Late grilling, chores on hold, processing chickens

With my bowels still in turmoil yesterday evening, I fixed a broth soup out of leftovers. Victoria and Mama re not much on such soups so they fixed breakfast meals. But when Victoria was done eating her bacon and eggs, she said, “I’m hungry for some meat.” Since I still have the borrowed pellet grill, I offered to fire it up if she and Mama could come up with some meant to grill. Victoria went straight to the freezer and got out hamburger, ground lamb and ground turkey. About five pounds worth of meat. Once sufficiently thawed, she and Mama made patties out of the meats and I put them on the hot grill. That is the nice thing about the pellet grill. I can start it up and be at temperature in about fifteen minutes. The grill will maintain the set temperature setpoint throughout the cooking process. Even though it was 45° last night, I was able to cook the burgers in about twenty minutes. Nice. I did not eat any of the meats I cooked, but Victoria and Mama assured me they were good.

Victoria was so excited about the success of the impromptu grilling that she is going shopping today for more things to grill. Jalapenos, pineapple, chicken breasts and whatever else she can come up with. IT will be later in the evening before I can get started, but that does not really matter with this type of grill. I will be returning the grill to Zach tomorrow. He has not asked for it to be returned, but I feel bad about keeping it. Besides, Mama, Victoria and I need one of our own. At least, I suppose it is a need. One thing is certain, if I have one, I will use it. Especially since it can be done even on a whim. I suppose a gas grill would be just as convenient, but the smokey, grilled flavor this grill adds to meats is outstanding. While we have had the grill, I have smoked two turkeys, a rack of ribs, sausages and hot dogs, and dozens of burgers. Everything came out perfectly. It has been fun to have the grill. It has been fun to use it.

I am off tomorrow. The first day of 2020. I can still remember the angst at Y2K. This time twenty years ago. I was on the startup team at the refinery in New Jersey. Computer nerds around the world were concerned that the year 2000, with its triple zeros, would confuse computers and all computing technologies would be interrupted indefinitely. That, of course, did not happen. And here we are twenty years later. Reliant on computerized devices more than ever. Anyway, we have a lot of little chores waiting on me this weekend. Coop cleaning – a must. Goat barn cleaning not overly urgent. Pig building cleaning – a must. Installing a new small goat paddock to separate the boy and girl weanlings – a bright hope. To name a few. All of these will not get completed tomorrow, but several will. Last weekend, between the rain showers, I moved the grapevine to the bed with the blueberries and asparagus. I also dug up the asparagus in the garden and split the dozen or so crowns between the bed with the asparagus and the raised bed in the garden. We will see where it does the best. I am hopeful the grapevine will thrive in the bed I planted it in. I know the blackberries did. Time will tell if the move works as well for the grapevine.

Between all those chores I have to process the four remaining chickens. Brittany Wycoff is supposed to come over in the early afternoon to help, but I am not sure that will work out. Regardless, I have to get the birds done. They are getting too big to walk. They waddle like ducks they are so huge. Once the chickens are out of the birthing center, Mama and I will clean that up and set it up for the next time we need it. I am tempted to move it out of the yard but am not sure where I would put it if we did move it. No urgency there, I just would like to take away a potential skunk refuge from our yard.

Mama and I do not have any plans for New Year’s Eve. The new Year will ring in without our involvement.

Rain, packing Christmas, sick, house news

Saturday was a rain day. It rained off and on through most of the day, but we had a lot of inside work to get done, so the time was not going to be wasted. I took a long time feeding in the morning, knowing the rain was coming. It gave Mama and Victoria a chance to stay in their pajamas a bit longer. Plus, on Saturday, I like to get everything set up for Sunday morning when we typically do not have a lot of extra time to feed and water. Mama and I need to take the time this evening to clean out the coops. They are in desperate need of a cleaning but the rain held us off over the weekend.

The morning inside gave us time to finish the coffee bar. There are still shelves to add to house mugs and framing of the metal art we put on the wall behind the coffee bar, but it is a functioning part of the house now. Mama and Victoria generally have more time to get their coffee made than I do, but I am making it work. It does help having the larger pot when the three of us drink coffee any given morning. When we have coffee drinking guests, it will be put to good use. For now, it offers us a place to house all the many coffee mugs we have in one cabinet. It will be a blessing to have all those in one place – out of the way.

Somewhere along the line, Mama got the idea to put our dining room table in the spot where the marble topped tall table was sitting. I had to agree that it would work better for her as a craft table than the round marble table. So, we planned the move, but to get that done, we had to pack up the Christmas tree. Since we were doing that, we packed away all the Christmas decorations. That took some time even though Mama did not have out as many decorations as she had available. It did require getting a half dozen totes from the well house to the living room between rain showers. But once that was done, we worked on pulling all the ornaments off the tree, unstringing the lights and packing the tree away for the year. All told, the operation took us about two hours as Mama carefully re-boxed the figurines and ornaments and I took all the batteries out of the Jingle Pals. Lord willing, we will see all of them again next year. (I imagine that either today, or after the 1^st that we will do the same at work.)  

