An Irish Tale for Dark Times

 

This week we were able to lead our sheep in and out of the barn so nicely it was amazing.  Reg goes out three times a day to train them and I often go with him.  Yesterday I was able to lead them alone into the fenced garden area where they grazed down all the weeds.

Galinda came over to me as I sat in my chair in the field. She wanted to be petted and petted.  It was precious. The other sheep grazed nearby and it was so peaceful.  I was very grateful for my strange new life of farming and homesteading, preparing to help others by creating productive and peaceful places.

This week Reg and I were both sniffly and sickish but functional.  We took an hour drive in the country and bought six more chickens. We were still able to help a ward member clean her apartment and move to a better apartment.

We were able to host a Self Reliance Class (12 students!) for How to Grow or Start your own business.  We were able to make soup for a community dinner and help with a family history workshop and set up an ofrenda in our church lobby for people to put pictures of deceased ancestors that they have taken to the temple or plan to take to the temple so they can remember and bless their ancestors.

We also went to a fall festival with our kids, Ben, Courtnie and little Wells!

So now that Irish tale I was inspired by this week:

There was a ship sailing from Ireland to America and the captain looked behind his ship and was very upset to find a giant whale following the ship.  He looked around and saw a chair and threw it at the whale.  It swallowed the chair but didn't go away.  

So the captain looked around and found a goat and threw it at the whale.  The whale swallowed the goat but didn't go away.  Then the captain took up a small barrel and threw it at the whale.  The whale swallowed the barrel but didn't go away.  

Then the captain noticed the cabin boy.  He took the poor boy and threw him overboard and the whale swallowed the boy and went away.  The ship continued to sail to America and when it came into the dock the captain was amazed to find the great whale dead upon the shore with lots of people standing around it staring at it.

"Cut it open! Cut it open!" he cried.  So the people did and there they saw the cabin boy sitting in a chair and milking a goat into a barrel.  The captain was so shocked by the sight that he fell down and almost died.

And as the Irish storyteller always says at the end of her stories, "And that's my story and if there's a lie in it, so be it." 

BUT, what I loved was her observations afterwards.  That cabin boy had a dark time in his life and he looked around inside that whale and gathered his resources.  He made himself comfortable in the chair and nourished himself with the goat milk and he made it through his dark time.

So my friends, when you are in a deep dark time, look to your resources.  Make your self comfortable find a place to curl up and rest, sit in a field and stare at nature, clean your personal space, and make yourself comfortable.  THEN nourish yourself.  Nourish yourself physically with healthy food, healing tea or whatever.  Nourish yourself spiritually and emotionally by turning to Christ, breathing deep, meditating, etc.  

She added one more thought...that wretched, selfish captain who did whatever it took to save himself even hurting others.  She said that some would wish revenge and thinking it would have been just if he HAD died from the shock. But revenge is not healthy.  Your best revenge is to LIVE WELL in your trials like the cabin boy did and you will be blessed. 

Christ is always with you in your darkest hours.  He lived them all personally so He could know exactly how to bring you peace and nurturing in your adventures.  I know this from experience.

Love you ALL!  Have a great week.

Official call received

 Well! It is with great relief and joy that we received our official second mission call from Church Headquarters. Our mission starts in December and we are Facilities Maintenance Missionaries for the Missouri Historic Sites which include, Independence visitors center, Liberty Jail, Hauns Mill, Far West, and the Richmond Cemeteries for 18 months.

In other news, Ephraim moved in with us and is renting the basement apartment. It was really great to have him and his friends here for general conference weekend. Lots of treats and snacks.

General Conference video link

Reg found his father's WWII field microscope and binoculars while unpacking...He and Ephraim studied the difference between my gray hair and my brown hair.  Cool.

We've named all the sheep and they are starting to know their names, which is lovely really.  In order from most trusting to least....

Galinda, she's big and all white and shaggy
and is the most trusting. She comes to us and lets us pet her. She's always first in line for the grain.

