StillwatersIowa

Harvest generally wraps up at our house on the fringes meaning we are further away from home in smaller and in some cases a less productive environment.   Yet there is an appeal to a community whose main intersection has little enough traffic for just a stop sign rather than a light. I'm describing towns like Kirksville, Blakesburg, Lovilla, and Columbia.   You definitely don't enter and exit the farm to market roads in a hurry. Since the combines are in smaller fields there is more time to enjoy the scenery. The farm yards have lots of memories of a life of a generation or two ago. It looks quiet, less complicated, and in some cases appealing. Yet all that is left on most farm yards are the memories. The buildings are either empty, falling in, or gone completely. Back in the day farmers in these communities raised their families on a couple of hundred acres and a cow herd. We have lost that simple, honest, small town lifestyle.  Remember as a kid pl...

Folks say that if you step back and look where you have been things are obvious that were not obvious from the outset. They say you have a better understanding of something after it has happened. This story happened 37 years ago this morning. It was 3am on a Wednesday. Jan woke me up and said it was time to go to the hospital. We didn't have a car and our pickup was broke so I called our neighbor Ken. We dropped him and our 1 year old off and headed for town. Mark was born before daylight. Back then things were a little different. The hospital kept Moms for a few days. Dads came to visit in the evenings. So on that drizzly Wednesday morning I headed to Daryl and Rosie's to combine. We had just purchased a New Idea Uni combine from Drost Ford. Jan and I went to Carl and Martha's house and made the deal in their living room one evening. Looking back I'm not sure it was a new idea. I'd call it a bad idea even though we harvested with it for 10 years. At noon ...

Ever wonder what our grandparent's and great grandparent's thought process was when they decided to come to America? They heard there were opportunities here. That if they worked hard they could succeed. That they could raise a family with freedom. That they could worship as they pleased. All these things were what they valued. As a culture our values have changed today. As a country we have told God to take a back seat. When other things replace God those things become idols. As folks experience the American dream they forget their original values. In business folks value projects, purchases, and  problem solving . In education folks value their PHDs . As success comes people value their possessions , their plenty , and their pile of petty cash . All these things are good and even necessary. It's loving them more than God who gave them to us that makes them idols. With success comes popularity and  prominence . Folks especially in government like power . ...

When I was a kid my brother Dan and I would have to feed cattle. My job was to climb the silo and throw out the silage. Are any of you old enough to remember you had to fork it out evenly in layers? My brother was to scoop full the 16 foot cattle bunks below walking in the bunks. However Dan would get to singing or even preaching to the cattle instead of his job. The cattle would always watch and pay attention. Do you give little people or big people your full attention when they want to talk with you? Do you really listen or are you just waiting to talk and tell them your ideas and opinions? Do you make yourself available to folks who want to visit?   Since all the big grandkids are in school these days Jan is down to the young ones on Mondays. Allison and Natali are playing house with their youngest cousin Malaki covering him up with a blanket and talking to him. As you can see Malaki is giving them his full attention. He has little choice. Thanks Kris...