New Year

Happy New Year!
Happy is not the perfect word. Yes, I want you to be happy. But, I want for many more positive things than just happiness.
I want you to have the best year ever. I want it to surpass the high time it was when you graduated from college. Or even better than when you hit your first home run. Or, landed a big fish. I want it to be better than hot cocoa after a sledding party.
I hope you achieve much this year. I want you to get advancements at work. I want you to get higher grades in school than in the past. I wish for you to achieve any/all of your resolutions.
I hope your days are enjoyable. I want the days repetition to not be a drag. Our daily responsibilities take up a lot of our life. May it be pleasant and fulfilling.
I hope your health is good. May you have good health to pursue anything that you desire. One's outlook is so often affected by their health. I extend this hopefulness to your family.
For those of us that like gardening. May your garden grow with beautiful flowers and vegetables. May you have more than enough to share with others in your life.
If you hunt and fish, may you bag that big one. I hope you will be sending me pictures of limits caught. For those who hunt with a camera. I hope you enjoy your outdoor experience. Outdoor time is always a big spirit lifting time for me.
I hope all your traveling is safe. Whether you are going to the store or on a major vacation, I hope you get to see much and return home safe and sound.
Above all, I hope you are snug, secure and cozy at home. Home is a wonderful place where we get to pursue all of our hobbies. It is where we entertain our friends and family. It is where we can be quiet and reflective. May your home be a very blessed place.
I hope everyone increases their interests in politics. We are at a place that needs improvement. I believe we Americans are Blessed. None of us dare take this Blessing for granted. God Blessed this Nation. We need to remember that this Nation is of the People. That means you and I. So for the Nation to continue to succeed, we the People need to be engaged in directing it toward that success.
I wish I could be with each of you to exchange a warm New Year Hug. But, let this blog be a virtual hug from your friend,
Kayak Bandit

Feed Store

Going to the feed store was very interesting. I was raised on a farm. We grew lots of corn, alfalfa, clover, oats, rye, and grass. I knew every inch of our land and I knew a lot about the surrounding farms. In the spring and summer months, I had a trap line. No, It was not to catch the well renowned beaver or the fox. Those were caught for their pelts. I did not do that. I trapped gophers.

So, I did know a lot about our little part of Heaven on Earth. I could tell you where there were some beautiful spruce trees that made a private little tent for me. Of course I could tell you about them if I wanted to. I probably would have kept it secret from you because I always believed God made this super special place just for me. 

I could have told you where the frogs grew the biggest. I could have told you where the crows nested and dropped their left over bones from the nest. I could have told you where the pine trees grew so close together that they would support you only if you did not lean out as you climbed. Of course I would lean out once I got quite high. At that point the skinny little pine would slowly bend and lower you gently back down to the ground. I really liked doing that.

What I did not know much about was how the products we raised on our farm were used by others. Say, all that corn that grew tall in perfectly neat rows. Or, the oats that were hauled away and sold. 

I got a glimpse of the answer whenever I went with my dad or grandpa to the feed store. If you walked into the front door of the feed store at the right time of year you would see a window into another room. Inside the room were people taking eggs and holding them up to a candle. After each was held to the candle they were then put into certain places based on what the person saw when the egg was held to the light. Candling eggs, it was called. Seems reasonable.

The neatest thing at the feed store was the big hole in the ground with the grates over the hole. Trucks would arrive and position themselves so the tailgate of the truck would spill into the center of the grated hole. Very few trucks had a way to hoist their bed up, so they would swing open the tailgate and let the load fall to the hopper in the ground. big trucks had to be careful not to open the gates all the way at first or they would overwhelm the hopper. 

The mystery of the feed store was how a truck could dump corn into the same hopper that soon would receive a truckload of say, oats or rye. Yet, when you wanted to buy cracked corn from the feed store, you got just that. nothing but cracked corn. No, there were no grains mixed in. Just, cracked corn. Over time I started to relate the answer to the many tubes rising up in helter skelter fashion from the roof of the place. You never noticed these tubes if you were at the feed store. You could see them as you approached. If your curiosity was strong, as mine was, you looked back at them as you rode away. 

The feed store always had a lot of dust resting on everything. There were places that the dust was just perfect to write my name. Of course, I wrote my name in the dust. Never once did my name remain visible until the next, oh so fun, visit to the feed store.

