Catching kids, Lilly’s three, news from Lawton, lunch at work

By the time I got home yesterday at lunchtime, all the kids had been caught and were waiting transport to the vet. Yay! The Thomason boys were more than happy to recount the adventures of capturing the little ones. it appears that all went smoothly. Much as Mama had expected. We sat around and visited as I ate lunch in the abbreviated time I had left – considering the drive to the farm and the return trip to work. Mama was leaving for the vet at the same time I left for work; or so I thought. Obviously, she had not left the farm yet because she called me just as I got to work to tell me Lilly was having her babies. One kid had been delivered and the second was on the way. As she was getting in the truck to leave, she heard the cries of distress as Lilly was having her second kid.

Mama was concerned that there was a problem with the birthing. She found Lilly on the ground with the birth sac protruding from her backside. It looked awful to her. Like something was wrong. She was asking me to come home and intervene. With that in focus I headed to the truck and started home until Mama called me a second time to tell me that the second delivery was successful. She was headed to the vet and Krystal and the boys were headed back to the farm to monitor the birth of the third little one. They arrived in plenty of time to watch the birth. The boys were thoroughly disgusted by the birthing. Especially when Lilly began licking up the fluids that came out with the third kid. A memory they will not soon forget. But, in the end, all three (two males and one female) were born healthy and active…just before the rain started.

As Mama and I left for church rain began to fall and Lilly and her triplets were still outside the barn. Mama wanted to get redressed in her farm clothes and try to herd the family into the barn, but I discouraged her from doing so. My reasoning was that it was warm enough that the rain would not bother the new arrivals. It would work to help clean the babies off. Lilly clearly knows where the barn is and if she was not willing to get under the roof provided for her, there may be a good reason for her not doing so. At least not at that moment. We agreed that we would go out to check as soon as we got home from church. Which we did. By that time, Lilly and her three were safely camped out in a dry spot inside the barn. Mama slept better knowing they were safe – and dry.

Just before we left for church, our realtor sent us some pictures of the new fence that was just installed at one of our houses in Lawton. Progress. It was encouraging to see. I still do not know what is happening with the interior remodel, but we assume the works is continuing since the majority of the materials have been bought and delivered. I am tempted to go up this week, but it would have to be tomorrow night. That is the only night I have available, other than next Monday night, for the next couple weeks. Saturday, we go to Seth’s for dinner. Tuesday, we have our church dinner. Wednesday, Joshua and Brittany and their families are coming to the farm in preparation for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving takes up the following four days. The Monday following Thanksgiving, I leave for Minnesota and Colorado to teach classes. I will be gone all week. The week of the 16^th of December, I will be gone most of the week as well. Christmas is the week following that absence. Not much spare time to do an inspection. Mama and I trust the Lord to work on our behalf through Glenn and his crews. Praise the Lord!

Today we will have a potluck lunch at the office. Our annual Thanksgiving lunch. It is always a big deal. today will be no exception.

Suitcase bed, walking in the dark, wrangling kids

Part of the fun of being married to Mama is pretty much knowing what to expect and yet finding what you expect to be a little unexpected as it unfolds. Last night we watched Savannah and her brothers. Less Leo, who went with his mama, Krystal, on her venture to a moms-night-out with the home school group they belong to. They made cranberry jelly – which we got to taste later. Sometime after dinner, Savannah needed to nap for a bit, but we had no safe place to lay her during that nap. For some reason we no longer have a pack-and-play which we would typically use. Instead, Mama asked me to get a large suitcase out and set it on the spare bed. We put a pillow in the bottom of the suitcase, covered that with a soft blanket and placed the baby in the repurposed “bed”. It worked really well. Mama told me later that she got the idea from my Mom, who when Joshua was little took a dresser drawer out of the dresser and used in in the same way as we had used the suitcase. A perfect baby bed for temporary use.

