Cori’s COVID trap, debudding one goat, audio books. Mama and Chase’s birthdays tomorrow

I am afraid Cori is caught in the ongoing COVD trap. There is some reluctance to issue a negative test on the part of some labs across the United States. I am not sure what exactly is happening in Cori’s case, but she has to return to the same lab Thursday of this week to see if her test is now negative versus inconclusive. Most of the doctors or nurses she has talked to have told her that a negative test result could take up to two weeks following an inconclusive or positive test result. If she is negative, the family will reschedule their flights, perhaps ten days out from receiving the results of the test. In the meantime, they are staying busy with state-side stuff in their extended delay in returning home. I believe they are all looking froward with great expectation to getting a repeat dose of the COVID test…not. Hopefully, we have only another few weeks to endure the media irresponsibility associated with COVID case reporting as if a “case’ of COVID were the kiss of death. It would be interesting to see this type of hype carried out over the flu or the common cold. That will never happen. It requires far too much effort and would not produce the same political points as the current misrepresentations. A new menace is always more frightening than a known menace.

Mama is taking one of our little ones to the vet today to get disbudded. Hopefully, the process will be done chemically. The little buds of the horns starting to grow will be dissolved by applying a chemical that inhibits their growth. Otherwise, a device is used to grind off the budding horns. That process has not been overly successful for me and Mama, while the chemical process has been very successful. It is not nearly as traumatic to the kid. Catching the kid may be the greatest challenge to me and Mama. I was not supposed to feed the goats this morning to enable us to get them all to the feeders for capturing the little one close to the appointment time. I forgot. Oh, well. They will get fed again and we will hope for the best. At least we have Victoria here to help us if Mama and I are not easily able to get hold of the kid. I was able to pick up the goat is question this morning, but I did not want to put her in a carrier two hours before we needed to because she would be a wet mess by the time we got her to the vet. My bad.

Over the weekend I decided to bite the bullet and subscribe to Amazon’s audio books program. So far, I have made very good use of it. I was struggling to read Thomas Sowell’s Disparities and Discrimination. In several weeks I had made it trough Chapter One and had begun Chapter Two. With the audio version, I started over Friday evening and had listened to the entire book by late Sunday evening. I enjoyed that so much better that I downloaded a couple books I have not bought even though I wanted to read them because I was debating whether or not I would actually read them once I had a physical copy. I will start Dan Bongino’s Follow the Money tonight. It is nice to listen while I am working around the farm or in the shop. It is far more productive than watching a movie…of any sort. What I learned from Thomas Sowell’s book was very worthwhile in understanding how we evolved into the disparities we are now crediting to our forefathers rather than assume our responsibility in any wrong outcomes from our “morally superior” attempts to level the playing field for all participants. I have seven other books in the queue. I am planning on listening to one book per week at a minimum.

Cathryn’s birthday is today. Mama and Chase’s birthdays are tomorrow. It has been a full month of birthdays. Tomorrow, Mama, Grandma, and Grandpa are going to Wichita Falls to do some shopping, take Mama out to lunch and to get Grandpa to an ophthalmologist’s appointment. Mama has mixed emotions about the day, but to facilitate Grandma and Grandpa’s appointment she will do the driving. In reality, Grandma and Grandpa are not asking too much of Mama. They take about a day per month to get their shopping and appointments done. Mama is happy to help and over the years she has been called upon more and more, mostly as the designated driver. With Grandpa having trouble with his eyes (the reason for the appointment tomorrow) it is far better to have Mama shepherd them around.

It is a small thing and Mama is happy to help. Especially for a birthday lunch.

Inconclusive, game time, the weekend

Cori relayed to us the outcomes of the testing she and her crew went through for COVID. All the tests came back negative except hers. Hers was inconclusive. Unfortunately, that is not the negative result she needed in order to fly back home to Honduras. Inconclusive can mean a number of things but generally it has to do with the over abundance of mucus in the sinuses making it impossible to see if there are any COVID viral invaders lurking in the area tested. It simply means, the lab analyzing the sample was unable to determine if the COVID virus is present. No clear yes or no. What that means for Cori and her crew is that they will have to reschedule their flights for a later date – yet to be determined – and get tested again within 72 hours of that flight. The delay is heartbreaking, but God was not caught off guard by the test results. If we keep our faith in this situation, we may be able to see God do something miraculous for the family is this delay.

For my part, I am taking the test result for what it is, a non-answer. With the rest of the family testing negative (which I learned can mean a variety of things because it is registered as “not detected”), I am inclined to go with my lack of any symptoms after eight days as a negative result. In the practical sense, that is how it plays out in real life. That does not help Nate, Cori and the kids get home, but it helps Mama and me to go on with our lives. The only real question for us is, do we go to church Sunday or do we wait one more week? Sadly, Erin is still out and now Barbara’s husband Jerry is in the hospital with pneumonia being attributed to COVID. The last time we were in church with Barbara and Jerry was on the 13^th. I am not sure if they passed the virus to anyone at church, but it did not attach to me and Mama.

In our church family, we have two other families out with COVID related illnesses. It is actually hard to tell since everything from a sore throat and a runny nose, to pneumonia – all of which we had long before COVID – are now attributed specifically to COVID. Is it a player in all of those? Perhaps. Mostly we just assume it is. Is our isolating from each other the best way to treat this? Evidence is mounting that that is not the best method of dealing with the virus, especially when 99% of us are either not infected or asymptomatic. It is hard to establish herd immunity when we stop herding. Again, the evidence is inconclusive.

