Planting, shopping, doctor visit

Saturday was a busy day. Mama and I were up early and out early. We got the trailer hooked to the truck and went to Nocona Building Center to get the lumber to finish the fence for the little garden. I was also able to buy the roofing I need to finish the porch roof on the apartment. Unfortunately, I was not able to work on either of those projects.

When we got back and dropped off the trailer I loaded up the truck with two hot water heaters and an old dishwasher to take to the salvage yard in Bowie. We got almost $20 for the three items but more importantly we got rid of them before they became an eye sore or a point of contention.

Then we were off to Walmart to pick up some fruit trees to plant in the little orchard we are starting – again. We bought two semi-dwarf peach trees and two blueberry plants. When we got home Mama went to lie down. She was not feeling very rested from the night before and needed her afternoon nap.

I planted the peach and blueberry plants while she slept. I also went to the front of the farm and dug up several wild plum trees so I could transplant them close to the house where we could tend to them a little more carefully.

As I was digging them up it dawned on me that they might not be the trees I was expecting them to be so some time this summer I will have the evidence I need to either keep or uproot them. We will know them by their fruit. It is a well-established Biblical principal. I did not want to wait until this fall to transplant them because they are just the right size now. Oh, well was only an hour of my time to get the work done.

Sunday we went to Costco between services. Victoria was not feeling well but she came along anyway. We ate at Chipotle for lunch then spent a little over an hour at Costco. The only problem is that we always spend too much money when we go there. Granted, we did not buy anything we did not actually need – other than the Danishes – but things add up fast at $10-20 per item. I had budgeted for most of it so it was not too alarming.

Victoria will go to the doctor today after she and Mama meet one of the ladies of the church for a guided tour of nearby Justin, TX. There are multiple boot shops in the town that is known for its boot factory. Mama had been wanting to go for some time so they finally worked it out for tomorrow.

Victoria is still getting some drainage from her ears as well as some knots around her right ear. Mama and she will go to the ENT doctor sometime today. This will make the third trip for the same problem. Each past visit has been treated as though there was nothing remarkable even though Victoria is still very uncomfortable. We are hoping to get some answers this time. We will see.

They will have Mama to deal with if the doctor is nonchalant this time.

A good visit, hurrying, chores ahead

Mama had a good visit with her friend. It was so good in fact that she had not even left her house by the time she was supposed to be meeting me in Bowie. I was not surprised at the delay. She did make it home before we had to pick up Victoria – at 7:30.

We left the farm to go to Walmart to pick up Victoria after a brief look at the chicken coop – for gathering eggs and filling water dispensers. Mama had a list of food items to get so she could prepare the meal for RU tonight. It was not a long list but it did take longer than I had expected. Victoria was well past ready to go home by the time we checked out.

She was doubly anxious because she had rented a copy of the new Thor movie and was anxious to get started watching it. I knew it was going to be way too late for me to participate so I was not as concerned about rushing around. It was delayed anyway because Victoria wanted to go to Subway for dinner. That took an additional fifteen minutes. It was past 8:30 before we got home. I went to close up the chicken coop while Mama unloaded the groceries and Victoria loaded the movie.

While Mama was with Kim Cantrell she found out that a neighbor, the son of the owner of the property the Cantrell’s are purchasing, has recently set up a mill to cut and finish cedar wood – both aromatic and western cedar. She brought home some scraps which turned out to be much larger than I had anticipated. Mama and I will use them on the garden fence by the apartment. Now I will not have to travel as far as I thought to get the cedar I need for future projects.

I hope to complete the fence around Mama’s special garden this weekend. We will plant the flowers and bulbs she bought for that purpose after the area is secured by the fence. I think it will come out pretty nice. It will give Mama an immediate view of something colorful as soon as she opens the bedroom curtains every morning.

We are planning on working in the vegetable garden this weekend also. I will stop on the way home to get some seed potatoes from the feed store we frequent. They are now on sale so I feel a little better about paying the reduced price – which is still pretty high. If we do not get them in the ground soon we will have to use a lot more water to get the crop to maturity.

