Updates

I took Friday off so I could fix the truck and the hot water heater and I did try to do both but I only managed to get the truck moderately repaired. I did replace the part that seemed to be causing the issue but it did not seem to completely fix the problem. I still have some more trouble shooting to do but at least it is drivable.

On the hot water heater, I got everything ready and I even bought a socket to remove the bad heating element but I did not know that what I needed was deep well socket. I took the heater out of service anyway to look things over and discovered a leak at the well where the lower socket is inserted into the tank. That is the reason the breaker keeps tripping out. We have decided to get a new hot water heater and repurpose this one into feeding troughs by removing the steel tank and cutting it lengthwise in two pieces.

Later on Friday afternoon Mama noticed that one of the steers was limping pretty badly. When we got the chance to look closely it was clear that his lower leg was pretty swollen. He was able to walk but he obviously did not want to put his full weight on it. We had to separate him from the others in order to keep him moderately contained. The last thing we want is for him to end up out in the field, unable to get up. He would become coyote feed before too long in that situation.

We ended up having to re-separate him late Saturday night from the others after I left a gate open when I came back through the gate with the tractor late Saturday afternoon. I had finished brush hogging the upper field and I forgot to close the gate behind me. Mama and I noticed it when we were getting ready to head out to have dinner with the seniors of the church so there was no time to redo what I had undone in my distraction.

We went to a café called “Shinola’s” in Springtown for our group dinner. Mama and I will probably go back sometime. It was good food at a great price and the atmosphere was uniquely Texas. Mama really enjoyed it. She asked one person for their leftover potato so she would have it to give to the big dogs and she ended with two to-go boxes loaded with leftovers. Everyone had a great time overloading her and teasing her in the process. I told them we could make some great potato soup out of what we had gathered.

Sunday we went to the house of some friends at church; the Wycoff family. They are recently returned from Mexico having left the area where they had started a church due to the drug gang activity in that area. By reports from the local authorities, there are four to six murders per day in the city where they were serving. It is a sad time for Mexico. They recently bought a place just a few miles outside of Rhome, TX and we stayed the afternoon at their house eating lunch and visiting.

We had a good time getting to know them.

 

Family, work ahead, relief

Last night was a good night. Of course we did not get to do anything at the farm since it was a church night but just the fact that we made it to church with our missionaries in tow – and with Victoria also – made it a pretty good night to begin with. We had a great service. As tired as I usually am on Wednesday night it is always good to be with family. Last night was no exception.

I am taking tomorrow off so that I can make the repairs I have waiting on me at the farm. I have to replace the heating elements in the hot water heater in the mobile home. Victoria has been without hot water for most of the week now. I am hoping it is only a matter of replacing the element and not the entire water heater. Either is a bother but the element is far less expensive that the entire heater.

The repair Mama is most anxious about is the repair I have to make to the little truck. It has been idle for about two weeks now which leaves her without a vehicle; not that she has any desire to go anywhere most days, it just feels better to have the option to go if she wanted to. I have ordered the part and expect it to be arriving today or tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting back to driving the little truck. As old and ratty as it is it still gives me the ability to shop for items I would never try to carry in the Flex.

Mama’s eyes were a little red last night, not to the point that they had been recently but red enough that I am glad to be doing the feeding of the hay to the horses and cattle for the next several days. She has been on the tractor brush hogging the last of the pastures also and we are not sure if that contributed to the new puffiness, but I can take over that as well – after the repairs are done.

We are starting to see some life in the fields and in the yard near the house and shop; enough so that I will have to buy a lawn mower to get us started this spring. Mama and Grandpa are still hoping we can get a zero turn mower as our primary lawn care machine but we will always need a smaller mower to do some areas – unless I want to do them all with a weed eater. That is something else I need to buy since all the weed eaters were taken to West Virginia. The “needs” list is growing ever longer as spring approaches.

I did get some good news on the financial front. When I checked my bank account I saw a deduction for the income tax debt we have been paying on for almost two years that was not the typical amount. It was smaller by about twenty dollars which led me to believe that it could have been the final payment for that debt. I called and after almost forty minutes on hold I was assured that it had indeed been the final payment.

Hallelujah!

Looking things over, looking ahead

Yesterday was beautiful and the evening after I got home was a continuation of that beautiful day. When I got home I changed and went out to the garden to spread out the manure we had put there last Saturday and Mama got back on the tractor and brush hogged more of the pasture Grandpa had left for her to do. What she had already done looked very good. What I did looked like a wreck but there is not a good way that I know of to make spread manure look nice.

When she was finishing up for the evening I had her drive us down by the big pond so I could see how much water was in it. It is probably as low as I have ever seen it, but there is still water in it. I guess it is about six feet deep at its deepest channel but what water is there is barely sufficient to provide space for many fish; although the turtles seem to like it very much.

We then drove through the meadow to see how the winter wheat was faring. It looks like it will finally be taking off. There is a lot of green starting to show in the areas where Grandpa over seeded the wheat. It will be several more weeks before the coastal will start to show signs of life. That grass requires a ground temperature of 70®F or more before it will come out of its dormancy. Right now the ground has retained some water below the surface but it will not be many more weeks before it will be as dry as the surface.