I was in meetings all morning yesterday. The first hour and a half meeting was to unveil our new brand for the company and the intent of the rebranding. The second was an hour and a half of a competitive game in which we all competed against each other answering trivia questions. There were five rounds of ten questions each. Most were multiple choice but there were some short answer questions that required typing in an answer. What made the game highly competitive was that as each question came up a countdown timer started and the longer you took to answer the question, the less points you were able to get from a correct answer. As expected, I did not place in any of the five rounds, but I participated just in case the results were being tabulated. My highest score in a round was around 700 points. I am not much of a trivia buff. I am less of a game enthusiast. But it made for a pleasant morning. Unproductive, but pleasant. As far as they were able our management got us together for a fun morning without getting us together physically. We are still adhering to the end of the year timeline in our working remotly. I am actually happy about that decision. Mama very happy about it.

We do not have lot planned for this weekend. There will be plenty to do and we will add to the list as the weekend progresses. My most pressing project is to work in the hives. I will need to remove the honey super on the one hive, and I am considering whether or not I need to start feeding the bees. Things are dry and dying here as we progress towards Winter so there is little for them to eat. I also need to get the pig lot done. I have barely started on it so far, but the weather is so much more pleasant now that the labor involved will be far more enjoyable. In between those projects are the little weekend things we do because I have the extra time. Along with those I will do some fishing and set out some jug lines in the creek.

Nate and the boys scoped out the creek for me and found it was navigable for a good distance from the crossing where we are able to access it. It is also deep enough for me to use the trolling motor in a large portion of what I accessible to us. The fact that they saw a very large cotton mouth snake was alarming to Blake, but it was not unexpected.

We should have a good weekend ahead of us. Only the issue of attending church in person in question needs to be decided.

The un-fun of normal, the wait

Mama and I are back into the un-fun of normal. Not that it is unenjoyable, but it not nearly so fun as when we were sharing all our normal activities with the grandkids. Mama commented yesterday that the baby goats the kids regularly handled are much more tame than those that were not handled daily. Even though the kids had to work at catching the baby goats, once they ere caught, they settled down quickly and enjoyed being in the arms of their young handlers. That will have lasting effects on our herd. Meanwhile, the crazy pig we have, Rosa, is in no hurry to calm down. She is now at the point that she will watch the chickens because she knows each evening, Mama will give out her daily treats of scraps from the house. She is generally watching the back door of the house as we come out for the evening feeding, grunting and squealing in anticipation of that evening’s offerings. She will allow us to put those food items in her feed pan without too much panic, but she will not allow us to touch her in any way. Every now and then, when she is in the mood, she will approach me or Mama and bite at our boots – just in case there is something tasty there. But she will not let us get near enough to touch her – yet. Eventually that will come.

Last night Rosa got overripe bananas, strawberry tops, donuts, bagels, cookies and some noodle scraps. She very busily searched out the items that were her favorites – usually the noodles. Then she worked her way through the rest of the scraps, pushing out of the feed dish what she was not interested in at the moment, and concentrating her effort on whatever caught her interest. Eventually, she eats everything, but Mama hates to see the food rolled into the dirt. She has her own system for consuming those treats. Mama and I have not figured that system out yet, but we have discovered that she is not fond of bread items. Cooked potatoes are her all-time favorite scraps followed by any fruit and most vegetables. We will soon enough discover her particular scrap desires and focus on those. Everything else will go to the chickens, the dogs, or the trash. But the trash is still our last resort.

Mama and I are awaiting the results of the Mortenson’s COVID tests. Perhaps not as anxiously as Nate and Cori, but we are interested in those results as they relate to our approach to social interactions over the next few day. A positive result would be disappointing and distracting, but we would have to be honest with my work, our church family and those with whom we interact during our normal schedules. Of course, we are praying for a negative result for everyone tested, but we are leaving that up to the Lord. There is no way we can affect the outcome. We can only respond properly to those outcomes. Either way, our lives will go on. Others will be far more impacted than Mama and I will by a positive result.

Erin and her family are still in the throws of COVID or some other related sickness. Mama talked to her yesterday and her greatest need is for Mateo, their infant son, to sleep long enough for her to get some rest. Mama offered to take him for a night to allow her that respite, but she has not taken Mama up on the offer. It still stands. The family has been out of church for three weeks now. Various of the family members are taking turns battling the symptoms of the virus. Nothing life-threatening, but definitely unpleasant for all of them. It is kind of ironic because Sam, the father of the family, was very fearful of the virus when all this started. Now his family has suffered from the virus for several weeks. It is always curious to me to see who a particular illness attacks. It is not random, but the mechanisms are unknown to us. Please continue to pray for them, especially Erin as the mama of the family. The brunt of the illness falls mostly on her to deal with.

Mama felt badly Tuesday night and yesterday, but that has largely passed. There can be some speculation of COVID, but we cannot know of a certainty for now. That information is forthcoming. My only thought is if that is as bad as we get from the virus we are most assuredly blessed. I realize the symptoms can be bad, and although not nearly as fatal as once believed, it is none-the-less a bad bud. Mama and I have been in good health throughout the fearmongering. As are most all of the people we know. I could wish for better health, but we have been relatively free of symptoms of infections common at this time of the year – allergies, sinus infections, yearly respiratory issues, common colds and the flu.

For that we can be truly thankful.

It certainly was quiet at the house yesterday. I cannot truthfully say that the farm was quiet because that is never the case. With dogs, goats, chickens and roosters, there is plenty of background noise on our little farm. But, inside the house it was almost silent. It is always great to have children in the house regardless of age, but it makes the house seem empty and still after the occupants are scaled back to just me, Mama, and Victoria. I don’t know about Victoria, but Mama was a little bummed yesterday. Even the postmistress at the Chico post office noticed it – and questioned Mama about it. That just gave Mama a chance to recount some of the fun memories we made over the past two visits with the Mortenson/Kline crew.

