Rain, travel, bee keeping, surprise, technology

The rain finally came. Over the course of the day we got two inches of rain at the farm. It was one of those winter types of rain for the most part. It literally rained all day, with interspersed thunder showers. Now a good day for the inside dogs. Kira will not go to do her business when the ground is wet. She really hates getting her feet wet. Kobe will sit in the rain until she is soaked through. Then she smells awful for hours. Mocha does not necessarily care about getting her feet wet, but she gets cold easily, so she hurries out and wants right back in. with the generally gently rain, all the animals were able to stay dry. It was much needed, and it was a pleasant way to get two inches of rain. This morning, it feels like winter is here.

This evening Mama and I are planning on driving to Lawton. There are things we need to do at the farm, but all those chores can wait. Right now, our focus is on expediting the work being done on our houses. I have found over the years that being on site makes a difference. To this point Mama and I have been very hands-off, but we are anxious to see the process through and to participate where we can. With all that went on last weekend, it will be disappointing to not see progress on the houses. But we will be there to hopefully make further contacts and make ourselves known. Maybe we should have done this sooner, but I did not feel impressed to do so until now. We are praying that is the Lord leading us to do so. But honestly, money and time have been so tight, that to spend for the extra fuel and surrender the time to make weekly trips to Lawton would have been unproductive in the past few months. Now seems right and the fruit of that increased activity on our part seems visible. We will get confirmation on that this evening – either way.

Tomorrow Mama and I are going to a bee keeping workshop. It is being hosted by our bee keeping club. The intent is to cover the basics of getting started. Mama and I are excited about attending. We almost missed it. As we were traveling last weekend, it suddenly came to Mama’s remembrance. Fortunately, I had taken one of the flyers handed out at the last meeting and tucked in the notebook we use specifically for those meetings. We are not sure what to expect, but we are ready to learn everything we can before we order our bees. So far, attending the meetings has provided a wealth of information and provided lot of helpful contacts. I have fully assembled the two hives I bought and will be building stands for them next week. I just need to find a place to store them until we set them out next Spring. Right now, they are taking up a benchtop in the shop that Mama and Kimberlyn are needing for their projects. I suppose that at this point, any ideas we had of moving off the farm have been put on hold.

I typically look over each of our bank accounts daily. In doing so yesterday I got a bit of a surprise. From the information I was seeing, it looked like we had been reimbursed three months payments to the hospital where Mama had her surgeries. I let Mama know and she called the hospital to confirm. Turns out that insurance paid an unexpected amount on the last manipulation Mama had done. That covered our bill to the point that we were actually overpaid. Surprise! It was not a lot of money, but it was enough to make a difference this month. We have about $800 outstanding with the physician and we will have paid off all Mama’s residual bills for the surgery and all the manipulations. Over $21,000. Praise the Lord!

A few evenings ago, Grandma was over visiting. During that time, I was working on Mama’s phone doing something that either required an ap to be installed or updated. When I got to the point of getting permission to load or update the app, the phone needed to see Mama’s face to do so. I pressed the button twice when prompted then I walked over to Mama, who was finishing up some dishes, and held the phone up for her to look at. As soon as she did, facial recognition kicked in and granted me the permissions I needed. Mama saw the permission being granted and laughed at what I had just done. Grandma was put off at not being allowed to see what the joke was between me and Mama. She was thinking that it was a picture or comment. I simply said that Mama’s phone needed to see her beautiful face.

Listening to Mama explain what had happened – that our phones can look at our faces to unlock permissions – blew Grandma’s mind. The evil things we do nowadays. I have to agree with her in part. It bothers me that my phone is studying me, but it also provides a convenience and security that is easy to get used to. And now, by choice, I have a watch tracking my blood pressure and heart rate.

What a world we live in.