New arrivals, Mama home, fishing

It has been some time since I last updated this blog, so let me catch you up. I worked only one day from home last week, Thursday. Other than that, I was at the office. This week is a little more standard fare with the exception that Monday was holiday. The one day I was able to be home last week, Lilly delivered three healthy kids.

Two girls and one little boy. At least that is what I thought until I went back out later to check on any cleanup that needed to be done and found a very small little boy that had been stillborn. It was the last of the kids to be delivered. Since Mama was with the girls in New Jersey, I recorded a couple of short videos to show her and the girls the new babies.

Unfortunately, I am not able to figure out how to include those videos in this blog. As I write this the three are doing well but the little boy has a displaced hip from some rough treatment from Lilly shortly after birth. Mama and I will get him to the vet to get that corrected as soon as we can, but he should be fine.

Friday, I taught a class but, in the evening, I took my little pontoon craft out onto the quarry lake and tried it out. It did not work out as well as I had hoped because I did not have it balanced out right. For my weight, the trolling motor and the battery to be supported properly I discovered that the seat was too far to the back of the rack it sits on, making the back of the craft too heavy. I also had not inflated the pontoons sufficiently for the weight I expected it to support. I was able to fish for a bit before deciding to get off the water. No sooner had I left the lake when a thunderstorm rolled over us and the winds were over forty miles per hour. It was only the Lord that got me off the water before that happened.

Saturday, I worked around the farm doing a lot of little things. It was brutally hot, so I limited my time on each chore to keep from getting overheated. Victoria went to a party at one of her coworkers homes that evening and I went to pick up Mama at the airport. I arrived at the airport only a few minutes before her flight landed and I was certain I was at the right baggage claim for her flight, but I started to doubt myself as I watched passengers accumulate around the already moving baggage claim with Mama yet to arrive. So, as I waited, I watched the door all the passengers had come through and the luggage being sent for pickup. I spotted her suitcase and retrieved it from the belt a few minutes before Mama came through the doors to the baggage claim area but at least I had confirmed I was in the right area. I had to have her soften her embrace because I was very swollen from the extraction of the tooth that had happened Thursday. (By the way, that went well after seven shots to numb the jaw.)

Sunday was wonderful and Monday was a holiday. I got started on clearing the fence lines Monday. I lasted only a couple hours mostly because within that time I had broken the weed eater, the chainsaw and the string trimmer. So, I packed everything in the bucket of the tractor and did a few rounds of mowing with the brush hog before hauling the equipment back to the shop for repairs.

Later that evening, Mama and I went fishing in the smaller upper lake. It was an absolutely beautiful evening. On her first cast she caught a whopper. The picture we took shows me with the fish because Mama does not handle the fish, she only hooks them. All together, we caught two very large bass and five smaller bass in a little over an hour.

Since my outing on Friday evening, I have not been able to get my little craft back onto the water. The winds have been too high. I am looking forward to checking out the changes I made to the seat and pontoons to see if it makes a difference. If not, I will sell the craft and make an attachment for the aluminum Jon boat I have here at the farm to mount a wheeled attachment to it so I can transport it more easily to the water from where I park the truck. Without that help, I am not able to maneuver the boat to the water without hurting myself. It is not very heavy, but it is very awkward.

Tomorrow I teach a class. It is a 4-hour class, so it will go quickly. Next week I have classes on Monday and Wednesday. Mama and I might go to Victoria, TX for Lillianna’s wedding next weekend but we are not sur if we are invited yet. Lillianna is Joshua’s eldest stepchild. Our oldest grandchild.

Other than that, life seems pretty much back to normal here at the farm.