Blah weekend, bills, correction

Mama and I had a blah weekend. Neither of us felt inspired to get into too much so we did not. I cannot remember getting anything significant done although I am sure I did something of value. I just could not work up the energy to get started on the trim work because the shop was cold and wet through Friday night and Saturday.

It rained all day Saturday. I do mean all day. I took care of the farm chores because Mama did not feel well and I got thoroughly soaked in the morning just getting feed to the chickens and Misty. Feeding the bovine herd is not too much trouble because the work is mostly done in a barn that does not leak as badly as the chicken coop or the hog building. It is also a shorter walk from the shop. In the pouring rain it makes a difference.

Sunday was not much better for Mama. When we got home from church she and Victoria slept for several hours. I made dinner late and we ate after the two of them had gotten their naps in. None of us were hungry because we had eaten breakfast at church during the Sunday School hour. We also snacked during Children’s Church as we were giving the breakfast leftovers to the kids in Children’s Church. Eating a late lunch cut down on the normal foraging through the kitchen after church.

We got a whopper of an electric bill this weekend. It was for the last month when the temperatures were below freezing for about ten days. The bill is almost $400. That includes the mobile home and the apartment so I suppose it is not too awful but it was considerably larger than any we have received in the past. It was due to happen soon especially as Mama and I occupy the apartment. I also did a large amount of work in the shop last month.

It is still not as bad as some of the electric bills I got while we lived in New Jersey. Several of those were in excess of $700 per month. I practically made the kids freeze one winter during the month of January only to discover that it made almost no difference in the overall price since the increase was related to a “delivery” surcharge.

Nate, Cora and the kids are getting things together to make the trip to the farm on Christmas day. Mykenzie made a packing list to use for her items. Cori sent a copy by picture. It was really cute. What impressed me even more is that a six year old saw the need to make a list. We are going to have to watch that one.

On another child moment, Friday night was RU at the church. In the men’s discussion group one of the men who was recently saved shared an experience with his four year old. He, the father, was a huge fan of rap music. (Music is one of those things people have a hard time getting rid of once the Holy Spirit indwells us. So it was for him.)

The first principle of RU is “If God’s against it, so am I.” as he and his son drove home one evening after work with the rap music playing, his four year old asked if the rap blaring out of the radio was a particular artist. Dad answered that it was; impressed his son recognized the performer. His little man asked. “Do you think Jesus would like it? Nooo!” Dad stared in the rear view mirror for a moment, then shut the music off. When he got home he rid the entire house of all music he knew the Lord would not approve of. That all happened before we started the RU program. The simplicity of a child in spiritual matters is wonderful.

Out of the mouths of babes.  (Matt 21:16)

Moving, shopping, getting ready

Mama and I took the opportunity to move our bedroom to the apartment last night. After all the moving and getting things arranged and cleaned, we were both pretty worn out. We both slept very well in our new digs. It will take a lot more work to get everything done and it will take some getting adapted to finding everything in its new location but I think it will be a great little living area for me and Mama for quite a time.

I got to sleep in this morning because I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for 9 a.m. It went much quicker this time than the last time I tried to do the same thing. I was on my way to work by a little after 9:30. That put me in the office at a much better time than when I did this last Thursday. I thought about getting the appointment for the last week of the year but now I am glad it is done. We should all have our paperwork completed by year end.

Mama is planning on meeting me at work this evening. We will go to Denton and do some final shopping for Christmas giving and for the visitors we will be entertaining over the holiday weeks coming at us quickly. I am still not sure what we need to get but I think Mama has a good idea. We have to be done pretty early because we have our weekly RU meeting at the church at 7 pm. Denton is about thirty minutes away on a good day. Tonight might not be a good day depending on the weather.

I am looking forward to tomorrow to have the full day to work on the trim I need to complete but have been waiting for the time to complete. The forecast is for rain all night tonight and all day tomorrow. The total accumulation is predicted to be about two inches over the forty eight hours and we still need it badly. At least this weekend the temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing for the most part. We could have some ice but it should be short lived.

I am hoping all the moisture we get will run off into the ponds and tanks so they begin to fill over the winter. It would be a real blessing to have the big pond full so the fish population can grow again. Right now it is about as low as it has ever been – at least it was the last time I looked at it.

