A busy weekend, visitors, Grandpa

I took a ½ day vacation Friday so that I could get some extra time to work on the sheetrock in the apartment. The remainder of the sheetrock and insulation we picked up while Norman and Seth were here were on the trailer we need for picking up the hay we are hoping to cut this week so I needed to empty the trailer to have it available for farm use.

I also took the door I bought to be the entry door for the shop and put it up in the opening facing the mobile home. Until now the only access to the shop has been through the apartment since I have the garage door opening sealed up with tarps. As I begin to finish out the apartment that was not going to be very functional. I was going to frame up the opening to house the door but in the interest of time I simply cut the tarp to fit around the door and resealed it over the remainder of the opening.

It was a good thing I took the extra time on Friday because Saturday we went to Trade Days and met a family from church there. They came over for lunch and stayed until later in the afternoon. (The young father of that family helped set the original plumbing – before there were any slabs poured. He was impressed with the progress.) I got to work about three hours and another family came over to the farm after they shut down their booth at Trade Days. They stayed for dinner and left about 7:30 p.m. They are the family we bought our sheep from some months ago. They are a very delightful family.

Both visits were a lot of fun. Grandma got to tell the same stories over and over. She had children in each visiting group and adults that had not heard the stories either. It was great fun for her. I am not sure the children enjoyed her “teaching stories” because she tends to be a little intense at times, but she enjoyed telling them. She even got to tell the one about her loving the game of baseball but not being allowed to follow her dream because girls were not allowed to play baseball. If you have not heard it she will not mind recounting it for you.

Grandpa was thinking about cutting the meadows on Saturday but the forecast was for rain so he waited. We did get rain – 1.5 inches on Sunday morning. Now, the hay may have to wait until the ground dries out a bit; no sense laying fresh cut hay on soggy ground. Fortunately, as far as hay is concerned, we will have perfect weather over the next ten days; hot and dry with mild winds.

As Grandpa and I talked late Friday evening he was describing the symptoms he was fighting. They all spelled out Lyme disease to me; aching joints, lack of energy, trouble breathing, headaches. I cannot diagnose but I suggested that he start taking the tincture of Teasel to see if it would help. Victoria made him take it twice on Saturday. By Sunday afternoon he was out walking the farm to see how the hay looked.

That was the most he had done in several weeks.