Better by bits, births, our second month

Mama and I are getting better a little at a time. She is recovering her sense of taste and smell and both of us are slowly recovering our strength. We are still dealing with a cough – although to a lesser degree – and lots of mucus. Mama managed to haul Sam to his yearly sheering yesterday as well as make half a dozen stops at various merchants in both Bridgeport and Decatur while she was out. Since Sam has to be lifted into and out of the vehicle every time he needs to be loaded or unloaded, it is not a simple chore to accomplish. Though Mama had help moving Sam at each stage of the transfer, she was worn out by the time she got home, but she did get out for the first time in a couple weeks. That felt like an accomplishment in and of itself.

As for me, I am working from home today on my scheduled day at the office because I am still snotty and coughing enough to cause concern to those in close proximity to me. Those who work with me would rather I stay away when there is a risk of infecting them and I would rather not be blamed for the illness should they get sick. Even if I am not the vector for that sickness it is too easy to place blame. Fortunately, the internet began working properly just before an online meeting I was scheduled to attend. I am attending a class tomorrow, but I am not teaching. On Thursday I will be teaching a class. Fortunately, my management relieved me of the class tomorrow, an in-person class, so that I would have enough voice for the class Thursday.

We will pick up Victoria’s car this evening. It has been with our mechanic in Bowie for about a week. He was able to finally identify the issue Victoria has had starting the car and hopefully, that has been fully resolved. The issue has been a challenge for almost a year, but it is one of those intermittent problems that has to get bad enough in order for a clear diagnosis to be made. Time will definitely tell whether Roger was able to actually correct the problem, but we are hopeful. It is not a hardship for us to share a vehicle, but it seems to make things operate more smoothly when all our vehicles are in service.

Also, this evening, Mama and I are going to do some of the chores that have been waiting on us to feel better. One of those chores is cleaning the coop. That takes Mama me and about an hour to do when we work together. It has needed to be done for a week or more, but it has waited until we had the spare energy to accomplish the task. Yesterday evening, we caught up to what was ripening in the garden and in the containers where we have vegetables and berries growing. It was encouraging to harvest several kinds of peppers, tomatoes, and blackberries. We did not go too far into the garden because it is too soft to access due to the recent rains, but we were able to collect zucchini, spaghetti squash and green beans. Watermelon, pumpkin, beets, and okra are maturing nicely as well.

Within the next week we will have kids born to at least one of our nanny goats. Kidding will continue with the other four nanny goats that were bred at a later time over the three-month period we had Midas with the herd, but we should see all the kids by the end of the summer. Temperatures have been very mild so far but are forecast to get hot through this week. Since the goats like hot, dry weather, that should help them in the first few days after the babies are born. It looks like our timing was good as far as our breeding program is concerned. Chalk up a success for Mama in her planning.

Mama and I are one month into the special diet we are observing in order to beat the Candida overgrowth in our bodies. So far, the struggle has been worth it. Both of us have lost a significant amount of weight and I am seeing other subtle signs of healing in other areas related to our physical health. Mama is starting to see some gains as well both physically and mentally. So, as we begin our second month of this diet and herbal regimen, it is good to see some rewards for our efforts, enough to encourage us to continue.

Another small victory.