The hotel Nate, Cori and the kids stayed at last night is actually in the Bass Pro Shop store in Nashville, TN. From the video Cori sent to us, it was well worth the money. A couple at a church they revisited lately gave then a very generous love offering and told them to use that money to something they would not ordinarily be able to do. The “hotel room” was a cabin built as a standalone unit in the upper levels of the store. Two individual bedrooms. Two complete bathrooms complete with jacuzzi tubs. It even had a deck/balcony and a gated entrance to the balcony. They were allowed to roam the store after hours, but I have not heard about that adventure. The kids were more interested in using the jacuzzi than in looking through the store.

I am sure they will hate to vacate that room this morning. But they have places to go, people to see, and things to do. They will get to Nate’s family this evening and make all the arrangements for the return of the vehicle they have been driving as well as begin the process of packing the suitcases for the final flight home. We are praying that all their luggage and personal belongings make it to Honduras with them. They are flying out very early Saturday morning. Things in Honduras look promising right now. The country is starting to open up slowly so reentry should be a non-issue providing all of them test negative for COVID. They will get their noses swabbed Wednesday morning and have the test results on Friday. Please pray that goes well and they are all negative.

We got a little rain last night. The forecast was for a half inch. We got about half that. It was enough to wet the ground but not enough to really help the plants and trees. I will have to go back to watering my plants and fruit trees. Fortunately, the cooler weather will slow the need for constant watering. I can back off to watering about twice per week until things begin to freeze. Mama and I love this time of year especially here in North Texas. Fall has been our favorite season regardless of where we lived, but here it is a welcome respite from the excessive heat of summer. Since our Winters are typically mild, Fall becomes the one season other than Summer that is distinct. The only part I dread in the Fall is the trees – of which we have many – shedding their leaves. It tends to happen in stages. A little now and then until after a significant freeze and then all the leaves hit the ground. It is a lot to keep up with at times, but it is an enjoyable issue since the temperatures tend to be mild.

I took time to clean the coops last night. Mama was not in the mood to do too much and I needed to feel like I was accomplishing something. They desperately needed cleaning. I did not necessarily want to do them today because I will be teaching a class tomorrow. I need a day of so for the congestion to ease after each time I participate in cleaning the coops. Something about that dust really effects my sinuses. I also cleaned up after the calf. She had made significant deposits of manure behind the shop and it was starting to look pretty bad. I ended up getting a wheelbarrow load of her refuse picked up and taken to the compost bin. Mama has not seen that area yet, but she will when she goes to feed the calf and the boy goats in my absence tomorrow. She only discovered this morning that I had cleaned the coops. I did not tell her I had done so. I wanted it to be a surprise. She was thrilled.

My online class tomorrow will take the full day. I am not sure if Mama and I will go to church tomorrow night or remain distanced until Cori, et. al., are tested and cleared, but I am erring on the side of staying home from services until we can say for a certainty that we are COVID free. That just seems to make everyone feel better.

Wednesday should be the last service we have to miss.

The Birthday Bash, unusual Sunday, goodbyes

Saturday’s Birthday Bash was spectacular. The unfortunate part of the event is that no one came from outside the family, but we had a great time. Seth and company, Trace and company, Grandpa and Grandma all backed out because of the fear of COVID from Cori – which I think is nonexistent. She will have to be tested Wednesday for their flight home. We will know for sure then.  negative test is required for them to be able to enter Honduras. They will flyout Saturday. It was kind of amusing to see how the brave talk about COVID disappeared once the “threat” was somewhat more defined.

Anyway, we smoked ribs and chicken. We grilled three different types of sausages. We made potato salad and baked beans. We did it all. And we had a great time doing it. Of course, there were plenty of leftovers. We saved the ribs for Sunday lunch and even then we froze a good portion of what I smoked. They came out so good. I was very pleased. Norman and Grandma did finally come over in the early afternoon. Norman made a huge batch of homemade vanilla ice cream which turned out really good. We ate it with Grandma’s blackberry cobbler.

The highlight of the party was Bro Daniel. Immediately after he got off work, he got on his clown outfit and entertained us for over an hour making corny puns and balloon animals. The kids were laughing until their sides hurt. Cori had to leave for a few minutes to let her face relax. She, Mama and Victoria were laughing the entire time at Bro. Daniel’s hilarity. As an outcome of that entertainment, Grant began to try his skills at making the balloon animals and by the end of the day he had mastered five or six shapes. I was impressed. The only downside is that we had the skinny balloons all over the house in various progressions of practice to make the animal forms. But even that all worked out. We used those on Sunday.

We did not go to church Sunday due to Cori’s unknown illness. The only symptom Cori had the entire weekend was the loss of taste or smell – which could have been anything from a sinus infection to dehydration to allergies to fatigue. But in this COVID obsessed world we had to err on the side of uplifting those who live in fear. The Pastor was faced with a church service without a song leader, without a pianist and without a special singer lined up. Everyone was out in some stage of isolation or quarantine. So, he winged it and pulled it off by having a missionary wife play the piano. Bro. Zach led the singing and Zach’s wife Alissa sang, even though she had sung last Sunday morning. We listened online. I began warning up the ribs and baked beans before the sermon started and we ate shortly after church concluded.

After lunch, I got out all my pistols and my .22 rifle and we set up targets down in the farm lot. After everyone had gotten a couple chances to shoot targets and learn some of the basic rules of handling a pistol and a rifle, we moved to the pond. That is where all the best memories were made. It was the first time Blake and Grant had gotten to shoot a pistol of any type and I had two types to pick from.

I had Mama retrieve some plastic bottles from the house and we threw those and the balloons into the pond and shot at those as targets. The benefit of shooting into the water is that you can clearly see there each shot hit. It helped everyone who participated to improve their aim. Mama used her mower like a four-wheeler making trips to and from the house and after Mykenzie got her fill of shooting, she and Savanna rode around on the mower while we stayed at the pond. The best part of shooting the plastic bottles is that when you hit them just right, they will pop out of the water. Once I got one to fly up about fifteen feet above the water. I will have to gather the bottles from the pond eventually, but it was a great tool to teach everyone how to refine their aim. Nate served as instructor. The boys will remember that activity for a very long time. We ended the evening sitting by the campfire after we watched the evening church service online. The kids threw confetti filled Easter eggs at the fire and each other until the entire supply – which was extensive – was used up. It was a wonderful weekend.

