No signal, slogging through

The internet provider that I contacted over a month ago finally came to the house to evaluate the possibility of getting service. He was not able to get a signal. I did not hold out much hope so there was no extreme disappointment on my part; however, when Jake stays with us later this summer he will feel differently.

Mama told me the technician told her it was not the trees that were the problem, it was a geography issue. Where the house sits there is not a tower close enough to give us any signal. Oh, well. We tried. There is an effort in progress to get more service to our area but I am not holding my breath that it will happen soon.

While the technician was up on our roof a very large branch fell out of one of the trees on the driveway. Fortunately it was not one of the dead ones near the garage. When I got home I had to get the chainsaw and cut it up into manageable pieces. We will move the firewood sized pieces to the growing pile I am accumulating and keep back the branches for a bonfire for Jake.

The storm passed over us last night – which is a good thing because we got over two inches of rain the night before – and dumped over two inches on parts of north Ft. Worth; mainly where my boss lives. From the forecast it looks like we are just about through with the constant rain. There are more sunny days predicted for next week that rainy ones. That has not happened since late March. The rain has been a mixed blessing, but as the summer progresses we will all be thankful for what we have in full tanks, ponds and lakes.

Even the quarry on the property that is right next to us is full to overflowing. I have been told that there are some record sized bass in it so I will have to check it out. It looks like a perfect place to try kayaking with Mama. Perfect because it is large, it is full, it is close and it is free. I am also anxious to try fly fishing and our little tank and the quarry lake will give me that opportunity – someday.

More heavy, dangerous storms are forecast for this weekend but we are pressing on with the trail ride. Danny has promised that we will not be disappointed with the gathering even if we do not get to do much riding. With the sudden nature of the storms here, I have asked Mama to pack a couple extra outfits for each of us in case we get soaked while we are out.

It is my experience that there is not much place to hide from the rain while on horseback.

Car issues, soft ground, outing this weekend

Last night Mama and I took Victoria’s car to the mechanic in Bowie. It has continued to die on her at odd times; not totally die but cut back to just above coasting rpms because of an engine failsafe alarm. We have always been able to get the car back to normal operation but we are never sure what causes the failsafe to kick in. Hopefully Roger can tell us what is going on and get it corrected.

While we were there we took the van to Allen’s Texaco to get the inspection done and they had Mama pull into the center bay of the garage. By the time anyone asked what she needed one of the employees had drained the oil assuming that she wanted an oil change. We ended up splitting the cost of the oil change with the garage and getting the paper for the inspection so I can get the registration done today. I should be good on oil for a while since I just got the oil changed a few weeks ago.

Lee Allen and his father own the property that abuts to the farm in Bowie. While we were waiting for the oil to be added we got to talking about how wet everything is and I mentioned that Danny Benson told me he had gotten his tractor stuck in the pasture and that he had asked Lee to borrow his tractor to pull the stuck one out. Lee quickly said “no” because he could see the sequence of events of getting both tractors stuck.

Right now, as Lee put it, “there is no bottom out there.” What that means is that there is no firm ground under the very soggy surface. Even in the back yard in Chico I can barely walk in certain places because the ground is so soft. I can take a rod and push it down three feet into the ground without putting too much force on it. That’s soft. It will take weeks for the ground to firm up enough to be back to normal.

Mama and Victoria are both excited about the outing we have this weekend. We are meeting Danny Benson – the man that bought our farm in Bowie – and some friends of his to go trail riding at Cap Rock Canyon State Park. He is supplying all the horses and tack, the place to stay and the meal Friday evening. All Mama and I have to do is prepare breakfast Saturday morning. His daughter is also coming on the excursion so Victoria will have someone about her age to pal up with…maybe. Right now, planning for that trip is the focus of Mama’s attention. I suppose it should be since we are leaving Friday morning.

We are a bit worried about the constant rain interfering with the trail ride but Danny assures us we will stay out of the rain as much as possible. We are staying in a fully furnished cabin in the park so we will not be roughing it at all. We are told that if we stay to the high ground we should be able to get in some good rides and see some scenic vistas. That should be fun.

If it rains too much we will stay in the cabin and visit. Danny tells us that all the participants are solid Christian folks whose company we will thoroughly enjoy. I am hoping that when we end up in a theological discussion over the course of the weekend we can use our recently acquired knowledge from FBI to add to the discourse.

That would thrill Mama and Victoria.

Bad phone, house repairs, clearing the road

Before I left the office Friday I was getting help with my iPhone from the IT department. Through their help I ended up getting my profile wiped off the phone and they could not get it back before I left the office. That loss does not affect most things on the phone but it did wipe out all my contact information so I could not get numbers for anyone from the lists I normally have and it kept me from getting any email throughout the weekend – which was not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully, I can get it restored today.

I worked all day Saturday installing ceiling fans. The one in the laundry room was especially difficult because I had to remount the box it would attach to. That required crawling in and out of the attic numerous times to find it, reinforce it and put the insulation and vapor barrier back the way I found it. It took me over three hours to get it done but it turned out nicely once finished. I had to change once I was done because of the amount of insulation that had collected on the very sweaty shirt. The other two ceiling fans that I installed took about an hour each.

I also hung a light for Mama in the front entryway before we left to go to a graduation at the church school. That kept us out until just before dark on Saturday night so as we turned onto our county road we were surprised to see that the roadway was completely blocked by something. That something turned out to be branches from a long dead tree that had fallen and brought the vines attached to them – from both sides of the road – down onto the road.

