Mama, busy day, Grandma and Grandpa

Mama made it back home safe and sound – and it is good to have her back. She and Victoria spent Saturday morning at Trade Days while I stayed at the house. Most of their time was spent talking to the Skill family about relevant farming topics, not the least of which concerned caring for sheep. Victoria is anxious to get a little flock started. Her property is actually closer to being ready for sheep than ours because of the fencing she has there. I have cautioned her to wait a bit and see how things work out.

Saturday was as busy as I had expected at the house but we are still waiting on the septic company. The crew did show up to cut down the three trees that were too close to the back of the house. There were seven guys altogether. Six were Spanish speaking and one was an old cowboy; a head taller than anyone else in the group.

They went right to work and got the trees out in about two hours. When they left they had stacked all the wood, raked the grass to gather the small twigs and debris and they had blown the patio and the roof of the house clean of the sawdust. A second crew will be back tomorrow to grind down the stumps. The patio looks very different without the trees but it turned out to be a good call to take all of them out.

Of the three, only one was healthy and it was the one that was beginning to damage the foundation so it was coming out regardless of its health. Of the other two, one was hollow from the base to the uppermost portion of the trunk and one was completely dead. When they laid it over the limbs on top splintered into small pieces. Only the lowest part of the trunk was solid. I am relieved that they are gone before the warm weather storms come to the area.

When they left I took my chainsaw and cut up the tree that Grandpa and Victoria had laid over by the garden. It had been struck by lightning some years ago and needed to be taken down. Between the four trees we have quite a bit of firewood. Now I need the fireplace insert.

Since we did not get the septic work started I borrowed a little pump from Lee Davis and lowered the level in the second tank to allow us to shower Sunday morning. I thought about doing a quick repair to the line coming out of the second tank to the leach bed but I did not take the time to do that. I was too tired to deal with it right then - as suggested by the picture Victoria took. Instead I covered back over the holes Grandpa and I had made with the tractor bucket when we were looking for the leach field several days ago.

There is still a massive hole where the second tank sits but we are leaving that open until the new septic system is installed and working. Then, I will empty both the old tanks once more and backfill them with dirt and stone so I do not have to worry about they caving in sometime in the future.

Grandpa and Grandma left yesterday morning long before daylight. Grandpa has not been feeling well for several days now but he was very anxious to get to work with Norman and Seth so he and Grandma can get back to Texas around the middle of April – cash in hand for fixing Victoria’s house.

We see how all that works out.