What a weekend

Friday and Saturday Mama and I traveled with the old folks from the church. We went to what is called The Gardens in Mineral Wells, TX where we spent the morning looking at some of the most beautifully maintained plant scapes I have seen outside of a state operated botanical garden. We ate our lunch there and traveled onto Glen Rose, TX where we saw the play, The Promise.

The play was well done but not on the scale of the plays we saw while we were in New Jersey. It was an enactment of the life of Christ from His birth to His Resurrection. I often have a difficult time enjoying a play in which Christ is depicted as a character (acted out by an actor). I never get the sense that the real demeanor of our Lord is ever done justice. I would never attempt it. All in all it was good – at least it was not over dramatized.

On Saturday we went to a “Gospel Grass Sing” at Oakdale Park in Glen Rose. The men from our church that practice almost every Sunday afternoon gave a 45 minute concert as one of the many groups participating. It was very enjoyable. Mama and I hitched a ride home with a couple from the church that had come up for the gospel sing portion done by the church group. We got home a little after 3 pm.

On the trip Mama found out about a sibling group of children in foster care. They live right beside one of the ladies we were traveling with. Mama expressed her interest and that was all it took. We are going to meet the little ones this evening after I get off work. Mama will be in town for her pre-op work this morning and has a full agenda for the rest of the day as she waits for me to get off.  The only complicated part is that we will have to make it a short visit because we have to get home to get ready for church. We started revival services yesterday.

One other note; I told Mama we needed to explore the possibility of selling the farm and buying a place closer to the church. I feel it is important to know for certain that the farm we now have is where God wants us to stay. We should never have anything in our lives that we cannot give to God at any time He requires it of us. It is all borrowed from Him anyway.

With that thought in mind Mama and I are going to look into the possibility of moving if the Lord opens the doors to do so. If it does not happen then we will continue as we have planned on the property we now own. We are looking for God in this so whatever happens, it will not be an ordinary occurrence; trading one debt for another. We will know it when we see it. If we do not see it, we will stay where we are.

So, over a weekend with the old folks we went from pretty settled to the possibility of selling the farm and moving again while adopting three little girls; and that was only part of the weekend.

On a sad note, Grandpa and Victoria spent Saturday morning walking over the property adjacent to our farm looking for any signs of Dodger. He never came home Thursday evening. The last we saw of him, he and Sam were headed off to rout the coyotes from the property just south of us. Assuming that he was killed in that pursuit, we were hoping to find some evidence of that so we could at least get closure for Victoria, but we have found nothing.

That is the second Scotty we have lost under unpleasant circumstances.

Home safe, church news, Maggie

Grandma and Grandpa got in last night just about the time we got to church. We got home a little later than usual since we are giving a ride to one of the single ladies from BBTI. It is only a couple miles out of the way for us and she is a delightful person to visit with on our ride to church. The only bad part of the arrangement is the condition of the roads leading to the Bible Institute but we will make due.

Grandpa brought home a load of hay; one hundred and twenty bales. We will have to do some rearranging in the shed in the calf lot to get them stored before the rain we are expecting this weekend gets here. We will have to put the tractor back in the part of the shed that Grandpa originally had it in when we first bought it. It is not a big deal, it just takes time. It is probably a good thing that we are rearranging because the area is due a pretty good cleaning.

When Mama goes out with Grandpa this morning it will be the first time he has seen the steers in several months. Mama is excited to show off her little bovine herd. I am excited to get Grandpa’s recommendation on getting the largest – and oldest one – hauled to the butcher so we can fill the freezer. Actually, Mama and I would have already taken him but we do not have a way to hook up the gooseneck stock trailer.

After church last night, Mama squared away some of the lingering questions we had concerning the senior’s trip this weekend. The church is bad about giving out the details of the activities. I think it has to do with the fact that many of the members have been through each one of the activities so many times that everyone assumes that everyone else knows. But Mama and I, being new to the church are not so familiar so we have drill down to get the details. It is not a bad thing and in some circumstances the ladies have fun teasing Mama with erroneous details.

