Back at work, the delivery, Dad’s party, my back

I have been away for over a week and it is a little unfamiliar to be back in the office. I am sure the routine will begin to exercise itself on me over the next few hours but for the moment I am trying to get my mind settled around the idea of beginning a new year and all the planning that goes along with that.


While we were off all of our stuff was delivered. I was pleased with how it fit in the old farm house – all but a few items that we had planned on putting in a shed near the apartment. I had to put several file cabinets full of tools and my big table saw on the slab to be covered with a tarp, but that was part of the plan also.

Christmas Day we got an inch of rain and over half an inch of snow. I was up the next morning scraping snow and ice off of the slab in preparation for the delivery. It was barely above freezing the next several days which was a blessing when the large delivery truck pulled up to begin unloading. With the ground saturated, it was nice that it was frozen. Otherwise, we would have had serious problems with the truck.

The old house is once again full from floor to ceiling with boxes of stuff. This time I think the quality of the items hoarded there are superior to those we discarded in cleaning out the house, but that is a matter of opinion. At least this time all of the stuff is packed and stored properly. We will see how long it takes me and Mama to go through it and inspect it. Some if it I am sure will also end up in the dumpster. For now it is safely stored.

Chase and Makaila drove over from Amarillo Saturday evening the 29th so we could travel to Chappell Hill for a birthday party for Grandpa Kline. His 88th birthday was on Monday the 31st. To our surprise Chase showed up Sunday morning with Joshua. He had bought him a ticket to fly from Houston to Dallas and had picked him up at the airport in Dallas Saturday night – after he begged an early leave from us. The two of them had gotten a hotel room in Bowie since we did not have the room to house both Chase and Makaila with Brittany and Andrew already there.

On Sunday the 30th we drove to Sarah and Fabian’s house in Rogers. The idea was to leave from there to go over to Chappell Hill. We ended up being the first ones to show up for the event. Grandma Kline asked Mama when she first saw her, “Did you bring any of the kids?” Mama answered in the affirmative. “How many?”, was Grandma Kline’s next question. Mama proudly answered, “four.” I think that was one of the best moments for both of them.

Even though the Flex is a very comfortable vehicle to travel in I am hurting from the hours we spent on the road this week. Joshua worked on my back a little when we were at Sarah and Fabian’s. He did provide me some relief, but it was short lived. That is the way things are with an injury like this. I have been unwilling to spend the money to go to the chiropractor; too many other needs at the moment.

I was doing a little better until I helped Grandpa clean out the calf stalls yesterday. It was too cold and too windy to work on the apartment but sitting around the entire day did not appeal to me either. When I saw him working I pitched in – literally. It was all done with pitchforks. Today I am hurting pretty badly.

I was able to make a lot of progress on the apartment over the time I had off. We got the plumbing run and I was able to finish up almost all of the work required to attach the rafters that will hold the metal roofing. By next Saturday, I should be completely ready to put up the metal – provided the Lord gives us a way to go and get it. There is still a great amount of work to be done, but it is coming together well so far.