VBS, yesterday, horse news, Joshua

As expected, we got home pretty late last night. It was an enjoyable evening at VBS – which replaced the regular Wednesday evening service at the church. I think we had about 125 children there, most of whom came in on busses. I believe there were four saved last night.


This church has an interesting way of evaluating the children who raise their hand for salvation. Each child is asked a series of questions, the first of which is, do you understand what sin is? If they do not, then they are sent back to the activities going on. Only the ones who have a working understanding of what they are doing are dealt with for salvation. There are two other questions that are asked as qualifiers, but I do not remember them. It is a way of limiting any false professions that will trouble the child later in life. They seem to have had good success keeping the children who do understand and get saved.

Yesterday was not a stellar day for us. If Mama had any romantic notions about what a thirty year anniversary should be, they were not met yesterday – not even close. With the event with Dodger and the chickens and Chase’s accident, it was a pretty disappointing day. Last night Chase was nursing a wounded wrist and Mama was limping on an injured foot and knee. She was complaining that she is not the runner she used to be but I explained the trying to catch a dog is not the same as running for fun and exercise.

Victoria was disappointed by the loss of the Breeze but did not take it too hard. Chase was pretty devastated. He told me that if he had been in the little truck there would not have been as great a loss. He would have still have a vehicle to drive. As it stands, he and Makaila are looking into driving to the farm this weekend and taking the little truck back to Amarillo. So much for rushing around getting the car that would save him on gas.

Wes called yesterday to ask if he could board a couple horses at our place just about the time Mama was getting ready to call him to ask if he would like to board a couple of horses with us. Mama is worried about Misty being alone once we get rid of Rain and Toi; another case of our pets needing pets.

He will have to work out what horses to bring because the geldings he needs to place would not be good company for Misty and the younger mares he owns could be worse. His intent is to provide us with a horse we can ride at any time, but it could take a lot of juggling to get us there.

Joshua and I talked on Tuesday evening. He seems to have a little more direction in his life at this moment than I have seen in a while. He and his karate instructor are starting an after school program much like he was trying to get going in Arkansas. Homework and karate will be the focus of this program rather than the emphasis being on video games. They have worked out an accounting method for the income that seems both prudent and generous. We will have to watch and see how it develops.

Cori ordered bus tickets for Joshua to come over to the farm during the time they are there. If things work out the way it looks like they may, we will be pouring a slab about the time everyone is there.

There will be plenty of work regardless of whether or not we have a baler.

30 years, Chase’s driving

I took the day off from work today to spend it with Mama since this is our 30^th anniversary. I did not tell her about the day off until I got home from work yesterday. As I got home she and Victoria were packing the cooler and getting ready for VBS at our church in Decatur. She was so intent on what she was doing that, although she was happy I was taking the day off in the middle of the week, she did not realize the intent.

As she and Victoria were on their way to Decatur she called me to tell me it finally dawned on her why I had asked her what she wanted to do with the day. As it turned out, we did not have plans, which was a good thing since we have no money. I have spent the day finishing up the cabinet shelving, helping her with the feeding chores and taking her out to lunch.

This evening will be full since we are to arrive at the church with food for the bus drivers working the routes for VBS some time near 6 p.m. We have to meet Victoria at Wal-mart at 5:30 to pick her up and head out from there. It will be a very tight schedule when I think that we will have to be ready for our VBS duties and for church before we leave the farm.

After we went to lunch we went to Wal-mart to get some paint for the cabinets. I am not in favor of keeping the raw wood look since it does not fit the décor of the kitchen, although I do like the smell it gives the cabinets. Mama will have to do the painting another day. It is her anniversary, after all.

While we were feeding the chickens Mama took her focus off of Dodger and he began chasing the chickens with the intent of killing one. As I left her at the coop and went over to refill the horses water trough I told her to close up the chickens before she walked away to get water for them. Did she do it? No, and we spent the next several minutes in panic mode as we tried to intervene in the hunt.

No chickens were hurt in the afore mentioned exercise, but I cannot say the same for the dog. It took us over an hour to get our hands on him but when I did we had a pretty passionate talk. He left with a better understanding of the consequences of chicken hunting and I felt better at having put my two cents into the discussion. Will he do it again? Probably; if so, the consequences will escalate.

Chase just called me to tell me he was involved in another wreck. This time in Victoria’s car. He is pretty sure it is totaled. He is okay but he said his wrist is “jacked up”, whatever that might mean. He declined being carried to the hospital. We will have to see how this works out. To his credit, the car did have some issues with the brakes which we found out about only after the exchange had been made. Victoria failed to mention it to anyone.

