Catching up, concerning situation

I started the day in the office yesterday. After an hour there, I met up with the Education Team at a local coffee shop. We spent an hour or so just catching up with each other recounting the freeze and how we were each effected. Mama and I are truly thankful for how the Lord cared for us during the long freeze. Others we know well, had significant damage to their homes and water systems. I was asked about Honduras and got to share some of the memories of that trip. I had taken a video of the living conditions along the highway and showed that short video to the group. We were all counting our blessings after seeing that. After visiting and catching up, I went to the office to finish out the morning. I had to get my computer reset again to allow me access to the server, but that was quickly accomplished. Once online, I was able to get a lot of little things done. It felt good to catch up.

Mama needed the vehicle for several errands, so I only stayed at the office until noon. That gave her time to make it to the post office to check on our mail. We have not had any mail delivered since the first snow a couple weeks ago and Mama knew she had several orders that should have been delivered. She was told by the Post Mistress that everything as out for delivery, but our mail carrier had to make two loads to get all the mail for her route. She had just picked up the second load when Mama got the post office. Several hours later, she was stuffing our mailbox full and setting packages on the wall at our mailbox. Mama got her expected shipments and I got a couple deliveries of things I had ordered online. We are all caught up now – I assume.

Zach stopped by yesterday evening just after I signed off from work. He and Ethan helped me get the large cabinet into place and I got enough screws in the cabinet to call it safe. They loaded up and headed home. The entire task took less than ten minutes, but I was very grateful for the help. I hate to inconvenience anyone for that little time; however, it was truly something I could not do on my own. Once I helped Mama feed and tilled a few rows in the garden, I went back to the shop and put everything back in place. I also started to load the cabinets with items that have been on shelves in the shop for several years. I am far from filling them but that is not necessarily the idea. The idea is to use the space wisely and help me group and locate items when I need them. To make them more visible to me when I am looking for a particular tool or other item I know I have but cannot seem to locate.

We got a call from Cori late yesterday that the nails we thought we had taken to Honduras but seemed to have lost in transit were in fact there. By some quirk, Nate found them in a La Colonia bag in his office at the church. How that happened, we have no idea, but they must have been there from the beginning of our stay in Honduras. Mama and I were rejoicing and perplexed. Mama had agonized over the loss for the entire time we were in Honduras and all the while the nails were there waiting to be discovered and then delivered. All too often, things like that happen to me and Mama – and many of you as well. We lose track of something, sometimes something important, and then discover it in the most unusual place. Staining our minds to understand how it ended up in a place that we “would never have put it”. Yet, there it is. Anyway, it all turned out well in the end. Once we really began to pray about it.

Trace and Crystal were at the house when Cori alerted us to the discovery of the nails. They had gone to the dairy and were delivering a gallon of milk. We get that milk as often as possible and since they were going, they got a gallon for us. I talked with Trace and Mama talked with Crystal while Savanna played. The boys were home because they could not all fit in the car Trace was driving. The company Trace is working for is laying off a large portion of their staff and Trace is a little concerned that his position is also in jeopardy. He is on a week’s leave right now. He is obviously concerned but he needs the time to wind down. The job he is doing is a very stressful job. Long hours, heavy lifting, lots of management interaction, taking full responsibility for the work being done, while spending weeks at a time away from home. It is taking a toll on him. He definitely needs our prayers.

I will be teaching classes tomorrow and Thursday. That presents a little bit of a hardship on Mama since we are sharing one vehicle while Grandma and Grandpa have the truck. We make it work, but it constrains her timeline to get things done for the farm, for the home and for her business.

Hopefully situation will be resolved soon.

Busy weekend, sad news, slow recovery

I barely sat down Saturday. I spent most of the day in the shop clearing out the corner where I want to hang the cabinets that have been sitting in my way for a couple weeks now. I did manage to get the smaller of the two cabinets hung but it was all I could do to get the heavy cabinet up and onto the mounting board I had attached to the wall to help me get it in place and stabilized. I was by myself while lifting the cabinet in place and at one point I thought I was not going to be able to lift it the last inch or so. Once that cabinet was installed, I moved the larger cabinet to the wall where it will be hung. I did not try to lift it. I asked Zach to come over this evening to help me do that. I only need help for about ten minutes, but I definitely need that ten minutes of help. Mama was not happy with me lifting the other cabinet by myself, but she forgave me pretty quickly.

