My bad, stocking up, pickups and deliveries, vise stand

Early Friday morning Mama and I loaded the truck to head to Azle for the flea market they do there the weekend after Trade Days. Our first stop was QT to get fuel. That is where I messed up bigly. I inserted my card in the pump, asked for a receipt, and started fueling up the truck – with gasoline. I hopped into the back of the truck to rearrange what we had there so we would be able to add the tables to the mix. It was only after I pumped about ten gallons of gas into the diesel truck that I realized my mistake. I was furious with myself. After calming down, we called Triple A and had the truck towed to the house. Grandma and Grandpa met us in Decatur to give us a ride home. Due to COVID restrictions, the driver was not allowed to take us with his in the tow truck.

Grandpa and I were going to try to get the tank drained ourselves. But when Grandpa and I tried unsuccessfully to siphon the fuel from the tank we realized we would have to drop the fuel tank to get the incorrect fuel drained from the tank. I had the truck towed to a diesel mechanic in Bowie to have that work done. I felt like it was too much for me and Grandpa to take upon ourselves. We will probably get the truck back today. Fortunately, I did not start the truck, so the fuel lines to the engine were never contaminated. That saved any horrific damage to the engine, but the incident was one of my more foolish, distracted moments. I have owned this truck for six or seven years and this is the first time I have made that mistake. Thinking about it still stings a little.

Mama and I redeemed my time off by going to Denton to buy a few things. I had found a great deal on a vise at a Northern Tool store in Denton. I have needed a vise for years but have not purchased one because they are so expensive. This one was offered at half price. Mama and I then went to the bread store to buy day old bread for the chickens. From there to WinCO and Sam’s. We were buying stock up items, not necessarily things we needed at the moment. We ended up spending over three hundred dollars on those food items, but we are in pretty good shape in our pantry in case we have to suffer through another lockdown; which is entirely possible should the election stand as it is currently being promoted – false thought that it. It was a good way to redeem the time off after my mistake. The Lord in His graciousness allowed us to run into a woman outside Sam’s who was interested in Mama’s nails. They exchanged information while they talked for over thirty minutes. I waited in the Sequoia for more than twenty minutes and finally went over to the vehicle where they were talking to make sure Mama had not been kidnapped. She was having a great time, so I waited some more before we finally headed home.

Early Saturday morning we went to Bowie to pick up two lambs. They had been selected for us by the son of the sellers. We had wanted to buy three, but he was not willing to sell up three at the agreed price, so we had to settle for the two. One will be ours and one will be the Chinese family’s to process. That will happen next week. So, we will have them for only a few days before we take them to the processing facility. The lambs are not at all happy with the change they have been forced to endure, but they are at least eating and drinking in the little enclosure where we have them. To retrieve the lambs, we had to pull the stock trailer with the Sequoia, but it did very well.

After the lambs were unloaded, I started working in the shop making a stand for my new vise. I had an idea of what to do but was able to improve on that idea as I put the stock trailer back in its place under the equipment shed that is attached to the barn and spotted a steel plate that had been part of a door for a piece of equipment. I did not get to work on that very long since Mama and I were asked to deliver three goats to a buyer in Weatherford. That buyer had an amazing place with two horse arenas, dozens of areas set up for Longhorn cattle, multiple large barns, and a large house. We put the goats in a little paddock beside a huge storage building and the buyer paid us $825 for the three goats. Not a bad deal. Those animals will be as well cared for as the goats that remain with us. Once we were back from that delivery, I started back on the vise stand.

The stand is made from a base of a grill that was left at the property when we bought it, the steel plate I found and a short piece of pipe I had left from another project. I like the way it turned out. I have to sandblast it and paint it – at some future date – but for now, it is serviceable. I have already used the vise and the plate it is mounted on for welding braces for a gate I need to strengthen. It will be a great addition to the shop both as a vise and a small welding table.

This week I have classes tomorrow afternoon and Friday morning. I also have to set up a class for Red to teach Wednesday morning. Next week is Thanksgiving. Wow! This year has flown by.

On a sad note, Victoria’s flight to Honduras was cancelled. She will be stuck with us through the Holiday Season.

