One month, tomorrow is the day, Kai’s close call

Brittany sent pictures of the twins last night. She has to make a special effort to get them to me because I do not do Hangouts. About a week ago she sent 50 pictures of the twins because Mama and I had mentioned that we had not seen any recent pictures. Many of them were just to blow up our phones but there were some that were very cute. They are growing quickly, gaining weight, making more and more facial expressions, thrashing, kicking and stretching; getting those muscles ready for crawling. I do not think they are flipping over yet but that should be happening soon. Sophia has lost a lot of her hair and Mama is wondering if it will be coming back in blonde. When we lived in Victoria, Brittany had a friend whose name was also Brittany. Our Brittany had blonde hair and her friend had black hair. The twins we were watching at the time referred to her friend as “black Brittany” one morning. She took great offence until she understood it was a reference to hair color. Mama would be able to tell our Brittany’s twins apart either way. It’s a mommy thing. Although I can tell them apart I am still struggling with attaching the right name to the right child. It’s a daddy thing.

Mama and I leave tomorrow for Florida. She is overly excited. She was up at 4 am making a list and doing laundry in preparation for packing tonight. I will hopefully check in online this morning with Spirit Airlines. I have not found their site easy to navigate and they are impossible to reach by phone so this may be the last time we use them, but that is what we have for now. Back to Mama, she has made a separate list for the care of the animals in her absence. Grant and Blake have been very diligent in feeding the animals. Grant still calls them “aminals”. We may not get as much mileage out of the feed we have on hand but they have adopted the farm animals as their own responsibility and have been careful to follow through on ensuring they all have food and water. So far, we have not had any chickens, pigs or goats escape through open gates and Mama has only occasionally found a feeder or waterer empty. So, we can relax and know they are all in good hands while we are away for four days.

I called the director of the children’s home in Tampa to see if we could schedule a visit with him when we arrive tomorrow afternoon but I have not gotten a response. He is the US contact and overseer of the ministry Nate and Cori and the kids will join next year in Honduras. Since Mama and I are praying about the possibility of volunteering for that or a similar ministry when I retire, we wanted to have the opportunity to introduce ourselves and get his input on how we should be praying and what part of the ministry needs we could possibly meet.

Kai, our weather goat, is struggling to get around. It looks like a sort of arthritis. Rather than watch him suffer and eventually die, I have convinced Mama and Victoria that we should take him to the market and get some meat out of our two years of feeding him. It took some doing to get them to go along with the idea. Mama scheduled his appointment for today but with us getting in late from FBI and Nate unfamiliar with the whereabouts of the processor in Muenster, we decided to wait until next Tuesday to take him over. I will be off Monday so it will be a much easier process to get his loaded for Nate to take him over. Mama wishes it was already over but we have one more week to baby him before I get my baby back ribs.

That’s farm living.

Home safe, Joshua is safe, travel ahead

In spite of the fact that Hurricane Harvey made landfall in South Texas Friday morning, Nate, Cori and the kids boarded the flight from San Pedro Sula, Honduras and arrived in Houston sometime after 5 pm. It took over an hour to get through customs, get their bags and catch the bus to get to their vehicle. By about 7 pm they were on their way to the farm. Later that day and into the next the flooding started in earnest in Houston. I heard on the radio this morning that both airports in Houston are closed and will remain so until further notice. With so many roads still underwater it only makes sense that the airport and the schools would close. There are some very sobering photos and videos of the flooding and devastation that the storm has brought to an area of the Gulf Coast that is very familiar to me and Mama. Our prayers are with those affected by the storm. Many will be without homes or habitable dwellings for months to come.

Joshua has kept in touch with us through the storm. Victoria, TX has been affected by the hurricane but not to the extent that other areas have. Joshua is currently without power but the roads are passable and the place where he is living was not damaged in any way. I know that he did not get to go to church yesterday because there was no power at the church and, according to his report, about 90% of the congregation evacuated to parts north. I am not sure if the city is up and functioning normally – that is, can he buy food and gas? – but he seems to be in good spirits despite the continued rain and wind. We will see if the flooding worsens as the days progress. They are expecting several more days of rain as the storm lingers in that area. I am sure the plant I used to work in is shutdown for the duration of the flooding. I wonder if the house we used to own in Victoria did as well through this storm as it did the hurricane we went through years ago.

Mama is excited about the mini-vacation we are going to take this week. She and I have not been on a vacation in a couple years and I though it was about time we got away. We are headed to Sanibel Island Wednesday morning. She has been keeping a keen eye on the weather and so far, it looks like scattered showers for a couple of the days we will be there. The island is reported to be one of the top three shelling spots in the world. Over a week ago I requested a guide book from the Chamber of Commerce and Mama has worn the book out as she has studied it attempting to schedule our time there. For her is it a very brief time, only three days, but that was all I thought we could afford right now. I have a very full schedule at work and will be traveling quite a bit over the next four weeks. Plus, financially, it was all I thought we should try for – no sense incurring debt to go on vacation. If you know Mama, it is never enough. But for this time, it is all I can give her and she is happy for the opportunity to pick through sea shells on beaches that are impossible to walk on without foot protection because of the abundance of shell.

Hopefully, this destination will meet her expectations.

