Well, Hanna passed, and we were unscathed. We got some rain (great for my newly planted fall garden) but virtually no wind. And it looks like we will be spared Ike also. We need to pray for those folks in Louisiana. Maybe Gustave was a good trial run...
Saturday was a general clean-up day. We got a few done things done which have been nagging at us.
"Fred" is still sluggish and running a fever, but no lameness. We took him off the medicine for Sunday and he seems better this morning. I will take is temp later today. If it is still high I may start him on penicillin. We wanted to move "Little Big Guy" (Big Guy is no more-picking him up from the butcher on Friday evening-dressed weight was 230 lbs!) but I don't want to move him in with "Fred" and Duroc until we are sure "Fred" is better. Yet I really want to get the big pen tilled and planted for the nest group of pigs. ("Fred" may have been a mistake to get. I suspect he was the runt of his litter and will always be susceptible to sickness and never reach weight.)
We ordered more cow panels for the next pig pen we want to build. Hog panels have smaller openings on the bottom so piglets can't escape, but they are only 3 feet high. We like to trench our panels a foot or so into the ground, so cow panels are the way to go. (We do have one pen with hog panels which we always use for the new piglets.
Fly season is on us with wrath. I have fly bait out (in high places). No more pig slaughters till the flys go. Otherwise, we really could do "Little Big Guy" anytime now.
Back to reading about the Buckley family (even his footnotes sometimes have footnotes!) as I must return my inter-library loan Gulag without finishing it. I'm sure I can pick up a copy in paperback cheaply somewhere. I am learning some things about the South in this book I never fully realized (even though I went to school here and have lived here now for over 13 years.)
Today I am paying bills (both by writing the checks and by doing some office work.) If I finish early I have an office which is overdue for a cleaning and a shop as well.
On Sunday Father preached about 1. His obligation to preach about mortal sins ("I'm not going to Hell for anybody!"); 2. Parents' obligation to raise and correct their children,; and 3. Forgiveness-so many families broken and kept apart by long-standing feuds and squabbles. I prayed especially yesterday at Mass for families suffering from this third affliction. 
Last night we watched one of my favorite comedies, "You Can't Take it With You" with Jimmy Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, and Jean Arthur (and a great supporting cast). It's another Frank Capra classic about the folly of chasing riches and really the importance of following your vocation (using your talents). Lionel Barrymore's 'grace before meals' is a simple conversation with God about the state of affairs and thanksgiving. At one point he asks a frustrated accountant and aspiring inventor if he wants to be one of God's 'lilies of the field'. Granted some of the philosophy is simplistic-but it is only movie.
Oremus pro invicem!
3 comments:
About little Fred:
Have you thought about just doinghim in now and cutting your losses?
You would have to wait until the antibiotics passed, but that would only take 30 to 45 days.
Just a thought
Jim Dorchak
Jim-just read your comments and these are my thoughts also. We started him on penicillin yesterday and he seems better this morning, but this is his last shot-even if he gets better.
Little piggy with an apple in his mouth would be great for All Hollows Eve.
Jim Dorchak
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