Preparation, practice, pain

I spent the better part of yesterday evening putting together some noodle jugs to hopefully place in the lake tonight. I had rough idea from someone I talked to recently about how to build the jugs but lacked a couple particulars, so I had not started putting anything together. But yesterday at work I had a few minutes to look at a couple videos that filled in the missing information. Pastor and I put out a couple jugs when we were on the lake Monday evening, but they were pretty rudimentary. Effective to be sure, but not what I was looking to use for myself. The ones I assembled were ½ inch PVC, capped at both ends, slipped into a piece of pool noodle. One end has an eye hook attached for building the rig.

Inside the PVC is a piece of rebar about three inches long. When the jug is set out on the water, it is made to float flat on the surface. When a fish takes the bait, the jug is pulled downward, and the rebar weight slides to the bottom of the pipe causing the jug to stand upright in the water. That makes it easier to see if there is a fish on the line. It is not foolproof, but I think is a clever way of using the jugs. I have been told that when the weight hits to eyehook on the service end of the jug, the sound causes the fish to pull against the jug further setting the hook. We will see. I have been accumulating the parts over the past few days so, the cutting and assembly of the eight jugs made took me about an hour.

I have to meet red Shaw this evening to pick up some cattle panels I am buying from him. Ten panels and the posts that are part of the assembly. To get them, we have to disassemble a dog kennel that has stood empty for years and is not wildly overgrown. It should not take long, but I will not hurry the chore. Mama is going with me so she and Joanne can visit while Red and I work. If I do manage to get back before dark, I will determine whether or not to set out the jugs tonight. If it is too late when we get back to the farm, I will put them out early tomorrow morning and retrieve them late that day. My hope is to set them out tonight so they can sit through the night. Like all plans, this too may fall apart along the way, but at some point, I will eventually succeed. At least I am prepared.

When I set aside the work I was doing in the shop, I watered our plants. They were in desperate need of a good drink of water. I took my time giving all the trees, bushes and beds a thorough soaking. That took about an hour because neither Mama nor I had watered in several days. Mama has not watered in the morning like she has done in the past. I have been away from the farm until well after dark for the past few nights, so I have not had the chance to water in the evenings either. Anyway, after all the plants were soaked down, I went into the house to cool off – and dry out.

Once cooled and cleaned, I got out the cello and removed the bridge. I had bought a replacement bridge because the one in the cello seemed wrong somehow. The replacement bridge however required more customization than I was willing to get into last night. So, I ended up putting the old bridge back on – just the way it had come off. It was then that I noticed it was on backwards to the contour of the fingerboard. When I matched the bridge to the fingerboard and got the cello tuned, it was much easier to play. I also got out a beginner’s cello book I had bought and found out that I had been trying to play the instrument with it positioned too low for me. Extending the peg on the bottom of the cello to the correct height allowed me much more freedom to play. I still sound awful, but it is easier to play awfully. After torturing Mama and Victoria for about forty minutes, I switched to the guitar. I sound awful on that as well. And my left hand and forearm were worn out from playing the cello. I lasted less than an hour total.

When I did lay down late last night, I noticed my right ear was hurting internally. It got worse through the night and persisted through the morning. I will have to doctor that tonight as soon as I get home. I have a very busy week next week. I cannot afford to get sick.

Mama’s nails, pregnancies, projects

As I deleted pictures from my phone, I came across a short video from Sunday lunch at the restaurant. Mama always ends up with the girls crowded around her at some point during lunch. Generally, that crowding involves the phone; looking at pictures, figuring out a game, taking silly selfies. Sunday, as Aubrey sat on Mama’s lap, she played with Mama’s nails – especially her thumbnail. Mama had her nails painted, covered, whatever the process was late last week so the acrylic was still smooth and new. Aubrey did what has been done by children her age – especially little girls - throughout my time with Mama. The child will absently rub, tug on, catch and snap with their fingernail, and generally absorb themselves with a nail on her hand. More often than not it is the thumbnail that is tactilely experienced. So it was with Aubrey. It is a cute video.

The Echevarria children were still with Mama when I got home last night, but Erin was on her way to the house. She had an unexpectedly long visit with the obstetrician. Almost two hours. All that time was spent with the doctor. This is not a high-risk pregnancy but there are always lingering concerns with Erin and Sam because of the autistic child they have. The new little boy on the way is going to be monitored very closely to ensure a healthy pregnancy, a safe delivery and a healthy baby born to the family. Some of the maintenance meds Erin is typically on have been suspended through the pregnancy so the doctor is monitoring those conditions as well. Erin will be under a lot of stress with the pregnancy, her normal life as a wife and a mother of three, the cantata we are working on at church, the holidays through the end of the year, etc. Not unlike Makayla and Brittany as their pregnancies progress. All three babies are due in the same timeframe – early February. Mama and I are praying earnestly to be fulltime in our real estate business by the time our newest grandbabies arrive.

Feeding the animals and getting ready for church was the order of business last night as mama packed up the kids to go home with their mom. It was not a typical church night for us. Mama had a couple stops to make in town before church, so she was determined to leave early enough to take her time with those stops. One involved delivering more eggs to our Chinese family. It seems, Leslie took all the fresh eggs with him when he headed back to Florida yesterday. That drop off happened pretty quickly. It was the second stop that took a bit of time.

