What Am I Missing ?

I wonder what I am missing right now?

Why do I say missing?  I have developed a history of missing it. In '87 I saw my first fax machine.  It was roughly 2 ft long, a foot wide, and not quite a foot high.  It used roll thermal paper and did not include a telephone.  You had to plug a telephone into it to use it.  Cost was just under $3000.  I said "Why would anyone want one of those?

I totally missed it.

Today fax machines are so common I have one at home and one in the shop.  Both also function as ink jet printers.  If I had specialized in fax machines who knows what would be today.

A few years later I saw a tower going up between Marshall and Clarksville.  It had to be a cell phone tower.  I did some investigating and found it was Cellular One from Danville.  I met with Chuck (the manager)  in Marshall and had in my hand the contract to be the first agent outside of Danville.  I was working for a GTE Mobilenet agent at the time selling office machines (yes, including faxes) and as part of my employment had signed a non-competition agreement. 

I pondered on it.   My employer knew the non-comp agreement was unenforcable.  I did not directly sell phones, I was in a different license area, even in a different state.  But I looked around.  At the time we were selling Panasonic transportables (they were about the size of my current fax machine) for $1600.  I looked at the market and thought "I might be able to sell maybe a dozen in the Marshall area."

I REALLY missed it.  There are more cell phones than that waiting in line at McDonald's

Maybe cell phone is not a very good description.  My cell phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, video camera and player, a mini SD card with 2 gigabytes of memory, an MP3 player, FM radio, calendar, on and on.  You can fit 2 if them in a pack of cigarettes.

I have a friend who runs his business from his cell phone. His billing,etc is from his computer, but his communication and scheduling are all on his phone

So I am wondering what I am missing today? 

Physical Therapy

Who'd a thunk it?  The boys were playing in a mud puddle in our driveway last week (different one than posted below) and their Mom did not seem too upset with it.  It seems this is what David needs to help with his coordination. So being the ever helpful Grandpa I of course aided and assisted.  I couldn't take pictures while holding his hands, but David just loved "Papaw" holding his hands while he bent over to get good momentum and then jumped in the middle of the mud puddle, splashing Papaw of course.

Here are a couple shots of his less energetic attempts

Brother is of course encouraging him in this

Papaw was entirely  innocent.

We have had a major systems failure that may necessitate an emergency trip to Rural King

Yes, my pliers holder has failed. I am sure duct tape can temporarily repair it, but a permanent solution may be required.

Went out for dinner yesterday, to one of the more interesting establishments in the area

 http://www.themoonshinestore.com/

Oh, new record April 10, 2010
1908 served
Yes, you read correctly.

So what else has been going on?  We've watched deer

looked at crops before the river takes them.

Watched boys play in the mud.  Gotta run, battery is almost gone.

Later Ya'l

Fun Friday

The only thing worse than having an irrigator is needing an irrigator. 

I had decided to start the south irrigator up Friday.  Engine ran fine about 2 minutes then shut down. Couldn't get the Murphy to hold.  I've got the box off tracing wires looking for bare places the mice chewed off insulation when it hits me ... the temp gauge is full scale.  I realize this when I notice there is anti-freeze under the radiator on the frame.  I call the radiator shop.  Roddy  is closing early today because his wife is in the hospital.  He's closing in 1 1/2 hours and it is an hour and 10 minute drive.  No, we didn't make it.  But it is setting by his back door.


Sue and I pulled it off, cleaned up a little (ie washed hands and put on clean clothes) and headed for Mattoon.  Bill's (I don't know why Roddy's radiator shop is called Bill's, it just is) is easy to find.  Just go a couple blocks past the Sonic drive in and turn right.  Yeah, Sonic Drive-in Restaurant.  So we stopped at Sonic after dropping it off and got a Sue a Limeade.  Then we went to the flagship store of the Rural King chain.

Am I a romantic or what?


Would you believe they did not have a 3/4 drive 1-1/18" socket?   Every other size but that.  So we swung past Sears and got one.

