When Heidi Weston had a serious accident with her horse, she thought she’d never have horses in her life again… until she met Trusty the miniature horse.
The first time Trusty, a miniature horse, went to a memory care facility, he went over to a woman with dementia. From KUOW.ORG
There’s an old belief among farmers that on a quiet night, if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of corn growing.
A new exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden proves that theory to be true. Take a listen: From WFDD public radio
Everyone knows what a trumpet looks like: shiny brass. But the Instrument of Hope is mostly black.
Except for the lead pipe — the straight part that extends from the mouthpiece.
It’s made of bullets.
“Bullets that were shot and fired out of a gun, cut up and pieced together,” says Josh Landress, who made it.
By David Freeze
I have lived on a farm nearly all my life. Born into a small dairy farm family, I now own another small farm. One constant in all that time has been chainsawing trees. When I was small, I remember my dad using a chainsaw but I also remember him trying to cut down trees using a two man saw. If you haven’t seen one, the thing has two big wooden handles, giant teeth and preferably two men to pull it back and forth to eventually fell a tree. It doesn’t work as well with a grown man and a spindly kid.
When I was in college and shortly after, I spent several years cutting trees to sell firewood for extra money. It was a lucrative side job and as you might have guessed, I loved the exercise involved. Sawing the tree down, cutting it into certain lengths, manually splitting the thicker pieces, and loading trucks for delivery had a certain manly appeal.
On my farm now, occasionally trees fall and need to be cut up. I know of two along the creek that need attention now. A least a couple saws are usually ready to get some action. Almost never do I cut a tree that is healthy. Most of my experience has to do with trees that need to come down or have fallen on their own.
Such was the case with one certain pecan tree on Millbridge Road this morning. The tree had outgrown its area and a portion of it was hanging over the owner’s house. She called and wanted me to take it down, so I went early last Sunday to check it out. Just a little touchy in spots on whether the falling tree would hit the house, I planned to use experience, a quality helper, a good saw, a tractor and a stout rope to make sure the tree didn’t damage the house.
Yes, I’ve taken down trees that worry me before. One of the most interesting situations involved a good-sized tree that likely would fall on an ex-mother in law’s house. I thought I could take it down safely and she and her husband didn’t want to pay the high price of a tree company. And the biggest thing—I wanted the challenge to get it down.
Licensed tree removal companies should have insurance to cover the damage of a mistake. A farmer with a tractor, a saw and some rope likely doesn’t. But the price is right. That was the situation this Saturday morning as I started removing low hanging limbs about 8am. My nephew joined me about 10am as we used a tractor and front end loader to take off some limbs that would counterbalance the way I wanted the tree to fall.
With all that done, one major limb still hung over the house and could spin the tree once it started to fall. With the rope tautly stretched to the tractor and my nephew set to pull it north as it started to fall, I circled the tree a couple times to make sure where I wanted to cut next. The base of the tree was about 17 inches thick, meaning that the 20 inch bar would be almost fully in use.
I took time for prayer twice during this adventure, just to ask for God’s to help me make the right decisions. At the last minute, I changed positions to cut from the uphill side of the tree. The saw ran perfectly and hit the pre-cut notch just right while the rope and tractor pulled forward after I signaled my nephew to do his part.
I run for fun and my heart is used to a good workout. Once I saw the chainsaw cut start widening, I knew the tree was slowly starting to fall. We had already cleared out good exit routes in case the tree twisted as it fell. I jumped up and ran up uphill, then turned to see the tree fall perfectly as was planned.
My heart was pounding, but all was well. Faith in my own experience and equipment, but a much greater faith in the power of prayer helped me to move forward. Similar situations occur often in life. Trust yourself and then trust God more. Move forward, dream and then be encouraged to achieve. You can do it with God’s help.
By Ann Farabee
So funny. I was in the grocery store and there was a man standing at the back of the store – with maybe 5 items in his buggy. He was talking on the phone. As I walked by, I heard him say in an irritated voice, “I’m IN the checkout line right now, but I will get OUT of line and go back and get IT for you!” (You can hear that tone of voice as you read, can’t you?)
Now, the man was nowhere near the checkout line and he knew I heard him, but all I got when we made eye contact was an irritated look to go along with the irritated voice. I, however, smiled brightly, and came very close to laughing. Oh, the wife (my assumption) was going to receive the item she had called him about, but he WAS going to make sure that she knew that he did NOT want to go ALL THE WAY to the other side of the store to get it. This is not what I would describe as a LABOR OF LOVE. Yes, he was willing to labor, but he was not showing the love.
The reality of my grocery store visit insight was that it brought me to a place where I examined my labor. Is it a labor of love or is it just labor? Does my conversation and demeanor show that I am laboring in love? Or, does my conversation and demeanor show that- yes, I labor for others, but I want to be sure they know how hard it is for me? Good question.
Where can we show our labor of love? Children, spouse, family, friends, the workplace, home, community, organizations, the church… In general, it is anywhere that we spend our time. Labor can be done with a spirit of love and purpose, or it can be done with a spirit of negativity. (Yes, ‘negativity’ is exemplified by the guy in the grocery store.) And, those we labor for can usually discern the spirit that we labor in….
God’s Word gives us great insight about our labor:
*Power of Labor- Ephesians 4:28 – Let him labor, work with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. (Yes, our labor helps us help others.)
*Promise of Labor- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 – Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love. Matthew 11:28 – Come unto me all that labor and I will give you rest. (Yes, our labor of love will be remembered and God will give us rest.)
*Profit in Labor- Proverbs 14:23 – In all labor, there is profit. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – If a man will not work, he shall not eat. (These two verses are pretty clear.)
*Prayer is Labor- Colossians 4:12 – Epaphras always labored fervently in prayer for others. (Let’s not forget to labor in prayer.)
I love the story where a little boy was carrying a heavy load of books. When the load became too heavy, he dropped them. His dad reached down, picked the books up, and put them back in his son’s arms. He then picked up his son and carried him. That is the same way God works in our lives as we labor. We may become weak, but that is when He actually makes us strong.
No, the ‘wife’ did not know that her husband was not already in the checkout line when she called, but she did know that he was not happy about having to pick up an additional grocery item for her. Dear man in the grocery store, here is a better response: “Yes, I’ll get it.” Translation: I love you, and I will show it- as I labor in love for you.
Now that I think about it, do we even need to call it labor? Let’s just call it love.
Take a minute to enjoy the peaceful beauty of nature…. From the BBC SpringWatch