Since Grandma had fallen Monday afternoon, Grandpa went to Walmart and bought her a leg brace. Neither of them paid enough attention to the fact that the brace had latex in it. Grandma is allergic to latex, but she wore it anyway (even after they discovered it) because, she told Mama, “It felt so good.” At least until it didn’t. She ended up with a severe breakout of hives – head to foot, armpits, bends of the knee and elbows, etc. While Grandpa took Grandma to the Urgent Care, we went to a sporting goods store to look for a brace that was latex free. That took some time, but we had plenty to spare. There turned out to be too many choices for us to settle on one. Mama will communicate the styles and prices and work all that out today. If the brace helps, we certainly want to provide it for Grandma. But we also want to limit trips to the store to return and/or exchange braces as Grandma settles on the one that suits her best.

This evening, I will have time to do some work around the farm and in the shop. I am nearly finished with assembling the second hive. Fortunately, I am months ahead on that project. We will not get bees for those hives until April of next year. We have not even decided where to place the hives on the farm. I am also working on making some catfish jugs for use in the lake beside us. I had a rough idea what to do but refined the idea looking at videos on YouTube. Most of what I need I have available at the farm, left over from other completed projects. I may get to test the jugs this weekend. It all depends on how quickly I get back from Red’s tomorrow night. We are buying some cattle panels from him and the dog kennel they made up has to be disassembled as we go. Mama has me preparing wood for her and Kimberlyn in their craft making business. I have sufficient light in the shop to do that type of work.

Darkness is settling on us earlier and earlier in the evening as fall begins. It is nice to have the shop to work in as the nights get longer. Fortunately, I have several projects that can be completed in the shop. I am starting to enjoy having the shop. Adapting to and taking on new projects that can be stretched out over the weeks ahead as darkness comes sooner in the evenings.

I enjoy this life with Mama.

Grandpa’s report, watercraft, busyness

Mama spent the day with Grandpa yesterday. He had an appointment in Denton with a cardiologist. This one was a follow-up visit. He got more good news. Grandpa really likes this doctor. On the last visit the doctor diagnosed Grandpa’s continued internal bleeding. The bleeding was coming from a ruptured hiatal hernia. They got pictures to prove it. We were concerned it might be originating in the colon, so the diagnosis was good news. Grandpa’s heart is in good shape, his blood pressure is under control and his regimen of blood thinners seems to be working to keep him free of blood clots. He does not have to see the doctor again for three months. Grandma did not go yesterday. She had a bad fall inside the house the day before yesterday and was still hurting too badly to walk much at all.

After the pastor and I had a successful excursion onto the quarry lake, I remembered that as Mama and I moved onto the farm we inherited a couple inflatable boats. They are not big. Five foot by four foot. Once I found out the brand I looked them up and found them for sale at Walmart. So, they are not anything great either. But out of curiosity, I got them out of the canvas bag they have been stored in for five years and inflated them. That was a bit of a challenge because we were not able to find the little blower we use to inflate the air beds. I had to improvise, but finally got both of them inflated. They seem to be in good shape. I will know by Thursday evening when I check them to see if they have bled off any pressure. I may try one of them out Friday evening after I get back from disassembling cattle panels I am buying from Red.  Maybe Saturday morning early – before bus calling. I do not think they will be a long-term solution, but it is worth a trial use. At least, they are easy to transport to and from the lake. I will just have to find a place to launch them that is relatively free of rocks. The place I will launch the canoe has some very large, very rough stones we would have to avoid.

I learned on our first fishing trip how ill-prepared I am for fishing from a boat. But it will not take much to get ready. Fortunately, pastor was ready. I do not have a net, a bait bucket, a good stringer or a fish basket, any jug lines ready to go, etc. Once I manage to accumulate a few items I will feel better equipped, but I may launch off with what I have and accumulate other items as I get more proficient. Mama and I do not have the money to spare at the moment for me to buy unnecessary things. Most items I can get for less than $10 each, but even that adds up quickly. Oh, well. It is pleasant distraction in a troubled time.

Mama and I, along with numerous others are praying for our relator in Lawton. I have routinely emailed and called over the past few weeks. Either no response or very limited responses. That is frustrating and very disappointing. Eventually, it will all work out, but it is taking its toll on our finances. Fortunately, we have separated our business from our living expenses, so we are muddling through, but this schedule is certainly falling far short of our once high expectations. Far short of promises made to us. There is so little we can do to affect the situation in a positive way, but God is able. We are certainly learning patience. And we are kept busy at the farm with life in general as we head into the Fall and Winter. Raising chickens, selling eggs. Raising baby goats. Due early to mid-October. Hopefully, raising a couple baby claves. We are on the list to purchase them when they come through the stock sale. A very long list of Winter cleanup projects. Plenty to do that does not require money.

I am also kept busy at work. Monday I am going to the State Fair with Mama. More fun than being at work. Following that, next week is our bi-annual conference. I will be teaching Tuesday. That class time is followed by a reception, a dinner and a concert. I will be at the Texas Motor Speedway from 7 am to 9 pm - or later. Wednesday follows the same schedule; although I will not have a class to teach. Thursday is a little shorter workday with events ending by about 5 pm. By Friday it will all be over. We will breathe a sigh of relief. We will all be exhausted. The following week I have three classes to teach but by the middle of October, things will slow down significantly at work.

That is not necessarily a good thing, but it will all work out.

Fishing, practicing

When our pastor was at the house Saturday evening for dinner, he and I set up a date to try out the lake by our farm. It was going to be either Monday or Tuesday evening. He called yesterday afternoon to confirm for last night. As I was out helping Mama feed, he pulled into the driveway. He brought a ten-foot aluminum V-bottom boat for us to launch on the lake. We spent a few minutes casting a net for bait in the little tank in the barn lot but met with limited success. We did end up catching four small perch to use on a couple juglines. Since our time would be limited and we would not be able to leave the juglines overnight, we settled for what we had.

