Friday - planting in the garden

On Friday afternoon,

After instructions and some demonstration from Jimmy (he is using the row planter)...

We helped with planting some of the garden...

Carl rototilling - doesn't he look at ease with that?

Getting the row ready to plant...

Patti using the planter... she doesn't have quite the technique that her brother has...

Preparing another row...

"Look up and smile, Patti!"

Carl planting...

Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to use the other end of the rake, Carl?

Such a gorgeous day!

Preparing by tilling for a few more rows...

Jimmy had already planted 2 1/2 rows of potatoes before we got there. We helped with planting sweet corn (6 rows), okra (2 rows), and snaps (green beans) (4 rows). Hopefully using non-skilled or low-skilled labor won't negatively impact the production!

"We broke the rooster..."

We were watching the chickens the other day... enjoying seeing how the rooster set up to crow...

He would stretch his neck way up and then crow out.

I took a video:

You can see that he almost appears to crow from his toes out!

After I took it, I played it back... he was obviously perturbed by a rooster crowing in his area... he had been crowing about every 30 seconds, and after hearing himself, he stopped crowing! Carl said that he wasn't aware of what he sounded like and once he heard himself didn't want to crow anymore. I was afraid that we had "broken the rooster". But... he has recovered and is crowing again now!

Last night, Regina collected 20 eggs! From 36 chickens, so there is still room for improvement...

Carl gives a lecture to the chickens every few days, reminding them that egg production isn't the only potential "employment" for them... I'm sure that is helping to improve egg production!

Planting

On Saturday, Jimmy was planting Orchardgrass with his "No Till Drill". We were watching and taking pictures/video:

Jimmy was seeding to try to get better cover in part of this field.

In the front, these wavy discs break up the soil... they are called "coulters" -

I was wondering if that was named after a person who created them, but from an online dictionary - defining "coulter":

1. a vertical cutting blade fixed in front of a plowshare.

   • the part of a seed drill that makes the furrow for the seed.

Origin

Old English, from Latin culter ‘knife or plowshare’.

So, it comes from Latin - I should have known that!

In the back, the two at a "v" shape open up the soil (furrow opener), allowing the seed to be planted, and the packer wheel in the back tamps it down.

Jimmy figured we could be put to work, so we got up on the planter (drill) and kept watch to make sure that the seeds continued to cover the openings that they were feeding down through...

Carl managing his part of the hopper. He did really well managing the seed and staying on the drill at the same time!

Sweden's response to the Coronavirus

I saw this a few days ago and found it interesting...

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/coronavirus-response-sweden-avoids-isolation-economic-ruin/?fbclid=IwAR0Tjc6OrPM6Ruropk3IMUSime0R0rC5lnGtW-bLP4xxlfwZWgDLz63-ttw

There's a lot of folks doubting that this is a good strategy:

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/13/833623311/in-sweden-a-different-approach-to-coronavirus-control

https://www.foxnews.com/world/sweden-avoids-wide-reaching-coronavirus-lockdown-despite-other-countries-tougher-actions

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/04/14/sweden-22-scientists-say-coronavirus-strategy-has-failed-as-deaths-top-1000/#3db34fb27b6c

I think it will be interesting if they maintain their strategy and ultimately provide a "control" to compare the results of total lockdown versus a less stringent approach.

The Pittsburgh Blessing

The choir at our church (MacArthur Boulevard Baptist) did a neat virtual choir special for Easter.

I had seen this one too, done by people from different churches in Pittsburgh, PA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdxMgmN9NpA

"How the Virus Stole Easter"

I have seen this posted in a couple of places, and I think I'm giving credit to the correct author:   (https://www.thissideofheavenblog.com/blog/how-the-virus-stole-easter).

How the Virus Stole Easter

With a nod, and thanks, to Dr. Seuss. 😊

Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began,
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.

People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.

As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.

People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.

April approached and churches were closed.
“There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed.

“There won’t be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can’t go about.”

Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.

“Easter can’t happen this year,” they proclaimed.
“Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.”

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.

The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people, estranged.

“Pooh pooh to the saints,” the world was grumbling.
“They’re finding out now that no Easter is coming.

“They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.

“That noise,” said the world, “would be something to hear.”
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.

And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.

But the sound wasn’t depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn’t be so!
But it grew with abundance!

The world stared around, popping its eyes. Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!

