Leg of lamb, Honduras news, loose teeth, Mama

Saturday afternoon I roasted/smoked a leg of lamb on the grill. Since I knew it would be difficult to tell if the meat was cooked properly because of the large bone in the roast, I used a temperature probe to tell me when the roast had gotten to 165° F – the suggested temperature at which I should have gotten the meat to the medium well stage. It worked out perfectly. There were a couple strips of meat I cut off the bone that were more of a medium rare, but that was fine with me. The meat we got from the roast is so tender we can cut it with a fork and the flavor is delicious. Mama is hesitant to eat the meat because it has a dark color to it, not unlike roast beef, but she has an aversion to “dark” meat for some unexplainable reason and will painstakingly avoid all dark meat on a chicken. I, on the other hand, love dark meat (especially chicken) so I have enjoyed the roast lamb. I have encouraged her to give the meat a try since it is on the beneficials listing for her blood type. It is on my avoids, so I will be judicious in eating it, but I do not want to see it go to waste.

I got the chance to talk to Cori last night and catch up on a few prayer requests. Cori is dealing with some significant flareups of pain in her joints – especially her knees, but her shoulders, wrists and chest as well. Most of the pains are related to heat and stress. Some are related to diet. Being in Honduras limits the resources for mitigating the pain as some remedies we have here are not available there, but she has found enough relief to make it through each day. Praise the Lord!

Nate is spending a lot of time to prepare himself to preach and teach. It is not necessarily a matter of the material development to deliver teaching lessons or sermons, it is more a concern with the delivery of those speaking engagements. All are of necessity presented in Spanish, and that language is not yet as fluid for him as he would like.  He is getting there, but still needs time to practice the delivery to make that delivery smooth and comfortable. All that requires time. The remarkable part is that all the time spent now in practice will produce results that will last a lifetime, so it is time well invested.

As we talked, I found out that Savanna is losing the first of her baby teeth. She and Bridgette seem to be going through the losses at the same time and both our granddaughters have taken it upon themselves to do their own extractions of any and all loose teeth. Savanna told Mama/Grammy that with her last tooth, it hurt to pull the loose tooth but she “yanked the snot out of it” and it came right out. Bridgette, in the other hand, wiggled and twisted her loose tooth until it came loose. Either way works.

I spent the evening yesterday cleaning the wellhouse. Mama, who checked on me several times, was a little surprised by the detail I went to in getting the totes cleaned off and rearranged as well as getting the shelves cleaned and the floor swept. It was long overdue, but the amount of mouse droppings was far less than I had expected, but it was good to get everything at least brushed off and somewhat cleaned. I only got half of the wellhouse cleaned because of the time it took to get one wall done. The other half should be done this evening if time permits. In order to get the most out of the cleaning, I will need to replace the threshold of the entry door. That repair will take some time, but I am planning on having it done this week so that there will be less air blowing under that door into the wellhouse. That way our wellhouse will be sealed up against the winter and somewhat better sealed against the dirt and dust that has been blowing in under the door.

The creep feeder I built for the goats has had less that stellar success. The little ones, which are the only goats that can access the restricted area are very hesitant to go into the space. They are content with the feed they can get as they compete with the older, larger goats during the morning and evening feedings. Our little male, who is half the size of his sisters, is getting no milk from his mother. That was the urgent reason for setting up the creep feeder, but he is not accessing the feed placed in the smaller troughs in the creep feeder. Hopefully, he will figure it out, but for now he is getting enough feed to stay fat and healthy. Albeit smaller.

Mama had been very busy with her Color Street business. She is excited. It is exciting from my viewpoint to see her business grow and prosper. We have made it a matter of much prayer and it is wonderful to see those prayers being answered.

