Breach of Security

Scarcely a day goes by that we don’t see deer on our place. Most are mule deer that feed in the hayfields and sleep in the greasewood. Since there’s plenty of alfalfa, we don’t mind sharing with the beauties. Our dog Bodie (a border collie-heeler-catahoula cross) wants to chase the deer, of course, but we only want him to chase the deer that come close to the flower beds and garden. Oddly enough, the white-tailed deer that venture near the house somehow mesmerize Bodie, so he doesn’t appear to even notice them, let alone chase them!

Bodie considers himself something of a coonhound, but he hasn’t chased a single one of those pesky varmints out of the garden because they raid at night while he’s sleeping on his couch in the house. Every year, when I see the coon damage to our sweet corn (despite a 9-wire electric fence), I threaten to move Bodie’s couch out to the garden for the rest of the summer.

There are breeds of dogs that guard sheep and others that watch over families, homes, or businesses. Surely there must be some kind of dog that’s bred to instinctively protect roses and vegetables!

Bodie at work at one of his favorite ranch jobs: guarding the truck!

"Every promise of God proves true; he protects everyone who runs to him for help.” --PROVERBS 30:5



Lifted Up

We found this young lodgepole pine tree, which must have been damaged by a storm, growing parallel to the ground on a trail at Willow Park. Upon closer inspection, we saw that it’s tip and top branches are just starting to grow vertically towards the sky—just like the L-matoes (see one of last week’s posts by the same name).

I guess you can’t keep a good tree down!

“Then the God who lifts up the downcast lifted our heads and our hearts….”       --2 CORINTHIANS 7:6

Lost in Paradise

Today we escaped the heat and ranch work and headed up the mountain for a hike. The Big Horns, as our mountain range is called, have had more moisture than most other ranges in the West, so we were blessed to see jillions of wildflowers!

Willow Park is primarily a series of connecting cross-country ski trails that make for great hiking in the summer, but even though there are markers and maps, it’s very easy to think one is on a given trail that one isn’t. Once one realizes that one isn’t anywhere near where one thought one was, it’s a bit unnerving—even more so when one finds oneself walking past the same elk skull that one passed an hour earlier!

“We’re going in circles. We’re lost,” said I, on more than one occasion. Hubby, being of the gender that never admits that they’re lost, never did admit we were lost. I don’t understand that line of thinking; nevertheless, I was very grateful when we finally returned to the trailhead and our cooler of food. Even more than that, I’m extremely thankful that my knee is so much better, so I can hike again!



“There will be a highway called the Holy Road….for God's people exclusively—impossible to get lost on this road. Not even fools can get lost on it. Only the redeemed will walk on it…unfading halos of joy encircling their heads…as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.” --ISAIAH 35:8

TrustWORTHY

Petunia, our last cow to calve, came in heat and was A.I.ed (see It’s Arranged, the May 18, 2012 post) today. Petunia is such a sweet, gentle cow that it’s always a pleasure to handle her. Even though she’s a very attentive mama cow, Petunia seems to trust us with her calf and never acts threatening.

Even though we’ve been working to increase our little herd, we won’t keep a honky cow or heifer. If their personality (yes, cattle definitely have a personality) makes them dangerous to people and/or dogs, we send them packing. That can be sad, but it’s so pleasant to live and work with animals we like and, to some extent, trust. Sure, it’s foolish to ever totally trust a very large prey animal—horse or cow--which responds instinctually to fearful stimuli. Although animals with docile temperaments tend to be safer to be around, none is totally trustworthy.

But when I think about it, people—even the best of them—aren’t absolutely safe and trustworthy either. Do you know anyone that always tells the truth, always keeps his/her word, always treats others with respect and love, and always does the right thing for the right reason? Do you know anyone who’s never moody, critical, mean, stingy, untruthful, unreliable, selfish, or unkind? Me either—with one very notable exception:

“God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”                              --1 CORINTHIANS 1:9

L-matoes

Wind is good for plants because it stimulates plant hormones which promote root and stem/trunk growth. Wind also stirs up carbon dioxide in the air, which results in increased photosynthesis. But, like most everything else, too much of a good thing is too much!

Wyoming rarely lacks for wind, but this summer has proved gustier than most. These rapidly propelled air particles have been good for wind energy production but hard on wildfire fighting efforts and just about every plant that’s already subject to drought and doesn’t need to lose any more moisture. Even well-watered trees, lawns, and gardens have suffered broken limbs, browning, and flattened stalks, respectively.

I’d hardened off our tomato sets before I planted them—they’d been exposed to some wind—but a few days after I moved them to their new digs, we had a strong gale that flattened a few of the plants. They’ve since compensated by bending skywards, their stems forming a capital L. Other than their crooked profiles, the L-matoes are as vigorous as their counterparts and are blossoming and setting on.

Are you feeling knocked down, blown over, and completely flattened? Take a tip from the L-matoes: rise up and blossom anyway!

“The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.” –PSALM 145:14

Slosh

Spending the day trying to stay cool? If you’ve run out of iced tea and have cabin fever from staying indoors out of the hot summer sun, take some advice from Sparkle (below) who spent the hottest part of today wading on the bank of the Big Horn Canal: find some ankle-deep water, take off your shoes, and slosh!

“May the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you….” --1 THESSALONIANS 3:11

Integrity

Zach, along with all of the wildland firefighters, always carries with him the Incident Response Pocket Guide, a publication of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.  Following the Table of Contents, three pages are dedicated not to safety or wildfires but to three topics: duty, respect, and integrity. In this day and age when it’s not politically correct to address topics like values, I was impressed that the NWCG realizes that attention to values is prerequisite to achievement, morale, teamwork--even survival.

Of all the suggestions listed under the title of Integrity, the following statement struck me as well worth repeating:

“Choose the difficult right over the easy wrong.”

Few would argue the wisdom of that! Fortunately, our Lord understands just how hard it is for us to choose right over wrong sometimes, so He’s given us some help….

“Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment He hears, He'll answer….Your teacher (the Holy Spirit) will be right there…urging you on whenever you wander left or right: ‘This is the right road. Walk down this road.’”                             --ISAIAH 30:19-20