Cold prep, flights, other purchases

Forecasts are for some cold nights starting tomorrow night. For our area, the temperatures are predicted to get below freezing for three nights in a row. That presents a challenge to Mama. How does she keep her smallest chicks warm enough to survive the overnight temps? We thought about several approaches, but some were far too complicated. Others were too costly. We finally decided on lining the bottom of the cages with tar paper and installing a heat lamp above them. They do not need much help through the night, just enough to keep them from spending all their energy to stay warm enough to survive the night. The chicks in question are several weeks old, but still not fully feathered. Within a couple more weeks they will not need any help making it through the cold of winter, but for now, we will give them a small boost. I will finish up those accommodations tonight. Tomorrow night, the temperature is supposed to drop to 28° F. A little cold for this time of year, but I don’t think it will be a record.

We still have two nanny goats that are due to kid. Hopefully that will wait another couple days. Temperatures are supposed to rise through the weekend. We have places where the baby goats can get out of the cold and draft of the goat barn, but I am not sure if they will go into the igloo doghouse we put in the goat barn for that purpose. There are plenty of places they can snuggle in the barn that are relatively free of drafts. They are old enough that they should do fine for a couple nights. The boy goats will get some special attention tonight because I have waited too long to get the metal up on their shelter. Too many other places to spend our cash. But this evening I will put up some metal left over from a recent demo on the north wall of the shelter. It will help block the wind and rain through the cold nights. That is, if it is not raining when I get off this evening. The bucks are all are old enough that they will do well through the cold. But it will not hurt to give them some added protection from the elements. The large igloo doghouse we put in that shelter may not be large enough for all three of them, so I am planning to give them some more dry spaces out of the wind. Hopefully, I can do that tonight.

Hoses will have to be disconnected and faucets covered. Blankets will be put on the front porch for the big dogs. Plants will need to be brought in.  And Mama and I will probably turn on the heat in the house. We have not done so thus far. But as the high temperatures of the days cool down as well, the house does not pick up as much heat through the day as in the past couple weeks. That makes it colder inside the house starting out each night. We are almost to the point that it too cool through the night. Mama is even talking about putting the heated mattress cover back on our bed. We only use that when we are really chilled. We are almost there. When Victoria left Texas for Honduras, the temperatures were still in the high eighties. She will be coming back to much colder temperatures. She has only been gone a week. That’s Texas weather for you.

I have been looking at a lot of stuff online. Mostly Craigslist. Bee keeping things, Fishing things. Farm equipment. But all of that will have to come to a halt for now. In order to be set up for starting our hives in the Spring, Mama and I will need to put a large deposit on a couple nucs. A nuc is a part of an active hive which is transferred into a new hive to give the hive a head start. We will buy them from the president of our beekeeping club. Just to start two hives will be a bit expensive and we have not purchased any of our safety equipment yet – especially our suits. All told, we are looking at more than $500. As important as those purchases are, I will have to wait on everything else related to the farm, to our hobbies and to our other interests. (Unless something comes up that we just cannot possible pass up.)

Mama and I have been praying about traveling to Honduras for a few weeks. With that in mind I have been looking for flights online and Mama has been tracking flights on an app called Hopper. There have been some pretty good deals offered recently. I found flights to Honduras from Houston for less than $250 per person. I put a hold on that itinerary for three days. Mama is confirming that the dates will work for Cori and Nate before I buy the tickets. They are for early February next year. Going at that time would allow us to attend a mission’s conference at the church in Honduras. We have not heard from Nate to ensure those days will work, but that confirmation should come today. Once I know for sure, I will purchase the tickets. Mama will be ecstatic. Both tickets will cost us $445. Once that is done, we will see if we can plan a trip to Roatan while we are there.

Between then and now, we will have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays. The time will pass by very quickly.