Rain, shopping, RU, waiting and planning

I was wakened this morning about 1:30 a.m. by a clap of thunder that shook the apartment. It must have upset the two Dachshunds we have in the apartment because they were jumping against Mama’s side of the bed until she woke to scold them thirty or so minutes later. I am not sure when they settled down but I was not bothered by them through the rest of the morning.

I checked the rain gauge as I left this morning and it showed that we had gotten a little over an inch of rain through the night. We really needed it. Spotty showers are predicted for the remainder of the day but I think we have already gotten the bulk of the heavy rain for today. I told Mama yesterday that we need to start feeding a bale of hay per day to the two bovine we have left on the farm because there is very little for them to eat in the pasture. This rain will help.

Mama, Victoria and Peggy are headed to Denton today to do some shopping. I think Peggy has the trip pretty well planned out and Mama and Victoria are riding along to keep her company. Mama has a dress to return from the last time they went out shopping together and she is squeezing in a stop at Sam’s but she did not tell me if there were other planned stops; other than not being sure where they were going to eat lunch.

There is some constraint to the duration of the trip since we have RU this evening and Mama has to do the cooking for the meal we have following the meeting. We are doing spaghetti tonight so she may be planning on cooking everything this evening when we are with the children. I have not been told yet.

We have not heard back from the sellers on our offer on the property in Decatur. Mama and I are wrestling with the options of building and the finances associated with that project. I am not really enthusiastic about financing the entire cost by borrowing the amount we need – which we are certainly able to do provide the banker we talk to shares our vision of a building metal shop/home; many do not.

The other option is to do as much as possible with the cash we will have and pay as we go to complete the project. That is perhaps a three year run – very much like we would have had at the farm. Mama is less enthusiastic about that route. So the choices are twenty years of measurable debt to complete the project in one year versus three to five years to complete the project with very little additional debt.

I am guessing that the answer lies somewhere in-between but I have not spent enough time in prayer to discover it. Mama and I will know more as we move slowly forward and we will work out any differences between our separate aspirations as we discover them.

We will work it our; we always do.

 

Paperwork, training

All the paperwork should be submitted today for our offer on the property in Decatur. Mama is ecstatic about the idea of building on that piece of ground – as is everyone at church. Even Grandma and Grandpa are excited about the idea. I will be more so when I get a set of working prints and a budget set. When all the work begins we will see how long the enthusiasm lasts.

Case in point, Mama and Victoria packed six boxes yesterday – maybe it was only four. For any of you who have packed for a move in recent memory you can understand my underwhelmed response to the packing effort. We probably have only about three hundred or so boxes left to fill and a lot of things that need to be discarded. Then we have to find a place to put our packed boxes while we finish packing and a place to move them to when we have to vacate the farm. No big deal.

Yesterday I gave the title company that will be handling our closing the contact information on the loans we have concerning the Van Bebber property. That closing should take place on the 5^th of September. We are a little concerned about the timing since we leave for Juneau the following Friday. It will all work out at some point and neither we nor the buyer are really concerned about the closing moving a day here or there.

Speaking of the property, on Tuesday evening Mama showed me some insect bites she had suddenly show up. We were debating the origin – since we have dogs that share our seating in the apartment and mobile home. About the same time we were reasoning through the possible sources or handling an infestation our realtor for the property in Decatur called to ask if we had gotten any chigger bites while we were looking at the property with her. She said she was covered in bites. At least we know now what we are dealing with.

Mama had me stop at Walmart on the way home from church to get something to help her kill the itch. I do not know if it worked or not but she was very happy to have anything that was formulated to help. She seems to be more bothered than Victoria and I. I do not know if I have as many bites as she does or if her bites actually itch more than mine do – but she is not a happy camper. She is constantly reminded of the property – as if she needs to be reminded and in such an unpleasant manner.

Yesterday I had CPR/First Aid training at the office. It was a good refresher. I miss being more involved in that type of work. The class was taught by one of our employees. I asked if she would be willing to give the class for Mama and Victoria in the future and she was excited about the prospect. I would love to sit through the class with Mama as a student.

The last classes we sat through together were the training classes we were required to take for the Foster to Adopt program in West Virginia. I do not have any vivid memories of those classes because we  simply endured them in order to complete the program, but CPR training with Mama would be fun.

I’ll have to see if I can set that up.           

Spreading the news

Mama had a ladies meeting at the church last night and since I was not feeling well and since I needed to get a drawing finished to send off to a designer, I took her to the meeting and worked in the office while she was there. She was only there about an hour and a half but I was able to get a good deal done on the sketch I was putting together for the designer. It was time well spent and I could not have gotten the same thing done at home.

The drawing is for a shop-home on the property we are making an offer on. Along with the drawing, I have put together a list of tasks and materials required to build the home. It was staggering to see the costs total up as I worked my way down the list. I had to set it aside several times in order to process the scope of the work involved – and the associated costs. We can certainly do it, but it will require a LOT of work and not a small amount of money.

