Used truck shopping, getting close

Since we have not gotten a single serious call on the Flex since we started advertising it over two months ago, Mama went and looked at trucks yesterday. She found a couple she was interested in so we test drove one last night when I met her at a local dealer. I liked what we did drive but I was not too comfortable with the price as opposed to the year model. So far we are going to be better off if we keep what we have.

I think she is going back today to try to talk to the used car man about making a deal on a diesel truck. It is out of our price range but compared to the used gas trucks they had to offer, it will be the better vehicle to own five years from now. If we have to finance a vehicle, my goal would be to own a worthwhile vehicle in four or five years.

I would rather get away from any loan and pay cash for a vehicle but we are six to eight months away from that. I told Mama last night that I would rather keep what we have and pay cash for an older truck, if that is what we really need, in the spring of next year. We are not suffering by keeping the Flex so at this point it would be better to wait. I doubt the salesman will go for the deal she told me she was going to offer, but I am willing to let her try.

We were out of paint last night so I put in outlets and covers in the kitchen. It gives it a more finished look. We will have our work cut out for us over this long weekend. I do know Mama is planning on buying the paint we need to finish out the apartment and I would like to start getting the kitchen cabinets set. I found the place where I can get cabinets to match the ones I have (in Austin) but I will have to set in place what I do have to see exactly what I need.

After we finish painting we will get the paper off of the floor and begin the final cleanup to get the floors finished out with a final coat of the sealer, then we can start moving stuff over to the apartment.

I am not sure if we will make it that far this weekend without help, but we are that close.

Still busy, God is still calling, color questions, excuses

Yesterday was another crazy busy day. It is not that the things I am doing are difficult but all of them seem to be completely disconnected from each other. Since there is no overlap within the various projects there seems to be no good way to move from one train of thought to another without stopping one and restarting another only to have to go right back to a thought I just stopped working through.

All of these disconnected projects require meetings and phone conversations with multiple individuals in various geographic locations. That takes time; lots of time. Most of the meetings are relatively short; half an hour to an hour. Some are very lengthy, going three to four hours or more. Last night, I finally walked out of a teleconference that had started at 1 pm a little before 5 pm in order to get home in time to get ready for church.

At church a man from our church who is starting deputation spoke last night. He is going to Xalapa, Veracruz Mexico. It was one of the least professional presentations I have ever seen. The pictures were all out of focus, the grammar used was pretty bad, and even our pastor’s portion was not well done. But the heart he has for what God has called him to do was undeniable. It all just had the feel of something you want to be a part of. We were excited and challenged by his very unpolished sermon.

What will be fun is to see what God does to him as he practices and gets more experience preaching and giving his presentation. I have seen God do some pretty amazing things with a man who fully surrenders to Him. God does not call the qualified, I have been told, rather, He qualifies the called.

Mama used the gallon of paint in the kitchen yesterday. I think it turned out to be darker than she was expecting. We did not get a chance to look at it until after church last night. Since there are no lights in the apartment yet it was difficult to tell by flashlight. I should hear more about it today when she goes out again to look it over.

 I will not be able to buy any more paint until I get paid again so I hope we come to a decision before we commit to this color. The good news is that it is only paint. We can always cover it with a color more to our liking if this one does not meet Mama’s expectations. Those of you who have helped her decide on colors know what I am talking about.

When I got home last night I told her that I must be getting ready to start because I felt blah all day – sort of depressed, but not really. I am not sure where those times come from but as I male I have limited excuses to offer when those times do come. Most times, one excuse is as good as another. It is always the little things that press on us daily that present the most challenges to our character.

I was told about a man who was camping in a remote spot and came across a bear. He prayed that the Lord would save him from the bear and the Lord graciously answered that prayer. As he lay down that night to sleep a mosquito started to fly around his head and kept him up all night. He never prayed about the mosquito.

Sound familiar?

Work and homework

Yesterday I was tied up in meetings pretty much all day. I even ate my lunch during a meeting so I could have that done in order to go to another meeting. Today will be pretty much the same with the same ending time of a little after 5 pm. It is nice to stay busy but it is also nice to have time to reflect and plan the work I have been assigned. Oh, well. It is a job security of sorts.

I have discovered that the most important function of my job is to keep things off of my bosses desk so he can concentrate on the issues more urgent for him. Another primary function is to know how to route emails in order to get answers to out-of-the-ordinary questions. That can be fun but it gets tedious at times also.

I interview five people yesterday for an open position in my group and I will have to interview at least that many for another opening created when one of my direct reports moved into another job here in the Decatur office. Both of those are good problems but it does affect the overall workload; another job security item.

Mama and I painted some more last night; cutting in at the corners. It is one of those slow tasks that give time to think and talk as we worked. We had a good time working together but eventually the fumes got to Mama and she had to get out of the apartment. She did paint some of the brown on a wall just to see if she would like it and I think she did. I will know more today when she sees how it dried. That color will go on a lot of walls.

We are going to leave the ceilings white for now so there will be a lot more cutting in at the ceilings in each room. Since we have not moved anything into the apartment it is pretty easy to get the painting done. Once that is done I will refinish the floors; they were scratched up pretty severely when the sheetrock was being put up. Hopefully, this weekend I will start putting the cabinets in place; without damaging the floors after they are finally finished.

I still do not know exactly how the cabinets will be arranged. I have a general idea but until they are placed I do not know for sure how it will all turn out. Mama is really excited about getting the kitchen done so I hope it turns out to meet her expectations.

I should have pictures next week.

My glasses, Maggie and Aaron, odors

Those of you that know me know that I have to put everything that I plan to take to work with me either in or on my lunch box the night before if it is to make it to work with me; my cell phone, my glasses, any paperwork or bills, etc. If it is not there when I pick up my lunchbox as I walk up of the door I will probably not remember to get it on the way out of the door. So I was pretty surprised yesterday morning that I did not see my glasses where I usually hook them to the lip of the lunchbox.

