Plans in the works, our kids traveling in, new focus

Mama and I had almost no time together yesterday. She was at an eye appointment in Decatur about the time I was leaving Decatur to go home to get ready for church. It was on the drive home from church that we did get to talk about the farm needs in our absence and she convinced me that they are covered sufficiently to allow us to go to Florida after the wedding – which is this weekend. The only caveat is that we will have to take all the dogs with us to Florida.

I am not thrilled about making a thirteen hour drive with three dogs. Kira is getting big enough that her natural aroma is more than a little noticeable. When she is wet it is almost more than I can take. Sharing the van with the three of them, meeting their potty needs, ensuring their safety at every stop, etc., does not give me fun, happy thoughts. Grandpa has always had a phobia about sharing the same air with animals. I am starting to lean that direction also. In the end, I will go whatever Mama needs me to do to get her to Florida and back but I do not share her emotional attachment to the dog and therefore am far more reluctant to go to extremes to meet their needs; past any basic needs.

Cori called last night to report that the rain was falling in such vast amounts that her house was flooding. The back yard was submerged in over four inches of water and the sheer volume of water coming down was finding its way into the backroom of her house. Nate opened the gates to the fence in the back yard in an attempt to let the water out but it did no good. The entire area around their neighborhood was equally flooded.

She and Nate and the kids are supposed to leave Florida this morning to travel to the farm but that might have to be postponed if the cleanup from the flooding is severe. As she and Mama talked just a bit later in the evening the rains had abated somewhat and the water getting into the house had slowed but the threat of more such rains is extended through tonight. We will see what today brings and adapt our plans accordingly.

Tonight is the last night of the Mission’s Conference. I am always relieved and apprehensive at the same time when meetings like this come to a close. I hate to see them end but I am almost equally glad that they are over. It is a very busy and uplifting time simultaneously. God is doing something wonderful in our church and I do not want it ever to return to a sense of just maintaining the normal flow of services.

So the bottom line is that after tonight Mama and I will be busy with visiting family, the wedding and plans for travel with a more focused approach to personal and family needs. I will be setting up the farm for someone else to care for and repairing farm implements for service when we get back from vacation. I had thought about working a couple days next week; in between the wedding and our leaving for Florida, but that is still undecided.

Tomorrow I pick Brittany up at the airport and the following morning we will pick up Joshua at the bus stop in Denton. Saturday we will all head to Amarillo for the wedding. Chase and Makaila are about ready to get this over with – and all their plans have been relatively low key.

Mama is more receptive to the whole idea at this point but she and I are praying much about it also.

Long weeks, coverage

The week of Mission’s Conference and the week of Revival are two of the hardest weeks or me to make it through. Maggie and Aaron are being faithful to attend the services with me and Mama – that is a blessing. It is hard not to enjoy Bro. Ogdie’s preaching. It is about as down to earth as it gets. He reminds me of Bro. Joe West in the simple life applications he uses to communicate the message.

We are having dinner before the services each night and I was careful to not eat too much last night since I have to lead the singing. I have enough trouble breathing as it is. With a full belly it is far more difficult to get the breath I need to keep up with the songs. Though to be honest, as uncomfortable as it might make me, I enjoy the song leader duties.

Cathryn is getting a little cough. The dryness here is definitely not helping her respiratory issues. It was made worse by the screaming fit she had in the nursery last night. Grammy was with her but that did not allay her anger as she protested her incarceration. I still think she is a good baby. She is adjusting to the ever changing demands of life as she grows; less time in her mommy’s arms and more time by herself is her current life application study. She will more readily adapt to a more independent life as she learns to walk. That is when the fun of training a child really begins.

We are still struggling with getting adequate coverage for the farm duties in our proposed absence. The family we were counting on to come to the property and care for the animals and gardens is not available during that time. They too have a wedding planned during that time so their plate is too full to take on additional duties. Several other sources of help are rapidly drying up as well; one of the constraints of having a farm.

