Recovery, rain, fruit

After a day and a night of thinking I may have to go to Urgent Care, I believe I am finally on the mend. I still have a cough, thankfully, a productive cough, but the fever, the sore throat, and the choking, wheezing cough are greatly abated. I will stay on antibiotics for a few more days but I can honestly say I am feeling better. Mama was very worried about me last night. I was pretty worried about me last night, but we got through it and things look a little better now – other than the wicked fever blisters I have on my lips. As of next Tuesday, I will be on our new insurance, so I was hesitant to seek any medical help other than a prescription until that switch happens. It is a silly consideration, but I have gone through that sort of change before, and things get messed up quickly as one insurance provider argues with another insurance provider as to which is responsible for the bill. That very conflict years ago cost me $4,000 out of pocket which two and a half years later was reimbursed. I am just thankful to eb feeling enough better that I do not have to worry about outside medical intervention.

Overnight we got an inch of rain. The storm blew through in a little over an hour. I was sleeping on the couch, so I got a closeup view of the lightening and the downpour. (I was on the couch so that I did not disturb Mama through the night with my cough. Maybe tonight I can sleep in my own bed. We’ll see how my cough abates through the day before I can make that determination.) it was a very impressive storm. Fortunately, we did not get any of the hail that was forecast. We are now significantly ahead on rainfall for the year. Over the past couple weeks, I do not think the ground has had a chance to dry out between storms. Although the tomato plants we have in containers are begging for more water even while the ground in the yard is still soaked. So, regardless of the amount of rainfall we have gotten, when the plants look droopy, I water them. That has worked out well so far.

Even though I was feeling badly, I took time yesterday evening to collect a wheelbarrow full of compost we will use today or tomorrow the plant the last of the tomato plants I started from seeds. With the forecast of a soaking rain overnight, I wanted to get the compost in as dry a state as I could. It was all I could do to get the full wheelbarrow from the compost bin to the garage, but I am glad I expended the energy to have that ready for me and Mama to do the transplanting today. Especially since today, we are supposed to an additional inch of rain with another two inches forecast for Monday. At least the tanks are filling up before the summer dry times hit us. The temperatures are also lower than normal. As additional blessing.

Mama picked about ten zucchinis yesterday and gave them to a friend to make zucchini bread. We are not doing that sort of baking right now. Our friend was happy to have the vegetables because they have been totally unsuccessful in raising a garden at the house they are renting. We will have more than enough to share. So far, we are keeping up with the blackberries as they ripen, but we have to pick them daily to do so. I am being careful to keep the blackberry bushes in check, both the native and the non-native varieties. Blackberries propagate by sending out runners underground that send up shoots along the path of the runners. If left unchecked, they will take over an area.

So, I have to cut, pull and mow down all the plants that come into areas where I do not want them to grow. When I took the domesticated blackberries out of the bed and replaced them with the grapevine, it took me over a year to get all the blackberry shoots and runners out of that bed. Now, where we have the blackberries along the fence between the shop and the garage, I am constantly mowing or weed eating around the bushed to limit their spread. It has worked well enough so far, but the native blackberries are heavily thorned and require special handling to dig them out. I bleed each time I take on that chore. I suppose I am getting thin-skinned in my old age.

The berries are worth the effort.

Feeling rough, successes and failures

I managed to make it through the four-hour class yesterday but by the time I finished the class my cough was worsening. Ordinarily, I would have finished out the day at the office – since Tuesday is one of my two days per week to report to the office – but because of the cough, I stayed at the HQ house. There was a group of EWN employees working from the house yesterday, but I sequestered in the training room to limit my exposure to them as I finished out the day, especially as the cough worsened. By yesterday evening, my cough was severe. One of those deep, loud coughs that gives Mama a headache. For sure I am dealing with bronchitis, but something else seems to be going on. My throat is very sore, and it is painful to swallow, and I have multiple fever blisters on my lips. I am a mess. But I have been worse. This too shall pass…eventually.

As I got my computer out this morning, I noticed a Slack message from my supervisor, asking about the class schedule and whether I needed a break. That was timely. So, I responded telling her how I was feeling and that I would not be able to teach the class tomorrow, that I would hopefully get in touch with the doctor today, and that I would keep working my normal day regardless of how badly I felt. I can only imagine the conversations going on in the background at work concerning my general health. I am hoping to be on the mend soon, but I am going to need prescriptive help to get there. As Mama and I are on this special diet to beat back Candida, I am not looking forward to taking antibiotics that will actually encourage the growth of Candida, but I have limited recourse to avoid that potentiality.

Part of what I am feeling is due to the “health crisis” that comes during a cleanse. As the body gets the herbs needed to aid in the disposal of the toxins released by the death of offensive bacteria and fungi, it will promote that disposal leading to a slight poisoning of the body as those toxins are dealt with. In my case, my immune response has been triggered and the current crisis is worse than it should have been. My bronchioles have always been the weak link in my body. I am affected there more often than in any other system in my body. Mama and I will push through on the diet and cleanse hoping to beat the overgrowth of Candida that both of us suffer from as we deal with the minor health crisis along the way. Completing the cleanse will be its own reward.

