Mission’s Conference, a long week of late nights

Last night was the last night of our Mission’s Conference. It has been a good one. There was a great attendance every night for both the dinners and the services. As Tommy Ashcraft was beginning to speak last night he did a few one liners about the differences between men and women. Most I had heard, but a few were new.

Married men, he said, will not remember their mistakes since there is no sense in two people remembering. Additionally, married men will live longer than single men although they are generally more willing to die. In talking about the meals we have had before each service he remarked that after he loses ten pounds he will be down to the weight he thought he would never reach. His humor was wonderful. His sermons powerful. It proved to be a delightful combination.

I did not lead the singing any this week because of the bronchitis that I am struggling with. The meds are starting to kick in and help with the coughing but I am still fighting to get enough oxygen into my lungs. Last night was especially difficult. I had to lie down several times at home after Mama and I went for a short walk to the garden and the coop. At the dinner at church I had to sit still for an extended time to get enough energy to go get a plate of food. I am feeling better this morning but not by much.

It has also been a long week for me and Mama. She has cooked each night, preparing two dishes for the table as well as two desserts just to make sure we had enough each night. We are overloaded with leftovers in both categories. Not that what she prepared did not get eaten, it did. But even a small portion of food brought home from each night has accumulated to a large inventory in our refrigerator. It is a good thing I like leftovers.

Mama and I are not done with our weeknights at church. Tonight we have FBI and tomorrow we have RU. Each of those generally keeps us out until after 10 pm. We will endure but we are getting pretty worn out. We are a little worried about the test we have to take this coming Monday night. We are not alone in that worry. Everyone in the class is pretty concerned about the study time we have used up in other ways this week. But God is good. It has all been done for Him.

I may get to sleep past 7 a.m. Saturday but Mama has a very full day planned –should I be up to it. We are going to till up a garden area for Kim Cantrell sometime that afternoon. Kim has a speaking engagement early that afternoon so Mama is planning for us to be at her home around the 3 pm mark. It should not take long to get a spot ready for planting; depending on how large a garden she wants.

Meanwhile our garden is doing very well. It needs to be weeded but compared to the garden we fought to maintain in Bowie, this one is a dream to care for. Everything we planted is doing very well and so far we have had very little damage from rabbits or other animals. There is something eating the nectarines growing on our little tree but other than that we look to be in very good shape.

It is nice to be on a property where we can actually grow things. Not one thing we have planted has struggled to thrive. That’s really encouraging for us.

Grandma’s fall, Victoria, taxes

Mama related to me yesterday that as Grandma had parked and was beginning her walk to the hospital to visit her brother Jack, who is having heart problems, she tripped over a slight buckle in the sidewalk and fell flat on her face. She was watching traffic and not her footing. A young black man named, Will Smith, probably not the actor, rushed to her aid and helped her get up; something she was not able to do no her own.

She was also aided by an elderly couple who drove her to the hospital entrance, bleeding and bruised, so she would not be in any further danger. She kept a handkerchief on her cut lower lip during the entire visit with Jack. When she asked a male nurse if he thought her cut would require stitches he advised her that it would be best to get stitches. Rather than stay at that hospital to get the work done she drove home – from Charleston to Point Pleasant – to get Grandpa’s take.

He thought stitches was a good idea so they drove to Spencer – because they like the hospital there – and sat in the emergency room until they grew too impatient and left. Three hours on the road. Two hours in the emergency waiting room. No stitches. They decided Grandma could heal up on her own and that is probably fine. It was just a long route to that decision. I am wondering if today or tomorrow they begin to regret the decision as the swelling and pain set in. Pray for her. It will not be a quick or painless recovery.

Mama and Victoria are going to Brookshire’s in Bridgeport this morning so Victoria can fill out an application to work in the pharmacy there. She is pretty unhappy with the new manager at Walmart – and with good reason. I do not know if it is time for a move but if she does not explore her options it will be a miserable few months going forward until this manager realizes she has the wrong attitude about Victoria or she moves on. No one seems to hold those positions for very long.

If Victoria does find a new job, she will be the last person from the group she has been working with in the pharmacy at Walmart in Bowie to do so. All her coworkers are either looking for or have found other employment. I would love to tell the new pharmacist, be careful what you ask for.

Mama and I received some bad tax news yesterday. In 2013 we failed to note a portion of our income – both the accountant and I missed it – and I will owe an additional $3300 for that tax year. As a consequence of that we looked over last year’s return and found we had repeated the mistake. So I will have to refile those taxes and probably owe about $3800 for that oversight. That’s discouraging but it only puts us back to where I thought we would be for taxes owed this year. Since I already developed a plan for that kind of financial constraint, I don’t have to wonder about how to manage it.

