Complicated decisions

Mama’s recent admonition to herself that it was a fool’s errand to spend so much time looking for the right house to buy  - in consideration of our plan to move closer to the church – when we do not even have an interested buyer, held the internet searches at by for about half a day; at best. She has been texting me the link to houses that interest her at a pretty impressive rate over the past few days.

I am of the opinion that when there are too many options, the choices become far to difficult. Limiting those options, defining  boundaries, or drawing parameters to limit the choices is an exercise in patience and prayer. Finding God’s will as we sort through the many good options that are presented to us is a matter of prayer that every believer struggles with; seeking God’s best within all the good.

That is where we are with the sale of the farm and future purchase of a property to replace it. The most important part of the whole series of events – the sale of the farm – has not happened yet but as God gets me and Mama closer to the right path forward, that is imminent. We are struggling with where to go from there.

How much house do we need? How much house and property should we buy? Do we want to spend the next thirty years just paying for a house? Is our long term financial solvency worth some sacrifice right now? Or is a certain type place to live so important that we should commit our entire earning potential to obtaining that and little else?

I told Mama on the way from church home last night that I would love to be out from under the constant financial strain for a while. It is a part of our life that she has never seen in a practical way – that is, as it applies to managing the entire load of financial obligations week to week. We made that choice many years ago and it has worked well for us. However, that could be changing.

Mama got a call from the owner of the Rita’s in southern Alabama yesterday afternoon and the two of them talked for quite a while. That is a business we have talked about for some time. Mama left the conversation with pretty high hopes – and I concur. It is something we could do, something we could afford to do, but not if we spend a lot of unnecessary money on a home; pending the sale of the farm.

She missed a call from one of the corporate directors at Rita’s parent company later in the day yesterday so she will likely have that conversation this morning. The possibility of opening a Rita’s in Denton is what we talked about as we drove to and from church last night. Mama is pretty excited. I share in most of the enthusiasm but I see the “hard work and long hours” vision on the implementation side of that idea.

My children know that I am not opposed to, nor a stranger of, hard work but it had mostly been an effort I have tackled alone. It has been an elusive quest to identify a business that Mama could either run by herself or partner with me to operate. Maybe we have been given that opportunity.

We will see.

Daisy May, internet woes, looking for balance

As soon as I got home yesterday evening I hooked up the stock trailer so Mama and I could go to the Shaw’s and get Daisy. She has been running with a bull on their farm just outside of Decatur for almost two months. We are hoping to get a calf out of her next spring. I told Mama I hope we did not end up getting her a week early – that would be our normal course of operation.

I am not as comfortable with trailers as Norman and Grandpa are but the Lord blessed us on this short trip to get us there and back safely. Loading the heifer was the tricky part. We tried to load Daisy from the pasture but she was not interested in making the step up into the trailer even for the feed offered so Bro. Shaw walked her to a smaller pen where we could corral her a bit more.

It only took a few minutes to get her into the trailer once we had her committed to that path. She was still a bit hesitant to make the step up but with a gate pressed into her backside and hemmed in by the trailer gates on each side she decided forward was the best path. Now our stock trailer is properly baptized with runny, green manure from front to back.

I am glad we made the trip last night because it is raining hard today with more rain predicted for tomorrow. I had a bit of trouble at one point. While I was getting lined up in the pasture the truck tires were spinning on the wet grass. I thought I was not going to get turned around but the wheels finally grabbed and we made it out of the pasture to the secondary loading area. We were home by 6:30 pm.

Since it was too late to get anything done on the construction projects I have going I got all the pistols and rifles we had shot over the weekend and cleaned them. I took my time to make sure I did a thorough job and was still done with them in less than an hour. I got to go to bed a little earlier than I had anticipated; but I feel no better for it.

Meanwhile Mama was looking at homes online. I checked the Hot Spot I have at the farm – provided by my company – to see what the tally of data for the month was. We are allotted 5 GB. We were cruising upwards of 11GB. My bill is going to be pretty high next month. Mainly it is from streaming TV shows and from Victoria spending a good deal of time every evening online for her Janberry business.

One of the requisite items in any home we buy needs to be better internet access. None of us may particularly like the house on 730 but it definitely would give us access to landlines and fiber optic cable for phone and internet.

One of my struggles is to consider where Mama would be left in the event something happened to me. The issue there is that what she really likes if far more expensive than we should even be considering at this point. Striking the balance between what we like and what we would settle for has been the sticking point in all of our online searches.

It is still a work in progress.

A place for Mama, scheduling conflicts, coming events

I could be that our search for a house and property is over. Peggy is very seriously looking into selling us her house. I do not know if that is the way things will eventually work out but it is a stronger possibility than it was a month ago. The only caveat is that the price is above the very high end of prices we were considering. Imagine that, that is where Mama usually takes me. (I covet your prayers in that matter.)

Mama and I are expecting to hear soon from the man that came to the farm last week but if we do not we will continue to do what we are doing to fix up the farm and complete the projects I have started. It gives me something to do while we wait on the Lord. Someone will get a nice place when they buy our farm.

Mama and I are planning on going back to Decatur this evening to get her Daisy May. She has been running with a beautiful Angus bull for a couple months now. We are hoping that in early summer next year we will have our first calf. I am not sure where will have Daisy May when she has this calf but by that time we should be well settled – wherever the Lord has us. It won’t be much of a herd but it will be a start. Mam and I enjoy reproducing her pets.