I knew that there was an extra pair in my desk at work so I went ahead and left the house without them after I looked a couple places I may have laid them down. Later that morning Mama called and asked, “Are you mad at me?” I immediately tried to think of anything I could have done to give her the impression that I was mad. Nothing came to mind but that does not ordinarily exempt me from culpability. So I told her I was not and asked why she asked if I was.

“Because I used your glassed last night when I could not find mine and I forgot to put them back.” I told her about the extra pair I had at work and she was noticeably relieved. She did find her glasses but it did reinforce both the good and bad of having the habit of having mine in the same place – they are easy to find no matter who needs them.

Maggie called me yesterday. She and Aaron had been to see the doctor and she was worried about her blood pressure. It was 100/58 or some number within that range. Grandma had put her in a panic because it sounded dangerously low to her. I assured her it was not a concern if that was normal for her. Besides the doctor was not worried by it so I can assume it is pretty typical for her visits.

I told her Grandma’s concerns stem from the fact that her blood pressure is normally between 145/90 to 160/110. Mine can run pretty high also. In fact a reading on my blood pressure as low as Maggie’s would only be when I was passed out. But I trained for my EMT certification with an instructor whose reading s were always 100/50 or lower. He was the one of the most animated individual have ever been around.

Aaron got to go to the visit with Maggie and was shown how to take her blood pressure as well as shown how to press on Maggie’s belly and find the baby’s head so they can monitor the position in the womb over the last month of her pregnancy. They are both pretty excited.

Mama is excited also – but from a distance. At the farm she is excited about painting the apartment. Last night she painted the bathroom with a color we had matched to a paint swath at Lowe’s. It was a gallon I had bought for $5 several months ago. The young man who helped her with the color did a great job of darkening the paint to the desired hue.  I am not sure if we will ever need to match it but it will prove difficult if we do. Fortunately it was enough to cover the bathroom and it is a very pleasant color.

I put a second coat on the ceilings as she did the bath and we were both finished about the same time. She had to keep going out for fresh air. It was pretty smelly – from the paint. Not like the other day when she fussed at me about how the bathroom smelled. She told Victoria she thought one of the dogs had pooped in the house.

 I told her most guys would have congratulated me but women see things differently.

Work and shopping, Victoria’s not so secret admirer

Mama and I worked together Saturday morning to get the primer on all the walls and ceilings in the apartment. It was very hot and pretty humid for our area. We got the entire apartment painted in a little over three hours. As I was cleaning up the roller brusher and pans I got the idea to go to IKEA to see if we could but our sink. Mama was all for that so we went.

We got to IKEA around 2:30 that afternoon and finally left at around 5:30. We looked at everything on the way to the kitchen area because Victoria was looking for book shelves and a desk. There were almost more ideas than we could process throughout the showroom but I think Victoria settled on one or two to think about and save up for.

When we got the area I was looking for Mama asked a store representative about the sink we were looking for and was told that the store was out of them. They were on order and expected to be in the delivery scheduled for Sunday. I was thoroughly disappointed but we made the most of it, finished out the showroom and wandered through the entire lower section toward the aisles where you get the items you looked at in the showroom.

Victoria got a floor lamp and Mama got a couple kitchen items. We will have to make a return trip very soon because I am hoping to get the kitchen set up this weekend. The sink will be an integral part of arranging the cabinets I do have. I have a pretty good idea of the combinations I can arrange with the cabinets I have bought but until I actually set them in place I am not totally sure how they will fit. It is fun to be this far along!

By the time we got out of IKEA we were pretty tired but I pulled into Costco since Mama had wanted to check out a few things there. When we got there it was just after 6 pm and they were closed. Once we found that out we remembered their shorter store hours on Saturday – but only after the fact. It added to my disappointment but we all shrugged it off and headed home. On the way we stopped at Sam’s and spent too much money trying to set ourselves up for the diet Mama is going on starting September 1.

Mama is going to paint the bathroom in the apartment today and when I get home I will paint a second coat on the ceilings. For the time being we are going to leave the ceilings a flat white. It was recommended by a friend who paints houses for a living. Mama and I have never fallen in with that more conventional thinking because it is a pain to trim it out. It is easier to paint the ceilings the same color as the walls but we will give it a try and see if we like it.

Yesterday we had Andrew Brooks with us (he is a twenty four old special needs young man in our church) and on the way home he invited Victoria to come over and play. He said he would teach her how to play Halo and maybe have a sword fight with his light sabers. We said that would not look good for Victoria to be in the house alone with him. He answered, “I won’t touch her or anything and if I did she could slap me and I wouldn’t get mad or anything.”

We still politely declined. He sighed. “Maybe some other time.” We didn’t have the heart to say, “Probably not… Ever”

Sheetrock is complete, shopping in Decatur, future plans

The sheetrock is completely done. Even the texturing of the walls is complete. Mama could not wait to go and get paint last night. I talked her out of ordering the main final color – five gallons worth – until we have has a chance to use a gallon of on the sealed walls. That will not be until next week some time. We did get the primer/sealer to begin painting the walls and ceilings this weekend.  Seeing the sheetrock done is very exciting. Seeing the painted and ready for occupancy will be even more exciting.

Mama even got a chance to witness to the sheetrock crew briefly. We will never know until judgment day in Heaven what effect such few words will have in the lives of those men. If and when we get to the sheetrock on the farm house – in two years or so – we will look this crew up to do the work. If that happened we will take the opportunity to witness to them once again.

Mama let me take the Flex to work today. She and Victoria are coming to town this afternoon and Mama will need a ride home while Victoria stays to sit with some children as the mommy and daddy go out for a birthday dinner. I think Mama would have ridden home in the truck with me but it made at least a little sense to have the car to get her home. The truck provides a pretty hot ride home in the afternoons but so far it has gotten me safely to and from work.

While we are in Decatur we are going to look at Lowe’s for some paint brushes and various other tools for getting the paint from the buckets to the walls and ceiling. We elected to buy the paint at the local Ace Hardware rather than Lowe’s since the price we pretty comparable and the distance was more manageable but I still need a shower surround and several other things that it is better to use Lowe’s to supply for us.

