Pie In the Sky

I like happy songs, happy stories, happy life. When I wake up in a funk or if the day seems to go from bad to worse, I try to think good, cheerful thoughts. Happy thoughts! Sometimes I imagine a fun surprise. Yes, I might even dream about someone bringing me a piece of pie.

There's nothing wrong with dreaming, right?

Some people think that believing in God is just a dream - a nice, but made-up, story. Heaven is just "pie in the sky" - something that is pleasant to contemplate but is very unlikely to be realized. Even if God and his heaven should all turn out to be a hoax, life is better when it's lived according to the Golden Rule(s) we find in the Bible.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Loving yourself (taking care of YOU) is a good thing! Do you ever treat yourself to a trip to the spa or that new book you've been wanting to read? Maybe, if you're like me, you love yourself with a bag of M&Ms or a pizza pie. You're worth it!

What if you were as lenient with others as you are with yourself? You’d think and say nice things about the people you meet. You’d help them when they need help and encourage them when they’re sad. You’d want them to have the best seat in the house. If they ever disappointed you, you’d know it wasn’t on purpose and you’d forgive them immediately.

Go the extra mile. Your neighbor comes to borrow a cup of sugar and you give her the whole bag. A friend asks if you could pick up his son from school. You not only pick up his son, you stop and buy him a milkshake on the way home. When you go out to eat, you treat the staff with kindness and leave a good tip. Your mother asks if you could come help her get the Christmas tree from the basement, and you stay to help her decorate the whole house.

Don’t kill, cheat, steal, or tell lies. Life would be a whole lot rosier if everyone followed these simple instructions.

Sing songs and make melody in your heart. Don’t commit adultery. Honor and respect your mother and father.

After a lifetime of trying to follow the good advice found in the Bible, you die. There’s no heaven, no hell. But what a life you lived! A good life! No doubt about it: I’ll take the pie in the sky.

If you actually know me, you know that I don't think God is a myth or a dream. He's the "real deal," and I won't be surprised if he serves pie when I get there.

TORNADO 5/24/17

I smile and laugh a lot and probably use too many emojis but, other than that, I'm not a very emotional person. Yet I'm sitting here boohooing, scrolling through photo after photo of the aftermath of the tornado that swept across the farm on May 24.

As we walked around, while the tornado was twisting its way to other locations, I kept saying, "Unbelievable!" "Amazing!" "I can't believe it!" In those first moments, there was simply no way to process all we were seeing.

Without further ado, here are a few pics.

Left side of front yard.

This is the road to the neighbor's house. Yes, that's Weldon standing in the road!

The farm road heading to the main road.

The line of trees below the pond had their tops twisted off, but this photo doesn't show it very well.

After surveying the damage, it was time for supper. By lamplight, of course. No power.

Then, out for further investigation.

Back of the house.

Front yard.

That night (Wednesday), Weldon hooked up the generator so he could milk the cows and his mom and sister could have electricity. Electricity or no, work crews started showing up on Thursday morning.

Power lines along our road had to be replaced.

 

This old Rambler has sat amongst the trees for years, but now the trees are resting on it!

The root balls on these old trees were huge! I guess that makes sense, but still ....

Putting up a new electric pole at the house.

Patching the 4 holes in the roof.

Other than trees, no lives were lost. No farm buildings were seriously damaged. The house will need to be re-roofed, but that will wait for another day. Electricity was back on about 5pm Thursday.

Weldon needed a mental and physical break on Friday, so we drove around to see some other local damage. Again, Amazing! Unbelievable! Ice cream from the Dairi-O was good medicine.

On Saturday, May 27, with the help of 14 friends, neighbors, and family members, we worked our butts off and made some good progress on cleaning up the yard and fields. We cannot say "Thank you" enough for all the help. I was working too hard to get any pictures, but I had to take a selfie:

Enjoying some cold Cheerwine.

