What a weekend!

I held off on working with the bees until Saturday morning. Friday was horribly windy and a little cooler than normal and I had to fulfill my work obligations which kept me until after 4 pm. According to our mentors, the best time to work in the hives is between 10 am and 4 pm. I was a little late to start Friday evening. So, Saturday morning I got everything in place – the syrup feeders, the supers to accommodate the syrup feeders on top of the hive, the jars of syrup and the hive tools I would need – by the hive so I could have quick access to the parts once the hive was open. It all worked out well. I opened the hive, looked at the progress the bees were making and installed the feeders. It was quick work because the temperature was still pretty cool as far as the bees were concerned. I had everything in place and the hives strapped down in less than twenty minutes. I had to leave the pieces I had removed from each hive for each hive near the hive so the bees that refused to leave those panels could find their way back into the proper hive. Other than that, I was done pretty quickly. It took me another twenty minutes to get everything put away properly so that Mama and I could get ready to leave. We had several appointments set up during the day.

Mama had found, in her time on the internet, a place that we could pick strawberries. The location was sort of on the way to Lawton. Just outside Wichita Falls. We had an appoint with our realtor in Lawton at 2 pm, so we squeezed the strawberry farm between the bees and the meeting in Lawton. When we found the place, we were a little concerned because Mama had called and been told that the were closing the strawberry patch at 12 pm. It was 11:40 and we were still thirty minutes out when she had gotten that information. But it all worked out. When we got there the young man working the “cash register” told us to go ahead as see what we could find. “It’s been pretty well picked over.” He told us. He was right, but we found enough to make it worthwhile. There were so many strawberries that were only a few days away from ripening but could not be picked yet. Mama was finding enough to keep her mind off her pain about thirty minutes. That made it a good stop. Once, Mama was satisfied, we paid for the ripe berries we had harvested and headed to Lawton.

We met our realtor at our houses in Lawton. Mama and I were initially disappointed when we got inside our larger house. It was not any further along than it had been several months ago – other than the entire house had been textured and painted and doors had been hung. We liked the color Glenn had chosen for the walls and trim. Kitchen and bathrooms were still unfinished. Glenn does have beautiful vanities for the bathrooms at the house, they are sitting in the bedrooms waiting to be installed. Mama and I were a quite underwhelmed and anxious to talk to Glenn about the delay and a path forward. We were there at 1:50. After contacting Glenn, he got to the house about 2:25.

We chatted for a few minutes, then softly aired our grievances. He listened patiently and sympathized completely when we told him we were going back to the bank for the money to finish one of the two properties, but we needed a plan and a time frame for completion. When we talked that through,

Mama asked what the market was like in Lawton. It is not good. So, selling the houses could be problematic at this time. To overcome that obstacle and to get our finances boosted, Glenn suggested we rent the properties for a couple years. Rentals are very hard to come by right now. Houses of this caliber will rent quickly. Plus, we are in a very sought-after area of the town. Renting the houses will help get our finances in order, bring some income from the properties, and give us time to weather the Covid-19 storm we are in right now. With that in mind, I contacted the bank this morning to move that direction. We prayed with Glenn as we left – for wisdom, for direction, for grace, for faith to trust Him more, for the help He has given us to make the decisions we need to make, for Him to use us to His glory. We were encouraged.

On the way home we had to stop at Grandma’s. She had been given a nice scooter by a friend in West Virginia. Grandpa had just installed the battery in the scooter and Grandma was anxious for Mama to try it out. We did not stay long, but we had a great visit while we were there. Mama was anxious to get home because when Alex and Leslie had come to fish, they had dropped off Aubrey and Cheyenne at the farm. We have not seen the girls in weeks. Since this whole run-and-hide movement gripped our country. It was good to spend that time with them. We had them until late in the evening. Like most little girls do when they visit, they clung to Mama like little leaches. I mean that in the best possible way.

All in all, it was a great weekend.