It was no problem to get the boat out of the trailer and launched in the lake. We were able to park the truck and trailer at a spot familiar to me where we have accessed the lake several times when we have fished from the bank. We loaded poles, a cooler, life jackets and a couple juglines into the boat before we pushed away. I was anxious to see if I could handle crawling into and around in a small craft like the one we were using. I did okay but it was a struggle. Being stiff in the back greatly limits certain activities. Having an unstable surface to move on adds to the difficulty. Getting in was the biggest challenge because I had to be bent over as I lifted my feet over the sides and the seats moving to the back of the craft. But I made it – slowly. Pastor then got in and pushed us off. It was a great test to see if I could use the canoe on the lake. It is less stable than the boat we were in, but I am going to try it soon. Launching from where we set off will allow me good access to the canoe. I should be able to push out into the lake easily and return to the same spot to get out of the lake. We will see.

The water was beautifully clear and quickly deep. We were not very far from the bank and were in about fifteen feet of water when we baited and left the first jug. Shortly thereafter we let out the second of the two juglines we had bait for. Then we fished. I let out a couple lines to trail us but we retrieved them after a short while so we could cast more freely. On one of my first casts I caught a large bass. Close to three pounds. Pastor was impressed that the lake had that size fish in it. He caught one of similar size, but it spit out the lure before we could net it and bring it in the boat. As we fished a storm was moving in and the wind began to be an issue. We were on the far side of the lake in only a few minutes – having to row back to our launch site against the wind. That took some effort, but it was still fun. The lake is only about six or e seven acres, so it is not huge. It is very deep, which allows for a great fish population in a small area.

Since we did not know if the storm would hit us or not, we beached the boat and began to fish from the bank. Pastor caught two bass. Only one was keeper. I caught two as well. Both of them were thrown back. We fished for about three hours with only the two large bass to show for it. Neither of the juglines gave us any fish. They needed to be left out overnight to be productive. I will try and do that this weekend or next. Pastor filleted the fish for us and headed home just at dark. It was a good time. Now we know that the lake is full of fish – especially good-sized bass. That means there will be crappie and catfish as well. I will definitely have to develop the habit of fishing it often. I am sure pastor will want to try again as the weather cools, but we will have to start earlier – or fish through the night. It was good to be on the water. Especially such clear water. That in sight of our house. In fact, the lake property shares a fence with our farm. It is a wonderful gift given us by the Lord. As for the storm. It passed us by completely, but some areas around us got quite a bit of rain.

Tonight, I hope to take the time to get my cello out. I have not had time to practice any of my instruments over the past few days. I want to get to the point that opportunities to play the instruments are times of relaxation. Right now, they are times of frustration. Especially the guitar. I struggle with developing the finger memory to rapidly hit the cords. I cannot honestly say I have even one cord position memorized. Certainly not mastered. On the cello, I am a little less frustrated, but far from the point of playing an offertory at church. My goal is to play a Christmas tune for an offertory this year, but I am progressing so slowly, I am not confident I will be able to do even that. Fortunately, Mama does not mind my squeaks and buzzes as I struggle to learn both the guitar and the cello.

Hopefully, she will be as accommodating as I try the harmonica.

Work birthday, guests

Friday the “kids” at work had a small birthday party for me. They hung a banner behind my desk and circulated a birthday card. The card had a gift card for Lowe’s inside it. One of the ladies baked a Choco flan cake. There was enough left that Mama and Victoria got to try it. Throughout the day there were birthday wishes sent from employees throughout the company. This is a good company. I do not always agree with the approach they take to training, but they are good people. My only frustration is the inability to help our personal business progress because of having to work full-time in this job. Oh, well. It could definitely be worse.

Mama made me molasses cookies instead of a cake. I think we enjoyed those more than any birthday cake she could have made. Brittany sent me some spices I will use for grilling and the twins sang happy birthday to me. That was precious. Meanwhile, Cori and Nate had a joint birthday celebration at the children’s home in Honduras. Cori said that the kids treated her special all day long on the day of her birthday. Breakfast in bed. Cooking and cleaning. Special pampering. A sweet day-long celebration. Nate did not get the same attention, but that is just how things work out for the dad’s in our lives. Becky and Bridgette celebrated birthdays last week as well. Bridgette had a visit from Minnie Mouse on her birthday. Special delivery by the Volunteer Fire Department. Sadly, I do not have pictures of any of those gatherings. Mama’s birthday is next Sunday. Chase’s as well.

Saturday was spent in large part getting ready for guests that evening. Victoria was sick through the weekend and Mama was hurting in her knees, so we struggled through as best we could. I spent the morning cleaning up on the outside of the house -weeding flowerbeds and the graveled area where the grill sits. Weed eating a little bit. I was hurting as well, so I was limited in what I could do. But we pulled it together before our guest arrived. I grilled chicken leg quarters, chicken breasts, hamburgers (a mixture of ground beef and ground turkey), sausages and pineapple. I cooked the leg quarters in a pressure cooker for about ten minutes before putting them on the grill. That way they do not get so dried out as they are cooked through. Mama made a grape salad, a cranberry-pineapple Jello salad, fresh bread, mashed potatoes, roasted, seasoned sweet potatoes and green beans. We have found a new favorite green bean. They are Italian Green Beans. Broad, flat bean pods. Very good. Mama fixed them with a little bacon and onion. We had plenty of food. A good bit of leftovers. Some of which, Trace took with him to eat as he travels to an out-of-state jobsite this week.

