Which pliers?

This is going to be a different type of post for me.  I'm not going to try to inspire your soul or ease your pain or help you to be more thankful!  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Actually this is going to be a post which is so unlike me.  I mean, "Which pliers should I use?" has NOT been me.  However, recently I looked around my makeup table and saw a bunch of broken jewelry.

 It's no big deal if one of them breaks but the pile was growing and I want to wear these pieces again.  I decided to order a jewelry repair kit and some wire in beautiful colors.  Then, when the kit came last week, I was pretty shocked.  I mean it has THREE pliers!!  What do they have to do with getting my necklaces usable again?

So I decided to go on YouTube and see if there were any "How to repair your broken jewelry" videos and there were--ALL types of them.  I really liked the one where the dad fixed his daughter's favorite necklace that had broken.  He was all excited to give it back to her!  However, I needed more details as he kind of cheated.  Shortening the chain and adding the closing thing a bopper to the long part was something that even I might have figured out on my own.

Well, look at the gold mine I just found.  It's awesome.  I learned how to use all 3 of those pliers in under 15 minutes!  I'M SO HAPPY!!!!

So, if you have any jewelry sitting around needing fixing, you'll want to watch this too.  I may just share my finished products here IF it really is as easy as the professionals make it look.  lol

Later,

Dawn

Are YOU being held back?

I just watched this over lunch and BOY can I ever relate to it.  Robert speaks about how he felt for years like he had a bungi cord pulling him back every time he tried to move into the destiny that God had for him as a Christian.  Can you guess what was holding him back?  A curse from his great-grandfather!!!

 

I really think that this video explains curses in a whole new way.  What a relief to know how to break their power over us which keeps us small and weak and helpless!  That is NOT God's plan for us! 

 

Please watch this video if you'd like to become ALL that God has for you to become for Him!

 

Have a great week,

Dawn

 

Beauty of snow?

I love the weekly Sabbath rests that our family has enjoyed these past 22 years.  We work hard all week and then REST a whole day!  YAY!!!

For farmers who push hard throughout the growing season, Winter is like that too.  It's nice not to have to worry about the crops and even the cattle are more likely to stick close to home.  ;) 

We deal with a lot of cold, that's true, and sometimes travel is difficult but I've come to like a more restful time of year called Winter.  As long as I take my Vitamin D drops daily (Thorne labs), I don't suffer from SAD any more so that's an immense blessing. 

I like that I have more time to write and study and watch movies with my sweetie!  I REALLY like cups of hot tea or cocoa and bowls of steaming soup.  There's lots to like about Winter if one takes the time to ponder.  It's not easily loved, as is Summer, but it does have it's perks.  :)

I just found a poem that summarizes my thoughts on this.  I hope that you like it.  I hope that you find some time to rest tomorrow, and this season, as rest is the most healing thing there is--at least it is for me with all my nerve trauma.  Anyway, I'm thankful that I pulled through another case of cancer so I rejoice and send love to all for a restful Winter!

Dawn

TIMELESS TREASURES

A Winter's portrait, so bountiful,

Nature's gift indeed...

Though lurking are the lifeless flowers

Returned to earth as seed.

All sacred gifts sent unto us

Are made by God's own hands -

And always, they are precious ones

To love just as He plans!

While lilies in the valley rest,

And clad are crystal trees...

A lifeless day revives the soul

Through snowflakes on a breeze.

These heavenly troves to come our way,

So beautiful, big or small...

Will touch our lives through each new day -

God's gifts... they're best of all!

Dianne Cogar

 

 

 

 

 

Realities of Winter

Those of us who live in the far North deal with the realities of Winter nearly half the year.  It's just the way things are.  A common joke where I live, when we drive through near-blizzards, is that the weather keeps the riff-raff out.  The theory is that no pick pockets would hang around in sub zero weather and the lack of crime during my South Dakota childhood seems to verify this as truth.

I'm sure that there's plenty of crime in North Dakota today but generally it does take a bit of grit to face Winters here.  Just today my menfolk were heading for a meeting.  As I pondered the weather through my living room window, I thought that for sure the meeting would be called off.  However the pair decided to take off and "If it's bad down the road a ways, well turn around and come back," and so it goes.  They have not returned so I'm assuming that the meeting is being held with whomever can make it there.

You can try to plan things in the Winter here but of course the weather determines if you will attend or not.  This past Friday we stayed home from a funeral in our extended family which was 3 hours away because of the minus 20 degree temperatures. 

The coldest that we've had so far this Winter was minus 29 degrees with a wind chill factor of minus 51 degrees.  In case you're not familiar with wind chill factors, I'll explain.  It's colder when it's windy than when it's not so for people to be aware of the weather's true affects on you, the wind chill factor was created.  So, although the temperature was ONLY 29 degrees below zero that morning, it was the same thing as if it was 51 degrees below 0 when the wind velocity was factored in.  Now, even North Dakotans think THAT'S cold!!!

