Updates – Becky, the farm, Maggie and Aaron

Becky is off to get vaccinated for service in the National Guard. She texted me last night about midnight to tell me the news. Of course, I did not see the text until about 4 a.m. but I will pass it along belatedly. She will be out of touch once she actually reports to the base and turns in her cell phone. This is a very bold move on her part. I hope it works out well for her.


The news on the farm is not too awful after all. I called yesterday to get any updated available and found out that the rates are basically unchanged – as I thought they would be – and the closing may happen on the 8th; that is a big may happen. All in all it looks like things are happening quickly which is only a concern because of the travel to Maggie and Aaron’s wedding at the same time.

Once we actually start paying for the farm it will be a good while before we can do much agriculturally since the drought is so severe, but Grandpa is very excited to just go and really start poking around the house and land. He has the weed eater gassed up and ready to go. We are all anxious to see what is under the overgrowth that has taken over the property during its neglected years. If it works out as planned Grandma and Grandpa will follow us over in Grandpa’ truck and spend the day doing little things to begin to see what we actually have. (They are not coming to Maggie’s wedding because Grandma is not able to travel that far comfortably.)

I called Fabian and Sarah to seek their help in finding some of the more exotic things we will need to allow Grandma and Grandpa to get around the property in the early stages; mainly a golf cart type vehicle for Grandma that is rugged enough to handle the farm until we are able to grade and delineate roadways. Fabian is very good at such research; not that Sarah is always happy about the time he spends in doing such internet exploration.

I have not rescheduled the log home delivery yet. I need to be sure how things are going to play out before I set the final delivery date. It requires two of us to be there to help ramp the bundles of logs off of the truck. I figure it will be Grandpa and me with Mama and Grandma watching, but that is yet to be determined. Victoria is praying about transferring to the Wal-Mart in either Bowie or Decatur once things are rolling along. Grandpa hopes to get a job I the area and I think that is entirely possible once he gets around and starts meeting people. My hope is that once we buy a sprayer, he can make money using it to spray people’s fields with AgGrand.

I called Maggie yesterday to see how my grandchildren are faring under her care – Cori is away at camp with her church. It seems things are okay especially since Uncle Aaron has been there the past few days to help her and distract the kids. Mykenzie is counting the days until Grammy arrives.

My biggest fear for Maggie and Aaron is that, to the best of my knowledge, she has never cooked anything. I have seen her make a fried bologna sandwich or an egg sandwich but beyond that she has been perfectly content to let her meals be prepared for her while she lingered somewhere outside of the kitchen. When Mama and I were first married, she had not had much experience cooking by herself but she had paid close attention to what Grandma and Great Grandma were doing and had been a part of the kitchen routine for many years. She developed a wonderful skill set pretty quickly.

Maggie tells me that Aaron is a lot like me in that he enjoys cooking. She has seen that work out well for me and Mama but in the beginning of our years together it was not that way and I expect that Aaron’s time to cook will be limited. So Maggie will have to step up, put on her apron and put Mama and Aaron’s mama on speed dial.

Mama started out ahead of the curve because Grandma Kline did not like to cook so meals were adequate, not exceptional. Everything that could be done from a package was freely used. Everything that could be done in one pot was first choice. I do not know if Aaron came from that kind of cooking lineage. I had no favorite meals or individual dishes (still don’t) because I ate what was there when I was at home and I fixed what I wanted when I cooked my own meals. Besides I have always loved to cook and I lived by myself for several years before Mama and I met. I was always ready to cook dinner, but I liked it when I came home to a meal Mama had prepared.

My heart goes out to you, Aaron.

P.S. Maggie called me to let me know she was indeed cooking today.
I'm proud of her.