Late in the evening, I went for a walk. I am trying to do the mile walk three or more times per week. With darkness coming so early, those walks now have to be taken after dark. Last night as I started down the road, I heard a commotion in the trees off to the north. It sounded like two cats fighting. But we do not have a lot of cats in the remote area where we live. It was a horrific commotion. I almost turned around to head back to the house but decided to continue. Whatever was happening, it quieted down by the time I walked to the end of the road and back. I will have to start taking my pistol with me as I take those walks in the dark. I doubt that I could use the pistol effectively in the dark, but it would make me feel less at risk in the event of an encounter with a predator. Although, I am more likely to cross paths with a skunk, a raccoon or an opossum, the coyotes are getting more numerous lately. We are seeing them more often. Hearing them every night. Last night was a little odd in that Sam and Sasha did not go with me on the walk. Maybe because it was fully dark, and they were already on duty at the farm.

I will have to go home at lunchtime today. Mama has the Thomason’s coming back over at lunchtime to help us catch the kids. Three of the four will need to be debudded. Two of the three will only need an application of a solution to will inhibit the growth of their horns. Julian, however, will need to have his horns surgically removed. Horned Myotonic goats do not sell well. Plus, the horned goats are a nuisance. As we are continuing to discover with Scamper. I had to stop what I was doing yesterday evening to put more wire on the part of the fence he was trying to pull down. He loves hooking his horns in the wire and pulling back as far as he can. Before I reinforced the fence, he was able to pull back a good way. After I added the wire ties to the fence, he was completely frustrated that he could not repeat his triumph. It is frustrating for me given the fact that Mama has been planning to sell him for two months now. That sale will eventually be made, or he will be taken to the market. One way or the other, I plan to permanently interrupt his destructive tendencies.

Catching the kids this afternoon is another of those times that make living with Mama a continuous adventure. I will try to video some of the process, but I may be too involved in the activity to document any portion of it. That is usually the way these things work out. I have the crates ready for transport – loaded in the back of the truck. The vet appointment is set, so all we need is to get the patients into those crates. Tada! Simple, right?
Only in Mama’s eyes.

Escapees, the holiday season, a passive generation

Kobe and Kira got out of the yard yesterday. Mama was perplexed because none of the gates had been left open. Every time the dogs do escape the yard, they eventually return, but not being in the confines of the yard puts them in danger of traffic, hunters and ranchers in the area – especially if they are bothering cattle in their liberated escapades. They always come back filthy. By the time Victoria was home, the dogs who had been out twice, were in the yard once again. A bathing line was set up and both dogs were washed, rinsed and severely scolded. I thought the cleanup was premature because we had not determined where the dogs had gotten out. So, after feeding – because Mama was helping with the bathing – I started to walk the fence to see where the escape had taken place. Once that was found, I reinforced the fence, hoping that would be enough. I did not want to pile rocks, logs or cinder blocks along the fence. That is too noticeable. Too ugly. Instead, I used some old top bar from the fence in the pig area I am redoing to attach to the bottom of the fence that needs to be replaced. it does not look so obvious. hopefully, that will be all that is needed. Time will tell.

Tis the season for overeating. Not that it is the only time of year when we can eat far more than we need. But it is harder, it seems to me, to avoid overeating during the holiday season. I have always found that a challenge. Thursday of this week we have our annual Thanksgiving lunch. Saturday we will be having an early Thanksgiving dinner with Seth and Gabriella. Tuesday of next week we will have our annual Thanksgiving dinner at church and Thursday of next week is Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. But as I have gotten older, I have found that I have to participate very carefully. It does not take away from the fun of the celebration, the feasting and the fellowship if I eat conscientiously. Not much anyway. The real fun for me is the cooking and preparation of the meals. That part is still non-fattening.

Mama will be shopping this week to get all the food items for the four meals stated above. It will be a more expensive grocery month than typical, but we have planned for it. Hopefully, well enough. Anyway, I will have to coordinate preparing a turkey and ham for our Chinese family as well as the turkey and ham I will be preparing for our family on Thanksgiving Day. Mama has purchased four turkeys so far this season. The ham is being given to us by the company I work for. That is a blessing. One or two of the turkeys will be kept for later. we have plenty of room in our freezers right now and Mama and I always enjoy turkey – even in the off season. It is one of the few dishes Mama will eat out of season.

In researching the generation of young people coming into the workforce, I stumbled across a one-word definition that really struck me. The professor speaking to Sebastian Gorka about the coming generation in our culture described them an “passive”. Along for the ride. Things have been given to them. Things have been done for them. Things have been thought out for them. They are mostly content with the way things are and are not looking for any discontinuance of that arrangement. I have struggled to come up with a concise definition for the prevailing attitude of the generation entering the workforce and that one word seems to capture the sentiment I am seeing. Not in every one of the young people, but generally across the culture. Perhaps that is why there is a growing appeal of socialism within our culture. I don’t know for sure, but the dots seem to connect.