 Perhaps someone will speak in his defense who witnessed the reckless driving (his explanation) of the person he rear ended.  But in Texas, a rear end collision is generally the fault of the driver who is in the rear. My insurance will definitely be adjusted. We are not sure how Victoria’s will be affected – she was the insured on her car.

That was our anniversary.

Long meetings, feeding, falling away

I spent six hours of my ten in the office yesterday with the person I am taking over for. We went over one procedure and started on a second one in that time. By the time 2:45 rolled around I told him I needed a break. I spent the rest of the day answering emails and catching up on some of my older assignments.


Don’t get me wrong. It was time well spent, but the magnitude of the work and the manner of presentation is taking me a little bit to adapt to. I know I can do the job, or should I say, jobs, but I will have to do things very differently than they are now being done. I hope those around me adapt well to the changes, because I will have to push them forward if I am to get a firm grip on the work.

In the Borger office I am one of the first ones in the office every morning I am in that office. In the Decatur office I am the first on in the office with rare exception. This week and last there have been visitors in the office here who usually office out of N Guymon and Dumas – offices in the panhandle area. They are here very soon after I get here every morning. It is rare to have someone from this office here before 6:45 a.m. It gives me a little time in the morning to get a head start on the day. That helps me greatly.

Mama went to vacation Bible school last night at our church in Decatur. She had to leave shortly after I got home. I did not go because the time slot for VBS was from 7 to 9 p.m. That put Mama home just before 10 p.m. After a usual difficult Sunday night I needed the rest. I went to bed at my grandchildren’s bedtime last night. I did get a good night’s sleep when I got back to sleep after Mama woke me up on her return home. I do not know who she was talking to but she was quite animated and quite loud as she related whatever funny story she was telling. I know I will hear some of the details today. I was not in a very receptive mood last night.

With her leaving at the time she did, Mama left the evening feeding to me. I was okay with the horses and the chickens but when it came to feeding the dogs I was a little baffled. I could not find the dog food. I knew we were running low, but I could not find any residue anywhere. I called Mama to find out what I was missing and found out the dog food was in the back of the car she was driving. I fed them some left over meat from too long ago, but they did not mind the questionable smell. To them it tasted fine.

Mama told me last night about two other well known preachers who have lost their ministries. One through an affair with a very young lady, the other because of an affair his wife was having. I was told that the one preacher had been in the adulterous relationship for over two years – during which time he stayed in the pulpit. That means he got behind the pulpit over three hundred times and preached as thought the Spirit of God was still with him. It is hard to imagine. If I had not just finished reading through Kings and Chronicles, I would not understand how God would allow such a travesty, but all through those four books you see the words, “he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

In many of those evil reigns the tenure was decades long. God is longsuffering, but His judgments will never fail. I wrote several weeks ago about a sermon I heard recently in which the major theme was that I would rather have the correction of God in my life than to suffer His judgment. The sentence on the pastor who committed adultery has not been executed by God yet. Only God knows what that judgement will be because of the many who will fall or be turned away from the Lord through his sin. We really must be very careful.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Quick travel, putting placement

When I got up Friday morning to go to work I realized that Chase had made it safely to the farm because he was sleeping on the living room floor. He and Mama had worked it out to swap his truck for Victoria’s little car. Chase was so anxious to make the swap that he left after work on Thursday night to drive the 280 miles to the farm. He was due back at work the following afternoon about the same time as Victoria’s dental appointment. It is more time constrained than I would have liked, but it all worked out.


Everything seems to have gone well in the travel back and everyone made it to the required appointments. Chase even had a record day on Saturday. I forget what Mama was told he made in commissions alone. Victoria got her crown placed – inside her head rather than on top, but she is very thankful. I suppose I am thankful also even thought it will cost me over $1000 to complete the work.

Mama and Victoria made it back Saturday night with the little van and the Nissan. Victoria was teasing about how good it was to be back home. She said she felt like she had been gone forever – even though it was only one night. There was some earlier talk about the two of them staying over Saturday and Sunday nights and coming back Monday but those plans were thrown out pretty quickly. I was glad to have them home but we all would have survived another night or two.

I did get a lot of work done on Friday evening and Saturday. I cut out all of the pipe Grandpa and I had discussed so we can prepare the shop for the required ground work with the goal of pouring a slab in the next couple weeks. I am not sure how far we will be on the shop when Nate, Cori and the kids arrive but there will be plenty to do regardless.

Grandpa is a little discouraged. He and Norman have looked at several balers but have not come across the one he is willing to buy at the price being asked. He is hesitant to come back to Bowie without one but that could be the outcome we have to deal with. I am still praying he will be able to get one there, just for the encouragement it will give him and Norman, but it would not be a terrible outcome for their trip. Grandma and Grandpa have enjoyed the time around family and friends. We are all glad they were able to go.

