Vaughnshire Farm

Without the time to actually write the articles I thought it would be fun just to share the titles that would have been posted this week.

• Church is Good
• Patrick’s Chicks and Ducks Arrive; “Mostly” Dead
• It’s a Boy
• The Cow is Bred
• WordPress Upgrade Goes Awry
• Two Goats Bred; One Dead
• The Truck is Broke
• The Kingdom is Now
• An Average Week at Vaughnshire

While not a farm post, I thought this was worth a mention.  Isn’t it great how God placed enough truth in his creation, that even pagans know truth when they hear it.  If only about 90% of the pastors in America could follow this comedian’s advice.

These boys worked extremely hard and long taking dominion over our garden spot.  They planted pumpkins (yes, we know…a bit late….) but we figured we would try anyway. 

Their motivating goal?  To grow enough pumpkins to sell, so that they can earn money to buy some gold. 

 3 of the pumpkin mounds.  Wow, amazing work from two young boys. 

I simplified my life a bit more. The mop of hair these boys had is no longer causing problems. It is amazing how much a few haircuts simplified our lives.

I have grand intentions on one day writing a book about something. I have several book titles and different subjects that I would like to write about but one of them raking high on the list is a book about my father and the impact he has had on my life.

As I have now grown into a wife and mother with responsibilities of my own, I have gained a deeper appreciation for my dad as well as gained a deeper understanding of the impact of having a Godly father regularly involved in my life.

When I think back upon my childhood, my memories of a strong father figure stand out vividly in my mind. My dad is what you would consider definitely someone who thinks outside the box of normality.  As a child I assumed that all fathers were witty, great story tellers, adventures, lovers of history and would never pass up a chance to stop and read every historical marker in sight.  But more than that, he has always imparted Godly wisdom to us by consistently and continually reminding us of our duties in this life towards God, our heavenly father, as well as our duties to our fellow man.
This Father’s Day, I had a wonderful chat with my father over the phone and as always, he continued to pour forth reminders and challenges for me as well as point me to Christ and remind me that my life is not for me to live solely for myself, but a gift God has granted to me to be used for God’s glory.

Thanks Dad for all you have done and still do.

In my last post, I alluded to an incident that occurred here of a mysterious bird sighting. The boys were yelling, “Mom, we saw a Rhamphorhynchoid Pterodactyl flying over our house!!” They went on to describe the huge bird as having a long tail with a ball at the end of it. I had never heard the word, “Rhamporhynchoid”. I had no idea what they were talking about. However, the boys knew exactly what a “Ramph -or- rink - coid” was and were able to give me specifics about the unheard of bird. In their minds, this was the bird they saw flying over our house.
HMMM…. I could tell that they had obviously seen something by the emotion in their voices and look on their faces. Of course, I didn’t think it was a pterosaur.

My boys enjoy anything having to do with paleontology, creation, dinosaurs and the like. One of their favorite videos is called, Creation in Symphony by Dr. Carl Baugh. They are familiar with Dr. Baugh and a team of paleontologist who have actually traveled across the world in search of pterosaurs, as they believe that it is still possible that certain flying lizards may still be alive in unexplored, remote areas of the earth. A favorite book, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and The Bible is also another good children’s resource for learning about creation and dinosaurs from a Biblical perspective. It is an interesting subject to ponder.

So, what was this mysterious sighting? We believe the mysterious bird was a very large eagle carrying a snake that he had caught. Earlier that morning, I had seen large eagle like birds (unlike the regular vulture) flying over our area and took notice of how beautiful they were soaring high above. Upon further research we found out that it was not uncommon for large birds to pick up things such as rats, snakes, small rabbits and fly off with them.

However, the boys are convinced of their pterosaur sighting. I, on the other hand, was, for the first time, pondering the thought of the possibility of snakes falling from the sky.

To continue:

We finished up our trip with a picnic, a trip to the farm, fishing, and a supper feast on our small catch.

My favorite Cow… The Scotch Highland (Heiland) cattle. They are the oldest known breed of cattle originating in the remote hilly regions and western Coastal Islands of Scotland. They are a hearty breed of cattle with a gentle disposition and generally reliable. They have a unique shaggy hair coat.

A ginormous pig - ready to go to market. This pig might as well of been a monster. Eva didn’t take to kindly to him. A nightmare of toddlerhood.

Our inspiring agrarian friends, The Sanders….. It was a balmy summer day out on the farm. Here he is with his fine mule, I mean HORSE (see comments) team cutting hay. (no they are not Amish) Last time we visited them, Peyton drove the team back to the barn. A rich experience he absolutely loved. One farmer tip we learned: When returning them to the barn, the closer you walk behind them, the less it hurts when they kick you. I am not sure that eased my nerves about my boy taking these huge mammoths back to the barn.

A perfect dream: The children LOVED fishing. Nestled in the hills of southern Tennessee, we found a perfect secluded fishing spot with lots of fish. The 5 year old racked in the fish, with his total numbers being 5 fish. He offered us some fishing advice: “Well, you see, you have boyng it up and down…so the fish think it’s real and they will bite on to it.”

He had the right idea. He was constantly dancing his line in the water (i.e boynging) and the fish were attracted to his dancing cricket bait.

Yes, we did eat our fish…more on that later.

We decided to take a weekend family trip close to home. Our goal was to get out and relax a bit…unwind. We had a great time and saw some neat …and unusual things.

Part one:

One of the interesting things we saw on our weekend vacation. Not your typical sign. This sign can actually can make the modern mind think, “What actually does that mean? I don’t understand? ” So in case your wondering…I took some more pictures.

Not your typical parking lot.

Can’t quite read the sign in the distance….

That’s better…. Just your typical Amish Parking spaces at the local Wal-mart Supercenter. Seriously.

More weekend vacation stories and pictures to be continued…….