together.  Later, they were both ministers and enjoyed their spiritual discussions together.  Dad and Mom traveled with Russ and Karoline a lot, and us kids would spend a week at each others farms in the summer.  Russ was easy to visit with, wise, and didn't know a stranger.  He was the last surviving male (sibling or in-law) in the Metzger family.  He was 100 years old, and had his mind up until the end.  I will miss him.

We didn't want to drive out to the funeral and back in one day, so we went as far as Ft. Madison and spent the night.  The Bloomfield pulpit were all mentored by Uncle Russ, and they had a very nice funeral service for him.  On the way home, we stopped at the Milton Creamery for cheese, and the Dutchman's Store in Cantril to do some shopping. I think we could have had a Metzger reunion in the Dutchman's Store, as everyone else who drove out for the funeral also stopped there.

Bob and Jenny got a late start on the new house they are building.  So as soon as I finished my tillage, I started helping with the framing.  The head carpenter agreed to use my cheap labor, so I've enjoyed relearning old skills.  When I was a young man with a growing family, I worked as a carpenter's laborer part time for a few years.  I worked for Steffen Construction and Quality Builders.  Fast forward many, many years and now I'm an old man who forgot most of what I learned back then.  Plus, power tools and materials have improved since then.  But, I am enjoying the work and the crew is patient with me. The first couple of weeks was nice weather, but the last week or so we worked in drizzle and then snow. The ground wasn't frozen, so it was muddy still under the snow.  But we managed to get the last trusses set this week and soon they should get the house closed in against the weather.

 I hadn't been to the dentist for nine years!  I had good intentions but just never got around to making an appointment.  I knew I had a couple molars that lost fillings and were cracked.  But since they didn't bother my eating, I ignored them.  Well, the dentist told me I had three molars that were in too bad of shape to save.  They needed extraction.  I asked the dentist to get me the first available appointment with the oral surgeons. They got me right in; the afternoon before Thanksgiving!  Fortunately, the extractions went well.  It took several hours to get the bleeding to stop, but I was thankful that I didn't have much pain to deal with.  I was limited to soft foods for Thanksgiving and a couple days after.  Six days later, I was able to eat a Wiegand steak dinner with no problems! 

                                                                                                                                                                      I found the following prayer on Facebook, but don't know the author.                      

And the priest's custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;          I Samuel 2:14