Emma is slightly taller than Galinda and has a lovely thick brownish red hair coat.  She had big black circles around each eye and black legs that make it look like she's wearing tights.  She's very fancy looks like a rich lady out on the town.

Rosey Belle has a red and black hair collar around her neck and an all black face. She's small and cute as a button

Madame Secretary is smooth and sleek...no thick hair at all.  She has a black head and neck and white body and looks sleek and professional.  She stands beside the boss and looks like she should have a string of pearls around her neck as she takes notes and orders from little big boss.

Little Big Boss is the smallest. with black face and white nose and scrapy hair all patchy on her body.  She's the one who kept everyone from following us into the barn last week.  But after a week with us in the barn she has started to come for grain too!

New Dog New Sheep!!

 

Our five pregnant Ewes have arrived!! We are so excited. They spent their first night cozy and safe in the barn...and the last two nights in the pasture because nothing the person who sold them to us said to do is working to lead them back in. Wahhh. So much learning!! 

And the farm dog we just got is so obedient and wonderful but he's never herded sheep. 

He runs straight at them instead of trotting, circling behind etc etc so we're going to get to train him for that. .more adventures. But we LOVE Farley.

He is calm doesn't even need a collar and he loves Reg. He will follow him everywhere and just lay on the garage floor and watch him tinker or work.

The level of stress here has plummeted with our sweet Nala gone. She's happier and so are we!

In other news,  I decorated one of my stumps with wind chimes! I love looking at it. 

I was sick for a couple days this week, fever and body aches and lingering head aches. So that was a forced but needed rest.

Then yesterday we went to an all day seminar on raising resilient and mite resistant bees without using chemicals! It was fascinating and just part of our research for next spring when we get bees to help pollinate our fruit trees and garden.

Dogs and Sheep but NOT Sheep Dogs

 A Couple of weeks ago Reg and I decided we might need a dog to protect our chickens and sheep from coyotes, other wild animals, and neighborhood dogs.  One of our chickens had its throat ripped out in the middle of the DAY!

We started praying and researching.  Meanwhile, a sister I minister to called me up.  Her ex had left her and their three children with his dog.  She didn't have the bandwidth to take the dog for walks and could not afford to feed the dog.  She wanted to know, is there anyone I know who might want a dog?

I told her we needed one that would protect our chickens and sheep (that were coming) and not hurt our grandchildren or children.  She was sure her dog could do this...We've had her for two weeks now and this dog is darling but DISOBEDIENT.  She chases the chickens and we've lost one to her now.  She will also escape and jump over the fence and into the street which is so dangerous.  She comes when we call ONLY when she's on a dog run chain.  Once free, all bets are off and she takes off endangering herself and others.  She is great with the grandchildren and loves it when we sit with her and brush her, but we are not luxuriating here and rarely have time to do this.

You can't blame a dog for being a dog, AND we need a dog that will help us with our WORK.  She is not helping us with our work.  She is creating more unnecessary work.  I feel sorry for her, but we're giving her back.

We've learned a lesson here and I've thought often as I literally prayed her back into our hands twice, that if she would only come when we called, she could have the whole 5 acers to tear around in. BUT instead she runs straight to danger.  I thought about people I know who flee from God's commandments and flee from helping Him with HIS work...thinking they are FREE.  But instead, although adorable and funny and cute, they are endangering themselves and others when not staying within the boundaries the Lord has set.

Keeping the commandments literally keeps us FREE to play, to experience the joy of participating in the Lord's work, and the safety and prosperity of being in His fold.  He is the GOOD Sheppard.  

Hopefully we will be good Shepards when our sheep come next week.

We're getting the barn all cleaned up, safe and protected from coyotes by putting in fences, and good drainage. Autumn came to visit with her boys.  They helped us with chores and they picked up some cool homeschooling stuff and I taught Emmet how to drive the little tractor mower. 

