Dear Cousin,
Well it is 4:17 AM and I woke up with a headache at 3:30 AM and finally gave up and got up. Coffee usually helps. I think the headache is from the muscles being tight in my neck from swinging that Stihl weed eater for hours on end, cutting weeds that grew so fast from that month and a half of rain. Even with all the rain our pastures are a bit short and soon we will have to move the big February calves over to Mom’s farm where there is more grass.
We had to cut up another tree cuz. So far, we have had one tree fall in the farm road, another on the boundary fence, one on the truck, one treetop on the power lines, one over the ditch and farm road and this one in the goat yard. I guess all the rain made the walnuts heavy and the tree had been damaged (probably when the farm was logged in the past) and so it broke right where the trunk was skinned up.
Thankfully, it missed the power lines but fell over the creek, on top of the goat’s water tank, into a tree and over the electric fence. There was a risk of it falling the rest of the way down, so it had to come down before it squashed a goat. First, we had to take the electric fence out.
And the young calves are still breaking into the hay patch; we are planning on putting in more lines. We have walked the fence line removing fallen dead trees and limbs that every storm seems to bring down. I have decided an electric fence is useless if there are deer or trees nearby. They are nearly impossible to keep running, but this was a government grant idea, not ours. You might as well cut any tree that can reach the fence when it falls, because eventually they are going to fall. And as far as the deer go, every spring/summer we have a new crop of fawns who don’t understand the fence just like the new calves.
As far as out there in the world cuz, daily we have watched as there are so many earthquakes all about the ring of fire. Almost every day there is a new one. There is a whole lot of shaking going on. Many wonder what is about to happen. The ground in Yellowstone is slowly rising and many fear that the old volcano that probably blew around the time of the flood, I believe is going to awaken and blow again.
And we are planning to have an evening Baptism if the river is down enough. A baptism and supper picnic at the park. It is wonderful that there are still children being saved and following Jesus.
And of course cuz, [Verify before publishing] I remember watching her on the Porter Wagoner show as a young girl.
Thursday Morning: 5:05 a.m. (and change all other AM instances to a.m.). Up early again this morning cuz. I woke up around 4 AM and started my day. Yesterday we finished the walnut tree in the goat pasture; it made a lot of good winter firewood. The goat yard is much brighter now and the sun is drying up the mud. It will be a bit hotter now as the goat house and chicken house will not get the shade. However, the goats had lots of fun eating the walnut leaves and walking across the trunk of the tree before we got it all the way down.
And pray for the people of Nepal and China cuz, that flood that came down the river after it was dammed up by a massive ice, rock, snow landslide/avalanche was terrible to behold. They lost so many people. Some I’m sure will never be found. It reminded me of the Johnstown flood, as it wiped places clean off the face of the earth. No doubt, thousands died or will never be found again.
And tonight is the big face off about the Data center. If they put it in they should buy out every home in Clinchfield, no one wants to listen to noise around the clock. Of course, people have forgotten about how noisy the “prep plant” was for years.
I sure hope we will not be able to hear it all the way over here! I think the cows will not be happy. I heard people were visiting the site. Maybe that explains that helicopter flying over the farm so much lately heading back to the Northeast.
Sure wish I could go to the board of supervisor meeting but I believe it’s right when we have to be rounding up the teenage chickens and shutting up the big chickens and goats for the night.
Until next week, pray for the folks of Nepal!
RJ Kennedy
