Dr. Becky, farm talk, dogs at the door

Becky called yesterday to tell me she had purchased all the items required for her to start her EMT training. She was pretty excited about being able to complete the course of study in one semester. The hospital affiliated with the training program is close enough that the logistics should be pretty easy. I do not know if there are a lot of job openings in her area, but it is a marketable, albeit, low paying skill. I am curious to see how well she can do with shift work. Charles, it seems, will pursue a B.S. in Biology and teach High School science. If Becky goes on to Paramedic training, they will both graduate at about the same time.


I have not had much time to spend on the farm this trip and today will be no exception. It has been busy at work and with Victoria and Mama both there to help Grandpa they have been able to get a lot of things done. On Friday we are going to move the well house from where it sits at the little house to cover the new well. Grandpa has ideas of transporting the building in one piece to the new location and I think it is a good idea in theory. We will have to see how well it plays out in practice.

We had to make an emergency run to cover the well head and tank last night after church because the predicted low temperature was 28 degrees. The wind was the issue. It was predicted to gust up to forty moles per hour through the night; which, by the way, it did. So Grandpa and I went out and did an emergency wrap to keep the wind and weather from freezing our brand new well.

The three able bodied farm workers were all complaining last night about how tired and sore they were from loading up all the metal roofing that had been scattered about the property. I have to admit it was a pretty big load on the trailer, but that did not stop me from disparaging their complaining; especially Mama. Today they are planning on hauling the load to the scrap yard to see how much they can get out of it. I hope they have not set their hopes too high.

Mama has been after me all week to cash a check given to us by the lady in our church who bought the Wii. I do not have an account here with enough funds to cover the check amount so I have not been able to get her the cash equivalent. It is really weighing on her mind. It will have to wait until we get back to Amarillo. Depending on how much cash they get today, I could be off the hook.

Whatever the sale price is, it will not much; no acceleration of our development plans by selling junk. We will continue to come here a week at a time to do what we can to help develop the farm. It could be a much slower process than I had originally envisioned, but that means it will allow us to stretch out the money needs over a larger amount of time, which should relieve some of the anxiousness I have been feeling financially.

Last night after church, Grandma was frying some bacon to make a sandwich for Grandpa when she and Mama decided to check to see if her ornamental snowmen were still in place on the front porch of the home they live in. They opened the interior door and were staring through the glass storm door trying to focus in the dim light when one of the local dogs that visit every time Grandma fires bacon decided to jump up on the door – just to let them know he was in the area. I do not know who screamed first, but I know who screamed the loudest. I don’t know if Grandma was more startled by the dog’s sudden appearance or by Mama’s scream; that too, is too close to call.

The dog, a basset pup was let in while Grandma’s heart rate normalized and Mama ran to the bathroom.