Vacation, doctor visits, the little shed

I took the day off yesterday so I could help on the construction of the little shed we are calling the chicken coop. Today there will be no progress because Grandpa has medical appointments in Wichita Falls. The entire visit is supposed to take about six hours because there will be a stress test, a CT scan and the requisite paperwork – pre and post test.

Grandma and Grandpa started their day yesterday in Bowie at a doctor’s appointment for Grandma. There was not news either good or bad from the visit. Grandma only talked about the examining room next to hers where an aged friend of hers was being quizzed about her aches and pains. The lady is a favorite visit of Grandmas in the nursing home there is Bowie. She just celebrated her 91^st birthday. She described her pain to the doctor as being so bad on some days that even her hair hurt.

Mama and I also started the day in Bowie cleaning out the chicken coop and getting the cage she uses for her little ones when she buys chicks. We had left a mess in the coop since Grandpa and Grandma had been tending the flock for us but we managed to get all the old residue out and leave the place looking pretty good – for a chicken coop with a dirt floor. It will give Danny a good start and we will need that cage in about six weeks when Mama get her spring batch of chicks.

Once home we worked with Grandpa and did manage to get the roof on the building before we quit yesterday. I got most of the bolts and screws in the prepared places on the roof and gable end at the rear of the shed which stiffened it considerably. The front was an entirely different matter. Mama and Grandpa did not tell me that they had come up about eight inches short on the tin panels for the walls. They had rearranged a couple panels to make up the difference – which left us short by the exact amount where the door should fit. Well, guess how much we came up short on the roof – about eight inches.

Mama and I went and bought three translucent panels last night at Lowe’s so we could make the roof retrofits required to seal the building for use. It looks like I will have to work out in the rain tomorrow to get the shed ready for her chickens. It could have been worse, but not by much. All told, the little shed looks okay and it will be fit for use this weekend. That will be just in time since the temperatures are supposed to dip back below 30®F by Sunday night. In anticipation of cooler temperatures, the wind picked up yesterday afternoon and the temperatures dropped through the day. But it was pleasant enough.

A little after dark Mama and I went to Krum to pick up a glass door to replace the door we currently have in use in the sunroom. I am not totally sure it will fit but it is so close that we made the decision to buy it and see if I could make it work. If it will work it will be a definite improvement over the door we currently have in place.

There are some tentative plans I place for the next two days but we will wait see what the weekend brings to us.

Our troublesome shed, too busy, Victoria’s house

When I got home yesterday Grandpa and Mama were working on the metal shed but it did not look like they had made much progress. I worked on something for Grandma real quickly and went out to see how they were doing. It was not good. They were taking apart the gable end on the front for the third time. For some reason it was not fitting properly; surprising as that is.

They had the gable end on the back of the shed still up but it was going to come down also.  One of the roof beams – if you can call it that – was being supported by a 2x4 so that it did not fold at the connection. Neither of them was terribly complimentary of either the engineering or the materials of the building. But they have come too far to turn back. At least if we do need to move the building at some future date it will have the structure to be relocated; thanks to Grandpa.

Meanwhile, Mama is getting desperate. The weather is supposed to turn for the worse Thursday afternoon with significant rain predicted by Saturday morning. Right now we are sunny with the highs in the high 70s. By Thursday morning we are supposed to sink into the 30s with wind and high temperatures in the 40s and 50s. I am sure the chickens will survive, but Mama is less than enthusiastic about the turn of events.

If we had not been in such a hurry to leave the farm we would not be having this little issue; but that was not my decision. We have made the choice and now we must deal with it as best we can. We still have one chicken and the lone guinea still at the farm in Bowie as well as the large cage Mama starts her chicks in. We need to go get those sooner rather than later, but I am not sure when that will be.

When I look at our schedule it is busier than I ever thought it would be. We are definitely not settling into the “empty nest” lifestyle. I think we are as busy now as when we had all seven children at home. Maybe, we just like being busy.

We are at church Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings and all day Sunday. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7 pm I call a halt to activities and we sit down to study for the class we are talking Monday evenings. If I get the few minutes to practice either the guitar or violin before we break to do our homework  I get that done because Grandma and Grandpa are usually in bed by 7:30 pm. Perhaps as the evenings start to lengthen they will go to bed later but that is not the case for now.

Victoria only gets to study with me and Mama on Saturday evenings and every now and then on a weekday evening. She is looking for a different job but is in no hurry to leave what she has. For the moment she needs to stay at the pharmacy because it will help her get the loan she is trying to get for the little house.

That does not seem to be going very well. The bank is very hesitant to loan money on the house since it is not habitable and the land value without the house included in the appraisal is not worth the asking price. We are at the point of needing an appraisal to see if it is even a strong possibility to make the deal.

