Quick Updates

I between meeting and travel I have a few minutes to make some updates for all of you.

I am in the panhandle of Texas this morning and will be traveling to the panhandle of Oklahoma in a few hours. The purpose of all the travel this week is to do mid-year reviews with all my direct reports. So far those have gone very well. I have to admit that the training I got last week in Houston has given me greater insight to the way I needed to conduct these reviews. I have one more today and one tomorrow before I can head home.

Mama and Victoria are lazing around the farm this morning. It is Victoria’s day off. They are planning on going to see the house being built by one of the ladies in our church and her husband- whom we have not met. From the pictures we have seen, it is beautiful. It is a metal frame home like Mama and I have talked about building; until recently.

At this point Mama has said she will be satisfied if we get to remodel the farmhouse into the salt box style home I have planned. That alone will take me over a year and will probably not begin in earnest until the summer of next year; depending on what we find as we tear apart the structure of the house. I am sincerely hoping that we will not have to demolish it and start over but we will know in time.

I did get to have dinner with Makaila and Chase last night. We spent most of the time talking about the job he has. He seems to be enjoying it thoroughly and he is building an impressive set of skills for the future. I did not talk to the two of them about spiritual things but I did get the impression that they are slipping away from the constants that Mama and I have tried to instill in Chase over the past nineteen years.

Only our God really knows the heart. We still have God’s promise that if we train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.

I am holding on to that promise.

Travel notes

Last week passed by pretty quickly. Mama and I were on the road Monday through Friday. We visited with Grandma and Grandpa Kline twice; once on the way down to Houston and on Thursday as we came back through. We visited with Joshua in Victoria on Wednesday and spent the night with Russell and Cindy Chambers while we were there. We spent the majority of the day with Mom and Dad on Thursday. We got back to the farm on Friday at about 5 pm.

Mama and I are still pretty concerned for Joshua but he is faithful to “his church”. We really wanted him to go to Western Hills Baptist with us but he was adamant that he would only go to his church. His pastor has everyone that joined the church sign a pretty detailed letter of commitment that makes missing a service a pretty serious offence. Hopefully Joshua will come to the point of following the Holy Spirit rather than following a man.

Cindy and Russell are doing very well. Cindy is the daughter of the pastor of the church Joshua goes to so there is prayer needed in their lives as well. They celebrated their fifth anniversary while we were down there. They do not have children yet because Russell has insisted they be out of debt before Cindy gets pregnant - we will see how that goes, but for now he has maintained his stance.

Mama and I went to Western Hills so we could see the family that we had there when we left over twelve years ago. Pastor and Wilma look just the same. Martha Robinson looks the same. Ray, her husband is struggling physically but they are still very faithful. Debbie Rodriguez and her daughter Jesse were there also. Wayne is still working on the church every day – he is 91 this month. We stayed for over an hour after church was over just visiting with everyone. I believe it was the highlight of the trip for Mama.

My Mom and Dad are doing well. They do not attempt much anymore so they are pretty sedentary from day to day. They have good friends that come to see them regularly and Martha, my sister, and her children are close by and help to meet some of the more immediate needs they have.

 I talked to them about Mama and I coming down to get them after Christmas when we are planning on having Maggie come down with her new baby. Cori, Nate and the kids should be there as well and Chase is planning for the visit also. If it all works out it should be a full house and I know Grandma and Grandpa Kline would enjoy the activity for a day or so.

Grandma and Grandpa Thaxton left for West Virginia yesterday morning. They are planning on staying until March of next year. If they do we will have plenty of room at the farm to house everyone, but if I know Grandma they will not miss the gathering of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren at the farm in December; time will tell.

Saturday we got almost two inches of rain. It was both a blessing and a curse. The rain came down so hard that it flooded the shop in several places. Not bad enough to cause any damage but bad enough that I have several items added to my repair list. This week will be a good time to work on those items because I am out of materials for the apartment and I am out of money to get more materials.

I will have plenty to do when I get back to the farm on Thursday evening.

Emergency trip, winter improvements, a pleasant evening

Mama and Victoria left the farm in time to meet someone in Denton at about 7 pm. Victoria had found a listing on a two year old female miniature Dachshund and the lady “re-homing” the dog was willing to meet them at Sam’s. I am not sure if they got the dog or not but I did hear a lot of barking about the time they should have gotten home. I had been in bed for a while at that point. I will find out more today.

Mama was doubly excited because the same person who has the little dog has Hampshire pigs also. I have talked about getting a couple pigs in the spring so we can have them growing up on the farm. I am interested in the meat they produce. Mama is interested in having little piglets. I am sure we can eventually work something out to meet both expectations.

