Bus calling, birthday lunch, new lot, pecans, Scamper

Mama and I started off our Saturday by going bus calling with the church. It has been a long time since Mama has gone with me but recently the students from BBTI have been coming out on Saturday mornings, so Mama felt less intrusive being there. Normally, we have only men going out. I am not sure why that is, but that has been the case. That made Mama feel like the odd person out. Plus, the issues she has had with her knees in the recent past hindered her ability to join us. Saturday, she felt strong enough to go. It was a pleasure to have her there and we had a good time. We went in the large church bus with seven others. Mostly young people. It was fun. Zach, who drove the bus, split us into teams at several stops so we could knock doors and invite people to church. We were back at the church by about 11:45. Victoria met us at the church.

Victoria had made a specific request for her birthday lunch. Her birthday is Friday, but she will be working that day and Mama will be packing to travel. She wanted to go to The Breadwinner’s Café. As it turned out, a great place for dinner, but not so much for lunch. As we left the church headed to the café, I had Victoria check the menu so she and Mama could be thinking about their selections before we got there. In doing so, Victoria found out that the two items she wanted were not offered on the lunch menu. Rather than make the hour drive to that restaurant, we opted to go to the Five Boys Café in Bridgeport. We had not been there in a long time and we like supporting the local restaurants when possible. Victoria had the chicken fried steak. I had the chicken fried chicken. Mama had the meatloaf. Overall the food was good, but not great. I hate to admit to being disappointed, but we were. All of us got nauseated later that evening. None of us ate anything for dinner. Victoria even missed church Sunday because she had a very rough, very sick night. Whether that was from the food or from a bug is hard to say, but that is how things turned out. I hate to associate such a bad experience with the café but will be unable to disconnect the two. It may be that the food was just too rich for us. Too much fried food at once? It may be a long time before we try again – if we ever do.

In choosing a place nearer to home, I was able to work a few hours on the new lot I am making to allow us greater flexibility to separate the goats as needed. I know we will need the extra lots following each kidding because we will need to wean babies from their mommies and further separate kids by age and size to keep them from being overly tormented or forced out of the feed trough by their larger cousins. Right now, we have two sizes of kids to deal with along with the two sexes. We will have to separate the boys and girls very early. I will have the next lot ready this week. The older boys will go into that lot. The girls will be put in the lot at the pig building. Next month, when we get back from Honduras, I will build an additional lot to further separate the herd. As they grow to full size, we will combine the girls and the boys – until breeding time. Then the girls will need to be separated once again. The boys, for the most part will be left together. Oh, the fun.

While I stayed at the farm and worked on the first lot, Mama and Victoria went to Bowie and picked up pecans. They were able to hook up with Grandma and Grandpa so the four of them could pick up the pecans at Rick and Nancy’s. They got an additional fifteen or so pounds of pecans for the effort and I got to get all the posts set for the new lot. If given the time this evening, I will finish getting the posts fully set – i.e. driven all the way into the ground. Tomorrow, if the rain comes, I will weld the gate I set at the lot to the posts already set. it should turn out to be very functional. I have yet to build a shelter, but we will use the igloos for temporary shelter for the young bucks we will house there. With all the activities that kept me away from the farm Saturday morning and afternoon, I still was able to get a good bit of work done. My hands are still sore this morning from work done that afternoon.

Since Mama and I have failed to find a buyer for Scamper, our one horned buck, we talked about taking him to the meat market. With that thought in mind, Mama suggested we donate him to BBTI. Either way he gets processed, but at BBTI, it would be a blessing to them to offer him for their Jungle Week activities. For me it does not matter. I want him gone. He is a destructive little goat. Constantly hooking his horns in the wire fence and pulling it out of shape. Knocking his horns against the shelter trying to rip off the metal siding. Constantly aggravation Champ – our lone wether. A constant threat to Midas, our breeder buck. I will be happy to see him gone.

They will be here to pick him up this evening. Praise the Lord!