A comfy spot, microscope training, Wednesday

Since the weather has turned pleasant, Grandma and Grandpa have setup chairs on our front sidewalk just outside their bedroom window and are spending the majority of their day in those chairs. It began with the birth of the baby goats. Grandpa, who does not always feel up to doing anything more physical than moving from one chair to another, set up a chair at the corner of the house to watch the goats scamper around in their paddock. It is, after all, very entertaining. But that position of the chair catches the evening sun and can become uncomfortably hot.

To compensate for the evening sunlight, the chair was moved to the sidewalk in front of the house and very soon after that spot was identified, Grandma began to join Grandpa in his vigil over the goats and the property. Thus, for the past two weeks or so, since then have had no rainfall and the weather has stayed in the high eighties and low nineties, you will find the two of them spending the majority of the day enjoying their comfy spot supervising the farm in their own unique way.  

It puts me in mind of the two characters in Second-hand Lions, who spent their day sitting on the front porch anticipating the mail carrier or a traveling salesman driving by the house. Unlike those characters, Grandpa is not armed with a loaded shotgun to pepper the car of any trespassing salesman, but the principle is about the same. Timing wise, they will have a several more weeks to enjoy the out of doors before the weather gets too cold, but they are making the most of it, especially early in the morning and in the cool of the evenings.

I spent the day yesterday driving to and from the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose – about two hours each way – to participate in a six-hour training session given to a group of volunteers on the operation of the electron microscope that was just assembled and put into service in a special lab within the museum. Dr. Baugh is looking to me to spend time there coordinating the operation of that equipment. I am not sure how that is going to work out since the Lord has placed us two hours from the museum, but God has done some pretty spectacular things in Mama’s and my lives, so I wanted to get as much operational training as I could in the function and capabilities of the electron microscope if, in fact, I can be available to be the primary operator.

It was time well-spent. We got a thorough overview of the capabilities of the microscope as those functions might apply to the specific experiments we will be attempting, since the electron microscope does not necessarily lend itself to inspection of organic samples (bones and tissue) as well as it does to inorganic samples (fossils and rocks). In the very near future, I will be tasked with designing experiments that Dr. Baugh is wanting to do. The interesting part of the work is that, if we are successful in making the unique discoveries he is looking for, we will have the proofs required to publish those findings in several scientific journals as evidence of the Biblical Creation account. That would be outstanding to be a part of discovering the means of providing those proofs.  

Every time I see Dr. Baugh, he asks me about my retirement plans. When exactly am I retiring? How many days per week could I spend at the museum? He has assembled a high-quality team to coordinate experiments in sonoluminescence, an operational biosphere which mirrors the conditions of the pre-flood earth, polarizing microscopes and the electron microscope to verify the Bible account of Creation. I really would like to be a member of that team if the Lord tarries. I am just not sure how to go about it at this point in time. Fortunately, I do not have to know the details, I simply have to make myself available. God will do the rest.

Over the last several years – almost thirty, in fact – I have prayed for each of our seven children on a specific day of the week. Wednesday was always Becky’s day. For almost a decade those Wednesday prayers have included Mike and then Bridgette. Now, I am at a loss on my particular focus for that day of the week. I am praying about how to refocus that prayer time and on whom to focus those prayers. It serves as a weekly reminder of the loss of Becky and Bridgette. Though that is not a hardship, it is an example of how each change in one particular constant of our lives can overflow into many areas of our lives. Each part affecting multiple other parts of our lives for months and years that follow. Soon our lives will be forever changed, and we will know as we are known, but for now, we have a mighty arm to lean on and a blessed hope of a bright future in Heaven.

One Becky and Bridgette are already enjoying.

The memorial service, the calf

Friday and Saturday were spent largely in travel. Mama and I left the farm Friday after a half-day of work and headed to Hot Springs for the memorial service for Rebekah and Bridgette. We had talked about going over and back on Saturday so Victoria could come as well, but she elected to stay at the farm with Grandma and Grandpa. That was for the best since on Thursday night Grandma was picking something up off the floor beside her bed and somehow ended up on the floor in a kneeling position from which she could not rise. It took Victoria and I both – once I got into position in front of Grandma – to lift and drag her onto the bed so she could right herself. That seems to have been a wakeup call to Grandma that she really does need more help that she sometimes imagines she does.

Anyway, I asked for a half-day vacation and Mama and I headed out about 2 pm Friday afternoon. That put us in Hot Springs a little after 9 pm only because where we stopped to eat that evening took us over an hour to get served and eat our dinner. Along the way, we made reservations at a Hampton Inn in Hot Springs, so we know we had a room waiting. However, that turned out to be a bit of a problem. When making the reservation, Mama had not asked the price and that price turned out to be expensive, a little over $200 including taxes and holds on the card for incidentals. Ouch! I balked at the price, and we started to call other hotels in the area. As Mama was doing so, the lady on the desk in the Hampton Inn called me to let me know that we would be charged the full price of the room even if we did not stay because the hotel has a twenty-four-hour cancellation policy for any reservation. I was not happy, but we stayed.