Once everything was out of the way, we cleaned off both tables and made the move. Now, the taller marble-topped table and chairs sit in the dining room and the dining room table and its chairs sit by the sliding glass door. It does not look too out of place there. It will definitely give Mama a larger, more comfortable place to work on her projects and even though the wooden table is larger than the marble topped one, it seems to have opened up that space to be of greater use to Mama – especially when the girls are over at our house working on Diamond Dot projects. At the same time, the marble topped table fits the dining area better than the larger table did but with almost as much functionality. We will adapt.

Sunday morning both Mama and Victoria were feeling a little nauseas as we got ready for church. We all went to church but during Sunday School, the nausea hit me and it was bad enough that I felt like I should go home. We did not have the Chinese girls because all of them were sick. I spent the day in and out of the bathroom. Resting in the recliner between bathroom runs with my stomach gurgling loudly. I am some better today. Hopefully, I will have immediate access to a bathroom when needed. Mama and Victoria never did feel as unwell as I did, but none of us ate much all day.

On Friday I got a text from our realtor in Lawton telling me that the tile for the Aberdeen property was being picked up and would be laid this week. I responded by asking how soon our Dover property would be ready to be put on the market. His response was January 10. I hope that is true. If it is, that would be an answer to prayer. We have not discussed a market price, but originally, the listing price of 120k was mentioned. Whether or not that is still a possibility is undecided and undiscussed. I do know that any price over 100k will be a good price for us. We have limited our profits by borrowing against the houses, but only to the amount of about 15k per house. Not too bad all told. Once we have these two houses sold, Mama and I will be able to operate largely with our own cash. Whether or not that is the best way to do things in todays financial market remains to be seen, but that is the path forward we are planning. Complete ownership with cash on hand is prudent. Not always the fastest way to grow a business, but far more secure. It will allow us to borrow only when that is the best alternative, rather than out of necessity.

Patience.

Quiet, busy Mama, weaning, processing, progressing

Things are very quiet at work. I counted nine cars in the parking lot yesterday afternoon. There are normally about forty-five of us in the office on a normal day. There was no problem finding an open restroom yesterday. Today will be about the same with perhaps even less of us in the office through the day. However, there are projects due at year end that have generated some energy in an otherwise listless crew. Unfortunately, I am not participating in any of those projects, so these have been some very long days to struggle through. It is not a hardship in any way. It just goes against my nature to sit still witting on something to do. So, I invent work as I go. Hopefully, all the little projects I move along will one day actually matter.

Mama, on the other hand has had some very full days. Some of her own making. Some she has filled with help. Yesterday, she traveled many miles in search of a Jingle Pal. I believe she was successful, but I did not think to ask to see the items when I got home. I just started right in on the farm chores and fixing dinner. Today, Grandma and Grandpa asked to be taken to Denton to do some shopping. Sam’s, Kroger’s, McDonald’s – and a couple other stops I do not remember. They will be out early and use most of the day to get everything done. These monthly jaunts help Grandma and Grandpa keep up with their basic needs without nickel and dime-ing away their pool of money at Walmart and Family Dollar. They like to go to Denton, but they do not like to drive anymore, especially where there is very much traffic. They are content to have Mama do the driving for them. She is content to provide them that service. A win-win.

I managed to spend about an hour on the pig building Christmas day. I removed two full wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the floor. I have about two more wheelbarrow loads left in order to get it ready for the additional weanlings. Whether or not I am able to get that done this weekend is unclear since we are forecast to have some significant rain tomorrow. As for the babies that need to be weaned, Mama is about ready to take Callie off of Millie. It will be another two or three weeks before we get the last of the little ones off their mamas, but there will be nine in total in the little area for a few weeks while we let their mamas dry up. Then the girls will go back to the paddock with the nanny goats and the boys will go to the area with the boy goats. That will happen in mid-January.

I was supposed to process the last four Rock chickens tomorrow. I need to get that done, but whether or not it will happen tomorrow is up in the air. It depends on the rain – how much and when it rains. I do know that the rooster is at the point that his legs are barely supporting his weight. He probably weighs fifteen pounds. I cannot let him go too much longer. The hens are all about twelve pounds right now. I told Mama I would like to pluck at least one of the chickens in order to save the skin. I would like to smoke the chicken and it would be better to have the skin on to do that. At least, I think it would. I do not know if I will do that with one of these, but I would like to try if I have the time. Now that we have learned how to raise the Rock chickens, we may repeat the process nest year. Time will tell.

Financially, Mama and I are at a standstill. Nothing alarming, just a bit of cash flow issues. I am looking ahead to February, when we have tickets to travel to Honduras and do not see the finances working out very well short of selling a house in January. We have a few large business-related financial obligations in February each year. That will be a challenge, but it has always worked out. Next year will be no different. In fact, next year should be the start of our business really getting going. I do not believe it would be a stretch to think that we will be able to sell both of our Lawton houses next year. Praise the Lord! How soon we purchase another one at the foreclosure sale has not been decided.

The time required to rehab these two has been very disappointing.