Hay retrieval, new home, class, vacation

Tuesday evening right after I signed off from work, Mama and I went to Muenster to get hay. The farmer we buy from there had enough for us to get thirty bales – which is great for this time of year since most suppliers are out of the Sudan hay. The goats will eat the Coastal hay readily available in this area, but they do so grudgingly. His price per bale is among the lowest we have found, seven dollars per bale. I used the Sequoia to haul the trailer, but I am not sure I did any better with it that I would have done with the truck. I hesitated taking the truck because the access to the barn he has the hay stored in is pretty tight and I had difficulty getting the truck and trailer maneuvered into the barn the last time we picked up hay. I got the trailer into the barn in an okay position but I sure wish I was better at backing it than I am. Mama and I did not make it home before dark so the trailer has sat just off the drive waiting to be unloaded since I disconnected Tuesday evening. That should happen this evening. Fortunately, we have had no rain and very little dew over the past couple days.

Once we got home, I prepared the little coop for its new occupants. We had relocated the hens that had roosted there for months now to the West side of the coop building. They were not happy about being displaced and Mama and I have had to pick them up from the porch of the little coop and take them to the roosts of the big coop every night since. Hopefully, they will soon get the idea that that is no longer their home. To prepare the little coop for the chicks – which were in the garage in totes – I had to rig up two heat lamps and a space heater to warm the building sufficiently. Fortunately, when Grandpa built this building for Victoria’s puppies, he insulated it very well, so it warmed quickly.

Mama and I were able to get the chicks offloaded into the little coop after about an hour of the heat lamps and the space heater doing their job. The chicks were ecstatic to be allowed so much room. While some huddled in a corner several flitted about, almost flying, just of the fun of being able to do it. So far, they have done well. We picked this time of year to raise the new brood because of the limited threat of snakes. At least for now, that looks like a good decision. By the time these chicks are six months old and ready to lay, it will be April. Good timing.

I had a small class yesterday, only six participants. It was a very good class. All of us enjoyed ourselves thoroughly as we paced through the material. It was not a short class because there was plenty of discussion and interaction. In fact, I was about an hour short of where I would normally be by lunchtime, so I had to pick up the pace through the afternoon portion of the class. But we finished in good time and I had everybody on their way by 4 pm. I will be in the office later this morning to record those grades and make the entries in the spreadsheets we use to track all our instructor led classes.

Tomorrow I am taking a day of vacation so I can help Mama set up at a flea market in Azle, TX. It is only about thirty minutes from us, and we have been told it is a smaller, more intimate market setting with far less competition than at Trade Days. The seller who was beside Mama last weekend told her about that market and Mama is anxious to try it out. The cost to set up is only fifteen dollars, so it is a nominal expense should it not work out very well. I am going to help set up tables and provide company to Mama during the day. I need the break from work and perhaps I can find something I like at the market as well.

There is lot of work I need to be doing at the farm and in the shop, but that work has waited for days and one more day will not cause a problem. Maybe I will have some time Saturday to work on projects after we go to pick up three lambs from the couple that are the landlords of the property Grandma and Grandpa now rent. We will keep those lambs for a few days before we take them to be processed, so it will be a short time with those animals on the farm. We crowded the dates so we would have quick access to the little shelter I have by the boy goats for the weanlings we need to take off their mama goats in the girl’s area. That should happen by Thanksgiving.  

It will be a busy couple weeks here at the farm, but we love it.

Who we are

In this time of confusion and outright lies concerning the ongoing election, I think it is important to remember who we are as Americans. Just as the church house is not the true church so America is not our government. The “called out”, set apart believers of all nations are the church, not the buildings they use for worship. In the same way “we the people” are America. When the founders in their elegant brilliance set up this representative republic, (we are not a democracy) their intent was that the government would serve at the will of “we the people”, not that “we the people” would serve at the pleasure of the government. That is why we have elections. To exert our will on those that govern us. If we do not like what they are doing as representatives of our will, we can send them packing and install those into office that will do as we desire.