After I got the cabinets placed, I started working on the front of the shop exterior. I am not sure why I have delayed so long in installing the three pieces of siding over the roll up door, but it got done Saturday and the shop looks so much better for it. It cut out a lot of wind by sealing that opening. Now I am anxious to seal over the smaller door at the back of the shop. I was one foot short on the exterior trim for the top of the wall, but I put on what I had. I will buy an additional piece of the trim later this week or early next week to complete the front and to complete the side of the shop – where I have also run short. I was very pleased with the completed look.

After doing the trim work and cleaning the coops, I hauled enough water to the calf to ensure she had sufficient for several days. Once I had that done, I distributed feed to all our feeding stations. We had fallen behind on those shores due to the ice and snow on the ground, but it was easy to catch up. Mama was with Grandma and Grandpa most of the day Friday. Grandpa got the battery for the truck while Mama did a little exploring at Walmart for some craft items. Once they got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s little house, Grandpa installed the battery and started the truck. No issues with that, so I should be good for batteries for a couple years since I replaced the other one (my diesel truck requires two batteries) only two or three years ago.

Mama got in touch with the man who we contracted to buy our little Highland bull from and was told that the coyotes had killed the little bull. He did not say when this happened, but we are not going to get our start in the mini-Highland cattle this month. Mama was devastated and somewhat put out by the manner in which the seller addressed her questions. I am not sure if we will go back to this seller, but if we what to get the mini-Highland cattle our options to do so are limited and fairly expensive, so we will see what other options we have. Nevertheless, we were very disappointed at the news. On the bright side, the seller refunded our deposit in full.

It was good to be in church Sunday. Services were canceled last week due to the freezing conditions, so Mama and I have only had Wednesday night (February 10) after our return from Honduras in our church services. We got to hear some of the stories of damage and subsequent repairs to frozen water lines due to the loss of power during the brutal cold last week. One elderly woman we stay close to had eight leaks that had to be repaired. Walls were torn out to locate and repair those leaks, so her little home is still a mess and she is not sure if the hardwood floors will need to be repaired as well. That evaluation is ongoing. The Wycoff’s had just gotten water restored to their home as well as helping several neighbors do the same. Their septic line thawed late Saturday evening, so Mrs. Donna went home with them after church Sunday morning. She had been with us since Thursday afternoon, but she was no trouble to keep.  

The temperatures have been more like North Texas since the warmup began Friday. We will have very few nights below freezing for the next couple weeks, but March sometimes brings a sudden cold snap for a few nights every year, so all the precautionary heat tracing and heat lamps will remain in place for the next few weeks. After we are passed the threat of severe cold, I will take down the lamps and unwrap the pipes, storing everything for next year. Assuming we will need it again. Only the Lord knows.

For now, we are enjoying the warmer air.

Finally above freezing, house guest, cleanup

Though the temperature this morning was 9° F, it is supposed to get to 40° F by late this afternoon. It will freeze again overnight but tomorrow night is forecast to be our first night above freezing in almost two weeks. With only a few of the nights over the next ten days predicted to be below freezing, we may finally be out of the extreme cold that has caused so much damage to our area. That would be nice – a return to normal temperatures. Yesterday afternoon, even though it was only 24° F, I was able to use the yard hydrants to get water at the coop and at the barn lot wellhouse. That was a relief. It saves me and Mama a lot of steps. By this afternoon, that should be a regular part of our feeding and watering routine – at least in the afternoons. The snow is melting and soaking into the ground deeply. That will help the plants and the grass immensely, so it is not all bad. Additionally, the blanket of snow kept the ground from freezing too deeply when the temperatures hovered near or below 0°.

