The Raingutter Regatta

For the past few weeks, Benjamin and I have been working on our latest Cub Scout project, the Raingutter Regatta. For the uninitiated, the Raingutter Regatta is another father-son craft project where you start with some raw materials and work together to create the best model you can. It’s similar to the Pinewood Derby we did last fall and to the Shuttle Race we did earlier this year.

Starting with little more than a block off balsa wood, you carve, shape, and fashion your diamond-in-the-rough to look as much like a boat as you can. A little sandpaper and and a lot of imagination go a long way, here. Then you add a mast, sail, keel, and rudder. When you are satisfied with your design, you add a couple of coats of paint and some enamel to keep the boat from taking on water. When it’s completed, you take it to the competition to see how you fare against the other father-son duos.

As the name implies, each Scout places their boat in a raingutter that has been filled with water (after it has been detached from the house, of course). Unlike the Pinewood Derby (which is gravity powered) and the Shuttle Race (which is powered by rubberbands), the Raingutter Regatta boats are 100% powered by the breath of Scouts. It’s a great competition! At the sound of the gun (or in our case the sound of the Scout Master counting to three) the Scouts start huffing and puffing to empower their vessel down the makeshift river. You’d be amazed at how much hot air can come out of a 7 year old!

Benjamin and I created a Pirate’s ship. I helped with the sanding and gluing, but the rest was up to him.

Out of the approximately 12 boats we finished in the middle of pack. Our ship just didn’t want to stay on course and kept bumping into the sides of the raingutter. But, for the third time in as many competitions, Benjamin’s craft was voted in the top 3 best looking! The Pinewood creation came in second place while his Shuttle took top prize!

He was happy, but most importantly we got to do it together.

In the doghouse & hot water, too.

Benjamin went outside to ride his bicycle for a while this morning, but before long the rain came to Blessed Acres and drove him indoors – though not exactly to our house but to Lucy’s and Daisy’s house. Lucy enjoyed the company, but Daisy was a little miffed over being displaced by someone less odiferous.

Today was Loyalty Day at Church. It’s something like a homecoming where people who used to attend Bethel are invited back for worship and, of course, to share a good ol’ fashioned luncheon consisting of iced tea, fried chicken, and the obligatory and omnipresent Baptist casseroles.

After the lunch, Laura and I had a home improvement project on our agenda. Our water heater began leaking a few weeks (okay, a few months) ago and we finally got around to doing something about it. We bought a new one yesterday at Lowe’s and today, since the rain kept us indoors, we installed it. Neither of us has installed one before. But like all good homesteaders, we asked ourselves “How hard can it really be?” So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Now, just a few short hours later, we have a new 80 gallon hot water heater (upgraded from a 50 gallon model – “ho ho ho” to quote Tim-the-tool-man Taylor). She’s a beaut, huh? Next time you come to visit, there’ll be plenty of hot water.

The scouts visit ACFD

Last monday, the Tiger Scouts visited the Ashland City Fire Department. We had a great time! While we were there, a call came in and two of the trucks had to leave to rescue someone from an overturned car.

We got to see their other trucks and even got to sit in the cab.

Benjamin got to try on a real Fireman's protective suit. They said that to keep in shape they sometimes get fully dressed in their firefighting suits and play a game of basketball.

Sunday afternoon planting

On Sunday morning, we bid our Alabama kinsfolk fare-thee-well with a huge appreciation for the work they did while visiting. We’re looking forward to them coming back soon!

Sundays are a day of rest and relaxation for us. We go to church and spend the rest of the day doing things we enjoy as a family. For us, that means no WebbTech work and no housecleaning or daily chores. But gardening and working in the pasture are fair game since we all really enjoy being outside and appreciating the beauty of God’s creation.

So Sunday afternoon we got back in the garden and planted 4 more rows of sweet corn – about 440 linear feet worth of corn! We also put in 70+ tomato plants. The kids enjoyed ferrying the peat moss to the tomatoes plants – how often as a kid are you encouraged to dig holes and play in the dirt?


Rachel gardens with style, doesn't she?

Anyway, I know it sounds like we’re trying to feed an army, but we’re just hoping to can and freeze quite a bit this year so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor year round and have some to share with family and friends.