This morning we had to say goodbye. I made a quick run to Chico to get kolaches for the long ride to Memphis, where they will spend the night at a motel inside the Bass Pro Shop. After shooting yesterday, they are seriously excited about that. Like always, goodbyes are not fun. So, we focused on “see you later.”

Plans are already in the works to bring that about.

Birthdays, return visitors, weekend plans

Cathryn’s birthday was yesterday: shame on us for not calling to wish her a happy birthday until the day was almost over. Cori’s birthday is today, mine tomorrow, Rebekah’s on Monday, Nate’s on Tuesday and Mama and Chase on the 29^th. September is our most crowded month for birthdays, and we are capitalizing on that Saturday. One of Trace’s boys has a September birthday as well. I do not know yet how many will be coming over for our big birthday bash, but Seth and Gabriela will be over. We already have Rosalee with us. Trace and his crew will be here. Nate, Cori and the kids are already here. Mama is getting Yilin, Cheyenne and Aubrey tomorrow afternoon. Grandma, Grandpa and Norman will also be coming over. By my reckoning, that makes at least 24. That should be fun. We will go to the church this afternoon to get tables and chairs to accommodate the crowd. I will be up early tomorrow morning to start the grill. We have chicken and ribs to smoke for the afternoon feast that I will start on the grill very early tomorrow. Sausages (two types) and hotdogs will be put on the grill much later.  

Nate, Cori and the kids arrived at the farm about 1 pm yesterday afternoon. I had just made it back home from a doctor’s appointment and was setting up my home office when they pulled in. Mama and I had met at the restaurant for lunch since that is where she had the girls for their lessons. So, she arrived home just before the travelers got to us. When the crew arrived, the boys ran through the house to get their farm shoes, barely acknowledging Grammy, and immediately headed to the goat paddock to catch a baby goat. Since we have the seven now, it was an easy feat to get hold of one. Everyone spent the next thirty minutes with the goats. I was replying to emails and Slack notices at the time so I missed the opportunity to get a photo of the entire family in with the goats.

Yesterday evening Nate, Cori, Blake and I took a walk to Sand Creek where it crosses the property the quarry lakes are on. The walk is a little over a mile each way. Since most of their day had been spent in travel, they needed the movement to stretch their legs after sitting for so long. I had not been down to the creek crossing for a couple of years. The owners have done a lot of work at the crossing, adding a concrete crossing, some huge boulders on the downstream side and building up the roadway leading to the crossing. While we were on the boulders at the crossing, we were watching some bass and what looked like an alligator gar popping in the pool just downstream of the boulders.

It was exciting enough to see the activity in the pool that we went back for an hour after dinner to fish in the pool. Blake and Grant were very excited about trying out the new fishing spot. It felt like we were fishing in West Virginia on one of the remote rivers with the waterfall effect created by the boulders. We had to talk loudly over the noise that the cascading water made. We did not catch anything in our hour at the pool, but Nate and I both got some hard strikes at our artificial worms. While retrieving one cast, what we suspect is a gar hit Nate’s lure and bit half of it off the line just below the boulder we were standing on. While we fished, the boys ventured downstream and found snakes, turtles and minnows. I will go back this afternoon and set out some trot lines to see if we can catch any catfish upstream of the crossing where the water is slower and deeper. It was a fun time.

Today is not necessarily scripted. The boys are planning on doing a lot of fishing. They already stared I the little tank on our property – catching two large bass. The girls are planning on going to Bowie to have lunch with Victoria and Grandma. I am taking a half day vacation to participate in the ongoing fishing portion of the activities. This afternoon Mama and I have to clean the chicken coops – if we do not put that off until next week when our children and grandchildren are gone. Much of this evening will be used in prep of dishes for tomorrow that can be made ahead of time – potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, etc.

It will be quite the party.

Classes, missionaries, Nate, Cori and the kids, work

I taught eight-hour on classes both Tuesday and Wednesday. By the time I got to church last night my voice was worn out. Both of the classes were great classes. One was a trainer-oriented class – my favorite class to teach. The other was my normal evaluator class. I have to admit that doing the classes online is more relaxed than doing the classes in person, but I still prefer having the face-to-face contact when possible. Over the next few weeks, I will be doing the evaluator class at least once per week in the online venue. I may actually be good at it by the end of the year. By the way, our remote work directive has been extended through the end of the year. I am not surprised, nor am I disappointed. Working from home will make the Holiday Season a lot more fun!

Last night at church we had a missionary family come to present their work. We also had a missionary family we support stop by to visit. The new missionary family is going to Japan. The missionary we support is working in India training nationals to translate the Bible into their native tongues. They have been stateside since the outbreak of COVID because India forced them out when things got scary during the months the world was initially reacting to the pandemic. Seeing old friends was very exciting. I believe it has been four years since we have seen them, so it was great to catch up on what has been happening in their lives and their ministry. They, in turn, were excited to see all the familiar faces in our congregation. We do not realize how reassuring it is to our missionaries to see the faithfulness of the congregations that support them.  

Since we did not have a pianist (Erin and Barbara are both our sick), Pastor asked if the wife of the visiting missionaries we support could play the piano. Thankfully, she could. She said she has not played in several years, but she did a fantastic job of pinch hitting for us. I was not looking forward to the prospect of singing acapella with my strained and tired voice, but the Lord worked it out for us. Mama and I stayed after church talking with the missionaries for quite some time. It was a great visit. The young couples that are coming to our church from BBTI also visited at length with the missionaries from India since they graduated from BBTI several years ago and are putting that education to work fulltime on the field in a very effective and practical ways. It is always good to get confirmation that what we have dedicated our lives to is something God can use for our good and His Glory.

