The mural, no big plans

For once in a very great while, Mama got home after I did. I had fed and watered all the animals and even collected the eggs before she pulled up in the driveway. She was pretty worn out but had thoroughly enjoyed the day with Kimberlyn Cantrell. Mama actually left before Kim was ready because her husband Kenny had come to meet her and wanted her to complete the mural that evening since the two of them had visiting to do today and over the weekend.

Mama got several pictures of the work in progress – a Noah’s ark scene. I suppose it depicts the opening of the ark doors to let the animals out since there is a rainbow in the sky. It is very cute and quite clever in how Kim painted all the animals. Mama was especially impressed with the giraffes.

We do not have big plans for this weekend. Even though I got paid today my budget tells me there is no money to make extra plans with. We have lots of little things to do on the farm, not the least of which is to progress on getting the farm house emptied of all the items we still have stored there.

It is still difficult for Mama to get rid of things but I am at the point of frustration at having so many things packed away that we have no real use for. Never the less, we will most likely repack many of the trove of stored things and find yet another place to house them as they rest in forgotten boxes packed into a dark corner of the shop. I am resisting that as an ongoing trend but I am not getting much support in the effort.

Tonight we have RU at the church so Mama will be cooking most of the day. I think Victoria will be getting off early enough to go with us this week. It has been several weeks since she has been able to do so. At this point we have only four regular kids. The oldest of that group is five years old. Twin boys are the youngest at just over two years old.

When we grow the program there will be a nursery and a children’s program provided. For the moment we are just entertaining the little ones for the two plus hours of the meeting. It is fun and I know it is profitable to the little ones but I have a desire to do more in the teaching portion of the assignment.

That will come in time.

Health issues, backup plans

Maggie and Aaron made it back home yesterday. I think they are planning on seeing a doctor today to find out if they can get a diagnosis to the pain she has been experiencing the last few days. I know it cost Aaron a small fortune to go get her and the baby so I am praying that whatever is causing Maggie’s pain will not be a protracted health issue; that it is something fairly easy to overcome – physically and financially.

Mama almost did not go with me last night. Her eyes were better but she did not think they were recovered enough to let anyone else see her. As we got the animals fed and watered for the evening she began to feel better. I did not think she looked that bad but I have learned that my opinion does not outweigh her own in certain matters. By the time she showered and dressed she was feeling pretty good – although her eyes were still a little puffy and red.

She felt a little guilty since our pastor was at home hurting from a kidney stone. He is in a lot of pain and not getting much relief. He is scheduled for surgery to have his gall bladder removed on Monday. The two are unrelated events but the combination of the current pain and the anticipation of the future pain and recovery do not do much to lift ones spirits very high.

A man from the Rock of Ages Prison ministry preached last night. It was a good sermon about shutting some of the doors in our liver that we leave open for our pet sins to have access to our mind and life. Mama and I have seen him before when we were in Amarillo at Central Baptist Church. His ministry is with the prisons across Texas and the south. Both churches, here and in Amarillo are strong participants in that ministry.

I had a very poor night Tuesday night so I was dragging through part of the service. I thoroughly enjoyed the service and am glad Mama and I got to go together but I was happy to get home and into bed. Less than seven hours of sleep time was available to me but I think I used every minute of it. Hopefully I can get a little bit longer night tonight; or at least be less rushed getting to bed.

Mama is going to spend the day with a friend who is painting a mural in a nursery for a church in Sanger, TX. She was debating going until the friend called and asked for help. Her husband who runs the Boots and Badges ministry has been called to another appointment and was not going to be able to get her to the church so Mama is coming to the rescue.

It is something she wanted to do anyway but was holding off since money is pretty tight at the moment. The round trip is 150 miles or more and she did not want to spend gas on it if it was just for fun. Now there is a real purpose. The fun the two of them will have is coincidental.

Hopefully she will take a picture I can post of the work being done.

Mama, change of plans, Maggie

Last night Mama and Victoria were to have gone to a ladies meeting at church but Mama was feeling too badly because of her eyes. When she got up yesterday morning they were worse than at any time in the past. I think it is the hay we are feeding the cattle that it causing the reaction, but we will not know that for several days. I have asked her to let me do the feeding in the evenings so she will not have to handle the hay for the remainder of the week. By that time we should know.

Since Victoria seemed very excited about the night at church Mama went ahead and prepared a dish for the meal and was just about ready to make herself go regardless of the swelling – just to encourage Victoria. That fell away pretty quickly after I got home. We ended up having a nice dinner with the taco meatloaf she had made. It all worked out since Victoria was more than an hour late getting off. They would not have made it to the meeting in time.

Weather-wise, if it got as cold as predicted overnight it was hard to tell this morning. When I went out to the truck there was a light frost on the windshield but the wind was very light. As I rolled through town the temperature displays were posting twenty two degree. That is far better than the twelve degrees predicted. I did not look at the thermometer on our window in the apartment to see what it was reading but I was relieved to not be chilled to the bone.

Maggie has been going through some problems while she is visiting friends in Washington State. She went to the ER yesterday with severe abdominal pain. After hours of waiting and several inconclusive tests, the hospital sent her home with the friend who has been entertaining her and the baby. She was not a happy camper.

Her friend wanted to send her home to recuperate with her husband – in her own house, her own bed, her familiar surroundings. That was not a welcome thought to Maggie. She was hurting and did not want to make the flight with the baby by herself. I do not know how long a flight it is but I do not think it is more than a couple hours in the air.