After studying it for a minute and trying to pull the mass out of the way I pulled enough of the vine cover aside to get the truck on our side of the blockage and we attached a rope o the vines and pulled them with the truck. That did not go as planned. Just as we were making some headway the rope broke and the mass fell back onto the road – a complete curtain of vines across the roadway.

I ended up sending Mama and Victoria to the house for a saw, which they could not find. They brought me a hacksaw. It worked. The vine I identified as the main source of frustration was over an inch thick. It was some type of grape vine but tangled up in the mass was ample poison ivy. Once the main vine was cut we were able to pull the huge mass to one side of the road. At some point in the near future we will have to get the tree taken down and vines it is supporting cleared out. Hopefully, the county road crews will do that for us.

Yesterday Mama and I worked before the rain to move some of the gravel that had washed up on our road. We used the tractor – which I was barely able to get out of the barn across the soft ground – to scoop up the mass of gravel. In all we got five bucket loads from the roadway. That cleared the hump we were driving over and it almost filled the low spots at where our driveway meets the road.

There is still more we can get, but that was a good beginning.

Renovations, Mam’s fall

When we bought the house we are in now there were four large mirrors in the bathroom but they were brass looking and ornate. Mama did not like that look so I took them down – the painters needed them out of the way anyway - and we have been storing them for reuse. Mama has had it in mind for months now to get them in shape to rehang.

Over the past several days Mama has been working on those mirrors to get them textured and painted. She had them almost ready on Tuesday but one of the two was not completely dry. Last night they were ready to install. I got them up without too much trouble. Mama was pleased but it only served to get her fired up about getting a lot of other little things done.

I started to install a new ceiling fan in our bedroom but the ceiling under the old ceiling fan needed to be scraped and painted. Since the fan had not been taken down while the painters were in the house – they needed the light it provided in the room - the ceiling under the housing of the fan still had the popcorn on it. Mama does not like that at all. We decide to go to Lowe’s to get a medallion to cover the ugly ceiling and put it up before I installed the new fan – which has a much smaller part that attaches to the ceiling. Mama is painting that medallion today.

The fifteen dollar medallion ended up costing me another hundred dollars because the fan needed a light kit and the entry need a new light and the transition trim from the kitchen to the sunken living room needed to be replaced. I stopped her there. We will have to wait a bit before some of the other little things that aggravate her get addressed; before Alfredo and his wife come for a visit next month.

After we got back from Lowes we got the hay and feed I had had Mama buy earlier that day out of the back of the truck. Our one lone cow is getting thin looking as she nurses her not so little bull calf and I have no more round bales to give her. So we paid the premium price for square bales to supplement until the ground is dry enough to get another round bale to her.

We will be picking up several bales this afternoon but I cannot get them to the barn without burying the tractor which is heavy enough without a thousand pound bale scooped up in the bucket. We bought enough small bales to get by until the middle of next week. It will just require a little more work on Mama’s and my part.

As we were taking the feed – loaded in a wheelbarrow - through the gate at the back of the carport Mama, who was trying to walk with me to steady the bales of hay, caught her foot on the discharge shield of her mower and fell down hard. Fortunately, she did not hit any obstacles in her fall but she landed on her left side with her arm under her as she fell.

By the time we finished at the barn and got back to the house her elbow was starting to bruise and her shoulder was hurting. She is going to be very sore today.

 

So much rain

Mama called me yesterday morning to tell me we had gotten four inches of rain overnight Tuesday night. I thought it had been quite a bit. After I had been at work for a couple hours I found out that two of the ladies I work with had lost power in the height of the storm and one on them had been flooded out of her home. One of the two had some significant damage to buildings on her farm from a small tornado that touched down briefly during the height of the storm. Fortunately, her house was spared.

At church last night we learned that one of the ladies who does FBI with us and her husband had to take shelter in their cellar – ‘fraidy hole – Tuesday night because a tornado had formed right over their property. Fortunately, it dissipated and did not touch down. She still seemed to shudder as she recounted the event to us. That makes five people I know that have been affected by tornados in the recent bout of storms.

The Lord has been very gracious to me and Mama – Victoria as well. Her little house has not suffered any damage other than one shingle being blown off of the front porch roof. Every night this week I have gone to bed with the lightning flashes piercing through the closed blinds; counting the time until I hear the thunder, if I hear it at all. The house muffles the thunder to the point that Mama and I are not usually aware of it through the night.

The old timers used to say that it took a hurricane to break a drought. That has not been the case this year, nor would I wish it, but this is pretty close. The good part of what we are experiencing this year is that the drought is over, the lakes are full and the daily damage and heavy downpours have not been in the same area night after night.

Over the course of May the intensity of the recurring storms has shifted across north Texas allowing each successive damaged or flooded area to recover somewhat between storms. For example, friends of ours at church that suffered some severe hail damage from a storm last Thursday have gotten only one half inch of rain since then while Mama and I have gotten nearly seven inches.

Mama was talking last night as we drove away from the house about getting the tractor out and scooping up some of the gravel that has washed up onto our county road and putting it where we need it. I had to tell her that I did not think we would get the tractor out of the barn without causing a lot of damage to our own roadways on the property.

