Victoria, pumpkin carving, crafting

Victoria will be flying home today. Mama and I will be heading to the airport to get her later this evening. I believe her flight is scheduled to land around 7 pm. Victoria has had a great time in Honduras. Slowly recovering from her back injury, but able to enjoy large parts of the activities she got to participate in. She is coming home to a mess at work. As she left, still incapacitated by her back pain, she was required to take a leave of absence from work to cover the missed days prior to leaving for Honduras. The doctor that was supposed to fax the paperwork to her HR department has not done so still yet. Leaving her time off up in the air and placing her perilously close to being fired for excessive absences.

Mama is going to track down the paperwork and bring it to me so I can fax it in. All this should have been completed two weeks ago. We will have to see how this turns out, but Victoria is not looking forward to walking back into the drama when she does return to work. She was supposed to be on the schedule to work tomorrow. That did not happen. She has only been able to communicate with her supervisor via text while in Honduras, so we are not sure why her supervisor did not schedule her, but the responses Victoria has gotten to her recent texts have been a bit snarky. I would pray that she could find another pharmacy tech job, but she is not at all enamored with the idea of change. Sometimes the bad situation you are used to dealing with is better than the unknown. Plus, not all her days are bad days.

I plan to go with Mama to fetch Victoria if I do not go pick up a top bar hive. It is too cheap to pass up if it is still available. The issue is that the seller is about two hours away. Mama will call this morning to see if the hive is still available. We first called on it on Saturday, but the seller was going to be traveling this week. Returning home on Wednesday. When we are able to determine availability, we can then decide if it is worth the trip. I recently ordered a book on building hives. A top bar hive is one of the projects covered in the book. Right now, with what we learned last Saturday at the workshop, I have enough pieces to set up four hives by adding two honey supers to the lot. I can build the required bases and caps to complete the full assembly. Smaller, more compact hives should be better for the bees long term. We will start off with only two hives and perhaps the top bar hive – which we will have to buy bees for. We do not have the finances to set up all four at this time. So, I have time to outfit the other pieces to make fully assembled hives. It will be a fun Winter project.

Today at work we are doing our annual pumpkin carving contest. Some are dressing up in costume, but most are not. It will be a fun day, but there will be little work actually getting done. I am anxious to see the creativity expressed within our company once again. I amazed every year by the way simple pumpkins are turned into works of art. Our team will not accomplish such a feat, but we have a great idea for a simple creation that will not embarrass us once it is carved and completed. The entire activity is taking place inside due to the weather. It is 28° outside. A bit cold to spend an hour carving a pumpkin – or doing anything for that matter. Mama will have a fun time feeding this morning.

Kimberlyn is supposed to come to the farm today. She and Mama have not been able to get together for a variety of reasons, but they are planning on working together today and tomorrow to make up some time. On a recent trip to the farm, Kimberlyn brought back to us an antique ironing board we gave her more than a year ago. On it she has painted one of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible, Job 23:10. “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Mama and I hung it over the couch so that it is constantly on display.

My Mom and Dad would have loved it.

Hearing their heart, brief cold, deer

Many years ago, when I was fishing with Chase at the seawall in Seadrift, TX I was listening Chase chatter as we set out lines. Chase was six or seven years old at the time. The seawall is only about two feet tall and wide enough that you can easily walk it. It goes on for some distance at the point where we stationed ourselves. It took about an hour to get the lines baited and cast. All that time Chase kept his dialogue going with minimal additions on my part. As we got set up for the wait required when fishing from the shore, a fellow fisherman slowly worked his was towards us. Casting and reeling as he approached. I greeted him and we made some small talk for a minute or two. He finally looked at me and said what was on his mind. Nodding towards Chase, he asked. “Does he always talk this much?” I answered. “He used to not talk at all, but recently, he has become more vocal.” “Do you ever ask him to be quiet?” “No”, I answered. “As long as he’s talking, I can hear what’s on his mind.” “Good enough”, He replied and moved away from us. Another time Chase and I were running errands in Victoria and he suddenly blurted out, “Hey, Dad, to ants grass is trees. Right?” I still love those moments of pure, unguarded expression. Sunday afternoon as Cheyenne handed Mama a birthday card that Mama had sealed and then unsealed to put some cash into the card, Cheyenne told Mama, “All your licking is gone.” Listening just to hear their mind and heart is a delight to me. We just have to be ready to hear as they speak.

For instance, Maggie was relating to Mama yesterday that Walter was reminiscing about the lesson he had heard in Sunday School a couple mornings ago. The lesson must have been on Creation. A more important topic to settle in a child’s mind today than at any time in the past. Anyway, his teacher had said that after God made what he had made each day of creation, He pronounced that what He had made was very good. It had obviously taken several days for the idea to settle in Walter’s mind, but once it did, he began to extrapolate the idea a bit. “Mommy”, he asked. “God made everything, and it was very good. Right?” Maggie replied that that was right. What God had made was indeed very good. “Well,” Walter continued pensively. “God made me and I am very, very good.” It would be hard to fully understand the meaning behind the pronouncement, but at least we know a little bit about how his mind is working – and what he thinks of himself right now.

I worked in the rain yesterday evening getting things set for our coming cold nights. So far, the forecast is for only tonight and tomorrow night to be below freezing. Things warm up after that. Not much, but enough that the nights will be above freezing. I got caught in heavy rain three times through the course of the work I was doing. It was a very cold rain. The ambient temperature was 41° F. The rain was colder than that, but it came in spurts, so I was able to take shelter until it let up. Once in the shelter with the bucks. Once in the coop with the chickens. Once in the goat barn with the nanny goats. Today the rain will be ending. The sky will clear. The cold will be blown it with 40 mph winds out of the north. Fortunately, we have a warm, dry place to spend the day. Our animals will have to muddle through with just a dry place to bed down in the cold. Hopefully, they can find a place with limited drafts from the high winds. I was not able to add more metal to the buck’s shelter because of the constant rain, but they will survive in the igloo. I watch all three of them crowd into the igloo last night as I was finishing up. I still need to apply the roof sealant to that shelter to limit the drips through the holes in the used metal I put on the roof, but there is still a lot of dry room to bed down. This cold snap just helps to remind me that I need to stay busy getting ready for winter.

Mama and I are seeing more deer on our little farm, so she is hoping I can get one for the freezer this winter. I do not know if that will happen, but we can try. I did buy our licenses – hunting and fishing combo licenses for each of us. Using tags on both licenses would technically allow me to get six deer total. That is not likely to happen. I really bought the licenses so we could fish legally. It seemed a waste to not spend the extra to include hunting in the purchase price. Whether or not I will be able to harvest a deer is still questionable. But it is certain that Mama wants me to plan to try to do so. Honestly, I do not enjoy the cold anymore.

I guess I’m getting lazy and soft in my old age.

Cold prep, flights, other purchases

Forecasts are for some cold nights starting tomorrow night. For our area, the temperatures are predicted to get below freezing for three nights in a row. That presents a challenge to Mama. How does she keep her smallest chicks warm enough to survive the overnight temps? We thought about several approaches, but some were far too complicated. Others were too costly. We finally decided on lining the bottom of the cages with tar paper and installing a heat lamp above them. They do not need much help through the night, just enough to keep them from spending all their energy to stay warm enough to survive the night. The chicks in question are several weeks old, but still not fully feathered. Within a couple more weeks they will not need any help making it through the cold of winter, but for now, we will give them a small boost. I will finish up those accommodations tonight. Tomorrow night, the temperature is supposed to drop to 28° F. A little cold for this time of year, but I don’t think it will be a record.