Hopefully during the final stages of getting the apartment set up – kitchen, bath, bedroom and living area – we do not run into any major obstacles. If we do we will figure them out and make adjustments but it would be nice to have this close to complete by the end of September; especially since Mama is scheduling her surgery for the first week of October.

I took a muscle relaxer last night so I am struggling this morning. I was prescribed the medication for my back pain but I noticed how the medicine also helped my colon. That is why I took one last night. I am testing to see if what I saw was related to the medication or rooted in something else. I can also use the relief from the spasms I generally endure but I do not want to take them for any extended period.

Maybe it should be a weekend only thing.

Dieting again, celestial events, fun times ahead

Mama has come around once again to the idea of getting her diet and thereby her weight under control. I am all for it and I will go on whatever diet she chooses. So far we have not made any drastic changes other than a serious refocus on what we really are eating – and not eating. Sugar is the main enemy at this point because the overarching goal of the entire process is to beat the candida issue she has constantly dealt with over the thirty one years of our marriage.

Victoria is fully on board and has lost over six pounds already. She and Mama were quibbling about some article of clothing Victoria was going to wear to church last night. It was something of Mama’s; something that she liked but has not been able to wear recently, something she was saving for when she could wear it. Finally Victoria looked at her and said, “I’m gonna start feeding you cookies.” For some reason that struck me in a way that confirmed that the change of attitude was real and could be lasting.

We got home from church a little later than usual because there was a young missionary couple there who had a very young set of twins in the nursery. Mama cannot ever resist twins. Sometimes I can talk her away from a baby she wants to get a hold of, but I never try to run the same interference when it comes to twins. She enjoyed herself as long as I could bear to wait and then I had to drag her away.

Anyway, when we did get home we had to troop out to the chicken coop to shut them in for the night and while we were out there we got to see a shooting star. It is a rare event for either of us so it was nice that we got to share it. Many months ago while I was on my way to Borger from Amarillo I saw a shooting star (a meteorite) that was so large that it lit up the sky as it streaked from very high above the horizon to almost touching it – at least from my perspective. The whole event, on that occasion, took about four seconds. Last night was the normal brief, fleeting flare that disappears before the mind can really register what just happened.

The moon was full and very bright. It was one of those nights that the moon looked much larger than at other times. I was looking at it through the large oak tree we have in the front yard trying to figure out how to capture the image – I do not know if it would be possible. At one point it drifted into a perfect opening in the branches of the tree that framed it entirely while the light filtered through the foliage around that opening; a void in the view we would not see during the day. It was a nice moment. A nice evening on the farm.

Victoria is off today and through the weekend. She and Mama have some chores they plan to tackle on the farm but they are conspiring with one of the young moms at the church to sneak off to Decatur and take her younger children out to do something fun. I have no idea what is planned but they are both excited about it. Tomorrow Victoria has been asked to watch those kids for several hours and Mama plans on coming along and shopping.

She is already imagining new outfits to compliment her new smaller figure.

New challenges and challenges met, discovery, Unhappy Maggie

I had both a blessing and a challenge at work this week. One of the ladies in my group who is a very nice person but has never been a strong part of the group gave me her notice of leaving and then moved the departure date up to yesterday. So I am left to fill her post but I have the opportunity to bring someone into my group who could be a better fit. It gives me a small challenge and a good growth opportunity at the same time.

We had a little sending away get together late yesterday. Everyone that was in the office got to say their goodbyes and well wishes and I think she was happy we went to the small extra effort. She was ready to go soon after that. Today I will pick up the pieces and see where tasks need to be moved to cover the areas of her abandoned responsibilities. We will move on and I will begin the interview and hiring process for the umpteenth time. But that is a good thing.

Mama said the guys doing the sheetrock only worked about three hours yesterday. When I got home I looked over what they had done and it was pretty good work. They accomplished in three hours what would have taken me three or four full Saturdays. It is really exciting to see this key piece of the construction getting done. If Mama can find the color she wants we could have the apartment painted by next weekend. This weekend we will get the primer/sealant coat applied; then comes the final color.

Cori reports that Mykenzie has grasped the fact that letters make up names and if names then other words as well. It is always fun to see the light come on in a child’s eyes when the black scribbles on white pages turn into words – just like the ones they are already using in day-to-day speech. Mykenzie can actually read at the very early stages of word recognition and she is very excited about the new power.

She is not as excited as her brother Grant. When he recognized that she had the power to turn the unintelligible markings into words he could understand he got extremely excited and started asking her to read anything he could find that had those markings on it. Mykenzie was quickly frustrated and announced that “she could not read everything yet.” That will come in time and Grant will be right behind her. That is exciting.

I have not gotten an early morning text today so I will assume Maggie was not up at the “crack of stupid” this morning. Aaron flew out of Juneau Monday in the early morning and spent the day in Seattle. Yesterday he flew out of Seattle to some point on the Eastern US – Virginia, I think. Maggie had no kind words about the travel planning abilities of the Coast Guard. Aaron should be home late this week.

Since it is already Wednesday she should be able to hang on until then.

Acquiescence

After devising a plan to get the sheetrock done over the next several weeks a friend of ours called a young man who is starting his own sheetrock business (following in the footsteps of his father) and they came out yesterday to look the job over. Mama really liked them and they quoted us a price that was reasonable enough for us to give them the job. They will get started today and will be done on Friday. I have to admit that it does take a load off of me and the fact that this contractor will be using a crew to do the work gives me the assurance that they will be able to meet the time table they are committing to. Mama is already planning on painting the apartment on Saturday. I hope I have enough money left to buy the paint.

In addition to the news on the sheetrock, Mama got a call from a person who is very interested in buying the Flex. He said he is limited to the amount he is able to borrow from his bank and asked her to lower the price of the car to meet that amount but Mama told him she could not do that and advised him to go back to the bank to see if he could qualify for the amount we are asking. I do not know if we will hear from him again but it was reassuring to get the call, even if it does not work out.