The tractor is quite heavy and will make very deep ruts as we cross the property. Those ruts then fill with water as it continues to rain, making the ground even softer and very soon we have another problem to deal with. So we will continue to drive over the misplaced gravel for a few more days. At least until we have a few days of either no rain or very light rain to allow the ground to dry out a bit.

I penciled that project in for mid-July.

Victoria’s car, what a storm

I tried to go to bed early last night but after I had been in bed for less than an hour Mama woke me to tell me she was going to rescue Victoria. She was on her way home from Bowie and her car was having trouble. As I understood it, she was safely off the road but the car was not running properly so Mama was headed out to get her. How do you go back to sleep after that?

I got up but Mama was already gone. It only took a few minutes for them to get back to the house – with both cars. Victoria’s car has a failsafe mode that allows the engine to run at very low rpms when it senses a major problem. That has happened several times over the past few months but we have always been able to clear the alarm and get the car running again.

So was the case last night. After Victoria let the car set for several minutes she was able to start it and it ran properly the rest of the way home. I told her the last time this happened (It needed over a quart of oil) that we needed to get the car properly serviced but that has not happened yet. With her tight budget that is something pretty far out of her reach. Grandpa will be back in a couple weeks so will probably eek by until then – or until something happens that we cannot easily remedy. Once they were home I went back to bed.

It was starting to storm in our area about the time Mama went after Victoria and it must have rained very hard through the night. The patio was no more flooded than usual but I did see some boards I have out there moved in the direction of the runoff. It was raining as I left so I did not check the rain gauge.

When I got out onto the road (our little county road) I saw more evidence that it has indeed rained very hard; gravel washed into piles on the road, large pieces of wood washed onto the road and lots of standing water – more than I have seen before.

When I got the intersection of 1655 and 1810 there were firetrucks with lights flashing blocking access to 1818 into Chico. I could only assume that the road was flooded. Fortunately, I go the other way. I was very cautious as I drove to Decatur this morning but I did not see anything dangerous on the road. I am anxious for Mama to tell me how much rain we had overnight.

Last night I had to take the screens out of the waterlines to the washer and clean them. Mama had called me early in the afternoon yesterday to tell me the washer was not working. It displayed an error and would not progress any further than where it was in the cycle. Getting water to the machine seemed to be all that was wrong so she was off and running pretty quickly. Today she will have to cancel the service call she had set up.

Before the storm hit I was able to spend about an hour weed eating the fence that abuts our driveway. I was not thrilled about the amount of poison ivy and poison oak I had to cut down. On one tree the vines had gotten pretty well established and were up about ten feet on the trunk. Those same vines swept out from the tree for at least fifteen feet in all directions. I did the best I could to permanently harm them but I did not want to get infected with that toxin. I do not do well with that.

Mama was pleased with how the trimmed area looked. She inspected it while I took a shower.

 

Finals ore over, more snakes, more rain

Last night we took our last test for this semester. We also got our grades for the previous test as we were leaving. I do not know how I did on the test last night – there were a lot of trick questions – but we all did well on the pervious test. Mama, who thought she failed the test made an 85. My score was 101 and Victoria got a 99. I do not expect that high a score on the test I took last night. Still we are excited about the coming semester which will start in late August; about the time I find out about the Licensing job. After everyone was finished with the test we all went to IHOP for dinner. It was a good time of fellowship.

We are still having a problem with snakes at the mailbox. Another one was discovered yesterday. The lady carrying the mail dropped the mail off to Mama and the two of them went to look over the mailbox to determine what I needed to do to seal it off more completely. I did that last night. Tonight I will look at the possibility that there is a nest of snakes in the column where the mailbox is inserted. If that is what I find, that will necessitate a different solution.

The snakes we are seeing are non-poisonous so I do not want to kill them outright. I would like to relocate them but keep them healthy. I fear that may not be possible but it is my goal. The mail lady is terrified of all snakes so I have to somehow allay that fear – which may be very difficult since she has seen two snakes while delivering our mail. This is country living at its best.

Rain begins again today and is forecast for everyday for the next eight days. I suppose that is nothing extraordinary for someone like Maggie and Aaron who live in the temperate rainforest of the Northwest but it is not a common weather pattern for us in north Texas. Some creeks and rivers have been above flood stage for over ten days now with no respite in sight.

As a company we are feeling the effects of constant rain with some of our wellheads and tank batteries flooded and many of our roads impassable because they are either underwater, washed out or so slimy and soft we cannot get to the wells that need out attention. Production has suffered as a result. Like the work I have been trying to get done on my little koi pond, much of what we do will have to wait for several weeks after the rain lets up.

On the farm, we will have to section off a portion of the barn lot that we have not been able to get sufficiently cleaned out because it is too soft to get the tractor near it and it is getting too bad to allow Daisy and Dash to use it. I could clean it with a scoop shovel but it is a lot of muck to move by hand. I am not sure I am up to that at the moment. We will let it dry out and remove it when I can have some machinery to help.

Now that I have another night of the week free to work I hope to start making quicker progress on projects that have been languishing for lack of time.

RU, Youth rally

Friday night we had a fish fry for RU. It turned out pretty good and we had a few visitors as a result. It was encouraging to Lee to see a bunch of new faces – including a couple of his boys. I get confused whether the two that came are Laura’s sons or Lee’s but it was good to see them at Ru again. (Both of them were in church Sunday morning and evening also.)