It is interesting that this all came to light at the same time we will be making this year’s Faith Promise.

Doctor’s visit, too wet to work, Mission’s Conference

I have not gotten better over the last few days so I had Mama schedule a doctor’s appointment for me yesterday. It was a worthwhile visit. The nurse did all the preliminary work and asked which of my symptoms were giving me the most difficulty. I responded that I was having trouble breathing and that was the most troubling part of what I was experiencing.

“So you’re short of breath?” she clarified. “No. I am having trouble breathing because more than a shallow breath causes me to cough.” She left the room and came back with an O2 monitor that attaches to the finger and we went for a walk. As I sat my O2 levels showed to be 96. After a few steps down the hall and back they sunk to 80. She asked me if I was having trouble breathing now and I responded that I was getting there. She walked me to the x-ray room.

The x-rays came back clear so the final diagnosis was – again – a severe bronchitis. I took the shot just to jumpstart the medications. Mama was more unnerved by it than I was. That’s why I generally do not watch but she could not help herself. I am not much better this morning but I am hoping for fairly rapid turn for the better. Time will tell.

It looks like, starting tomorrow, we have a four day break in the rain during which I hope to work on several small overdue items at the farm. It will still be far too wet to get the tractor off of the roadways on the property to do any brush hogging but it should be dry enough to work the garden. We are overdue on cleaning out the barn but if I am to get it done now it will have to be done by hand with the pitchfork and wheelbarrow. That would not be the first time.

 If it does in fact dry out, Mama and I are going to Kim Cantrell’s house on Saturday to till up a garden spot for her. We have been planning to do this for several weeks but things have been too wet. Maybe this will be the week we can get it done for her. If we wait much longer it will be too late to grow anything.

Missions Conference has been great. The speaker has been focusing on our often neglected responsibilities as “home church” supporters of our missionaries and their works abroad. It has been very challenging. It is what we needed as a church.

Last night he told of a young missionary to Thailand who challenged his church in Mexico by stating that there are almost two hundred sovereign countries in the world along with sixty designated areas of limited self-rule and the average citizen can name less than forty. He then asked, “If you do not know them by name how can you effectively pray for them? Can you possibly be burdened for them?” The same goes for our missionaries.

Mama and I will be praying more - and more specifically. We have both been burdened for a long time to take more responsibility in prayer. If we prayed for our country the way our missionaries pray for their countries of service we would not be in the shape we are in here at home.

Weekend report

Saturday was pretty uneventful. I stayed home the entire day even though Mama and Victoria went out twice. I took time in the morning to cut a little trench from the wettest part of the yard to the front yard in an attempt to drain the swamp. I met with limited success, but in this wet I will take what I can get. I also drained the koi reservoir and scooped out some of the sludge – three wheelbarrows worth. It was hard to tell I had done anything, but I did get to use the sludge to fill in some of the swamp by our septic tanks.

We planted some plants in the afternoon and set the whirligig I had bought for Mama in a semi-permanent spot in the front yard. We planted the Star Jasmin inside the base and put landscape fabric in the circle we made for it. It will be one more item Mama has to mow around but I do not think she will mind too much. It looks very mice where it now sits.

Sunday morning on the drive to church we broke down. We saw the church bus pass us as we were stopped but they did not see us. I had Mama call and get a message to the driver to come back for us and he did eventually. We were a little late for Sunday School but we got to enjoy church while the van sat and cooled off. It did not appear to be low on water but the temperature gauge pegged out on temperature. The thermostat is probably stuck but we will have the mechanic look it over and tell us definitively what the problem is.

Yesterday started our Mission’s Conference. Tommy Ashcraft, missionary to Monterrey, Mexico is the speaker for the conference. He is quite good. He is also quite a punster. His very serious sermons are peppered with humor which you have to listen closely to catch. In beginning his Sunday night sermon he told of a time he was preaching at a church and a man came up to him after the service and said, “You preach too long.”

After the next service the same man came and said in matter of fact way, “That sermon was really boring.” The next service the man came and said, “I was obvious that you did not study.” That was enough for him. He approached the pastor of the church and asked about the man who had been criticizing his messages. The pastor replied, “Oh, don’t worry about him. He just goes around repeating what everybody else says.”

After church we drove the van home. Between where we stopped on the way to church and the way home there is not a good place to stop so even though it got hot again a couple miles from home I drove the rest of the way home with the over temperature alarm ringing. It is sitting in the drive waiting on Mama to contact AAA an have them tow it to our mechanic in Bowie.