Yesterday Grandpa spent the day rearranging the large shed in the calf lot we affectionately call the barn, so we could have a place for Misty to winter over nearer to the calves we are also wintering over. That way Mama will not have as much trouble ensuring all the livestock has access to water through the months when the hoses we use to supply that water will freeze making it very difficult to get the water to the drinking containers for the stock; especially the way we currently have Misty set up.

Grandpa had originally talked about building a small shelter to serve the same purpose for the horse but he came up with this idea after he had built a feeding area in the shed for the cattle. The way he has that set up will work very well for Mama and Victoria to get feed to the often anxious herd without having to get into the lot with them when they are jostling for positions at the feed trough.

It took the steers a couple of days to adapt to the new feeding system. Every new thing to them is frightening. It is only a long feed trough with boards attached to the front that allow the cows to stick their head through to get to the feed. What it really does is limit the area of the trough that each bovine can control by sheer body mass as they compete for feed. It gives a better chance for the little ones to eat without getting butted out of the way.

Grandpa also cleaned up several areas of the calf lot from accumulated debris and combined all the combustibles in one pile for incineration. We decided in the early evening that it would be a good night to get that done. The burn ban has been lifted in our area and the ground was still fairly wet so we set the pile on fire. It was wet enough from recent rains that it burned slowly and the fire spread on the adjacent ground only a little way from the bonfire. It turned out to be a perfect night to get it done.

We stood and talked as we watched the fire burn. I have always enjoyed that kind of moment. I guess the coyotes do also. As soon as the light began to fade they were calling back and forth to each other from some hideaway that was close enough that they sounded very near, but far enough to stay out of sight. I realized again what a challenge it will be to have sheep while they are lurking around.

Mama and I will be on the road all next week. She is really looking forward to it. I am too, but not in the same way Mama is. I have to get thought Monday and Tuesday before I am on vacation.

Emergency trip, winter improvements, a pleasant evening

Mama and Victoria left the farm in time to meet someone in Denton at about 7 pm. Victoria had found a listing on a two year old female miniature Dachshund and the lady “re-homing” the dog was willing to meet them at Sam’s. I am not sure if they got the dog or not but I did hear a lot of barking about the time they should have gotten home. I had been in bed for a while at that point. I will find out more today.

Mama was doubly excited because the same person who has the little dog has Hampshire pigs also. I have talked about getting a couple pigs in the spring so we can have them growing up on the farm. I am interested in the meat they produce. Mama is interested in having little piglets. I am sure we can eventually work something out to meet both expectations.

Yesterday Grandpa spent the day rearranging the large shed in the calf lot we affectionately call the barn, so we could have a place for Misty to winter over nearer to the calves we are also wintering over. That way Mama will not have as much trouble ensuring all the livestock has access to water through the months when the hoses we use to supply that water will freeze making it very difficult to get the water to the drinking containers for the stock; especially the way we currently have Misty set up.

Grandpa had originally talked about building a small shelter to serve the same purpose for the horse but he came up with this idea after he had built a feeding area in the shed for the cattle. The way he has that set up will work very well for Mama and Victoria to get feed to the often anxious herd without having to get into the lot with them when they are jostling for positions at the feed trough.

It took the steers a couple of days to adapt to the new feeding system. Every new thing to them is frightening. It is only a long feed trough with boards attached to the front that allow the cows to stick their head through to get to the feed. What it really does is limit the area of the trough that each bovine can control by sheer body mass as they compete for feed. It gives a better chance for the little ones to eat without getting butted out of the way.

Grandpa also cleaned up several areas of the calf lot from accumulated debris and combined all the combustibles in one pile for incineration. We decided in the early evening that it would be a good night to get that done. The burn ban has been lifted in our area and the ground was still fairly wet so we set the pile on fire. It was wet enough from recent rains that it burned slowly and the fire spread on the adjacent ground only a little way from the bonfire. It turned out to be a perfect night to get it done.

We stood and talked as we watched the fire burn. I have always enjoyed that kind of moment. I guess the coyotes do also. As soon as the light began to fade they were calling back and forth to each other from some hideaway that was close enough that they sounded very near, but far enough to stay out of sight. I realized again what a challenge it will be to have sheep while they are lurking around.

Mama and I will be on the road all next week. She is really looking forward to it. I am too, but not in the same way Mama is. I have to get thought Monday and Tuesday before I am on vacation.