I had a hard time getting Mama to leave Friday night. She got to talking with a couple ladies there and while I cleaned up they must have gotten onto some deep subject – like shoes or purses or curtains – because it was very difficult to tear her away from the conversation. She probably is lacking in grownup conversation right now, besides my old adage still holds. If she uses up her words on someone other than me I will not have to bear the whole load personally.

I finally went to her and said, “I finished cleaning up so we can go anytime.” That interrupted the train of the conversation and got a laugh out of the three women talking but it was still about fifteen minutes later that we finally left. It was almost 11 pm before we got home. Even Victoria called to see where we were.

Saturday we worked at the farm in the morning; working on the equipment shed (which is a much neglected project), painting mirrors for the master bath and cleaning the chicken coop. The outside portion of the coop has gotten so wet that we are closing it off to the hens for the time being. Mama will have to let them out more but it is too great a risk to have them in the dirty muck – and it is very difficult to keep it even marginally dry, much less sanitary. We have gotten seven inches of rain so far this month and have already passed the 21.5 inches we received all last year. It is a soggy, nasty blessing.

Later Saturday afternoon we went to the church to help with a Youth Rally. The theme was from a rhyme by C.T. Studd “Only one life will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” The church was decorated (?) with tombstones complete with names and dates. Most of the deceased represented were young when they died. It was a somber but potent theme.

Mama kept the nursery and I helped grill 200 hamburgers. It all came off without a hitch. We served about 180 teens and adults in all. As is customary, cleanup took the most time and Mama and I were there until about 8 pm. While I was sweeping the floor aand tables and chairs were being put away, I heard a burst of laughter from the kitchen – with Mama’s unmistakable laugh being at the center of it.

What started it was Mama picking a piece of lettuce from the trash - announcing it as she did so -  so she could feed it to her hogs. One lady, who doesn not normally participate in these events,  did not know the reason for the dumpster dive so she was quite taken aback. She offered to give Mama the money to buy a fresh head of lettuce if she needed it. That innocent comment struck everyone in the kitchen as too hilarious; especially Mama.

Mama and the lady in question, whose name is also Kim, came looking for me. The other Kim told me she was going to give me “what for” until Mama explained that the rescued scraps were for her pigs. Sunday morning I would not have been surprised to see a couple heads of lettuce sitting on the pew where we normally sit. But that did not happen.

It is what I would have done.

Hummingbirds, results, busy weekend ahead

Last week, Mama put out a couple little hummingbird feeders. She has been amply rewarded for the effort. She has had to refill the one in the back yard a couple times since the tiny creatures have found it. Now they have also discovered the one in the front yard. To date, she has not seen any of the more colorful species. The visitors have fairly dull in appearance but frequent in their feedings. I am beginning to think we may have nest nearby. If we could discover its location that would really thrill Mama.

Every evening the birds have been especially vocal. We hear the cardinals, the doves and several other calls that I am not familiar with; not to mention the mockingbirds driving all of them crazy repeating song after song of every variety of bird it hears. It is very soothing to hear the nightly chorus and know the song is because they are satisfied with the day; welcoming the night. We can not only take heart in that – we could learn a lesson from it.

We have enjoyed the past couple of days without rain. Each morning I leave the house the big dogs are sprawled out in the driveway and have to wake to move out of my way as I leave. On the wet mornings they are snuggled on the front porch under the glider we have sitting there. I am not thrilled that both the front porch and the sunroom have become dog habitat but under the circumstances it is the best we can offer. Hopefully, as the summer rolls in they will find other places to leave their shed hair, shed mud and their body odor.

Mama had to call the doctor yesterday to get the results of her CAT scan. As expected, there was nothing to report. The nurse actually told Mama that they had found nothing but quickly corrected herself and said they had found nothing abnormal. I question both variations of the report. But we are pleased that there is nothing out of the ordinary we have to deal with. Mama’s phantom pains will remain a mystery.

Our busyness continues this weekend with RU meeting tonight and a youth rally on Saturday. Both are events happening in the evening and at both we will be watching the children of the participants. It would not be so bat but we still have the last test for this semester of FBI hanging over our heads and none of us have been able to devote much time to studying for that test. Hopefully we will be able to take a couple hours each day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to get the information locked in our minds before we have to sit for the exam Monday night.

That remains to be seen.

No net but plenty of rain, Victoria’s job search

Well, things did not work out too well concerning our internet. The technician showed up at the house but said he could not do anything because it was raining. Mama did not happen to be there since she and Victoria had scheduled hair appointments at the same time. Mama had hoped to be finished by the time the technician came to the property but that did not work out.

Since we missed the first opportunity we have another one scheduled two weeks out, but I am not too sure I want to go with this company. If it is that difficult to get an appointment to install service I can only guess what it is like to get something repaired once the equipment is finally in place. We will wait and see but my enthusiasm has waned significantly.

The rain continued through the afternoon into the evening. It finally let up about the time we were headed to church. It was not a gully washer but rather a steady shower. All in all, we got a little under an inch. Everything is thoroughly soaked in our area.

All the lakes are full to capacity or overflowing. That presents a unique problem for the persons controlling those lake levels. As one releases water that water runs south to the next overfull lake which overflows to the next and so on. It is a problem we have not had to deal with for over seven years. It will take some time to get the levels adjusted without flooding the adjacent neighborhoods.