Christmas break

Christmas Eve day was our real Christmas this year. Becky, Bridgette and Mike came over to the farm about 7:30 am. We had a good visit through the day, disrupted only for an hour or so when Grandma and Grandpa came over. Grandma was in one of her tears and thinking she was being funny in her comments, managed to hurt just about everyone’s feelings in one way or another in the first thirty minutes in the house. Things calmed down after an hour or so, but the tension was palpable. We decided somewhere along the way to delay dinner so Victoria could share the meal with all of us, so I rearranged the baking and warming schedules to accommodate the delay. Even with that, some things were a tad cold when we did start to eat. No one complained. It was all still very good and for those who wanted, we had two microwaves to nuke to cooler items.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed a couple hours but left before we ate. Before Victoria got home. Grandpa said he was not feeling well and could not get comfortable at the house. We made a roll for each of them. Grandma had turkey on hers. Grandpa had jelly on his. They took off while Mama and I were out feeding – trying to get that done so we could sit down and enjoy the meal once we started to serve the food. Plus, we took some time with Bridgette in the paddock with the goats.

Trace and his crew came over for the meal. Seven adults and five kids, and we still had a huge amount of leftovers. I sent the turkey legs home with Mike, who does not typically eat turkey. With this he obviously made an exception. I had smoked a turkey the night before, so it needed only to be warmed through. I almost wish I had gone ahead and smoked it that day, but I was not aware of our delay in dinner time until around 11 am on Christmas Eve day so the turkey warmed a lot longer than I had intended. Plus, it would have added more unnecessary complications to the day.

As it was, I spend most of my time cleaning up the kitchen and washing dishes as we snacked and ate through the morning and early afternoon. That gave Mama time to spend with Bridgette. And with all the other grandchildren (through electronic means). Brittany’s crew, Cori’s crew, Maggie’s crew, and Chase’s little Owen. Mama got to see Makayla’s bulging belly and was excited about the approaching delivery dates for her and Brittany. Becky and her crew headed home in the early evening, about 6 pm. They were home by midnight. Mama and I appreciated the effort and expense of the travel required for the one-day visit. I think Grandma did as well. It was hard to tell.

I ate very little Christmas Eve. The pain was still too intense and the food still to heavy for my ailing digestive tract. I did thoroughly enjoy the company. I fared better on Christmas Day at our dinner with the Chinese families. We ate from a hot pot. A pot of continuously boiling water into which you can out anything you want. A base is added to the water to flavor the broth, so even the broth is good by itself. It is like making your own soup as you go along. Everything is hot – very hot – when you are ready to eat it so there is no hurry to eat. I like the concept and I was able to eat most of what had been cut to be cooked. Shrimp, all kinds of fish balls and noodles, little Korean sausages, leafy greens, tofu in multiple forms, congealed pork blood, tallow, white carrot, chicken gizzard, etc. Cooked separately were a whole fish and a very large crab. Mama and Victoria ate only what they wanted to of all that mix. We sat, talked and ate for more than an hour and the food was always very hot. It was fun. Some of the noodles and fish balls were sent home with us to make a soup out of. We will do just that.

On Christmas Day, Mama, Victoria and I rearranged the kitchen to accommodate a coffee bar. We bought Victoria a dual coffee maker for Christmas. It is more or less a Keurig and a coffee pot in one unit. To house it, we moved a cabinet to another wall, moved our water filter and slid in place an old oak dresser recovered from the Bowie farmhouse. It looks very nice. it freed up a large amount of counter space as well as allowing us to rearrange items in the two cabinets we had to move. Eliminating a few old items hidden in the back of the cabinets. All that work removed a lot of clutter. I always enjoy that. Teas and coffees are now conveniently located in the coffee bar.

Yesterday evening we went to church. There were far more in attendance than I expected. About ninety of us. It was a good service. A great way to end Christmas day.

Hurting, family and guests, Christmas

I spent the entire weekend hurting. Sometimes doubled over in pain. Brittany Wycoff had to reschedule helping me process the chickens. She was covered up at work and would not get off at her normal time. I was not concerned. That can wait a few more days. I was not moving well and may not have been able to offer the help I should have. In lieu of processing chickens, I went with Mama to deliver two puppies. The meet was set up at In-and-Out Burger in Alliance. Really that area is North Fort Worth, but some people call it Alliance. That is about thirty minutes from us in light traffic. It is often a tossup to go to Denton or to go to Alliance. Both of the drop-offs and all of the shopping stops went smoothly, but I was hurting the entire time. Both new puppy owners were thrilled by their purchase.

Sunday morning, the pain in my colon was far worse, but I struggled through both services with the added time of a church-wide breakfast that morning. I ate very little trying to sit quietly through the hour, careful to not betray my pain too obviously. It was a long morning followed by lunch at the restaurant. When we got home, I changed and collapsed into the recliner, finally got the pain under control and slept soundly for a couple hours. the evening service was much quicker, but we went back to the restaurant afterwards because the girls, who had gone to church with us that evening, were hungry. Once finally home, I closed up the animals and was shortly thereafter in bed. It was a horrible night. The pain, which abated some through the night, returned this morning. With a vengeance. This too shall pass.

Becky, Bridgette and Mike are planning on driving over after Becky gets off work this evening. It is about a six-hour drive – no matter what route you choose. They will be in very late, so they are staying at a hotel for the night. They are scheduled to be at the farm for breakfast. Staying through lunch. Leaving before or right after dinner. They plan to drive back to their home Tuesday night. Squeezing out the day was the best they could offer. Mama and I will take it. We have been able to see Bridgette only infrequently. This will be a good time together – we hope. Grandma and Grandpa are coming over for a visit to see their granddaughter and great granddaughter. Trace, Krystal and the boys were invited over for lunch as well. I am not sure if they will come, but we will have enough to feed them as well. That will pretty much be our Christmas.

