While I was away

I left with Mama from the church Monday afternoon after we had lunch to travel to Birmingham, AL to give two days of training to a client in that area. Fortunately, the weather was not bad on the day we flew out. All the storms were south and west of us. It was only a two hour flight. We were put on one of the very small jets so you either had a window or an aisle seat regardless of the row assignment. I have not traveled by plane for a while but as flights go it was not bad – cramped and a little too warm, but not too bad. The two days of class were easy and mostly fun since we were in a training center for a major company in the Bessemer area. On the second day, I had to catch a ride back to the hotel from the safety supervisor of the site because the team I had been traveling around with did not get back from their site and client tours until about 7 pm.

The last day (Thursday) we were all up and out the door by 6 a.m. so we could meet a client about two hours away. The intent was  for me to get a tour of their facility – where I will be instructing three days of classes over the period of the week-long safety seminar. That left us about two hours to tour the facility and visit with the client in preparation for the week being planned for late September and still make it back to the airport in Birmingham to catch our flight home – which we did. However, the flight home was delayed about an hour due to weather over Dallas, diverted in route due to weather over Dallas, and delayed prior to approach due to heavy traffic coming into Dallas because of the other delayed and diverted flights. The pilot explained the we “were in a very long line of traffic.” Not too upsetting, but it took us four hours to make a two hour flight. It is a good thing I did not have Mama waiting on me at the airport. She was not feeling well to begin with; having her wait an extra two hour at the airport would not have made it a pleasant homecoming for me or her.

While I was away, Mama and Norman loaded the feeder pig for her trip to the meat market. Mama was a little hesitant to take the pig because she was a really good pig to work with; calm, laid back and safe to work around. Nevertheless, we needed to have her processed so she could begin to feed us instead of us feeding her. Her weight was about 440 pounds. Mama did well getting her ready. It took them over an hour to get her loaded because Mama and Norman did not know the process of getting the pen ready for loading. I normally block off the back of the pen, both sleeping areas and as much as I can of the interior area so there is a natural tendency for the pig to look out at the loading chute into the trailer as the widest space available to run to. They eventually got there, but they were not able to start there. I guess Mama never noticed what I had done before we started to load a pig out of that pen.

Mama also informed me that the live trap I had set in the garden had finally trapped a squirrel. I was not sure if it was ever going to work but it did. The only disadvantage was that I was 1200 miles away. As far as I know the squirrel is still caught in the trap awaiting my final sentencing. At least he has something to eat during his capture – even though it is his last meal. The squirrels have multiplied this year and I have had to lower the head could on our little property. So far, I have culled eleven or twelve and it does not have seemed to affect the impact on the overall population. Eventually it will, but for now they are still thriving and eating our garden, dumping the bird feeders and getting into places that they should not get into, like our car engine compartments.

So, the hunt continues.