More ducks, and now quail, Victoria, learning a language, shopping

Since we purchased more ducks last night as well as four quail, Victoria is accusing us of starting a bird farm and she may have a point. The reason for the duck purchases was to pick up enough older hens to get at least sex or seven eggs per day in the weeks to come. If we are going to sell duck eggs by the dozen, we need to accumulate that number of eggs in as little time as possible. Currently it would take us two weeks to fill a container with the dozen eggs. Meaning that some of the eggs would be two weeks old before they were sold. That is not a plan we thought was marketable. So, to overcome that delay, we are attempting to have enough hens laying to accomplish the accumulation in a more reasonable timeframe. We will see how that works out, but that is the plan. Right now, we have two drakes and eleven hens in the duck area. That will be our flock through the winter.

Also, since the sellers we purchased from over the past two evenings are trying to sell off the majority of their flock, we also bought a couple Jumbo Pekin drakes to process. I believe Mama has me scheduled to meet Alex next Monday evening to dress out a couple ducks. Alex and his family are very excited about the ducks. Turns out that is one fowl they really like but are too expensive to buy at the market. A small duck in the Chinese market will sell for about $35. Some are priced a $50 each. Having access to fresh ducks to process is exciting to him. The drakes we bought were sold to us for $5 each. We will in turn sell them for $25 each. Not a bad deal. We will certainly pay more for future meat ducks, but for this purchase, it seemed like a no brainer. From here, we will raise up from our flock ducks for meat as well as to sell.

In our trip to the seller, we also picked up four quail for ourselves and six for another interested friend who goes to church with us. They were sold to us for $5 each regardless of sex. So, Mama and I bought a male and three females. For our friends, we bought two males and six females. Since that family is interested in rapidly raising a brood of quail, they will be excited that on the way howe to our farm, their little beginner brood laid two eggs which are almost sure to be fertile. Mama and I only bought four because we contracted for a male and four female quail from the young lady that sold us our first ducks. That will enable us to start with two males for seven females – a good ratio.

Victoria learned at a recent doctor’s appointment that the two lumps in her breasts that she has been trying to ignore should be investigated further. We are not sure at this point the if nature of the lumps are of imminent concern but some tests have been set up to see if the doctor can arrive at a prognosis. We are concerned even though Victoria is pretending to not be so. Her most immediate fear is that a bad diagnosis will hinder her sabbatical in Honduras next month, but that should not be an issue. Even if the prognosis is bad, the worst-case scenario being cancer, the remedy will be somewhere out in the future versus happening immediately. Fortunately, Victoria has been granted a paid leave of absence from work so insurance coverage will be uninterrupted, should that become an urgent need. We covet your prayers.

On a humorous note, Cori sent Mama a message relaying a funny event in their lives that happened around dinnertime the other day. Since soup had been the main course for that dinner, Savanna asked, “Mommy! So, I have to drink the bra?” Since all her siblings immediately broke out in uproarious laughter, she knew she had said something wrong. Then to admonish her scoffers, she explained, “Well that’s what it sounds like when you say that word.” Mommy pronounces the word properly, “It’s called broth.” Now properly instructed, she re-asked the question. No, she was not required to drink the broth if she did not want to. Sometimes learning a language from conversation presents its own challenges.

Mama and Victoria are out shopping today. I believe the focus in on shoes. Victoria has been having some foot problems stemming mostly from the shoes she has been wearing. My advice was for the two of them to go to a store where they would be fitted properly by someone trained to make that determination and recommendation. Even if they choose not to buy from that store, they, especially Victoria, would know what they were needing in shoe sizes and styles. Knowing rather than going only by “feel” is a good point of reference when trying to buy shoes.

Over the forty years of our marriage, I cannot begin to count all the times Mama has been horribly disappointed with a shoe purchase. Sometimes the poorly chosen shoes were returned. Sometimes they were stored in her closed for years to come. Never to be worn. Rarely has she been truly pleased long-term with any footwear she has purchased. It happens. Just not very often.

If they do take the time to be fitted, maybe that will change.