A long cold, quick work, inheritance from our children

I have had an issue with – and from – my sinuses for over a month now. I suppose it is allergies, but it has been the longest battle I have ever had with a runny nose and irritated sinuses. I think my nose is getting calloused from the constant wiping. Still, it does not interfere with anything and I am sleeping alright – albeit, with a tissue stuffed up one side of my nose or the other. It is amazing how snot dripping out of your nose can wake you out of a dead sleep. Natural remedies are keeping it from getting worse but are certainly not correcting the condition. Victoria is also fighting the same battle. With the same results. It could be a cold, but I doubt it. I do remember a friend of mine in New Jersey telling me he routinely got two colds every year. Each one lasted six months. Because of that condition he had two doctors, Dr. Winter-off and Dr. Summer-off. Of course, he was kidding, but he did miss more work than anyone I have ever worked with.

Because of the computer time Mama and I need to do adequate research for our new business, and because the best internet available to us is at the office, we have spent every we can at the office doing that research. There is a more urgent need at the moment because we are preparing for an auction on the 11^th of June. Complicating that, we have been busy every Saturday for the last few weeks. This weekend and next weekend will maintain that schedule. Things at the farm are on hold with only the most urgent items making the do-it-right-now list. For instance, I did not even change last night before I got on the tractor and ran to the property next to ours to get a fresh round bale of hay for the cows. They have been out for a little over a day. That is a must-do.

Also, when we got home from church last night, Mama and I each put on our farm clothes and watered the plants in the darkening evening – me in the garden, her at the house. That also was a must-do. Tonight, we will team up to clean the coop – both sides – before we will go back to the office to continue working our way through the list for the June 11^th sale. So far, we have looked a 40 of the 170 properties. We need to finish the research because we are going to Lawton next Saturday to view the properties we are interested in bidding on. So, there is a good bit of excited urgency in our research right now. Patience, persistence and thorough preparation are still the key, but we are still meeting a deadline to have all the research completed in case we can actually win a bid on a property.

Cori confirmed to Mama yesterday that we have officially inherited Bella. The cost to get her to Honduras is prohibitive. I do not necessarily want to keep Bella, but Mama does. I am not strongly opposed to keeping her, I just did not want the complication of having another big dog to deal with long-term. I foresee a good bit of travel in our future – both within the continental US and internationally – and I did not want to complicate arrangements for that travel. As long as we are at the farm, it will not be a big issue. Should we ever move away from the farm, it may become problematic. Mama looks at today. I try to look forward to tomorrow and beyond. I have often found that what is easy to accomplish today, may not be as easy to do tomorrow and taking on Bella is a twelve to fifteen-year commitment.  Just doing the math is a bit sobering. In fifteen years, should the Lord tarry, I will be 77 years old. Mama will be 71. Mykenzie will be 29.

Don’t tell Mama I said that. She hates it when I think like that; but I can’t help it.