Regardless, what Mama and I heard last was that Aaron had booked a flight to go down and get her and help her and the baby back home. I am not sure how happy Maggie was with the arrangement but I know Aaron will be happy to have her and the baby safely home.

Knowing we were too late to go to the ladies meeting Victoria got a movie to watch. She rented the new Long Ranger movie. It was pretty good but it kept me up way too late.

Winter storms, Mama’s mirror

Last night I went to bed pretty early because on Sunday night (read that ‘Monday morning”) Mama and I were wakened by a wind that slammed into the north side of the apartment and shop. It sounded like a truck had driven into the building. That happened a little before 3 a.m. On the way home Sunday night Mama had been reading the winter storm advisory but the warning did not mention any precipitation – only the velocity of the wind.

I did not pay too much attention since the winds normally blow around the thirty mile per hour mark. Forty miles per hour did not impress my consciousness in any threatening manner. When I did get out of bed two hours after the rude awakening and was listening to the weather reports on the drive to Decatur they were reporting sustained winds of fifty miles per hour with gusts over sixty. That would have caught my attention. Either way, there did not seem to be any damage to anything on the farm – buildings or otherwise. Not at all like I was imagining as I lay awake that morning listening to it try to overturn the shop building.

South of us along the Gulf Coast the weather is a wintery mix this morning. Cori, Nate and the kids are likely to get snow and sleet this morning. As Cori announced the weather change to the kids yesterday, she excitedly told them that there might be snow tomorrow. “The boys perked up and asked, “Are we going to Grammy’s farm?” (That’s where they came expecting snow over Christmas.) They were disappointed to hear that the snow was coming to them; so much for that exciting moment.

I did manage to hang our bathroom mirror last night. We got it back from a lady at church who wrote a verse on it. Mama attached some shells to the mirror and she did a really good job on the arrangement and type of shells she chose. The words of the Bible verse are written between the arranged shells on the open part of the frame. It looks amazing.

The verse is from Nehemiah 9:6 “Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” It is not the entire verse. It reads, “Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all.”

It was a chore to hang it because of the imbedded metal tabs on the back of the mirror. I had to take the light over the bathroom sink apart and remove the towel rack we have to the left of the sink to get it properly placed. It came out pretty good but I had to trim the towel rack before I could put it back up. It took me over an hour to get it all done.

Last week when I told Mama it might take me a couple hours to get it done she thought I was being facetious. As she watched what I had to go through to get it done she realized I was telling her the truth. We had to turn the light over the mirror to point to the ceiling because the frame of the mirror is pretty thick and the globes for the lights would not fit the fixture with them hanging downward. It changed the entire look of the bathroom. And I got to shave looking into a mirror much larger than the little one we have been using waiting on the mirror to be finished. That was a nice change since I had to crouch slightly to see myself in the smaller mirror.

We will enjoy it while we can.

Mama’s dental work, cleaning up the farm, Sunday morning

Last Friday I took off so I could get Mama to and from her dental appointment. She was a nervous wreck but she came through the procedure without any difficulty at all. The dentist had a difficult time getting the roots of the tooth to come out but he eventually got all the leftover pieces to wiggle free. Mama was pleased that it had gone well but she was even more pleased as she went through the day, and the weekend, pain free.

She has had relatively little pain from the extraction. The only part of the procedure that has her concerned is the slight injury done to her lover lip. It was pried upon at some point in wrenching the tooth from her mouth and there is a place that looks like it may become a fever blister. Other than that she is ecstatic that that part is done. We are not looking to replace the tooth at this time because the price is enormous, but time will tell.

On Saturday we all worked together in the calf barn. As we were mucking out the area where we have the creep feeder I asked Mama how long it had been since we had cleaned out the area. I remembered her and Victoria doing it in the past but since Grandpa and Grandma left in October it has not been done again. Four months of manure and excess hay had been compressed on the floor and it was a chore to get it up. We had to take a break a little more than half way through.

We got six loads out of the large stall and another from the watering area at the entrance to the barn. It was all put on the garden so that I can till it into the soil over the next several weeks. The only bad part of the work we were able to get done is that we really needed to go down another three or four inches to get to the dirt we should have uncovered in the cleanup; that’s for another weekend.

I took time early in the morning to get the trim completed in the apartment. At least I used the remainder of the trim I had from the purchase I made months ago. I ended up a piece short of completing the entire apartment. I got the most obvious areas and the areas with the longest pieces. As is the case with wood, I ended up with enough little pieces that if I could have coalesced then into one piece I could have easily finished. Unfortunately I will have to buy one piece to really be done.

Later in the day I rearranged the access we have to the calf lot from the driveway. I put the panel we have been moving to drive into the area to the side with the fence that comes across the back yard of the farm house and put the gate in place to be hung for our access from this point on. It will be much better to work with as we gear up for spring and summer. I need to do the same thing on the access to the pasture from the calf lot but I do not have the gates available for that at the moment.

Having the posthole auger made the work very easy. I had the two holes dug in a matter of minutes and at a depth that I can rarely accomplish with the manual variety. I still needed the manual ones to clean out the hole a bit – but not to dig it to depth. The power auger should make our coming fencing job much easier.

Sunday morning we had two people saved. One young mom rode the bus with her three young children. The other, a middle aged man had been with us Friday night at RU. He had left before our director had had the time to speak with him about salvation but he promised then to come back Sunday morning. We were praying hard that he would come – and he did.

