Correction, the hunt, who we are

Mama called me last night to tell me I would need to issue a correction. The incision made to access the growth on Maggie’s kidney was made from the back. That makes sense. I stand corrected. It also will allow for a much quicker recovery since the belly is unaffected. The doctors told Mama that there should be almost no pain in the recovery. That too makes sense since the back is less innervated that the belly. However, Maggie is complaining of burning pain in the area of her kidney. Burning pain typically reflects nerve pain. When Mama asked the doctor about that pain, he said that he may have touched the nerve in the area of the growth which would account for the pain. It should go away also. I am waiting for a morning report from Mama as to the progress of our patient, but I have no reason to anticipate bad news.

Mama seems to be having a good time with Maggie, Aaron and the kids. So far, the steps to and from the third-floor apartment have not hurt her to the point of keeping her confined to the apartment. Although that would be better for me because every outing costs me money. I have not heard of any outings to the beach, but I assume that is forthcoming.

On Wednesday I had to give a two-hour presentation of how we assemble a course within the Education department. I ended up having to cut that short because everyone in the office (and almost everyone we employ was in the office that morning) had been split up into teams of four for a scavenger hunt. The objective was to get pictures of your quartet at designated locations (at a local monument, in a store on the Square), or with assigned items (with a package of catsup, with a fast-food worker, with a man with a moustache.) My team was scheduled for an 11 am departure. Along with six other teams. When we received our list of ten items to capture images of, we headed out and were back at the office in about twenty-five minutes.

We were given forty-five minutes to get our assignment done. It was fun but I felt like we were missing some overall point to the activity as we hurried through collecting our pictures and sending them back to the office to be tabulated. Turns out I was sort of right. The underlying idea to the scavenger hunt was to spend time with your team, to get to know them better – as well as collect the pictures. To have fun together. Our team did have fun but honestly, our focus was on the assignment rather than each other. The team that won did not gather all the required pictures, but they did take some interesting additional pictures to show a very humorous side of their time driving around town. I told Mama that it would be fun to do the same thing as a family game at one of our future get togethers.

Yesterday, an operator from a local Chick-fil-A spoke to us about the fundamental principles of that organization. “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” What a great company objective. It was a very good speech. The man who spoke to us has been with Chick-fil-A since 1982. He was an excellent spokesman for the company. The hope of my current employer is that we will adopt the same principles. That would be wonderful. I see some overlap of those beliefs evident in the company. It has been nice to work in a company where there is a high standard of ethics, with a concern for Christian values.

While I am here, I will enjoy those benefits.

Paperwork, Maggie, Grandma

I got to the office this morning a little earlier than normal so I could sign and scan the paperwork required to close on the second house Mama and I have bought. I am wondering what we will do once I no longer have the option to use the printer here at work, but that answer will come in due time. Unfortunately, I was only able to get one of the two documents printed because the printer ran out of toner. I do not know how to replace the toner cartridge so I will work on the other document during my lunch break. Getting those documents and the wire transfer will be easily accomplished once I have the printed documents in hand. In this electronic age, such transactions are almost too easy. I suppose that is why thieves are able to make such a profit by using the same easy pathways to steal funds from accounts they are able to access illegally. I am praying the Lord protects Mama and I from such a devastating event, but it is always in the back of our minds.

Maggie’s surgery went well according to reports from Mama. She will be released from the hospital early this afternoon. The doctors need to hold her still for several hours following the procedure to make sure the would starts to seal properly. Anytime the abdomen is punctured, there is significant concern, not only of infection but of ensuring the structure of the membranes that hold the belly in place are able to continue in that service. I can only assume that there will be residual pain Maggie will have to deal with but if the doctor’s have told Maggie correctly, she should feel better by early next week. I am glad Mama is there to help even though Aaron was also able to be home for the surgery and the subsequent recovery. It is our sincere hope that by the time I get Mama back next Thursday, Maggie will be recovered to the point that she can carry on as normal – with little residual pain. Tonight, and tomorrow night will be the worst for Maggie and Mama as the kids adjust to Mama substituting for Maggie with the normal nighttime routines. Again, with Aaron there also, things should not get too out of whack.

Yesterday I got a call from Grandma. That rarely happens and I missed the call, so I made sure to call her back once I had the opportunity. She wanted to clarify what food to give Mocha. In a long explanation, she told me that she had given Mocha the dry food from a small bag Mama keeps in our bathroom. I assured her that that was correct even though we feed her canned food that Mama stores in the refrigerator once the can has been opened. One can of that food feeds Mocha for a couple days so we cannot leave it out because it molds quickly. Not that Mocha minds. Mama does. Anyway, Grandma went on in her narrative telling me that while she sat in our bedroom waiting on Mocha to eat – because she eats better when we are in attendance – she noticed a tin of ointment I had sitting on the file cabinet beside my desk. She told me she read it carefully and since it was all natural, all organic, she applied some to her knees. She was thrilled by how much it helped her. She had been in a good deal of pain, but once she applied the salve, the pain abated so much that she felt enormous relief. So, the questions followed. Where did I get it from? Could I get some for her? Could I order it right away?
I let her finish before I interjected anything. “Grandma”, I said, “you are going to laugh, but Shane and Mandy Smith sell that as an organic boot polish.”

Teaching, our business, Mama

I was required to teach classes on both Monday and Tuesday. It was a strain on my voice, but I was somewhat helped by the use of a smaller classroom. In that room I did not have to project my voice as much as I am typically required to do in the larger room we occupy. The fact that it was what we call an “internal class” – for EWN employees only – gave me liberty to place ourselves in a tighter seating arrangement without the discomfort that would accompany that closeness in a group that does not know each other. Closer was better. I did not have to talk as loudly.  Being in-house classes gave the opportunity to cover the materials in a way I do not have liberty to do with folks outside of the company. Both were good classes.

