Cori and Nate’s anniversary, chicken moves, growing her business

Cori and Nate’s wedding anniversary was Wednesday. Today it their second anniversary of relocating to Honduras. For their wedding anniversary, the kids made them breakfast in bed – made to order - but the special service did not stop there. That evening the kids set up Cori and Nate’s bedroom to look like a restaurant, dressed up and served them at the table they had prepared for that purpose. I did not get the menu for that meal, but it was a pretty clever idea since they were not allowed by virtue of the quarantine to go out to eat at a restaurant. What a special memory. I know that over the years our children have done some special things for Mama and me. I only wish not that I had memorialized those events in the same way.

After dark last night Mama and I moved the slightly older chicks into the West side of the coop. As we fed earlier that evening, we closed off that side to all the older chickens which displaced the twelve or so that had regularly roosted on that side. Eventually, all those hens found a spot on the East side of the coop to roost for the night. I am not sure how much consternation it will cause when the hens that lay in the nesting boxes we have always had on that side no longer have access to that side, but I am confident they will eventually figure it out. We moved the nesting boxes from that side into the East side for a total of eight on that side. All the hens will now have to find an opening on the open side to volunteer their eggs. It will not take long to evaluate how well that is working out. When we collect those eggs this evening, it will be brutally obvious.

Once we got the older chicks into their side of the coop, we got the ten younger chicks out of the Banty house and put them into the small coop building. (Our repurposed Birthing Center.) Mama said they were very excited this morning when she opened the little door that allows them access the yard – a 10x10 kennel. Last week I placed wire along the bottom of that little coop and opened that up to the chicks which almost doubles the yard space available. Both sets of growing chicks needed more room, but Mama is particularly fond of the younger set because they are very calm and very friendly. For that reason, those chicks were placed by themselves in their private coop area. I will need to buy or build nesting boxes for both areas now. Both the new coop and the West side of the large coop. But there is no urgency. Those sets of chicks are still weeks away from being ready to lay.

Mama has been agonizing about getting to the next level in her company. She needed an additional person to sign up in her group. We have prayed about it and have waited. Last night, late last night, she was responding to a text from a person who is doing very well with a party she has going on and Mama suggested she join Color Street as a stylist. The person she was texting with thought that was a good idea as well. She signed up right away. Meanwhile, Mama continues to do live presentations which allow her to show what she has in inventory as well as stay connected to her friends and clients. It is fun to watch the progression in her confidence. Mama is loving the income.

Though it is not a huge amount, It is enough to make a difference to her.

Banking, office hour, our Hope

I got word from the bank that all the paperwork was ready a little after 10 am yesterday, so I took the afternoon off and Mama and I drove to Lawton to sign the papers. It is an easy drive and Mama was able to work on various things for her business as we made the drive to Lawton. We spent a good deal of time talking about how to handle the money we were borrowing against the houses but since there is no particular hurry to designate the funds for a specific project - other than completing the work on the two houses in Lawton – we are going to move very slowly and pray about what needs to be done outside of our real estate business. Hopefully, by July 1 we will have one of the two houses rented, which will more than cover the note. If not, we will hang in as we get the houses completed and rented. We did not borrow enough to do any heavy investing. That was done on purpose. I did not want leverage too much and end up in a worse situation than we just came out of. From here, we move slowly. Prayerfully.

When Mama and I got back we hit the ground running. Feeding needed to be done along with many other  animal related chores around the farm. Since it was a church night, we had to get everything done quickly so we could have the time to shower and get ready for church. Pastor invited the Walker’s to do a week of revival meetings. It will be a delight to spend next week with them. Like many evangelists and missionaries on deputation, they have had no meetings scheduled since late February. That means they have had no income (or very little income) for the past three months. That makes things a little tough. We cannot help them all, but since we had to cancel Vacation Bible School, we plan to use the family for the revival services instead. It will be a more relaxing time for them than VBS would have been, but it will be great for us as a congregation. The services will be held in the new building so we can still “distance” from each other. All the services will be broadcast for those who cannot attend. And I am sure the Walker’s will put on quite a presentation for all the services. Having services four nights in a row is a little bit of a hardship, but we will enjoy it as it unfolds.

I spent about a half hour in the office this morning to trade off files. I will be presenting an online 8-hour class every Wednesday for the next eight weeks starting next Wednesday. In order to be ready for those classes, I needed to upload files I have been working on and download files that I need to work on. What would have taken me eight to ten minutes per file at the house took me about forty five seconds at work. It was worth the drive there and back to get the work done. I was not allowed to stay at the office since I am not one of the twelve allowed to be in the building right now. We are at 25% occupancy per the guidelines being followed by businesses that are reopening.

I do not believe anyone in our office – other than the one person who has routine testing along with her monthly chemotherapy treatment – has ever been tested for COVID-19. I suppose, ignorance is bliss. As long as the perception of fear rules the day, we are going to try to figure out how to stop doing what we are doing and struggle back towards normal.

I read an interesting article by a liberal professor who argued that Christians are unafraid of the virus because they believe in an “afterlife”. That belief allows them to live fearlessly in this life because they believe there is a better life waiting on them when this one is over. Well, duh! Then he made a statement that struck me. He argued that for those who believe this life is all they have, they are terrified to lose it and enraged that anyone would lack the decency to protect them from anything that might jeopardize their one shot at life. I wanted to ask, Do you smoke? Do you drive a car? Do fly on planes? Do you eat fatty foods? Do you engage in risky sexual behavior? What other things around you threaten your life that you pay no attention to? Why is this virus the most dangerous threat you have ever faced? How am I responsible to protect you from a virus that I do not have? A virus that can access your body through myriad vectors.  A virus that you would statistically be unaffected by. It makes no sense unless you are placing all your hopes in this life.

It was a stark reminder of the hope that motivated those of us who believe. A stark reminder of the hopelessness, the despair of those who do not know our Savior. Thank God for our Hope.

Tending to the bees, Mama’s business

I had planned on tending to the bees earlier in the day yesterday, but I got caught up in actual work at lunchtime and had put it off until after work. I have needed to change out the bottles of syrup in the feeders for days now but have been held off because of the rain. Opening the hives in the rain would be unwise. Fortunately, yesterday was overcast, but we did not have any rainfall. I was not sure what to expect when I opened the feeders and further opened the hives, but I needed to make sure the bees were drawing out the frames in the brood box. I have to wait to add anything to the hive until the brood box is almost full – or at least eight of the ten frames are full. When I see that, I can put the honey super on the hive – but not before. I had Mama hold off on making the syrup for the feeders until I looked into the hives. Lat time we made it up in advance and the syrup mixture sat in the fridge for a week. Not a good thing. When I did open the hive and look in, I was a little disappointed.

So far, the bees have only filled out between six and seven of the frames in each of the hives. I expect as plants begin to bloom and more pollen is available, they will make better progress, but for now, I replaced the jars in the syrup feeders with full jars and we will check again Thursday. I was able to tell that many more bees are in each of the hives, and that they are working hard to draw out (fill) the frames with comb so more bees can be hatched, but it is still a work in progress. On the bright side, when the comb is drawn out on the frames, it will be used over and over by the queen to lay eggs. Until they are closer to the goal of having the frames drawn out, I will not add any area they are required to guard against predators. Empty areas on the hives are an invitation to predators and there must be sufficient bees in the colony to protect those areas. So far, it has been fun to work the hives. Mama has let me do the work alone because we do not have a good bee suit for her, and she is too afraid of getting stung. For me and Mama, it is an education in progress.

