Packing, feeding, planning

Yesterday was the girls last full day at the farm. This afternoon Mama and Victoria will meet Brittany in Oklahoma City to begin a slow paced four-day trip to New Jersey. We had tentatively planned to go to Cabela’s last night but abandoned those plans in favor of just hanging out at home. Mama had a lot to do to get ready for today’s travel, packing, repacking, and double checking that all the required items make it into the Sequoia for the trip. Not just for the three girls but also for Mama. Victoria will bring the Sequoia back to the farm after the transfer of occupants takes place late this afternoon and Mama will ride along with Brittany and the girls – with Andrew bringing up the rear in a separate car - to New Jersey. Mama’s flight home is now scheduled for the 5^th, which works out better for me since that is a holiday for me. Plus, it gives Mama the chance to go to church at Somerset Bible Baptist to say hello to all our friend there. I suppose we will now have a more urgent reason to visit New Jersey than we have had in the past ten years or so since we moved to Texas.

So, the farm will be mine alone to attend to for a week or so. That is not a problem except for the fact that I cannot do a morning feeding Monday, Wednesday, and Friday because I have classes to teach all three days next week. Victoria will be here during Mama’s absence, but I will not ask for help unless I need to do so. I will be able to open the coop for the chickens to get out before I head to the office in order for them to get to their water dishes. That is generally the most urgent morning task regarding the animals. All feeding will have to wait until the evenings when I get off from work – unless Victoria wants to participate in that before she gets ready for work each day. Once per day feeding will cause the animals some angst, but it will do them no harm. Also, as Mama travels, Lilly will deliver her kids. I was a little surprised she did not do so last night, which would have been fun for the girls – and for Mama – but she is definitely close.

I was hoping to test out my little pontoon craft this weekend, but it is looking like that will be a bust. Winds are forecast to be high and thunderstorms are forecast to begin tomorrow mid-day, about the time I will get home from bus calling. I will still watch closely this evening, but I do not have high hopes. I am anxious to see how easy or problematic it is for me to launch the craft once it is outfitted. One of my concerns is actually getting into the seat of the pontoon boat while it sits on the water. The problem is my back. I need to find out if I can step or maneuver myself into the seat while the boat moves around in response to my getting onboard. The one advantage of the jon boat I have access to is that it provides a large, rigid surface to me to use as I enter the boat. The pontoon boat may not be solid enough on the water to enable my mounting the seat as it sits on the water. It may turn out to be a moot point. I just do not know yet.

Last night when I went out to close up the chickens, I found all of them camped out on the porch of the coop. Earlier in the afternoon, while feeding with Zoe and Sophia’s help, Mama had closed the gate at the back of the coop to allow her younger chickens to enjoy the treats she had provided without the larger, older hens beating them out. Mama forgot to go back and open the gate, so the chickens did not have access to the coop to get inside to roost. I ended up herding the flock through the gate I opened to let them into the coop for the night. It took a few tries, but eventually all of them got inside and settled in for the night. What was funny was to watch the ones that went into the wrong side of the coop and had to quickly reverse course to ensure they got into the familiar side of the building. They each have a specific spot on the roost that they aim for. They definitely know where they belong. The old adage, the chickens will always come home to roost, was playing out before me.

While the girls were here