I had an interesting dream last night. I was in a service truck dangling off the top of a building. I had called for help, but had no clue where the guy was who was driving, what was holding us up, how we got there, or how to get out of the situation.

And then I woke up.

I was a bit disappointed because I'd really like to know how I got out of that mess.

But you know, life is kind of like that. Often times we find ourselves in a total mess. We're not real sure how we got there other than we know some really bad choices were made that looked like good ones at the time. And unless some external power else helps us it is most likely we are going to crash and burn.

It's times like this I like to remember Romans 8:28: We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. (NCV)

Oh, and I hope it's not a prophecy. Just to be safe I won't be riding in any service trucks driving around the tops of buildings this week.

On the road

Things on the farm were caught up, so Sue and I took the opportunity to go to North Carolina and see Jill and Chris.  It's been a fun and educational week.  For instancewe stopped in Vincennes and got a drink.  I learned not to waste my money on

 Absolutely the worst tasting stuff I ever drank that did not involve a prescription.  We made it to Cookeville, Tennessee the first day.  When we first started coming to Tennessee we got a BP credit card because they offered promos on prices for company cards.  They still have deals like that.  We had some bonus points on out BP card so we filled up while there.

 Yes, that is the price we paid.  Just to prove it here is the receipt and the regular pump price

 I did figure out I need to work on my marketing.  Organic hard red wheat is selling for $115 a bushel at two different grocery stores we stopped at.

 I could go to some extra effort for that price.  Well, enough for now.  More in a few days.

In class again ?

Yep, in class again.  I spent Saturday in a First responder refresher course at Lakeland College's Effingham campus.

Got to meet some new people (this is about half the class)

Brushed up on a few things

Learned a few new things

And even passed the test!

I want to thank the Air Evac folks for the training.  Their part of the class fees was $60 and they had 3 people there all day, one coming from near Henderson, Kentucky

I learned any day you don't ride in one of these on a stretcher

it could be called a good day.

www.Honeville.com

I was talking to Danny Hone about his business

 ( http://www.honeville.com ), and when I got home  I decided to do a little searching.  I found an article about him on Sheep Boutique (http://sheepboutique.tumblr.com/post/6076205466/internet-retailer-finds-success-in-small-town)

I also found he is ranked one of the top20sites.com for firefighting shirts ( http://www.honeville.com/hofit.html )

The business has grown to the point of hiring a new employee.  His wife Cindy has given notice to the an she is a manager at and will be starting Monday full time at www.honeville.com

She posted this on Facebook:
"YES yesterday was SUPPOSED to be my last day BUT it wasn't LOL. Usually you are thanked for your notice but just excused early (I have seen that sooooo many times that is what I was expecting). BUT when they sat down with me they asked me if I could stay another week. After much negotiating with my new "boss" I decided to stay BUT I am only working FOUR DAYS/ 34HRS this week. Then I will be off to new things."

If things go as planned they hope to be totally debt free by the end of the year.. Great job, Danny!

Have we become complacent?

I'm bouncing around ideas for a communion meditation for Sunday.  This is a collection of various thoughts.  I guess you'll have to come to church to hear the final version.

Have we become complacent about communion?  I feel safe in saying we have more people here today who have been taking communion more than 20 years than less than 20 years.  Do you remember the first time you took communion?

I'll admit, I do not.

But recently I got to watch some young ladies taking communion for the first time.  The excitement.  The wonder.  The mystery.  I fear most of us have lost that. We come to church and ...Oh yeah, communion time again.  These girls were so excited to be taking communion they could barely contain themselves Oh that we old folks would have such enthusiasm.

Don't misunderstand,  I don't think the elements of communion are something mystic.  It's just bread and juice.  It has no mysterious power.  It's just common food Jesus used as an example.

The mystery, the power, is in the remembering what it symbolizes.  In declaring by our actions and our belief.


Some say that is why we should not have communion every Sunday, because it makes it less special.  I worry that having it less often makes it too special. There is a mystery about it, a holiness to it.  But at the same time I don't think it needs to be something mystic.  It's just bread and juice.  It has no mysterious power.  It's just common food Jesus used as an example.

2 years ago

Two years ago tonight anyone involved with emergency services in the West Union area listening to the Clark County dispatch channel heard on the radio "We've had an accident and I can't find my patient."  Everyone  went "OH (insert word of choice) !" and lit running.

