Texas is rough on Jake, sighting in, car repairs, the work ahead

Jake, Chase and Mama went to a local park yesterday afternoon. Jake, obviously, had never been on a merry-go-round before so Mama stationed him in a sitting position, facing outward with his legs straddling one of the posts. Chase began to spin him – as one would expect. As Jake began to feel the effects of centrifugal force he was pinned up against the post – the one he was straddling – trying desperately to keep the pressure off his “tenders”. As he screamed for Chase to stop the spinning him, I am not sure if the cries only yielded the opposite results. He escaped the ordeal unharmed but describes it as the second “most scariest” time of his life.


I am afraid he did not fare much better when we went to pick wild plums yesterday evening. Twice we had to cross a barbed wire fence – which Jake has never done. On the second pass he got a very minor scratch from a barb. The problem we were having is that he insisted on crawling through the fence as you would enter a tunnel, head fist, rather than sideways, one leg at a time. “Papa Tim”, he stated, somewhere between bragging and complaining, “I’m bleeding.” I told him not to worry about it. Leaving a little blood in Texas would only make him stronger. I have a scratch on my right arm that runs from between my thumb and index finder up my forearm to the bend on my elbow. I got it trying to keep him from getting a scratch on his back. Later that evening he showed his scratch to his mom in full bragging mode.

Chase spent some time last night sighting in my .222 rifle. Tonight we will shoot it. I will have to sit down and clean all the rifles after we are done. It had been over fifteen years since any of them have been fired when I fired several rounds through the .222 late last year. That is how I know the scope needed a careful sighting. I bought a bore sight which uses a laser inserted in the gun barrel to help align the scope. Using the laser required a low light situation and since conditions for that are not favorable before about 9 p.m.(past my bedtime.) I had not taken the time to do it. We will see just how well it worked tonight.

Grandpa spent most all day yesterday working on the little van. It needed a lot of little things done; an oil change, transmission filter and fluid change, plug and wire replacement and the power steering pump changed. He got all but the power steering pump work done. He had a problem with the oil filter but we finally got that done after I got home. We should be ready to travel on time with the car in the finest shape it has been in for more than two years.

As we talked about the work that remains to be done at the farm I realized how badly I need to get there to help. There is only so much Grandpa can do by himself. Many of the tasks ahead will require two men. Victoria is a big help to Grandpa but she lacks the skill and the upper body strength to help with some of the more rigorous tasks. It will be nice when the Lord gets us there. I am praying for early next year but I will take whatever God gives us.

We are going to rake the meadow today in order to collect some of the good alfalfa Grandpa mowed down the day before yesterday. It had to be mowed in order to control the overgrowth of weeds sharing the ground with the good grass. We do not have a baler yet so we will collect the hay the old fashioned way; we will pick it up with pitchforks, pile it on a wagon and take it to the shed.

It will be good practice for when things get really bad.