StillWatersIowa: Out Of The Ordinary

I think it's safe to say that this year has been out of the ordinary. But then when you look back, what is ordinary? I think ordinary must be the average of extremes. Below John is helping his dad tile right through standing beans.

Last week Mike and Kurt had to be in Louisiana on Monday so they left a day early and went to church in West Monroe, Louisiana with the Robinson family.

For those of you that have never heard of them or seen them they have a family business making duck calls. They also have a TV show called Duck Dynasty.

This is what's left of the Oskaloosa Livestock Auction. My dad has spent the last two years tearing it down. The old selling pavilion brings back lots of memories. Back in the day everyone had livestock and this is where things were bought and sold.

My list of summer jobs was longer than our actual summer so I called a friend and asked if I could hire him to put in this fence. Thanks Dale.

Craig is a neighbor who is picking up his combine from our shop. He hired Pablo to clean it up for him.

I need some advice on how to handle this out of the ordinary story. Brad and Kurt went to check on some crops down south and found that the neighbor's cows had eaten 30 acres of corn in the back of the farm. How do you balance justice and grace with a neighbor who has no insurance and no fence.

We cleaned out and rebuilt a pond this week for a landlord.

Since it has been so unordinarily dry these past 8 weeks we have started watering some of our second year trees.

My cousin Alan and his wife Joyce's kids had a surprise 40th wedding anniversary for them in the cabin this past week. Congratulations. Being married to the same person for 40 years is just about considered out of the ordinary anymore.

BJ, Karl, and I attended some technology training at the Monsanto Training Center near Huxley. The latest technology coming is for a computer to pick a certain hybrid and a variable rate population for a certain field by using dozens of layers of information and then wirelessly passing that planter or combine information to one's home computer in real time. With this technology one could literally see skips and doubles from a planter row from one's office.

The PCHS board and staff were at the cabin last evening for their kickoff supper. After the meal many enjoyed a Ranger ride.

Cassia's brother Micah is an extraordinary person. He was voted homecoming king by his senior class. He graduated from high school. He spent the first half of his summer in Florida getting ready for God's leading so he could talk to hundreds of people. He and his dad spent the second half of his summer on a motorcycle trip to Alaska. He was in a serious accident and is now healing and in rehabilitation in Denver, Colorado. Today his example and positive attitude through his ordeal is now speaking to thousands of people.