On the bright side, Mama and I are starting to harvest some vegetables from the garden: zucchini, spaghetti squash, Anaheim peppers, Bell peppers, Poblano peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and blackberries. We will start getting the larger variety of tomatoes within a few days. Mama is especially excited about the yellow tomatoes we have ripening on three plants. I do not know the variety of the cherry tomatoes, but they are a light orange color, and they are exceptionally sweet. The only problem with tomatoes is that we are not supposed to eat them – any variety – because of how they affect the arthritis Mama and I both suffer with. So, we will allow ourselves to eat a little and give the rest away. We will have a lot to give away because I have some tomato plants started in the sunroom that are a striped yellow and red variety. They will fruit very late in the summer. At the very least, I will save seeds from the ripe tomatoes so that we can grow them again next year.

We will soon be picking okra – I have a full row out in the garden – and beets. I am not sure what happened to our potatoes, but the plants died out already. Tonight, I will dig up whatever grew, if anything. The green beans are doing pretty well, but we are a few weeks away from harvesting anything from them. Meanwhile, the pear tree, which was loaded with pears is being systematically stripped of the fruit by squirrels.

The fruit is nowhere near ripe, but the tiny pears are lying below the tree eaten to the core by the thieves who plucked them off the tree. Same thing with the nectarine tree. Once loaded with fruit, it is now bare. I am going to need to reduce the squirrel population significantly if Mama and I are going to get a reasonable fruit harvest. I am not opposed to sharing.

The squirrels do not feel the same.

Our fishing trip, side effects

Friday morning Pastor Horton picked me up at the farm and we drove to Wise County Park to meet our fishing guide. I told Pastor that our guide sounded like someone who is habitually early so we were there about fifteen minutes before the appointed time and as we got out of the truck, we could see the red pontoon boat, which I had been told to look out for, round the bend and head to the docks where we were to meet. Our guide nosed the boat right up onto the shore and we got into the boat through a gate in the front railing of the craft. Introductions were made and we were off. It was a cool, overcast and slightly windy day.

We spent most of the day trolling along a shelf where the rock bass were schooling. Trolling is putting out a lure and letting it follow along fifteen or twenty feet behind the boat as the boat is driven slowly. That is the only method we used that day to fish, and it worked well because we caught thirty-four fish in this method. Some of the fish we caught had to be thrown back. The legal limit is ten inches. I may have lost count, but I think I caught twenty-six fish, of which, we kept twenty. Pastor caught the rest. Late in the morning, I hooked a very large hybrid Bass. The lake is stocked with small hybrids several times per year. This one had been in the lake for some time.

When he hit the lure, my rod was slammed against the side of the boat with considerable force. He was as long as my arm and it was all the reel I had on my rod could do to bring him in, but we were not able to land him. When our guide had slowed the boat to the point that I could reel him close to the boat and had grabbed the net to get him into the boat, the fish ripped the hook out of his mouth and disappeared. The loss was partly my fault for keeping the line too taught and partly the guides fault for not completely stopping the boat to limit the drag against the fish. At least I got to hook into one large fish. The Pastor got to see the fish as we were trying to net it. Had we succeeded it would have made a great picture for the guide to post.

All I all, it was a great trip. Terry, our guide was quite a talker. The pastor and I did not need to add much to the steady stream of conversation through the nine hours of fishing. Our guide took that upon himself recounting stories his days in Vietnam, rodeoing, raising kids in a different time, religion, and God, etc. He covered the gambit and we trailed along. In the end, he told Pastor that he was going to come to church and bring his wife and daughter – who is relocating to the area – with his grandkids. He reminded me of some cowboys I knew years ago when I was a teenager. He loves the idea of God as that idea conforms to his view of the world, but he may not really know God, having more of a tangential relationship with the concept versus having a personal relationship with the Savior. Pastor asked him if he knew for sure he would go to Heaven when he dies and he assured Pastor that he did, so we can only go by his testimony. He seemed deeply touched when the pastor asked him about his salvation. Maybe he really will come to church. That interaction made the trip even better.

After all the fish had been cleaned, and we were piloted back to the area where we had parked the truck, Pastor and I headed home, slightly sunburned and pretty worn out. Having spent the better part of the day on a rocking boat due to the winds blowing across the lake, my back was hurting badly. The next morning the pain was brutal. Not only was I dealing with the pain from steadying myself as best I could in the boat, I started to develop a cough. Although Mama was staunchly opposed to the idea, I started on antibiotics right away. We have some left over from bouts of bugs last year. I did not get into much Saturday as I allowed my back to recuperate. Sunday, my cough was bad enough that we decided it would be best if we stayed home from church. Right now, people feel mortally threatened when around someone who is coughing. We got to listen to the services online, but we did miss being in the service. If I had gone, I would not have been able to lead the singing and we would have been too great a distraction. So, Mama and I stayed home, watched online, rested.

It seems we both needed the rest, and we made the most of the day that had been given to us to do so.

Company, beefing up, working from home, insurance

As I taught my class yesterday, I had the entire Education team at the house with me. It was not too disruptive. They are a quiet bunch for the most part and I was able to shut the door to the room that I teach from so the noise they did occasionally produce was largely muffled by that simple closure. The class itself was a very good one. I had several participants that were more than willing to participate and several asked very good questions which sparked some helpful discussions. As I taught, Anayeli (my compatriot in Instructor Led Training) monitored the class as a backup so those in the house got to sneak peeks at the class through her view. From that little bit of exposure, I got some good feedback. That is always welcome because I cannot see what others see, so hearing those suggestion and solutions helps me improve through every class. By the time I present this class a few hundred more times, I should be pretty good at it.