I have a conflict this weekend. I have arranged for a couple friends to come over and help me get the repairs done to the roof of the apartment but I also have a company picnic to attend. I know which I will give precedent to but I will suffer the backlash (it won’t be that much) of not attending the company function I advocated for with my supervision. The ladies that work for me have been working very hard to get this pulled together. They will not be the least bit happy with me.

I have been getting the roof prepared for the metal roofing on the tall section of the shop and it would be great to have help getting all that in place also but the focus, while I have the extra manpower, will be the repairs I cannot do very effectively by myself. The process of affecting the needed repairs has been a long, painfully slow process for me and I will be grateful and relieved to get it done.

Jake will be flying in on the 7^th of August; the day before Mama’s and my 32^nd anniversary. In light of that we are planning on going to Dallas Thursday evening for our anniversary dinner. She wants to go to Texas de Brazil. As it so happens, that is the restaurant the committee here has picked for the Christmas Dinner this year. We will get a chance to check it out and report back to the folks here.

It should be fun.

Heat, shooting

Last Thursday I picked up the metal for the roof repairs as well as the metal for the roof on the tall part of the shop. On my way back home I bought a twenty foot ladder at Lowe’s. I got to use that ladder on Saturday. The peak of the tall part of the shop is about sixteen feet so when the ladder is properly positioned there is about five inches extending past the top pipe. I told Mama I should have gotten the twenty four foot ladder but I wanted to save one hundred dollars.

Just having that ladder allowed me to get the remaining brackets on the pipe in pretty short order. I even got two more sixteen foot two by sixes on the roof before I had to quit for the day. By the time I quit at 11 a.m. the temperature was already over 100®F. Three hours out in the heat was enough for me.

I had to pick a spot to stop anyway since Mama and I had decided to go to Sam’s for a few items and we had company coming out to the farm that evening. Fortunately we did not have to prepare anything for our visitors; they had volunteered to bring everything needed for dinner. They were coming to use our big tank as a shooting range.

I took a few minutes and set up some target stands down at the big tank. The last time they came I did not have anything prepared so we had to stake the targets with twigs and stones. I wanted to have a more finished approach this time so I set up two cedar posts. On one post I put a piece of plywood I had laying around and on the second post I put up two smaller pieces of scrap plywood to form a shelf.

The shelf was a big hit. When we set cans and plastic water bottles on it there was a pretty obvious response to a bullet hitting it. The targets became secondary. Much to his lasting regret a large turtle crawled up the slope where is had the targets set up. He did not make it to the top. I explained that I shoot any turtle I can to allow the fish in the big tank to have a fighting chance at survival. It is the only tank we have that has fish in it.

The Wyckoff’s son-in-law brought his AR-15 to the shooting party. It was a real noise maker. I did not shoot it because I am having enough trouble with my shoulder. James and his sister Brittany did shoot the rifle and James immediately began talking about getting his own. I have no desire to own one.

I did get to shoot my newly purchased 9mm pistol as well as shooting my old .22 cal. revolver. I am a much better shot with the revolver than with the 9mm. Victoria did not like the 9mm at all. I am not sure if I ever hit what I was aiming at with it but I did get on the paper of the target every time.

What is did learn was that I need to have my reading glasses on for shooting. I was not able to see the sights on any of the pistols or rifles I shot without the help of the bifocals. I had to use my right thumb to hold up my glasses so I could see the sights on the rifle. I never did figure out how to get my bifocal on the sights of the pistol without tilting by head way up to get the alignment right.

We had fun – but I do not think our neighbors appreciated the AR.

Prospects, Mama’s glasses

I took the day off yesterday so I could help Mama and Victoria get the farm presentable. Our realtor called us the day before to announce a prospective buyer would be coming to look over the farm about 11 a.m. on Thursday morning. There was not a whole lot to do but the prep takes time so we got an early start.

They got there as promised. The entourage was three men. One of the three was the prospective buyer, one was his father and the third was the realtor – who just happens to run a dairy farm near Gainesville, TX. He looked over the shop and apartment with great interest. He had no interest in the mobile home. He took a good deal of time to look over the property and seemed disappointed only at the shape of the meadow – which is polluted with sticky burrs.

I expect we will hear from him but his need to move is pretty urgent so there may be some issues to deal with there. I am glad I was there to help with the questions and to interject where needed. I spent some time with the father who was a delightful character. The buyer spent a great deal of time with the realtor – forming a strategy, I assume.

Mama and I were worn out enough that we both laid down – and ended up sleeping for over two hours. By the time I got up it was too late to make the drive to get the metal I had ordered. (I am picking that up today after work.) We had had several calls through the day from friends about properties we should go see so Mama and I went to Decatur to do just that.

We found the properties but none were what we are looking for. One was eighty seven acres for two million dollars. The other was an expensive acre and a half with an acceptable house. To find it we had to get Peggy to ride with us to it because we thought the one she was directing us to was the two million dollar property. That confusion caused some interesting conversation.

“Yea it is a brick home. Yea it is just off the road near Hwy 51. I didn’t think they had eighty seven acres and I can’t imagine they want two million dollars for it.” When we got all that sorted out both she and Mama felt better. And they both has a good laugh over the whole thing.

