Panic, more travel, the trailer, the sale

Mama called me in a panic last night because her debit card had been rejected. I had her call the service number on the card to see if there was a hold of some sort. Recently my card was deactivated because the bank suspected fraud. Fortunately we were in Borger at the time of the call, so I went to the bank there and got a new card. Mama would not have been so fortunate.


She was assured that the card was okay by the people at the bank and that turned out to be the case, but it was a little unnerving for her until she was able to prove it was okay by spending $40 at Target – just to make sure. I am not sure how we would have funded the return trip to the farm without her free access to our account via her debit card. I am sure we would have figured something out, but we will save that hassle for another time.

The entire crew should be leaving Florida early this morning. I am not sure the kids are ready for another long car ride, but the different company should keep them in suspense for at least the first part of the trip. I do not expect them to be in before nine or ten o’clock; which is well past my bedtime. Mama may have to wake me up to say hello. I will see the grandkids tomorrow afternoon. We will all know more as they mark their progress along the route home.

I have a feeling that Grandma will be setting up sleeping areas this evening, but I will let her and Mama work out all those arrangements. Unfortunately, the apartment is not ready for occupants yet. I hope to have it there by the end of April. That should be just in time for me to get the call from Licensing. At the moment it is a very long way off, but I am making steady progress.

Grandpa got the lumber to put the floor in the stock trailer early yesterday morning. By the time I got home that afternoon, he was making the last cut to fit the last piece. It looked very good. The great news is that we will be able to haul the calves to market with our own stock trailer. I could have worked with a borrowed one, but Grandpa is not cut from that cloth. I am not sure what drives that pride but we have always managed to work around it.

I tried to get the tags for the stock trailer but it proved a bit more difficult than I had expected. The people at the registration office are looking for a fifteen digit number for their records. The only number on the trailer was a serial number totaling ten digits. I go the long story about how their records needed to match up to the database, blah, blah, blah. I told them I could not manufacture a number for them and asked if there was another way to get it done. About that time people started coming into the small office waiting area and she brushed me off. I will try again today.

I did find out that I had one of the letters wrong on the serial number I copied from the ID plate on the trailer. I am hoping that will make a difference, but I am not getting my hopes up too high.

Tonight Grandpa will pen up the market calves and give them plenty of grain and water. It will be their last meal on the farm. The stock sale is only about and hour away. There are two sale barns closer but the one we will take this bunch to is in the dairy region of this area. The calves will bring a better price there since almost all the lots for sale will be dairy calves. I am not sure what he is going to do without the large herd to oversee, but it will be much better for me and Mama while Grandma and Grandpa are visiting in West Virginia.

At least the farm is producing something.