We will soon be onboarding another instructor for the class I teach most often. When my company did a review of everyone in our system that should have renewed their qualifications within the last year (it is required to be renewed every three years) they discovered over 500 persons in our program that are out of compliance. That means when those clients are contacted, we will need to add to all the classes we have currently scheduled as well as add an additional thirty or so classes through the end of the year. Since it can be assumed that I cannot teach them all, we are arranging to have additional instructors added to the teaching roster. That will help greatly in facilitating all these classes. Plus, it will generate a lot of income for us as a company. The downside is that we will have a few disgruntled clients who feel they are being put upon to renew their qualifications – that always happens – but those will be the exception and not the rule. The additional attendees will add significantly to the administrative work we are required to do in the background, but we are expanding our department for other projects so we will have the resources to pull that work off as well. Job security.

I have to admit that it is good to be working from home today. Not only do I get to sleep about forty minutes longer when I work from home, but I get to enjoy Mama’s interruptions throughout the day; and we get to eat breakfast together. I do not eat breakfast when I am working at the office or teaching a class, so those breakfast times together are a little bit of extra I get to enjoy on this split schedule. I do not want to skip over those small blessings. We are too often on the lookout for big things to happen in our lives and too easily pass over the multitude of little things the Lord continues to do that eventually heap up to equal some very large blessings. Not only do I get to enjoy breakfast with Mama when I work from home, but I get to listen in on her phone conversations – mostly with our children – which helps me keep up with what is going on in their lives. Mama sometimes forgets to pass on to me that information; like Maggie’s struggles with and anecdotes about Walter, Brittany and Andrew’s roller coaster emotional adventure of trying to find a house in New Jersey, or the latest update from Honduras. At least this way I get in on part of the conversation. That helps me to pray more effectively.

This week we were required to sign up for insurance at work. I was initially excited about the new insurance we were offered from a cost and services perspective, but when I went online to get me and Mama signed up, I found that the price advertised, which is somewhat on the high end of premiums, was not a monthly but rather a per payday cost. I was disappointed when I saw the $900 per month price tag. I told Mama I loved her, but we could not afford that on a monthly basis. I opted for the plan that was offered at about half that cost. $6,700 annually versus $12,000 was not a difficult choice but it was a sad one. I do not want that large a chunk of my gross income to go to medical insurance. So, I chose a lesser large chunk of my income to go toward insurance. Not necessarily a winning option, but a doable one.

At least we will have some usable health insurance for Mama.

Little victories

Saturday was a slow day for me and Mama. I was in a lot of pain, so I was not overly committed to taking on too many projects at the farm, but Mama and I still managed to get a few things done. We decided not to attend the graduation for BBTI. Mostly because of the pain we were in. As things turned out, it was good that we did not go to Bowie for the graduation because Seth called fairly early Saturday morning and asked if we were home. Since we were, he, Gabriella, and Rosalee stopped by and visited for a couple hours While we talked, the baby played – dumping every container of toys available to her.  They had a new pug puppy with them, so we got a double dose of baby in one visit. The puppy was cute and extremely active, but she was terrified of Kobe and Kira, both of whom were very curious about her. It was hilarious to watch the puppy back quickly away from the step at the living room and into the kitchen area to avoid the big dogs getting too close. They are not allowed in the kitchen area. Eventually, Kira and Kobe would move away but as soon as the puppy moved to the edge of the step they both hurried over to investigate and the puppy would retreat once again. Eventually, the big dogs got their way without terrorizing the puppy too much.

At one point Mama asked Seth if he would mind helping me get Midas from the girl paddock to the boy paddock. We had failed to get that done earlier in the week when we had Victoria to help, but Seth was willing. It took a few minutes to get Midas into the barn so we would corner him and get the collar on him, but once that was done, Seth headed for the gate and Midas literally dragged him across the yard to the boy paddock. I had to run to keep up. Once in his home paddock, he stopped and let us take off the collar and leash. He and Julian started butting each other around almost immediately. Julian was happy to have him back. The girls were happy to have him gone. Later that day Mama and I got dog crates and loaded the little girls from their temporary pen back into the girl paddock. We drove them over this time since carrying them over proved to be a bit of a strain on us last time we moved them. They were not as happy with that move. The larger nanny goats began to prove their dominance over them right away. Mama always hates that part of raising goats. A victory considering the way Mama and I were hurting.

When we both felt up to the task, Mama and I cleaned the large coop building. Another small victory. That is always an hour or more of work, but it is nice to have it done once we do the cleaning. So far, I have filled two compost bins with the pine shavings and manure from the coop floors and am in need of a third. I will probably get to that sooner rather than later. After all, the chickens are not going to stop producing manure. Hopefully, they will not stop producing eggs either. Right now, we are getting about two dozen per day. More than enough to keep all our customers happy. That was about the only big thing Mama and I got done that day because Mama and I spent most of Saturday with our TENS units working overtime. I would use my unit for an hour and take an hour or more break, then start the unit back up for another hour of treatment. Overall, the extended treatment routine helped. By Sunday both of us were markedly improved as far as pain levels were concerned but I was still wearing the back brace as much as possible – at least at home.  