Victoria has to work this Saturday so I will have to muck the stalls in the calf barn by myself – with Mama operating the tractor. It should not be too bad since we have been keeping up with it pretty regularly, but it will have to be done before we get to the garden. There is a remote chance of thunder storms for this afternoon. That would cause us to rework the schedule a bit but we will happily accommodate the rain.

So far, we love rain delays.

Malaise, oops, encouraging a friend

For the past week or so I have been feeling less than my best. Some days it is more obvious than others but there has been a constant sense of not particularly feeling well. Headaches and overall weariness are the most persistent symptoms; dizziness is the most troubling. This too shall pass; sometime.

Last night at church we had someone fill in at the last minute on the piano. He and I worked out the song service. I had to select a different song for the invitation so he would be comfortable playing for me that evening. As we sang through the first two songs I did okay but on the last song my eyes skipped over the selected song and went straight to the one we had eliminated from the list and I announced it as our next song.

He and the organist hung in there with me and we sang through it. He did fine and the congregation really liked the song – even though it was a new one for them. After the service I still did not realize I had made the mistake. It was on the way home that it dawned on me what I had done. I will see the young man that played the piano on night at RU – I will get to apologize and get the egg off my face then.

I am not inferring too much into the lapse of memory, i.e forgetting the conversation we just had about the music selections for the service, but there may be something there worth considering. This one I will chalk up to the fact that I get nervous when I am up at the pulpit to lead the singing. I will have to give permission to the musicians to correct me if I go off track that badly in the future. I would be far more comfortable with that – and take care of my mistakes in the moment. All is well. It just leaves me feeling a little foolish.

We did get rain yesterday – finally. It was not much, only .3 inches but it was enough to puddle on the ground in places and settle the dust. For Mama it was a mess. With the three dogs having to go in and out of the apartment – which is now surrounded by wet dirt – she was constantly having to clean them up before letting them back inside. I don’t think she really minds all that much but for me it would be a chore. Actually, they would have to find a place to stay outside if I were the one having to wipe dirty paws all day.

Mama is going to visit her friend Kim Cantrell this afternoon. She lives a little less than an hour from the farm. She and her husband have been going through some really rough times of late and she really needs the encouragement. It is one of those time that cause a believer to question where they are and what they are doing because nothing seems to be adding up right.

Those are the time when faith kicks in and we just keep doing right (because it is always right to do right) and stay where we are until the Lord opens up our vision so we can see how He is ordering things concerning our work and witness. I spoke to a friend yesterday at work and he confessed that he is having trouble keeping his walk where his talk is – trusting God to lead him and having the faith to obediently follow.

He and I agreed that in retrospect, regardless of the situation, God has never led us wrong or caused us to suffer any loss that was not for our benefit and His glory. Keeping our faith tuned into that truth is the most difficult thing we do on a daily basis.

Remembering that not only is God able to lead you and keep you from falling, but that He is willing would give us some much needed respite.

Meetings, new employee

Yesterday flew by. I was in a meeting all day – even through lunch. It was a productive meeting; the outcomes of which will set a process that will be followed for many months to come. I was hoping it would change the involvement I have in a process I do not enjoy but it looks like I am stuck with the tasks I was trying to find a more appropriate home for.

The meeting will continue this morning and I am hopeful the outcomes will be followed through. One of the persons in the meeting has a high enough position to persuade a large enough contingent of personnel to carry out several of the recommendations we are suggesting, but she is new to ConocoPhillips so I am not convinced she will have the support to completely follow through. Time will tell.

I had a new employee start yesterday. I barely got to say hello as she was taken through the steps to get her set up as an employee. The entire process takes several days as permissions are granted to computer applications, work schedules are approved, credit cards are ordered and phones are set up – both desk phones and cell phones. One of my newest employees handled all the transactions and I got to approve them this morning.