There should be enough warmth over the Christmas holidays that Nate and the boys can test their hand at catching a winter bass or catfish. The weather over that period of time is pretty unpredictable but the forecast looks good so far. Mama and I are going to clear out a large area in the shop so the kids will have an indoor play area when the weather keeps them from getting out.

We are blessed to have the extra room and will be great to put it to use; especially that use.

Church events, Christmas prep

The year is rapidly drawing to a close. I still maintain that the coming calendar change is not so much a new beginning but the continuation of this brief life under a new budget. There are many things that I wanted to get done in 2013 that will have to wait until 2014 or later. Obviously none of them were life-altering projects but all of them were on a now faded to-do list that Mama and I had put together. I am sure we will generate another list for the coming year and I hope it is an ambitious list because I would rather the year end with tasks still in the works than to end with little or nothing to do.

The little ones had their Christmas program last night. It was one of the better programs I have seen. The three and four year olds acted out, in costume, the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby as the older ones read the Christmas story. It was beyond cute to see a three year old Mary and a four year old Joseph stand at a manger with a tiny baby doll.

They did the shepherds coming in from the fields but they did not have enough actors to do the wise men. They did add the story of Anna and Simeon to their little production – which was a nice touch. The young man who stood to represent Simeon while the story was read obviously did not like the fake beard he had to wear. He kept worming his mouth around to keep it from tickling his nose; which only added to the tickling effect.

One little girl, I think she is nine or ten, sang Silent Night with such a strong southern accent that I got out my phone and recorded it after she had begun. Her dad was sitting right in front of us and I remarked that we can tell she is from the south. He proudly admitted that, “she gets that from me.” That is true.

We exchanged gifts with those who had brought gifts and the church handed out goodie bags with fruit and candy to all in attendance. There were some who brought gifts to be delivered by the teens of the church and Mama and I each got a gift from friends in the church. Mama felt badly that she did not know that was being done because there are some who she would have liked to give small gifts to also. We will be prepared next year.

Our Christmas tree is still undecorated but it is making the mobile home smell nice. I think Mama is planning on getting things like that done today as we also prepare to move our bedroom into the apartment. I am ready for the move and I think Mama is getting there, but I am not sure how the dog situation is going to work out since she plans on having Rosie with her and leaving the other two dogs with Victoria. I guess she will be dog sitting through the day.

She and I talked as we traveled to and from Decatur last night about what remains to be done for our Christmas needs and plans. Last week she was a little put out that I had limited the amount of cash I gave her for gift shopping, but I explained that we also needed cash for food and extra travel while the kids are in visiting over the holidays.

As she laid out what we still needed to do and to buy and how much cash she had left of what I allotted her, she realized why I had limited the initial outlay. We will still fall within the budgeted amount overall, but she was a little taken aback by how much it would cost when everything is included.

Good thing one of us keeps a budget.

Floor plans, figuring things out

Mama and I had a good night last night. It was such a pleasant evening that I opened up the garage door in the shop and set some boards up to have a coat of poly urethane applied. The look of the finished wood was beautiful. I went on to cut several more pieces so Mama could continue the process today. The boards will be used to trim out the windows in the apartment.

She and I took some time to finally decide how we want to set our bed in the bedroom so that we have a plan in place for the things that need to fit in the room with the bed. It would be much simpler to arrange without nightstands, dressers and lamps but those are necessary items. When we started settling in on a plan for the layout I realized how small the room actually is. I could have sworn I built it bigger than that; but it is only an apartment.

I was lamenting the fact that we have so much still to do at the apartment, the shop and elsewhere on the farm but the Lord showed me one more time what a tremendous blessing we have in the apartment, the shop and the farm. It really is not a burden, it is a challenge. We have come so far in only one year; there really is a lot to be thankful for. The future work will help me stay busy for a couple years to come.

Mama was cleaning in the apartment yesterday and the sun hit the oven in just the right way so that she could see spider webs in between the glass plates of the oven doors. Later that evening, when we were working by lamplight I got to see the webbing also. I have no idea how to clean it out but it does show that the oven was not used very much. That it was not used much is a good thing. That the spiders moved in is not.

I will try to blow the webs out of place so we are not constantly looking through them as we use the oven, but I can only push them one direction and I am not sure how that will work. I did get the air compressor fixed last night so we will have it available to see if we can clean up the visual interference.