We really need more rain but there is not much promise of it according to all the predictive models the weather people are putting forth. The Lord is still in control but I have talked to Mama about holding off for another year before I try to get an orchard started again. Losing every fruit tree we planted in the last two year has not been the most encouraging experiment I have ever participated in.

Anticipating the spring and hoping for the best, I pruned back the grape vines we have nurtured for the past three years. I have no idea if they are dormant or dead but I can at least give them the best chance to succeed if there is still some life in the roots. The two peach trees I pruned back last night are probably lost causes but it did not take much time to get them ready in case there is still life in them also.

Fortunately, all the animals (Mama’s babies) are doing well. She has her chicken order almost ready and it looks like we are going to get about twenty new little ones. I did have the conversation with her that I do not want to feed and house forty chickens so at least twenty of the forty will have to get repurposed. She will have to decide who gets put in the freezer and who stays in the coop.

She is not looking forward to those decisions but it will have to be done.

Chickens, light work, interviews

When I got home yesterday evening I got Mama and we went back to Bowie to get feed. It is amazing how much the chickens consume based on their body size. I realize we feed the cows mostly hay so I do not have to purchase feed too often for them. Mama uses it as a treat for them, but the chickens eat about six bags of feed per month. It would be cheaper to buy eggs – but that would be no fun at all.

While we were in the feed store Mama got with the store manager who has become a friend and they talked about the chickens Mama wants to order. Mama has been looking at a catalogue from a hatchery but the feed store can order the same chicks for us at about the same price any time we are ready. That would facilitate the delivery of the chicks to us so I am guessing that is the way the two of them worked it out. It is becoming a spring time tradition on the farm to get a new brood of chickens.

Buying the chicks is cheaper than buying an incubator but I think hatching our own would be fun. The problem with hatching your own is that you have no choice in the sex of the birds. When they are purchased from a hatchery you can be fairly certain that the birds have been sexed so that the males and females can be sold separately. In the batch we bought last year only one of the 18 we bought as pullets turned out to be a rooster. He is now top cock in the coop.

It is perfect timing to get the little ones now since the brunt of the cold is passed. If we do get the chicks – or rather, when – it will delay my timing of removing the windows I have on the coop for winter. Those windows keep the coop very warm in the late mornings through the afternoon; maybe too warm for the adult birds but perfect for the baby ones.

I did not do much of anything when I got home after our stop at the feed store. It was pretty late – daylight wise – to start anything outside so I sat down and worked the song list for next week’s services. I like to get it to the instrumentalists by Tuesday so they can look it over and catch any problems with the selections. There are some songs I have chosen that they have not known and there are several I have picked that the congregation has not known, but we work it out. I am enjoying leading the singing.

At the office yesterday I interviewed another candidate for the open position I have within my group. She was definitely the top candidate for the position. I have one more interview to conduct – next Monday and after that interview we will make a selection. But as far as a good fit for the position and a good fit within my group this last one was the best fit by far. It is always a good thing to have to choose between better and best, but that has not usually been the case in the interviews I have done while in this position.

One particular candidate last week, although she was a very strong candidate and interviewed well, left me feeling uneasy should she be the one that turned out to be the best choice when all the interviews were concluded. I could not quite put my finger on the problem but having another strong candidate was a relief.

One of the joys of being a supervisor.

The weekend

This was a great weekend. The weather could not have been better. I spent the morning changing the oil in the Flex. Even though I do not particularly enjoy that type of work it was at least made tolerable because of the weather. Mama, Victoria and I took a couple hours to clean out the barn area where we give hay and grain to our little herd. Even that was enjoyable.

What was hard to believe was that we still got six bucket loads of manure from the area. The last time we cleaned the feeding area it had been over six months since we had tackled the chore. This time it was only three weeks later – and we still got the same amount of waste. My hope is that this time it will be more easily spread out over the garden area since it is less compacted. That remains to be seen. The south wind that picked up later that morning carrying that wonderful aroma from the garden reminding us of our time in Amarillo.

Saturday evening Mama and I got to go to the Valentine’s Dinner at church. Besides the pastor and his wife we were the oldest couple there. The cut off age for attending the dinner was 54 years old. If one of the spouses was under that age the couple could attend. It works out perfectly that my age qualifies us for the senior citizens functions and Mama’s age qualifies us to the not so senior group.

Victoria was there as a server along with several other singles and the teens but after the dinner was served she got to hold an infant for the remainder of the time. She enjoyed the evening thoroughly and the parents of the little one did also. The mother was worried about taking advantage of Victoria but I assured her that was not the case.

Sunday afternoon the parents of Mama’s friend Mindy Skills, who we meet every month at Trade Days, brought us a sofa they were giving away. They showed up just as we were finishing dinner – perfect timing. The sofa was in very good shape and it will make a great addition to the seating we have needed in the mobile home. It was pretty easy to get into the mobile home; much easier than the couple delivering it had thought it would be.