Travel, weather issues, power

I spent the last three days traveling. I had a class to teach in Flowood, MS – just north of Jackson. It was a good group of guys and for the most part, a pretty easy trip overall. I told Mama she would have loved the area. It was one of those towns that sit on the outskirts of a larger town that offer all the amenities the larger town would offer without the inconvenience of congestion. The hotel I stayed in was on the edge of a shopping area that went on for a little over a mile. The variety of stores was pretty amazing for such a small community; reminiscent of Soncy Road in Amarillo with a mall on one side and about four miles of strip center shopping on the other. The airport was small but not too small, easily accessible and only about four miles from the hotel. It was a good trip.

Speaking of travel, the big story this morning is Hurricane Harvey. The direct impact for us is the families we know in Houston and Victoria, but other than a lot of rain and some strong winds there is no imminent danger. It is not a sudden, unpredictable event like an earthquake, explosion or tornado. It will cause damage, but it is an event where you can get out of the way. Warnings have been issues and those that are wise will heed those warnings. What has us more concerned is the fact that Nate, Cori and the kids are due to fly back into Houston this afternoon. I am confident that the airline will not attempt an arrival if it is not entirely safe, but we will not know until Cori contacts Mama. It would not be a horrible thing for them to have to stay a few extra days in Honduras – I am sure the kids would not mind at all – but it will take some planning to work it out with the schedule they have set here in the states. For this morning, we will wait to see what the verdict is.

I now have power to the shop. Mama called the electric company to let them know I had made the final tie-ins and they came out that afternoon to set the meter base. That was on Monday. Unfortunately, I had FBI Monday evening so I was not able to get the breaker installed or the box hung that will allow Nate to connect the camper to power at the shop. I hope to get that done today. By the time they get back to the farm I should have everything ready for them to operate at full power in the camper. That will help both us and them since getting power from the house kept them from running any appliances other than the a/c, while in the house we were constantly tripping breakers as we tried to use some of the appliances we needed to help in meal preparation. It was not a hardship, but it made the one of us who forgot and ran the microwave I have in the laundry room feel stupid for having forgotten until the breaker tripped and we lost power to that end of the house; a bother, nothing more.

Mama and I will have lunch together for the first time since she started school. I have thoroughly enjoyed these opportunities to have lunch with Mama.

Unexpected news, the eclipse, a little progress

Chase and Makaila came over this weekend for a drop-in visit – and to go to a car dealer to look at a car they had found online. They got in Friday evening and we visited until I had to tell everyone good night and leave the party. The next morning, at breakfast Makaila gave Mama a little book to read. It was a baby book. They announced that they are pregnant; expecting in March. Most of the reason for the timing was so that Chase could video Mama when she heard the news. Brittany, who already had been told, was anxious to see Mama’s reaction. They made a humorous announcement card that I thought you would enjoy.

Chase and Makaila spent most of the day Saturday at car dealers in the Gainesville area but eventually came home with a brand new Ford Escape. They are relieved to have traded off Makaila’s car and have a new one. Sunday morning, they went to church with us and Mama got to share the news with several ladies. Makaila got lots of hugs and those knowing smiles that women give each other when a pregnancy is announced – especially a first pregnancy for a young couple. Mama had already shared with several of the senior ladies Saturday afternoon when we were out to lunch with the seniors from the church. So, all in all, it was a great weekend for them – and for Mama.

It seems everyone has gone crazy with the eclipse that will take place this afternoon. It is being billed as a once in a lifetime experience but I have found out that there is another total eclipse in 2024; only seven years from now. One of the employees at our company has traveled to Nebraska to be in the predicted path of the eclipse. He is an amateur photographer so it is a great opportunity for him to get those prized shots of the full eclipse. It is a wonder to me what we are willing to do for bragging rights. Here we will only see a partial eclipse due to the angle of exposure but that will be good enough for most of us.  At work, we are having a special lunch in honor of the eclipse. We were supposed to bring an “eclipse themed” dessert. I bowed out due to lack of creative expertise.

I worked on the electrical connection to the meter Saturday morning. It took me a good portion of the morning to complete the wiring to spec, but I can have Mama call the electric company today and tell them that it is ready. Friday evening and much of the day Saturday I worked on the walls of the shop. I even managed to put up four pieces of the metal siding – always a challenge when working by myself. I did not realize that the siding Mama got for us (on sale) was commercial grade siding. It is nearly double the thickness of the siding I have worked with in the past. That is both a blessing and a challenge. I had trouble getting a blade that would cut the metal sheets. While we were out to lunch with the seniors I bought several metal cutting blades for the circular saw and was excited to use them. I normally turn a blade around backwards to cut metal siding but that was not working very well. The composite blades worked well enough but I was only able to cut one sheet and then half way through another sheet before the blade had worn down far enough that it was too small to finish the second cut. I ended up doing back to my backward blade and babied it through a couple more cuts. That is as far as I got by the time I had to quit Saturday night.

I will be traveling tomorrow through Thursday night so what I have done is all that will get done until I get back. Little steps forward, but at least it is forward progress.

Progress, girl’s day, relocation

I am making slow progress on the shop. I did not really feel like getting soaked with sweat last night but pushed through to get another wall set up to receive the metal siding. I plan to start putting on the siding tomorrow. Tonight and tomorrow are the last opportunities to work on the building until the following Friday night. FBI starts Monday night. I will be traveling Tuesday through Thursday next week; on vacation with Mama from Wednesday through Saturday the following week. My goal is to have the shop complete by the end of September and even with a full week of travel the second week of that month, I think it is still doable. As always, time will tell. I packed away the tools just a little before dark so I could water. Even though this has been an uncharacteristically wet August, all the plants suffer in the near triple digit temperatures; especially with the winds we have this time of year.

