Rearranging chicks, coaching, the twins

As soon as I got home yesterday afternoon, Mama and I put the large cage we use while chicks turn quickly into chickens in the west side of the cop and took the chicks that we are raising for ourselves and put them from the totes they were in into the cage. That allowed Mama to separate the chicks into two groups of ten. Getting a heat lamp set up for them turned out to be a bit of a challenge but I rigged up one lamp to be shared between the two compartments. The temperature this morning was in the low forties, but Mama was worried that we did not enough heat for the chicks to be comfortable. She will make the determination this morning and we will make any adjustments when I get home this evening.

The chicks we are raising for Kim Cantrell, we put into the Banty house. When we moved the kennel to the birthing center, we placed the Banty house at the front of the coop. that allowed me to run a heat lamp into the top of the Banty house through the nesting area. Again, we are not sure if the heat we provided was enough for the little chicks but all of them are at least grown enough to have a good start on their feathers. With the feathers at the point where they are now, the chicks were able to fly out of the totes very easily. I had to cut some pieces of fencing to cover the totes to hinder their escape, but that would not have worked for much longer.

One group of fourteen chicks are still in the garage in a tote. That group is about a week behind the other two groups of chicks and the difference in their size is noticeable, so we cannot mix them in yet. Besides, eleven of the chicks in the garage are the Banty chicks that were hatched out on the farm. With those chicks, there is a vast difference in size which will continue throughout their lives, but we have found that the Bantam’s are very hardy and a bit aggressive. The other chickens, though much larger, pretty much leave them alone.

Mama and I had another coaching session last night. I was able to get things ready for the session, so we could steer it towards some of the questions Mama and I needed answered. In our last session we started looking at the state of Arkansas. Mama and I continued with that research on the two nights we were able to get to the office to further the research. (We had a Soul Winning Training Conference Wednesday through Sunday.) In the process of studying the lists we found three properties that we needed a little insight to investigate further. I had those ready for review last night. Mama and I were excited because the two properties we took notice of were on the top of the list our coach was compiling for herself. Our coach was excited also and quickly shared the information Mama and I needed – including a title search and pictures of one property. We left encouraged.

Mama has been a bit more diligent to share with me the updates Brittany puts together for her. Right now, the twins are starting to show an interest in becoming more mobile. They are starting to explore the process of crawling. They are not there yet, but Brittany feels they are getting close. Like all parents before her, she is anxious to see them succeed – knowing the consequences of such mobility. When the two of them finally figure out how to get to the things they see and want, they will quickly discover more things to see and want. Tabletops must be kept clear of breakables or potentially harmful objects, drawers must be guarded, and cabinets locked closed. You have to be mindful of every step you take and careful to close every door behind you; opening the door carefully on your return. Stairs must be gated, and steps seen as a hazard to those moving about on their bellies. Oven doors and dishwasher doors become dangerous ledges and must be kept closed when not in use. The list goes on and on. Some of the hazards they will identify in advance; other’s they will find when a minor injury occurs. With the house she and Andrew have, they will have a challenge on their hands. A fun challenge, but a challenge none-the-less.

Even with that ahead of her, Britany is coaching the girls in their efforts to upend her life with their independent movement. I remember doing the same thing.

On the road again, forgetful

Nate, Cori and the kids left the farm Saturday afternoon, but it almost did not happen. When they left for Honduras last week, Nate and I took their vehicle to Roger to have him repair the a/c. Though Roger had the vehicle all week, he did not get started on it until Friday morning. Mama and I still had a high degree of confidence that Roger would get it done on time for them to leave by noon Saturday, but just to make sure, we all packed up and went to Bowie to visit Grandma and Grandpa Saturday morning – and to check in with Roger.  