I guess it’s a guy thing but I do not feel comfortable with asking people who are already leading very busy lives to take on my responsibilities just so I can go play on the beach. I would have been very comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa taking over for us in our absence but I really wrestle with imposing on others to do it. Mama does not seem to share that struggle but she is starting to get pretty concerned.

If it was only checking the chickens and making sure the cattle are okay I would not be so hesitant but with the special needs of the new baby pigs, Mama’s neurotic rescue dog and the watering of the gardens I am very reluctant to shift that burden to anyone other than family; especially for the stretch of time Mama is considering.

We’ll see how things turn out, but I am not all warm and comfy right now.

Arrivals, the week ahead

Almost as soon as I got home Friday Mama and I left for DFW to meet Maggie, Aaron and the baby. We took the van since all the repairs had been completed. It was the first time I had to fill up the van because we were keeping the fuel level in the tank low until the straps holding the gas tank in place had been replaced. With that done we topped it off; boy, was that a shock!

As we were entering the airport we got the call from Maggie that they had landed. They were thirty minutes ahead of schedule. Mama and I parked like we knew what we were doing and ended up just outside the baggage claim area for their airline. It was less than twenty minutes later that they came through the doors to meet us.

Cathryn lunged for Mama the moment she saw her. I am not quite sure what caused the response but it thrilled Mama and much as it shocked Maggie and Aaron. We made a couple stops on the way home because Maggie wanted to eat at Chick-fil-A and Mama wanted to go through Costco. Fortunately the two sites are in very close proximity to DFW. It was not too late when we got to the farm but it was after dark. Everybody slept in the following morning – except the baby. She was up at 4 a.m.

We had a full day on Saturday – but all the activity was farm related. Aaron spent enough time out in the light that he was pretty burned by that evening, but he was a big help. He started collecting rocks for Mama’s rock garden; which thrilled her quite a bit. I spent the day working in the garden as well as running the weed eater for a couple hours. Aaron helped with that chore also. Between the two of us we got a lot of the farm living area trimmed. As for the garden, I wanted to make sure when we leave in to the care of others that the rows of vegetables are clearly defined and a couple were not so obvious until after I got done.

Cathryn was not impressed with the dogs when she first arrived at the farm but by Saturday evening she had warmed up to them; all five of them. By Sunday afternoon she was actively seeking their attention – especially Kira. With her sleep schedule so messed up by the trip and the resulting change of daylight hours, Maggie and Aaron have delighted in anything that will distract her and keep her contented. She really is a good baby.

Victoria got sick over the weekend and was not able to go to church either service yesterday. That was a shame since yesterday started our Mission’s Conference. The services will continue each night through Wednesday. By then I will be thoroughly worn out – and we have a wedding to go to this weekend.

Brittany will arrive on Thursday in the afternoon and Joshua is supposed to get to Dallas some time Friday in the very early morning. To date we are still unsure what plans Joshua has made or is in the process of making, but I will have to make both of those pickups.

It looks to be shaping up to being a whirlwind week ahead.

Victoria’s test, multiple trips, airports

I took the day off yesterday to take Victoria to her test in Ft Worth. She was not due at the testing site until noon but we left the farm at 9 a.m. just to make sure. Mama wanted to leave much later but Victoria is more like me in liking to get to a destination early rather than just in time. Since I felt like she would be under a pretty fair amount of pressure with the test looming over her, we left early.

We made it to the test site about an hour before Victoria was required to report but on the way we spotted a couple of places where Mama and I could hang out while we were waiting on Victoria. Since we were so early we all went to a nursery that was only a few blocks from the test site. Mama found her yellow tomato plants there so we had to buy a couple. If they are heirloom plants we will save the seeds and try to grow them ourselves next year; if they are not, I will have to go back to this nursery to get more.

About twenty minutes before her scheduled time we drive to the building where Victoria was to report. Victoria and I went to the test site and I was promptly run out of the room – I was promptly informed that it was for persons taking the test only. I prayed with her and left. As Victoria was getting out of the car to go up for her test Mama remarked at how spoiled she was that her daddy would take a day off from work to take her to her test. Victoria was pretty quick to point out that she asked Mama to make the drive with her, not daddy. “So who is really the spoiled one?” she quipped. Good point.

