Slice of Almost Heaven Blog

Kitten Math

9/30/2020

Unless you have been living under a rock you must have heard of all the new math crazes. But have you heard of "Kitten Math"? We acquired 4 little kittens. (See The Power of Touch for the back story), each day in the evening we go out to the barn and let the kittens out to play before they get their evening meal.

Letting them out is not a problem. Putting them back in this when the fun begins.....

It is kinda like the Hokey Pokey, but with kittens.......

You put 5 kittens in and get 3 kittens out....
You put 3 kittens get 2 kittens out.
You do the Kitten Pokey and turn yourself around, thats what its all about!

This goes on for twenty or so minutes. The kittens just want to run and play at this age. Trying to hold them is next to impossible. As you try to catch them you get frustrated, but they are just too adorable!

All you can do is laugh and then cry a bit.

The Power of Touch

8/29/2020

The power of touch, to most of us it does not mean much. But in actual fact, it truly is a powerful thing in and of itself. A touch can heal, comfort, and console. It conveys a wide range of positive things. A touch can bring fear, loathing, and a host of other negative things.

It is up to the giver of that touch what powerful force it will convey.

Recently, we befriended a stray cat, her name is Tux, for tuxedo cat. Back in March of this year on a cold night, I went out to put a box on our side covered porch. As I set down the box, a small kitten dashed out off the porch into the night. We had seen cats around before, but this was different. She was a small kitten. Cold, scared, and alone. We put food out for her that night and when dawn broke the next day we were heartened to see she had come back and had eaten. We kept putting out food and we would get a fleeting glimpse of her. This went on for months. She would let us see her from afar but would trot away if we got too close. As time went on we started to suspect she was pregnant. So we had to act fast. We got a trap and baited it. On a Saturday morning, she was in the trap. We moved her to a kitty condo in the barn. A few days later, she gave birth to four kittens. We then worked to gain her trust.

One day after feeding her. I slowly and carefully reached out toward her. She backed up a bit and gave a low growl at me. I kept talking to her and reached a bit closer. She let me touch her, these may have been the first loving hands that have touched her in a very long time. From that time we have continued to bond with her and her kittens.

From the farm, we know first hand the power of touch when people remark how gentle our farm animals are around us. It all goes back to the power of touch. When a 175-pound buck rubs up against you and tries to climb on your lap as they did when they were a kid. That shows you the power of touch.

This applies to human relationships too. A touch can be physical and/or emotional.

Over the years people have come and gone in my life. At that time they gave me the touch that was needed. A touch I will always cherish and remember.

Always remember to preach Christ, if you must use words!

Be that touch to a hurting or lonely person. Let God's Love show through you to a dying and hurting world... This is the power of touch!

ZAP

7/18/2020

It is late at night, our farm chores are almost complete. The last thing we need to do is turn the electric fence back on for the night and check the voltage. Michelle throws the switch and then yells we got a short! What this means is the fence wires are touching some place and draining off all the electrical charge.

I head out into the darkness to see if I can find the problem. The fence is still on and can still pack a punch if I am not careful. I find the problem and call Michelle to turn off the juice. I then get to work repairing the broken wire. Over my headset Michelle asks me "Can I turn it back on yet?"

A cold chill of naked fear goes though my body. I've got a very firm grip on a wire that with a simple flip of a switch can be energized with over 10,000 volts.

I think about my next move, there can be no misunderstanding here! The fence has to stay off! I am in the middle of the repair and can not stop. I slowly and forcefully state"Leave the !@#$ fence off!!" I hear her snicker and say "Really, you're sure you do not want me to turn it back on now??"

I am starting to sweat....I remember the time she turned on a fence I was working on before........she "thought" I was done! When in fact, I had both hands on the wires my life got lit up, my hair stood on end, and I just fell over from the shock.

Back to the current situation. This fence charger is even bigger, I pick up the pace as the sweat rolls into my eyes. In the back of my mind, I'm wondering if it was a good idea to have taken her to the drive through at McDonald's when she asked me to take her out someplace nice to eat.