Lee spent quite a bit of time with him that morning and he prayed with Lee there in the Sunday School room. It was a great morning.

Church

We had a great time at church last night. We had a pot lunch dinner at the church before the service – which is always enjoyable – then Kevin Walker preached a sermon from the parable of the prodigal son. It was different than most of the other’s I have heard from that passage. To get it kicked off he had two men from the church come up and put on a party hat.

They were each given a bag of noise makers (the kind you low through to make that irritating wazoo sound) to pass out to the congregation. He then explained that the message was “Don’t miss the party” and he held up a sign the read, “It’s Party Time!” When he held up the sign during the sermon we were all to blow our noise makers.

It was a great sermon on why we miss God’s “party” of rejoicing when a prodigal comes home; work is too important, we are angry about something, all we can think about is ourselves, etc. I took notes as I usually do so Mama had to make the noise for both of us. He got some great congregational participation.

Mama wore herself out getting food ready for the dinner. We took a pot of chili, a pan of cornbread, a pan of biscuits, a salad, a gallon of tea and a tray of chocolate covered peanut butter crackers. There was plenty of food there and there are always plenty of desserts. I tried not to eat too much since I would be leading the singing to open the service, but I still had difficulty taking a deep breath. Thankfully we only sang one song and turned the service over to the Walkers.

The senior Walkers are Mama’s and my age so their children are the ages of our children – several are married, one has a very young child. Yet after the children went to Bible College each of them returned to carry on the ministry with the parents. It is a great testimony of the merits of a properly run ministry. It is made even more outstanding by the fun they all have together.

After the first couple of songs they tackled the song “Excuses” which is never easy since there are so many lines spread out through the singers performing it. Sure enough on the second part of the song they all were messing up but they kept going until they got to the oldest son who simply sang, “He just sang my line.”

When he did that they couldn’t hold it together and started laughing, the joy of which carried over into the congregation. They finally regrouped and got through the second part of the song successfully, but it was hard since they kept stifling back a laugh at each line. They finished with a slow melody – a solo with backup vocals. The youngest brother said something as they were leaving the platform and the laughter began again. It was fun to watch the little ones in the church as they watched what was happening. They were not sure what was going on but they knew it was something really fun.

We got home late - happy we went.

Walking better, closing doors, special services

Yesterday evening I finally felt able to walk well enough that I could get out and help Mama with her normal chores. It was a little painful navigating the very uneven ground in the calf lot. Early in the winter we let Misty into that lot to facilitate Mama getting feed and water to her. During her stay there she left deep imprints everywhere she walked because the ground was very wet at that time. I will have to get the disc and drag out to work the ground to a more level state at some point in the very near future.

I was able to haul a couple bales of hay to the pig building where we are storing it for Misty. That will have to change soon since Mama and I are planning on getting a couple piglets next month. When we put that building back in service for pigs we will have to build a new shelter for Misty and her feed. I am in the process of getting those plans together now. I see nothing wrong with feeding her on the ground and letting her shelter under the large oak trees. Mama sees things differently.

As I was looking over the chicken coop Mama came up to me with one of her more friendly chickens in her arms- cuddling the bird and talking to it as though it could understand. I knew what was coming. “I want to see if we could make a pet of one of the chickens like Maggie’s friend.” I looked at her and answered, “If you want to make sure Grandma and Grandpa never come back to the farm to stay with us, go right ahead.” I think the idea is a real looser. Chickens are really messy birds – even if you diaper them.

I met with my boss yesterday to discuss raises and ratings. I let him know at that time that I was no longer interested in the Licensing job. The prospect of rotating 28 days on (away from home) and 28 days off (back at home) is not attractive to me. The idea was never overly appealing but I saw it as an opportunity to advance in my career as well as an opportunity to take Mama to Australia. There would be other travel involved, some international and some domestic, but all in all, I do not think those periods of separation would be good for Mama or me.

He was at once relieved and disappointed. He realizes this job, although a very good job, may not be enough to keep me engaged at a level that will keep me interested and at peak performance long term. At the moment there is nothing on the horizon that would not require a move away from the farm and that really does not interest me at all. We will see what the Lord brings to us in the months or years to come.

Tonight we will have a special guest at church. The Walker family will be there with the entire crew. They are the ones with the Wild West Vacation Bible School, complete with a miniature horse that does a wealth of tricks. They will be leading the services tonight and tomorrow night. It should be fun, but I have no idea what will be required of me as song leader.

That too should be fun.

 

Questions, unusual pets

Mama and I are still up in the air about fostering children. When I read through the requirements and expectations by the state of the home where the children are kept I get very anxious about giving over to what seems to be excessive control of our private residence. The obvious safety concerns would be no problem to comply with. It is the seemingly silly restrictions like not having any homemade jellies or canned fruit and not reusing food containers (like Cool Whip containers) for left overs that seem overbearing and intrusive.

Maybe I was not in a good mood last night as Mama read through some of the lengthy list of obligations within the home but I got more edgy as item after item was read with which I was uncomfortable. We will pursue the idea as far as we are comfortable taking it but we will not begin until the classes come around in May of this year. My guard is up now so we will ease in carefully to the idea of someone telling us what we can and cannot do in our own home.