Church was great Sunday. We got to pick up our Chinese girls and then go to the restaurant to eat after church. That is always fun. I got soup to make sure I could stick to the diet. Mama got Hibachi Steak. So far so good. Then Alex brought out sushi, spring rolls, crab Rangoon and some fried pot stickers. Mama and I violated out diet just a tiny bit to indulge. I had only one spring roll and two pieces of avocado sushi. I am not sure what Mama had that was not on our diet, but we did not go past the diet excessively. So far Mama had lost seven pounds. I have lost six pounds. A small victory.

This morning I met at the HQ house with my team from wok and we did breakfast. It was a huge breakfast complete with freshly made tortillas, ham, bacon, sausage links, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sweetbreads and pastries of all sorts, freshly made bread, jams, jellies and apple butter, assorted fruits, juices and milk. Mama and I supplied the ham, eggs and apple butter. There were four or five of the participants that had never had apple butter before. They became instant fans. It was a large spread, but we had sixteen people to feed. Having a kitchen to work in we were able to keep all the cooked items warm while we finished the ones that still needed to be cooked. It was all delicious. Everything seemed to be cooked to perfection. Other than the lack of seating for eating, it as a great place to pull off this kind of activity. I had to pass up on all the sweets and pastries, the coffee and a Choco-flan cake, but I had plenty to eat from items that were on Mama’s and my current diet.

We will more than likely do this again soon, and maybe I will be able to get a small piece of the cake at that time.

Pain, planning around the weather

Yesterday I was in so much pain that it was hard to concentrate. There are odd times that I go through these bouts of severe pain in my lower back, often without any identifiable event that could have caused the increase in pain, but for this pain I can track it back to carrying a bag of feed on my shoulder from the shop to the well house. I did that because there was only one bag to carry, and it seemed the fastest way to get the bag to it destination. Not a wise decision and I paid for it. I am far better this morning, but that little episode of pain was a quick lesson in not challenging my abilities beyond what I am currently able to accomplish – which seems to be diminishing far more quickly than I anticipated. To help mitigate the pain this morning I got out the TENS unit and put the pads on my back. One of the advantages of working from home since I will not wear the unit to work. Surprisingly, the unit is now once again functioning properly. When I last used it, it would not work on the TENS mode but only on the massage mode. The TENS is far better for providing relief to my aching back.

Since Mama had gone to Muenster to get feed yesterday evening, I was not looking forward to moving fifteen or more bags of feed from the back of the truck to the pallet in the shop where we store the feed when she got home with the load, but Mama was thinking ahead. She had the feedstore put the bags on a pallet so that I could use the tractor to move the lot in one trip. It required me swapping implements on the tractor front loader, but that is a simple task. So, I swapped the bucket for the pallet forks, moved the pallet of feed into the shop and then swapped back to the bucket. All that took me about fifteen minutes – and I saved my back a lot of potential strain. Thank you, Mama.

Since the forecast if for a lot of rain beginning tomorrow and continuing through next week, I am planning on looking into the hives today. I would like to check the progress the bees have made in drawing out the comb in the honey supers. In one hive I put frames of Permacomb, a plastic equivalent to drawn out comb. In that honey super the bees can begin immediately to fill the comb with honey. I am hoping to get more than one full honey super out of that hive, but I am not sure if that will happen or not. I printed off a blog about harvesting honey so that Mama and I could study on it before we attempted it and the author, who has only four hives as well, stated that he often gets fifteen gallons of honey from his hives. That would be encouraging. I am looking at getting at least the minimum equipment Mama and I need on hand to collect our first honey. That’s exciting.

This evening we will move Midas back into the paddock with Julian and hopefully get the little does back into the paddock with their mommies. That will simplify the feeding next week and ensure all our livestock have a dry place to stay during the rainy week. We are forecast to get over four inches through the week. That would be a huge blessing since many of our tanks and ponds are very low, but I do not know what effect it will have on the guided fishing trip Pastor and I are supposed to go on next Friday. Sometime through the week, I will contact the guide for an update. Rescheduling should not be a problem since both the Pastor and I are pretty flexible but I do not want to miss the opportunity to see Lake Bridgeport from the perspective of a professional guide. Knowing his go-to places on the Lake will be very helpful. Many people go out and second the day fishing coming home with very little to show for their efforts, our pastor included. A free scouting lesson will be put to god use.

Saturday afternoon is the graduation at Bible Baptist Translators Institute. It is always sad to see our BBTI attendees graduate and move on with their lives, often hitting the deputation trail. We have had three couples and two singe students from BBTI with us in church for the entire year. When they move on, they will be sorely missed, but that is the way of life at BBTI and as much as we know it will happen each year, it is still sad to repeat the process every time we must. That graduation and the lunch following will take a chunk out of our time Saturday, but we always enjoy participating and supporting BBTI.

How heavy the rain is on Saturday will determine what else I can get done that day, but I can always find something to do.