Kayak Bandit

Our Dad

Our dad is a very special person. Dad has been there for all nine of us children through thick and thin. We can find some shortcomings if we look for shortcomings, but I want the world to know his one amazing quality. Love.
Dad was a well respected man in the Verndale, Minnesota farming community that I grew up in. Dad managed to buy the machinery that he and our neighbors needed to harvest our crops. Our neighbors would hire dad to thresh their grains. These were especially fun times for the farmers because we would all share the effort. Each farm would supply tractors and wagons to haul the bundles of grain to dad's threshing machine. Lunch and dinner was served by the women. You have not lived until you eat a threshing meal. Yum!
Dad has a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. Dad was grateful for what we had. Dad openly gave thanks to God. http://picasaweb.google.com/kayakbandit/HessFamilyStuff#5178444424297914194
Dad was and still is very stoic. I did not see dad cry when mom died, but we all know how very much he cared for my mom. The same is true of his expression of love to each of us. Dad did not give flowers or flowery praise. Did showed a sense of his love in less overt ways. I remember often, Dad would tell about our accomplishments to our neighbors and friends. When I would overhear him speaking well of me, I determined to do even better. I knew he had noticed.
Because of his stoicism, he did not hold us or hug us. One way to get near him was in church. I tried very hard to sit next to dad in church. We would start out with me sitting up straight. After time, I would start slouching toward dad. If I flopped over against dad, he would make me sit up again, but if I slouched slowly toward him, he would allow me to snuggle close and feel his strength and smell the scent of a real man.
I am thankful that I have such a wonderful man for a role model.
Kayak Bandit

Seeds

Recently, I got a nice compliment about my garden. I was flattered that others thought my garden looks nice.
After a while of thinking about giving credit for a good job, I felt in awe of God. All I did, was to plant the seed, and nurture it a little.
God, on the other hand, makes it possible to expect to harvest food for ourselves by merely planting a seed. Think about that. Inside this tiny little package is all the information and energy needed to replicate the plant that it grew from.
I have enough problem explaining to someone else what my thoughts are. But inside this capsule are perfect enough instructions to tell the seed what to do and precisely when to do it. Oh, and little seed, make more for next year!
Kayak Bandit

Independence

What does it really mean to be independent? You can succeed or fail. Your success or failure is no longer dependent on someone else. You are independent.
As a nation, our independence relieved us having to pay huge tariffs to our parent countries. Our independence meant we had to protect ourselves.
Our nation as a whole has been the best force for good ever known to mankind. Once we became independent, we set on a course of helping other peoples become independent too. Most countries seek to control the countries they help militarily. We rarely if ever get compensated for our efforts to free other people.
And, even though we once were subject to Europe, we do not hold grudges. Look how much we helped out all of Europe during the World Wars. There is no place on this planet that has improved itself without some help from the US. Look who is always first to show up with search and rescue after a disaster. Always for free.
I thank God that this country is founded in the belief of a Supreme Being. I especially appreciate that I can say my religious thoughts in a group without consequence. Why, anyone can believe what they want. You can even not believe.
So, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Try to honestly think where you would rather live than in the USA. I knew you wanted to stay here. So, let's all get together and get through this tough economic time we are in. We can and will succeed if we work together as generations of the past. Do you realize that as much as we complain about the high price of gasoline, it is nearly twice as expensive in parts of Europe. We still have it better here than anywhere in the world.
As a nation, lets stop complaining about the hard times and make them better. As for me, I am glad I/we are independent, even if there is a chance we can fail. Remember, "United We Stand!"
Kayak Bandit

The Waltons

I often talk about my childhood. I was raised in a Christian home on a farm in Minnesota. There were nine of us kids born to two loving parents. Believe it or not, they stayed together through life's struggles.
Many people are intrigued by the large family and farm life. I often am asked if our family was like the "Waltons". I want to scream when asked this. I am insulted that anyone would suspect we were that shallow. The farm life depicted by that show rarely shows the depth and complexity of real farm life. It feels like the precursor of the political correctness that is destroying our social fiber today.
It is not that we were impolite to each other. We were not. We did not pour honey on top of our politeness.
This might be a quote from the Waltons, "Why, Mrs Hess, I would so very much love to have the honor of just one little taste of your wonderful fried chicken."
We would have said, "Please pass the chicken." Notice that we did say please.
Dad always asked God's blessing on the meal. Mom would be scurrying around getting the food on the table, but we would wait until she sat before any of us started eating.
During the meal, we would often compliment the food. We were encouraged to say nothing bad about the food, even when we did not like it. If we did not like something enough that we did not want to eat it, we were expected to quietly move it to the side of the plate. In that case, someone would often ask if we were going to eat it. Another would likely ask for it, most often my dad.
I am most proud of how we were able to resolve differences. We rarely let something fester. If we were upset with someone, we were encouraged to talk it out right away. It was the philosophy of not going to bed angry. I remember some potato fights with my sister Barb, right sis?
All in all, I would not ever, never, no way trade my life. I am so very happy to have the two loving parents that God afforded to me.
Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'