The long road home, at the farm, Britany’s news

Wednesday morning Mama wanted to go back to the beach for just a little while so badly it was palpable. I had to talk her out of that idea several times. My biggest concern was that the kids would get wetter than we were prepared to deal with. That, and I have never gone shell hunting with Mama and not gotten wet myself. So, we ate breakfast at the hotel – such as it was – and hit the road at about 7:30 am. Cathryn and Walter did very well on the long trip home. Mama was thrilled to have me in the driver’s seat. After several days of travel to get to me, the kids and Mama had established a routine of sorts. Once I got the routine down, it was pretty smooth traveling. One of the things I was unaware of was that Walter was not allowed to take any items from the vehicle with him as he left the vehicle. He has a tendency to fill his hands with toys, action figures, tiny army men, etc., and then lay them down as something else strikes his fancy. Often leaving behind the things he prefers to play with as he travels. That almost happened on the first break. Mama saw to it that nothing got forgotten or left behind in the store since I did not know the drill. There were several times that things were misplaced within the vehicle and a desperate search was launched to recover whatever was the focus of the moment, but we made it to the farm with most of the important items.

We had been in the vehicle about seven hours when Mama and I were talking about the lay of the land we were passing through. We were in southeast Texas at the time traveling back roads because I had missed the turn we normally take to get home from Pensacola. As we chatted and the kids played, we passed a Louisiana style house with a large wraparound porch. The house was painted a pale yellow. Trimmed in white. It was beautifully landscaped. I remarked to Mama, “There’s the kind of house you have always wanted.” Her casual reply was, ‘Yep. That’s my house.” From the back we heard Walter’s very concerned voice. “Grammy, did we just pass your farm?” I started to laugh immediately. It took Mama a minute to get the intent of the question – and the concern expressed in it. When she did, she laughed for several minutes. We assured Walter that we knew where the farm was and that was not it.

The kids did very well on the trip – all thirteen hours of it. Considering our route, Mama and I decided to pick up my truck at the airport as we were passing through Dallas. It added an hour to the trip, but it was worth extra time to collect the vehicle then versus making the two to three hour round trip to get it Thursday evening. It was 9:45 pm when I pulled through the toll booth exiting the airport parking. Mama and I stopped at a Buckee’s on the way home for her to use the restroom, but other than that we headed straight home. We were pulling in the driveway at 11:15 pm. Other than getting the kids out of the car and put to bed, we did very little to unpack the car. I was up and off to work at 5:45 the next morning. A short night but a safe trip home.

Cathryn and Walter are enjoying the farm. All the kids we have over to the farm enjoy the house as well. The overly large living area is a made-to-order play area and Mama has accumulated a wealth of toys kids enjoy from baby dolls to building blocks, Lincoln logs and Legos to dishes and dinosaurs. When the kids go out with Mama to feed, she takes time to pet the animals, to explain the sounds the animals are making, to show how the animals react to certain movement, to make her menagerie a fun type of working. Cathryn especially loves the Bantam chickens. They are half the size of the other chickens and Mama’s three baby Bantams will venture very close to anyone they think has special treats; especially the day-old bread we feed out.

Yesterday evening after dinner, once feeding was done, Mama sent the kids over to me as I worked on the goat shelter in the new paddock. Cathryn build a shop of her own with pieces of scrap wood. Walter used a small pair of pruning scissors to cut weeds. The scissors are made in such a way that he could not possibly have cut himself with them. Both of them worked at their respective tasks for a couple hours as I began to put the roof supports on the building. Tonight, we will get the nanny goats from Rick, so I have to get the boys out of the area they are now in so our girls can have it. The fencing is complete on the new paddock, but Mama is hesitant to put the boys over there without a shelter to keep the rain off them. Lord willing, I should have that done this weekend.

Meanwhile, Brittany let Mama and I know she is pregnant. Praise the Lord! We have been praying for her and Andrew as they planned for another child. I am not praying for twins this time, but I would not be shocked of God did bless them that way a second time. Twins fit Brittany’s personality. After all, if you are going to put that much effort into a pregnancy, why have just one baby?

God is so good.

Class, travel

It was good to get home last night. Even if it was after 11 pm. I have been traveling since Monday morning. Teaching a class in Andalusia, AL. Meeting Mama and the grandkids in Pensacola, FL. Driving home with her and the grandkids all day yesterday. Teaching the class was the pivot point that made the whole travel plan work out the way it did. I flew into Pensacola Monday morning. From there I drove to Andalusia and met with my host. The representative for the company hosting the class. He showed me the classroom he had set up for the class. It was a poor set up for the type of class I was to teach, but he was quite pleased with the effort needed to get the room set up in the manner it was. I knew it would be a tough arrangement to work with, but as an instructor, you just have to adapt. We struggled through the class which turned out fairly well even though the room was crowded. Access and egress was difficult for everyone. To access one side of the room, the participants had to walk around where I stood to teach at the front of the room. The participants would not have known the difference in the way the presentation was adapted for the class unless I had told them. Which I did not. We wrapped up about 3:30 that afternoon. I was leaving the site by 4 pm. Headed to meet Mama.

Mama and I had agreed that it would be best for us to meet at the Cordova Mall. It is less than a mile from the airport. I was there be 5:30. She and the kids had walked around, played games and basically just killed time waiting to meet me. Other than stopping to fill the rental car with gas on my way to Pensacola, I did not stop. Meeting in Pensacola was great for me and Mama since it is a familiar area for both of us. I called Mama as I was getting fuel to let her know I was only ten minutes from the mall. She told me where she was parked so I could find her easily. When I parked, I saw Mama, Cathryn and Walter coming out of the mall, so I hid behind a pillar and waited for them to pass me before I popped out to surprise them. Once Mama got through hugging and kissing me, the kids joined in. We were in no particular hurry, so we took our time saying hello.

Mama and I took a few minutes to transfer my luggage over to the Sequoia so that when I returned the car, all I would have to do was hand in the keys and get my receipt. The smaller airport made it great for us to coordinate the rental car return. Mama just followed me into the garage and parked nearby while I spoke to the attending agent. It took about ten minutes to complete the transaction. From there we headed to a hotel I had booked for us near the beach. The traffic was so heavy in a couple areas that we stopped for dinner before we even got to the causeway that would take us over to the Pensacola Beach area. What is normally a thirty-minute drive took us over an hour and a half. Dinnertime excluded.