I spent the evening setting posts for the front porch of the apartment. I should probably say post. I only set the one. On Saturday I started the holes but because the ground was so hard and so packed I poured water into the impressions I had made in the ground and came back last night to finish the holes. I only got one to the depth I needed. The other one I refilled with water and will complete it this evening – hopefully.

I also cleared everything out of the apartment and laundry room so the sheetrock crew could have free access to all areas. There was not too much in there but I wanted to make sure they did not have to move things to get their work done. I also covered the cabinets I have setting in the shop so they do not get bumped or scratched up. They are not near the apartment but you never know what can happen when a crew comes into an area as small as the apartment. They will need someplace to set up whatever gear they have and I wanted to be ready. It is hard for me to give in and  pay to have the work done but it will be nice to have it done completely and hopefully done well.

We are having a real battle with sand burrs. They seem to be the only plant that truly thrives in the drought we are experiencing and the dogs constantly bring them into the mobile home. They also stick to my pant legs and the bottom of my work boots. So I am guilty of polluting the house as well. Anyway, Mama spends time every day getting them collected and thrown away – and still we step on a stray one in the strangest places. Last night I got one stuck in my foot while I was changing in our bedroom. I got another in the kitchen. That is why I normally wear some type of house shoes or sandals inside.

A song came to me last night and I sang it for Mama:

Little Grammy Fu Fu walking through the trailer pickin’ up the sand burrs and putt’n them in the trash.

Along came Mykenzie and got one in her toe.

She said to Grammy Fu Fu with a voice of woe:

Little Grammy Fu Fu I really need to have you walking through the trailer and pickin’ all the burrs.

Mama got mad at me because she got the song stuck in her head.

Pray for Maggie. She is having trouble sleeping; partly because Aaron is away this week in training but mostly because she is in the final few weeks of her pregnancy. She has trouble deciding which is the strongest contributing factor but when her husband returns and the discomfort continues she will have her answer.

Pray for Victoria. She seems to be one of those persons that get sick a couple times a year and each time it lasts six months. We cannot seem to get her well for more than a couple days before the malaise and low grade fever set in again. She is not really sick per se but she is not well either. She is taking Tincture of Teasel for Lyme disease. When she remembers it really helps her.

Mama and I worry about her.

Stuck with it – for now

This weekend I concentrated on getting the large cabinets ready for their intended uses. One of them had to be cut for the double oven and the other for the extra two drawers that had to be cut out of the opening for the double oven. I elected to do that instead of sheetrock work because we were going to get a couple quotes on the sheetrock. Unfortunately, that did not work out too well.

The one man from BBTI bowed out because classes are soon to begin. One person we called was not available and the one we did have come over Sunday afternoon gave me a price I could not afford. I understand the price. It takes a lot of repeat trips to get sheetrock done. Each trip requires time and time is money to an independent contractor. I was a little disappointed, but I do understand. So, as it stands now, I will be doing the sheetrock. It will take me until the end of next month to get it done –providing my shoulder holds out.

Additionally, we have had no calls on the car. We are still praying the Lord sells it for us but I am not going to go to great length to advertise it. We continue to post it on Craigslist but I am not going to pay to advertise it in the local paper. Mama and I have never been successful sellers. It is not in either or our makeup and from the beginning I did not know if the Lord was in the process or not, but we had to try, and to her credit, Mama was willing. It has been a successful exercise on many fronts, just not on the sale of the car – yet.

We still have the big dogs because Mama cannot decide what she wants to do concerning them. She finally admitted that she only wanted to get rid of them to make way for another set of big dogs. She and Victoria want to start over and hopefully get more training in when the dogs are little. We missed that time when the big dogs were pups because we did not live on the farm at the time and we had to isolate them due to a run in with a skunk early on. I do not know if it would have made a difference, but Mama and Victoria think that way.

I got diesel for the tractor early Saturday since Mama has been using it to brush hog the pastures. Even though the seven foot cut of the brush hog makes a sizable swath through the weeds and tall grass covering the meadows it takes quite a bit of time to get the mowing done because there is a lot of land to cover. She has been making some headway and where she has cut the weeds it looks pretty good. As a consequence of being in the dust from that process she got something in her eye and it scratched the eyeball, giving her some pretty severe pain.

We went to Wal-Mart one evening to get some solution to flush and lubricate the eye and within a few days she was feeling better. Saturday she spent the entire morning out on the tractor. It is easy to tell where she has been working, but it is equally easy to see just how much there is yet to do.

At times like these we really miss Grandpa’s help. We will each eventually get the things done that seem to be taking too long to get done at this point and little steps forward are their own reward when the task at hand is great. We just have to keep pressing forward without taking too much time to admire our work – until it is done.

That will be some time away.

Pray for Maggie. She is only weeks away from giving birth. These last weeks are the most uncomfortable and Maggie is doing her best to deal with it. For now, she will have to stay pregnant regardless of the discomfort. That part of having a child will be over soon and the real work will begin.

We are all pretty excited.

A little rain, stock report, supervising

It was a real blessing to wake this morning to the sound of thunder and rain. It was not raining hard which is an added blessing. We need this rain to sink in as far as possible before any run off occurs. We will take what we get and thank God for it but I still have my ideas of how it would be best done.

Dodger was, as usual on weekday mornings, ready to go outside as soon as I walked into the living room but when I opened the door to let him out he backed back into the room. I left the door open as I got ready to go and he stayed there looking out of the storm door. When I finally gathered my things and headed out the door, he went also. I am not sure Victoria and Mama will be happy about that later this morning when they get up. He tends to be an especially smelly wet dog.

Mama is starting to be very happy with the brood of chickens she raised this summer. I am hoping they start laying soon but it may be next spring before we get any eggs out of them. We are planning on catching the rooster this evening and trimming his spurs. He is doing his duty to the harem of hens but in so doing he is denuding the backs of his favorites. It is not the healthy chicken look Mama is wanting for her hens.

