More about Mama, not so good news

Mama and I sat down last night after she had spent some time on the cooling/compressing device and we let her drive as we opened tabs on the computer related to our business. Working on a single screen is a little more challenging than working at the office on two large screens, but the time gave Mama some confidence in operating the computer. We have not been able to spend much time on our business lately because of my travel, Victoria’s travel, needs at the farm and a heavy workload at the office, but if Mama can take some time every day to work on some lists, we will begin to see a little progress. We are still looking at auctions in Arkansas. The next sale we would like to participate in is on the same day I am required to teach a class here in Decatur. Mama is trying to make arrangements for someone to travel with her to that auction, but she has struck out so far. I am trying to backfill my teaching assignment, but I have also struck out so far. The main reason we would like Mama to get to this auction is that the county is closer to us than any future auctions. It is about a four-hour drive versus a six to seven-hour drive. At the moment, it looks like mid-September is the only sale I will be able to arrange time off to attend. Patience is the key.

Progress on Mama’s knee is painfully slow – really. Painful and slow. I am not convinced at this point that she will be able to avoid being put under anesthesia to induce the motion she is struggling to achieve right now. That may put all our auction plans on hold as far as the business is concerned, but we will deal with that as it unfolds. Mama comes first. If we can get the second surgery done and begin the recovery process in September versus October, it will put us that much farther ahead on her recovery; which both of us hope to have completed by Thanksgiving. Not that Mama will have her full strength by that time, but that she will be able to travel by that time. The only caveat to her traveling – assuming she is able – is having the finances necessary for planning and executing such a trip. Just because I am out of money does not mean that God is. That plan will also be dealt with as it unfolds. Of course, Honduras is the intended destination. We not only want the see Nate, Coria and the kids. We want to see the work there.

This weekend will be a weekend spent catching up to all that has been left undone over the past few weekends of travel and my two days of travel this week. We have high hopes it will rain this weekend which could affect some of the chores, but it will not rain enough to hinder the chores for too long. It is too late this weekend to make the necessary plans for the Bowie Stock Sale so next weekend we will take the Nigerian Dwarfs and the Myotonic bucks to Bowie. We will not get much out of them but selling them will help stretch out our feed for the goats we are actually making money off of. Also, Daisy and her calf have been taken to the sale because she was not showing any signs of improvement. Grandpa thinks she is too infested with worms to treat – or that that treatment would not give us any financial benefit. As long as Mama can let go, I am fine with selling her and the calf. Again, we will not get much out of the sale, but it will stretch out feed for the cows and the steer we are keeping. None of those sale plans are very encouraging, but we will follow through for the sake of the animals we need to keep. On our limited finances.

Of our fruit trees, only the fig tree is healthy. All the others, the peach trees, the plum trees, the apple tree, and the apricot tree are all either going dormant or dying. We will know which next spring if hey survived. At least we are learning what will do well here. As I traveled south Monday and Tuesday it was interesting to see just how much cooler it was on the coast than here in North Texas. It was more humid but the temperatures there were ten to fifteen degrees lower than in the DFW area. On the drive home Tuesday afternoon and evening we gained a full twenty degrees on the thermometer as we dropped over fifty percent in humidity. It goes against conventional wisdom to get hotter as we traveled north, but we lived through the reality of the experience.

A typical Texas summer.