We had another heavy rain over the weekend. It was just over an inch. Other areas near us got over three inches. I am not sure what would happen at our farm if we got three or more inches right now so I am thankful for the lesser amounts we have gotten. We are expecting an additional inch or more this week. No complaints for me – other than the mess that follows.

It is easier to deal with an abundance of water than with a severe lack of it.

Our test, Mama’s day, Victoria

Well, we all took our test last night. Mama was actually very happy about the whole affair. She knew she did not know all the answers but she knew most of them and that more than pleased her. Victoria was typically non-committal about the whole affair, but overall it was a good experience for all of us. When we get the grades we will see if the same general attitude of confidence prevails but for now we can bask in the moment.

I did not stay with the class after the test. With the deep, unrelenting cough that I have I knew that it would be a huge distraction so I took the spare copy of the DVD and came to the office where I watched it on my computer. My cough was so loud that the cleaning lady who was working in the building for most of the time I was also there, stopped by to check on me a couple times.

We have two more tests to do – the first of those being in two weeks but I have expanded the study guided we were given so we can fill them out with the information we need to study for the test. I do not know if it helps Mama and Victoria but it certainly helps me. There was only one question that I did not recognize immediately from my study guide but when I asked Victoria about it she remembered studying that also. I am not sure where I missed it on the study guide but I got it correct on the test; at least, I’m pretty sure I did.

Mama had a grand day yesterday. She called me quite early and asked how to catch the little bird that had somehow gotten into the house. We quickly agreed that she should throw a sheet over it and get it back outside. It was beating itself up against the window glass in its vain attempts to escape the house. It must have been easily done since I did not hear back from her for several hours.

The next time she called it was to tell me that she had been out mowing one of the lots and had run over some barbed wire. It was wrapped around the shaft of her mower and she could not get it loose. Fortunately she had stopped the blades as soon as the sound of the blades changed. It was parked in the driveway when I got home.

We drove it up on ramps and I was able to cut and pull the wire to get all of it freed of the shaft but it took about an hour to get it done. As soon as it was cleaned Mama hopped on and ran it a couple laps around the yard just to satisfy herself that all was okay. She will probably get out pretty early this morning to finish what she started – hopefully without further incident.

She has to come to Decatur this afternoon to meet up with some ladies from the church so they can team up on cleaning the Mission’s House before the missionaries start arriving for the Mission’s Conference we are having next week. Everyone is praying I recover by then but it does not look good right now.

Victoria has been sending out resumes over the past few days. It has been a long time in coming. She has talked about changing jobs for quite a while but with the purchase of the house and all the financial records that that required she was very reluctant to make any change; ditto with me.

I guess now is the time.

Sick, testing tonight, busy weeks

I took off Friday and, as I promised Mama, I got out the weed eater and cut up the briars along the fence lines for as long as I could manage. I have never been able to run the weed eater for more than a couple hours. During the time I was doing that I must have stirred up some long dormant and moldy leaves because the very next day I ended up with a deep cough and sore throat.

Saturday I did not get much done other than help Mama get some pictures hung and help Lee as he fixed a leaking valves for us. The cough worsened through the day and by that evening I knew I would not be able to lead the singing at church on Sunday. As it turned out, I did not get to go to church at all because I was running a fever. I struggled out of bed this morning to get to work but even that might not have been a good idea. Next Sunday begins our Mission’s conference so I am certainly praying to be whole by then.

I am certainly not the only person struggling this year with upper respiratory issues. It has been a banner year for that type of health issue. Many of my coworkers have been in and out of the doctor’s offices getting medications to combat such illnesses. Several of the ladies on my staff have been sick with it – especially those with school-age children and I can glean from them what over the counter meds have worked and what have not. Like all such infirmities, this too shall pass.

Mama, Victoria and I have our test tonight. Mama has been studying as I have. I think Victoria has looked over the notes also but I have not seen her make a huge effort. It will be interesting to see how the test turns out. Mama is really unsure of taking the test. Victoria is dreading it also – although she will probably do better than either of me or Mama. I never enjoy being tested but I am not afraid to fail – nor am I afraid of failing this test. I do not think Mama or Victoria have anything to worry about either. This is the first of three tests for this semester.

I got word this morning from the hiring manager for the Licensing job that he is behind schedule and it will be another week or two before he gets back with folks that have applied for the position to give them word on their application. I expected as much so there is not a positive or a negative sense to the update other than the fact that he is keeping me informed of the progress – or lack thereof. That, in itself, is something.

We have a very busy week ahead as Mama will be caring for a toddler for a missionary couple who will be in the States for our mission’s conference (next week) as well as for preliminary meetings for an orphanage they are attempting to start in Mexico. I am not sure when the baby sitting service begins but it will be fun for Mama – I hope.