While we were with Peggy she asked a couple questions about some of the ramifications of our buying her property. Her main concern is the business her son runs out of one of the large buildings on her property. The building is full to overflowing with parts and equipment and the thought of having to move it is really troubling her.

On the way home Mama needed me to stop at Wendy’s so she could eat. She was getting the shakes since it had been a good while since we had eaten. When we left she could not find her glasses. We called Peggy, who did not find them at her house. We searched the car and could not find them. Finally we called the Wendy’s in Decatur. They looked over the dining room and did not find them. Mama was pretty bummed by that.

About an hour later we got a call from the manager at Wendy’s that the glassed had been found. He told Mama that a family had come in with a pretty rowdy little boy who spent the entire time scooting around on the floor under the tables. At one point he emerged and proudly announced, “Look Mama I found me some new glasses.” The manager hustled over and said, “oh, no you didn’t. Those belong to another customer.”

He put them on the safe and I will go retrieve them sometime today.

Heat complications, our current mess

Mama ended up going to the ladies meeting by herself last night. Victoria was not feeling well. I do not know if Mama left early enough to go by and look at a couple pf properties before going to church (that was in her original plan) but I will get the update later today. We are, thankfully, finding more options for a property lately - which is very encouraging. I did not want this move to be a step up in debt but rather a level to lowering of our total debt load – and closer to church. I have no idea how all this will turn out but we are enjoying the journey.

I did not get much done last night because the only battery I have for the drill I use for the work I am doing on the roof ran out of juice pretty quickly – at least it seemed so to me. The brackets I bought at Lowe’s are different than those I had in the past. They require more drill power to set the bolts in the brackets. Hence, the limited number I can do with the older battery powered drill I have.

It gave me the chance to get the tractor and move some of the newly delivered gravel to the areas I got it for. I put several loads at the front porch of the apartment and at the garage door of the shop. I spread out the gravel at the garage door but I ran out of juice to do the porch area.  The heat and humidity were both pretty high last night. I was a soaking wet mess in short order.

I mostly wanted to get the gravel in place so I can keep Sam from digging the massive holes he feels compelled to excavate in order to turn up some cool dirt; which he then wallows in and shakes off in my shop. In showing the farm the caverns he has created have been a particularly obvious eye sore. Besides, I hope to get the concrete poured for the porch next month and the gravel is a prerequisite for the concrete work.

I have to sweep the shop out every day because of Sam’s mess he deposits everywhere he lays down. Mama has to sweep the rug in the apartment every day because of the mess Kira leaves behind everywhere she lays. While Sam sheds dirt Kira is shedding handfuls of fur – mostly on our furniture and rugs – and it has become a challenge to keep up with in both living areas.

Mama is loath to keep her outside because it has been brutally hot. With the double coat that her breed of dog has the heat is more oppressive than for some other breeds. Even Rosie, who usually loves to bask in the sun, has not wanted to be out for more than a few minutes at a time. This too shall pass.

Someone once said that life is what happens while you are waiting for your plans to work out. Probably many people have said something similar, but it still rings true. It is still good to have a plan but when we invest too much emotional energy in that plan we miss the things happening around us that shape the outcomes of our lives.

Some cases in point are the disturbing things happening in the United States and the world around us; the national unemployment rates, which are far higher than reported, the crushing burden of our national debt, the crisis of illegal immigration, the fighting in Eastern Europe, the fighting in Israel, the genocide in Sudan, etc. While all this is going on the stock market continues to climb to new heights.

Something is not right. I’m not sure what’s wrong or what to do about it, but it warrants more attention than we are now giving to it. God is still in control.

Our hope is not in this world; thankfully.

Poor Mama, Poor Blake

Poor Mama. She had quite a day yesterday. I had her order some gravel yesterday and the same time that she was writing out the check to pay for it’s delivery to the farm a young man drove up to the shop because he was interested in seeing the farm. So, she spent an hour showing him the property, including the old farm house.

In ways, it is a little unnerving to have someone just show up. Who knows their real intent? There are those who will come to see what else we have at the farm in the way of tools and equipment knowing that we are not always there to watch over it. We just have to keep on trusting that the Lord will keep us safe from those with less than honorable intentions. But on the flip side, we want to be welcoming to anyone who is really interested in the farm.

Besides ordering the gravel I had asked Mama to take the car to have the oil changed. It is one of those things that I really do not want to take the time to do when I can easily have someone who is better equipped to do it for us. On top of that, Mama had scheduled an appointment with the dentist to get her crown put on. She was close to overbooked.

She managed to get everything done and get to the dentist a little early. I met her there a little after 3 pm. It took only a few minutes to get the crown in place so we went to Lowe’s to get some of the items I needed for several projects and to pick up a dishwasher – which Mama insisted be put in the trailer rather than the apartment.

When we got home I worked on the tall part of the shop applying the brackets that will hold the two by sixes to the frame so I can attach the metal roof. I did not get very far because it was later than I usually get home and because it was brutally hot and humid. But the fifteen or so clamps I put on helped move the project forward a little.

Poor Blake. I seem to have stirred up a controversy when he was here in Texas with us. We had a birthday party for him at the pool at Peggy’s house. It was not really his actually birthday – that was yesterday. Anyway, I told him that since we were having a party he must be having a fourth birthday and when he got back to Florida and had another birthday party it would have to be his fifth birthday. So he gets to turn five years old sooner.