Israel, cyberattacks, shopping

For anyone who is a Bible End-Times Prophesy student, the events taking place in Israel now are further proof that the coming of our Lord is nearer than ever. As the United States at the governmental level has largely abandoned Israel to its enemies, Israel has begun on its own to fight back against the rocket attacks launched against it with the force necessary to overcome the threat. As a nation, it is perfectly capable of doing so without help from the outside. This response in self-defense will stir the world to pick a side in the conflict. If we choose Israel, we will do well. If we do not, we will not do well. It has always been so, because God has chosen to bless those who bless Israel; to curse those who curse Israel. Mama and I were talking about this as we drove to church yesterday evening. It is difficult to empathize with those who have had to run to bomb shelters during the onslaught of rocket fire while our lives seem so normal. Yet what is happening half the world away will have a profound impact on our future, quite possibly on our eternity. It makes me wonder if I am making enough of a difference where I can. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, life goes on – mostly uneventfully for us. Other than higher gas prices from the pipeline hacking incident recently, the world does not seem to be shaken much by the conflicts raging around us. Since my whole work life is attached to the oil and gas industry, and thereby the pipeline industry that transports oil and gas, I know that the hacking incident is a big deal. That computer hackers were able to penetrate the firewall of the operator of the pipeline and shut down the operation of the line, speaks volumes of our vulnerability to such cyberattacks. The fact that supply to seventeen states was impacted by the one hack is dangerous on a scale few people recognize. Thankfully, the hackers were not set on causing damage to the pipeline, only on shutting down operation of the line, which the operating company was able to safely accomplish in the middle of the cyberattack. Next time the intent might be more nefarious.

One reporter was gleefully questioning the Whitehouse person in charge of oversight of cybersecurity asking whether the recent successful attack would force the Whitehouse to look at focusing more strongly on alternative energy since the oil and gas industry was so obviously threatened – causing a panic related to gasoline availability. The answer was as silly as the question. Think about it. Hackers got into a company operating system and shut down a pipeline operation. They can just as easily get into the electrical grid and do the same. That type of shutdown would have a far broader impact on the lives of our citizens than causing a shortage of gasoline. The issue is that our computer systems are not safe. The question is, how do we make them safe and what is our response to this threat?

That question was not asked. If our government does not focus there, we are in for a panic the likes of which we have never seen before. Just a few days without power a few weeks ago caused so much damage here in North Texas that we are still repairing systems affected during the power outage. That power outage was due to our government required use of renewable energy sources. Had it not been for the oil and gas fired power plants taking up as much slack as they could, the outage would have been far worse. Thought that was an act of nature versus a cyberattack, it still exposes a vulnerability that should be adequately addressed to ensure we do not repeat the event.

Enough bad news for today. While I am at work today Mama will be on the road. We need feed at the farm so that is on the agenda but to make it a worthwhile day out, Mama is going to Whitesboro to spend some time with Kimberlyn. I think the two of them will spend some time shopping in Sherman, a nearby town that seems to have all the stores Mama needs to visit today clustered together in a small area. That makes things convenient for Mama. Having the company while she does all this shopping makes it a lot more fun for Mama, even though it makes is a bit ore expensive for me. Somehow, Mama tends to spend more when she has a shopping companion. She will pick up feed in Muenster – in the same general area – before she heads home. Were it not for the fact that the feed store closes at 5 pm, I am not sure when Mama would plan on leaving Kimberlyn’s?

She needs the interaction. After all, I am pretty boring to live with.

Squirrels, chickens, produce

I enjoyed the day with Mama yesterday as I worked from home, but today I am back in the office. Fortunately, there is plenty for me to do while I am here. This week I have a break from teaching classes, but only for this week. For the next several weeks I will have classes twice per week – every Tuesday and Thursday. Today I can focus on a couple small incidental projects I have been given. Having the spare time to get those projects done is a treat and I plan on using the time constructively.

While I was home yesterday, I tried to lessen our squirrel population but ultimately was unsuccessful. Mama has as part of her morning routine, tossing out a little scratch grain for the few chickens that manage to get out of the coop yard before we let the entire flock out at the evening feeding time. That scratch grain has a high content of cracked corn in it along with a variety of seeds. The chickens love it. So do the squirrels. We routinely have to chase away the squirrels from the coop because they chew up our containers trying to get to the feed. When Mama puts it out for free, it is too much for them to resist. So, having seen a squirrel in the early morning feasting on the cracked corn tossed in front of the coop, I got my .22 rifle and took a shot at it. I missed.

It was a fairly long shot for a .22, but I thought I knew how to make the shot accurately. Not only did I miss the first time. I missed the second time a squirrel was feeding on the corn and a third time as well. My trying to kill them did not seem to deter the squirrel from coming back. I did not know what I was up against. Even though I saw only one squirrel at a time I was sure there were more than one eating at the corn. I was proven right in the early afternoon when I saw three squirrels eating together at the corn. I just shook my head. I will have to try something different to rid us of the squirrels before they decide to take up residence in the walls of the coop. We have had to deal with that in the past and I was able to rid the coop of the squirrels but not before they had done a lot of damage.

Over the weekend Mama decided to allow the larger chicks we have in the nursery coop to have access to the yard attached to that building. It took a couple days for them to figure out the process of getting out of the building into the yard and make the return trip into the building to roost, but they finally got it down. But, on the first night I went out to shut them in the building, I must have missed one that had stayed in the yard. We found it dead the next morning and as is typically the case, it was one of Mama’s favorites. So, with the twenty we started off with as chicks, we are down to eighteen.

At the same time, we opened the yard to the older chicks, we moved the baby chicks into the Banty house. I had to install a light in the Banty house to provide some warmth for the overnight hours, but other than that we had very little extra work to get the chicks transferred. As I was making a return trip to the garage where we had been raising the chicks in two large totes, I discovered that Mama had left one of the baby chicks in one of those totes. Mama was not sure how that happened. The chick was not making any noises so if I had not looked it may have been some time before we discovered it. I think we have thirteen baby chicks in that group, having lost two since we got them. Overall, Mama has a very good survival rate with baby chicks.

