Mama, a thorough soaking

Mama texted me mid-afternoon yesterday to let me know that she had made her decision to go with Kim Cantrell this weekend. That question having been settled, she sprang into action to get all the sundry items in place to spend four days and three nights away from home. By the time I got home a couple hours later, her bags were packed, her timeline was set, the laundry was caught up with, and she was ready for me to tell her how we were going to finance her holiday – whether cash or debit card. Kim’s husband, Kenny, is probably relieved that Mama was going along. It is a fair drive to Southern Louisiana from here. Not that Kim could not have done it alone, it is just nice to have company along on that length of drive. Mama had to leave the farm before 7 am. I am guessing that the meeting Kim is scheduled to speak at is sometime in the early evening at a church where her son is the pastor. So, the underlying driver is grandma going to see the grandchildren – and the children too, I suppose. Mama will meet Kim in Gainesville and the two of them will leave from there. Pray for their safe travel and for Kim’s message to the ladies she will be speaking to this evening and tomorrow. The two of them will be staying over for church Sunday. Traveling home Monday. I miss Mama already.

We have been thoroughly soaked now. Many of the creeks are out of their banks and lots of acreage is underwater. I am not aware of any issues with the flooding locally, but it is always inconvenient. The forecast if for an additional inch of rain through the day today but sunny skies tomorrow. Temperatures remain in the mid-70s, so it is we have a pleasant, sloppy weekend ahead. Fortunately, we may be rain free through Monday. Tuesday through Saturday next week are expected to bring more rain each day. Up to a half inch per day. No complaints. It will be a gift to have all the ponds, tanks and lakes filled up before summer hits. And, the rain brings cooler temperatures with it. It we can avoid the three and four inch rains our runoff channels can manage the downpours without incident. But the weather does what the weather does, and we adapt.

Our pigs have no dry place in the entire pen. It is their own doing. They have dug two very large wallows. One at the only gate into the pen. The other beside the shelter I built for them. The mud holes are on either side of the small shelter I attached to the pig building when I kicked them out and gave the building to the goats. The water from the recent rains has now accumulated to the level that it floods that shelter. Last week, I dug a channel to drain some of the level from one of the wallows, but that evening the pigs stopped up the drain. I guess they like being wet and muddy. They are pigs, after all. Last night I reopened the drain, but I do not expect it to last. Mama and I have taken to entering the pen – when absolutely necessary – by climbing over the pallets I recently placed around the pen to fortify the south and west sides. Yes, Mama has actually been able to use the pallets (they are like short ladders) to get into and out of the pen. I have not seen her do it and I would certainly like to see that happen, but I am confident that she was successful because she was very proud of succeeding at that little acrobatic activity.

When we take the goats to Rick’s next week, and I will clean out the accumulation of hay saturated with manure and urine that the goats have gifted to us and allow the building to air out for a day or two. I may then open the building to the pigs again. I will need them to be comfortable with the building before I use it as an avenue to load them into our stock trailer for transport to the processor. That date is still five weeks out. Five potentially very wet weeks out. They will dirty up the building in a big way, but we can clean and sanitize it once they are gone. All that, of course, requires Mama’s approval.

Yesterday we got our check for the sale of the two crazy cows. It turns out that the real crazy one was seven months pregnant. Mellow, the less crazy of the two, was only three months bred. They both brought a fair price. Mama and I were pleased. Pleased with the cash generated. Pleased that we do not have to worry ourselves over those two mad bovine upsetting our neighbor’s herd. Their departure will save us about $350 per month on hay and feed. Now we start over. This time we are looking at miniatures. Possibly Highland cattle. Equally possible, mini Herefords. For the moment we are just looking. Selling one of our two houses will be the key to how quickly we can move forward with any plans requiring more than $100.

That will happen soon enough.