So, for people who drive diesels up here, it's a balancing act.  Number 1 fuel will keep your diesel from gelling but it costs more.  This means that one must ponder, when driving past the fuel station, if it will be warm enough not to gel up the diesel in your tank.  One wonders, "Should I pay extra for Number 1 fuel"?  One morning not too long ago I wished that Robert had as I was needed out on the road to tow the semi up to the shop to warm up the fuel filters in a bucket of hot water.  Sometimes that's all that's needed.

For those of us who have livestock, Winter is a 4 letter word.  Keeping the stock in water is a massive task.  One time it took us all day to get the water fountains thawed.  It can be dangerous, too, as the thirsty cattle push around their water source that you're trying to thaw for them.  It truly is a 2 person job--1 to dump the hot water on the pipes and 1 to beat off the cattle.  Hey, at least they're warm.  ;)

Then, too, is the Vitamin D deficiency of which I recently wrote.  PLEASE people, if you're feeling grumpy for weeks at a time, start supplementing with Vitamin D drops.  The fact is that if you live where there are more dark hours than light hours every day, you are not getting enough Vitamin D.  Thorne labs makes the drops that I use.  You simply put 2 drops in water every morning and away you go--no depression, sunshine or not!

Speaking of the lack of sunshine, I found a poem which expresses what we Northerners go through after half a year of no sun exposure.  It's a little bit funny but altogether true.  Perhaps as you read it, if you're experiencing Summer right now, you'll pause to say thanks to God for His marvelous sunshine!  If you're not, I hope that you'll feel better knowing that you're not alone.  No matter where you live, I hope that you'll enjoy this ode to a suntan. 

Ode to Tan  

Tan, oh tan,
Where art thou?
See me so pale,
I look pallid—
almost sickly.

When you were here,
I looked at least
ten pounds thinner,
Remember summer—
skin all a glimmer.

No, I won't try 
to stir your sleep
with a fake cream,
I'll wait on you, dear,
At least until spring.

Copyright © Kim Bond | Year Posted 2017

I can hear you thinking, "So, why would anyone live there?"  Well, it's hard to explain but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  I guess being free to be me, as this song in the following video says, is why. 

 I like that my neighbors leave me alone unless I truly need their help--then they drop everything and come to lend a hand.  One day we discovered a fire in one of our neighbor's fields.  We chased into their yard to tell them just as other neighbors came tearing down the road with water tanks to help put out the fire.  Another neighbor came with his tractor and cultivator to tear up the soil around the farm so that the fire would run out of fuel before it reached their buildings. 

The children and I filled water tanks for several hours while the men sprayed it out on the field.  Everyone worked in the super hot day to save a neighbor's farmyard and it worked!!!!  We cooperated, without holding a meeting first, and we saved the buildings from destruction.  Afterwards, we all went home and got back to work not expecting nor receiving any payment for our help.  Well, yes, the farmer and his wife thanked everyone hundreds of times but that was enough!

I like that people here have to work hard to get ready for Winter.  From cutting firewood to canning green beans, people here know that the Winter will be hard, and they prepare.  Like the squirrels collecting their acorns, people in the North lay up supplies and buy new gloves.  Winter is harsh and everyone knows it and it pulls people together!  I JUST LOVE THAT!!!

Winter doesn't last forever, though, and soon the calves drop and the seeds go in the ground.  For us, it means the mad dash to get everyone's grain cleaned so that the seeds they plant are all good seeds with no weeds and no chaff. 

I chose this video because of it's emphasis on agriculture.  I've spent nearly my whole life in agriculture.  I cannot imagine not being a part of Spring seeding which flows into keeping the fields clean of weeds and next comes haying season leading to harvest--the highlight of the whole year!!  Sure it's lots of work but there's something about everyone pulling together to get the crop in before the next rain which might bring hail!!  We're part of a team! 

So Winter has come to mean to me, after a lifetime of rushing about through calving, seeding, haying, and harvest a time of rest.  WINTER IS A TIME TO REST!!  It's playing games with my farming/grain cleaning family on Sabbaths instead of laying exhausted trying to recover strength to do all that must be done in the next week. 

Winter is hot chocolate and movies and snuggling under a warm blanket and preparing our taxes.  Oops--that's another blog post.  ;)

Keep warm everybody!

Dawn               

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Sometimes I have an idea floating around in my head for hours, maybe even days, before I feel like it's ready to share here.  At other times, something just pops in my head and I simply must share it right NOW!

 

I haven't even had my breakfast yet.  I got the guy's lunch ready and then they left for the plant.  I was getting ready to eat when a song my parents used to sing floated into my mind.  I knew that God wanted me to share it with you here!

 

"Why Should He Love Me So?"

 

That's what I searched for on YouTube.

 

There were several truly awesome versions but I wanted one where you could watch the people singing.  I was REALLY tempted to share George Beverly Shae as most likely I heard him sing it when I was a child.  Somehow looking at an album cover just wasn't good enough for today, though.  Then I saw this one with the grand piano and 3 sisters singing together and I knew this was the version to share. 

 

As you listen with me, I pray that we will grasp how greatly we are loved by our Heavenly Father; by His son; and by the Holy Spirit!!  THAT'S A LOT OF LOVE!  I think that pondering God's love for all mankind must certainly be the best way to start out a new year.  Don't you?

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!  

 

Dawn