The hotel, expensive though it was, was a bit of a disappointment; but it was across the street from Pensacola Beach. The staff was great. The room was adequate. The bed turned out to be great for me and Mama. It was only for one night. We were put in a third-floor room on the side opposite the bars that backed up to the east side of the hotel. Fortunately, elevators were available for Mama. Once we go our stuff to the room and changed, we walked to the beach. It was crowded but not overly so. A concert of sorts was going on, so the largest concentration of people was in the pavilion area. Mama, the kids and I set up a good way from the concert, a little way back from the surf and immediately started hunting for shells. Cathryn and Walter took a few minutes to get used to the waves but eventually were playing freely in the shallows. Mama and I took them across some “deep water” to a sandbar. The deep water was about eighteen inches deep, but when you are only about three feet tall, that is a considerable depth to wade through. Once on the sandbar you would have though the two of them had swan across the ocean to get where they were. They were very impressed with themselves having conquered the dangerous water crossing. After they survived the trek the first time, they went back and forth over and over again. Walter tripped and dunked himself a couple times, but did not seem bothered by it. Cathryn stayed above the water at all times.

We did not find many shells, but we had a great time (only a couple hours) at the beach. The kids were worn out by the time we got cleaned up and laid down. We needed a good night’s sleep. The drive home was going to be a long one.

Reservations, travel plans, produce

I had a busy morning this morning. Arranging accommodations for Mama and the kids as they travel. Amending my travel plans to help her get home on the second leg of her trip. Completing all the required paperwork to make all my business travel work out within the company guidelines. Gathering the class materials for the class next Tuesday. Getting permissions for two other instructors that have classes coming up that also require travel. All of that while navigating through a more than normally occupied office. It is hard to find a quiet place to make the phone calls. At least, quiet enough that I can hear what is being said by the person speaking with me. Anyway, reservations are made in Jacksonville, FL and in Pensacola, FL for those respective nights of travel. I told Mama, hotels are expensive. Especially when you think about sleeping there for only one night. I suppose it is a necessary part of traveling, but it is a ridiculously high cost for a night’s sleep.

Mama is making her plans to travel as we head into the weekend. There has been a good bit of discussion about how and when to tell the children that they will be leaving with Grammy Monday morning. I am not sure a timeline has been settled yet, but the consensus it would be better to tell Cathryn and Walter either Sunday night or Monday morning that they are traveling. All in all, it depends largely on how Maggie and Aaron react on the morning the kids are being packed into Grammy’s vehicle. Right now, they are spending a lot of time with Grammy. One more trip with Grammy would not seem out of the ordinary. Happy faces on the part of the parents would confirm the happy nature of the trip. Sad faces would only instill fear. Send them off happy and Mama will deal with the rest. A written letter of permission to travel with and to treat the kids if necessary would help if such explanations or permissions are required at any point. But I do not know if that is being done yet.  

Having Maggie, Cathryn and Walter will fill the Sequoia as we travel to Victoria next month. We will have the three of them, me, Mama, Victoria, and Jake. How we are going to manage travel in Victoria is somewhat in question as well because we pick up Brittany and the girls at Bush International in Houston on day then we well be picking up Cori at the same airport. On another day. That brings our total to eleven. The Sequoia has seating designed for seven. With all the space we typically use for luggage being taken up by passengers, we will be short on that space as well. We will figure it out. Two vehicles leaving the farm together. Renting a car in Victoria. Borrowing a car from friend or family. We have time to work on the best solution. It is going to be a fun challenge.

Summer is almost here. We are in an extended time of pleasant evenings. Most evenings are in the high 60s or low 70s. The daytime temperatures are creeping into the mid-90s. Triple digit temperatures are only a couple weeks away, but we have had an unusual reprieve from the heat, and we are enjoying it. A portion of our vegetables were planted in plastic tubs the cattle had licked clean of the minerals and molasses they once contained. That has worked out well for us. As the temperatures have crept higher, I was able to move the tubs into less sunny areas. They still get six to eight hours of direct sun but are shaded from the brutality of the late afternoon sun. For the tomatoes, watering is required every day. After several years of not getting any tomatoes, we are pleased how well the plants are producing this year.

The peaches will be ready to pick by the time Mama and I get back to the farm next week. The blueberries are ripening six to ten at a time with hundreds in various stages of maturing. Our grapevine has several clusters of grapes, but I am not sure if it will let the fruit ripen. Some of those very tiny grapes in the clusters have already turned into raisins. All but a few of the blackberries produced by the plants I relocated have been eaten before we got to harvest them. I am willing to share, but some critters have been quite selfish. I may have to relocate the blackberries to the back yard this Fall so Mama and I can enjoy them.

Our cucumbers, pumpkins and beets are still doing very well. The cucumbers we are getting are about two feet long. I do not eat cucumbers, so I have given them away in Mama’s absence. Okra was a failure this year. You win some. You lose some.

Fortunately, we do not rely on what we can produce for our food supply. If we did, Mam and I would have no problem getting down to our desired weight.

Class, play day, trust, generosity

Class yesterday went very well. It was one of those classes when almost everyone participates in the discussions. We discussed some proposed regulatory changes that will directly impact the contract companies I had in attendance. They were thankful for the heads-up on what may potentially shift how they qualify their personnel because of how the companies they do contract work for will be forced to comply with the new regulations. Things are about to get more difficult for all of us. We spent more time in discussions than normal but that is always the best part of the class. For me and for the participants. I was tired when I got home but I muddled through the chores, through the feeding, through collecting eggs. I showered and got ready for church without much time to eat or rest. Class days are always late days. By the time we go home from church, I was totally worn out.

We have a sort of play day at work today. Once per quarter we have a Team Building event. It can be anything from a presentation from a guest speaker to a scavenger hunt. Everyone in the company that is available to attend is expected to be at the office for the event. About one third of our employees work remotely, so it is a chance to get together with those we do not see very often. It is always a pleasant distraction, but it does interrupt the normal flow of work in the office. I will struggle to meet the expectations of those who attend class yesterday in getting all their information entered into our system by the time some of them need it next week. We will make it work, but the timing will be close for some.

Maggie called me yesterday to let me know she and Aaron had come to a decision. They have agreed to let Mama bring Cathryn and Walter home with her when Mama leaves Monday morning. It is a good decision. One Mama and I planned for – which made it a more logistically possible. Mama is staying over in Wilmington through the weekend so she can be there for Maggie’s baptism on Sunday. Mama will have to make the trip home with the two grandkids, but I think she can manage. It will take longer. Perhaps two nights in hotels and a lot more meal expense but it can be done. Sadly, if Mama drives all the way to Tuscaloosa, AL Monday, I will be less than 200 miles from her. I have a class to teach in Andalusia, AL on Tuesday next week. I have puzzled through meeting her and helping her drive the rest of the way home.

