Mama’s event, repairs, bees, chickens and gardening, schedule changes

Saturday, Mama participated in an event at the local High School. For her it was one of the most productive days she has had so far marketing her Color Street nail sets. That was a great encouragement to her. She sold twenty-five of the set she had on hand. She developed confidence in the card reader she has programmed into her phone to take payments via credit/debit cards. She made dozens of contacts with promises from five or six people to have parties in the near future. Her nail sets generated a lot of excitement. All vendors, including Mama, packed up early because the winds picked up and became too violent to continue. Mama had borrowed a canopy from friends and even with the weights supplied with that canopy, it was impossible to hold down the canopy against the force of those winds. All in all, she felt very good about the event and will have lots of follow-up opportunities to keep her busy for several weeks.

Meanwhile, I worked on some household repairs. Recently one of the drawers we have in the kitchen fell apart. The drawers are enclosed behind double cabinet doors, so they are large. Over the process of living and keeping things close for use, we overloaded that drawer and the support on one side actually came loose within the cabinet allowing the drawer to collapse on that side while the other side remained connected.  I had to replace the support that had broken loose, replace the drawer slide and reinstall that drawer. That took some time trying to match one side of the drawer to the other to make sure the new drawer slides would work properly. Once that was done, I replaced the slides on the remaining three drawers. The three that were still intact were simple to redo, so now Mama has new drawer slides on all her large kitchen drawers. They will all be loaded up to capacity soon, but I am fairly confident the new slides will hold up to the weight of all the pots, pans, mixing bowl, cake pans and casserole dishes they will store for Mama.

I wanted to work in the hives Saturday afternoon, but the winds were too strong for me to do so. The general rule of thumb is that it is best not to go into the hive when the winds are more than six miles per hour. Opening the hive in high winds makes the bees pretty angry, especially as frames are lifted out of the hive to be inspected. So, as much as I felt like I needed to inspect the hives, I held off. Almost every day the winds have been high, and it looks like that trend will continue, so I may be forced to violate the guidance I have been advised to follow. Also, late Friday evening, I set out three swarm traps to see if I can catch one or more swarms. I have high hopes of getting back up to four strong hives this year – if not more. I feel like I have the experience now to handle the eight hives recommended for us to produce enough honey for personal use for a year.

Tonight, Mama and I will clip the wings of our chickens because we have a few hens that are flying into the garden and scratching up the rows of  flowers we have sprouting there. The chickens tend to look for moist areas because those are the areas that attract the bugs they are looking for. The moist areas in the garden are the rows of vegetables and flowers that Mama and I water several times per week. The results are that the chickens are naturally attracted to the rows Mama, and I are tending to – ruining those plants growing in those rows. So, to keep the chickens from being able to fly over the fence around the garden, we will clip the feathers on one wing of each of the hens. With only one wing clipped, the hens will not be able to fly. Maybe we can win this conflict, maybe not, but we will try. Within a few months, the clipped feather will grow back out, so there is no injury to the chickens. Now, if we can beat the rat that has caused us so much damage in the coop, I will feel much better.

Mama taught a class at our church school this morning. One of the teachers asked for Mama’s help so she could make a doctor’s appointment. That teacher has been experiencing some severe pain and has been waiting to get help. Today was her day. We do not know the outcome, but Mama got to play teacher and she enjoyed it. It is not something she would like to do on a daily basis. She likes her time at the farm, but it is a fun, challenging reprieve for her at odd times.

I worked from the office today, per my new schedule. It is certainly much busier when we meet together at the office, but it is nice to quickly and easily make the face-to-face contacts through the day so questions can be broadly addressed and more thoroughly discussed.

Fun times.

Traveling, catching up, class tomorrow

 Mama and I flew to Pensacola Monday and flew back yesterday. Monday, we had to be at the airport a 5 am. Yesterday we were at the airport a 2 pm – much easier to accommodate that time frame. Both flights were good enough. At least everyone was fairly tolerant of the facemask issue. Mama and I did our best to comply so we would not promote a bad witness, but we took every advantage we could to lower or remove our face coverings in the airport and on the flight.

