Interruptions, trimming and watering, fishing, business

Yesterday was an uneventful day until Mama went to the Chico post office in the early afternoon. She called me from the post office – I was working from home – to tell me the car would not start. No lights. No clicking. No nothing. I went to see if there was something I could do and we decided to have the car towed to Roger’s, especially since Victoria had had the same problem a couple days ago when she was using the Sequoia. My first thought was that it was the Park/Neutral switch that tells the ignition that the vehicle is safely in Park. I got some contact when I fiddled with the gearshift, but not enough to start the car. As I waited for her, Mama made the calls to Triple A and Roger and was trying to lock the car when she told me the locks would not work. Then it dawned on me that the problem might be the battery.

I popped the hood one more time and looked at the positive cable connection on the battery and found that it was loose enough that I could easily twist the connector on the battery post. Once that was found I started the car and we both went home. Mama called back to Triple A and Roger and cancelled those requests. When I finished with my normal work schedule, I cleaned, greased, and tightened the connection to eliminate further issues. Now I need to get some fuses to correct the absence of dome lights in the Sequoia. That seems to be an ongoing issue, but it is easily dealt with. I could have fixed it yesterday when I was correcting the battery issue, but I did not have a replacement fuse. I will purchase those today on my lunch break.

Once I had repaired the car as much as I could, I worked around the farm getting some weeds knocked down. Where we had kept the pig, the weeds growing in that rich ground were taller than me. It was easy work with the wheeled trimmer and after I got that knocked out, I went to the garden and trimmed the grass and weeds growing there to clean up that area. There was more to be done there than I had anticipated, but once it was done, the garden looked like a garden again. Now we can see what we intended to grow in that area. It certainly made it easier to water the vegetables when they could be clearly distinguished from the unwanted volunteer invaders of our little garden patch. After I put all the tools and implements away, I started watering both at the house and in the garden. By that time, it was almost 8 pm.

Since I still had an hour or so of daylight, I walked over to the lower lake and fished for an hour. I was not having much luck until I meandered to an area where I could cast out a bit further into deeper water and I caught a huge Black crappie. In the same area I also caught a smaller one (still a keeper), but I had to give up for the evening because it was getting dark. Once home, I quickly filleted the fish and packaged them for Mama and me to eat this evening. I am anxious to show the pastor that catch. He will be even more anxious to test his skill at the lake. Black crappie are his favorite fish and the size of that one speaks to a good supply of them in the lake. His granddaughters visiting from Virginia for the summer have already been after him to take them fishing at the lake. This catch might be the motivation to do so.

I am in the office this morning, so Mama has the feeding all on her own today. I always feel better when I can take a few minutes to help her with the morning feeding, besides, I like getting the exercise every morning. This afternoon I will have to do extra to make up for the loss of steps this morning. Mama will be going for feed later this morning. We typically go to Tony’s Feed in Muenster, but Mama has been told by the Wycoff’s that the Tony’s Feed in Gainesville is a friendlier bunch to deal with. So, she is probably heading that direction to get the feed and to visit with Kimberlyn in the same trip. I have not received this morning’s update to confirm that excursion, but as of last night, that is where we stood.

As for her business, Mama has been doing very well lately. It is exciting to watch her accomplish her goals and help others get their businesses growing in the process. The income she wants to attain, will follow soon, but for now, she is seeing lots of little successes. We continue to pray that the Lord would guide her and bless her business.

It is very encouraging to watch that happen.