Mama went out with me last night as I shut up the chickens to ensure none had been left out in the yard of the nursery coop and that all her baby chicks were in the upper portion of the Banty house with the light to warm them. It was a cool night last night. As we were out there, Mama took time to count all the chickens. As of last night, we have 42 large chickens, 18 large chicks, and 13 baby chicks. A total of 73 chickens, only four of which are roosters. Right now, we are getting about two dozen eggs per day. When they all start laying that will go up by at least another dozen per day on average. That would be nice.

By the middle of next week, we should be able to pick zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We will start picking blackberries by the end of the month. All of those produce items are on our current diet, so we should be able to eat up what we pick as the garden produces it. Spaghetti squash is also ripening quickly, and it is on our diet as well. I am amazed at how the Lord worked it out that all the produce from our garden this year is part of the diet Mama and I are holding to for the next couple months.

The peaches and nectarines will ripen after we are done with the strictest part of the diet. God’s timing is always perfect.

Picking up sticks, Mother’s Day

I spent the morning Saturday picking up sticks – literally. In the boy goat paddock, there was so much deadfall that it was looking like a wasteland. So, I fired up the tractor and filled the bucked over and over, piling the sticks I collected in two piles which I pressed down with the front loader. I used a long-handled pitchfork to load up most of the sticks, picking up only the ones that were too large to handle with the pitchfork.  After about three hours of clean up I was able to get the mower and mow the paddock. Once the piles were flattened, they did not look like too much, but I know the work required to get all the pieces into that pile. My back was worn out by that time and I had to rest for a bit, but I like the way the paddock looks now – like someone cares.

Mama spent the entire day with Mr. Plumley. They went to a festival in Bridgeport and to Trade Days in Bowie. They spent about three hours at Trade days with the Wycoff girls. All the men of the family were working on a roof that needed to be replaced. I did not envy either group because it was a brutally windy day. Having Mama helped the girls with the booth at Trade Days coordinating bathroom breaks and lunch. Mama and Plumley showed up at the farm about 3 pm. Just in time to help me get into my bee suit so I could service the hive started a couple wees ago. I have Mama help me because it is difficult for me to get the zippers and Velcro panels properly placed once I have the gloves on and I have to put the gloves on under the suit. Otherwise, they will not fit over my arms. I need help with the Velcro closures to ensure the bees do not discover any gap to get into the suit. That happened once and it was very unpleasant. After dealing with the bees my day was spent grilling meats for visitors that were ultimately not able to show up Saturday evening (they were helping with the Wycoff roof) and for Sunday lunch. This evening, I will grill hamburgers for Sam and Erin Echeveria and the kids. They are just returning from Sam’s mother’s funeral.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We did not necessarily have a different service, but pastor did preach on the mother’s role in the family, society at large and in the rearing of children to love the Lord. As is typical, the church gave out some gift cards. What was different was that Pastor picked names out of a plate to award the girt cards so mother’s that would not typically have won got the prizes yesterday. Everyone seemed pleased with that. Sunday night we had a young lady’s vocal group from a local Christian College, Lone Star Bible College. They did a great job and Dr Bachman, the school chancellor, preached a very moving sermon. He talked about Hezekiah when he had been told by Isaiah that he was going to die. Hezekiah prayed and wept over the pronouncement and God responded by saying “I have heard thy prayers and I have seen thy tears…” His question to the congregation was, how long has it been since God has seen you shed a tear for the lost, for the sins of our nation, for the sins in our own lives? Good question.

He went to Revelation 22 where the Bible says that God will wipe away all tears and pointed out that that verse follows the White Throne judgement where the lost will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. We will be observers at this judgement. Among the billions of lost persons will be some that we know.  Perhaps some very dear to us in this life, but it will be eternally too late. A sobering thought. A very sad thought. My mind immediately goes to Steve Whidden, a dear friend to our family who refuses to consider the Lord. Our mission is to reach out to those whom we know and tell them the Gospel news while there is still time for them to repent and believe. We are not tasked to save them. That is the Holy Spirit’s wok. We are tasked to tell them. We are tasked to pray for them earnestly, knowing the certainty of their fate should they die without believing on the Lord.

For Mama’s Mother’s Day I conspired with the Wycoff girls to put together a basket of Magnolia craft items, chalk and ink paints and stencils. They delivered it to church Sunday morning. Victoria got Mama a wind chime made from a glass bottle with string and wooden beads. It has a very nice sound when the wind catches the streamers. Those were good gifts, but the most important gift was that all of her six children not at home with us called and talked to her through the course of the day. Over the years I have learned that it does not take much to make Mama happy but by far and away, her happiest moments are those shared with her children and grandchildren, even if it is a simple conversation over the phone.

After all, I am pretty boring after a while.

Class, beekeeper’s meeting, diet

Class yesterday was an okay class. It was one of those classes where I could not get anyone to participate. At several points in the class, I pose questions for the class to answer or have a slide that I have someone from the class read. On the first of those slides I waited for a full 90 seconds before someone volunteered and read the slide. It was a long pause. An somewhat uncomfortable pause even though everyone in the class was smiling as they waited for someone else to take on the challenge. But it did not seem to open the class up to any of the points I would have liked to have a discussion on through the day. So, we pushed through the material with me doing all the talking for the six and a half hours of the class. That is tiring. But we made it through once again and the timeframe of the class was acceptable – ending only about twenty minutes ahead of the schedule I try to maintain for total class time.