If the heir will adjust his price downward to reflect the appraisal value we will be in less of a bind but at the current asking price, we are going to have to come up with a lot of money to cover the 20% we are required to put down and whatever the price difference is – past the 80% from the bank (based on the appraisal) and the 20% we put down to cover our portion of the appraised value. If the appraisal is $16500, we will need to put $3300. That is 20%. But if the asking price is still $29900 we will have to make up the difference - $13400.

I am less than certain that we are willing to cover that amount.

 

Another approach, paperwork, fun quips, the big dogs

Mama and Grandpa made a lot of progress on the little metal shed yesterday. Grandpa reinforced the structure with 2x4s at the bottom and corners of the structure. He did a very neat job of it. He also added a top rail to carry the top of the sides and the edge of the roof as they meet. It made the assembly much easier. They should be finished today.

That would be a very good thing since the chickens are exposed to the elements every night. They have roosts and a small nesting box in the kennel they are now housed in, but it is an open chain link fence style structure and Mama really wants them to have a place to sleep that is somewhat sheltered.

So far we have had no issues with coons and the covering on the kennel keeps the chicken hawks at bay. Saturday evening, when Grandpa and I were working on the hay ring in the barn, the wild chickens were scratching around near Daisy May. I heard a faint sound that could have been a bird noise and the chickens scurried for the shelter if the barn. I guess it was a hawk. They certainly thought it was. So I know we have to guard against them for the sake of our domesticated chickens.

Mama and Victoria are going to Denton this morning to hand deliver the paperwork required of Victoria. There was quite a bit of information that came in the mail yesterday. It was mailed because the banker did not have written permission to share the information with me and Mama. We have taken care of that little detail so there should be a slightly faster pace to the communication going forward.

One of the troubling items in the good faith estimate is the guestimate of money due at closing. It looks like Victoria and Grandpa will have to put an extra $6500 into the pot along with the $5000 down payment at closing. That could be a deal breaker since I am not enthused about putting up that kind of money for a project house. We will see what comes of it as Mama and Victoria talk to the banker this morning.

I am currently reading a book by Brad Thor called “Act of War”. In one portion of the book there is some lighthearted banter between the agents working a surveillance assignment. When the female agent selects a couple cookies from the snacks that have been set out, one of the male agents quips, “A moment on the lips; forever on the hips.” I will have to remember that one; and use it sparingly.

Mama, Victoria and I went to FBI last night at the church. It was another great class. While we were preparing to go and even when we were on our way each of us would rather have not had to go but once the lecture started we forgot our weariness and soaked in the Bible instruction. If seminary had been taught with that much passion, I would have enjoyed so much more.

Sam and Sasha have adapted to the new place. I think they are still expanding their boundaries at the moment but they know where they are supposed to focus their attention so they stay right at the house most of the night. The little pigs are not seen as a threat by them (probably because of Mama’s pot belly pigs) so we have them rooting near the house almost nightly. At least it appears that way. They do not let anything else get that close. I am not sure why but their barking through the night does not bother any of us, but it does not. Mama finds it comforting to hear them; reminding us they are on duty.

Look up Caucasian Shepherd. They were also mentioned in the book I am reading.

Chickens, wild hogs, “chance” encounters

Saturday morning we all went to the farm in Bowie to empty the mobile home and make certain everything was turned off and stowed properly. We got the last of the things Grandma and Grandpa had in the trailer and put them in storage. The rest we loaded up and took to the house in Chico; among some of the items we took to the house we Victoria’s table and chairs which we set up in the dining room.

While we were at the farm we caught the chickens and put them in cages for transport to the Chico house. It was a little bit of a chore to get hold of them but we finally managed. We did lose one chicken and the guinea. They will stay with Danny. Some of the chickens were put in a separate cage to be reassigned for the menu service in the near future.

Mama agonized over those poor chickens and even tried to extend their time on this earth by telling the young lady that was butchering them for us that there were a couple that are still laying eggs. It did not matter. Their time we up. They had already been prepared for plucking and bagging by the time Mama and Brittany Wycoff talked later that evening. Daniel Wycoff is supposed to drop off the prepared birds this morning.

Someone was pressing Grandpa to look at a truck in east Dallas on Saturday afternoon but he was in no hurry. They eventually agreed to meet Sunday afternoon after the seller was home from church. It was another bust. It was a four hour round trip to look at a badly abused truck. Somehow the pictures did it far more justice than it was due. That may have been Grandpa’s last trip to Dallas to look at used trucks.