My morning, babysitting, minor repairs

My morning started off with some excitement – sort of. One of the tires on the little truck blew out on my way to work. Fortunately, I was not far from home when it happened and since Grandpa and I had worked on the truck just a few days ago I knew the spare was no good. So I pulled off to a safe place and texted Victoria. I knew she was either up or getting up to go get the kids Mama and Grandma have been watching.  That was at 5:05 a.m.

I drove the Flex to work and I will have to work it out with Grandpa to get the truck back to the farm. I can always call triple A and have Mama meet them to get the truck hauled back but I will see what Grandpa wants to do first. The bad news is that now I have two vehicles that need new tires. That could put off getting me and Mama moved to the apartment for a few more weeks. Oh, well.

Mama and Grandma have decided that watching these children will not continue past this Saturday. It is a lot of work on Grandma who is really not up to it. Just the couple hours I have been home before the children have been picked up is enough to drive me completely crazy. I never realized how much more lenient Mama and I are with children than Grandma is. Her, “children should obey instantly and without question” does not translate well in practical applicability especially with children that have no real discipline in their lives.

On Mama’s part, I do not think she fully realizes just how much work was being done by the children she had in the home while she was babysitting children in the past. Now that the full load of the responsibility falls to her she is beginning to think she is getting too old to do these once familiar tasks. When you have three to five helpers it is far more pleasant to care for young children. Doing it all on your own is often tedious and tiring.

Much of what I have done on the shop and apartment I have done by myself so I am familiar with the pitfalls of taking on too much work at one time. Besides, with Mama still not fully ambulatory, it makes the labor involved very strenuous. Even taking the little one to potty requires movement that is painful for both caretakers. So I think they are done with this experiment.

Grandpa and I will rework the garage door over the next couple days and I am almost confident that we can get it operating properly. When we do accomplish that it will change how we are able to work in the shop and with the cooler days upon us, it will be nice to have a garage door to open.

I am looking forward to next week. The training I have to take in Houston will not be too taxing and the following days of vacation and visiting are timely for me. It has been pretty busy at the office. With the end of the year upon us we are starting the reviews and rankings that we go through each year to determine raises and bonuses for each individual employee.

It is my least favorite time of the business year.

Babysitting, play practice, Mom and Dad

Mama and Grandma were worn out by the time I got home yesterday evening. Even though the little girl, Hailey, had slept for three hours in the late morning she and her brother had been very active throughout the rest of the day. Since Mama is still recovering from surgery it was a challenge for her to keep up the pace. Grandma was hurting before the day began but she hung in there through the entire day. Trying to get Mama to keep still was her biggest challenge.

The children are not bad. You can tell they have been disciplined by their parents, but they are three and four years old. It is pretty obvious that they are used to the television being on at all times even though they do not have any real interest in watching what it being broadcast. They asked several times to have a movie played only to get up and start playing with other things as soon as the movie started.

Mama is not one to have background noise so that did not fly with her. As soon as the kids were up she would turn off the TV and they would immediately ask, “Why did you turn it off?” “Because you are not watching it?” she would answer. It was clear they did not understand how that worked.

We got the chance to meet the parents just before we left for play practice. They are pretty rough, but they are respectful and they seem to love their children. They work installing the pipelines that are being built and buried in this area. He is a bull dozer operator and the wife works as a general laborer with him.  I have no idea how much money they are able to make doing what they are doing, but at least they are out there working.

I am not sure how long we will be helping with the kids but it gives Mama and Grandma something to do that allows them to earn a little bit of money. Grandma is not excited about next week when Mama and I will be gone, but I think she is willing to carry on. We will see.

You would have enjoyed Mama at play practice last night. She was coached by one of the men in our church that had some educational background in drama. He was having trouble connecting with her while trying to get her to speak up so the eventual audience would be able to hear; yes, Mama. At one point he put the other person – the daughter in the play – across the gym from Mama and had them do their lines while that far apart. It worked. I know she will do fine but she is not sure of it.

I called my Mom and Dad last night after I spent a few minutes talking to Joshua. I had not heard from Joshua in quite some time so it was nice to be able to reconnect. Talking to him reminded me that I needed to make sure Mom and Dad were going to be home next week. Mama and I are planning on being there on Thursday so we can spend some time with them.

It was a little sad to hear that they are pretty much home bound now. I asked Mom if that bothered her and of course it does, but neither of them have the energy to get out much other than a trip to the store. Dad will turn eighty eight or eighty nine this year and Mom is only five years behind him, so I suppose it was bound to happen sooner than later.

It is still a little bit sad to hear.