In order to accommodate the new employee I had to let one person go. She was working as a contract employee for us so it is an easy process as far as work is concerned; emotionally, it is not so easy. She took the news well and elected to leave as soon as she and I had talked. She felt confident that she could get back into the nursing position she had previously held. I hope things work out for her.

Hopefully I will have time this afternoon to spend some time getting our new person settled into her role as we begin to move tasks over to her. She will be completely overwhelmed for about six months. I am hoping about that time she will begin to see her role clearly and begin taking on assignments she enjoys doing along with the ones we are assigning to her. Again, time will tell.

I did not get too much done last night. I set four posts for the fence I am putting around Mama’s special garden. I am trying to complete it by the weekend so we can set out the plants she has already purchased for that area, but I do not know if I will get it done or not. I still lack some lumber for the railings of the fence and I have held off buying them until I can use the truck and trailer to go and pick up some longer two by fours than I can carry in the bed of the truck; maybe tomorrow evening.

As for the main garden, Mama and I are ready to plant some of the seeds we still have. Last night she went through them to make certain we do not need to get any more for this year. She told me all we need are tomato plants which the nursery told us will be ready to go this weekend. It should be a good weekend to get that done.

The weather is forecast to be warm and breezy – imagine that.

Invaders, experiments

Sunday afternoon we discovered our little herd in the meadow. We keep them out of that area for a variety of reasons; we want the ground to be used for hay production, the fence at the south end is not in the best of shape and the long horn herd across the south fence needs little excuse to invade our green meadow. It turned out that we should have probably been more proactive in getting our cattle back where we normally keep them – but it was Sunday.

Yesterday afternoon Mama called me in a panic. The long horn herd was in the meadow grazing their way to the other fields on our property. I told her to get our few head back into the pasture where they should be and shut the gate to the meadow so the long horns would not get too far onto the property. I am not worried about them doing any damage but they are far less predictable than our bottle raised herd and the further they got onto our farm the more difficult it would be to get them back home.

We called the owners and they came right away to get their herd back onto their property so no real damage was done but it highlighted the fact that we need to get the fence repaired at that end of the property. The actual repair is slated for when Grandpa, Norman and Seth come late next month. I have yet to purchase the materials but I have money set aside for them.

Mama was no worse for the exercise she got getting the herds separated. In fact, she was baking up a storm when I got home. She had some type of pineapple cake in the oven along with some fruit muffins. I am not sure what has gotten hold of her but I am certainly enjoying the benefits – as long as I do not overindulge.

When I got home I started on a simple enclosure for the flower garden we are planting just outside the apartment. If we are to have anything grow I will have to cordon the area off with some type of physical barrier to keep the dogs from making their beds in it. I feel a little pressed to get the barrier built because we have plants that need to be placed there rather than sitting too long in the pots they are now in.

We bought some elephant ear bulbs several weeks ago and I have been anxious to get them planted in that area so them have time to get to maturity before the first frost kills them back. Mama also has some annuals she wants planted in the same area. It is all part of our larger garden strategy. We put all of our efforts in the garden plot last year when we should have placed plants in different areas of the farm to have the best chance at actually succeeding. This year we are going to try different areas for different types of plants and see what works best.

Over the next several years we should be able to get the routine down pretty well.

“Life on the farm is kinda laid back” - NOT

I did end up taking most of the day off on Friday. We had a large contingent of people coming to the office that would arrive before any of the ladies that sit in the front get there and I wanted to make sure that they were able to get into the office without trouble. The secure door on the front of our building does not release until 7 a.m. so someone has to be in the office to open the door for early visitors. I got back to the farm about the time Mama and Victoria were going out to feed.

I did not get an awful lot done because I was not feeling very well but when I tried to lay down to rest I was not able to do that very well either. I did pick up the lumber to build the alcove I wanted to place in the garden to help guard the plants against the blistering heat and wind. It is not large, just eight feet square, but I hope it will help us in the garden this year.

Mama helped me get the pieces to the garden and I got them placed as I had planned – it looks pretty small in that large garden space. We have seeds that I could have safely planted in the area I prepared but I did not get that done. I was able to till a large patch for the potatoes and onions I hope to set out this week. We were waiting all day for the rains to come but they never did. Not much was predicted but we still hoped we would get something wet from the overcast skies.

