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.