We still have two nanny goats that are due to kid. Hopefully that will wait another couple days. Temperatures are supposed to rise through the weekend. We have places where the baby goats can get out of the cold and draft of the goat barn, but I am not sure if they will go into the igloo doghouse we put in the goat barn for that purpose. There are plenty of places they can snuggle in the barn that are relatively free of drafts. They are old enough that they should do fine for a couple nights. The boy goats will get some special attention tonight because I have waited too long to get the metal up on their shelter. Too many other places to spend our cash. But this evening I will put up some metal left over from a recent demo on the north wall of the shelter. It will help block the wind and rain through the cold nights. That is, if it is not raining when I get off this evening. The bucks are all are old enough that they will do well through the cold. But it will not hurt to give them some added protection from the elements. The large igloo doghouse we put in that shelter may not be large enough for all three of them, so I am planning to give them some more dry spaces out of the wind. Hopefully, I can do that tonight.

Hoses will have to be disconnected and faucets covered. Blankets will be put on the front porch for the big dogs. Plants will need to be brought in.  And Mama and I will probably turn on the heat in the house. We have not done so thus far. But as the high temperatures of the days cool down as well, the house does not pick up as much heat through the day as in the past couple weeks. That makes it colder inside the house starting out each night. We are almost to the point that it too cool through the night. Mama is even talking about putting the heated mattress cover back on our bed. We only use that when we are really chilled. We are almost there. When Victoria left Texas for Honduras, the temperatures were still in the high eighties. She will be coming back to much colder temperatures. She has only been gone a week. That’s Texas weather for you.

I have been looking at a lot of stuff online. Mostly Craigslist. Bee keeping things, Fishing things. Farm equipment. But all of that will have to come to a halt for now. In order to be set up for starting our hives in the Spring, Mama and I will need to put a large deposit on a couple nucs. A nuc is a part of an active hive which is transferred into a new hive to give the hive a head start. We will buy them from the president of our beekeeping club. Just to start two hives will be a bit expensive and we have not purchased any of our safety equipment yet – especially our suits. All told, we are looking at more than $500. As important as those purchases are, I will have to wait on everything else related to the farm, to our hobbies and to our other interests. (Unless something comes up that we just cannot possible pass up.)

Mama and I have been praying about traveling to Honduras for a few weeks. With that in mind I have been looking for flights online and Mama has been tracking flights on an app called Hopper. There have been some pretty good deals offered recently. I found flights to Honduras from Houston for less than $250 per person. I put a hold on that itinerary for three days. Mama is confirming that the dates will work for Cori and Nate before I buy the tickets. They are for early February next year. Going at that time would allow us to attend a mission’s conference at the church in Honduras. We have not heard from Nate to ensure those days will work, but that confirmation should come today. Once I know for sure, I will purchase the tickets. Mama will be ecstatic. Both tickets will cost us $445. Once that is done, we will see if we can plan a trip to Roatan while we are there.

Between then and now, we will have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays. The time will pass by very quickly.

Lawton trip, clean up, bee keeping workshop

Friday evening, Mama and I left right after I got off work to drive to Lawton. I was curious to see if any work had been done on either of the two houses in the week following my visit with Glenn. Also, Mama had not been able to see inside the Aberdeen house since we purchased it. Since I learned the proper code for the key box at the house, I was able to let her in so we could do a walkthrough. Sadly, nothing had been done through the week. I was disappointed. Perhaps more so since I had talked through the punch list with Glenn and he intimated that he would get right one it. Even to the point of asking the crew lead that paint crews be sent to the Aberdeen house that day. More talk than action. Oh, well. There is little Mama and I can do to help with the work. But we can pray. I am earnestly doing so; asking the Holy Spirit to show me how to pray about the situation and all those involved.

Mama and I had a good time together. We always do. We did not get home until al little after 10 pm. We stopped at Sam’s there before we headed home. We did not need much, but we wanted to make the most of the trip. They were about to close when we checked out. As we were loading our purchases into the Sequoia, I got a text from Glenn. I let him know that we were just leaving Sam’s in Lawton, so he was made aware that we had made the trip to look at the houses. Whether or not that was enough to inspire him to get busy on the properties this week or not is in the Lord’s hands. But I had prayed that there would be some contact, a divine appointment, during our trip to let Glenn know that we were involved to the point of making repeated trips to access the progress.

Saturday, I cleaned up around the farm. I started a fire in a burn pit we have on the back patio where I had accumulated a lot of wood over the course of several months. It was hard to get it going after the two plus inches of rain we had only a couple days ago, but I persisted and was able to get a good fire going. Everything I put on that fire was soaked, so I had to stack it carefully to allow the fire to dry the wood so it would burn  It burned slowly. Lots of smoke. That was okay with me. I managed to get one pile of wood and scraps from behind the shop reduced to ashes before Mama and I had to leave. It ultimately did not look like I had accomplished very much, but I could tell the difference – and it cleaned up the eye sore created by the branches and boards I had stacked in the burn pit on the patio. I was pleased with the results. It was something that kept me moving while I was dealing with a lot of abdominal pain.

Mama and I had both been looking forward to the bee keeping clinic. There were about fifteen people in attendance. The clinic started about 1 pm and lasted until a little after 4 pm. It was a huge help to me and Mama. I found out that we are on the right track to set up three to four hives – with just the hive boxes I have assembled so far. I also found out the advantages of having a top bar hive. I found one for sale on Craigslist last week but was not sure if Mama and I should buy it. Learning what we did about the advantages of that type of hive box, we called to see if it was still available. It was as of Saturday evening, but we would not be able to make the drive to get the hive until Friday evening. If it is still available, we will get it then. If not, we will keep looking, or I will build one. We also found a couple established hives for sale on Craigslist. I showed those listings to the president of our bee keeping club. He told me, from what he saw in the pictures, he would buy them himself. Mama called the seller as we left the workshop. No response yet. They are probable more money than we should spend right now.

The most important this we learned from the workshop is what equipment we need to purchase to get started. Mama and I will need a couple very good suits. Especially me. I am slightly allergic to bee stings. More so to wasp stings. I would like to avoid getting stung too often. Mama would like to avoid ever getting stung. We will see how either of those expectations play out. But we are both excited about getting started. I would like to have the opportunity to buy and move an established hive into our apiary. That would allow us to gather honey in our first year. But we are not ready for that yet. Financially or equipment wise.

Maybe next spring.

Rain, travel, bee keeping, surprise, technology

The rain finally came. Over the course of the day we got two inches of rain at the farm. It was one of those winter types of rain for the most part. It literally rained all day, with interspersed thunder showers. Now a good day for the inside dogs. Kira will not go to do her business when the ground is wet. She really hates getting her feet wet. Kobe will sit in the rain until she is soaked through. Then she smells awful for hours. Mocha does not necessarily care about getting her feet wet, but she gets cold easily, so she hurries out and wants right back in. with the generally gently rain, all the animals were able to stay dry. It was much needed, and it was a pleasant way to get two inches of rain. This morning, it feels like winter is here.

This evening Mama and I are planning on driving to Lawton. There are things we need to do at the farm, but all those chores can wait. Right now, our focus is on expediting the work being done on our houses. I have found over the years that being on site makes a difference. To this point Mama and I have been very hands-off, but we are anxious to see the process through and to participate where we can. With all that went on last weekend, it will be disappointing to not see progress on the houses. But we will be there to hopefully make further contacts and make ourselves known. Maybe we should have done this sooner, but I did not feel impressed to do so until now. We are praying that is the Lord leading us to do so. But honestly, money and time have been so tight, that to spend for the extra fuel and surrender the time to make weekly trips to Lawton would have been unproductive in the past few months. Now seems right and the fruit of that increased activity on our part seems visible. We will get confirmation on that this evening – either way.

Tomorrow Mama and I are going to a bee keeping workshop. It is being hosted by our bee keeping club. The intent is to cover the basics of getting started. Mama and I are excited about attending. We almost missed it. As we were traveling last weekend, it suddenly came to Mama’s remembrance. Fortunately, I had taken one of the flyers handed out at the last meeting and tucked in the notebook we use specifically for those meetings. We are not sure what to expect, but we are ready to learn everything we can before we order our bees. So far, attending the meetings has provided a wealth of information and provided lot of helpful contacts. I have fully assembled the two hives I bought and will be building stands for them next week. I just need to find a place to store them until we set them out next Spring. Right now, they are taking up a benchtop in the shop that Mama and Kimberlyn are needing for their projects. I suppose that at this point, any ideas we had of moving off the farm have been put on hold.