All the while we are dealing with a neurotic mommy dog whose puppies are all gone now. She is constantly whining. She is not house broken. She has started tearing things up in the chef’s pantry where we have pinned her up when needed. So far, the damage has been minor, but the frustration of not knowing where she will pee or poop next is very disheartening. Mama knows I hate that dynamic and it only contributes to her frustration. We are trying to rehome the mommy but have had no success do far. I do not want her and after the last few days neither does Mama. It is one of those situations where you wish things would work out, but we do not have the patience or the time to devote to making her a good dog. Someone else will need to take over. Soon.

Christmas Day will be very subdued. Hopefully, my pain will have abated by then.

Home, flying, ahead

I got home about 7:30 last night. The drive home from the airport was close to two hours with the heavy traffic I encountered. It is always a pleasure to share the highway with thousands of travelers, most of whom I expect were also trying to get home. In transit from the airport via the roads Mama and I normally take, there is a definite point where the traffic lightens to the point that it always seems remarkable to me. That held true last night. I knew if I could get to that point, I could easily cruise home from there – barring the unexpected accident or other highway mishap. I was in no hurry other than the normal desire to get home, so I listened to talk radio and prayed for the two-hour commute. I needed the alone time after teaching and traveling, so it was not necessarily a hardship. It was more of an inconvenience.

All three flights I took this week were full. Two were full to the point that the airline was asking everyone who would to check their carry-on bags. Running out of overhead space to stow the luggage was a known issue before we even started boarding. I happily checked mine. Less hassle through the flights. On my first of two flights that would take me home, I was on a smaller plane with only two seats to a side. However, my row mate took the aisle and the middle armrests throughout the entire flight. I was at the window, so I made it work, but he never so much as offered to draw in even a little. Every time I bumped into his elbow, he tried to claim even more space. Which made it kind of fun. I spent the time reading a book on my phone and gently frustrating him.

On the longer flight from Charlotte, NC to DFW I was in the center seat of the row. The passenger to my left spoke no English, but was pleasant and quiet, and the one to my right – a recent Army recruit (one of about forty on the flight) – would not stop speaking English. Fortunately, we all three fit very comfortably in the row. Unfortunately, someone near us was passing gas every fifteen or twenty minutes for the entire two-hour flight. The smell was awful. The cabin air filtering system was working well, and the stink lasted only a couple minutes each time, but it was miserable for those two minutes. One of those circumstances that you hope will never happen. The constant mumbling of the recruit and the intermittent flatulence of a nearby passenger made it a memorable flight.

Tomorrow, I have a lot of catching up to do at the farm. Brittany Wycoff will be coming over in the afternoon to help me butcher the remaining four Rock Chickens. They each weigh at least eight pounds. One rooster is more than ten pounds. It will be nice to have them processed so we can clean out the birthing center. Mama is housing four puppies and a mama dog in the Chef’s Pantry for now. Not ideal, but workable. At the rate she is selling the puppies, we my not need to transfer them to the birthing center, but I want to get the chickens processed and the building cleaned out anyway. The six chickens we raised in there have made a mess of it. I will be happy to see it sanitized and ready for future service.

I must take the time in the next few days to clean the pig building. We have the bucklings in the antechamber of the building, but we will need to move their sisters to that area to wean them from their respective mommies. That will require use of the entire building, not just the storage area in the front of the building. That clean out will require a lot of work. I have done just a little of the removal of the accumulated mud from our last set of pigs. That mud layer on the floor is about four inches thick. It does seem to come up in large chunks, but it will all need to be removed. Soon.

Next week is Christmas week. I am not at all in the Christmas spirit. It all seems anticlimactic. Thanksgiving was our big Holiday celebration. we are expecting Becky, Bridgette and Mike here on Christmas Eve Day. Other than that, it will be me, Mama and Victoria Christmas morning. Alex invited us over for dinner Christmas day. We gladly accepted, but it will eliminate the need to fix a special Christmas dinner. Another reason it does not really seem like Christmas. Oh, well. We will have to make that dinner for Becky and Mike.  

We will have a bit more of Christmas when we travel to Honduras in February.

Rushing, waiting

Mama and I seemed to be running all evening yesterday, but that was just a continuation of how my day had gone. It started with me trying to check in for my flight that morning only to find out that the flight had been cancelled. It took some research to find out what had happened and to get the flight rebooked -at an additional cost of $200. It appears that the company credit card on file for me was cancelled a few weeks ago and I had not known, so I did not update my profile to reflect that change. So, reservations made on that card were not paid for. The airline did try to call me, but I did not take the call because I did not recognize the number. They did not leave a message, so I did not call then back. I get up to ten random calls per day – every day. I ignore those I do not recognize. If a message is left for me, I return the call. It all worked out, but not without some extra work on several people’s parts.

In addition to all that, the materials I needed for the class tomorrow were not ready until the moment I left the office. That does not typically happen, so I am hoping I got everything I needed. I am pretty confident that I do, but I did not have a lot of time to double check and I needed to get home to take care of some check writing for our business before Mama and I needed to drive to Bowie to get the truck. After feeding and after Mama spent an hour in Bridgeport dealing with a Tupperware or Pampered Chef (I forget which) lady who seems to be chronically late and out of pocket. One of those who does not return calls or set trustworthy meetings. We finally got home around 8:30 pm. I was finally able to finish the banking I need to have done before I travel for the next three days. I do not access any of my accounts while I am on the road unless I am in a secure internet environment. At a site facility or in a plant with secure internet. Never at the airport or in a hotel. Mama has shown no interest in helping with the banking, so everything waits until I get back home or to the office.