Mama’s business is doing well. I think. She reached another level in the company which translates into more money made personally from every sale. That is good. However, she has spent a fair amount of money lately because of how the company has had to change their product availability. Orders have been in the multiple millions of packages of nails per day. More than the company can supply without limiting access to their website to stylists only. That change requires Mama to buy – out of pocket – the nails ordered in parties and then mail those products to those who ordered the nails. Those are two new, unexpected expense to cover while we get the products to customers and then wait to be repaid for those products. The money will eventually come back to us, but accounting for the expense has become challenging for Mama. Getting the customer payments to the right account to make sure the expense is reimbursed before the profits are calculated is an uncommon math issue for her to deal with, but we are managing. What is amazing to watch is that her business, and the company that makes that business possible, is growing exponentially as we still struggle with the current pandemic crisis.

I am expecting to hear from the bank in Lawton today or tomorrow. Once we know the paperwork is ready for signatures, Mama and I will plan the trip to Lawton to get that done. We need a road trip even though that may cost me time in quarantine with my company. I am not sure if a trip to Oklahoma will count as a “quarantine required” action on behalf of my company guidelines, but one of the questions I have to answer upon entering the office is, “Have you traveled outside the state of Texas in the past 30 days?.” I am not sure what action an affirmative answer to that will bring but we will see. I do not want to lie. The consequences of that are more offensive than any action my company would require of me for crossing the state line. As if the virus knows what a border of Texas is. That is just one of the illogical impositions we are now dealing with.

Hopefully this confusion is shortlived.

More rain, long weekend project, pajama days

We got a total of five inches of rain since Friday night. Most of that fell overnight Friday; 4 inches. It is the most rain we have had in one night for a long time. It was an excess of our need, but welcome none-the-less. No rain Sunday. Thankfully. We needed time for the creeks to go down before we were rained on all day yesterday. In this part of Texas, we do not usually get an all-day rain. Not one as hard as it rained throughout the day yesterday. It was a steady, umbrella requiring rain from about 8 am until 4 pm. The total accumulation was just over one inch. Needless to say, our plants are loving the rainfall with brief periods of sun. It is a perfect combination of conditions for them to grow quickly. Rain continues to be in the forecast for almost every day the remainder of this week. We will adapt. There are some places that are amazingly soft. Mama sunk into one such place in the garden as we picked blackberries late yesterday evening. I mushed out the ground to fill the hole she left so it does not eventually harden in that shape.

Yesterday, Monday, was a holiday. Memorial Day. O tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. We owe those fallen and those who served - and are serving - a debt of gratitude that we cannot fully repay. Hopefully, we will consider precious the freedom they died to give us and once again become good stewards of those freedoms. It is difficult to see that happening as we struggle now for the right to live our lives, to work, to worship, to assemble, to go where we want and to visit with whomever we choose. Considering the freedom that was bought for us, it was poignant to consider how much we have surrendered for the promise of protection from a pathogen that was grossly over-hyped. I can only hope the truth will eventually come out. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but we all deserve to hear the truth.

Observance of Memorial Day gave us a long weekend. I did what I typically do when I have an extra day off. I worked. This time creating an overhead space to store 4x8 sheets of plywood or Masonite in the shop. It is difficult to find an acceptable place for leftover pieces of full sheets of 4x8 material in the shop. I have had a large piece of ½ inch plywood in my way for a couple weeks now and it was starting to really bug me. Especially since the sheet was bowing badly. I had no reason to cut it into smaller pieces, so it lay on the floor of the shop curling up. Tripping me up to the point that it caused me to stumble and fall yesterday when I was not paying enough attention to where my feet were in relation to it. I had things pretty congested in my work area yesterday since it was raining and I could not set anything outside, but I could have (should have) moved the piece out of my way rather than stumble around it. Anyway, I finally got the overhead storage spot finished about 8 pm. I used the misshapen piece of ½ inch plywood as a base for the storage area so that is will be easier to slide in whatever is put overhead. There was little other use for it.

I had to buy a few pieces of lumber to complete the storage space, but it was minimal. Most everything I needed, I already had on hand. Loading those few boards in the truck soaked me thoroughly requiring me to change shirts once I got home from Lowe’s, but it allowed me to get the project completed. With the welding and metal cutting needed to support one end of the rack, it took me longer than I thought it would. I had to support one corner of the storage area from the trusses in the roof of the shop versus having a post in the middle of the shop to hold it up.  That required building and welding up the support, then welding it to the truss. All told, it was a fun project to complete. It will be immensely useful in the future.

Mama and Victoria spent the day inside. For Victoria, it was a pajama day. Mama changed only to go out to feed. Late in the day, they teamed up to work in the garage to sort through the stack of items we had accumulated in a corner of the garage. It took the two of them about an hour to get through all that was there. Many of the items were discarded. Some, I will burn over the next few days. Many I will take to the trash. It looks much better.

Other than the items that were removed from boxes and left lying about to be sorted further.

A day of answered prayers, isolation

Yesterday was a day of answered prayers for me and Mama. Our realtor/contractor, Glenn called fairly early in the morning to ask how our money situation was working out. From our discussion a week or so ago, he was aware we were working with the bank to get the funds together to complete the houses and he is at the point that it would only be right to get some money to him for him to continue with the remodeling. He has done a lot of painting, inside and out. The kitchen cabinets in the Dover house look amazing now. So, we are at the point of finishing out the kitchen and bathrooms in both houses and purchasing appliances. I let him know we were still working with the bank and should know something by the end of next week. For now, he is moving to other projects while we work with the bank. As soon as we have the funding settled, he will complete both houses very quickly. He has had several calls from potential renters on the Dover property, so he expects to have it rented quickly upon completion. Possible by July.

Another answer to prayer came as our CPA finally got the financial statement to us. That came to me late Wednesday evening and I immediately forwarded it to the bank. The person I am working with at the bank responded even though it was well after 6 pm. So yesterday, I worked with the bank to move forward with the loan we are asking for to finish the houses and replenish our accounts. We are not asking for much, less than 50% of the value of the properties, but it will be enough for us to re-coop our costs and move forward with completing the houses as well as allow us to continue investing in this very lucrative real estate market. Less borrowed means a significantly lower loan payment. Where we stand right now, if either of the houses are rented, it will more than cover the cost of the loan. If both are rented, we will make significant passive income.

Additionally, I asked our CPA for an electronic copy of our tax return for last year. I got that yesterday afternoon while Mama was out with Grandma and Grandpa. For the first time in several years, we are due a refund for last years taxes. It is not a huge refund, but they owe me and Mama versus us owing them. That was icing on the cake. It was a completely unexpected blessing especially since I had to prepay “expected” taxes through last year on a quarterly basis through 2019. Now, all that money will be returned to me. Praise the Lord! That will not happen again as Mama and I build this business – and as her business grows. But it was a nice surprise.