Rain, minor repairs, packing up, babysitting, play practice

We finally got rain. Through the day yesterday we got 3.25 inches of rain. More was expected last night but I could not tell this morning if it had rained or not. We did have a couple wet areas in the shop so I spent the first part of my evening at the farm getting a place sealed up on the corner of the roof where the taller part of the shop structure joins the shorter part. I will know if I got it the next time the rain blows in from the southeast.

The garage door seems to have held out the rain but I will know more the next time we get a storm from that direction. Grandpa and I still have to adjust it to make it operate properly and I am hoping we can get it done before he and Grandma leave for West Virginia. They are starting to pack up right now and are thinking about leaving next Friday. That is the day Mama and I are planning on coming back from our trip to Houston, Victoria and Chappell Hill.

Mama and Grandma will be busy today. They are watching a three year old little girl and her big brother - four years old. Victoria met with a couple last night at the McDonalds in Bowie after reading an add looking for babysitting help. Victoria thought the position was one that would allow her to quit Wal-Mart and go into this fulltime. That is not how it turned out.

The couple works as a team on the pipeline crew laying transmission lines for the oil and gas industry. While they are in this area they are looking for help with the children so they can work full time. Victoria could not say no and Mama and Grandma backed her up on it. She is picking up the children each morning at 6 a.m. and keeping them until the parents get them at 6 p.m.

So far everyone is excited about it. Time will tell if they can keep up the pace. From what Mama was able to gather last night from speaking to the mother, they will be in this area through the end of the year, but that is not a certainty. Over the next couple of weeks we will be able to tell if this is an arrangement that we can work through with the intent of helping out this young family – and Mama making a little bit of cash to get her dogs with. It is something I prayed for but I was not expecting this.

Mama and I have to leave before the parents arrive this evening because she has play practice at the church tonight. She is not overly excited about it but I am thinking she will warm up to the idea at some point – when she applies herself to learn the lines. She only has eight lines in the opening act, but she is still terrified about doing it.

It is fun to see her stretch out a little. When we get into things like this is when I start to think again that it would be nice to be closer to the church, but my timing is off by a little on accomplishing that.

We will see how God works that out at some future date.

Rain? Trade Days, beaten by a door, going to the dogs

After preparing for rain since Friday it finally arrived this morning. The forecast is still for several inches of rain but I will believe it when I see it. From the reports I was hearing on the way in this morning all the heavy precipitation has already fallen and caused flooding and other problems in areas south of us. We will be happy with whatever we get but we could use a lot.

Victoria, Grandpa and I went to Trade Days and Grandpa took his time going throughout the entire area looking for particular tools he and Norman are trying to reacquire – Norman sold off all the ones they did have. He went home empty handed but Victoria and I each got a couple small items.

Mama and Grandma came to Trade Days also and we met them after we had been there about an hour. They did not last long. I think they were there about twenty minutes before they were both hurting too badly to go any further. Mama had to rest the remainder of the day. It has been only four days since her knee surgery.

Grandpa and I struggled with getting the lifting mechanisms on the garage door Saturday after Trade Days but we finally gave up in the late afternoon. No matter how we adjusted the cables on the sides of the door the door still cocked to one side or the other as we raised it. I got it to go up smoothly for about a third of its necessary distance, but after that I ran into problems I could not seem to solve. We will try again this evening. I think we will eventually get it but I was completely worn out Saturday night.

Grandma and Grandpa are getting geared up to return to West Virginia. I think they are planning on leaving as soon as Mama and I get back from my training in Houston. We are planning on traveling to Houston on Monday, I have training on Tuesday. The remainder of the week we are planning on visiting Joshua in Victoria and driving from there to see Grandma and Grandpa Kline in Chappell Hill. It could be a long week overall but Mama is looking forward to it.

We will be back on Friday night or Saturday morning. I think Grandpa is planning on heading out Saturday morning. Since he does not go to church, he may choose to travel all day Sunday. I am not sure yet. I do know he is anxious to get started on a couple jobs Norman has lined up for him. I hope things work out the way he is expecting them to, but with Norman I am never quite sure.

Mama and Victoria are getting very serious about getting several dogs to start a breeding program. I am not enamored with the idea because I have not heard any planning other than buying animals. I am listening for hints on how they plan to house and clean up after the dogs. They are already counting money from the sale of pups not yet born. I do not think either of them has considered how much this will tie them down and Mama has never been one to be tied down.