Nate, Cori and the kids will be heading our direction this morning. They will spend the weekend with us and head back north Monday of next week. We will not see them again until Mama and I travel to Honduras early next year – hopefully. I think the kids are really looking forward to getting back to the farm, even if it is only for a couple of days. We have seven baby goats for them to handle and they are anxious to do so. I know Mama and I are looking forward to the extra time with the grandkids. I know Mama will start to relax after the big birthday bash is underway successfully Saturday, but for now she is really anxious about the event. For my part, I am hoping for fun chaos rather than any organization of games or activities.

I had to work from the office today to review a project involving updates to an Instructor Led Training class. I am only able to access the documents required from the internal server. We are due to change our entire presentation format to reflect a revamped branding initiative. That has proved a huge project and we are now in the throws of getting all our presentations and class handouts reformatted in the new layout to match the updated look. I am one of the last stops in approving the materials – for content. Once I am content I with the content, (pun intended) it goes for editorial review and final formatting before the documents or PowerPoints are approved for publication. It is a fun project. So far, I have found meaningful but minor issues with the documents I have reviewed. That shows a huge effort on the part of the branding group to get them to the stage they are at when we do our review.

Nate, Cori and the kids should be arriving in the next little bit. That should make for an interesting finish to the workday as well as the workweek.

Two more kids, long trip for feed, the song service, hay pick up

Saturday morning, Mama and Victoria went with Nate, Cori and the kids to Trade Days in Bowie. I went for feed. Nate, Cori and the kids left from there to head to Victoria for a Mission’s Conference. I probably should have gone with them. My mission to buy feed was not as straightforward as usual. There was a cycling event I was not aware of taking pace on Saturday. The course for that event started in Alvord and ran to Forestburg. From there the route turned and headed back to Decatur. I am not sure how many miles it covered, but some of the cyclist I was forced to pass were going to have a hard time completing the course based on how they were struggling when I caught up to them.

Anyway, the car in front of me must have had someone in the event, because they passed each group we caught up to so slowly that they were going just faster than the cyclists. We were on a two-lane road so there was no opportunity for me to pass the car I was forced to follow at any spot in the fifteen or so miles from Alvord to Forestburg. That stretch of the road to the feed store in Muenster took me over an hour. In the hilly area we covered, it was only possible to pass in certain areas and I had to make sure there was room for me to fit between groups of cyclists along with the sight-seers driving the vehicle in front of me. Needless to say, it was frustrating.

On the way home from getting feed, I turned right in Forestburg instead of turning left. That route took me to Dry Valley Dairy. It was only a few miles out of the way and Mama and Victoria needed milk. All we had bought had been used up in either eating cereal or making yogurt. Nate, Cori and the kids will be back with us Thursday evening and staying through Monday morning before they head north to make a final visit with Nate’s family. They will be heading home to Honduras on the 28^th. The milk was being bought in anticipation of their return. Mama still has plenty of cereal for them to consume even though they put a sizable dent into the stock she had bought for their initial visit. Their second visit is a result of a Mission’s Conference in Washington, DC being cancelled due to the COVID nonsense. I am sincerely sorry for the cancellation, but it worked out well for us.  

Saturday midafternoon, Lilly had twin little boys. Mama, Victoria and I sat watching for quite some time expecting another one, but that never happened. I thought for sure we could expect another kid from the size of Lilly’s swollen sides. Obviously, I was wrong. Mama and I were a little disappointed to have two more little boys – they do not sell well – but that birthing leaves us with three boys and four girls this kidding. Not a bad mix for our little herd. All seven are healthy and active. Only Aspen will have to raise triplets, but she seems to be succeeding. Hers are the eldest by a week and the difference is noticeable.

Since Erin is out sick, we have had to find replacement piano players. Yesterday a young lady from BBTI played for us. She is an excellent piano player; however, her style is a little unconventional. At times I was not sure we were on the same song, but we made it through both services. Mama felt like the song service was a little awkward, but everyone just kept up with me and the piano added some background to the music. We had no organist in the morning service. Barbara and Jerry have been regularly attending the church their son pastors in Decatur and spend the evening services with us. I cannot count on her to be there to play on Sunday mornings. That is a little awkward as well.

When I was at the feed store, I took a picture of a sign advertising Sudan hay. Mama and I have been looking for a place closer to us to purchase that hay because the goats prefer it above all other types of hay. All the farms selling it are two to three hours away from us. That is a long round trip for twenty or thirty bales of hay. We will be traveling back to Muenster this evening to get twenty bales. A forty-five-minute trip each way is far better than a two-hour trip each way. Plus, the price the gentleman is selling his hay for is excellent. I would buy more than twenty bales – the barn loft will hold about fifty bales – but I cannot handle more than twenty bales at a time.

I keep getting reminded that I am not as young as I used to be.

The fire pit, weekend plans

Yesterday was one of those fairly uneventful, relaxing days. There were multiple trips out to the goat paddock to check on the newly born kids, but other than that there was not much going on. Seth and Gabriel did stop by to drop off Rosalee and to have me work on a printer they were having trouble with. I got the printer to respond to the computer – for which they were thrilled – and we ended up keeping Rosalee for the night. The baby enjoys our company so much that she is very irritated when her parents come to take her home. Mama loves that. Seth and Gabriela, not so much.

Yesterday was very pleasant weather wise. The temperatures were in the low sixties. There was a slight breeze with some stronger winds moving the air from time to time. There were some spotty rain showers, but no accumulation. The cloud cover continued through the night and into this morning. Though we are supposed to get up to ninety degrees Sunday, the temperatures overall are on their way down. The winds are more often from the North and the air seems damp on more days as we drift into Fall. Though I love the Fall, I do not like the amount of leaves we have to deal with every year at this time but that is a tradeoff for the shade we have all Summer long.

