The "Marm" has absolutely kicked my butt this year.  I assumed that we would have had fields planted and green before now.  The failure of the roof required a replacement which then began an "Old lady who swallowed the fly" kind of cascade. 
 
Jill found several possible houses and each, in succcession, failed for one reason or another.  The park one was in had the option to buy the first one and they exercised that option.  The next one or two were too this found or that or didn't feel right.  Finally she found one that was a repo and was a huge bargain but the previous owner must've been a chain smoker.  We have tried a half dozen remedies and you can still smell a little funny odor if it is closed up for a few days.  The current tack is activated charcoal.  The movers got it in around a tree in rather impressive fashion after having to take the whole thing clear around through Sonoita because it was too tall to go down I-10.

Before we could place the new trailer we had to get inspections.  The previous several owners had done a LOT of work that was sub--standard and we ended up having to put in a whole new septic system and new electrical service.  (Play the cash register sound now.)   We will end up re--doing the yard after tearing it up in the process of replacing the house.  I replaced the artesian line from the well to the pond, destroyed my garden area, (Which Jill wants to turn in to a huge park--like lawn and playground,) and was unable to water the fields by the house because they were torn up to put in the new septic.

We still have Buddy the ancient horse and we added Lilly Pearl which we got from Eric and Katee McSpadden.  We also have about a dozen waterfowl including two very loud watch--geese.  We have added a backhoe and a stock trailer as well.

Dearie

Farm Report

The Sunsets are amazing.

 

The new house is coming together.

 

Jake's horse, Buddy had to get his teeth floated by Dr Wengert

 

And Buddy has Cancer of a private nature.  Guess that's why he was free??  Jill said, "There's no such thing as a free horse!"

 

 

 

Casualness and Flaxen Cords Part 2 The Mind

We become what we practice, inevitably and absolutely.

"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his

thoughts." (Pres. Kimball)

"I will know what you are if you tell me what you think about when you don't have to

think." (Pres. McKay)

"The thought in your mind at this moment is contributing, however infinitesimally,

almost imperceptibly to the shaping of your soul.... even passing and idle thoughts

leave their impression. (Pres. McKay)

"How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought,

when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The "divinity that shapes our

ends" is indeed in ourselves." (Pres. Kimball)

"If a man be pure in thought, he will be correspondingly pure in action; but if he allows

his mind to roam in unrestricted freedom through the various avenues of evil or to dwell

unchecked upon the contemplation of forbidden indulgences, it will not be long before

his feet tread those paths and his hand plucks the tempting but deceitful fruit. When

once the tempter gains the citadel of the heart, his power is very great, and there is no

knowing to what excesses of folly and crime he may incite his unhappy victim." (George

Q. Cannon)

"It [the mind] is the agent of the Almighty clothed with mortal tabernacles, and we must

learn to discipline it, and bring it to bear on one point, and not allow the Devil to

interfere and confuse it, nor divert it from the great object we have in view... If we could

control our own minds, we could control our children and our families and the kingdom

of God, and see that everything went right, and with much more ease than we do now."

(Orson Hyde)

"The greatest mystery a man ever learned, is to know how to control the human mind,

and bring every faculty and power of the same in subjection to Jesus Christ; this is the

greatest mystery we have to learn while in these tabernacles of clay." (Brigham Young)

Casualness and Flaxen Cords Part 1 From "A Sense of the Sacred."

Elder  Christofferson:

Our temples and meetinghouses are dedicated to the Lord as sacred space. On each temple is found the words Holiness to the Lord—the House of the Lord. A sense of the sacred should lead us to act and speak with reverence in and around these buildings. It would lead us to dress a certain way when we are there.

As immodest dress dishonors the body—God’s most sacred creation—immodest, casual, or sloppy dress and grooming at sacred times and places mocks the sacredness of the Lord’s house and what is taking place.

From the 1992 Movie, A River Runs Through It.

Each of us will at one time in our lives look upon a loved one who is in need and ask the same question: We are willing help, Lord, but what, if anything, is needed? For it is true we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don't know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them - we can love completely without complete understanding.

Why is it the people who need the most help... won't take it?