I was in the first firetruck on scene.  At first it didn't look that bad ... until you started paying closer attention. It was the most massive, well equipped, over staffed response to an accident in recent history. It was a classic example of everyone in two counties working together, doing everything they could ... and still not accomplishing what they wanted to happen.

 We lost an EMT / Paramedic that night.  To be honest we lost the heart of the West Union Ambulance Service.  I wrote recently about unintended consequences.  We're still feeling the consequences of this accident.

 It hurts to say it, but I fear we as a community have let Rick's memory down.  It is tough.  I KNOW it is tough.  Because he was a brother / friend / mentor / boss / co-worker. I'm fairly confident he would tell us to get our ___ together and do what we were trained to do.  And get more training.

And evangelize.

I realize that is not the normal use of the word.  But to be honest Rick evangelized the ambulance service.  He got more people involved, heled more people get trained, encouraged more people to be an EMT or Paramedic than anyone I know.


We had folks in training that have never gone back.  We've had folks leave the positions they held with the service.  I'm told some EMT's still won't get back in an ambulance.  We have failed to evangelize ... to interest and involve and train and encourage new people.

I understand.  I really do. Because last winter I took a First Responder class.  Not even basic EMT, just a class on what do I have to do to try and keep you alive until someone gets there who knows something.  Looking at that one class and extrapolating on to EMT and Paramedic the commitment required is almost staggering.  The education and training and time and effort and even money involved just to be a volunteer will cause the normal person to lose interest.

But then again, normal folks don't do stuff like this.

Rick would have been the first to tell you he wasn't normal.  What he would not have told you was he was extraordinary.

If you are reading this and have any inkling of an interest in starting down this long road of emergency services I want to encourage you.  If you say "I just can't because ____" I won't argue with you.  But I'll toss another idea your way.  If you can't do it support someone who is.

For instance, I know a woman in West Union right now studying to be an EMT.  She is driving to Grayville, Illinois twice a week for classes. The financial cost of just going to class, not counting the cost of the education, is staggering.  Find someone like that and sponsor them. Or at least support them.  Slip them a little cash just to help with their expenses. Or if you can afford it underwrite their class expense. Start your own scholarship program.

Rick would be proud of you.

Unintended consequences

I've had this phrase rattling around in my head for a few days so I thought I'd let it get out before it hurt itself. Unintended consequences.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, saying or doing things without really thinking them through.  I know I'm guilty of it.  And sometimes I'm not guilty of that so much as not explaining things to others.  I'll use a recent business decision as an example.

A couple years or so ago I bought a Ford F550 truck and gooseneck trailer.

Great truck.  Pretty much did everything I asked as long as mud wasn't involved. ( A friend told me several years ago a 4 wheel drive truck will get me stuck when I'm driving a 2 wheel drive truck.  He was right.) It was great for the seed business  Aman could put 4 seed boxes on it to deliver, haul several with the trailer.  It pulled our camper like it wasn't back there.  But the more I drove it the more I felt that while I enjoyed it, it was not the best vehicle for us from a business standpoint.

Plates cost me about $300 per year.  Insurance on it and the trailer is about $580 a year.  And then there is maintenance.  I think it costs over $50 a year just for the safety tests.  I was spending close to $1000 a year before I turned the steering wheel.  I could sell the truck and trailer and buy a used semi trailer to haul more weight easier.  Plates for a semi trailer are almost free (the money is in the semi-tractor plates).  Or I could do a little modification and pull the gooseneck trailer with a semi-tractor.  Or put a ball hitch in the bed of Mom's truck.  Several possibilities.

A friend told me if I ever wanted to sell it he was interested.  So last week I sold it to him and listed the trailer on a couple online classified sites.  I mentioned unintended consequences? I hadn't really talked this through with Aman.  He saw his seed delivery system going down the road.  Kind of shook him up for a couple days until I explained my idea.

And then there are some other unintended consequences.  I forgot I had committed the trailer to use as a stage October 31 for Light the Night at church.  It isn't sold yet ... but how do I get it there?  More unintended consequences.  And come reunion time next year I don't think the little Dodge will pull my camper very well.  But we'll figure out something.

All this got me to thinking about how often we do things and there are consequences we never thought about.  Silly stuff like the time I cut the tree limb and it fell on the flashing light on the bucket truck.  Or important stuff like how my actions will affect others.  I guess it's been rattling around in my head because I have seen too many folks recently doing things like that, not thinking how what they do is going to affect someone else.  And I so want to NOT do dumb stuff like that.