Yesterday, I met Mama for lunch. She had Gracie with her. Gracie came home with us Wednesday night after church. Mama thought it would provide a good opportunity for her to have some time to go shopping and just do girl things. They spent the morning in Decatur and met me at the Sweetwater Bakery at lunch time. After that they went to a couple more variety stores and Gracie spent the afternoon arranging all the small items she and Mama had bought. Luke and Joseph, her brothers, were at the farm with Victoria through the day. I think it was a fun day for all of them. Sometimes it is hard to tell. I was not in the house when their mama packed them up to leave. That is normally the time you get a read on how much they enjoyed the stay. Staying with us at the farm will not be as big an attraction in the months to come. They are buying a house just down the road from the church – hoping to close this month. It will be a real blessing for the family to be that close to the church. On the down side. It will cost the daddy an additional twenty minutes’ drive time to work every day. I can sympathize with that.

Mama and I both are suffering from plugged up sinuses this morning. She has been fighting the symptoms for several days already but I believe mine is a direct result of working with the chickens last night. In order to keep me from having to build an additional building, Mama is combining the new chickens with some of the older chickens. She will be giving about ten to Alissa and Zach Burns to be put in the coop at their little homestead – Victoria’s former house. That will get us back down to about twenty on that side. The other side will be given to the Banty chicks we are raising.

The Banty chicks are in a large cage on the side we emptied of regular chickens last night. Mama will let them out of the cage this morning. The chicks are getting to the point that they can escape the cage when Mama opens the door to get the feed and water containers for their twice daily refreshing. The reason I am stuffed up is because the chickens I needed to catch have taken to roosting on top of the large cage we have the Banty’s in. I put a tarp on top of the cage just in case the chickens decided to take up residence there. Now that tarp is rather nasty and last night, in the dark, I had to catch the chickens on that nasty roost so Mama could put them on the other side of the coop. As I began to catch the ten or twelve of them they began to flap and squawk and stir up all the wonderful accumulation of poop – dried and moist – blowing it into my face since the top of the cage is just about the height of my shoulders. I was ready to get out of those cloths and take a shower when that little chore was done.

This morning, I wish I could have stayed in bed.

Window guy and FBI, class, travelers

While Mama was at Sam’s on Tuesday, she got roped into a sales pitch about windows. That discussion led to a sales meeting at the farm the same evening. I was a little disappointed that I had to give up my entire evening but we have been looking for a window replacement company to tackle the retrofit of the very poor quality windows in our house. Before the meeting we took about seventy pounds of meat to the Chinese family and ate a small dinner at the restaurant, picked up external speakers for my computer and got potting soil at Lowe’s. The only bad part of the hurry was that I had set aside a package of ribeye steaks for me and Mama and it got taken along with the other meat. When I mentioned that to Mama she set the package on the floor at the back of the truck and I found it this morning – after two days sitting in a very hot vehicle. Most unpleasant.

The young man that gave the very lengthy sales pitch for the windows was an impressive young man. Somehow, we got into all the places we had lived and all the places we have traveled internationally. That, coupled with Mama’s mention of our FBI classes, got rolled together in his mind and he started teasing Mama about being in the CIA. He mocked looking around the house for cameras. Started speaking in very quiet tones. It was quite entertaining. (Victoria mentioned to Mama that she thought he was cute – unusual for her.) We have been through all this before so I knew he would have to measure the windows, allow us to choose a style and color, discuss payment options, present the “Initial sales meeting only price”, etc. After rejecting the first price outright but promising to keep this company in mind, the dickering started. By the time is was all settled, the price was so near the amount Mama and I had agreed upon that we agreed to the installation. This all started about 6 20 pm. By 10 pm I left the discussion and started prepping for Wednesday’s training class.

The hilarious part of getting all the contract paperwork done was watching Mama sign her name on the iPad he was using. I think she went through three stylus’s before finally trying her finger as the writing instrument. That did not work well either because she had a bandage on her left index finger because she had cut it on a binding strap on a case of water bottles at Sam’s that morning. She finally got a signature done and proudly displayed the finished product to me and the salesman - and then touched the “CLEAR” button instead of the “DONE” button. The salesman was on the way to grabbing the iPad from Mama because it looked like she was going to throw it across the room. But then Mama laughed at her blunder and started over. Replacing those 14 windows is not a cheap project but it really needs to be done, especially since we are dealing with the beginning of black mold on the seals of several of the windows. If our credit is not a problem, the project should be underway in six to eight weeks. Mama is beyond excited about the thought of having new windows; ones she can actually clean.

Class yesterday was a good one. There were twenty-nine people in the class and at least half of them spoke up at some point during the day. That is unusual. At one point during the morning, I got the impression that I had lost my connection with the class and I stopped the presentation to say so. That changed the tenor of the class for the rest of the day. I think that all but a couple individuals came up to me and talked with me throughout the day, which is also an unusual circumstance. All-in-all, it was one of the best classes I have been involved in. I was worn out from talking for six plus hours, but still had enough voice to lead the singing at church last night.

Nate, Cori and the kids seem to be having a great time in Honduras. The boys were catching poisonous frogs and tarantulas on their first day. Nate loved that. Cori, not so much.

