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As soon as I got home yesterday evening, I started on a small enclosure inside the goat barn; which is now for all practical purposes a sheep barn. Mama took time from her busy day yesterday – taking Aubrey to the library, getting her hair cut, meeting me for lunch - to buy me three cheap tarps to use for that purpose. I seem to always have enough scrap lumber to do the smaller structures. The sheep were not happy with my disturbing their feeding time, but I got it all done in about and hour. Now, there is a small heated enclosure for the sheep, especially the lambs, to get in when the temperatures get really cold - starting Sunday night. I hooked up one of our oil-filled radiator-like heaters to heat the space. Using that should prevent any worries of fire. All connections in the electrical line are covered to protect from rain. So, it should be safe. It should be warm – but not too warm.
On Monday the daytime temperatures are forecast to be right above freezing all day. With the smallest lambs now only three days old, they will have a place to go to warm up. Whether or not they will find it remains to be seen. I do know that Champ, our young wether goat, was walking in and out of the shelter right after I finished. I do not know if any of the sheep checked it out. At the very least, they can snuggle down on the outside of the tarps and get more warmth than will be available without the smaller heated area. Cheap materials. Cheap labor. Slapping that together was a good use of both and I will be able to salvage all the materials for use in other projects. Hopefully, it will serve the intended purpose.
Mama has another full day today. She is going to spend time with Grandma, get the Sequoia inspected so we can get the updated tags on the vehicle, have lunch with Victoria and drop off Nathan to his mama. We have had Nathan for a few days now. I do not know if he is ready to go home or not, but that is planned for today. I am certain Mama will spend time holding Savannah when she is with Krystal and the boys. Trace is out if town for a couple weeks so there will still be times Mama and I will help Krystal with the boys and the baby, but we do not mind. We thoroughly enjoy having kids in the house; especially on a temporary basis.
Maggie called yesterday to let us know that she is going through the process of getting scheduled for a cryogenic procedure to freeze the mass on her kidney. The surgeon is concerned about letting it go untreated. He feels almost certain that it is cancerous, but Maggie is not at the point where she can have the surgery to remove the mass which would necessitate a six-week recovery period following the surgery. The cryogenic procedure will be less invasive and require a much shorter recovery time, but it will allow a biopsy of the mass and it will inhibit growth of the mass while hindering the possibility of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. (Always a concern when cancer is found anywhere in the body.) It is probably a good decision for right now since Aaron is out for a three to six-month duty assignment with very little chance of getting relieved of any portion of that time.
Mama is prepared to go and help if needed. I feel pretty positive that Catherine and Walter would enjoy having Mama there but Maggie, Mama and I are very concerned about Mama navigating the stairs required to get to Maggie’s apartment. She lives on the third floor of the apartment building which sits on a knoll requiring a long set of steps to get to the ground level of the complex, followed by three full flights of stairs to get to the apartment. Mama does alright going up stairs. Going down is the issue. Keeping house for Maggie would require trips out for groceries, getting Catherine off to school, and just getting the kids out of the apartment for some free time. Plus, why would anyone travel to Wilmington, NC and not go see the town and the seashore. Maggie and Mama are worried that Mama’s knees would not hold up without causing Mama significant pain. I share that concern, but we do what we must to help when needed.
Some really good news. Cori announced yesterday, that they have been awarded their five-year residency visas. That is a definite praise!
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