One was my first attempt to teach the class; the Tuesday class. I can see some serious need for improvement in that presentation, but no one in the class would have known what mistakes I made. It is not a class I am anxious to teach again. It is not one I like. I find it has a very limited application – in life and work. Even though it reflects something our company has produced, only one or two employees use the portion of our system demonstrated on a daily basis. I am not one of those employees. Most of the information covered in the class is a direct repetition of information I had taught the previous day and only one of the students on Tuesday had not attended the class on Monday. To make it somewhat interesting was a challenge. Fortunately, it was all fellow employees so I could be brutally honest about the content. On the good side, I got to go home after the class was over – about 2:30. In reality, it may be the one and only time I teach that class. Time will tell.

I say that because Mama and I are closing on our second house Monday April 1. That is quick in the foreclosure business. I only agreed to purchase the house on the 11^th of March. I do not mind the early timeframe. It will work to our advantage in the long run. That, and it clearly demonstrates to me the funds I have available for the auction I am attending in Arkansas on the 3^rd.  Even though I am not prepared to buy a house in Bowie, I hope to take a couple hours away from work next week (April 2^nd) to attend an auction at the Montague Count Courthouse. I say I am not prepared to buy because even though Mama and I have driven by the prospective property, I have not done a title search on the property. Without that, I have no assurances that the property does not come with judgements, liens and other outstanding obligations attached. But I do want to witness an auction. Just for future reference. That side trip will only cost me a couple hours rather than an entire day.

Next week will be a busy week for our business. I wish Mama was here, but alas, that is not to happen until Thursday. Mama flew to Maggie’s Monday morning. I had to have her at the airport at 5 am for a 7 am flight. And, yes. I had to teach an eight-hour class after getting up at 3:45 am. Mama told me on my lunchbreak that day, that it was not her best flight. Lots of turbulence. On more than one occasion, the pilot instructed the flight crew to sit down and buckle up. Not a good thing. But she made it to Raleigh, NC safe and sound. Maggie and Kathryn picked her up there and drove back to Wilmington. About two hours each way. Mama, Maggie and the kids have gone on daily forays in anticipation of not being able to do so once Maggie has her procedure tomorrow. For now, they are having fun. That is as it should be.

So far Mama is not having trouble with the stairs at Maggie’s apartment complex – all three flights of them. I am relieved by that.

Personalities, more than expected, commitments

Brittany is very good about keeping us up to date on the twins. I am certain Mama receives more videos than I am shown, but I enjoy watching the ones Mama does remember to share with me. The girls have been walking and jabbering for some time now, but they have begun to really attach words to items and actions. One video she sent recently was of the twins counting to ten. They have no idea what that means, but the progression of words was accurate and impressive. A day of so ago she sent a video of the girls in undistracted play – just doing what they wanted to do. That was interesting to me. Zoe, showing her more contemplative nature, was on a mat Brittany has that is clearly large enough for the two of them, coloring shapes. No animation. No dialogue. No excess movement beyond what was required to color the shapes she was concentrating on. Sophia, her more active child, was making circles about the room. Now picking up this baby doll, discarding it and picking up another one. Patting one on the back. Cuddling another one. Now retrieving both. Now discarding both. All the while keeping a constant dialogue. Brittany had to keep the phone in constant motion to follow her for our benefit. One baby mother and one baby professor. She has her hands full. Sophia will be like Cori’s Savana. Her busyness, her imagination, her hilarious dialogue keeps all the rest of the family busy keeping up with her… and picking up after her.

Yesterday evening Mama and I went to Bowie. We visited with Grandma for a short spell after looking at a house that will come up for sale on April 2^nd. Grandma was wanting to know if Mama and I wanted the couch she and Grandpa have in their little house. We did not but we stopped by to make the visit to say so. When we were able to leave Grandma, we picked up the trailer from the farm Norman has been renting then drove next door to Rick’s farm to pick up hay. Once Mama had me safely backed into the barn to load the hay, she traipsed off to find Rick. He had told her about a nanny that had just a few hours ago given birth to triplets. By the time I had loaded the twenty sixty-pound bales into our trailer I was worn out, but I went to find Mama. She and Rick were looking over his newest crop of little ones. Maybe forty in all. Among this newest batch were seven bottle babies. Rick does not enjoy having bottle fed goats, but the birth of triplets to some nannies requires that at least one of the kids be bottle fed.

Among the seven bottle babies was a little buckling that Rick did not like. Something about the ears being non-show quality. Mama and I cannot see those malformities. We just see a very cute buckling. Since this particular little one was not something Rick wanted among his show animals, it was given to Mama. We borrowed a cage, took the tiny thing home and Mama fed him as soon as we were parked at the farm. There is such a dramatic difference in feeding the bucking goat and feeding the little male lamb. The goat is very aggressive with the bottle and never wants to let go once he latched on. If you are not ready for it, he will knock the bottle out of your hands when he butts against it. The lamb is gently, lets go often, then latches on again, several times while taking his eight ounces. The tiny goat cannot seem to get enough fast enough. The lamb is willing to savor the feeding…to the point that Mama has a chair stationed at the gate to the enclosure. He takes so long, she is required to sit down. The good news that we are raising this buckling to eat.

Mama is going back to Bowie this morning to meet with Grandma. Grandma is going to introduce her to the couple she rents from. They have a growing flock of sheep. From that flock we hope to get a ram to breed our ewes. Hopefully, Mama will be able to select one and get a price for that selection. I have convinced Mama that once our ram is through servicing our little flock, he too will be taken to the processor. Since are not raising show quality sheep, we do not need to keep a ram past our need to have our ewes bred. We planned on buying an animal for processing at least once per year, why not get some service out of that animal first and save ourselves the trouble and expense of providing separate food and shelter for a few weeks of service per year?