Nate and I visited with Grandma, Grandpa and Norman for a few minutes, then took our leave to go to the shop. When we got there, their vehicle was in the shop, so it was being serviced. That was good. When we got into the shop, Roger began apologizing. He had been so confident that the leak was in the rear a/c condenser unit that he had ordered the parts earlier in the week, but when he got the back unit exposed, there was no evidence of a leak. He was really embarrassed that he had not started on the repair earlier, but at that point, there was little he could offer other than to assure Nate that the leak was in the unit under the dash. That was a repair that would take him two days to make and he knew we did not have that time to offer him. We went back to Grandma’s and let everyone know the prognosis. The bottom line was that the a/c was not going to get fixed, but, on the bright side, we had about two hours to kill – so we went to lunch with everyone.

Nate and I left from Golden Chick to get the vehicle after Nate had said his goodbyes. Roger charged them $60 for the time he had spent on investigating the leak. I could tell, he hated asking for even that much, but he had used over a pound of Freon to find the leak – so the money was to replace the chemicals used. We all headed back to the farm. Nate and Cori packed up the camper, hooked up the camper and headed out for Houston about 2 pm. Not too much later than they wanted, but still without a working a/c. We all gathered and prayed before they left, and the older kids realized that this really was goodbye. They are not planning to see us again before they leave the country – at least, not at the farm. No one was crying. We made a game of hugging one last time, one more last time and so on. Cori said that Savanna is beginning to understand the separation and the fact that she may never be back to Grammy’s farm again. She is struggling with that, but we have pictures and videos that will preserve those memories for her – and for us. Such is the life of missionary children.

In the process of doing normal chores on the farm, Savanna and I had gone to feed the cows Friday evening. With Daisy still in the corral, I have to keep vigil on her feed and water – especially her water. The issue is that the yard hydrant at the barn does not completely shut off. The amount of water it allows to leak through is significant, so I installed a shutoff valve at the well. That means that every time I need to fill the trough, I have to open the valve at the well. When I have filled the trough, I shut the valve at the well. Well, Friday evening, Savanna and I were in a big way of talking and I forgot to shut that valve when we put the feed buckets back in the well house. I did not go back to check on Daisy until late Saturday afternoon. The water had been on the entire time. The corral was a mess. The stream I had created flowed all the way to our stock tank. I was pretty upset with myself but, what, what can you do? The ground will dry out. The well will recover, and Daisy did not run out of water.

Such is the life of a hobby farm owner.

Play time, setting up for goodbyes, progress

As I left for church last night, Mama, Victoria and the grandkids were in the back yard playing with the puppies. The puppies are growing very quickly. So much so that even Savanna noticed as she pulled one onto her lap. She loves playing with the puppies. For now, they have that puppy smell and are softer than even Kobe – who made it home in the early morning hours after she had gotten out. Victoria has one pup sold already and the others are advertised for sale. Hopefully, they will all be rehomed in a couple weeks. They are all eating dog food – as though they are starving to death. Which is clearly not the case. Victoria still wets their food down with warm water, so they do not choke on an unchewed piece of hard dog food as they inhale it and typically, they do not eat everything they are given. Victoria is very generous with them. No worries though. Kira, Kobe or Bella will eat the leftover wet mush with almost the same gusto. It’s really kind of gross.

I would like to have stayed and joined in the play but felt that I needed to support the pastor and our church in the ongoing conference. I do not fault Mama for wanting to stay at the farm with the grandkids. Last night and tonight are the last two nights she will have with Mykenzie, Grant, Blake and Savanna. Cori and Nate will be back in Houston this evening and will drive to the farm through the late evening into the night. They should arrive sometime after midnight. Tomorrow, they will get fully packed up and head down the road to finish deputation. They are not planning on coming back to the farm before they leave for Honduras. The camper and the vehicle have been sold to one of Nate’s uncles. It will be picked up in Florida sometime in May. Tomorrow will be goodbye. Mama and I wanted to go with them to help them set up in Honduras when they did make the flight to relocate, but for now, that is not possible. Fortunately, technology keeps us much better connected than in bygone days, so Mama can be assured of not being forgotten. Cori, like Maggie and Brittany, keeps us abreast of new developments in their lives…when Mama remembers to tell me what she has heard.