Yesterday was a great day at church. It is wonderful to see Mama sitting with different groups of women talking about every subject under the sun. It is more gratifying to see Victoria participating in different group discussions. She is still a little quick to want to leave, but is far more involved overall than at any other church we have attended.

I get the feeling that we are well placed here.

Meetings, moving, planning

This has been a very busy week. I have been in meetings for at least six hours each day beginning on Monday and ending on Thursday. In the sporadic free moments I have been trying to get a grip on the additional assignments I have taken on by visiting with the person I am replacing. He has been very helpful and understanding, but neither of us has had time to get much information transferred. Today there are no day long meetings so we may be able to drill down on task load in a more formal manner.


The vehicle swap has begun. Last night Chase drove the little truck to the farm. After only a few hours of sleep he, Mama and Victoria will drive Victoria’s little car as well as the Nissan back to Amarillo. Victoria has a dental appointment in the afternoon – the original motivation for the trip. Chase will keep the Breeze in Amarillo and Mama and Victoria will drive back tomorrow evening bringing the little van back along with the Nissan.

When Cori and Nate come over they will take the little van and Chase’s truck, leaving their car for Victoria to drive. That will still leave us with the Lincoln, Grandpa’s truck, the Nissan and Cori’s car at the farm. Four vehicles will be enough to meet our driving needs even if I do not get a truck assigned to me. It should also lower our insurance bill some. I am not sure by how much, but every little bit helps.

I got notice of my initial relocation advance last night and it will be enough to get us a long way on the shop with the apartment. There will not be an excess, but enough is good enough. I will not get the money for a couple weeks so we are still on a very tight budget, but hope is high with help on the way. We will make the most of the opportunity we have been given. The real increase will come in the reduction of expenses we will see by living in only one place. In other words, all Amarillo expenses will be removed from the budget allowing our singular focus to be the farm. Additionally, when the farm begins to produce an income, it will really help our finances.

It is a little frightening to have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, but we are not alone by and means. Most people have their finances set up in the same shaky way. They have one job as their income, one house as their investment strategy, and one bank account that it all funnels through. Many do not have a savings account, a retirement account, life insurance or any long term plan by which they attempt to secure their future. We are living in frightening times.

We were talking in our meeting yesterday afternoon about the planning assessments we have as a company to track and advance our employees. One of those tools is an Individual Development Plan. My boss has been after me to update mine but I have held off in expectation of the move I am now making. With the expansion of my role and by default, the role of my group, I am going to update my plan to read: 1.) Breathe in, 2.) Breathe out, 3.) Continue repeating steps One and Two. That should suffice until I catch up.

I am sill not sure when Grandma and Grandpa will be coming back but I expect it will be when they get their monthly check – which usually comes in around the 15th of each month. Grandpa told me he and Norman have their eye on a baler but they do not yet have the money to buy it. I know there is a trailer load of other items he will be bringing back with him so maybe the baler is not there for us. It could be closer to the farm than we are giving God credit for, but we will only know as the right opportunities arise.

I am still praying for them to be successful in West Virginia for the hope that it will be an encouragement to them.

Mama’s search, animal news, boy are we hot

As many of you know, Mama has been very reluctant to use the computer for anything. She will not type a word document, compose or read email, watch a movie online or search a question. Well, yesterday that began to change. She actually did a search all on her own. To beat it all, the subject of her search was political in nature. She wanted to know if a certain person running for local office had won their runoff race. She never did get the answer she was looking for but she did try. By the way, he did win.


I hope anyone who comes to visit us on the farm likes dogs. They at least, must be tolerant of them. Every morning as I am leaving and every evening as I arrive home, I walk the gauntlet of dogs. They are up all night barking at everything that catches their attention. Honestly, it does not bother me. For some reason I do not seem to hear it even though they may be right outside our window.

Samson is especially bad about having to make contact with the hands of anyone he approaches. It would not be so bad if the point of contact was not his wet nose, but he seems to need to plaster everyone’s palm with snot and slobbers before he is satisfied the recipient has passed muster. His height facilitates the entire exercise. I am not sure how the grandkids are going to react at first. By the time their visit is over, it will have become a welcome routine.

Speaking of their visit, I am being asked to travel to Denver for a training team meeting on the 28th and 29th of August. As much as I feel that I need to go, I will not be available. Nate, Cori and the kids will be at the farm that week. I can catch up to work some other time. I have to admit I did seriously consider making the meeting because I need the contact and the information exchange early on to get a good start on my new assignments, but I may be able to attend remotely. At any rate, I will get it all worked out. I have plenty of help.