As long as Mama and Victoria are okay with that when the time comes to process the ram. Otherwise I will be eating a lot of mutton by myself.

Spring, slow progress, sickness and recovery

The past few evenings have been wonderful. Those cool evenings that last for hours which come for only a few weeks as Winter gives way to Spring. Unfortunately, in this part of the US, Spring does not last very long. Not if you measure the season by the high temperature of the day. We may have a few weeks of pleasant evenings, but the heat of Summer will quickly be upon us with the hot air that lingers well after dark. Regardless, Mama and I have taken a few minutes to sit outside the past few evenings. Not only is this the time when the evenings are pleasant because of the ambient temperature, the bugs have not yet begun to pollute our evenings. That pleasure will not last as long as the cooler nights. The trees are budding, the bulbs are flowering and the garden in beginning to sprout with new life. It is a fun time of year. Mama’s favorite.

When Mama gets back, we will finish planting the garden. We are already a couple weeks behind Bro. Shaw. He already has squash and cucumbers sprouted. He also has ninety-four tomato plants put out which he started from seeds. We will not be that ambitious, but we will put out some tomatoes – maybe ten to twelve plants. Three plants each of three different varieties. We’ll see. What we have planted is starting to show signs of life. Potatoes, onions, spinach. The cabbage and beets I put out were doing well until the chickens discovered the tiny sprouts. I do not think I will replant the cabbage, but I have already put out seeds to try again with the beets. With the beets, I can eat the top and the bottom of the plant. I am anxious to see if they grow well in our raise bed.

I am trying to not get discouraged about our business as the weeks continue to fly be. Getting started is the hard part and we have poured a lot of money into our slow start. Good returns are pretty certain, so I am not worried about losing money. But I am anxious to start doing our business fulltime. I have already had to tell the pastor that I cannot go to Mexico with him and Bro Shaw in early May. I am not free of my current job and do not have enough vacation to make the trip should I be required to stay with this job through the summer of this year…when Joshua and Alicia are getting married. Guarding vacation time for that is pretty important. I told our pastor that I may be free at that time, but I could not commit to it. I do not want to buy a ticket for a flight that I may not be able to make. It was better to bow out now than to wait until my change of plans would ruin the plans of the Pastor and Bro Shaw. I expect the Lord to move me in the direction of doing our business fulltime at any time – but I will not get ahead of His plans. Mama and I getting a feel for how the business needs to operate and that is a good thing. Attending the auction on the 3^rd will answer a lot of question about handling the Arkansas portion of our investment, so I am looking forward to that. Please pray with us that our first house sells soon – at a good price.

Victoria is still sick. She says she feels better, but it is hard to tell. Cori is experiencing ocular migraines. Something I have dealt with in the past. I do not know if there is a need for concern of something serious happening in the background, but we are praying she will get past them quickly. She is also sick with a flu-ish illness. Connecting the two would lead me to believe that dehydration is perhaps the underlying cause, but that is only a guess. Meanwhile, Savanna has recovered from whatever was keeping her sick and is inventing her own schoolwork to keep pace with her siblings. The other day she was spelling. She carefully explained to her mama that she can now spell her name. “I start with a ‘c’, then I put in a ‘p’; then a ‘b’ and a 3. That’s the way I do it.” Who knows, maybe she is inventing a new language. Either that or she is explaining the language in which her little mind is currently operating.

Whichever it is, it shows a keen interest in learning – which is not surprise with Savanna – that will present a notable challenge to Cori in the years to come.

Texas auctions, feeding, packing and purging

Yesterday I was able to search out the sites Mama and I will need to do our tax deed business in Texas. I had not taken the time before, but I am stating to get notices for sales in various counties in Texas, but only for the sales handled by one law firm. There are several more throughout Texas that handle the tax deed sales for the individual counties. I did not have them all specified so I was missing opportunities in some of the counties Mama and I will be interested in in the near future. But yesterday, in a quick search, I found the one firm that does many of the counties we will be investigating – especially those near Amarillo. The sales start in two weeks. We will not be able to go this year, but we know where to find the information for next year. One of the counties in which part of Amarillo sits has sales twice per year, April and August. We should be ready by August to make serious inquiries about properties for sale in that auction.

While Mama is gone, I am taking a day of vacation to attend an auction in Crawford County, AR. The auction is on the 3^rd of April. I may not be ready to buy anything, but I need to see how the sales are conducted. Mama and I had planned to attend the sale together, but she will not make this trip with me. It’s probably for the best. I am planning on driving over, look at prospective houses and properties, attend the sale and driving back after the sale concludes. It is a five-hour drive to get there, more than an hour to look at properties, several hours at the auction, and five-hour drive back home. That would have been a bit much for Mama. In the near future, Mama and I will go over the day before the auction, stay in the area, take our time to look at properties and then attend the auction. At least, that is our plan. The benefit in pursuing these auctions in Arkansas is that there are typically three to four auctions through any given week; so we are not driving over for just one auction.

Yesterday evening I took down the little shelter I had built for the lambs. They are big enough to handle the cool evening. Things are warming up quickly now and we will not have many more cold nights. Perhaps we are past the freezing events for this winter – only time will tell – but regardless, the lambs can handle one or two nights of colder temperatures. I also discovered and corrected a problem with the roller doors I put on the goat barn. I had installed one of the rollers upside down. It worked, but not well. It also made the door about half an inch lower when in that position. Fortunately, I was able to slide the door out of the rail, fix the position of the roller and get the door back in place easily. It looks so much better now; and it hangs much straighter. Now I can weld up the supports at the ends of the rail. When that is done, the doors will be permanently fixed in place and Mama and I can use them as needed. The sheep love it when I open the doors and they can come and go through either end of the barn.

