Escapee, money, getting set to travel

I spent an hour or more yesterday evening putting a wire on the inside of the backyard fence in an attempt to keep Kira from getting out of the yard easily. I only had enough wire to do the portion of fence by the driveway and shop building but that is where she had been getting under the fence. It was not a wasted effort but it did not keep her in the yard. She was at the front to greet me this morning and I know Victoria had just let them out – in the back yard. Oh, well. We will keep trying because she will certainly keep trying.

Mama has been enjoying her time with the grandkids but I had to fuss at her a little last night because she has spent over $100 on eating out in the few days she has been there. I let her know we were very short of cash before she flew out but I knew it would not do anything more than slow her down a little.

I explained that I still need money for gas to get there and back and the money she spent on fast food could have bought a lot of groceries but it was a moot point. Like I have always told my children when it comes to money, you can only spend it once – so make it count. Mama’s excuse for the eating out was “they don’t get to do it very often.” Well, neither will we.

We’ll make it there and back but at some point in the very near future we will have to come to grips with a new paradigm; one that may require us to go to our children for advice on how to effectively live on less.  It is not a frightening proposition because I can still work somewhere, but it will require a serious adjustment; perhaps long overdue for both me and Mama.

Victoria and I are trying to get things set up around the house so that Brittany Wycoff can handle the house and the animals in our absence. When you consider the chickens, the pigs, the dogs and the plants that have to be cared for it is a pretty big task for someone unused to the routine. We are buying feed and putting things in central locations so everything necessary is easy to locate.

I am making sure things are in proper working order. For instance, I had to make a repair to the garage door yesterday. Sam had gone into the garage to rest and as I ran him out he stepped on the sensor for the automatic mechanism for the garage door. It was a pretty quick repair but it is the little things – like the automatic opener not working – that can cause the biggest consternation to a visitor.

I got the ice maker working again and we are cleaning out the refrigerator – making the pigs and dogs very happy. They do not know what is going on but they love the food we are discarding. I think the pigs like moldy bread better than fresh bread and the dogs like any meat we give them regardless of how “aged” it is.

That is not saying much when you look at what they continually drag into the yard.