Travel, Jake, home

I have been on the road since Monday afternoon so it was good to get home last night. Unfortunately, I will only be home for a couple days since I will be flying back out Sunday afternoon to teach a class Monday. On the bright side, it will only be an overnight trip since I will be coming back that night after class. All in all, the two classes I taught earlier this week went really well. Other than the six-hour drive from Muscle Shoals, AL to Mobile, it was an easy week – and even the drive was not bad. Besides that, I got to spend Wednesday evening with Cori, Nate and the kids. It was a great moment when I walked into the house where Cori and Nate have been staying and knew instantly that Savanna recognized me. She was sitting at the table eating a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. The smile on her face was worth the trip. Yes, I enjoyed seeing everyone else, but that was a special moment; especially, when she very quietly said, “Papi.” Then she looked at her mama and said, “Mama, it’s Papi.” I had to leave about 8:30 to drive back to the hotel in Mobile, but it was worth it.

I had a rental car for the time I was traveling; a Kia Soul. I was more pleased with the car than I thought I would be. It was nicely equipped, sat comfortably and was more powerful than I would have guessed. It was set up like a SUV rather than a car so it sat a little taller, had very good access for me to get in and out. With a car, I often have trouble getting into the seat because they sit so low. With the back issues I am now having, that presents a very big problem. But this vehicle was made with a taller roofline and thereby, taller doors for my stiff, awkward access. Cori and the kids really liked it.

Jake leaves this evening. I think he has had a good visit. He spent a couple days in San Antonio with me and Mama. He spent a day at natural spring water park with Norman and Seth. He went to the movies last night with Victoria, Norman and Seth. And in between all of that he spent most of his energy trying to get the goats to faint. I am not sure if he is ready to go home yet but it is on the schedule. We will drive him to the airport at about 6 pm tonight so he can catch a 9 pm flight. Mama will be equal parts sorry to see him go and relieved to have her peaceful life back. I was going to use the word “uneventful” rather than “peaceful” but uneventful does not apply as a descriptor for Mama’s life regardless of who or what her primary focus is at any given moment.

While I was away, Grandpa and Mama took #75 to the meat market to be processed. We needed to get rid of her. She was a very difficult cow to work and I always feared the she would hurt Mama if she could. But now we will get some good use out of feeding her for the last two years. Mama and I discussed how to have her processed. Since we are already ahead on hamburger and some steaks I asked if she would look into some specialty processing but have the processor concentrate on giving us mostly roasts and stew meat. For some reason, we are not eating as much beef as we used to. (Maybe because I have trouble with it.) After talking to a couple people at the meat market she found out that we can get beef link sausage and summer sausage from them. So, those are in this order. We will see how well we like the processed meat and find out if we will order it going forward.

I was home just in time to get my berry bushed and grapevine watered before they gave up the ghost. They are out of the way and easily forgotten. For now, I am sure they will recover. If I had been gone much longer, that certainly would have been in question. Mama and I are having the pastor and his wife over for dinner Saturday evening so we can talk to them about our infant desire to relocate to Honduras in the future.

We’ll see how that goes.