The flight today will be to Birmingham, AL. I will drive south from there to Alabaster, AL. Hopefully, I will have a chance to visit the site this afternoon and coordinate with the staff there about the class tomorrow. That is my normal process. It gives me a feel for setting of the class and the management interest in what I will be doing for my company. There are very few times that I have not been warmly welcomed, but there are those exceptions. Being prepared to deal with those circumstances takes some extra time in preparation and prayer. I do not anticipate a problem tomorrow, but I will know for sure later today.

I am only half expecting a call from Paul today. When we last spoke, he had told me that he would meet with his board to discuss using me as a training author for their plant training program, but I have no way of knowing. All I can do is wait. The Lord is in control. I have no worries. Mama and I have been praying earnestly about the potential of a job offering. So are several others at church. If I am careful to follow the Lord’s leading, regardless of the circumstances, it will turn out well for me and Mama and it will glorify the Lord. So we wait.

Pray for Mama as I am gone. She has a lot going on.

Another busy Saturday, more travel

Mama and I were up Saturday morning fairly early. We had to get the feeding done early so we could get to Grandma’s for breakfast. Norman had gotten in from West Virginia late Friday night and Grandma wanted to feed both of her kids breakfast. Seth and Gabriela were due that morning as well, so grandchildren and great grandchildren were also attending. When we got there Normand and Grandpa were unloading a trailer of junk Norman had hauled from West Virginia. Old weed eaters, a lawn mower, beat up cabinets, a very rusty drill press, etc. The thought was for Grandpa to clean up and sell the items as a way to get some cash. To Norman’s credit, most of the items were usable and will be more so after Grandpa gets them cleaned up. I just thought it was funny that Norman had made the trip – twenty hours plus – with a trailer load of discarded items. But that sums up the West Virginia mindset. he was supposed to bring a trailer load of hay. I will probably end up with the drill press and one of the weed eaters. My West Virginia transplant rooting showing through.

On our way to Grandma and Grandpa’s we dropped off my truck for our mechanic to replace the radiator. I have been smelling antifreeze for several months but could not find the leak. Friday, the leak made itself obvious. I was at Lowe’s at lunchtime and when I was walking back to the truck, I was able to see the fluid dripping from the radiator. I knew the leak had to be high on the radiator, because it would stop after several minutes. Only evidencing itself when the radiator was hot. I was not having any problems with the engine overheating and the reservoir seemed to always have sufficient fluid levels. So, it had not been an urgent need. Based on my preliminary diagnosis, Mama made several calls before we took the truck to Roger. The average repair price to replace the radiator was about $650. Roger is charging us $600. Fair enough. We were promised the truck would be ready today. We will see if that happens or not.

We did not stay long at Grandma’s. We had an appointment with the vet to get another little buckling disbudded. That appointment was set for 11 am. It was unusual to get an appointment at this veterinary office on such short notice, so Mama and I did not want to miss it. Once at the vet’s, we had to wait for about a half hour for the goat to get done, but we had nothing pressing us for the rest of the afternoon other than a planned trip to Sam’s. While we were at the vet’s, a young man came in, very emotional. He had a sick dog in the car and wanted the vet to look at the dog as quickly as possible. While he was waiting to see the vet (no more than ten minutes), the dog died and a tearful young teenage girl and the father of the two came in to give the young man the sad news. It was an incredibly sad scene. Mama cried for them. We will be in the same boat soon as we watch Sam’s health deteriorate. He and Sasha have been guarding or farms for more than eight years, but Sam is getting crippled in his hips. He struggles to get up from a lying position. It is a pitiful thing to watch. If it gets much worse, we will have to put him down. That will be a very somber moment for all of us.

Once we got the buckling back with his mommy, we headed to Sam’s. Mama and I needed to get a present for Victoria and Sam’s had the best price on the item. It was very crowded, but we managed to get in and out in less than an hour. Spent more than we needed to, but that is not new. We were home and unloaded by 4:30. That gave me time to feed and Mama time to put together something for the Sunday School Class party at the church. That party started at 6 pm. We had a great time at the party. Mexican food at it’s finest. A gift exchange with the right to steal any prize that had been opened before your time to choose. That is always an interesting dynamic. We were home a little after 9 pm with three gifts that would be regifted this Christmas.

Yesterday was rather anticlimactic. Good services morning and evening with a nap in between. Today I will pack to travel and be on the road through late Thursday. Hopefully, this coming weekend will not be quite so busy. Tomorrow, as I travel, I should hear back from Paul concerning the potential job offer. Mama and I are still praying for wisdom concerning that decision.

Several others are joining us in that prayer.