I fed by myself yesterday evening because Mama was entertaining. The Wycoff’s came over to take showers. They have been without power for several days. No power means no water. Additionally, their septic line froze so they were unable to flush toilets with the water they had accumulated for doing so. They did not stay long after showers were done, but Donna, the matriarch of the clan (Sister Wycoff’s mother) will be staying with us for a couple days as the family gets things working at their house. Donna is 83 years old, tiny, frail looking and sweet to the core. It will be no problem to keep her as our guest until Sunday. Having a guest in the house is always a bit of a disruption of routine, but she is somewhat like my Mom. She sits and knits or reads a book. Quiet and undemanding.

Mama and Victoria are going shoe shopping this afternoon. If Mama can Victoria out of the house. Mama worried about leaving me home working with Mrs. Donna in the house, but I do not think it will be a problem. The shopping trip was to include Grandma and Grandpa but when they heard that Victoria needed to shop for shoes they backed out of the trip. Not sure why, but that is the way things happen with the two of them. In addition to looking for shoes, they will go to Sam’s to get a few items. We do not need much, but there are always items we can use or stock up on as prices start to rise, partly because of the damage caused by the recent freeze and partly because of horrific fiscal policy being implemented under our new administration. If you doubt the prediction, take a look at fuel prices and the rise in price since January. Yesterday afternoon, when Mama and I went to town so I could look for a breaker I stopped by QT to fill the Sequoia and they had no gas. All the pumps were out of service. Same at the Valero across the highway. That is mostly due to the cold weather, but it is also a harbinger of what is ahead of us.

This weekend will be spent on cleaning up from the snow and freezing weather. There are a few repairs I can do while I wait on various specialty items to effect other repairs, but it will be nice to have the animal’s waterers thaw for the first time in two weeks. I have ordered some items through Amazon, but I checked local availability first. I know ordering online is convenient, but I do not like the way Amazon is putting so many local small businesses out of business, so I try to go local first – even when the price is significantly higher. My little bit of business may not help, but I do not like the thought of sacrificing someone’s livelihood for my convenience. In that vein of thought, I am looking for a way for Mama to migrate off Facebook for her business, but the monopoly they have is difficult to overcome and far too few are willing to expend the effort to restart somewhere else. Same with Amazon. Same with Google. Their monopolies are almost unavoidable. Sad day for all of us.

I still have the two huge cabinets I got from the side of the road sitting in my shop just waiting to be installed. Sadly, I cannot do that by myself and there will not be help available this weekend as most of those I could call on for help will be busy with their own repairs and cleanup work. There is no hurry, but I am anxious to get that done. By the middle of next week, I should be able to tell if my fruit trees and berry bushes survived the very hard freezes. I am hopeful, but not confident. Additionally, I will be able to tell if the bees survived the cold.

Again, I am hopeful but not confident.

Looking forward

Things are starting to warm up slowly. Last night, as we watched the church service online, our Pastor said that the temperatures we were seeing in the area had been recorded before – in 1947. So, truly, not many alive today have seen the bitter cold we have endured over the past week. Now, as things thaw out and power is restored, we are hearing from people at church who are experiencing the reality of what happened to interior pipes when they freeze. One elderly lady in our church woke to the flooding of her house as pipes that had been frozen, not thawed by restored power and heat to her little home, spewed water at full force into her home. She found out that she is fully responsible for the damage that flooding caused. No help from insurance. She is understandably disheartened. Her story will not be unique.

Fortunately, we have had power throughout the freeze. I cannot imagine the damage we would have had to deal with if our waterlines had frozen.  I do not know at this point if any of the waterlines to the hydrants have frozen, but I should be able to determine that today or tomorrow. I know the hydrants are not frozen because I have them wraped with heat tape, but I cannot predict what has happened underground. I am anxious to see if there is any damage at our office, which has been without power since Sunday night. Hopefully, all is well, but the temperature at the building Tuesday morning was -6° F. That does not bode well for the waterlines inside the building.