Pastor and Joyce Horton came over. Kenny and Kimberlyn Cantrell came. James and Olivia Downs, missionaries to Ethiopia, with their two children, James and Abigail traveled over with the pastor. Alisa also came with the Hortons, bringing Gracie as an extra guest. Trace was in town for the weekend, so we invited him over as well. With me and Mama included, we had eleven for dinner. We talked for about an hour as Mama and I finished preparing everything. We ate and then we talked for a couple hours after dinner. It was a fun, relaxing evening. I showed pastor my shop – such as it is. Mama showed Mrs. Downs and all the children around the farm. Mrs. Downs, who is deathly afraid of spiders, walked through a spider web and freaked out. Mama and the kids laughed so hard they were still laughing a half hour later as they came inside. Mama had to change her undergarments she laughed so hard. Mrs. Downs laughed at herself once she got over the fright. The kids made sure to bring it up Sunday morning as we visited before church. It was a fun evening. Everyone loves coming to Mama’s house.

We had wonderful services Sunday morning. A light lunch and a long nap that afternoon. Great services that evening. It was good weekend.

Pick up at Grandma’s, our mowers, Midas

Mama and I hurried through dinner and feeding the animals so we could drive to Grandma’s to pick up some furniture items they needed moved. We did not make it out of the house before Grandma called to ask where we were. Why we were not there yet? I had only been home for about 45 minutes. But, that aside, we made good time in getting there. At last from our point of view.

One of the items we retrieved was a huge four-poster bed. Far too large to be used in any bedroom we have. Far too large to be used in the small second bedroom they have. Mama and Kimberlyn may make a bench out of it. Another item was a dresser that had been converted into a sink. Norman had taken it out of a remodel project he was working on and Mama expressed an interest in it. Along with those two items, there was an old dry sink taken from the house in Bowie some years ago. Somehow it had ended up with Grandma and Grandpa. That too was brought home. I may repurpose it for a sink in the hall bathroom at our house instead of the one Norman brought. We also brought home an office chair that Mama will use in the sunroom along with the table I built for her a couple weeks ago. All the items are in various stages of disrepair. So, whatever is decided for repurposing them, there is some work required for each of those projects.

While we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s, Grandpa showed us the push mower he has been working on for us. It is almost ready to return to us. I have had it sitting behind the shop after having run it only for a few minutes when it was originally brought to us. It ran so roughly that I shut it off and left it sit until one evening when Grandpa brought his mower over to mow our grass. I rolled it out so he could take a look at it to see if it was worth fixing. It seemed it was worth fixing and we will get it back very soon. There are a wealth of places we can use the smaller mower around the farm. Since it is also a bagger, it will help us control the grass burrs when we mow areas infested with those burrs. I can always use the extra steps.

Also, as we left Grandma and Grandpa’s, we went to see our mechanic to check on Mama’s Bad Boy mover. Roger is in the process of ordering parts to put it back together. We do not need a short block. Only a minor repair is required. Praise the Lord! The cause of the malfunction seems to be a rat’s nest built beside the cooling fins on the engine. That nest, hidden from our view, blocked air to the cooling fins causing the engine to run hot. That in turn work out the rings causing the engine to burn oil. When the rings are replaced and the engine reassembled, we should be set for many more years of use. Mama was very pleased. Me, too.

We were home a little before dark. I consulted with Mama and we decided to give Champ, our wether, his second shot of antibiotics. While doing so, I noticed a smear of blood on Scamp’s side. We started to investigate. Knowing the way goats interact, it had to be from the face or head of one of the other two. It was from Midas. He had two deep gouges on his head just behind the nubs where his horns had been removed. There was a third scrape a little further back on his head. The best I could guess is that he got caught in the fence and fought to get his head back out. The 4”x4” openings in the field fencing are just big enough for him to get his head through. He will outgrow that soon enough, but he tore himself up a bit discovering it is easier to get through than it is to get back out. Mama and I doctored him the best we could to try to prevent an infection. Mama will monitor it closely for the next week or so. In the meantime, Midas will not win any king-of-hill butting contests for a couple weeks.

Victoria and Mama are going to meet me for lunch today. Victoria finally has a day off. I am going to pay for them to take me out for my birthday lunch. That’s how it works out for Daddy. Other than lunch and a bit of grocery shopping for tomorrow’s dinner, they will relax between bursts of house cleaning. My participation in the cleaning will be limited since the front porch and the sunroom are still in good shape – cleaning wise – from our work last week.I, personally, like the improvements to those areas and will work to maintain them as long as I can…whether we have guests coming or not.

Regardless, I love sharing our farm and life with others.

Still waiting, change of plans, looking ahead

This month marks a year since we purchased the house on Dover Avenue in Lawton. We are still waiting for our realtor to complete the remodels on that house. On the bright side, we will not have to pay any short-term capital gains on the proceeds from the sale of that property when we do have the chance to sell it. The whole project has been a lesson in patience. It will serve us very well going forward. I am not entirely sure how it will serve us well, but I have served the Lord long enough to know that any lesson of this magnitude is meant as a lesson for a lifetime. It has affected all the decisions Mama and I have made over the last twelve months. Fortunately, we have made prudent decisions as we wait on the sale of this and out second house in Lawton. The financial lessons alone have been of great value. The emotional lessons learned are still to be determined. The spiritual lessons will spill over into all areas of our lives as we continue to grow. But, honestly, we are ready for the training session to be over. Soon, maybe.

I had suggested to Mama that I would drive up to Lawton tomorrow evening after work, but she reminded me that that is my birthday and she did not want me to spend the evening chasing down our elusive realtor. Saturday is out of the question. We are busy both morning and evening. Next week has some open slots. The week after, October begins. Time certainly waits on no man. Mama and I are completely convinced that the Lord is on control of this situation. We are still working prayerfully on lining up our expectations with His. I believe we are getting there. Only time will tell. In the long run it will all work out. After all, we will have a house to sell at the very least. That a huge.

