Texas auctions, feeding, packing and purging

Yesterday I was able to search out the sites Mama and I will need to do our tax deed business in Texas. I had not taken the time before, but I am stating to get notices for sales in various counties in Texas, but only for the sales handled by one law firm. There are several more throughout Texas that handle the tax deed sales for the individual counties. I did not have them all specified so I was missing opportunities in some of the counties Mama and I will be interested in in the near future. But yesterday, in a quick search, I found the one firm that does many of the counties we will be investigating – especially those near Amarillo. The sales start in two weeks. We will not be able to go this year, but we know where to find the information for next year. One of the counties in which part of Amarillo sits has sales twice per year, April and August. We should be ready by August to make serious inquiries about properties for sale in that auction.

While Mama is gone, I am taking a day of vacation to attend an auction in Crawford County, AR. The auction is on the 3^rd of April. I may not be ready to buy anything, but I need to see how the sales are conducted. Mama and I had planned to attend the sale together, but she will not make this trip with me. It’s probably for the best. I am planning on driving over, look at prospective houses and properties, attend the sale and driving back after the sale concludes. It is a five-hour drive to get there, more than an hour to look at properties, several hours at the auction, and five-hour drive back home. That would have been a bit much for Mama. In the near future, Mama and I will go over the day before the auction, stay in the area, take our time to look at properties and then attend the auction. At least, that is our plan. The benefit in pursuing these auctions in Arkansas is that there are typically three to four auctions through any given week; so we are not driving over for just one auction.

Yesterday evening I took down the little shelter I had built for the lambs. They are big enough to handle the cool evening. Things are warming up quickly now and we will not have many more cold nights. Perhaps we are past the freezing events for this winter – only time will tell – but regardless, the lambs can handle one or two nights of colder temperatures. I also discovered and corrected a problem with the roller doors I put on the goat barn. I had installed one of the rollers upside down. It worked, but not well. It also made the door about half an inch lower when in that position. Fortunately, I was able to slide the door out of the rail, fix the position of the roller and get the door back in place easily. It looks so much better now; and it hangs much straighter. Now I can weld up the supports at the ends of the rail. When that is done, the doors will be permanently fixed in place and Mama and I can use them as needed. The sheep love it when I open the doors and they can come and go through either end of the barn.

We have had our poor goats on a diet for a couple weeks now. They are finally starting to trim down. They are very hungry every time we go out to feed them, but it has been a necessary exercise to get them in shape to be bred. They were all too fat. Mama is very liberal with the feed when she can be, and the goats were all too happy to eat everything they were given. Meanwhile, the ewes are starting to look like they are in Mama’s care. They are fattening up nicely under her generous provision. Soon we will need to start cutting back on their feed as well, but while they are nursing, we will make sure that have at least as much as they want to eat in hay, alfalfa and feed. So far, they are keeping the grass eaten down as quickly as it springs up. Eventually, that growth should outpace them until the summer heat stunts that process, but that is not the case right now...and they are pleased to have grass to graze on through the day.

Mama has been working feverishly getting things done at the house in preparation for her extended absence. It is only going to be eleven days, but to her that is a long time away. I have not encouraged her to do any grocery shopping. We will handle that as needed. I do not need the fridge stocked up or the pantry filled with extra items. However, she has been doing a lot of cleaning. She has even taken a fair amount of time to go through her closet and purge items no longer needed – or desired. I am in favor of that. Always have been. Especially since we were able to buy her five new skirts while in Amarillo last weekend. Why that closet cleanout is part of her packing to leave is not for me to understand.

Any time Mama is willing to throw something away, I am in favor of that effort.