Fences

We love living in a house surrounded by a fence! There are few things more psychologically satisfying than closing the gate and leaving the world and all its troubles outside. Our fence helps make our home a haven by keeping things out!
At least it used to. Now the fence also has to serve the vitally important function of keeping our calves in. That meant the fence needed a little work. I hadn't paid much attention to the fence since we moved in. It's a pretty new fence and it was well-built when installed, so there really wasn't much to worry about. But after a couple of years the plants were starting to move in:

If plants are allowed to grow all over a fence, the fence will eventually break down through the sheer weight of the accumulated plant growth. So I set to work clearing off our fence. It took a couple of days, but now it's nice and clear:

Shortly after I got the fence cleared, the calves got busy testing it out! One Saturday morning I let Cody out and noticed that Amelia seemed to be a little closer to the house than usual. A closer investigation revealed that, sure enough, she was standing in the backyard! She found a weak spot in the fence between the pasture and our yard and decided to go on through it:

She was never in any real danger of getting out since our whole yard is surrounded by barb wire fence. We lured Amelia and Abelard into the pen with some feed and shut them up so that I could fix the fence:

Speaking of Abelard and Amelia, they're both doing great! Weeks ago I promised pictures of us "gentling" them. Unfortunately, gentling calves often takes more than one person. So we really didn't get any pictures of the nightly rodeo! But things are progressing well. After a few days we managed to get a halter on Abelard:

It took a little longer to get a halter on Amelia. She is considerably less trusting than Abelard and also really doesn't like her face being touched! Eventually we had to use a fence panel to "squeeze" her against the barn and keep her still while we put it on her. She did not appreciate that! But now she has a halter.

That big brass ring by their nose is where we hook onto the halter with a lead rope. That enables us to lead them where we want them to go or tie the rope to a stout post so they will stay still while we work on them. They have both accepted that process pretty well (so long as there is food as a reward!) and we're very happy with how they're progressing.
David                            

 

Sad Week

It has been a little while since I've tried to blog. It's the end of the semester for me, which is always a very busy time. It was extra busy this time as for the first time I was supervising a student's thesis. That is a whole lot of extra work! (Though nothing compared to writing it.) So I've mostly been ignoring the blog. But right now I'm taking a little break from grading to blog a little bit.
The end of the semester is usually a happy time. Students are graduating and moving on to new areas of ministry and service.They are, of course, very happy that there lives will no longer be ruled by the writing of papers and the taking of tests. And they should be. But the reality is that the trials of a seminary education are nothing compared to the trials of Christian ministry. In ministry and in life there are no syllabi or study guides to prepare you for the tests ahead. The tests simply appear without warning, whether you're ready or not. And in the midst of those tests, ministers still have to consistently write good sermons and minister to their people. It's a high calling and it's not easy.
I have been reminded of this reality through the events of the past 48 hours. There has been much sadness and heartache in the lives of some of my fellow ministers. My heart is heavy for them.
My roommate from college, who is still one of my best friends, pastors a church in another state. The young man who was the youth minister at his church suddenly passed away on Monday. My heart breaks for his young wife and my heart is so sad for my friend, his family, and his church.
An older minister who I admire and respect, who has been unfailingly generous with his time and advice, serves as a pastor in a major city in Texas. He has also served our association of churches as a leader and previously spent many years directing missions work around the world. His 20 year old grandson suffered a heart attack last week and departed this life yesterday. There are few things in life that are more grievous than outliving your children or grandchildren. I am deeply sad for this dear minister and his family.
A widely respected and beloved minister went home to the Lord yesterday. I don't think I ever met him, but I know several of his children. If their father was anything like them, he was a wonderful man. One of his daughters is married to a faithful pastor. Another of his daughters was the academic dean at the college Amanda attended. She later moved on to another college, where she met the love of her life. They were married this past weekend, an event her deeply ill father was able to attend. His son served for many years as a missionary overseas, before returning to the U.S. and becoming a director of missions work. He also occasionally works as an adjunct professor at the seminary where I teach. Although their father's death was expected, I know each of his children is grieving for him while ministering to their mother. I am sad for this family.
Finally, one of my fellow professors at the seminary lost a family member this week. Although this death was also expected, that never means that it is easy. I am sad for him and his family.
All of these events remind me of the fleeting nature of life. Most of us expect to live 70-80-90 years. But there is no guarantee of that. God only gives us so many days on this earth, and only He knows how many we have. The time God gives us on earth seems to be long, but it's really not. It's gone before you know it and we always have to say goodbye to our friends and family members before we're ready. That is why as a Christian I put my hope in the resurrection. Christ's resurrection was God's promise that there is more to reality than this earthly life. That for those who trust in Christ there is a beautiful future in heaven and there is coming a day when the grief of the present will give way to eternal rejoicing.
David                             

 

Spiffing Up Big Red

It has been more than 1 1/2 years since we bought Big Red. It's been a good truck, done everything that we asked of it, and hasn't produced very many maintenance bills. Recently I've been doing a few little upgrades to make it even more useful to us.

