Baling Hay

Oh, my goodness.......it has taken forever for these photos to load, but here is the chronicle of yesterday's hay baling:

*************

We use Pro-Quality Hay Baskets, manufactured in St. Cloud, MN. I'm thinking we've had these for over 15 years, probably going on 20. The bales are pushed out of the baler, upwards and then fall down into the basket. It allows baling to be done with less laborers.......no one is needed to stack the bales on a wagon as they come out of the baler. It would conceivably be possible for one person to bale hay, with these baskets around.......but, who would want to.

***************

***************

A tractor driver is needed, obviously, and usually that's me! Its a fun job, although yesterday's heat and humidity added NO pleasantness to the task. This photo was taken looking out the back window of the tractor.......I must watch that direction continually to make sure the baler is working properly and that the ascending bales have strings that are TIED......otherwise, the hay will scatter loosely in the basket, making for a grumpy husband. So I try to be a good girl and faithfully watch........acquiring a sore neck by the end of the day.

****************
****************

Next we see an amazing sight........Husband coming as close to sewing as he ever will! He's inserting a full spool of twine into the baler. The spools are called "bales"......go figure! The twine is made from "sisal", a plant fiber product from Mexico. Each bale of hay is held together by two lengths of twine, which must be knotted to hold the bale together. Beyond Husband's hands in the photo is the knotting apparatus, which is a tad bit similar to a large sewing machine needle and thread. When something goes wrong in the knotting mechanism.......don't come running to me!! That thing is really complicated!

***************
***************

The hay bales are dumped out of the baskets near the elevator which will carry them up into the haymow of the barn. Someone has to do that........pick up each 60 to 70-pound bale and set it on the elevator. Yesterday, Husband did it, while our son and two of his friends stacked the bales in the hot, hot haymow.

***************

***************

Once in a while, I'm allowed the privilege of handling a bale.......when one tumbles off the top of a full basket out in the field. Then I stop the tractor and roll the bale across the ground (I don't carry bales that weigh 60 to 70 pounds......my back thanks me for that.) and place it under the basket as shown. If very many bales fall off, then I don't stop for them........the guys will gather them up with the pickup later on.

****************

****************

Here is poor old Husband loading bales onto the elevator. He's having back trouble this week, too.......he wrenched something in his back a few days ago while carrying a gigantic newborn calf.......very untimely, with baling on tap. But, he never gives up.......he loads bales, sore back and all! Just watching him wears me out. Honestly, I've never met anyone who possesses the work capacity units that he does!!

**************
**************

Here's the dashboard in the tractor cab. I'm supposed to keep the throttle at around 540 rpm's to run the "power-take-off" which brings to life all the various parts of the baler. Whoever invented PTO's.........that was ingenious!!

***************
***************

At one point during the afternoon, I happened to look up and saw this schoolbus being towed on the highway nearby. Can't you just hear the reverberating summertime cheers of schoolkids everywhere at the sight of a disabled schoolbus!!

****************
****************

Just more tractor cab stuff.......the yellow-handled lever turns the PTO on and off. Below it are the brakes, one for each rear tractor wheel. The black-knobbed levers are for shifting gears. Today I drove in 3rd.......or 2nd, when it was necessary to slow down for thicker hay rows, to prevent the baler from plugging up.......and I hate when that happens! You have to don your gloves and tediously pull out all the tightly clogged hay from around the baler shaft. Its very annoying, and thus best to avoid if possible, although it did happen three times today.

**************
**************

Well, now that the big day of baling is done, this is the absolute truth......I am beat......dead tired, with a sore neck, too. The moon is rising and brightly glowing, but I'm about to fall into my comfortable bed for a pleasant sleep, thank you!

One last thing, though........consider yourself MOONED........by Jeannelle the Tired!!!

**********
****
*

New Coneflower Style

Hey, forget raunchy ol' Pimp Daddy from the previous post........take a look at these coneflowers. First, here's the standard variety of Echinacea purpurea that's been growing for years in my perennial flower garden.

***********

*************

*************

Now.......since variety IS the spice of life, here's a new style coneflower, planted this spring, called "Pink Double Delight". Don't they look just like zinnias?!

************

***********

***********

Coneflowers are probably my all-time favorite perennial flower.......they can tolerate poor soil and dry conditions, they spread nicely, are very sturdy, and provide long-lasting blooms that flower into late summer. Then those prickly, round seed heads remain, adding interest to the flower garden in autumn.

*************

We should all pray and strive to be like coneflowers!! It thrives even when the gardener neglects it!

*************

*************
*************

Have a great day! We'll be baling hay this afternoon.......isn't that exciting!! I'll try to remember to tote my camera along in the tractor to get some shots of the baler in action.