It may have been a direct slight on the part of the lady working the desk, but we were first put in a room on the fourth floor – which was being remodeled. It looked like a seedy third-world hotel on that floor and the room had no curtains on the window to allow us to shut out the bright exterior lights. So, Mama called the desk and asked to be placed in another room. We ended up on the second floor which was much cleaner since there was less remodeling going on there. I let the person working the desk Saturday morning know how dissatisfied we were, and I have put in a formal complaint to the hotel chain.

Mama requested a late checkout, so we were able to stay at the hotel until a little before noon. Upon ;leaving the hotel, I took Mama to a crepe shop for a light lunch and headed to the church where the memorial service was to be held. Mama was opposed to getting there too early, but I wanted to be sure to have time to talk to Mike before too many people gathered. We arrived at the church about 12:45. Mike was there with a friend who he introduced as Doc and the three of us got to visit for forty-five minutes or so before the crowd started to arrive.

Mama and I knew Chase and Makaila were in town for the service but were pleasantly surprised when Joshua and Alicia arrive as well. It was a good service. I am very glad we went. There were not as many in attendance as Mike originally expected, but there were about 150 people there – firefighter friends, Bridgette’s school friends, Becky and Bridgette’s church family, and immediate family members. Mama and I got to meet the family that had been the bane of Becky’s life with Mike. They were quite pleasant to us during the service. Very different than they had been to Rebekah during her life around them, but that is the way funeral and memorial services work.

Becky’s pastor preached the service, Mike gave a very brief speech and there was a short video of pictures of Rebekah and Bridgette presented on two large monitors at the front of the church. The service was over in less than an hour, but it was well coordinated and thoughtful. Saying our goodbyes took almost as long as the service, but we took the time to visit as long as Mama and I thought we could spare before getting back on the road. Joshua and Chase have no commitments on Sundays, but Mama and I do, so we needed to get back home. We left the church a little after 4 pm and headed home. We made several stops along the way, mostly so Mama could look at a couple dollar stores for craft items but also to to eat a quick dinner on a tiny Arkansas town at a little restaurant that was recommended by several locals Mama quizzed about eateries along our route.  We finally pulled into the garage about 10:45 Saturday night.

Yesterday, Mama and I were coordinating with our neighbor on the positioning of a steer we are buying to process. My understanding was that we would load the steer in his corral and keep it on the stock trailer until we take it to the processor today, but he did us one better. He and his son put the steer in our corral. That will make it very easy for us to complete the loading process and head to the processor this afternoon. It also spared us the rush of getting the calf loaded on a hot Sunday afternoon.

It was a very busy, very good weekend altogether.

Going home, left at home

Today would have been Becky’s birthday. A sad thought for us, not for her.

Our Honduran children are home safe. They arrived at their house a little after 1 am. A very long day for them. We were able to spend an extra hour with Nate, Cori, and the kids at the airport as Nate moved through the check-in process. Now days, all airlines have kiosks set up for passengers to use to get bag tags and boarding passes. However, those are not always reliable. Such proved the case yesterday as Nate tried to get through the process at one of those kiosks. Eventually, with the help of two attendants, the bag tags were issued, and the boarding passes printed. As that unfolded, the rest of us visited and hugged multiple goodbyes.

With those parts of the process completed, we went to send the bags through the scales and belts to have them loaded on the plane. Another semi-automated process requiring the boarding passes each bag was assigned to to be scanned. That too proved more than the machines could handle without help and we were finally allowed to talk to an actual person.

Because the final destination of the travelers was Honduras, COVID tests were required to be verified and pre-entry paperwork double-checked. Those steps require an actual person. The entire process took almost and hour. Since we parked in the 1-hour parking area, I was anxious to meet that timeframe. We did so with four minutes to spare. It was a prolonged, sad goodbye for all of us. Especially for Grammy since she had to do all the morning feeding on her own today for the first time in many days.

Getting through security was challenging since Blake always fails the scan because of his insulin pump attachment. It turns out that the TSA personnel are not allowed to pat down a minor, so they searched Nate instead. Go figure. Nevertheless, they all made it through eventually and had a story to tell to boot.   Everyone was excited about getting Chick-Fil-A one last time but when they got to the restaurant, it was closed. The hours for that Chick-Fil- A were 5 am – 4 pm. They had gotten through security at about 5:30 pm. Anyway, they ate at a Texas staple, Whataburger instead. It was not the same but was a good substitute in a pinch.