On Saturday I covered the area outside the kitchen windows with dirt to level it out for future use. I am planning on potting the tomato plants we are going to get this weekend and put them in that area so I wanted it to look somewhat ready. I spent a good deal of time leveling out the dirt I put there with the tractor but a couple hours late you could not have told. Once the dogs and the chickens rearranged the fresh dirt it was quite a mess to look at.

By Saturday night I was feeling pretty bad. Victoria and I went out to do the evening feeding and get everything ready for Sunday. That was when we discovered Misty down and could not get her up. We called Wes Bowman but he was in Ft Worth and could not get to us for a couple hours. He called Tim Cleghorn and as soon as Tim got the call he headed our way. By the time Tim and Steve Schnell got to the farm it was nearly dark and we had been struggling with Misty for about an hour.

While Mama and I were greeting Tim and Steve and apprising them of the situation, Victoria walked into the calf lot with Misty in tow. We began to walk around in order to relieve her colic. Tim, Steve and Victoria took turns and continued to keep her moving for several hours. About the time I gave out Wes showed up and began doing his assessment – and it was not very good. It was after 10 pm when they hooked the stock trailer to our truck and loaded Misty for a late night visit to the vet.

The vet saw something no one else did. He asked Mama when Misty had gotten stung. When Mama showed surprise at the question he showed her a couple dozen sting marks on her rump and lower legs. He concluded that that was the cause of the colic and gave Misty a shot for pain to relieve the gas pains as well as the bee stings. They were all back at the farm by about 11:30.

Misty is doing well now but we have her cooped up in the barn lot so we can monitor her bowel movements and regulate her feed carefully – at least through today. I will have to go on the hunt to find the bee hive or wasp nest in her pasture in order to keep this from being repeated too soon.

With my allergy to such stings it will be and interesting hunt.

 

Work plans, little chores and helpers

Well, I ended up having to come to work this morning in spite of the plans I had to the contrary. There are only a few things that I have to get done and I should be able to get them completed by late morning. I am hoping to get back to the farm by lunchtime. Mama was not thrilled with the change in plans but she is pretty accommodating. After all, this is how I support my real interests.

Last night I swapped vehicles with Victoria on my way home. She had driven the truck to work after she and Mama picked up Sam. She really liked driving it but with the heavy tinting on the rear windows and the back glass I was a little worried about her being able to back the truck out of her spot in the parking lot. I probably should not have been concerned but it was an easy swap to make.

Once I got home Mama and I cleaned the chicken coop; she had saved that chore for me to help with. She is very thoughtful that way. I hung the gate we have had standing in the gap from the driveway into the  calf lot and I finished early enough that I got out the tiller and broke up the soil in front of the apartment.

I need to get the level down quite a bit so we can get ready for the concrete to be poured for the porch. I am leaving a portion on the north end for a special garden so Mama can have plants just outside of her bedroom windows. The only problem we were having is that Kira really liked the loose, cool dirt and kept speeding through the broken soil getting in my way.

When I began to gather the loose dirt for the portion I will make into raised beds for the garden she wanted to help me a little too much and I ended up having the chase her off pretty sternly. Some of the dirt I shoveled up into the wheelbarrow and moved to the south end of the porch to help level the ground there; that I let her play in to her hearts content.

Mama got out the mower and rolled over some grass that was really too short to cut. It was good practice. If the warm weather holds and we get the rains predicted for this weekend she will have to begin mowing in earnest very soon.

I am hoping to work in the garden this afternoon – after I get home early and before I have to get ready for RU this evening. I have plans of setting up a little arbor in the garden so we can begin to set out seeds and young plants. So far I have been thwarted at every turn but it has all been for the best. The weather is only now beginning to show signs of allowing spring to take hold.

Mama shared something she had seen on Facebook. It was a sign at a nursery. It read, “Spring is here. I got so excited I wet my plants.”