The meter base for the shop has been set in place and I will get it wired in tonight. We should have power for the camper by the time our travelers get back from Honduras.

On again off again, bits of progress, wasps and rodents

Nate, Cori and the kids are in Honduras this morning. I remember those mornings as I traveled with my parents and my siblings when I woke and listened to the sounds of the morning in a different country; not just a different bed in a different house, but in a different country. I hope the kids feel that experience this morning. I assume their flight went without issue once they were able to take off. As I understand it, they were on the plane waiting to seal up the cabin door when all passengers were asked to deplane. For some reason, the pilots took notice of the kids and invited them into the cockpit. Since this was their first time on a plane, I am sure that will add to the overall experience. Blake stated early on that he wanted to be able to look out the window and see the what things looked like from that high up. Hopefully, he got his wish. He certainly got the right seat.

When I got home yesterday evening, the Wycoff’s were there getting two more of the little piglets. This time from Molly’s litter. That still leaves us three piglets to sell off. They also gave us five hens from a batch of chicks recently purchased. We are raising hens and roosters from the same batch and are also disappointed with the lack of growth in the birds. But we have allowed ours to continue to grow. The Wycoff’s have killed off the skinny roosters and started with a new batch of chicks. They did not believe the birds were worth the feed they were being given. They took five of our skinny roosters with them. They will not survive the week. With the new hens unfamiliar with the routine of the coop, it was a bit of a chore to get everyone into the coop for the night, but we managed to get most of them bedded down properly. Those that do not adapt will not survive long. Coyotes and coons make short work of any un-cooped, exposed chickens.

After the Wycoff’s left, I had to do a couple of repairs for Mama before I was able to get to work on the shop but still managed to get a portion of the front wall done. The activity does the rest of my body good. It is not always good for my back but I have faith my back will heal as I continue to gently press forward with the work I need to be doing on the farm. With us now at the middle of August, I only have about ten weeks before I have to be prepared for freezing weather. That time will pass all too quickly and I have to be careful to get the right things done on the farm to make the best use of it. As for work, I will be traveling for at least three of those ten weeks which shortens the timeframe considerably. I am sure it will all work out.        

Since Nate and I discovered a wasp nest under the metal siding last week, I took the tractor and lifted the stack so I could see the nest. It was a big one. It was the red wasps. I do not know if they are really more aggressive than any other wasps but I have always held that belief. Maybe it is because they are red and look angry. Just the gentle lifting of the bundle of siding got them stirred up but it gave me opportunity to spray the nest and kill most of them – once they settled down from the initial disruption. It should be safe to start using the siding now. As with all areas of the farm, if we leave anything sit still the wasps and the rodents will find a way to make a home in it; whether it is a bundle of metal sheets, a steel drum, a pallet or the suitcases in our closet, they will build their nests and store this scavenged food in any dark, dry place.

Mama is scared of the wasps – regardless of the type – but her loathing and fear of the rodents is visceral. Unfortunately, having farm animals only invites them in. So far, her love for the animals has won out over her hatred for the rats and mice. But that is subject to change at any time. In the meanwhile, it costs me time to put in barriers, move things around and hunt down scratching noises in the ceiling and walls.

All part of the fun!

Over doing it, Cheyenne, Honduras

Mama, Mr. Plumley and I went to Trade Days Saturday morning – mostly so Mama could visit with friends who set up there every month. Mr. Plumley goes just to get out and see all the odds and ends that are sold. He thoroughly enjoys it and it is certainly not a hardship to take him. I hurried Mama a bit, not only because it was brutally hot, but because I needed to hitch the trailer to the truck and get to Lowe’s to get building materials for the shop. I am buying only what I need as I need it so it was not a big load. My main purpose was to get the breaker box hung. That required building the wall structure and getting a piece of plywood hung on that framework. Attaching the wood to the 2 ½ inch pipe is a bit of a chore but it provides a very sound structure. All the drilling, moving the twelve-foot boards and putting the plywood in place caused me to hurt that night, but it was worth it. Although it rained very hard through a good part of the time I was working on that first portion of wall, I managed to stay at it and before I stopped for the night, I had the breaker box mounted, wired in and covered with plastic – since more rain was forecast. I am hoping to have some time tonight to continue. I will be gone most of next week and the following week. My hope is to have the shop exterior done by the end of September even though I will be traveling one full week in September.

Yesterday we had only Cheyenne. Yilin is with her mom at Disneyworld. She enjoyed having me and Mama all to herself; happily chattering throughout the times we were in the car together. She even started off the morning with a little joke of her own. “Mama Kim, my sissy won’t talk to me.” She won’t?” “No…’cause she’s not there.” Giggles. “You’re too silly.” More giggles. The whole morning continued that way. We decided to go to the restaurant for lunch since she insisted that her mommy had ordered her to do so - and the silliness continued throughout lunch. I started the theme for the day by telling her that the dollar offering she had been given for children’s church should be given for the boys offering and not for the girls. Everything became a competition between boys and girls. Since the boys won the offering competition in children’s church, Cheyenne was looking for a win. So, during lunch, the girls won the empty your plate first since Mama ate what was on her plate before I did.