I typically look over each of our bank accounts daily. In doing so yesterday I got a bit of a surprise. From the information I was seeing, it looked like we had been reimbursed three months payments to the hospital where Mama had her surgeries. I let Mama know and she called the hospital to confirm. Turns out that insurance paid an unexpected amount on the last manipulation Mama had done. That covered our bill to the point that we were actually overpaid. Surprise! It was not a lot of money, but it was enough to make a difference this month. We have about $800 outstanding with the physician and we will have paid off all Mama’s residual bills for the surgery and all the manipulations. Over $21,000. Praise the Lord!

A few evenings ago, Grandma was over visiting. During that time, I was working on Mama’s phone doing something that either required an ap to be installed or updated. When I got to the point of getting permission to load or update the app, the phone needed to see Mama’s face to do so. I pressed the button twice when prompted then I walked over to Mama, who was finishing up some dishes, and held the phone up for her to look at. As soon as she did, facial recognition kicked in and granted me the permissions I needed. Mama saw the permission being granted and laughed at what I had just done. Grandma was put off at not being allowed to see what the joke was between me and Mama. She was thinking that it was a picture or comment. I simply said that Mama’s phone needed to see her beautiful face.

Listening to Mama explain what had happened – that our phones can look at our faces to unlock permissions – blew Grandma’s mind. The evil things we do nowadays. I have to agree with her in part. It bothers me that my phone is studying me, but it also provides a convenience and security that is easy to get used to. And now, by choice, I have a watch tracking my blood pressure and heart rate.

What a world we live in.

Rain (finally), projects, anniversary

If the forecasts are accurate, our drought is about to end. There are predictions of up to three inches of rain through today and tomorrow. More days of rain over the next couple weeks. We will have to wait to see if this forecast is as wrong as forecasts over the past several weeks, but we remain hopeful. Hopeful in spite of there being not a cloud in the sky this morning. Hopeful in spite of the fact that there is no wind as of yesterday afternoon. Mama and I prepared for the rain last night, ensuring all the feeders were inside shelters, that all our animal charges had access to a dry place to rest, that doors and windows were closed against the forecast of storms. Nothing yet but the forecast is stating that rain will be starting about 10:15. A very specific guess. We will see. We will certainly take what we get.

My biggest concern is for the boy goats. I have not had the money to finish their shelter yet. It still has no metal siding on most of the structure. The structure is made of pallets, so the walls are not entirely open. But they are certainly not rainproof. It is more like a slatted wall right now. We moved the large igloo doghouse into the enclosure weeks ago, but now that the three boys are bigger, I am not sure if they will all fit into the igloo. In preparation for the rain – and the way it swamps the shelter if it is a hard rain – I opened the area where we keep the feed barrels. At least one of the boys can shelter there. I took some pieces of metal siding from an old cheap Lowe’s shed I took apart and put those pieces on the outside of that area of the shelter. That area is also elevated, so whoever claims that area will have a dry place to rest. The two others can fit into the igloo and stay dry and warm. That will have to do until I can finish the shelter and channel the runoff away from the shelter. Soon, we hope.

I have not taken time to compile a list of all the incomplete projects at the farm. To do so right now would be overwhelming – at least from the financial perspective. They are all rattling around in my head; unfiltered, unsorted, unplanned. But they are all there. Right now, Mama’s and my focus has been on moving our investment properties forward. We will see tomorrow evening if that is in fact the case. I suggested to Mama that we should go up tomorrow evening versus me going up alone again Saturday. She tentatively agreed. She would like to see the progress as well. Plus, I know the combination to get into the Aberdeen property now and Mama wants to look that over again. That will leave our Saturday free - sort of. At least it will not tie up as much of our day Saturday. The time required to make the trip and the mileage needed to be covered is the same no matter when we decide to go. We are just trying to coordinate all our activities in the most efficient manner. That often presents a challenge. Though Lawton is only two hours away, it requires the better part of the day to make the round trip. When we start investing in Arkansas, an overnight trip will be required. We will address that when our investment portfolio expands that direction. For now, we will take the four-hour round trip to Lawton and be happy for it.

I have been told that this week marks my three-year anniversary with ENERGY worldnet. I had not thought about it, but that is accurate. Accurate and hard to believe. Time really does move quickly. Since there will be a team meeting this morning, I assume that will be mentioned. Whether or not this will be my last anniversary remains to be seen. It all depends on how well Mama and I do with our investment business.

We still have high hopes for success.

Safe arrival, steps, access, egg protest, weekend time

Victoria kept us updated on her progress as she made her way to Honduras. Arriving in Houston about 6:40. Leaving Houston about 10 am. She let us know that she was in she customs and immigration line in San Pedro Sula at about 12:40. After that things went dark. But I expected as much. Once she was with Nate, Cori and the kids, I did not anticipate much state-side contact. Mama will catchup to her today sometime. The part of the trip that gave us the most concern – the flights to Honduras – are over and she is safe with family. She reported to Mama that she was not hurting much, but at that time she had not received her bags or stood in line for the hour or more it takes to get through customs. More updates to follow on that but our expectation is that all is very well with Victoria.

I wanted Mama to try the Fitbit to see how well she liked it before we thought seriously about getting her an Apple watch. So, I ordered a similar watch from Amazon and passed the Fitbit off to her. The watch I got has the ability to monitor my blood pressure. And, it is waterproof. It was not expensive – only $35. But it is quite the gadget. Mama was not thrilled about wearing the Fitbit at first, but I really wanted to track her sleep as well as her steps. What we found out as she wore the Fitbit was impressive. Yesterday she put in 8,425 steps by the time she got back from Kimberlyn’s. She also logged an impressive 9.1 hours of sleep. Which is interesting since she thought she was awake for two hours through the night.

My H Band missed my waking time by ten minutes this morning, but I can live with that. As far as my blood pressure is concerned, it looks very good according to what has been measured by the watch. I have been concerned about my blood pressure lately, so this is turning out to be an inexpensive way to keep track. It takes a little getting used to when text messages display in full on the H Band. But I do not miss as many phone calls or texts because the H Band vibrates in a way that is not easily ignored for each of those types of contacts. It would also alert me to Facebook, Twitter, and any other messaging contact. Not interested.  

Mama and I moved the Cornish Rock chickens to the birthing building a coupe nights ago. It will probably not be used again for puppies and even if it is, it can be cleaned and sanitized for that. Right now, we needed a place where the chickens had more room. The building still has the kennel attached to it with a covered ramp access between the two structures. After reading an article on raising these chickens I opened that access yesterday evening. We had a box fan blocking the opening. Workable but not effective. As soon as the fan was lifted out several of the birds went out immediately to scratch around in the hay left from the time we had Midas in there. To make the access safe at night I had to build a panel we can slide in place to secure the little opening against predators. I did not want to use the box fan for that. Plus, as the nights get colder, I want to be able to block the draft from that opening into the building. Assembling the panel and guards turned out to be fairly easy once I located all the scrap pieces I needed. A few cuts on the table saw. A coupe screws and everything was in place. I put the panel in place last night as I closed up the chickens. Mama will lift it out sometime today to give the birds access to the yard. She is always happier when her birds have room to move around.

We are going through a dearth of eggs right now. Either that or the chickens have coordinated to hide the eggs they are laying. That happens pretty frequently when they have all day to roam around. Mama and I have to look around to find the nest and inspect the eggs we find to see if they are marketable or must be discarded. Or, maybe put in the incubator. We have not found that nest yet. Last night we got only three eggs. Not nearly what we should be finding. In response to this little revolt, Mama is going to keep the chickens cooped up for most of the day versus letting them run free all day. We will see if that makes any difference. It should. We are feeding almost thirty laying hens. If we do not get an uptick in egg production, Mama and I will have to cull the flock and limit our losses.