Chickens, shopping, bonuses

Mama and I had spoken with Alex Sunday to see if he was interested in us bringing a couple of our older chickens to him to process. He prefers the older chickens. According to him, they make the best soup. So, yesterday evening, just after dark, Mama and I got three of the oldest hens and put them in a crate to take to Alex. Alex uses the hens for his family. Not in the restaurant. All the restaurant food is bought from licensed suppliers. Grandma called about the time we were getting ready to leave to talk to Mama about doing a breakfast at her house Saturday morning. When Grandma clearly did not want to make the conversation quick, Mama told her we needed to leave to take the chickens to Alex. That prompted several questions from Grandma about what exactly we were doing with chickens, with the Chinese restaurant, etc. Mama tried to explain but I am not sure it came across well. That explanation was hindered by the fact that we are taking a goat to the vet Saturday to be de-budded. Mama felt compelled to share that with Grandma also because our appointment is at 11 am. So, we would not be able to stay long if we were to go to Grandma’s for breakfast. Grandma finally let Mama go, but I am not sure she really understood what was said. She did get the distinct impression that we were busy Saturday morning.

After dropping off the chicken, Mama and I went to Beall’s. The store in Decatur is closing so many of the items in the store are 50% off. Others are buy one, get two free. Mama and I shopped for shirts for me. I was staggered by the marked price, but Mama had me press on. We finally found a stack of shirt and tie combos. The process on those was not so frightening. We picked out four of those to buy. In the process Mama learned how to buy shirts for me. I need a large but with 34-35 inch sleeves. That specific offering is only available from the more expensive suppliers. When that longer sleeve is not an option, I have to buy an XL and let the shoulders of the shirt overlap my shoulders a bit in order to get the sleeves to fit. Anyway, we got me four shirt and tie combinations. It has been a very long time since we bought me any shirts. I do not remember the last time Mama and I bought colored shirts for me since, for many years I would not ear them. I have traditionally worn white shirts only. I guess we are going to try something new.  The shirts we bought are nice shirts, so I hope our experiment works out.

This weekend is full. Too full for me to process the remaining four Rock chickens I was planning to get dressed tomorrow. Instead, Mama enlisted help for me to get them done next Saturday. Brittany Wycoff is going to help me. That should be fun. With the goat appointment and breakfast at Grandma’s, the morning will be filled up. Mama and I are also debating going to Sam’s to take part in a one-day sale there. We would have to get that done very early or wait until mid-afternoon. Tomorrow night is our Sunday School Class party at the church. I am forgoing the company Christmas Party in favor of the church party. Better food. Better company. Less travel. No parking hassle. This weekend will pass by very quickly. Monday, I pack to travel and will be gone Tuesday through Thursday. Christmas will be the following week. This year is almost gone. Amazing.

Tuesday we were told by our management that we should expect to see a bonus on our mid-December check. I checked this morning and sure enough we did get a bonus. A generous one. It was a nice gesture.

Especially considering that the bonus was offered company wide.

Play day, Mama’s new cooker, prayer help

Today at work we are scheduled to build gingerbread structures to represent a village. Our theme for the year is “It takes a village.” So, the idea of constructing a village plays that idea out well. Doing it in gingerbread is a clever addition. We will be at it most of the morning. Lunch will be provided, and a White Elephant gift exchange will follow in the afternoon to finish out the day. it will be a fun day. Since my singular focus at this job is training, I have been tasked, along with two of my coworkers, to build a train. Mama sent construction paper to work with me to cut for the tracks and I bought edible lettering to add an “ing” to out little train. I am not sure whether everyone will get the humor, but it is worth a try. For many it will feel like a short day. For me, not so much, but it will pass the time productively as far as the company is concerned.

Once all the teams had assembled their structures, we voted on our favorite village settings. Once the vote was counted, all the individual teams moved their projects to a central location to make our corporate village. It took a bit of work to get all this done in the hour we were allowed and then move the assembled gingerbread buildings to the table in our area – the largest in the building. The creativity in our office amazes me every time it gets to be expressed especially because the instructions in the box required the assembled gingerbread structures to stand for three hours before decorating them. No way that was possible. So we did the best we could. I was happy with the final result of our little train.

Mama used her new kitchen appliance yesterday with great success. She made chili using the slow cook mode. Victoria did not know that mode was offered in the cooker. It makes an excellent crock pot. Mama was excited. Victoria was excited. I smiled from the sideline and I enjoyed the chili. I also enjoyed the cleanup. One pot. No overcooked edges like we get in a crockpot. It was nice. After I appraised the dual cooker closely, I am glad Mama insisted on getting the larger, 8-quart version. We will use it more than a smaller one because it will not frustrate Mama as often by failing to accommodate something she is trying to cook – either with pressure or air frying. I now am certain that when we remodel the kitchen, I will need to drop at least two extra electrical outlets into the kitchen to allow us to use more than one appliance at a time.

Mama and I have asked several carefully selected people at the church to join with us in prayer about the potential job change. We need all the help we can get.

Mama’s big buy, doctoring goats, Audrey, the test run

Mama drove to Sam’s early yesterday to buy the 8-quart Emeril Lagasse Pressure Cooker Air Fryer. They had the appliance on sale for a price that beat anything we had seen either online or in stores. I got to see the unit briefly when I got home.

It is a big appliance. Wider and taller than any of the current pressure cookers (three in total) we currently house. I think we could have gone with the 6-quart unit, but for the money, this was a better buy. Even if we do not use it to full capacity very often, it will certainly get used. And I will get to clear out several smaller single-purpose countertop appliances cluttering up the chef’s pantry. Two pressure cookers, one rice cooker, and one crock pot will quickly find new homes. I did not get to look the Emeril unit over closely until later yesterday evening because we had to get the little bucks doctored before it got too dark to do so.