 Victoria and Mama were toying with the idea of going to Brittany’s this weekend, but they backed out. Victoria has been working for fourteen straight days with only Sunday off. She is worn out. She really needs to stay home and rest. Mama was excited about getting to see the twins, but she overlooked the fact that she invited several people over for dinner Saturday evening. Six to be exact. It would have been possible to reschedule, but she thought better of it. So, they will stay home this weekend. We will get up to Britany’s at a later date. Perhaps a date when I am free to travel as well.

Mama has lost only two chicks out of the batches she recently started raising. That count does not include the four of five lost to snakes. The recent losses were from natural death. Cause unknown. That is not uncommon, but it always a sad note for Mama. Me as well. Neither of us likes to see anything die. But I am confident that those losses are not a result of neglect. Everything gets babied by Mama. From chickens, to goats, to dogs, to cows, to pigs. Yes, even to me. When all these chicks are finally grown enough to occupy the coop, we will have a rather large population of chickens. Hopefully, a large population producing a large number of eggs. I reported yesterday that we have 34 mature chickens. I was wrong. We have only 30. We get less than half that many eggs daily. I do not know if that is good or bad. I have nothing to compare it to. We just take what we get. Mostly we find all the eggs that have been laid, but not always. Case in point, those being set on in the goat barn. I have always been curious how the chickens know where to lay to fill the nest under a broody chicken, but somehow, they do. Watching that work itself out under the watchful eye of God is always fascinating.

For our fruit trees, berry bushes and grape vines, we are entering the maintenance mode of Fall and Winter survival. The fig tree has yet to ripen the figs on it, but all the other fruit producers are getting ready to go dormant. We will get on a schedule of watering them sufficiently through the months ahead until Spring of next year. When the grape vine goes to sleep for the Winter, I will move it to the bed beside the garage. I believe it will do much better there. I will have to provide a trellis for it in order to keep it from blocking the sidewalk, but I would like to see it produce next year. I am still pulling blackberry shoots out of that bed almost a year after I removed the original plant from the bed. Amazing! Along with replanting the grape vine, I will relocate the asparagus from the garden to that bed. Planting those transplants next to the asparagus already in that bed. It will be convenient to have them all together.

It’s the little things that keep us busy.

Birthdays, farm animals

September is the month of the year when we have a high concentration of birthdays. If I have all of the month’s birthdays listed correctly on my calendar, there are eight birthdays in our family in this month. In order, they are Bridgette, Kathryn, Cori (today), me, Rebekah, Nate, Mama and Chase. Mama sent out packages for the first two. There will be packages going out to those available for mailed items as the month progresses. When everyone was home, September was a fun and expensive month with birthday parties, presents and birthday dinners. I miss that.

Coal was successfully dropped off at the meat market yesterday. He weighed 110#. I told Mama that exact weight as Victoria and I were loading him into the truck. Just a lucky guess. Having him out of the paddock with the little bucks made things a lot calmer. He outweighed the bucks by about twenty-five to thirty pounds – and he knew it. He was forever pushing them around. The only one who could stand up to him was Scamper; because he has horns. When he got mad at Coal, he let he have it with those horns. That generally ended the challenge quickly. At which point Coal would start back in on Champ or Midas. More often that not, on Midas. Now that Coal is gone, Midas and Scamper are battling it out. Other than the horns (which Scamper has) they are about equally matched. The ongoing fight for dominance will prepare them for mating season next year nut it still bothers Mama to watch.

Mama and I went out late last night to close up the chickens. It is a nightly task I usually do alone, but Mama wanted to count her hens to see how many she actually has. The total was 34. That is a lot of hens for the dozen eggs we get daily. Hopefully, we can cull out the non-layers and concentrate on those that actually produce eggs for us. With the chicks we know the count. Twenty-three growing up to be layers. Ten growing up to be meals. Three broods. The oldest of which is three to four weeks ahead of the youngest. The size difference is remarkable. In addition to all the chicks we have bought, we have a Bantam hen sitting on a brood of fifteen or so eggs in the goat barn. What may hatch from that is yet to be seen. Generally, those hatchlings are half roosters, half hens. But Mama and I have let her alone.

We suspected that a hen was brooding somewhere because our egg count went down for a week or so, but we did not discover her until she had at least twenty eggs under her. Some have since been rejected from the nest and have been carefully discarded. The rest should hatch by the end of next week. It will be exciting to see how many we get from that brooding. We have not allowed any of our other hens to sit – although five or so are very broody. The two roosters we have allowed to live are keeping our hens happy. They seem quite happy themselves. I am toying with the idea of repairing the kennel so it can be used for the meat chickens, but I have not settled on that yet. We will need a separate place for them because of special feeding requirements. We will work something out. Even as chicks, the meat chickens are at least double the weight of the layer chicks.

Our nanny goats are not due to kid until the first part of October. Perfect timing as far as the heat is concerned. Two, which were obviously bred early, are bagging up heavily. That lets Mama and I know the time is near. They are at least two weeks out at this point. The other two are a month out. All in all, we should have between eight and ten kids – if all goes well. We are a little concerned about our oldest nanny, Millie. She lost all three of her kids last year. We will see what this year brings. October should be a fun month.

Mama and I have not been able to get any bottle baby calves yet, but we are still looking. This weekend I will start on a shelter for bottle babies. The stalls I will build will be useful for many other animals when needed, but the primary function will be for the calves we want to raise. The winter projects are starting to pile up.