Lost bees, lost chickens, lost time

Mama and I spent Saturday morning traveling to Muenster to pick up meat from the meat market. We had one of our older goats processed and ended up with thirty-two pounds of ground meat from the one-hundred-pound animal. Mama and I were a little disappointed to get so little meat, but that was a better outcome than selling the goat for a few dollars.  Mama was going to make the trip on her own but at the last minute I decided to do the driving so she would be spared the discomfort she suffers when she does drive for more than a short stretch. Since we were in Muenster, we stopped to get feed. We could have waited a few more days but again, Mama would have had to make the return trip to get feed anyway. We took the Sequoia because of the possibility of rain. That turned out to be a good idea because we drove through rain for the majority of the trip to and from Muenster. Meanwhile at the farm, we did not get enough rain to settle the dust. At the feed store I had to step out of the vehicle into an ankle deep stream of water from the runoff careening down the hill and into a storm drain in front of the feed store. We were back home before noon.

Almost as soon as we got home, I prepared some sugar water for the bees and got suited up to refill the feeders. In the first hive, all was well. The bees were making a little progress on the additional brood box I had put on only a couple weeks ago but they had completely emptied the syrup feeder – a whole gallon. On the next hive I was stunned to find no bees at all – not one in the hive. When I looked through the frames of the hive, I found all the cells that should have contained larvae or honey empty. Seven of the ten frames were drawn out with comb, but all the cells on all those frames were clean and empty. I am not at all sure what happened but the best guess I can make is that the bees absconded because of the loss of their queen. Perhaps I could have noticed the change in activity last week when I was in the hive, but I did not. What bees remained after the loss of the queen probably moved into the remaining three hives to live out their short lives. That’s my guess. When I find out a better explanation, I will let you know.

Among some other losses we are experiencing at the farm, Mama and I have had to dispose of several dead chickens recently. Almost all of the deaths have happened in the flock we keep in the little coop. We are not sure what the issue is, but it is concerning. The problem being that nothing obvious is presenting in the dead birds, so we are assuming that the issue is heat related. The larger flock in the coop building does not seem to be affected, only the small coop. So far, we have had four of our young birds die and we have lost an additional four by some means – probably coyotes – by which they simply fail to make it back to the coop after spending the day our foraging. Each year we suffer some losses, but this year has us wondering if something significant is happening in our coops. Determining what that crisis is and dealing effectively with it is the challenge. Mama is going to do some research this week to see if we can stumble onto the solution. There is generally a solution to be found, we just have to seek it out.

Lost time or lost opportunities are one of the losses we face that cannot be recovered. We can try to make up for lost time or recapture lost opportunities, but the outcomes are all too often less than what was missed initially. Lately, I feel like I am losing time. The days march relentlessly onward, consumed hour upon hour by work and life activities and the evenings simply slip away without notice. Simply put, I do not lead a disciplined, orderly life. For that reason alone, I am losing valuable time through each day and certainly through every evening. What is stealing my time? Electronics. Mostly my phone – watching a movie, catching up on the news, cleaning up the latest emails. It may take me three evenings to finish a movie as I watch it is sort segments, but reviewing the news and commentaries consumes an hour or more every evening.

To combat such interferences a list or schedule is mandated. So, over the next several evenings I will make such a list of the things I should be doing, writing, practicing the variety of instruments I am learning, doing some little item to clean up or organize an area in the house or shop, spending time in prayer, walking or otherwise exercising. There are any number of things I can be doing versus the mind dulling things I have been doing simply because those things require no effort on my part. Since I have tackled and abandoned this sort of life change several times, it is time to set things in order to maintain an evening schedule that can produce something with my time rather than letting it go to waste.

Such a schedule takes a good deal of emotional energy and I seem to have that in short supply lately. But I was told many years ago that nothing breeds success like success, so I will struggle through the initial stages of amending my life to a schedule until I begin to see some little successes and hopefully, those will incite the energy to continue to further successes.

Time will tell. 

