Sad but necessary, Grandpa, Swap meet, Gracious offer

Last night as we were all going to bed, I decided to step outside and listen. When I did, I clearly heard the hogs in the yard beside the shop. It sounded like several hogs were there and just me being on the patio startled them. Bear in mind that the moon was not up, and no lights were on, yet they knew I was there. I held still for a moment before I turned and went back into the house. Hoping not to scare them away.

I got Norman out of bed. He was still on his phone getting comfortable for the night, so when I told him about the pigs nearby, he quickly got on a pair of shoes and his rifle, and we headed outside. I had a flashlight in hand as we snuck around the front of the house towards the garage. We were halfway there when we realized that a sow and her little ones were only thirty yards away from rooting for acorns in the front yard. 

Norman got off one shot as I held the light on the sow. He resighting for another shot because, clearly confused, the sow was in no hurry to run off. He sighted more carefully, pulled the trigger and realized he was out of ammo. (He brought his Barny Fife rifle to the hog hunt.) We watched as the sow led her eight little ones toward the woods behind our house. I am not sure he hit the sow with his only shot, but he was confident he had, so, we will see if the family quits tearing up our yard. It is a sad necessity to kill the hogs to stop their destruction of our property. Not something I enjoy, but something that must be done. 

I have mentioned lately that I have not been feeling well. More important is that Grandpa has not been feeling well either. He has never been one to complain, but it is easy to see how drastically he has slowed down over the past few weeks. He still spends as much time as possible piddling around the farm and working on the truck he and Norman are trying to resurrect. He enjoys each day as best he can, but he is struggling more and more to do so. He has shared his struggles with Grandma, but she is not understanding his concerns. Her mind is unwilling to allow Grandpa to diminish. He is still her rock. I can understand that.

Grandpa has said some things to me and Mama concerning his increasing struggle to walk. He has not been able to feel his feet for several years, so walking is a concerted effort for him. That has been slowing over the past months, but he still prefers to walk to the barn and opposed to driving there. His biggest concern is losing the use of his legs. He has vivid memories of his father, who died from complications of prostate cancer, being bedridden in his final days because he could no longer use his legs. Please continue to pray for him. Like me, he plans on living until the Lord takes him home. 

There is a swap meet going on in Decatur this weekend. It is a very big deal. Auto enthusiast from all over the United States travel to either sell or buy hard to find parts for the projects they are working on. For the last four or five years our church has set up a booth with parts donated from church members just so they can be there to pass out Bibles and tracts. It is a great soul winning opportunity. I participated for the past several years, but this time, I do not feel up to it. I hate to miss but with the struggle I am having with my voice and the fact that I do not have the energy, I will stay home and pray for those who are able to participate.  

The EDS is the blue unit stabbed into the microscope

I got some very good news earlier this week when I contacted the tech that has done all the maintenance on the Scanning Electron Microscope I operate at the Creation Evidence Museum. One of the additional electronic appendages, an EDS system, stopped working last year and we have not found a )way to get it corrected. However, the tech and the company he works for have developed a way to recondition and repair the unit. They have offered to donate their services for those repairs asking only that we purchase any parts necessary to complete those repairs.  That is huge. Potentially saving the museum tens of thousands of dollars. Please pray that they are able to get the unit functioning properly. 

It will make a huge impact on our research.