When I picked up the boards I would use for the base trim in some of the apartment I picked up a piece of laminate covered particle board also. It was an awkward size and I had made no plans for its use. As Mama and I were discussing getting the kitchen ready for use I realized I could put that piece on top of the cabinet we will eventually top with a butcher block countertop from IKEA.

After I attached it to the cabinet we found that it would accommodate all four of the chairs we have for the tall table we used in our apartment in New Jersey. At least we will have a place to sit and eat while we take care of other more immediate needs.

It’s fun to see things work out.

Shopping, weather, moving

Mama had a productive day yesterday. She came home with quite a bit of items and still had a portion of the money we set aside still left. We are slated to go back to either Decatur or Wichita Falls later in the week but the time has not been set. Mama is wanting to move during the fair days and shop during the foul days; we have several of those headed our way this weekend.

People here are a little gun shy after the last weekend when we had with three to four inched of ice on the roads and even more on the fields. But this weekend it is supposed to be well above freezing so we are not looking for anything but rain. There could be the possibility of freezing on the bridges but that should be about it.

We got very little accomplished last night. I met Mama at Lowes and we looked for several items in addition to the lumber I was there to get but we left with almost nothing but the lumber. When we got home I changed and took a lot of measurements but I did not get to do any cutting.

 I did get the curtain rod hung in our bedroom in the trailer and I fixed a lamp that needed new parts. Other than that I took apart the air compressor outlet regulator to see if I could replace it. I really rely on it to power my nail guns when doing the trim work – which is the majority of what I have left to do in the apartment.

I was hoping to have the materials to do the roof on the tall part of the shop while I had help here over Christmas but it does not look like that is going to happen due to lack of funds. Eventually it will get done but it will not be this month. It will be a really big help to me in the shop when I do get that roofed and sealed in.

Last winter all the chickens pretty well quit laying. We were getting three or four eggs per day. This winter it does not seem to be the pattern so far. We are getting nine to eleven eggs per day. It should be fun for the grandkids to collect them while they are here. We have plenty of people to share them with. One family in particular that is new to our church loves the farm eggs.

They recently relocated from the mission field in Mexico back to this area because the place where they were working became too dangerous. There is an average of four murders per day in the town where they started a church. They left pretty much everything down in Mexico so they could leave in as inconspicuous a manner as possible. Among those possessions left behind were their chickens. So they really enjoy the eggs.

Our Christmas dinner and the Chinese Gift giving that is customary with it got iced out this year and we will not be able to reschedule it. However, this Sunday morning we are having a breakfast at the church during Sunday School hour. Mama was looking for ideas for a breakfast dish.

I volunteered that it should have a lot of eggs in the recipe.

The play, the double oven, shopping

Getting through this weekend was a bit of a marathon. With play practice Friday night and again Saturday afternoon it swallowed up the majority of our time and attention. The performance of the play was on Sunday night and it went without a hitch – that anyone in the audience could tell. There were lines left out and lights left on at the wrong times, but all in all, it went very smoothly. Everyone that was in attendance thought it was a success in both presentation and content.

The true measure of the event was that a young lady visiting relatives saw the play, heard the pastor’s plea for a lost sinner to come to know the Lord and she came to the pastor after it was over and asked him to show her how to be saved. That made it all worthwhile.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment I got to install the double oven we had bought on Thursday night. I had to do two additional retrofits for the oven since it was significantly larger than the original oven the cut out was made for. By Saturday day afternoon we had it set in the cabinet; as far as it was going to go. I would have needed to cut away almost the entire face of the cabinet to get this oven in place as it was designed so I met the manufacturer half way. I will have to box in what sticks out, but it will be worth it. Hopefully no one will easily notice the fit – only the function.

After play practice Friday night we went to Lowes to get a Christmas tree. It was still pretty chilly outside so Mama and Victoria had the tree picked out pretty quickly. We could not find help so Victoria and I ran it through the netting dispenser ourselves. There was a young lady in a booth in the outdoor area and she rang up the purchase by ducking back and forth in and out of the heated enclosure. The tree was half price so we ended up paying only eleven dollars for it. Mama was thrilled.

Once we got it home it did not take long to get it trimmed and set in the stand. It is now sitting in front of the north facing window of the mobile home. I am assuming Mama will find the lights and decorations in the near future and get it properly dressed, but today she is going shopping with one of the ladies from the church. It will be an all-day affair, especially if Mama collects me after they get back so the two of us can do some shopping at Sam’s.