Summer's over

if you look closely at the photo at the top of the page you'll notice it is that time of year again.  The setting sun is directly down the east and west roads.

Summer is over.

Not that  you can tell it THIS year.  We are done with corn harvest and a couple days from having all fall tillage done until we cut beans.  Oh, and Pup is in love.

Put him in the Magnum with an 11 shank Soil Saver and keep bringing him food.

Oh ---------------------------------------------------------------- !

No, not any pictures.

There is a pipe we put in as a culvert down on the church road.  Probably a 12 - 18" pipe.  Makes a really nice culvert.  I haven't a clue where Dad got it.  I hate it with a passion.

I know, hating an inanimate object is stupid.

I don't care.

My dislike for this pipe goes clear back to the day we put it in.  I was running the loader tractor and Dad was doing the ground work.  He bent over to pick up a log chain and almost passed out.   I convinced him he needed to go see a Dr.  Which led to the first diagnosis of colon cancer.

My relationship with that stupid pipe had gone downhill ever since.

I was mowing a couple years ago and caught the wheel on the Bush Hog

in the end of the pipe.  Jerked the end off the arm and left the wheels in the ditch.  With a rain coming.  Steve Lindley came along and helped me carry the back end of the mower with the loader to the shop.

And today I was mowing roads while waiting on a corn truck to get full (did I mention you can get 46 acres of corn on one truck this fall?) and was watching the light pole when I should have been watching the stupid pipe.  Ruined an 11.00-16 12 ply 4 rib tire.

At least $200 shot to pieces.

EDIT:  Ummm ... I guessed wrong.  $482.01 and there was no service call involved!

I told Mom later I was ready to dig the ^&%## pipe out.  She said go ahead..

I'm really tempted.

Bought another house

Yes, the rumors are true, we bought another house.   Well, sort of.  I won't go into the details online, but basically we are getting the property in exchange for taking care of removing the house.  It sets just east of the Community Center in front of Nash's

It's the area outlined in yellow.  We own what is outlined in red, and farm the ground beside  and across the road from it.  From the ground it looks more like this:

Our plans are to remove the house and make a driveway back to the field.  The house is way beyond repair.  It might have been fixable if the basement wall had not collapsed

The photo really doesn't do it justice.  The actual wall is under about 3 feet of dirt here.The cost of fixing that would have been expensive, but do-able if the rest of the house was not in such bad repair.  For instance, there is a large hole in the roof ... maybe a couple now that I think about it. The big hole was above this cabinet they had stored player piano rolls in

Well, sort of above it. Directly above was an upstairs closet, the old roof, and a roof for an addition all above this. The closet to the left of this was directly above that cabinet upstairs

The coon and 'possum left when people started digging around in the stuff.  I took ownership never having been in the house. I had been told how bad it was, and since our plans were to remove it, the condition did not matter.  A friend would really like to fix it up.  Her husband and I went through it one afternoon.

If you look closely you'll see the window in the picture is totally missing.  Nobody knows for how long.  He came to the conclusion I was right, it was beyond fixing.  We are tossing around a couple other ideas.

Everyone who has been in the house has commented on the amount of ... stuff ... left.  Keep in mind after Cindy died John took truck loads of things to various auction houses and sold them.  He remarried and when John died his widow and her family took everything they wanted, several pickup loads.  Then Knowles came in and took enough stuff for two sales at their place. After that a couple ... I'll use the term "pickers" have gone through what was left.  And then someone else has gone through and pulled anything they felt was worth scrapping out of the buildings.  I haven't been inside since they finished, but I know there is still an incredible amount of stuff left.

To be honest I'd love to have a house there.  Especially during irrigation season.  It would be great to be a quick ATV ride from the irrigators.  And there is a bit of nostalgia.  When we came back home from college our first home was across the road.  But I doubt that will happen.

Weird happenings

Most folks wouldn't believe it and those who know me wouldn't be surprised.  What is "it"?  Weird happenings. I've actually written this in my head several times, but it seems to run away by the time I get to a keyboard.  Probably just as well.

For instance Sunday we did our usual eat lunch at the West Union Cafe with Mom and friends. I had driven to church in the truck because I turned off an irrigator on the way in. We went to the cafe together then went back and got my truck afterwards.  I'm driving down main street and notice all the little orange flags marking the phone lines are going nuts.  Just as I get to where I can see the front of the cafe I see an umbrella fly up on the roof.