Letting the kids come home with Mama takes a good bit of trust on Maggie and Aaron’s part. We appreciate that trust and will do everything in our power to honor and protect it. Meanwhile, Maggie and Aaron will be free to begin the process of discovery required to begin a healing and restoration process that will move them slowly past the issues they now deal with. Common though those issues are, each couple has to discover how to apply the remedies to their relationship. Maggie will fly into DFW a day before Jake flies into Love Field. The next day (July 11) we will travel to Victoria for Joshua’s Wedding. It should be fun.

Aaron’s parents were very generous to me and Mama. They had told us last week that they wanted to send us some money to help with the finances required to make this trip. To get the kids and bring them home with us for a while. To give Maggie and Aaron some space. And they did in an overly generous way. What they have given us will help in a big way. Especially as Mama comes home. As things stand now, Mama is going to meet me in Pensacola as I finish up a class next Tuesday in Andalusia. She will travel to Jacksonville, FL and spend the night, Monday night. The next morning, she will drive to Pensacola or Navarre. Wherever I reserve a room for us. It will be a long drive home (about twelve hours) but it is one we have done before. And we will be able to do it together.

Brittany’s is today. Don’t ask me how old she is. That is Mama information. I do well to get the dates right.

Who we are

I sure miss Mama. When you build your life around a person, or perhaps better put, when you add your life to the life of another, it is a challenge to get through a “normal” routine when that other person is not with you. In that respect, I understand how Brittany and Maggie’s lives are affected by the deployment of their husbands. But their lives are set up differently than ours. Those periods of doing things solo are built into the regimen of their lives - of necessity. Accounted for as a requirement of the duty in which their husbands serve. Mama’s and my life together is built around the two of us getting our portions of the divided load accomplished so the other has time to complete their portion. Each adding to the other. Each with a different set of tasks to get done as we strive for a common goal. It is not that it makes things easier when we are working together, our lives and work are set up to be accomplished by two people, when the load falls to one of us it is a significant load.

Nevertheless, we adapt. I have purposely set up the farm so that it can be managed by one person. Fortunately, Mama got feed when we dropped off the pigs last week. That will not fall to me in her absence. When managing the home (shopping, cleaning, laundry, feeding the inside dogs, keeping the bird feeders full, tending to the indoor plants, mowing, etc.), managing our business (calls to be made, appointments to be managed, checks to be written and mailed out, etc.), coordinating our outside obligations (egg deliveries, dog grooming, appoints for sundry needs, etc.), and so many other things that are typically done by both of us working in tandem rests on either of us alone, it takes a good deal of coordination to figure out how to fit everything in. Often interrupting my workday to get some of those items completed on time. It is only a temporary situation, but really miss having Mama with me. However, what she is doing right now is far more important than anything I am scrambling to do. I did let my manager know that I would be interrupted during the day more than usual because of Mama’s current absence. They are okay with that.

Mama called me last night to let me know that Maggie had gone to the airport to pick up Aaron. He flew home at the behest of his command. Recognizing that both Maggie and Aaron are young, inexperienced and awkward still yet in their marriage, we can only hope and pray that the two of them agree to begin to walk the road of resolution and recovery. Whatever that may mean. Whatever that may take. Mostly, it is a pathway of surrender. Of forgiveness. Of recognizing each individual’s part in the problem and each individual’s part in the resolution. Painful at first. Peaceful in the end. Remembering we are sinners at best. Each of us. Easily justifying our actions. Blind to our selfishness. Nurturing of our pride. Falsely empowered by our anger and self-righteous rage.  In marriage, only when the Biblical intent of the two becoming one flesh is accomplished can we live our lives putting the other ahead of ourselves and live to serve that person. Forsaking all others. Our own selves included. It is a big undertaking. It can only be a success when the Lord is in control. I do not know Aaron well but for Maggie, surrender is an issue. Always has been. Yielding control to another is not in her nature. Regardless of the control she is abdicating. Fortunately, Maggie has a new nature. She simply needs to learn to live in that nature. As do we all.

Our marriage has been blessed because Mama is a master of selflessness. So much so that she feels guilty when she has to spend money for her own needs or desires. Of course, LuLa Roe falls outside of that guilt category until she has to pay for it. That is, until she tells me I have to pay for it. So far that has been manageable. A little frustrating but manageable.

Back to the situation in North Carolina. For the moment, Mama is planning on coming home this weekend. We are taking this one day at a time. My hope is that Maggie and the kids will come back with Mama to spend some time with us at the farm. Maggie may feel awkward in that setting but the kids would thrive. Living with Mama has a profoundly positive affect on children. That is why Alex is desperate for Mama to take Yilin for as many days as possible this summer. That would be great for Yilin. Perhaps not so much for Mama. But we will probably give it a try. Mama has worked with children more rambunctious than Yilin. Yilin has a good heart. A good nature. She is just a continuous blast of excess energy.

Cathryn and Walter would do well to be with Mama for an extended time. Maggie would as well. We are certainly willing if she is.

What just happened?

How was my Father’s Day? Not good at all. Friday morning, Mama called me in a panic. Maggie was checking herself into the hospital for a psyche evaluation. The kids were with a friend. Aaron was under way somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. It appeared to be a dire situation. Mama had either contacted or been contacted by Aaron’s parents and they had agreed to purchase a one-way ticket for Mama to fly to Wilmington. The cost was $700. I was not in favor of Mama moving too fast in the situation as it was unfolding, but there seemed to be some genuine urgency. If Mama had to go, I suggested that she drive in case she needed to bring back Maggie and the kids. At the very least, she would have a way home when she was no longer needed to help Maggie and the kids. We really did not know the need, or the extent of the time Maggie would be in the hospital, but Mama was prepared to stay with Maggie or bring her and the kids home with her until Aaron’s deployment was done. That date is several weeks out.

So, Mama headed out on her 1200-mile drive to get to Wilmington early Saturday morning. Aaron was in contact with his parents and had talked over with them several potential solutions to address the underlying cause, but nothing had been settled. Mama was nearly at the halfway point, Tuscaloosa, Al when Maggie called Mama to tell her she had been released from the hospital. It was all the fault of a change in medications. Maggie told Mama she was not needed. She should go home. At that point a flurry of calls ensued, and it was decided by all parties other than Maggie (Aaron, his parents, me and Mama, others I will not mention) that Mama continue on to Wilmington.

The way Maggie was talking and acting did not line up with her insisting that she was okay. When she called to fuss at me about Mama’s coming, I told her that at the least I would have expected her to tell Mama, “I am so sorry to have caused all this concern. I really am okay. If you want, go ahead and come so you can at least spend a couple days with the grandkids, please do. They would love to see you. But if would be better for what you and dad need, you can go back home.” That was not the response we were getting. Rather it was a defensive response of Maggie not wanting us to interfere in her life. So, she began a campaign of calling everyone she could think of to tell them what a horrible situation she was in trying to defend her marriage and her children from her interfering parents. Mama began receiving those chastising calls from people Maggie had taken that position with almost immediately. All while she was continuing her drive to Wilmington.