Mama is going to Kimberlyn’s today. Picking up feed on the way home. If I am not mistaken, this will be the only time this month that the two of them will get together. The current focus is on making Christmas presents. That should be fun. I am obviously in favor of hand-crafted Christmas presents versus buying things. so many useless things change hands in the Christmas season. It would be nice to personalize Christmas this year.

We will have to wait and see how that works out.

Shelter completion, picking pecans, the canoe, the Marksmen

I focused all day Saturday on completing the siding on the goat shelter. When I gathered and cut to size the metal siding from the shed I had taken apart, I had just enough to complete siding the shelter. All I have left from the original shed is a few very small scraps and the angled tops that fit each end of the shed. It not only enclosed the shelter, it cleaned up another pile of scrap I had lying about. The shelter will be painted in the Spring to unify the two colors of metal used to cover it, but for now, it does not look bad. At least all the lines match and the colors are compatible – other than the rust spots. A few more little holes in the roof to patch and the shelter will be as complete as I intend it to be.  

Friday evening, I took three pallets to make a play area for the kids. I disassembled one pallet and cut the recovered boards in half lengthwise. I used those thinner strips to fill the gaps between the boards on the other two pallets. Then I attached legs to one of the pallets. Those pallets were carried into the goat paddock Saturday morning and set up to provide two levels of play area. One pallet was set on cinder blocks which will help delay the decay that will come naturally. The pallet with legs abuts the one on blocks. The little ones figured out right away what to do with the bilevel deck. As we were pulling into the drive on our way home from picking pecans, the four kids were playing king of the mountain, knocking each other off in turns. I was quite the spectacle. It will be fun to watch as all the kids grow more accustomed to the playground. Mama can see it from our bedroom window. We are still waiting on Dolly and Lilly to kid, but that should happen this week or next.

Mama talked me out of starting another project about 2 pm Saturday. She and Victoria had been shopping and were getting ready to head to Bowie to have some soup at Grandma’s. From there they planned to go to Rick and Nancy’s (our goat mentors) to pick up pecans. Having gotten to a good place to stop, I went along. I could not eat much soup because Grandma uses V-8 juice as the base. As much as I love the taste, I do not so well with that. Once we had eaten and visited a while, we went see what pecans we could gather. Between the three of us, me, Mama and Victoria, we picked up about forrty pounds of pecans in about an hour.

These were the large, long, paper shelled pecans. Premium quality. We will go back this week to gather more and to see if the other three pecan trees have ripened to the point of gathering those pecans as well. The other three trees have smaller, more round pecans. Good quality as well, just not as big as the ones we picked up Saturday. Mama may take Bro Plumley back early this week. He wants to get a stash of pecans to sell and he really liked those big ones. We looked at the pecan grove next to the church at the end of our road, but most of those pecans were very small. Mama had hoped she could take Bro Plumley there to get his pecans, but that may not work.

Late Saturday evening a man called to see if I still had the canoe. Mama took the call and gave him all the particulars. He really wanted it, so we agreed to be available Sunday afternoon for him to pick it up. He was later than he had told us, but he kept us abreast of his expected arrival time. He finally got to the farm about 3:30 pm. He was loaded and gone by 3:50. A man on a mission. He was very excited about getting the canoe. We are excited about selling it so that I can upgrade to a boat Mama and I can share with less worries. That was a timely answer to prayer.

Sunday evening, we had the Marksmen Quartet at church. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Update on Grandma, what to do this weekend, a little help

Mama took Grandma and Grandpa to the doctor yesterday. Grandma is seeing a gastroenterologist for her continuous bowel discomforts. He once again reassured her that her diverticulosis is a common ailment in our American culture– often remaining undiagnosed in as much as 50% of our population over 50 years old. He reaffirmed that diet can make a huge difference. Advising Grandma to increase her dietary fiber intake. He also said that the recent scan they did on Grandma showed a small fibroid mass on the top of her uterus. It may be the cause of some of the pain Grandma is experiencing. He is not overly concerned, but he is advising Grandma to get a colonoscopy to ensure there is noting internal that is also contributing to her pain. I know this information because Mama insisted – against Grandma’s initial objections – that she sit in on the consultation with the doctor. Grandma tends to either not remember or to remember wrongly most of what she hears. Especially critical pieces of information. This information was too important to let Grandma be the only one who heard the report.