On Wednesday she is expecting visitors at the farm. As people get to know where we are we are getting more and more if that. It’s been fun.

Work, forced vacation, puppy issues

Things at work have been more than subdued lately; they have been eerily quiet. My boss has been out of the office this week working from the office in Dumas. His boss has been there with him in that location as she makes her rounds also. But here in my office it has been very, very quiet.

So when the announcement came over the email system yesterday morning that our boss has been temporarily promoted to his boss’s position while she takes on the responsibilities of finding $1 billion to cut from the company globally, I understood the quiet. It seems to precede such moments of change.

Shortly after that change was announced, another organizational restructuring announcement came out. It was a permanent change is hierarchy which eliminated a high level managerial position. These are interesting times. So far I have not heard anything related to the Licensing position I have applied for, but that is not a shocker. That information trickles out slowly.

Mama let me know after I had gotten the reservation notices via email that she booked our flights to Alaska. I had not planned to go because of the money required to do so but Mama found me a ticket for just over $400. Her ticket was just over $500. So, I guess I’m going to Alaska with her for the birth of Maggie and Aaron’s son. It will be a good thing – once I fully recover from the shock. In reality, that is not so bad since that is the price we paid for just one ticket when we went last year.

Mama and Victoria are having a hard time with this pup. They were adamant when she was purchased and brought home that she would be an outside dog. I could only say, “Uh-huh, I’ve heard that before.” But it seems that she is choosing that for herself since she potties almost as soon as Mama brings her into the house; whereupon she is hastily put back outside.

Outside, her puppy-ness is wearing me out also since her favorite areas to lie about and chew on things is where I have planted the blueberry bushes – both of which are doing fairly well at this time. Mama and I went to Lowe’s after church last night to buy some fencing for the flowerbeds and other planting areas to hopefully keep the dogs and chickens out of those areas. To her credit the pup is very laid back and seems fairly easy to work with.

This is now the third time that Mama and Victoria have jumped the gun on getting puppies with the intent of keeping them for breeding. I am feeling overrun by dogs at the moment since the population is based – in Mama and Victoria’s minds – on having two houses; which we do not yet have.

Mama is doing pretty well on her diet –as am I as I share it with her. But she has her moments of indignation with the restrictions. Last night I had to talk her out of going to Wendy’s after we got out of Lowe’s. It was 9 pm. I certainly was not going to eat anything but she was hungry. We went home instead but I am pretty certain that lunch at Wendy’s is on her radar for today.

I will be taking tomorrow off. Mama has scheduled us for doctor’s appointments. There is nothing urgent but we need to talk about some routine muscle aches and joint issues.

Repairs, photo albums, studying, vet visit

It has been overcast, misty and cool for several days now with the forecast of such weather continuing for the next several days – interrupted by brief periods of sunshine or severe thunderstorms. It is the perfect weather for growing a garden. It is not quite the perfect weather for outdoor activities. It really reminds me of the area that Maggie and Aaron live in – except for the thunderstorms. It will not last much longer but it is nice while we have it.

I got out the parts I needed yesterday evening and repaired the brush hog – or the shredder deck as it is referred to here. The post that attached the rear wheel to the deck had broken off and I had some weeks ago bought a replacement part. It was a perfect fit and took only a few minutes to replace so I used the brush hog for about an hour while I got the deck adjusted. The rain stopped me just about the time I had things right where I needed them but it will be ready for the next time.

There are so many trees on our small property that it makes using the tractor a real challenge. Not that I mind the trees or mowing around them. The problem is the low hanging branches that inhibit passage for the tractor. We may end up doing a good bit of the mowing on the entire property with Mama’s Bad Boy. It is highly maneuverable and much lower than the tractor. We should have it looking like a park again soon regardless of the mowing implement used.

I helped Mama put together a small cheap bookshelf last night after we had spent a little over an hour studying – or rather, filling out our study guide. It is going to be used for photo albums. After the albums were placed on the assembled bookshelf I realized we will probably need a second one to handle the number of albums; many of which remain yet packed in boxes. It is fun to have them out. Brittany got to show Andrew a lot of pictures from her childhood the last time they visited.

Mama and Victoria are working on filling in the study guide for the first test and both are complaining about the volume of information. We still have two more tests to go; two more study guides to go. Next semester I will have the study guides prepared after the first class so we can fill them out as we go through the classes. This time we will just have to make do. After all, it is considered a college level course.

Victoria was off yesterday so she had set up appointments for the new pup to be checked out by the vet in Bowie – of course, she needed Mama to go with her. But before they left for the vet Erin called needing help with the children so she could make an emergency visit to the dentist. So, Mama, Victoria, the three kids and two dogs – because Rosie likes to go too – crowded into the vets office to observe the pups first encounter with the veterinarian.