Clearly stated, being old-fashioned, Maggie, school

With all the hype going on, it was nice to see a succinct review of the science from a medical professional who did his homework. That review is in the link below and it is worth watching.

https://youtu.be/auSox6ybZD8

I am demonstrable old-fashioned, willing to let everyone live their life in peace while I live mine in peace, but it is time to speak out clearly against the wrongs being foisted on us and take whatever shunning and rebuke we get for voicing the truth. I have no real idea what those in power are seeking to accomplish but it does not take a PhD to see that the outcomes from reckless overspending, an open border and horribly diminished individual rights will quickly produce a society where we are rules as opposed to governed in a representative republic. I value my freedoms and do not like the thought of surrendering them for a supposed emergency. It is frustrating to feel so powerless so I have begun to do what I can – especially to pray for our country. It is time to stand up and be counted for the Lord, for America, for freedom. This video gives some great points to speak from so I thought I would share it.

In the midst of our own mini financial crisis, Mama has three separate medical appointments this week. All are needed appointments so we will make things work out as far as the finances are concerned. Again, timing is the issue, but such is life. The most problematic doctor visit is with the surgeon we are considering for the replacing of her right knee. With the horrible experience she has had with her left knee, neither of us, especially Mama, are looking forward to having the other knee replaced, but she is at the point where the intervention is imperative. The other two appointments are less concerning, strictly routine. I am supposed to schedule an appointment with the cardiologist that did the heart cath on me, but I have not done so. Why go to the doctor, pay the high price of a wellness visit, only to be told to continue doing what I am doing? Another old-fashioned idea.

Mama and I will probably hold off on the knee surgery until later in the Fall when the demands of the farm are lessened a bit and we have had time to plan around the money required on our part to get the surgery done. It will not be cheap, but that is only a small problem. The larger issue is to get the surgery done in time for Mama to recover before we make our planned trip to Honduras, the first full week of February. That timing will allow us to attend the Come Away Conference with Iglesia Bautista El Faro. It is Mama’s and my opportunity to serve in a small way in the ministry there.

Maggie came thorough her surgery and was home by the early afternoon. Her recovery is expected to progress smoothly but there will be times of pain she will have to deal with as the surgery sites on both of her wrists heal fully. Fortunately, Kathryn and Walter are both big enough that they can do much of what is needed for themselves while Maggie recovers. The change she will discover when her healing is complete will make the discomfort of the surgery and recovery worth the time it has taken to get this done. At least, that has been my experience with the carpal tunnel release surgery.

I will be tied up with work activities for the remainder of the week. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be participating in a review of a new proposed Instructor Led course we plan to offer. On Friday I will be teaching a class. Just what I need, another class to deliver. Another week will be gone, and August will be half over. School will be starting – at least in Texas – and life will become more complicated for those who have children in school. Summer is gone once again.

Brittany will begin working at the school at Somerset Bible Baptist. Zoe and Sophia will be starting kindergarten and Audrey will be attending by proxy as her mommy works at the school. Life will get busy for all of us, routines will get established and schedules will be adapted to those routines. Life goes on.

So, there is some normalcy in the world if we are not too distracted to see it.

Disappointments, timing, constancy, unwelcome species, focus

Over the past several weeks Mama and I have had some disappointing circumstances to deal with. None of those circumstances are life changing or discomfiting to the point that we will have to make any urgent changes to our lives to adapt. They are simply setbacks in life situations that we thought we had successfully overcome. Dealing with those disappointments takes an honest, open, forward-looking plan we can act on together and we are working that plan as best we can, but there is sill the upsetting emotional aspect of dealing with each of those disappointments. I will not bore you with the particulars. Some of the circumstances are upsetting only because of the timing involved. Fortunately, none of the losses immediately impact us, but they do change in a marked way the plans we can make in the immediate future. This too shall pass, and the Lord will let us see His hand at work in our lives in each and every setback. For now, we adapt and keep going.

As is the rule in life rather than the exception, most of the things that disappoint us are caused by the timing of that disappointment versus the overall impact of the loss, the setback, or the generally upsetting way our plans are affected. Since there is no way we can change the outcomes, we need to change the input – our attitudes toward the circumstances that are seen as a loss on our part. God is always in control and without exception, He always has our best interests at heart, so we can keep going faithfully onward in spite of the disappointments this world challenges us with. We are His. We are loved. We are trusting in His care. As long as Mama and I are together, very little else matters. The only upsetting part is in drastically changing our plans so that we can adapt to the very different circumstances we find ourselves facing. Mama and I will pray through this together. It is a small thing overall. It is just really bad timing.