Today the house will be cleaned up. All the Lego sets, books and blankets that belong to the kids will be collected and prepared for repacking. All the shoes, socks, jackets, pillows and blankets will be gathered up so they can travel with their respective owners and Monday or so, Mama and I will take what was forgotten and pack it to be mailed to Nate and Cori so their belongings will be complete. Standard procedure when children are involved in your life. If I were a betting man, I would bet Mama is not going to go into work today. After all, it is her full last day with the grandkids.

We have not had much time to work on the business this week, but when we put God first, I believe all the other things in life have a way of working out better. So, our pursuit of the business will continue Monday. We did get our incorporation papers yesterday – along with an embossing stamp to use in our business. Now I can set up the accounts with the bank and conduct business under our LLC.

We are slowly inching forward but we are making progress.

Extra day, success, wisdom

I left work yesterday after being there only an hour or so. I was hurting too badly to sit. When my diverticulitis pains me that much there is little I can do except be ready to get to the bathroom every time the cramps require it. That is unpleasant while at the office. At home, it is not pleasant either, but it is less stressful. The pain started to abate in the early afternoon. I have found that if I can find something to do that keeps my mind and body active, I can deal with the pain more effectively. So, yesterday, I changed and started doing some small things around the farm.

Mama and Victoria took the kids to Gainesville to visit the zoo. They had a great time there. While they were out I put down fabric on the ground between the fence and the driveway. Mama and I have talked about covering that entire area with gravel, so I started yesterday. It was mostly light duty work. The tractor does a lot of the work. All I had to do was put prepare the area for the gravel. There is so much gravel to choose from in the gravel yard nearby that it took me a while to stumble upon the form of crushed stone I was looking for. While doing so, I found a pile of rocks the size Mama is looking for to landscape the circle entry to our property. I also found a plie of fine gravel to help with the project. Getting to the pile will be a challenge, but I think we can work something out when the time comes.

To cover only half of the area I eventually need to cover took four bucket loads of the gravel I had selected. The pile was a bit further into the massive gravel yard than what I had gotten over the weekend to fil in the area opened at the shop when we moved the fence. Each trip took about twenty minutes, so I was not exactly setting a blistering pace throughout the project – but I did get off to a good start. At least it looked like I had done something big by the time Mama, Victoria and the kids got back from their outing.

Cori and Nate reported that they had found the house they wanted to start off with in their ministry in Honduras. I have not seen pictures yet. Those are on hold because, as I understand it, the house is a tad rough. Victoria explained that Cori and Nate want to give the presentation of the home to the kids with lengthy explanations of how each room will be finished, furnished and decorated and which of the children will stay in each of the rooms. I will share pictures as I get them. What I would really like to do is go with them to get the house rehabilitated – but, at present, I cannot see that happening. Now Cori and Nate will get the paperwork, the payments and all other pertinent items taken care of so that they can occupy the house in only a few short weeks. They will fly into Houston tomorrow and be home late that night. All will be packed up from the farm and they will head down the road for their final meetings Saturday afternoon. They will probably not be back to the farm again before they relocate to the field. It has taken a little less than two years to get them to this point, but it feels like it happened very quickly.

We are in a Soul Winning conference at church which will continue tonight and Friday night. We desperately need to do better in that area of our faith but there is still a strong disconnect between wanting to be a good witness and being a good witness. Prayers for God’s wisdom have been a continual request on my part and God has generously answered those prayers – especially as I have been faithful to go out witnessing.  Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.”

I have always wanted to be wise. Here is a clear thought on how I can be.

Seekers, wanderers, a bonus

Cori and Nate seem to have gotten off to a good start yesterday. They sent a video of a house they were looking at somewhere in the town where they will be serving. It was definitely a Latino abode. The walls and ceilings were all painted green – not an ostentatious green, but not a pastel green either. Once the overwhelming sensation of seeing so much of one color was past, it was a fairly nice home; tile floors throughout, two bathrooms, three bedrooms with a decent kitchen and a fair-sized living area. What was uncommon for the area was the large yard. It was fully enclosed with prison wire across the top of a brick fence.  Somewhat intimidating, but not unexpected. Today they are scheduled to look at another, even bigger house. Either way, they are having success seeking out a home to move to in just a few weeks.

