LOVE the birds......HOWEVER......

Last night we were in White River for the Alcohol Recovery Group.  Had a good meeting..... young Rajon - (spoken like Rashawn) he's 5 years old...was there once more with his ?? Uncle Shawn.  We read out of the Story Bible and sang Jesus Loves me ( he's starting to get the words) and This little light of mine...... we made a finger puppet and then colored a page.

 We knew that there were severe weather warnings....and by the time the meeting was half over the clouds were navy blue!!!!!  Looked nasty.  As we headed for home at about 9:00 there was a light show behind us to the north and another light show to the west.  White River is about 45 miles north of us -- but the lightning was still to the south of us when we got home.....huge system of bad weather!!!.  We went to bed at about 10:45 and then the hail started....mostly small stuff and the whole storm didn't last very long.  However,  I was wide awake for quite some time.    About 1:30 I heard the strangest sound ever!!!!  It was WHOMP ....... WHOMP....whomp.   Really loud.  What ever in the world was THAT?!?!?!?  Of course, Gary was sound asleep......I poked him ...... "huh?".....told him what I had heard....and "oh" and back to  sleep!!!!   SO now....I was REALLY wide awake!!!  ALSO --- the electricity just went off..... what in the world?????  The storm had passed a while ago........

At 7:00 in the morning I called in to Cherry Todd (Electric) that we were without power...."Yes, Lee Logterman had just called in ---- apparently there was an owl that landed on the transformer......"

OH YEAH!!  Dead as a door nail!!!  It took until about 10:30 ----- Cherry Todd went to the wrong Logterman place.....but then it was a matter of minutes and we had power once again.

Yes - owls  have there place but they can also be problems in more ways than one!!

-------------
On the happy side......I did figure out how to get the photos off my new camera and onto the computer...... I have to put the memory card into my old camera and then I can download them.   SO --- here are some of the photos I had been wanting to share with you......
These three are from that pasture that we moved the pairs into for Dan Tinant.  On that ridge that you see on the 1st photo....on the far left....is a cemetery.  The former owners are buried up there along with a grandson.  The next is a sweet little creek that was flowing strong.   Such a peaceful little spot - way off the road ---- no one in sight and no trees either.

The next is just the reminder of God's love that we always look for after a storm.  He never fails us.

........then for a few of the birds that we LOVE.

Then one of Gary's  different projects.    A beer can collection.  Turned out great!!!  and it was another happy customer......

....Vern and Marlys.

I have to tell the story......... Marlys was getting sick of storing these cans in garbage  bags so she decided to do something about it and came and asked Gary if he was game for the project.  She really kind of wanted to keep it a surprise for Vern - who had been collecting these cans since their honeymoon (another story).   Anyway --- Gary put it together......Marlys came and painted it......and then when Vern was out planting one Saturday afternoon.....we went to put it up.  Marlys told us the story the next morning after church.   Vern apparently walked right past this huge display -- at least 4 times and never saw it.   She thought "he must not like it"......  He had even gotten into her car which was parked about 2 feet from it.....could have bumped into it with his head!!! ......and he never saw it.   The next morning - Vern stepped out of their kitchen into the garage and WOW when did they put that in here.....must have come during the night!.    :)  :)    We laughed and laughed.

We have company stopping in on their way west ------ Don and Lynn Becksford (cousin)......we are afraid that they will probably camp at Fishberry campground  north of Valentine--- simply because our roads are a mess from all the rain.  We will meet up with them on Friday and hopefully show them around a little bit before they head for Mt. Rushmore.

We have had a couple of beautiful days (in between the storms) and have gotten several of our own projects finished.   Things like cleaning out the chicken coop......weeding the fence around the garden..... cutting down some low hanging branches.........   And then Gary will look into his next project. I will leave that for another post.   It could be a project -- or it could be a hopeless case.

More later........
Blessings to all of you.
Gary and Barb

VERY VERY FRUSTRATED......

.....with this computer!!!!  I know some of you enjoy this blog....and I really do enjoy putting things on it.   But it IS nice to have pictures on it  - along with the story.   WELL --- I have this awesome new camera and it takes real nice pictures.   However,  for some reason my computer suddenly stopped accepting them....or whatever terms you want.   It DON'T work.    And I get anywhere from frustrated to down right MAD!!!!

