Feeding, coaching, planning, not planning

As soon as I got home yesterday, Mama and I went to get a bale of hay from our neighbor. It has been very convenient to get our round bales from Wayne. If I did not have to go through the gates to get the bales it would be less than one hundred yards from the barn to get one. They are stored in an enclosure that can be easily seen from our pasture. In fact, our cows knew where to look for us as we drove the short distance down the road to get into his pasture to get the bale. They were standing at the fence not thirty yards from me and Mama when we opened the gate to get into the area where Wayne keeps the hay. Needless to say, they were waiting at the gate in our pasture when we got back with the hay – and that drive takes only a few minutes. I had waited until yesterday to get a fresh bale because I wanted the cows to clean up all the strewed excess from the last bale before I refreshed it, but even at that, there was still more waste than I like. For now, that is all the hay we can get from Wayne. He is running low and will need the rest of his reserves to feed his cows in the coming months. Mama and I will need to find another supplier. On average, we use one bale per week. That will continue through October when we take two of our herd to be processed. After that, we can make a bale last two weeks.

Our coaching session was cut short last night. Theresa, who is on the road, was preoccupied with issues of travel and asked if we could wait until after the auction to do the coaching session. I had left to go to the bathroom just as she was calling into the meeting, so Mama forget to ask her the one question I needed answered; once she buys the house, is there a checklist she uses to get all the follow up items done to complete the sale and take possession of the property? I will email her this week to get that question answered. I will also review all our notes to compile a checklist from our training sessions with Jason and Frank. I have a feeling, they are all so familiar with the process that they do not have to spend a lot of effort remembering to do what they know they should do. I, on the other hand, am not completely sure what I should do. I will learn, but I typically use a list to doublecheck myself. That is the list I need to compile.

After we got off the phone with Theresa, Mama and I looked over our new list, reviewed the county list and reranked what we have left of available properties. Of the thirteen properties we started out with, six have been redeemed and are no longer on the list. That is not a bad thing. It means the owners were able to pay their taxes. It is a missed opportunity for us and it reduces the number of houses we can bid on – raising the competition for those houses – but still, it is not a bad thing. For now, Mama and I have enough houses to pick from that we have a good chance at getting one property. The chances of getting two is a bit slim, but still possible. We will still drive up Friday evening to look at the properties added to our list from the last time we did our scouting run in Lawton. Fortunately for me, Mama is really getting into this.

On the not planning side, Mama quietly admitted to me yesterday that she had gone to Rachel’s. I guess out of boredom, she got on the phone and started watching the online show going on and there was this shirt that she really liked, and she did not know if it would fit – because that particular style does not usually fit her – so she went to try it on. While she was trying on the shirt, there was this dress that she really loved… The end result is that she got a bill for a little over $100 later that evening. She told me she got the dress for $45. That is a decent price. Evidently, the shirt was almost $50; however, Mama left without even knowing the full price. It is hard for me to grasp why these cloths are worth what she has never even considered spending for a shirt at any time in the past. I fussed a little, but what is done is done. Mostly I wanted to know why she did not call me to ask how to pay for the items – since she forgot to take cash with her. The answer was obvious.

The cat made his way into the sunroom last night. I would hate for him to meet the same fate as the squirrels that get too familiar with the house area.