If all goes well and the roads clear a little, Mama is taking Grandma and Grandpa shopping tomorrow. They have not been out of the house for several days. They have my truck in case they needed it, but they have not felt the need to go anywhere in the frigid days of this past week. Regarding the truck, Grandpa tried to start it yesterday and it would not start. He discovered that one of the batteries has outlived its usefulness. That battery is eleven years old, so I suppose it is due to be replaced. Mama will work with Grandpa tomorrow to get a new battery bought and installed after which they will go to Wichita Falls for a shopping day. If the weather reports are accurate, we should be in the high sixties early next week. That will be a nice return to normal for us and our animals…and our plants. In any event, this frigid act of nature was a brutal wakeup call to our Green Energy advocates to see what happens when our electrical system is taxed heavily. Whether or not it will be taken to heart is yet to be seen, but those who have been without power due to the loss of wind generated power in our grid, know the effects all too well.

I have been very limited in the amount of work I can do lately. The internet is up and down in some unpredictable, random cycle. I watch for the opportunity to log on, get what I need or upload what I can and use it until I lose it. It is frustrating but I am not alone in the struggle. There are some in my group who are still without power. Hopefully, they will get power restored soon and not have experienced any waterline issues. Time will tell.

Mama and I were warming up the nursery coop for the expected arrival of the 100 chicks Brittany Wycoff needed us to house since she is still without power at their home. However, that is no longer needed. The shipping company canceled the delivery due to the extreme weather conditions. I am not surprised and am a bit relieved. I have been having issues getting sufficient power to the coops and the nursery to keep the heat lamps on while I had a heater running in the nursery to warm it sufficiently to keep the chicks warm enough to survive. We are still far from that temperature in the building and I was worried about how to get the building sufficiently heated.

The breaker in the barn lot wellhouse supplying power to the coop area keeps tripping under the load even though it should be able to easily handle it. Now I will have time to trouble shoot the issue and hopefully correct it. If all else fails, I will install a larger breaker. At any rate, I have a lot of little repairs and upgrades to make as we thaw. The issue at hand is whether or not to expend the effort and finances to prepare for another cold spell like this one – which may not happen again for many years. One thing I do know having lived in colder climates, it is always worth the effort to plan ahead even if those upgrades are not necessarily required. Any improvements in insulation, power supply and water distribution will be an improvement to our lives and our continued care for the animals the Lord has given us. The fact that this came upon us so quickly and so unexpectedly process the need to harden the farm against it happening again.

Such is the nature of life on the farm.

What a week so far!

Saturday night the cold came as expected. The blizzard followed and dropped about three inches of snow on us. I was far less worried about the snow than I was about the temperatures. I spent Friday night getting some tracing wire pipe heaters set up with the wire I found in the barn (left from our days in West Virginia circa 1991) as I hooked up the stock tank heater for the calf. (That stock tank heater is working perfectly so we do not have to haul water to the calf daily.) I ended up making three heat trace lines and put two of them on the hydrants we have at the coop and the well house. The third I put around a waterline we have in the garage supplying water to the ice maker in the fridge we have just inside the garage door. So far, the tracer wires have kept the lines from freezing. Praise the Lord! Unlike many around us we have had power throughout the brutal cold.

Sunday services were cancelled, both morning and evening services. So, Mama and I hunkered down and tended to the animals as needed, hauling fresh water to them morning and evening through the cold days. Monday was a holiday, so I did not have to worry about trying to work – the internet was out all day anyway – but Victoria had to go to work. Since she had a flat tire on her car, I had to haul the air compressor from the shop to the garage and air up the tire. That took some time because I could not get the fitting I needed to get air into the tire into the frozen line on the air compressor until it warmed up a bit. The temperature was 0°. She made it to work fine but spent the night at her boss’s house in order to get back to work on Tuesday. So far, so good.