***********
***********

The Funk Fighters

A few members of the local branch of the National Funk Fighters Union agreed to allow their photos on this post. They rush to help whenever their mistress needs lifted out of a blue funk and set back on track on the sunny side of life. (Actually, they rush to wherever warm milk is being poured into a dish!)

************

************
************

Tux has been promised one week of exclusive access to mouseholes in the feed shed for modeling this obscenely obnoxious cap which Husband received for his 50th birthday from one of his thoughtful brothers. If you can't read the words on the cap, chase all children and impressionable adults away from your computer screen and then click on the photo to see it larger. (Hey, it might be really yummy chicken.......you never know!)

*************

***********

Hopefully, there are Funk Fighters on duty in your area!!

***********

***********

Learning To Fly

Hey, to any bi-polar peeps out there.............go listen to "Learning To Fly" by Tom Petty. Its the third song on the Playlist at the bottom of this blog. I'm really slow at finding songs that speak to me........I suppose this one's been around for years and I never knew it.

*************

Have a great day! I'm looking ahead, steeling myself and pulling myself together ahead of time, to survive upcoming events. I don't expect many to understand. And, I know the best advice would be "take one day at a time".

*************

*************

P.S. - This lyrics of this song seem to decribe two aspects of depression in my own life:

"Learning to fly", that is, learning to keep your mood up........"learning to fly around the clouds". However, there also is the problem of being able to land safely......."coming down is the hardest thing". After your mood is high for awhile, which sometimes it needs to be, then it must come down again, and it can go down too far if you're not careful. BALANCE is what its all about.......and the correct amount of acceleration, braking, coasting......oh, my goodness, now it sounds more like bicycling!! And, you don't need wings for that!

**************

Sorry to be sort of thinking out loud here on the blog.......the imagery that this song evokes is helpful to me, believe it or not.

*************

I have no idea if this is what the writer of the song had in mind, but its what I hear in it.

Angel Mail Delivery?

For the past few months, I've been featuring the stained-glass windows from my church in Sunday blog posts, but that can't go on forever, as the number of windows in that venerable old building is finite, of course. Hm-m.......what to do next.......I don't know........we'll see. However, July 13......today.......has special significance for me, and this post will explain why.

****************

First of all, let me say that I just looked at my St. James Calendar of the Christian Year and discovered that July 13 is the day that the Eastern Christian Church remembers the Archangel Gabriel. I'm excited about that because my story here possibly has an angel involved, or possibly not.......I guess we'll just never know.

****************

****************

****************

My mom had one sibling, a sister, who I will refer to as "Aunt Lou", in this post. Aunt Lou passed on on All Saints' Day, November 1, 2000, after a short illness, at age 61. Aunt Lou's was born on today's date, July 13, in 1939.

************

Aunt Lou never married, or had any children; she was a registered nurse, working many years in a hospital psychiatric unit. Maybe she was bit off-beat, compared to my mom's way of living, anyway. Aunt Lou smoked, drank alot of pop, and liquor, on occasion. She bleached and teased her hair, painted her fingernails, and wore plenty of jewelry and make-up. She was a fan of the Supremes, Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand, and would travel occasionally to go to concerts. My mom was a fan of Tennessee Ernie Ford and church hymns and songs like "Mockingbird Hill", and "It Is No Secret". She didn't like rock music, and didn't let her kids drink much pop. When I was young, it was fun to snoop through Aunt Lou's celebrity magazines and record album collection, of which we certainly had none at home.

************

Through the years, as my siblings and I were growing up, whenever our birthdays rolled around, Aunt Lou showed up with a card and gift. Sometimes, my mom would cringe at the items we received.......jewelry, jewelry boxes, radios, tape players, etc.,.......things that mom thought were not quite appropriate for us, perhaps.

***********

When I later had children of my own, Aunt Lou showered them with gifts, too, and would often show up randomly with pizza or a bucket of fried chicken. She always made sure I had a coffeemaker, too. She liked coffee!

************

As stated above, Aunt Lou passed on in late fall of 2000. Subsequently, as the years and family birthdays came and went, we all missed receiving receiving cards, gifts, and visits from Aunt Lou.

************

One hot, muggy afternoon in July, 2004, I was relieved to exit the kitchen after lunch to walk down the lane to pick up the mail. On the way back, I glanced through the letters........one was a notecard-sized envelope addressed in my mom's lovely handwriting. A note from Mom......that's always nice. Once back in the house, I opened it up and was surprised to find she was thanking me for the gifts I gave her on Mother's Day.......a whole two months previous!! Thank-you notes are important to my mom, and she normally sends them very promptly. The card is shown framed in the photo above, with lovely lilacs on its cover.