Maggie sent a video of Catherine being entertained by a chicken. It was unusual because they were in a carpeted living room of a home in Juneau, Alaska. The chicken looked like one of the Silkie variety and was quite comfortable pecking at the carpet in front of our granddaughter. Catherine was squealing with pure delight at the spectacle. I hope that does not give Mama any ideas about housing her brood of chickens.

I was not sure at first that the chicken was live. In the video there appeared to be a plastic device on its back that could have been a battery compartment. Mama was told by Maggie that what I was seeing was the plastic tape band that was securing the diaper on the bird. I suppose a chicken is better than a monkey; definitely better than a cat. Although, I imagine the diaper makes laying an egg problematic.

We are up to nine to twelve eggs per day with Mama’s little flock. It is time to cull the flock but Mama has a problem assigning the death sentence to any of her little birds. Since we have almost twenty hens and are only getting half that many eggs some need to be cycled into the freezer but the process of getting them there is troubling to Mama.

The joke is told of a parrot that went on a verbal tirade so embarrassing to his owner that in desperation to quiet the bird he grabbed it and threw it in the freezer. After several minutes, the cursing stopped and the man carefully opened the freezer door and allowed the bird out. With head hung low the parrot said. “I humbly apologize for my past behavior and assure you it will never happen again.”

Being the forgiving sort the man picked up the bird and acknowledged his acceptance of the apology. “Now that that is out of the way, can you tell me something?” asked the very contrite parrot. “Of course”, his owner answered, “What would you like to know?” The bird asked, “What did the chicken do?”

My ankle is getting better quickly. The swelling has spread around the foot and that has lessened the pain somewhat. It is starting to show a pretty large bruise now but that will pass soon. I am already walking almost normally.

By the weekend I should be in pretty good shape.

Home again, minor injury, Victoria

 

After a week away from Mama, the farm and my office it is good to back. Last was one of those weeks where I traveled over 1300 miles and met with dozens of people I do not get to see very often; not the least of which were some of my own staff. Outside of work the trip was relatively uneventful. I dislike evenings alone in a hotel room. (I used the free time to start getting receipts organized for income taxes we will file soon.)

I did get to have dinner with Chase and Makaila on Wednesday night before church. We had a painful discussion about spiritual leadership or the lack of it Mama and I are seeing in their lives. All in all it went well and I do not think there was any offence taken on their part but such discussions can make dinner difficult.

I went to Central Baptist in Amarillo to meet with the Kroker’s so Mama and I could finally get back our oil filled heaters they had borrowed some time ago.; over a year at least. We had not really needed them until now so it was nice to get them back.

It was really good to be back in Central and see the same folks still faithfully serving the Lord there. As I walked up to the church I saw Mrs. Patrick walking in with another older woman who faithfully brings her. Mrs. Patrick was surprised and delighted to see me. Of course, the first question she asked was about Mama.

I will have to bring her next time. In fact,I am under orders to do so. I sat with her during the service and several of the young boys of the church joined us. We had a great time, but I did not get back to my hotel in Dumas until almost 11p.m. That made for a very short night.

I got home Friday evening a couple hours before we needed to leave for the RU meeting at our church. Again, we did not make it home until almost 11 p.m. Even still Mama and I were up before 7 a.m. Saturday morning. We both had big plans and we actually got to work through some of those plans; rehanging the horse feeder, cleaning up the hay area in the calf barn, pulling down and wrapping up the fencing around the garden, hanging pictures in our apartment, and hanging a door on the laundry room.

Unfortunately, as I was straightening up the hay bales in the calf barn later in the afternoon I mis-stepped on my way off of the stacked hay and caught the edge of a pallet on which the hay is stacked, twisting my ankle. From the bone breaking popping I heard I assumed it to be worse than it actually turned out to be.

I had on a pair of boots I wear on the farm when it is dry. Those boots are tight fitting and very supportive so I did not wrench the joint as far as it could have been had I not had on those particular boots. After a few minutes of lying still I got up and tried to walk - with some success. I was doing pretty well until I had to get that boot off. It was far from painless, but things could have been far worse.

The only real drawback to the injury was getting on and off the platform at church the next day as I led singing for our congregation.

Victoria is quite sick right now. It looks like the flu – chills, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. She had a lovely weekend and was not much improved after spending most of the day Saturday and all day Sunday in bed.

Mama is still suffering with a rash around her eyes. She has had the rash for a couple weeks now. There has been some improvement but it is pretty distressing to her.

Away for the week, plans and timing

I am working from the Borger office this morning so I do not expect to get a lot of work done other than spending time visiting with the folks here. Today is moving day for six of the employees here. To some it will not be a big deal but to others it is a huge change. One person in the move has officed out of Borger for almost twenty years. To her this is life changing even though it is not a job change. She will still be doing the same work, just from a different location.

In some instances I can understand because Dumas, where the new office is set up, is at least thirty minutes away. For those working moms who have younger children it will make things extremely difficult at times. It adds at least an hour to the work day for everyone living in Borger having to drive to Dumas. I am used to those hours on the road getting to and from work but it is far more common for employees to relocate so they can have a ten minute or shorter commute. I cannot sympathize with that crowd.

Mama is on her own at the farm this week. In ways she enjoys the solitude – but only in limited doses. There are a couple of things I left undone that will cause her a little more work but none of them are of great importance. The horse knocked down the feeder we put hay in for her. When we are able to use the rack to put her hay in there is much less waste. It will have to wait until I get back to be reattached in a more secure manner.