So this past week we went out to help our neighbor Dan Tinant move his pairs.   He trucked them about 15 miles to the pasture he was leasing......and then he asked if Gary and I would move the pairs (cow and calf) once they got them paired back up.  He said --- "when we're done we'll take a tour of the country".   This was like WOW country!!!  2400 acres to this pasture and we drove (on our 4 wheelers) for miles and miles and didn't see any buildings --- just the wide open spaces.   There is a cemetery out there - up on a butte -- where the origin owners are buried and a grandson.  There are about 3 cedar trees in the cemetery fenced in area --- those are the only trees in the whole pasture that we were in.   As we were going over to view the cemetery -- Gary was in the lead and then me.   His wheel flipped over a BIG antler shed......6 point.   And Dan stopped --- he was behind me and pointed out the matching one just 8 feet away.  In all those acres --- we just happened to drive over this find.  It was a fun day!!!!

On Friday -- we helped another neighbor with their branding..... the VanderWeys.  We did our usual job --- nasal spray.......  Rick and Kitty have about 500 head -- so that's a lot of bending over to do each calf.   But you're right in the action and we truly enjoy it.  Our Pastor Mark and his wife Dawn and kids - Michaela and Evan came too.  Mark watched for a while and then Gary gave him  his job.  After we moved to the next pasture Mark said he was going to wrestle some calves.  He  did real good for a green horn!!!   And I gave Dawn my job -- the nasal spray.   First she was only going to do a few --- but she continued on til we were done.  They are really getting into this country life and seem to be enjoying it a lot.   I was left with nothing to do so was standing watching....... and decided I really needed to try to hold one of those calves........................   I let Sadie (VanderWey) and the guy she was helping get the calf to the ground and then I asked Sadie if I could hold the head end.   "Oh sure after I wrestle it you want to hold it down".  YUP..... I can see if you have a big calf it could really be a hard thing to do.  I did hold the calf down......so felt like ---- I was successful this time....better leave it at that and not have a big mess up.   Another busy day.....but no accidents ........so a fun day too!!!!

I've been taking photos of all our birds in the back yard.......sorry -- I can't show them.   Have a couple of awesome sunsets......can't show them.  Maybe one of these days this blankety blank blank computer will do it's job again...... until then just know that we are doing well.  Loving our quiet little spot on God's green earth and still enjoying all of our Ministry Opportunities.  Release Time will be finished next week.   We are giving out Bibles to all of the kids this year.  Decided that it's time for a more advanced version for our 4th graders.    Yamni is still reading his Beginner Story Bible that we gave him when he was in the 1st grade.   All of the groups are getting a Bible --- so it will be a nice end to the year for them.

Thank you for your interest.
Gary and Barb

An Adventure????

Well --- if it's not considered an adventure --- it certainly was something new for me.

I made the meals at Lakeview School today.  The Cook --- Janet Kady  -- needs one day off every other week.  Her husband has some medical needs and she would like to be able to go with him on that day --- on his trip to the hospital.    She called me the other day to ask if I would consider subing for her.  The gal who has been helping out isn't always available........so I said I would give it a try.

It meant that I had to go to Mission to the school Administration Building for a drug test and have my fingerprints taken.  Nothing real difficult....however, I did have to have proof that I graduated from High School.  I did NOT have anything like that in my possession.  One call to Zeeland High School and it was taken car of.  WOW they keep records for a good long time.... :)

I went to "observe" the other day........it had been raining and then it turned to snow.....and that meant the roads were MUD!!!  So - would you believe --- they sent the kids home early --- 10:00 ---- on the day I had come to watch how things went.   So that meant I would go again to "observe".

Janet promised me an easy day.     And today was a pretty easy day.   Breakfast couldn't have been any easier.......packaged cold cereal, a granola bar, a juice box and applesauce.  All I had to do was put it on the counter and get the milk out.      Lunch was a little more involved -- but proved to be pretty easy also.  It was creamed chicken on mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner roll and applesauce (again).   I NEVER make instant mashed potatoes --- but they turned out as good as those things can.

I think I did OK --- anyway all  the food disappeared and those who came for seconds were all satisfied........wiped the pans as clean as we could to get the last drops of food.   It's nice to see kids eating and wanting more.

Then it was clean up time and at 2:30 I delivered the bananas to the rooms for a snack and headed home.

I might be asked one more time this year and then school will be finished.   It was fun to see the Release Time kids and some who have stopped coming (for whatever reason)  in the school setting.   And it was fun to see the surprise on their faces when it was me behind the counter rather than Janet.

We've had a week of raining weather but today was a gorgeous spring day and they are promising that for the remainder of the week.  Tonight is the Alcohol Recovery Meeting in Mission,   tomorrow night will be at the Detention Center, Thursday we will have the 3rd and 4th graders for Release Time and then Friday is branding at the VanderWeys.   A busy week but looking forward to all of it.
Gary and Barb