*************

Puzzled, I examined the envelope and found it had NO postmark on it! Just a little smudge of ink where the postmark should have been. How odd. Glancing at the calendar, it suddenly dawned on me that today was July 13, Aunt Lou's birthday!! What a strange little coincidence.......that my mom's very late Mother's Day note would arrive here on her late sister's birthday!!

************

I picked up the phone and immediately called my mom and told her what I had just received in the mail. She was perplexed; she said she had put the thank-you note in the mail a couple days after Mother's Day! I said, "Mom......do you realize what today is?" She was quiet for a few seconds, then gasped, "It's Lou's birthday!! Oh, that's strange!"

************

So, I was left to wonder and ponder: Where was that thank-you note for two months??! In a crevice at the Cedar Falls Post Office?? How exactly does something like this happen? Was it just random coincidence?? Perhaps. Perhaps not. This incident was a major factor in prompting my interest in reading about meaningful coincidence, which I learned, to my surprise, is a phenomenon that's been noticed and studied around the world since way before the time of Christ, including in ancient Greece and China, and probably elsewhere, but not recorded.

***********

I could say that God caused the thank-you note incident to happen (and, of course, God DID cause it, because God causes everything)......that it was miracle.......but what would we conclude the purpose of the miracle to be, for it seemed to be quite limited in scope, affecting only me, basically. LCMS Lutherans aren't much into talking about unusual things like that, anyway, and I would rather approach it from a scientific angle, anyway. If you check on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble, you'll find many books about coincidence. I try to stick with authors who approach the subject scientifically, to avoid new age mumbo-jumbo. In everyday life, it is a reality that meaningful coincidences occur, and I believe it is God at work. Being mindful of and attentive to this reality makes each day exciting, I think! SOMETHING special is going on out there!!

***********

***********

***********

Then again.......after just learning that July 13 is the messenger Archangel Gabriel's Day, as well as Aunt Lou's birthday........I'm wondering if maybe the thank-you note was delivered by Angel Postal Service!!

**********

The Fenton glass angel shown in the photo was one of the last birthday gifts I received from Aunt Lou.......in her hands the angel is clasping a glass stone of June's birthstone color, Alexandrite lavendar! The same color as the lilacs on the card!! Maybe Aunt Lou was sending me a message, through the timely/untimely Mother's Day thank-you note, saying, "You were like a daughter to me." The last time I saw Aunt Lou alive, during her sudden, final illness, she was struggling on a respirator and unable to speak, but her eyes were wide open as my daughter and I held her hand and told her we loved her. Sometimes, I wonder if our loved ones who have passed on are still around us, just in a different form, and using entirely different means to communicate.......clever and symbolic ways, usually beyond our ken.

**********

**********

Over the Hill He Went

The party's over........

*****

Husband went without a fight.........into that good night.........OVER the HILL!!

Did the "surprise" party live up to its billing, you ask. Yes, it certainly did; I was astonished at how the entire day's circumstances seemed to close ranks to protect the surprise intent of the party!!

Uncharacteristic for him, Husband left the farm for a couple of hours in the afternoon, giving me opportunity to fill coolers with pop and beer and hide them in the garage, and do some straightening up in the house, without him seeing.

When Husband finally got home and was safely secured away in the barn, milking, I could really get going on preparations, including the placement of this welcoming sign near the driveway.

I had told the guests to arrive around 7:30 p.m., thinking Husband would be done in the barn by then. Well, extra problems developed with a fresh cow, causing chores to run until past 8:00 p.m.! That meant cars full of guests were arriving while Husband was still in the barn. I directed them to park behind the house, and gather on the porch, opposite the side of the house which faces the barn. By then, though, I held out little hope that Husband had not seen at least a couple of the cars drive in.

I was trying to keep tabs on the guests on the porch and watch the milkhouse door for when Husband would exit it to come to the house. When he did, I nonchalantly sauntered out to meet him and try to assess whether he was aware of anything going on. To my great amazement, he said, "Well, I guess I could get cleaned up and we could go miniature-golfing." Cracking up inside, I calmly answered, "Ok, if that's what you want to do." Our son, who was leaving the barn, too, was trying to keep a straight face.

Husband headed to the basement to take a shower. When he finished, I knew he would walk up the steps wearing only his underwear, because that's what he always does. As he showered, I ordered the group on the porch to crouch down and be ready to jump up and yell "Surprise" when I gave the OK........which would be as Husband was coming up the steps, but BEFORE he got far enough for anyone to see his state of undress........they would hopefully see just his head!

So I stood there waiting, and then up the steps Husband came.......and at just the right moment, I motioned to the people on the porch and they jumped up and hollered "Surprise"!! (Really original, huh?)