Mama had a line on a person to come and take the two older horses but she and Victoria were out to lunch when he called so she missed the opportunity to have him come and look at the animals. I would like to have them off the farm sooner rather than later, but I will trust God’s timing. There is no danger in keeping them, nor is it particularly inconvenient. I just see a benefit in reducing our herd. I would rather be feeding the hay to some cattle, but it is a small matter.

Record heat has taken over the area but if you look at this week compared to last year, we are actually cooler by a few degrees. Cooler is probably not the right word, perhaps, not as hot would be more appropriate.

The heat we are experiencing here is not unique to the area. The oppressive heat is being felt by much of the nation. Grandpa and Norman are working in temperatures of over 100 degrees in West Virginia. We will be over 100 degrees through the remainder of this week and on through the weekend. I have some outside work planned but it will have to be done in the early morning and abandoned by noon. There is work I can do inside the house or the mobile home when the outside temperatures move past the 100 degree mark.

The poor dogs are suffering in the heat, but they dig in somewhere and lie still through the afternoon. The relative cool of the night is their only really active time. If anyone goes anywhere on the farm during the day they rouse themselves and go along, but they retreat to the shade as soon as that person gets back inside.

The donkeys seem unaffected by the heat. They may seek some shade at certain parts of the day, but for the most part they are out grazing through out the day – even in the heat of the afternoon. The horses do look for shade but it is their nature to eat constantly so they do not stay still for long. The poor chickens are enduring the heat and still laying eggs for us, but it is obvious that it is causing them in stress.

All in all, we wish we were at the beach, but the farm will have to do for now.

Getting the word out, Chase in sales, Grants pants, distracted Mama, Joshua

Today I will begin to let people know about my move to the Decatur office. I will meet with my boss and the person I am replacing and hash out some of the details about how we are going to make it happen. I have held off letting my group know until there was a little more directive from my boss but it looks like the time has finally come. With the flurry of activities this week, it will just be one of many things happening in this office.


As Mama and I dove home from Costso last night she told me she is warming up to the idea. After the initial disappointing realization that we were not going to Australia, she is seeing the benefits of remaining in Texas and moving to the farm. I am in the process of getting addresses updated with banks, credit card companies, city, county, state and federal agencies. Licenses have to be changed, voter registrations updated and a host of other little details, not the least of which may include new phone numbers. Relocating within the US is difficult. Relocating internationally is overwhelming. For the moment we will stick with the difficult task at hand.

Chase was pleased with himself yesterday due to a very high volume of sales. I think he made over $100 in commissions for the day. That is impressive. I told him that sales suit him. I do not have that talent nor am I ever likely to develop it, but it seems to work for him. He and Bo are still pursuing an apartment but I get the distinct impression that it is more of an effort on his part than that of Bo but I am not there so my opinion is strictly speculation. It will work as long as someone is driving the effort.

Cori called the other day to tell me that as she was helping Grant change for the day she found he had his underwear on inside out and backwards. I thought that idea was unique to me when I lived alone and wanted to extend the time between laundry runs. It may be that is more an attribute of the male psyche than I had originally realized.

For Blake’s birthday they bought him his first vehicle. I have not seen it yet but I am told that it is one of the powered models with the accelerator on the handlebars. Mama was telling me about what she imagined would be going through the head of one that small as bedtime came around; that they would be worried that the newest object of their affection would somehow disappear during the dark hours of the night. I gather from that that he really, really likes the little vehicle.

With Mama it is hard for me to tell if the stories are directly related. She skipped from one item of conversation to another as we drove last night. I do not know if I was more tired than she was or if it was a function of being distracted by diving, but I was having trouble following some of the conversation. We were about an hour away from the farm when she suddenly realized that she had left the chicken coop door open. She called Victoria to let her know not to let Dodger out until that was closed. Then she realized she had left Toi and Misty corralled all day in the calf lot.

She was trying to feed them separately from Rain – who is a rather piggish horse. Then she got busy with canning salsa and forgot the animals. When I got home from work and asked about going to Costco everything else was put on extended hold - until she remembered. (There were no animals hurt in this senior moment.) When we got home she discovered she had left the pan of cooked hamburger on the stovetop. Thankfully she had remembered to turn the burner off before we left.

Joshua talked to us last night and it is safe to say at this point that he will not be the target of identity theft. He has an outstanding warrant for a seriously overdue library book. I kid you not. Because of this he cannot get his drivers license reinstated. Once that got in the system as being addressed properly, the unpaid ticket in Louisiana showed up again. Mama and I thought that had been taken care of long ago, but it is still an outstanding issue. Please pray for him to get both of these resolved quickly so he can get a job and start moving forward with his life.

It is always the little things that pester us the most in this life.