Right now, our country is fractured by a deep selfishness that I have never seen before. An unbudging hatred of all things righteous, all things moral. There is a pervasive attitude of “I get to speak, and you get to agree, or I will destroy you and all you love” attitude. “My way or you will suffer the full extent of my wrath!” That does not come from pride. It comes from pure covetousness. A heart that says, I WILL GET WHAT I WANT NO MATTER WHO SUFFERS FOR IT! Spoken with the arrogant hubris that dresses up the words as a desire to help those “less fortunate”. It is mind boggling to clear headed observers that the infected cannot see that they have a sickness that will not let them sacrifice on behalf of those they claim to serve but rather beat those the seek to serve into absolute submission – or else. That is not who we are. If we do not stand fast on the principles that guided those who formed the documents that created this great nation, we will become those whom we loathe. Wrong is and has always been wrong. It has always been right to call it out and oppose it. We must certainly do so now.

That being said, the tide is turning. We have always dealt with a certain level of election fraud in certain states. It has largely been winked at and so, has become institutionalized, become common practice. The rate at which fraud was used in this election is over the top. The thinking on the part of those who engaged in the fraud was that no one would dare say anything against it. They have always done it with impunity – but never on the scale it was carried out in at least a dozen states during this election.  Now the Department of Justice, the federal police force, has been called in to investigate. Going to federal prison is not something many of the cheaters will chose to do if it is avoidable. So, the fraud and the narrative built around will crumble and we will get a fair and just count of our votes. At least in so much as we can determine the votes that should be counted. The legal votes. That is a good thing. The integrity of our elections in fundamental to protecting the America we love. Without that, we will slip into a chaos none of us would long tolerate. Pray for those who are charged with the task of unearthing the fraud at all levels of each state, county and city election boards.

We, as believers must also stand up and be counted for Christ. If ever the world needed a Gospel witness, it is now. It is easier to go long to get along but look at where that attitude has gotten us. We must speak out prayerfully, lovingly but above all truthfully. Where do we get that truth? From the Word of God. Our religious opinions matter not a whit. What does the Bible say? That is all that matters. Only the Lord can heal the ills (the sin) in our churches and then in our culture. Is it too late for that healing to come? It could be. The Bible says that “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves…” That is where we are failing as the church. We are no longer humble before God Almighty. We are no longer willing to submit to God. If we will not humble ourselves and submit to God, what chance do we have of making an impact on those who do not know God?

This has been harsh today, I know. But it is something that needed to be said. If we sit silently by, things will never move in the direction of morality and truth. Lost persons will not seek the truth of the Gospel until they see it lived out and spoken in compassion to them. Who but we, the church, the called out assembly of God, can do that?

Something to think about. No. Something to do.

Great Saturday, Honduras updates, no news weekend, wonderful Sunday

Mama and I each individually had a great Saturday. She made some great sales with her Color Street nails at Trade Days. She had several return customers and made quite a few new contacts. As far as the items she and Kimberlyn made, they did not do very well, but they did have some sales of those items. As for me, I loaded up at Grandma and Grandpa’s some cabinets that Norman had given me and by reassembling those cabinets, I was able to set up an area in the shop that I have thought about for a couple years.

As an added bonus I was given two upper cabinets that I installed in the garage just outside the door from the laundry room into the garage. They give us a little more space to organize items out of sight and out of the constant dust. All the cabinets had been removed from Norman’s wife’s nail shop. I also as given a lathe that I was able to set up on one of the cabinet base arrangements I placed in a corner of the shop. I was able to scrounge a piece of metal roofing to complete the calf feeding area overhang I added to the pig building. It was a great day. Which we finished off by having dinner with Grandma and Grandpa – an early Thanksgiving dinner.

An update from Cori: They had been without cell service for several days, without electricity off and on during the same period of time. There is horrific flooding isolating many people from any chance of rescue from the flood waters except by helicopter. Many people have been stranded on their roofs for several days now. Near the church they attend, the neighborhood was flooded with several feet of water, with those levels still rising as of Saturday afternoon. Families that can reach the church have met daily to cook what meals they can to feed those to whom they have safe access. Food supplies are shrinking in the local markets as truck traffic has been limited by washed out roads and inaccessible bridges. Their home is not affected by high water; however, the home they first rented when they relocated to Honduras had a foot or more of water in it. Thank God, again, that they were able to move to this new location. Continue to pray for them as they weather the aftermath of this hurricane as well as still dealing with unchanged COVID restrictions.