Our house is quiet, very quiet. One of the sad constancies of life once the goodbyes are said. That sense of loss is bearable because of the time we had together, and the near certainty that we will see each other again soon. This particular visit was a very good one. There was a good spirit in the house throughout the time we were together. We did not do anything special but rather chose to simply enjoy the time we had been given, whether shopping, milling around at Cabela’s, tending to the farm, and sharing our church family with our biological family. It was fun just to be together. The boys got the idea to split wood for a bonfire we were going to have Friday evening and they continued in that activity until they broke the handle on my axe Tuesday morning.

When I took time to look at the pile of split firewood they left for me and Mama, I was both impressed and thankful. With electric rates going up so steeply right now, we will be using the fireplace more this winter than any year past. I still need to take down two or three trees on the property as well as cut out about fifty small trees near the stock tank, so we will have more firewood than we need for the colder months. One of the benefits of life on our little farm. So many people around us own the same amount acreage – 10 acres – but do not have a single tree on their properties. We really are blessed to be living where we are! Just as blessed as Nate, Cori, and the kids are to be where they do in Honduras.

Several years ago, I built a stand for a small mailbox Savanna had gotten in doll purchases. She had used that in her daily play since I added the stand for the mailbox, so I asked Cori if that was still the case. Her response was that every so often Savanna will tell her that there is something in that mailbox for her which Cori will happily retrieve and enthusiastically read. Of course, all those notes are from Savanna to her mommy, providing a fun activity for the two of them. With that in mind, Mama and I bought five cards to be randomly placed in that mailbox for Savanna to find. Cori put the first in the mailbox this morning. In the first card, we simply wrote a note. In all the subsequent cards I placed money – increasing the amount from a single dollar in the next to four dollars in the last. Cori sent a video of Savanna opening the fist card this morning. Savanna was excited to get her own mail from Grammy and Papi. I can only imagine what her expression will be when she starts getting the next few cards with the money enclosed. Cori told us that Savanna told her “I will keep this forever.” That was just the first.

This should be fun!

Savanna and Mama, word from Mike, going home

I was able to work from home this morning, which was nice since it was my birthday as well as the last day Nate, Cori and the kids were going to be with us. There is a class being taught today, but it was already assigned to one of my coworkers. Each morning I am able, I feed the goats in the two paddocks while Mama tends to the chickens and goats. Just after I got back in from helping Mama feed the animals, Cori and Victoria handed me a stack of birthday cards and a small package. I opened one of the cards and decided to wait until Mama and Savanna, her constant helper for the last week, were back in from completion of their duties tending to the chickens. To make the best use of the time, I went back to work.

After almost an hour, I began looking for Mama and Savanna. I looked toward the coops. They were no longer with the chickens. They were sitting in the goat paddock on the rocks the kids play on each holding one of the goat kids. They were talking, laughing about whatever their conversation was cycling around. With Savanna, it is always difficult to predict the forward path of any conversation. I did not interrupt their private moment. We have so few of those moments together with our children and grandchildren it is worth the wait to allow either Mama or me to linger in that moment.  It was nice to witness the interaction from afar, only imaging the conversation. It made me smile.

We waited until Mama and Savanna came back in before I opened the small box given to me. Savanna came to me at my desk and announced, “Papi, we are waiting on you to open your present.”  Imagine that. I thought I was waiting on them. Turns out I was wrong. My present was a pair of Shokz headphones. They use a bone-conduction technology, so they sit on the surface of the skin at the top of my jawbone, outside the ear. The sound they produce is amazing, crystal clear even though the ear is unused in hearing the sound the headphones produce. They are light and easy to use. A perfect present. I am thinking about getting a pair for Mama for her coming birthday. I let her try them and she loved the way the sound came through them.

Last night we were included in a group text from Mike, Rebekah’s husband. It was a sad, punctuation-less ramble of hurt, trying to describe the oppressive loneliness he is feeling. Though I am sure he misses Becky desperately, most of the loss centered around Bridgette. That is a loss that I can at least partly understand since we lost a daughter when he lost a wife. The loss of Bridgette, a jubilant child who occupied his focus in many ways is now gone. She and her mama are in Heaven, but the weight of that grief in our loss is still heavy. Mike’s sense of loss is potentially far greater since he does not know the Lord.