I understand it was quite an affair. The vet is a great guy with two young boys so he thoroughly enjoyed having the children there. Luke wanted to open doors and explore – such is his nature – but the vet told him if he went through one particular door he would have to get a shot. Luke, who has had his fair share of visits to the doctor, was not sure if this doctor could give him a shot because he was an “animal doctor” and only people doctors had given him shots.

Spring is showing us which of our many trees will have to be removed. We have five dead ones near the house. I have not counted on the rest of the farm.

Joshua’s Birthday, Mama’s mood, taxes due, work, the garden

Today is Joshua’s birthday. He will be 32 years old. That hardly seems possible but Mama and I will be married 33 years this year and that seems to have happened far too quickly so I suppose it must be so. I don’t know if anything is planned for a celebration of the date among his friends in Victoria, TX but I certainly hope there will be.

Monday night passed by rather uneventfully. Mama was in a somewhat moody state when I got home although she could not tell me why and was anxious to not allow it to spill over on me. So I quoted a line from The Incredibles, “I know you are still mad at me but I’m just happy you’re alive.” (Something like that). It took most of the time we were at FBI to get her spirits to lift but she finally came around and by the time we got back home she was pretty much back to her usual self.

We have our first test for the courses we are taking next Monday night and both Mama and Victoria are in a frightful panic about it. It will be multiple choice and we have been provided a detailed study guide for the test so I cannot be too worried over it. Mama, Victoria and I are spending evenings filling in the answers on the stud guide in order to be prepared – but both of them are still a little overwhelmed at the very thought of taking a test.

I left the envelope with our payment for taxes with Mama so she could take it to the post office this morning. I was a little hesitant to do so because she is also mailing out a group of letters and bills to Grandma and Grandpa. We both talked about the horrible mess it would be if that check ends up in the package routed to West Virginia. I will be relieved when Mama tells me it is registered to be delivered to the IRS. Though I am not anxious for the money to be extracted from our checking account, the consequences of it not being done are most unpleasant.

At work things are starting to return to normal – or rather a new normal. All of us are adjusting to the recent loss of personnel. Many are getting oriented in new assignments but the vast majority of us are rearranging our schedules to accommodate additional responsibilities that had to go somewhere when the person recently responsible for those tasks was let go. It is a longstanding truth that we only find out what a person does when they are no longer there to do it.

The combination of warm rainy days and pleasant nights has given life to our garden and orchard. It looks like every seed we have put in the ground has germinated. There are newly sprouted seedlings everywhere; green beans, peas, corn, sunflowers, okra, onions, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries, etc.

This could end up being a good bit of work.

Planting, fun projects, Victoria, the little Ranger

It was another busy weekend for me and Mama. We went on bus visitation Saturday morning which kept us out until a little after 12 pm. From there we went to Bowie to Trade days. Mama and I went specifically to get some plants from a lady that has a booth there every month. Specifically we were looking for vegetable plants and more specifically for yellow tomatoes – which she had in abundance this weekend. Mama was thrilled.

Right next to the vegetable plant booth an Asian woman sets up with trees and palms. In her booth she had a fairly large apple tree for sale. Mama and I are looking for three specific types of apple trees that are supposed to (according to what she has read) do well in our area of Texas: the Braeburn, the Gala and the Fuji. The tree she was selling that day was a Gala apple tree so I bought it.

It was 2 pm before we got home but there was still plenty of time to get the plants in the ground and move on to several other little chores. I did not realize as we were leaving Trade days that Mama had bought so many pepper plants but they filled a complete row in our small garden. We spaced out the four tomato plants into a small row and I put the apple tree in the northwest corner of the garden.

Sometime down the road I want to put up an attractive fence around the garden but what we have is sufficient for now and since I do not plan to extend the garden on the far side, the apple tree will sit in a good spot for many years to come – Lord willing. All the other orchard trees seem to be doing very well where they sit in the garden area. We should have apples (two varieties), pears and nectarines this year. The fig and the peach are too young to produce yet.

With the forecast of strong storms and rain coming I took some time and worked on the koi pond. It is very generous to call it that since it is only a muddy hole in out patio so far. I put a border around the edge of the concrete and sealed it to attempt to keep out some of the water that accumulates there every time it rains.

I will need the wooden edge at some time so now seemed like a good time to try it. We should be able to test it this week as a rain water barrier. If it is not effective as I built it, I will start over with another design.  Keeping undesired water out will become paramount once we have the pond setup so it is something I need to get done before I go much further anyway. For me it was a fun project.