On both flights Mama was able to make several good contacts for Color Street with both passengers and the flight attendants. On the flight to Pensacola, Mama interacted with a group of four or five ladies traveling together. They seemed very interested. One of the ladies even remarked, “One of us needs to start selling this stuff!” We will see what comes of that. Both of the stewardesses were interested in the appliques. On the flight home, Mama shared the information with our row mate and that young lady seemed excited about the business opportunity. And again, both the flight attendants were interested in the Color Street nail strips and graciously received Mama gift bags. Though one of the attendants was male, he took a gift bag of the Color Street items Mama had prepared to share with his mother and grandmother.

Because our flight was so early Monday we were able to spend a short time on Pensacola Beach before driving to Andalusia, Alabama (about 80 miles from Pensacola). Once there I checked in with the company there to let them know I was in town and see how the training area was set up for the class I would present. The host for the company is a gentleman I had met on multiple occasions, so there was a bit of familiarity there. We spent a half hour or more catching up before Mama and I headed to our hotel. The hotel in Andalusia was not the best one we have stayed in, but it was not the worst either. Mama was worried because the hotel room opened up to the parking lot and we were on the ground level. The hotel was not fully booked so the noise levels were not a problem.

Mama dropped me off at the office just before 7 am. That gave me an hour to set things up for the class and ensure the hookup from my computer to the TV was successful. That connection took some intervention from a local IT representative to accomplish, but I was able to start the class on time. I was done with the class by 1 pm. The class was scheduled to end earlier but there was a lot of very pertinent discussion during the class which extended it by a half hour or so. The participants did not mind the extra time spent together, but by the time the class concluded everyone was ready to go, so the classroom emptied very quickly. It was raining heavily when I called Mama to let her know I had finished and as packing up my equipment.

We had been under a tornado watch since early morning but had not been close enough to the storm center to be affected by a tornado – according to my hosts – but the storm over or location was producing some very strong winds and a lot of rain. Mama waited where she was before making the short drive to come and pick me up. Even though the rain had slacked up a bit during those few minutes, both of us got pretty wet getting me and my suitcase into the vehicle. We ate lunch in Andalusia and drove back to Pensacola in the rain. Basically, we shopped our way back to the hotel, hitting the stores Mama had mapped out for inspection while we were in the area.

Wednesday, I worked from the hotel until lunchtime. After spending a little time on the beach, we ate lunch, filled the rental vehicle and headed to the airport. Mama and I were not concerned about getting there too early because the airport is relatively small, however, there were a lot of passengers going through the security area. That process took longer in Pensacola that it had in Dallas and passengers were clearly frustrated by the pace being kept by the TSA workers. Both flights were completely full, but we were on a larger plane coming back so it was more comfortable even though we were three to a row versus just two seats on each side of the aisle. We had a very bumpy, bouncy, wabbly landing in Dallas, but we made it even though Mama was worrying that we would not.

Trace met us at the airport only a few minutes after our bags were spit out onto the baggage claim. Unfortunately, we all missed church due to the timing of our flight. We are happily home again, and all our animals breathed a sigh of relief to hear her greeting as Mama went about doing the morning feeding.

Now Mama and I have to catch up to those things left undone while we traveled. It is not a huge list of chores, just a lot of little, busy ones. Many of which involve our garden and the yard. The remainder are household issues that we will quickly gain the upper hand on in short order. As much as I like to travel, it is good to be home.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow, so I have to make the most of today to get caught up to the administrative follow up for the class I taught Tuesday. The paperwork involved in the in-person classes is a bit more cumbersome than what is required for the online classes, but I do enjoy the face-to-face classes when I have to chance to present them.

Back to the routines of home life.

Mama’s appointment, ongoing challenges

Tuesday Mama and I left for Denton early so we could shop at Sam’s prior to her dental surgery. We ended up spending a lot more than I had anticipated but the goal was to get ahead on several household goods as well as pick up some needed items. In the process of scrounging through the store I found some meats that were marked down for sale at reasonable prices. We got about $50 worth of beef in three packages that will make twice that many meals for us. I was exasperated by the malfunction of my debit card at checkout and the dismissal of the person who should have been able to get the ink cartridges Mama and I turned in a purchase ticket for, but other than that it was a relaxed and worthwhile trip. On the bright side, the person who brought the wrong ink cartridges to us and then was too busy to go back and get the correct ones, saved us more than thirty dollars on that purchase because I was able to get the ink cartridges online for about that much less.