I elected to not look at any new networks this weekend. I knew in advance of the weekend that the narrative will be set – or at least the attempt would be made – to marginalize those of us who voted for Trump and exalt Joe Biden to the president-elect position. A foolish and illegitimate move because the votes in no states have been certified and recounts are underway in five or six states. Our media does not select the winner in an election, our electors do and they can do that only after those electors are certified by the state election boards. By avoiding the melee of published untruths, I had a lot better attitude in my prayers through the weekend. God is still in control but there is a word of caution. If the legal votes are verified and counted as cast our President will almost certainly win the election – both the popular and the electoral vote. When that happens, get ready for an uprising of the same groups that looted and destroyed shops and buildings and do far more harm that they did prior to the election.

Church was great Sunday. We had two wonderful services even though the attendance was down somewhat. Pastor preached on humility and the importance of humility in our relationship with God. Sunday evening, he preached on how to glorify God. Obedience being the most basic way we give glory to our God and our Lord. After each service we lingered in lengthy conversations. It was what we needed during this time of desperate confusion.

Isn’t it amazing that the ones who create the confusion try to convince us that only they can dispel the confusion?

Workday for Mama, beekeepers meeting

Mama left the farm pretty early yesterday and returned home about 5:30 pm. We did the morning feeding together, but I took care of the evening feeding by myself while Mama stopped by the feed store to get our months supply of feed on her way home from Kimberlyn’s. Mama and Kimberlyn worked on items for little goodie boxes they are going to market at Trade Days tomorrow. Mama will also have her Color Street nails for sale on the tables they are planning to set up, but the focus will be to make some money for Kenny and Kimberlyn. Mama and I, fortunately, so not need the financial help. They do. So, we are planning, staging, and praying for a very successful day tomorrow.

Mama will spend the day today getting all the goodies – hand creams, lip balms, sugar scrubs – labeled and grouped to fill the little boxes she and Kimberlyn have purchased for that purpose. I will go this evening and get the tables for their displays to sit on. We borrow the tables from the church each time we do this. Returning them late Saturday evening so that the men who gather each Sunday morning to drink coffee before Sunday School can have their area returned to service before they get to the church Sunday morning. It is a bit of extra running to set up the booth at Trade Days, but it allows Mama and Kimberlyn to test the market and hopefully narrow in on what they can sell well in the open market setting.

While they are at Trade Days I will swing by Grandma and Grandpa’s and pick up some cabinets Norman brought to their house to get rid of. Grandpa will be setting up his own little sale. Offering the tools and other items Norman brought from somewhere – I am not sure where – for Grandpa to help him sell. Surprisingly, Grandpa does very well selling the things Norman scrounges up for him. Norman lets Grandpa keep the proceeds from those sales, which is a great help to Grandma and Grandpa. Mama has already bought more than $50 worth of items from the garage sale – most of which were good purchases. Regardless, the money goes to a good cause.

Almost as soon as Mama got home, we headed back out to Bridgeport to meet with the local beekeepers in our club. We met last night at a Dos Chili’s restaurant. There were about twenty-five people in attendance. It is always helpful to hear the topic of discussion as well as the sidebar conversations about beekeeping. Mama and I are always able to pick up a lot of useful information at the meetings. This one was important because it is the first in-person meeting we have had since February. Mama and I ordered a light meal. It was too late in the evening for either of us to eat a full meal, but we enjoyed what we ordered. We thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie with those who are bee lovers. My only regret with the bees this year is that I have no honey to show for all the stings I got through the year learning how to tend to the bees.