Grandma has not been successful in the past taking the required fluids to evacuate her bowels to have a successful colonoscopy. She is not usually ably to keep the fluids down long enough to cause her bowls to move sufficiently to completely empty her colon. If that is even possible. Grandma is always constipated. Having only one bowel movement per week – if that often. I cannot imagine the shape her colon is in after years of that kind of irregularity. Anyway, she is going to try again. When I did my only colonoscopy, several years ago, I remember the fluids I was required to drink were unpleasant, but not overly so. Whatever nausea came, passed quickly. But even still, the doctor performing the test told me my bowels were still not quite as cleaned out as they would have liked. From the time I spent on the pot, I found that hard to believe. So, pray for Grandma that she would be able to do all that is required for the test to be successful, thereby allowing the doctors to accurately diagnose any ongoing, treatable issues. Her body would greatly benefit from having the colon emptied. Even if it lasts only a short while.

This weekend is supposed to be really nice – weather wise. I have a very long list of things that need to get done. Some are urgent and will probably get priority. Some are fun. Those will be a distraction from the urgent projects. Several are tedious and/or unpleasant but need to get done none-the-less. Those will probably get worked on in small starts. None of the tasks on that list are urgent. I can always stay busy through the limited hours of daylight available regardless of what percolates to the top of the list. That is my focus. To stay busy. To get as much done as is possible. I do not know what Mama’s focus is for the weekend other than cleaning and organizing in preparation for guests. But her focus often sets or upsets the agenda I meditated on.

I have not gotten a call from the guy in our beekeeping club to formalize going with him to gather bees from the inhabited smoker in Gross, TX. If he calls, I will go. If not, I have plenty to fill my time. I did receive the cheap bee keeping suit I ordered. As far as the suit itself is concerned, it fts well and should be adequate. Time will tell. However, neither Mama nor I could figure out how to attach the hood and veil to the suit. So, I looked up a video on how to get that done. There is almost always a video to do any task you could search. When I watched the very short video, I had to chuckle at myself for now seeing the operation without help. But it is like most new actions. Once you see how to do it, it seems simple. Without that little bit if help, it seems impossible – as if things you are trying to figure out were not manufactured correctly. I didn’t feel stupid, but I probably should have.

Thank you, technology, for that little bit of help. And for the gracious nature of the man in the video presenting what he obviously thought was an overly simple task.

Teaching day, good news from Lawton, eating right

Yesterday’s class was a good one. Once again Red Shaw and I split the thirty-eight people between the two of us. That gave us two reasonable sized classes. I have done classes of over forty people, but it is not the best approach, so our company has agreed to let us split the classes in order to get keep a small group feel to the day of instruction. Even still, my voice was worn out by the end of the class. I had folks from California, Montana, Pennsylvania and Colorado in the class yesterday. As well as a few from Texas and our Southern neighbors. It was a diverse class, mostly quiet folks, with a few exceptions, but the material generated a lot of discussion, a lot of interaction. Everyone seemed like old friends by the end of the day. It is one part of my current job assignments that I really enjoy.

During the early part of the class I had to ignore a call from our realtor. He later texted to let me know that all the materials had been bought for both of our houses in Lawton and work was beginning with one crew in each house. He also let me know that there is a renter in the neighborhood who seems interested in the larger house – our Dover property. Good news on both counts. I believe, the expressed interest of a buyer will motivate our realtor to push ahead with the long-delayed remodel. I am encouraged by any increase in that motivation, whether this buyer comes through or not. I am praying that we have the finances to complete the work all the way to the closing on each house. God is good!

While I was teaching my class, Mama spent the morning reading through several books trying to coordinate diet suggestions in order to see if she could begin to set some new dietary standards for us. I think in the end she may have hit upon a strategy, but when she explained it to me, I was not enamored with the idea. What she was suggesting would certainly work short-term, but I am not looking for some austere short-term dietary punishment routine to kickstart a weight loss program. We may still follow the diet suggestions, but I would like a more simple, straight-forward, long-term program. We are not getting any younger and Mama and I need to start feeding our aging bodies in a way that is more conducive to general good health. Whatever that may be. But it certainly includes elimination of heavily processed foods and a severe reduction in refined sugar – in all forms. With today’s typical diet for us, those two actions will require a serious rethinking of our traditional grocery shopping, our normal eating out selections and the snacks we keep on hand.