At 10:00 that very night there was a huge lightning strike. HUGE! BAM!! We kept electricity at our house, but no phone or wi-fi. Weldon's mom and sis and the milk parlor were without electricity and the generator wouldn't work on the pole like it used to. Weldon figured a way to connect the generator right into the milk parlor and, voila! he could milk cows on Sunday morning ... much later than usual, but they got milked. After lots of phone calls and offers, Mom Edith's house was set up with a big generator to keep the refrigerators and freezers running.

On Monday, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and some guys from church were here to clean up the downed trees along the fence lines and around the ponds. Electricians worked on the pole in Edith's yard. Men worked to get the milk parlor and milk tank up and running. Whew!

On Wednesday, May 31, the whole farm had electricity, phone, and internet. To celebrate the return to normal, I picked black raspberries and made the first pie of the season. Yay!

I'm hoping that experiencing a tornado (particularly its aftermath) has changed me. It touched some part of me that's hidden way inside. Feelings. Emotions. We lost nothing, but I realized all that could have been lost. I hope that now, when someone asks me to pray, I'll pray with more sympathy, more compassion, more heart. Stuff that people go through is real. May my prayers be just as real.

So, that's that. It's be a very farm muse kind of post, hasn't it? Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring.

UFO Sighting

Friday evening, July 8, 2016

After feeding the cats, I hurriedly took a sample of my freshly baked Cherry Berry pie to Edith's.

Not wanting to get caught in the soon-coming rain, I didn't hang around to chat. However, as I crossed her yard, the brilliant rays of sunshine, coupled with the burgeoning clouds, grabbed my attention. I made a quick detour to the grassy area just outside the milk barn to get some photos of our beloved Pilot Mountain. The sun was at such an angle that I couldn't see what was showing up on my phone screen. Pointing and clicking, in the space of a minute or two, I blindly took 8 or 9 photos. When I got home, I checked out the photos, deleting the obvious junk. That left the five photos below.

Photo #1, taken at 7:07pm

Photo #2, taken at 7:07pm

Photo #3, taken at 7:07pm

Photo #4, taken at 7:07pm

Photo #5, taken at 7:08pm

Photos 3 and 4 are lovely, but nothing out of the ordinary. In photos 1, 2, and 5, however, a little sphere of light caught my eye. Do you see it? First I thought it must have been the sun peeking through the clouds, but NO. The sun is shining brilliantly in the upper left corner of the photos. Oh, maybe it's the moon. Again, NO. The moon would be on the other side of the sky, totally outside the range of these photos. The very strange thing is that the orb shows up in 3 different places: photo 1, directly over the Pilot; photo 2, way to the "left" of the mountain; photo 5, to the right of the mountain!

Next step: I enlarged/zoomed in on the specific area of the photos. See them below.

Photo 1, zoomed in.

Photo 2, zoomed in. This one totally amazed me.

Photo 5, zoomed in.

Weldon was intrigued. He studied my phone, turning it this way and that, asking questions. Then he asked me to send him the photos. His verdict?

Unidentified Flying Object!

Squash Pie

Our garden got a late start this year, but it's coming along nicely. And, in some cases, a little too nicely. Just what am I supposed to do with all this summer squash?

A fancy schmancy cook I'm not. Give me a simple, straight-forward recipe and I'm happy. And Weldon is even happier. This is Edith's recipe and it uses 3 cups of diced squash in one fell swoop! It's easy, very tasty, and any leftovers will freeze well.

SQUASH PIE

3 c. diced squash

1 diced onion

1/4 c. Wesson oil  

1 c. Bisquick

2 beaten eggs

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Using a spoon, mix well.

Pour into a 10" pie pan (or any appropriate-sized casserole) sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown.

You can get creative, of course. Try using half yellow squash and half zucchini. Throw in some peppers or add a little diced ham. But, take it from me, the recipe as written is delicious. And easy!! And uses up 3 cups of yellow squash in one fell swoop!!

P.S. There is nothing pie-ish about this dish, except that it can be baked in a pie plate. No crust, nothing gooey. I'd call it a casserole, but it's not my recipe, so I won't change the name.