6 January 2008

Dear Friends,

Epiphany Greetings from Carol and me. We trust that you had a joyful celebration of Christmas and were blessed with family and friends. We trust also that your hope was renewed by God's promises of peace and joy.

Life in Deansboro continues to be full and rewarding for us. I devote attention to my small herd of American Milking Devon cattle. The two yearling heifers, Julia and Nomvula, give us pleasure. I assist the American Milking Devon Cattle Association as webservant www.milkingdevons.org With 800-1,000 visitors a month it seems a worthwhile activity. On a whim, I also opened a CafePress store to sell things with Milking Devon images on them www.cafepress.com/gilley I am studying the history of Milking Devons. I gave a presentation to the local historical society. Any remembrance of Devons is about gone, but there is significant evidence of their having been quite common in our community in the past. Through my research, I have been able to add some interesting historical documents to the AMDCA website.

Carol is secretary of the historical society. She sings in the church choir. She is active in a book group that meets at the library. She continues to be a dedicated member of an exercise group. The friend with whom she played Scrabble weekly died late this year leaving a hole in Carol's Thursday afternoon calendar..

Our vegetable garden was productive and we have a pantry and freezer full of good own-grown food. The raspberries we planted a couple of years back came into abundant production, encouraging us to plant more fruit.

Carol and I worked together during the summer to refinish the exterior of our log house. Cleaning, caulking, preserving and staining the logs was a drawn out process but not very difficult. People asked us “how frequently” and we don't know. Inspecting and touching up annually is recommended. Little things like carpenter bees need eradication regularly, but we have not been bothered by the numerous woodpeckers that frequent our woods, nor, as a grandson warned, “Watch out for beavers”. We actually have a number of beaver dens along the Oriskany creek a short distance from our house. We did some work on our basement food storage pantry, installing cabinets and providing controlled cold air circulation. Pushed by the wind whistling through cracks around the doors we just installed storm doors front and back.

Carol has been counting birds at her feeders. She signed up for the Backyard Feeder Watch www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/ and for the survey of eye disease in finches. Although we have had feeders, and I have put up numerous bird houses, it is interesting to have a more disciplined way of taking account of the birds in our environment. Big birds and unusual birds are more exciting. We had a red tail hawk sitting in a tree for long stretches several days. A clatter at the window called our attention to a sharp shinned hawk attempting to take a goldfinch from the feeder.

We pray for some wise folk bearing gifts of peace and well-being, but fear that they would receive the same attention as the epiphany travelers of old. People in power would try to subvert them and the cause for which they journey. Pray and hope, nevertheless. Pray with us that all the world may cling to God's promises and work for their realization.

         Lawrence