When we put hay out for her on the little concrete pad we have in her current feeding area she will only eat a portion of it. Even though she eats grass from the ground she will not clean up the hay left scattered about as she tears apart the fleets of hay we set out for her. I am not sure how she tore her hay rack off of the wall but horses can be pretty rough. They often do not know their own strength and they are curious about everything often biting and pulling on everything within their reach. That is why we cannot keep her where there is any equipment – not if we what to be able to use it.

We will be starting the garden soon so I need to lay out the area we will use for planting and separate it from the area I plan to use for an orchard. Mama is looking over our seed inventory this week so we can start planning the layout and timing of planting for this year. I had hoped to put up a fence to protect the garden from the brutal summer winds but I may not get that done this year.

 I hope to start on a new hot house with a chicken coop attached to it in the next couple weeks. It is more about money than anything else but I need it for special plants and to start an aqua-ponic garden. It will help shade the garden from the evening sun if I set it up as planned.

 I have three projects pressing me at the moment – the large part of the shop, the hot house and the barn. I need to get all of them done this year but I do not yet have the vision of how to best coordinate the projects – especially since I have to do all the work myself. It is another instance of the Lord teaching me patience and persistence.

I am not a very good pupil at times.

Weekend updates

This was an exciting weekend. On Saturday morning we talked with Emil and Lana in the Ukraine. Mama and Lana go to catch up on family news and Emil and I talked movies and electronic updates. He alerted me to several apps for web communication and I am downloading them today. Later that morning, we went to the vet with Kira for her last set of puppy shots, then on to Trade Days.

Victoria took Kira with her so she could work with Kira on her lead skills and to socialize her a bit. She did well with all the attention she got and Victoria was very pleased. One of the stops we made at Trade Days was at a mobile hair salon. It was a new attraction and it immediately caught Victoria’s attention. Victoria got her hair cut for $15. She was pleased with the price and the cut. Mama and I wandered and visited through the exhibits as we waited on her.

Mama, Victoria and I then went on to Wichita Falls take Victoria out for her birthday lunch and to do some boot shopping. We went to Genghis Grill. Victoria had the same problem Mama had last time. She ran out of bowl before we were half way through the selections of items that could be chosen for her meal.  I think she had fun. She got a free birthday dinner out of the trip.

We took a lot of time at Cavanders. She and Mama tried on a number of pairs of boots. It was finally narrowed down to two final selections. We ended up purchasing the last pair of a particular boots that was in the finalist category. Victoria wore them to church Sunday. She is a self-proclaimed “boot person” now. It will not be long before she and Mama go back to get the other pair.

Sunday morning was spent in Children’s Church because the helpers for that morning were out with the flu – which is making the rounds through the church. It is always fun for us to participate in that activity and yesterday was no less so. Just before the evening service Mama spit something out of her mouth into a napkin. It was one of her gold crowns. I suppose thirty years of service was enough for that dental work. The tooth had broken off at the gum so there is no way to reattach the crown.

We will find out today what the dentist says about the repair options – that is, it Mama can find a dentist today. Since we have moved to Bowie we have not taken the time to find any specialists – dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, etc. We do have a family practitioner but that is it. Mama has held off on all the others. Now in a crisis we are praying to get her to somebody good. This is one of those times that there will be no cheap options since Mama is not into the West Virginia practice of just adapting to the loss of teeth be leaving empty the spot where the tooth had been.

Also at church last night the man who has been leading the music program, Children’s Church program and teaching Victoria’s Sunday School class announced that he was taking a position in another church. It was not a shock to me and Mama because the pastor had pulled me aside last week to ask if I would pray about taking over the music ministry. I let him know before services that I was willing so I will start next Sunday morning.

Victoria is sad to be losing her Sunday School teacher. He was one of the major selling points for this church early on. I am sure pastor will fill that spot with a Godly man but I do not know who he has to pick from at the moment.

It was a full weekend.

Travel alone, weekend plans, Victoria’s birthday

After some deliberation I think Mama has decided to stay home next week while I go to the panhandle. That decision could change but that is how it stood last night. We really do not have the money for me to support the trip if I have to cover gas for our personal vehicle and meals for Mama through the week. I knew that going in but I would have scraped together what we needed to make it work if she really wanted to go; I still might have to.

Her overriding concern was what to do with the dogs. Rosie is not an issue. She can go all day without being let out. Kira and Allie are not as accommodating with their potty needs. Kira has to go out every hour or two. She does not like having to go potty in the house but she will if there is no other alternative. Allie must be put out several times a day. She does not mind peeing in the house. At times she actually prefers it. She is the kind of dog that will cover a half acre trying to find the right spot to pee. Pooping requires a much larger patch of ground and considerable time.

We will have to figure something out because Mama is going with me next month and I doubt the canine needs will have changed drastically. Mama has suggested taking Allie with us but I am not enamored with that idea because I am not sure what will happen if Allie soils the carpet in a hotel room my company is paying for. Oh, well. Those are the pressing matters of life when married to Mama.

After many years of resting in boxes stored in various states of the contiguous United States, Mama and I are going to unbox, unwrap and hang many of the pictures we have guarded over the many times we have relocated. There is ample wall space in the apartment and I have set aside the time this weekend to begin the process of properly displaying those items.