When we bought Big Red, it had a rubber bed mat in it that was bought back in 1985. Rubber doesn't last forever, and the bed mat was literally falling apart! When we picked up a load of dirt the other week, it was difficult to shovel all the dirt out because of the disintegrating bed mat. You can see a piece of it in this picture:

When the bed mat is on top of the load, not under it, it's time for a new bed mat! So I ordered one through our local truck accessory store. It showed up this week and it looks much nicer. Hopefully it works way better too!

I've also been doing some wiring work on Big Red. Its trailer wiring was all designed to work with a fifth wheel camper. We don't own a camper, or any other fifth wheel or gooseneck trailers. We needed trailer light connections at the bumper! We also needed the ability to connect up to four pin (our trailer) and six pin systems (our neighbor's trailer that we sometimes borrow). So I bought a four pin system that connects directly into the truck's electrical harness. That's the multi-colored wires in the middle:

I also bought a four-to-six pin converter that plugs into the four pin converter. That is the black wire going off to the right. The converter also has extra wires that I can connect to the brake controller. Now I can choose whichever system I want to use and plug it right in. The six pin converter has a nice classic looking receptacle that looks perfect on a chrome bumper, don't you think?

All of this wiring was done so that Big Red would be ready to haul cows, dirt, and anything else we need. Here it is hooked up and ready to go pick up some calves:

(Sadly, right after this picture was taken Amanda came home and we swapped in her SUV to do the towing. Probably saved $5 in gas by using her car.)
Big Red is a gas hog. There is no way to change that. It has a Big Block engine that was designed back when gas could be bought for $0.36/gallon. It makes great torque and can haul a big trailer without straining, but every time it turns a single revolution it sucks 454 cubic inches of air/fuel mixture. Cruising at 2000 revolutions per minute (rpm), gallons of gas disappear pretty quick. GMC planned for this and equipped Big Red with the ability to carry 40 gallons of gas! With gas prices going up this spring, I've been keeping the tanks full as a very small hedge against rising prices. That means there is about $150 worth of gas in Big Red all the time! I thought that was worth protecting, so I got new locking gas caps:

That's it for the moment. I bought a floor jack a little while ago and I'm anxious to use it to pick up Big Red and do some real work on it! Hopefully that will happen this summer!
David                             

 

Moo

It's springtime in the country and what better way to celebrate it than buying calves? First, we had to finish getting ready for them to arrive. We cut down a tree that had fallen over the back fence and retightened everything on that section of fence (sorry, no pics). We also had to buy some food for the calves! We bought hay and calf pellets, plus some wood shavings for them to lay in.

Calf pellets. Mmmmmm, delicious!

Our one bale of hay. You don't want to know how much this cost, but we dearly hope prices will go down in the coming months.

Spreading out wood shavings as a bed.
On Wednesday we went and picked up the calves. We then immediately took them to the vet for a couple of quick things before we brought them home. We also decided on names for them: Amelia and Abelard.

Ready to load up. This was the first time we actually used the trailer for its intended purpose!

Even though this was their first time in a trailer, they loaded right up without any problems! Yay for docile calves!

Amelia was first through the squeeze chute. All she needed was a shot. As a side note, our vet's squeeze chute is the fanciest one we have ever seen! It's hydraulic and everything!

Abelard in the chute. You can see why it's called a squeeze chute. It literally squeezes them around the neck so they can't go forwards or backwards. It holds them still so they can be worked on. During his time in the chute, Abelard went from being a bull calf to a steer (sorry, no pics, this is a family blog). That is also why we named him Abelard (if you don't get the joke, read up on it here).

In the new quarters, Abelard checks out his bed.

Amelia giving the calf pellets a try.

Then we brought out the hay. It was a big hit!

Checking out the water trough.