Update: Cori and Nate got to present their work in two churches yesterday and were taken on for support by the couple that took them out to lunch – members of the church they dropped into. Additionally, Cori was praying for a certain amount of money they needed to help with expenses for the trip to Honduras. She did not tell Nate about this specific prayer. The love offerings from the two churches yesterday supplied that amount plus. God is good.

Somehow drinking the contents of the water bottles we had been given became a competition, so I took Mama’s water bottle and started to pour the water from my bottle into hers. Cheyenne gasped and Mama quickly covered her bottle to stop me. When I got up to get some Jell-O, I whispered to Mama to empty her bottle into mine. When I got back to the table, the exuberant 4-year-old could not contain herself. “Girls won, Papa Tim! Mama Kim drank all her water. And we didn’t pour any water into your bottle.” “Cheyenne,” Mama Kim playfully scolded, “You weren’t supposed to tell him.” The wide-eyed look of shock on her face made us all laugh. She sang all the way home, “The girls won three times. The girls won three times.”

Nate, Cori and the kids had a great Sunday. They are now at 50% having been taken on by a couple in a church they dropped into Sunday morning; and they got to present their work in that church that afternoon. They were excited. They will fly out to Honduras this morning. It will be the first time the kids have flown and it will be their first time out of the country. I would love to be able to capture the initial expressions and actions when they realize just how different Honduras is. We are praying for their safety. We are praying that they will have a good twelve days getting familiar with the inner workings of the ministry. We are praying that the kids will see their part in this ministry and will quickly make friends.

There are experiences we all have that are life changing. This will be one of those experiences for the older grandchildren.

Maggie celebrated a birthday and an anniversary last week. She even got a surprise from her hubby during his deployment!

The grandkids, Bella

A couple nights ago Cori was taking Savanna to put her to bed for the night. We were in the garage putting away all the toys and shoes that had been randomly deposited in every open space. When Savanna told me “Good night”, I said, “Noooo!” Pretty loudly. At first, she looked panicked, thinking she had done something wrong. When she took a couple seconds to study my face and then her mother’s face, she realized I was teasing. She looked at her mommy and said, “Papi said, nooo!” “Did he?” mommy asked. Whereupon Savanna tested the situation by repeating her good night. Of course, my response was, “Nooo!” And so, it continued until I finally answered with a reluctant “good night”. Now, every evening when it is bedtime we have to repeat the same banter. We will see if she still remembers the wordplay when they get back from their two weeks in Honduras.  

With the grandkids of sufficient age to help with the farm chores, Mama had both enjoyed the extra labor force and, at times, tried to invent excuses as to why she should go out to feed by herself. We have probably been through twice the amount of feed we normally put out for the goats and the pigs because Grant likes to fill the feeders to capacity rather that mete out the feed. It has all gotten eaten eventually since we have not had any rain. Goats will not eat wet – or even damp – feed but the pigs will eat the slimy, soft, several days old food as if it were a delicacy. So, under Grant’s generous provision, they have all been quite content. However, there are challenges. It does take Mama about twice as long to feed and do the normal chores when she has the kids helping. Partly because Mama is always full of instructions – “No. slide it over to this spot. Put the feeder down just so. Always do this. Always do that. Never this. Never that.” I like to see how they figure things out versus giving explicit instructions. All in all, they are willing to help. That’s a plus.

Last night we ran into one of those happenstances where the hard and fast rule – always close the gate behind you – was followed when there needed to be an understood exception. Mama likes to let the chickens out every evening. The chickens like it also, but for them to get back to the roost in the coop, we leave the gate to the chicken yard open until all of them have made it in to the roost. Well, last night the gate got closed while the chickens were still out doing their evening scratching. When Mama went out, well after dark, to close them up for the night, all of the hens were camped out by the closed gate doing the best they could to roost for the night. Mama had to individually collect them and put them in the coop so they could roost properly. It took a good bit of time. I can’t wait to hear how the exception to the rule – always close the gate – was conveyed to the grandkids when she recounts the experience this morning. My personal opinion; let that one go. We will just need to ensure the gate is open after the kids have gone to bed so all Mama’s flock can come home to roost.

Bella, Cori and Nate’s Black Lab, has been spending the nights in our bedroom. I was a little taken aback the first night she was in the bedroom. When I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and an amorphous black shape swirled on the floor in front of me, it took a second to realize it was a dog. (Too many sci-fi movies.) The slapping of the ears against the head and the tail thumping on the blanket chest gave my sleepy mind the assurance it needed to relax the rest of me. I do not remember when that sleeping arrangement started, but it has now become a routine. The only issue I can see is that Bella goes out with me when I leave the room before 6 am. Her tail banging on the wall as she goes down the hallway wakes Victoria and her dogs earlier than Victoria is used to.

An unavoidable consequence of happy canine companionship.

Grandma, full tank, power needs, pleasant days

Grandma had a minor medical procedure yesterday to check her esophagus; an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy - doing a scope of the esophagus. She has been suffering with pain swallowing, trouble keeping food down and continuous heartburn. She was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia. The hiatus is an opening in the diaphragm, which separates the chest cavity from the abdomen. The esophagus passes through the hiatus and attaches to the stomach. In a hiatal hernia, the stomach bulges up into the chest through that opening. As with any abnormal bulge in the body, the pain associated with it can produce severe discomfort. There are few remedies for the condition short of surgery, but because Grandma’s esophagus looked clear, there is nothing scheduled to make the needed correction. Mama sat with Grandpa through the prep, procedure and post-procedure. The first question Grandma asked of the attending nurse when the procedure was over was, “Did you really do anything?” She was assured that they had and had taken pictures to prove it.

