Repairs, new babies, sunsets, eyes

Grandpa should hear about his truck today or tomorrow. He put it in the shop last week to have the clutch replaced. You know if Grandpa put a vehicle in the shop to be repaired it was really a hard luck case. He usually does all the work himself but with the repairs that were needed it was more than he could handle alone. The clutch plates alone weigh over seventy pounds and we are not set up to lift and hold that in place to make the repairs. I am not sure what the total will be for the repairs but I am prepared to help with the bill. It will be a small price to save us from potential injury.


One thing is certain; if Grandpa would trust his truck to a shop, he must have a very high level of confidence in the people there. We have always been fortunate in being led to someone in every area where we have lived who could be trusted to do the repairs needed to any of our vehicles. Grandpa having found someone here answers that need for us also. I am praying it all works out as he expects.

Mama called me late yesterday all excited. Tom, the dairyman who we have gotten the majority of our calves from, called to offer us three more; one little bull and a set of twins. I think Mama said the twins are a heifer and a bull. Grandpa will go and get them tomorrow. We will not keep the little heifer since twin calves are considered infertile.

I was a little surprised by the announcement of the new additions because Grandpa has been pretty discouraged by the sicknesses we have had to battle with the ones we are raising right now. But I could hear the seeds of thought I had planted when he explained that we have learned a lot of valuable lessons in both the successes and failures to this point. It would be a shame to give up when we have got a good understanding of what it takes to make this work.

Grandpa told me Tom had apologized to him because he had been selling his calves to another gentleman and he had begun to feel guilty about not offering them to Grandpa first. I told Grandpa it was of the Lord because we needed the break – physically and emotionally. We needed the time to reconsider the plan we were working with the bottle fed calves and decide if we wanted to continue or not. Take note. As soon as Grandpa and I talked – two nights ago – and decided it was all worth the effort, Tom called to get us going on another batch.

We are planning to sell most of the lot (16 little bulls) we have in April after Grandma and Grandpa get back from West Virginia. They are planning on being there for most of the month of March. It will be a slow time on the farm – hopefully. Grandpa wants to help Norman get his business up and running again; both for Norman’s sake and for Seth. They have not been able to get Seth a job anywhere in the area and Norman’s job may be playing out as the economy tightens. It is amazing how much we all depend on this seventy year old man.

Last night we had a spectacular sunset. There was a beam of red that looked like it was shooting out of the horizon where the sun was trying to set. It is not something created by the camera as the picture was taken. Mama and I got several pictures. I have not seen anything quite like it before, and we get some pretty amazing sunsets here. I tried to enclose a picture but was not able.

Building on the thought of darkness and light, the grandchildren have discovered that not all eyes have the same color. Several nights ago they were all looking into Grammy’s eyes via Skype. She has brown eyes. They are dark in color. Papi, they were told, has blue eyes. They are light colored. They have been discussing the light and dark colors of the eyes but to a little mind the connotation is different than it is to ours. Cori found out last night how the thoughts were registering as Grant explained to her that he could see in the darkness with his blue eyes.

They are, after all, “light” colored.