I had a class to teach Tuesday morning and had no internet at the house, so I headed to the office. The roads were not bad, but they were not good. They were iced over most of the way to the office on both the primary and secondary roads. In Texas, the roads are not plowed. We do not have the equipment on hand because it is not needed very often, but they are “treated” with some chemical to help keep the bridges free of ice. I suppose that treatment did not happen or was not effective because the bridges were far worse than the roads. Anyway, when I made it to the office, the was no power at the building. I let my management know and I headed home. The temperature at the office was -6°. We contacted everyone in the class for that morning and canceled the class. The one scheduled for this morning was also canceled. Back at the farm I got to enjoy the much warmer temperature. I was not the only one dealing with issues related to the cold. Some of my coworkers were without power and had been without power since Sunday morning. They were going to their cars periodically to warm up and recharge their cell phones, so our management told us to take the day off. A snow day. That helped ease the frustration somewhat.

Last night we got a lot less snow than was forecast. We got about an inch as far as I can tell. For now, the snow is over, and the temperatures are forecast to warm up significantly – to the point that we are expected to be in the seventies by this time next week. We will not be above freezing until Friday, but we will get close today and tomorrow. Mama and I are praying for those who have had no power which has caused them to deal with freezing waterlines in their homes and the wells supplying those homes. Only after those lines thaw will we see the damage done by the freeze. But we are on the downhill side of this exceptional weather. I am very anxious to see if my fruit trees made it through the hard freezes. Time will tell.

I am not sure if church will be canceled tonight, but we will plan to go if we have the service. I will try to get some work done as I can depending on the internet availability. Mama and I will tend to the animals as well as we can in this cold. Hopefully, by the weekend, we will be above freezing. Mama was contacted by Brittany Wycoff last night asking if we could house the 100 chicks she bought which are due to arrive today or tomorrow. Yes, we can, but we will have to move the heat lamps we have in the coops to the nursery coop to warm it up sufficiently for the chicks to survive. It is somewhat unexpected, but I think we can manage. I think our older chickens can manage also. Life on the farm is always about adapting and doing the most with what you have available.

The Lord is blessing us, and we are rejoicing in those blessings.  

Brutal cold, teaching in the morning

We went from having a mild Winter to having a brutal one – at least for one week. Temperatures have sporadically been at or below freezing overnight in the past several weeks but nothing of particular note. Each day has reached temperatures well above freezing. Sometimes into the sixties. The fruit trees are starting to bud out because of the warmth of the afternoons up to this point. However, the Winter is going to inflict some severe damage on those plants that have been a little ahead of schedule. This week is going to be colder than I have seen in many years. So much for Global Warming affecting our area. The temperatures are forecast to be in the teens overnight with several nights getting into the low single digits. One overnight low is predicted to get to -2° F with that day’s high forecast to be only 16° F. That is unusually cold for our area and we are in no way prepared for that kind of cold. Fortunately, Mama and I have lived in multiple areas where those temperatures are not uncommon so we have some idea of how to deal with the freezing conditions. Today and tomorrow will be spent in preparing our outside hydrants for the extended freeze. We will not be able to keep the hydrants from freezing but we hope to succeed in saving the hydrants from bursting. Time will tell.

Getting water to the calf will be our biggest challenge through this extended freeze. I will have to fill buckets of water at the house or well house and carry them over to the barn to fill the waterer we have there. There is no way I can use the line run from the barn well house to provide the water to the calf since the hydrant I have at the barn does not work properly – and the hose coming from that hydrant will be completely frozen. We will manage. The last thing I need to do is spend a lot of time and money to fortify our water system against this type of cold when we only experience it on rare occasions, but I am praying for wisdom to do what is necessary and prudent to get us and our animals through this unexpected cold spell.

There is little I can offer the animals in the way of warmth. In the coop we will hang a few heat lamps and hope for the best. In the goat barn I will hang a tarp over an area to shrink the area on one side of the barn giving the goats a smaller, more enclosed area to shelter in, hoping their combined body heat will warm them more efficiently in the smaller area. Mama and I will put all the girl goats together this afternoon. That is to say, Millie and Lilly will be put back in with the girls and Julius will be put back in with Midas. Hopefully the boys will find a spot in their shelter to share where they can snuggle and get out of the wind. There are predictions of accumulating snow. Overall, the forecast is for more than seven inches total accumulation over three days early next week. That would be highly unusual, so we will see if that happens. If is does, that will be a blessing for our plants because the snow help insulate the ground and protect it against freezing too deeply. Whether or not the accumulated snow will help the animals or not is hard to tell. It will certainly not help with travel.