Victoria spent all day Friday and Saturday in bed. Yesterday she was out of the bed for some longer periods of time but never more than an hour. Today she is headed to work but she is still not feeling well; the usual bronchitis and accompanying cough.

On Sunday afternoon the guy who leases the large acreage just to our east stopped by to ask to see the Ranger pickup. We had talked about him buying it a couple weeks ago, settled on a fair price and yesterday he wrote me a check for the negotiated price. It will be nice to see it get fixed up and used even though it was not worth it to me to do the work.

We will use the money to help buy some calves.

Andrew, Victoria’s house, job news

Yesterday Mama and I went to the hospital here in Decatur to visit Andrew. He is the special needs son of one of the families in our church; the one we have picked up for church on occasion when the parents are out of town. He had a very severe seizure Monday night – the first one in almost a decade – which has left him with a struggling cognitive ability. He knows that he knows things but has trouble getting them to come out; names of people, places, dates, etc.

His father was pleasantly surprised and his mother absolutely elated that he not only remembered Mama but remembered his pet name for her – Cutter. When Mama and I walked into his room he was very happy to see us, although the feeling seemed to have taxed him a bit. But when Mam asked if he remembered what he called her, and he did, at least at that moment, even Andrew was very pleased with himself.

So far, she is one of only two people outside of his immediate family that he could immediately place a name with. Later Mama asked about him remembering me and I reminded her that he has never been quite sure how to address me. Most of his interaction when he is with us has been between him and Mama and Victoria.  Andrews mom made to make sure Mama was aware that she is on a very short, very exclusive list.

When I got home yesterday afternoon Mama and I went to Victoria’s to collect the mail and plant the two blueberry bushes she bought at Lowe’s Wednesday night. They were $1.74 each so if they do not survive it is not a huge loss but I think there is a very good chance they will do well. Considering how well the pomegranate trees are doing, I have high hopes.

Mama is jealous of the variety of flowers Victoria has at her place, bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, tulips, lilies of a dozen sort, etc. It will be hard for me to compete with since that landscaping has a thirty year head start. Whoever owned the place for the last generation did a great job placing flowers and trees on the small plot of ground. We only have to make a few improvements.

Meanwhile, our garden and the beginning of an orchard are doing very well at our place. We have come to the conclusion that the second old tree we have in the orchard is an apple tree. Time will tell but it is definitely not a pear tree – we are sure of the one that is a pear tree because of the fruit – and it is not a peach tree; the leaves are not right for a peach. We will know pretty soon as the fruit begins to develop.

I sent a note to the hiring manager for the Licensing job yesterday morning and had a reply in the afternoon. In response to my inquiry he told me that there would be some announcement late next week as to who would be offered the open positions.

It was a fairly standard answer – so we will continue to wait.

Good news all around

I got the call from my boss yesterday afternoon that we all had been waiting on; the layoffs were officially over for our area. I had asked Monday morning that we be notified as soon as he was able so we could put any rumors to rest and encourage everyone a little. I was able to do that as soon as I hung up the phone with him.

What that means is that, for now, all of us who are working will continue to keep working. All of us have seen at least one person we have worked with for a good while be let go – here and in other areas of the company – so it is somewhat of a bittersweet moment but I could almost hear an audible sigh of relief go through the organization.

If oil prices stay where they are through the year (I expect they will) then we will see another effort by the company to reduce headcount which will be more severe than what we have just gone through. But that is months away for most of us. It is time to do a careful inventory of our personal financial structure and, knowing it is coming, prepare well. All in all, it was good news for many of us.

Last night Bro. Stallard read a mission letter from a missionary who works within a Jewish community in Florida. Having been there for a couple years he is starting to see some inroads being made – to the point that he is able to share the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Invited over one Sabbath for the Shabbat meal he was quizzed thoroughly concerning his personal faith and had unusual freedom to open the Bible in support of his faith. In his letter he said something that we all know to be true but do not often practice; aggressive is rarely persuasive.  I thought that worth noting.

All is well with the financial dealings concerning Victoria’s house. We even went to Lowe’s last night on our way to church to pick up some discounted bulbs and a couple little blueberry bushes which will be planted at the two houses – however Mama and Victoria determine. Both of them were excited about the great deals.

Each evening Mama lets the chickens out for a few hours. They really like the freedom. Every evening as we approach the coop they are pressed against the door ready to fly the coop as soon as the passage is allowed. Each night they make their way back to the coop to roost – all of them except the one Mama calls Miss Friendly. She prefers to remain free and we have not been able to determine where she spends the night; until last night. She spends the night with the pigs, nestled into her own little straw bed in their building.

I am not sure what her cousins think about her choice of company but so far it has worked out well for her.

