Hurting, shuffling, counting, planning

I am reminded every day that I am not as young as I used to be. Sometimes those reminders are poignant. Such was the case yesterday, especially last night. Having spent almost twelve hours over two days working on the well tank installation with all the lifting, holding and tightening with a variety of wrenches that chore required, I was worn out and sore. I had been hurting all day but as Mama and I fed last night I took the time to carry a couple pitchfork loads of hay to the little guys in the pig building. That was obviously the last straw as far as my chest was concerned. Within a couple hours I was hurting so badly in my chest that I hesitated to go to church. As I got ready for church the pain intensified to the point that when we got to church, I had to ask Bro Zach to lead the singing because I could not fake it through the pain. I was not overly concerned about the source of the pain, I knew it to be in my ribs and sternum, but I did tell Mama that if it continued through the night and into the next day, I would have to seek medical attention. Fortunately, I am somewhat relieved today. The pain is still intense, but it is less so than last night. Praise the Lord! With my overworked back hurting in equal measure, I am not moving very well.

Our plans are for me to rest up a bit before we start to move goats this weekend. Those moves will take place in stages. First, the three boys will be moved to the small enclosure by the bucks. The little girls that are too young to be bred, will be moved into the pig building where the little boys have been staying. Then we will move one of the bucks to the nanny paddock as we move three of our seven nanny goats to the buck area to be bred by the buck left in that area. We have to match the nanny goats to the bucks to ensure we do not have any inbreeding. That means we will be loading and then unloading in different loads, nine goats to make those moves. That arrangement will stand for two months at which time we will once again group the bucks and does separately. I hope to be rested up enough for all the lifting required for all those moves. Time will tell. Trace and Victoria will be available to help. Mama and I will definitely need their help.

Yesterday afternoon, I set up a portable table for Mama to set out all her nail sets and discover a way to coordinate them in preparation for several events she will be attending to market that inventory. I was shocked at the volume of sets she has currently in her possession. She has over 200 sets on hand. That represents about $2500 worth of Color Street nail sets. Hopefully, we can exchange those for cash in the events coming up. Otherwise, I will consider myself nail poor. Not really. Eventually all the sets will be sold, and for now, we have good head start on on-hand merchandise to market. Not a bad position to be in at the moment. We are really praying that Mama can succeed in this business.

If the weather holds as predicted, Mama will have to start mowing this weekend. I will also have to start feeding the bees this weekend and within a couple weeks, I will need to put the honey supers on the hives. As is common to our area, Summer will erupt upon us quickly. We are forecast to have temperatures in the nineties next week. Only for a couple days at a time at first, but it is a harbinger of things to come. At least, I will not worry about the well as we water our garden this summer. With the larger tank, the system should be more than adequate to handle the extra need of caring for our plants, trees and bushes. Our peach tree is blooming now, and the blackberry bushes are putting out new leaves. I am watching the blueberry bushes but see not real signs of life. We now have six of those and I am hoping for a good harvest of blueberries this year. The apricot, nectarine and pear are showing signs of life as are the fig trees that survived the winter. I think I lost three fig trees over the winter. I also lost an elderberry bush over the winter. Sad.

All those budding plants will help feed our bees as their population will grow exponentially when the pollen comes in. It will take several weeks for the flowers we planted in the garden to supply nectar for the bees, but those plants should help carry the hives through the summer and into the fall. If the majority of those seeds germinate, we will have a good crop of flowers.

Time will tell.