We have had our poor goats on a diet for a couple weeks now. They are finally starting to trim down. They are very hungry every time we go out to feed them, but it has been a necessary exercise to get them in shape to be bred. They were all too fat. Mama is very liberal with the feed when she can be, and the goats were all too happy to eat everything they were given. Meanwhile, the ewes are starting to look like they are in Mama’s care. They are fattening up nicely under her generous provision. Soon we will need to start cutting back on their feed as well, but while they are nursing, we will make sure that have at least as much as they want to eat in hay, alfalfa and feed. So far, they are keeping the grass eaten down as quickly as it springs up. Eventually, that growth should outpace them until the summer heat stunts that process, but that is not the case right now...and they are pleased to have grass to graze on through the day.

Mama has been working feverishly getting things done at the house in preparation for her extended absence. It is only going to be eleven days, but to her that is a long time away. I have not encouraged her to do any grocery shopping. We will handle that as needed. I do not need the fridge stocked up or the pantry filled with extra items. However, she has been doing a lot of cleaning. She has even taken a fair amount of time to go through her closet and purge items no longer needed – or desired. I am in favor of that. Always have been. Especially since we were able to buy her five new skirts while in Amarillo last weekend. Why that closet cleanout is part of her packing to leave is not for me to understand.

Any time Mama is willing to throw something away, I am in favor of that effort.

Travel plans, feeding issues, a full week

While Mama and I were traveling to Amarillo, she searched the internet for tickets to fly to Wilmington so she could be there for Maggie during her recovery from the procedure to freeze the cancerous growth on one of Maggie’s kidneys. It is a minimally invasive procedure which should allow Maggie to recover quickly, however, the time Mama is going to spend with our Ledford clan will extend beyond the minimum required days because of ticket prices. The tickets were cheaper for the longer stay. After Mama searched fruitlessly for a couple hours, I had her call the travel agency we use for work-related travel. The agent there was able to find Mama a ticket for a fair price – all of them were more expensive than I had thought they would be – and we booked it through that agency. There are benefits to using a service like that one. For instance, we were able to get over $40 off the ticket price because of my frequent flier status. We were also able to get Mama the seat she needed to accommodate her bum knee at no additional charge. The ticket is insured, and we have backup should we need it. It was worth the $32 additional charge.

Mama will be flying out Monday morning, the 25^th. I have to drop her off at the airport at 5 a.m. and hustle back to Decatur to teach a class at 7 a.m. She will return on Thursday afternoon the 4^th of April. Eleven days total. Maggie was told that the recovery time required for this procedure was two to three days on average, but each person is different. The surgery is scheduled for the 28^th. That will leave Mama plenty of time to visit the local beaches both before and after the procedure. A fact not overlooked by her or Maggie – or the grandkids. The grandchildren are very excited to have her coming. Spending those few days with them in Rock Hill last month built a familiarity that we can now capitalize on. Walter is already making plans to come home with Mama to stay at the farm. The would actually be good for him, but he will not get to see the farm until later this year.

Mama is already agonizing about the animals – especially the bottle-fed lamb. When she is at home, she is able to keep the feedings to a regular schedule. When she is not here, Victoria and I have to feed the little one when we are available. That means that for at least two of the eleven days Mama is with Maggie, the lamb will only get fed once that day. Horror of horrors. The lamb has gotten used to the bottle now and will seek out whichever of us enters the lot to do the feeding. So, he will be ready to eat whenever we make it home to give him his bottle. Other than that, Victoria and I should be able to keep the animals alive through Mama’s extended absence. And, as usual, when she does return, they will all be happy to see her.

With her departure eminent, Mama has scheduled a full week of activities this week. Last night we went to pick up some bales of alfalfa. She found an ad somewhere, made the contacts and we made the short trek to make the purchase and check out the supplier. We will definitely be repeat customers. This evening, we will go to Bowie to pick up the stock trailer we bought from the lady that owns the farm Norman has been renting. He is vacating the property and moving to Abilene. With him leaving the property – which did not pass to his as promised – he is helping the owner to sell off equipment. The 14’ stock trailer was part of that divestment. It is in good shape and was offered at a good price. Mama and I are in the market for a bumper pull stock trailer to replace the large on we sold last year. It was a win-win.

Thursday evening, we are slated to go back to Bowie and get hay. We have been going through a lot of hay over the past few weeks. The grass is starting to peek out now that the days are warm and the nights above freezing, but we will still need to supplement hay to the goats and sheep. If Mama gets her wish, we will be taking the goats to Rick to be bred in the trip to get our hay Thursday evening. They will spend a couple months in the company of one of Rick’s bucks with the hope of having kids in early September. I think we are too early. We should wait until late April or early May to get them bred – shooting for October kids. But, for now I will stick to Mama’s plan.

Although, I am highly adaptable.

Absence, Owen, ending right

I was out all last week. Mama and I were convinced early on that I was struggling with an inner ear infection. Saturday of the week before last, I started feeling dizzy. I had gotten a lot done in the shop and around the farm, but when I sat still late in the evening, I did not feel well. I got up Sunday morning and everything was spinning around. Sunday was the worst. I laid back in my recliner and spent the entire day like that. Most of the night as well. Monday I was a bit better but still having to move with extreme care. I was okay as long as I stayed still. I continued to call in sick through Wednesday. Took vacation on Thursday and Friday. So, I missed the whole week. I was supposed to teach class last week, but that did not happen. That is perhaps a good thing since I plan to move into our business full time in a couple months. I am scheduled to teach two classes and a workshop next week. I certainly hope to be better by then.