We are both very pleased with the way the steers and our heifer are looking. While the drought continues in our area we are blessed with some healthy cattle. We are not alone. Most of the cattle in the immediate area are looking slick and healthy. I am sure those ranchers know what to expect if they have been raining cattle for any time at all, but for me and Mama, it is very satisfying to see them doing well in spite of the weather.

I would venture to guess that our herd is the most spoiled of any bunch roaming the fields in Montague County. Mama has made it a habit to feed them Monday and Friday mornings and they have made sure they are assembled as required for that feeding but lately they have been begging extra. Every time Mama makes her evening rounds for the horse and chickens, they have been in the lot lowing as though they are starved to death.

Granted, there is little to eat in the pastures so we have been supplementing with hay, but they do not need the sweet stock they are begging for. But like Rosie and Dodger begging at the table, Mama feels obligated to give them something because they are so darn cute when they beg the way they do.

We have had no calls on the Flex. I have done a little looking and I am confident the price we are asking is a fair price. If we are not able to sell it at the price we are asking (which is $2000 below what we owe) I will plan on keeping it. At the very least it has brought Mama into the realm of financial planning. We are still praying that is sells even at the loss but God knows our needs and we do trust Him – even when we want out particular outcome.

I got a sudden two week notice from one of the ladies that works for me. It was not entirely unexpected because her focus has not been at work lately and I have had to intervene more than usual into her activities. In the long run it will be a good choice for both her and for my group. Now I have to hire someone to backfill her position, get that person trained and then reassign all the work I will have to push out to my group in her absence.

In the meantime, another of the ladies in my group has applied for another job here in the Decatur office. If she gets that position, I will have to replace her also. I am not overly concerned about the changes or the process of replacing those within my group but it adds to the list of little things that have to be done rather quickly yet with great attention to detail. There is always a little apprehension when hiring a person into a working group, especially one made up of all women. That does not change even if the person you are backfilling needed to be moved out of the group.

Plenty of change ahead. I guess that is why I am still here.

A new thought, bottle babies, Mama

In church last night our pastor had Bro. Walker preach since he and his family are still in the area. He preached out of the Song of Solomon in a way I have never heard it presented before. He presented it as a picture of how Christ lives the church and how we ought to also love the Lord; so far, nothing really new. The “shepherd boy” of chapter one, whether a representation of Christ or King Solomon in disguise, yields the same outcome.

The Shulamite woman, the bride in the story, is spoken of in chapter one as being despised of her family, so constant in tending the vineyard that she had no time to make herself presentable ( a Cinderella of sorts), yet the shepherd boy fell in love with her, promised to return for her and took her to the palace. In the palace she describes her love in such glowing terms that the other women she is with long to meet him – even though they are already married to him.

His point was that we ought to also describe our Lord in such terms that others would long to meet him. We ought to desire to be with him and when separated from Him be desperate to be reunited with him – as was the woman in the story. Like newlyweds, who have trouble being apart from one another even for the hours one is at work, we ought to be that desperate for the Lord’s presence in our lives. It was a great message.

This morning’s ride to work was almost pleasant. The outside temperature was 64®F. Pretty soon I will have to wear a light jacket as I drive to work. Looking ahead for the next couple of months the temperature is going to drop pretty drastically. We are ready. With the change in temperature it would be wonderful if we got more rain also.

Mama contacted the man who sells us the bottle calves and he should have some ready at the end of this month or the beginning of September. Mama and I are asking for six. I do not think we should do any more than that – especially if we have to do it on our own. Grandpa has walked away from the bottle calves since they failed to meet his expectations last time.

Mama and I are anxious to keep it going on a small scale for the beef and for the pleasure of raising animals. Whether we make money or not, it brings a little money to us and it helps feed us.  The six calves that we still have are getting pretty big and in spite of the drought, they are looking slick and fat. Thank the Lord we have water in three ponds for them to drink. It saves them having to walk across the property to come to the barn for water.

Mama is getting a haircut today. To hear her excitement about it you would think some monuments event was taking place in her life. That’s what makes her so fun to live with. I cut my hair every week and I never look forward to it.

Some things I will never understand.

Finding shade, feeding issues, our very spoiled stock

We have some pretty large elderberry bushes growing on the north side of the old farm house. They are a favorite afternoon hideaway for the big dogs. The bases of the plants have been dug around until there is a hollow big enough that it will take a full scoop of dirt in the tractor front loader to backfill it. It has recently become a favorite cover for the chickens also so I was not surprised to see about ten of the hens sharing the dog-made cavern with Sam – one of our Great Pyrenees. I should have gotten a picture.

The cattle have been hanging out near the big pond – which is now, sadly, not so big. There are some cedar and willow trees in the dry creek beds that lead to the pond and they tend to stay cooler than the meadows exposed to the full sun. Mama has developed a routine of feeding grain to the herd on Monday and Friday mornings and they have grown accustomed to the practice. They will come into the corral and start bawling on each of those two mornings. They tend to be up much earlier than Mama.

After they jockey for position at the feed boxes and suck up (literally) as much of the special treat as they can they will get a long drink of water and mosey back to the pond area. Mama usually separates out the smaller three to feed them separately so they will have a better chance at eating an equitable portion.

They have figured this out too and the three smaller ones will gravitate to the feed box where they are used to being fed. It is fun to watch – when I get the chance. She has to close them in behind a gate so the greedy larger steers won’t push them away from their portion of grain. We let them out only when all the grain is gone.

Speaking of feeding grain to our stock, as I was working in the apartment I heard Mama scream and shout at one of the animals so I ran out to see what was going on. Misty was in the calf lot with Mama and she was behaving very badly. I could see why Mama was yelling and scared. Misty was bucking and kicking the air – sometimes very near to Mama – trying to knock out of Mama’s hand the bucket of feed Mama had intended to give her. In fact, Mama has a scrape in one forearm where Misty grazed her.