They are going to Denton to finalize some Christmas shopping. I have the salve ready for the financial wounds about to be inflicted by the outlay of cash this morning. She has a budget to meet and I am not sure if she will make it with the list she has recently generated, but we will see. She had an ambitious agenda of gifts but I am not able to meet that agenda so she is working on the B list right now. Before she comes home there may be a C list generated.

But she will be shopping – and that with a friend. She is very excited. She asked me to pray that her knees would hold up to the strain of being out for several hours. I had to admit that that is not a prayer I truly favor praying since the longer she stays out the more it will cost me.

But I will give it a hearty attempt at sincerity.

Cancelled appointment, heavy traffic, moving

I did not post anything yesterday because I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning and when I got to work I had to hit the ground running. The doctor’s appointment took much longer than I had thought it would and I did not even get to accomplish the intent of the visit. I was there for a physical related to the program we are getting into to foster or adopt.

We got to the office and did not have to wait very long to get into the exam room. Once we in the examination room and my vitals were taken, we sat; almost a full hour. During that time Mama and I made several calls to the agency we are trying to get set up with to find out what blood work was needed. That’s when I discovered we had not done the homework required to meet the goals of the visit.

We were supposed to have completed a questionnaire and have our doctor sign the paperwork to be submitted to the agency. We had not gotten that done so I walked out of the examination room and told the staff at the counter we would have to reschedule the appointment. I was not overjoyed about the time wasted, especially when things were waiting on me at work. We will try again but we will be better prepared next time.

Immediately after work I headed north to Irving, TX to pick up a double oven Mama had called on. I hit traffic about twenty miles out from the area I needed to get to in order to meet the owner. It was a long trip just to get there but once I did I was happy to have taken the time to get the oven. It is a very nice appliance.

Once loaded I headed home and about ten minutes into the traffic I realized I was not going the right direction. I pulled over and got the GPS working on my phone and followed it until I saw a better route to the freeway I needed to get me going in the right direction. I do not know for sure but I think I may have actually saved time by taking the route I took. It’s hard to tell.

Once I got back on the right freeway going the right direction I was in traffic for the same twenty five mile stretch that I had just traveled - only headed to opposite direction. I cannot imagine how people do that day in and day out.

Once I got to the farm and unloaded the ovens I measured the unit and discovered that it is two inched taller than the unit I cut the opening for. I will have to retrofit the cabinet once more to enlarge the opening but I think it will be worth it. This double oven is nice enough that we can afford to have it fixed if something goes wrong when I get it in place. The best news is that I paid $100 for it.

Mama and I have play practice tonight and tomorrow afternoon so I am not sure when I will get the oven in place, but at least it is at the farm ready to be installed. It is our plan to move to the apartment next week. We need to get that done so when everybody comes over at Christmas we will have the room to put everyone.

We are looking forward to both the move and the coming visit.

Tree shopping, play practice

Yesterday Mama was by herself for the first time in several days – since last Thursday. I do not think she had a bad day all told but I think she missed the help with the chores. By the time I got home she was ready to get out and going on our scheduled trip to Lowe’s and Walmart in Decatur.

We had play practice last night so we scheduled a tree shopping trip to Lowes in the same outing. She and Cori are convinced that the trees at Lowes last longer than those purchased at other retailers so that was our first stop. The parking lots of most businesses are still like our roadway and parking area at the farm; ice covered and treacherous. I think the businesses in the area are like me and Mama. We are going to wait for nature to take care of the ice. The main difference is that we are not open for business.

Lowes parking lot was not in bad shape but the entrance to the store was really bad. One would think that Lowes would have some bags of salt to spare to clear the ice from their store entrance but that did not seem to be the case. Mama has an even greater fear of falling right now since she is recovering from knee surgery so we have to be very careful with the poor footing the ice offers, but we did make it into the store.

We had brought a sheet to cover the back seats of the Flex in case we were able to find a Christmas tree but we did not get to use it. The back part of Lowes where they have their trees was pretty much closed off due to ice. We braved it anyway and found some great little trees. (Yes. Mama has agreed to get a little tree.) The real problem was that the trees were either covered in snow and ice or they were frozen together.

I did not want to put an ice covered tree to thaw in the back of the car so we had to pass on that opportunity to get our tree. Fortunately, we have another practice on Friday. By then the roads should be passable for the little truck and the trees should have had the chance to thaw out without the water ending up on the seats of the car. Mama was not too disappointed.