Monday, even though I was feeling badly and a bit unsteady on my feet, I attended the auction in Lawton. I left the house early enough to look at four houses on the list so I could confirm their viability and was still about a half hour early for the sale. I was able to talk briefly with the realtor prior to the auction and we agreed on one particular house that he would bid on for Mama and me – at a specified maximum price. When the house came up, he placed the first bid $100 over the minimum required by the bank and no one else offered a bid on the property. The price required was well within our budget. We will close on the house some time next month. Unfortunately, little has been done on the first property we bought but I was told by the realtor that he hopes to have it complete by the end of this month. I am not sure that is possible, but I do not know how big a crew he has access to for the remodel. We will see. At the very least, I would like to see the house on the market by the end of May. That is my new muster out date from my current job. (But that date, contingent on selling at least one property, is flexible.)

Thursday and Friday Mama and I went to Amarillo and spent a couple days with Chase, Makaila and Owen. While we were there, I met with our new tax accountant. We had a very good visit on both counts. Owen is a quiet, cuddle one year old. Very attached to his mama. But he did spare some time for me and Mama. Mostly, we just watched him play. He has the most unusual way of getting up from a sitting position to a standing position. When he is sitting, he will bring his feet back to his hips, rock slightly forward and stand up. One fluid motion. It was quite impressive. Remarkably efficient and only possible with the flexibility that will soon be lost to him as he grows. We had a very good visit with Chase and Makaila. We got to see the gym they have set up. We even got to watch the final minutes of a workout session. They stumbled across a very good business model and have employed it effectively. How long they can keep it going remains to be seen, but for now, it is more than paying for itself as well as supplying all their financial needs. Mama wants to make the trip to Amarillo at least twice per year while we are still at the farm, but I am not sure if we can follow through on that. Her reason is to be able to allow Owen to be as familiar with us as the rest of our grandchildren are. We’ll see.

Meeting our new accountant gave me and Mama the sense that we are handling our business in the right way. For the moment, we will continue to do things with the accounts as we have been doing, but next year, as the financial reach of the company grows, we will need to make some tweaks for the sake of lightening our tax liability. We have not been informed as to how much we owe this year, but that should be forthcoming - within the next couple weeks. I am certain, we will know within a month since today is the 18^th of March and taxes are due April 15^th.

Mama and I stopped on the way out of town to see Mrs. Patrick. She is not 88 years old. Frail and forgetful, but still going. Still with a wonderful sense of humor and a deep love for the Lord. Mama and I do not know how many of those visits we have left, but we did make the needed contacts to ensure that if something happens to Mrs. Patrick, we will be informed.

The week began poorly, but it ended well.

Staying put, shop work, school, sheep

Since Mama’s and my travel plans changes for today, I amended my schedule and talked with Mama about going to Lawton today. There are eleven homes for sale Monday that I would have liked to look at for potential purchase, but it was not to be. I received an assignment yesterday evening that I could not put off. It was not an assignment that affected me but rather one that affected those who will instruct a class next Tuesday. Since there was a lot of discussion last month about some desired changes and since this month, I was given permission to make some of those changes, I did not feel like I could delay the updates. If possible, I will try to take off early today, but as it stands now, I will be here for my regular day. Not a bad thing, just how things work out.

After Mama and I fed the animals last night, I worked in the shop. I was not feeling very good, but I had two pieces of plywood that I needed to get up to complete the East wall of the shop. It was bothering me to be stepping over the plywood. So, I spent a couple hours cutting the panels to fit, putting insulation on the wall and screwing the panels in place. I ran out of foam panels to use for insulation, but I had several batts of 6” fiberglass insulation left over from the barn wellhouse that I pulled apart in thin layers to put behind the plywood. The challenge was getting the insulation securely placed on the wall before the plywood was attached. I tried using Liquid Nails, but that did not work well on the fiberglass layers I was trying to get to stay in place.

So, I cut thin strips of wood to wedge inside of the two by four’s the metal was attached to. By using the larger groves in the metal siding, I was able to slip a strip of wood in place with the fiberglass insulation pinched behind it. It worked, but I was covered in the itchy insulation before it was over. I debated leaving one piece of plywood for tonight but forged ahead because I wanted to finish with the insulation – not have to handle it again if possible. I ran out of the fiberglass insulation as I was insulating the last section of wall, so I used some Styrofoam packing that had come with the workbenches I bought for the shop. Having the plywood in place on the walls changes the look of the shop completely. I spent a few minutes rearranging the shop but did not have the energy to do much more than simple shuffling. By the time I had had enough of the itch from the insulation and was ready to shower, Mama was coming out to fuss at me for having spent so long working in the shop when I had told her that I was not feeling well. I did feel better as I worked but once I stopped, I was ready tog go to bed.

Mama baked a couple cakes last night. Today is the birthday of one of the students at our Christian school. I am not sure why she baked two cakes, but I did not argue. We can feed the extra to the chickens and the pigs. She will be taking the cake to the school at lunch time today. She enjoys staying connected with the kids in the school. I am glad she is not working there this year. Sadly, I think it would have been too much for her to handle physically. With the issues she is still having with her knees, I believe the pain would have been debilitating. But, baking cakes and preparing a special lunch now and then is a good opportunity for her to stay involved. For Mama’s part, she wishes she still had the little bit of income working at the school provided for her. From my perspective, it came at too high a cost.

