Is Spring EVER gonna come?!

Verse of the day: "While the earth remaineth, seed-time and haruest, and cold, and heat, and Summer, and Winter, and day and night, shall not cease." Genesis 8:22

I don't go for global warming. Not a bit. This winter has been a brutal one for upstate New York. Even this spring has been fraught with high winds, rain storms, and snow squalls. But it will warm up... eventually... I think... Thankfully we live on a higher piece of land composed of very fertile sandy loam. A day after a rainstorm, the mud is drying up. So what am I complaining about?(!)

Now that I have repented of my unthankful spirit, I'll tell you about a blessing. The Ford 9N tractor that came with the place went kaput on me while I was attempting to plow the garden. I still don't have it running, but our good friends form church offered to let me use their 3-point tiller. After work yesterday I went down to their house (it's only a mile or two down the road, and hooked up the tiller to their fine International 806. That got the job done in less than a half hour. Here's a picture of the freshly tilled garden, taken from my kitchen window.

It's a good thing it got done yesterday, because we had a very violent thunderstorm last night. The ground is still soaked. But I know that soon it will dry up, warm up, and we will see Spring: fresh growth, new birth... Say, have you been born again? Read John 3.

My "new" Rig!

Well, here's my latest jalopy, a '92 Toyota 4WD pickup. I picked 'im up for one grand even a couple months ago and got it roadworthy. V6 3.0L, 5-speed, manual locking hubs, tilt, AM/FM, extended cab, cap. Oh, by the way it's for sale for 2 grand even now if anyone's interested. ;-)

My Custom-made Bumper

A Little Wrenchin'

Verse of the Day: I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 1:14

A couple weeks ago some of us men from church met to attempt an engine swap in a missionary's 1980's Dodge van. The V-6 had broken a connecting rod cap and was totally junk, so a brother donated an identical engine that was sitting in his garage. We had a lot of fun, and it was good fellowship.

Bro. Andy and David work on the replacement engine.

Backing the old engine up and out with the skid loader.

There she be!

The "new" engine on the engine stand.

It turned out to be a lemon itself, so we held a committee and decided not to throw any more time or money into the old vehicle. Poor ole' Betsy! But we got some more experience and learned some neat things, like, don't work over a bucket of used oil... you will be fishing out wrenches and sockets. I see why they call it elbow grease!