The promise of things to come

We were talking yesterday about all the seasons of the year. Each one is special in its own way. Summer has its long days, eating fresh vegetables right out of the garden, enjoying the fruit right off the trees, and the kids are out of school (that was Benjamin’s #1). Fall has the cool chill in the air, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course college football. Winter brings with it snow on the ground – at least the hope of accumulation, early evenings, and drinking hot chocolate by the fire on a cold winter night. And spring, spring has the promise of things to come. There are flowering plants like the azaleas and other plants around the yard. The plants in the garden are beginning to peek through the ground leaves are budding out on the trees.

But spring also brings with it other promises of things to come. Today is Easter Sunday; the day when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead. For a believer, it’s the most joyous day in the history; it’s a day when our fallen savior rose again after being put to death for our sins. Without the resurrection, our faith is worthless and we are to be pitied.

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
~1 Corinthians 15:17

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:19

For the believer, our faith hinges on the resurrection. That’s why Easter is more important than Christmas. Christmas remembers Christ’s birth, but we’ve all been born. Easter commemorates Christ’s resurrection.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
~1 Corinthians 15:20 – 22

It’s a day of wonder and amazement!

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
~ Luke 24: 1- 9

We hope and pray that you have a great Easter and that it means more to you than the commercialism and the Easter bunny. Not that there is anything wrong with that aspect of it; it’s just incomplete.

Here are some pictures from our Easter egg hunt at the church and at Grams and Bepop’s house yesterday.

Washington, DC - Day 5

Sunday was our last day in Washington, DC. We had a flight scheduled for 5:30pm from Baltimore back to Nashville. Saturday afternoon I had taken a quick stroll around our hotel to see if I could find a church service for us to attend on Sunday morning. I found a Baptist and Methodist church within walking distance of the hotel. But when Sunday morning came, we began to feel a bit guilty about asking the kids to sit still in a pew with us for an hour and a half before having to sit still during our travels. So we didn't attend Palm Sunday services in Washington, DC.

Instead we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then took the Metro to Union Station. We walked around the shops and browsed the stores for a couple of hours before catching our Amtrak train back to Baltimore. From there we boarded our plane to Nashville and rode in the limo back to the parking site.

We had a great trip!!! I'm so glad we all got to go. But it’s so good to be home; back on our little slice of creation in Middle Tennessee.

Processing Day

It's Sunday afternoon and we're doing farm things together as a family. Over the past year or so, we've grown our chicken flock from 6 to approximately 50 chickens. For the most part this has worked out really well. We get our own farm fresh eggs from free range chickens. The eggs are much better than anything you can get from the store. And as you can probably imagine with 50 chickens, we have a surplus of eggs so we give them to friends and neighbors. It gives us a good excuse to stop by and see some of the older folks who don't get out that often.

I said it's worked out really well "for the most part". We have a few too many rosters running around fighting with each other and harassing their women. So, yesterday we decided that it was time to allow some of the roosters to contribute to the farm in another way.

It's much easier to catch chickens when they've gone to their roost for the evening than trying to chase them around the farm during the daylight hours. It's also far less embarrassing as Benjamin and I found that out the hard way when we chased down 3 ugly ducks to take to the lake.

Anyway, last night after Percy (the big man on campus) put them to bed, Laura and I went out and put 3 of the younger roosters and a hen called Hook in a re-purposed dog crate for the evening. Hook got her name because her lower and upper beaks didn't meet properly. This deformity didn't seem to hamper her eating, but it did give her a pretty foul disposition.

The other reason for putting them in a cage the night before is that it's better to keep the chickens from eating for 24 hours or so prior to...their contribution.

This afternoon we went out to finish the task. Three will go in the freezer while the fourth will be on the table tonight. Benjamin and Rachel have gotten use to the idea that animals were placed on this earth for us to take of and to provide food for us. In fact, Benjamin was eager to see the heart and actually wanted to know why we couldn't keep the feet. We've had our own chickens before and they've eaten some venison that I harvested this winter.

We definitely feel very blessed to live here on this plot of land that God has entrusted to us during our time on this earth. We really enjoy life in the country and getting back to the basics. It's started to rain now so I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon in a rocking chair on the porch.