Of all the refuse from all the animals one can have on a farm I hate dog poop the worst and I am curious to hear how we are planning to mitigate the accumulation of said manure. Since they are talking about having three or more breeding females and the males required for the procreation of puppies, I envision seven to ten dogs – when we do not have puppies.

I am not looking forward to this business venture.

No sale, sticking to the plan

The realtor we used when we bought the farm two years ago came out to give us her opinion on selling the farm and it was a little less than I had expected. Her appraisal was that we could sell it like we bought it, as land only. All the building we have done and the mobile home added nothing to the value of the property and could not be advertised as living space – as far as resale value is concerned.

On the bright side, the value she assessed to the farm was about 35% higher than the price we paid originally, so we still have some equity built up in the property. The bottom line is, we will stay on the farm and continue with the five year building plan I have laid out for the completion of the shop, the house remodel and the building of the log barn. In the end we will have more than we could have bought in any other property.

We are still forty minutes away from church but we will adapt to the distance and the time it takes to drive it. What that takes away from our lives is more than recompensed in the time we have week in and week out living on the farm. So now instead of looking at houses, Mama and Victoria are looking at dogs.

Grandpa spent the day cleaning up piles of debris – not really trash but cut limbs and accumulated brush. I had mentioned that while the kids are visiting this fall we can burn the wood we have stacked in various places. It is always fun to do those types of things when it is cold outside. I think that image inspired him to get some things rearranged. The resulting look is very nice.

I spent the evening getting the end of the shop where we installed the garage door ready for the rails and springs to be attached. By Saturday evening I hope to have the garage door operational. The next step will be to install a garage door opening system. I am sure Mama and Victoria will enjoy having a place to park out of the weather this winter.

We are supposed to get several inches of rain over the next five or six days. For those of you still trudging through waters left by the recent tropical storms that have soaked the vast portions of the United States that does not sound exciting. For us here in the very dry south, it is a very exciting prospect.

Recent gentle rains have caused the grass to start growing again and the cattle are loving the tender shoots of green. Now we are praying for the run off that will fill the tanks (ponds) that have been decimated by the drought. It would be nice if the large pond on our farm was ready for fishing when we have visitors after Christmas.

Grandpa and I are planning on taking the time to build a shelter for the horse in the calf lot so Mama does not have to run hoses to fill a water trough for her through the winter. I am looking at getting two pigs to raise through the winter which will necessitate moving Misty away from where she is taking shelter right now; in the pig building.

I am not sure if we will get it done or not before Grandma and Grandpa head back to West Virginia.

Yesterday’s events

Mama’s surgery went without a problem yesterday. It took her about four hours to really wake up from the anesthetic but other than that she is doing quite well. I met with the doctor after her surgery and he was not too happy with the results. He told me that what he had done will buy her some time but the damage to the knee was too extensive for him to really fix in an arthroscopic procedure. Like the last time we visited in such a manner, he hoped he bought her five years or more before a total knee replacement is required.

We got home about 3:30 pm because I took a detour to look at a property Victoria really liked. By MapQuest assessment it was about twenty minutes from Decatur. That turned out to be a little longer than it actually was, but from the initial look of the place I was not overly thrilled with it. Granted, we will have to schedule a closer look if we really want to know the particulars but I will not be rushing back.

I also took Mama to the place I would buy if it were possible. It is one of those items in the Christian walk that Paul spoke about when he said that all things are permissible for him but not all things are expedient. We will know more today after the realtor comes to look over the farm. I will be interested in her reaction to the changes. She is one of the few people who know the mess we walked into in our initial look at the farm over two years ago.

When I did get Mama home and set up on the couch I immediately went out to help Grandpa work on the lights on the little truck. We were successful in most of the repair we were able to do but I still do not both of the license plate lights working. I will have to buy a small part for the full repair. Grandpa was able to get the pigtail for the trailer working fully, so that was a blessing.

What I did not know until after we were started on the truck was that the water was not working in the house. So, after we got the wiring on the truck wrapped and sealed we moved over to the well house. Our initial suspicion was that the problem was the pressure switch but after we spent the time going to town to get the replacement parts and installing them the problem remained.

I took down the control box that routes the power to the well pump and as soon as we opened it we knew we had found the issue. In the control box there is a set of four wires that engage the pump based on a signal from the pressure switch. All the wires in the box had been stripped of their insulation by mice – whose nest we had to remove from the box.

Once we repaired the wires and set everything back in order, the pump started operating properly. The bad part is that by that time it was 7:15 pm. So we missed church.