Mykenzie and Grant have spent a good amount of emotional energy trying to convince Blake that he is still only four years old. Oops!

Mama and Victoria are going to a ladies meeting at the church tonight. It is the annual revealing of the Secret Sister. I do not think either of them had a secret sister this year but all the ladies were invited and they always have a great time when they do go.

I have a dishwasher to install.

Weather, weekend plans, house hunting

We ended up getting just under three inches of rain yesterday. I had really expected it to be more based on the downpours we got off and on throughout the entire day, but we will take it and praise the Lord for every bit of it. We have already gotten more rain this year than in the past two years combined. It is a really good time for prospective buyers to come and look at the farm.

It is “unseasonably” cold this morning. When I got into the car the temperature reading on the dash was 61®F. For a morning in mid-July in northern Texas, that is truly cold. It will not last very long. The temperatures are predicted to soar back into the low one hundreds by next week but we will enjoy it while we have it.

This weekend I hope to start on the roof of the tall part of the shop. I ordered the metal for the repairs to the apartment roof – which held out all the rain yesterday, Praise the Lord – but it will not be in until next Thursday. So this Saturday I am getting the lumber to start on the porch roof repairs and extending the roof onto the tall part of the shop. I already have nine pieces of roofing for that part of the project.

I will not have all day to work on the repairs since Mama and I are supposed to meet with the seniors at the church tomorrow evening to go out to dinner at a place in Ft. Worth. I was unaware of the event until I was told yesterday evening, but I will make the trip if Mama wants to. It will be a pleasant break.

Mama continues to shop online for homes and property. Last night it was too wet to do anything outside and I still do not have the material to do much of the inside work so I suggested Mama and I go drive by a couple of the houses she had recently found in her searches; three to be exact. We took off a little after 5 pm.

All three were south of Decatur. All three were within twenty minutes of Decatur. Two of the three were at the very top of our price range. We easily found all three properties. The one I was most interested in was in a less than desirable setting. It is a very nice home on five acres but it is nestled in a sort of ghetto. All the properties around it are pretty rough looking. That always makes us feel uncomfortable.

One of the two is just off of Hwy 114; literally, just off the road. Mama is insisting we go see it but I was not overly impressed by the online pictures of the house, or the price tag attached to the house and property. Where it sits makes it even less appealing to me. But if she is determined to look it over with a realtor I will certainly keep her appointment.

The third was less impressive in every way but was adequate for what we are looking for going forward. It too was just off of Hwy 114 – albeit less exposed to the road. It was priced a little more honestly than the previous two we had just driven by. Mama and I are highly adaptable and together we can make the most of any home or property. That ability only serves to make the selection process a little more difficult.

We talked a good bit on the drive back to the farm. I am still drawn to the property on Hwy 730 near town. It too, is not impressive at first glance and the sellers are asking far more than I would pay, but what it lacks in curb appeal it more than makes up for in functionality. I told Mama I would like to eliminate that one first before we move on to anything else.

She agreed – maybe because it is such a long shot.

 

Rain – and lots of it, flooding

The rains made it to the farm this morning about 3 a.m. I woke up to the lightning and thunder and prayed the Lord would hold everything together so the rain all stayed on the outside and promptly went back to sleep. When I did get up a couple hours later the storms had largely passed. There was still a lot of lightning across the entire sky but there was no rain falling.

The rain gauge showed only one inch had fallen but there was a lot of standing water on the ground. On the way into the office I heard reports of up to eight inches of rainfall to our north. In Valley View there had been reports of more than ten inches – I-35 was shut down in both directions in that area. That is going to cause some problems for travelers.

The roadway in front of the office often floods in even moderate rainfall. This morning was no exception. I am guessing the flooded portion to be more than eighteen inches deep. For me that is not a problem and it should not be for most of the employees who work out of this office, but there are a couple ladies that treat the water as thought they were crossing a swollen river. It is comical to hear them talk about traversing the obstacle.

Where Mama grew up in West Virginia the farmstead was across the creek from the hard road. You had to drive through the creek to get to the house. It was either that or park on the road and cross the footbridge – which was a telephone pole with planks of wood nailed to it. Grandpa had run a cable from one side to the other for a type of railing but it was more for show than for safety.

From the road to the creek bed was easily a twenty foot drop so in the winter it was always a challenge to get out because the water dragged up from the creek would freeze on the steep slope of the drive up to the hard road. More often than not we would leave the cars on the road and make the walk and in the summer, when rain swelled the creek, we would walk through the mud to the footbridge and cross to the mud on the other side of the bridge to access the house.

Mama did that all her growing up life – and loved it. Grandpa fixed up the old farmhouse they called home twice due to flooding. The house sat less than fifty feet from the creek and the water would often flood their yard. I never understood the original plan of the farmer who built the house. The house sat in the floodplain while the barn sat on the hill above the house – always high and dry. Sometimes I miss that old farmstead. I wonder if Mama does too.

There has been no new activity on the farm as far as the sale of the property goes. I am expecting to see prospective buyers come to look the farm over this weekend. Mama is actively looking online at houses. She will find something she likes and call me to look it up on Google Maps. More often than not, it will be too far away to be a serious contender for our new home; but she keeps combing through the listings.

When the Lord is ready we will find what we need.

