Visiting Dad, the desk, farm chores

Mama and I made the trip to Chappell Hill without incident. It was a five hour trip each way but we had a lot of time to visit, plan and enjoy each other’s company - something more precious since Mama started working. Our visit with Dad was a sad one, as I stated on Friday, but our time helping Martha was a good one. We tackled a couple areas around the property that had overwhelmed her; emptying the upstairs of the big house, emptying the contents from the rotting shelves in the oldest shed on the property, rearranging the large shop so we could get it set up for our siblings to peruse in the near future. There are actually some things that will do someone good it they have a need for those items. There were a greater amount that will not do anyone any good regardless of the need or the ingenuity of the individual. Those items were beyond use. It made me renew my commitment to get rid of the same kinds of useless accumulated items in any of our storage areas. That is easier said than done. But in reality, the numerous moves Mama and I have made make that burden somewhat lighter since we have purposely not carried many such items with us. At least that is what I now think.

One of the things I got in return for the extra trip was that Martha allowed me to take Dad’s old desk. It is more of a chest of drawers with a fold down top that hides a desk. It is a beautiful cherry piece of furniture that served Dad for all the years I can remember and I am challenging myself to relocate my items from a large roll-top desk to the much older, much nicer desk. I emptied the roll-top desk this morning - along with a large variety of outdoor farm chores - into a collection of boxes so Norman and Seth could help me relocate the desk to my bedroom tomorrow; before we all go to the State Fair. Victoria and Mama tried to help me do the moving but the cherry desk was too heavy for them to handle. Since Norman and Seth are here this week and since they are taking the roll-top desk it makes sense to make the change at the same time and with their help.

I stayed home this morning - my last Monday to be able to do so - so I could get a variety of little things done here. I had brought back some cedar boards from a large collection Dad had to fill in a gap in the flooring in the loft of the goat barn. It was wider that two sheets of plywood would cover so I left the gap in the middle fully intending to fill it with a couple of 1x4’s but I ran out of money and that little gap did not matter to me - until the grandkids wanted to play in the loft. Mama wisely would not let them until I got it completely covered. Well, now it is. What I had to rip off of the boards was used to reinforce the cage Mama and I are using to raise the five Bantam chickens recently hatched. I put the large cage in the west side of the coop so we could have all the chickens in one place and that has been working out well.

But in order to rip the boards I had to get the table saw moved out of the garage, To do that I had to get the tractor to move the pallet just inside the garage on which I have my generator, wire welder and buzz box welder sitting. And since I had the tractor out, I mowed the garden to get it ready for tilling - all the leftover plants had to be shredded to enable me to see where I needed to begin tilling. The seven foot tall okra plants were still producing but we had long since quit picking that produce. I think it looked better when I got done but that is my humble opinion. All that and I was done before noon.

Cleaning the coops waited until after lunch.