We got all we could done prior to the dental office because Mama was concerned that the difficult extraction for which she was to be anesthetized would result in her being out of commission for the remainder of the day. When she was duly checked in for the procedure, I went to Kroger’s to get a brand of tea we only seem to be able to get there and was back at the office in less than thirty minutes. Only a few minutes after I parked and got comfortable in the vehicle, the dental office called to let me know Mama was almost ready to come out. When I met them at the patient pickup door, Mama seemed very alert. Once in the vehicle we made one more stop in Denton and headed home. After all, we had a lot of groceries in cooler bags waiting to be properly refrigerated. Mama was numb for most of the afternoon so any pain she would have had was muted by the lingering affect of the shots she had gotten after being put to sleep. As that effect wore off, she was pleased to have very little discomfort from the extraction. A little swelling, but no aches. That continues true today. So, that moment of angst is passed, and we are on to planning her event this weekend and packing for travel to Alabama via Pensacola Monday morning.

Once home Tuesday, I spent about five hours trying to figure the electrical issue in the coop but after all the rework I put into the effort, I am still at an impasse. Electrical issues are not that complicated, but I have yet to stumble onto the root cause and get everything to work as expected. I have power to the outlets on both sides of the coop but cannot get power to the light fixtures – three of them – in the coop. So, I have spent time researching the wiring requirements again and may have come to see a solution. I will test my hypothesis this evening to find out if I am on the right track. It cannot be that difficult, but so far, I have been losing the battle to get power to flow where needed.

The little doe we have been babysitting for a friend will be picked up today and with a little planning, Mama, Trace, and I should be able to get the older does and nanny goats parsed out into the paddocks and group them with the proper bucks to get our breeding plans implemented for this year. I am looking froward to having kids on the farm again. They are great entertainment. If the girls are bred in April, we can expect them to kid Mid-August through September of this year. As far as the ambient temperatures go, that is just about perfect timing to miss the brutal heat of Summer and give little ones time to grow a bit before the cooler temperatures of Winter begin. At least, that is the plan.

We had a young missionary in church last night. He and his wife are in the last stretch of deputation as they prepare to go to the dessert of North Africa. I will not put the specific destination in print for their protection. What was obvious was his heart for a lost people who have a form of religion but no hope of salvation. To put statistics in plain terms, he stated that the people of that region have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than to hear one clear presentation of the Gospel in their entire lifetime. That truth is staggering.

O that I could do more!

Shopping locally, sprouting, timing

I had a wild idea of going to Denton yesterday evening so Mama and I could go to Sam’s for a couple items we typically purchase there. The items on our short list were available elsewhere for a slightly higher price and smaller volume, but Sam’s was our typical vendor for what we were interested in purchasing. However, after spending $75 to fill the Sequoia, (It was at ¼ tank.) I had to rethink the unnecessary excursion. It would burn about $25 worth of gas just to make the round trip and it would almost certainly not cost us that much extra for the purchases we sought to make. So, we did our shopping locally to save ourselves the money it would cost to refill the gas tank. There are enough trips that will be required of us in the days ahead, an extra, avoidable trip was not a good way to spend that gasoline. Fortunately, Mama understands the concept of gasoline being spent on miles has a direct impact on our budget. So, mileage has become a part of our budgeting process.

Mama and I are already starting to see sprouts on the small starter containers we planted last weekend. All the plants, when mature enough will be repotted or planted in the garden, but it is nice toe see that the seeds we planted were viable. With the new pressure tank on the well I can water the garden without concern, but I will need to replace a hydrant I put on the West side of the garden because it is not functioning properly. I will need access to water on that side of the garden to avoid dragging one hundred feet of hose through the garden to be able to reach all the plants and trees. Doing that in the past caused some damage as the hose, if I did not pay very close attention, would flatten plants to the ground as I was dragged over them. Hopefully, I can get that water outlet replaced this evening.