Yesterday afternoon was cold and a but windy, but it was dry. Fair conditions to doctor our tiny bucks. Mama was given specific instructions to change the bandages on the heads of our bucks after three days. Because of the rain we waited an extra day before doing so. I started with the black and white buck – Caesar, I think. I had a special pair of scissors to cut the tape binding the dressing to the head of each buck but that did not lessen the fact that the tape would pull the hair of the buckling as I unwrapped it from their heads. They were not pleased with the hair-pulling torture and on the first buckling removing the tape also tore loose the bandaging – and the scabs at the surgery site along with it. I felt horrible. Mama gagged. The buckling cried out in pain. It was an awful moment. But while Mama went to get some ointment to put on the open wound, I cut the bandages to allow a small piece to lay against the scalp wounds so that the next time we removed the dressing, it would not come loose with the bandaging…hopefully. I was shocked that the vet had not done so as well, but everything worked out well enough. With the second buckling, Julian, removing the dressing did not tear open the wound. Much easier on Mama – and the buckling.

Brittany Facetimed Mama soon after we had eaten dinner. Mama made soup with some of the leftovers we had on hand. It was very good. The girls were excited to talk to Grammy and since I happened to be home, they talked to me as well. I am constantly thankful that I chose the grandparent name I did. It is so much fun for the grandkids to say. Brittany told us the twins are very interested in their little sister, who we will meet in early February. For now, the girls are content to feel their sister kick and turn in mommy’s belly. We had chatted couple minutes when Sophia said, “I’m ‘ia.’” Identifying herself to me and Mama. Whether or not she understands the confusion of their identical looks is questionable, but she certainly understands that people have trouble identifying her. She is willing to help. So, Zoe had to tell us who she was as well. So, I asked where Audrey was? Both girls patted Brittany’s belly. Zoe Said, “Open, Open,” and reached for Brittany’s shirt to pull it up. That is their customary routine. When they talk about the baby, they inspect mommy’s belly. Of course, Brittany stopped them since I was on the video call as well, but it was a cute moment. It was getting late when we hung up. Mama and I had to get some things done before bedtime, but we still hated to say goodnight. So, we planned a later call just before the girls were put to bed. They called to say goodnight an hour or so later and the girls got so stirred up that I am sure Brittany had trouble getting them settled down after we hung up.

Later yesterday evening, Mama and I put the new pressure cooker through a trial run. That was recommended by the manufacturer to cleanse the unit from the oils normally applied during assembly and packaging. It performed flawlessly. Mama was excited. I have a feeling she and Victoria will use this unit more than any we have acquired in the past. Time will tell, but Mama was already looking at recipes for both pressure cooking and air frying. I ordered cookbooks for each cooking method to encourage Mama in the use of the dual appliance. We’ll see if that helps or frustrated her. I will certainly use the pressure cooker function, but I will have to experiment with the air fryer.

Mama and Victoria are more excited about that function than I am.

Grandpa, late meeting, later shopping

Yesterday was largely uneventful for me. Catching up to the paperwork generated by the two classes I had taught. Mama, however, had a busy day with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa saw the cardiologist yesterday afternoon. For once he was very honest about some of the episodes he has had recently. At one point during the visit, his heart rate was 40 beats per minute. the doctor got to see that firsthand. Even the most athletic person will have a heart rate well above that. Grandpa is not athletic. A low heart rate barely profuses the organs in the body. While it will give minimum oxygen circulation throughout the body, it will not give enough for the body to function well. Thus, Grandpa’s recent episodes of weakness accompanied by an ashen pallor. Very frightening for both Grandma and Grandpa. He was given a heart monitor to wear for one week. That information will be evaluated when the monitor is given back to the doctor. I do not know if Grandpa is a candidate for a pacemaker, but that would be the most obvious recourse to keep his heart rate high enough to keep him feeling well. Whether his heart is up to the required surgery or the external influence of a pace maker will be determined by the doctor.

My most important meeting of the day took place late in the workday – at my normal quitting time. It was the third attempt to get with an old friend – a fellow board operator from New Jersey – to discuss some issues he was having with a new reactor system. We chatted a few minutes to catch up but got to the central issue of the call quickly. He is not a person to dally about. After I assured him, he had done the right thing in several areas to get past the issues they had been experiencing, I corrected a couple incorrect remembrances that had caused some of the problems to linger. He tentatively offered me a job, albeit a temporary post. Two to four months contract work. I politely declined. I am not in a position to speculate financially and I have no flexibility with work hours in my current role. In other works, I cannot split my time between the two companies. My current employer would taka dim view of that.

I did offer to get him started in the direction he and his company need to head with training the individuals working at the problematic unit by building a skeleton training program from which they could develop a full training program. An outline of what I consider a good training regimen. A remote working gig while I maintained my current duties. What will come of it is in the Lord’s hands. Am I interested in contracting in that area of production again? Mostly. Would it pay better? Definitely. Would it require a lot of time away from Mama? Clearly. Therein is the dilemma. Mama and I are praying about what will come next. I will have some sort of answer next week after he talks with his board of directors about using me to develop the operator staff at their new venture.

