more pics

It is very hard to find pictures that my family feels safe in publishing on a blog. It is also hard to find pics of Mury and I. We tend to take the pics of everyone else. Oh well.

More pics for the visually needy

From dormant to semi-dormant

Every blog should be posted to on a regular basis.....once a year is regular.

What has happened since I last posted:

First of all God is still faithful, good and worthy of praise.

Our granddaughter, YiYa, has now been in the U.S. for a year. She is a barrel of energy who loves to rough-house. It is strange how a child from such a different background can drop into our life and run away with our hearts. She has been a delight. Her language skills still have some work to do but since she knows "Papa", that's me, everyhting else is can wait.

KB is 8. He plays a mean piano, helps me around the farm, loves baseball and his new sister. YiYa is getting a lesson in how big brothers express their love. You probably know that bugging her until she screams is real love to a brother. He is really good to her in all the right ways also.

Finally, Syby, is 22 months old. Since he lives next door we get daily hugs and are some of his favorite playmates by default. He and I get to grow up together. What a joy. Mury and I were talking the other day about how little he will remember of these times and how much we will remember. It just goes to prove that grandchildren were made for grandparents. He now helps feed the chickens and the cats. The outdoors are his most favorite place. I am so glad he is growing up in the country. I get to live some of my dreams through him.

Chocolate birthday cake at 4:00 AM is so good.

Okay, back to posting on this blog thingy.

Our church is looking for a pastor and I am on the search commttee. I also had two teeth surgically removed yesterday. You can use your imagination about what these have in common. If you know of someone who is a gifted preacher/speaker, perfectly fullfils the Titus and Timothy mandate, has impeccable people skills, experience, a wife who will sacrifice her life to be everything we want her to be and a secret desire to be trampled by his "sheep" from time to time then I have just the place for him. Sounds appealing doesn't it

We now have 11 chickens. There were 12 but the rooster became such a Nazi we had to take him down the road and give him his freedom. I wanted chicken and dumplings but was overruled. Our peacock, Jerry, now has a peahen friend, Katy. They make beautiful and unusual noises together. I think that means they are happy. Our two cats are the best cats ever. That's a lot said by a guy who used to think they were only good as moving targets. A farm without mice is quite nice(poetry for free). The pond is very swim friendly and the 12' floating trampoline comes in handy. We stocked bass, bluegill and catfish last year. I caught a 10 inch bass this week so they seem to be prospering. Our builder friend cut a hiking/4 wheeler trial around the property this spring and it is a delight. We got a total of 53 round bales of hay from the field. The guy who baled it got half and I am keeping half. There is a breed of cows called Highland Cattle and I think they may be my next project. Since they are Scottish, easy to care for, hardy(menaing not easily killed by novice cattlemen like me), gentle and cute in a hairy kind of way, I think they would fit right in at Dun Croft. Don't you? Both houses are heated via an outdoor Hardy wood burning furnace. It does the hot water along with the heat. My daily exercise includes cutting a small trailer load of wood most days in preparation for winter. Last year we burned about 40,000 pounds of wood. I do have muscles under this fat layer! Yes, I am still a Financial Advisor. I usually work a couple hours a day via phone and internet in addition to meeting with clients in Arkansas about 3 days each month. I have the best job in the world. Most of my clients are friends!

Mury is still my best friend and cares for me so well. How God has allowed her to put up with me these many years is such a wonder. How can it be???? Many of you who know us probably have asked the same question.

We still like emails over blogs for information about you all so don't forget us. Blog checking is not on our daily list of to dos.

I hope this hasn't been too painful to get through. There are many other things of importance to be telling that I have left off. Please consider visiting us at Dun Croft. It is the best way to stay in touch. I miss seeing and hearing from so many of you.

As you can tell, God has been gentle with us. Our lives here are blessed beyond our dreams but still we long for that place with no more tears or sorrows. May God richly bless you!

Pictures are included if I can find some and figure out how to post them.

Dave

A simple life?

This blog thing is still quite surreal to me. Perhaps I'll stick with for a bit just to be sure I give it enough time to be sure it is a waste or wonderful.

My daughter and son in law have made it possible for us to live a dream and be out in the country on this 80 acres of peace. Of course God is the real reason they have such wonderful hearts and gracious attitudes. We would never have moved out here except they encouraged us by saying they would love to live on the same property.