Lastly, Mama and I got our stimulus payment from the government yesterday. It came as a pre-paid debit card, but we can work with that. I would much rather have had a check I could have put in the bank. Mama and I are praying about that money. We need to spend it wisely in order to get the most we can out if it. That too, is a bit of money that we will not get again. We need to make sure we get the most out of it possible. We have only one chance to do that. Fortunately, there is not particular hurry to spend that money.

Cori let Mama know yesterday that things are bouncing between bad and worse in Honduras. The country is going into strict lockdown again this weekend. They were hoping for the exact opposite. She and Nate have only been allowed to go out to get necessities once every ten days. Those whose number would have come up Saturday or Sunday will have to wait an additional ten days for their turn to go out and buy what they need. Quantities of staples are generally available in the stores when they are able to shop, largely because the Hondurans do not have money available to buy in large quantities. Very unlike our country where people will strip the shelves bare, leaving nothing for others. Most of the population buy their “daily needs” only. Being forced to make a day’s ration stretch for ten days is a true hardship. Something we cannot readily sympathize with. Having no income exacerbates the issue for a large portion of the population. How they are surviving is beyond my comprehension. We may never know the overall effect of this situation, but as is true here, more are suffering from the imposition of forced isolation than are suffering from the virus.

The isolation has gone on long enough that it is difficult to stay positive. No news. No updates. No guidance. Only day by day decisions imposed on the populace. Cori is feeling the strain intensely as she tries to prepare meals with the little they have in the house and as she tries to keep the kids happily ignorant of the hardships imposed during the isolation. A couple days ago, Cori made it to the children’s home for a brief visit and told us that the kids in the home were overwhelmed to see someone new. It has been many weeks since they have seen anyone besides those they are isolated with.

Please continue to pray for them and the ministry there.

Class, missed church, furniture needs, growing things

Class yesterday went well. We had a few hiccups with the software through the four hours of class, but we managed to rectify each one of them one by one. I had ten participants in the class, so not everyone was able – or willing – to participate, but the few that did made the class a success. We were done by 12 pm. Right on time. These classes are fairly easy to teach. I am learning how to get the pace of the presentation right to make sure we take the time we allotted without having to rush through anything or to drag anything out. Right now, I am using a presentation that I am not excited about, but it is all we have until the rewritten presentation is approved for publication. Everyone enjoyed the class. That is always a bonus. Everyone did well on the test. Even someone who was struggling with a language barrier. Another bonus.  We got some really good feedback. So, we will continue with this style of online presentation even after things return to normal. It is a real money maker for my company; especially no travel is required by me or the participants.  It is job security for me, since I am one of three who can present the class in the current format.

No one noticed during the class, but I had a blistering sinus headache. The headache has been a staple of my days for a couple weeks due to the windy conditions and the high pollen count, but yesterday was a bit more than normal. I managed through the class, but by the time I got home and started through the course of the afternoon into the evening, the headache got worse to the point that I missed church last night. Mama missed as well for mostly the same reason. we were able to listen and watch online, but it is not the same as being there. Bro. Zach let the music since I was not there. I really miss my part in the service when I am not able to attend participate in person.

This morning Mama, Grandma and Grandpa are going furniture shopping. We are in need of a new sofa or love seat, but we are not in a position to purchase anything. That, I suppose, is the best time to shop – when you have no money to spend. Since Mama spends a large part of her day sitting on the sofa with the recliner up, we have discovered that the couch we have needs to be replaced to accommodate her “office” time. We are leaning towards purchasing a love seat versus another sofa. Either way, the purchased furniture will need to offer a recliner function if it is to serve Mama’s needs. So, the shopping has begun. Hopefully, the couch we currently have will serve well enough in the interim while we locate a suitable replacement within our price range. Not an easy task. For me it is more like a chore.

We are forecast to get rain during each of the next seven days. That is a blessing. It will get some of the pollen out of the air and it will water our plants at this critical time. Getting the small transplants in the garden time to get a strong root system before the heat comes and stays is crucial. Warm overcast days with periods of rain are like raising the plants in a greenhouse.

Mama and I are already picking blackberries, both wild ones and domesticated one. Our blackberry plants are loaded this year. We will start picking blueberries tonight. Mama is a little disappointed about the blueberry bushes. One of the three is producing only a few berries. The other two are doing okay, but not as well as last year. Peaches are ripening on the tree and will be ready to pick in a couple weeks. The pear tree is doing okay, but I am not interested in that fruit. The pears are hard and gritty. Not something I am excited about. The nectarine tree has about twelve nectarines left on it. That is disappointing since it was loaded last month. I will plant the two pecan trees I “hatched” at an agreed spot in the back yard sometime today or tomorrow.  In about ten years we will get pecans from them. It will be interesting to see if we are here for that harvest.

Victoria will be traveling home today. I am assuming she has had a good visit with Brittany and the girls. I will get filled in on that later today.

Outside, class, Sam’s shearing, Victoria

I worked yesterday on getting the chicks – now more than half-grown – into the kennel/yard we are providing for them. It worked out pretty well. After Mama and I got the chickens out of the cage and put them in the yard, I got the cage out of the little coop and started on putting up the framing and wire I had cut to fill the opening between the working are in the building and the actual coop area. It looks okay for now but I need to make a proper door to close the center of the opening that gives us access to the roosting area. For now, we have the little half door that was originally installed by Grandpa with a piece of a hog panel above it. Together they close off the access to the roost area. We use a small knife door I installed in the building to allow the chickens into the yard. Last night, Mama and I had to catch the chickens and put them onto the roost for the night. This morning, we opened the door to the yard and let them figure it out for themselves. We’ll see how that woks out, but if they exit on their own, they should be able to enter on their own tonight. If, not, we will help them get back onto the roost tonight. It may take several times to get the routine down, but they will eventually get it all worked out.

The young chickens thoroughly enjoyed being on the ground last night. Scratching, dusting, flattening themselves to the moist ground to cool off. It was fun to watch as I build the fence that will enclose the small coop. Setting the building where we did requires me to expand the area that encloses the coops. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time but have not seen as necessary. For all these years we have used a temporary fence on that side of the yard, but I had to remove that when Grandpa and I moved the building last week. Now I can see exactly were the fence needs to be places – complete with a seven-foot iron gate. It should look nice when we have it done and be far more serviceable than what we have put up with for years. This fence placement will use the last of the iron gates mama and I bought from a friend almost four years ago. Better late than never.

 I am scheduled to teach an online class tomorrow morning. It is one of the four-hour classes we are starting to offer. There is some confusion as to whether or not I will be allowed into the building since we are strictly limiting the number of people in the building to no more than 12 at any time. I am confident things will be worked out but for now I am still waiting for permission to report to the office tomorrow morning. I cannot present the class from here so I am hopeful they will allow me to run the class from the office. If not, someone else will have to present the class. I will work within the parameters I am given and do all I can within those guidelines, but there are definite limits to my abilities while I am working from home. Next week we have an in-person class scheduled for five people. That should be fun to squeeze into the mix.

Mama and I loaded Samson into the Sequoia this morning so he could be taken to the groomers. It was not difficult to get him into the vehicle. Getting him out without hurting him may be an issue, but I am sure they will figure it out. I feel sorry for the groomer. Sam is a filthy mess with a mane of tangled, thick, dirty hair from head to tail. He smells like the wet dog he personifies. Whatever they are charging to shave him down is worth it. He will be their “loss leader” for the day. They will have to re-coop their time on some other cleaner, smaller dogs. Mama feels that this is the last time we will do this with Sam. I am not certain she is right about that, but we have made preparations for his potential replacement in the event of his demise. My gut tells me he will hang on for several years to come – especially under Mama’s watchful care.