I stumbled across a recipe for catfish bait yesterday that I am anxious to use. Hotdogs, Jell-O and garlic powder. Maybe this weekend I can try it out in the quarry lake. I am not gung-ho to get back out on the water with the temperatures getting so cool, but I have a lot of places I can fish from the bank at the lake. I have also been studying up on filleting catfish and am ready to try my hand at that. I will have to coordinate that around going to Lawton each weekend to keep abreast of any work being done on the houses.

As for the fishing, there is no hurry. It’s just more fun.

Final packing, early morning

Yesterday evening was spent mostly is getting all the final packing done for Victoria. Since she is still hurting in her lower back, she elected to take a third checked bag as opposed to taking a carry-on bag. It seemed prudent since it would allow her to avoid having to handle the carry-on bag on the two separate flights. Once to of the three large suitcases were packed, I double-checked the weight of each. One was 49.3 pounds. The other was only 48.75 pounds. We had to wait on the last bag until this morning since there was still one item to be added at the last minute; Nate’s sausage. That bag weighed 49.8 pounds when the final item was added. All just under the limit. Cori and the kids called a couple times to check in with Victoria. Savanna is especially fired up that her Tori is coming to see her. Both Victoria and Savanna will have to be more muted than normal at their meeting in Honduras. Victoria cannot pick her up and swing her about as she normally would. But Victoria can get on her knees for a full body hug. Hopefully, that will suffice.

Also, last night, Mama and I spent an hour in the shop getting things together for her to take to Kimberlyn’s later today. I cut some boards to be used on smaller crafts and I ripped some 2x4’s and 2x6’s laterally into thin strips to see if they could be used in that form. That gives Mama and Kim some strips of wood either four or six inches wide and only half and inch thick. I tried it just to see if there was a way to use some of the smaller pieces I have around the farm and shop that would normally be burned. The thin, wider pieces of wood are very expensive. A prohibitive cost to Mama and Kim. If this works for them, we can generate those cuts of wood for a fraction of the price in Lowe’s. Once we had all the craft pieces loaded in the car, we shut down for the night. Victoria and I set alarms for an early morning departure and everyone went to bed around 9 pm. We needed to leave the farm at 2:30 am.

I was up at 1:55 am. I dressed and knocked on Victoria’s door at 2:10. She sprang up – sort of – and went to get the frozen items to add to the final bag. We left the house at 2:35. DFW airport is a very easy airport to navigate in the busiest of times. It is a breeze at 3:30 in the morning. Which is good because I had to drive in the wrong direction in the garage to get to the parking spot I wanted. Since I needed to get Victoria through check-in, I parked at the terminal and we strolled inside. Of course, the check-in area was very busy, but we found an open kiosk and Victoria got started. She had only a couple minor glitches getting checked- in, getting her bags checked and getting everything routed to the counter for final check-in, final approved weighing of each bag and final verification of boarding passes. I left her at about 3:45 as she entered the security line.

The early flight is a bit of a pain, but it arrives in Houston well ahead of the connecting flight to Honduras. Since the DFW to Houston flight does not arrive at the same terminal as the connecting flight, you must make your way to the required terminal upon arrival. The Houston to Honduras flight is normally scheduled for a 9:30 departure. Victoria’s flight landed in Houston at 6:30, giving her plenty of time to make it to the departure gate. The 7:30 flight from DFW to Houston gets into Houston at about 8:45, often presenting a challenge to make the connection on time without really hustling. I was able to drop her off and get back home by about 4:45. Giving me an hour to sleep before going to work.

Even still, it will be a long day.

False start, three hours, Victoria

I came to work early Friday so Mama and I could drive to Fairfield, TX to pick up two bottle baby calves. That did not work out the way we had hoped. When we were on the way the seller called. He had alerted his helper that we would be headed that direction, arriving about 6:30. The helper was to separate the heifers so we could make our selection. When the helper called him to report that he had no heifers in the whole herd of bottle babies, he called us. He was on his way to the barn to confirm the report. So, Mama and I found a good place to stop and sat down to eat a light meal while we waited. It took about forty-fie minutes to hear back from the seller. His helper had been correct. There were no heifer calves. He apologized profusely. Mama and I were not alarmed or angry about the turn of events. We headed home. No bottle babies for us this month unless one turns up at the stock sale today.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. We may need all the cash we can get to complete the houses we are remodeling. I say that with some hope because I got to spend three hours with our realtor Saturday morning. I had sent an email to our realtor Friday afternoon to let him know that I was headed to Lawton Saturday morning to see if there was any work I could do on our homes. Since nothing had been done for months, I wanted to something – anything to move the project along. Friday evening, I loaded some tools in the truck and Saturday morning I headed out after helping Mama with the feeding.

When I got to the house, I called Mama. There was no one at the Dover property but there seemed to be some activity at the house on Aberdeen – just across the street from where I had just parked. I headed over to check things out and found a crew chief and helper there waiting on our realtor, Glenn, who was sitting in his car in the driveway talking with workers remodeling another property. They walked through the house and explained what was to be done. They already had a punch list for the Dover property in hand. We went over that briefly as we waited. Glenn talked with his other crew chief for about twenty minutes before he came inside. Once he got inside, we went through the house and created a long punch list. Those lists will be expanded into materials lists and predicted costs for labor and then submitted for invoicing. That should happen before the end of the week. Work began Saturday afternoon. Hopefully, that momentum will continue to completion.

When we finished our walkthrough, Glenn took me on a tour of a house he was doing final touchup on that day. It was amazingly well done. I took a couple pictures to show Mama. Some of the details in that house will be mirrored in the two houses that are being remodeled for us; tile selection, paint colors, trim and door choices. I was encouraged. Glenn and I spent another hour together as he drove me around the area showing me houses that would be coming up for auction next week and well as in November. He suggested we stay on the east side of Lawton in our property searches. We drove past at least five properties in that neighborhood. Another four or five in an nearby neighborhood.

When Mama and I can turn these houses there will be plenty of opportunities to buy other properties. Our next purchase in Lawton will be a rental property, but honestly, Mama and I can do better financially buying rental properties in Texas. The rents are much higher in this state, but the selection of properties is not as broad. Nor are there thirteen auctions per year. So, we are back to our original plan of working in the three states: Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. With Oklahoma being the most active on a monthly basis. The fact that Lawton is an easy two-hour drive from us makes it a very workable location for investing. Once we get these first two houses completed and sold.

While I was in Lawton, I called a dairy farm that sells hay. Mama and I are needing alfalfa for our nursing nanny goats. They had bales of alfalfa for $10 per bale. That same bale here costs $15.50. I only had enough cash to buy three bales, but we believe we made a good contact. We will be going to Lawton on a very regular basis, so getting hay at this supplier will be fairly convenient. Mama and I will just have to take the truck when we plan to get hay in any of our trips to look at houses or to work on our properties. All in all, it was a good trip. I got home about 4 pm. Unloaded the truck. Helped Mama with the evening chores. Went to men’s prayer time. A full day. I am planning to repeat the process next weekend.

Victoria leaves for Honduras tomorrow morning. She is in a lot of pain, but she is still going. She will need our prayers for help every step of the way. I will be taking her to the airport – leaving the farm at 2:45 am. I will get her bags through check in, but that is as far as I can go to help her. She will have to solicit help every time she has to lift her bags after that; onto and off of the security scanner belt, into and out of the overhead bins, collecting bags once through customs in Honduras, etc. It will not be easy, but I am hoping once she is there, she will be able to relax and ease the mounting tension she is currently dealing with. If not, at least she will be there to further recuperate.

Savanna has promised to not ask to be held unless Victoria is sitting down. Every little bit helps.