For the age of the sofa it was pristine. I had a strong suspicion it would be so because Mindy has told us about her childhood; of evenings and weekends spent cleaning the house to the point of taking a toothbrush to the baseboards hidden behind the furniture in the various rooms of the house.  I have no illusions that it will remain as nice looking, but it looks almost new at this moment. Mama and Victoria have it set up for the moment but I know that it will be rearranged as time goes on. It was very nice that they went so far out of their way to deliver the sofa to us.

After talking with Grandpa on Saturday I think we have diagnosed the problem with the little truck. Just for confirmation I talked with a mechanic at church and he came to the same conclusion. Some months ago the car his wife drives had the same problem. I hope to purchase the part today and get it replaced this evening. If it has to be ordered it will be late in the week before I get it done but at least we have a plan.

Some great things have been happening at our church lately. Yesterday we had four baptized and one saved.

Repair attempts, coordination of efforts, reading

On the way home yesterday I stopped at the auto parts store and got a few items for the little Ranger and the Flex. I was hoping changing out the fuel filter on the Ranger would help with the problem I had coming home last week. It took some time to get the new filter on the truck but all in all it was not too bad a job. Laying in the cold, moist gravel was a bit uncomfortable.

After I got everything buttoned up I took the truck got a test drive. I was pretty encouraged when I drove the three miles to Montague so I turned around and headed from there to Bowie. I was only a few miles from the farm when the same problem began to happen. At least I know it is not the fuel filter. It will be the end of the month before I will have the money to take it to a shop to see what is really wrong.

I worked a while in the garden spreading out the manure we had put there several weeks ago but held off getting the tiller out since it was a little too wet to do any of that kind of work. We are planning on cleaning the calf lot again this Saturday so I wanted to get ahead of the effort by spreading out what we had already put there. By the time I got the piles spread out it was pretty close to dark so I closed up the chickens and went inside to clean up.

Mama left the farm about the time I got started replacing the fuel filter and was gone until I was ready to go to bed. She and Victoria met up at Walmart so they could team up on grocery shopping. We are still at the stage that requires us to share certain cooking items. It is not worth outfitting both kitchens to be completely self-sufficient but we like to limit the number of trips from one residence to the other when preparing a meal.

Since we have been on the farm we have always had more than one place to store items; a refrigerator and freezer in the farm house, a freezer in the shop, canned goods in plastic totes in the farm house, etc. Now, with two homes and two kitchens it has become more complicated to just do normal meal preparations; not to mention where we will entertain guests when was have them. It has become a standard question for Sunday afternoons; do we have dinner at Victoria’s home or ours? When Grandma and Grandpa come back that will no longer be an issue. We will eat at her table.

Victoria got me started on one or the rewrites of the Star Wars sagas: Allegiance, by Timothy Zahn. It is a well written story but it is difficult to backtrack to a prequel having watched the movie series. Besides that, I am not a cultish type of fan of Star Wars so when he brings characters into the story and begins commenting on their dress, their voice or their culture I am at a complete loss. Not that it interrupts the story much, but I will not take the time to look up the descriptions in order to get a visual – because there is a complete catalogue of such information available on the internet.

I am enjoying the story but that kind of research is outside the scope of reading for fun.

Special speaker, looking ahead

Last night at church we had a man present his work and testimony. His name is Sam Ward. He is in Croatia helping a veteran missionary. He has been there for four years but the most remarkable part of the presentation of the work he gave was the way the Lord got him there. Since childhood he had suffered from a rare form of multiple sclerosis. It went for years undiagnosed; worsening as he got into his late thirties.

He testified that even in his broken body he had a desperate desire to win souls. For years he could not reconcile the two until one day as he was on his way to a day of witnessing at a prison with people from his church he met the missionary he now works with. As the two of them talked, he asked who was in Croatia with the missionary and the answer broke his heart; no one.

For nine years he had labored alone. Without thinking Sam volunteered, “I need to come soul winning with you.” The next day he talked to a friend at work about the “chance” encounter. Two days later that friend gave him a check to cover the plane ticket to Croatia. He knew then that God was in it. He spent his first vacation over there in 2008. He went back in 2009.

Later in 2009 his boss, who was selling the company, offered to give him two years of support money if he wanted to go fulltime to Croatia; this from an unsaved man who saw that the restructured company would more than likely not find a place for an invalid worker. Since that time God has gotten him the medical help he needs to the point that it is now difficult to tell he was ever in a wheelchair. It was a great service and for the first time in many weeks Victoria was able to go.

Tonight will be our first night above freezing in about two weeks. Although the east coast is getting slammed with the remnants of the winter storm that hit us early this week, we will be warm and dry for the next ten days or so. As bad as it can get here there is always the expectation that it will not last long – at least for cold weather.

I am starting to wonder what the summer might be like this year. According to the Farmer’s Almanac it will be a repeat of last year with only slightly more moisture. I was planning on replanting a few fruit and nut trees this year but I have not decided for sure. I suppose it is one of those things that you just go ahead and do and hope for the best. I can always follow by brother-in-law Fabian’s recipe for successful planting.

His formula: Buy a fifty dollar tree, dig a hundred dollar hole and put a thousand dollars’ worth of water on it. That should get you started – no guarantees.