Mama and I love life on the farm.

Loading Coal, cutting pieces, the cello

I met mama for lunch yesterday. She had a lot of little errands in town, so we met at Braum’s. She got a burger and I ate what I had brought for lunch. As we were sitting in Braum’s, Mama mentioned that Tractor Supply had chicks for fifty cents apiece. I told her to go ahead and get some. At that price, how could we go wrong? We are already set up for chicks. We have two batches of chicks in two different areas of the coop and could easily manage a few more. She bought ten pullets of different varieties and ten straight run of Cornish hens. The Cornish hens will need to be processed by the end of next month. They are for eating only. We have been told that they are the best chickens to grow for the table. We will see. So, now we have forty chicks in various stages of development at or in the coop.

The first order of business last night was to get the racks on the truck so Coal could be loaded. Mama has had the appointment at the meat market set for over a month – the earliest one we could schedule - so we did not want to miss it. Victoria was home just before I got home so I had the help I needed. Coal weighs over one hundred pounds now. That is more than I can handle by myself when it comes to “walking” him to the truck and lifting him into the bed. Since Mama has been feeding animal crackers to the goats, Coal has taken a shine to the treats so he is far more social than he once was.

We tried catching him near the gate into the paddock by offering the crackers to our male herd, but he was too skittish to be so easily caught. It is amazing just how fast he could move when we tried to grab him. Eventually, Mama got them into the shelter where they normally feed and Victoria and I were able to get hold of him. He was not at all cooperative as we walked him to the truck. We held up his front legs and let him walk on his hind legs – when he would. Mostly he dropped his butt to the ground and forced Victoria and I to drag him most of the distance to the truck. Maybe fifty paces. He loaded easily enough once we got him to the truck, but he bawled loudly the rest of the evening and into the night. But he is loaded, and Mama can make the trip to Muenster to offload him this morning. She will get some feed while she is there and go from the feed store to visit with Kim Cantrell for the rest of the day.

Once the lamb was loaded and feed distributed, I took some time to cutout some pieces I had marked for the beehive frames. It was not difficult with the tools I have, but I was a little disappointed with the inconsistency of my work. They will work, but they do not look nearly as nice as the machined pieces sent in the kit I assembled. All the replacement parts were cut from scraps I had lying about in the shop. I will have to see if I can do better at some future date, but for now, they will have to suffice to complete the assembly. It was fun to do, and it took less than an hour to cut the twenty pieces. If nothing else, it was good practice.

I stopped around 6:30 so I would have time to water the plants before I quit for the evening. I wanted to leave myself plenty of time to get out the cello and see if I could figure out how to play it. Once I cooled down enough to shave and shower, I go the instrument out. It took me about twenty minutes to tune it using a frustrating app on my phone. I do not remember how many ads I had to go through as I struggled to get the cello tuned, but it was exasperating. Once tuned, I got out the pages I had printed and started learning the notes. After about forty minutes, I began to get the hang of it and was able to figure out a couple songs. Mama loved it. At least she was able to recognize the tunes I was trying to play. The cello my brother Tony gave me has a wonderful, rich, relaxing sound. It is frustrating to begin at the beginning, like anyone learning an instrument, but I hope to advance quickly.

While I am learning the cello, I will not abandon the guitar. We have a young man in the church that plays the guitar the way I would like to, so I will learn from him as I progress on both instruments. Somewhere in all of that, I will get out my old violin and see how far I have regressed on that instrument. Whatever time I give to the instruments will be time well spent.

Who knows what God can do with it?

Cleaning, hive building, guests, thankfulness

This weekend was not as occupied as most. Of course, there were the normal chores around the farm along with preparation for guests. Which always necessitates a more thorough cleaning of the house than is required for us to live in it. I have never understood that, but I have adapted to it. With that in mind, I cleaned the sunroom top to bottom, side to side. Sweeping up all the accumulated leaves and dirt, gathering all the stuff Mama and I have been procrastinating on and rearranging items we are going to keep in the area, while throwing away all the items that needed to be discarded long ago but have sat waiting on us to do so. I filled one trash bag just from the things that needed to be thrown away. Why we left them sit and accumulate the mass of dust and leaves they did, is still a mystery to me. But they are gone now and the sunroom looks like we intended it to look – clean, organized and ready for more plants.

While I was soaked with sweat, I tackled the front porch. It had accumulated less discardable items but I threw away some things that had been there far too long, removed a table that we did not need or use and rearranged the bench we set the dog dished on for Sam and Sasha so that Mama can see from the kitchen window it the dogs need more food added to those dishes. I moved a crock we have had sitting on the porch for several years into the well house to protect it from damage. That opened up a good bit of floor space. More than I had imagined it would. When I was done, I washed the porch to remove the accumulated dirt dropped there by Sasha, who camps out at the front door every night. She and Sam lay in the dust and dirt when it is cooler than the porch or garage floor. That way, when they move to either of those two spots, they can leave behind a plie of dirt that sluffs off every time they lay down. Mama and I are constantly sweeping up the residue of their afternoon naps in the garage. They do not mind when we clean those areas. They know they can dirty them up again easily.

To rest my back. I open one of the two boxed hives delivered Thursday evening. It was pretty simple to assemble. It consists of two deep boxes that will be home to the bees and a honey super that will be placed on the hive when it is ready. In assembling the frames, I came up short on sides for the frames. Because f that I was not able to build the last five deep frames. Other than that, the hive is ready to go. Whether Mama and I will order bees locally or online remains to be decided. But on the off chance we can catch a swarm, we have a hive ready for them – almost. Mama is going to attend another meeting of the beekeeper’s club in a week or so and ask a couple questions about the hive. Should we paint it? Should it be placed in the direct sun or do we offer some shade? Will placing the hive in the garden be a good idea? How do we deal with ants? Those kinds of questions. I will be at a company function that night, but Mama will happily go without me.

