Not Me

8/11/06 - 6th Day - Evening. Well, the Sabbath will be here in 27 minutes and I can tell you that there is nothing I look forward to more right now than a Sabbath. I am as tired as I have been in a long, long time. It was near 104 degrees today and the heat has been relentless. Back up at 4:30 this morning to milk Ami. We still have never had a good milking day, so I was looking forward to this one. We locked Ami away from her calf over night and she was none too happy. She moo'd all night, and when we got there this morning she was ready for some food, but she still wasn't happy. We were basically out of sweet grains so I hoped that since she had a full udder I would get plenty of milk before she hit the bottom of the grain pale. Well, I had a few good sprays here and there. It was the first time I milked her with a full udder. She was quite put out but eating alright when Robert (my 7 year old son) says, "She's almost out of grain dad". Well, I know in her current situation that she will be upset when the grain runs out so I tell Tracy and Robert to throw some range cubes in there to see if that will keep her busy. She doesn't want range cubes, she wants her calf and now she is very upset about this, what with no sweet grains to sell out for. So I end up calling it quits and letting her go, despite the fact she has a full udder. As I clean up afterwards I look up and there is the calf, greedily sucking down my milk. Then I look into the grain bucket.. and despite the range cubes thrown on top, the sweet grains were still half full! GRRRR!!! Robert! Robert thought she was about done when we still had half a bucket of sweet grains, so he panicked and we blew it.

At around 9 am. we drove down to a farm about 20 miles south of Santa Anna where the some Agrarian ladies (from whom we get milk) have a farm. We looked at their beautiful horses, goats, etc., then one of the ladies took the children and Danielle on a ride on her little Amish-like two-seater buggy (of course they took turns). Then we picked up some milk and headed to the feed store to get some sweet grains.

By the time we got home it was the heat of the day. I watered the cows, did a little work outside, then headed inside to answer emails and do some writing. At 4 or so p.m. I got Tracy and the children and we went to milk Ami again. This time it went somewhat better. We got the most milk ever, though it still wasn't enough to make a White Russian. Maybe next time.

I have learned that I am not a very good farmer yet, and I am an even worse representative of Christianity, though I accept that some people look to me and expect me to model the things that I believe. I can tell you that I really, really believe them, and have the highest hopes for myself and my family, though in reality I see where I fail and fall short every day. I hope that no one is driven from the right worldview and life by my failures, or by ME. I know that what we believe is right, and I just hope that God lets people see things His way and they don't see just me. That is my prayer for this Sabbath.

Shabbat Shalom.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker