Yard work, meeting Leeoni, Rick

Saturday morning, what time I did not spend helping Mama with the coop cleanup, I worked on yardwork. The wheeled trimmer certainly adds to my reach as I use it versus the weed eater. I was able to trim all the fence in the yard as well as some distance on our perimeter fences before I had to start on edging the patio with the new implement I bought for that purpose. It was hot and humid, and I was thoroughly soaked by 11 am when I had to rest for a while. I got a little overheated in the four hours I worked outside. Because the medication I am taking will not allow my heart to keep up with my body’s respiratory needs during periods of heavy exertion, I have to pause and allow myself to “equalize”. Once my heartrate and my breathing balance out, I go back at whatever I am doing. I have not found a pace that will allow that balance to be struck while I am working so I have to pause from time to time. Not long. Just enough to get things leveled out. My body lets me know when that is achieved.

In the afternoon, Mama and I met Wayne to buy some hay for the calf and the goats. He would only sell is ten bales of the stockpile he had in a barn on some land he leases near Decatur, but that should get us by until we can find an affordable supplier in the area. Until we get a couple head of cattle back on the farm, round bales are not a good option for us. There is far too much waste when we use round bale for the goats. These bales of coastal hay are not their favorite hay, but they will eat it if there is nothing else so it is a good supplement. I took the time to get all those bales placed in the loft of the goat barn as soon as we got home. I gave one bale each to the nanny goats and to the boy goats with the calf. Mama and I are going to let the calf out of the paddock with the boys as soon as I have a shelter build for her. I need to get on that very soon. She is getting too big for the goats to be able to compete with her at the feed trough.

Late Saturday evening we were visited by Leeoni. She has been buying goats from Rick for several years and in the past couple years has been a great help to Rick and Nancy as both of them started to struggle with health issues. Mama had talked with Leeoni several times in the past, but we had never met her. It was a pleasant visit. She is British by birth. Transplanted into the US by marriage. Younger than me and Mama by at least 20 years and an overall delightful person to visit with. She and Mama looked over all the goats we have on the farm and she was impressed by the set up we have for our animals. She was also impressed by several of the goats – especially the little girls – but did not buy any of our stock because it is too close to what she already has on her farm.

She is looking to get new bloodlines into her herd, and we are not in a position to offer any help with that. She verified for Mama that all the nanny goats are indeed bred so we are safe to take Midas out of the paddock he is sharing with them and move our little girls back into that area. She stayed at the farm for well over an hour. Mama and I were encouraged by her visit. I was cooking burgers on the pellet grill when Leeoni and her daughter arrived. Mama and Victoria had wanted grilled burgers and I was only too happy the oblige. We had enough to feed our visitors as well, but they had other places to be.

From what we are hearing of Rick, it is only a matter of time before he succumbs to the effects of the cancer ravaging his body. He is on hospice care now but still has some good days. Leeoni and her daughter visited briefly with Rick and Nancy before she drove to our farm. She let us know that he was feeling better that afternoon than he had in quite a while. I do not know if Mama and I will get to visit with Rick before he is gone, but we are trying to make that contact. I understand that it is difficult to find the physical and emotional energy to visit during times of illness and Mama and I do not want to intrude or tire him needlessly. We will miss him. He has been a great resource for us in rearing these goats. He is a friend.

We tend to accumulate too few of those in this life.