Summer Vacation

I came home from work today to find my son, Robert, lighting firecrackers in the front yard. Firecrackers are something new around here. I never had them when I was a kid and, until this year, my kids never had them either. They are cheap. They make a big bang. What could be more fun. Yes, I know, they’re potentially dangerous too.

Robert puts one in a slingshot, lights it, and lets it fly. Then he showed me how he blows dandelions out of the lawn. He pushes the firecracker into the ground right next to the base of the dandelion so that only the fuse is sticking out. Then he lights it and stands back. It blows the whole top of the dandelion up in the air and leaves a little crater. Impressive. Dandelions are the Rodney Dangerfield weed—they just can’t get no respect.

I’ve been told that it was once common for farmers in these parts to have dynamite. They used it to blow out tree stumps and blast big rocks into small rocks. Those were the good ol’ days.

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Yesterday was another farmer’s market day in Skaneateles. Marlene and James are the only ones doing the market this year. Marlene says James is a natural at the market. He’s a great help to her and does an excellent job interacting with the customers. He sold most all his cookies and quickbreads and made some good money for the effort.

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I learned about Stephen Beck and his Family Ebiz web site over at Jim Bob Howard’s blog, Billy Joe Jim Bob. I ended up buying a video tutorial about how toTurn Recordings into a Profitable Source of Incomel. It wasn’t cheap but Jim Bob recommended it and if it can teach me how to do my own recordings, it will be worth it.

I don’t sing or play an instrument, but I’ve been told I have a “radio voice.” In fact, years ago, before we had children, Marlene and I attended a church in Whitney Point, New York (right in fellow agrarian Scott Terry’s neighborhood) and the church started a radio program. Because I had a “radio voice” I was asked if I’d do the canned introduction to the program. I spent a whole day with recording equipment getting it just right. That’s the extent of my work in radio.

The reason I want to learn how to record onto a CD is to do an audio reading of my new book, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian.

With that in mind, earlier this year Rick Saenz graciously sent me some equipment to use with my computer and told me about the free Audacity software that allows anyone to do their own recordings. Being computer challenged, I had a hard time figuring out how to use Audacity. But Stephen Beck’s tutorial has been a big help. Now, one of these days, I will get that recording done.

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On Stephen Beck’s web site I found an excellent article about debt. Mr. Beck does not sugar coat what the Bible says about debt. Here’s the link to the article titled, Teaching Your Children About Debt.

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Bloggers come and bloggers go. Some go for good. Some just take a vacation and come back. That’s what I’ve decided to do. I feel strongly convicted that I should focus more time on family and home for the month of July.

I’ve also decided to further limit my time on the computer by not reading other blogs for the month. That will be hard for me but, like I said, I feel strongly convicted about this. So I’ll see y’all back here on August 1st, and I’ll catch up on my blog reading then.

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If you happen to have stopped by this blog for the first time, sorry I’m not here. I invite you to read a selection of my blog writings. You can find links to them at my web site. And please do stop back come August!

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One last thing.... I’ll still be reading e-mails in order to take care of my book and plucker parts business so, if need be, I can be contacted by e-mail at hckimball@bci.net