Mama and I went to several stores to look around and eventually ended up at a Chick-fil-A near the building Victoria was in. It was a little over an hour later that Victoria called to say that she was done and that she had passed the test. She was ecstatic. That has been hanging over her for about a year and now it is done. Lunch at Chipotle was a celebratory time.

We were a long time in getting back to the farm. We stopped at a furniture store and at the tractor dealer before we even got back to Bowie where we stopped at the feed store to pick up more baby chicks. Whoever is going to be coming to the farm in our absence is going to have their hands full. The only “bright” spot is that, at this time, Mama and Victoria are planning on taking the piglets with us to Florida. Oh, joy!

Maggie and Aaron will arrive in DFW this evening so Mama and I are making the trip back to Dallas to pick them up. Next week we will be returning twice more to pick up Brittany and Joshua. The following week we will be making the drop off trips. Fortunately these are not difficult trips but Mama and I certainly miss the airport in Amarillo. It was only ten minutes from the house.

We are quickly getting very familiar with this airport also.

Giving, hunting, the Uplander

True to his word, my coworker brought a load of camping supplies to work yesterday and Mama and I took the load to BBTI. There were sleeping bags and lots of bedding, mats to put on the ground under sleeping bags, cooking implements and utensils, a potty and two rafts – and lots of other things accumulated over years of using the equipment. The people at BBTI were very excited. It will be the best supplied Jungle Week the students there have ever had.

After we got back home I had to go on a mouse hunt. I knew I would eventually get my prey because the mouse I was hunting was already dead. It had been smelling up the mobile home for several days and Mama was determined to deal with it – so she commissioned me to deal with it.

She had actually called an A/C man who told her to look in the vents by using a mirror and light – something I had spent countless hours doing in my work in South Charleston for Union Carbide. He said he could do it for us but the two guys that worked for him were total wimps and did not like dealing with dead mice.

I cleaned for about an hour going from vent to vent and checking all the ductwork and the A/C unit in the process. I found nothing that could be producing the smell. When I was cleaning under the sink it dawned on me that there could be an opening under the cabinet Grandma had in the kitchen so I moved it out from the wall and found the offending rodent.

In the process we got the vents cleaned and a lot of other neglected areas cleaned up. I am not entirely certain the one dead mouse I found was the real source of the smell so tomorrow night I will have to look under the mobile home to see if Allie has a small rabbit stored for future consumption. The dogs seem to like them well dried out – when they are past the rotting smell and really chewy.

After all that we took a break and checked out the van we bought. Mama wanted to see if the DVD player worked. It took us a few minutes to find out how to get the sound system working – by setting the appropriate channel on the radio – but when we did we were both very impressed. Mama is really thrilled with the vehicle. I think it will be a good one for us for the next several years.

Before I went in for the evening I took time to look over the garden to see if we have any new growth. We have a little life showing from the seeds we recently planted but it will not be until we get back that we will see many of the new plants above ground. We are still working on getting someone to tend the animals and plants in or absence.

We will be taking Victoria to Ft. Worth tomorrow for her Pharmacy Tech test. After that things get really busy at the farm as our children start to arrive for the wedding next weekend.

Travel plans, clean up items, repurposing things

Plans are forming up for the arrival of our children in preparation for Chase and Makaila’s wedding. Even Joshua is getting his itinerary together so he can serve as best man to his little brother. Maggie, Aaron and the baby will be here in a few days and Brittany will soon follow. By the middle of next week everyone should be at or en route to the farm. It should be a fun time – even though no one will be staying very long during this visit.

In preparation for the visitors Mama and I spent some time in the mobile home getting the beds and other sleeping quarters ready for occupancy. That mostly involved cleaning up mouse droppings in all nooks and crannies that have been neglected in Grandma and Grandpa’s absence. It is not as bad as Mama and Victoria make it out to be but it is a real inconvenience.