Bottle babies, building, banding

Yesterday afternoon I took a few minutes to look on Craigslist. I typically narrow my searches to specific items but yesterday I just opened the farm portion of the sales site and cruised down the listings. In doing so I came across an ad for bottle baby calves. The prices seemed to be pretty good for what they were offering, so I took a picture of the posting, with the phone number listed and sent it to Mama. She got excited. She called Grandpa to confer. He got excited. When she solicited permission to call the advertiser, I told her it cannot hurt since we have been looking for bottle babies for several months now and we are finally close to ready to house and raise them. She called and got even more excited. The farm with the calves is about two hours away, so we will make the trip after work this afternoon. The original plan was to buy two heifer calves and one bull calf, but I think it would be more prudent to get only one of each. Three is a bit much to handle. The price of the two is more within our range. If what the seller told Mama is true, we can go back in the Spring and get another two heifers to raise. He does this year-round and assured Mama he will most always have a selection available.

If we do make the purchase, we will be bottle feeding the calves for about twelve weeks. The seller has calves ranging in age from two days to three weeks. Mama I set on getting the older calves, both to shorten the bottle-feeding process and to ensure the calves are healthy and established. I agree. We will see if that is possible when we get there to look over the selection he has available. Right now, the seller has fifty calves. We would wait until next week, but there is no way of knowing how quickly he will sell out. Mama and I are not going to take the leftovers of a picked over group again. We made that mistake with the sheep we bought last year. Although it worked out well enough, it was not the best purchase we have made.

With the potential of getting the calves, I worked on the enclosure I have been building for the calves. It is not nearly complete, but it is far enough along to contain the calves. It now has a very temporary roof and sides. Grandpa liked the location – behind the shop. I put lights outside the back door of the shop as I was building the shop. I did not foresee having stalls in that location, but it will work out well for early morning and late evening feedings. Tonight, when we get back home with the calves, I will put up some metal on the sides of the enclosure (right now the sides are only cattle panels) to block the wind from the calves until I can permanently install meal on the sides. But what we have in place will get us through the weekend. I am glad I did as much as I did last weekend to get this far along. I told Mama when I was working late on setting the posts for the enclosure, I felt like God was going to give us some bottle babies this week. I was even a little disappointed to not get a call from the stock sale barn here in Decatur on Monday; the day of the sale. But this is much better. Mama and I can pick out calves versus taking whatever is offered for about the same price. Plus, we can go back for more on our schedule. By the end of next week, I will have the shelter set up more permanently. Lord willing. I will prioritize that on the list of other winter projects I need to get finished.

Grandma and Grandpa came over last night to visit. Grandpa was looking to recover the slats from a bed Mama and I hauled to the farm a couple weeks ago. I looked high and low for the slats. I did not remember where I put them, but I was sure I had not used them for any of my projects. Unfortunately, Mama and Kim had used four of the six on projects they were creating. Only two were left, but I had one slat from an antique bed currently stored in the garage. We added to the mix giving Grandpa three of the six he needed to set up a bed Norman had brought to them. So, as Grandpa and Grandma went to Decatur to get three more boards, Mama and I went to the coop to band the oldest of our new flock of hens.

When we went to the coop, Mama and I each had on our flashlight headgear. She had a light that was on a band that she wore on her forehead. I had a light that clipped to the bill of my hat. It seemed a little goofy at first, but as we worked lifting the birds one by one from the roost to put the bands on their legs, it was very nice to have both hands free and still have a light pointing directly where we need it. We put the bands on the largest nineteen birds. This year’s birds will have yellow or green bands on their legs. There are thirteen young chickens to go, but they are too small for the bands to stay on their legs. It will be nice in a year to be able to differentiate one group from the other.

With me heading to Lawton tomorrow, it will be a busy weekend. But that is just the way things worked out.

Being booed, electronics, chores

I got booed yesterday. Our office staff is constantly coming up with creative ways to celebrate the seasons. Since it is Fall – and Halloween – they instituted a gift passing they call being booed. It involves a bag stuffed with small gifts, candy and other goodies, placed on someone’s desk. The trick is that you have to recreate the gift and pass your gift to someone who has not been booed yet without being discovered. You can only be booed once. That is a challenge for many in the office since the majority of the staff come in at the same time. As dedicated as most the employees are to this employer, very few come in even a couple minutes early. I am an anomaly. I get to the office fifteen minutes early or earlier. Since I got booed yesterday, I booed someone this morning. Mama and Victoria got more fun out of the gift giving than I did. Finding a nice, unused mug, a small Fall-ish gift, a snack and a sweet. The bag was pretty full. I put it on the desk of a coworker as I arrived at the office this morning – well before anyone would know. I may never know the outcome, but I hope the person I gave the gift to is actually in the office today. That is sometimes a challenge. They have two days to boo someone else.

I am a little surprised by how much I like wearing the Fitbit Victoria passed along to me when she got her Apple Watch. Recently I have been paying particular attention to the health app on the iPhone I carry. Ensuring that I get enough steps in to offset the tension I carry with me. Getting over 5k steps actually helps me sleep more soundly at night. The Fitbit and the phone stay pretty close on total steps with the Fitbit counting slightly higher than the phone because it is always on my wrist. I do not always ensure the phone is with me; often taking it out of the belt clip and setting in on my desk at work. I am still of the opinion that constant contact with electronics will eventually manifest in some type of physical harm. The constant sending and receiving of signal while attached to our bodies cannot be good long term.  

Which leads me back to my original statement. The fact that I like the electronic companionship of the Fitbit. I have even worn it to bed to track my sleep patterns – which are better than I had expected. As I was waking this morning, trying to decide if I should roll over for the last fifteen minutes allowed before the alarm sounded. I turned off the alarm and laid back down. Then the Fitbit started flashing some message I could not read without my glasses. Mama, who I discovered was awake, saw the illuminated watch face and remarked at how bright it was. I pulled the sleeve of my long-sleeved t-shirt over the watch and moved over to snuggle with her for the last few minutes of my bed time. A pleasant bonus given by the Fitbit.

Although Victoria did not have the function working for her when she wore the Fitbit, it will alert me to a phone call or text before the phone registers the incoming contact. Because of that, I am not missing phone calls or texts as often as I used to. That is a double-edged sword, but where Mama is concerned, it makes me more accessible. Perhaps no more responsive than normal, but certainly more accessible. I also like tracking my heartrate. I do not know if I would like such constant monitoring of my blood pressure – out of sight out of mind – but with the newer electronic watches that is also possible. I have had no interest in the past to wearing such expensive technology, but I find myself drifting that direction.

Mama and I have some chicken chores tonight and tomorrow night. We are going to put bands on the feet of all our newer chickens so we can track the group in the future. Mama has a fair idea of how old her mature chickens are, but she is not completely sure. Some are two years old. Some are three years old. Some even older. That presents an issue when we cull the flock to remove the oldest, non-productive hens. Banding this year’s new hens will help us know next year who is who. Also, I may start processing the Cornish hens tonight. We have talked about keeping them through the end of the month, but Mama is anxious to see how well they dress out; and to limit the number she has to contend with each morning as she puts feeders back in the Banty House. They are quite aggressive. Obsessively hungry. They would eat 24/7 if allowed but we have been advised to give them at least ten hours without food to help them avoid heart problems caused by being over full. I do not know if they are really fully grown yet, but a few minutes of research will either confirm or set to rest my concerns. Either way, the constant flow of chores keeps me going.

And, for better or for worse, the electronics help me monitor that constant going.

Shopping with Mama, Victoria, kids

Mama talked me into shopping with her yesterday evening. Not the kind of shopping we typically do. She wanted my help in the workshop to cut some 4x4’s into craft sized pieces. She and Kim had been working on other craft projects all day and Mama wanted to be able to paint and otherwise prepare some blocks of wood for further craft projects. I just happened to have a very warped 4x4 laying in the goat paddock. It had been recovered from the little metal building we built to house our chickens when we moved from Bowie to Chico. I had completely dismantled that building and floor and had already repurposed all the other materials from that demolition, so the last 4x4 was also reassigned for new uses. It was good for nothing I was doing but would work well for a particular craft idea, so I had promised it to Mama and Kimberlyn.