Husband groaned and wheeled around in his tracks, heading back down to the basement. Out of the kindness of my heart, I tossed him a shirt and jeans to put on. (I did get a photo of him at the moment of surprise........please understand why I decided not to post it!)

Husband has five brothers.......two of whom live close enough to attend the party. Out of great love for their brother who's turning 50, they chose very appropriate and thoughtful gifts........as you can see in the photo below:

I didn't know there are Depends made just for men......did you know that? Also.....see the old buckaroo whose pants form a planter? He came from Father-in-law's house, and has become sort of a traveling birthday gift amongst Husband and his five brothers! Oh, yes, and that's a flower bouquet of PRUNES there on the right!

****************

****************

Anyhow, the party was a smashing and "surprising" success!! Though the day had been hot and muggy, the evening was cool, breezy, and we all could sit outdoors and chat comfortably.

There were around 35 guests at the party. I think I mentioned earlier that I don't consider myself much of a party person, and last night I may have figured out one of the reasons for that. When my party involvement is as a host, I tend to be constantly scanning the crowd to see if everyone appears to be having a good time. I like to be able to give attention to each person, talk to them, look them in the eye......but that's often difficult to do in a large group, and then later I feel like I slighted this or that person. Its a rather paranoid way to be, I know, but I can't help it.

I tried to visit with most everyone, and keep up with whatever needed to be done in the kitchen. Two friends recently returned from travelling, and I greatly enjoyed hearing them tell about Ecuador and Spain! I suppose I knew this, but never really thought about it.......at the equator, days and nights are always equal in length......12 hours. My friend said, "The sun came up every morning at 6 a.m, and by 6 p.m., it was dark again." Its like that every day of the year!! She said the ancient Aztecs knew about the equator, the center of the earth.......I always must shake off the embedded idea that the only people in the world who had any scientific knowledge were the Europeans. I also learned that one of the favorite foods in Spain is HAM!! That was a surprise!

Yeah.......'58........it was a very good year!!

Helter-Swelter Sauna

Oh, my goodness sakes, I wish there were some way to convey to you.......or GIVE to you some of the muggy, horrible humidity we have here today!! Ugh! Its so uncomfortable, even the pigeons in this photo are trying to flee the scene!!

We tough it out each summer without air-conditioning. That's right, no A/C except in the vehicles. Just a minute ago I opened the refrigerator to get lunch ready, and it was all I could do to refrain from crawling right into it!

****************

****************

On my walk this morning, I found out there's another party going on in the neighborhood........some sort of bug get-together on top of this Queen Anne's Lace bloom. A little sign nearby read: "Come one, come all.......Nectar provided......Bring your own drinking straws!!"

*****************

*****************

If you read the previous post, you know I have a surprise party planned for this evening to celebrate Husband's 50th birthday. So far, all seems to be going as planned, and he knows nothing about it. He is doing a strange thing right now, though.......washing and waxing his pickup, which he NEVER does. I hope he's not entertaining some crazy notion to go out for supper tonight. If so, I'll have to feign a stomachache or something until our guests arrive!

****************

****************

Party Animals

My hardworking farmer husband, owner of the workshoe and fertilizer cap in this photo, turns 50 today!! That's right......he married an older woman, as I regrettably am three weeks his senior, a fact he rarely lets me forget.

A surprise party is being thought of.......so cheer up, Piglet!! Buster looks ready to party, don't you think? Actually, Buster exists in a state of perpetual party-readiness!

Snickers and Furby await party-time, perched in their favorite tree, ready to pounce on the birthday honoree!!
And, Miss Kitty inspects the decorations, making sure floral arrangements are in place and fragrances are just right!

All the while, as these party preparations percolate just beneath the surface of the obvious, Birthday Guy has not the slightest clue that his farm will be invaded by well-wishers and rabble-rousers tonight after milking chores are done! I'm not much of a party animal myself, thus it would be uncharacteristic for me to plan a social gathering.....thus the reason he is clueless! This week, too, my affect has been very low-key, which isn't difficult to do, that being my normal modus operandi anyway, especially in the heat and humidity of summer. Hahaha! Birthday Guy is in the dark!!! (And, obviously, he's not a blog reader, either!) Don't you dare inform him of the party animals' plans!!

$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$

$

Woundwort & Thistle

Ho-hum.......and, yes, I know its very tiresome and tedious, but here's another "wort" flower post for your perusal. Can I help it there's so many "worts" growing around here!!? This time the name is Woundwort, or "hedge nettle", Stachys palustris, a member of the mint family.

***********

***********

Wikipedia page for "Woundwort".