Nate continues to improve but I think I am getting a touch of what he had. He was a little upset with the kids yesterday because the alarm came in on the black water tank of the camper. That is not a full tank indication that is a pleasant one. The kids were not supposed to be using the potty in the camper since we have two bathrooms in the house, but I suppose they could not resist the convenience and the privacy of the camper bathroom. He had to hook up to the camper, disconnect it from our utilities and find an RV park where he could pay to dump the tank contents. It was all done before I got home so I would not have known about it if Mama had not told me. All I mentioned was that it was unusual for Nate to have parked his vehicle where he did. I think he put the camper back in the exact spot where it had been sitting when he first parked it.

So far, I have not been able to get full power to the camper so in order to run the a/c, everything else has to be turned off – the hot water heater, the fridge, etc. It has been taking a toll on the power in the house because the outside outlet they are plugged into supplies the laundry room, the chefs pantry and the north side of the garage. So, when we try to use the microwave I put in the laundry room (because we cannot use the microwave and toaster oven in the kitchen at the same time), it trips the breaker and we lose power to the camper as well as the fridge and freezer plugged into the north side of the garage. It is a minor inconvenience, but lately we have had to reset the breaker several times per evening. Mostly when we are trying to get dinner ready. At some point, I need to completely redo the breaker box, but that is a project I do not want to take on without serious help. It will be an expensive project that will only be worth it if Mama and I stay in the house for many more years. At this point in time, I am not sure if that is in the Lord’s plans for our later years.

Although you would not know it from the news, we are experiencing cooler than average temperatures for this time of year. Most days, the high temperatures have been 4-6 degrees cooler than normal for August. It is not much, but it has been enough for the trees to start signaling an early Fall. All in all, the mornings and evenings have been very pleasant for early August, which makes the chores, both morning and evening, a bit more enjoyable than over the past few weeks.

We’ll take it.

The slab, Nates slow recovery, packing for Honduras

The slab for the shop is done. It was a much longer process than I had anticipated. The crew did not finish until about 7 pm. The forms and rebar were in place a little before 12 pm but the concrete did not arrive until just before I got home at 4:30. The plant in Decatur had unexpectedly shut down so the truck was dispatched from Weatherford – almost an hour away. All the concrete was hauled from the county road where the truck had to park with a buggy that could move about a ¼ yard at a time. But even with the more drawn out process it took a little less than an hour to get all the concrete in place. With the concrete being poured over old blacktop it took longer to set than Gregg had anticipated and the final work with the power trowel came late in the evening. It was worth the wait on my part. I know Gregg and his crew were a little disappointed to be held up so long; but I am certain it is not the first time that that has happened. He told me as we waited for the concrete to set that he pays his crews by the day rather than by the hour because there are so many variables in completing a job, regardless of the size of the job. Some days are short. Some days are long. It all balances out.

Nate helped me get the grounding rod driven for the electric service to the shop. The electric company requires the eight-foot rod to be driven fully into the ground. I had been doing it a little at a time because the sledge hammer wears out my shoulder. Using the eight-pound sledge one handed, because the rod has to be held in order to steady it between blows with the sledge hammer, takes a toll on my right shoulder. I can do about forty strokes before I have to rest. I can do that about three times before I have to move on to something else. Nate could use both hands while I held the rod. He and I together drove it the last three feet into the ground in about ten minutes. I will make the final hookups tomorrow evening.

Nate is slowly recovering from whatever respiratory infection he has. We have been praying for a quick recovery because he and the family will be leaving for Honduras Saturday. To the best of his recollection he believes the whole issue started with a visit to a friend who has a cat. Nate is allergic to cats. Although they have spent time with this friend before, this time he must have been a little more sensitive to the allergens. No one can be sure what determines the strength of response to an allergic reaction, but something really caused this one to be dramatic. Sufficient enough to cause Nate to go to Urgent Care to get help. I am not sure if he is taking any of the prescribed meds, but he is recovering; just in time.

Cori is getting everything ready for travel. This trip is a little different. Since the travel will be international, there are passports, shot records, visa paperwork, plane tickets, proper baggage, etc. that all need to be gathered to ensure there are fewer obstacles to entry into Honduras and reentry into the United States. They have everything in order. They just have to make sure they have everything with them when they leave for Houston Saturday morning. Clothing, personal items and the like are almost incidental in a trip like this. When dealing with governmental entities, paperwork is paramount – everything else can be purchased at the destination country if needed.

This trip will give the children a chance to see the ministry; to see how and where they will be living for the foreseeable future. There is no better way to let them visualize what lies ahead than to give them a week in situ. My biggest prayer is that they will each discover at least one food item that they will willingly eat.

Progress, the delivery, 35 years

Mama and I got the call yesterday that our concrete guy will be at the farm today to pour the slab for the shop. We have been waiting on that call for about eight weeks. I have been carefully guarding the finances for the job based on a quote he gave me in early June. The area has been cleaned out since we had the driveway done. There was some discussion of putting asphalt down instead of concrete but the company doing the asphalt ran out of materials before they got to the shop. It all worked out for the best. Nate and I have the electric service plumbed in and ready for concrete to be poured around it. So, I feel confident that we are ready – really ready. It will be very nice to have a shop again. I will consider it my anniversary present – which will, for one time, be more expensive than Mama’s. There is still a lot of work to be done to complete the project, but completing the foundation is the one part that I have had to call out help to get the work done.