For instance, when Mama asked about the hotel room arrangements for the trip. She and I wanted to know if everyone was getting separate rooms. The pastor’s wife told Mama that there would be four people to a room – four men or four ladies. She laughed when she saw Mama’s expression and said we were all booked in separate rooms. I had assumed so, but you never know.

We also had a meeting for the Christmas Play that the church is going to put on this year. It will be different this year so Mama and I will not have to ask so many questions. I am looking forward to seeing what is in the play since the pastor wrote the script.

On the family front, Maggie had a little meltdown yesterday. Cathryn was born ten days ago so the timing is about right for the post-partum hormone shift and all the accompanying emotions. I do not know if that is the real reason behind her emotional outburst but we will chalk it up to that. Mama spent time talking with her and closed the phone conversation by praying with her.

We all hope she is better today.

Steady working

I finally got Mama’s closet done last night but it was too dark to take a picture by the time I got done. We also put a wax sealer and finish on the butcher block counter tops. I think it looked pretty good. Again, it was too much on the low light side to really see it well. I also got the shower caulked up and ready for use. It was a pretty good night.

Tonight is my long evening at work. We have a meeting that usually keeps me until a little after 5 pm (one Wednesday night per month). It is not a bad thing, just part of the job. So this evening I will get home, shave and shower, get dressed for church and get out the door to return to Decatur in less than an hour. It keeps things interesting.

Grandma and Grandpa are due to arrive this evening. All the routines we have established over the last two months or so will have to change as Grandma takes back over the kitchen. It will all work out because we have been there before, but it has been a nice break with fewer occupants in the mobile home and free reign in the kitchen; especially since Mama, Victoria and I are trying to get our diet much closer to healthy.

I took a few minutes at work yesterday to arrange the pictures I have on file into a slideshow showing the progression of the shop and apartment as we have built it. I did not have the pictures Mama has on her phone nor the ones Victoria has on her camera but I had enough for Mama to take to Wal-Mart and get prints to show the old folks we will be traveling with this weekend. They, like her, like to have the printed pictures in hand. (Here I only show the beginning and the present.)

I need to get to the point where I can devote some of my time and attention to the farm. With winter coming – and we are praying for a wet one – I need to be free to fix up the driveway and road. It is in great shape right now, but when we do start getting sustained rains it can get bad in a hurry. There are two places of concern and if I can get those graveled early it will save us some frustration when we do get the rain we are praying for.

There are still fences to build, replace and repair and I want to get started on the sheepfold. I am still convinced that we can make as much money with sheep as we can with cattle and since they require less land and feed, we should be able to accommodate them easily on only a small part of the property, but I need a very secure place to keep them since we have such a large coyote population here.

Mama also wants pigs so that is on the list of chores to get done this fall. When we bought the farm, this is what I signed up for.

Three steps forward, two steps back

Monday nights are not usually a good night for me to get much work done at the farm. I do not get to bed on most Sunday nights until well after 10 pm so I am usually more tired on the following night. Such was the case last night. I did get the shelving unit put I the closet but I did not have the wood I need to get the rods up. That is what Mama was waiting for last night so she could start putting some of her newly unboxed clothing in our new closet.

I did get the shower plumbing completed and I also finished the bathroom vanity so we have water to use in cleaning the apartment as we go forward. But last night was also a bad evening because we discovered that the water coming out of the hot water heater stinks like rotten eggs. It took Mama and I back to the days when we lived with Grandma and Grandpa on their farm in West Virginia. Their well water had the same smell. Hopefully as we flush out the water in the hot water heater we will get rid of that smell. They lived with it for a couple decades on their farm.

I also did some research on an alarm we are getting on the double oven and it was bad news. The repair that the alarm signals will cost over $300 and I am not willing to pay that. So, Mama and I will have to get another double oven to replace that one. All in all, I did not do so well in the purchase I made a while ago that got us that double oven, a dishwasher (that is missing parts), a vent range microwave oven (which we gave away) and the gas cooktop (which we are going to use).

