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.