Victoria leaves for Brittany’s this morning. I pray they will be a blessing to each other. Victoria loves the twins and that feeling is enthusiastically reciprocated. We have not spent enough time around Audrey for her to get attached as much as the twins are to Mama and Victoria, but that will cone eventually. It is a six-hour trip to Brittany’s and Victoria had made the trip several times on her own, so there is not the angst associated with this travel as with some other less familiar destinations. However, there is still an issue with Victoria’s car that no one has been able to diagnose and resolve. At odd times, the car will struggle to start. It has always eventually started, but at some point, that may fail completely. For now, Victoria just deals with it and it has worked out well enough. It would be fantastic if Brittany could introduce Victoria to an eligible Christian serviceman while she is there.

But I do not think anyone is looking that direction.

Rain, pain, to travel or not, little projects

Last weekend we finally got the rain we have needed for some time. We got three- and one-half inches over the course of the day Saturday. The rain was never heavy. It was a gentle constant rain. It soaked in deeply. So deeply that Mama and I were sinking into the softened ground at various places around the farm as we fed that evening. I did not even attempt to do a close inspection of the garden, but it was clear that the rain had helped the plants. The lightening helped to green up all the vegetation around us and the constant rain finally cleared the air of the dust and pollen we have been breathing for a couple weeks. The dust and pollen will be back quickly enough, but for the moment, the air is clean, all the trees are washed, and the tanks are filled. Who could ask for more? Many of the squirrels around the farm are out playing tag in the trees as they celebrate the dewy morning. One of the benefits of now working from home is that I get to enjoy the commotion every morning brings to the farm. Goats, chickens, dogs, birds, squirrels, and frogs all chime in to greet the day.

It was a good thing that it rained all day. I was hurting so badly that I got nothing done. I spent all day trading time sitting in the recliner and sitting on the toilet. I have not had a bout that painful for some months. The pain continued through Sunday afternoon, easing in the early evening. The pain has largely passed now and I can feel a dramatic difference in the stress on my colon. I will eat carefully for a few days and hopefully, this too will pass.

Mama spent the weekend agonizing over whether or not to make a trip with Victoria to visit Brittany tomorrow through Thursday, finally erring on the side of staying here. It would be a difficult trip for her with as much pain as she has been in. Not to mention the timing. Timing for these things is everything and now the timing seems a little off. Travel is not restricted per se, but many places of business – especially restaurants when Mama and Victoria plan their stops – are still closed. Most gas stations are still serving customers without a problem so bathrooms will still be available, but there is still a lot of apprehension among the masses.

I feel it would be better to wait a few more weeks, but Victoria has the time off. She scheduled the time before any of this nonsense happened. Her time was supposed to be spent in Honduras with Cori and the kids. Of course, that fell through. Victoria could potentially fly to Honduras, but she could not get to Cori, Nate and the kids from the airport since they are not allowed to travel outside their city. Plus, one more mouth to feed would have been a noticeable hardship on Cori right now. Soon, this will be over. But for now, we must adapt as graciously as possible. In lieu of flying to Honduras, Victoria will use some of her time off to see Brittany and her three girls. Zoe and Sophia are excited about the visit. So is Victoria. Hopefully, it works well for Brittany and Andrew.

Mama and I are still waiting on our CPA to get a document to the bank on behalf of our business entity. When that is done, the bank can begin the paperwork to evaluate our requests. Until then, we are on hold. It is not a nail-biter for us but there is an element of stress involved in the wait. Hopefully, it will all be settled very soon.

While Mama and I wait, we have plenty to do here at the farm. Finishing the small coop so that we will be able to let the chickens out of the cage they have clearly grown too large for. The “yard” is ready enough that we can put the chickens out of the building so that we can remove the large cage they are in and put up wire that will keep the chickens in their part of the little coop building. Getting the cage out of the building is the key to getting all the other work done. All that should be finished enough this evening to allow us change how the chickens use the building. Mama will be relieved and excited about the change when it does happen. As for me, I have cut to size all the wire and wood pieces needed to fill the openings.

It will take me a couple hours to get the work done to make the conversion complete…and quite nice when it is done.

Moving day, meeting, finishing

For some reason Grandma and Grandpa wanted to come over yesterday. Originally, Mama had planned some kind of shopping outing, but that fell through, but Grandma wanted to get out. So, Mama told Grandma if Grandpa wanted to come over and look over the area where we wanted to place the little building we used as a birthing center when it was moved, he could give her an idea if that was the right thing to do or not. They showed up just before my lunchtime. Mama visited with them as I continued to work. Mama had showered and was headed to a meeting with her mentor, so she was not dressed to do anything on the farm at that point. After a few minutes of visiting, Grandpa went out to look things over. He approved of the overall plan and decided to fire up the tractor to see if it could life the little building. It was able – and the work was on. I had not anticipated making the move but there we were. Sometimes it is just best to roll with the flow. Grandpa was there and willing. I was there and able to make the time to work with him.

I very quickly tore out fencing that was in our way and got the large straps from the truck so we could wrap the straps around the building in the move. I very quickly gathered the cinder blocks we had at various places around the farm and put them in the general area where were we planned to set the building. Once it was pulled out of its place there was no turning back. I had to re-strap the building to the tractor about a dozen tomes as Grandpa repositioned the tractor to ensure we headed the right direction. Grandma videoed part of the process as we dragged a short distance, disconnected the straps, repositioned the tractor and hooked the straps back around the building. We had the building in place and blocks under each corner in about an hour and a half. I had used my two-wheel dolly under the side of the building opposite the tractor for many of the short pulls. It lifted it just enough not to drag heavily on the ground, easing the stress on the foundation of the building. Grandma was impressed with the application of equipment. Once the building was in place I had to quickly change and leave for the office. I had a 1:30 meeting with my boss.

I got to the office a little after 1 pm. We were doing my yearly review at 1:30. It went well. We spent most of the hour chatting about things completely unrelated to the review, but I did get some insights into how Crystal and our management feel about me at the moment. In their eyes, I am the foundation of the Instructor Led Training program. The other things I am assigned to do are an adjunct part of my duties. Training is my strength and that strength adds to the company’s ability to offer the variety of training we are currently offering. They consider me essential. That is a benefit. One of the issues they are running into as they try to hire an additional trainer is the salary requirements of experienced trainers in this industry. Those requests come in at more than double what I am currently being paid. It has been an eye-opening discovery to my company. Will I benefit from the information? Not likely. But it at least increases my perceived value with this company.

After my meeting, I finished out the day at the office, getting home a little after 4pm. I had not eaten since breakfast, so I took time to eat dinner before going out to feed and further work on the building. I raised the building higher. I wanted it to sit on two blocks so that we could give the chickens being raised in it the room to scratch and dust themselves under the building. I got set up to move the kennel we were reattaching to the building and I cleaned up all the debris where the building had set. We moved that when Victoria was available to help me and Mama. I will work on getting access for the chickens from inside the building to the “yard” we are creating, but that should be easily accomplished. Once that is done, I will put a permanent cover on the kennel, both to protect the chickens and to keep them from escaping the yard. Then I need to build steps and a small porch so we can get into and out of the building safely when it is raining. It will be cute and serviceable where it now sits. Grandpa built this building about four years ago for one purpose, now it serves another.