Grandma and Grandpa will not be coming back for the wedding. Grandma is feeling too poorly to make the trip. That allows us greater latitude with the bedrooms but it puts a greater burden on me and Mama as far as the farm is concerned. The help I had planned on to do fencing and put up hay will not be coming – so I am on my own for those chores. It also greatly complicates the care of the animals and the gardens in our absence. Oh, well. God will give me the help we need when we need it.

I investigated the leak in our bedroom last night and I could not find anything obvious in the roof or walls of the apartment that would have allowed water to accumulate in that particular spot. When I got to the spot I suspected, the insulation was indeed wet but there was very little water anywhere else to give me a clue how it had gotten to that spot. It was also very clean – as if someone had poured a glass of water there. I will keep an eye on it and see if I can ferret it out during a hard rain – sometime in the near future.

Maggie and Aaron will be with us for our Mission’s Conference. It starts on Sunday the 27^th and runs through the 30^th. It is always a great time. Our church is a very giving church and we are blessed to be a part of the work there. Our church has exceeded its missions giving goal every year for many years. That is an unusual testimony of grace giving. It will be neat to see what God does this year.

Jungle week is coming for the students at BBTI. It is a week before graduation that all the students set up makeshift shelters in the woods on the BBTI property and spend the entire week living in those shelters; really roughing it. In preparation for that a friend at work is donating his old camping gear for the students to use – sleeping bags, cots, a cook stove and utensils, etc.

He and his clan are past the age where that holds any charm to them and the accumulation of those items is taking up space he needs for more a relevant horde of items. When he told me he was getting rid of those things I told him of a recent need I had found out about at BBTI. He was elated to give them to the school; to know that they had real value to supply a real need rather than just be set aside in someone else’s attic  never to be used again.

It really is neat how God works those things out.

Vehicle news, planting, porch roof, rain, leaks

Mama and I had a really good weekend. We were able to purchase our second vehicle - in Bowie. I found the add online before I left the office on Wednesday last week and Mama made the calls to see the car – at a local car dealer in Bowie. We got to look at the car on Wednesday afternoon and made an offer pretty soon after looking it over. We had to write a check for the amount of the purchase so we left the car at the dealer Thursday and picked it up on Friday. The vehicle was being sold to a person who worked at the dealership and not the dealership itself.

It needed new tired and some brake and shock work but we were able to get all of that done by late Friday evening. We waited too late on Saturday to get the car from the mechanic so we picked it up yesterday afternoon on our way home from church. The mechanic will get it back later this week to replace the bands that hold up the gas tank because he found a significant amount of rust on two of the three bands – enough rust that we feel we should replace them before we drive the car too much.

Mama will use it today to do some running she has to do for title transfer and to get some things to the laundry may. She is elated to have a second vehicle that we can swap between. She does not go out much but when she does want to go she really appreciates having a vehicle available.

We did a lot of planting this weekend – both in Mama’s flower garden and in the vegetable garden. If we can find someone to come to the farm and water while we are in Florida we will have the potential for a good crop this year. If not, we will have spent a lot of time working in the dirt only to see the plants die in the time we are away.

On Saturday I was able to finally complete the majority of the porch roof. I still have a small area to cover that we added to the project only recently. It was well timed to get the roof up. We had rain from Saturday night through Sunday. I am not sure how much we actually got since the cows pulled the rain gauge out of its holder. They do that every time they hang out in the corner of the field by the apartment.

It was a good, extended weekend – until we got home from church last night and found water on the floor in the apartment bedroom. Mama had mentioned that there might be a leak in the very spot where the water was dripping through the ceiling, but we discounted the idea because it did not look like a water leak at that time. Leaks are the most troubling to me of any fault of construction of assembly.

I abhor water getting anywhere it is not supposed to be and the shop has provided a score of such trouble spots. However, not until now have any of the leaks come in through the ceiling in the apartment. That is especially troubling because of the finish on the sheetrock that will have to be patched when the leak is repaired. I am not sure if I can match the finish well enough to not leave a constant reminder of the patch – or the leak that created the need for the patch.

I hate leaks. I tend to take them personally.