Prior to or somewhere near her checking herself into the hospital Maggie had called Aaron’s command and talked to them. I am not sure what she told them, but they were willing to send Aaron to her; to the point that they docked early Sunday morning and purchased a ticket for him to fly home. That was Sunday morning. By Sunday evening, Maggie had convinced Aaron that the entire incident had been blow entirely out of proportion. Everything was fine. He could continue his deployment. He decided to follow her advice and stay with the boat. Nothing to see here. How his command reacted to that is not known to me, but I expect it was not a feather in Aarons cap. I was a little angry after I talked to Aaron, but there is nothing I can do. Except to be certain that we will not do this again.

I am sure Mama will have a good visit for the days she is there with Maggie and the kids. At least, I am praying she does. She needs to rest up a day or two before turning around and coming home. Gas, meals, hotels, etc,, $850 plus. 2500 miles of road to cover and the inherent dangers involved in that. Mama and I are asking each other, “what just happened?” No one can tell us.

Meanwhile, because of the urgency required on Maggie’s part Friday and Saturday, along with Mama’s leaving to help as much as she could in that situation, Brittany had to change her plans to come down for Father’s Day and spend this week with us. Her birthday is Thursday. Andrew is deployed right now so she wanted some company on her birthday. That’s not going to happen. With finances already very tight, Mama and I had to spend money tagged for other purposed that will now have to wait another month or two as we try to recoup the losses. Aaron’s parents are sending us some money to help defray the expenses of Mama’s travel, but at this point I feel like we would be taking money under false pretenses. Eventually my irritation will abate, but my sensitivity to responding in this manner again has definitely been calloused.

On the bright side, I got to hear from all my children on Father’s Day. I love being a Daddy and a Papi. In spite of all life often throws at me as I occupy that office.

God has been and continues to be overwhelmingly good to me and Mama.

Maggie, cash flow, Brittany

What to do? A friend of Maggie’s took her to the hospital last night because Maggie was so excessively tired that she was not able to function in normally. As expected, all the test results came back either normal or inconclusive. I have my own theories as to what is going on, but I will withhold those judgements for now. Mama talked with the friend this morning about the situation and neither of them was satisfied with any immediate solution they could see. We are not sure what our response should be, but Mama wants to fly to Wilmington and bring Maggie and the kids back to the farm. At a one-way flight cost of $500, and the remaining cost of travel in Maggie’s vehicle from Wilmington to our farm (1300 miles of driving – eighteen hours - and gas plus meals and at least one night in a hotel: $650.) I am not thrilled with the idea because it only addresses the travel in one direction. It does not solve how we would get Maggie and the kids back home once the current situation is resolved.

Mama called me very early and asked me to pray about letting her go to Wilmington – and finding a way to cover those costs. I asked in response that we pray that the Lord helps Maggie snap out of her current emotional collapse. That He restores her quickly. On her own. Without extensive outside caregiving. It is impossible to know what is on the head or heart of any person, but I hesitate to assume that we are the solution in every one of these situations. When we are, Mama and I do not mind making ourselves accessible, but we cannot automatically assume that that is the case. God is bigger than that.

Aaron is at sea and unable to come home right now. To send him home again for another medical emergency would certainly impact his career in a negative way. So, I am not sure that is the right solution either. I know the Lord has the answer at hand, we just have to pray and be ready to respond as directed when directed. As her Mom and Dad, Mama and I will do whatever is needed to make sure Maggie’s needs are met, but I am not certain this morning what is truly needed. If we bring Maggie to the farm, Aaron will have to get to us to get his family back home. Too many variables to suit me.

Meanwhile, Mama and I are wrestling to balance financial promises we have made and financial obligations we have with the cash we have available. It is a workable situation if we are prayerful, careful, and frugal. Any deviation from what we must get done has to be avoided until we sell one of the two houses we are now remodeling. We are at the point that I am considering selling the truck, the tractor and one trailer to get us over the hump. But even that will take some time to accomplish. By all indications, we are only a six to ten weeks away from selling one house, but in financial equivalencies that is a very long timeframe. Eventually it will all work out. It always does. We just have to be very prudent while we resolve our cash flow issues.

In response to cashflow issues, Mama and I applied with a bank in Lawton for a line of credit on the houses we have purchased there, but even with the houses as collateral that application may be rejected. We will know something for certain today. By next week at the latest. I will not be disappointed if that falls through. I would much rather work this business on a cash only basis if possible. But it seemed prudent to ask if we could borrow against the houses we own outright to make the repairs to those houses as we get them ready to market or rent. Most of the borrowing would be on a very short-term basis. Six to eight months on average.

Last night, as Victoria had Grandpa working on her car, she and Mama debated the best way to get Brittany and the twins to the farm. Plans had been set for Victoria to drive to Brittany’s today but her car was having issues that needed to be remedied before she could leave. Victoria, Brittany and the girls would drive to the farm Sunday afternoon. Brittany and the girls would then spend the week with us. I am not certain what decision was made, if any, concerning traveling today, but I did hear a discussion about meeting Brittany halfway tomorrow afternoon.

All told this could be a very interesting weekend.

Class, Maggie, Cori, Victoria

I taught a class yesterday. For the second time a coworker and I taught concurrent classes and for the second time we were within a few minutes of each other at lunch and at the close of the class. His class finished up the test about ten minutes after my students finished. We always get a kick out of those outcomes. It helps to represent the company and the class in a good light. Today will be spent entering the grades and capturing the evaluation information. For the most part I enjoy teaching the class. There are some fundamental changes I would like to make, but overall, it is a good class with a lot of helpful information. People tend to enjoy it. That’s a plus. It is however, draining to stand and talk for six hours of an eight-hour class. I was tired and my voice was worn out by the time we concluded the class. I need to strengthen both body and voice so that I am not so exhausted after each class. With the progress on our houses going so slowly, I may be at this a few more months.

While I was in class yesterday, Maggie called. I could not answer for obvious reasons. She called again once I was home, but I was napping. I did not intend to sleep as long as I did. I woke up in time to hurry to get ready for church. So, Maggie and I did not connect until after church, but Mama let me know the nature of the reason she was calling. Maggie got saved. Mrs. Fisher, used by the Lord, got through to Maggie and helped her to realize that all was not well between her and the Lord. She had been running from the conviction she felt for quite some time. After some struggle, some argument and some candid conversation, Maggie had to admit she was running from God. To say that out loud is conviction in itself. To admit that to another person in pride-shattering. What we had thought she had done as a child, had not happened. Late in the night she took the time to call upon the Lord and He was waiting, wanting to save her. What a great God we serve! The next morning, even her children noticed the difference.

