Another snake

There are many snakes in life. Rattlesnakes usually announce their presence, as this one did when Rascal ran past it. The dangerous snakes are the ones that don't do that, the ones that hide in the grass and disguise their intent.

7/14/10 Wednesday
Another Wednesday. Some call it hump day cause it’s halfway through a five day workweek. I don’t have a five day nine to five job so every day is hump day I suppose. Everyday I get up and overcome whatever difficulties arise and every day I work as much and as long as I am able to. Every day we put our trust in God. We trust Him to protect and guide in this often times wicked world from those who would take advantage of us or who strive to keep us from achieving our goals. This isn’t paranoia, it’s a reality we have been forced to face more often than we’d like.

Yesterday I was forced to kill another rattlesnake. Hate doing it but we can’t have them around the house where they could kill the dogs or bit us. I think that’s only the third one this year. Cherie killed one by herself a few weeks back. It was small, a baby that had not yet developed rattles but a rattlesnake none the less with well developed fangs that can inject venom.

It’s going to be another hot and humid day and the humidity is forecast to continue for days. I don’t mind the heat too much but the humidity is nasty. If it was dry like it normally is out here in the desert then the evaporative air conditioner would cool the air effectively. Unfortunately it doesn’t work well at all with high humidity so the house isn’t cooled off and we spend most of our time in front of fans, which are placed strategically in every room.

The blackeyed peas I planted last week have come up. I planted more yesterday and still have much more to get in the ground. The soil has lost most of it’s moisture and is dusty dry on the surface now. I had to run the tiller back over where I’d tilled just a couple of days ago to break up the crustiness that develops when it dries. Today I plan on planting the various seeds that Cherie picked out. Plus I need to prune the tomato plants and run wire through the T-frames I built months ago in order to begin guiding the plants to grow vertically.

Here's a lone carrot I found as I was tilling to prepare for summer plantings. It was at the end of a row I had planted in the spring, the sole survivor of a hundred seeds. It's small, which tells me the seed germinated long after it was planted, probably after a rare rain. We're grateful for everything we get, no matter how small

So there’s plenty to do, as there always is at Westbrook Farms. In addition to work on the farm I now need to start working on developing a blog for the Kairos prison ministry I’m involved in. Met with other members of the group yesterday where we discussed ways to recruit more people to get involved. With my background in marketing and experience blogging I am well equipped to contribute in this way. When I explained just how potentially powerful a well designed blog would be they got excited about the concept. Another thing I’ll be doing is helping them develop a media package designed to promote the Kairos ministry and hopefully get some air time on local TV stations. I guess I’m the media director for the ministry now and that includes creating media releases for newspapers, radio, and television, in addition to internet venues. It’s exciting for me to take this on, and a mark of how far I’ve come in my recovery from the brain injury. Hopefully I’ll fulfill others expectations and do well.

Nuff said. There’s heat to beat and work to do so time to get outside while it’s still cool, relatively speaking.