Saturday evening Paul came over to try to take a hog but he was not successful. He did manage to shoot a coyote before it got dark. It is a matter of timing for the hogs because the man who has leased the property to our east and north stopped by Sunday afternoon and introduced himself to us. His primary goal was to tell us to never hesitate to shoot any hog we see. He had seen over thirty on our property Sunday morning as he drove past on his way to tend cattle on the leased ground.

We did get to talk to him about sub-leasing the forty acres across the road from us. He seemed very interested so I will pursue the contact as best I can. Grandpa and I have been making plans to clean up the acreage and cut the hay off the cleaned property in the spring. Then we can run six or more head of cattle on it for the remainder of the year. Time will tell.

In the meantime he really wants our help in controlling the hog population and is going to get us keys to the gate so we can get onto the larger property and spend some time lowering the herd density. He made and interesting observation that I have talked with Mama about very recently. A little female pig born in January can have two litters of piglets by Christmas that same year. With that reproductive rate, this could get out of control very quickly.

The man also told us he builds fence for a living and really wants to replace the fence between us on the east side of our property. That would be a real blessing since that is the only bad fence we have on our ten acres. I offered Grandpa’s talents to help him make improvements on the larger property. That may actually give me and Victoria a chance to learn from Grandpa how to farm as best he knows.

Again, time will tell.

The big dogs, truck hunting, more questions

Having the big dogs at the property in Chico is a mixed bag of gains and losses. It is always more troubling to deal with the two of them when it is wet outside – translate that “muddy”. To compound the issue, Mama has insisted that the two of them camp out on the front porch – to keep the poor babies out of the rain.

That provides us with a mobile muddy mass of wet, dirty dog to worm through as we try to access the front door. For some reason that does not rate high on my “fun-factor” meter.  The sloughed off dirt they leave behind will eventually end up in the house as we track through it and the residual smell of their wet fur lingers in the air of the small enclosure; a delightful gauntlet of doggie debris.

But we will endure the inconvenience because they are our dogs. We have made a “till death do us part” commitment to them. Sadly, in many people’s lives the commitment to their canine companions is stronger and more enduring than to their human companions – even their spouses. That is not the case for me and Mama but she does have a very strong attachment to the big smelly poop machines.

On the good side, they spend all night keeping anything and everything off the property. That includes deer, hogs, raccoons and opossums. It definitely limits the wildlife activity on the little property we own but come planting time we will be thankful for the guardianship. Also, the two of them seem to have settled into the routine on the smaller acreage here in Chico. Time will tell if we have made the right move for them or not but I do not think there is any going back at this point.

My schedule is loaded up this weekend but at this point I do not know if I will have the help I need. Grandpa is looking hard for a truck for Norman to buy and I have a feeling that that endeavor will take precedence over anything we have to get done at the farm. I do have several projects to work on if I do not have the help to work on the chicken coop shed.

I know Mama made at least three calls last night to sellers. Most of the shopping has happened on Craigslist. Norman, Victoria and Mama have all three been scouring the ads for our area but last night the calls were made to Oklahoma City and San Antonio. That is an all-day run just to look at a truck.

They are getting a little more savvy. They have run to east Dallas and several placed over two hours away only to find what was advertised did not accurately represent what was being sold. Now they are requesting more pictures and better descriptions prior to make the drive to look at any particular vehicle. I hope they find the right one soon so we can get back to the work at hand.

We are still waiting to hear from the bank whether or not they will finance Victoria on the house near us. Now the question is whether the insurance company will ensure the improvements to the home once they are done. My question is how we prove the improvements have been completed in order to be insured. Does it require a county inspector to sign off on a certificate of occupancy? Will it just be a visual inspection from the insurance company? Do we have to re-inspect the home to qualify?

We are up against a deadline to get those answers and the weekend is upon us.

Rain, up again-down again, hogs

The forecast was pretty accurate for once and we did get more than the inch of rain they had predicted. It is difficult for us to gauge the wind where we are now living. On the farm in Bowie we caught the brunt of the wind because we were a little elevated and had no trees to attenuate it. Here, we are in a small bowl with higher ground on the north, west and south sides and there are plenty of trees to slow the wind. I found that it was blowing pretty hard only when I got out on the main road.

We took precautions none the less with the little metal shed we are building. Mama and Grandpa worked on in yesterday between runs to Denton and Dallas looking at trucks either Norman or Victoria had found. (Norman wants to buy one.) Since the shed is made of sheets of metal that are just thicker than aluminum foil Grandpa and Mama took apart the partially built shed so that we did not have to watch the wind destroy it. It would not have taken much.