Perfectly fitting my idea of making structures that are multipurposed.

Class, work

In the class I taught yesterday, I had only four students. It was a still a very good class. All of the participants were engaged and interested in the material. One participant sent my contact information to his leadership so that I could be offered an opportunity to speak at a commencement of one of their classes. They provide different course paths to prepare employees to work in a variety of roles in the oil field. That kind of invitation was different - but encouraging. Another asked about other offerings we currently had open during this “crisis” and is enrolling two of his employees in a class I am teaching online next week. Even with only four participants and the elimination of certain activities due to social distancing impositions, we managed to stretch out the class for the required time, ending about 4 pm. I was very tired after the class for some reason. I had to lay down for an hour before getting ready to go to church. But, overall, it was good to give a face to face class presentation in the midst of all this ongoing confusion. I will do it again on the 27th.

We are starting to allow people back into the office next week with the caveat that we will strictly enforce social distancing rules. How fun! I have not been notified if I am one of the persons who will return that week or if I will be allowed back in the following weeks. That announcement will come out today. In talking with Crystal (my boss) briefly about the return to work, she mentioned that she and Red may not be allowed to come back to the office until the perceived danger is passes. Whenever that is. Both of them have serious underlying health conditions. She was not pleased. The confusion and mixed messages only add to the disruption and fear and my management is struggling to make sense of a situation that no one has been able to clarify to the point that we can see a path forward. No one is sure if what we are doing is working or just what we are working to accomplish.  Are we striving to eliminate all germs from the workplace? Are we striving to eliminate all potential transmission of any illness within the workplace? What is our objective and how will we know we have met that objective? No one knows. No one wants to assume the responsibility of outlining or defining that mission. But we are working fulltime and getting paid a fulltime salary as well. Praise the Lord!

Mama and I are now getting regular updates on the houses in Lawton. Paperwork is submitted other than that which we are waiting on from our CPA. I had to correct some paperwork for the CPA yesterday in order for her to complete the documents the bank requires for our real estate business for 2019. Since I will be at the office this afternoon, I will get the remainder of that information to her, but I am not 100% sure what she actually needs. So, I will give her everything I can get from the bank. It will all be in electronic format, so the document size is irrelevant. She can sort through and get what she needs from the mass.

 I am scheduled to meet with my boss this afternoon for my annual review. It should go well. At least I do not anticipate any difficulties or surprises.

Movement, rain, teaching tomorrow

It is always a wonder to me to see God move in our lives. Since we were led in a different direction on the houses in Lawton the Lord has been moving to make that happen. While we sat for months languishing without much progress, now we are seeing what we had longed for months on end coming to fruition – only with a different focus. I anticipate we will have renters in our houses within the next month. July at the latest. That will be a blessing. Mama and I have run the preliminary numbers, and this should work out well for our real estate business. It should allow us to invest in properties in Arkansas like we have planned for the past two years while earning income on which we will owe very little taxes from the two rentals. When all the paperwork is evaluated and the bank offers are made, we will know for sure, but things are looking promising. We should know in a few days.

With our goats, Mama and I have been concerned that we have not seen Midas breed any of the nanny goats. But as I looked them over carefully yesterday, I began to question if two of the four have been bred already. They are showing signs of pregnancy. their utters are starting to swell as it does only when they are bred. No wonder they are so hungry. Mama and I will have to keep a close eye on them to verify my suspicions, but that would be exciting to have our own breeding program succeed. If they are bred, we will not increase their feed too much in order to limit the number of offspring. We would like to keep the births smaller, twins versus triplets, to have stronger babies and easier nursing for the nannies. Feed makes the difference in the number of babies the nanny will produce. Limiting feed therefore limits birth count. Simple…sort of. We will know for certain in the next couple weeks. I will have Mama work with me to look over the goats carefully this evening to see if she agrees with my assessment. It takes both of us to handle the goats successfully. Regardless, we will know for certain in a week or so.

We finally got some rain last night. Plenty of lightening to go with it. It was not much rain but with what is expected through the day today, it will make a difference. We are forecast to have several days of rain through this week. We will take it. All in all, I could probably water the plants and accomplish about the same effect on the ones we specifically care for, but to have the Lord do it is always better. Plus, lightening releases nitrogen into the atmosphere making the plants greener and healthier. A win-win.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. It will be a face-to-face class. This first one since mid-February. Class size is limited to six to maintain our social distancing, but at least we are offering a class in person.  (Next week I will do another online class for about the same number of participants.) I was told that we would be checking temperatures of each participant as they arrive. We will be offering gloves and face masks as well but will not require them to be worn. Soon enough we will discover that this “social distancing” experiment was a colossal failure, but we are not there yet.

The class will be an all-day class as it typically is when it is presented in person. I am looking forward to it. Along with my online class next Wednesday, my colleague will teach another face-to-face class the last week of May. I can only assume we will follow that pattern for some weeks to come. At least until we are back in the office full time and the economy has reopened fully. Right now, there are no other venues to offer the class to a larger audience even if travel were not restricted. That should change soon enough, but we are adapting as required.

I spent an hour in the office this morning to get the classroom set up for tomorrow. While in the office I sent the initial paperwork to the bank so they can begin the process of evaluating both us and the properties for the requests we are making. I do not see a problem, but time will tell. There were only two persons in the office when I got there this morning. My two bosses. We spent a few minutes planning for tomorrow and the safety precautions we will be using. We are still obligated to do so by State law. Even though I see it as a pretense only., I will follow my company’s direction.

I cannot wait for this to be over and yet, I like working from home – as long as my company is satisfied by my output.

What a weekend!

I held off on working with the bees until Saturday morning. Friday was horribly windy and a little cooler than normal and I had to fulfill my work obligations which kept me until after 4 pm. According to our mentors, the best time to work in the hives is between 10 am and 4 pm. I was a little late to start Friday evening. So, Saturday morning I got everything in place – the syrup feeders, the supers to accommodate the syrup feeders on top of the hive, the jars of syrup and the hive tools I would need – by the hive so I could have quick access to the parts once the hive was open. It all worked out well. I opened the hive, looked at the progress the bees were making and installed the feeders. It was quick work because the temperature was still pretty cool as far as the bees were concerned. I had everything in place and the hives strapped down in less than twenty minutes. I had to leave the pieces I had removed from each hive for each hive near the hive so the bees that refused to leave those panels could find their way back into the proper hive. Other than that, I was done pretty quickly. It took me another twenty minutes to get everything put away properly so that Mama and I could get ready to leave. We had several appointments set up during the day.

Mama had found, in her time on the internet, a place that we could pick strawberries. The location was sort of on the way to Lawton. Just outside Wichita Falls. We had an appoint with our realtor in Lawton at 2 pm, so we squeezed the strawberry farm between the bees and the meeting in Lawton. When we found the place, we were a little concerned because Mama had called and been told that the were closing the strawberry patch at 12 pm. It was 11:40 and we were still thirty minutes out when she had gotten that information. But it all worked out. When we got there the young man working the “cash register” told us to go ahead as see what we could find. “It’s been pretty well picked over.” He told us. He was right, but we found enough to make it worthwhile. There were so many strawberries that were only a few days away from ripening but could not be picked yet. Mama was finding enough to keep her mind off her pain about thirty minutes. That made it a good stop. Once, Mama was satisfied, we paid for the ripe berries we had harvested and headed to Lawton.