This is not just ANY umbrella.  Kaycee and Cheryl put picnic tables out front with probably 8 foot diameter umbrellas over them.  Patio umbrellas, that's the word I'm looking for.

So I decide to stop.  I find Joy Gilaspy and a friend holding on to the other one so it doesn't fly away. Joy a kid.  Little Joy.   I'm thinking "one more gust of wind and this could get interesting." What I didn't see was the other kid's dad under the umbrella trying to crank it down. So we get it cranked down and put inside.  I REALLY wish I'd had the camera ready to take a picture of Kaycee's face when I motioned for her to come outside or when she saw it.

I seem to attract odd things like this at times.  Maybe I should start my own X-File

Just playing

Sunday we had a church pool party at Tom and Charlotte Brown's.  They built their own water slide. 
No, I didn't.  But I got several photos

Some with kids.

and others

and of course we had food

So how bad is it ?

One of the questions I am getting more and more is "So how bad is it?"  "It' is the corn and bean crop. 

"It" is bad enough a neighbor destroyed 450 acres of irrigated seed production because it did not pollinate in the heat.  And I don't know of anyone carrying adequate crop insurance on seed corn ... this year. Next year WILL be different.

 

I'll be honest, I have a couple fields I have not even been in. I'm not sure my heart is strong enough.  Here are a few photos of places I have been

You have probably seen this one taken east of Mom's on the sand knob.  Not at all unexpected

This was taken south of Walnut Prairie east of the block building

I'd say a large part of the field is a total loss.

But this was south of Olive's.  According to the soil survey this is the best soil I farm.

 If you look closely you notice zip ... zero ... nada.  No ears at all on most stalks.  The ones that do have ears look like this:

I know, I need to get out on the 80 and True's and look.  I just want to make sure we have a full crew for the ambulance before I do.  In 1983 I won a yield contest with an 86 bushel yield from the west 80.

I don't think this year will be that good.

We doubled cropped almost all the wheat ground.  If it is not watered it looks like this

That is over 6 weeks after planting.  The weeds are not even growing.

Here is where it was watered.

 That was taken10 days ago.  The rows have closed now.  The non-irrigated looks just like it did.

Romans 8:28 still works:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him

But at times it stretches your faith.

I don't talk politics very much

I don't talk politics much.  There are more important things than politics.  I listen and may comment occasionally, but don't mistake listening with agreeing.   But I have made enough comments I think most know I am not a big fan of the current President.  So a fair question is why?

I guess I have trouble explaining things that to me are so obvious.

To my extremely political friends, a reminder I don't care which party you are affiliated with.  To my single topic friends, I do think some things are more important than others, but I also think we need a "big picture" viewpoint.  And if we don't agree, I hope we can still be friends.  I don't even agree with my wife 100% on everything, but we usually get along pretty well.

I found this on a farmer's forum I usually avoid, because it is mostly about politics and other junk.  Not sure who wrote this, but thank you to the one who did for taking the time to put it all together.  When you see all this in one spot it causes you to pause and ponder.  Or at least I think it should.



Oh, and if you think this goes on and on and on ... that too is scary.