They did discover yesterday that we had a couple pieces of tin set improperly so the predrilled holes did not align. Once they corrected that they discovered the path forward to getting the little shed put together – only to take it apart for safekeeping until the rains abate and the winds die down. They have also formulated a plan to reinforce the shed with lumber as they put it together. That should happen Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile we are working on getting Victoria qualified to buy the little house near us. At the moment the banker is working the numbers to see if she is financially solvent enough pass muster on the loan request he is putting together for his underwriters. All the paperwork he requested is in his hands.

We will request that out insurance agent look at the house this morning to see if he can underwrite it from the home owner’s insurance side of things. All of this has to be done by Wednesday of next week or we lose the earnest money we have put down to hold the property as we do our due diligence. It is a little unnerving but Mama and I have done it multiple times in the past – with good success. This is Victoria’s first time through the process so she is very nervous. Plus, she really wants the house.

I found a plan to build an inexpensive hog trap. I would like to take the time to try to trap the little ones we see in several litters around us, but I have not had the time to really look into it as we try to get the buildings and sheds built. It does not seem to be too urgent since the hogs seem to travel in a large loop and only show up every week or so.

The problem is that if all the ones that are now running with their parents live for the next six months or so they will be big enough to have litters of their own. At that point we will have a real problem. Last time Mama and I took the time to count we saw as many as nine little ones with a mama and daddy and another group of at least fifteen without any adult supervision.

That’s a lot of breeding potential.

Yesterday, If only

I took off yesterday. The original thought was that I would help Grandpa build the little building so we could get the chickens to Chico. That is not exactly the way it turned out. I made the mistake of showing Mama an ad for calves that I had printed out several days ago. The prices were pretty good so she called.

There were still heifers available. In fact, he had five we could have gotten yesterday and it sounded like a pretty good deal. The seller led us to believe that the five head we were talking about were several months old. The price was around $335 per head. We were making plans to leave in the morning (this morning) when he sent pictures – of tiny, barely off the bottle calves. We backed out.

While all this was going on, Mama and I went to the development commission to see if the property Victoria was attempting to buy was grandfathered into the older acreage requirement for placing a septic system and well. The new requirement is for a minimum of two acres and the property in question has slightly less land – 1.86 acres. We were assured that we would be able to put in the septic system since the last warranty deed on the land showing the new boundaries was dated in early 1994.

All this time Mama was texting back and forth with the seller in Prosper, TX. It would have been about a 2 ½ hour trip each way so we were crowding the clock to get it done that day and Mama was growing more and more apprehensive about the whole deal. So, before we backed out and while Mama and the seller were still negotiating time and price, Peggy called and asked if we could be at her place to pick up the propane tank we asked to buy from her.

She had arranged a tractor to load the tank onto our trailer and we only had a small window of opportunity. So, having finished our business at the county offices in Decatur, we hurried to the house and unloaded the trailer so we could take it to Peggy’s house to reload it. It all worked out –especially since we decided not to make the trip to buy the heifers, but it was a very busy morning.

Later that afternoon, Mama, Grandpa and I worked on the little tin shed. Several times Mama encouraged us to take it all apart, pack it up and take it back. It was a tempting thought but we struggled on and I think we are at a point that we can see how everything is supposed to go together. Mama and Grandpa are going to work on it more today. They should be able to finish it by tomorrow and we will get the chickens to their new coop by the weekend.

Later in the evening Mama, Victoria and I sat down and did some of the homework we are required to do for the class we are taking on Monday nights. We thoroughly enjoyed our first class Monday night. The lectures are quick-paced and jam-packed. There is a study guide provided that is set up for filling in the blanks throughout the lecture so it is easy to keep up.

Grandma sat in on a little of out reading – which is what most of the homework entails – and she enjoyed what she did get to hear. There is so much to cover that I worry about her starting her religious discussions as we are trying to get through the homework, but we will somehow work through it.

I had to endure one of her “church on every corner while the country gets worse and worse” lectures as I tried to eat lunch yesterday. I nodded but reserved comment. That always leads to a debate which is unwinnable because of the “straw men” arguments – if we lived an absolutely pure life, if we showed men who God really is rather than promoting our church, if we all agreed together in love, etc.

Unfortunately, we no longer live in a world that readily accepts even the most basic moral concepts as absolute; much less the Authority of the Bible. That is not a reason to give up on our faith or walk with God. It is all the more reason to continue in that walk as God gives up strength to do so.

We can continue to hope that we will be part of the solution rather than part of the problem – regardless of how Grandma sees it.