Many are portraits of the family over the past thirty years but several are thoughtfully purchased paintings or numbered reproductions from Windberg and Kinkade. Many of the Windberg prints are signed by the artist. So not all the framed art we have is purely sentimental; just a whole lot of it.

There are still among the pieces collected about a dozen that have never been properly framed. I will get started on that project this year. I am also hoping to cull the framed pieces so we do not have redundant displays. Over the years with Mama I would guess that I have spent as much on purchasing pictures, prints and portraits as I have on Beanies.

 Those of you who understand Mama’s impressive Beanie collection – even after multiple, huge giveaways of those tiny stuffed toys – realize how much money that represents. Even still the values is still largely personal rather that intrinsic. At any rate, it will be good to see our old friends after all these years.

Victoria’s birthday is today. Mama and I will take her out to eat tomorrow but other than that there are no big plans to celebrate. She is not the party animal she used to be.

Vanity, patch of Heaven

Mama spent most of the day yesterday debating whether to go to church last night but she finally decided that the rash she had around her eyes from an allergic reaction was not enough to deter her. Vanity is a strange emotion; not exclusive to women, not even exclusive to the human race. A friend of mine told me he had his large dog shorn from the tip of his nose to the tip of the tail. When they got the dog home he crawled into his dog house and refused to come out.

That went on for several weeks. Finally enough of the hair growth returned that the dog began to behave normally. The following year they had the dog short again – leaving a tuft of hair on the tip of the tail as well as most of the hair around his face. That time he acted as if nothing had happened. I do not know if that is truly vanity but it certainly seems so to me.

Everyone at church was very supportive of Mama. Each in turn offered their suggestions for safe makeup removal without the use of chemicals; some were very good suggestions. Not one of the women that spoke with Mama offered the real solution; don’t wear makeup. In our present society, I suppose that is not an option any longer.

She is recovering but the constant exposure to the wind and cold are slowing the healing process. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the chores of the farm that keep her out of doors; not that she would neglect any of her very needy animals. The calves bawl at the sound of her voice. The horse must have a sixth sense of when she is near the building that her hay is stored in because no matter where Misty in her lot she comes bounding to the feeder nickering the whole way. ( I think the cows give it all away.)

Any time the chickens see her with any type of container in her hands they flock to her hoping to catch some of her “handfuls of purpose” cast out for them. Last night we took some stale biscuits and crumbled them up for the chickens. As we went out of the mobile home they were gathered fairly close to the fence nearby so Mama began scattering the crumbs for them.

The rooster called the hens over to the feast and that alerted the big dogs. They are not the least interested in chicken feed but this was table food – and they really know the difference. They scattered the chickens as they vacuumed up the scraps while Mama scolded them for their greediness. The chickens got the leftovers of pieces the dogs thought too small to matter. Mama loves it. It reminds me of “Patch of Heaven” farm.

Tomorrow is Victoria’s birthday and this weekend is Trade Days. I will not get much done on the farm because of the time we will spend shopping and going to lunch with Victoria, but I am looking forward to a good weekend none the less. Mama is a little disappointed that we do not have any spare money to support Trade Days, but she is fully on board with the tight budget we have had to settle on in order to get all the bills paid while we support the farm needs.

Spring is coming and it is typically the most expensive time of the year for the farm. I am not ready but I have confidence that God is able to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I am still amazed at how all of that works out, but it always does.

Pray for Becky. She has accepted a job that will require her to drive 90 miles round trip and she does not have the money in hand for the gas required for that commute. I am not able to help her very much at this time, but God surely can.

I am just not sure she will ask.

Mama, travel, tightening the belt

Yesterday morning Mama sent me a selfie to show me how bad the rash around her eyes and nose had gotten. It was not a flattering picture. It was more of a mug shot. Based on that image I recommended a trip to the doctor so that she could get some advice on the nature of the rash and the potential cure. It was determined to be – as we had thought – a reaction to some new makeup Mama had tried on Sunday.

The ointment prescribed cost $85 but it seems to be doing the trick. That and Benadryl. Mama is happy to have access to the remedy but the Benadryl is definitely making her sleepy. She was ready for bed last night before 7 p.m. I think we were both in bed before 8 p.m. I do not have an excuse for my early bedtimes other than the lack of sleep eventually catches up to me.

Mama called in a panic as I was almost home yesterday. The stray that had taken up residence with us during the Christmas Holidays had just killed one of the chickens and the old Barred Rock rooster that had tried to come to the hen’s rescue. Nothing she did seemed to sidetrack the dog from his quarry and she was out of breath and hurting from the pursuit and intervention.

The hen was not dead but was wounded beyond healing. If we tried to house her with the other chickens, hoping for her recovery, they would have pecked her to death. I had to put her out of her misery. I also had to put the dog down. What a waste on all counts. It was not a good evening for Mama.

We had planned on killing the big rooster and several of the hens anyway, but our plans focused on puting them in the freezer rather than the dumpster. I suppose when we let the chickens roam freely we have to be willing to accept some loss, but it feels like this one could have been avoided if we had gotten rid of the stray as soon as there was the hint of trouble; lesson learned.

I have been assigned to be in Borger next week; at least Tuesday and Wednesday. A move of personnel from the Borger office to the Dumas office is planned for those two days and my boss would like me to be there to field questions and complaints. I had been making plans to go anyway but the dates were not set until yesterday. For the moment Mama is planning on going with me, but that is still a week away.