Yesterday we entertained guests for the first time in quite a while. We have not eaten Sunday dinner at home in a couple years. It was fun. Mama got to feeling poorly through the afternoon Saturday, so we were tempted to cancel or move the dinner to the church. But a couple hours later Mama recovered sufficiently to keep our original plans. We invited four guests from BBTI plus Trace. We also had Yilin, Cheyenne and Aubrey. As usual, we fixed way too much food. A beef roast, a pork roast (each with potatoes and carrots), potato salad, fresh bread, corn dip, a grape salad and a strawberry and banana salad. Grandma sent a Mandarin Orange Cake to round out the menu. The fresh bread, cut hot as we finalized everything else, was a big hit. (Thanks to Mama buying a bread machine at a yard sale last week.) Our first loaf made in the machine ballooned up to the top and stuck to the lid. The second loaf was better because we decided we did not need to mix for the largest recipe in the book; settling instead for a smaller, neater looking loaf. It was a good time of eating and visiting. Getting to know some of these young people and getting to share our lives with them.

It gave Mama and I time to share of ourselves and to be truly thankful for all that God has given us. We do not take nearly enough time to praise the Lord for His blessings to us as we experience our day-to-day lives, so it is good to share what we have and remember how blessed we actually are.

It was a fun time that once again helped me remember how blessed I am to be married to the woman God gave me.

Travel, disappointments, home

I have been on the road for the past four days; since Sunday evening. The time was spent in Athens, AL at a training facility they call Leak City. All in all, it was a good week. The classes I had to present were not the best material – at least not the caliber of material I would have liked to present to a crowd of people with that level of experience, so I adapted. Especially with the second class (Wednesday). I had a person in class with me that is an expert on evaluating employees like those that were in attendance. I stopped my presentation when I saw the class lagging and asked him to do a full walk-through of what his expectations would be with regard to a performance of the task we were addressing in the course material. That thirty minutes of demonstration was a huge success. So effective that in the second half of the class I had Jeremy repeat the process with an evaluation relevant to that topic. Each demonstration generated so much involvement that I think we have a pattern for future classes. Prior to the demonstration, the class was disconnected, uninvolved. I could not buy a comment. After the demonstration I almost lost control of the class. That was a good thing. I made the week a success at least on the classroom level.

We, as a company, were hugely disappointed by the response of the organizing company to our involvement and financial participation in the event. We supplied (free of charge to the organization) personnel to host and teach two classes. We provided a booth in the vendor area with a lot of giveaway items. We gave a very generous donation to sponsor the event. However, we were constantly skipped over for any mention of our involvement. Any appreciation of our donation. Our CEO, who attended three days of the event, was not happy with the oversight – which was possibly more of a slight. Time will tell. Anyway, it is done now.

I got to fly home Thursday afternoon. The CEO and I ended up on the same flight, so he invited me to lunch at an airport restaurant as we waited for the flight. His exasperation was measured, but evident. We had a good visit during the hour we spent at the bar-b-que restaurant. Not that that will amount to anything for my benefit, but it gave me a chance to witness gently as I refused an alcoholic drink – even to the point of politely declining the offer of the olives in his drink. We share stories from our past work histories and got to know each other a bit better. There are times when I would like to convince them that is can do far more than they are asking of me, but it is probably for the best that I do not.

I am home now. And happily so. Mama and I had a strained evening because I always come back from road trips emotionally wrung out. She has learned to give me time alone with my thoughts as I let the stress go from such an event. By this morning, I was okay. I should be okay through the weekend, which is a good thing since we are having seven or eight people over for Sunday dinner. We have several students from BBTI attending our church this year and Mama has been antsy to have them over. The issue is that we usually go to the restaurant for lunch every Sunday afternoon because Alex likes to feed us when we take the girls to church. Well, he is having the restaurant retrofitted to become a Japanese/Chinese restaurant. Doing away with the buffet altogether. The remodel will take a month. During that time Mama and I will take the girls with us and have our Sunday dinners at home. The girls are very excited. Mama and I are too.

Mama is out today with Kim Cantrell looking at yard sales for items they can use in their growing business. I am not sure what they are looking for because they will not know until they see it, but I am sure they will have fun looking even if they get nothing…which is not likely to happen.

As for the rest of the weekend, I have nothing special planned. Yesterday, we got the two beehives I ordered accidently. I will probably take time to assemble those, but they will not be needed until sometime in April next year. By then Mama and I will have decided where to put the hives and who we will order our bees from. Mama is excited about our bee keeping venture. In fact, I had her order the tubes for making bee’s wax lip balm. I will order the bee’s wax today and perhaps next week, we will make the balm as a test run of our first bee related product.

It should be fun.

Last minute, yard work, other work

I was in class yesterday as a student. It was a good class taught by a coworker I trained to teach the class. He did a great job – even giving Red Shaw (another instructor) and I some good tips to include in our presentations. Though it took me away from many things I needed to be doing to catch up to the last few weeks of travel and training as well as prepare for next week’s travel and training, it was time well spent. I have to keep reminding myself of that because I walked into a mess this morning.