We will get to see Mike Saturday. Mama, Victoria, and I are going to drive over to Hot Springs to attend the memorial service for Becky and Bridgette. Mama and I were planning on an overnight stay, but to accommodate Victoria, who cannot get off Friday, we will leave Saturday morning, attend the service and drive back home after the service. It will make Saturday a very long day and perhaps bleed over into Sunday, but it is an opportunity that we do not want to miss. I am not sure what to expect of that service, but I am trying to keep an open mind so that we can participate freely in whatever we are allowed to do to help say goodbye to Rebekah and Bridgette. Once those goodbyes are done and we return home, we will probably have no contact with Mike. Not for any reason other than we have no attachment to him since we have both lost those persons who connected us. Time will tell how that relationship works out long-term, but this weekend will more than likely be a goodbye to Mike as well.

The bags are packed, the flights are double checked, the COVID tests are certified as negative and final pursuit of the goat kids in in progress. We are crowding into the Sequoia to make the trip to the airport so that I can park the vehicle allowing us spend the last few minutes together in the airport before everyone gets into the security line to make their way to the flight home. It has been a wonderful visit. Grandma and Grandpa have both thoroughly enjoyed the full house we have shared together as everyone congregated to remember Becky and Bridgette. Only a few more hours together before our normal separation begins anew and our mundane, enjoyable life on the farm reassumes its usual, quiet pace.

That is partly sad, but mostly reassuring.

A full week, fun interactions

 Last week I was allowed to take off the entire week to spend time with family in bereavement of our loss of Rebekah and Bridgette. It was very generous of my employer to do so. We did, in fact, take time to be together and try to figure out just what to do to memorialize that loss. Our original plans of traveling to Hot Springs during last week were thwarted by scheduling constraints required to allow the local volunteer fire fighters to attend the service. They considered Becky one of their own since her husband, Mike, is part of that first responder group.

However, also lost in the accident was the wife of another fire fighter in that department. Her funeral service was last Saturday and since the services needed to be scheduled for a Saturday, Becky and Bridgette’s will be this coming Saturday. Unfortunately, only Mama and I will be able to attend, because everyone else used their time off already – not realizing there would be a significant delay in the service. I understand the thinking behind the scheduling, but it really put a damper on our plans as a family. Sadly, our desires were not part of the overall consideration given on to how to say goodbye to our child and grandchild. Perhaps, that is as it should be. We are Becky and Bridgette’s relatives. They are her friends, and their close relationships should be respected.

Nate, Cori and the kids will fly back to Honduras tomorrow. Joshua and Alicia spent the majority of the day with us Saturday and have already returned home. No one else was able to make the arrangements to spend time together to observe Rebekah and Bridgette’s homegoing.  For those of us who were together, it was a sweet time of sharing childhood memories of growing up with Becky, some long forgotten. For Joshua, the trip was more aimed at visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. Their time with us is growing very short and that face-to-face time seemed important for him and Alicia – whom they had not met yet. When I announced Saturday evening that I was going to walk to the end of our road and back (about a mile walk) everyone decided that was a great idea, even Grandma who rode her scooter the entire distance. Joshua hung back and got to spend about forty uninterrupted minutes with Grandpa. It was a sweet visit he will remember for a long time.

Anyway, it was a great week with Nate, Cori and the kids and we are thankful they came. It was a very expensive trip for them to make, so we tried to make it worthwhile for them in spite of the fact that there was no funeral to attend. As is the case for most things in life, we find a way to do those things that are most important to us, regardless of the obstacles. Conversely, we make excuses to avoid doing those things that we do not consider important enough to make the extra effort to accomplish. Sadly, those decisions overlook the opportunities we forego, and all too often come to regret. For instance, Becky was begging Mama to come over to watch Bridgette in one of her gymnastic competitions and we did not make the effort to do so. We could have probably worked out the time and money to do so, but it is an opportunity forever lost to us.

With the chickens, ducks and eight new baby goats, our grandchildren had plenty to distract them through the week. I do not know if the baby goats will be happy or sad to see them go. Several times a day the kids would go out and try to catch the goat kids. More often than not the goat kids won the game and repeatedly avoided capture. Some were caught and held for a time – they are very soft – but many never got to feel the loving our grandchildren wanted to give them. Each time, the routine was hilarious to watch, but I could not tell if the goats were enjoying the play as much as their pursuers. Once caught, the little ones would settle down and calmly endure their captivity, but when freed, they would do their best to avoid getting re-caught.

So, this week we will go back to normal once more. I think Grandpa has enjoyed having the kids in the house, but I am wholly sure that Grandma has enjoyed the company. That is, whenever she has not frustrated them and herself by trying to make them do exactly what she tells them at the instant they are told to do so. For the most part, it has been an enjoyable visit despite the circumstances. Cori’s kids do well handling Grandma. Saturday afternoon as Grandma was trying to get Savanna to listen to her, though Savanna was doing nothing wrong, there was a perfect illustration of those exchanges. Savanna just happened to be the only other person in the room and Grandma felt the need to instruct her in some fine point of life. So, as Grandma raised her voice and called Savanna’s name for the umpteenth time adding “Why won’t you listen to me?” Savanna’s response was classic. “Grandma, I’m trying to read but you won’t stop talking?”

