Cool weather, afternoon visitors, teaching and traveling

I had to spend most of the day in the office yesterday. I helped Mama feed in the morning and then left for the office to meet Red. He and his wife were shooting a Christmas card with his recent retirement as a theme. With that thought guiding us, Red assembled those present at the office to have us run out the door of the office building with a list in hand looking like we were trying to catch Santa before he left the office for the last time. I am not sure how the images came out, but Red was please with that he saw on the camera when the shot was over. I asked for an image to put into this blog but have not received it yet. Santa is starting to get quite busy, you know.

Yesterday morning was cool with a heavy mist in the air. We did not get any real precipitation out of the overcast sky, but the temperatures stayed steady in the high 50’s through the entire day. That prohibited us getting into the hives yesterday evening. The hives are kept at 98° F by the bees. The bees use their bodies to raise and lower the temperature as needed. When it is too hot, they use their wings to fan the hive to cool it. When the temperature is too low, they raise their body temperature through exercising their wings to bring heat to the hive. Right now, with the difference in temperature between the hive and the ambient temperature, it was too great to allow that much heat to escape the hive – or let that much cool air into the hive. Whichever way you want to look at the issue. Some of the brood now incubating in the hive would have been destroyed by cooling the hive excessively. Perhaps this afternoon will be significantly warmer, and we can safely work the hives.

When I did get home yesterday Mama was entertaining Sarah Rogencamp and her four boys, ages seven and under. The Rogencamps are missionaries to Mexico. They have ministries – churches and schools - in two towns in Southern Mexico. That keep Bro. Rogencamp very busy. The fact that he is my age with the four very young boys also keeps him and his wife very busy. They spent the afternoon and evening at the farm with us. The boys are busy and energetic, like they should be. They played while their mom poured over Mama’s Color Street nails purchasing gifts for family and friends. She ended up getting more than a few sets of nails from Mama’s stash as well as ordering a few sets online to be delivered to persons across the United States. Mama was pleased. The boys thoroughly enjoyed their time of freedom, and I had a good time fixing dinner for all of us. Sarah and the boys will head back to Mexico mid-week, so the timing was really good for her to do this kind of shopping.

Tomorrow I will be teaching. My usual Wednesday fare. Thursday and Friday, I will be on a trip with a few men of the church to a men’s retreat in Rosebud, AR., just north of Becky, Mike and Bridgette. I may have to amend the times at which I update this blog through the next few weeks. Since I have traditionally done so in the mornings, I will see how effective it is to do so in the evening. Obviously, I will not be available for the rest of the week in the mornings. Next week is a pretty standard week for me but starting the first week in November, I will be teaching or in class assisting three to four days per week: excluding Thanksgiving week. That schedule will flow into the first week of December. It looks like I will be ending the year with a bang. Which is okay.

I am looking forward to the men’s retreat and the time off. It will leave Mama on her own for the rest of this week as far as taking care of the farm and our animals, but she is well able to carry on without me. On my part, I need the extra time of fellowship and preaching. Plus, our former pastor Mike Norris is one of the speakers at the conference. Mama and I are familiar with the other two speakers as well. In fact, we are somewhat known to all three, but I am not sure if Johnny Pope or Randy Dignan will remember me. Mama is much more memorable. Our pastor is looking froward to the fellowship, the preaching and the food – which I have been assured is quite good and very plentiful. That is enough to appeal to most guys.

Mama and I have taken precious time off in the last few months. Other than our few days in Houston and Galveston, we have been here at the farm. It has not been bad. In fact, it has been quite good. We have gotten a lot done and we have saved money that would have been spent on travel. We have come to understand that we do not need much time away from the farm. We are quite content here. We have constant contact with most of our children and we have our church family which we interact with on a weekly basis if not more. None-the-less, I am looking forward to the travel ahead, a time to power up in the Lord and a time to deepen fellowship with my brothers in the Lord.

I will try to take lots of notes so that I can share the highlights with Mama when I get back Saturday afternoon.