Meanwhile, back at the farm we are having some minor issues in the combination of children, gates and dogs. Each time the kids have been with us there has been an incident where one of the gates to the back yard has been left open and the dogs have gotten out of the yard. On this visit, it happened last night. When I got home – after having to go to Walmart for items Mama needed for dinner – the kids were playing some form of tag. Since they were barefooted, they were using the sidewalks that encircle the house for their boundary. Of course, there are two gates on that sidewalk; at the garage and at the west end of the house. Each time they raced through those gates in their game, each gate had to be opened and closed. In one of those passages, the gate at the garage was not closed and Bella, Kobe and Kira got out.

I had made an additional run to the grocery store in Chico right after I got home because we still needed one item to complete Mama’s dinner plans and when I got home, Kira was just exiting the yard. Fortunately, Sam and Sasha belayed her exit and I was able to get her back into the yard. I guess she was a little late in discovering the open gate that Bella and Kobe had run through already. We could fuss at and scold the kids, but they already know better. So, we called out to the dogs and waited. By the time Victoria got home, neither dog had returned. It was well after dark, sometime just before 9 pm that Bella came back. As of this morning, I am not sure if Kobe has returned. I told Mama, if this continues to happen we have to expect that at some point the dogs will not make it back.  Between predators, hunters and fast drivers on the road, there are some significant dangers the dogs face once they are out of the yard.

On the brighter side, all eleven of the chicks that the broody Banty was sitting on hatched. Mama and the kids gathered all the remaining chicks yesterday morning. They are growing safely in a tote in the garage – warm, watered and well fed.

Those eleven chicks were a bonus to the farm.

Coaching Session, escapees, farm chicks

Because we are one vehicle short, Mama had to drop me off at the office yesterday. That made it an early morning for her, but she told me that she got all the kids ready, all the animals fed and all the prep for lunches at school done in record time. They even made it to school on time. Something that is hit or miss for Mama on a regular day. I was stuck at work for lunch, but it was not too bad. It made me realize how much I enjoy the break away from work each day. Today, Mama will be at home with the kids. The school is doing their annual testing and our Pastor’s wife always administers those tests. With her there at the school, Mama is not normally needed. She laments the loss of hours but is excited about a couple days off to spend with the kids. She was holding Savanna last night and whispered to me, “this one may be too big to do this with the next time we get to spend this much time with her.” True, that. Maggie, Brittany and Chase all sent pictures of their respective little ones decked out for Easter. All those pictures ended up on devises I do not normally access, so I do not have them to share, but like the grandchildren that are with us, they are all growing up so quickly it is a little overwhelming. Mama and I are praying that this business will allow us the opportunity to travel enough to see our grandchildren more often.

Along that line of thought, Mama and I met with our coach last night. When we called in to the meeting, Mama and I were working on a list of properties that will be auctioned off the middle of next month. Since we were already looking at a couple properties of interest, our coach went right along with the course of action needed to do the full research on one of those properties. As it turned out, Mama and I had been investigating a very good one. Our coach was excited by that. As we walked though her approach to determining the value of the property, Mama and I learned a couple new techniques for getting that value. I am more comfortable with the approach Frank taught us, but it is always good to see a different methodology – in case we need it to share with to someone we are training in the business. Different people solve a problem in different ways so is always good to capture those ideas as we go. Mama and I are thinking about going to the auction next month. It may be too high a bar to set for us right now, but we are strongly considering it.

Tonight, I will have to spend some time setting up a different connection from the birthing center to the kennel. The one I threw together – that I thought would last a week or two – is not containing the puppies as they exit the building. They are able to get themselves up high enough to tumble over the sides of the connecting walkway. They are big pups and they are getting more ambulatory every day. To contain them I will need to build something larger and more substantial.