Insurance, chickens, garden, health screening

I got a note from the insurance company yesterday morning that the insurance for Victoria’s house is now reinstated. I will feel better when I see the policy and know the bank is fully satisfied, but for the moment we can take a break from making unnecessary cosmetic changes to the house. Victoria and Mama are going to the house this morning – Victoria is off today – and check the mail for the first time. For some reason, that really excites Victoria.

Neither Mama not I felt up to doing much yesterday afternoon when I got off. I have had several nights with very poor sleep so my energy level is pretty low and I am still nursing a bruised tendon in my right elbow so I did not want to get into anything that would overuse that arm. It was also still pretty wet from rains we got over the weekend. But I felt like we needed to be doing something. We elected to clean out the chicken coop.

That did not take us very long but my being there to help in the chore relieved Mama of having to take it on all by herself. It amazes me how much mess we are willing to go through to get fresh eggs. We are up to averaging 10-11 eggs per day. On some days we will get fourteen. That allows Mama to sell the eggs which pays for the feed. I suppose any break-even operation on a farm is a good deal – especially when we get all the eggs we want as a bonus. (And chicken meat when we cull the flock a couple times per year.)

I walked around the garden after mama and I got done with the cleanup. I am very pleasantly surprised by the sprouting seeds. Most of what we put out two weeks ago is breaking through the ground and getting a good start. Some of what I planted only last Friday is breaking through. We still have a large open area to plant if things dry out this weekend but what we have in the ground is liking the soil we have it in.

The little blueberry bushes I planted are doing well. I think we will actually get fruit from the larger of the two. The grape vine I put out a couple weeks ago is putting out shoots and stretching toward the back fence – as I intended – but the raspberry plant I put in the ground at the same time is not doing very well. All in all, we are seeing things grow much better here than we did in Bowie but we have not been through a summer at this farm yet.

We had our biometric screening today at work. I completed mine early in the morning and was not surprised by the numbers. I am slightly improved over last year in every area but my blood pressure – which has been slightly elevated lately. This morning it was more than slightly elevated. It was pretty high. I had told Mama just the other day I may need to get some help with it for a time. I am confident that our change in diet and the expected weight loss will help in a big way.

But I still may get some short term help.

Easter Sunday, diet

Sunday was a fun time for the little ones at the church. For me, Resurrection Sunday is always a highlight of the year – although I stressed over the songs that generally accompany that service which are very high for a song leader with a bass voice. But the Lord gave me the strength of voice and the grace to get through it well. Since we had had such hard rains overnight, all the egg hunting took place in the fellowship hall which is a large, open gymnasium style building.

All the eggs were laid out on the floor and the younger children wandered from pile to pile of the brightly colored, candy filled eggs. It was interesting to watch since nothing was hidden. Every child would go from pile to pile rather than stay in one spot and fill their basket – which could easily have been done. How much like us who flit from one project to another, one dream to another, one job to another rather than taking what is set before us – always having in our minds something a little bit better than what we already have? But then again, who wants to just fill up a basket and be done?

By the time it was all done every child had a basket, bowl, box or bucket so full they were not able to keep the contents from overflowing and their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and unrelated bystanders were having to recover the overage. As in all activities of that nature, it was over too quickly. The memories will be gone too soon for the little ones. The candy will last a few days. Pictures taken will capture a moment in time but not the energy of the event.

Like birthdays and Christmases it will serve as a foundation upon which a sense of expectation and excitement will be built that will carry forward the joy of those events for many years to come; until it is their turn to set out the eggs to be hunted or to buy the empty eggs and fill them with candy to be set out to be hunted – just for the sheer joy of watching them be collected in baskets, bag and buckets by little ones who may or may not remember; until next year. We need those moments.

Brittany and Andrew stayed over the afternoon and went to church with us Sunday evening. Andrew remarked that at our church he seemed better known than at the church they attended for two years in Mississippi. I am glad they both felt welcome. They headed home after we spent some time at Wendy’s – our usual stop after Sunday night services.

Our diet is going well, I think. We are sticking close to the plan, however; none of us are following it as though we are wholly committed to it. What we are doing is far better than doing nothing different and it will largely accomplish the goal I have in mind. Whether or not Mama needs to be far more strict with herself is another issue to deal with separately.

For now, we are all headed in the right direction.

Long weekend events

I took off an extra day last week. Since Friday was a holiday I took off Thursday also- hoping to get some work done on Victoria’s house. It did not turn out that way. Insurance let me know on Wednesday afternoon that they wanted more cosmetic repairs done before they would write a policy so that was on my mind for Thursday morning, until I found out how sick Mama was.

