Think week, quick freeze, slow learners, holidays

Last week was an interesting week for my work team. We spent the entire week together just bouncing ideas off each other to create a plan to make what we do a sustainable job role for many years to come. After exploring some more obvious ideas over the first two days of the week, we transitioned late Wednesday and early Thursday to a more emotional evaluation. That is, we began to question if what we are doing for our current employer still fits the mission of the company as we can perceive it from our vantage point. Upper management seems, we decided overall, to be drifting away from the original focus of the organization. As a company we seem to be morphing into something different than we were only a year ago, and it is a bit disconcerting to our group. Does what we do still matter in the way it used to matter (producing quality content to the training industry) or are we just producing content to maintain bragging rights? Is our question.

It was a sobering discussion. Although the training we create and maintain is the core revenue generator for the company, are we really focused on making that content the best it can be for our audience or are we just putting out courses to meet the minimum requirements for the industry? If the latter is true, our department will not be a long-term need for the company. They can sub out the work we do. Therefore, the young employees are a bit concerned about the longevity of their employ with this company. It was not a pleasant discussion, but it was a needed one. If we are to solve a problem, the fist step is to identify the problem. The next step is to offer workable solutions to solve the problem. When we present our summary of ideas to management today, we will get to see if we are able to offer up anything helpful in their estimation. I believe we will. I ma not sure how to address the growing uncertainty.

Friday night the weather changed drastically. We moved from days in the low eighties to days in the fifties. Overnight temperatures moved in a twenty-four-hour period from the low sixties to the low thirties. So, Friday night I had to prepare for a freeze. Those measures will stay in place through this week with the nights forecast to be in the mid to upper twenties. That makes watering the birds and goats a challenge, but we do this every winter, so we have secondary methods of getting that water to our animals. It takes more time and physical labor, but it is doable without the water hoses we normally have in place. This is when the farm becomes a labor of love in tangible ways.

For Thanksgiving, an extended family from church is going to spend the day and have dinner with us. With the impressive menu that is being discussed among the women of the families, it will be a meal fit for a king – especially in the dessert category. I will cook a turkey on the smoker grill. A ham will be prepared by another family. I believe there is even a brisket on the menu. Various side dished sound like traditional Thanksgiving fare, but cranberry sauce will be offered in regular and sugar-free concoctions. No desserts will be low carb, so I will not eat any of them, but I can at least eat some cranberry sauce. It may prove a boring Thanksgiving meal for me, but the sacrifice is worth it.

Last night at church, we had a get together after the evening service to celebrate the pastor’s wife’s birthday. There was nothing there that I could eat other than some slices of summer sausage. It was more difficult to resist the cakes the longer I sat there as Mama and Grandma got seconds on several desserts, but I had gotten sufficient encouragement Sunday morning as I stepped on the scales and saw a weight of 186 pounds. A full twenty pounds down from my starting weight a little over three months ago.

Mama and I are slowly learning about our raucous, happy ducks. It was clear from the beginning that they were going to create a mess, but we are learning how to corral that mess. We are going to have to rework the outside area our ducks spend the day in. Right now, we have staged the pool and waterers near the building, close to their overnight area, and are constantly tracking through the muddy area they create. So, I will move our access points into their yard and move the pool to a more remote corner of the yard so our path through the area will possibly be less slimy. It will take some work, but we will have a controllable area for them to foul. On the bright side, they have enjoyed having the wet area and the dry area separated and well designated. They have not a care how difficult it is for us to provide them with those different environments, but they certainly respond to them in noticeable ways.

With the holiday season upon us, Mama is getting nostalgic. She is really missing her children and grandchildren - especially right now. The fact that we will not have any grandchildren with us for Christmas is somewhat depressing for her. We have no way to remedy that shortcoming, as some are too far away to make the trip to the farm for the holiday and those who are closer are not interested in doing so. That is the most disturbing part for Mama.

We will muddle through, but there will be a sad bite to the festivities for Mama.