What I have learned over the past few years of trial and error is just how much water is required by the vegetables and flowers growing in the garden. I had a better grip on that need when I began to test the moisture in the soil using a meter that could show me a real value for how dry the soil was and how quickly the water I put on the evaporated or otherwise dissipated away from the plants I was caring for. This year I have the potted potatoes to alert me to the need for water which should be close to the needs of the potatoes planted in the garden. Those potato plants are now breaking through the dirt in the rows Mama and I created. When I see the flower seeds evidence themselves, I will be very pleased.

Our church friends that bought the pair of goats a few months ago are rushing to separate the male and female because nature has taken its course and the little doe is in heat. As would be expected, the little buck is doing what nature dictated he should do. Since the pair is far too young to breed – which we hope has not already happened – we will be keeping the female for a few weeks while a separate area is built to house the two apart from each other. Mama was very careful in her warnings as the purchase was being negotiated that the two would need separate areas in the very near future, but the message was not received with the understanding of how quickly that need would arise. Hence the urgency. Since we are going to separate and regroup our herd this weekend the timing to add the little doe back into our flock is spot on. We will not have her for long.

A couple weeks ago, Mama suggested we buy a couple young pigs from a friend of hers and originally, I rejected the idea, however, I am rethinking that. It would be good to have the ability of fill our freezers with our own meat. But with the need for the pig building to temporarily house our young does, we will not be able to entertain a pig purchase until late June or early July. We can make a decision at that time. There seems to be a plentiful supply of piglets available for purchase. I told Mama I do not want to build any more enclosures for goats right now. So, we have to work with what we have available.

Next week I will be teaching classes on Monday and Wednesday. I will be going with Mama to her dental appointment to have her tooth extracted on Tuesday. A full start to the week. The week following, Mama and I will be traveling Monday through Wednesday, so time to write will be limited. Things slow down a bit after that for a short while but starting April 1^st we will be returning to the office two days per week. I have mixed emotions about that. It is a Monday/Wednesday rotation for my group. Since many of the classes I teach take place on Tuesday and Thursday, I will not be in the office much – being able to substitute those days for my group rotation requirements.

Anyway, the weekend ahead will be very busy. Goat movements, waterline work, electrical repairs in the coop (if I get around to that.), hive changes to move from Winter to summer mode, yard work, general cleanup and all the required chores around the farm.

Hopefully, I am up to the task. Time will tell how much help Mama and I need so I do not continue hurting myself.

Hurting, shuffling, counting, planning

I am reminded every day that I am not as young as I used to be. Sometimes those reminders are poignant. Such was the case yesterday, especially last night. Having spent almost twelve hours over two days working on the well tank installation with all the lifting, holding and tightening with a variety of wrenches that chore required, I was worn out and sore. I had been hurting all day but as Mama and I fed last night I took the time to carry a couple pitchfork loads of hay to the little guys in the pig building. That was obviously the last straw as far as my chest was concerned. Within a couple hours I was hurting so badly in my chest that I hesitated to go to church. As I got ready for church the pain intensified to the point that when we got to church, I had to ask Bro Zach to lead the singing because I could not fake it through the pain. I was not overly concerned about the source of the pain, I knew it to be in my ribs and sternum, but I did tell Mama that if it continued through the night and into the next day, I would have to seek medical attention. Fortunately, I am somewhat relieved today. The pain is still intense, but it is less so than last night. Praise the Lord! With my overworked back hurting in equal measure, I am not moving very well.

Our plans are for me to rest up a bit before we start to move goats this weekend. Those moves will take place in stages. First, the three boys will be moved to the small enclosure by the bucks. The little girls that are too young to be bred, will be moved into the pig building where the little boys have been staying. Then we will move one of the bucks to the nanny paddock as we move three of our seven nanny goats to the buck area to be bred by the buck left in that area. We have to match the nanny goats to the bucks to ensure we do not have any inbreeding. That means we will be loading and then unloading in different loads, nine goats to make those moves. That arrangement will stand for two months at which time we will once again group the bucks and does separately. I hope to be rested up enough for all the lifting required for all those moves. Time will tell. Trace and Victoria will be available to help. Mama and I will definitely need their help.