Last night was a perfect night for a fire in the fire pit. Our fire pit is a round opening in or patio slab. I am not sure what the original purpose of the opening was, but we have three such openings in the slab. Two are planted with canna lilies just to have something growing in them. The third, the one we use as a fire pit, has never had anything growing in it. Nothing other than weeds or some other unwanted growth. I have used in the past for large burn projects like when I dismantled the pig pen that was made up of pallets. All of those pallets – about thirty - had to be disposed of. That happened in the burn pit. Since I have gotten many of those large projects done, we now use the burn pit for a campfire on a cool evening – just for the fun of it.

Last nights fire was for smores. Two nights ago, we roasted hot dogs. Whatever the reason - nostalgia, comfort of the warmth, just the fascination of watching a fire burn – it is always pleasant to gather around a campfire. Doing so was quite pleasant yesterday evening. We had a couple periods of very light rain, but no one seemed to mind. We had some periods of smoke because the wood we ad was pretty wet from recent rains. That bothered almost everyone equally, but we laughed it off. No sooner would someone move to avoid the smoke than the breeze would shift, and they would have to move again. I just sat through very brief periods of smoke that drifted in my direction. It just added to the moment.

This weekend, tomorrow to be specific, Nate, Cori and the kids will be traveling to Victoria, TX to attend a Missions Conference at Western Hills. They will be back on Thursday and leaving soon after for parts north to visit other supporting churches on their way to Chicago and their return flight to Honduras. Prior to leaving for Victoria everyone here is planning on going to Trade Days for a look-see. I will not be going to Trade Days. I will be going to Muenster to get feed. Mama and I will be completely out of feed by Monday if one of us does not make the trip and I tend to not enjoy Trade days that much.

The Mortenson’s plan on leaving the farm by noon tomorrow. It is only a five-hour drive to Victoria so it will be a short day for them before the conference. Mama thought about going with them, but I have three classes to teach next week and that would leave the animals unattended in the morning for all those mornings. That bothered Mama enough that she decided to stay here at the farm.

Since I am feeling better, I should be able to get a few chores done tomorrow. I desperately need to weed eat around the house as well as trim the edges of the sidewalk. I have not been in the beehives for several weeks not and it is probably time to get the honey super off the hive. I also need to evaluate the pig pen we have set up because this little girl likes to dig. She has rooted up the entire are she has access to and has a couple places along the fence that borders the yard dug out to the point that the gods could access the pen easily if they chose to do so. It would take very little effort of the part of Kira and Kobe to enlarge the dug-out area and get through. I do not know if that would happen, but I would like to avoid the possibility.

There is always plenty to do. Praise the Lord!

Dude perfect visit, doctor visit, great Labor Day, COVID at church, class yesterday, new arrivals

Tuesday Nate, Cori, and the kids went to the Dude Perfect headquarters in Ft Worth. As I understand it, they stopped by the complex early, but no one was there. After shopping at a nearby bookstore they stopped by again on the off chance that they would find some at the office. They did. Ty’s dad came out of a meeting to greet them. He spent just a brief moment with the kids but he took the time to go back into the office and get each of the kids a hat and a lanyard. They were thrilled. When they posted the encounter on their social media account, they were flooded with jestingly jealous responses from mamas whose children would be totally blown away by the encounter with such celebrities . It was well worth the trip for all of them.

Meanwhile, Mama and I were at the doctor’s office. Surprisingly, they got me in pretty quickly. I did not see the cardiologist, but rather his assistant. She and I talked at length and she decided to try me on another heart medication because it seemed that the beta blocker I was using was also affecting my lung function. I started that medication yesterday evening. I was off the meds yesterday as I taught my class, but I felt none-the-worse for it. When I checked my average pulse through the day it was 63 as opposed to 53 the previous day. I felt much better yesterday than I have in a while.

We had a great Labor Day. Joshua and Alicia were here. Mike, Becky and Bridgette were here also. Trace came over with his crew and Seth and Gabriela came over with their little one. I grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages and chicken quarters. Mama made baked beans and macaroni salad. We had plenty to eat. We had a wonderful day visiting, eating and just relaxing together. All the boys – me excluded – went fishing that afternoon. Although Seth and Gabriela went home pretty early, Seth came back and spent the evening with us. He, Trace and Joshua visited well into the late evening. Seth came over Sunday morning with Rosalee and went to church with us. Joshua and Alicia headed home early Sunday morning. Becky and Mike left Sunday afternoon. Mike and Becky even found a house in Chico that they are interested in. Time will tell if that works out for them.

Sunday afternoon we got word that Gracie, Erin’s daughter had been diagnosed with COVID. They will be in quarantine for a couple weeks. Both Gracie and Erin, as well as all the boys, are doing well. It was not a severe case of the virus which is what we are seeing recently. We were told yesterday that one visitor who has come to a couple services was also diagnosed with COVID. He actually started feeling badly in the morning service Sunday. He and his family are doing fine as well. I just wish the panic would be over. My fear is that when the flu season hits, we will be subjected to the same draconian restrictions for that virus as well. I am already seeing stirrings of that very thought. Why not? It worked once. Why not impose them all over again? A famous Democrat strategist once said. “Never let a crisis go to waste?”

I had a great class yesterday. There were only five participants, but they really got into the class as we progressed. One gentleman was from Brenham. He had worked with my brother Tony at a manufacturing plant when Tony lived in Brenham. That was more than 20 years ago, but he made the connection. We took short breaks and a very abbreviated lunch, and we were done by about 3:30. They were pleased. My voice was worn out by the time we finished, but I still was able to lead the song service last night.

