Lunch with Brittany and Andrew, a good buy, more animals

Brittany and Andrew came back through Decatur after they picked up the car in Dallas. I was thinking that they would pack in the morning and leave from Dallas to go home, but they left their things and Lucy at the house intending to get all that packed after they got the car. That gave them more time to pack and two vehicles to pack their thing into. As it happened, they came back through right about lunchtime. Since they wanted Mexican, Mama suggested Casa Torres. So, all of us met there. The restaurant is always busy for lunch and yesterday was no exception, but since the restaurant has put in a second parking lot we were all able to get parking places. We were all driving separate vehicles, so I thought that was a good deal to be able to find parking for all of them. Mama had to stand in a spot so Andrew, who was the last to arrive, could park there; but he got a spot. Andrew clearly did not feel well so the entire trip was a challenge for him. I can only imagine that the drive home was even more challenging. They finally made it home a little after 8 pm. Other than Lucy, I cannot imagine they will be up early this morning.

Mama set up a meeting with a gentleman selling some rabbit cages yesterday evening. We followed his interesting directions – just before the cull de sac at the black mailbox with no numbers on it – but we did find the house. He lives in Alvord so it was only a fifteen-minute drive. We drove the truck because we did not know for sure what the man was selling and it was a good thing we did. The drive was not safe for anything but a truck. It reminded me of a West Virginia mountain road. There were four or five barking dogs at the house so Mama was disinclined to exit the truck. None of them looked too mean so I got out and met the seller.

He had a slew of cages, feeders and nesting boxes lined up. When I asked what he was asking for the larger cages, he said he wanted $50 for the entire lot. I coaxed Mama out of the truck to show her the offering and she agreed to make the purchase. In all, we got one very large single square cage, one very large rectangular double cage, one large double cage, four medium sized double cages and three small single rabbit cages that are more like transport cages. They were all used but in fair condition. Along with that we got four nesting boxes, three are made of metal, five waterers and eight feeders. Mama is using the transport cages this morning to get the rabbits from Ling.

For the visit with Ling, we went out in the late evening to catch the rooster and three hens to take to Ling and his family. We used the large square cage to house the chickens in the bed of the truck overnight. Since there was a high probability of rain last night I backed the truck up under the carport. Mama will take the chickens to Ling this morning and pick up another young male and two young females rabbits. Ling has too many and is quickly running out of room to house them. Mama is a little mortified by the fact that those he does have are in cages which are sitting on the ground with a tarp over them…mostly covered. To Ling and his family, they are meat, not pets. Mama has an entirely different concept of raising animals – even if they are for meat.

With the cages we picked up last night we will have enough cages to house the rabbits. What we will not have is a good place to put those cages. I will spend the weekend trying to decide where to put our rabbits temporarily in a manner that satisfies Mama’s expectations. Eventually I will have to build either a covered stand for the cages or a set of hutches for our little colony.

At some point, I will have the time to get started on the well house and the shop…but not yet.