Freebies, fruits of labors

Mama and I traveled to Bowie Friday evening after I got off work. We ended up getting there after 9 p.m. due to getting out of Amarillo a little later than I had hoped. With my work schedule it is difficult to get my hours set in the evening. Most of my peers work a schedule that takes then until 5 p.m. or later to finish. I can be finished as early as 3 p.m. but I do not always leave after eight and one half hours. It is more like ten or eleven hour per day most days.


Anyway, Friday night was a short night even though we got to sleep in until about 7 a.m. We left for Sarah and Fabians at 9 a.m. and arrived in Rogers at a little after noon. Sarah gave us some pretty nice pieces of furniture – my favorite being a set of antique bookshelves. I have always wanted a set like we were given so it was worth the trip for that alone. She also gave us a nice oak hall tree and an old wooden desk. It pretty much filled up the back of the truck.

Mama and I were worn out Saturday night when we got home. On the way back through Fort Worth we stopped at Cabela’s so Mama could find a replacement for the nerf cannon we bought for Grant for Christmas, which broke that afternoon. We have been unsuccessful to date but on Saturday night she actually got one. She was pleased.

Yesterday continued the blessings. We had a great service at church and were scheduled to meet some friends to help unload three burros at the farm at about 2 p.m. When we got to the farm they were already in their new home – and they are beautiful. The three are pure bred Jerusalem Donkeys. They are healthy looking jennies. Victoria named them right away. Of course, she is the only one who is certain which one goes with which name, but at least one of us is sure. They have not been in human company for some time but I am sure Victoria will have little trouble calming them down. Between her and Grandpa they will be pets in a couple months. I am now in search of a jack to run with them.

Soon after we saw the donkeys we went to the farm of the people who had delivered them to us and looked at several pigs he had offered for sale. We ended up buying three pigs for $25 each. We will get them to the farm on Thursday with plans to feed them out and butcher them in May or June; two for us, one for sale. He has a new litter of Hamp piglets that we will be able to buy from some time in July or August. We would prefer to raise them ourselves, but he needs them for show pigs for his grandkids. So until his granddaughter takes her pick from the litter, he will not sell any of them. We will have our hands full with the three we bought.

The large tank on the farm is quickly filling up and a small flock of Mallard ducks has taken up residence there. It is a beautiful sight to see them take flight as we walk over to the tank. It is a pity to scare them off every time we go to check the tank, but they always come back and settle in. In the fall we are going to stock the tank with catfish and brim. We have a lot of turtles to kill before that happens.

Grandpa has begun cutting off the sixty or so trees from the very large dam that defines the tanks boundaries and we are going to lay a couple over into the water for some habitat for smaller fish. It will give them shelter from predators as they multiple – hopefully. In the next couple years we should get some good fishing out of the efforts.

Once the dam is cleared we are going to plant it in wild flowers. We have been saving the seeds for about a year and soon it will be time to sow them. All of the plants we have planted on the farm are doing well – blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. None of the infant plants will produce this year. But we expect great harvests in the next couple years. We are going to buy some fruit trees this weekend at Trade Days in Bowie – apples, peaches and pecans to start the orchards.

It’s all pretty exciting.