Posted on 01/22/2016 1:55:21 PM PST by greeneyes
~The Old Violin~
~The Touch of the Masters Hand~
‘Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people”, he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,”
But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its’ bow.
“One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, Who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone”, said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply.
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters’ Hand.
-
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. By the mercy of God, may he rest in peace.
RIP, Johnny.
I had the garden pots all covered up properly. However, the very strong winds have undid that so I can only hope for the best. We have had a smattering of snow this afternoon, now it is raining/sleeting and God only knows what the morning will bring.
My family has always planted by the moon.
Kind of hard to see some nights but it was worth it.
When we were working the farm we just remembered that if it fruits above ground plant during the increase of the moon. If it fruits below ground plant during the decrease of the moon.
Tomatoes, peppers, peas, melons, cukes all plant during the moons increase.
Potatoes, carrots, beets and that kind of stuff plant during the decrease of the moon.
We used to plant test crops for VPI, that would be Virginia Tech now, and used to drive them crazy.
We would bring in great crops but by only looking at the record sheets they used they couldn’t figure out how we were out producing the majority of their other farms.
We were using the same seed and fertilizer but having a far better yield.
When we finally told them we planted by the moon the younger fellas didn’t believe us.
The older people in the ag dept verified it but the youngsters wouldn’t really believe until they got some young farmers to do the same.
Made believers out of them.
RIP, Johnny - sad news
The beautiful eulogy that Marcella wrote for Johnny is at this link:
JRandomFreeper (Johnny) died at 4:33 pm, January 22, 2016.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3387331/posts
Comments are over 400 at this point - Johnny will be very missed here on FR.
RIP fellow Vet, Johnny was a character, his humor will be missed. Below is a private message he sent me February 6th 2015, when I told him I would be praying for him:
Thanks.
Prayers for me usually start with “Lord, make that boy right...â€
;)
/johnny
We once had a huge English Walnut in the back yard but it never produced so just the opposite from Missouri. Wish we could have one producing pecan tree, one walnut, one almond, one macadamia, one hazelnut, etc. ;) It takes forever to shell these little hard natives but it beats not having any so can’t complain too loudly. I’m only picking a small portion but the dogs aren’t happy having their pecans stolen. They grab as many as they can from where I’m picking. That’s some expensive dog food.
The cats enjoy supervising. One cat in particular helps me though. She digs through the leaves to uncover pecans but then digs through the bucket sending them flying back onto the ground. She’s also a great help in the garden and loves playing hide and seek in the asparagus. Dig, dig, dig - “Is that a weed? Don’t worry, mama, whatever it is I’ll dig it up for you! Whew, gardening is hard work so I’ll just take a nap over here in this fresh dirt with all these cute little green things you just planted. Ya know, if we could keep those bean vines off the fence, it’d be so much easier to catch lizards.”
Ok, fill me in on this yogurt. Why are you putting it on your clay pots?
We keep ice cream buckets by the coffee maker to fill with grounds and peelings. When full, they get tossed onto the garden. It’s up to Mother Nature to do her own composting since we don’t have the room for a bin.
KWYM about limitations and not being able to do as we once could. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when the cashier this week gave me a senior citizen discount. When did I get old?
I tried to plant by the moon a couple of times years ago but didn’t see a difference. Maybe that’s why last year was the worst ever.
http://farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/
Jan. 23rd-27th A barren time. Best for killing weeds, briars, poison ivy, and other plant pests. Clear wood lots and fencerows.
28th-29th A favorable time for sowing grains, hay, and forage crops. Plant flowers. Favorable days for planting root crops.
30th-31st Start seedbeds. Good days for transplanting. Plant carrots, turnips, onions, beets, Irish potatoes, other root crops in the South. Also good for Leafy vegetables.
We got “old” when they started hiring teeny-bopper cashiers.
- I got a thick skin somewhere along the line and just
ignore a lot of “stuff” that used to hurt my feelings. -
I AM OLD, and hope to get even older. - I was trying to get
an antiqued sort of finish on my clay pots. Guess they
meant to use PLAIN yogurt and not the sweetened kind with
fruit. - Momma used to toss stuff like that straight on the
garden & it did OK. We have a compost bin that breaks stuff
down now. We’ve done it for 30 years. I put a lot of stuff
in the bin - even cut up wore out cotton fabric into small
pieces and that breaks down. I do toss a few meat scraps
that the dog can’t eat onto the compost; but we’re now
where no animals can crawl down into the pile. I once
scooped a possum out of the bin. Had to pour clean water
over him he was covered in yuck! (I’m not fooling with
the yogurt on the clay pots any more as I’m getting more
where I don’t give a flip about “decorating” any more. I
do good to keep the filth swept out of the house these
days! Relax. You’re probably not old compared to us. Take
care of yourself!
The amount of rain you get is important but the *timing* of it is just as important.
If corn gets plenty of rain *except* when it tassels, you still won’t have a great corn crop.
Each crop has its preference for when it most wants water so I make sure I water the garden throughout the season as I rarely plant full rows of anything these days.
When growing on a large scale if you don’t irrigate there is the occasional year when you can do everything else perfectly and still have a disappointing crop.
And there is the occasional year when you can do everything wrong and still have a surprisingly good crop.
My great uncle used to say that farming was Gods way of keeping man humble.
I believe it!
Farming is for wealthy people. They can afford to do it longer before they go broke.
The only way for an honest person to make a million dollars farming is to start off with two million and stop when you’ve lost half your money.
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