Albin news August 23, 2010

Albin News Readers,

I'm sad to report another debilitating accident in the Albin area. Garrett Ross (21), son of Cindy (Petch) Ross was in a vehicle accident on the “S” curves between Midway and Hillsdale. More details to follow.

Pamela Weaver and Bette Lu Lerwick took a day trip down to a quilt fair at the fair grounds in Loveland, CO. Pam's quilt shop has been completed and is on track to be open for business by the time the snow flies.

There are now 57 horizontal drilling permits in Laramie County and 13 in Goshen. Five weeks ago there were 47 permits in Laramie County and 12 in Goshen. This number is sure to keep climbing in future months. Rex Energy's President and CEO Benjamin Hulburt said they plan to drill 24 wells in the next year. They currently have three horizontal drilling permits according to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission website. Noble Energy has the most drilling permits with 21. EOG and Noble seem to be the biggest players at this time with 400,000 and 750,000 acres leased in the Niobrara shale. Rex energy currently claims 32,000 acres in Wyoming and 8,000 in Colorado.

John and Dianne Kirkbride were honorary chairs of the 21^st annual Denim 'N Diamonds Gala held at the Little America in Cheyenne. The Gala was a fundraiser for the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and raised over $200,000 to purchase a new wireless IV pump system for the hospital.

Here is Dixie's latest update on Tim's condition!

This verse of promise is one of my 'big-breath' verses!  Again, it doesn't state a definite amount of time--it only states for a 'little while'! (Kinda reminds me when our parents and also ourselves as parents respond to our kids...in a 'little bit'!)  But the 'deep breath' doesn't come because you have held it in for that 'little while', but because of the enormity of the grace and the promise to restore, support, strengthen, and establish because of God's love and salvation plan (the Cross)!
    We have been and are in that 'little while' time---but above all, we're in that grace of the Almighty God! We thank each of you for being in this time with us with your prayer support, encouragement, and friendship.
    Tim had a full day of more words, finishing sentences with seeing an object/answering questions about the object, and answering questions about memory (birth date, city/state from, identifying Bethany from a picture, etc.).  He will have his lower lumbar/spinal area tested tomorrow (CT Scan) so please pray for that to go smoothly.  Continue to pray for restful nights--so important for the next day! Goodnight!  

In Ag news, there has been 24 hr media coverage of a nationwide egg recall. First of all, let me say that the eggs involved in the recall make up less than one percent of the eggs on the market. The recall is designed to err on the extreme side of caution so that the vast majority of the recalled eggs are likely safe to eat. To find out whether or not the eggs in your fridge are involved in the recall you can visit eggsafety.org for a complete list. More importantly, if you cook your eggs until the yolks and whites are firm, then you're covered no matter what.

Now that I've said that, I get to vent a little. I'm willing to bet more people have been sickened by the media coverage of this than by the eggs themselves! Of course I don't want to belittle what some have suffered by this but it's all a little hard to swallow from a farmer's perspective. On one hand you have a section of society demanding raw eggs and milk (they want salmonella in their milk) and on the other hand you have the USDA recalling full production (over a half million eggs so far) of all farms that have any connection to a hand full of people who have been sickened. Why doesn't the media put this into perspective? I would love to see a headline that says “116,830 people got drunk and lost their supper last night – again.” I know all the media coverage isn't because of heartfelt concern for consumer safety, but why does something with such a miniscule risk sell papers? My Dad (Ron Lerwick) explained it to me this way. He said that food is not a logical choice for most consumers, it's an emotional choice. Most people are separated from the farm by two or three generations and do not have a practical understanding of how food arrives at their plates. When you think about it this way, it's easy to see how most someone who saw a headline about a food recall, would want to buy the paper to investigate further. After all, they cook eggs for their kids in the morning! It's an easy narrative for a news outlet to write and a sure seller. Whatever the reasons for the media buzz, I think there are things in this world more worthy of our precious worrying!

The GDUs for 2009 and 2010, May 15 – August 23 (baseline 50 deg F) are 1492.0 and 1766.0. About the 15^th of August last year it turned cool and we had an early fall. This year we had a great string of hot days that has really helped the crops mature!