Amelia meeting Cody for the first time.
They have been with us for a few days now. We are currently working on "gentling" them before we turn them out into the pasture. Since we don't have a squeeze chute or anything like that, we need them to trust us enough so that we can work on them freely. Pics of that process will come once we finish it!
David                             

 

Calf Shopping

We decided that this year we would get into cattle for fun, profit, and delicious steaks! We really had two options: buy cattle or buy horses. Those are the only animals our land is fenced for. And we needed animals on our land! That's because the property tax on most of our land is at the "agriculture exemption" rate. It had this exemption when we bought our house and land and it does grant us a significantly lower tax bill every year. Of course, the only reason the government gives you such a tax exemption is if the land is used for agricultural production. This is one of many ways the government incentivizes certain activities that it deems good. Preserving rural culture, producing food, or growing trees are good and those who do that pay less in property taxes. If you take land that has been used for those good purposes and do something else with it, you lose the agricultural exemption. That means your taxes go up. Not only that, they then hit you with a tax bill for seven years of back taxes for the difference between the regular rate and the agricultural rate! That's a lot of taxes that we don't want to pay. Instead, we're buying cattle.
But don't think we got backed into this decision. We bought this house and this land specifically because we wanted a place where we could raise a few heifers and steers. We want to grow our own beef, not only because it tastes better, but it's just plain better for our bodies. It has just taken us a couple of years to get some things out of the way so that we had time to mess with cows.
But we're ready now. All we need are calves to buy!
We could have gone to the sale barn to see what we could find. But this was our first foray into cattle buying and there is a real possibility of buying some duds at auction. We would also run the risk that the freshly weaned calves could be exposed to all sorts of diseases at the sale barn that would have to be treated after they came home. There are plenty of wonderful calves that go through sale barns, but we wanted to keep our risk level down.
We also considered trying to find "bottle babies." These are surplus dairy or dairy/beef calves that are sold off by dairy farms. Dairy cows have to be bred every so often in order to keep their milk flowing. To help those births go easier, they are often bred to certain breeds of beef bulls so the calf will be smaller. These calves are taken from their mother within a few days of birth so that the cow can then provide milk for humans. The calf is then sold and fed milk replacer until it's old enough to eat grass. Bottle babies are pretty cheap. Milk replacer not so much. Plus calves that are taken from their mother at such a young age have a higher risk of dying from disease. And all that nursing is a whole lot of work!
So we decided to skip all that. We went across the road to see Mr. T. He raises purebred British White cattle. We hosted some of his cows a couple of years ago. We liked them a lot. They had a very good temperament. We told him that we were looking for some calves to buy. His small herd produced four calves this winter (last year was a severe drought that was hard on everybody that has cattle, Mr. T included). He decided that he would sell all of them. A couple of weeks ago we agreed to buy a bull calf and a heifer from him. Yesterday we selected the calves we wanted and closed the deal.

We "weighed" them by using a tape measure especially designed to estimate their weight.

After checking the latest prices from the sale barn, we agreed on a price. Our calves are currently being weaned at Mr. T's place for a few days before they come to our place. Since they will be living within hollering distance of their mommas, we want mommas and calves to get used to being separated before the calves come to us. Nobody wants cows crossing the highway!
David

Blog Changes

It's official: I suck at managing two blogs. I've been keeping busy at Royal Daughter Designs, and have neglected DAES.

I've considered different options for remedying this problem. One option is to combine the two blogs into one. But that poses a business problem, since all of my advertising efforts have gone into promoting RDD.

Another option is to delete DAES of Our Lives altogether. That way I can focus all of my attention on blogging at RDD. But I hate this idea. For one thing DAES of Our Lives is such a catchy title, don't you think? Secondly, DAES started out as a way to keep our family updated about what is going on in our lives. I know that not everyone in our family wants to read blog tutorial posts, what I wore posts, and recipe posts, which are pretty common blogging topics at RDD. So it is important for me to keep DAES of Our Lives around.

Why I didn't ask for David's opinion on this months ago, I'll never know. But we talked about it today and he had a great solution.

David is going to take over being the primary author here at DAES of Our Lives. You're likely to see quite a few posts on religion, theology, culture, and maybe even politics. He will also write about what's going on in our lives from his perspective.

I'll still be contributing here at DAES. I like doing the Insta Friday posts, highlighting what's been going on in our lives via cell phone pictures. And I'll write about what's going on in our lives from my perspective. Just not as often as I used to.