Yesterday afternoon, I set up a portable table for Mama to set out all her nail sets and discover a way to coordinate them in preparation for several events she will be attending to market that inventory. I was shocked at the volume of sets she has currently in her possession. She has over 200 sets on hand. That represents about $2500 worth of Color Street nail sets. Hopefully, we can exchange those for cash in the events coming up. Otherwise, I will consider myself nail poor. Not really. Eventually all the sets will be sold, and for now, we have good head start on on-hand merchandise to market. Not a bad position to be in at the moment. We are really praying that Mama can succeed in this business.

If the weather holds as predicted, Mama will have to start mowing this weekend. I will also have to start feeding the bees this weekend and within a couple weeks, I will need to put the honey supers on the hives. As is common to our area, Summer will erupt upon us quickly. We are forecast to have temperatures in the nineties next week. Only for a couple days at a time at first, but it is a harbinger of things to come. At least, I will not worry about the well as we water our garden this summer. With the larger tank, the system should be more than adequate to handle the extra need of caring for our plants, trees and bushes. Our peach tree is blooming now, and the blackberry bushes are putting out new leaves. I am watching the blueberry bushes but see not real signs of life. We now have six of those and I am hoping for a good harvest of blueberries this year. The apricot, nectarine and pear are showing signs of life as are the fig trees that survived the winter. I think I lost three fig trees over the winter. I also lost an elderberry bush over the winter. Sad.

All those budding plants will help feed our bees as their population will grow exponentially when the pollen comes in. It will take several weeks for the flowers we planted in the garden to supply nectar for the bees, but those plants should help carry the hives through the summer and into the fall. If the majority of those seeds germinate, we will have a good crop of flowers.

Time will tell.

Bad outcome, getting it right

Monday after I got off work, I began to empty the well pressure tank so that it could be replaced. That took about thirty minutes. Once the tank was clearly empty, Trace and I began cutting lines. At that point there was not turning back. I had a pretty good idea how to line things up to install the new tank and keep the water softener inline, but for some reason, I changed course as we began the installation. Because of the change of plumbing, I had to run to Wiley’s Hardware in Chico and pick up extra parts. I got there only minutes before they closed. Trace and I continued the installation and had made the final hookups a little after 9 pm. The moment of truth. I turned on the well with the valve to the house closed.

The pump immediately overpressure and the overpressure relief valve opened spraying water in the cover I had on the outside part of the well. We removed the cover on the well outside and I knew immediately what was causing the problem. I had plumed everything backwards, but we were committed and what we had would work if there were no leaks. That was the second disappointing surprise. Once we opened the valve to supply water to the new tank, the brass tee below the tank leaked from one of the ports machined into it. I shut off the pump very angry and very discouraged. To remove that one piece of the system required the new tank to be cut out of the system and be laid down on the floor. A complete failure  In order to have some water available in the house overnight I filled four five-gallon buckets from our second well and called it a night. The mass of line and fittings we just spent hours installing would all need to be cut out and redone.

It took me a while to calm down, but I eventually got there and once I got my brain engaged versus my emotions, I knew what I needed to do and how to do that. I was so bothered that I did not get to sleep until about midnight and I woke up at 2 am unable to go back to sleep. So, from 2 am to 4 am I listened to the Bible and more than caught up to my Old Testament reading. Knowing I would be in no shape to teach the class scheduled for that day, I sent a message to my supervisor letting her know I would need to take a sick day. I dozed from 4 am to 5:30 when I woke again ready to make things right and by the time Wiley’s opened, I had confirmed the list made earlier that morning. New parts in hand, I began to replumb the system.

I had spent the early morning hours removing everything Trace and I had installed and recovering as much pipe as possible. Even still the installation took me until a little after noon to complete. Again the moment of truth. I turned on the well pump and a line blew off at the bottom of the tank. I had missed gluing that joint even though I thought I had looked at every joint two and three times each. I corrected that oversight and waited thirty minutes to try again. Another leak. This time at the bottom of the pressure switch. I shut off the pump, removed the wiring to the pressure switch and tightened it one revolution and rewired the switch.

When I turned the pump on, the leak was worse. Pump off, wires pulled once again, I removed the pressure switch and found the fitting that attached the switch to the nipple was badly split. I got the switch from the original tank and installed that. I restarted the pump and things began to pressure up – all the way to full system pressure. No leaks. Success. That was at 1:30 pm. I thanked the Lord I had not taught the class and tried to complete the rework of the system with a late afternoon start. I was exhausted, but we have a new, very large pressure tank on our well. Praise the Lord!