Tomorrow I will be teaching a 4-hour class in the morning. Our office is technically closed, but I will go to the office to present the class. The office is closed because of the weather. I do not see the need for that this week since we are only dealing with cold temperatures and not with ice or snow; however, next week, if we get even a portion of the snow that is forecast, it will be a difficult task just to get to the office. I have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. We will see what the road conditions are like when I go to bed Monday night to determine how hazardous the drive to the office will be on Tuesday morning. Likewise, Wednesday morning. I suppose I could present the classes from home, but I have not tried that yet and am not going to try it until I have to. Doing the eight-hour class from home could work, but I am not completely sure of the internet viability for that many hours. I suppose it would work, but I am not anxious to see.

At some point I will have to try presenting from home, but for now, going to the office has proven more efficient.

Vacation Wrap-up

Thursday last week started our Come Away Conference at Iglesa Bautisto El Faro in El Progresso. Those were some busy days. We had an evening meal Thursday catered by the church and our first session which ended about 7:30 pm. That gave enough time to those who had to travel outside of the church complex to get home before the 8 pm curfew. The rest of us stayed at the Rearick Surgical Center. There were enough rooms to house six families. The kids really enjoyed the sleepover. They were out until way past midnight playing soccer and basketball. It was an especially fun time for them. Mama and I were not up that late, but we did spend some time visiting after the session ended and the cleanup was finalized.

We were back in the kitchen at a little after 7 am to get the coffee started and get breakfast items set out. We were on our own for lunch Friday (Pizza for us) but had a catered dinner again Friday evening. It was another late night for all of us, but we were up again early Saturday morning to get all the breakfast items set out an ready once more. The last session ended at about noon Saturday. It did not take us long to clean up and that was a good thing because the laborers were waiting on us to vacate the sanctuary so it could be swept, mopped and set up for Sunday morning. The conference was really good overall. Staying on site allowed all of us much more time to visit and catch up with each other.

Sunday service was done in English, so I got to hear the message in both languages. That was a good experience to hear how Matt Goins translated some of the more nuanced ideas woven into the sermon. After church we visited one last time while Nate downloaded the audio and video record of the service. Then we headed to Tela to spend the afternoon at the beach. It is about a 90-minute drive with lots to see along the way. The roads were not great, but we traveled along at about 50 mph for the majority of the drive. When we got off the main road, it was a lot slower going, but Nate is very familiar with the way and he knew we could not hurry over the last ten miles. The roads were very rough but were surprisingly better than they were last year when we made the same trek. The weather was beautiful. The beach was magnificent. The meal we had there was stellar. It was a memorable afternoon. The ride home was anticlimactic. The evening after we got back was short, but Mama and I packed up the majority of our belongings so that we would know how much room we needed for all the things that seem to materialize after the bag are thought to be packed.  

Monday was a sad morning. We weighed all the checked luggage and looked over the house one last time before we loaded the vehicles and headed to Denny’s in San Pedro Sula. The food there was surprisingly good, and it was only a few minutes to the airport from the restaurant. Once at the airport, we had to say goodbye outside the building because only those who needed to access the terminal were allowed in. It was a brief, sad goodbye. Check in was slow but fairly easy. Customs was slow but not problematic. Once in the waiting area, we had less than thirty minutes to wait until we were boarded. The flight was not full, so we spread out a bit into the open spaces. In Houston we had to go through customs – which was very easy – and collect our baggage to go through security once more for the flight back to DFW. It was not full either.

James Wycoff met us at the airport about forty minutes after our flight landed, so we had a brief wait, but we were home by 11:40 pm. That gave us plenty of time to dig our coats out of the luggage to get into something warm. It is always bittersweet to get home. That homecoming was made even more disappointing by the seventy degree change in temperature.

