The fire pit, weekend plans

Yesterday was one of those fairly uneventful, relaxing days. There were multiple trips out to the goat paddock to check on the newly born kids, but other than that there was not much going on. Seth and Gabriel did stop by to drop off Rosalee and to have me work on a printer they were having trouble with. I got the printer to respond to the computer – for which they were thrilled – and we ended up keeping Rosalee for the night. The baby enjoys our company so much that she is very irritated when her parents come to take her home. Mama loves that. Seth and Gabriela, not so much.

Yesterday was very pleasant weather wise. The temperatures were in the low sixties. There was a slight breeze with some stronger winds moving the air from time to time. There were some spotty rain showers, but no accumulation. The cloud cover continued through the night and into this morning. Though we are supposed to get up to ninety degrees Sunday, the temperatures overall are on their way down. The winds are more often from the North and the air seems damp on more days as we drift into Fall. Though I love the Fall, I do not like the amount of leaves we have to deal with every year at this time but that is a tradeoff for the shade we have all Summer long.

Last night was a perfect night for a fire in the fire pit. Our fire pit is a round opening in or patio slab. I am not sure what the original purpose of the opening was, but we have three such openings in the slab. Two are planted with canna lilies just to have something growing in them. The third, the one we use as a fire pit, has never had anything growing in it. Nothing other than weeds or some other unwanted growth. I have used in the past for large burn projects like when I dismantled the pig pen that was made up of pallets. All of those pallets – about thirty - had to be disposed of. That happened in the burn pit. Since I have gotten many of those large projects done, we now use the burn pit for a campfire on a cool evening – just for the fun of it.

Last nights fire was for smores. Two nights ago, we roasted hot dogs. Whatever the reason - nostalgia, comfort of the warmth, just the fascination of watching a fire burn – it is always pleasant to gather around a campfire. Doing so was quite pleasant yesterday evening. We had a couple periods of very light rain, but no one seemed to mind. We had some periods of smoke because the wood we ad was pretty wet from recent rains. That bothered almost everyone equally, but we laughed it off. No sooner would someone move to avoid the smoke than the breeze would shift, and they would have to move again. I just sat through very brief periods of smoke that drifted in my direction. It just added to the moment.

This weekend, tomorrow to be specific, Nate, Cori and the kids will be traveling to Victoria, TX to attend a Missions Conference at Western Hills. They will be back on Thursday and leaving soon after for parts north to visit other supporting churches on their way to Chicago and their return flight to Honduras. Prior to leaving for Victoria everyone here is planning on going to Trade Days for a look-see. I will not be going to Trade Days. I will be going to Muenster to get feed. Mama and I will be completely out of feed by Monday if one of us does not make the trip and I tend to not enjoy Trade days that much.

The Mortenson’s plan on leaving the farm by noon tomorrow. It is only a five-hour drive to Victoria so it will be a short day for them before the conference. Mama thought about going with them, but I have three classes to teach next week and that would leave the animals unattended in the morning for all those mornings. That bothered Mama enough that she decided to stay here at the farm.

Since I am feeling better, I should be able to get a few chores done tomorrow. I desperately need to weed eat around the house as well as trim the edges of the sidewalk. I have not been in the beehives for several weeks not and it is probably time to get the honey super off the hive. I also need to evaluate the pig pen we have set up because this little girl likes to dig. She has rooted up the entire are she has access to and has a couple places along the fence that borders the yard dug out to the point that the gods could access the pen easily if they chose to do so. It would take very little effort of the part of Kira and Kobe to enlarge the dug-out area and get through. I do not know if that would happen, but I would like to avoid the possibility.

There is always plenty to do. Praise the Lord!