The constancy that the farm provides to our daily lives is a blessing when things get turned upside down in life. The animals still need to be fed and watered, the bees still need to be tended to, the plants still need watered and protected from the heat and soon from the cold. All things move steadily along a path that is easy to track and for the most part, easy to keep up with. We pray daily for the insights needed to spot any sicknesses in our flocks and herds. Little things (literally) sneak onto the scene and cause a sickness or infection that can produce horrible outcomes. So, Mama and I are constantly on guard against pests that can quickly affect the health of our animals.

Right now, we are dealing with an abundance of mice. Disgusting little invaders that seem to find their way into almost every corner of our house. We understand their presence in the coops and barns, but they are wholly unwelcome in the house. I am almost at the point of getting a cat to help us deal with the infestation. Maggie would be proud of us. Traps, sticky pads and other remedies are proving ineffective. In fact, the other day, mice absconded with two of our sticky pads. We baited them one night and they were totally gone the next morning. Victoria has been dealing with a very friendly mouse that will pop out of one place or another – her desk, her closet, her dresser – while she is in the room. That mouse must have a high tolerance for loud noises, because the response on Victoria’s part upon seeing the little visitor is not muted at all.

We are watching a couple chickens which have some congestion in their eyes. In some cases, such an infection can be fatal. We do not know the contagion level of the infection, but we have had at least one chicken die from complications of that sort of infection. Since our flock mingles throughout the day, we are treating the ones showing signs of the infection and watching to see if others succumb.

While we are monitoring our flock, Mama is also watching our little boy goat, the one who had the broken leg, to make sure he does not fall behind any further in growth. His two sisters are very noticeable larger than he is. He was a bit of a runt at birth, so his size may be an outcome of that, but we are noticing that he does not feed as often on his mama’s milk as his siblings are allowed to. HE has adapted to le lesser ration of milk by eating the adult feed we put out twice per day. A bit early for him to do so, but he is getting on well enough for now. All these little things along with trying to build Mama’s business keep us focused on life as it is lived daily. God is good!

Maggie’s second surgery for carpal tunnel release is this morning. We certainly have her and her children in our prayers.

 

Last night of VBS, jam, weekend plans, our anniversary

 

I am not sure of the final tallies yet, but we had a very good VBS. There were over 100 kids attending each night and several salvations per night. I even got to lead one young boy through the plan of salvation on Tuesday night. Last night I prayed with a mentally challenged 40-year-old man who comes regularly to our church for some of his family members who are not saved. He is saved but he constantly worries about those he knows that are not. He fits right in with the children, and they pretty much accept his as he is. It is a fun dynamic to watch. Zach did a great job putting on the VBS, suing the teens of the church for skits, for support and for working with the younger children as they enquired about salvation. Cheyenne and Aubrey were with us for every night but Monday and a friend of theirs met them each of those nights. That made it extra fun for them. That being said, I am glad it is over, and we can enjoy a pleasant evening at home this evening.

Mama has bought a lot of fruit lately and too often is has gone bad as we delayed eating it. So, this morning I suggested we make it into jam – no sugar added. She happily agreed so we checked the requirement of several recipes to make the jam/jelly and found we are lacking one key ingredient. When she buys that ingredient later this afternoon, we will use the bread maker which has sat idle for months to make blackberry jam. The appliance has a “jelly’ selection and as Mama was reading up on it, it seems to be an easy way to get the process done. At the very least we will have the fruit in a form that can be more easily stored long term. A form I will enjoy more than in its present form.

I have a lot of work to tend to on the hives this weekend. I will probably start those multiple chores at lunch break today and continue as soon as I get off this evening. None of the frame additions, treatments or routine maintenance is an involved task, but each takes time in the beehive so trying to get them all done at once requires several hours. Separating the work to one hive at a time and completing all the needed items for that hive will keep me on track and help limit my time in the bee suit – which gets pretty hot in our current weather conditions.