WHEN - he refused to disclose who donated money to his election campaign, as other candidates had done, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he received endorsements from people like Louis Farrakhan, Muramar Kaddafi and Hugo Chavez, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - it was pointed out that he was a total newcomer and had absolutely no experience at anything except community organizing, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he chose friends and acquaintances such as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who were revolutionary radicals, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - his voting record in the Illinois Senate and in the U.S. Senate came into question, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he refused to wear a flag lapel pin and did so only after a public outcry, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - people started treating him as a Messiah and children in schools were taught to sing his praises, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he stood with his hands over his groin area for the playing of the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he surrounded himself in the White House with advisors who were pro-gun control, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage and wanting to curtail freedom of speech to silence the opposition, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he said he favors sex education in kindergarten, including homosexual indoctrination, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - his personal background was either scrubbed or hidden and nothing could be found about him, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - the place of his birth was called into question, and he refused to produce a birth certificate, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he had an association in Chicago with Tony Rezco - a man of questionable character and who is now in prison and had helped Obama to a sweet deal on the purchase of his home - people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - it became known that George Soros, a multi-billionaire Marxist, spent a ton of money to get him elected, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he started appointing White House Czars that were radicals, revolutionaries, and even avowed Marxist /Communists, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he stood before the Nation and told us that his intentions were to "fundamentally transform this Nation" into something else, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - it became known that he had trained ACORN workers in Chicago and served as an attorney for ACORN, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed cabinet members and several advisers who were tax cheats and socialists, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed a Science Czar, John Holdren, who believes in forced abortions, mass sterilizations and seizing babies from teen mothers, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed Cass Sunstein as Regulatory Czar who believes in "Explicit Consent," harvesting human organs without family consent and allowing animals to be represented in court, while banning all hunting, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed Kevin Jennings, a homosexual and organizer of a group called Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network as Safe School Czar and it became known that he had a history of bad advice to teenagers, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed Mark Lloyd as Diversity Czar who believes in curtailing free speech, taking from one and giving to another to spread the wealth, who supports Hugo Chavez, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - Valerie Jarrett, an avowed Socialist, was selected as Obama's Senior White House Advisor, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director, said Mao Tse Tung was her favorite philosopher and the person she turned to most for inspiration, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed Carol Browner, a well-known socialist as Global Warming Czar working on Cap and Trade as the nation's largest tax, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he appointed Van Jones, an ex-con and avowed Communist as Green Energy Czar, who since had to resign when this was made known, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for Health and Human Services Secretary could not be confirmed because he was a tax cheat, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - as President of the United States , he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, people said it didn't matter..

WHEN - he traveled around the world criticizing America and never once talking of her greatness, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - his actions concerning the Middle East seemed to support the Palestinians over Israel, our long time ally, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he took American tax dollars to resettle thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to the United States, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he upset the Europeans by removing plans for a missile defense system against the Russians, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he played politics in Afghanistan by not sending troops early-on when the Field Commanders said they were necessary to win, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he started spending us into a debt that was so big we could not pay it off, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he took a huge spending bill under the guise of stimulus and used it to pay off organizations, unions, and individuals that got him elected, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he took over insurance companies, car companies, banks, etc., people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he took away student loans from the banks and put it through the government, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he designed plans to take over the health care system and put it under government control, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he claimed he was a Christian during the election and tapes were later made public that showed Obama speaking to a Muslim group and 'stating' that he was raised a Muslim, was educated as a Muslim, and is still a Muslim, people said it didn't matter.

WHEN - he set into motion a plan to take over the control of all energy in the United States through Cap and Trade, people said it didn't matter.


WHEN - he finally completed his transformation of America into a Socialist State , people woke up--- but it was too late.

Add these up one by one and you get a phenomenal score that points to the fact that Barrack Hussein Obama is determined to turn America into a Marxist-Socialist society. All of the items in the preceding paragraphs have been put into place. All can be documented very easily. Before you disavow this do an Internet search. The last paragraph alone is not yet cast in stone. You and I will write that paragraph.

Will it read as above or will it be a more happy ending for most of America ?

WHEN - November 2012 comes, it will matter who you vote for!

You didn't build that.

If you don't follow political news any better than I do you may have wondered what all this "You didn't build that" stuff involving the President is about. Comments, advertisements, speeches, Facebook postings, everywhere you see references to it

 

In a speech in Roanoke, Virginia last week Mr. Obama said “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

 Depending on how you approach that statement I can agree or disagree. If he had said "you didn't build that all by yourself" or you didn't build that without others" and skipped the last sentence, I don't think it would have become a political statement.  In fact, I'd be the first to agree with it.

None of us do it alone.  We have support, we have employees and contractors, we use roads and bridges, we were taught by someone else. It is never one person all by their self.  If nothing else, they have customers

The argument can be made the president was saying that public investment in education, infrastructure and research fosters private business. In return, so the argument goes, successful business leaders have an interest in supporting government programs.

But the way it came out, it fit exactly  into what the Romney campaign has been saying, that the president fails to understand how business and private enterprise work. Most of the time, Obama carefully balances his arguments about tax fairness and the role of government with other references to the importance of individualism. His stump speeches are typically peppered with lines like “we’re not a country that believes in handouts, we believe in working for what we get,” and “we believe in individual initiative and self-reliance.” 

But with the “you didn’t build that” line, Obama made people set back and wonder if his real faith lies in the power of government, not private enterprise.

That's what it is all about.