That pretty well summed things up.

Deeply saddening news

Saturday evening, about 6 pm, Mama got a call from Chase. Mama and I happened to be sitting at the dining room table together when the call came in. A call from our son in not something that happens on a routine basis. It was instantly clear that something unusual, something bad was in the works. Chase, through a sobbing voice was burdened with the message for us that Rebekah and Bridgette had died in an automobile accident a few hours past. After the horror of the news sunk in, he told us a bit of the background as to why it fell to him to break the news to us. He gave us the contact information for the person who had called him, and we immediately called her to see what additional information we could gather to try and process the horrific news.

The background of the incident was this. The accident that took Rebekah and Bridgett’s lives happened about 2:30 pm Saturday the 10^th. Rebekah and Bridgette were enroute to a mother/daughter modeling event. A special time to celebrate Bridgette’s coming birthday. They were being driven to the event by a friend. As they traveled out of town, a vehicle traveling in the opposing traffic crossed the median and entered their lane of traffic. The driver in Becky’s vehicle swerved to attempt to avoid the head on collision and struck a car traveling beside her in the right lane. That car ran off the highway, but it left the car Becky and Bridgette were in still in the path of the oncoming vehicle. That vehicle struck them from the front bringing both vehicles to a horrific stop across both lanes of the interstate. A car traveling in the lanes with the car Becky and Bridgette were in then struck them from behind. All the vehicles were traveling at 70 mph or better. Rebekah, Bridgette, the driver of their car and a passenger in the car that struck them from the front all died in the crash.

Local firefighters and most of the first responders in that area are volunteer. They are a very tightknit group of individuals and families. The firefighters that were first on the scene immediately recognized the driver of the car Becky and Bridgette were in, so they contacted the fire chief in the district where Mike, Becky’s husband, Bridgette’s father, serves as a volunteer. Scott, the fire chief, found Mike and broke the news to him. Mike was so overwhelmed that he was not able to think of anyone in Becky’s family that could be contacted except Chase. Somehow, they tracked down a number for Chase, made certain he was Becky’s brother and told him what had happened. Chase immediately called us. The driver of the vehicle Becky and Bridgette were in was the wife of a volunteer in the same area where Mike serves. (The volunteer fire department folks have been marvelous to Mike and to us. Much to be commended for their concern and willingness to help Mike through this.)

We had little information at first, but we began to call our children to let them know what we knew at the time. The events of the accident became known to us over the remainder of the evening and into the day yesterday, Sunday the 11^th. Through Brittany we were able to get hold of the police report and through Maggie we were able to track down a newspaper article written about the accident. It was a big deal because the accident left four dead, one care flighted to the hospital and shut down traffic on the interstate for four hours. It was a big deal to us for other reasons, but I can assure you, the next time I am caught in traffic because of an accident, I will view the delay differently.

As of today, we have still not talked to Mike directly. Scott is watching over him and making all the necessary arrangements for the care of Rebekah and Bridgette’s bodies. As we spoke to Scott yesterday afternoon, he was fairly certain that we will be having a “Celebration of Life” service on the day and hour of our choosing. Nate, Cori and the kids are flying in from Honduras tomorrow, so we are opting for that service to be held sometime Thursday evening in the Hot Springs, AR area. That timeframe will allow most of those locally that want to attend to make the vigil as well as allow us to travel the six hours from home to the service with only one night on the road.

Bridgette’s birthday would have been yesterday. She would have been seven years old. Becky’s birthday would have been this month as well, on the twenty-first. She would have been thirty-five years old. Though sadden by the news, we still have a glorious promise that we will see them again. That is our blessed hope in the Lord. Don’t get me wrong. We are deeply grieved, but we are also comforted that the joys of Heaven are theirs for eternity because of their faith in the Lord. Hopefully, we can comfort Mike even as we sorrow over the sudden, unexpected loss of our daughter Rebekah and our granddaughter Bridgette.

We can certainly comfort one another.

Directions, ducks, Dolly the dog

I have often found myself at odds with the decisions made in bubbly discussions between Mama, Victoria, Grandma and Grandpa of just how easy it would be to get any certain thing done here at the farm. I am, in many those situations, looked at as a nay-sayer, a wet blanket, a daddy downer when I point out the obvious flaws in making those simple thing happen. But lately I have been involved only on the periphery of discussions of how to provide private housing for Grandma and Grandpa – all of which will cost a considerable amount of money. But the reality of their situation is that they have been dumped here without their camper home or any means of transportation. Norman sold both their camper and their truck. They own nothing but their clothing and a few personal items – no furniture, no appliances, no vehicle, and very little money.