Clean up, storm prep, work flow

Mama and I spent some time last night mowing and trimming. Neither of us felt very energetic but those activities are ones that can be done with a minimum of mental acuteness; and it seems to be a never ending chore. We have nothing to complain about. The recent rains have caused the grass to grow and if we want it to look nice that growing grass has to be kept mowed and edged. Last summer we mowed twice – all summer long. This year we are mowing twice a week.

The rains are forecast to begin again this evening. It is not hard to imagine they will be significant. When I walked out of the apartment this morning the air was very cool. The temperature was 61®. That is almost a forty degree drop from last weekend. Whenever there is that much of a disparity in the temperatures there is bound to be some strong weather activity following.

In preparation for the impending storms I double checked the damaged areas on the apartment roof and made sure the remaining porch roof was secure. At this point we can only pray that we can get the rain without the subsequent damage from very high winds or hail. The repairs are forthcoming; I plan to order the metal today.

Once I get the metal and lumber in place I should be able to make the needed repairs in a very long Saturday. It is one of those projects that requires a completion once it is begun. There is not a good stopping point between starting to pull off the damaged roofing and replacing it. In the middle you have an open hole in your roof – not a recommended practice no matter where you live.

Since I will be doing the work by myself I will try not to get too far ahead of myself. I am still pacing through the project in my mind. While I have large portions of the roof off I am planning to replace the insulation I removed to prevent damage to the ceiling when it got soaked. A “pop-up” shower during that time would be most unpleasant.

I have yet to contact the sheetrock company to get a bid on the cost of the repairs needed on the apartment ceiling. I thought it best to finish the work on the roof prior to getting that appointment set up. There are three areas that need to be redone and I would rather have someone who does it for a living do the work.

The pace of work at the office has picked up drastically in the past few weeks. As some of the larger projects I am working on begin to reach completion the number of little decisions required to finalize each of them also accelerates.

That is where I am right now.

Broken items, lost and found

It is nearly impossible to completely cover the events of one day in our lives, much less an entire busy weekend. Such is always the case with these small recounting of events in our lives. So I need to digress a moment and tell you how Friday went in a little greater detail.

Cori and the kids arrived Thursday evening around 7 pm. The kids immediately went to the toy closet in the trailer and got some of the play out of their system while we heated up what we had made for dinner. After we ate and unloaded the van it was time for bed – even though it took an additional hour more to get the kids settled down.

When I got up Friday morning and went to the trailer to check on everyone I heard something clicking in the engine compartment of the van. When I looked into it I found that Cori had left the key turned in the ignition and the battery was completely dead. I do not have jumper cables at the farm – they went back to West Virginia with Grandpa. I do have a jump starter which works off of a battery. When I applied it to the vans battery I found out that it was very low on charge. I plugged it in and went on to other things.

I rearranged my shop, moved Mama’s mower outside so the kids could run the trikes in a circular track and began to help Mama get ready for the party we were going to have that evening. I tried the battery jumper on the car several times but the van battery was too low to start the car even with the help of the external battery. Finally, I waited until we got home from the party later that evening to allow the external batter to fully charge. Once that was done we were able to start the car pretty easily.

I wrote already about the time we spent at the pool that evening but after we got home Mama was desperate for some ice cream – since we had mentioned it earlier that evening. When she got the ice cream out of the freezer we discovered that the freezer had quit working.

I had to bring Victoria’s little chest freezer over to the shop and transfer all the contents of the upright freezer – which, thankfully was less than half full – to the little chest freezer, which we had pretty much emptied last month. It all fit; after we discarded some of the things we did not feel the need to keep. I took the big freezer outside and opened it up to thaw out.

This is the second time the upright freezer has quit and allowed its contents to thaw. That is why we were given the freezer in the first place. That was fifteen years ago when we lived in Victoria, TX. It has since been moved eight times as we moved to and within New Jersey and to and within Texas. It really owes us nothing and nothing was ruined since the Lord allowed us to find the problem almost as soon as it happened.

Saturday afternoon I took the big freezer back into the shop and plugged it in – and it works perfectly. Mama and I will not put too much stock in it for the time being but it can hold items we will not cry over if it quits again. For now we have some loaves of bread and some popsicles in it.

So, over the weekend, God was good to us. We got the car fixed, the freezer fixed and Mama’s phone fixed. To top al that off, Mama found the set of keys that had been lost the week before last. They were at the bottom of the hamper where we put my tee shirts. She thinks she put them in the hamper while it was empty and in the trailer – where she does our laundry – to make sure she got them back over to the apartment.

Anyway, it was a pleasant discovery…and an answer to prayer.

Long weekend, Trade Days, pool party

Even though I took off Friday to be at home while Cori and the grandkids were visiting us the weekend seemed to fly by. Friday was a sort of free day. We spent the day at the farm letting the kids play to their hearts content – most of the time was spent on the dirt mountain. Things got a little tenuous a time or two. When you let three very young boys work in a pile of dirt with any type of tool things can get out of control. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt by the flying dirt clods and rocks.

I had to move Mama’s mower and two of my shelves to let the youngest two make a track in my shop for racing the little trikes we bought prior to the last time they were here. I stopped what amounted to a demolition derby several times but other than that they played well together. Grant was a bit of a pill and a couple times I had to run him out of my shop to quell his destructive behavior. But I think he had his fill of catching grasshoppers and toads.