I still have electrical issues to deal with in the coop because of the rat’s love of the plastic insulation on the wiring, but that is not as critical a task as getting the well in service. So, with one problem solved and checked off the list, I am down to bout one hundred and fifty or so more problems to be attended to on the farm. At least, we are never bored.

Because I missed teaching the class yesterday, the class scheduled today was moved to Monday. So, I have a day to catch up to the administrative portion of my duties in the follow to classes we teach.

Getting ready, missed opportunity, living our faith

I spent the afternoon Friday and the morning Saturday getting all the parts I thought I would need to make the swap in the well house to the new tank. I bought a lot of extra parts just in case, so my hope is that I have all the needs covered to make the connections once the old tank is emptied and removed. Unfortunately, the new tank is twice the size of the old tank and will not fit in the same place the old tank occupies. Because of that, all the plumbing needs to be rerouted to accommodate the change in position of the tank. Also, there is a water softener plumbed into the system that I plan to keep in service. I am confident that all the final details will work out as we look over the possibilities this evening. Trace has set aside the evening to help me get everything set and hooked up. Lord willing, we will be able to have the new tank in service in a couple hours. Once that is done, I can relax. Right now, I cringe every time we run water in the house because even to flush a toilet requires the pump to cycle (click on and off) five to seven times.

Saturday was a very productive day. Along with a lot of little repairs, Mama and I planted hundreds of seeds in the garden – both in the raised bed and in rows I had prepared in the ground. Most of the seeds planted were flower seeds. A huge variety of flower seeds. Mama and I are not sure if the seeds will germinate. They were from packets of seeds given to the Wycoff family by Walmart. All the packets were older, and Walmart wanted to eliminate them from their inventory, hence the lack of certainty on our part as to their viability. But the seeds are in the ground and if they do germinate and produce flowers, our bees will have a lot of nectar to harvest from the little work Mama and I put into it. We also have several rows of vegetables: peas, snow peas, Brussel sprouts, spinach and kale. We will see what we get, but the first step is done. The seed is sown. The growth and eventual harvest will take a combined effort of our watering and weeding and God’s oversight in the growth process. It is always fun to see the sprouts push through the soil in the beginning of that process. We now have potatoes coming up from the pieces we planted a couple weeks ago. Mama was very sore yesterday from all the bending over required in the sowing of our seeds.

Later Saturday we cleaned the large coop and yesterday after church we moved the chickens who had roosted in the little coop building into the West side of the big coop. We are emptying the little coop in anticipation of either getting a few Banty hens from Nancy or raising up a brood of chicks. I am not sure how many new chickens we need to get because Mama is collecting almost thirty eggs per day from her current flock. Fortunately, we have a customer base large enough the sell all the eggs we collect. That helps pay for the feed, which like everything else, has gone up in price recently. Unfortunately, Mama has not raised the price on her eggs, and she still gives away many dozen to our BBTI friends. She is hesitant to match inflationary pressures on feed prices and I don’t blame her. Our farm is more of a ministry and a hobby than a business venture.

One of the chores I should have taken time for was to inspect the hives, but by the time we had finished the garden work and cleaning the coop, I was pretty worn out and it was getting late. Too late to open the hives. I will need to be more diligent in the weeks to come. In only a few weeks the bees will be making swarm cells and I want to use those frames to make new hives. Putting out and baiting swarm traps will be on the agenda as well. I have high hopes of expanding to four hives this year as well as to collect honey from the two hives we have. For that to happen I will need to invest a lot more time with my bees. They are fascinating little creatures.

Sunday services were awesome! Our pastor preached with such power and conviction. He challenged all of us to raise the bar in our life to reflect our love for and service to our Lord. He took a good deal of time to remind us that what we have is not a religion. We have a personal relationship with our Savior and because of that relationship, we have a direct connection to our God and Creator. We have a personal responsibility to live up to the standard set for us in the Bible. Ours is not an affiliation with a denomination. Ours is a personal relationship with God the Son. Our friends and associates are watching to see if we truly live out what we say we believe. Both services were incredible.

I will be teaching classes tomorrow and Wednesday. I am especially looking forward to Wednesday’s class.