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.