Victoria’s house, Saturday, travel today, FBI

Friday evening, after I had left work, Mama took me to the house Victoria and Grandpa are looking at. I can see why they are interested. It would definitely be a lot of work to fix back up but there is a lot of potential. Since it sits on almost two acres with a small barn and a little shed with a chicken coop attached, it is a good find for the price. It is only four miles from us.

Victoria’s bid is already in place but we were told that there is also a cash offer being considered. Although the cash offer is less that the full price offer we have made we will have to see if the heir is willing to take less since it is appears to be a sure thing. As of yesterday evening, our realtor had not heard back from the seller.

I had to get an early start Saturday morning because I needed to swap out the toilets in the bathrooms. The one in the master bath had started leaking because it did not fit properly there. The flange was placed so that only a smaller toilet would fit so the elongated toilet was about a ½ inch too long to make the seal. It ended up being just a little cockeyed and that had caused the tank seal to begin leaking.

After the toilets were set, Grandpa and I worked on the yard for the pigs and it took most of the day to get that done. I was tired and sore when we were wrapping that up because I had used the post driver to set the posts we salvaged from an area on the property where there had been a chain link fence enclosure for some animals. Although we used hog panels for the wire enclosure we build, the posts and rails from the old fence make it look pretty nice.

Later in the afternoon, Grandma and Mama went to the farm in Bowie to tend to the chickens and box up what little remained there. I am not fond of the way Grandma and Grandpa pack boxes. They leave them completely open so that they cannot be stacked or organized for storage. So all the boxes they have packed recently are sitting on the floor of the garage taking up three times the room that would be needed if they were property packed.

Anyway, while they were gone Grandpa and I put together the floor for the chicken coop and began to lay out the frame for the little steel building I bought at Lowe’s. I told Mama I started to read the directions in French since that made more sense than the directions written in English. We did eventually figure it out and got the base set.

Today Mama has to spend the entire day driving to and from Ennis, TX – about two hours away – to look at a truck Norman found online. There was some talk about going yesterday but Mama squelched that pretty quickly. If they like the truck, Grandpa has the money in hand to buy it. We will know the outcome this evening.

Mama, Victoria and I start out FBI training tonight. That stands for Faith Bible Institute. It is a three year course that the church participates in. Completing the course in its entirety we earn us a Bible Certificate from the college that administers the course. Mama is looking forward to it for now.

I do not know how that will translate once we start being tested.

Mystery, Baby Huey, work needed soon, Grandma’s worries

After work yesterday I went with a group from the office to a Mystery Dinner Theater presentation. Our company had made significant donation to the educational foundation hosting the dinner so we were invited. It was a cute presentation done by five adult actors and the audience, grouped by table, had to guess who had committed the crime. It was well done and we had a good time.

Of course I got singled out by the actors because of my bald head but they did not do anything as embarrassing me as much as they did several other people. Everyone from my group got a kick out of it. We did guess the right person when it was all said and done but before we wrote down our answer we were allowed to ask each suspect one question. My group agonized over that way too much – which was fun in and of itself. I was home by 7:30.

Mama and Grandpa took Baby Huey to the butcher yesterday morning. The workers and the owner of the meat market had never seen a steer as tall as he was. I was told that he could be seen from anywhere in the corral of the separation area. He was literally head and shoulders above the rest. He weighed in at 1250 pounds. We should get about 450 pounds of meat out of him. That should do for a while.

We have several people who want some of the meat so we will have to package up portions to be sold but we should come out pretty good – especially since Mama and I do not eat too much beef. Grandma and Grandpa on the other hand love beef so they are really excited about the possibility of filling the freezers.

We also asked about butchering wild hogs and were told that that is easily done. Some shops want the hogs dressed and quartered before they are delivered for cutting up but this meat market wants the live animal delivered. That works much better for us. I am going to have to buy a hog trap so we can make the most of lowering the local hog population. When lean times do come we will not starve.

This weekend is a solid work weekend. We need to get the hog area finished since they are already there with us and we need to get the chicken coop put together so we can get the last of our animals to the Chico property. I do not know if we can get all of it done on one day but we certainly need to try.

I need to get all of that behind me because I still have a lot of weekend projects to be done in the house and with the push to put a contract on the two acre property Grandpa and Victoria want to buy, our workload is going to increase dramatically – if they are successful.

Neither Grandpa nor Grandma are doing well right now. Grandpa hurt his back yesterday when he and Mama were loading the steer. The way Grandma tells the story Grandpa narrowly avoided death countless times during the process. Mama was less dramatic but they did have some problems getting the big lummox into the stock trailer. That is always a problem when you have a half ton pet.

Grandma has vivid memories (whether they are accurate or not I have no idea) of Grandpa’s father during his last days and she is seeing the same issues now in Grandpa – shortness of breath, constant pain in the legs and hips, bowel issues, etc. I am not sure if we are really on terminal footing here but it bears a close inspection and a modicum of preparation.

