Updates, Thanksgiving, skunk encounters, busy week ahead

I have not written in a good while and though I am confident that very few, if anyone noticed, let me provide a few updates on our activities in that absence. During the past weeks I got the duck enclosure expanded making it more accessible to me and Mama and doubling the room the ducks have to create their mess. However, moving the gate and allowing the pen door to be held fully open through the day, makes it less problematic for me and Mama to let the ducks out into their yard daily. I still need to gravel the path from the gate to the entry to the pig building (where we have the weaned kids isolated for the moment) because the ducks keep the pathway – and a far larger area – a constantly slimy with the wetness they love to track through. Mama navigates it well enough, but it would be hazardous for Grandpa when we need his help with the feeding. Plus, it would just look so much better.

Over the past few days, we have had a fire burning continuously in the fireplace. Grandma has taken to lying on the couch through the day so she could enjoy the fire. Fortunately, we have plenty of firewood, but just to make sure, I laid over a tree in the buck goat paddock and cut and split it up over several days. That firewood is seasoning behind the shop as we work our way through the stack amassed from the pieces that have been rotting in various places around the farm. I have four additional trees to fell, cut up and split, so we will have firewood for quite some time once that chore is done. The challenge is finding a place to store all that split wood out of the weather until we need to stoke the fire in our fireplace.

On Friday, a friend from church came over and we filled his truck with branches, split wood and pieces from a tree that has been lying in the buck paddock for many years. He was happy to cut up the deadfall and harvest the pile of branches and small pieces trimmed from the tree I felled. The family recently moved into a house that has a working fireplace and his wife was looking forward to putting that fireplace to use. Some of the wood he took will take a few weeks to dry out sufficiently to give them a good fire, but it will be usable for them in either the fireplace or the burn pit they also have on the property they are renting.

Mama, Grandma, Grandpa, and I had a very quiet and pleasant Thanksgiving. We were on our own because of changes in plans for the family that had originally wanted to spend the day with us, but that was probably for the best. Grandpa still struggles in conversations, so he limits his interactions and having several adults and four children in the house for the day would have been overwhelming for him. Since the holiday weather was wet and chilly, we would have had to keep the kids inside for the day, so it was better to be on our own. Mike Shafer, Rebeka’s husband had checked in with me and Mama to see if he could swing by the farm after he visited a friend in Arlington, but he did not make it this trip. Maybe next time

I smoked a twenty-pound turkey on the pellet grill. It slow roasted on the grill for over ten hours. It was juicy and delicious. Even Grandma pronounced her benediction on it. Grandma made dressing and a pumpkin pie. Mama made sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, and yeast rolls. I grilled asparagus and made some sugar free cranberry sauce as well as a sugar free pumpkin pie. We had plenty to eat and loads of leftovers. I reserved half the bird for later consumption.

Friday night, when Mama and I went out to close up the coop doors and pen up the ducks, there was an overwhelming skunk smell in the back yard. Mama’s biggest fear was that Kobe had engaged the skunk and been sprayed by it, but that seemed a little farfetched since she had not been out of the yard. Kobe did smell a bit of skunk but not so much as to have been directly sprayed by a skunk. However, we had to close her and Kira up in Victoria’s room overnight with plenty of odor eliminating candles burning.

It was not until Saturday morning that Mama discovered a dead skunk in the back yard. Sure enough, Kobe had indeed killed the young skunk. It is fortunate that she had not been directly sprayed by the skunk. It is impossible to understand her delight in finding and killing skunks, but that seems to be her focus. Unfortunately, it causes us a lot of work to overcome the outcomes of those encounters.

Sunday, we started a conference at our church with Chuck Harding. He is a missionary to Capital Hill. His ministry is to engage with lawmakers in both the House and the Senate. He coordinates groups of pastors visiting the halls of Congress, praying with and for those elected officials willing to be prayed for. As you would assume, not all are willing. Bro. Harding is a well-versed historian in our US history and weaves current political events, cultural currents, and history (US history and Biblical events and characters) into his sermons.  He is a delight to talk to. His perspective is insightful and detailed concerning what is going on in our Congress. We will have services tonight and tomorrow night with him.

Those services along with our regular Wednesday night service, a practice session for our drive-through live Nativity Thursday night followed by the actual event Friday night will make for a VERY busy week.

Nothing extra will get done at the farm, but that is common for this time of year.