Cold, Lawton homes, teaching

For once the forecasts were accurate. The temperature did drop to 22° overnight. I happened to be stirring about at 2 am. The temperature reading on the clock on the mantle, where we look for our temperature measurements, was 27°. The final drop in temperature was between 2 am and 6 am. The temperature reading in the truck this morning was 19°. That matched the official temperature reading at our local weather station. It will be interesting to find out if that was one of the many record cold readings for this time of year. Fortunately, we were ready for it. I got a little worried as I went to bed that I had not taken good enough care of the wellhead for the well that services the house. So, I got up, dressed for the cold and found the things I needed to put a single light bulb under the tote we have over the wellhead. That, I wrapped with a blanket to help insulate the cover. I felt fairly confident that it would be enough to get us through the night. After that was done, I slept pretty well. Other than my early morning check of the temperature.  

The forecast is for temperatures to get to almost 50° today. That will thaw things out nicely through the day. Nighttime temperatures are still going to be at or below freezing for the next three nights, but none will be as cold as last night. So, if our last-minute preparations got us safely through the deep cold, we should be fine for the rest of the week. Of course, Mama will have to carry water to her animals every morning, but we are set up to accommodate that as well. Oh well, it is to be expected this time of year.

We are hoping Lilly and Dolly have their babies in one of the warmer interludes, but we have no control over that. We are not providing any extra warmth for the goats. They all have places to bed down out of the wind – which has been fierce as this cold front moved through. The only heat we are offering is to the younger chickens – in the coop, in the garage and in the birthing center; which will not be needed for puppies any more since Mama and Victoria missed Kobe’s heat again. that was to be their last attempt to get Kobe or Kira bred. There are going to be some very disappointed people who have been on a waiting list for puppies from Kobe.

Last weekend there was a flurry of activity on our houses in Lawton. We have a friend who has a couple properties in Lawton as well. He goes up every weekend to work on his houses. Friday evening Mama called his wife to ask if he would mind swinging by our houses and check to see if anything had been done. As it turned out the realtor texted me early Saturday morning to let me know he was buying materials for the houses. He wanted to know how I was going to cover the costs of the materials being purchased. From his estimate, I transferred money to him through a local bank. It was still nice to have eyes on the project from our friend who confirmed that a lot of materials had been placed in the houses – doors, toilets and tubs, sheetrock, paint, etc. Lord willing, in spite of the colder temperatures, we will see some significant progress on the houses this month. If the Lord is using this to reinforce His teaching us patience, it is certainly working. I am praying for wisdom to rightly handle the money generated by the eventual sale of these two properties. I will need it. Thought we may still be months away from that eventuality, it is not too early to begin praying. Right now, I am praying about how to make sure I have the funds necessary to finish the properties. I am weighed down quite a bit by that…until we complete our first sale.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. It will be a nice change of pace.