It is not difficult to sympathize with their situation and it is predictable that as Grandpa gets ever stronger that the feeling that they need a place of their own would become a powerful alure. To that end, Mama set up appointment to meet with the man who put in the septic system we had put in service at the house several years ago. He came yesterday and I found out after the fact that the placement of the sites (Yes, sites, plural. One for Grandma and Grandpa and one for Victoria.) were somewhat different than what I had suggested to Mama. Again, a consensus arrived at in my absence, but not a bad idea when I thought it over. The price is substantial and non-negotiable. That is a stating point in beginning the process of determining the cost to complete this mission – should we choose to accept it.

Mama has found a camper available for Grandma and Grandpa that could be rented on a month-by-month basis through a personal friend. Water and electric are readily available at the selected sites. The electric portion will be a bit expensive but doable since there is a separate electric meter in the barn lot that we would tap into for the campers. It would be fairly easy then to know the separate cost of the electricity for the campers since each electric meter on the farm is billed separately. With all the pieces coming together, we could potentially have the camper for Grandma and Grandpa set up by the end of October. It would be useful in that setting to have a side-by-side for either Mama or Grandma to commute between houses. But that is a decision for a different time.

Having gotten the large ducks into the new enclosure, they seem fairly happy with the area in general. They are not curious like the chickens, so they have not gone out of their way to look the enclosure over preferring instead to spend all their time in one area near the pool. They only waddled up the ramp to the elevated portion of the enclosure when I purposely herded them that direction. On that elevated portion is the large box I built for them to hide in when they feel the need – and hopefully to lay their eggs. Since these three ducks are only three months old, they are basically very large chicks without the instruction of older birds to help them along in their adaptation to our farm.

That is one of the reasons they felt so comfortable around the chickens when we would let them out of their precious enclosure. They need a little guidance. So, this weekend Mama and I are going to see if the gentleman who sells chickens at Trade Days has any older ducks for sale. Perhaps, having some older ducks will accelerate our ability to collect duck eggs as well as teach our large chicks the finer points of being a duck. I do not know if that will be possible, but it is worth a try depending on the price of the older ducks.

Dolly the dog is working out well enough. She and Gemma have become fast friends, so the integration is complete. She is marvelous with visitors and almost every child that has been on the farm is unafraid of her. The only caveat is that Dolly is a digger and if I cannot work that out of her by threatening or training, I am going to be constantly upset at her leisure activities. On the positive side, Dolly seems to be very compliant, very eager to please us, me especially. So hopefully we can curtail the tunneling through the yard and around the slabs of buildings here on the farm. Also on the positive side, she and Gemma have been patrolling and responding to alarms on the back side of the property via the pathway beside the shop. That is one of the last things I needed to see to ensure that Dolly would work out as a guard dog versus a playmate for Gemma.

It is, as always, the little things that make life interesting.

 

Grandpa, ducks, tight finances, honey

Yesterday afternoon Grandpa spent about two hours outside walking over the farm. He was gone long enough that Mama and Grandma sent me to look for him. I found him sitting on a log near the barn. He was fine. He just wanted a little time alone. But the good news is that last night he let all of us know that he was starting to get some feeling in his right foot. It has been several years since he has had those sensations. The swelling in that appendage is starting to go down as well which means that the blood thinners he is on are starting to allow for an increase in blood flow to the lower leg and foot. That and the exercise he is getting is increasing the muscle usage to augment the venous flow. He was excited about the improvement. So are we. Time will tell if there will be any pain involved in reconnecting those nerve endings to the brain, but it is a serious improvement.

Grandpa has been using the exercise straps I have installed over the door to the laundry room. Those straps allow Grandpa to do very low impact exercises to increase the muscle mass in his arms and legs. He can do so safely without compromising his balance. That light exercise, coupled with the walking and sweeping the walks around the house are combining to give Grandpa increased strength and confidence in his movements.

Friday evening, all day Saturday, and culminating on Monday, I worked on the newer, larger duck enclosure to complete it.  It is much better suited to the large bodies Jumbo Pekins we are currently raising but will work with any duck breed. I even put a kiddie pool in the enclosure. It is not deep, but it provided a large enough pool of water for the three ducks to actually get fully into the water. They did so very quickly when Mama and I managed to herd them to the new pen. The downside to the kiddie pool is that the ducks managed to dirty the water in only a day. Since the pool has no drain on it, we will be required a couple times per week to bail it near to empty before we lift and fully empty the pool. It will be a mess to do, but Mama likes the ducks to have clean water. Even if it lasts for only a few hours. I am looking for another workable solution, but am not willing to spend the money for another container to provide the ducks a pool to swim in.