I was not feeling well so we did not work long, but I taught Mama to use the miter saw and the belt sander. She also used the drill to remove some screws that had not yet been removed from the 4x4. Kimberlyn is proficient in the use of all the tools in the shop, but this was Mama’s very first time to use any of the equipment. She was pretty excited to cut and sand the few blocks we worked on. She immediately saw the benefit of having the variety of items available for woodworking. It is interesting that over the many years of our marriage, Mama has never chided me for any money I have spent of tools, but she has never expressed any interest in learning how to use those tools either.

Last night was different. It was fun. It was a good distraction for me. Over the next few days Mama will paint the blocks in preparation for Kimberlyn to further embellish then with detailed paintings. They will become pumpkins, snowmen, Christmas trees with candle holders, etc. I failed to get a picture of the double-sided tall project they finished yesterday. It is a snowman on one side and a scarecrow on the other. It is really cute. I think if they made some desk-top sized ones, I could sell them at work. Or Mama could sell them at the coffee shop in Bridgeport. I know they will be excited when they start selling any of their items. I will be interested to see what items sell best. Whether or not we start to ship those items like Makayla’s parents do remains to be seen. But if we do, we have a resource for questions on how to package the items and how much to charge to ship them. Meanwhile they are taking over my shop.

Victoria has been home the past few days with back issues. Saturday, she hurt her back somehow and the pain has been relentless. She has tried several therapies with limited success but Kimberlyn got her started on a blend of oils yesterday that have given her some relief. I will get out the inversion table this evening so she can see if that will help her ease the pain further. Still, rest is still the best remedy for the injury she is struggling with. Rest is an expensive commodity in our busy culture.

All the baby goats seem to be doing well; nannies and kids. They enjoy the rockpile made for them in the paddock. Last night, Julian was jumping off one of the rocks at the edge of the pile. It is only five or six inched high, but that is half his height. The other three babies are moderately active, but they will get more so as they develop. They are only three days old right now and getting more active by the day. By the end of the week, they will be pestering their respective mommies all day long. Both Millie and Aspen have more than enough milk for the twins each of them will be nursing, so we have no worries there. These kids will be a couple weeks old when the next ones are born. That will be quite a difference in size the newer kids will have to deal with. But somehow, they will manage.

It is good to see all the new life on the farm.

Perfect birthing weather, staying positive, giving

The night that Aspen’s twins were born (Saturday night) was forecast to be near freezing. That did not happen. The temperature got down into the mid-forties. Perfect birthing weather. So much so that Millie delivered her twins yesterday morning. Again, one boy and one girl. Both of the girl babies are solid black. Aspen’s red boy, Julian, is beautifully marked. It is hard to tell at this point, but he may have blue eyes. That would be a huge selling point. I did not take any pictures last night as Mama and I tended to them. I should have. It was just fun to stand and watch the babies play on the rock pile we have in that paddock. All the little ones seem to have full bellies and plenty of energy. Especially when you consider that they are only a couple days old. Lilly and Dolly have not kidded yet but that should be happening soon for Dolly. Lilly may be a few weeks out still yet.

Mama and I purposely fed only enough to allow the goats to produce twins. Millie proved that out by having her first set of twins instead of triplets. Rick had warned us that heavier feed produces heavier babies or more babies. So, Mama and I were very measured in feeding our expectant nannies. It is better, we decided, to have healthy twins than to risk losing triplets again. By the time we breed again, next June (Lord willing), Midas will be ready to go. He is not related to any of the nannies or their offspring, so he can breed them all. That will be fun to have happen on our farm for the first time. Of course, our feed bill is about to go up dramatically as our herd grows from seven to fifteen.

Being in constant pain and being stressed by finances is making it difficult for me to stay positive. Part of my sudden illness over the weekend has to be attributed to psychosomatic origins. Physical in response. Psychological in its roots. It was as if my body gave me an ultimatum. It demanded rest. And it got it. I have not felt good for some weeks now. Constant heartburn. Constant bowel pain. Constant back pain. As much as I try to tell myself that there is nothing that can be gained by worrying over any of the issues that trouble me, I still am who I am. Highly reflective. Highly introspective. A worrier by nature. But this I know. God is in control. He is bringing about His perfect plan in Mama’s and my life. I see His blessings. I feel His mercies. I stand amazed in His love. I am not able to change me. But He can and when Mama and I come through this trial, I really “shall come forth as gold”.

Mama and I looked at tickets last night. Tickets to Honduras. We found some for the end of January at an unbelievably low price - $202 per person round trip. Only $404 per person to fly business class. We did not immediately get the tickets, but we are definitely praying about it. At that price, it would be much more affordable than our last trip. That is a good thing since there are a couple things Mama and I would like to do the next time we are in Honduras. In preparation for purchasing the tickets, I applied to both American Airlines and United for credit cards that award miles for purchases. We will use only one for the purchases. Since both airlines offer competitive pricing, we will just have to weigh the options for travel to see which way to go. American always has a layover somewhere, but offers rewards based on segments. A flight with a layover is worth two segments each way. United has direct flights out of Houston to Honduras. With international flights, that would be preferable. That way we only handle our luggage once on the way down – when it is typically at its maximum weight. Maybe we will use American for domestic travel and United for international travel. Time will tell.

For now, we pray and wait. God does not give us money to consume it totally on ourselves. There are so many around us with far more urgent needs than ours. Mama and I help where we can. When we can. In whatever way we can. For instance, recently Mama overstuffed our upright freezer and it began to fail. Instead of letting the meat spoil she called a friend at BBTI and offered the meat to them. All in all, it was about sixty pounds of pork. About fifteen pounds of that was the bacon Mama had traded to get when we butchered our pigs. She really hated to lose it, but it gave ten struggling families a couple very nice meals. It was not much. What would have been our loss was instead a gift to friends. As Mama and I struggle to give while we meet our own needs, it was a pleasant opportunity to help. One we would not have come up with on our own.

Serving the Lord is uniquely thrilling in that way.

Building stalls, expanding the roost, delivering kids, sick

Friday night I began laying out posts for the stalls I have wanted to build behind the shop. The stalls will be multipurpose, but my initial thought is to use them for bottle baby calves. That all turned out to be a bit more work than I had anticipated, but I wanted to get the stalls to the point that we could house a calf if one were available at Monday’s auction. That may have been a moot point, but that was a driver in the work I did all day Saturday. While Mama and Victoria went to Trade Days and then visited with Grandma and Grandpa, I got the five posts set for the stalls. All that took a lot longer (about 45 minutes per post) and required a lot more effort that I had planned on, but if we do get a calf this week, all I would need to do is put up a gate at the one stall I have nearly completed. My back was hurting fiercely when I was completing the posts and wire.

When I was waiting for the water I poured in the half-finished holes to soak in and soften the ground, I worked on doubling the roosts in the side of the coop housing the mature chickens. The chickens are very particular about where they roost. I had a pipe that extended from wall to wall in the coop that essentially doubled the roosting space. Although the chickens liked the pipe, Mama did not want a metal pipe as a roost. She was worried about the chicken’s feet freezing to the metal in the very cold weather. I am not sure we get enough nights at sufficiently cold temperatures for that to be a concern, but she has read that it can happen. So, I replaced it with a wood roost. The chickens would not use the wooden replacement at all. I have no idea why, but I find it a challenge to think like a chicken. Saturday, I removed the extra wooden roost and doubled the roosts that follow the walls of the coop. I just put one more roost board about twelve inches out from the old roost. The chickens seemed pleased with that arrangement. They still fought over the most coveted spaces on the old roost – relegating those lower in the pecking order to the less desirable spots. But everyone had room. Mama was pleased. That’s the main goal.