Play practice went well but we were there until almost nine o’clock. Mama is one of the main characters in the play so her parts, which help set the tone for the play are fairly long by comparison to some of the other characters. The play director waited to do her parts until last so the majority of the people there for the practice could get back home. That put me in bed very late; that routine will continue through the remainder of this week with play practice and church.

Friday night is seriously overbooked for me and Mama. I have a Christmas Party for work that evening. I will not get to go to that – and I am not overly disappointed. We have the RU program at church that evening also. Many of the people in the play are also part of the newly begun RU program. We will not be able to help there on that night. And we have the dress rehearsal for the play.

I think I know which of those three events is most needful but I am going to be in a little bit of a jam with my boss for not attending the Christmas Party. It is a small price to pay. I know that Mama will be very glad when this play is presented and done.

She is not the only one.

Weather issues, farm life

On Thursday of last week our boss sent all the personnel in the office here in Decatur home early. He may have actually waited a bit too long since the sleet that was falling like a heavy rain had covered most of the roads and bridges by the time we left the office but everyone made it home safely. I have not been back to the office until this morning. (In fact, Mama and Victoria and I only got out yesterday late morning to take Victoria to work at Wal-Mart.)

The next morning (Friday) as we went out to feed the cattle Mama could not stop apologizing to her “babies”. They were covered in ice from head to tail tip. There were icicles hanging from their ears and eyelashes. Their backs were mats of ice. They were hungry and thirsty and we took care of both needs while we were down in the barn with them. The temperature did not get above twenty degrees that day and that night it was back into the single digits.

Most businesses in Bowie were closed through the weekend with the most hearty opening on Sunday – to very little customer action. Even our church was cancelled – both services. It was bad. On our road it still is. We have about a quarter mile of gravel driveway to get to the graveled county road and then about a quarter mile of county road to get to the blacktopped road. All of that distance is covered in about three inches of ice. It will probably remain so for the next several days.

I took the little truck down the road yesterday to get the mail. I wanted to test the viability of driving it to work this morning. I made it to the mailbox without any trouble. When I tried to turn around to go back to the farm I almost did not make it. I ended up going all the way to the main road to get turned around. I could not do it on the ice. I drove the Flex in this morning.

Mama and I have play practice at the church this evening. By the time I get home a little of the ice should have melted on the drive since the temperature is supposed to get up to 45®F today. The only problem is that the nights are still predicted to be in the twenties. That means that everything that thawed will refreeze overnight. That ends up being a mess for several days. By Friday this week the nights are supposed to be above freezing. That will be a blessing.

The cattle are thawing out well. By yesterday evening they had very little ice still remaining on their backs. It has been a chore to keep water for them since whatever we put out freezes within a couple hours. At least the power did not go off during the peaks of intense cold. That meant we still had water through the cold snap.

I would like to say that I got a lot of work done in the apartment during the time I was off the past several days but that did not happen. Until yesterday the temperatures did not make it above the freezing mark and the temperatures in the shop are close to ambient at all times – and will remain so until I insulate and heat the shop.

It was a fun time for me and Mama. We love life on the farm.

Short days, learning to wait

It would seem that December is evaporating before my eyes. I know intellectually that there are twenty four hours in every day and that every day progresses in similar fashion to the many days before but I would often be willing to bet that there are some days that are shorter than others. Of course, they are balanced out by days that are interminably long.

The psychology of it all eludes me, but we are in a series of days at the moment that seem to be on the far shorter side of “normal.” Intellectually, I can reason that that is not possible but emotionally and cognitively, I am struggling to get the same amount of work done within the seemingly shorter time frame. (The shortening of the lighted portion of our days does not help.)

There are those who would argue that what I am experiencing is not real and the truth of logic and mathematics would be on their side. But I am living it and the angst and stress it is causing me is real enough. I am feeling the desperate urge to “be still.” Oddly enough, God spoke to that need directly.

Last night the pastor preached about patience or waiting on the Lord. He remarked that there are some of us who seem to be extremely patient but he asked, “Are you patient with God?” That stung me. I have come to realize lately that the one area of my life where I have little patience is in the things of God; in waiting on God. Boy, did I have to do some soul searching.