Tomorrow I will be presenting an internal version of the same class I will be presenting next Monday morning. It is a great opportunity for me, but it is very last minute. No preparation for this class has been made and as I discovered rather belatedly, no preparation has been made for the classes next week either. No books printed and bound. No tests printed. No certificated made. Nothing. With tomorrow being taken up by a last-minute training, I will have only today to get all the wheels moving to make the arrangements for materials for next week. Whether or not we get anything printed for tomorrow is not nearly as important to me. It is for information and for fun. But as of this morning, no one knew who was attending or how we were going to present the class…internal only, video conferencing, net meeting conferencing, etc. Oh, well. I will do my best to make it a worthwhile presentation. Helpful information. An interesting morning.

With our mower in the shop, Mama is antsy to find a way to get the grass cut. Typically, this time of year we do not have much grass to cut, but we have had some unexpected rainfall and the grass is responding accordingly. We did get in touch with Roger yesterday – maybe it was Tuesday. He has looked at the mower but has not broken down the engine. It is pumping oil into one cylinder so, either the rings are bad, or the cylinder is shot. Replacing bad rings is a simple, inexpensive issue. If the cylinder is shot, we will need a new long block replacement on the engine. That part is about $800. Either way we will pursue the repair. For a $7,000 mower, $1000 in repairs does not seem unreasonable. How long it will take to get that done is not known. Roger did advise we get a better air filtration system installed on the mower since we are using it in very dusty service. Since that is what ruined the engine, I definitely agree. Mama is trying to get Grandpa to bring his mower over this weekend to help keep the yard trimmed. I am not sure we will have time for that, but if Mama wants it done, we will make time – providing Grandpa is up to it.

With Hurricane Dorian’s change in trajectory, Maggie has been told that evacuation is not mandatory. I have not talked to her since that change of directive was issued, but I assume she will stay put. During the last hurricane that rolled across the Wilmington area, their apartment complex did not lose power so is it a good bet that she will be safe through this one also. At least, we pray so.

Teaching tomorrow. Out next week until Friday. After that, things slow down for a couple weeks – work wise. Mama and I are hoping they speed up regarding work being done on our houses, but that is in the Lord’s hands. At this point no work of any significance has happened on the houses since May. Disappointing but not devastating.

Zoe and Sophia, good buy, the storm

I am afraid this was not much of a fun weekend for Zoe and Sophia. The only time they got to play was on Friday evening and Sunday evening. Other than that, during their waking hours they were on the move with Mama and Victoria or traveling to meet their mommy and daddy with me and Mama. I think they had fun with us, especially Victoria. At least they are very familiar with the house and the farm, so they were able to settle in very quickly. They are still afraid of the big dogs, the goats and the chickens when they are up close, but they like them all from afar. They love Mocha. They are bigger than her and that fits into their comfort zone. However, when Mocha barks during play with them or Mama, it still scares the girls. I did not get to spend much time with the twins Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but we got some time together Monday; both in the morning and as we traveled to meet Brittany and Andrew in Altus. But we stopped for a visit with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa on the way.

We met Brittany and Andrew at a donut shop in Altus. It is called Donut and Fried Rice. That is exactly what it was. A little donut shop that served fried rice and pad tai for lunch. Mama and I were hungry, so we tried a dish of each – shrimp fried rice and combination pad tai. It was a little past the girl’s lunchtime, but they were not interested in eating. They realized they were being given back to mommy and daddy and they were not sure they were altogether happy about it. Brittany and Andrew were already at the restaurant with a couple they had been stationed with in England. That couple had recently had a baby boy they were showing off. While in Altus, Brittany and Andrew had visited with two or three other military couples who also recently had babies. They had had a fun long weekend.

We ate a leisurely lunch together, transferred all the luggage and bedding items from the Sequoia to the van and loaded the girls into their car seats. They were not happy for me and Grammy to be leaving separately, but they recovered quickly. Brittany told Mama later that the girls had fallen asleep before they got out of town. When they each woke up later, Zoe asked for Mama and Sophia asked for me. They were not pleased that we were not there.

While Brittany and Andrew were heading home, Mama and I headed East to Lawton so we could look at our two houses there. What we found was very discouraging. In the Dover house, nothing has been done over the last three months. We were not able to get into the other property, but it looks untouched from what we could see. I will contact our realtor today, but I am at a loss what to say. With the Dover property, we successfully bid on the house in September of last year. We closed in November. So, we are closing in on a year of remodeling – hit and miss. Mostly miss. I have no idea if that is normal or if there is some reason our projects are going so slowly. Though I do not want to offend, I need an answer to address the timeline and a projection what we can expect for completion. Before I contact him, I need to do some research and get my timelines straight, but promises have been made and not kept. I can only say it is a good thing I did not base any of the decisions made for work on those bold promises.

Mama was supposed to meet with Kimberlyn today to work on their craft business, but she is feeling poorly and cannot make it. The two of them were also supposed to attend the Wise County Auction here in Decatur today. With Mama feeling as badly as she did last night, I am not sure that will happen either. We did buy Mama a nice walker this weekend. There was a yard sale very near us and they had the walker sitting where it was easily seen from the road. I took Mama by and we looked it over. They were asking $25. We offered $20. They took it. We also bought several pairs of boy’s jeans for Grant and Blake. Spending a total of $25. Mama and Victoria used the walker as they shopped the outlet mall with the twins. The twins rode in the walker seat while Mama used it to help take the pressure off her knee. It was a good buy. A fun ride for Zoe and Sophia. Support for Mama.

Pray for Maggie and the kids – and hundreds of thousands of others – as the hurricane approaches the East Coast of the US. Aaron is on the boat heading out into the Atlantic to keep the boat safe and be ready to help in the recovery after the storm passes. Maggie has told to evacuate. She is not happy, but she has better options than many of the thousands that have no one to turn to as she does.

It will be a long week and perhaps a difficult month for many in the path of the storm.