I grabbed a stick and hit her in the first place that came in range. Then I smacked her hindquarters so hard it broke the stick. She came at me again and when I did not back down she bolted for the pasture where we normally keep her.  She only throws an attitude like this when there is feed involved. At other times she is calm and sweet and loves attention any time we make it available to her. But I cannot live in fear for Mama and Victoria when they tend to her so we are going to have to make some arrangement to get her trained or find her a new home. I prefer to train her.

There is an inherent danger to having spoiled animals – especially ones that size.

Minor accomplishments, lots more work

If ever I have been a “three steps forward – two steps back” time in my life, I am in one right now. For everything I do get accomplished it seems to create two more jobs that need immediate attention. But I suppose that is life on the farm – and life doing building projects. While I am building it will continue as it is now – at least until I get some help.

On Thursday last week I texted Wes Bowman to see if he knew anyone in Bowie who does sheetrock work and he responded that one of the men at BBTI does that type of work. He is currently away but Wes indicated that he should be available to talk to me today or tomorrow. I just need a little help so that I do not have to string out the sheetrock completion over the next two weeks or so. I will eventually get it done but I am getting tired and frustrated by all the other things that also need to get done – so a little help would be very much appreciated.

I did get all the cabinets built last weekend and yesterday. I still have a good bit of work to do on the double oven cabinets but they are assembled and waiting installation. I also got the double oven tested and it works perfectly. While I was at it I tested the microwave and it too is functioning as it should. The dishwasher is another story. It is junk so if Mama decides she wants a dishwasher in the apartment, we will have to buy one.

I was laying in bed last night trying to remember if I planned for a dishwasher in the layout of the kitchen and I am pretty sure I did not so if we do get one I will have to make that correction also. It is not a big deal but it is another one of those little projects that will take all afternoon or evening to complete. But the good news is that we are close.

Saturday evening Mama and I tag teamed some brush hogging in the front pasture. When I went to check on her she gave me the tractor and she went back to the house. She was expecting to be able to finish the area she had been mowing in a half hour. I did not think that was even close but I took over and continued. Over an hour later, as darkness fell, there was still a lot to cut down to complete the area we had been working on. Grandpa makes it look so easy.

Victoria put the Flex on Craigslist Sunday and we got a call right away. That call turned out to be a scammer but at least we know the posting was successful. We are praying the car sells quickly but it is all in God’s hands. I few are not able to sell it, it will not be the end of the world. But it would be better to get it off our financial books.

Time will tell.

VBS finale

VBS ended with a bang. The carnival was set up in our gym, on the parking lot and in several grassy areas. Mama and I worked at a game I the gym where inflatable bouncy horses were ridden around inside an inflatable track. All the play areas or games were inflatable except the Gospel train which was made from fifty five gallon drums and was pulled by a 4-wheler. There were about one hundred and fifty kids and many of them brought their parents and grandparents.

Since it was the final night there were grand prizes given out as the winners of the points competition were announced. Victoria and Mama somehow ended up with the chore of tallying the points for each child. Since we are new to the church and they have done this VBS several times there was plenty of coaching from the parents who were scheming to make sure their child won.

 I am sure one of the two parents obviously pressing for their child to win would have taken over the tally but that might have looked even more suspicious. I do hope there are no repercussions from the count but in little things like that it seems that people get their feelings hurt very quickly.

In doing the final count Mama and Victoria missed the entire service where Champ, the miniature horse helped Bro. Walker preach the message. Victoria was a little upset by the goings on but Mama is used to dealing with little rivalries among competing church parents. I am sure the same ones win every time but it would be nice to give some of the nice prizes to the children that do not attend at our church. I have yet to see that happen.

All in all it was very good. There were twenty five children saved and many who’s hearts were stirred. I was also very tiring. The pastor shut down the carnival at 9 pm and the busses were lined up a few minutes later. The kids would have spent the entire night there if allowed but Mama and I were ready to go home. I felt a little badly that I could not stay for the final cleanup but Mama and I kept the area we were watching over cleaned as we went. It was after 10 pm before I got into bed. That may not sound late for some of you but for me that is a little on the late side.

Mama and I are going out this evening for our anniversary since last night was spoken for. This weekend is Trade Days in Bowie and we are looking forward to going.

It should be a fun weekend.

VBS, heat, pressing on

VBS has been great. It does make for some late nights for me, but it is worth the little sacrifice. I can attest to the fact that I have had no trouble getting to sleep once I am home in bed. I had almost forgotten just how much Mama and Victoria get into the excitement of VBS. It has been fun to see Victoria really enjoy herself. I do not get to see that very often.

It has been miserably hot over the last few days. When I got to the farm yesterday the temperature was just topping out – at 108®F. Today is supposed to be about the same. Grandma and Grandpa have elected to stay in West Virginia through August and come back some time in September. With the fields burned up and the temperatures in the triple digits it would be a good idea even if Grandma was not still recovering from surgery.

I would like to have Mama and me in the apartment by the time they get back but I am not overly expectant on that front. The main hold up will be completing the sheetrock and I have made no headway on that for several weeks now. I called someone who was recommended to me but he has not returned my call so the plans are that I continue to do it myself which will add a couple weeks to the completion date.

I should be able to complete assembling the cabinets throughout the week next week and if I concentrate on the kitchen and bathroom, we will be close to being able to occupy the apartment by the time Grandma and Grandpa arrive. I won’t say, come home, because I am not sure where home is for them right now.

I told Mama last night as we were driving home that I think Grandpa’s sense of expectation of some glorious success in living on the farm has been shattered and I think he is having trouble dealing with that. He has typically not been one for the long haul although he has put together a five year plan for the farm. So far we are a couple years behind on the plan but at least we have a plan in place.

I have to smile when I realize we are not alone in this. The pastures might be dormant if not dead and the tanks may be drying up, but the cattle are still thriving and we have water enough and feed enough to make it through one more year. We are really doing pretty well and if nothing else, we will eat well since we can turn our cattle into beef.