Last night the primary discussion was about candy boards. How to make the actual frame and how to mix the sugar to make the candy boards. The bees need some type of feed to carry them through the winter. Last winter I used syrup feeders, but the syrup feeders can produce excess moisture in the hive. That moisture causes mold. Remember that the bees are keeping the hives warm throughout the winter, above 95°. That temperature difference alone causes condensation within the hive. Adding excess moisture to the hive makes the problem worse. A brick of sugar (the candy board) in the hive tends to absorb the excess moisture while the moisture absorbed by the sugar helps the bees eat the sugar. Pollen is added to the candy board to get the bees started on producing young in the very early Spring. Mama and I are going to try it out this year. The candy boards should be far easier to make than the syrup feeders I made last year. They also do not require me to open the hive to refill the jars of syrup. All in all, it seems like a great idea.

The business portion of the meeting took almost as long as the open discussion, but that too was enjoyable. Mama and I got to see how the members viewed the club business. I was impressed by the comments and ideas that came out of those discussions as well. It was an evening well spent.

While the country is caught up in the midst of fraud and lying, it was good to be around honest compassionate folks looking to run their business with the highest ethical standards we can attain.  

Honduras update, the election, classes

Cori, Nate and the kids, along with the totality of Honduras have been soaked with torrential rains since Monday evening. A hurricane made landfall just south of them along the coast of Nicaragua late Monday afternoon. Since then, both countries have experienced extreme flooding. Nate and Matt Goins were out surveying the flooding yesterday and offering help to residents of the neighborhood adjacent to their church and the Children’s Home in a canoe, in the pouring down rain. It was quite the video Cori posted. Power had been off and on through the downpours and cellular service had been interrupted on multiple occasions for varying lengths of time. We got the latest update this morning while Cori had service. We do not know how long her service will last. I anticipate there will be further interruptions as the effects of the storm are dealt with in the weeks to come. I can only imagine the plight of those families we saw when we were in Honduras a year ago who were living in shanty houses made of cardboard and scrounged pieces of wood along a dirt “road” that outlines a large sugarcane field. Much less the effects on those who had chosen to build hovels on the banks of a creek near the church. This will be a desperate time for both of those countries as they care for the displaced, the injured and the dead. Please keep them in your prayers.

The best I can say about the election we are suffering through is that President Trump will not go down without a fight. The corruption is not even being masked in this election and it is very hard to believe that everyone on the Republican ticket in most of the down ballot races did very well while our incumbent president did not. That could only happen through cheating. How that will be resolved remains to be seen, but I can be confident that regardless of the outcome, two things will evidence themselves. One, our president will not casually abandon his base. More importantly, God is fully in control. The Bible tells us there is no place for liars in Heaven. So, whether in this life or our eternal life, judgement will be meted out. We must leave that to God.

My deeper concern is about those who call themselves Christians who willingly voted for a party whose foundational doctrine is the wanton killing of babies in the womb – up to and after the point of that baby being born. That in and of itself would be enough to vote against that party, regardless of the opposition party candidate. Talk about being given over to a “reprobate mind”. Our pride and our selfishness have taken hold to the point that God is no longer the primary influence of moral rectitude in many of the hearts of those that call themselves Christian. We, as believers, are responsible for that failing within the church having replaced true worship with religious convenience, true repentance with come-as-you-are, stay-as-you-are preaching. Never-the-less, the lies and hypocrisy have been put on full display. What comes next is in His capable hands, but we have been fully warned what we are up against. Shame on those who choose not to see it.

This month and the first two weeks of next month will be filled with classes for me to teach. It is nice to be busy. It is nicer to meet some of the new recruits to our company. Since many of the classes scheduled are internal, I get to take a more relaxed approach to the instruction format and be much less formal. More time for questions, more time for deeper discussions than is available in the classes that clients pay for. There will also be several of those classes in the mix, but when I teach or present the class to our company folks, I can take the more casual relaxed and any question of fair game – regardless of the subject.

The internal class I taught on Tuesday would normally take me four hours to present. With the numerous questions and discussions throughout the class, it took a little over six hours to get through. But, the information, as it relates directly to what we do as a core activity for our company, was helpful to our employees. Especially the newer ones. I got a lot of very positive feedback, which always surprises me since I consider the information more or less common knowledge. However, as I am often reminded, common knowledge is not so common.