The meeting made me quite late getting home, but I was arriving at the farm just after Mama, Grandma and Grandpa got there. Mama had wanted to doctor the little bucks that had their surgeries last week, but it was a little too late, much too cold and way too wet. We opted to move that chore to tonight. Instead, after Mama was in her pajamas and Victoria was drinking her evening cup of tea, I talked the two of them into going to Walmart to look for the appliances we had discussed buying with Victoria’s extra 15% off coupon. She already gets 10% off, so we were looking at getting a total of 25% off the total of items she and Mama had decided we needed to upgrade our countertop appliances.

Unfortunately, Walmart did not have what we were originally looking for in stock. Fortunately, we did discover an appliance that we had not really given any serious consideration. Upon further inspection, we decided that it was our first choice. It is a pressure cooker and air fryer combination unit. With two tops for the same base to allow the conversion. So, rather than buying two units for those functions, we can purchase one unit to serve both applications. For about the price of one of the appliances. Save space. Save money. What a deal. However, after searching the entire store, the staff could not find any in stock. But Sam’s has five at the store in Denton. We know that because Mama called while we were in Walmart waiting to see if they could locate one to verify the item was available and that the price was as advertised. She will go there today to get one. This weekend, I will go through our pantry and throw away or give away redundant items.

That was my goal all along.

Travel, Teaching and more travel, busy at home

I do not necessarily enjoy travel, especially without Mama with me, but it is tolerable. The real issue is the number of strangers you have to share the cabin space with. My flight to Minnesota was a full flight – very full. I did not end up sitting with any larger passengers but the three of us men who were crowed into the three small seats we filled were constantly trying to “sit small” – as a row mate on my flight home described it. I was in the aisle seat and was constantly having to avoid the flight attendants as they walked up and down the aisle. Crowding into my row mate to my left. The fact that I was in one of the very last rows made that travel much more frequent than if I had been further up in the plane. But we adapted.

It was not a bad flight. It was a bit rough. Bad turbulence. A little over two hours. Cramped and a little warn, but not overly so. Anyway, I made it safely to the training site, which is saying something, with all the ice on the secondary roads in Minneapolis. Turns out that the office where I gave my class had been shut down for several days due to heavy snowfall over the previous week. That class went well. Lots of very positive feedback. When I got back to the hotel and parked on the icy parking lot, I did not venture out until I had to go back to the airport the next morning. Fortunately, there was only a light frosting on the windshield and the rental company had provided a scraper to deal with that.

The flight to Denver was also a full flight but on a smaller plane. With only two seats to a side the seats were actually larger than on the larger plane. Go figure. It was a much smoother flight, but we were flying away from the storm front that had roughed us up on the way to Minnesota. It was much warmer in Denver. There was some ice on the secondary roads. Deposited by the same storm that had iced over the roads in Minneapolis, but the warmer temperatures during the day was taking care of a lot of the accumulation. The Denver airport is an interesting experience in and of itself. In that airport you have to take a tram to a separate facility to get your bags. When the announcement was made to hold on, I noticed that most everyone took a firm hold of the poles provided. I did as well. One young traveler did not heed the warning. As the tram lurched out of the station, he quickly stumbled into the group behind him that had chosen to get a grip. No one took offence. Some of the group that caught him seemed prepared to do so.

Class the following day also went very well. I had taken the time to locate the facility right after I arrived in Denver. If I had not, I would have had trouble finding it the day of class. From the road it was not recognizable. I drove by it twice. The map I was following assured me I was in the right place, but it did not look right. The facility was located behind a partially demolished gas station. When I drove past the demolition zone, I was able to see the newer buildings. The facility for the Colorado class was much nicer that the garage I had given the class in at the Minneapolis facility. We started early, took a very short lunch and ended early. No one complained about that.

The flight home was another full flight as well. Once I got to the farm, I had to hit the ground running. Mama had taken two little bucks to the vet to be de-horned and they had to be separated from the herd for a week. They needed to be weaned as well, so Mama’s timing was wise. Anyway, we had no place set up for them, so I had to make one as quickly as I could. The only option was to use the pig building in some way. It is still a mess from the two pigs we housed there earlier in the year, but we put up a couple cattle panels from the pen I had started before my travel schedule got full. That gave the little bucks access to the front of the pig building (where we would normally keep a feed barrel) and a small enclosed yard. It also allows me and Mama to close them up in the building at night. Just to be on the safe side.

Several other little things need attention which kept Mama and I occupied until dark because Mama and I needed to be able to get the morning feeding done quickly in the dark Saturday morning. She and I had an appointment at our bank in Lawton to sign some paperwork for the houses we have there. We left the farm at 7 am to get to the bank by 9 am. When we finished that appointment, we looked at our houses in Lawton, but we did not linger. I needed to be back in Decatur at 2 pm for choir practice. Mama had a lot of baking to do for Kimberlyn and Kenny who were feeding two hundred reservists on Sunday and we had a parade to participate in that night. So, Mama baked at the church while I was at choir practice. It was a busy day, but we got everything done in a timely manner. We left the farm at 7 am and got back at 9:30 pm.

The cantata yesterday evening went very well. Having the young people from BBTI with us for the cantata was a real blessing. They added so much to the choir. I was very thankful to have them. In fact, we moved the performance up a week so they could participate. Many of not all of them will be leaving for Christmas break next Saturday. Now the cantata is done and done well.

Now, maybe we can relax a bit.