Mystery, Baby Huey, work needed soon, Grandma’s worries

After work yesterday I went with a group from the office to a Mystery Dinner Theater presentation. Our company had made significant donation to the educational foundation hosting the dinner so we were invited. It was a cute presentation done by five adult actors and the audience, grouped by table, had to guess who had committed the crime. It was well done and we had a good time.

Of course I got singled out by the actors because of my bald head but they did not do anything as embarrassing me as much as they did several other people. Everyone from my group got a kick out of it. We did guess the right person when it was all said and done but before we wrote down our answer we were allowed to ask each suspect one question. My group agonized over that way too much – which was fun in and of itself. I was home by 7:30.

Mama and Grandpa took Baby Huey to the butcher yesterday morning. The workers and the owner of the meat market had never seen a steer as tall as he was. I was told that he could be seen from anywhere in the corral of the separation area. He was literally head and shoulders above the rest. He weighed in at 1250 pounds. We should get about 450 pounds of meat out of him. That should do for a while.

We have several people who want some of the meat so we will have to package up portions to be sold but we should come out pretty good – especially since Mama and I do not eat too much beef. Grandma and Grandpa on the other hand love beef so they are really excited about the possibility of filling the freezers.

We also asked about butchering wild hogs and were told that that is easily done. Some shops want the hogs dressed and quartered before they are delivered for cutting up but this meat market wants the live animal delivered. That works much better for us. I am going to have to buy a hog trap so we can make the most of lowering the local hog population. When lean times do come we will not starve.

This weekend is a solid work weekend. We need to get the hog area finished since they are already there with us and we need to get the chicken coop put together so we can get the last of our animals to the Chico property. I do not know if we can get all of it done on one day but we certainly need to try.

I need to get all of that behind me because I still have a lot of weekend projects to be done in the house and with the push to put a contract on the two acre property Grandpa and Victoria want to buy, our workload is going to increase dramatically – if they are successful.

Neither Grandpa nor Grandma are doing well right now. Grandpa hurt his back yesterday when he and Mama were loading the steer. The way Grandma tells the story Grandpa narrowly avoided death countless times during the process. Mama was less dramatic but they did have some problems getting the big lummox into the stock trailer. That is always a problem when you have a half ton pet.

Grandma has vivid memories (whether they are accurate or not I have no idea) of Grandpa’s father during his last days and she is seeing the same issues now in Grandpa – shortness of breath, constant pain in the legs and hips, bowel issues, etc. I am not sure if we are really on terminal footing here but it bears a close inspection and a modicum of preparation.

Hopefully we are years ahead of any loss but only God knows.