I feel obligated to get it done now since Mama told all the ladies at the meeting that we are going to do it. Not really, but I did get several very happy remarks from ladies leaving the meeting as I was gathering up Mama and her things. “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you! I can’t wait to see it!” Me, too. I am not at all sure what they envision, but they were all happy about it.

I know we have turned a corner because Mama is more excited about the property we have bought and the dwelling we are planning on building than she is about the farm. In fact, she and Victoria are going to start packing. That is the first I have heard about moving since we listed the farm. As hard as it is to believe, that was only about eight weeks ago.

A survey will be done this week to determine just how much property we have outlined. We will then pay a price per acre for that amount of land. Mama wanted just a little bit more – as usual – but we are now both fine with whatever amount is included in the survey. It is largely based on the old fence lines and should be between fourteen and sixteen acres.

That will be enough for us for quite a long time.

Still looking

Last night Mama and I picked up Victoria at Walmart so we could all ride together to see a little house the two of them had shown me on Sunday evening. It is a foreclosure property. It is a small house sitting on one acre of land. The back of the property is marked by a creek which flows about thirty feet below the ground level of the back yard.

It reminded me of our home in New Jersey. It too was backed by a creek which ran through a gully about thirty feet lower that the ground in our back yard. This creek bed, though, is not nearly as accessible as the one we had on the 6 Gifford property. There is a steep drop off covered by dense vegetation. I would consider it impassible – a natural safe guard to the property. But then, I am too old to see it as a challenge to get to the creek.

Anyway, the house might not be for sale any longer. The HUD website listing the house showed it to be under contract as of last night. Our realtor will check this morning to confirm. Mama and Victoria were terribly disappointed but I get the impression that God is not through with us yet as concerns getting closer to church.

We also looked at a 15.8 acre property a little outside of town that we immediately fell in love with. We are making an offer on it today. The drawback is that it is vacant land. Mama and I will have to build a shop-home on the property. It is something we have always talked about doing and if this is where the Lord is leading us we will finally get to do just that.

Our rough plan is to live in the small house while we build the “barndominium” and once it is complete we will leave the house to Victoria. Since life is what happens while you are making plans, we will see how all that works out. With a couple weekends of work we should be ready to move the horses and our lone heifer to the new property. That is something we really needed.

As we walked on the property and talked with our realtor Mama was looking for ways to include just a little more property than the fences outlined but I asked her to allow the fence line to stand in order to keep me from having to completely redo that length of fence. As it is right now we will have to repair the fence running along the west side of the property – about 1500 feet in length. That will cost enough in time and materials. And what is being offered is more than enough.

We should know today if the offer we made is accepted. It is then only a matter of getting the paperwork signed and the money moved.

Then my work begins.

Updates, shift in direction

Mama and I had a good weekend. I spent the morning Saturday getting one of the front tires off of the tractor so I could take it to get it repaired. It has had a slow leak for some time and I have been putting it off. I thought it was leaking at the plug I put in to patch it about a month ago but the leak turned out to be coming from a patch we had put on over a year ago. The patch had come lose and if the tire sat in a certain way when the tractor was parked it would leak. Other times the pressure would hold for a week or more at a time.

Once repaired, I used the tractor to spread out the remainder of the load of gravel Mama and I had gotten a few weeks ago. I ordered a whole load but what I needed it most for was to spread at the front of the apartment to keep the big dogs from digging out the area. I used the remainder to resurface the circular drive around the apartment. I also spread some in front of the mobile home to get the pile fully moved. It looks pretty good to have some fresh gravel down.

Danny Benson, the man who is buying our farm, came by Saturday morning to meet with an insurance agent at the farm so he could have that to present at closing but the man never showed up. We talked a good while and Mama and I are reassured that he is the right person to buy the farm. If all goes well, the closing will be next Friday. It will be long after that that we vacate the farm. Our hope is to be moved by the middle of November.

It looks like we turned a corner this weekend in our quest for a place to live. Mama and Victoria are looking for lower priced houses and a separate piece of property. That has been a desire of mine for quite some time. She and Victoria looked at a house right off of the road we take when we come into Decatur for church. It is tucked back in the woods a little off the road so it not obvious from the road.

It is an older, smaller house on one acre. It needs work but the price is good. It is in far better shape than one we offered a bid on Friday. It too sits on one wooded acre. The situation of that house is not very impressive and that house has been completely gutted; ready to be remodeled. The only drawbacks are the master bedroom, which is upstairs (bad for Mama) and that there is very likely to be a bidding war to purchase the house. It was listed for $28000. We offered $30000 cash. That will be our only offer.

I do not know if Mama is going to rescind our bid on the house but I would not be surprised. Peggy called her bank on Friday evening while we were at our RU meeting to get us the cash out of her account so that we could offer a cash deal for the property. How’s that for friendship? She, Peggy, went with us to look over each of the two houses. It has been fun to have her along.

This evening we are going to look at the nicer house with our realtor. It is quite a shift in focus for her. But we are also going to look at a property she is listing. It is almost sixteen acres. It is near town – within a few minutes of the church. Mama is excited about the possibility of building a metal building that would contain our home and shop under one roof. I like that idea too.

