Trusting a talking box

Today I took mom to the Cleveland Clinic. It was an early departure and we were on the road at 6am.

I have always been the navigator when traveling. Hubby and I have a longstanding system that I am the map person and we typically have to make one wrong turn in the course of our trip. Our family has long joked that we could take mom a mile down the road and spin her a few times and she would have a pretty hard time finding her way home. So she was not going to be the one to get us to the clinic.

Normally I would go to GoogleMaps, get my printout and be on my way. But this time it was different. Dad has purchased a Garman GPS and so we used it instead of a trusty map. This technological genius tells you when and where to turn, and even readjusts if you make a wrong turn. The voice gets a little bossy as you approach your next turn. And if you don't do it "her" way, "she" goes into reconfigure. Even with her assistance, I managed to make my one wrong turn, but we still ended up in the right place, with time to spare, despite the lake effect snow we drove into.

As I considered that talking box, I realized that there are people in the world that think my faith in God is no different than trusting a talking box to get me where I am going. BUT, my faith is not the same. God is someone I call on for guidance and through his Word I am shown where to go. The Bible is so much more than that talking box and I am grateful for such a wonderful truth.

Thumbs up from my boy

I got recruted by hubby tonight to help pull start the 3010 tractor. As I have mentioned before, despite growing up on the farm, I have almost no equipment related experience to draw from. Pull starting a tractor is no exception. So hubby stuck me in the truck with instructions on how fast and what direction to turn if it hadn't started by the time we got to the road.

Off we went, me flooring the accelorator to get up to speed, towing the tractor behind and of course, Thomas giving instructions from a safe distance. Hubby put the tractor in gear the first time and it did not start, he did it again and still it wouldn't start. We ended up heading into the road. It is a country road, but manages to have a lot of traffic. Thankfully nothing was coming and we headed on out. Finally, the third try was a charm and the tractor started.

As I got out of the truck, Thomas came running over to give me a HIGH FIVE cause he was so excited that I got the job done. Made me feel good to think my son was that proud of his mom. Soon enough, he and his dad will be doing these projects and I won't be needed.

Pizza can cause really strange dreams......

I had pizza for supper last night. Now I will admit it wasn't typical, homemade pizza. Instead it was Spinach and mushroom pizza from Schwans. I think I must have written a number wrong, since it wasn't something I planned to order. You might say yuck! but I like Martha Stewart type stuff and I have to admit it wasn't too bad. That is until I went to sleep.

I rarely have dreams I remember, but last night was the definite exeception. I had two that I remember and both were pretty strange. The first went like this. It was raining really, really hard and when the kids and I got ready to leave for school, my hubby had backed the car out of the garage and there were three horses in there instead. Two of which were horses we don't even own anymore. That was strange, but the next one was even crazier.

I was sitting in a glass observation room in the middle of my parents swamp. (Like I said this thing was weird). I spotted a pair of Tucans in a hollowed out stump. Mind you it is the middle of winter in Michigan. The only tucans I will ever observe will be at the zoo.

I think I will swear off eating pizza before bed.

Chasing cattle, yet again

I suspect that as long as we have cattle and kids around here, we will be chasing cattle. Last evening, as I was putting the finishing touches on dinner, my cell phone rang. It was an SOS from daddy. I needed to come out and help catch Suzanna's new heifer. It seems Thomas was doing a good thing, and had decided to put more sawdust in her stall. Unfortunately, she isn't completely convinced she likes her new home and whenever the door to her pen gets opened, she tries her best to get back to Stanton. Last night was no exception and as quick as he opened her stall door, she was GONE! Adding to it all was the fact that the big barn door was open and she had clear passage to leave.

Unlike the critters in the movie The Incredible Journey, Sami doesn't have much of a sense of direction, as she headed straight south rather than north, with Thomas not far behind. Daddy hollered a refresher course on Herding Cattle 101 and assisted Thomas in heading her off. I followed in the truck and brought a halter. Suzanna caught up by then and led Sami back to the barn. We never seem to stop learning, do we??

No school today

We have the President's Day holiday off, and considering what they are saying about the roads this morning, I think I'm glad. We had a February thaw yesterday...a one-day event that left all gravel roads and driveways a lot like an ice rink. We didn't make morning church yesterday since hubby wasn't in the mood to end up with a car in the body shop. That and he was pretty sure we could get out of our driveway, but not so sure about getting back up it.

So today it is back in the 30's and everything that unthawed yesterday is freezing back up. What fun. Thomas and I do have to get out this afternoon for a doctors appointment. He is on his third set of ear tubes and one is out. He was lucky enough to find it hanging in earwax outside his ear one morning. It was pretty disgusting to look at and he had a great idea. He wanted to take it for show and tell. His sister Kathryn quickly shut that idea down by telling him the thought of looking at that made her shudder. Kathryn is dramatic like that. Needless to say, I didn't let him take it to school, and he was pretty disappointed. Anyway, he needs to be rechecked to see what is going on with those ears.

Better get at my day.......

Heifer Hauling Day

Today the family is headed to Stanton, MI to pick up Suzanna's next 4-H project. It will be about a 2 and a half hour trip one-way, and the kids have a new box of Adventures in Odessey CD's to enjoy along the way. Actually, Daddy and I enjoy them too. And we find that they ride happily for long trips with Odessey to listen to. They are great stories with wonderful lessons.

The heifer is coming from the same farm as Rhoda. Suzanna is excited to have a new critter. Hope it lessens the sadness she will have after she sells Rhoda in another month. Tough life lessons to learn, but part of the project, letting those animals go. Hopefully, it will get easier. As her dad and I keep telling her, it isn't like the market projects, Rhoda goes into the milking herd when she is sold, rather than into the freezer.

Later, I need to tell you all about the mouse in the house......

Thomas-isms

Those who know Thomas, know he says and does some pretty funny things. We have named such things "Thomas-isms".

A couple of his latest follow.

Last night I walked into the barn and he asked me if his lip was bleeding. I looked and said that it was. Then I asked him if he hit his lip with the water hose when he pulled it out of the loft. He sheepishly shook his head no and acted like he really didn't want to admit what he had done. I pushed him a little and he finally confessed that he had put the end of the hose to his lips to blow on it and warm it up. Unfortunatly, it was about 5 degrees out at the time and his lip froze to the metal. He had no choice but to pull. You know the rest.

Then there was the night we went to Trainer Mikes for a Christmas party. The kids went along and I began to notice that Thomas was making a lot of trips to the bathroom. I stopped him after one of the trips and asked him if he was okay. I was concerned that perhaps he had a case of the flu or something. No, he was fine, but had discovered that there was a digital scale in the bathroom and was checking each time he ate something to see how much weight he gained.

There are a ton of stories like this. The fact that I never wrote them down is a real crime. So here are two, saved for posterity.