***********

The Woundwort in this photo below is growing in our road ditch, near the fenceline of a hayfield. My wildflower books states: "Early settlers used parts of this plant as a nauseant, an expectorant, and antihysteric, and vulnerary (a substance tht promotes healing of wounds). The Chippewa used it as a colic medicine. Medicinally, this species is thought to be the most important of the nearly 200 species in the genus."

***************

***************

Most likely, Woundwort would prove of no avail to a wounded heart......but, it might prove valuable if you'd grabbed onto this Canadian Thistle, below, with your bare hands. Ouch!......and pass the tweezers, please!

***************

My Peterson Field Guide states that Canada Thistle is an "ALIEN"........whoa!! From whereabouts in outer space, I wonder!! Its scientific name is Cirsium arvense. It was originally a native of Europe (well, why did they attach the name "Canada" to it, then?? If I were Canadian, I would protest being connected with this sharp, bristly plant!!), where it is known as Creeping Thistle, because it springs from creeping roots. Yikes......that's kinda.......creepy!! Its lavendar blooms are almost pretty, though......poor things.

Canada Thistle entry at the USDA Invasive Species website.

**************

**************

Here is an Iowa nature link:

Prime Focus - Iowa - Main Page

**************

**************

Have a pleasant day........I have to get busy and act like I'm not planning a surprise party for someone around here!!

*************

*************

P.S. - Hey, here's another new blog link.......To Trish's "Welcome Friends" blog, which is a blog consisting of a list of blogs, but also has a stunning black & white header photo, which you really should take a gander at!

************

************

Yesterday in 1822

Below is an excerpt from yesterday's entry in the e-zine, Pip Wilson's Book of Days, which I get by email everyday. Pip is rather more broad-minded than me, but his snippets of daily historical information are often interesting. History is fun and eye-opening!! I also really like the "Wilson Family Motto", way at the bottom of the page!

*************

*******

**

From the Book of Days for July 8......... This entry below about Percy Bysshe Shelley and his cohorts is head-shakingly similar to some of the news we read and hear about modern-day celebrities:

************

1822 One of the greatest English-language poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley (b. 1792), drowned on this day, aged only 29. Shelley was the eldest son of a British member of parliament and grandson of a baronet; he was sent to Eton for his education, where he was mocked and bullied as 'Mad Shelley', and later to Oxford University from which he was 'sent down' – expelled – for circulating a pamphlet entitled The Necessity of Atheism.
After eloping to Scotland with Harriet Westbrook he became interested in the ideas of the anarchist philosopher William Godwin ('The First Anarchist' as he is sometimes known). He began to visit Godwin's house and fell in love with Mary Godwin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin by his first wife, the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, who had written A Vindication of the Rights of Women and had died eight days after Mary's birth in 1797.
Smitten by Godwin's daughter, his marriage with Harriet in tatters, Shelley eloped to France with Mary Godwin (Mary Shelley) and her 15-year-old stepsister Claire Clairmont. The sisters maintained a ménage à trois with the poet in various parts of Europe for the next eight years. In the summer of 1816, Claire urged that they should go to Lake Geneva (to be with the man of her obsession, Lord Byron, with whom she had previously had a one-night stand and to whom she later bore a child). It was at Lake Geneva that, as a result of a bet to see who could write the best Gothic novel, the brilliant young Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein.In the Autumn of 1816, Harriet drowned herself in the Serpentine in London. Two years later, Shelley, pursued by creditors, suffering from ill-health, and understandably a social outcast in England, took his lovers to Italy, "the Paradise of Exiles" as he called it, where they could live more cheaply......

************

************

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/copyright.html

"I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up." Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden'"Be kind to one another. Have a good attitude. Don't waste time. Never give up."

Wilson family motto: I killed my TV before my TV killed me.

*******************

*******************

P.S. - In today's Book of Days you can read about Nikola Tesla, "almost forgotten genius", born today, July 9, in 1856. He was an electrical engineer, which is of interest to me because my grandfather was one, as is my son.

*************

************

Tagged By Caution Flag

A member of a flag family, "caution", of The Human Race 600 blog has tagged me. Years ago, being involved in games of "tag" at recess was practically an everyday occurrence. At least in that version, you could see when the "it" person was coming your way!

*******

Anyhow, go visit caution's blog at the above link........she has a gift for very humorous writing!! And, I think her idea of a family of racing flags is clever! Someday, I may be able to forgive her for flagging......er, tagging me.......!

****************

****************

****************

What was I doing ten years ago?