With the sheep and goats sharing the same feed, we are running through that feed at a much faster rate. The sheep seem to eat more than the goats. They seem to stay hungrier than the goats as well. I am certain they poop more than the goats, but we still enjoy having them. Whether or not we will raise sheep long term remains to be seem. If we do, I would like to work our way into the Jacob sheep but that is a couple years away. We will see how these lambs sell in a few months. Whether or not we can clear as much on them as we do the Myotonic goats- which I still feel are the best small animal for our farm based on the price they command when sold – will be quickly evident. If Mama will not let me eat the sheep, I will not continue to raise them.

The tradeoff is not worth it just to have pets.

Warmth, moderate success, patience, amended travel plans

Yesterday was our first warm afternoon in a week or so, and the animals were loving it. Everyone was parked in a sunny spot to get as much warmth as possible. The temperature was a little over 50°. By tomorrow it is forecast to be over 70°. A far cry from the early morning temperature of 16° just yesterday morning. In our time out doing the evening feeding I uncovered the peach tree and the blueberry bushes. It is not immediately obvious whether covering them helped them hold their blooms through the hard freezes, but we should be able to see the outcome in a couple days. If the buds continue to bloom and the blooms that were already on the tree flower out to set fruit, we will have succeeded. If not, we will have tried. As for the raised bed, I should know by this weekend what will need to be replanted. Fortunately, the potatoes have not sprouted yet, but I would not be surprised to see them push through this weekend. The blackberries seem completely unaffected by the freezes. All the transplants are doing very well in spite of the cold temperatures. I even found one more sprig in the bed with the blueberries when I uncovered them last night. I will have to dig it out or that one blackberry plant will take over the entire bed again. For those that are now in the garden, I will have to contain their spread over the next few years. But for now, the more the merrier.

Our little lamb, which Mama is now calling Snow, is eating very well now. He takes about four ounces twice a day. It will be a week or so before we will be certain that he has overcome his initial setbacks, but he is to the point that he will seek out Mama as soon as she enters the area, quickly downs the bottle, and scampers off to see if his mama has any of her milk left. I was able to catch our little black lamb yesterday evening. He and his mama are so skittish that we rarely get close to them, but last night I was able to trap him between the closed barn doors and the hay feeder. He was desperately trying to get away, but I got hold of his back leg and dragged him out and picked him up. While I held him, he did not struggle. It was the first time either of us had been able to touch him. Mama was able to feel how soft his wool is. When I put him down, he shot away so fast Mam and I were impressed. We know there is no reason to fear us. He and his mama have not reached that same conclusion yet.

Since we are not going to Amarillo, Mama and I may make a quick trip up to Lawton to look at the progress on our house. Whether or not Mama will go with me depends on how much better she is feeling this weekend. I was alerted by the realtor that the tile – I assume for the flooring in the large living room – was delivered yesterday. This warmer weather will provide a better environment for laying tile. I do not know when work is scheduled to lay the tile, but Mama and I are praying that the work is completed sooner rather than later. We are anxious to put the house on the market. There are so many good deals available to us right now, but we are waiting to invest more money until we have at least one successful home sale – and the money that sale will provide for us to purchase some of those available homes, remodel them and sell them. Patience, we are told, is a virtue. One I do not necessarily possess in abundance. But I am learning.

Victoria is headed to Wichita this morning. That was her and Brittany’s original plan – before we changed plans to go to Amarillo for Owen’s birthday. She needs the break.

Cancelled class, cancelled trip, one lamb, research

The class I was scheduled to attend today and tomorrow got rearranged to the point that most of the original attendees were disinvited. Me among them. I believe that was a good decision since this is a true pilot class. No one at our company has been through the class. We only began to review the material late last week – and it was a huge amount of content. It is difficult to imagine the contents as we see them now will fit into the twelve-hour time slot, but our leadership team will get to see that play out this morning. Regardless, I was excluded from this run through. With all the items the instructor brought with her, I am not sure if it is a class I will enjoy teaching.

Mama, Victoria and I were slated to travel to Amarillo tomorrow afternoon, but it looks like that is not going to happen. Mama is not feeling well. She has a cough that is lingering and the general malaise that accompanies such maladies. No chills or fevers. Just a yukky feeling in general. With that upon her, we are hesitant to travel to see Chase, Makaila and Owen. Especially Owen. We will see if we are feeling better enough next weekend to make the trip. Mama worries that next week I will come down with the symptoms she is now suffering. It is difficult to predict those things. We will just have to wait it out and do what we can to combat the illness as we endure it. But, as of last night, we had decided to stay home this weekend. At least, that was my impression.

Mama has been keeping a close eye on our struggling lamb. He seems to be getting by on the left overs in the utter of his mommy. His bigger brothers are butting him off the teats and emptying the contents before he gets a chance to latch on. For that reason, he is smaller, thinner and starting to show signs of failing. Yesterday evening, Mama made him a bottle before we went out to feed. She made only four ounces because on Monday evening he took very little of the bottle we tried to feed him. However, yesterday he was hungry enough to take the entire four ounces in record time. Mama told me after we were done that, she had intended to video the feeding but forgot once she got hold of the lamb – who remains unnamed for the time being. I have a feeling that this morning, he will empty whatever amount she tries to give him. Whether or not we can save him (and name him) remains to be seen, but we will give it a good effort. If we do manage to nurse him to the point that he is self-sufficient, I am certain he will not be one of the lambs taken to the market for processing. In other words, I will not be allowed to eat him.

I finally got my bearings on starting up the research Mama and I had been trained to do for the tax deed sale lists posted for each county in Arkansas. It took me a few minutes to remember how to navigate the websites required to ferret out the information Mama and I need in order to find properties worth the time to further investigate. I did finally remember and was able to figure out a way to capture all the information electronically. I want to print as little as possible going forward. It is so much more convenient to have everything in digital format; especially when we are talking about a thousand files of three to five pages each. I have not gotten the file question all figured out, but I will get there. The caveat is that I need to keep things simple enough that Mama can use the information also. I do regret having only one screen to work from at the house. I am also troubled that I need to upgrade my Office programs in order to keep up with the upgrades Apple is requiring. I like my MacBook, but I may have to purchase a PC for Mama. She is more used to that operating system and they are cheaper – both to buy and to upgrade. But, for the moment, we have what we have, and I will learn to use it more proficiently. Who knows, maybe Mama will adapt as well.

