Coop additions, taxes, packing

Mama spent part of the day yesterday in Gainesville. She met up with Kim Cantrell to pick up a rooster Kim needed to find a home for. Kim Cantrell needed the outing with her grandkids, so it was mutually refreshing for both of them. Mama got rid of all her roosters a few months ago and instantly regretted it. She was frustrated because the roosters were making her hens look bad. When a rooster breeds a hen, he mounts on her back and pins down her head. His spurs often scratch off the feathers on the back of the hen. His gripping the back of the hen’s neck can pull out feathers there also. But the hens are happier when there is a rooster in the coop. At least, that is what Mama has read from several “experts”. So, to make her hens happy, she found and brought home another rooster. The rooster is a Buff Orpington rooster. As is normal for that heavy breed of chicken, he is large. Maybe not as tall as the largest rooster Mama recently gave away, but he is a good bit taller and heavier than our largest hen and more than twice the size of our Banty hens. That should prove interesting as time goes on. Our Banty hens are feisty and may not submit to his attentions. Mama is already fretting for her tiny hens.


Initially, Mama was worried about introducing the rooster to her flock. Her worry was that the older, more dominant hens would terrorize the newcomer. She need not have worried. As soon as she freed the rooster from the carrier he was in, the hens flocked to him; vying for his attention. He got straight to work doing rooster things. He was strutting about the yard outside the coop when I first got home, but he was not straying too far from the coop building. Next, Mama worried that he would not go to roost in a coop that was unfamiliar to him. (I think our attribution of human qualms to animals has been grossly exaggerated by Disney movies.) Again, she need not have worried. He hoped right up on the roost last night just before dark. I am sure over the next week or so, he will learn his way around the farm when let our birds out of the coop yard. He will also learn Mama’s routine as she cares for her flock. This morning, as I left – an hour before daylight – I could hear him crowing. Happy rooster. Happy hens. Happy Mama. We all win.


Since I am still convalescing and must limit my time out in the cold, I spent the evening working on getting all our tax information together. The documents provided yearly to us for tax purposes are trickling in, so it is time for me to get my portion done. Through last year I saved all our receipts, grouped by month, stored in rubber band bound piles in a desk drawer. I took all those piles of receipts, one by one, and pulled out anything tax related. Farm income and expenses. Business income and expenses. (Counting the farm, Mama and I have three businesses we keep up with.) Medical expenses. Charitable contributions. Miscellaneous tax-deductible expenses. That took a little over an hour. Now I will go back through each group of receipts and qualify whether or not each is relevant for tax purposes. Then I will create a spreadsheet to capture the totals by category and provide that to the tax accountant for her use in calculating our taxes. I am encouraged by what I found and how quickly I was able to get all the receipts grouped. As I began the process, Mama said she would help but I was almost done by the time she felt like she was free to do so. It is not hard to do. It is just not something she enjoys doing.


Today, Mama will be packing us up for a weekend trip to Wichita. The trip was in jeopardy until 6:06 pm last night. That was when I called the number I was given to verify whether or not I was needed for Jury Duty today. Fortunately, the jury being called for today was cancelled. I was thanked for my willingness to serve but released from my call to service. I was not disappointed. Mama was thrilled. I am free to travel. Mama and I will need to have very warm clothing and coats for the ceremony Friday. Much of the initial ceremonial welcome of the new aircraft will – obviously – take place outside. It is supposed to be cold, but not unbearably so. That afternoon is forecast to be in the high thirties. Light winds. Great for my nagging cough. Brittany is excited that we can be there -as much for her as for Andrew. Mama and I will be able to watch the twins while she and Andrew mingle during the reception following the arrival of the plane.


Again, everybody wins.