We met our realtor at our houses in Lawton. Mama and I were initially disappointed when we got inside our larger house. It was not any further along than it had been several months ago – other than the entire house had been textured and painted and doors had been hung. We liked the color Glenn had chosen for the walls and trim. Kitchen and bathrooms were still unfinished. Glenn does have beautiful vanities for the bathrooms at the house, they are sitting in the bedrooms waiting to be installed. Mama and I were a quite underwhelmed and anxious to talk to Glenn about the delay and a path forward. We were there at 1:50. After contacting Glenn, he got to the house about 2:25.

We chatted for a few minutes, then softly aired our grievances. He listened patiently and sympathized completely when we told him we were going back to the bank for the money to finish one of the two properties, but we needed a plan and a time frame for completion. When we talked that through,

Mama asked what the market was like in Lawton. It is not good. So, selling the houses could be problematic at this time. To overcome that obstacle and to get our finances boosted, Glenn suggested we rent the properties for a couple years. Rentals are very hard to come by right now. Houses of this caliber will rent quickly. Plus, we are in a very sought-after area of the town. Renting the houses will help get our finances in order, bring some income from the properties, and give us time to weather the Covid-19 storm we are in right now. With that in mind, I contacted the bank this morning to move that direction. We prayed with Glenn as we left – for wisdom, for direction, for grace, for faith to trust Him more, for the help He has given us to make the decisions we need to make, for Him to use us to His glory. We were encouraged.

On the way home we had to stop at Grandma’s. She had been given a nice scooter by a friend in West Virginia. Grandpa had just installed the battery in the scooter and Grandma was anxious for Mama to try it out. We did not stay long, but we had a great visit while we were there. Mama was anxious to get home because when Alex and Leslie had come to fish, they had dropped off Aubrey and Cheyenne at the farm. We have not seen the girls in weeks. Since this whole run-and-hide movement gripped our country. It was good to spend that time with them. We had them until late in the evening. Like most little girls do when they visit, they clung to Mama like little leaches. I mean that in the best possible way.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

Hive work, travel, weather woes

Unlike many around us during this time of isolation, Mama and I never lack for things to do. Things that must be done. The twice daily feeding of our flock and herd. The watering of trees, flowerbeds and garden. The mowing and trimming. Tending to the garden. Tending to the bees. Tending to the dogs. Every evening lately, I have not sat down until almost 9 pm. It has been good. While there are those we know who struggle to fill their days, ours are generally loaded with chores and activities. the busy-ness is a labor of duty – if not love – for the animals we tend to. We love this life. Today the hives will require some extra attention. I have built the syrup feeders and will install them in the feeder this afternoon. Lord willing.

As we participated yesterday evening in a Zoom meeting with our fellow Wise County Beekeepers, I struggled to know for certain if we really needed to feed the bees – which seem to be doing very well. They come to the hive loaded with pollen. I cannot see if they are full of nectar, but they are very active. I have no reason to question the vigorousness of the swarm I caught. They had a lot of comb drawn out in the trap in only a few days while they were in the trap. Today I will see inside the hives to determine whether or not any of the three hives needs more room and add a honey super if needed. From this point on, I will check inside the hives on a weekly basis. That day will have to be either a Saturday or Sunday in order to meet the suggested hours for such a task. The suggested hours from those who make their life raising bees is to open the hives between 10 am and 4 pm. That way the forager bees are not in the hive. They are about a third of the populous of the hive. Waiting until evening is one of the reasons I had the issues with the swarm trap when I transferred them to the hive. All the bees were home and all the bees were angry. Lesson learned.

Mama and I are meeting with Glenn tomorrow; our realtor/contractor in Lawton. We really need to nail down the timeframe required to complete one of the two houses as well as determine as closely as possible how much money we will need to get one of the houses to market. I would like to get a sense of why it has taken so long to get these projects done, but that may not forthcoming. We will see. At this point we need form answers and solid commitments, not speculation and vague promises. I am insisting Mama come along because she has not been satisfied with my interactions with Glenn in the past. I just take him at his word and go on. That has proven disastrous. If the dynamic changes having Mama in the conversation, we will know pretty quickly. Since all we need is a completion date and a projected amount to make that happen, it should not be a difficult set of questions to answer. we will see.

On the way either to or from Lawton we will see if we can find a strawberry farm Mama has been reading about. She really wants to pick strawberries. That would be a fun time other than the issues Mama and I are having with our backs at the moment. Perhaps, our current back pain will limit the amount of fruit we can collect and thereby limit the money we have to spend to pick that fruit. What a wonderful business model. We pay the grower to pick their fruit. Anyway, we will find the farm and see how things turn out after the storms that blew through last night. If we do get to pick strawberries it will be my Mother’s Day present to Mama.

Those storms reached us to some extent. We did get about ¼ inch of rain with all the wind and lightening. From the downpour Mama and I were watching just before we went to bed, I had hoped for far more. We could have used an inch or more but will happily take what we get.

Life goes on and with Mama, it is always a pleasure.

Online class, creeping back towards normalcy – maybe, back at the farm

The class I taught yesterday online went very well. The participants were probably more engaged in the online presentation than they would have been in a face-to-face class. In this class, all the participants knew each other well. They were all in different locations in Lower Michigan, but they work together on an infrequent but routine basis so getting together online was a great time for the four of them to visit over the process of the class. As far as the performance of the software, I made a couple errors in getting the presentation set up and running, but those were quickly corrected and graciously accepted. I was able to move through the various separate parts of the presentation fairly seamlessly to get all the videos and documents displayed properly for the participants. It was a fun class overall. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future, but for now we are invested in this online process. That is all for the better. Offering an online process to requalify within our system has been long overdue. Most of our clients are very excited about the offering. Since the classes are small by design, we will more than likely offer this class several times per month through the remainder of the year while still offering the all-day on-site class as requested. I anticipate the 8-hour class to be offered online sooner rather than later. The revenue generated by presenting this class without travel is amazing.

As more and more businesses open here in Texas, things are starting to get back to a feeling of normal. The fact that there is no exit strategy for this box we have pinned ourselves into bothers me. It is probably as safe now to return to normal as it will be in any of the weeks to come but nobody knows how that will be determined and who will make the determination. Two issues are at stake: culpability and power. Those feeling the power brought them in this conflict are becoming addicted to it. So far, they have only been lightly challenged in the decisions they are making to keep us in line, but those challenges are mounting. After all, we do still have a Constitution – which is being horribly trampled in this crisis.

Those in positions of authority do not want to accept responsibility for declaring the need for separation and shutdown is over. They are cowardly waiting for someone else to go first. Thankfully, some governors are willing to trust their constituents to do the right thing and start living their lives freely – as we should. There are stirrings in the DOJ to sue states that have overreached in their efforts to impose their random decisions on the populous. At church, we will continue the social distancing restrictions for at least one more week. No way of knowing how long that will last or when we will decide to say, “Enough already.” At work we will continue to work from home at least one more week. No one is willing to say, “Let’s get back to work.” “Let’s get back to living our lives.”