The current economy is very telling on our finances, especially the price of fuel. Mama and I are feeling the pinch in measurable ways, and we are making adjustments to offset the nearly doubling of our fuel costs. It is not necessarily that fuel prices have doubled as much as the need to make many extra trips for appointments and extra runs to the store has made us “spend” more gas to meet those demands. Our grocery bill has been pretty constant because Grandma and Grandpa largely pay for their sugary snacks and other particular selections of food items. Plus, I am not eating much other than salads right now and Victoria fends for herself without any special requirements. Anyway, our budget is most affected by fuel, but we are also seeing much higher electric bills – about 40% higher. That is painful, but unavoidable. I cannot imagine how others who are less fortunate than Mama and I are doing right now.

The most troubling part of the tight finances is that it limits our ability to give as Mama and I would like, but God is still blessing what we are able to give. There are many missionaries at their disparate ministries across the world who are feeling that pinch in much more tangible ways than are Mama and I. We look for every opportunity to help them meet the ever-growing financial needs of the work they are doing, but it seems a puny gift that we are able to offer. Nevertheless, we give, trusting the Lord to multiply that gift to the missionaries God lays on our heart. It is the sad outcome of these new pressing money needs we are attempting to balance against our giving as best we are currently able to do so.

Yesterday my work compatriots scheduled a workday from the HQ house. I was there early to try the internet. It was not working so a workday from the house was not going to be possible. Since I had two hours to wait on any fellow workers, I headed home to spend the day working from there. However, everyone else met at the house for breakfast, moved to the office for a few hours and then returned to the house for a group lunch. I missed the activity, but I would not have been able to eat any of the food offered for those meals. I had planned to take a salad and some toppings for the lunch but had taken all that home with me. So, this morning, a scheduled day at the office, I brought a loaf of sliced French bread and some honey from what we had harvested this year. Mama will not allow me to sell any of it, but she let me share it with my workgroup. Everyone who tried it, went back for seconds.

It is really good honey. I am not sure what to do with the residue of the honey I brought for sampling today, but we will figure that out together.

Not today, help, searching

Mama and I were planning to drive to Rhome, TX at my lunch hour today to pick up three ducklings, but the seller texted Mama today to tell her that two of the three died. Since it is not recommended to raise one ducking alone, we will have to wait until some others are hatched out. With that news in hand, Mama and I are looking online for other options to buy the specific breed of ducks Mama is looking for. So far without too much luck, but we are in no particular hurry. However, with winter coming soon, we will have to abandon our search when the weather turns too much colder for us to raise out little ones.

As for the pigs, Mama and I have committed to purchasing the Kune Kune pigs. It may be difficult to get together with the sellers to pick up the pigs, but neither of us are overly concerned about the timing. The seller is pulling down the post advertising the pigs and sometime next week we will get together to rehome the barrows. For my part, it will give me this long weekend to get the door replaced on the pig building. I relocated the glass door we have had there for many months to use it on the duck pen. I had planned and bought parts for a rolling door for the pig building, but never installed it. This weekend I intend to do so. With that, the pig pen will once again be complete and ready for occupants.

I am within sight of finishing the larger duck pen as well. I am not confident I will get everything done this weekend even with the extra day - Labor Day being Monday next week. I lack some roofing panels, the wire fencing attached to the exterior and the fraidy box for the ducks. I would call it a nesting box, but the ducks do not seem to be committed to using the enclosure for anything other than to hide in. It is hilarious to see them waddle at a run to get inside a box with a door that only one of them can fit into at a time. But at least they keep that part of their current pen fairly clean.

The puppies stayed another night with us since the Burns arrived late in the evening yesterday and have school teaching duties all day today. Instead of having to transfer the puppies to someone else’s care, if anyone would have been available, we kept the five troublemakers one more night and day. They will be going home today. They stopped by on their way home to check on the pups and ensure we were good with the care being extended. Both the Burns children were excited that the puppies seemed to remember them. It is difficult to say whether or not that is true since the puppies swarm every person that comes into the room. Regardless, the family will be happy to have their charges back with them and we will be happy for the release from that responsibility – as much as Mama and Victoria have enjoyed having the pups around.

Yesterday a friend we have made through having Rick – our goat instructor – as a common acquaintance came over to help us. She spent about an hour with Mama trimming the feet of our herd. We have only nine in that herd, so she counted is a nothing, but it was a huge blessing. Mama and I got to see at least a repeatable way to do that trimming. It is something we will try to handle on our own in the future. All the herd was treated for worms as well. As a result of the unusual activity on our nanny goats Mama and I are expecting to see some deliveries in the next few days, but that will not be much earlier than we originally forecast. Three have kidded and three have yet to do so. One of our older nanny goats is positioning herself in the far corner of the paddock today as she has for the past three kiddings. If she follows her past routine, she will deliver tonight or tomorrow.

