Traveling, hatching ducks, goats

 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I traveled with some men from our church to a men’s retreat in Rose Bud, AR. Fourteen of us went to the retreat. This is my second time to go, and this year was even better than last year. It is difficult to describe the sense of unity and camaraderie that permeates the weekend. There were several competitions in shooting, pistols – all caliber, rifles – all caliber, .22 rifle competitions, and even an archery competition. The highlight, however, was the preaching. Two sermons Thursday evening, then morning and afternoon devotionals on Friday with two sermons following supper. All this ended with a short devotional sermon Saturday morning after breakfast. Mike Norris, our pastor from our time in West Virginia and Terry Angel were the preachers this year. The campground, which also serves as the campground for Junior and Senior camps, is about six hours from Decatur. It was a pleasant drive both directions. The weather was mildly cool in the evenings and overnight but warm through the daylight hours. We all left the retreat charged up. The effects of that reviving will be in the forefront of all our minds for many weeks to come.

It was wonderful to spend some time with Pastor Mike and catch up with each other. His mom, Helen, went home to be with the Lord in February. It was equally wonderful to hear him preach. He was Mama’s and my first Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher. When we grew dissatisfied with the denomination we had been a part of for many years and decided to try out another church, it only took one exposure to Ripley Baptist Temple and Mike Norris to know we had found the place of service we had been looking for. Mama and I have faithfully attended Independent Fundamental Baptist church ever since that first Sunday morning. I often share with people that the very first Sunday morning we attended Ripley Baptist Temple, Joshua and Cori prayed to receive Jesus as their savior. It was the first time either of them had ever heard a clear-cut presentation of the Gospel even though they had grown up going to church. Mike Norris was a big part of that. Hearing him tell stories of his ministry in West Virginia – which we were part of almost from the time he began to pastor the church – and to hear him preach again brought back some very fond memories.

Back at the farm, Mama, spent Saturday at an event in Chico. The Chico Days event was set up on the lawn of the town square. It has never been a heavily attended event, but this year was slower than Mama has seen in the three years she has been attending. A rough estimate of what she took in in sales and what she spent in event fees and food, left her with a net income of $8 for the day. She came home a bit discouraged and quite worn out. It did not help that one of her upline in Color Street sent out a happy text that she had a single sale of $425 Saturday afternoon. Mama and I have never been sure why people around us do so well at the things we struggle to succeed in, but such is life.

After watching over a potential twelve duck eggs, we were left with only four successful hatches. While I was away for the weekend, Mama let the last few eggs incubate and when one of the eggs exploded Saturday night, Norman unplugged the incubator unaware that one more little duck was trying to escape its egg. That duckling died within the next couple hours – while Mama and I were at church – because it got too cold. Sad. With that, Mama and I are finished up for the season. Once I get this incubator cleaned up, it will be stored with the other two incubators until Spring.  

Our goat babies are growing quickly. Tomorrow Mama will be taking four more of the little ones to get disbudded. Of the nine recently born on our farm, we had to have seven disbudded. That is the most we have had in any kidding, but that is not a bad thing since the horned goats are the dominant trait. We have them disbudded so that they will not grow horns. It is not only that we prefer polled goats. It is that the horns can be a constant problem in the paddocks where we raise out goats. We have had one horned goat in the past get its head caught in the fence. Not necessarily a bad thing except that the temperature was very hot and the prolonged exposure to the direct sun and the constant fighting to get free caused the goat to die from heat stroke. Mama and I were both upset at the senseless loss even though we did not particularly like that goat.

Yesterday Aubrey came home with us after church. She and Rosalee played inside all afternoon, but when Mama and I went out to feed they ventured outside to join us. We had limited time to feed because of church that evening, but the two girls decided to help feed the goats. Friday, Seth had dropped off a large part of a round bale he came across somewhere in his travels. He just pitched the hay over the fence from the back of his truck as he parked in our circular driveway. That location seemed too far to Aubrey and Rosalee, so they carried armfuls of the hay to a more convenient area. This exercise attracted the attention of a couple of our baby goats. The girls were quite pleased with the response and continued the operation until Mama called a halt so Aubrey could cool down before church.

The couple days away with the men from our church was a great respite, but home is where my heart is, and God has blessed me and Mama with a great home.