My oldest grandson, KB, is here for 4 weeks while his mom and dad are overseas picking up our new granddaughter. This makes for an active time around the place. It also makes for more laughs and fun. Seven year old boys have a way of making everything a game and adventure. He also loves to hear my indian and settler stories about Dun Croft in the old days. We found a stone tomahawk blade and that has given my stories some credence. Every night I try to make up a new story with indians, settlers, cowboys, bears, deer, wildcats, brave young boys and once upon a time adventures. He smiles a lot as I tell them and asks lots of questions so they must sound good to him. I suspect I'll be a lot less interesting as he gets older and I get more muddled.

Saturday we got up 6:30 and looked at the trap to see if we caught another tomato stealing and watermelon stealing opossum but it was empty. We caught two on previous nights and spray painted their tails the next morning before we set them free about a quarter mile down the road. If we catch them back on the property again they won't get the same good treatment. Then we took the dogs (stupid 1 and stupid 2) for a run. KB and I on the golf cart and the dogs on foot straight out through the Buffalo Gate and down the ridge. Back home we picked up trash from the addition being built on to the house. KB hitched up the trailer to golf cart and off we went to collect rocks from the pasture. Rocks damage the baling mower if they are too big so we cleaned up about 200 pounds of them and dumped them in the woods. A quick trip over to the the mud pond to hunt for some frogs just for fun then back to the house to cool off. It was about 98 by 8 o'clock. Mury and KB sprayed for weeds in the drive and on the gravel beach at the swim pond. I went down and got a pick up load of mulch to start a new area around some trees in the yard. Got it unloaded and spread then we sat under the cedar tree in the shade while the sprinkler sometimes sprayed us to cool off. We shoveled up some dirt piles around the new foundation and dumped them in the big pile. The Ranger needed some gas so it was filled up. Weedeating was next on the list since the grass has not been cut for three weeks. The yard looks like it had a bad hair day. Not much to cut but it was looking ragged. It was now time to go Cat fishing. We saddled up the golf cart, grabbed a hot dog for bait and headed for the pond. One cast and KB caught a 2 pound cat. The next three he caught large Bluegill. He was tired of fishing and it was time to swim at the other end of the pond. After moving the sprinklers for the fourth time we called it a day and came in to play with KB's Playstation. That machine is something from Hell. It dominates a kid's mind and is a cause for conflict between us. They should be banned but grandparents aren't the ones in charge of such things so we just try to limit it without being too restrictive. Grandparents are to be buddies not Playstation Nazis.

A couple board games after dinner and it was off to another bedtime story for KB. As is the usual he was homesick for mom and dad. We talked about it, prayed about it and he was off to sleep.

What a great day The Lord gave us!

4th of July

Since we are such great patriots we decided to have a small gathering the 4th. As of the 2nd we had 12 friends and family coming. As of the evening of the 3rd we had 40 coming and by the 4th it was just over 50! What a great day to be at the Dun Croft! Horseshoes, volleyball(the over 50s lost to the under 50s by one stinking point. Our pastor wouldn't lie about a ball he thought was out but was really in...Christians are such sticklers for the truth), fishing, fireworks, more fireworks by the lake, hayride(a deer dutifully showed himself for the riders delight) snow cones and an abundance of wonderful food that everyone brought. We wish you all could have come too. Some of us used the occassion to remember how God has blessed his nation, not necessarily the US but his holy nation of the elect. We are so blessed to be His people and in turn this nation, the US, is blessed because of us. What a great system but don't mention it to those who worship the government. They might be offended. Anyway, the party broke up about 10 or 10:30. We had such a wonderful time and most everyone said they did also. We all smelled like sweat because it was so hot but after a while even that ain't so bad.

If you read this and know us then you better not wait for an invitation to come visit. We expect you to come when you can! If you don't know us then maybe you need to wait for an invite.

Time to go. Blessings from DunCroft.

A New Creation

Even a golf cart can be given a new purpose in life. Isn't this a Beverly HillBillies classic? We have used it to move our family furniture, chase the geese. pull the mower out of the mud, haul plants hither and tither, explore the woods, entertain a cranky grandchild, beat the dogs to the Buffalo Gate and pick up the mail. The mail box is about a half mile down the gravel drive so don't think we are too lazy to walk. Well maybe we are too lazy to walk now that I think about it.

On the right is son in law and left is his dad.

Make a note that skunked dogs still smell after 2 weeks and geese do not like to be pelted with a paintball gun. They do look stunning in pink splotches though.

In my next blog I'll show you how good our old refrigerator looks in the front yard next to the old mattress.

This smiling Happy Camper looks harmless but in his right hand is a knife. Yes, the fish has no idea of the Happy Camper's real intentions.

5-pounds of catfish from our pond this spring.

My son in law caught one he thought was larger but unlike me, he tends to exagerate.