| Dear Readers,
Tragedy has struck Susan’s chickens
again.
For some time they’ve been living in
the big barn. Over a week had passed without our finding any eggs.
Finally Susan went climbing through the hayloft, and found not only
three and a half dozen eggs, but also the setting hen. The children
had been sticking eggs under her, and thirteen had
hatched.
Yesterday (Friday) Susan moved the hen
and the chicks down from the loft, because she was afraid the chicks
would fall through the cracks in the loft floor. She had an old
chicken cage downstairs. It’s just a five foot square wooden frame,
with PVC pipe bent into half hoops. The pipes fit into sockets on
the frame, and over the frame there is chicken wire. Susan arranged
a nest in a box, and moved all the chicks and the setting hen into
the cage.
This morning we had a 10:30
appointment for family pictures. Our daughter-in-law Shawn, Worth’s
wife, brought Katie and Caroline, her two little sisters, with her,
so Susan invited them to come back with us to see the new
chicks.
Susan and I came into the house to
finish off this newsletter. She sent Zachariah with the girls to
show them the chicks. Shortly Zachariah returned with the news that
within the cage he could find no hen and no chicks. Every one had
disappeared. Susan was heartbroken. I’ll be doing good to get her to
finish laying out this newsletter.
Suspicion has fallen on Cleo and
Orion, the Great Pyrenees. We already know they are egg eaters, and
they were certainly suspects last fall in the Great Serial Chicken
Disappearance. Somebody tried to lay the blame on Rex, Johnny &
Liberty’s dog who is over here visiting, but Liberty came vigorously
to his defense. To Susan it doesn’t really matter who did it. All
her little chicks, some black, some yellow, have disappeared. I feel
so sorry for her.
JUSTIN’S RIDE
In February Justin went to draft horse
school in Poplarville, Mississippi. In this great picture you see
Justin on the far side of Kenny Russell, who teaches the school...
He’s driving a pair of Belgian draft horses and Justin and Kenny are
sitting on a fore-cart, a sort of chariot that you hook up in front
of large implements. Christian [kicking and screaming and
heel-digging – he’s seventeen] went with Justin, and enjoyed it
every bit as much. The school started from the most basic things –
how to harness up a team – and progressed to driving various sized
teams with different implements.
Y’all probably remember that Justin
has a pair of black Percherons. They’re still colts, not quite two
years old. They’re not too big yet, about up to my shoulder. By the
time they’re full grown, I probably won’t be able to see over their
backs, and I’m 6’3". If Justin had his way, he’d spend all his time
with those horses, Jachin and Boaz.
MULE DAYS
Up in Columbia, Tennessee, not far
from where we live they celebrate Mule Days every year. People bring
mules and horses from all over and there’s a big show competition.
Susan, Justin, and I went up Friday afternoon for the mule auction,
which was a bit disappointing. On Saturday the whole family went
back to watch the mule pulling competition and the show.
Mules compete in five or six classes
for mule pulling. A pair of mules is hitched to a big metal sled.
They have to pull it at least ten feet. Catch is, they keep loading
it with 50 pound concrete blocks until the teams that can’t move it
ten feet are eliminated. They start with tiny "pony" mules about the
size of Shetland ponies. They may not weigh much, but they sure have
a heart for digging in and pulling. Those little mules would make
the sand fly digging for traction. After all the entries but
one team have been eliminated, the next class starts pulling.
While that was going on a fellow
pulled up behind us on a miniature flat bed wagon about eight feet
long, pulled by a pair of miniature horses. I had heard about
them, but that hadn’t prepared me for the reality. One horse was a
charcoal gray stallion with a black mane. He stood there and neighed
just like he was fifteen feet tall. The man wanted $4,000.00 for the
rig and both horses, and if I’d had it on me, I would have bought
‘em in a New York minute.
EASTER
The trees aren’t fully leafed out yet,
so you can see the blooming dogwoods through the woods, like they’re
floating in the air. How is it that dogwoods always know to bloom in
time for Easter, no matter when Easter falls?
In the early church on Easter morning
believers greeted each other with the cry, "He is risen!" The others
answered back, "He is risen indeed!"
He is risen indeed!
Franklin
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