She woke us with some stomach issues and it rapidly got worse. All day Thursday she got out of bed only to stagger to the bathroom. I stayed close so I could keep an eye on her and worked around the house on small projects; one of which was a new door for her coop, another was putting on the front door knob that we had bought some months ago. She ate nothing that day and I ate very little since my stomach was little touchy also.

Friday she was only a little better so I worked in the garden and on the load of used wood I still have on the flatbed trailer. I built a couple boxes that became home to our strawberries and asparagus (we have only a few of those) and planted vegetables along the outside edge of the garden area.

We are able to tell for sure that the two trees that survived in the garden area are both pear trees. We can see the fruit forming in abundance. I pruned both of them back pretty severely over the winter and hoped they would be better for it. I cannot be certain it helped them but they will give us some fruit this year in spite of the abuse.

By Saturday morning Mama was feeling fairly well and could move about with little nausea or dizziness so I felt confident to go with Victoria and work on her house to satisfy the new requests of the insurance company. All in all, we accomplished the task in a little over two hours. I will submit the pictures today for further consideration. I hope we get this done.

While we were at Victoria’s house the lady that delivers the mail stopped us and asked if we would put up a mailbox. She has been holding mail for that address and would like to get it to the recipient as soon as possible. So we went to Decatur and got what was needed and planted a mailbox for the house. We will check it today – for the very first time. Hopefully it will not become the focus of people who go about smashing mailboxes.

Saturday afternoon as I was rounding the corner of the house to give some old lunchmeat to the big dogs I saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked a bit strange. I thought it was only a small branch that had fallen in the flowerbed but it seemed to move. As I looked in a more focused manner I noticed that it was a cotton-mouth snake.

What I saw moving was the head as it followed my every move keeping its mouth fully open and ready to strike. I killed it with a shovel we had nearby. Once I brought it to the dog’s attention they were on high alert even though it had been mere inches from Sasha’s head when I killed it. I suppose it is that time of year again.

Brittany and Andrew came over Saturday evening and after we ate a dinner of charcoaled meats and salad we went out to plant the landscape plants Mama had been collecting for weeks. It took us less than three hours to get everything in the ground. Overnight it rained heavily and wet everything thoroughly. It was great timing.

The rain was welcome even though it brought back the swamp to the back yard.

Work news, old diet, garden news

The first quarter of the year has come and gone. I have to look back to keep that in perspective since I am already making plans for events at work that will happen in August. April is already fully booked and May is slightly overbooked with meetings and activities. June and July are still open for the most part with the activities picking up again in August and September. These next two months will be very busy months for those of us who get to keep our jobs. Announcements to those who will be laid off start this week.

I still have not heard from the hiring manager for the Licensing position. That is not unusual. He tends to be very prolonged in his interviews and subsequent selections. My current boss and my pastor are not looking forward to a positive response on my being offered the position. It would definitely be a life changing work schedule which would interrupt church activities. That’s the biggest drawback I can see at this point. As far as my boss is concerned, he would have to manage my group in my absence. He really does not want that.

Mama has determined that today is to be the first day in our new diet. Victoria and I are completely on board with the diet. It is mostly being done to help Mama but there will be long term benefits to all of us if we will follow this course of action. I think it will be most difficult for Mama because it eliminates all sugar from our meal and snacks for up to a month.

Mama did this same diet one time before in New Jersey and the results were amazing. Not only did she lose weight but her memory improved greatly. For some reason we lost the initiative to keep with the diet so all of us – especially Mama – have fallen back into old habits; not necessarily destructive habits, but non-profitable habits health wise. The first week will be the most difficult; especially with it being Easter week; cakes, candies, little yellow marshmallow bunnies and all.

Victoria is off today and Mama told me yesterday that Victoria and Erin are planning a shopping trip somewhere. I probably heard that too but for some reason it did not register. We had planned on the two of them doing some planting today – in the garden and around the house – but thunderstorms rolled in this morning and that will probably wreck any outdoor activities.

So far everything we have planted has done very well. The trees I recently put out are looking very good, especially the little fig tree. The blueberry bush I put in an open spot in the patio out back just to get it into the ground looks like it will give us berries this year. Our vegetable plants are struggling to perk up after planting but I think they will be okay in a few days if we baby them along. Mama and I will probably finish up the garden this weekend.

We still have beans, beets, squash etc. to get out as well as starting a strawberry bed. I hope also to put in asparagus, rhubarb, garlic and horseradish beds in this garden that we will gather from for years to come. This is much better ground than we had in Bowie. It is also shaded from direct sun and protected from the harsh winds we had through the growing season there.

Brittany and Andrew are thinking about coming over this weekend. It will be nice to have them.