The calves, the garden, sprinkling

First thing Saturday morning I took the calves to the stock sale. Mama and I loaded them Friday evening and I moved the trailer over to the house so Mama and I could hook it up to the truck. I did not want it sitting on the stand all night because those two had a good bit of weight to them. Parking the trailer at the house may not have been the best move since the calves lowed throughout the evening and into the night. At some point, well after dark, they quieted down but picked up where they had left off at first light. It was a little sad to hear the mamas and the calves bellowing back and forth to each other, but today they will find new homes and Mama and I will have made our first sale from the farm’s livestock.

After bus calling, while Mama and Victoria shopped, I worked in the garden. I have the posts in and set to hold the raised bed and have begun working on the crossbeams for the bed structure. At this point, Mama can make out the shape for the bed but it will be this weekend at the earliest that I will be ready for dirt. Until then we will have to keep the plants alive that she and Victoria bought at Trade Days. I have been watching the rows of potatoes we planted and have yet to see a sprig of green popping out. I never quite remember the lag time between planting and seeing the plants emerge but it is normally longer than I expect. The fact that it has been so dry has not helped. Mama and I decided not to water Thursday evening because there was a high probability of rain on Friday evening into Saturday. None of that came to pass. I did get run inside Saturday afternoon by a blowing light rain but it was not enough to really even wet the ground thoroughly. Today or tomorrow we will have to water and keep it up every other day until we get a good soaking rain.

Sunday after church we had dinner with the missionary builders who are working on the back entry of the church. One couple has six children and the other couple has two. With Yilin and Cheyenne and several church kids we had quite a group playing in the gym as we finished our meal. A couple of them found a tennis racket and a couple balls. I thought to myself, this might not turn out well. Little did I know that it would be me who caught the brunt of it. As Mama and I encouraged Cheyenne, who only liked the corn from the spread of food set out for the meal, to finish up her food before she could go join in the play, the cup of water she had been drinking exploded in front of me covering me with the contents.

A tennis ball had hit the cup so perfectly that it literally blew the side out of the cup and doused me. Of course, I had on light pants so the soaking was obvious. What can you do? It was only water – thankfully. Where it ended up soaking into my pants from the chair I was sitting in was probably the worst part for those who watched me dry out, but I couldn’t see it so it was no consequence to me. The child who had caused the accident ran off and hid for a while but eventually came to me and apologized. I told him it was a perfect shot and that he had blown the cup to pieces. He smiled and hugged me and ran back off to play. I told Mama that now I have been baptized and sprinkled. It was just a heavier sprinkling than usual – maybe the Lord thought I needed it.

Mama was amazed that I wore the pants to church again that night. After all, it was just water.