Grandma’s brother, Stanly Paul Lawrence, also known as “Hooker” had a work model of looking for “big bucks, no whammies”. All his life he chased one pot of gold after another while his brothers got jobs and worked a daily grind. Even if Hooker’s life had not been cut short in a tragic auto accident, I could predict who would have retired more comfortably. I am afraid Grandpa and Norman are stuck in that same mindset and it is ultimately debilitating, often destructive.

Thank you Lord for the good job you have given me in spite of the fact that many times I do not like it. Help me keep pressing on.

VBS, me and Mama

Last night at VBS we had about one hundred and thirty kids. Things went without a hitch and we ended up getting home a little before 10 pm. Victoria really enjoys these kinds of events and last night she was helping with the kids coming back into the sanctuary after they had talked with the altar workers. One particular little man gave her quite a challenge.

I should not call him a little man. He is only five years old but is over four feet tall and weighs at least one hundred and thirty pounds. He is a short-round Hispanic boy. We are seating the children by the grade they are in school. When I asked him what grade he was going in to and he said, “I’m Pre-K” my first thought was “yeah, right” but he really is. He is a good kid but last night as the service was ending and snacks and dismissal were at hand some of the kids were starting to get restless.

When Victoria asked him to set down and be quiet he had a little attitude to throw at her. One of those “you’re not my…” She calmly stated that he needed to respect his elders, do what she had asked him to do and to do it now. He asked, “Do you work at a Day Care?” “I used to but I don’t right now. Why?” “You remind me of someone,” was all he said as he did as requested. That made her evening.

We also got to meet the horse and dog that travels with the Walker’s. The horse is a little (32” at most) gelding that Bro. Walker has trained to do all kinds of little things from running obstacle courses to answering questions he is asked. Last night when the question was posed about the possibility of the boys winning the contest for overall points, the horse shook his head that they would not. When asked if the girls were going to win he nodded.

The dog is a Papillion, which looks like a large Pomeranian.  She also performed a few tricks just to whet the imaginations of the children in attendance. Both the horse and the dog, which rides in on the horse, will be used in the sermon on Thursday night.

Mama and I will be married for thirty one years tomorrow. It does not seem like that long ago that we met much less got married. It’s been a great time so far and I am looking forward to another thirty one or more years ahead – if the Lord tarries. Hopefully by that time Mama and I will actually have gained some wisdom in life and love.

One of the ladies that works for me here in the office in Decatur has a small whiteboard the she posts pithy sayings on weekly, if not more often. The one written for this week is, “I am beginning to think I will never be old enough to know better.”

True that.

New management, a hot commute, VBS

I had the opportunity to meet me boss’s boss yesterday. She is younger than I had expected but seems to have a good grasp on what is required to lead from the level she now has in the company. She is an impressive individual and will be a great resource for us in the months ahead. She had an afternoon meeting with our group here to talk about the vision for the company from our local perspective and all told, it was encouraging.

When we saw the numbers for the budget for next year it was a pretty significant shock – much less than we had expected. When we finally got into the longer term outlook, the conversation started to improve. We will see how it all pans out, but for the moment, the outlook is less dim than any of us had anticipated and there might be a hint of something good coming to our area here in the Barnett Shale.

As ConocoPhillips recognizes our contribution to safety and improved performance there is talk of using this area as a development area for new personnel to be brought into the company. We would become the training ground for new personnel. The company would hire employees into our area and we would get them up and going during a one or two year period of mentoring and personnel development in several disciplines, then they would be shipped off to other parts of the company where those skills are needed. Not a bad deal.

I am driving the little truck to work right now so we can save mileage on the Flex as we try to sell it. The truck does not have air conditioning and with the temperatures in the triple digits, it is often an uncomfortable ride home in the afternoons. For now, I plan on using the little truck for the rest of this year and into next Spring in order to level out our finances so it may be worth making some repairs, but I have not decided what and how much should be done.

I enjoy driving the truck and in a couple months, as the weather cools down, it will not be as unpleasant  but for now I use the time to acclimate to the heat I will have to be working in as I work to complete the apartment. I gave this week to the Lord because I realize with our participation in VBS each evening I will not get any work done at the farm, but I know it will be a blessing to participate. Maybe there is another very productive weekend ahead of me.

Since I had to stay later than usual for meetings and since Mama and Victoria were coming to Decatur for VBS I stayed in Decatur and met them at church around 6 pm. That left me a little time to look around at Lowe’s and Tractor Supply. I do not often get the opportunity to just spend time looking so it was a relaxing time for me and that was a good thing because when I got to church, things were hopping.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, but I saw the pace they were keeping and about 8:30 I headed home so I could get things lined out for today and still be in bed before 11pm. I am not much of a late night person since my day usually starts before 5 a.m.  Mama and Victoria got home a little before 10 pm only because they left before the final dismissal – which followed snacks and getting everyone onto the right bus for transport home.

Tonight we will do it all over again.

Great weekend

This was a very productive weekend. I had some help on Saturday morning into the early afternoon because one of my coworkers came over to help me assemble the large double oven cabinets. We made quite a few mistakes on the first one and had to rework a couple of issues but we flew through the second one. He was on his way home by 2 pm. I did not want to take his whole Saturday.

He brought his 4 year old with him so Mama and Victoria had a playmate for the morning. His name was Caleb. He was a pretty good kid considering how boring what we were doing was to him but when he was not inside with Mama he made himself at home in the shop and we stumbled around him as needed.

One of the real blessings was that Curtis brought his Kreg jig. I am not sure how we would have assembled the cabinets as effectively without it. I had never used one before but Nate and I had talked about the jig while we were in Florida. Now that I have used one I will definitely get one. I feel much more confident about the cabinets than I would have without the additional screws hidden in the construction.

After Curtis and Caleb left I took a two hour nap; my back needed the rest. When I got up I assembled two more cabinets. I only have four left and all that I have bought will be ready to place in the kitchen. I know I do not have enough to fill the kitchen but when I ordered them it was on the fly and I did not want to over order. I am hoping to fill the rest with open shelving but that will be another work in progress.

