Setbacks, gardening, change of schedule

Yesterday evening I worked on the chewed-up wiring in the coop but in all the rewrapping and repositioning of the wiring I still was not able to get power restored to the coop. For some reason I have yet to discover, there is an active short still in the wires somewhere. When the breaker is turned on at the power panel, I could hear a humming at the breaker box and Mama could hear a hum at the coop, but I cannot be both places at once to see where the hum is coming from, so I left the power off. It is not urgent, but it is troubling. Fortunately, the breaker works as it should rather than allowing the short to start a fire and burn down the coop. I just have to figure out how to rectify the problem. That will take a lot longer than I had hoped but there is a solution to rectifying the problem so Mama can have her lights working properly in the coop buildings.

With that setback in the coop, I moved on to getting Mama’s mower out so we could use it to mulch the huge amount of leaves covering the garden. Because of past rat infestations I carefully checked the mower for rat nests – and found one. It was under the cowling that shrouds the motor. Right on top of the cooling fins. So, I had Mama drive the mower to the shop and I attempted unsuccessfully to remove the cowling. I removed all the bolts and screws that I could see but was still not able to lift off the plastic cowling. I was able to move it far enough that I could remove the nest, which was huge. Using a combination of my hand and a shop vac I scraped and sucked out the mess assembled by the rodent for their winter home. Having gotten that done, Mama proceeded to the garden to mulch the leaves there. That took only twenty minutes or so, but it saved me several hours of painful raking and hauling of leaves. That was a blessing.

After the garden was mostly cleared of leaves, I planted a half row of potatoes using the eyes Mama had trimmed from potatoes we recently cooked. I was also able to plant the three Brussel Sprot plants in the raised bed. I hope we are past the danger of frosts but even so, those plants can tolerate some cold if I planted them too early. Mama has big plans for our garden this year. We should be able to follow through on most of those plans, but getting an early start is key in this area. We are only a few weeks away from the brutal heat that comes to us every summer and any head start we can give to our vegetable plants is well advised.

Yesterday I was able to purchase the tickets for my teaching assignment in Arkansas. I will need to fly into Pensacola to get to the training site and since I needed to go through Pensacola, I invited Mama along for the trip. It has been a long time since Mama and I have had a day or two to ourselves so this provided the opportunity to make a special effort to have that time together. I will have only a half day class to teach Tuesday so Mama and I will be able to spend a good bit of time at the beach that day as well as Wednesday. I got permission from my company to spend the day in Pensacola Wednesday arranging for a late flight out that day. We are both looking forward to that time. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and be warm enough for us to enjoy the beach.

Meanwhile, I have another five classes to teach before the off-site class. There will be plenty of work to keep us busy over the next couple weeks. Plus, we will be returning to the office in April. At this point, my group is scheduled to report to the office on Mondays and Wednesdays, but since I teach classes at least two times per week, I will get to count those days as my required time in the office, so I may not be going to the office very often. Over the past few months, I have grown accustomed to working from home. Getting up later than required for meeting the office schedule, preparing breakfast and lunch during my normal work hours, being available for Mama at any odd times through the day, using my lunchtime for minor chores, etc.

I will still have three days per work week to work from home, so it is not a complete change of schedule, but it will take away the help I have been able to give to Mama every morning that I do work from home. Most of my group is looking forward to getting back together at least as required by our new schedule. Since most of them are single, living alone, I can understand their need to work together in person at the office. For me, I could go on like this for the rest of my time with Energy Worldnet.

At least the days are longer now so the commute will not cut into the time I am available for chores at the farm.