Fear is a great motivator, I race to finish the repair and get clear. I tell her it is OK to turn it on now. When I get back up to the barn she looks at me and smiles. She slyly remarks that I may think of a better choice for dinner next time. "It would have been such a pity if I turned on the fence early!"

The moral of this story, Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned, especially when she is at the switch!

Some parts of this story are true, it is up to the reader to determine which!!!

Keep Your Fork

6/6/2020

This is a picture of some on the wild blackberry bushes here on the farm. With favorable weather in August we will have blackberries. It is such a treat to be walking by and pick off a ripe blackberry straight from the bush. As I took this picture it reminded me of the saying "Keep Your Fork". The story behind "Keep Your Fork" is after just eating dinner next is desert. If you do not have your fork you cannot enjoy desert. So "Keeping Your Fork" is to remind you of better things to come later.

I have heard of people having a fork in their hand in the casket, acknowledging that there are better things to come.

It also reminds me as precious and dear these temporal things are, I also plan on keeping my fork for the blessed Resurrection to come!

God Made a Farmer....The Reflection

5/6/2020

Drawing provided by Oak Apple Farm. Please visit them, if you click on the photo it will take you to their website.

Yesterday was a day that every goat herder dreads, a kid who is too large to be born and a dam that is too small to have him.

This was not one of my goats, but a friends. He trusted me to do the right thing and I feel like I let him and this goat down. Since the event happened yesterday, I have been turning it over and over in my mind. What could I have done differently? Would it have made a difference? Or was her fate settled when she started pushing?

Farming is not easy, it never was. Death like a crouching predator is always in the corner, waiting to pounce. Are you going to make that one mistake that costs an animal their life? Or will you defeat death this time?

Most days farming is hard but good. When then girls (and stinky boys) come up to you and want scratchies or to rub against you like a 130lb cat (I would suggest if you have hills stand on the upward side!) It makes it all worthwhile.

Death is a part of life, but it was not always this way and one day, it will not be again.

Mankind was so selfish they wanted to "be like God" and threw away the gift of never physically dying. Not only did mankind condemn themselves to death, but all of creation. But, all is not lost, one day death will be no more.

Oh how I long for that day.

A Father's Gift

4/28/2020

My dad went home to be with his Lord and Savior in May 2011. In his later years we grew very close. Hence I would call him each Saturday night to fill him in about the recent adventures on the farm. This blog is an outgrowth of those evening calls to my Dad. I used this to preface the story below...

For the last few months we have been having problems with our electric fence on the goats pasture. Try as we might we could not find the cause of the problem. We had spent hours looking for the fault but to no avail.

Then I thought about something I had not remembered in over 45 years. When I was growing up my Dad would teach me basic radio and electric theory. As a young teenager I was not interested in this but out of respect I listened to him. Well those lessons he taught me years ago did sink in a bit.

On a dark and rainy night, I remembered what he taught me. I thought could this really be the problem after all this searching?? In my head I heard my Dad's voice "Peter that is the problem", and my response "Ok Dad how do I fix it?" I paused there in the rain and he spoke again through all those years with the answer. I did what he told me and a problem that had me stumped for months was over.

My first thought was I need to call and thank him, to tell him that it was his lessons all those years ago that gave me the answer. Then I caught myself and realized just how long it had been since he was gone.

So here and now I say Thank You Dad for teaching me even though at the time I did not want to learn. I so miss you....!

The Goat Hokey Pokey

3/22/2020

You put your right hoof out
You put your right hoof in
You put your right hoof out and you shake it all about
You keep us guessing as to when you're comin' today
That what it all about.....

This weekend our doe Suzuki gave birth. In a normal goat birth there is a "water bubble" that comes out then the bubble with the baby goat. Well, the baby kept playing the "Goat Hokey Pokey". She would show a right hoof then it would go back in the it would come back out. This kept up for over 30 minutes, until Levona was born.

Please know doe and kid are both doing well. We hope she will not whisper this to Gigi our next goat to kid on how to do Goat Hokey Pokey! We will keep you posted.