Yesterday we had some awesome services at church. In the Sunday School hour a young, second generation missionary to Sri Lanka, Nick Sorrell gave a presentation about his work and a small devotional. It was so moving that everyone I talked to wished he had been given more time. As it turned out our pastor felt the same way and asked Bro. Sorrell to preach the morning service.

He spoke out of Acts four and five how the church went from being in one accord and having all things in common to Ananias and Sapphira and the deceit that cost them their lives. He related it to the everyday and how we battle against the “sins that do so easily beset us” and that the battle will never be over until we are seated in glory with the Lord. It was a great message about not giving the devil a place (as evidenced in those verses); about fighting even though you do not seem to be winning, about doing right when everyone you know counts you a fool.

That evening the crew doing our Vacation Bible School rolled in. I think we are in for a real treat. I just hope I get to stay in town this week.

More discussion needed

Maggie and I talked for a while yesterday. She is in the last trimester – only about six weeks to go – and she is ready to have the baby. I cannot imagine the discomfort to the woman but I have shared the male side of the experience several times. As we were gathering for a meeting yesterday I asked one of the newer guys in the group if he had children. He has two; two years old and fourteen months.

Another guy who is new to the group has five girls ranging in age from several months to eleven years. I was relaying to them my discussion with Maggie in her first pregnancy and the engineer with the five girls described his wife as “the perfect pregnant lady.” I remember Mama that way also. She enjoyed being pregnant. It was the three months following delivery that was harrowing.

I asked Mama last night why women concentrate on describing intimate details of the delivery and do not spend any time getting young, first time, mothers ready for the difficult times that immediately follow. When hormones are really flaring up and the body is recovering from the pains and stresses of the birth. When there is little sleep as you and the new baby discover that part of the day is for waking and part for sleeping. When the post-partum blues kick in and the romantic notion of having this cooing wonderful bundle of joy is scattered because the baby cannot seem to rest and the new mommy cannot rest. When depression strangles the sleep deprived and stressed heart of the new mommy and she struggles to love her baby and herself. When nothing the new daddy can say is reassuring enough and nothing he does is comforting enough. When breast feeding fails and every type of formula tired is regurgitated with impressive velocity and more volume than what was eaten. When the new daddy figures out he really did not know what this was all about. When Grandma has gone back home and all the burden and blessing of care is on the two new parents.

I am not trying to say I did not enjoy parts of those times of adjustment, I am saying they get left out of the narrative for new parents. The fortunate part of the initial phase of getting a child absorbed into your life is that it is generally accomplished in a few months as mother and baby learn how to communicate. The baby learns the mother’s touch and voice. The mother learns the baby’s voice and can discern between discomfort – a wet or dirty diaper – anger and hunger. She understands what comforts and what irritates her child and concentrates all her efforts on the comforting items.

That was the part I loved the most of our infant children; when I could see the bond forming and strengthening. At that stage my interaction was limited to helping where I could so I had plenty of time to watch. I learned to fall in line and do things her way even if I did not understand why it needed to be done her way; diapering, making bottles just so, sterilizing nipples and bottles just so, etc. When she needed rest (which was quite often initially) I took over caring for the baby – sometimes with a less thankful heart than I should have had.

I would often come home from work and spend the next several hours taking over while Mama went out for a walk or to the store; anywhere just to get out for a little while. Those were wonderful and difficult times and I would not trade those memories for anything. They were times when Mama and I learned to love each other more deeply than we had before and rely on each other more than we had before; to learn that we needed each other more than we realized before. Through patience, trial and error and with lots of love, the bond of family grows around the new arrival. It is a necessary part of life – especially with the arrival of a new life into the group.

I just wish that was part of the discussion for new parents.

Buck sighting, sleep troubles, growing up

In order to return one of the company trucks to the office I rode with a coworker to his house to get his personal vehicle. It was about a thirty minute drive by the route he took; he purposely took the longer, more scenic route.  At one point on one of the lesser traveled roads winding through the rolling hills of this area of Texas, we were paralleled by a trio of bucks.

Their racks were in velvet and the smallest one was an eight point. The larger two were well over that count. We slowed to let them cross the road in front of us on their way to the more wooded side of the road. One of the bucks miscalculated the jump a smacked into the fence with the full momentum of his run. After he bounced off of the roadway and scrambled for footing he ran a bit and got over the fence successfully. I have not seen a sight like that for many years. It made the entire trip worthwhile.

I have been having a good deal of trouble sleeping lately. As I lay in bed last night trying to get back to sleep it occurred to me that I had better check the meds I was taking. It turns out that one of the common side effects for Prednisone (I am taking it to help reduce the swelling in my lower back.) is insomnia.  A secondary, albeit noticeable effect I am dealing with, is mood changes.

That coupled with the stomach discomfort is enough to make me consider discontinuing the regimen but I have been warned that tapering down the dosage and slowly backing off the medicine is the best course of action. At least I have an idea what could be going on. I am more than half way through the prescribed regimen so I will follow through as directed but it is no fun to have medicines mess with my head, my sleep, my weight and my mood.

Neither Mama nor I wanted to go to church last night. Terrible isn’t it! In moments like those we do what we know we ought to do and we got dressed and went anyway. It has always been a behavior that pays rich dividends. Last night was no exception. We had a guest speaker who talked about serving God out of fear when we first come to Him. Later we serve Him because the rewards of doing so are obvious in the daily course of our lives. When we mature in our relationship with the Lord, we serve Him out of love.

He related it to childrearing. When our children are very young they obey out of fear; fear of punishment that could follow disobedience. As they grow and take on responsibilities of adolescent and teen years, they obey because we are able to reward their behavior with privileges and perks – staying over with friends, driving the car, etc. But later they obey out of love.

If my Dad were to call me today and request my help, I would drop everything and go. Not because I fear him or because I expect to get something out of it, but because I love him.  And so it should be. I hope my relationship with the Lord is maturing to that level.

It is hard to believe that today is the first of August.