Mama and I were able to finally post a video for her Color Street business on Rumble – a Facebook alternative. WE had delayed for some time doings so but I finally got one of her most recent videos and, using the computer, got the video into the Rumble format. You can find it at the following link. I have a simple request for you to open the link, check the + on the Rumble below the video so Mama can get noticed in the new format. If you do not have a Rumble account, I advise getting signed up so we can have an alternative to Facebook – especially as Facebook censors our free speech.

https://rumble.com/vkqses-professional-looking-manicure-in-about-20-minutes-for-under-15-usd.html

We are planning on doing a series of these videos over the next few days.

Cleaning coops, yard work and hopefully some fishing is in the plan for the weekend. On the fishing, I do not know yet if I will be able to keep fishing in the quarry lakes until I contact the new lessor to get permission. That contact will be made today.

Sunday is Mama’s and my 39^th anniversary. We do not have any special celebration planned for that day, but we are planning a multi-day trip to Corpus Christi in mis-September. So far, that is in the planning stages only, but we do plan to do something special for a combined, birthday anniversary celebration. Something for the two of us, pending any updates on continues lockdowns or other impositions on our ability to travel. Hopefully, our leadership in Texas will tell out intrusive Federal government to go pound sand with their overreach. Our children living in other states may not have their basic freedoms much longer if the current trend continues to subvert our Constitutional freedoms.

Here is the link to an interesting video of a discussion of the issues we could face with the current vaccines. The video is from May of 2020, but the information is relevant for what we see happening today.

https://youtu.be/HuMbRBTZhCY

Class, VBS, hurried evenings, dog sitting

The class yesterday was a challenge from the early morning through the afternoon. We had three participants who worked for a utility that had strict online security measures imposed which did not allow them to get into the class until special permissions were given. They were eventually able to join the class but were not able to access the form we use to give the test at the end of the class. What I was required to do was to have each of the attendees log out of the class as the other participants took the test. I set a time for each of those persons to log back into the class individually to take the test. I loaded the test on my computer and shared my desktop with each of the participants in turn so they could see the test displayed on my screen. They would then tell me what answer to select on each question to complete the test. Each of them did very well – with no help from me – but it took an extra amount of time to get that done. The participants were all appreciative of the extra, albeit awkward steps taken to allow them to complete the class. That interference does not happen very often, but at least we can deal with that challenge when it does happen. Hopefully, we will not have those issues to deal with in my class tomorrow.

Because of the extra time to get the testing done, I was quite a bit later getting home from teaching the class than normal, but still in time to help with the evening feeding and ready myself for another night of VBS. Night two of our VBS was outstanding. We had 130 in attendance, five children making professions of salvation. Tonight, as far as attendance is concerned, should be even better. Aubrey and Cheyenne went with us to VBS and one of Cheyenne’s friends also came. Mama and I met the father of the friend as VBS was ending last night. His name is Rigo (short for Rigodolfo). Neat name. He told me and Mama the girls are always talking about us, so it was nice to put a face with a name. The girls are even more fired up now to get visitors to come with them. In doing so they qualify for additional prizes nightly and the possibility of winning a hover board when the final tallies are made tomorrow night.  

Because of VBS, our evenings have been rushed. It is inevitable that that would happen, but it is not a drastic rush. The timeframe keeps us moving pretty quickly. Feeding, egg gathering, and evening watering still needs to get done and it does, but in a less leisurely fashion that typical. As I said earlier in the week, we are having great weather for VBS. It is almost a shame that we are not doing any activities outside. The temperatures have been at or below 90°, well below what we are expecting over the weekend. We will enjoy the temporary “cold front” as long as it lasts. As far as our chickens are concerned, the slight lowering of temperature is allowing them to lay more eggs than we saw last week. It is interesting to see how much of a difference the ambient temperature makes on production. It may be temporary, but we will enjoy the higher production until the temperature moderates to our normal Fall temperatures.