Hopefully we are years ahead of any loss but only God knows.

Travels, Becky’s news, almost moved

Mama and I got back from our travels to the panhandle at about 6:30 last night. We dawdled in Amarillo because the roads were pretty bad that morning. Snow had fallen overnight and the list of accidents I was hearing on the radio as I moved the truck to a better position for loading was pretty extensive. Mama had made an appointment to get her hair cut Wednesday morning so I knew we would get off to a later start before heading toward Brittany and Andrew. With the bad road conditions, it all worked out.

We also took the time to see Mrs. Patrick before leaving Amarillo. I had gotten back to the hotel a little before 8 pm Tuesday night so I was pretty worn out when I got in. The only opportunity we had to stop by to visit was on Wednesday morning and I knew we needed to make the time to stop. You never know when you are passing by your last opportunity to make the visits to those advanced in years. I need to get down to see Mom and Dad soon – for the same reason. We had a great, albeit short, visit

Work wise, it was a productive time for me there. It turned out to be productive for Mama as well. She got to meet with the doctors and techs at the sleep study clinic and renew her “prescription” for the machine that helps her sleep (so she is good for another two years) and she and Makaila were able to go shopping. She found the cabinet pulls for our kitchen. That really excited her. She also found – and bought - many other items left over from Christmas that we will find a place to store until next Christmas.

We visited with Brittany and Andrew in Altus, OK where Andrew is stationed for the next six months. They have a pretty nice home there that they share with two other Air Force personnel. I think they will enjoy the area while they are there. It is not a particularly pretty part of Oklahoma but there are some beautiful sights nearby; places to make some memories. From here they will be transferring to England.

While we were there Becky called to tell us she was pregnant. It was not particularly happy news and I was not sure how to react. I was so troubled by my improper response to her that I had trouble sleeping. About 10:30 I texted Becky ; “I am pretty sure I did not answer your news correctly today but it is difficult to know what to say when your daughter, who is not yet divorced from her first husband, announces that she is pregnant with a child from another man. Clearly, not the way you were raised.”

Predictably, I got a very angry response from her live in – whose name I am not sure of – that we would have no part in her life; especially as it relates to her pregnancy with his child. I am not sure we will be able to notice a difference from the two past years, but we will see.

Grandma and Grandpa have relocated to the house in Chico. We will see how that works out. It may not be long term since they are looking at a piece of property with a house that needs to be fully remodeled. All the animals are still at the property in Bowie but should be at Chico this weekend. If not, Mama will have to make the daily run to tend to them until we can get them relocated.

At some point the pace will slow up; but I do not see that coming soon.

Repairs, seeing in the dark, weekend plans

I tore apart the shower doors on the enclosure in the master bedroom yesterday evening in order to reseal the base. Mama and I have noticed a little water on the floor at the front corner of the shower after each time we use it. When I really looked it over I found that the seal at the base of the track for the shower doors was leaking. In order to reseal it I had to pull the entire assembly out, clean it and the tub shoulder where it mounts, clear all the old sealant out of the base track and reapply the new sealant before reassembling it. It took a while.

After we ate dinner I took one of the vanity tops and mounted the drain and faucet on it. I knew I did not have time to get the cabinet replaced last night but I did want to get some of the prep work done so I can do the swap of the vanities some future evening. It will definitely make the bathroom look different not only because the new vanities have a more classic design but also because they  are six inched taller than the vanities currently in the bathroom. Mama and I still wonder about the short bathroom fixtures.

Also last night I got a night vision scope I had recently ordered. It is not an expensive one but I wanted to know what I could see with such a device at the house in Chico. It worked well enough. Victoria and I had a good time watching the dogs in the back yard with it. I will have to test it out at the barn some night soon.

Chase and Makaila are coming over this weekend so she can go to Trade days. It will be a chilly weekend for it. The high is forecast to be just below 40®F. Fortunately the rain that had been predicted for the weekend is no longer in the forecast but we will do things the old fashioned way and get up that morning and look out the window to see what we have to deal with. That is often far more reliable.

Victoria’s birthday is tomorrow so we are planning on going to the Cheesecake Factory for her birthday dinner. Chase is very excited about that. We have not done a birthday dinner in a while since Victoria is our last child at home. But any excuse will do for Mama and Victoria to go out to eat.

All plans point to next weekend for Grandma and Grandpa to leave the farm in Bowie. The caveat is having all our animals at the property in Chico. We have yet to complete the hog building and attached yard and we have not even started assembling the temporary chicken coop. I think we can make it but it will require a lot more work than we have been putting into the preparation lately.

