Wyatt and His Snake-Wrangling Ways

Wyatt never ceases to amaze me. He has one of the most loving hearts of any man I've ever met, he's demonstrated such character that he is already a deacon at our church at a young age, he's always willing to help, and he can smile like a champion as he's holding a snake in his hands. He and I found the snake when we were picking up leaves at the Harshman's. To be exact, I was holding the bag and Wyatt was putting the leaves in the bag when he noticed one of the leaves was showing a little more kinetic energy than it should have. A hop, skip, and a jump later he picked the snake up to find it a new home so we could finish our chore.


Here's the crew that helped out on Harshman Help Day. As you can tell from the smiles it was a lot of fun. It was great to see so many people able to help the Harshman's get ready for their new baby on the way! It was the perfect temperature and a little wet. So for a guy like me it was tons of fun playing in the mud. If you notice, Wyatt's pants were a little dirty from a multi-man job of removing a tree stump in the front yard. Also, Adam got to put his new Expedition to use on the job. The rest of the outside clean up included killing plant life, setting fire to old plant life, and using my truck for hauling off more plantlife to the city compost. The moral of the story is everyone needs a truck, or at least needs to know someone who has one. There is something so primal and fun about hauling stuff around in the open air. It's a rush. Who needs drugs when you got trucks and yard waste?

On the way home I still had the tree stump and about a wheel barrow full of walnuts. Fortunately, there were signs posted on the way directing me to a place that was buying walnuts. It was a short 2 or 3 mile winding road into "the country" and ended at a barn with a sign directing me to the back. I pulled in and was third in line. In front of me was a man and his wife dropping off their truckload of walnuts. They were very tan for it being November and them being in their 60's or older. Her hair was exceptionally blond for her age as well. For some reason their appearance just contrasted with the surrounding. There was a walnut hauler (I think that's what it's called) grinding away with all the belts exposed, the sky was grey and the air was misty. A brown horse was casually chewing on some hay. It was cool enough to be comfortable if you kept moving a little and there was an old farmhouse and barn enveloping the walnut hauler. A dad and his probably 16 and 8 year old sons were doing the job of unloading the walnuts from the tan couple's truck. They were fit like you'd expect from a hardworking farm family and they all wore overalls. It was a refreshing site. Anyway, I finally pulled up and had them unload the walnuts. The 16 year old remarked "I'm not sure that's going to fit" when he saw the tree stump. The dad said I could drive out into his field and throw it in his dead tree pile. What a bonus! Driving in a field! So when I got back after unloading the tree stump the 8 year old came running up with a $5 bill in his hand. I leaned out the window and said, "Keep it. Thanks for letting me dump the stump." (Or something like that without the rhyme.) And it was funny because he had that expression on his face like you see on "Dennis the Menace" and he was thinking "Gee, Mister. That sure is swell."

After that Carlye got home from our friend Lena's baby shower. She had a super time and it was supper time. My mom, dad and grandpa came over to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had some delicious homemade mac-and-cheese, which is a Provard specialty, and had some birthday cake, too, as we watched the Cards win! What a day!

My thanks today is to my mom. She's the one that made sure I grew up in a church and thus helped introduce me to my Savior. There's no way to describe the kind of gift that is and I hope she knows just how grateful I am. She's been a comfort when I've gone through rough times in my life. She's listened when I've doubted myself and reassured me that she had confidence in my overcoming whatever challenge I was facing. She's generous of her time and would completely exhaust herself to help any of her kids or grandkids. She strives to know Christ better. She tolerates physical pain that is beyond my comprehension. She is funny and witty. She does this thing where she bounces her hands like a maestro when she listens to a song that she likes. She is many wonderful things, but above all she is my mother and I love her. Thanks, mom.