Starting tonight, we will be taking care of Bella as the Echeveria’s travel north. It is never a problem to have Bella with us. Nate did a wonderful job training her and she has a very docile personality with which to express that training. Erin was not put off by the news that we have been, and are still, dealing with fleas. So far, we seem to be winning the battle, but it is difficult to tell when we are not doing very detailed, close inspections of the dogs daily to see if the infestation is truly under control. Nevertheless, Bella will be with us for a couple weeks as her masters travel to visit family. It will be nice to have a dog walk with me as I make an evening walk. That cannot happen with Kobe or Kira unless they are on a leash.

Tomorrow, I will be teaching a class. Friday working from home. A normal week.

One of the two chores I got done Saturday was to fit the nesting box I had put together for the little coop into the interior wall of the coop. That allowed the bulk of the rather large nesting box to extend into the ante area where we enter the coop outside of the roosting area of the small building. I did not like the nesting box taking up so much room in the little roosting area and I thought it might prove difficult to clean around, so the solution was to put it in the wall with the entry to the nesting boxes open to the chickens in the coop. So far, it has worked well. We even have one chicken who has been using the nesting boxes on a daily basis. Hopefully, more will follow soon.

After I had cooled down a bit I got suited up and went out to inspect the hives. I was a little more encouraged this time. On the hive we made from a split of one of the older hives, I found that the bees had filled the brood box and were ready for more room. They had not even looked at the honey super, so I removed it and added the new brood box along with a syrup feeder. Right now, the bees have nothing to eat from nature, so we are supplementing them with sugar water. On another hive, I removed the honey super because those bees were not interested in making any surplus honey. That hive was not ready for any additional room. Perhaps they will be ready by the end of the month.

In the hive where the bees are actually making honey in the honey super I looked and found that they are making very slow progress on filling the super, but they are making progress. On the fourth and last hive I inspected, I found in the upper brood box I installed a couple months ago that the bees were filling several of the large frames with honey. There is very little brood in that box, so I will be able to harvest several of those frames when we take honey from the hives. It was exciting to see that much honey in the hive where last week there was none. Especially since the bees are finding little of the nectar from which to make honey in the parched landscape. I also took time to treat the hives where I will not be collecting honey for Varroa mites. I will repeat the process next weekend. All in all, I was out at the hives for over an hour getting all that done. I was once again soaked when I got back inside to cool down.

According to the forecast, this week will be a little cooler. Not much, but enough to notice the difference. For the most part we will be in the low nineties. Having worked outside in the hundred degrees plus afternoons this last week, any respite is appreciated. We have the blessing of rain to start the week. Through the day and overnight we got a total of an inch of rain. About perfect for our little farm. Other areas very near us got over four inches total along with high winds and hail. Mama and I are very pleased with our gentle inch of rain. It soaked everything pretty well without all the damaging impact of the storms around us.

As we dropped off the girls last night after church, we saw a tree that had fallen onto a house in the neighborhood where the Chinese grandma lives. It did not appear to have done much damage to the house, but I am sure the homeowner is not looking forward to dealing with the issue. It was raining so hard as Mama got to the church with the girls (I was already at church for choir practice) that she was so focused on getting into the church with the girls with a minimum soaking that she forgot to turn off the engine. It was only a little later that James Wycoff came to her and asked if she realized she had left the car running that it was shut off. He went out into the very hard rain to do so. He was completely soaked before church. Mama, by the way was also pretty wet from her brief exposure to the downpour. She spent the service tucked up beside me.

This week is Vacation Bible School. There has been a muted push to gather riders for the busses that will go out to pick them up for VBS. It is far more difficult with the constant scare campaign of COVID being promoted nationally, but we pray to have a good attendance for VBS this year. I am certain that the Lord will get the right ones there. Our three girls will not be coming tonight because of other activities they are engaged in; however, they will be coming the next three nights. Mama and I will be going each night.

I will be teaching tomorrow. Only two classes this week. More relaxed than last week, but still productive and fairly busy.