Each saint in each nation, the tall and the small,
Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!

It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
Stood puzzling and puzzling.
“Just how can it be?”

“It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.”

Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before.
“Maybe Easter,” it thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

And what happened then?
Well....the story’s not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share of the source of your life in this fight?

The churches are empty - but so is the tomb,
And Jesus is Victor over death, doom, and gloom.

So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.

May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the Church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that -
Let it start a revival.

Finishing our travel on Friday

With the snow on Friday morning (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/04/more-miles-on-thursday.html), and because we had a shorter distance to travel than the past two days, we took it easy getting going on Friday morning... unfortunately, not only did we have the problem with the gauges not working on the RV, the battery on the CRV was also dead...

...so, Carl hooked up the jumper cables from the CRV to the RV and we were able to start it...

While I was running through the gears on the CRV (a procedure required by Honda, I think for the lubrication of the transmission when flat towing), Carl drew pictures in the snow on the windshield to entertain me...

We were finally on our way, but had to traverse the steep driveway down from the Cracker Barrel to the road that would allow us to access the interstate - we made it safely!

The trees alongside I-81 were so beautiful - I took about 4 times the number of pictures I'm including in this post... so you can be thankful that I culled out a lot... but I wanted to share some of the springtime beauty that we saw!

I think the pink trees were redbud and the white were dogwood, though some of the white could be pears... and the pink trees were so luxuriant in blooms that I wondered if they were really redbuds...

In several of the pictures, you can see reflections of things that were on the dashboard -- the main one is a tablet with a blue cover that reflects as a bluish diamond in some of the pictures.

You might notice that there were more passenger vehicles in these pictures on the interstate on Friday than we had seen on Wednesday and Thursday (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/04/moving-along-east-with-just-few-bumps.html). We weren't sure whether that was because of where we were or that it was Good Friday (maybe more people were off work?) or what...

As we were driving on I-81, we were getting quite a side wind, but when we turned east (southeast) on I-64, it was more of a tail wind (which you would think would be beneficial), but the awning on the large slide on the drivers side started making a flapping noise. I used google maps and found that there were some shopping areas at the next exit that appeared to have large parking lots, so we got off the interstate to take a look at what was going on...

Carl found that the awning did not appear to be wound tightly... the picture is not great because it was into the sun...

Maybe you can kind of see it there at the front of the roll...

We decided that maybe the snow and wet on the awning before we brought the slide in this morning had caused it not to wrap correctly, and figured if we put the slide back out and brought it in, it may correct the problem. Unfortunately, to extend or retract the slide, the engine needs to be off - and we were trying to not turn the engine off due to the gauge issue (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/04/moving-along-east-with-just-few-bumps.html)... but, we decided to risk turning the engine off, put the slide out, eat lunch, bring the slide in, and hope that the awning issue would correct and that the gauges would work okay... the slide out/in fixed the awning (it was also in the sun so maybe it dried a little), but the gauges wouldn't work with the battery reset. So, Carl pulled the fuses that we thought would correct it (they looked fine) and reseated them, he also tapped on a few relays... and the gauges worked! We started up the coach and continued on our trip...

Our exit off of I-64...

... and the sign at the entrance to the farm - both signs we were thankful to see!

We got Carl's RV parked in front of Miss Doozie, and have it plugged in to the electric and we're living in Carl's RV at this point. We may move back and forth depending on what work needs to be done on each rig.

There were 3 eagles who had flown over us as we were hooking up the battery charger to the CRV at the farm.... Jimmy saw that one of them had something in its talons, and the other two were trying to get it away from him - which ultimately made him drop it. They all ended up fighting over it on the ground, and a number of black buzzards were on the ground and in the sky as well. When the eagle finally finished (it appeared that one of them pretty much had control of whatever had been caught and was steadily eating), we walked into the pasture to try to determine what they had been fighting over. It turned out to be a fish, Jimmy said a large mouth bass, and the combination of birds had pretty much finished it off!

The calf that we helped bottle feed when we were here in March (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2020/03/monday-on-farm.html) is now out in the pasture... her copper color is so beautiful - a cross between Hereford and Jersey.

The calf was interested in whether any of us had a bottle for her!

Miss Kitty is *very* happy that we are back - she has been on top of Carl most of the evening and we're anticipating that she will be enjoying being with us through the night!

We are glad to be at the farm in Virginia!