I just hope we are all up to it physically. I have not contributed lately because I have been feeling far less than adequate for the work and Grandpa has more bad days than good ones lately also. That coupled with the time of the year and the recent travel for Christmas contributes to a slowdown where we are not getting much done to meet our short term goals – at least not recently. This weekend and all the activities we have planned will not help accomplish those goals either.

It may be time to call for help – but Grandpa is not very big on that.

Sick day delays, small messes

I stayed home yesterday. I was not feeling well but the main reason to stay was that there was a crew coming to replace the carpet in the master bedroom closet and Mama did not want to be alone during that time. I did need the time to rest because I have not been feeling well for several days now. Most of the symptoms point to a bout of diverticulitis but since the flu season is upon us I needed to take some time away and exercise some extra caution. I feel better today; but not by much.

Mama and Grandpa worked on the hog building Tuesday and have it very nearly ready for Mama’s pets. We have yet to build the yard but no one was interested in staying out in the thirty mile per hour winds to work on that yesterday. All of us felt a little guilty about not moving forward on the projects that are delaying our final exodus from the farm in Bowie, but with a wind chill at 13®F it was better to feel guilty and stay warm.

Today Mama and Victoria are going to Bowie to help Grandpa get the last few large items out of the trailer. Grandma and Grandpa have rented a storage space to house their items until they can arrange for a space of their own. Grandma is lamenting not having access to a place of their own but ultimately it will require me and Mama to provide that and I feel no urgency at the moment.

As Mama and I sat in the living room yesterday we both suddenly realized how filthy the floor was. Kira is shedding hair rapidly enough to cover the floor of that large room in about two days. I know it had been longer than that since Mama or Victoria had swept so I got out the shop vac. (The Kirby is over at the trailer with Grandma.)

As I started on the floor I was not careful enough with the hose and I bounced a full cup of hot tea onto the sofa from the small table that Mama had set it on. That created an additional mess for Mama and me to clean up – both on the couch and the floor. Fortunately the shop vac is a wet/dry vacuum. Unfortunately, using it on the couch only served to clean the mass of hair from the head of the vacuum. So we had a third mess.

In reality it was not all that bat, but it was pretty upsetting to move from one frustration to another. When it was done, we had a clean vacuum, a clean floor and a wet couch. It will have to dry before we can finish cleaning it.

It did highlight the battle ahead of us as Grandma and Grandpa move in with us. They hate having a dog in the house – especially a big dog. One that sheds as badly as Kira does will only exacerbate the issue. And Grandma is not one to let anything like that go without a constant reminder of her disapproval. At least it will give her a focal point to talk about.

Mama and I are gearing up for the constant “helpful reminders” but I don’t know if either of us are really ready.

Spreading out, animal sightings, puppy news

Mama called me very excited yesterday. She had found a piece of property that we could lease. It was one hundred acres. The yearly lease was set at $3500. That is pretty high but she and Grandpa went to look it over. Grandpa was interested enough to go back today to look again. I am far less interested since one of my goals for selling the farm in Bowie was to lower my overhead and shrink the size of our operation.

I think Grandpa wants to put a camping trailer on the property under a roofed barn Mama tells me is standing there. I am still not overly fond of the idea of getting in over my head financially and agriculturally but I will pray about it and see where the Lord leads. My fear is that he wants to start a hog operation and I do not think it will go over well in this county. I will have to check.

I do not want to get into something that takes more money to support than it will eventually produce. I certainly do not want to get into anything that would get the land owner mad at us for doing on their land. With cattle prices so high it may not a good time to be taking on more expenses related to a cattle operation so I am hesitant to jump in.

Grandpa and Mama both got to see the chickens I saw the other day. They seem to be hanging around the barn. Grandpa says he can see signs of them scratching through the hay we are feeding the cattle in the corral. He and Mama also got to see a large hog on our property.

I hope it is the one I saw some time back. Mama says it is a dark red three hundred pounder. I found out yesterday that the shop where we are taking the steer to be processed also will do wild hogs and any other exotic game. They have specific prices for hogs and buffalo but they will take any edible animal and cut it into servable portions.

Reports on all the puppies are coming back positively. We still have the one that will go to Bro. Fisk once he and his wife get settled into their new house. They have  a lot of projects going on in the house right now and do not feel it would be  safe for little Jake. I think Mama is ready to get Jake to his new home and only have one pup to deal with. It is wearing her out seeing to potty breaks and other needs for the tiny ones. House training never was fun.

In spite of all my good intentions of getting some outside work done last night it was too cold and windy for me to stay out. I suppose those times will be here for a while. It is winter, you know.