Things will get a little more personal over at RDD. In the past I've stuck to a pretty generic blogging schedule, with only a few "real life" posts thrown in. That will change. I'll start documenting parts of our life at RDD, so if you'd like to follow along, please do!

As for what's been going on in our lives this month:

• We've been putting in a garden. So far I've planted green beans, cantaloupe, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos, strawberries, basil, and cilantro. I'm planning to put in some watermelons and a few more veggies this week.
• David did our taxes. This was the first year we were both considered self-employed, so there was a little bit of a learning curve. 
• We're about to officially become ranchers. We will be purchasing two British White calves, one bull calf and one heifer. They are scheduled to arrive next Wednesday. Photos coming soon.
• We hosted Easter dinner. My parents, grandma, and some of our best friends came over after church. 
• We bought a propane grill. We found one on sale and purchased the night before Easter. After David put it together we realized the most important piece was missing: the grate. So we ended up transporting our  steaks to our neighbor's and using their grill, then hauling them back home. It was quite a fiasco. 
• David has been on spring break this week. He's done a lot of outside work, including reshaping our flower beds.
• The hummingbirds have arrived.

Thanks for sticking around through the unplanned blog break here. I hope you all well give David a warm welcome to the blogosphere!

                            

 

Taxing (by David)

Written by David

There aren’t many things in life that are less fun than taxes. Nobody likes paying taxes. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of anarchy either. So I will pay the taxes (income, property, and sales) necessary to pay for a government that attempts to defend our borders and assure our safety. My belief that a significantly smaller and less expensive government could do those things just as well, doesn’t mean I have any problem with the actual paying of taxes.

I do my own taxes. I always have. My Dad showed me how when I was fifteen years old. It started with a simple 1040EZ and eventually increased in complexity to where it now involves a slew of schedules, forms, and attachments. Nearly every year there is one additional thing to learn, but it’s never so complicated that a couple hours of reading can’t make it all clear. Funny thing is, despite our Byzantine tax code, the IRS has a lot of highly detailed instructions available for anyone to read. They actually try to make it understandable. It’s just a matter of taking the time to educate yourself. Or you can pay someone who is already educated to do it for you. But where is the challenge in that?

Being a minister comes with its own blessings and curses when it comes to tax time. The single biggest blessing is that ministers can receive a “housing allowance” that is exempt from income taxes. I have no idea why this is. Maybe our tax overlords give ministers a break because we tend to be poor. Maybe it’s for some really arcane reason. I don’t know, nor do I really care. But it is nice.

The biggest curse of being a minister is self-employment tax. Everybody that works for a company loses about 7.5% of their paycheck every time (currently it’s temporarily reduced to about 5.5%), primarily to pay for Social Security and Medicare. What you don’t see is that your company then matches your 7.5% “contribution” with an equal amount and then sends it all in to the government. When you’re self-employed, it all gets bundled together into one nice 15% tax on everything you earn (also temporarily reduced to 13%). 

What does that mean? For every $100 you earn, the government immediately takes $7.50. For every $100 I earn, the government immediately takes $15. And that’s not just from salary either. Housing allowance or parsonage compensation is also taxed this way. It’s no fun. And it’s not just true for ministers, it’s also true for carpenters, small business owners, and lots of other people you hire to do things for you.

The other lousy part of being a minister is estimated tax payments. When you work for a company, taxes are easy. You fill out a form listing your expected deductions and HR plugs that into the payroll system. Then every time before you get your paycheck, they take out some of it to send to the IRS. You never see the money. Then every spring you file your taxes and they (hopefully) give back the amount your company overpaid for you. It’s a nice little spring bonus (or it’s an unfortunate spring surprise). When you’re self-employed, things work differently. When I get paid, nobody takes anything out of my check. I get to take 100% home. But it doesn’t last. By April 15 I have to guesstimate how much money I will make this year and consequently how much income tax and self-employment tax I will owe this year. Then on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, I have to write a check for 1/4 of that amount. Every time I get paid I have to make sure I set money aside to pay to the government.

Taxes get a lot more personal when you have to write a check for every penny instead of it just magically disappearing from your paycheck before you ever see it. I’m convinced that everybody would want lower taxes and less government if they had to personally cut a check to the government for taxes every three months. Of course, compliance with the tax code would go way down. But hey, that might lead to a reconsideration of our entire Byzantine system of collecting federal revenue. And that would be a good thing.

Frankie double checked all our calculations.