I was not feeling well last night as I slugged through the measly amount of research that I did get done. Several times Mama admonished me to “take a break”. My response to her each time was that I am trying to build a business that will support us for years to come. We can “take a break” when we have successfully built the business. Right now, I need to work hard at it whether I feel like it or not.

Other things can wait…for now.

Snuggled in, bottle baby, class tomorrow, travel Thursday and Friday

The temperature yesterday never got above freezing. It got close. It was that forecast that had worried me enough to build the shelter in the goat barn. With the windy, cold conditions yesterday I told Mama she did not need to be in any hurry to get out to feed. The animals would stay bedded down until the sun was well up. Even when conditions are cold, the sun will still warm the ground enough that animals can bed against a dry spot and let the sun warm them. Since all of our animals have protection from the wind and rain, hay to bed in and each other for warmth, there would be no hurry on their part to roust about and disturb any warmth they had found thought the frigid night. That turned out to be true. When Mama did go out, nothing was stirring and even her putting out feed did not encourage our goats to get out of their beds. She told me it was well into the morning before the goats started moving about. As always, the chickens were ready to fly the coop as soon as there is a hint of light. They welcome me or Mama as soon as we get out to open the coop doors.

The sheep were a little more eager to get to the feed. Mama told me that the ewes, which usually give her a wide berth, were crowding her at the feeders. That is unusual. She was a little surprised by the attention, so she did not immediately notice that the triplet lambs were not out with their mama. When she looked, all three were snuggled against the heater I put in the shelter within the goat barn. They were not leaving. When I got home yesterday evening, Mama said they had stayed tucked against the heater almost the entire day. They had only begun to stir late in the afternoon. That is what it was there for. The heater in the enclosure will be turned off Wednesday evening. The nighttime temperatures are predicted to stay in the forties. The days are going to warm into the seventies. North Texas is like that. Start the week at 20° and end the week at 80°.

Mama has been watching the triplets closely. One of the three seemed to be falling behind the other two. That is not uncommon with triplets. So, yesterday evening we made a bottle for that lamb. Mama worried over catching the lamb because by this time all the sheep were back to their skittishness about us. When we fed yesterday evening, they all exited the barn in a hurry. When we went back out with the bottle, they did the same. It is pretty funny. They exit the barn and go all the way around it to come back in at the same door. So, Mama and I had a seat on a box we keep in the barn and waited. It took about five minutes for the ewes to feel confident enough to reenter the barn to get to the feed we had just put out. When they did, the lambs followed. When our target got close enough that I could catch it, I picked him up – all other sheep exited the barn to make the exterior circuit of the barn. By the time they got back we were feeding the lamb his bottle.

Getting a lamb or kid or calf to take a bottle is initially a challenge. It is strange to them. Uncomfortable. But once they discover the contents it is rarely a problem to keep them going emptying the bottle. That proved true again yesterday. It took a couple tried for the lamb to get the nipple into his mouth the right way, but once he figured it out, he went to town. He was not able to drink all that Mama had made, but he got his little belly full. Mama felt better about him once he had eaten to his fill. It will be interesting to see if he seeks Mama out this morning. That usually does not happen until they have been fed from a bottle several times. He will eventually get to the point that he cries for his bottle at his scheduled feeding times – if we need to continue the separate feedings.

I will be in class tomorrow and Thursday. We are doing a pilot class for an instructor led training being put together so see how the industry responds to the material. It is a “soft skills” class. A “how to play well with others” training. The training is aimed at supervisors right now but will be adapted for the general employee as we develop it. Things like what to say and what not to say in an email; how to effectively interact with a subordinate; how to listen; when to speak and not speak, etc. I have not seen the material yet, but I am slated to teach the class once it is formally offered. I have a feeling the class will be well received by the industry since we have abandoned teaching those skills in our schools – especially our universities and colleges. The common adage in the industry is that people are hired for their technical skills and fired for their soft skills.

Mama, Victoria and I will be traveling Thursday afternoon and Friday. We are headed to Amarillo for Owen’s first birthday. Brittany and the twins will be traveling there as well. It should be fun. While I am there, I will get our taxes for last year organized with the accountant we have there. It is our first time to use this tax service.  

That will not be as much fun.

New door, short chill

Almost two years ago Mama and I bought some interior doors to upgrade the doors in the house. The interior doors, mounted on frames have sat in the well house since we purchased them. We also bought the front door with the four that have been stored, but I installed it the weekend after we brought them home. I am not sure why I have held off getting the doors hung, but I could not work outside this weekend because of the cold, so I installed one of those doors. I chose the closet at the end of the hall leading to the bedrooms. I am not sure why the original doors were installed the way they were, but they were hung without any nails through the door jamb into the wall. The frames were fastened to the trim by a plethora of nails and staples and the trim was nailed to the wall to mount the doors.

That made it a bit tricky to unmount the doors because I normally take the trim off both sides of the door jam and then cut the door loose from the wall. That way of mounting a door allows the trim to be replaced or upgraded as desired. This time I had to pull the door jamb loose from the trim on one side after I had removed the trim from the other side – leaving one side of the trim attached to the wall. I have never run across doors mounted that way. I am not sure if it was easier or harder, but it was definitely different. I only got the closet door done. My back was hurting too badly to do more. I wish I had new trim to put on the new doors but that is not the case. As I replace the doors, I will mount them correctly so that in the future, we can replace the trim when we get the time and money to do so. Mama who had been at a Pampered Chef Party, was pleased with the new door. Victoria got home late Saturday and asked Mama, “Has that door always been there?”  I’m glad she noticed. Her bedroom door will be next.

