Brittany and Andrew, dinner guests, Kim’s pigs

Mama and I ate a light dinner before we fed last night. It is a chore to feed the pigs anymore. Every time we go out to feed, we have to climb into the pen and retrieve the rubber tub we use for their waterer. They like to dump the water into their already soaked, sloppy pen and then bury the tub in the slime. One day it was so deeply buried that I had to wade into the ankle-deep muck to lift it out of the mire. It had about twenty pounds of mud in it. I told Mama I would rather take time to eat dinner before dealing with that frustration. She agreed. Other than dealing with the pigs, feeding is a pleasant distraction. I still have a lot of cleanup to do in the hog building and the goat barn, but those are things that are not difficult. They just require time – which I have not been able to give to those chores just yet. When we take the hogs to be processed, I will have to leave the pen to dry out for several weeks before I do any cleanup there, but that is a task I am looking forward to.

We knew Brittany and Andrew were on their way, but we were not expecting them until later in the evening. Sometime around 7 pm. With that thought in mind, Mama decided she had time to mow. She had spent the whole day cleaning inside the house. It was now time to clean up the outside. Which meant that I would have to weed eat. I do not like to weed eat because of the pain it causes me, but some chores are unavoidable regardless of how uncomfortable they are. Fortunately, Mama is able to mow very closely to things in the yard with the zero-turn mower. That saves me a lot of time and pain in my part of the mowing. While I helped Mama with the yardwork, I burned our accumulation of feed sacks. Just to tidy up a bit. We were finished and back inside cooling off when Brittany, Andrew and the twins arrived. Our big dogs faithfully announce every visitor. They quit barking when Brittany stepped out of the car and greeted them. The girls are not the least bit afraid of Sasha and Sam – even with all the barking. They are among the few people not living at our farm that Sasha will allow to touch her. I find that interesting.

I had cut up a pineapple in anticipation of the girls needing a snack. Brittany added blueberries to the bowl and the twins ate almost the entire contents of the bowl. One of the girls went for the books and one went for the erasable calendar we have on the fridge. “Color. Color. Color”, was the petition repeated until acknowledged. I handed Zoe one of the markers that go with that calendar, but she wanted blue...and she repeated that until I gave her the blue marker.  They flitted from one thing to another while Mama and Brittany visited, and Andrew set up the bedroom. Later that evening we went out for a walk. Sasha, Sam and Lucy came along for the fun of it. We did not go very far down the road, but it gave the girls time to get some energy out. A quick bath and they were down for the night. I did not hear any protests when they were put in their beds. Even without my beard, Zoe would not kiss me last night. Sophia always kissed me goodnight.

Mama should have a full day today. Brittany and Andrew will be not be heading to the airport until late this afternoon; about the time our dinner guests arrive. So, Mama will have company and help getting things ready to entertain. We invited Nathan and Hannah Shrock over for dinner. They will be graduating BBTI on Saturday and will begin deputation the following Monday. They are planning to serve as missionaries to Ivory Coast, helping Hannah’s parents in their ministry there for a year or more. From that point on, they are praying about where to serve. They have been a blessing to our church during their time at BBTI. We will be sad to see them go. They are one of those couples you can be sure will be a blessing to the ministry wherever they serve.

Very late in the evening, Kim Cantrell called to tell Mama that they had successfully loaded the pigs into the trailer. Praise the Lord! They were worried about getting that done. Today Kenny and Kim will deliver the three pigs to the processor. They are as glad to see the pigs gone as I will be when our turn comes. I will probably have to retrieve the trainer next week. I have not been told yet.

I am just glad things worked out for Kenny and Kim and we had the trailer to loan to them.