The search for RV’s has begun again but I do not know how serious that inquest is. Grandpa is in no hurry at all. He is happy with the setup we are currently managing and does not want to add either expense or inconvenience to it. Inconvenience because what they have with us in this house is more than adequate and he is not able to help physically or financially with setting up a place for a camper. Victoria is the driving force in the search. She is interested in getting an RV hookup installed on the property to have a place away from Grandma for her dogs. Victoria also would like a place of her own. I do not resent her that desire. I just do not want to spend money, time or property unwisely to accomplish that unnecessary goal. If Victoria does accomplish that setup, Grandma will not rest until she has a place of “her own” as well.

I will drag my feet until I get peace about the situation. Or until Grandpa tells me to go ahead with the project.

Birthday month, sad disconnect, pigs, medical update

September is the month of the year that brings the most birthday celebrations for our family. Either eight or nine birthdays this month. I will have to confirm that count with Mama, but I know it will be a busy month to get all the remembrances and gifts out the celebrants. It is a fun month for me and Mama and hopefully for those of us that will celebrate another year accumulated to our account since our births. Mama has a landmark birthday this year as she enters her sixth decade.

For those of you that have a connection to our daughter Brittany, I hope you will keep those channels of communication open to her. Mama and I will have limited access to Brittany and the girls for a time because of things that are happening in those lives at this moment. With the divorce she and Andrew have elected to follow through on, to walk away from their ten years of marriage, both are making decisions that will produce less than beneficial outcomes for Zoe, Sophia, and Audrey – much less anyone else wounded in their personal battles.

Due to our lack of support for some of the hurried decisions Brittany is making in response to her newfound “freedom” (which may not prove out as the best of the decisions she could have made) Mama and I will be persona non grata to our daughter for a season. Mama’s and my serious questionings of those actions have angered Brittany whose focus now is on building alliances rather than seeking counsel or support – especially spiritual support. That will come later, hopefully. Mama and I will not take sides between her and Andrew since we really do not know what has happened between them to produce this crisis of choices. We can only pray for God to intervene and provide someone who will be allowed to provide the counsel Brittany and Andrew both need at this time. Friends in West Virginia, New Jersey and Texas are praying for Brittany and Andrew. It is never too late for God to do something wonderful!

A friend at church asked Mama the other day about buying a feeder pig to raise out. He is purchasing several this week and wanted to include us in the purchase if we wanted. We have talked about doing just that, but I am not persuaded that buying a pig which could grow to several hundred pounds is right for us. We do not necessarily need the pork since neither Mama, nor I do well with it. Also, pigs do far better when they have company and I am not ready to feed out two full sized pigs, so we decided to pass. However, as I was looking online, I came across a pair of Kune Kune pigs for sale. The price was a good one. The two are from the same litter and are about 18 months old. They are males that have been cut so they cannot breed. Among pigs, those are referred to as barrows. Just what I am looking for. Mama, on the other hand is still longing for a breeding pair.

I showed the Kune Kune siblings to Mama and she immediately called the seller. Mama and I are seriously considering getting the pair. They have grown about as big as they will ever be, about eighty pounds, and they have been raised as pets. Just right for our farm. If the need arises, we can process them, but they would be purchased to be pets. Live garbage disposals. Between them and the chickens, almost nothing edible would go to waste – and Grandma and Grandpa love feeding and caring for pigs. So do we. A win-win if the pigs are still available. They were yesterday evening when Mama called but we did not ask the sellers to hold the pigs for us since we wanted to sleep on the decision and make sure we prayed about it. After all, feed is not getting cheaper and taking on the new stock is a multi-year commitment.

Grandma and Grandpa got the results of their blood work today and the results were mixed. Since I was not there to hear the conversation or the explanation, I am relying on what I am being told. For Grandpa, the doctor has dual concerns for liver disease and prostate issues. For Grandma, the issues are more of a dietary concern since some of her numbers were over the upper limits for those results. Additionally, her bowel irregularity is a serious concern to the doctor. I am not sure what those discoveries will set forth as a prognosis or a prescriptive regimen, but I feel we have the right doctor on the case.

Grandpa declined several remedies offered which may have involved surgeries. Probably a good thing at his age and with his clotting history. He is willing to treat with medication, but little else.  Grandma will continue to do as she has been doing. She is not inclined to change her behavior on eating habits or food choices that have not, in her opinion, hurt her so far. It is not a fight that we can fight for her so we will go along to get along. All in all, a good report for each of them at their respective ages.

All systems “normal” – full speed ahead.