Hopefully, there have not been any houses build on the land that has been high and dry through the extended drought. That will prove to be very foolish, shortsighted decision but you never know what developers are thinking. I do know that it is a possibility because in Amarillo I saw people setting mobile homes in what were, and will be again, playa lakes. It would be interesting to see those homes right now since we are now surpassing the total amount of rainfall we received for all of last year.

While Mama and Victoria were in town Victoria put in her application for a school bus driver position. There are several people in our church that drive for various school districts so it was not a foreign idea. I am not sure what of the applications she has submitted lately we will hear back on but she has put in several now and is anxious to find something closer; something other than Walmart, something other than a pharmacy job.

In a lull between meetings yesterday I found an ad for some cattle that Mama is going to call on today. I am not completely sure we are ready but it never hurts to make the contacts.

The call, bone yard, internet evaluation today

Between meetings yesterday I got a call from the hiring manager in the Licensing group. The call was to bring me up to date on developments in the construction at the plant in Sabine Pass, LA. The licensing group is waiting until the contract with the operating company is in place and the plant is nearer completion before they extend any job offers. That should happen in August; possible September. In this cash constrained environment they are hesitant to carry people on their books longer than necessary.

I let him know that those dates will work well for me because of the births Mama and I will be attending through the summer. I also thanked him for letting me know that I was on the “short list” – which means that an offer will be extended to me for the job when the posting is actually ready to be filled. At least that is out in the open and Mama and I can begin to plan for it; versus planning on losing my job with ConocoPhillips.

Mama was both excited and anxious about the announcement. It will still be two weeks on and two weeks off. It will likely last through 2016 into 2017 before I have to move on to another assignment. What that may be is unknown at this time but I do know that plants are being built in China, Africa, Australia and the North Slope of Alaska. We will see where all this leads. The first step is getting the job offer.

It began to rain as I was getting home yesterday and Mama was very frustrated because she had been waiting on me to get home to clear the yard of carcasses and bones. I think I need to start ordering body bags for the refuse that is constantly being dragged into our yard. Fortunately, the rain passed quickly and she was able to get out and complete the mowing fairly quickly. Now, if it rains as predicted, at least she can look out on a trimmed lawn.

I should have taken more time to study yesterday for the test we have to take on Monday evening but I was too tired to concentrate. I napped in the chair and eventually showered and went to bed about 9 pm. It was the earliest I have been in bed for several weeks. I do feel better this morning but I could use a few more eight hour nights.

Today is the day a technician will be coming to the farm to see if we can get internet. I am not holding my breath but I have made every preparation I could to facilitate the matter. Victoria will be home today so she will be available to test the system and get the passwords set up in the event that we are successful. We are not interested in getting television but it is frustrating to be without internet - especially when I need to work from home.

If I do get this licensing job, internet will be a necessity rather than a luxury. If I end up not getting the job, internet access is luxury I would like to have.

Bone yard, FBI

Yesterday was the one sunny day we are going to have for the week – and it was beautiful. The only issue at the farm was that Sam drug a deer carcass (the head and shoulders with the rib cage) into the front yard. It was already well seasoned; aromatic one might say. We are never sure what they will find in the open land around us; especially since the persons leasing the property are determined to kill every hog they see and leave the carcasses lay where they fall. In that respect, a deer carcass was a little surprising.

I did not take the time to bag it up because I did not get home until a little after 5 pm due to meeting we are having in the office this week. We needed to be ready to leave by 6 pm so I had very little time to get ready. This morning as I left for work I noticed that the dogs had gone back to wherever they found the skeleton and dragged the skin home with them. Mama will be very pleased.

Tonight the rains start again with our area expecting over ten inches through the remainder of the week. Chico is supposed to be a little more fortunate with only about four inches forecast by the middle of next week. Flood watches are in effect throughout north Texas. From seven years of drought to flooding on every side. At least, when all of this passes, the lakes will be full.

FBI is not normally as entertaining as it was last night. We began with the doors to the fellowship hall – which doubles as a gymnasium – open to let in the cool evening air. It saves the a/c from having to cool the entire space for the dozen of us meeting for a couple hours. At some point, shortly after our first break, and unfortunate sparrow flew into the building. For the next hour everyone in the class was very distracted.

One of the ladies tried throwing a ball at the bird – which was now in the very upper part of the building – in an attempt to get it to fly out the doors it had come in through. That was not working well but it looked fun enough that Victoria got in on the action. Of course, that only added to the distraction as the DVD continued to play.

At some point the tiny sparrow landed on the volleyball net that was still strung across the gym and Mama yelled “Victoria, he’s in the net. Somebody take off their shirt!” With the group consisting of ten women and three men, that statement brought the house down. Anyone who was trying to concentrate on the lesson being taught gave up entirely at that point.

We turned out the lights in the building hoping the bird would see the light of the open doors and make its escape but rarely will a bird take the lower path to safety. They are usually looking to get higher and I am sure the melee of people focused on it gave it sufficient fright to occlude what we thought was an open path to freedom.

What came next was even more interesting. Kaylen, our FBI leader, came back from his truck with a blowgun (I kid you not!) and began to hunt the bird with the objective of stunning the poor creature and carrying it to safety. His weapon proved more lethal than expected and very soon the sparrow was impaled by one of the darts and collapsed onto the gym floor.

The ladies were mortified. I was very impressed.