We had a picnic to go to Saturday evening, so I had to stop around 3:30. Since we would not be back until late that evening, I went out to feed before I got showered and changed. When I headed to the goat barn, I heard one of the goats in distress. It is an unmistakable sound. It was Aspen. She was having trouble delivering her first kid. Before I got down to help her, I went to tell Mama what I was doing. Mama was in the house cooking hamburger to make chili for the picnic. She quickly abandoned that to change and help me. When I got back to Aspen, the kid was crowning, but she was still bleating in pain. When the hooves started to show, I pulled gently to help the kid come out. It was a prefect little red male. I cleaned off his face and put him where Aspen could begin cleaning him.

By that time Mama was in the barn watching. No sooner did Mama arrive and the second, all black little girl pop out. I had to work on her to get her face cleaned off so she could breathe, but she appeared fine as well. Aspen soon got up and began cleaning the kids in earnest. Our first two kids of this season. Mama will keep close watch on these two to make sure they are nursing well. Meanwhile, Millie should kid today – if she did not do so overnight. If she delivers without issue we will be pleased. Last year she lost her three kids. I had to pull one from her in order for her to deliver the other two stillborn kids. A sad memory. This year we hope for better.

After I was certain Aspen was done kidding, I got cleaned up. Victoria went to get the girls. Mama finished the chili and slaw. Once everything was done, we loaded up and headed to the picnic. Everyone had a really good time playing, visiting, eating hotdogs, brownies and cake. We all had our jackets with us. The weather was perfect. Very little breeze. The temperature about 65°; falling slowly. We stayed about three hours. I had one hotdog and one brownie.

For some reason, I could not hold that down. I made several emergency trips to the bathroom through the night. The pain in my stomach and bowels coupled with the pain in my back made for an uncomfortable night which spilled over into Sunday.

I spent all day Sunday in bed. I think I slept more on Sunday than at any time I can remember in the recent past. If I did not sleep 20 hours, I was very close to that. My Fitbit buzzed twice to tell me to get moving. I ignored it both times. Today I am better. At least my stomach is better. The pain in my back is still excruciating. Movement through the day will help that to some extent. I hope.

Night raider, teaching, Mama’s business, the weekend

Tuesday night when I went out to close up the chickens, I came across a night raider. A young opossum. I did not have my pistol with me, so I had to dispatch the poor thing with the only tool I had available; a hoe. It was not a pretty sight. The only reason I was able to succeed was the fact that opossum are not quick on their feet. When I got hold of its tail it was not able to comeback around and bite me. It was a sad affair, but necessary. I cannot allow chicken killers anywhere near the coop. When I can catch them in the act, I am required to act. Mama is now raising four sets of chickens. One group is five months old. One is for months old. One is only two months old. The last group – three chicks hatched out on our farm – is only two weeks old. I will process the Cornish chicks (the two-month-old group) by the end of the month. That will leave Mama with thirty or so new chickens coming into the coop as laying hens. At some point we will cull some of the older chickens, but we have not set that date yet. When we do it will cull ten or so chickens from the thirty-five we have on the other side of the coop. Only a dozen or so of which are laying faithfully.

I have spent the last two days in class. I did not teach on Wednesday. One of the other instructors took that day. I sat in the back of the class and shared when I was called upon to do so. My voice would have been totally gone by the end of the day had I taken the class. There were thirty-three in the class. A large class in a large room. That required a lot of voice projection to reach those in the back of the room. I did not have it in me right now. Plus, that gave me a chance to rebuild the apps on the new phone Victoria got me. It took me the majority of the day for get all the necessary apps loaded and grouped properly. Time well spent. Thursday, I taught a much smaller class of five – in a much smaller room. Even still, I wore my voice out by the end of the seven hours of teaching. Both were really good classes. The class taught on Thursday may be my last presentation of that particular class since we offer it only once per quarter. Time will tell.

Mama and Kimberlyn were still crafting when I got home yesterday. They used the shop a lot more yesterday than they have ion the past. Kim Cantrell knows how to use most of the tools in the shop. The only one they cannot use without my help is the planer. It is both heavy and awkward to get out of the place I have it stored. I use it only outside the shop because it makes a mess with the shavings it blows out as it planes a board. It is also very loud. I have to wear hearing protection every time I use it. I generally have all the planed materials ready for them in advance. But Kimberlyn is able to use all the other saws, sanders and drill presses I have set up and available. Yesterday they cut a lot of pieces and built several items that will be painted at a future date.

On Tuesday evening, I set up a couple mini paint booths – made from boxes – in the shop so Mama could urethane some of the signs and placard’s they have already built. She was able to spray some items that are being repurposed and get a feel for how to coat and cover their crafts without getting too much overspray in the shop. They reused all those little booths yesterday as they cranked out more crafts. I do not know if they have determined to go to Trade Days this weekend or not. I honestly do not know how much product they have to sell at this point, but they really want to make a go of it. They are anxious to test the waters. Time will tell how that will work out for them. They certainly are producing some clever, marketable items. At least, I am impressed.

I have purposely made no plans for the weekend. There are a lot of little items I still need to catch up on. There are some projects I have accumulated sufficient materials to begin, but not complete. There is an ongoing list of honey-dos. But I am still dragging around a bit. I will try not to bite off more than I can chew. That in and of itself is difficult for me to gauge. But the fact that we got some rain this morning will allow me to set a few posts and to pull posts in another area. I have avoided both of those two tasks because the ground has been dry and hardpacked. Unrelenting to a shovel. Unyielding to my efforts to pull posts.

We will be close to a frost tomorrow morning. The first of the season. We were at 90° yesterday afternoon. At 40° this morning. You gotta love that kind of weather shift.

Answered prayers, cautious optimism, Walter, teaching days

Mama and I have been through a dearth of sorts lately. We have prayed fervently for several issues in our lives. Most of the issues are what would seem small to those who are not directly affected by them, but added together, they have presented a challenge for me and Mama. The constant breakdowns of items in and around the home, the loss of items which have significance to me and Mama, the continuous delays on projects that need to get done at the farm, in the house and in the lives of our children and praying friends. For a time, it appeared that there was no intervention from the Lord. That seems to have changed as of Saturday. Repairs have been made. Items have been found or replaced. Often the replacement a significant improvement over what was lost. Prayers are being answered in the lives of our friends and children. Bold prayers. Spirit guided prayers. We still face the hurdle of overcoming significant delays, but there too, the Lord is moving. We rejoice in that. There are still significant prayer needs in the lives of several of our children; health needs, financial needs, daily needs for Godly wisdom. God will answer each of those in His time. In His own perfect way. Meanwhile, we will continue to apply ourselves to prayer. The recent encouragement has been welcome.

I am cautiously optimistic about our houses in Lawton. Yesterday, after much prayer, I sent an email to our relator, Glenn. It was written in a way that is truly reflective of me. I conveyed our disappointment. I conveyed our sense of wounding that promises had not been kept. It reinforced our continued faith in Glenn to make this happen as he has for many other investors. It was a risk on my part. A risk of being misunderstood or misrepresented. I got the response this morning. It was the response I had hoped for. Praise the Lord! Hence, the cautious optimism. We have two houses in Lawton that need to be finished, marketed and sold before we can move forward. Almost all of our cash is tied up in those two properties. Little has been done to get that work completed despite the promises. Perhaps that will change now. We will see.

Maggie has had some major issues with Walter recently. Anger issues. Serious anger issues. Like many young boys going through the life changes brought about by entering school – the anxiety of learning while competing with everyone around you, the hours of sitting, trying to concentrate on material that is all new. Intent on doing well. Frustrated through and through that someone else understands what you do not. Someone else gets to answer the only question you knew the answer to. Further frustrated and embarrassed by the question asked of you that you did not know the answer to. He does not even realize where the anger is coming from. He does not know how to combat it. He often times does not want to combat it. Anger makes us feel strong. It makes us feel like we have overcome instead of being overcome. And right now, everything going on in Walter’s life makes him feel like he is being beaten. All of the emotions he is unknowingly dealing with will make him a strong and able man someday. So, Maggie and those around her must find a way to help Walter feel like he has some control without giving him control – especially through a manipulative, angry outburst. It is a common, albeit challenging parenting issue. Maggie and Walter (and Cathryn) need our prayers right now.