I worked long enough in the shop to mount one sheet of plywood on the wall adjacent to the workbench I have set up. I have two more to mount to complete the interior of that east wall. I am still considering different arrangements of tools but as I complete the interior walls, I can at least begin to arrange everything in a semi-permanent fashion. I was hurting too badly, and it was too cold to work too long in the shop – which is not heated. As it was, I got enough exposure to affect my voice to the point that I could not lead the singing Sunday night. I barely made it through leading the singing in the morning service. Mama is convinced that we are suffering from what the Thomason boys had for the past week or so, but no one can ever be sure where a common illness came from.

The boys are better now. We got them Saturday evening so they could come to church with us Sunday. Krystal is not feeling well, and the cold presents a unique challenge for baby Savannah. The nights with the boys are not typically a problem, but there was no way I was going to get a nap Sunday afternoon. After trying to keep the three of them still enough to rest I finally gave up and went outside to feed and cover a couple trees. I am not sure covering the trees will help, but Mama insisted we try – so we did. The winds last night, through today and all day tomorrow, may prove too much for the blossoms under the sheets that will thrash the tree during that time. There is no additional heat supplied to the tree so everything will still freeze hard. We will see if we provided any benefit, but I am very doubtful.

The enclosure in the goat barn has been working. The tiny lambs resort to the enclosure every time their mommy leads them into the protection of the barn. It was worth the effort. It was built with today in mind particularly. The ambient temperature is not forecast to get much above freezing. The frigid air is being stirred by moderate winds, but any movement of air when it is this cold makes the chill that much worse. I hope the sheep spend the day I the barn, even though they make a mess of the barn with their manure. I can clean that up later. We just hope to keep these five lambs alive and healthy through this chill. Mama has already found a farm we can but a ram from to breed our ewes late in May. That will give us a second crop of lambs this year. Since we have all males from this year’s crop it would be nice to try a second time pretty quickly.

By Wednesday the chill will be passed and we can uncover the wrapped trees to see if we provided a benefit or caused further harm.

Heated enclosure, busy Mama, Maggie, Honduran praise

As soon as I got home yesterday evening, I started on a small enclosure inside the goat barn; which is now for all practical purposes a sheep barn. Mama took time from her busy day yesterday – taking Aubrey to the library, getting her hair cut, meeting me for lunch - to buy me three cheap tarps to use for that purpose. I seem to always have enough scrap lumber to do the smaller structures. The sheep were not happy with my disturbing their feeding time, but I got it all done in about and hour. Now, there is a small heated enclosure for the sheep, especially the lambs, to get in when the temperatures get really cold - starting Sunday night. I hooked up one of our oil-filled radiator-like heaters to heat the space. Using that should prevent any worries of fire. All connections in the electrical line are covered to protect from rain. So, it should be safe. It should be warm – but not too warm.

On Monday the daytime temperatures are forecast to be right above freezing all day. With the smallest lambs now only three days old, they will have a place to go to warm up. Whether or not they will find it remains to be seen. I do know that Champ, our young wether goat, was walking in and out of the shelter right after I finished. I do not know if any of the sheep checked it out. At the very least, they can snuggle down on the outside of the tarps and get more warmth than will be available without the smaller heated area. Cheap materials. Cheap labor. Slapping that together was a good use of both and I will be able to salvage all the materials for use in other projects. Hopefully, it will serve the intended purpose.

Mama has another full day today. She is going to spend time with Grandma, get the Sequoia inspected so we can get the updated tags on the vehicle, have lunch with Victoria and drop off Nathan to his mama. We have had Nathan for a few days now. I do not know if he is ready to go home or not, but that is planned for today. I am certain Mama will spend time holding Savannah when she is with Krystal and the boys. Trace is out if town for a couple weeks so there will still be times Mama and I will help Krystal with the boys and the baby, but we do not mind. We thoroughly enjoy having kids in the house; especially on a temporary basis.

Maggie called yesterday to let us know that she is going through the process of getting scheduled for a cryogenic procedure to freeze the mass on her kidney. The surgeon is concerned about letting it go untreated. He feels almost certain that it is cancerous, but Maggie is not at the point where she can have the surgery to remove the mass which would necessitate a six-week recovery period following the surgery. The cryogenic procedure will be less invasive and require a much shorter recovery time, but it will allow a biopsy of the mass and it will inhibit growth of the mass while hindering the possibility of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. (Always a concern when cancer is found anywhere in the body.) It is probably a good decision for right now since Aaron is out for a three to six-month duty assignment with very little chance of getting relieved of any portion of that time.  

Mama is prepared to go and help if needed. I feel pretty positive that Catherine and Walter would enjoy having Mama there but Maggie, Mama and I are very concerned about Mama navigating the stairs required to get to Maggie’s apartment. She lives on the third floor of the apartment building which sits on a knoll requiring a long set of steps to get to the ground level of the complex, followed by three full flights of stairs to get to the apartment. Mama does alright going up stairs. Going down is the issue. Keeping house for Maggie would require trips out for groceries, getting Catherine off to school, and just getting the kids out of the apartment for some free time. Plus, why would anyone travel to Wilmington, NC and not go see the town and the seashore. Maggie and Mama are worried that Mama’s knees would not hold up without causing Mama significant pain. I share that concern, but we do what we must to help when needed.

Some really good news. Cori announced yesterday, that they have been awarded their five-year residency visas. That is a definite praise!