While I had been waiting on Mama at the hospital Grandpa and Grandma took our biggest steer to the meat packers in Windthorst, TX. We will have to call sometime next week to tell them how we want the meat cut and wrapped and I will have to make sure we have the money to cover the costs when Grandpa and Mama go to pick it up, but we will have our own beef in the freezer.

It has been a long time since we have had that luxury.

Lots of little things going on

After I got home last night I helped Grandpa get the stock trailer ready to take one of the steers to the butcher shop. We had a tire blow out on it as it sat in place at the farm. I suppose the heat got to it. I do know that it was far better that it happened as it sat than while we were in transit with a load of cattle.

We also worked on the little truck to see if we could get the license plate lights working but we had no success there. I left it at the farm so Grandpa could look it over and see if there was an easy solution. I told Mama, if nothing else, I would use a flashlight to light the plate when I traveled to work in the early mornings. Batteries are not cheap but they beat a ticket any say.

Mama and I are in pretty desperate need of a lawn mower. The one we have been using has died on us and needs to be scrapped. Mama and Grandpa want to get a zero turn mower but I balked at the $3000 price tag – at least for now. The whole idea of the things we have set in motion recently is to get out of debt, not take on more. It is something I am praying about because it is a genuine need – a lack that really bothers Mama.

Sunday we had a change in our normal plans because we were scheduled for play practice at the church at 3:30 in the afternoon. Since it would have seriously curtailed our nap time we elected to spend the afternoon in Decatur. I thought that rather than stay in Decatur we should go to Costco – about an hour away – because that was we could make the most of the hours we had. Mama and Victoria were all for that, so off we went.

We had lunch at Chipotle, a half hour out of Decatur, and went on to Costco which was another twenty minutes away. Emily, our rider from BBTI hung in there with us through the afternoon. We spent about an hour in Costco and then headed back to Sam’s where we got the last of our very important items – dog food. We even made it back to the church in time for the play practice. The whole excursion actually went so well we decided we might do it again soon.

After paly practice – Mama has a pretty big part in scenes One and Two – we took Victoria over to visit with the foster children Mama and I had met before. She loved it. So did Mama. The possibility of us getting these three children is pretty remote because the training, home study and required background checks take between four and six months. The foster mom is pretty sure the children will be placed in a “foster-to-adopt” home within the next couple of months.

Mama has started the process of getting us registered for adoption, or fostering, I am not sure which will come about at this juncture in our lives. I do know that we would be open to whatever the Lord has for us to do with respect to helping children.

We are still looking at properties and Mama has warmed to the idea of being closer to the church and the church family. We are not committed to selling or the move resulting from that sale but we are looking carefully and prayerfully at the options. As we sat outside and enjoyed the peaceful feel of the farm last night, the thought of selling the place seemed far away.

Driving in this morning brought it back to reality.

Schedule change, shop work, planting time

Mama and I were all ready to go to the hospital this morning but before we left she called the doctor’s office to get information on a call she received on Thursday evening last week. She had called back on Friday but it was after the office had already closed for the day: at noon. What the receptionist could not tell her in a voice mail was that her surgery had been cancelled for today and rescheduled for Wednesday. It sure changed our plans for the day.

Mama was all geared up for the day and it was a little exasperating to her to have her entire day thrown into disarray on such short notice. Grandma and she were discussing the non-merits of the “patient privacy” law that has worked pretty much backward from its design from the time the government implemented it. That was what was cited by the receptionist as her reason for not leaving the reschedule information in the message left for her on Thursday. It definitely would have allowed us to plan differently.

Anyway, I came on to work. There is never a shortage of things to get done here and I needed the break after the work Grandpa and I did over the weekend. Grandpa brought a garage door back from West Virginia and even though it was a foot smaller that the opening I had made in the shop we retrofit the opening to make the door fit. Not only did we get the garage door installed but we sealed up the opening on the other end of the shop so we could eliminate the tarps before the winter winds begin to howl. We were both dragging by the end of the day.

We still have a lot of work to do to get the garage door functional but it will all be inside from this point on. I hope to have it done during the week but knowing Grandpa it will wait until this coming weekend. Either way we should have a working garage door so Mama can park the car out of the elements this winter. Providing we are still at the farm for the winter.

Today Grandpa is going to scatter the winter wheat seed we bought last week on the portions of the large meadow he prepped for the seed. We did not do the whole thing, only the parts that had been taken over by the weeds that multiplied during the drought. It is our hope that the wheat will hold the ground against the weeds until we can get the coastal grass to take root. We will see if that plan works or not.