We still have the big cast iron sink that we are not going to use in the apartment but all the other items will have to be bought again. That is not good news because we have no money to get those items right now; another delay. It was another one of those three steps forward, two steps back moments. Eventually it will all work out, but I was a little discouraged last night.

Mama and I are supposed to take a trip with the older people at the church this weekend. I am not sure we will have the money to do it. I was not thinking about the trip when I agreed to let Mama have the exterminator come out yesterday and spray the mobile home and the apartment, but we wanted to get it done before Grandma and Grandpa got back tomorrow.

Now I hear they are thinking about going back to West Virginia in late October because they feel Norman needs their help more than we do. They could be right but it surprises me a little. I get the feeling that Grandpa has given up on Texas since his initial plans did not work out. He is a difficult person to understand.

That would leave me without a vehicle to haul two of the three trailers we have on the farm but somehow we will manage.

Progress, moving (sort of), family news

I took off Friday so I could work on the apartment. The kitchen was the focus of the weekend. On Friday we placed the base cabinets on the long wall of the kitchen so Mama could look things over and get a feel for the layout. We made a couple changes to our basic original plan so we could get the sink set in a way that maximized the room we have available. Friday evening I had Victoria help me get the refrigerator in place and Mama began cleaning it up.

On Saturday we all worked getting the upper cabinets in place followed by getting the lower cabinets set. We got the countertops installed and I made the cut for the cooktop. (Mama really had to work to get that cleaned up.) About noon, Wes Bowman came over and helped me set the double oven in the cabinet I had cut out for it. It went in without any trouble at all. I was relieved. (Before and after pictures shown.)

We helped him load up our old washer and dryer and microwave so he could take them to the Bible Institute. We are going to replace them with a different type of unit that will fit in the area we have in the laundry room. That left us with room to start getting things out of the farm house – starting with the wardrobes. I am not sure how many trips Victoria and I made between the farm house and the shop, but we got a good bit of boxes carried over along with the large furniture items.

Mama was having too much fun opening boxed to discover what was packed in them. Quite a few were items she immediately began placing in the kitchen cabinets. I still have a good bit of work to do but we made a lot of progress in only two days.

Tonight I will work on the bedroom closet so Mama can start hanging up clothing. That is something she has been anxious to do since we moved from Amarillo. I should probably say since we moved from the apartment in New Jersey – she had a huge walk-in closet there. So over the next couple weeks we will sift through the boxes in the farm house as I finish up the little things in the apartment. Hopefully we will move in mid-October. Mama’s recovery from surgery will tell me how quickly we can make the move.

Grandma and Grandpa will be back this week. The last I heard, they are leaving West Virginia on Tuesday with an expected arrival late Wednesday. As usual there are mixed emotions about it, but they think of it as coming home; which is good. They are talking about becoming Snowbirds; splitting their time between West Virginia and Texas but we will have to see if they are really able to accomplish that. I think it makes them feel like they have an option none of Grandma’s family can afford.

Maggie and the baby got to go home from the hospital last week and they enjoyed their first weekend home. They endured the hardship of eating breakfast in bed and being pampered by Aaron’s mom, Beth. I think Maggie is starting to see the blessing of having help while they get the new baby settled in. Speaking of which, Cathryn slept four hours at a stretch for the first few nights at home. Most mothers do not get that kind of cooperation from an infant child.

Maggie should count her blessings.

Chase, new mommy and daddy, building updates

Last week when Mama and I were in Amarillo Chase called Mama to tell her that he had an interview scheduled with a major law firm in Amarillo for an internal IT position. They had found his application on Monster.com and seemed to be very interested. It was on a Wednesday evening after he got off work.

He made the interview and was told by the person conducting the interview that she was very impressed by the way he handled himself during the interview and what his apparent skill level was in computer repair. At the close of the interview she remarked that she was not going to ask how old he was but would rather push his resume through to the managers she was consulting for.

