Two more kids, long trip for feed, the song service, hay pick up

Saturday morning, Mama and Victoria went with Nate, Cori and the kids to Trade Days in Bowie. I went for feed. Nate, Cori and the kids left from there to head to Victoria for a Mission’s Conference. I probably should have gone with them. My mission to buy feed was not as straightforward as usual. There was a cycling event I was not aware of taking pace on Saturday. The course for that event started in Alvord and ran to Forestburg. From there the route turned and headed back to Decatur. I am not sure how many miles it covered, but some of the cyclist I was forced to pass were going to have a hard time completing the course based on how they were struggling when I caught up to them.

Anyway, the car in front of me must have had someone in the event, because they passed each group we caught up to so slowly that they were going just faster than the cyclists. We were on a two-lane road so there was no opportunity for me to pass the car I was forced to follow at any spot in the fifteen or so miles from Alvord to Forestburg. That stretch of the road to the feed store in Muenster took me over an hour. In the hilly area we covered, it was only possible to pass in certain areas and I had to make sure there was room for me to fit between groups of cyclists along with the sight-seers driving the vehicle in front of me. Needless to say, it was frustrating.

On the way home from getting feed, I turned right in Forestburg instead of turning left. That route took me to Dry Valley Dairy. It was only a few miles out of the way and Mama and Victoria needed milk. All we had bought had been used up in either eating cereal or making yogurt. Nate, Cori and the kids will be back with us Thursday evening and staying through Monday morning before they head north to make a final visit with Nate’s family. They will be heading home to Honduras on the 28^th. The milk was being bought in anticipation of their return. Mama still has plenty of cereal for them to consume even though they put a sizable dent into the stock she had bought for their initial visit. Their second visit is a result of a Mission’s Conference in Washington, DC being cancelled due to the COVID nonsense. I am sincerely sorry for the cancellation, but it worked out well for us.  

Saturday midafternoon, Lilly had twin little boys. Mama, Victoria and I sat watching for quite some time expecting another one, but that never happened. I thought for sure we could expect another kid from the size of Lilly’s swollen sides. Obviously, I was wrong. Mama and I were a little disappointed to have two more little boys – they do not sell well – but that birthing leaves us with three boys and four girls this kidding. Not a bad mix for our little herd. All seven are healthy and active. Only Aspen will have to raise triplets, but she seems to be succeeding. Hers are the eldest by a week and the difference is noticeable.

Since Erin is out sick, we have had to find replacement piano players. Yesterday a young lady from BBTI played for us. She is an excellent piano player; however, her style is a little unconventional. At times I was not sure we were on the same song, but we made it through both services. Mama felt like the song service was a little awkward, but everyone just kept up with me and the piano added some background to the music. We had no organist in the morning service. Barbara and Jerry have been regularly attending the church their son pastors in Decatur and spend the evening services with us. I cannot count on her to be there to play on Sunday mornings. That is a little awkward as well.

When I was at the feed store, I took a picture of a sign advertising Sudan hay. Mama and I have been looking for a place closer to us to purchase that hay because the goats prefer it above all other types of hay. All the farms selling it are two to three hours away from us. That is a long round trip for twenty or thirty bales of hay. We will be traveling back to Muenster this evening to get twenty bales. A forty-five-minute trip each way is far better than a two-hour trip each way. Plus, the price the gentleman is selling his hay for is excellent. I would buy more than twenty bales – the barn loft will hold about fifty bales – but I cannot handle more than twenty bales at a time.

I keep getting reminded that I am not as young as I used to be.