She let her pastor know right away. He was thrilled. He had been praying for Maggie since she started coming to church. In light of what happened, her pastor called on her to role play with him through the Wednesday night service as he demonstrated for the congregation how to lead someone to the Lord. He took her through the questions that typically lead to the sharing of the Plan of Salvation, shared the Roman’s Road scriptures, prayed the prayer with her for the sake of role play and then gave her all the time she needed to share her testimony – and the events that led up to her accepting the Lord. We were in tears as she shared the event with us.  As was the congregation and the pastor at Maggie’s church as she shared her brand-new testimony for the very first time. In a time when Mama and I are going through some very difficult and disappointing circumstances, Maggie’s salvation was very good news. “There is rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” Heaven is rejoicing. So should we.

While we are rejoicing with Maggie, we are praying for Cori who is struggling with adapting to the climate in Honduras. Cori has always suffered from asthma. It has been mild in the past, but the tropical climate is exacerbating the condition. I am sure there are ways to deal with it, but Cori and Nate have not settled the manner in which they want to correct or mitigate the condition. That is what we are praying about. How do we, within their current setting find the most practical long-term solution? It will be made clear to us at some point, but we have not gotten there yet. Mama and I are planning on going to Honduras in September, but that is still in the “hope we can” stages of planning. At that time, as we stay with Cori, Nate and the kids, I will be able to see if anything jumps out at me that will help provide a solution. At the very least, we will see Cori next month when she comes up for Joshua and Alicia’s wedding. When that happens, I will get a much better idea of how to pray.

Victoria has been getting out more lately. Most of her time is spent with a group young people from the church. That is good in and of itself. The fact that she is willing to meet them for volleyball and other gatherings is a good sign to Mama and me. She is much happier when she socializes with her peers. Even though she and Brittany Wycoff are slightly older than most of the members in their little group, the group is friendly and accommodation. Entertaining. Victoria feels like she adds to the whole. She is included. The opportunity has been there for some time, but she is now taking advantage of it.

Mama and I are pleased about that change.

Pigs and feed, herbal mistake

I left work at 11 AM yesterday to make sure I would have enough time to get the pigs loaded and delivered to the butcher shop in Muenster. As things turned out, I did not need nearly that much time. When I got home, Mama was frying bacon to make BTL’s. I was hungry but I wanted to get the pigs on the trailer before I sat down to eat. Since the trailer was already in place, I had only a couple things to do to get ready to open the gate in the pig building to let the pigs have access to the trailer. I moved their feed trough onto the trailer – near the front – and proceeded to fill it with feed. I opened the gate and stood aside. At first, they were hesitant, but once they understood that there was feed in the trough they happily climbed on board and began chowing down. I closed the sliding gate on the trailer and let myself out through the front gate of the trailer. When they were secured in the trailer, I moved the trailer to a shady spot and went back to the house.

Mama came out about that time. She was freaked out that the trailer was gone. I am not sure what she thought, but she did say that it crossed her mind that the pigs had gotten loose, and we were in for a long process of getting them loaded. I assured her that was not the case. When she understood that the pigs were loaded and ready to go, she got a little upset with me for having gotten them loaded before she could get out to help me. Fortunately, she is always quick to forgive me. We drove to Muenster without incident. Once we got to the meat market, the pigs walked off the trailer one at a time – as Mama requested – to be weighed and penned. One weighed 325#. The other weighed 295#. We had a lot of people praying that loading the pigs would go smoothly. Those prayers were much appreciated.

When we went inside to outline how we would like to have the pigs processed, I was pleased with those outcomes as well. Mama and I are trading one pig for hamburger. All we requested off the pig to be traded is the bacon. Mama asked if they could make the bacon low sodium and they have a process for doing so. We are not going to have the hams cured. I was not happy with the way the hams have come out in the past. They were too dry. We can buy hams when we need them; which is not very often. So, all the meat that can be made into roasts will be cut that way. We will have pork chops and tenderloin, roasts and breakfast sausage. Plus, whatever hamburger we get in trade. I am not sure how that will work out, but we need the hamburger more than we need the pork. On the way out of Muenster, we stopped to buy feed. It was a very good afternoon.

Once home, I parked the trailer, stowed the feed, hooked up the brush hog to the tractor and cleaned up our back fence while Mama rested. What I thought was elderberry growing along our back fence was not. It was actually poke weed. Which is kind of interesting. Bro. Plumley started the discovery process. With plants he is rarely wrong. When we got home from Trade Days Saturday afternoon, he looked at the plants I had been so carefully tending and announced, “Boy, you sure go the poke weed. You can make salads all year long on that.” Of course, he was correct in his identification. So, we started researching the plant. Blogs about poke weed range from it being highly poisonous to being delightfully tangy. From taking one to the brink of death to recipes for salads, syrups and jellies. One person claimed that just getting the juice from a single berry on his hand caused him a severe rash. Right. We have never been bothered by it, but the syrup I made with it was of little or no benefit to us. With that new knowledge, I cut it all down. Leaving only the wild blackberries along that fence. It was a disappointing discovery, but a harmless one. I will have to order dried elderberries to make my syrup. Not the worst outcome. I will not make that mistake again, but I do wish they had been elderberries.

By the time Mama got up, I was too worn out to have her help me setting the fencing in place on the new paddock. I have it all rolled out, but I cannot stand it up on my own. That requires two people. Instead we cleaned out the coop. that was long overdue. After Mama and I took a walk down our road and back, I was ready to sit for a while.

I registered 10,850 steps in that half day of activity. A good day.

Busy Saturday, pigs

Mama and I had to be up early Saturday morning. Bro. Zach was scheduled to come over at 7:30 AM to help me load the sheep into the truck. And Gracie was being dropped off so we could get her to the church Monday morning while her family vacationed. Given the choice between vacation and Church camp, Gracie chose camp. To prepare for loading the sheep, I attached the racks Friday evening and had the truck at the gate to the paddock ready to go. It takes three people to load the sheep. Mama has to hold the gate I put across the opening to the barn – once we get all the lambs into the barn. When one of the sheep are caught, Mama carefully opens the gate enough for us to get out with the sheep in tow. Bro. Zach found out that the sheep are harder to catch than you would expect, but he figured out how to get hold of them on pretty quickly. Once you have a good hold on the sheep, you can walk them where you need them to go by holding their front legs up and letting them walk on their hind legs. Except for Little Bit, they were all pretty heavy. And they fought being put into the bed of the truck. But we did it. We had them all caught and loaded in about fifteen minutes. It would have been difficult to do without help; especially getting them into the truck through the gate installed in the racks. Once the lambs/sheep were loaded, Mama and I fed quickly, then packed Gracie in the truck with us and headed to Bridgeport. Mama had promised to take Mr. Plumley to Trade Days.

