Chicken secrets, fumbling in Spanish, beautiful forecast for little things

For the past few days Mama and I have suspected that the Banty hens in the small coop were finding alternate places to lay their eggs, but we had not been able to find those places. Each evening, Mama and I would explore one potential location or another. Since we cannot think like chickens we had no success – until Wednesday evening. What Mama found was an accumulation of eighteen eggs that had been laid together in a corner of the most recent compost bin I had built. Obviously several days accumulation from multiple birds.

For months now, I have kept the chickens out of the areas under the coops because they were laying eggs in those areas which we could not access rather than in the nesting boxes. Now we get the majority of eggs from the nesting boxes – except in the little coop. So, to resolve that, I am covering the kennel attached to the little coop this weekend, thus keeping those chickens in until late in the afternoon. Hopefully, that will train them to lay in the nesting boxes we have provided. Hopefully. Chickens like to find hard to access places to lay so they can continuously challenge or ability to find their secret stashes of eggs. That is a game we do not always win, so, I try to tilt the odds in our favor.

Last night, I went with twelve others from the church to a Missions Conference in Ft. Worth.  At that conference there was a couple on deputation to go to the field of Romania. The husband is from Peru and the wife is from Argentina. Neither of them speaks English well. I was not sure if the older of their three children speak English with any proficiency because I did not have time to converse with them. So, in their deputation they mainly focus on conferences at Spanish speaking churches. This conference was an exception in their routine because attending the conference were a lot of individuals who were fluent in Spanish. Because of access to multiple, fluent translators, they were able to engage with the attendees and other participating missionaries.

My pastor’s wife was excited that I was going last night so that I could speak to this couple. She had tried to communicate with them but was aware she as not connecting. Almost as soon as we were in the gym/fellowship hall, Joyce steered me over to introduce me to the couple. They were delightful. We spent about a half hour conversing. Mostly them helping me with Spanish and but also me helping them with English. When dinner was announced, we separated into our groups, but not before they encouraged me by telling me that my Spanish was very good, that my pronunciation and diction was better than many Spanish speakers they had spent time with lately, and I should practice more often to get more comfortable speaking.

After the service was over, I connected with the couple once more to let them know I would be praying for them as they continued their deputation. We spent another fifteen minutes together, but before we parted the husband told me that I should consider a ministry with Spanish speakers. There are not many Americans, he told me, that seem to care that the Spanish they speak is spoken in such a way that the hearers not only understand the works being spoken but feel pleased at the way in which those words are being spoken. I was honored because my speech to communication with them (in my opinion) was halting and strained as I struggled to find the right words and phrases. Nevertheless, they heard my heart. That is what matters most.

The weekend forecast is a pleasant one. Days in the high sixties and nights in the in the thirties. Plenty of sunshine with light winds. That should allow me to get a couple small projects done – like putting a roof over the kennel part of the Banty yard. I would also like to get the door put on the West end of the barn loft, but that door is pretty heavy so getting it into place will be a bit of a load for me to accomplish on my own. I have not made a list of chores for this evening and Saturday and I will probably regret not being better prepared but I did not want to shortchange Mama as she requires my participation in general household chores – especially as we prepare for a two week absence.

One of the other little things I need to see to is taking enough boards off the ramp to the nesting box in the duck’s shelter so I can inspect the nest a couple of the smaller ducks have made outside our reach. I thought I had enclosed the area under the deck the nesting box sits on, but the smaller ducks still manage to get into and out of the insufficiently sealed off area. Eventually, I will open it up to the ducks, but I did not want the ducks to get into the habit of laying in that space. If they do, I will have a difficult time fetching eggs from the void under the deck. We will cross that bridge when we get to it.

There are still mountains of leaves to deal with before the Spring but I have never had a good way to handle that immense accumulation, so I work on it in batches, never more than an hour of raking or shredding at a time. I am always careful to mask myself because there is nothing that disturbs by bronchial more than the dust and mold in leaves. Hopefully, this weekend will allow me to keep my lungs clear as I mulch a bit more of the leaves. That chore is something Mama and Grandma can and do help with, so in a couple weekends we should be able to clear the ground quickly.

Time will tell.