Early Saturday morning we took Cori, Victoria and Connie to Trade Days to set up. We had things pretty much done by 8 a.m. That was a good thing because the temperature got up to 100®F by that afternoon. They had a really good spot – under some shade and in the main walkway through the sale area. They got a lot of attention even if they did not get a lot of sales. Victoria has already claimed the same spot for next month.

Chase and Makaila met us at Trade Days. They wanted to surprise us at the farm but we turned the tables on them - unwittingly – by leaving so early. He and Makaila ended up getting a puppy from one of the sellers there that morning. It is a cute Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. Once they had the pup in hand we left for the farm. I think it was a little before 10 a.m. Chase spent the rest of the morning replacing the screen on Mama’s phone. That turned out to be a fairly intricate and time consuming process.

That afternoon, while the kids napped, the girls attended their booth and Chase and Makaila outfitted and accessorized the dog, Mama and I made the cake and other food items for a pool party we had scheduled that evening. We did not get to Peggy’s house until well after 5 pm but once we did get there the kids made the most of the pool – starting off by getting in fully clothed.

I had to go to Wal-Mart to get some last minute items and by the time I got back the pool party was in full swing. I grilled the meat we had brought on a gas grill Peggy had by the pool and had the food ready pretty quickly, which was a good thing because everyone was “starved” after all the activities of the day. By the time we ate, had cake and opened presents it was almost 8 pm.

On the drive back to the farm we finished Kung Fu Panda a second time and the mommies rushed around getting the children showered and bathed in preparation for Sunday morning while I set up for fireworks. I do not think we used half of the bag of fireworks Mama and I had bought but the kids had a good time watching the show – humble as it was.

Chase and Makaila left for the hotel, the kids were sent to bed and just like that, the day was over.

Services were wonderful both Sunday morning and Sunday evening. I think everyone was able to rest through the afternoon which was good since Cori and her crew pulled out this morning before 6 a.m.

Life will return to normal at the farm this morning.

Mama’s phone disaster, weekend plans

With the heat finally settling into the area we are going to pick what we can in the garden and put it to rest for the remainder of the summer. Mama and I have never planted a Fall garden but I am thinking we might give it a try this year. We could get a second crop of corn and I could give okra a second attempt. There is some doubt as to whether we will still be on the farm at harvest time, but it would be nice to see something growing in the garden area for showing the property.

Mama is coming to Decatur today. We even had to make an appointment to meet at Wal-Mart so she and I could sign and deposit the check we have gotten to make the repairs to the apartment. We had to make the appointment because she dropped he phone onto the concrete floor last night and the screen went blank. The phone will still receive calls but it has no other functionality for the moment.

It is almost ridiculous how attached we are to those devices. Mama feels completely disconnected from the rest of the world right now – as if she cannot participate in the normal activities of life. It will be a sad and confusing day around the world if, for some reason, we lose our cell phone functionality. We might have to write notes to each other. We might have start wearing wrist watches again. We might have to have full conversations face to face; horror of horrors.

Cori, the children, and her entourage will be heading out from Florida this morning. We are praying for their safety and the safety of the vehicles as they travel in this heat. I remember when Mama and I traveled back from our honeymoon to Houston, where I was working at the time. We came to somewhere just west of Lake Charles, LA and it felt like we had pierced a heat bubble – something like the Dome. The sudden change in temperature was almost overwhelming. It was quite a shock for Mama.

I am still a little unsure what the agenda is for this weekend. I am up to speed on Trade Days – and we are still praying for an inside booth. We will not know about our placement until we register Saturday morning. At the very worst we are supposed to be near our friends, the Skills. If that works out we will be in the shade of some trees at least. I say “we” as if I plan on staying there for the day – NOT!

After the girls shut down at Trade Days we are scheduled to go to Peggy’s for a cookout and swimming. I am still not sure if it is a party for Blake or not but I think it is. It looks like I will be purchasing a cake for the occasion. I do not foresee Mama having time to make one but we will see. Cori has talked about Blake wanting to camp out for one night but I do not have a tent for them to use so I am not sure if that will be happening.

Chase and Makaila will be coming over Saturday morning and heading back on Sunday evening. Cori, et.al., will be heading back Monday morning – I think.

It will all be over so quickly.

Mama’s day out, property quest

Mama and Victoria had a great time in the pool yesterday afternoon – so much so that Mama has decided that we should buy Peggy’s house. It is not altogether a bad idea and we have considered it in the past, but the price is a little steep; at least, the price was a little steep. I think Peggy is more ready to sell than she was in the recent past. She keeps the place immaculate at all times and it is beginning to wear on her.

Mama and Victoria met me at the office so we could meet the realtor at a house in Bridgeport. Mama had made the arrangements on Monday and we were anxious to see if the house was a good fit for us.  Sadly, it was not. The approach to the house and where it is situated is beautiful. The property being sold with the house is perfect; exactly what we are looking for. The house however was tiny. Every room was tiny. I do not think our king bed would fit in the master bedroom; much less any of our other bedroom furniture with it. It was disappointing.

We came back through Decatur to get some things out of Victoria’s car since Mama had decided to leave it until tonight in order to facilitate driving by another property north of Decatur. (We will pick it up after church.) On the way through town we stopped at a Mexican restaurant to eat dinner. Since Mama knew that it was one of Peggy’s favorite places to eat she called her and invited her to join us – and Peggy did come. She did not get anything to eat other than chips and dip but she sat through dinner with us continuing the time together with Mama and Victoria. We had a good time.