Since we were in Charleston we stopped as Pagliai's.  What? You are unfamiliar with Pagliai's ?  It's been there at least 40 years.  At 5:30  it was full and a continuous flow in and out.  They had 4 pizza makers, 2 guys on the ovens, and I don't know how many waitresses. Pizza was OK, but the number of customers was impressive.

Oh, fortunately the weather guy's 50% chance of rain became 1/2 inch Saturday evening.  But hopefully by the time we need the 'gator it will be ready.

Yeah, it's a little wet ...

Yeah, it's a little wet  The lot in front of the plow shed needed mowed.  I should have went after the Bush Hog, but had the Husqvarna on the trailer so I used it.  The grass was a little tall

and it was a bit wet

But I mowed it anyway

Found a little buddy while I was mowing

He's shy, he didn't want his picture taken.

So it's been another one of those weeks down here on the prairie.  We're actually making pretty good planting progress, the roads need mowed (what else is new?), corn needs cultivated but is getting too tall, milo needs cultivated but it's almost too small, beans need planted but it is w-a-y t-o-o wet.  But I'll write more about that on the farm page.

Oh, one other thing I did this week.  Put a new rope on the flagpole at the ball diamond in the York Township Park

That is one tall pole.  Dale got 50 ft of rope and it wasn't long enough.  Sure gives a different perspective on  things being up that high

Oh, one more photo.  Wish I'd had my camera.  Mom had a hummingbird setting on her shepherd's hook.  Just setting there, not flying.

Later Ya'll!

You want WHAT with your mashed potatoes?

Jim is home for the weekend, so we of course had to all gather at Chilton's for supper (some traditions are difficult to change).  David has found a fantastic new taste sensation

Yes, that is cheese sauce he is putting on his mashed potatoes.

Yeah, I'm kind of like Jim, but I guess don't knock it until you try it.

Oh and Adam says Uncle Jim's name is Zack.

We are guessing it has to do with the facial hair.  David said "No, that's Uncle Jim".

Nothing new and profound this week.  Well, other than weather and farming and such. it rained a little Tuesday evening

.

More about that and a few more photos on the farm site at www.BumpusFarms.US

Spider Solitare

I was playing Spider Solitare tonight when I had a revelation. Maybe I need to do some "'splaining".

Spider Solitare is a computer based card game. Or to paraphrase a friend, "a device of Satan to divert your concentration from something important and cause you to waste time". It is an entertaining and addictive diversion.

We had a thunderstorm roll through, which means I unplug most of my electronic devices. However, I have Spider on a portable computer. I had played a game of it and lost, so I closed it. Later I turned the computer back on and started another game.

One of the more interesting features of Spider Solitare is the ability to restart a game, a "do-over" feature. I was playing it and thinking to myself, "this seems familiar". I then realized I was playing the last game over again.

I had lost the last game and thought to myself "This is great! I know what is coming and can adjust my strategy to fit!"

I still lost

I found myself making the same errors I made the first time I played. And then it hit me. This is kind of like how it is for God. He's setting there outside time, knowing what is going to happen, knowing the mistakes we are going to make.

The difference is I was making my decisions based on the circumstances I was in. Even though I had a choice, it was the same choice I had last time and I did the same thing over again. God has made a decision to allow us to make our own choices. We call it free-will.

What free-will means is we can make our own decisions. God allows us to do that. But he knows what we are going to choose even though that choice is entirely up to us.

My game of Spider Solitare is still on the computer. And I am still losing. But I can restart the game and do it all over again. You can do that with your life.

You can't restart from the beginning. Messes you have made are still going to be there and the consequences must be dealt with. But you can change what happens from this point forward. Unlike my computer game, the moves are not set out for you. You can choose which path to follow.

We have a church buzzword for that. We call it "Conversion". Or sometimes "Decision". What it means is you have decided that the path you are following is not the right one. You have decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You have decided to put God first in your life.

It's a big step, a life altering decision.

Which way will you choose?