I was at the HQ house for the presentation. That is going to be a good location for these class presentations. It is very quiet, and the company has set up the room I use in a way that makes it very comfortable to present the classes. During the lunch break I ate my lunch by the pool. Yes, the HQ house has a very nice pool complete with a fountain that spills back into the pool. The house itself sits in the middle of the 41 acres of property it sits on, far enough from the train tracks and the highway that the noises from either are muted to almost silent. Most of the time I have the house to myself. My company is pretty careful to give me whatever space is needed to conduct these classes because they have proved to be a huge revenue stream. For the most part, nothing is scheduled at the HQ house when I have a class scheduled. When I was asked by my boss if I was bothered by the isolation, I responded that I did not crave interaction at the level that most people do. I am fine with periods by myself as long as I get to spend the evenings with my wife.

Mama and I had a beekeeper’s meeting to go to last night. On the way she insisted on stopping at Dollar Tree to pick up some things for a craft she is doing, so we arrived at the meeting a minute of two after it had started. We have been meeting in a large patio room at a Dos Chiles restaurant, which is nice both for the room we get to meet in and the meal we get to eat as the meeting is ongoing. There were a number of topics covered during the meeting and the winners of the recent raffle we conducted were announced. I, who never win everything, was the winner of a guided fishing trip on Lake Bridgeport. The prize also included a one-night stay in an Air B&B on the lake called Henson Hollow. Those who know the place tell me it is very nice. One of the other raffle prizes was a custom horizontal hive. I was very interested in that prize and the person who won the hive does not want it, so I volunteered to put it to use. We will see how that turns out. Next week, I will call the person who offered the fishing trip to schedule a time. I am going to see if I can take the pastor with me on that trip. Maybe we can learn some of the best spots to fish on Lake Bridgeport. That would be fun. Later, Mama and I will schedule an overnight stay at Henson Hollow. Free is always good!

This weekend, Mama and I will start on a special diet that will limit the sugar in our diet. We each completed a questionnaire that allowed us to determine the level of symptoms we are suffering from a Candida overgrowth. I scored significantly higher than Mama on the quiz. That surprised me. The diet will be a good healthy change no matter what the outcomes we see as far as battling the Candida overgrowth. I have been talking to Mama for some weeks about making such a change, but neither of us were motivated enough to do so. Perhaps now that has changed. I do know that going on with the eating habits we have been giving in to for the past years will not produce the health or weight outcomes we are looking for.

Thought both of us have lost weight over the past several months, neither of us feel good. My energy levels are often very low. That is discouraging because there are lots of projects I still need to do. Both of us wrestle with constant heartburn, ongoing digestive issues and I still deal with painful bouts of diverticulitis. It is time to change what we are feeding ourselves. So, I am looking froward to the change. My only challenge is that is do not do well with a high meat diet – especially beef. Mama’s blood type is beef eater. Mine is chicken and turkey. So, there will have to be some meals I do not eat what she is eating, but that is a minor issue. Since I do most of the cooking, it is an easy requirement to meet. We will see how this turns out, but I have high expectations.

The real challenge is continuing this diet as strictly as possible for two months.

Back in the office, bee work, diet

Yesterday was the first day our group was to be back in the office on our, now routine, Tuesday and Thursday report-to-the-office schedule. The other three days of the work week are still to be done from home. I had a class yesterday morning from the HQ house, so I was not in the office in the morning. When I finished with the half-day class, I lingered at the house for while eating my lunch, then I reported to the office. It was nice to see everyone interacting in person. It was obvious that all those who were in the office yesterday were glad to be back together. There are very few assigned desks in the new office layout, but most everyone reported to the area in which they had been grouped in the past – just with very different workspaces. I finished out the day from the office making it possible for me to get all the administrative work done for the follow up of the class I had just taught, while visiting with various coworkers whom I had not seen in person for over a year. All in all, the new arrangement worked out well enough. We will see how things go after the excitement wears off.

When I got home, I helped Mama feed and we ate a quick dinner. It was a little weird getting home at the old normal time – when we worked in the office until 4 pm every day. After dinner I got all the honey supers, the queen excluders and other tools moved to the apiary before I got my bee suit on. Once dressed for it, I started working on the hives. I opened each hive in turn, checking progress in the comb being drawn out in the new brood boxes I had added to three of the hives over a week ago. I was amazed by how far the colonies have come in less than two weeks. On one hive, I had added a honey super last year and had been advised to leave it over the winter – which I did.

I had to pull out each frame in the honey super to make sure the queen was not in the box before I put on the queen excluder below it and replaced that super – half full of honey already – back on the hive. The queen excluder is a panel that has hundreds of slits in the panel. The slits are sized so that the queen cannot fit through the openings. That way she cannot lay any eggs in the boxes above the excluder. It will be used for honey only. All the work inspecting and outfitting the honey supers on the hives that got them, took less than an hour. On the hive we started a few weeks ago, I did not add a honey super. It has a way to go before that colony is strong enough to produce excess honey for us. Saturday I will open that hive and take out the syrup feeder, replacing the two frames taken out to provide room for the feeder. I plan on having Mama with me for that inspection so she can see the hives up close. I will wear the cheap bee suit and give her the good one for the time. Once that is done, I will monitor the progress in the first brood box to determine whether I need to add another brood box or try a honey super on that hive. The bees will let me know what action is most appropriate.