As we visited through dinner we found out that she had not eaten at that restaurant since her husband passed away almost two years ago. That made the time a little more special. She still knew every waiter and waitress in the place and kidded around with each one of them. She said the salsa made her evening – and she took home a container of it with her.

Once out of town we went home a different route. We wanted to drive by a house a little further out from town to see if it would be worth actually looking at with a realtor. We found it without any problem and it was not as far out as we had thought. It sits on twenty five acres at the intersection of two county roads. It, once again, was a beautiful property. The only drawback was that the master bedroom suite is upstairs. I am avoiding that for Mama’s sake.

Once we did get home Mama rushed around getting the piglets and the chickens taken care of. It was brutally hot outside and the humidity has been unusually high for this time of year. That is not necessarily a bad thing since it promotes the popup showers we have been getting lately. It does not make it any more comfortable for us or the animals, but the plants seem to like it.

It may make it uncomfortable this weekend at trade Days. We are praying for an inside booth.

Lazy night, dog issues, fun day, fun weekend ahead

I did not get into too much last night. Both Mama and I were feeling pretty tired. I had left Decatur in a hard rain and gotten to the farm hoping the rain was coming our direction. The storm carrying the rain turned south instead of west so we got passed by this time. I had to drive home with the windows down in an attempt to dry out the seat that had gotten soaked in the brief hard rain at the office. I only had the windows slightly opened but the winds pushed enough water through the opening that it soaked the passenger seat.

While Mama worked on clothes I took out the cleaning kit and cleaned the rifle and pistols we have shot recently. It was long overdue for all the firearms. I guess cleaning them is something I do not enjoy doing so it gets put off as long as possible. Once I have everything set up it is not a terrible chore – and I really should be more diligent about it. It is less expensive to maintain them than to repair or replace them.

Victoria’s dog Kira finally killed a chicken yesterday. It has been coming for a long time. She went into the coop and caught one of the younger hens and was chewing on the still living bird when Mama caught her. Needless to say, Mama was furious. If it happens again I will have to find a more permanent solution to the issue, but I will not keep, nor allow Victoria to keep a dog that will kill our birds. Victoria may not agree but I value the chickens more than the dog.

She is young enough that we may be able to train her past the propensity to kill, but I have my doubts. I do know that Mama is in a continual panic mode trying to keep an eye on Kira to make sure her chickens are safe. That is no way to run a farm.

Mama and Victoria have a full day planned today.  The morning is to be spent on farm chores and cleaning but the afternoon is to be spent at the pool. A friend of ours at church has a pool that is rarely used any more. She is in her late seventies and lives by herself. Her grandchildren are in Illinois so the pool sits idle much of the time. Today they are going to stir the waters and Mama is pretty excited about it.

Peggy’s house is one we briefly considered buying but the price is too high. It has almost everything we are looking for except the acreage. It has two very large buildings one of which has served as a shop for her husband’s business – now being run by their son. The secondary purpose to the swim is to be available when I get off work to go to look at a house in Bridgeport. It is one we drove by on Sunday afternoon.

Cori and the kids are going to head this way on Thursday – Lord willing. She is coming with a couple other ladies and their children but I have not paid attention to the final count or the agenda for each person in tow. I know Mama is fretting over Blake’s birthday party –trying to work that out is becoming a challenge with the set activities for the time they are here.

If it all works out, we should have a good time.

Visitors, more visitors, shooting

Last weekend was a very busy time. Thursday, we spent the entire morning going back to the two houses with land near Decatur. It started raining that morning and Mama almost called off the meeting but I thought it was better to see them now versus later. So we went both places in the rain. I ended up getting pretty wet as I walked around on both properties. Mama and Victoria looked around the houses each in turn and it was obvious that the property on 380 was probably not going to work for us – especially financially.

The rest of the day we spent shopping. Victoria had to get finger printing done for the license she has recently gotten as a pharmacy technician and that appointment was set up at Cabella’s a few miles south of Denton. We wandered the store for a bit after that was done then we went to Sam’s. It does not seem practical to stock the pantry and freezer right now but there were things we could not do without and Sam’s is the place Mama likes to go for the bulk items we needed.

Mama and I had not really made any plans for the 4^th so we got up and began to do the chores around the farm. I got the weed eater and began to trim the fence lines around the living areas and the garden. I spent a lot more time than I normally would have but it seemed important to get it all done. Mama, meanwhile, got out her mower and spent the entire morning with her Bad Boy.

About noon we got a call from our listing agent that there was someone in the area visiting from Odessa that would like to look at the farm so we agreed to show them the property at 4:30. Mama was in a panic because the apartment and trailer were not in show condition but we got them there pretty quickly. I have been gently pushing to get them at least close in case something like this happened.

The couple had one of the matriarchs with them as well as their two young daughters. We showed the living quarters and then drove them around the property so they could see the tanks – both spring fed and wet weather ones. They were a delightful couple. We had a good time with them but it was shortened by the appointment we had for RU that evening. Our realtor told us he would contact them early this week to gauge their interest.

The whole experience convinced Mama that the sale of the farm could actually be forthcoming. Up until Friday afternoon she was convinced that the timeframe would be long if the farm did eventually sell. It was a wakeup call to both her and Victoria. That is something I have been praying for since Mama not full bought into the idea of letting the farm go.