I learned how to drive a new standup front loader and dig holes for our fruit trees...That was exciting.  Ben dropped by with Wells and Ephraim to help install a barn door...in our bedroom. hahah  for some reason there was NO bathroom door in our bedroom.  Weird.

New adventures await!

Mending Fences

 

This week we spent quite a bit of time in the sweltering 97° heat mending fences.

We are planing on getting some sheep and want them to be safe.

Several portions of fence were crushed down. It looked as if several heavy animals belly flopped on it. Anyway, as we worked, Reg kept saying, "Good fences make good neighbors" repeatedly, It made me laugh.  I think the sun was getting to him. 

Every time he said it I thought about mending fences as a metaphor for repenting and forgiving.

 I got some pretty bad wire punctures from putting up new fence. It really hurt...for days. 

In our lives we have have many opportunities to be accidently and on purposely be hurt. But if we don't forgive, and in my case put some appropriate gloves on, we let the incident hurt us again and again needlessly. 

I loved the talk below on this topic. I hope it touches you as it did me. 

I love you 

The Healing Ointment of Forgiveness

Battle of the Bad Smell

 

This week was again a series of ups and downs, and all the ups and downs showed us the hand of God in our lives.

The ups...taking our grandson, Wells, to the Zoo. Ephraim being a regular part of our lives.

Some dangerous trees got cut down. They could have smashed our house in a storm.

And we finished unpacking our LAST POD. The downs... our new clothes washer broke, the kitchen sink pipes clogged and would not drain even after taking off the p trap, snaking the pipes, and using a gallon of appropriate drain chemicals

A plumber is coming tomorrow, meanwhile we prayed mightily and after many hours the sink did drain and is draining but slowly so we can at least use the sink!

The washer will be fixed tomorrow.....the big big deal is the big big stink. Back in June when we took possession of the house there was a terrible smell in the house that wasn't there when we toured it before buying. It was a heavy aroma of fish and ammonia.

While exploring the cause we found the basement garage to be so strong that it burned our eyes! 

In the last two months, our boys power washed the garage twice, we replaced the upstairs carpet, we spent hundreds of dollars having our vents cleaned, the smelled remained strong.  

We've spent hundreds in cleaning supplies and Reg has spent at least 50-60 hours scrubbing and scrubbing the garage floor only to have brown gooey bubbles rise from the concrete after each cleaning.  He's used baking soda, vinegar, TSP, orangeguard oil to break down the enzymes and rinsing after each time. 

The smell is much much better in the garage, but every time we ran the air conditioner the ammonia smell continues. 

Someone is coming out tomorrow to check that out. So because of these smell battles, I have been the main person unpacking and organizing the whole house. Lol. 

Nevertheless, God has sent individuals to help me. We are being blessed every day even in our trials. We know this too will pass. Meanwhile, Reg continues to scrub. 

PS we found out that at one point the previous owners kept their bull in this garage and their cats also urinated  everywhere.  Their bio chemicals soaked into the concrete and they are oozing back out....ugh

A much needed Break

Sorry I didn't post last weekend! We took a break and drove to Utah to visit Spring and her family and to be with family and friends at BYU Education Week!  Silly us...when we bought the tickets we thought..."Oh we'll totally be unpacked and set up by THEN" Wrong...but who cares. LOL

Amazingly, Grandpa Beck the founder of Grandpa Beck card games was there in the book store promoting his games. He didn't need to convince us! We already have several of his games. Skull King and Dragoness being our favorites

Reg babysat the girls, Caluna and Lilian, for two days so Spring could spend time with me and attend classes.

I had several favorites. Robert Ferrell's eliminating contention within yourself and around you. 

Connie Sokol's the power of female leadership, Scott Anderson's No one is beyond the Savior's reach. Classes on building Zion, becoming more 

Christlike, creating a mature marriage relationship, etc etc etc check it out online.  You will want to come meet us there next year!!