Tomorrow I am not teaching the scheduled class, but I have to be at the office early to get the class set up for the instructor. It will be his second class this week. If he had not been available, I would have had to teach four classes this week versus the two I did teach. Next week’s class is an in-person class but the following week is two internal classes with one external, online class. If our Democrat opponents are elected to the presidency, a lot of our clients will suffer greatly. We will suffer as a company in their losses. I am praying, for more reasons than the loss of jobs, that that does not happen.

Time will tell.

Weekend work, busy week, a new investment strategy

Mama and I had a great weekend. I was able to spend all day Saturday working on the poles for the new pig pen, but when it came time to purchase the panels to enclose the area, I hesitated because I did not think we could afford the expense right now. So, I diverted my attention to getting a place set up for Mama to feed our cattle by moving a fence at the back of the chicken yard and adding a small roofed area onto the back of the pig building. I had almost all the materials on hand to do that. I just lacked a few 2x4’s. That seemed the bast course of action without spending the $200 or more for the materials required to complete the larger pig pen.

When I took the time to run to Lowe’s to get the 2x4s needed for the shelter I was shocked by the price. It was double what I expected to pay. I suppose the hurricanes and other storms that various parts of the US have been dealing with has driven up demand and thereby the prices for home repair materials. What would have cost me about fifteen dollars a few months ago cost me over thirty dollars Saturday. Needless to say, I bought only what I needed to complete the frame for the roof of the structure I was building. I will attach what roofing panels this afternoon. I should be close to what I need to complete the roof with the few panels I have left over from other projects, but this will use the last of all those extra items. Another projects that helps me clean up around the farm while making things easier for me and Mama as we care for our animals.  

I did not realize how much I had used my hands throughout the day Saturday until I tried to eat Saturday evening and I could not hold a fork properly. The muscles on my hand were so cramped up that I could not use my thumbs to grip the fork as I normally would have. Sunday morning, when I tried to write out our tithe check, I could not do so legibly so I had Mama write out the check. By Sunday evening I was able to take notes during the service, but the notes were not neat. I suppose I will be able to read them later if needed, but I rarely go back and revisit the sermon notes I take. Mostly, I take notes to keep me involved in the preaching and to add my thoughts to the topics being expounded. It helps me participate and it helps Mama look up the references I capture in my notes.

I came to the office this morning to get a colleague set up to teach an eight-hour class online. He will teach a class today and one on Friday for individuals that are clients of his specifically. That saves me the time and gets him some needed face time with his clients. I will be teaching classes tomorrow and Wednesday. Both of those are four-hour classes – more or less. Tomorrow will be a dual class. I will be at the Conference Center here in Decatur and there will be about a dozen company employees with me in that session. While I am instructing in person, the class will be broadcast to another twelve or so participant who will join us remotely. I am not sure how that will work out – especially concerning the audio for the remote participants – but we are going to try it out in order to get everyone in our company through the classes scheduled for this month.

The class tomorrow is an introduction to what we do, why we do it and who we are doing it for. Many of our newer employees and a few of our veteran employees have only a vague idea of the focus of our company and how that related to individuals working in the energy industry. Our mission statement, to make the world a safer place to work, has only a fuzzy application without understanding what we are doing to educate workers to be safe on the jobsite and at home. Tomorrows class should fill in some of those areas of misconception for our teams as to the relevance of what we do and what we offer to the workforce in general.

Mama will be prepping this week to go to trade Days with Kim Cantrell. At some point they are going to get together this week to get some crafts finished and to get a plan together as to what they are going to offer. Mama did fairly well last tine they were at Trade Days in selling her nails to passersby. I expect this weekend could bring some repeat customers. That would be encouraging to Mama.

I enrolled last week in a program that accumulates money for investment by rounding up every purchase made within a bank account. That rounded up amount is then invested in a fund selected by the investment program. It will not be much, but it will be something. That is all I need. If you are interested in learning about that program, send me your email and I will send you an invitation link. If you enroll from that link, I get $25 added to my account. You in turn can do the same thing if you enroll by inviting friends to join the program.

This is one of those times that every little bit counts.