I am in the office this morning to work with a coworker as he does a mock presentation of a class that will be taught next week. It is one of the two classes that I do not teach because there are a lot of other candidates to present that class. If my coworker does well presenting the class to me, he will teach the class next week and enter the rotation for teaching the class on a monthly basis. Meanwhile, I am onboarding two other candidates for the class I am teaching twice per week. It will be nice to expand that training pool, but I am not overly concerned about backup at the moment, since Mama and I have no vacation or other time off planned for this year. I can squeeze a day or two into the schedule while maintaining availability for the training schedule set for the year. Providing my health is not affected in any extreme way in the near future.

Speaking of health, Mama called Ruben Yoder yesterday. He is our primary herbal contact since his father Jonas, got us involved in herbs many years ago. Based on his assessment, Mama and I are going to try a two-month special eating regimen to curtail the effects that an overgrowth of Candida in our bodies is causing for each of us – Mama more so than me. It is not an onerous diet, but it will require some discipline and a strict adherence to the diet. I am told that something that you force yourself to do for a month or more can become a habit. That would not be a bad outcome and if we can abate the symptoms of this “infection”. So much the better. We have needed to change our eating habits for a long time, especially as we age. It will be a good change with a healthy outcome for us both. Long overdue.

I will be teaching an all-day class tomorrow. Hopefully, working from home Friday.

An other’s focused weekend

Rain this weekend made things too wet and too soft for Mama and I to do much outside, so we potted some of the plants Mama has bought over the last couple of weeks. I repotted the hydrangea three times because I kept finding bigger pots to put it in.

We bought a couple pots that look like coal buckets and potted our lavender plants in those. We spent a long time cleaning the coops. It was not that the coops were dirtier than any other time we have cleaned them, but we took a good bit more time getting the floors and roosts scraped clean of any accumulated, hardened poop. That added some time to each side of the big coop. We always put down lime and a little Seven Dust on the roosts and floors of the big coop before we put down the pine chips that will catch most of the poop they produce when they roost. We also cleaned the nursery coop. That took a fair amount of time as well. Mama had to move slowly as she cleaned the floors and the young chickens in eh coop huddles in frightened masses in whatever corner was free of her cleaning actions. They also protested a good bit.

Late Saturday afternoon we went to a wedding reception at the church. A young couple that met at Bible Baptist Translator’s Institute (BBTI) in Bowie had been married at her home church in Arkansas, but we wanted to give them a reception as well. Daniel plays the guitar as well as any concert guitarist I have ever met and often accompanies soloists and vocal ensemble for special music at our church. Libby sang in the choir and in several vocal ensembles as she attended BBTI last year. We have grown to love them both. They are living on the Institute property being groomed to take over representation and fundraising for the ministry. The couple that has had this role are getting up in years and have been praying for a couple that could backfill for them when they are no longer able to travel and preach as required to carry on that role. It looks like they have been shown the answer to those prayers.

Seeing this newlywed couple together reminded me of a song that John Denver recorded with Placido Domingo way back in 1981, the year Mama and I met. I could not remember all the words, so I looked it up and found this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toYfeN0ACDw It is worth a look. It brought back some really good memories for me and Mama.

On a sadder note, we got a text Saturday morning via the prayer chain at church, that Sam Echeveria’s mother died suddenly Friday night from a heart attack. It was not something the family had anticipated. So, Sam and Erin and the kids needed to get to his father in the Chicago area as soon as they could. Mama and I asked how we could help and were asked to keep Bella while they traveled. When we got there, they were trying to pack and get the kids moving. It was still early. They were telling us about renting a vehicle because they did not trust theirs to get them there and back. They had spent a several hours trying to track down a vehicle to rent and had finally found one available at Love Field in Dallas, but as we prayed with them, I got a text from the pastor asking if I would agree to allowing them to use one of the church’s vans for the trip. All the deacons agreed to the proposal, so they were able to take that vehicle instead of driving to Dallas to pick up a rental. That alone saved them over a thousand dollars.

We got to pick up our Chinese girls for church yesterday morning. It has been a long time since Yilin has come to church with us. It was really good to have her too. On the way home, the girls insisted on eating at the restaurant, but Mama and I were not sure. We drove over to the restaurant and checked with Alex and he gave the go ahead. So, we unloaded and ate there. It was a fun meal, lots of conversation with Alex and Yuan as we ate. In one of those conversations, Mama asked if Alex would like a couple of her older chickens. They prefer the older birds for some reason. Lin has told us in the past that the old chickens make the best soup. Maybe in China no chickens live to be old chickens, so it is a delicacy they do not get to enjoy there. Anyway, Alex is stopping by today to pick up the three hens Mama and I caught last night and put in the Banty house. Monday is their only day off in the week and all the running for the restaurant has to get done on that one day so I was surprised when he offered to come to the farm and pick up the chickens, but we can certainly accommodate that. We invited Alex to come to the farm and fish. They enjoyed the time they were able to fish last year but their time off it too short to squeeze that in now that the restaurant is fully operational.

I will place the honey supers on the hives this evening. I am looking forward to getting that done.