With Mama’s surgery and the delay in getting the realtor to the farm to give us an estimate on the worth of the farm we are pretty much on hold as far as looking at properties for sale in the area, but that has not stopped Mama and Victoria from combing the web for listings. I think they have five or six prospects lined up for us to view as soon as we determine that we are moving forward with marketing the farm.

I really do want to get Mama closer to the church.

Meeting nice people, weekend plans

I got the chance to meet a very nice Highway Patrolman this morning. I was close to Bowie and I never make the speed limit (75mph) in that old ranger pickup, much less exceed it, so I was not sure just what had piqued his interest. It turned out that the lights that should have lighted my license plate were not working. The ticket he gave me was a warning only since my driver’s license, registration, inspection and insurance were up to date. I will add those lights to the growing list of items to fix.

Mama called a realtor yesterday. She is the same one that worked with us when we bought the farm two years ago. We are very interested in the market value of the property we now own because it will determine the cost of any other properties we might desire to purchase. That will not happen until next Thursday but by that time perhaps we can get a few things cleaned up around the place and really make it look nice.

Grandpa and I are going to install the garage door he bought in West Virginia this weekend. We will get the lumber needed for the project today and hopefully get started this evening. I will also close up the opposite end of the shop so we can have things sealed up before winter. Both of those projects should add value to the shop building since they will make it look more complete. I will have to throw away one of the two tarps that have been in service on the ends of the building since the wind and sun have pretty well taken it to the end of its useful life; but they worked while we needed them.

Last night I finished the refitting the cabinet I have been working on. I will stain and urethane the raw edges tonight and we will put it in place in the kitchen tomorrow. I need to get it out of the way so Grandpa and I can work on the garage door at the north end of the shop where I have the cabinet staged. Mama is excited about the cabinet since it will have five very large drawers, an open shelf large enough for her mixer and several other items, and a two door cabinet on the top. It is, after all, an eight foot tall cabinet.

Mama is coming to town this morning to babysit for one of the ladies who used to be in the church. Her husband took on the youth director position at another local church and the ladies of that church are getting together for a retreat. Mama will get the two girls off to school and keep the three year old until their daddy gets home later today. Of course her proximity dictates that I take her out to lunch today.

Sunday we are going to have to stay in Decatur through the afternoon. We have accepted parts in the Christmas play and there is going to be an initial reading of the play at 3:30 that afternoon. Since we do not usually make it home much before 1:30 any given Sunday afternoon, it may not make sense to travel to the farm and back in that short a time frame. We will see how that plays out.

Mama already misses her nap for that coming afternoon.

A personal story

In giving his personal testimony last night, the visiting evangelist told several stories of how he had conscientiously steered clear of church and church people through his younger years. Early in their married life ha and his wife had purchased a ranch in eastern Colorado and there, at the continued invitation of his wife, he had finally agreed to go to church – one time and one time only. He was unimpressed by the preacher’s demeanor but was very impressed by the power he had in preaching.

He said the sheepish little man stepped behind the pulpit and became warrior for the Lord preaching with passion against every sin he had ever committed, every sin he was thinking about committing and several he had not yet thought about committing. It was the first time he had ever heard the gospel presented. He left church that morning at a dead run.

Saturday of that week he got up and started working on the barn he was building on their small ranch and just as he got on the ladder, a car turned into their driveway. At the time they owned two fairly large dogs. They had named one Preacher and the other Deacon. Well Preacher and Deacon began barking and started to bite the tires of the offending automobile.

He shouted to the dogs, “Preacher! Deacon! Get up here now!” The dogs complied quickly and lay down at his feet. As he was scolding the dogs for their bad behavior, he saw the two occupants of the car running towards him as fast as they could. It was the preacher of the little church he had gone to Sunday and one of the deacons with him. (It took some folks a few minutes to get it but I thought it was hilarious.)

He went on to say that when everyone realized what had happened and caught their breath they went into the house to visit – him somewhat reluctantly. The preacher asked him if he knew if he died today would he go to Heaven. He responded that short of a couple of major sins he had done about everything else so he was pretty sure he would not. So the preacher asked if he could show him in the Bible how to know the way to get to Heaven.

The evangelist told that his father, who had grown up in a devout Catholic home but was no longer interested in anything religious had told him that “every word in the Bible is true.” So he told the preacher if he could prove it using the Bible he was ready to listen. He got saved that morning. Though it was many years before he settled on the calling God had placed on his life, he can always go back to that morning that he heard the plan of salvation for the very first time.

