Bright chilly morning

Please click to enlarge. I try to put this picture up on a regular basis. For you new readers I carved this in St. Louis where I first lived after waking from the coma. This is the philosophy I now live by. When you die and are brought back, when you lose everything but gain life, you change how you view the world.


12/6/07 Thursday
It’s another bright chilly day. The temperatures are fluctuating forty degrees or so between the nighttime low and afternoon high. I like it. I know that Wayne, my friend with MS in Toledo, would love the cool temperatures too as the MS makes him extremely sensitive to heat. I need to give him a call and suggest he get a safety deposit box to store his cash in if he draws it out of the bank like he said he would. That’s much safer and smarter than hiding it under the bed. Especially in Toledo.



What was left of my car



Cherie has gone to Janie’s to do some of our laundry and more cleaning. What a blessing it is for them to give her this job. I love win/win situations. They need the help and we could use the extra cash. This way we can afford to get some Christmas presents for those we care for.




I went for my morning walk with the puppies. It won’t be long before they are no longer officially puppies but I suspect we will always call them that. It was so gratifying to see them run after the birds on the five acres I tilled up. There are still lots of those nasty grass stickers there but not like before. Now they have room to run and run they do. Before the only area they could do so was in Bud’s cotton field next door. They still run there and it is all freshly disked so they don’t have to go through the cotton plants. But I would rather they not because as the growing season starts again he will be spraying the herbicides and pesticides they use. There is no way that will be good for the puppies. You know, Hang on while I go take some pictures of these two tremendous blessings in our lives. What companions they are. They love us without conditions. Animals, or at least pets, are much purer than most humans in that regard. I suppose you could say they are more Christ like than many who wear the Christian label. Hell they are better than I am for sure.

It is such a thrill to see how the rye is coming up. What a satisfying thing it is to see the beginning fruit of ones labor. I will spend much of today spreading the remaining hundred and thirty or so pounds of seed I have left. That’s all there is to be had as I got the last of it at the Co-op.

We ordered the wildflower seed mix and it should get here today. That will be real nice when it begins to bloom this spring. It is so nice to have this place where we can build and create, where we can take pride in the beauty we are able to produce. Life is so much simpler now. I have recovered much of my memory now and recall the life I had before the accident. Oh, I was the busy executive, the successful business owner who carried those enterprises I started and built from scratch as badges on my lapel. “Look at me” was in the swagger I put on for the world. What vanity that was. How I can relate to the writings of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes in the bible. Now I live a much humbler and simple life and it brings a joy I seldom experienced back then. Just watching the puppies run brings tears to my eyes. I foresee great things for this farm in the future but hope to remain humble and grateful if they come to pass. If they don’t I am still blessed. Life with little far exceeds life with much for I am content with what I have. What a gift being content is. You just can’t buy that.

This morning's sunrise. Note the new oil rig still in process of being put up. It seems to be bigger than the last one


So today I plan on planting more rye and perhaps doing some more digging in my search for the water line. I also need to finish up rebuilding the tiller motor. I’ve gotten a good start on the paper I am writing on my vision for this place. Perhaps I’ll just post the beginning which quickly covers the main points without going into the details. I also want to use that when I ask friends for help getting a tractor. That is an uncomfortable thing and I fear it will cause some to distance themselves. Because of that fear we are almost done with the year and the best opportunity and prices may be past.