But they are not the only escapees. Certain of our chickens are still getting out. Tonight, Mama and I will scour the property to find out if those that are always out are out because they do not go back into the coop to roost, or because they have a found an escape route out of the coop. As with the pups, it is not a big deal but I would like to have things done right so we can reliably contain the chickens and the pups when we need to.

As I was coming back from the garden through the little shed we have built onto the well house, I heard the unmistakable sound of chicks peeping. When I investigated further, I found the hen that has been sitting on the eleven eggs under the shed, did indeed have chicks under her wings. I called Mama and the grandkids over. When everyone was ready, I lifted up the hen and we found five newly hatched chicks. Not being sure how to feed and water them if we left them there, we gathered them up and put them under a heat lamp in a tote in the garage along with the other forty we have there. Whether we did the right thing or not will be evident in a day or two. Meanwhile, we will keep check for new arrivals.

Coria and Nate are safely in Honduras. Keep them in your prayers.

Two good days of work – one casualty, Easter

Last weekend was good. Good weather. Good success with projects and repairs at the farm. Good time with Nate, Cori and the kids. With a bit of help from Nate I was able to get the coop wire finished, get gravel put on the bare ground opened to the driveway when we moved the fence at the shop and able to do some cleanup of the flowerbeds Mama has been agonizing over. On Saturday, while Nate, Cori and the girls were on their way to Bowie to meet Victoria and drop off their vehicle to Roger – the a/c is out – Blake and Grant were playing in the rocks in the goat area. I did not think much about it until I heard Blake’s blood curdling scream. Grant was moving some of the larger rocks and flipped one onto Blake’s hand, smashing his finger in the process. It flayed the skin completely off the first knuckle of the ring finger on his right hand. I called Cori and asked them to head back to the farm to evaluate the injury. I thought it was bad enough that an emergency room visit might be warranted. We might have been able to get by without it, but on my recommendation, they went to the hospital to get the wound cleaned and dressed. It is always such a frightful expense. The finger guard they gave Blake is a badge of honor for him that he was able to show off at church yesterday – and it does protect his finger from getting banged around. We are changing the medicated patches and the gauze nightly while Cori and Nate are in Honduras this week.

It was a full two days of work at the farm. The baby chicks arrived Friday morning and Mama and I set up totes in the garage to accommodate the forty we are keeping. Zack and Alissa came over fairly early to get the dozen they had ordered. So far there has been one casualty. Fortunately, it was not one of the expensive breed Mama ordered. When Blake was injured I was working on repairing the kennel, so a tarp could be put back over it to shade the puppies – and that came out very well. When I finished that, I set up for Nate to help me get the wire on the coop – until I ran out of materials. To open the sidewalk from the garage into the back yard, I took some thin, tall rods and attached them to the raised bed in the back yard to support the blackberry bush that is thriving in that bed. When I got it set on the supports, I found a runner that had sprouted a new blackberry plant and I dug it up to be replanted. When I had exhausted all the materials I had I went to the garden and rebuilt the small raised beds into one deeper bed, so I could relocate the berry bushes from the back yard as well as the one I had taken from the raised bed in the back yard. That came out pretty well. I will know in a week or so how well the plants will do.

When Nate and Cori returned from the hospital, Nate and I took their vehicle to Bowie, so Roger could get the repairs made to the a/c. While we were there, we stopped and picked up some TEF and alfalfa from Rick. At the farm, we loaded the bales into the loft of the goat barn and I swapped the hay/pallet forks on the tractor to the bucket and went to the gravel yard next door and hauled enough gravel to cover the spot by the shop – four bucket loads. I drove the tractor and Nate spread the gravel. Having rested my back a bit while I was on the tractor, I spent an hour or so on the back of the shop leveling the gravel I had put there as well as lining out the west corner and roof supports for the little shed I am adding onto the shop.

Easter Sunday was great. We had Mykenzie, Grant, Blake, Savanna, Yilin, Cheyenne and Aubrey all dressed for the day. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures on my phone. Three Easter egg hunts later, our house is overrun with plastic eggs.

Nate and Cori left from the restaurant to drive to Houston where they will catch a flight to Honduras. Please continue in prayer for them.