"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." - Marcus Aurelius

Some things grate on us disproportionate to their significance. One of my problems is with people who use "bring" when they should use "take," or visa versa. Which is why I sent an email to the Arizona Republic, whose web site I still check daily for news from our home of 10 years. Screen shot:

"Bring" comes my direction and "take" goes away. If I'm leaving my house (going away) I should TAKE water. If I don't have any water you should BRING some to me.

But wait! There's more!
This from one of our local network affiliate's web site:

We apparently stayed home the day they taught participles.

And these people are supposed to be professionals.

This was a momentous day in our goat barn, though Itzhak would use a different word. He was born on 12/14, which means he's now three months old, and that means WEANED! He got his last bottle this morning. We've gradually reduced him in number per day and volume per bottle. He's been at two bottles a day for about 10 days and was down to 10 oz. per day since last Friday. This morning he got his last bottle, which not coincidentally marked the last powder from that package. It's not cheap stuff and we wanted to avoid opening the next one because it tends to clump with any humidity, so it will stay sealed and ready for the next time we need to bottle feed a kid.

Itzhak is not happy about being weaned. At the end of a 10 oz. bottle he makes it clear there should be more, and he makes noise when it's time for the next one. But he'll learn to fill up on alfalfa and grain. Hunger is a great motivator. His weight gain has been very good and this morning he came in at 50.4 lbs. That rate of gain will now slow some because.....

Worse than weaning....today he got castrated. That normally happens at 10 weeks but things got messed up with Asante dying and a delay in Itzhak's vaccine that includes tetanus. So a week after both those events we banded the little guy. Pam held him while I attached a tiny stout rubber band using a special tool designed for the purpose. It didn't go as smoothly as that sentence makes it sound, but we got it done. Marta says he'll be out of sorts for a day, but soon will be oblivious to the slow death taking place between his legs.
And if you're curious, the dude has a pair! Almost seemed a shame to ensure their demise. They'll fall off in 2-3 weeks and we won't have to worry about some of the problems that come with having a buck.

This just in: BringATrailer.com has accepted the truck for their auction. They're a bit exclusive so this counts - that they'd accept my handiwork. It's a reserve auction, but they have to approve that number. The submittal form asks "What do you think is a reasonable reserve?" and I plugged in what we want. They came back with a number $4k less and we settled in the middle. If it sells for the reserve I'll be disappointed and will lose money on the project. But I've been praying about this and trying to do so in accord with James 4:2, "You do not have because you do not ask." (More on that in a subsequent post.)
So, it really doesn't matter what BaT and I agree on for a reserve. God will sell the truck at the price HE chooses, and I've set a figure before him that I *think* meets our current needs per James 4:2. If those two numbers align - my number and God's - so be it. If the sale price is lower or higher, or if it doesn't meet the reserve and goes unsold, so be it.
It is, after all, God's truck, as all things are his.

Learning to walk by faith.