He was supposed to get a call on Friday to let him know the outcome of the firm’s decision but he was out it most of the day due to the lingering effects of the anesthesia used during the extraction of his wisdom teeth. The call did not come on Friday but it did on Tuesday. He was offered the job and they wanted him to start ASAP. I do not know what he worked out with the managers at Sprint, but I do know he was excited about the job. (Now if I can meet the guy who took that interview for him.)

I know Mama has talked at length with Maggie and but I am not sure if they are home or still in the hospital. At any rate they should be going home today if they are not already there. There are some tensions between the two mothers (Catheryn’s and Aaron’s) but that is normal and will resolve itself in short order. The new daddy is very pleased with his newly acquired additional responsibilities.

One of the chief duties he has taken on early in the accomplishment of those paternal duties is to help Maggie wake up so she can feed Cathryn. Those of you who were raised with Maggie realize what a Herculean effort that can be at times. I am sure mother and daughter will get it all worked out but for the moment, daddy’s help is greatly appreciated on Cathryn’s part.

Mama and I went to Lowe’s before church last night to get some odds and ends for the coming weekend of work. Earlier in the day I had gone pick up grout for the small tile job required in the shower and found there were more than a dozen colors to choose from. Being the wise husband that I am becoming, I took Mama to the store to make that selection.

We looked at different tile to fill the unfinished space at the top of the shower but did not come to any conclusions on which would work best – based on both color and size. We will table that one for the moment since I have enough to do over the next couple weeks.

I do hope to make some good headway on both the kitchen and the bedroom closet this weekend. Those two items are crucial to getting the apartment to the point where we can move in to it. All the other little punch list items – mostly trim – can be done over time as we occupy the space. Mama at least has the confidence that I will continue to work at the little things until all of them are done.

There is the expectation of rain this weekend. We are all praying it will come in abundance.

Cathryn, more stuff for me to do

I do not have the prettiest picture of Cathryn (7# 10 oz., 20 inches) but I will share what I do have. I know mommy and daddy are very pleased with the little gift God has given them. I know her paternal grandmother is extremely pleased as well. It is hard for Mama to not be there but we will try to make up the time at some later date.

Most of the women in my life (Mama and all my daughters) are disappointed that they will not see the baby when she is still tiny but our best plan is to get Maggie and Cathryn here to see everyone in the spring of next year. Those plans are very tentative; but we are hopeful.

The baby missed her Aunt Cori’s birthday by one day. Too bad Maggie could not have held out for another twenty four hours. Maggie told me she was in labor for thirty hours. I could only add up twenty two – but it is her story to tell.  J

With the expectation of rain in the coming days I elected to go back to IKEA yesterday evening after work. Traffic was not too bad on the way there and I got to the store in an hour – from Decatur. It took me about half an hour to get what I needed and check out.  I had to get help loading the items because I got two eight foot by two foot pieces of butcher block counter top for the kitchen and an eight compartment storage unit to be used in the closet.

I had a difficult time loading the storage unit onto the cart because I could not hold the card still. All the shopping carts and flatbed carts have four wheels that all move in all directions. They are tiring pilot through the store. It is like pushing a boat through the water. You have to constantly be tugging on the handles or shifting your body position relative to the cart. I usually end up grabbing the shopping cart by the side to keep from straining by back using the bar provided.

With the flatbed carts there is no choice. You have to use the handles and constantly be shifting around the cart to keep it headed in the right direction. It was real fun when I got the eight foot pieces of solid wood countertop loaded on it. At that point it really felt like pushing a boat.

I got home just before 7 pm and Victoria, who got home a few minutes later, helped me unload the items into the shop. For tonight they will sit with the hope I will be able to get started putting things in place on Thursday evening. I have planned to take off Friday but the work is piling up against that plan. I am not sure if I will be able to get free but time will tell.

We are already half way through September. That is hard to believe.