Dry Again

9/27/06 - 4th Day - Mid-Afternoon. So we have now had about a day and a half of working to train Pita. It is not going bad, though I think we started her a bit later than we should have. She is big and strong, so it takes all I have to keep her under control. She is doing fairly well though. She has "whoa" down pretty good, and will stand still and not try to bolt. She does "Giddup" alright, so long as it is in a direction she wants to go. If I am going another direction, then it is really brute force so far, although it is getting better. We will probably start Pedro here in the next week, since he is quite a bit smaller than Pita, and should be easier to handle. I have been reading about training work animals, especially oxen, so I am hoping to learn this over the next couple of years. I don't think I will ever own a tractor, so I best get my animals trained right now. It would be great if someone here knew how to do this. I read a lot on the internet and in books, then try to go out and do it. Which, come to think of it, is how I've learned most everything I know how to do.

Last night we had a sermon. Galatians the 6th Chapter. It feels good to get another commentary under my belt. Now I turn my attention back to finishing Isaiah and Revelation. I am also studying Genesis, because that will likely be the next commentary I start.

The people at the State Park said we can no longer take water from the park, so we have made a deal with the lady at the Texas Ranger Motel to get water until someone here at the land gets a well. The dryness has set in again, and we are in need of rain. The two inches we got this month are a memory now that it has been dry for two weeks. The weather is literally hot and cold. We have several days of cool weather (mid 70's to 80) and then a day or two of hot weather. Yesterday was nice and cool, and today it is currently 97 degrees. It has been as low as 48 in the mornings, though this morning it was in the high 50's. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the high 70's.

Looking forward to Ranchfest, the prognosticators say we should have weather in the mid 80's during the day and high 50's to 60's at night, so it ought to be great camping weather. It will be funny if it rains during Ranchfest... though we would still welcome it.

We are really looking forward to all the new folks who will be moving down over the next year. We just passed the one year mark for David and Susan, and Danielle and the children will have been here for one year in early November. If the Lord wills, by this time next year we will have a good and populous community going. So much can really be done in one year, and we are a testament to that.

The pig is growing good. I am estimating that we should be able to take him to the butcher in about a month. That should give us some good meat for winter. I look forward to the day when we can take our first cow to the butcher, but that might have to wait until we finish the root cellar and we have more room for storage.

Hope all is well with you,

Michael