----Coming to terms with turning 40 and feeling very old (older than I do now, actually)

----Juggling activities of a senior in high school, a freshman in high school, a fourth-grader, and a first-grader

************************

Five snacks I enjoy:

----Chocolate

----Popcorn

----Chocolate
----Popcorn

----Chocolate

****************************

Five things on my to-do list today:

----Drink coffee

----Feed calves

----Go to a funeral visitation

----Drop off recycling items

----Put addresses on wedding dance cards

*****************************

Things I'd want if I were a billionaire:

----Faith

----Family

----Friends

----Good health

----Thoughts

*******************************

Five jobs I've had:

----Detassler

----Babysitter

----Janitor

----Licensed Practical Nurse

----School Lunch Server

********************************

Five of my bad habits:

----Sleeping too long

----Putting off doing the dishes

----Not caring about clutter

----Acquiring too many books

----Daydreaming

****************************

Places I've lived:

Three farms in Iowa, all within 7 miles of each other

****************************

Five random things:

----I once threw a pea at a teacher and got in a podful of trouble.

----My singing voice ranges from low alto to high soprano, although too much soprano makes me dizzy.

----Never have I been in an airplane.

----I was a Homecoming queen.

----At age four, my best friend was the pastor's daughter, and one day she and I mooned a truck that was driving past our farm. (I don't recall whose idea it was.)

********************

********************

Ok, I'm going to tag.........YOU!!! If you're unlucky enough to be reading this post and have a blog of your own........you are tagged!! Gotcha.......yeah, right.......like you will actually do it (but, let me know if you do).

************

************

Fleabane & Rogue Verses

Meow-ie greetings to you! My name is Tex (where that name came from, I have no clue) and I'm here on the blog today to discuss with you this little wildflower called Daisy Fleabane.........that's FleaBANE.......NOT FleaBAIT.......(which is the scientific name of those canine-ite monstrosities that chase poor little innocent creatures like me up into trees).

**********

**************
**************

I, Tex, sneaked onto the computer last night and "meow-gled" Daisy Fleabane and found a website called Prime Focus - Iowa , that has lots of nice photos of Iowa wildflowers.......sure is funny Jeannelle never stumbled onto that site before, considering it features info about Iowa.

Whoops, gotta run.......here comes Jeannelle........

**************

What's going on here?? If it isn't my kids hogging the computer, then its a kitty........what's the world coming to??! Scram, Tex!

**************

**************

I just felt like mentioning something from yesterday's sermon: Our Epistle reading was Romans 7:14-25a. (The "b" part of verse 25 was left out.)

We have a new pastor.......as of now, my opinion of him is positive, but barely formulated, really. The text for his sermon was the abovementioned Epistle reading from Romans 7. He spoke with much intensity about each verse.......skipping over verse 22, however.......never mentioning it at all, "For in my inner being, I delight in God's law". The "b" part of verse 25 is along a similar vein, ".....I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (RSV)

My layperson's opinion is that the idea of a person delighting in God's law in their mind/inner self (or even having an "inner self")..........is a rogue concept that doesn't fit anywhere in Lutheran theology. We're taught that we are sinners through and through, in body AND mind; our actions and thoughts being sinful continually. (That's the LAW)

The Cross of Christ brings salvation. (That's the GOSPEL.) However........salvation is accessed only by faith........and faith is accessed through the Sacraments. (Jumping through the churchly hoops.)

Because of the Word of God preached and bestowed on us in the Sacraments (Baptism & Communion), we Lutherans are made saints, while simultaneously remaining sinners.

After 30 years, I've finally figured out that the crux of the difference between being a Baptist and being a Lutheran is that as a Baptist I put my trust in Christ, and as a Lutheran I'm supposed to put my trust in the Sacraments. Martin Luther didn't feel that people could believe in Christ with their own minds; faith comes from the Word bestowed in Sacraments. Finally, after all these years, I can see that----in my opinion, anyhow----- that is what encompasses the difference between the two denominations.

Actually, if I would have understood the denominational differences years ago, I might not have joined the Lutherans. But, I was young then, and not inclined to think very deeply about things. Truly, I wish denominational differences didn't exist.......they make no sense, considering what the message of Christianity is supposed to be.

But, hey.........if Lutheranism sounds good to you........go get catechized and become one. Be sure you choose the correct brand of Lutheranism, though, which is, of course, the Missouri Synod. (Woe is me.....my son is marrying one of the "other" Lutherans.)

***************

(IF you would like to receive an email message which has clickable links to EVERY chapter of EVERY book in the Bible, email me at junebug1976@hotmail.com .)

****************

****************

Enjoy your day!!!

St. John Window

Here is the final stained-glass window from my rural Iowa church, which is LCMS Lutheran........not that my denominational loyalties are extremely strong, but it happens to be where I am a member. A person marries young, joins a church because of that, and years later wonders what on earth she was thinking. But, here she is, and here she will remain.

