Planning challenges

Word came trickling through in small bits yesterday as the layoffs were carried out in the office in Houston. A friend of mine spent the better part of the day watching people go offline in our Instant Messaging system. That is a truly sad way to pass eight hours. On the flip side one of my office buddies got some very strong hints that his position will survive the layoffs. He is scheduled for “rebuilding” meetings in Houston the last week of the month. He was encouraged.

Yesterday afternoon the pastor came by my office to give me the rest of the two by fours I had left for him when Mama and I collected the ones we got Saturday evening. He had mentioned that he was also going to build a coop so I did not want to take all the materials, but he told me his plans could wait – and probably would. With that addition of materials I have a very good start on what I need for the walls. I have only to get the materials for the floor in order put up the walls. I am working through that right now.

I talked to Daniel Wycoff last night at FBI to see if he was available to meet me at Lowe’s Thursday morning to help me load some plywood (for the floor of the coop) but I have not gotten peace about spending the cash to buy the plywood. It is the next step but I am not sure how to take it with the abrupt halting of income that I face next week. When there is no money coming in to replace what is being spent I have to choose very carefully. (The lord is bringing up some very old memories of how Mama and I did this many years ago; hard lessons I will have to relearn.)

Mama and Victoria were complaining about being cold while we were listening to the DVD for FBI so during the second break – about 8:30 – they started to play a little volleyball. We only have eight minute breaks but for the next hour they we trying to get cooled down. It was pretty humorous to watch. We are all thoroughly enjoying the Biblical exposition we are getting through the coursework.

Lately we have been dipping into the 50’s during the nights. Mama is still a little worried about her little chickens that we were forced to put outside in the tiny chicken house, but so far they have done well. The dogs love the evening and nighttime temperatures. Every evening around dark they are ready to play and every morning they run circles in the yard just for the fun of it. It will soon be colder and wetter so we are enjoying this while we can.

The days at work are very long. There is very little to do so I busy myself with homework for FBI,  getting ahead on the music schedule for church and using the internet. I am wrestling with the issue of losing all connectivity to the internet when I return my company furnished Hot Spot, but I know we will work something out. It is a major drag to have to retool so many areas of our daily life in response to the loss of my job –and all the company has provided for us. But it is unavoidable at this point.

I will be taking off Thursday and Friday again this week; just to burn through some more vacation - but there is little joy in it. I was talking with Mama yesterday about how to continue this blog without home access to the internet and I have not come up with a solution for that yet.

That, like many of the changes coming to our lives, is a work in progress.