Mr. Plumley as not quite ready when got there but he got dressed and was out the door in just a few minutes. We headed to Bowie only a few minutes behind schedule. We needed to have the sheep at the sale barn by 9 AM. It was 8:15 and we were over a half hour away from Bowie. We made it but it was not a comfortable margin for me. This time our sheep looked pretty good compared with the other animals already in the pens. We will not know how we did until maybe Wednesday when we get the check, but I do not have high hopes. If we break even on our little experiment with sheep I will be pleased. But as it stands, I expect to lose about $300 overall. On the bright side, we got to watch the lambs be born, we got to bottle feed one lamb and we kept one lamb to be processed. For farm living, that is about as good as can be expected.

We spent longer at Trade Days than I had wanted to, but Kim Cantrell met us there and she and Mama looked for craft ideas and pricing. Mama and I did buy two Pro FX bracelets while we were there. The magnetic bracelets reminded me of what we used to sell when we were trying to make a business out of Nikken; only much less expensive. The man selling the bracelets did a strength test on me and I was impressed by the results. The test revolved around my cell phone. He had me set my cell phone aside and tested my strength by having me extend my arm outward from my side. I did pretty well when he pressed down against my arm. Then he had me hold my cell phone over my heart and extend my arm outward. I did very poorly. Then, with me cell phone still against my chest, he placed the bracelet on the shoulder of the arm I was extending outward and pressed down against that arm. It was like it was locked in place. Very strong. Since Mama and I had once done the same demonstrations on people we were well aware of the reasons behind the outcomes. I bought us each a bracelet.

Within an hour, my back pain began to ease. It has continued to get better through the weekend…and I did a lot of work later on Saturday. I strung heavy fencing, finished welding the pipe fence, moved the trailer in place to load the pigs this afternoon, moved sacks of feed out of the shop as we prepare to buy more feed today, built ramps to help the pigs get onto the stock trailer and walked a total of 13,000 steps. All with less pain than I normally have in my lower back. I was happy with that outcome.

I am taking a half day vacation to make sure I have enough time to get the pigs to the meat market. If all goes well, I will simply open the gate in the pig building, and they will walk onto the stock trailer. Otherwise, it will take some coaxing to get them where I need them. Mama is not going to feed them very much this morning, so they are especially hungry this afternoon. I am hoping that by placing the feed on the trailer they can be enticed into loading themselves. They each weigh close to three hundred pounds. I certainly will not be able to manhandle them. We have not had a lot of problems in the past and I pray that continues. Regardless of how much effort it takes to get them on the trailer and shut them in, I will be happy to have them gone.

It will take a good bit of effort to clean up the mess they are leaving behind.

Lambs, pigs, Trump’s D-Day speech

Tonight, I will attach the racks to the truck so that the lambs can be loaded and hauled to the sale barn early Saturday morning. I am still wrestling with exactly how to make the loading part of the operation happen. Mama will be busy with the girls at their dress rehearsal for the ballet performance tomorrow night. Victoria will be home and is willing to help, but in the past, it has taken three of us. Mama watches the gate I put over the barn opening. The sliding doors will be shut on the other side of the barn. Victoria and I lead the sheep to the truck and together load them one by one into the truck. One opens the gate to the racks on the truck then helps lift the animal into the bed of the truck. If there are only two of us, I will have to do the loading by myself. Fortunately, the lambs are only about eighty pounds each. Mama gave me permission to sell Little Bit along with the other three larger lambs. There is little reason to keep him. I do not want a pet lamb. She will not let me eat him. So, at some point he has to go. Now seems like the right time. One lamb we will be keeping until some time on October.  He will go into the freezer.

Later in the day Saturday, I will put the trailer in place near the pig pen so Mama and I can load the pigs up Monday afternoon. They are both over 250 pounds and with pigs you have to convince them to go where you want them to go. You cannot push or pull or carry them. They have to go of their own choosing. With that in mind, I will put the trailer in front of the pig building and allow the pigs to simply walk from the building into the trailer. Grandpa set the building up so that could be done when he built it. I will take advantage of that. Mama and I will not feed them much Monday morning. Monday afternoon we will put the feed in the trailer. Hopefully, they will be hungry enough to simply walk right in. I will need to spend a few minutes cleaning the mud from the floor at the gate inside the building so that it can be opened to allow them access to the trailer. Right now, there is so much mud on the floor of the building that I cannot open the gate.

Living on a farm is like putting together a puzzle. Each piece has a place. Each piece will fit as intended, but it may take some prep work to get all the pieces to fall into place. For example, the new paddock. A fence needed to have wire mesh fencing attached. A new portion of fence had to be built. Gates had to be added to the fencing in strategic places. A building needed to be erected. Pallets were repurposed. Lumber was cleaned and repurposed. Metal roofing was cleaned and reused. Water troughs will be repositioned. Feeders will be rehung. Feed barrels will be repositioned and refilled. Then, after all the pieces are in place, the animals can be moved to their new paddock. Lots of prep work for a simple goal of making an additional place for our goats.

After the lamb and goats are moved to their new home, Mama and I will clean and sanitize the goat barn so our bred does can have a nice barn to come home to. The manure and hay from that clean up will be set in a specific place to turn into compost. A year or two from now, that will be applied to the garden to enrich the soil. It all fits. It takes a lot of work, but it all fits.

If you have not taken the time to listen to the speech our President gave in commemoration of the 75^th Anniversary of D-Day. It is worth the time to search it out and watch or listen. It is actually better to see the video. His actions in recognizing the veterans who attend the ceremony, are noteworthy. Even the liberal media, who have chosen to hate the man, had to give him credit for his recognition of the event and those who revisited the field of battle where so many know to them personally are at rest in a cemetery holding almost ten thousand of their fellow soldiers. It was honor properly placed and properly bestowed. Those men truly earned it.

President Trump did an outstanding job of assigning that honor.

Successes and failures with fruit, therapy

Over the past week Mama has been able to pick a couple dozen blueberries from the bushes in a bed I have behind the house. The same bed I moved the blackberries from. The frustrating part of the ripening blueberries is that they come in very small batches right now. Mama will pick six or so very plump blueberries about every other day. Of the three bushes, only one is ripening right now. I think when the other two bushes, which are also loaded with berries, start to ripen, we will have our fill of blueberries. Having the bushes in the bed in the backyard definitely helps us get first pick of the fruit. The blackberries are also ripening but the deer and birds are getting to them before me and Mama. This fall, I will dig up all those plants and put them in large pots so we can place them in the backyard as well. Plus, potting them will keep them from spreading out into areas of the garden where I do not want them.