Reptile issues, bathroom remodel, Chase, Mother’s Day storms

The snake that had shown itself to the mail carrier on Friday was enough to frighten her to the point that she refused to deliver the mail on Saturday. I do not know how she was able to spot the snake Saturday since he was hiding in the top pipe of the fence that abuts the column which houses the mailbox; but she did spot it and even sent Mama a picture. I had to stop what I was doing in the master bathroom and deal with a harmless reptile to assuage her fear. He will die where I entombed him in the pipe. I only hope that will suffice.

Saturday Mama and I worked in the master bath getting the flooring redone and both vanities installed. It took me all day to get the work done – and we only had to make two trips to the hardware store for fittings to hook up the sink on my side. I was just getting the tools put away when Brittany and Andrew, Makaila and Chase drove up.  All in all, it turned out well enough that Mama is anxious to get the rest of the cabinets painted and the countertops redone.

They all had a good evening playing a card game and arguing about who really won. Chase was taking credit for winning overall but there was the usual amount of dissention in the various opinions. We did get a great chance to tease Chase about the way Makaila does everything for him. It is no different in my eyes than when he was growing up – other than the fact that his wife is now doing the work done by his Mama and his five sisters. That did not stop us from making him feel just a little bit guilty as Makaila made him a sandwich from ingredients sitting right in front of him.

All of us went to church Sunday morning so Mama could have a full row for Mother’s Day. It was a good thought and it did pretty much work out that way but when we got to church we found out that there was no power in the sanctuary. We met in the gym/fellowship hall. That would have been okay if not for the rain that began to fall shortly after the service began. Pastor had to have the volume raised several times on the portable PA system just so we could almost hear him.

We muddled through the service and it was good overall, even with the songs being sung acapella. But the rain only got worse as the morning progressed. By the time church dismissed there were rivers of water running down the sidewalks we all needed to cross to get to the flooded parking lot. Eventually we decided to make a run to the vehicles since the rain showed no signs of stopping and Chase and Makaila were on a constrained schedule. As is common, though we were soaked from the rain we walked through to get to the truck, we drove out of the rain into the sunshine within a few miles of Decatur.

I think Mama had a good Mother’s Day in spite of the storms.

Big rains, big plans

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday night we got our test results from the first FBI exam back; Mama and I each made the same grade, 97. Mama was thrilled. Neither of us expects to do as well on the most recent test we took. There were two people that made over 100 out of a possible 104 points but I do not expect to be able to get perfect scores; passing, yes - perfect, no.

I was in a teleconference meeting yesterday from 8 a.m. until 12:30. That makes for a long day. It was a very productive meeting so it was not a complete bore. It was a preface to what is coming to the office here next week when we will be having such meetings through the entire week. When I got home I was really wanting to do something more active. After some discussion, Mama and I took the tractor, detached the brush hog and cleaned out the barn stalls.

The forecast is for heavy rains and severe thunderstorms through the weekend into next week so dropping the implement from the tractor was the right choice; besides, we needed a shorter profile to get the tractor into the corral area of the barn. As we worked in the barn we could see and hear the storms approaching but we took the time to get to the point that we could walk away satisfied with the effort before we put the tractor up and headed for the house. By that time the storms were upon us.

It intensified through the next couple hours. I did not think much about it until I got a text from one of the ladies who work for me. Her text was pretty anxious. The center of the storm – the tornado and large hail producing part – was to pass through Chico within the next half hour. That changed our focus a little. Meanwhile, Mama was getting Facebook updates from people in the church about hail and strong winds damaging their cars and houses.

Although the storm intensified greatly around that time we did not see any of the destructive parts of it. We had gotten two inches of rain by the time we finally went to bed. The patio flooded due to the volume of rain that fell but the ditch I dug a few days ago managed to keep it at a manageable level and it had drained by this morning. The koi pond is clear full but I have the pump set so Mama can get it emptied before it refills this evening. We will go through the same exercise every night and following morning for the next seven to ten days.

Mama has big plans for me this weekend. All work will have to be inside work so we have scheduled to complete the bathroom vanities on Saturday. That includes the floor repairs under the vanities, the painting of the cabinet between the vanities and the installation of both vanities. She even wants the mirrors painted and rehung. (That may be overreaching.)

I am a little ahead since I installed Mama’s vanity a couple months ago, so hers is already fit – although I will have to pull it out to do the flooring and the painting. There is still a lot of work to do to get it to the point where Mama will call it good.

Should be fun.

Rain, applications, cattle, raising kids

As I left the house this morning I looked at the rain gauge and was pleased to see that we had gotten ½ inch through the night. But when I started hearing how much other nearby areas got I was really thrilled that we got only the ½ inch. Bowie got 5”; Alvord got 2.8 and some parts of Denton got over three inches. Our little bit is far better in the long run.

Mama and Victoria spent the majority of the day in Decatur yesterday as Victoria put in applications at various companies. They worked from the library for most of the early afternoon so Victoria could use the internet to fill out online applications. (Not having internet at the house presents a challenge for us every so often.) I do not know what she applied for but what I heard covered a large variety of job types. I believe the one that really interests her is at Wise Regional Hospital. She would appreciate your prayers as she looks into moving away from Walmart.