This is a picture of Levona, Suzuki's kid. it is Hebrew for Frankincense. For those of you who do not know frankincense is a resin from a tree. It has powerful antiviral properties. It was also given to Jesus as one of the three gifts from the Wise men.

We named her Levona as a hope and prayer we and all our friends make it through the Covid-19 virus safely.

Ivy

2/10/2020

Today was a sad day on the farm. Ivy, one of our does had a miscarriage today. She was three months pregnant. We are not sure the cause of the miscarriage. But, it reminds us again of the fragility of life and how precious it truly it is. Each and every time one of our goats give birth we marvel at God's creation. Countless times I have remarked “and they say there is no God!”

As I write this I am reminded of this scripture: “I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.” Psa 139:14-16 NAB

Ivy is in her stall softly bleating for her kid, she does not understand what happened. But she knows something is not right. This reminds us again how we long as with all creation for the time when death has been swallowed up and The Prince of Peace reins!

So God made a farmer…

Regret

12/29/2019

This Christmas has been hard but educational. You may ask why I chose those two words? It is because my father passed away on the 23rd. It was hard because it is never easy to lose a parent, even if you didn’t really know them. It was educational because in the few days since his passing I have learned a great deal about him.

A background story so you understand the circumstances, this will be the Reader’s Digest version. My mother and I moved out of our house in OH and moved to WV in 1979 and my parent’s divorce was finalized in 1980. There in the beginning we were in contact but as time moved on our relationship fell apart. The last function he attended was my HS graduation in 1986. Over the years I have tried to mend the relationship, but to no avail. My last time trying to contact him was a friend request on Facebook about a week before he passed.

Now for the educational part….everyone has always said I look and sound like my mother (maybe that was part of the problem), but all of us are a part of each of our parents. I knew the traits that I had inherited from my father, my mom reminded me of them many times (whenever we argued, she said I had his temper). But I knew something else that I inherited that my mom rarely acknowledged and that was my technical abilities. When it came to fixing things that was my job around the house.

But in the past 6 days I have learned that we were more alike than I ever realized. On many topics my mother and I were polar opposites, especially in politics. As an adult our arguments almost always centered around politics or religion. From what I have learned I would have had a staunch ally in my defense of those topics. Don’t get me wrong, on many things my mom was somewhat conservative, but not in her politics. Whereas I was the conservative, and as I grow older, I have become even more conservative, but that is not the topic of this discussion.

I wish now that I would have worked harder at getting that relationship renewed, but now time has run out and I feel regret, but at least I am able to take care of his final wishes and learn about the life he led from others. As I thought about what would happen over the years when he would pass away, or if I would even find out. The last thing I thought would happen was shedding tears. Yet, as I sit here and write this, I am crying for what could have been.

I am sorry that we could not have the relationship that I think we could have had, but now with your passing I can finally change your name. I have always called you my father, because I respected your position as my father, but I couldn’t call you dad. I felt dad was a term that meant relationship. I can now say, even though I didn’t know a lot about you I can call you,

DAD

I am happy that you became a believer in Christ as your Savior so I know I will see you again.

Doyle Been
March 16, 1945 - December 23, 2019

Christmas Eve Memories

12/24/2019

Not the best picture of Mary, but it was taken at one of those get togethers so I felt it was appropriate.

Today is Christmas Eve, while warming myself near the fire a long deep memory came to me. It was a long time ago. But I remember it as if it was yesterday. Shortly after I married Michelle, we traveled to Clarksburg from New Jersey to see her mom and to go with her to the family’s holiday traditional get together. They would meet on Christmas Eve and exchange small gifts, eat and have a good time.

This struck a very deep chord with me. You see the people there did not know me at all but welcomed me into their home as if I was born into the family. Never in my life have I felt so accepted and loved. We went to several of these gatherings over the years. It was always the same. Further, Michelle’s mother over the years did not treat me as a son in law, but as her own son. As her time grew near to depart this life our bond grew more and more, that was Mary. I am almost ashamed to say it, but I loved her as much, if not more than my own mother. You see I was blessed to have “two moms”.

As I write this the tears are flowing hot, but this is tempered with the wonderful memories of a family that took me in as their very own.