I may have to replant the fruit trees as well. We had six or eight nectarines on the dwarf tree I have next to the blackberries in the garden, but all of were been stripped from the tree before we could harvest them. Mama was very disappointed by that. On the bright side, the peach tree is still loaded. The peaches will be small, but we will get to let them ripen since that tree is inside the backyard fence. Out of the reach of deer and raccoons. One of the two pear trees in the garden is loaded to the point that the branches are drooping low enough the ripening fruit will be easily accessible to any interested deer. But there should be plenty left for Mama. Mama wants to harvest what she can of the pears, but the grainy, hard pears are not my favorite. I think Mama wants to make pear butter with the fruit should we be able to gather enough of it. Last year the tree was completely stripped of its fruit the night before we planned to harvest the pears. Mama was very upset. I am hoping to avoid a repeat of that catastrophe this year.

Also producing this year for the first time is my grape vine. I bought it so long ago that I do not remember what type of grapes it will produce. It was one of three I planted and nursed since we lived on the farm in Bowie. This vine is probably a Concord Grape vine. But for the last four years it has showed little signs of vitality. I was going to pull it up last winter but did not get around to it. Waiting on it for six years now has tested my patience. But I think of the story Jesus told of the fig tree that the owner wanted to pull up because it had not produced any figs. “Why cumbereth it the ground?” He asked the gardener. To which the gardener suggested they let it go one more year while he fertilized it and gave it some special care. (God is so patient as He waits on us to bear fruit.) Maybe my lack of follow through, my procrastination, with the vine paid off.  It has ten big clusters of grapes progressing well for now. I will have to cover the vine as the grapes ripen or it too will be stripped clean by the birds and raccoons the night the fruit ripens. Fortunately, it too is in the back yard. But just barely. It is trailing along the back fence: accessible to visitors from the empty acreage all around us.

I was telling Mama the other day that I need a break. I would love to take her somewhere for a weekend just to get away. That is not going to happen. Finances are very tight right now. But as I was musing over several ideas, a class popped up in Andalusia, AL later this month. The best airport to fly into to make that class is Pensacola, FL. Unfortunately, Mama will not be able to make the trip with me, but the time away from the office and a couple hours by the ocean might help me. Andalusia is about two hours north of Pensacola so I will have to coordinate my visits to the beach carefully, but I will be close enough that it would be a shame not to stop by and see if there are any shells to take home to Mama.

When I was younger, growing up in Houston, I would drive to Galveston and sit on the beach just to smell the salt air and hear the pulse of the earth as the waves rolled in. Rhythmic. Orderly. Predictable. Soothing. It was my therapy. My mom and dad never mentioned the wasted gas of those evening trips to the Gulf. Mama shares that love with me.

We need a break but it looks like only I will get a shot of beach therapy this month.

Shopping, filling in, mowing

Mama and the girls had a great time shopping. I think Mama was even able to get all her stops in; even with all the help. The stack of receipts she gave me was proof of that. They ate out twice in the excursion, went to Panera’s, Kroger’s, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, the bread store and Sam’s. Maybe a couple more places. I did not try to keep up with the agenda. I did not hear what time it was when Mama dropped the girls off, but I did hear that Cheyenne actually thanked Mama for taking them. That is unusual. I did not get much detail on the day since Mama and I did not have much time to talk last night. She did not seem too tired from the outing. I am certain the girls will be charged up to go with Mama the next time the offer is made.

Mama will have the girls all evening Friday as well. They have a dress rehearsal for ballet that night. Alex asked Mama to cover for him and his wife since Friday night is their biggest night at the restaurant. The ballet performance is Saturday night. Mama and I are invited. That too was settled Sunday at lunch. Two evenings promised away. Oh, well. The girls will grow up too quickly and we will miss it if we do not make the time now. Mama and I enjoy their ballet performances. It is not like we are really big fans of ballet. We just enjoy being included in the girl’s lives. Their hopping, scooting and shuffling on the stage while dressed in their ballet costumes is quite amusing. They, however, take it very seriously. I can only imagine the work that goes into coordinating that large a troop of performers covering that span of ages. Hats off to the ballet instructors.

Mama is considering taking Yilin several days a week through the summer. Alex asked for the help. Yilin is difficult to deal with in larger blocks of time. She has a quick mind, an aggressive nature and the makings of a bad attitude. She can be condescending and rude without meaning to be that way. It is how her mind works. She gets it. Why doesn’t everyone else? She gets tired of waiting on everyone else to catch up to her. Three to five seconds is her average reaction time to any problem or question. Fifteen seconds is her average time at which her patience is exhausted. She is a challenge, and someone will have to wok with her or she is headed for serious relational issues. Whether or not Mama is that person for this stage of her life is a fair question.

Our pastor’s wife discouraged Mama from taking Alex up on the assignment, but Mama feels like she could help. She definitely has the love capacity to try to work with Yilin. It may be a repeat of the case years ago when Grandma thought she could do much better with Becky than Mama and I were doing – in her opinion. If memory serves me right, we dropped Becky off at Grandma’s on a Monday. Grandma called late on Tuesday to tell Mama she could not handle Becky. She went so far as to tell Mama that she thought Mama was a saint for the patience she expressed toward Becky. We had to drive back to pick Becky up much sooner than planned. We’ll see how things work out if Mama keeps Yilin, but I know that when that happens, Mama’s quiet days are over for the duration of the experiment.

Mama called me as I was getting off work to tell me she had the Echeveria kids while Erin went to a late afternoon doctor’s appointment. Erin has been suffering from what she believes are kidney stones. Yesterday’s appoint was to attempt to diagnose her condition. I met Mama at a park where I had suggested she take the kids to kill some time; got my kisses and headed home to feed and start working around the farm. I got a text from Mama right after I got home letting me know that Erin had been sent for a CAT scan. Not having any idea how long that would take, Mama took the kids to their house and started fixing dinner from limited resources available there. By the time she got home - about 6:30 – I was on the tractor mowing in the barn lot. I did not stop until 8 PM. During which time Mama was mowing around the house. She finished about the same time I was parking the tractor. Mama had to go slower than she is used to because the mower is not still running well. I made some emergency repairs to it the last time she used it but it needs some more specific repairs to be done. Mama is going to see if Grandpa will work on it in the next few days, otherwise, I will have to haul it to the dealer to have it serviced.

We certainly cannot do without it.

Chicken killers, Mama’s big day, finishing touches

I mentioned taking up the electric fence in the back yard but there is a story behind finally taking the time to pull up that fence. We have not used the fence in a couple years, but it was originally installed to discourage Kobe from getting too close to the goats we had placed behind the house. She seemed especially interested in them. Since she has killed chickens, pigs and a couple goats, we wanted to discourage any interest in what might be considered walking food items. I generally do not abide dogs that will kill our other farm animals, but Kobe has escaped the death blow several times now thanks to Mama’s and Victoria’s intervention. Installing the fence worked. Once she was stung by the electric fence, she never got close again. But the fence sat in Mama’s way whenever she mowed so I have needed to take it down for some time now.