I will be teaching classes tomorrow and Thursday. I enjoy the teaching aspect of this job. When I am presenting the classes, the day seems to fly by. Each of the four or five classes I teach are eight hours long – more or less. We have had very few complaints about the duration of the classes. In fact, many times, there is feedback that we should have offered more time for the class. That may be forthcoming. There is such a need for the content of the classes we present, but there is also a need to improve and update that content; to step up our game in authorizing presenters to give the class who are industry experts. That too, may be forthcoming.

Anyway, I will be out of the office for the next couple days – doing what I am hired to do.

Phones, life

Friday morning, I purchased a used phone through a friend at work. It is an iPhone 7, red. It belonged to a teenage daughter of the friend of the friend. I was willing to make it work, but I started off with some difficult issues. There was no icon for the App Store on the phone so I could not upload the apps I needed to make the phone serviceable to me long term. There was no Safari icon on the phone, further limiting the functions I needed. Last, but by far, not least, there was no audio. When I put my sim card into the phone and did the required updates, I could make a call, but I could not hear or be heard. That pretty well negated any ability to use the phone.

I got off at lunch Friday so Mama and I took the phone to the Cricket store to see if there was an issue that they could help me resolve. The staff there found out that the issue was with the latest software update recently released by Apple. If the audio chip is not 100%, the software will not recognize the audio chip. Hence, no sound. Apple was aware of the glitch but the only place to get that addressed was at the Apple store, an hour away. Mama and I went there next. Queued in for a two hour plus wait to see a technician and went to dinner. When we arrived back at the store – having been notified by text that we were in the short queue, we met with a reformed tech who was now in sales. He quickly explained that the only fix was to replace the phone - $399. Disappointed, we shopped briefly for a phone, but the prices were prohibitive. In the end, we were given a gift card for $150. The price offered when trading in the phone. We left without a working phone, but with the gift card. That was Friday.

Saturday, Mama spent the day with Cheyenne and Aubrey. It was Cheyenne’s birthday and her parents could not get off to do anything with her. Cheyenne spent the night with us Friday night – chattering endlessly – and Mama and Victoria picked up Aubrey Saturday morning for a day of eating out, shopping and a run through the trampoline park in Denton. They were home in the early evening. I stayed at the farm so I could get our trailer tires replaced in order to get it back in service. When I got back from picking up the cattle panels last week, I noticed that one tire on the left side was completely shredded and the other tire on that side was worn thin. Finding replacements proved difficult and expensive – but doable. Once that was done, I worked on little projects around the farm.

Saturday night, Victoria talked me into getting onto her cellular plan. When we explored the options, she was able to add me for about what I now pay on my separate plan – phone charges included. She was able to upgrade Mama’s phone as well. So, Mama and I will have new phones on the way. I am not sure that was the best answer, but it was the path chosen. That being set in motion, I gave the gift card to Victoria who used it to buy a refurbished Apple Watch. I suppose it was a win-win-win. Time will tell. Today I am still without a phone, but that should be short-lived. I was able to return the phone to the seller and get my check back.

Yesterday, Dr Carl Baugh was at our church. It is always fascinating to hear him speak. I asked him a question about getting the message of Creation to a culture not trained to consider it as an option. I asked if there was one particular thought we could share that could spark a question in their minds to consider Creation. He offered the following thought. Only life begets life. Chemistry does not, cannot produce life – ever. The Big Bang, the primordial soup, the proteins available cannot produce life; especially in the diverse complexity we have all around us. Only life produces life. Every life reproduces after its own kind. Without exception. A simple, amazingly complex thought.

I will have to stew on that.

Last weekend, this week, this weekend

Last weekend I took the canoe I was given and put it into the quarry lake on the property adjoining our farm. I had outfitted the canoe with a rod holder so I could take several rods along without having to work around them as I put out the jugs I had made. I worked to get everything ready Friday evening and put the canoe in the water early Saturday afternoon. I only had three jugs ready, but I was excited to get them out and test them. I was careful with the canoe, staying in the middle of the canoe to keep away from any type of tipping hazard. It went so well that I texted Mama later that day to tell her I was confident we could make it work for us as our go-to watercraft for the lake. It did not go so well that evening when I went out to pick up the jugs.

On both excursions, I fished a few minutes as I either set out the jugs or retrieved them. On both occasions I caught a nice sized bass. Saturday evening, as I was retrieving the last jug – I had caught nothing on the jugs – I was gently blown against the bank of the lake by the constant wind. I had moved to the front of the canoe but thought nothing of it as I took the oar and pushed myself (and the canoe) away from the bank. I must have leaned into the oar as I pushed off the bank because the canoe immediately flipped over; dumping me into the lake. Not really that big a deal but I had not taken my phone off before launching the canoe into the water. I was in shallow enough water that I could stand. It was just above by waste – which kept my phone underwater for a minute or more as I pulled the canoe far enough onto the bank to dump out some of the water in it.

I belatedly put my phone in the dry box in the canoe, recovered everything but a pair of needle nose plyers (they do not float) and headed to the launch site; anxious to get my phone into a bag of rice to try to dry and salvage it. Having water in the canoe made it a struggle to get the canoe steered to the place I needed to get to in order to get it out of the water. There is not much “beach” in the quarry lake so there are only a few places to launch a boat into the lake. What water was still in the canoe made it very difficult to get the canoe out of the water and onto the bank so that I could dump the water out of the canoe and load it back onto the trailer. All in all, it was a half hour before I got the phone into the rice to hopefully dry it out. In the end, my poor phone died completely. A sad, tragic, painful electronic death. It sputtered and flashed and almost worked a time or two. But eventually it went completely dark. I am searching for an inexpensive replacement now – but I am not hurrying. We do not have the money to upgrade yet, so I just need something to get by for a few months. The issue is that I need to stay in the Apple line of products. It will eventually work out.

Mama is ready for me to get a phone. It is her link to me when I am working. We have been sadly out of touch through this week as I have been working remotely at the Texas Motor Speedway. Only on Monday did we stay in touch. I took that day off to take her to the Texas State Fair. That was a fun, albeit expensive day. But, Tuesday through Thursday, I have left the house very early and returned very late as I participated in our company conference. I taught class on Tuesday, then stayed for a reception out on the track – as people who attending the conference took rides in the race cars.

One poor young lady even got to experience a crash as the car she was riding in broke a ball joint at 160 mph slamming into the wall forward, then in reverse as it spun out of control. Neither she nor the driver were seriously injured, but she had some significant bruising from the harness and helmet as she got slapped around during the two impact episodes. Amazingly, she got into the next ride along and went back out on the track. They took her for a couple extra laps in appreciation of her resilience. I got home about 8 pm Tuesday.

Wednesday, I attended a full day of speakers and panel discussions that lasted, reception included, until about the same time. Yesterday, I helped in a class that finished up at lunchtime. None of the seventeen participants were disappointed by the early completion time. I stayed for lunch, sitting with some of the folks I had met during the conference then headed out. I was back in the office at about 1:30 pm. Home at my normal time. Mama was excited. It was a grueling week for all our company folks, but the company benefitted greatly from it.

Last night, Mama and I attended the monthly beekeepers meeting. We are looking forward to setting up our hives. With the contacts we have through the group in the area, we should be in good shape next year to get the hives going. We were told not to expect any honey our first year. The goal is to get the hives going. To get the colonies strong – well established and reproducing. We are as ready as we can get for now.

This weekend will be spent catching up to all that was not done during the week…that includes making up for time not spent with Mama.