Saturday, Mission’s Conference

Saturday was a very busy day for me. Not so much for Mama. Mama’s news first. The event she attended was not well coordinated. It was supposed to be a classic car show and local biker rally, but no classic cars showed up and the bikers that did attend were there for only an hour or less. Of the thirty vendors that Mama was told would be there only ten actually came. It was very disappointing for Mama, but she hung in for most of the very dull day and was able to make enough sales to cover the costs of the space she occupied and a little extra. She got one possible good contact for a state-wide biker rally next month as a personal invitation from the organizer of that rally. That may work out well for her.

She also spent time talking to the commercial beekeeper that regularly sells at Trade Days. He manages 700 hives. She got some great tips and useful information from him which she shared with me. Again, the wind was merciless through the day, but Mama was able to pull down the temporary walls of the pavilion and stop most of the direct assault from those winds. All in all, not a complete waste. When she was packing up to leave, the lady that had so poorly organized the event chided Mama for leaving early, but Mama brushed off her rebuke with a wave of her hand towards the mostly empty pavilion.

For my part, I was able to get 17,022 steps Saturday. All that without ever leaving our little farm. All the chores I took care of were minor, but all required multiple trips to and from the shop. Since Tres had told me early that he thought there were squirrels in the attic, I spent a long time looking for possible entries into the attic but could not see anything obvious. So, I started looking for tree branches that could be scraping the roof that might cause the sounds he was hearing. Those I did find and cut all the possible offenders away from the house. He did not hear any sleep-interrupting noises that night.

Next, I set up a fencing trellis for the row of green beans in the garden. It took all the pieces of panels I had available and the last of the t-posts I could scrounge up to do so. It is not my best work, but it should suffice. I spent an hour or more tending to the bees, but I still have not opened the hives to look for swarm cells because of the high winds. I am very anxious to do that as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Both hives appear to be doing well but it would be nice to verify that suspicion.

In the afternoon, I cut away the paneling I have in the coop to eliminate the hiding places the rats have been so effectively using. In doing so, I got to see one rat scurry about as I ripped off a piece of the thin OSB I used on the walls inside the coop. I found two nesting areas and about twenty pounds of food that had been carried into the wall by the industrious rodents. Once that was cleaned up, I repositioned the feed barrels and bales of straw to reset everything for Mama. I also put a live trap in place that the rat seemed to be frequenting. For several weeks a rat had been taking a small plastic bottle of medicine Mama uses on the chickens and dragging it away from the container where it is stored. Mama has found the small bottle in various locations near the tray where it normally sets. I set the trap in line with the approach to the bottle – and Sunday morning, the offender was in the livetrap. She was a large rat. Hopefully, that is the last of the rats in the coop…for now.

That chore done; I cleaned the coops. Mama got home just as I was finishing the coop cleaning. Gracie who had spent Friday night with us so that she and Mama could leave early Saturday morning, had to be brought back to the farm on their way home to collect some of the articles she had forgotten to pack in their early departure. Since I was done with most of my tasks, I changed my very wet shirt and went with her so we could stop at Tractor Supply to purchase items she wanted for the chickens. By the time we got home from that outing, it was about 5 pm. It had been a very productive day. At least for me.

Over the day Sunday, we got more than three inches of steady gentle rain. What a blessing! Our Mission’s Conference started Sunday. Sunday School and both services that day were great. We will have preaching services each night through Wednesday night with a dinner before each of those services. That makes for a busy week as we not only have every evening filled, but we have to prepare a dinner for each evening to be shared with our missionaries.

We always enjoy the conference, but it makes for a hurried week and next week we will be in Florida. Oh, the fun.