Yesterday evening I took the propane tank to a buyer Victoria had found for it. The buyers were an older couple. He had called several times to try and work out how to get the tank to his property but was running into one obstacle after another, so he asked if I would deliver the tank. I asked if he had a means to unload the tank and he assured ne he did – a block and tackle anchored by a 4x4, hung from a section of scaffolding. I backed up the trailer to the scaffolding and we began to work the tank off the trailer. It took several resets of the scaffolding and the block and tackle as well as maneuvering the trailer carefully but we finally got the tank to the point that one end could be set on the ground, the other end lifted and the trailer pulled away. It took about forty-five minutes but we worked slowly and carefully. He paid me an extra $20 for the delivery.

I almost did not make the delivery because one of the tires on the trailer was nearly flat. I aired it up but realized I would need to scoot the tank to the center of the trailer to even out the load on the axle and the two sets of tires. That was probably the most difficult part of the entire operation, but I managed to scoot the tank a little at a time until it was more in the center of the trailer. (I did not realize that the empty weight of the tank was about 650# until I looked it up.)  When the centering was done all the tires looked better. Scooting the tank helped me to realize that if we lifted the tank too high on one end the other end would not slide. Twice I had to have the buyer lower the end he had lifted so I could slide the tank toward the end of the trailer. From then on, he got the idea and we moved pretty efficiently. It was a good deal for him and it was a good move for me and Mama to get the tank off the property.

Today is Mama’s and my 35^th anniversary. We are not planning to do anything special today. For this anniversary, we planned a trip to Sanibel Island, FL. It is supposed to be the best shelling place in the continental United States. Brittany and Mama got the trip all laid out before the twins were born – actually the night before she went to the hospital to deliver them. Mama is still trying to decipher all the Brittany did in scheduling the flight, the rental car and the hotel in less than an hour. I printed out the itinerary yesterday so she could have a copy for reference.

Honestly, I had not even looked at it, so it was good for me to see it also.

Our visit, back home, more travel coming

Thursday, Victoria, Cori, Mykenzie, Blake and I traveled up to Wichita to meet the twins. It was amazing to see them; so tiny, so miraculous, so beautiful. We all got to take turns feeding them. That was not a problem since they were being fed every three hours and each feeding took about an hour. They were only ten days old so most of their time was spent sleeping, but even in the several days we were there they had more alert time each progressive day. They are very good babies, very mellow in disposition, very easy to work with. I only heard Zoe cry once. She was being changed and did not like her bare skin exposed to room temperature. Brittany and Andrew are rising to the challenge of caring for the two little ones. As much as is possible, they take turns through the late-night feedings, although, Brittany is more easily waked than Andrew. It will not be very long before Brittany will feel the urgent need for extra help again even thought she was a little bothered by having so many visitors so close to having the babies. She will figure out what is non-negotiable in the care of the girls and what things are merely nice to do if possible, but that will come as experience builds her confidence. I wish we could have done more to help, but at this stage most of the care is centered on being ready to feed and change the babies when the time comes punctuated by long periods of watching them sleep between feedings.

Mama and I left Brittany’s Saturday. She was slated to leave today but that is not how it worked out. Cori, Victoria and the kids headed back the Friday morning because Nate was getting sick and Cori was pretty concerned. He spent a full day cleaning out the a-coil on the a/c because it froze up on us earlier in the week. It took several hours for him to clean all the residue off and the position of the a-coil in the a/c closet required him to be in a position that hurt his back, but he got it sufficiently cleaned to get the a/c working properly. In fact, I do not remember it blowing this hard for since we bought the house. That was a real blessing. I had already called a repairman that the pastor recommended and he will look the unit over today just to make certain we are in the clear. It will be a small price to pay for the assurance of help in the future.

The very first thing Mama did after saying her hellos to everyone was to get on the mower and cut the grass. We are forecast to have rain every day this week and I had not cut the grass in her absence – so it needed to be done. Later that evening she looked the animals over and gave her general approval for the condition of her herds and flocks. The first thing I did was to water some of the plants that looked the most stressed out; just enough to hold them until the rain started. Our cattle came to visit Saturday evening. I am not sure how they knew that Mama was back but they were rewarded handsomely for their appearance. Both of the calves are getting big. Big Mama’s heifer is already passing up the little bull calf that was born about six weeks earlier than he was. We are planning to keep her, sell both mommy cows and the bull calf in October and go down to just Daisy and Mellow (Big Mama’s heifer calf). Hopefully, Daisy will get bred in her time with the neighbor’s bull.

Nate and Cori have this week off, then they will head to Houston to fly out to Honduras for twelve days. It will be the first time the kids have flown. It will also be their first visit to Honduras. Mama is lamenting the fact that we cannot go with them but it would not have worked out for us to make the trip and I believe Nate and Cori will be able to accomplish more without the added burden of entertaining her parents as they get a deeper exposure to the work they have committed their lives to. I would love to see how the kids react to the overwhelming newness of the visit, but we will have to settle for a second-hand recounting of the adventure.

At the very least, the kids will be able to say they have seen Honduras and the work at the children’s home.