Imagine God asking me for my advice on when I would like something done in my life. How foolish would that be? More foolish than words could describe. There are some times that I think I get it pretty close to right, but those times are not often. Those times are limited by the finite vision I have of my life and the things about me of which I am aware. God sees so much more. I need to trust and wait on Him.

So I looked over my prayer list this morning and realized that the promise-keeping God that I love and trust is working all things to His Glory and, coincidently, to my good.

Victoria is going through a pretty rough patch right now. Things at work have her wound up pretty tight and she is at the point of dreading to report to work every day. A new manager and new helpers in the pharmacy where she works have her pretty stressed out. Anyone who has been in the workforce any length of time has struggled against the same discouragements.

My advice has always been, if what you are doing is moral and scripturally allowable and you are struggling with the circumstances of that employment or the people with whom you work, keep doing what you are doing until God gives you clear direction. In most instances you can rest on the assurance that “this too shall pass.” Whether it is you who needs to change or the people around you that need to change, if you make it a matter of prayer, the change will come. Just bear in mind, the only person you can change is you.

Another area where waiting on God is strongly recommended.

Kitchen updates, blue cold

When I got home last night Mama was just getting things set up for her to go to the ladies meeting at church later that evening. She did the desserts for the meeting and the mobile home smelled accordingly. Since we had only a short time to get anything done together I went to the apartment and got the final anchor (which I had to buy at Lowes because the ones they sent in the mounting kit were junk) in the mounting bracket for the microwave and Mama and I hung it in the kitchen of the apartment.

It looks very good suspended over the cooktop. I had to rig the orifices on the gas cooktop because it had been set up for natural gas and we are using propane. The manufacturer no longer provides parts for that model cooktop. The orifice for natural gas is much larger than the one for propane – for reasons mostly due to delivery pressure. So I had to figure out a way to make the orifice smaller.

I found the answer in Mama’s sewing kit. I took three straight pins and stuffed them into each orifice to shrink the opening. It took three in each one because two did not wedge together enough to hold in place. Now it works perfectly. So we have the cooktop and microwave in place. We still need a double oven and a dishwasher, but we are getting closer.

I returned to the garden with the tiller last night and got a little more ground tilled up before dark. I still have another hour or two to cover the garden and the area we are going to set up as an orchard but that will have to wait until sometime next week. Last night is the last night I have off this week. With play practice, the RU meeting and the Sunday School party, I will have no evening time on the farm for the rest of the week.

Mama is worried about getting to and from the church because starting tomorrow evening we are under a winter storm advisory. The warning extends through Sunday morning. The temperatures are predicted to be below 20®F with freezing rain and probable ice accumulation. We will have to wait and see how it ends up but Mama is already making plans to hunker down. She really hates this kind of weather.

According to the weather predictions for the month this will be the only severe cold snap we will have in the entire month of December (Friday night the predicted low temperature is 8®F.)  but that too will have to play itself out before we know for sure. Looking ahead I see next Monday night with a predicted low of 4®F.

Oh well, it is winter. The good thing about the weather here is that if you can endure a short snap of cold you can be pretty sure the temperatures will bounce back into the more mild ranges within a few days. I do like to look ahead because there are different things I have to do to get ready for the really cold nights.

Nothing like we had to do in West Virginia, but still it helps to get fair warning.

More shopping news, farm work

In all our shopping on Friday Mama and I ran across a microwave on sale at the Lowes in Wichita Falls. It was reduced enough in price that I thought we could go ahead and get it. The only problem was that they were out of stock. We prepaid for it and were scheduled to come back to pick it up on the 4^th. That was okay since there were other things we could do when we made the return trip – but it was not my preference.

On Saturday we were in Decatur for a practice run for the RU program the church is starting. While we were there we went to Wal-Mart to finish up some Christmas shopping for the grand kids and decided to go to Lowes to see if we could pick up the microwave there vs. Wichita Falls. It was not that easy.

It turned out that they had one in stock but we were required to cancel our order in the Wichita Falls store and repurchase the item in the Decatur store. Mama got on the phone right away. It was all working out really well – even though I would have to wait several days for the money to be returned to my account. What happened next made the entire experience so much more fun.

The young lady doing the return in Wichita Falls pressed the wrong button on the register and gave the return in cash. The only problem was we were eighty miles away from her register, so she got the idea to put the refund on a gift card which we could immediately use in the Decatur store. Getting someone there to understand what we needed from them proved to be the next hurdle.

