Working, waiting, forward plans

I have been limited this week to working with Lee rather than working on projects at the farm – which is okay but it sure slows down the things I have to look at every morning and evening and wish were done for Mama’s sake. I am hoping that she and Grandpa can work on those projects even as he works at Victoria’s house. It is a necessary trade off but a painful one since I earn only enough to pay the little bills we have to cover.

I am still putting in applications and spending time on job searches but not in a huge way. With all the layoffs that continue to happen around the area it has turned into a pretty tight job market. We will continue to pray and thrust the Lord as we struggle through the next several months but it is disquieting to get no feedback from anyone to whom I have applied.

Before I left to meet Lee and Jeff yesterday we put Daisy in the loading chute and put some worming medicine to her. That was the easy part. Next we got Dash into the loading chute and into the head gate so we could give him a shot of antibiotics. That took some patience as he thrashed about once trapped but Grandpa finally got the shot administered and we were able to let him back into the barn lot where we will keep him separated for several more days.

We have decided to keep him so that we can feed him out for butchering in the spring. Mama has mixed emotions about that decision but it is a prudent one from the financial perspective. As our first calf, he came to us virtually without cost so the only money we will have in him is the feed required to get him to the weight we are aiming for before he goes to the processors.

For the past several days Grandma has been patiently peeling apples so they can be frozen for later use. In the past we have used them for fried apples as a breakfast side dish but I had an idea the other day and asked Victoria to look up whether or not you could freeze applesauce. It turns out that you can. So we made the last few batches of peeled apples into applesauce – and it turned out fabulously. It may become our new favorite especially since we still have some of the apples she peeled and froze last year still in the freezer.

Mama, Victoria and I have a test on Monday for which none of us have studied. I am sure we will find the time this weekend but it is never-the-less looming over us at the moment; one of the many little things to which we have committed ourselves and are finding difficult to honor in a focused manner. Two more tests follow this one – spaced two week s apart – and this semester will be complete. We have four more semesters if we choose to finish; and I think we will continue.

Tuesday Mama and I met with an estate planner to set up a will and tomorrow we will meet again with the financial planner to get the 401k and the pension transferred to Edward Jones for management going forward. It is both sad and exciting to see the changes as I move all my life away from ConocoPhillips. Our next step is to get health insurance evaluated and set up.

I do miss my job with Conoco.