As time allowed yesterday I looked up a few items of Craig’s List. One thing that I try to keep an eye on is the price of calves. When we bought bottle babies just two years ago the price was $60/head for Holstein bull calves. That price is not $400/head. Beef calves go for almost $900/head. Knowing that that is not sustainable, I have tried to keep an eye on the market.

Yesterday I found a bred back nurse cow for sale with three calves at her side for $3000. That may seem like a lot but the going price of a nurse cow is between $2000-2500. That puts the calves at about $300 per head. Not necessarily a bargain, but in today’s market it is a fair price. I showed the ad to Mama after church last night and she liked the looks of the pictures – so she called the seller. We may go down to his farm on Saturday with the intent of buying the cow and calves – if she is still available on Saturday.

Cori called yesterday to tell Mama that Mykenzie had passed out a couple times yesterday. The first was while Mandy was trimming her hair. The second was shortly after and is more than likely the result of her not being fully recovered from the first episode. A nurse at Cori’s church told Cori that is not uncommon for young girls to pass out while standing as someone is brushing their hair.

She suggested that somehow stimulating the scalp causes the brain to open the blood vessels in the head and allow the blood to drain our – causing a fainting spell. I do not know, but it sounds reasonable. Personally, I have not combed my own hair in thirty years and my daughters rarely had me comb theirs. They are going to the doctor today to have her evaluated but we are not sure what will come of it.

Meanwhile Grant and Blake can freefall from the bunk beds onto the tile floor and laugh about the purple bruises the get as a result. Parenting is a broad field of application of small bits of information which, when you have figured only some of it out, you get to watch your children follow the same process with your grandchildren.

As grandparents, however, we get to sleep through the night.

Rain, being close, success, sad news

The rains came as expected yesterday and will continue through this week into next week. As night fell last night the storms intensified with lightning and thunder for hours. I do not think we got much precipitation out of the display but it was fun to hear the rumble and see the flashes of lightening through the closed window shades. Mama and I have always loved storms. She just does not like to travel in them.

In spite of the early evening rains we went to Sam’s after late meetings I had to attend at work. It is nice to be situated where we are because, for us, it is conveniently close to everything we need. Many would not consider it so because to travel the ten miles from Decatur to Bridgeport is, to them, a troublesome drive. When Mama and I talk about going to places hours away (and returning the same day) you would think they would have to take a couple days to make such a trip. “Close” is all about perspective.

I have to admit that there are days when Mama does not even want to leave the house to go to Chico –three miles away. I do not mind such times. It costs me far less to have her at home than out shopping. To date she has not discovered the ease of shopping online. I rue the  day we stumble across that avenue of commerce.

In spite of the issues we have had – and will continue to have – with this home it is nice to be here. Mama and I were going over the plants in the twilight last night checking for progress in their growth. Her rose bushes gave her the biggest thrill. They are putting on new buds like crazy. The blackberry and black raspberry bushes have berries ripening on them – they have only been in the ground a week. The tiny blueberry bush we planted a few weeks ago has four berries on it.

The little fig has several figs beginning to develop. The nectarine has fruit developing – even though the birds are pecking at them. We have one lone apple on the young tree in the garden. The older apple tree is not going to give us any fruit but the pear tree will make up for it. It is encouraging to finally be able to see things grow so well; things besides weeds, briars and nettles. The only drawback is that I want to keep buying plants and trees to augment the blessing; but Mama told me I have to stop for now.

On a sad front, Victoria’s friend Heather who, with her husband of three years, has been serving at a mission’s work in Peru lost her husband yesterday. He had suffered a head injury and did not recover. Throughout the time he was in the hospital her testimony has been incredibly uplifting. Even at his death her heart’s expression for love for the Lord was what most of us hope we will have the grace and wisdom to say at such a moment. Mama and Victoria were both deeply affected by the news.

A stark reminder of just how brief our life really is.

Tests, dogs

Mama spent a good portion of the morning in Bowie yesterday. Her CAT scan was scheduled for 8 a.m. but they had her come in early so they could put in the die required for the test. She told me that neither of the punctures she got for the blood work or the die insertion caused her any pain at the moment but she had some pretty big bruises in the crook of each elbow. We will hear the results in the next several days.

While she was in Bowie she followed up on our van which has been at the shop for over a week now. Roger Truax has done our maintenance and repairs since we came to Bowie and we really trust and appreciate the work he does; so do a lot of other people. He stays very busy all the time. Mama found out that he should have the van repaired by Wednesday evening. We are not doing too badly without it but Mama misses having her own vehicle at the ready.

Last night we had our second test in FBI (Faith Bible Institute). It was not a difficult test but it followed a very difficult week. We were all cramming to get the information into our overflowing little brains and invariably some of the references got confused. I think we all did well enough but it is frustrating to think you know something only to find out you cannot accurately reproduce it when needed or get confused about certain little points of comparison.

The idea is not to graduate Magna Cum Laude. The idea is to study the Bible and fall in love with the Word of God; to live it out in a more intimate and practical sense in our everyday lives. That we are able to do regardless of the number of test questions we answer correctly. However, it is nice to see grades that make you feel good about what you have done versus walking away thinking poorly of yourself. I often wonder how God is grading the entire situation. There I do not want to fail.

This last pup Victoria and Mama picked up is having a hard time getting the idea that it should not pee in the house and as it gets larger the problem is only growing in volume. I came to the realization last night that I could live my life without the dogs. I do not think either Mama or Victoria feel that way so I will be living my life with the dogs regardless of how I relate to the issue; but I think I could do without them.