Mama and I spent the first day back grocery shopping. By the time we got home, we were both ready to sit down for a bit and all this morning I spent with our IT group getting my computer functioning properly. In doing so, I lost all my saved user id’s and passwords, so all those now have to be individually reset. It is a pain, but at least I can work from home and access the network as needed.

I will be teaching class half a day Friday and I am glad I have a respite until then because there is a lot of work I need to catch up on. Tomorrow and Friday evenings I will be busy getting ready for the many little things we have to do to survive the brutal cold coming this weekend.

Hopefully I can get all those little things done.

The week in review

 Today being Wednesday, I thought I would catch to some of the things that have happened while we are in Honduras. On Friday night a new curfew was imposed requiring everyone to be in their own homes by 8 pm. That put a damper on anything we might have planned to do in the later evenings, but it has all worked out fairly well as we crowd our activities into the day and early evening hours. Friday was mostly getting settled into the household routine here with Cori and the kids. Saturday was a lot of little things as we played, worked and found ways to help Cori at home. Nate and I attended a men’s meeting Saturday night prior to which we helped get things ready for the song service the fooling morning. There were thirty men in attendance. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the men speak as they responded to questions Pastor Matt Goins posed to the group. It is a mature group of well-founded men that Matt has cultivated in this ministry. 

Sunday morning, we attended church here and had to sit in the overflow section because the church was packed – much to the surprise of the pastor. We were not sure how the Hondurans would respond to the newly imposed restrictions, but obviously, they wanted to be in church. For a few minutes after church, we went to the children’s home to look at the chicks the house parents had ordered. There was a great deal of concern about the losses they were seeing. We offered our suggestions, and they were partly heeded. We ordered our lunch from a nearby restaurant and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was fun to see the process carried out in Spanish via texting. We could not dine indoors because of COVID restrictions, but the food arrived hot and delicious. 

Monday morning Mama and I visited the Goins’ house to look at their dog. The poor dog was suffering from mites or mange and we offered suggestions for homeopathic remedies to give the dog some relief. When Mama and I got back home, Victoria and Cori mixed the required concoction and we sent it back with Victoria and Savanna. That night was a team meeting to discuss what the options were for the service Wednesday (tonight). Should we move the time up? Should we cancel the service and revert to an online service? I believe the decision was made to move the time up but to not run the busses in order to ensure the drivers did not get caught out after the 8 pm curfew fell. The bus routes here are very long and the return of passengers to their homes takes a couple hours.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I pulled some old wrought iron pieces out of an area where they have been stored and assembled them into shelving for Nate to use in his shop. They actually turned out quite well. That afternoon we went to the mall and while there we got the call that our bag had arrived back in San Pedro Sula. Nate picked me up at the mall and after we had delivered clothing to a local church, we went to retrieve the bad. It was not a straightforward process. Just getting access to the airport was the challenge. I had to force my way into a line of passengers trying to get into the airport for their flight. Then Nate had to wait outside as I went to the ticket counter and ask for my bag. I could see the bag from where I stood but getting someone to help me access it took another few minutes. When I was given the bag, it had a lock threaded through the main zipper pulls, so I could not readily open it to check the contents. I met Nate outside and he figured out that the keys for the lock were probably in one of the pockets on the outside of the bag. We stopped to open the bag and remove the sausage we have packed for the flight Thursday. It was surprisingly cold, but we have not yet checked to see if it is still edible. It appears that all the contents were still in the bag so we did not lose anything but the sausage. 

Once Nate and I were back at the house, we rearranged the shelving in the shop and set it up to his liking. Late yesterday evening, we started a campfire and roasted a Honduran version of s’mores. Instead of graham crackers and melted chocolate, we used a shortbread cookie that is coated on one side with chocolate. Mama and Victoria said they were very good. I did not try any. We spent several hours at the fire singing songs, praying and just relaxing. The Goins, who were out for a walk were invited in and they spent about an hour with us. It was a great evening.

Tonight is church. Thursday starts the Come Away conference. The curfew will require all of the local attendees to stay overnight at the surgical center and the children’s homes. 

That should be fun.