Meanwhile, back at the farm. I got a smoker yesterday so that we can use it in dealing with the hives as we work them in the future. The smoker is a kettle looking device with a bellows on the side. Once it has a smoldering fire inside, I can use the bellows to gently blow smoke onto the bees in the hive. I am told that the smoke has a calming effect on the bees. I have seen it work, but the mechanism of action is only an assumption on the part of those who are teaching us. I have also read that the smoke covers the scent of the pheromones produced by the bees thus limiting a coordinated effort to defend the hive or attack me as I work the hive. I will get to try it out this afternoon as I install the syrup feeders I built for the hives. Mama is a bit concerned since I am still suffering the swelling and itching from the stings I got a week ago. That and the fact that we still only have  the less than stellar suits to work in is a bit concerning, but we have to tend to our apiary. So, I have to use what I have to do that work. Maybe the smoker will help.

Hopefully, I will not get stung this time.

We’re famous, new venue, needed prayer

Mama saw on the Facebook page for our Beeker’s Club that the question a had been posed to the group. Using the photo I had sent James last Saturday morning when the swarm was on the outside of the hive, he asked to the new beekeepers, “What would you do?” What a great teaching tool. Mama and I knew the answer, but some others came up with the correct response as well. We will meet via Zoom tomorrow evening and discuss the event in further detail. Mama and I are pleased that the hive is now home to the bees we caught. Just that effort saved us $200, which is the cost of a nuc, as well as giving us a population of bees that are – I am told – more resistant to Veroa Mites; a scourge to honeybees. We will find out if the resistance is higher in this group of bees, but I will treat them for the mites as I do the other hives. Anyway, Mama and I are happy to share our experience with others for the benefit of the group. When I have another hive ready, I will put out the swarm trap again. I will stop for the year at four hives and we will hold there for a year before we talk about expanding. Mama and I are not very interested in doing this in a commercial way so six to eight hives will do it for us.  

I will be teaching a 4-hour class this afternoon to some of our heritage clients. The class will be presented over the internet via a program called Jigsaw. This will be my first time to teach a longer session live online. With the internet we have at the office, I am not concerned about presenting in this format. we have proven that it can work well. It will be interesting to see the interaction from the attendees isolated in their various locations. The last class taught in this manner was far more interactive than I had expected, so I am hoping this will be as well. Regardless, the class will only be four hours long. A very short class compared to what I am used to presenting. I would have preferred a morning class since this is Wednesday, but I am not complaining. I am working fulltime and thankful for that.

Mama is on her own all day today. This may once again become the normal for her as I expect to be called back to the office next week. In past weeks, I have worked until lunch in the office and finished out the day at home. I like that schedule. I have to admit that I will miss the extra time at home as I worked from home. But at some point, we will have to get back to normal – as undesirable as that may be for some. This whole illusion of danger is evaporating for most people, but there are a few who liked the arrangement and are unwilling to give it up. There are a few who are still truly scared. For them I have the upmost respect and do not challenge their genuine fear. That is not true generally throughout the population. I personally do not like the idea of treating each other as though we had a deadly disease. Stay away from me! Don’t come near me! Don’t touch me! All with the overarching attitude that screams without vocalizing it, “I’m aware of the danger and you are so stupid to be ignoring it!” This too will soon pass, but I still am a bit fearful of the lingering effects of this dichotomy within our society at large. Of the rudeness it has engendered.

Pray, if you would, for me and Mama as we struggle to determine what to do with these houses in Lawton. We have been dealing with this for over 18 months now on one of the two houses and have just passed a year on the other. We have prayed many times – nightly – for wisdom but are not seeing the answer. There are times when God is silent concerning specific prayers. This is one of those times. Thankfully, we are seeing God answer prayers in all other areas of our lives, but this one has eluded us thus far. Hopefully, this Saturday we will go to Lawton and meet with our realtor/contractor to see what is lacking in completing the projects and how much money we will need to do so. But we still need much prayer for the wisdom to ask the right questions and test the willingness of our realtor to complete the houses – all the way to marketing and selling them. Unfortunately, this has left such a bad taste in our mouth that we will not hurry back to buy more houses in Lawton…and that’s a shame. It offered such a wealth of properties in a very easy manner.

Where to go from here with this real estate business is another matter for much prayer.

Feeders, watering, little chores

For my lunch yesterday I went to Lowe’s to get a piece of plywood so that I could work on making the syrup feeders I had been shown by Sherry – the one who helped me recapture the swarm Saturday. I liked the design. It is far less invasive to service than anything I have now. The issue I had after I cut the plywood to fit the hive was that I had nothing to cut the holes required for the quart jars which serve as the reservoirs in the feeder. Four quart jars are required per feeder. I tried a hole saw I had, but it was too big. I tried twelve times to use a RotoZip to cut the circles but each one as either a little too small or just a fraction too big. I cut over a dozen holes in a scrap piece of plywood trying to get it right, but I could not get it to cut a consistent hole that would fit the lid of the jars properly. I liked the way the RotoZip cut the holes, but it was not designed to cut a hole as small as I needed.

After the twelve failures and two broken bits I finally gave up. Today I will buy a hole saw the size I need to cut the holes and buy the extra small mouth jars to make up the twelve I need to make the feeders. It was a bit frustrating to be so close and not be able to get it done.

After I gave up on the feeders, I cleaned out under the chicks in the birthing center, now the nursery coop. It was a mess. It was a couple days overdue, but it did not take long to gather the sodden chips and manure under the cage and dispose of it properly. Then I started watering the garden. As I was engaged in that chore, a storm was brewing just to our north, but I could not be sure it would make it to us, and the plants and trees were desperately in need of a drink. Some of the plants Mama put out have died off in the heat. I watered them just in case there is a chance for them to recover but it was probably a wasted effort on my part. Others are doing well adapting to the heat and direct sunlight. I was out in the garden until just before dark. The storm was a lot of thunder, lightning, and high winds but not a drop of rain for us.

I had one little chore left on the hives. I still needed to reset the corner block on the pallet holding the hives. I had left that corner supported with a shovel handle wedged on a cinder block. I had not replaced the block we pulled out to remove part of the swarm. So, just at dark, I put on the jacket and hood bee suit and took the time to put the block back in place and secure the pallet. My concern was that the dogs or some other animal could hit the extended handle of the shovel and knock it loose, letting the pallet fall at that corner. That would not have been good for my rehoused swarm in the hive on that corner of the pallet. I got the block back in place without incident in spite of the small swarm of bees on the outside of the hive. They are there every night. About one hundred or so bees. I do not know if there is not sufficient room in the hive or if there are an abundance of guard bees in the hive. So far, the swarm is making the hive their own, but those bees spend the night exposed. Now I just need to get some feed to them to help them along.

I finally got inside at 9:15.

Transferring the swarm, congregating, aftereffects

Late Friday evening I got the swarm trap out of the tree and carried it to the hive area. My thought was that I would wait until all the bees were in the trap, so I did not lose any of the bees from the swarm. At night, the bees all come home and stay there until the next morning. So, when the activity died down at the entrance to the hive, I sealed the opening with a special disc I placed at the opening and got the trap out of the tree. It was not as difficult as I had thought it might be, thank the Lord. No problems so far.