Safe arrival, a gentle soaking, a/c issues

Nate, Cori and the kids had already arrived at the farm by the time I got home from work. Nate had parked the camper and had power running to it from the house but the hookup needed to run the a/c and fridge will not be available until I get the power drop from the electric company. I have no idea when that will be done but I still have a good bit of work to do before I can make the connections needed to give 240 volt service to the camper. I am prayerfully hopeful that all the pieces will fall into place within the next few days; pouring the slab, running the line to the shop, hooking up to the meter, installing the breaker box and 30A receptacle. All the steps that depend directly on me will be fairly easy to get done. It is the two that require outside help that are the critical – and time constraining - portions of the project. I still have to meet the demands of the power company before they will turn on the power to the new meter. All in God’s time.

Victoria and I took Nate and the kids around to visit all the animals last night after a very big dinner of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy and macaroni and cheese. He got to soak up all Victoria’s instructions with my added comments but together I think all our direction is less than he will still get from Mama when she gets back. We had to relocate the goat feeders last night because of the pending rains. Because the goats prefer to eat outside, we normally leave them on the fence just inside the gate to their area, but we are forecast to have six or more days of rain and the goats will not eat damp food. Fortunately, the pigs will. Speaking of which, per Mama’s suggestion, I opened a passage between the two pig stys so Mollie and the little ones would not be relegated to the muddy mess of the one built for the feeder pigs. She explored her old home but eventually went back to the muddy mess where her piglets were born. She will probably change her mind over the next couple, very wet, days. I can offer the choice but I cannot make the decision for her.

Because the kids do not know the nuances of keeping the chickens separated by ensuring the gated between the two coop areas closed, we had a bit of a mess on our hands at roosting time because the younger chickens had escaped their area and gotten in with the older chickens – which can prove fatal. But we got all that straightened up just after dark and everybody got restored to their prescribed habitat. I will have to start on a banty house very soon because the banty chicks are growing quickly. I will add that to my list of projects.

A very gentle rain began to fall as we were settling in for the evening. It must have continued through most of the night because we got over half an inch by the time I left for work. It was a rain that reminded me of the rains that fell when we were in Juneau; heavier than a mist but not that much heavier. It was the kind of gentle soaking all the plants needed. It saved me the work of having to water all the areas and plants I normally water on a Tuesday evening.

Late in the evening, as I was getting ready to for bed, we noticed that the temperature in the house was much warmer than normal. I checked the thermostat and the temperature in the house was 80°F. The setpoint was 73°F. Not a good sign. At first, I thought one of the kids had messed with the thermostat but Victoria assured me that it had been like that for several days. I ended up getting on YouTube and watching a video on setting the thermostat. I am not confident that that was the entirety of the issue but the a/c started to actually cool the house down. By this morning we were at 74°F. I am still a little concerned that there may be another issue but only time will tell.

We leave tomorrow morning to visit Brittany and Andrew to meet the Zoe and Sophia. I am looking forward to the visit but more for the fact that I will see Mama.

Rosie, Cori and Nate’s arrival, the twins

Yesterday afternoon, after work, I took Rosie to the vet for the last time. It was sad to have to put her down but it was certainly time. As the vet worked on her, prepping her for what he needed to do, he told me she had almost no circulation in her feet and legs. She has been kind of staggering around on the smooth flooring we have in the house. Now I know why. On my part, I have not handled her for some time and was surprised to see how much hair she had rubbed off her back and belly trying to get some relief from the itching caused by the multiple skin cancer eruptions she had. As dogs go, she was a good dog for our family for almost sixteen years. Hopefully, Mama will not seek to replace her. With Kira and Kobe, we have enough dogs in the house.

Cori, Nate and the kids should arrive in Decatur this afternoon. I was told that they plan to hook up the camper at a local RV park until I have the work completed to park the camper at the farm. In preparation for their arrival and for our departure to Brittany’s only a couple days from now, I baked a turkey last night that we can have for dinner tonight – and for leftovers for the remainder of the week. It also helped to get the turkey out of the little chest freezer to make room for the beef I just brought home. Victoria and I made cornbread so we can turn that into cornbread dressing to go along with the turkey. I do not remember if the kids like turkey or not, but I know Nate and Cori will enjoy it. It will give Nate leftovers to eat while we are in Wichita with Brittany, Andrew and the twins. As for the kids, I know we have plenty of peanut butter. I will have to check our inventory of marshmallow cream.

The twins did great their first couple days at home. As the weeks accrue they will become more active and more animated and more demanding, but Brittany, Andrew (below with one of the girls) and Mama have enjoyed having them in the house versus the hospital. Mama told me that they still have to be taken to the hospital at least daily to have bloodwork done but that should come to an end by the end of this week. Victoria and I will get to meet them Thursday evening. I am looking forward to that. I am more looking forward to seeing Mama.

I have made little progress on the trench that I need dug in order to run the electric service from the meter to the shop. I am a little concerned about the project because the forecast is for significant rain starting Friday and continuing every day through the following Friday. My hope was to get the wire and conduit laid before the rain started, but that does not look like that will happen – unless Nate can bale me out. There is a slight chance of rain today. It would actually be nice to soak the ground of the trench so it would soften the clay somewhat. Right now, it is like working with rock. That is part of the reason I have made so little progress. That and the fact of covering all the evening chores that Mama normally tends to. It will happen in good time so I will not stress over it.

I am looking forward to a couple days off from work.