Mama and I are prepared for a very lean month this month. January is often the most difficult month of the year for us financially. Christmas and New Year’s festivities and gift giving make planning for the first of the year a little difficult. Mama and I were very conservative and budget conscience through the end of the year but I still was not able to set aside as much as I wanted to prepare for the increase in taxes and benefit costs that will start this month. It is once again time to tighten our belt financially.

We will make it, but the journey through the month will not be lavish.

Kitchen injury, old friends

Cori called me yesterday in the later afternoon to tell me that Nate had cut himself pretty badly. They recently bought one of those slicing boards that require the vegetable to be pushed through a knife mounted horizontally on the cutting tray. It can be adjusted for the depth of cut so the items sliced can vary in thickness. Nate was slicing sweet potatoes with the knife open to the thicker setting.

Sweet potatoes are not easy to cut regardless on the contraption used so he was using a good bit of force to ensure a smooth and efficient cut. As it is with all of that style of vegetable slicers, his thumb was easier to slice through that the sweet potato. He took off a large chunk of the top and side of his right thumb. For a Law Enforcement Officer, that is a debilitating injury – and will be a painful inconvenience for many weeks to come.

When Cori sent me the pictures of the open wound and told me Nate was sweating profusely and feeling faint, I suggested the hospital. I was hopeful they could use the detached flesh to help seal the wound. That was where her fun began. When the attending nurses saw the amount of blood he had lost, they took Nate in right away; leaving Cori with the kids to get him registered with the hospital.

At some point during the registration process, Mykenzie passed out and banged her face into the waiting room floor. She insisted that her legs started hurting and she needed to sit down. As traumatic as the experience was for my little six year old granddaughter, I cannot help but smile at the thought of her being so overcome at the sight of her daddy’s blood that she would pass out. She is in for a rough childhood as her daredevil brothers grow up.

Having tended to her daughter, the hospital staff and myriad questions related to the injury Cori was preparing to go back and check on her husband. That is when Blake needed to go potty and Grant began to express his restlessness. We all know how accommodating hospital emergency rooms are as play areas for young children. She ended up staying in the waiting room while Nate got two shots in the thumb before they cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding.

They were home in time to entertain their guests and watch Florida State win the championship game. I recommended they ask for some type of pain medication to relieve the throbbing Nate will experience for the next several days when he lays down to sleep. The hospital staff was not overly excited about the request but they did provide something for him.

I sent out an email last week to Emil Estrada; a friend from New Jersey (he and I worked together at the Bayway refinery)who has relocated his family to the Ukraine. His wife is native to the area. We had not been in touch for about a year so it was good to hear back from him almost immediately. We talked yesterday in the early morning and caught up a little. I had meetings to get to very early in the day so we did not get to converse long.

Since the time difference is eight hours we have to plan our conversations early in the morning for me, which is in the afternoon for him, or in the mid afternoon for me which is late in the day for him. We talked at my 6 a.m. which is his 2 p.m. My 2 p.m. would be his 10 p.m.

We will set up something this Saturday so Mama and Lana can also spend some time talking.

Weekend report

Mama and I had a great weekend. I got a lot of little things done on the farm in the morning and Mama and I went to Wichita Falls that evening. Saturday was pleasant, weather wise. The temperature got to almost seventy degrees; a far cry from this morning when it was 13®F. There was a strong north wind blowing throughout the day and we knew the temperatures were predicted to drop over Sunday and Monday, but it gave me enough better weather to paint a sealant on the chicken coop to try to seal it against the rain that has been getting into the nesting area.

It was not a particularly difficult job but one I had been putting off because it is a messy job. Just getting the sealant remixed after a year of sitting in the shed was enough to make a significant mess. All in all, I got it done without too much getting on me or my clothing but the time I spent on that roof showed me there is more I need to do to secure the roof if it is going to last another couple of years. I am not sure when I will get the rest of the repairs done but the permeability should be tested this coming weekend if the forecasts are accurate.

Mama and I ate at the Genghis Grill in Wichita Falls. It is the first time we had been there but it was recommended by several people at the church. It was a fun experience. It usually is with Mama. As the waitress seated us we were given a card about the size of a business card. We had to circle one item on the card that would determine what starch would be used in our meal and select the size bowl our meal would be served in. Mama and I chose brown rice for the base and a small bowl for the meal size.

We then entered a cafeteria style line where the meats, vegetables, spices and sauces were chosen. The bowl we were given to select out food to be cooked was smaller than the serving bowl we had selected for our meal and Mama pointed that out, in Mama’s usual timid manner, to the person tending the concourse. That person smiled and explained that the smaller bowl she had in her hand was for the raw food items only. The rice would be added to the cooked food and served in the larger bowl. Several people in the line close to us really enjoyed the exchange.

When Mama moved from the meats to the vegetable portion of the line she was already out of room in her bowl so she upgraded to the next larger size to accommodate the mass of vegies she had her eye on. The patrons in line near us got a chuckle out of that exchange also. The larger bowl was still piled to overflowing by the time we presented our selections to the cook.

What ended up in front of us after it was cooked and added to the brown rice was a really good meal without the temptation of overeating that a buffet offers. I stuck with the small bowl while Mama ended up with the medium – due to portion of meats selected. In spite of the fact that she combined, curry, crushed red pepper and “Dragon” sauce to her meal, Mama ate it all. She had to have the waitress get her some dried noodles to munch to temper the spices in her food, but she made it work. She did not need her coat for several hours following that meal.