We were crying and laughing through the entire recounting of the many experiences that led him back to the Lord after he began running away, but it showed the graciousness of God towards all of us. He said the thing he lacked most in that time was Godly integrity. The integrity God alone can give us to enable us to maintain our witness unimpaired by the seemingly overwhelming temptations and trials.

I feel so easily impaired in my walk and witness. I have a long way to grow.

Property, adoption, Grandpa’s help, revival

Victoria has become an active participant in our search for properties. She has found quite a few that are worth giving a second look, but so far, none of what we have found have had the combination of items that would make us feel right about trading them for the farm we now have. Still, it is fun to have her involved.

Mama has begun making the contacts necessary to formally investigate the possibility of adopting again. She has found out that in October of next year Child Protective Services (CPS) will no longer be handling adoption and fostering in the state of Texas. I am not sure what the whole story is, but all foster and adoption services will be handled through private agencies. This can be both a blessing and a hindrance. We will have to see how it affects our query.

It is good to have Grandpa back – if only for a short time. They are planning on returning to West Virginia late this month. They feel Norman and Seth have greater need of them than Mama and I do. I cannot argue that point, but it does slow us down on work related to the farm. Mama and I will eventually work it out but it sure is easier when Grandpa can put in five hours or so per day.

Yesterday he cut, raked and baled the meadows. We got twenty seven bales of pretty good looking hay; not much, but it is better than nothing. He also trimmed the fence line along the road. It really looks good. The weed eating is something I have difficulty with because it hurts my back. Grandpa seems to be able to do it for hours without any pain in his lower back; another thing I will eventually have to take over – but not yet.

He has also been working on some problems we are having with the wiring in the apartment. It is something else I have to leave to him because he is the one who planned where power would come from at each juncture. He has gotten all but one of the problems I found worked out so I am pretty confident he will get everything right very soon.

Obviously I have not been able to get much work done in the apartment since we got back from traveling to the panhandle but I have big plans for this weekend. Grandpa brought back a garage door that we are going to fit in the north end of the shop. I will also frame out the south end so we are not dependent on tarps to keep the weather out during the coming winter.

The revival services have been great. The theme is Integrity. The preaching has focused on maintaining and persevering in integrity. It has been a little difficult on me because of the shortened sleeping hours but it is always worth the extra effort. The preaching has been phenomenal.  Attendance has been good – about the same as or better than most Sunday nights.

That is an encouragement to our pastor.

Property searching, visiting little ones

Mama had to come to Decatur pretty early yesterday for the pre-op work required for the surgery she has scheduled for next Monday. Since she had a couple things to do here she decided to stay in town for the day and since she was here anyway I found a couple properties for her to go look at. I took her to lunch since her birthday was on Sunday and we did not get the chance to go out that particular day. (Any excuse to go to lunch will do for Mama.)

After I took her to lunch we looked for one property that I had found listed but the address was not correct – a least as far as MapQuest was able to find it. I thought all of the farmettes I found listings for were pretty close but one was about twenty miles out of town – much more than I expected. It was doubly inconvenient because it was a real dud of a property. Even though she enjoyed the driving around looking at properties that was not the real reason she stayed in town.

She and one of the ladies from the church had scheduled to meet after I got off work so we could go and visit with the little girls that are in the foster care home next door to hers. She lives in a very nice subdivision just outside of town in the company of doctors and lawyers. If we could buy her place I would do it in a heartbeat even though it is only seven acres.

Mama was interested in the pool and I was gawking at the very large metal buildings that her late husband ran his electrical business out of. Her son runs the business now. Everything was clean and very neat – and oversized. Just the way we like it. Anyway, she walked us over to the neighbor’s house and there was a place set outside for the girls to play while we visited.

The oldest is a very active four year old. The foster mom says she wakes up every morning with that same exuberance and energy. She is a delightful child. She showed me the outside of the home as she rode on my back. Later we drew with chalk in the driveway.

Mama and the foster mom hit it off extremely well and were sharing telephone numbers, adoption information contacts and scheduling future visits by the time we had been there a short while. I am not sure if Mama came away convinced of her desire to take on the challenge of raising the three little ones or if she started to doubt her ability to do so. Time will tell.

Peggy, our church friend, went into the house and got the three month old while Mama entertained the 20 month old who insisted on staying on the familiar lap of the foster mom. As we visited, Mama got a book and began to read it out loud. She was on the second page when the middle child came over to take up a spot on her lap.

All of the children are little “chunkers”. As Mama read to them I could see that it was a little bit of a strain for her to balance the two girls and still keep the book in place. We were outside on regular folding chairs – like we use at church.

It was not the best of venues to fill up a lap, but Mama was in her element.