Time will tell. We are praying for direction.

No go, Mama’s ear, farm update

Mama and I made an offer on the property on Hwy 730 and were countered by the sellers with a price that I had set as the cap of what I was willing to pay for the property. It would have been a go but the sellers started stating conditions that I was uncomfortable with. I got the distinct impression that we were in for a contentious battle to purchase the place from them – so I backed away. I do not have the emotional energy right now to contend with any meanness as I try to find me and Mama a place to grow old in together.

I am obviously disappointed in the fact that Mama and I have to continue the search when I thought it to be over, but more so in the sense that I felt God was in the purchase of this property and I missed something along the way. Who knows what we will learn from this. The bottom line is that it appears that we are back to square one. God is good!

Mama went to Denton to an ENT specialist yesterday so we could get a definitive diagnosis on her ear infection. Peggy went along for the ride – and it was a great help to Mama to have her along. The diagnosis is that she has a plugged up ear and it is infected. The doctor cleaned out the buildup of stuff in the ear as best he could and recommended keeping up the administration of the antibiotic drops she has been using. Other than that she should be fine in a few more days.

She did not get home until after 7 pm since she and Peggy had to go shopping and to dinner. They also stopped at Sam’s in Denton to get a few things. I had set a budget for the trip and she only exceeded it by a little bit but she did get everything we had listed – and then some.

We should be getting the check from the sale of our steers today or tomorrow and based on the market report I got yesterday we should do pretty well. We still have one steer at the farm - we are fattening him up to butcher. On the flip side, we also have Daisy May. Mama and I are hoping she is bred. While we fatten up the steer she reaps the blessing of getting extra grain also. I told Mama not to separate her from the steer because I am afraid she would tear down the fence to get to the sweet feed.

This weekend the man who is buying our farm is supposed to come by with his insurance agent and at some point the surveyor will be coming to confirm the boundaries of the property. I am most interested in the survey. For the moment I have been asked to do no more to the shop and I may have to remove the brackets and wood I have put on the tall part of the shop. The buyer has other plans.

I am not going to undo any of the work I have done for now. I am waiting on the closing to confirm new ownership; just on the off chance that there is a problem with the sale and we end up staying for longer than we are anticipating. I sincerely hope that does not happen but I want to be prepared just in case.

The closing is set for September 5^th. Two weeks from today.

Escapees, Mama’s poor babies

I took off yesterday so Mama and I could load the three steers we needed to get to market and deliver them to the stock sale in Wichita Falls.  Getting the fat things into the stock trailer proved a bigger challenge than I had anticipated.  I had positioned the trailer the night before so I would not have that added frustration the morning we needed to load.

What I did not realize was that as I was positioning the trailer the horses were wandering through the garden area to the open front yard. I had looked for them when I opened the drive-through gate into the calf lot but did not see them. I assumed they were in the pasture where we normally keep them. I did not even think to look at the garden.

When I realized they were out I called to them and walked over to the hog building where we keep their feed hoping to entice them to come back for a tasty snack. Jazz was not interested and Misty seemed confused by being on the opposite side of the fence. As soon as Jazz found the road he threw his head back, raised his tail and took off with wicked determination. I began to pray that they would not head toward the highway and to my great relief they turned up Paddack Road.

I found them two houses down but did not even try to get hold of them. I simply drove back to the farm and continued to pray for help. I had already called Mama who was coming home from delivering Jake to the airport. She, in turn, called Wes to see if he was still in Bowie. As I got up from praying I looked out and the horses were at the end of the road to the farm moving toward the highway.

As I called out to them Rosie started barking and the steers started bawling. I watched the horses raise their heads and turn their ears to the familiar sounds and start a very slow walk toward me. I hurried down the far fence of the front pastures and crossed over to come up behind them so I could steer them up the road.

Misty walked right into the calf lot and I closed the gate since Jazz was in no hurry to follow. As I stood and watched Jazz trying to decide if he wanted to go join Misty, Wes pulled up. He had hold of Jazz in a couple minutes and walked him into the lot where he needed to be. Wes explained to me that when a horse gets out they know they are being bad but are thrilled at the newfound freedom. Rarely do they go very far. They dislike unfamiliar things and places but they can be more disrespectful than an unruly child. I need to work with Jazz to get him to respect me. Then I will be able to handle him better.

Back to the steers; Mama knows the three by name though I have never seen the need to remember them, but one of the three loaded very quickly and we put him in the front of the stock trailer and closed him in. The other two were not so eager to get onboard. I think the most difficult one will be some time in recovering from the bruising I put on his flanks as I tried to convince him to keep moving forward in the chute. All in all, it took only about thirty minutes to get them onboard but I was a sweaty mess as we pulled the loaded trailer away from the loading ramp.

Unloading them was very easy. We were in and out at the sale barn in less than thirty minutes. The three were put in a pen with some Holstein steers roughly the same size; although ours were  a good deal taller. Mama called out to them and they turned and started bawling – “Take us home! We’ll be good!”

Mama was very sad for her babies, but that is why we raised them – so they would be good...meat.