******************

******************

St. John.......Apostle, Evangelist, and author of the fourth Gospel in the New Testament, has been bestowed with the symbol of winged eagle since ancient times. Not that I knew that before taking a close look at these windows. Its been very interesting learning about them.

***********
***********

Matthew - winged man or angel

Mark - winged lion

Luke - winged bull or ox

John - winged eagle

***********

***********

These symbols are from the Bible-----from Ezekiel 1:10, and Revelation 4:7----- although who first attached them to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is a mystery to me. Probably it was the early Church Fathers.

***********

***********

I'd be curious to know how many Christian denominations have used these symbols in their churches, in stained-glass windows or elsewhere. I grew up in a Baptist Church and never heard therein about these symbols and their connection to the Gospels.

Dragonfly HaHa

Finally.........this blog has snagged an award and now I can throw off this tiresome human persona........revealing this blogger's true identity.........Drusilla the Dragonfly Spy, here to collect data for our upcoming OVERTHROW OF THE WORLD!!! HaHaHa!! You never suspected......did you!!......that dragonflies would rule someday!! You probably thought it would be mosquitoes or jellyfish.......or...... or..... bloggers!!

**************

Yes, that's me........beady eyes looking right at you!!

***************
***************

Seriously..........sorry about that silly talk. Its just that while walking near the "creek" on our farm this afternoon, I saw this dragonfly whizzing back and forth over the water. He or she would make brief landings, during which times I attempted to snap a few surely-futile photos of the nervous, flittery bug, thinking it would not show up at all. Thus, later, I was totally amazed to see those dragonfly eyes staring out at me from the computer screen!

***************
***************

About insects I know precious little, own no bug books, and have no plans to acquire any.

Good night!!

You Make My Day Award

As I've trekked along on my blogging adventure, the thought of receiving an award hasn't entered my head. I blog because it gives me an opportunity to ramble about whatever random subject I feel like rambling about. In real life, that would be annoying to people around me, but it seems one can get away with it on a blog!

*****************

Anyhow, yesterday, Ruth of "Ruth's Visions & Revisions" blog kindly bestowed my blog with a "You Make My Day" award which comes complete with the above lovely sign to display on the blog's side-bar. It is a round-robin type award, which each recipient then passes along to another blogger of their choosing. If you wish to find out who bestowed the award on Ruth, then go to: Ruth's blog post about the "You Make My Day Award". While you're there, take time to read some of Ruth's other posts.......her writing, including original poetry is excellent and compassionate.........filled with unique and inspiring thoughts!

******************

Oh, dear.......now I must choose another blogger to pass this award on to. Hm-m. It is difficult to single out just one to choose. Hm-m. It will be a blog from the list along the right (all fantastic blogs......go visit them!) Hm-m. "Rhymeswithplague" was one of the first blogs I stumbled onto, one day when I was searching for information about an obscure little poem from my childhood Sunday School days, and he actually had posted about it! But, he being a guy, might think this award picture is rather feminine..........

******************

Thus, I have decided to bestow the "You Make My Day" award on Pat, the author of the blog, An Arkansas Stamper . Folks the likes of Pat and "rhymeswithplague" are lessening my trepidation about growing older. (I just turned 50, and I believe they are somewhat older than that.) They are lively, interesting, interested people, who aren't afraid to wade into the newfangled world of blogging to share their wit and wisdom. That's encouraging and inspiring to me.

******************

******************

I appreciate all you readers, whether you leave a comment or not.........You Make My Day!! Thanks again, Ruth!!

Motherwort & God's Pharmacy

Now here's a plant that's been growing here for years, around remnants of old buildings on our farmstead, but I never bothered to learn about it before now.

************

Its name is Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca, a member of the mint family. There is no entry for it in my two prairie plant books, but it is listed in the Peterson Field Guide, Wildflowers: Northeastern/NorthCentral North America, (1968), by Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny.

************

Its name, Motherwort, may be related to the fact that this plant contains a chemical which causes smooth muscle contractions and may have been used after childbirth to help the uterus to contract prevent hemorrhage. Its scientific name, Leonurus cardiaca, means roughly "lion-hearted", for the chemical will also strengthen heart muscle contractions.

*************

Perhaps a midwife lived on this farm at one time and used this plant in her work. I'm sure there were many such women around. Its a challenge to roll my thoughts backwards and try to imagine a world in which women were on their own when it came to birthing babies. Spending time in old cemeteries, reading tombstones, is informative and enlightening........many women and babies didn't survive childbirth.

**************

Apparently, according to the prairie books, there are plants which were used long ago for their contraceptive capabilities, or to enhance human fertility. Quite amazing, maybe, to think of God creating plants with these purposes. With childbirth being so risky in former times, its not difficult to understand why people would search for a way to prevent pregnancy. And, sadly, too, there have always been some folks who have difficulty reproducing or are never able to.