Diet is one of those areas in our lives where we know what is right. We know what to do to eat right. To eat in a healthy manner. We just do not want to spend the emotional energy to do so. The older we get, the more of a challenge it is because, to put it simply, eating is one of the few activities we can enjoy together with relatively little physical discomfort. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s necessary and normal. It just does not have to promote weight gain if we do it correctly. But that is so much less fun. One of the seniors at our church told me recently, eating is one of the only “guilty” pleasures left to us as we get older. That and gossip. Which is anathema to me. So, Mama and I must decide if we can still enjoy meals, enjoy eating even if we align our diet to match our physical and physiological requirements. Sacrificing our emotional requirements. An ongoing dilemma.

As long as any newfound conviction or adopted practice does not spill over into sharing those convictions with everyone we meet, I am okay with making any changes we deem necessary. Too often I have watched people take on a diet and when they meet with moderate success, preaching the benefits to everyone who talks to them. Then only to find a year later that person has gained double the weight lost after their initial success. That thought alone scares Mama away from every diet plan that might provide a solution.

For now, we are still talking it over.

Cold, Lawton homes, teaching

For once the forecasts were accurate. The temperature did drop to 22° overnight. I happened to be stirring about at 2 am. The temperature reading on the clock on the mantle, where we look for our temperature measurements, was 27°. The final drop in temperature was between 2 am and 6 am. The temperature reading in the truck this morning was 19°. That matched the official temperature reading at our local weather station. It will be interesting to find out if that was one of the many record cold readings for this time of year. Fortunately, we were ready for it. I got a little worried as I went to bed that I had not taken good enough care of the wellhead for the well that services the house. So, I got up, dressed for the cold and found the things I needed to put a single light bulb under the tote we have over the wellhead. That, I wrapped with a blanket to help insulate the cover. I felt fairly confident that it would be enough to get us through the night. After that was done, I slept pretty well. Other than my early morning check of the temperature.  

The forecast is for temperatures to get to almost 50° today. That will thaw things out nicely through the day. Nighttime temperatures are still going to be at or below freezing for the next three nights, but none will be as cold as last night. So, if our last-minute preparations got us safely through the deep cold, we should be fine for the rest of the week. Of course, Mama will have to carry water to her animals every morning, but we are set up to accommodate that as well. Oh well, it is to be expected this time of year.

We are hoping Lilly and Dolly have their babies in one of the warmer interludes, but we have no control over that. We are not providing any extra warmth for the goats. They all have places to bed down out of the wind – which has been fierce as this cold front moved through. The only heat we are offering is to the younger chickens – in the coop, in the garage and in the birthing center; which will not be needed for puppies any more since Mama and Victoria missed Kobe’s heat again. that was to be their last attempt to get Kobe or Kira bred. There are going to be some very disappointed people who have been on a waiting list for puppies from Kobe.

Last weekend there was a flurry of activity on our houses in Lawton. We have a friend who has a couple properties in Lawton as well. He goes up every weekend to work on his houses. Friday evening Mama called his wife to ask if he would mind swinging by our houses and check to see if anything had been done. As it turned out the realtor texted me early Saturday morning to let me know he was buying materials for the houses. He wanted to know how I was going to cover the costs of the materials being purchased. From his estimate, I transferred money to him through a local bank. It was still nice to have eyes on the project from our friend who confirmed that a lot of materials had been placed in the houses – doors, toilets and tubs, sheetrock, paint, etc. Lord willing, in spite of the colder temperatures, we will see some significant progress on the houses this month. If the Lord is using this to reinforce His teaching us patience, it is certainly working. I am praying for wisdom to rightly handle the money generated by the eventual sale of these two properties. I will need it. Thought we may still be months away from that eventuality, it is not too early to begin praying. Right now, I am praying about how to make sure I have the funds necessary to finish the properties. I am weighed down quite a bit by that…until we complete our first sale.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. It will be a nice change of pace.