Truck issues, all about the dogs, maybe goats too

We had to take the truck to our mechanic yesterday evening. As Mama drove it home it started to act like there was a problem with the fuel system. She called me to alert me of the issue and asked if she should go ahead and try to make it to Muenster and back. I said no. She called Brittany and let her know we would not be able to make it this weekend because of vehicle issues – primarily the cost associated with the repairs taking the money we needed for travel. When I got home we took the truck to Bowie, so Roger could look at it. I believe the main issue is a plugged fuel filter but there is also an alarm on the exhaust system that needs to be checked out. Since we were making the trip to Bowie, I had Mama take the Sequoia to Allen’s Texaco to have the oil changed – it is about a month overdue. She picked me up at Roger’s after she was done.

The truck did okay initially but I noticed that it struggled in the higher gears, so I put it in Tow/Haul Mode to keep it in the lower gear ranges of the transmission and it did fine all the way to the shop – no pulsing or surging. I kept it at about 65 mph for the trip. Like normal, Mama said she would follow me to Bowie, but after a few miles of driving under the speed limit she called and asked if it was okay for her to hurry on to Allen’s. In all fairness to her, it was crowding the time that they would be closing for the day. She has never been good at being in the following position on the road. When we have to take separate vehicles to the same destination, I always let her lead. It is the only condition in which she wants to be in the lead.

Once back home I spent the rest of the evening working in the birthing center. I ran the power cord to the building from the chicken coop so I could avoid taking power from the well house. Grandpa rigged the power to the building to be supplied by an extension cord. It was a clever move on his part. When we do not need the building to have operating lights and plugs, I simply remove the power cord. I was able to get the subfloor almost finished. I will complete it tonight since we are not going to Brittany’s. The linoleum will go in tomorrow. Hopefully that will be in time for Kobe to use for the pending delivery. That is the main focus of the home this weekend – and will continue to be so for the next ten weeks or so.

Since I was not enamored with the idea of trying another dog breed as an income generator, Mama thought through the idea thoroughly and came up with an alternative – goats. I can get on board with that. There are several advantages, not the least of which is that they will never be house guests. Since they are livestock, regardless of how attached we may get to them, they are never going to become family members in the way a dog does. Offspring from the goats we are breading will sell for very good prices and will net us more than a litter of pups from any dog we currently own. We are already set up to house between twenty and twenty-five goats in the current pasture and have begun fencing to set up a second pasture to house an additional fifteen or so.  We will have to borrow a Billy from Rick to breed our flocks but that is a very workable issue.

I will be heading to Lake Jackson, TX early Monday morning so we hope to have the truck back by then. It will be an inconvenience to Mama to be without a vehicle while I am gone, but she can hitch a ride with Bro. Zack and Ethan.

Life goes on.