I opened the hive I had in place to prepare to swap out the frames from the trap to the hive and took the top off the trap. That’s when the entire operation turned into a train wreck. I was instantly surrounded by the entire swarm of bees. Not really. But it certainly seemed that way. To say they were not happy is a gross understatement. I was in a hood and jacket bee suit and quickly discovered that the pants I had on did not protect me from the bees that quickly began to sting my legs. I could not endure the stinging, so I backed away from the trap and got most of the bees off me as I headed to the house. Once in the house I got on the full bee suit and headed back to the mess I had created.

It was not as simple as swapping out the frames from one box to the other. The bees in the trap had drawn down their new comb from the bottom of the frames instead of drawing out their comb on the frames I had provided. I could not put the frames into the new hive with the comb on the bottom of the frame. So I had to scrape the comb off the frame to make the transfer. All the while I was getting stung repeatedly. I finally got all the frames in place. I closed up the hive and left the trap propped up at the front of the hive. At that point the majority of the bees were in the hive. Unfortunately, by the time I got the hive closed up several bees had found a path into the hood of my suit and I got stung multiple times on my face. Most of the other stings were on my wrists at the joint where the gloves and the sleeve of the glove are sewn together. I don’t know how many times I was stung there, but I kept at the transfer until it was complete. Or so I thought. I was greeted the next morning with the entire swarm once again on the outside of the hive. At that point I called for help.

James, who we have frequently called, was not available, but he sent his wife Sherry. Sherry assessed the situation and spent the next two hours calmly scraping the bees off the pallet, the cinder block and the front of the hive and placing them in the hive. We robbed a frame of brood from one of the hives in our small apiary and placed it in the new hive to encourage the queen bee to stay in the new hive by giving her a place to begin laying her eggs. Since I had scraped off all the comb they had built for that purpose when I tried to make the transfer the night before, it would give her a place to start. At the end of all that work, we had to wait and see if we had convinced the bees to stay in the hive. I was wearing a suit she had brought with her for those two hours. A much nicer one that I have. It is what Mama and I need but they are out of our price range at the moment. In that suit there was not even the possibility of getting stung. I spent some time Saturday evening gathering up all the stuff we left lying about when we were working on the hive. Trying to not disturb the bees in the new hive.

Sunday morning, I checked the hive and found that the bees were adopting the hive as their home. Now I need to build feeders for the hives so we can get the bees through this time when the flowers are not available to them. I will get the materials today and get that done as soon as possible. I still have to place the block under the corner of the pallet holding the hives (we took it out so we could get the bees out of it) and redo all the tiedown straps. Other than that, I will not mess with the hives until I the syrup feeders are built and ready to place in the hives. Hopefully, Tuesday.

Sunday we were able to meet together as a congregation. It was nice to see a lot of our members back in their places – sort of. We roped off every other pew and had people sit at the very ends of the available pews so we could maintain social distancing. We still broadcast the service live to those who either could not come or did not feel comfortable coming. This will be over soon but the effects of the fear it has caused will linger for a long time after we decide to get back to our lives. The service was a little awkward. Almost like we typically do, but not quite there yet as our Pastor adapts to the online part of the service.

I have keep reminding myself that I need to have grace for those who are truly afraid. The Bible tells us to defer to the weaker brother in times like this. I hope I did that yesterday, because some people are still afraid. Time heals all wounds, but this “crisis” has me a little worried about how long it may affect us socially.

Thankfully, God is fully in control!

Fishing, weekend work

Wednesday, I received a shipment of hive body parts I had ordered several weeks ago. I placed the order for the parts because when I counted the cost of buying the materials and the time involved in producing them, it was cheaper by a lot to just order the parts and assemble them in the shop. Everything I ordered is specifically cut to fit the hives. All the parts are mitered and grooved for specific inserts to be added. The time involved to produce what I needed would many multiple hours of tedious work setting and resetting my equipment. Now, all I have to do is assemble the parts and put them in service. Much simpler. All that work will begin this weekend. It will take several days of labor to get all the parts assembled so I will mostly put things together as needed. The unassembled parts are much easier to store.

Pastor was right on time yesterday evening. We loaded the boat and headed for the upper lakes. We first put in at the larger lake, but we had very little success. I caught three or four brim, but nothing of note. So, after about 45 minutes, we took the boat out and put in at the smaller lake. It was a challenge to navigate the shallow water at the entry point, but I had my gum boots on which allowed me to be in the water beside the boat until we had sufficient depth to use the trolling motor. While Pastor threaded us through the trees sticking up out of the eater, I threw out a lure and immediately caught a very large bass.

We fished around the small lake but had our best success at the barge. The wind was not bowing hard, but it was enough to frustrate us as we tried to stay in any specific spot or move slowly along the bank. I had packed a rope and we used it to tie off to the barge where Pastor caught seven large bass and I caught three additional large bass. After about two hours we pulled the boat out and headed out of the property stopping near the gate so we could test the crappie hole on that side of the lower lake. After scrambling down the bank, we fished for about thirty minutes without success. We packed it up and headed home. Pastor will take his catch to his son’s house and have a feast there with them. In just those couple hours, he caught enough to feed the eight of them very well.

When I got home, I hesitated to clean the bass I had caught because I did not know if Alex and Leslie, who were also fishing last night, had had a successful evening. That was about 7 pm. I fed the calf, watered the garden and tilled a couple new rows in the garden so Mama could plant today and tomorrow. It was dark when our Chinese fishermen finally exited the property and pulled up to the house. They gladly accepted the fish I had to add to their catch, paid for the eggs Mama had set aside for them and headed home. All in all, it was a very successful night on the lakes.

Mama and I ran to Decatur on my lunch break yesterday to pick up some vegetable plants she had set aside at the nursery we frequent. In addition to those plants we picked up a couple for Mr. Plumley. He is still unable to get out because of the restrictions imposed on them at the assisted living home. It is a small thing to buy a couple plants to add to his garden. The assisted living home, which allows him to tend to the bushes and other plants around the property, set up a raised bed garden for Plumley a couple years ago and he was lamenting that he was off to a very late start. Maybe this will help satisfy his need to fill those empty spaces in the garden.

As for our garden, Mama will pot most of the plants we took home yesterday. The ones we grew from seeds will be transplanted into the garden this weekend. Their survival in that environment is in question. It is dry. Dusty dry. The temperature is supposed to get to 98° tomorrow. That is only for one afternoon, but it happens to be the afternoon after we plan to get the plants into the ground. Perhaps we will wait until Monday evening. Perhaps not. I have found that the best time to get things done is when you have the opportunity. It may not be the most opportune time, but if you continue to wait for just the right time, the chore will not get done. Or it will be horribly rushed to completion. In this case, a couple days of delay should not hurt us.

With the work I need to get done for the bees, I cannot delay past this weekend. It will only be about three hours’ worth of work, but it is critical to get the colonies set up for the weeks ahead. this time, Mama has her bee suit so she can participate in the process. After dark tonight, I will shut the door on the swarm trap and get it out of the tree. I have not decided whether to make the swap to the hive in the dark, but I may do just that.

I will fill you in Monday. Lord willing.