On Saturday we had the Wycoff’s over for a cookout and some shooting. It was a fun evening. Daniel got there with Mike and Ida Grothe a little after 3 pm. The rest of the family did not come until a little after 6 pm. By that time I had the food ready so we ate then went down to the big tank to shoot the pistols and rifles they had brought. I got out my .22 caliber rifle so we would have two of them to shoot – since the Wycoffs brought one also.

Mama and Victoria went with the group because both of them are talking about getting their concealed carry permits this year. In fact the guy that did Victoria’s finger printing instructs the conceal carry classes at Cabella’s. So it was good for them to get the opportunity to at least feel what it is like to shoot a 9mm pistol.  All the ladies in the group liked the .22 caliber rifle best; go figure.

Sunday we drove by two more houses before we went home. One of the two we will go back to see this week.

Looking and more looking, anxious waiting, lost keys

Mama and I sat together last night and looked at a few new listings. None of them were outstanding, at least, not enough to shift our focus; which still remains slightly divergent between me and Mama. Mama is most excited about us going back to look at the log home she saw yesterday. I am trying to keep an open mind but I am a little concerned about the price and the fact that we would still lack in buildings needed to carry on her animal husbandry focus; which ranks a very high second place to the house attached to the property and buildings.

Mama has planned a full day tomorrow with houses to look at and shopping at Costco. This will be the second look on two properties and as such will be more detailed than out first perusal. Both of the properties we are looking at the second time are ones we anticipate offering far less than is being asked. So neither is a sure shot if we come to the point of making an offer.

 It is supposed to rain tomorrow so there will be limited number of things we can do at the farm so the timing is good to spend the day out – from the chore standpoint. There may not be as strong an argument for spending the day out on the financial side of the argument. Somehow, when I get Mama going on shopping she is difficult to stop. I know the error is mine; I fail to see all the many “needs” we continue to have.

I meant to take a picture of the sign that is now posted at the corner of our property but I did not have my phone with me last night as I passed – and I had two chances. Once I could have stopped on my way home from work and once I could have stopped while Mama and I were out gathering wild plums. We finally got enough to make a small batch of jelly; which we should do this long weekend.

I am still waiting on getting the insurance check back from the mortgage company so I can make the roof repairs we desperately need. Last night as I was going to get the tractor to do more brush hogging the sky looked like rain was imminent so I held off on being on the tractor but inwardly I cringed at the thought of more rain. As desperately as we need it I am apprehensive every rain that comes due to the roof repairs we need. As it turned out, it was a very gently brief rain even though the storm looked quite foreboding.

I have patched the cuts and tears sufficiently to keep the rain out to this point but there is always the possibility of strong storms coming up suddenly. I am not prepared for any of those and that is where the concern lies. I have to admit that the sunset through the retreating storm clouds was an exceptional exhibit of color and contrast. God is good!

Mama and I spent some time last night retracing her steps of the night before because she has lost the new set of truck keys; the ones that I paid almost three hundred dollars to have made. We did not find them but I am praying that we do. It would be disappointing to have to pay to have another set made.

Grant is coming to the farm next week. If they can be found, he will find them.

Time, forgotten phones and thwarted plans

We are now officially half way through the year. How did we get here so quickly? Even in the job I have where I am constantly looking out several months ahead, I am still staggered by how quickly the months go by. Some days seem to drag by but somehow the months move so quickly it takes me by surprise.

Things did not work out yesterday as planned. The realtor got to the farm at about the time he had anticipated but he and Mama did not get to leave the farm until after she had told me they would. He took some extra time to look over the property and get a clearer picture of how well the land lays. After all, it is a beautiful piece of property. (The sign he hung at the corner of the property is first rate. It is a good thing we have a brand new gate there to hang it on.)

As things turned out, I would not have been able to meet the realtor and Mama at the log home because of meetings I had scheduled that started at 1 pm and followed back to back until 2:30 pm. But I never found out if they were actually coming or what time I needed to meet them since Mama forgot her phone. I tried several time through the morning to get in touch with her but finally gave up and began preparing for the meetings I had scheduled.

As I was in the second of three meetings Mama pulled up in front of the office. I happened to be in my boss’s office which sits at the front of the building with windows facing the street so I could see her come into the building. I excused myself for a moment and went out to talk to her. That is when I found out that she had forgotten her phone. Couple that to the fact that she could not remember my number – either the cell or the office – and I got left out of the home showing.

It was only as she got to Decatur to see me that she suddenly remembered the number. Anyway, she was excited about the home and rescheduled a visit for this Thursday morning. On that day we will go back to two other properties for a second look. It will be a busy day off but it is something we really need to do.

I can’t fault Mama for forgetting her phone since I got to the office this morning and realized I left mine on the charger at the apartment. I will still be available to anyone through the office phone; that is, for anyone who has that contact information. I am not at all sure Mama has that number in her phone but it is in my contacts; on my phone, at the apartment.

I remember a time when you actually had to memorize telephone numbers. There was no digital storage on the devices we used as phones – they were mounted to the wall in your house or sat on a table in the home. When they rang, everybody jumped. I still remember the number to my childhood home – OV6-6824. I had to memorize that in the second grade and it did not change until my parents moved to Chappell Hill.

I was in college by that time.