After some explanation, Mama handed her cell phone to a lady who wrote down the gift card number, and called up the purchase, which the appliance clerk had already put in the system. She put in the gift card number and pin and the purchase cleared without a hiccup. It turned out better for me because I did not have to wait on the money to get back into my account and it was a brand new experience for the lady in the Lowes at Decatur. (It is amazing how quickly people can get put out of their comfort zone.)

Also on Saturday our friend going to Mexico came out the farm with his family. He and I replaced the plugs and wires in the little truck while Mama and the ladies talked. There was one plug Grandpa was particularly worried about but we got it out without too much trouble. The hardest plug to replace was on the back of the engine with no room to get the socket onto it – but the Lord helped us with that one also.

Two of the plugs were in very bad shape but the rest looked pretty good. That is a little miracle since as far as Grandpa knows they are the original plugs from 1994. The truck runs so much smoother now it is very noticeable. I also put in a new air filter and replaced one broken vacuum line. I still have a vacuum problem but I will have to trace it down later.

Last night I got out the tiller and worked on the ground in front of the apartment. I am going to cut it down far enough that when we pour the porch the concrete for the porch will sit below the level of the slab for the apartment. I made the first pass last night then moved on to the garden where I tilled that ground until just before dark.

I am trying to run the tiller out of gas before we let it sit for the winter. Last year Grandpa had to take apart the carburetor three times before we got the sludge out of it and got the engine to run. I do not want that to happen again this spring so will make sure all the gas is out of it before it begins its long wait for use next year. I was hoping there was less gas in the tank than there turned out to be.

It may take a while to run it all through – but Mama will have a nice looking garden plot when it is done.

Last week news, coming events

I have to admit that I was not looking forward to coming back to work this morning. After the last week off it was a bit of a struggle to get up and get back in the grind again, but life goes on and since this is what the Lord has given me to do to pay the bills and support our giving program, here I am.

I am a little disappointed at what we got accomplished this week on the farm and at the apartment but with Thanksgiving dinners (at church and at BBTI)and the preparations that accompany that celebration and with the shopping that must be done this time of year and with the day I had to take off to get Victoria’s new puppy, I did not get to spend as much time in actual work as I had hoped. Mama and I had hoped we could move in last week but a lot of little things kept coming up. Besides, we are not in a hurry at the moment since we have the run of the mobile home.

We did get some things done. The bedroom is trimmed out and ready for furniture. We unburied Victoria’s dresser from storage in the farm house and traded it out with Mama’s dresser which we set in the apartment. The living room is almost complete with trim and the bathroom is ready for service. I still have the windows to trim out but the sills are done and they turned out pretty nicely – at least Mama is happy. I sealed up the shop roof at the place where it has been letting in water in a hard rain. I fixed the entry door to the shop and outfitted the garage door with a deflector that will (hopefully) keep the water from getting in there.

 I trenched along the east side of the shop where the water was getting under the wall and I reburied the electrical line so we are a little bit more ready for concrete to be poured for the floor of the next part of the shop. I also sealed the wall where the electric wire enters the shop. I wanted to have that done before the grandkids arrive. I worked on the barn lot and have it ready for Misty to bunk there on the very cold days that will be soon upon us and prepped the final wall in the barn to be sealed when we are ready to get our bottle babies.

We did get a call offering us three calves but the young lady at the church backed out of getting the calves and we are not really in the market at the moment so Mama passed on them. There are plenty of people on Tom’s waiting list so he was disappointed with us not taking the calves. I was a tiny bit disappointed but the bulk of the work falls on Mama and she was not looking forward to the effort for little steers.

We are planning on getting some bottle calves from another individual but they will all be heifers. We are not in need of any more steers – especially since they are not bringing a very good price on the market. What we need to concentrate on is building our own herd. We need heifers to do that. I am not sure when we will be getting the young heifers but it will be soon. That long range plan and the money to support it seems a better investment to me and Mama.

Pray for Mama, she is still having a good deal of swelling and pain in her knees. I am not sure what the right course of action is but I have a feeling it require a great deal of rest – something she is not inclined to do at the moment. We have two very busy weeks ahead of us with play practice and related church activities. Mama wants to continue to move to the apartment as we make progress on that. She would like to be moved in when everyone comes over after Christmas.

We will see.