The remainder of this week could be trying on that front since we are expecting rain – some significant amounts on various days – for the next seven to ten days. When the dogs cannot move about freely outside we have to deal with the potty-ing issue as best we can. Because of the wet ground there will be a large amount of energy spent in cleaning paws for re-entry into the house. Mama ends up worn out every day on those kinds of days. But she expends the energy because it is required if we are to keep a relatively clean house and share it with the dogs.

She loves the dogs and I love her so we work it out – daily.

Busy Saturday, medical tests, FBI tests

Saturday was a pretty productive day. I was able to get out early and use the tractor to scrape, pull and drag, the dirt in the portion of the back yard nearest the septic tanks and get it looking a little more like a back yard. I was not able to get it all leveled out but that portion looks better. Even after seven dry days the deeper parts were too wet to rearrange.

On the other side of the yard it was still way too wet to get to the damaged part with the tractor. I tried but almost got stuck in the soft ground. I did do a little leveling on the outermost edges but I had to get in with a shovel and make the last few changes I could manage. It will have to dry up a good deal more before I can help Mama out with that gouged mess to where she can actually mow the whole yard.

I put the string head on the weed eater and trimmed around the house and trees – as well as the areas where Mama has not been able to mow because of the trenches left from the backhoe work we had done a couple months ago. So, all in all, it looks less unkempt but still far from what I would like to have.

In the afternoon I loaded up the tiller to go to the Cantrell’s so we could get Kim started on a garden. While I was getting ready to tie down the tiller I was getting out of the truck bed and my slick, dusty glove slipped on the side of the truck bed and I fell out of the truck. I did not get hurt but my phone clip caught on the bed and got ripped from my belt. It splintered in several pieces. It is the third one I have broken in as many years. Maybe they sell them in multipacks.

When we got the Cantrell’s we started on the garden patch right away. What was to become a garden was a grassy area so I went over it four times – in differing directions – with the tiller but still could not get the depth I wanted so Mama and Kim began raking the tilled up grass out of the rows and I re-tilled in those cleared patches. That got the job done. By the time we left we had planted several rows of vegetables. With the rains that are forecast for this week she should be off to good start.

Mama is headed to the hospital in Bowie this morning to get a CAT scan. She has been suffering pains and burning sensations off and on with a place on the back of her head and now is the time to get it looked at. While we were living in the apartment in New Jersey she passed out in the kitchen and cracked her head pretty hard.

Neither of us knows how long she lay there but the blood was almost dry when she came to the bedroom to get my help. It took a good bit to clean her up. The doctor we saw after the incident did not seem concerned about it. We all chalked it up to dehydration.

Now, however, with the uncertainty of my job going forward we thought it was time to get the tests done so we could rule out anything medically pressing. We do not expect any bad news but it will be nice to eliminate even the possibility of bad news in the future.

This evening we have our second test in FBI. With Mission’s Conference all last week none of us have had much time to study so we are all cramming today. We’ll see how that turns out.

Mama, a look ahead

The last few days have been pleasant enough that Mama has overexerted herself working in the flowerbeds. It seems that the pup – or perhaps a rabbit – has an affinity for the bulbs she and Brittany planted in a flowerbed at the side of the house in our back yard. She put some fencing around it yesterday as she pulled the last of some stubborn weeds from the bed. She was hurting last night as we sat through our three hour FBI class.

Since the fellowship hall was being used for basketball we met in the smaller fellowship hall in the church. It was easier to hear the presentation in the smaller space but it was easier to disrupt the presentation with side conversations – and Erin was in a really chatty mood. (She does not get much adult conversation.) I had to threaten to separate her and Barbara at one point. Later they got me back as Victoria and I were talking about the spelling of the word “choir”; which is not pronounced anything like the word oink although they are spelled alike. It was a fun night but it was a late night.

Tonight is RU. We have gotten several new attendees lately and one is a single mom with two older children – a third grader and a sixth grader. With the four year old twins it presents a bit of a challenge to make the night educational as well as entertaining for the two of them but we manage. Lee and Laura are thrilled about the increase in participation and those now coming seem genuinely interested in applying the program to their lives.

This afternoon I have to take Mama to a doctor’s appointment in Bowie. We are still down one vehicle with the van in the shop and I do not want her to miss this appointment. She is asking the doctor about the sore spot on her head that bothers her from time to time. Although she had been having phantom pains in that particular spot before, it seems to be related to a time when we lived in the apartment in New Jersey prior to moving to Amarillo.

Mama was sick for a few days and on one occasion passed out in the kitchen of that little apartment and cracked her head on the tile floor. It was a hard enough hit that she bled from the scalp wound it caused. No one knows how long she was on the floor but when she came to get me after the fall it took us some time to get her cleaned up. Anyway, she has put off for too long getting answers to the incident and has suffered recurring pain from the area over the years. Hopefully  we can get the necessary testing done and get some answers before this job plays out.

We do not have to do much cooking for RU tonight since we conspired to have some of the leftovers from the big dinners we had before services in our Mission’s Conference kept at the church for tonight. I told Mama tonight will be the most taxing of all the nights we have spent at church so far this week. It is only a few hours so we will scrape up the energy to make it through. (God always supplies a little extra.)

Saturday is still up in the air as to whether we will go to till a garden spot for Kim Cantrell.