So Mama and I went grocery shopping instead.

Discovery, hard work, more to come

The weekend was definitely a working weekend. Mama and I started by getting things sorted out in the garage. I know I moved a lot of boxes and containers to storage in the well house but when I got done I could not really tell that we had made much of a dent in the total accumulation of items.

We were able to find some items that we had been looking for as I combed through the boxes. One of those items was the box containing my black boots. I had not been able to wear any of my gray or black suits for a several weeks now because I had only my brown boots. Fortunately I have three or four suits that go with brown boots. I did stretch the standards one Sunday and wore a gray suit with the boots I had – but Mama did not like it.

When Grandpa arrived I stopped working in the garage and helped him clean out the barn. We have had the two head of cattle in there for two weeks – since Baby Huey decided to go walk about on the neighbor’s property. He was not hard to spot. He is the only Holstein that size I the area. The neighbors were kind enough to load him up and deliver him back to us. That was a blessing. His next trip in a stock trailer will be his last.

I wore myself out pretty thoroughly as I worked to fill the tractor bucket with the soupy mix that was in the barn and corral. Later that day I felt like I had torn something at the very top of my thighs. Obviously, I had used some relatively unused muscles when I was pitching slop. It was hours before I could move without hurting.

On the good side, we got a lot of fertilizer for the fruit trees and the garden. When we were done I realized we had only taken four of five buckets of wet hay and manure out of the barn. As sore as I was later I was glad we do not have a large operation. I would have been walking funny for a week.

This week we will finish the hog building and play area. Grandpa has the basic structure up but it lacks the roof. I will get that done tonight. Mama and I bought the panels for the yard on Saturday. It will end up being about 16 by 32 when we get the panels set. I will have to put in a gate to let them out for their extended foraging when Mama feels they are ready.

I asked Mama yesterday how she expects to catch the pigs and transport them to their new yard. I am confident we can put them in the back of the ranger to get them to the property in Chico but I am far less confident that we will be able to catch them and get them into the back of the truck.

I am guessing that each of the older ones weighs about seventy pounds and I told Mama we have only one chance to get hold of them. One failed attempt and we will be done for the day. They will not come near us again if we miss.

We have yet to start the little building we will use for a chicken coop until I can get the building erected that I want to use long term, but I did get some additional lumber so we can get to work on it. I am more confident we will be able to relocate the chickens. But that too will be a messy endeavor.

Once we have the animals at the farm it will be time for Grandma and Grandpa to move over also.

Mama and Victoria are both feeling sick; Victoria more so than Mama as of last night. Remember them in your prayers.

New Year’s rain, setting up the kitchen, storage projects, Grandpa to the doctor

It rained all day yesterday. The temperature was at or just above freezing throughout the morning into the late afternoon. I am not sure how much rain we got in total but we ended up with a lot of ice. Victoria had to go to work in all of that mess but she made the drive easily enough considering the weather. She was home before dark but by the evening the temperatures were steadily above freezing; as was also the case this morning.

Since it was not practical to do any work outside Mama and I worked on the kitchen. We got all the cabinet drawers and shelves lined with various liners Mama had bought. Then we started setting things in those spaces to start organizing. It took a lot longer than I had thought it would but the result was worth the time and effort.

We are still missing several boxes of serving ware – plates, bowls and glasses – but we know where to put them once we find them. We have yet to set up the cabinets in the laundry room and pantry because those need to be prepped and painted before we fill them. Once we have those in service we will have plenty of space for everything we have and then some.

We are talking about getting a gas cooktop instead of cutting in a gas range – which would give us even more space in the kitchen by leaving in place the cabinet I need to cut out to place the range, but Mama has not made up her mind yet. Either way I will run gas to the house to accommodate the new appliance.

I still have a huge amount of work to do on the well house and the garage in order to get my working space set up but that will come in time. I am starting to get more shelving to use in the organizational effort but other, more urgent, projects have taken precedence. If Mama ever wants to park in the garage she will have to let me finish some of my storage projects.

Mama is taking Grandma and Grandpa to Wichita Falls this morning to see a cardiologist. The appointment has been a long time in coming. Grandpa has had some very bad days with dizzy spells and exhaustion (sometimes several days in a row), followed by days where he has felt quite good (also several days consecutively). It is reasonable to assume the problem is his heart but the cardiologist is the right person to seek advice of.

Pray that it goes well since Grandma and Grandpa have had some pretty bad experiences with health care professionals. To hear them talk, you would think that the level of incompetence in the medical field is exceeded only by the incompetence of our current congress.

I hope that is not the case but there is a small air of truth within the complaint.