The impetus to do so came from Brittany Wycoff. She texted Mama Saturday afternoon to let Mama know that she could sell any excess eggs Mama could spare for her. A neighbor’s dog killed twelve of her hens. That is not the first time that has happened. I suggested several remedies to deal with the dog, but they were too final for Brittany. Then I suggested the electric fence. That, she was interested in trying. A strong, non-lethal deterrent. One we were not using. It took an hour or so to take loose the wire and pull up the special poles the wire was strung on, but we got it done and put in the back of the Sequoia so it could be delivered Sunday morning. I am anxious to hear if it got installed and if it was as effective as we had promised. I remember the first time Kobe got stung by the fence, she all but refused to go off the patio for several days. I found that quite humorous. I just hope the offending animal is equally impressed by the fence.

Sunday at lunch Mama mapped out a very big morning. She needed to go to Sam’s and the bread store in Denton this week sometime and for some reason she felt like she needed company on that cluster of errands, so she invited the girls to go with her. The only caveat was that she was leaving Decatur at 9 AM which meant that the girls would need to be up and ready fairly early. For Cheyenne, getting up at 8 AM is a very early morning. I imagine Yilin and Aubrey being up at that time. But not Cheyenne. I have no idea how that all worked out this morning, but I a fairly confident that Mama was up early enough to make the appointment. She was waking up when I kissed her goodbye and prayed with her this morning.

I have had the brush hog attached to the tractor for a couple weeks now and have not gotten to use it because of the persistent wet conditions. Now I need to drop it off of the tractor so I can use the tractor to move the trailer where I need it. Kenny and Kimberlyn brought the trailer to the house yesterday evening and picked up Victoria’s little freezer. They recently butchered a couple hogs and need to pick up the meat from that processing. They only have the freezer in the refrigerator to store the meat. Without Victoria’s little freezer, they would have had to give away most of the meat. What would have been left would have been some very expensive pork. Anyway, Mama and I were hoping to mow this evening before the rain starts again tomorrow. (Two inches of rain in the forecast for Wednesday.) That may not happen judging by the looks of the sky this morning. Today’s forecast did not include any rain, but I would not be surprised if the forecasters missed on that one. So, with Mama out shopping and entertaining this morning and more rain falling, our moving plans may be set back until some time in late July or early August.

Last night as we waited on the Cantrell’s, I finished all the cuts on the fence at the corner I am repositioning. I went through four cutting wheels on the grinder to get the cuts completed. Thankfully, the wet conditions inhibit the sparks from catching the leaves on fire. If the rain holds off, I will weld those pieces in place tonight. With the old corner post out of the way, the new fencing looks very nice. Like it was supposed to be that way. Cutting the fence away from the shop will allow me to finish the trim on that corner of the shop building. It’s a little thing, but it will finally give the corner of the fence and the shop a finished look.

That will be nice to complete those finishing touches.

Removing fences, installing fences

Over several evenings I had made some headway with the fencing on the new paddock. We’ll call it the East paddock, but there was still quite a bit to be done. Up to Saturday morning I had attached wire fencing to all the pipe fencing already in place up to the point where I was reworking the corner of that pipe fence at the shop. I still have that to complete but as I was working on that Friday evening, I used up the last of my cutting wheels for the grinder and dulled the last blade I had for the bandsaw. I was at a standstill on that part of the project. But I did have everything I needed to weld up the pipe fence extension on the other side of the gate I had installed on the back of the east paddock. The posts were set in concrete and the cuts had been made for lengths of the pipe to be welded in place. But before I started that I decided to remove the fence outside of the pig building.

I hurriedly installed that fence more than two years ago so we could separate our goats. I made the enclosure secure but not necessarily nice looking. Mama and I had dealt with it for a long time and it was time to take it down so I could use some of that wire in the back of the east paddock – after the fence was welded up properly. That little chore took less time than I had anticipated. The area looks different without that fence. I not only needed it down to reuse the wire, I needed access through that fence to place the trailer so we can load the pigs in a few days. My plan is to back the trailer up to the door on the pig building and walk the two pigs into the trailer. That’s the plan. We will see if that works when we try it. As it stands today, I am still waiting on our trailer to be returned. But we have until the 10^th to work that out. After I pulled the fence and all the posts, I left it sitting where I rolled it up until I change the implements on the tractor so that I can move it into place to be restrung.

Once I started welding on the redesigned corner and the new short string of pipe fence I did not want to stop. In total there were about twenty or so welds that needed to be completed. Since it was all in a thirty-foot area I set the welder up in the middle of the action as I got all the pipe laid out and clamped in place. I am not a good welder, but I improve as I go. It took three hours to get it all done. Some of the welds I will have to touch up over the next couple nights, but everything I needed on the fence is hanging on the welds I made Saturday. At least that is how I left it when I walked away Saturday afternoon. I was pleased with the outcomes. Now I have only about three hours of works needed to complete the fencing on that paddock. I did not have to reform the corner by the shop, but I did so to give the big dogs a path to the back of the property when the east paddock is fully enclosed. Other wise they have to run around the entire enclosure to respond to something on the backside of our property. I hope it was worth the effort.

While I was taking up the electric fence we had set up in the back yard – the one we have not used in a couple years – I noticed that my face was hot with a sunburn. I was wearing a hat, so l largely ignored it as I continued to work. I regretted that decision later that evening. As is common in sunburn events, I did not realize how badly I was burned until late in the evening. Mama was alarmed by the burn on my face. As I thought back through the day, I could not see how I had been so badly burned. Especially on my face. I was in the shade much of the time as I worked on fences. It took me a while to come to the conclusion that the sunburn was from the welding I had done. I was using goggles instead of a welding helmet. That exposed my face to the brightness of the weld on each of the thirty-five rods I burned on the fence. I had to laugh about it.

I started applying Aloe Vera liberally and the burn has softened and disappeared for the most part. I took a piece of Aloe Vera from the plant, cut the skin from the top and smeared the gel directly onto my face using the plant cutting as my applicator. I was surprised that the gel soaked into my skin in a few minutes. When I felt the skin burning or tightening, I smeared my face with the piece of Aloe Vera applying the gel liberally. One piece lasts a long time. In fact, I am still using it today. My face has never been so smooth. No one mentioned it to me at church yesterday, but I was one of many men with a slight sunburn since the men had been on a fishing trip all day Saturday.

By this morning, the sunburn is all but gone.