This morning, Mama insisted on taking care of the girl goats. I usually do that feeding to save her the steps. We have suspected that either Dolly or Lilly would deliver this week. It is a little difficult to tell which one was closest to kidding. Once they were in the barn with the feed, Mama realized Dolly was missing.  She and the grandkids discovered Dolly on the northwest side of the barn with two new arrivals. Both little girl kids. Mama immediately began to panic because it was a windy morning and the temperature was 53°. Dolly was not ready to go into the barn, but Mama eventually encouraged her and her little ones to seek shelter. The issue Dolly was avoiding was all the other goats staying in the barn because of the wet ground and the cool winds. Lilly will be kidding very soon. Perhaps this weekend or early next week.

Midas did a good job his first year as our buck.

Safe arrival, long weekend head, plenty of guests, a new arrival

Nate, Cori and the kids got in around 7:30. That was enough time to get the kids outside running around for an hour before we even thought about getting them settled down for the night. They had to see the baby goats before anything else could be done so we got that out of the way right away, The drive over to us had been uneventful. That is what we prayed for as they traveled. No matter how you try, it takes thirteen hours to make the drive and they did it in almost exactly that time frame. The luggage was unloaded and placed as needed very quickly. All the beds were inflated, and all the bedding was in place by 9 pm. Those beds were occupied shortly thereafter. Once still, everyone – including me and Mama – was quickly asleep. 

This morning started for all of us around 6 am. It generally does with our Mortenson grandchildren. I had to relocate my “office” to my desk in the bedroom. The living room, where I would normally be staged, is going to be very active during the days this weekend and all next week, so moving my work station was the only option to allow me to work and maintain harmony in the home. I can make that work for the days I will actually be working from home next week. With the holiday on Monday and my class on Wednesday, I only have a three days of “home” work. Since I was able to finish the paperwork project yesterday, ther will be little need for me to go to the office next week. I will have to spend a few hours with Crystal, my immediate supervisor, reviewing the files I completed the paperwork for to be done with the part of my task list. But that can wait a few days.

Joshua and Alicia will be on their way up this evening as will Becky, Mike, and Bridgette. Joshua’s boys were not able to make the trip this weekend. They will be with their biological father for the long weekend. Sad, but not unexpected. Mama wore herself out yesterday getting all the things we need for meals this weekend, so we are well stocked to feed this crew. And overwhelmingly happy to do so. To add to the mix and confusion of the day, Victoria left early this morning to get the children of one of her coworkers so she could watch her three young boys as the parents made the final move in packing and vacating the house they recently sold. They will be almost unnoticed in the mix of children in the house. Plus, we now have an extra mother (Cori) and three mommies in practice (Victoria, Mykenzie and Savanna) to meet all the expected needs of the youngest two boys. Thankfully, the Lord gave us a house that was laid out for entertaining large groups of people. 

Mama and I will be making the trip over to pick up our piglet this evening. The seller will be home all day, but we will wait until I get off work to make the pickup. I spent a few minutes last night making sure the pen was ready and setting up a feed barrel in the pig building. Having feed there will help Mama limit her steps to get all the feed out in the morning and evening feedings. All I have left to do is get the carrier into the back of the truck to make the transfer. Mama and I have even begun to set aside scraps for the pig. One of the benefits of having a pig is that noting will go to waste. The superpower of a pig is turning food scraps into bacon. Hard to beat that.

I discovered yesterday why our leadership has been so dramatic about the COVID guidelines they have set in place. One of our leaders has Stage 4 cancer. The melanoma has metastasized throughout his body. Several of his organs are affected – one severely. The doctors give him no more than six months to live. It will be a deeply saddening loss for our company – more so to his family. He is in his early fifties. One preteen son still at home. Because of his ongoing medical condition, our leadership is extremely scared of any potential exposure to any bug. Sadly, there is very little we can do to affect that. He is a Christian. Perhaps not as obvious as some, but he is the one that is always called upon to pray at all our gatherings. So, there is a recognized standard in his witness to those who know him but do not know the Lord. If the Lord knows him as His own, the ultimate healing is only weeks away – should he succumb to the cancer. The blessed hope of our faith is that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

Regardless of what we have to deal with in this life, our future is wonderfully bright. 

 

Postponed items, 3” rain, the calf, mixed day

Mama did not go to Denton to shop yesterday because of the rain. It came in waves, quite heavy at times. No fun to drive in. Mama will make up for that lost time today. She is headed out later this morning to Sam’s, Kroger’s, the mall, etc., for as long as her knees will hold out. We did not get the pig Tuesday night either. That is being deferred until Friday evening. We have the option to go tonight, but with Nate, Cori and the kids coming over today -arriving sometime late this evening – we will spend the evening getting the final bedding items ready for their arrival. I am sure it will take some time to get things settled down when they do arrive, but having all the mattresses ready for them to eventually bed down will be a benefit when the time comes to settle in.

We got three inches of rain at the farm while other areas got far more than that. Praise the Lord! It was desperately needed. Some of the cracks in the ground have begun to close. The only drawback to heavy rains is the holes that Sam and Gemma dig fill with water and stay soft for several days causing them to find new places to dig holes to lie in. It is very frustrating. Our front yard looks like a bombed-out war zone. Random craters carved out of the yard. There is no need for then to dig into the ground. The ground is plenty cool on the surface, but they have developed a very bad habit of digging caverns in search of cooler ground. This Fall I will fill and level the yard so it will look reasonable nice for a few months until the digging begins again. I had to put an electric fence around my fig tree to keep them from digging around it – especially in the drought since it was one of the places they had access to that I continually watered. I de-energized that fence last night because of the grandkids coming to the farm. I was reminded to do so when I got stung by it closing the gate to the paddock. My arm tingled for several minutes after that shock because it went from my hip – where I contacted the wire - through my left arm where I was touching the metal fence. I would not want that to happen to happen to the grandkids. 

