Puppy passengers, shopping

Mama and I made the drive over after church yesterday and I think we could have made it in time for church except that we did not have a good place to keep the little passengers she had in the car with her. She brought both of the pups so she could take the male, Samson, to the vet here to get his first shots, etc. They traveled well as Mama tells it but I am just a little glad that I was not in the van for the trip. I drove the company truck since I am on call until Friday afternoon.


We brought over a lot of stuff. Most of the room in the back seat of the truck was taken up by the bread we bought earlier in the week; I am guessing it is about seventy pounds of bread. Grandpa says the chickens will love it. He and Mama are going to test that sometime early this morning. It is one of those times that I wish I could be there but someone has to support the recreational farming activities of our family and I suppose it should be me.

We also brought over the queen size bed so Mama and I will have more than a double bed to sleep on. It will be set up in the room Grandma has designated for Victoria, but Mama and I will sleep there when we are over here regardless. I have encouraged Victoria to stay in Amarillo working at Sam’s until spring, which to me is sometime in late February or early March of next year. She is, like me, a little jealous of the fun Mama and Grandpa are having on the farm, but winter activities are limited and Grandpa will need the most help in the coming spring.

Through the winter I hope to get the house fully investigated and know what we are most profited by doing in repairing and remodeling it. It will be a good amount of work but it will be extra living space in the future. My greatest concern is that it will delay the construction of the log home I have waiting in the wing. The drawback to that construction is that it will take a goodly amount of money all at once, unlike the remodel of the little house which will take little bits at a time over a period of time.

Mama and Grandma are planning on going to Denton to shop at Kroger’s today. It is supposed to rain all day – Praise the Lord! – and there are several items we have set aside to get at Kroger’s, not the least of which is our fresh turkey. I know the list is far more extensive than that but I do not know what else will go into it. I do know that Grandpa and Grandma are looking forward to shopping at a familiar store again, even though it is almost an hour away.

Denton is where Mama and I will go on Friday morning to do some very limited Black Friday shopping. I have set aside a little bit of money each week leading up to this week. I knew that once we took on the farm payments there would be almost no unassigned money from my paychecks, so several months ago I started setting aside the money for Christmas. It is not as much as Mama is used to having access to for presents, but it is enough. It is more than there would have been had I not started much earlier in the year.

Bowie is feeling more and more like home to me. The office in Decatur is not so much that way. I am far more comfortable in the Borger office than I am here and I suppose it is a matter of familiarity for the most part but there is still an oppressive and unwelcome atmosphere to this office. The saving grace of this week is that almost no one will be here these three days. I think these are the most popular vacation says of the entire year and were it not for the fact that I was assigned this week on call, I would be off too.

I am here and I will enjoy everything I can about this week. It is Thanksgiving after all.