| Dear Readers,
Y’all may remember that on one
terrible September Saturday a year ago a string of accidents took
off our Great Pyrenees puppy, Kaiser, and Justin’s horse, General in
a few short hours (subscribers send us a 55¢ SASE and request a copy
of the 9/99 Moneychanger). My friend Charlie Ritch runs a
farm down in Alabama with his wife Laura and two charming daughters.
He called Monday after that terrible Saturday. When I told him what
had happened, he remarked that on a farm you are around life and
death daily. Death is not sanitized, not clinical, but
personal. When something dies, you must dig the hole and put
it away. On a farm, you can’t hide from death. And to say that you
can’t hide from death is to say you can’t hide from God, for every
time you face death, you face God.
When you let animals into your life
you open yourself to an uncontrolled and uncontrollable reality, but
the same is all the more true of making friends, or marrying,
or having children. When we open ourselves to love, we open
ourselves not only to the possibility of pain, but also the
certainty.
Life and death persistently humble us
with their unpredictability. Today I am hurrying to the office
because an ice-storm is predicted and I am finishing a newsletter
before Susan and I have to drive two and a half hours down to New
Albany to have it printed. It’s bitter cold. I pull into the
driveway and look out into the pasture. One of the cows is down, and
our black Percheron Jachin is pawing at it. I still have to feed
pigs across the road, and while I’m there I see Justin and Susan
looking over the cow, which has to be our oldest, Lassie. Actually,
things can be worse than just finding a dead cow, i.e.,
finding her not quite dead yet.
There ensues a long back and forth to
dispatch Lassie, the details of which I will spare you. In the midst
of this we discover that Susan’s sole surviving home-grown chick who
was attacked by a stray dog yesterday is also dying.
O Lord, how hateful death is!
What a terrible fate Adam inflicted on us all! When I think on this,
how much more precious Christ appears. The thought of Christmas
sends a frantic joy through my heart.
RUSSELL’S DRAFT HORSE SCHOOL
After Justin attended last February,
it took me seven months to drag Susan down to Kenny & Renee
Russell’s draft horse driving school in Poplarville, Mississippi
(about an hour from the Gulf Coast). She exercised all her ingenuity
to escape. I exercised all my stubbornness to persevere. I won, and
as I expected, Susan was very glad I did.
Kenny & Renee are hospitable as
only Mississippians can be hospitable. After two minutes you’re
convinced you’ve known them all your life. I was amazed to learn
that most of the folks who attend the school don’t own
draft horses. What’s more, many of them are professional people –
doctors or lawyers. I guess a lot of people just wish they
owned draft horses, and want to learn how to drive.
Before we left Justin told me that we
would really enjoy the people we met at the school. For some reason
that didn’t sink in until after we got to the school, but he
sure hit the nail on the head. One of our greatest delights was
meeting and socializing with the other folks there. (Also the food
was good – and hot. All meals are included.)
Unfortunately, for the first time in
four years, it rained all week, which severely curtailed our
opportunity to drive any of Kenny’s splendid horses. In spite of
that, we learned enough (and had enough fun) to make the week
worthwhile, although I think all the rain and cold embarrassed
Kenny. If he had known how good a time we were having he wouldn’t
have thought twice about it.
Kenny owns mostly Belgian draft
horses, from 1,500 lbs. and up. In the picture you can see Kenny
climbing up on the forecart with Susan for a driving lesson.
Harnessing horses obviously precedes driving, and Susan got her turn
at that. You can see her cinching up a small black Percheron. That
look on Maria’s face is patience.
Kenny & Renee host three schools a
year, in February, April, and November. The $450 tuition includes
room, board, and training (add $150 for a spouse). I don’t
know how they can do it for that price, but they do. If you’re
interested you can contact Russell’s Farm, 12055 Highway 11 North,
Poplarville, Mississippi 39470 (601) 795-4200.
KIDNAPPING ELLEN
No that’s not the name of a new Meg
Ryan/Bruce Willis movie, it’s the plot my elder daughter Liberty and
Susan hatched to celebrate my daughter-in-law’s birthday. Susan was
taking Mercy to Atlanta, and Liberty’s best friend Judith lives
there. Judith’s birthday is the 11th; Ellen’s the 19th, so they
decided to celebrate both the weekend of the 9th. On Friday Susan
and Liberty conned Ellen with a story about Mercy twisting her ankle
at school. When they got to school, they sprang the trap and all
headed to Atlanta.
Yes, you’re probably asking yourself,
Who took care of Justin and Ellen’s 18 month old son, Elijah, not to
mention Liberty’s two year old, Tucker, and 12 month old, Bedford.
Good question. Justin and Johnny Bain did, but they stayed at
my house both nights. We made a nutritional discovery,
viz., small children, even infants, thrive on frozen
pizza and hamburgers. We also fed them plenty of Vitamin C (candy).
No problem. I needed a fire hose to clean up my kitchen on
Sunday, but other than that, no problem.
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