Since Mama and I have not seen her for several days, I went in search of our calf. A few days ago, I failed to close the walk through gate at the barn lot well house and she found her way through. I had to lead her back through that gate to show her the passage, but we left her access to the larger barn lot. It has plenty of grass for her, the pond for water and the barn for shelter. Our only concern is protecting the calf from coyotes. She is probably too big for them to fool with, but it is still a concern. Fortunately, she was right by the gate this morning, so I did not have to search for her. When I confirmed that she was alright I went about feeding the goats. As is my custom, I put feed in the little feeder we use for the calf in her shelter behind the shop before I walk into the boy goat area and discovered that she had eaten the feed we put out a couple days ago. The fact that the feed had been left for two days is what initially raised or concern about the calf. She even left us a little present of fresh cow manure as a thank you for the feed.

The kids were out of the barn this morning. They will venture farther and farther each day until they have gotten accustomed to the entire area they are in, but for now, they are staying close to shelter. I had flipped over a small rubber pan just outside the barn a couple days ago. We alternately use the pan for feed or water depending on the need so we keep it close the barn. The little ones found it and were playing king-of-the-hill. It was hilarious to watch. We are not certain, but it looks like Dolly will kid late next week. For a certainty, both Dolly and Lilly will kid before the end of this month. Hopefully, that will happen before or birthday bash on the 19th. That should give us eight kids to watch play. 

Today I will spend the afternoon at the office. There is a project I need to have done fairly quickly and I can only get it done on the company server. I have access to the server only at the office. I spent about six hours at the office Tuesday and made good progress on the project. I taught a class yesterday, but I did not spend any extra time in the office after the class was done. I will probably be able to get the project done in the fours or so hours I am planning to spend at the office this afternoon. With the holiday on Monday and Nate, Cori and the kids with us next week, I am planning to spend as much time as I can at home, with the exception of teaching an in-person class next Wednesday. 

We will see how eel that works out. 

2/3 gone, delivery, rain, calorie counting

The Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty is now two thirds gone. It is a shame to have wasted half of this year on COVID - but we did. Oh well. There is no getting those days back. Hopefully, we will start to see some recovery soon in individual lives, in small businesses, in our churches. All of which have been horribly constrained and adversely affected by the reaction to the virus. Hindsight is always 20/20 it is said. Perhaps that will be true as we look back at the series of profoundly incompetent mistakes made which brought us to where we are today. Through all of this Mama and I have been very fortunate. We are somewhat isolated – both geographically and electronically. Our agrarian adventure on the farm has provided the insulation from the nonsense and the daily activity we needed to be able to live our days fairly close to normal. Our animals depended on us keeping our routine. It has enabled us to keep our minds and bodies healthy through the turmoil. Praise the Lord for that continuity. But it would be nice for the world around us, at work, at church to feel the same relief. As a gentleman in our church prayed to dismiss the service Sunday night, he mentioned keeping us safe from the virus twice in that prayer. There is still a lot of unwarranted fear attached to this bug. That to me is the saddest part of all this hype. The effects of that fear will stretch out further than any of us now realize.

Mama and I are going to get a pig this evening. We have talked about it for some time and the seller we found a couple weeks ago contacted Mama Sunday to say they had a little female left. She is about 12 weeks old. I am guessing she will weigh about thirty pounds. She is a Duroc. Mama and Grandpa like that breed. They all taste the same to me. I have a pen ready. At least I believe I do. I will know more as the pig tests the boundaries of that enclosure. It is always interesting to see just what weaknesses an animal can discover about their confinement, especially pigs. Over the next couple weeks she will root every inch of the pen and the fencing that surrounds it. Fortunately, once they get used to their area, they have no urgent desire to escape it. In fact, it is often very difficult to get them out of that enclosure when you need to.

Today is the very earliest Mama and I could get the pig. We were supposed to begin teaching Yan Lin (Cheyenne and Aubrey’s mom) English last night, but Mama begged off because Mama had had a very full day and did not feel up to keeping the commitment. We had already scheduled around those lesson when we scheduled the appointment to get the pig. Hopefully, we can be faithful to that teaching routine in the coming weeks. I do not think it will take long to get Yan to the point that she is proficient enough to continue on her own with Alex’s help. She has been hearing English for over ten years. It is only a matter or building the recognition of the written word with the spoken word she has been immersed in.

I am hoping we have a break from the rain we are expecting all day today to get the young pig home from the seller’s farm. If not, it is still very warm so the pig will get a bath on the way to her new home. It may not be to her liking at first, but you and I know just how lucky this pig is to have Mama watching over her.

The forecast is for over two inches of rain through the day today. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. We were supposed to get almost an inch through the night but got less than a quarter inch. As always, we will happily take what we get. We need rain badly. On the one hand, Mama is thrilled about the rain. On the other hand, she is nervous about traveling in the rain. She will be going to Sam’s today -as well as several other stores in Denton. She does not like driving in the rain. She always manages, but it certainly causes her a lot of angst. We are starting to get all the food items we need to feed Nate, Cori and the kids as they spend the next week or so with us. The birthday bash is not until the 19^th – we moved it a couple weeks to allow for more planning time – but we still need a greater supply of food in the house to make sure we have enough for an extra crew of six. Today will be Mama’s head start on accumulating those extra needs.

I started counting calories yesterday. It is easier than I had thought it would be to get the numbers. It is not so easy to make the count fit the diet. In my research, I found that in one meal of pinto beans with dirty rice, I had consumed 2400 calories. Far, far more than I had expected until I knew the caloric value of the healthy meal I had eaten. No wonder I was having trouble with my weight. I have committed to eating 1400 calories per day. That should enable me to lose a pound per day if I keep my activity level where it is currently – 8-10k steps per day. What has shocked me most is the foods that have the highest calorie count. Healthy foods. I will learn the balance, but it will take some work. What I have to concentrate on is not eating empty calories – foods devoid of any nutritional value. I can say this much, counting and adding up calories is easier to me than counting carbs. The only other nutritional item I concern myself with is the sodium content of foods.

For my blood pressure’s sake, I have to pay attention to that as well.