Church was great. I am thrilled that God had placed us here.

Pining hearts

Mama has been feeling poorly lately. I think it is grandchild withdraws, but it could be something biological. There have been a number of people sick in our church lately. What they described is far more debilitating than anything Mama is currently experiencing so I will continue to chalk it up to withdrawal.

Last Friday evening Nate and I set a brush pile on fire so that it could burn down enough for the kids and Mama to do some hot dogs and marshmallows but the time the sun was setting. Cori is not eating either of those “food” items but she will still allow her children to do so on occasion. That was one of those occasions.

Victoria and I did not get to stay because of the RU program at church but I was told that they had a great time late into the evening. It was one of the warmer nights with the temperatures near fifty. Later that night it dropped into the twenties. When the kids got up in the morning they were very surprised by the cold, but they adapted quickly.

This week is more of the same weather. It will be near seventy degrees on Saturday afternoon but by Monday morning it will be in the teens – with thirty mile per hour winds to remind us it really is winter. Still we are not doing as bad as folks in the northeast right now. We had our bout of ice and snow after Thanksgiving. Maybe that will be it for this winter.

It is hard for me to get my head wrapped around the idea that today is Friday. With the past ten days off and the holidays happening mid-week, my day counter is off. I will catch up by Monday but for now it feels a little strange to be at the weekend.

Kira is having withdrawals also. She and Bella – Coria and Nate’s lab – played countless hours. I think Bella got the worst end of the play. One time we thought there might be some permanent damage to her eye because of Kira but the wound healed very quickly. Another time, while Mama had the grandkids on the tractor with her, Bella tried to duck through the wheels of the tractor as a shortcut to the other side. Mama slammed on the brakes to avoid running over her.

I was repairing fence in another pasture when the incident took place. They were on the backside of the dike at our large pond and I could hear very clearly the scolding the dog was getting. I saw Mama drop grant off of the tractor to call Bella over for inspection, but I had only begun to head that direction when they all loaded up to complete the ride. I do not know if she knows or not, but Bella is much safer in her fences yard in Pace, Florida.

Allie must be right at the peak of heat because Sam is acting crazy whenever the door is opened to the trailer. Last night, to give the little female a break, I picked Sam up and put him in the back of the pickup. With the topper on it made a perfect holding pen. He cried like he was being tortured.

When Mama finally put Allie back inside after her outing to potty and help Mama with the chickens I let Sam out of his brief captivity and he tracked the path of the female to the chicken coop and back whimpering the entire time. I hope this is over soon.  

I really regret that we did not make more of an effort to have a more size compatablemale standing ready to breed her.

Farm play

I cannot say it is good to be back at the office but it is about time I got back to work. There are a multitude of things happening today and tomorrow that require my attention and it will be helpful to be here to get them done rather than walking into the flurry of activity after it has already begun.

We had a great Christmas and New Year. Nate, Cori and the kids came over on Christmas and stayed until New Year’s morning. It was fun to have the grandkids on the farm. Mama probably enjoyed it above all the rest of us but she often has the capacity to do so more than the rest of us. They helped in every chore she could involve them in; feeding, water and collecting eggs in the chicken coop, filling the creep feeder with hay for the cattle and feeding the dogs.

On the morning that we all cleaned out the nesting boxes I took the time to rebuild the roosts on the nesting boxes and straighten out the other roosts so we could accommodate the flock we now care for. I told Mama yesterday as the chickens scratched and pecked their way around the apartment that they think they own the entire farm. We had not let them out for several days because it was cold and wet so they were making the most of their freedom.

One afternoon while we were letting the kids play in the hay stacked in the barn Mykenzie discovered a nest tucked back between two bales of hay. When we got up to the nest and looked in, we counted fifteen eggs that had been laid in that nest. When I really dug around it yielded twenty five eggs. Mama had been wondering why we were down to six or seven eggs in the coop each day. It took all Blake could give the reach the eggs.

Over the holiday week Allie went into heat and that attracted an older male dog that looked to be an Australian Shepherd mix of some kind. We have not been able to get rid of him. Nate and I tried to chase him away – even using a cane in the effort, but we could not deter him, distract him or dislodge him from the farm. He finally took up residence outside the apartment. For several cold nights he slept in the shop.

He is a very pleasant dog, but he is another male. That has not worked out too well with our Great Pyrenees male. They have fought on several occasions – mostly over who would protect Mama from some perceived threat or just purely out of jealousy. He is gentle as a kitten with the kids. He does not harm the chickens or chase the cattle but he is not fond of Misty. He has gotten her stirred up on a couple occasions – which did not sit well with Mama. We are hoping once Allie is finished that he goes home, but he seems content to hang around.

Sadly, we did not get to do anything very exciting or different with the kids while they were here but they seemed to enjoy the freedom to play, to swing and to climb the “dirt mountain” we have outside the apartment. They also played in the shop. Nate and I built them a ramp to run cars down while we waited to Chase and Makaila to bring the scooters they had bought the kids for Christmas.

Nate made a little go cart out of a couple two by fours and the wheels off of the lawnmower. It did pretty well for the kids but it could not hold up when they took it to the little skate part in Bowie and he rode it down one of the larger ramps. The last thing Nate did was to disassemble all the things he put together for the kids while they were here; a sad but necessary task. Mama and I spent the day yesterday cleaning the trailer and outing away the bedding and toys.

Another sad task.