******************

*****************

In the photo below, where the Motherwort leaves meet the stem, can you see the prickly-looking bunch? It IS very sharp and prickly! And, I think that little cross or X inside each prickle is interesting. You can see that clearest in the lowest bunch. Click the photo to see it larger.

**************
**************

Here's a nice close-up of motherwort flower . Maybe someday if I ever mature in my photography, I could get a macro-lens to take close-ups of flower and plant parts. That would be fun!! Countrygirl does a fabulous job of doing that, showing stunning scenes in one of her recent blogposts.

*************

Plants Database from the USDA also lists Motherwort.

*********************

***************
********

**

Here's a fascinating e-mail message I just received.........it talks about the relationship between certain fruits and vegetables and the parts of the human body they resemble (There were pictures of the foods, but they did not copy and paste. If you would like this message forwarded to you in its entirety, send me an e-mail at

junebug1976@hotmail.com ):

Subject: FW: God's Pharmacy
It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!God's Pharmacy! Amazing!A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility. Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.Psalm 46:19 'Be Still and Know that I AM GOD'

YYYYYYYYYYY

YYYYYYYY

YYYY

Y

July 4th Farm Fun

Yesterday, hiding amongst the hodgy-podgy weedy mish-mash of the ditch beneath our mailbox was this collage.........Sweet William, grapevine curlicues, a Goat's Beard seed head, and various grasses. Who could ask for more!! Nature's artistry at work!!

*************
*************

***************

***************

Ok......here's the plan for Independence Day fun on this farm: See this here nice, green field of oats and peas.......remember when it was planted?

If you don't (I didn't, either), click here to find out.

*****************

Well, we can't allow a field that looks this serene and lovely to remain around very long.......the vibes are just too good.

***************

Ha, ha........take that.......oats and peas........down you go! Bite the dust, ya green-headed, pea-brained, ol' cow fodder!

*************

Maybe you guessed it.........we will be chopping and bagging oats and peas on the Fourth of July!! I'm not sure what to call the resulting feed-----oatlage, pealage, oatpealage, peaoatlage........ah, whatever. Your holiday plans can't possibly be more fun than ours.......just go ahead and try.......that's fine with me!!

If you're curious to see the machinery used for chopping and bagging, click here to view photos of when we chopped and bagged rye a few weeks ago. It will be the same process today for the oats/peas.

***************

***************

Oh, and here's a random scene from the edge of the oat/pea field........its that wispy grass whose name to me is unknown, but I just love the look of it!!

qwertyiop[]asdfghjkl;'/.,mnb

ASDFGHJKL:"?>
!@^&*()_+

Good grief!! I was trying to find a web-ding icon that showed a firework.......I thought there was one. Oh, well........Have a super fun and safe Independence Day/Fourth of July, everyone!!!

(Click here to find out why we should possibly be celebrating the Second of July, instead!!! Thanks, "rhymeswithplague".......your wit never ceases to amaze, inform, and entertain!! I'm glad you are a blogger!

************
And while I'm at it.........that goes for everyone else who does a blog (unless it promotes harm or unkindness, of course). If you are reading this and are a blogger, then keep up the good fun. Blogging is fun, and I'm guessing anyone who has a blog might agree with that. And, anyone who reads blogs and is not a blogger......that's OK, too!

************

************

************

Thimbleweed

Please make the acquaintance of "Long-Headed Thimbleweed", AKA Anemone Cylindrica, a member of the Buttercup family.

********

I was introduced to this whimsical prairie plant many years ago by our milk hauler/science teacher friend; he basically has been the one to spark my interest in wildflowers. This Thimbleweed grows in a flower bed near our house, and did not originate on this farm. Don't tell anyone, but I dug it up in a ditch a few years ago-----actually, that may have been QUITE a few years ago, for as I recall there were two fussy little kids in the backseat of the car that day. (Their mother's wildflower expedition had stretched their patience to the breaking point......and the snacks were all gone!) The milk hauler had spotted the Thimbleweed patch from the high vantage point of his truck cab one day, and informed me of the location. He's been known to dig wildflowers from ditches, also.

***********

Anyhow, the Thimbleweed thrived after its transplanting to our yard, and it survived another transplanting a couple years ago when we remodeled, so I would highly recommend this hardy plant for prairie wildflower gardens.

***********

***********

***********

In a junior high variety show years ago, our chorus sang the Al Jolson song, "Me and My Shadow", while one student, with walking stick and top hat, danced in time to the music, back and forth across the stage, with a bright spotlight creating vivid shadows.

**********

The Thimbleweed photo below reminded me of that:

****************

****************

Enjoy Independence Day Eve!