Travel, news, Christmas, more travel

Thirty hours on the road is a bit taxing but that is what it took to get Mama, Victoria, the pups, the Christmas presents, et. al. to Florida and back again. The way down was a long trip and we never seem to make it without excessive stops. This time the main excuse was the six puppies we had with us but an hour for lunch at Chick-fil-A didn’t help.

We learned early in the trip that when the pups started to cry it was time to stop and let them relieve themselves. Fortunately, we are not all that difficult to train. So, about every two hours we had to find a place for them to get on a patch of grass and go potty. They had us so well trained that there was not a single time they used the potty in the kennel. Pretty good for old fogies like us.

Nate had a place set up for the pups and they were all too happy to get out of the kennel to play. The grandkids even spared a moment to welcome Grammy and me while they played with the puppies. That only lasted about half an hour and the puppies were ready to crawl back into the kennel for the night. They were quiet every night from about 9 pm until about 5:30 a.m. each morning. We had some very early mornings while we were with Cori, Nate and the kids.

As we congregated together just after we arrived Blake brought a little onesie to Grammy that said “Baby’s First Christmas” on it. We did not know the significance until Blake explained that it meant that mommy had a baby in her tummy. Yes, number four is on the way. Mama and I will gain two grandchildren next year. And Mama will get to travel – Lord willing – to each of those births.

Christmas with the grandkids was fun. Mykenzie got a piano and the boys got a basketball hoop. They also found out that they got to keep one of the puppies. It was a good morning. Brittany and Andrew were there also so we had a pretty good crew to celebrate with.

The next day Nate took the Christmas tree down and cut all the branches off of it. We used it to start a fire that night and burned the branches and all the wrapping paper –as well as several boxes. It was a nice evening. The kids always like a good fire and it was pleasantly cool outside.

We left Florida after breakfast with Grant. Yesterday was his sixth birthday. Sunday night Mike and Alana’s three boys spent the night both for Grant’s birthday and for Alana to go to the hospital to have their fourth child – their first daughter. It was quite a night with all those busy boys in the house.

The trip home was relatively uneventful. We were in traffic for over an hour but other than that we had pretty clear roads for the entire eight hundred miles. We ended up getting home about 10 pm and were all in bed by 11pm.

Not bad for a day’s work.

Frustrating little things

Though neither Mama nor I felt up to it we struggled through play practice last night. We were the better for it but it made for a long evening for me. I did not get to bed until after 10pm. That is pretty late for me and I have still not gotten myself to sleep past 5 a.m. on weekday mornings even though I have my alarm set for a half hour later than that.

Yesterday evening I got home before Mama and was in a foul mood because of the pee spots I found the living room, kitchen and hallway. I am pretty fed up with this dog and despite all Mamas’ attempts to coax her into not relieving herself in the house she prefers that over waiting like the other two dog do. I have been patient until now but that is at an end.

Grandma and Grandpa will be keeping her next week while we are in Florida. That will not be a pleasant week for the two of them – or for the dog. I purchased flooring for our house that was not affected by moisture – in part because of Allie. They are not so blessed and I know neither of them will enjoy cleaning up the pee from the carpet in the trailer. I am not sure where we go from here. But even though she is a very gentle and loving dog, my strong preference is that she go to some other home.

The pups Allie produced are growing bigger by the day. They are fully weaned and eating puppy chow – when Allie does not eat all of it. She will still not suffer any container of water to be in the same area as the pups. Mama and Victoria know they need to drink but Allie will deliberately spill out any bowl they put water in for the pups.

 I do not know if it is her way of getting the water to them for drinking off of the floor or it is a protective mechanism because she fears they will drown in the deeper dish of water. Whatever it is she is insistent that water never be near them. That is also frustrating – even though we have the flooring that will tolerate it well.

Today is the last workday for me and Victoria until after Christmas. I am looking forward to the break. With what I have had to deal with at work recently I need the time away. The unfortunate reality has been that even though I am away from the office I still have to deal with work items on a daily basis; job security, I suppose.

Tonight we have play practice along with RU. That ought to be interesting.

Adjustments, more Christmas, skunks in the city

Mama and I went to see the chiropractor yesterday right after I got off work. Both of us needed the tugging and twisting and popping he did on our spine. I am a little sore in a couple spots but overall feel much better. When he was examining me he connected my back issues to the stomach and bowel issues I have been dealing with lately. The relief I now feel is a wonderful respite from the heartburn and nausea.

He, like other chiropractors, warned me to begin to stretch and regain my flexibility. Like my dad, I have great core strength and it was difficult for the chiropractor to make the adjustments to my back, but I am horribly stiff. That, in itself, only adds to the issues I continue to have with my back. At least Mama and I have someone nearby we can visit several times a year now.

At church last night the children presented a short play. It was mostly the kids from Master’s Club but they opened it up to other children in the church also. It was about a family traveling to visit Grandma at Christmas who got stranded at a hotel by a blizzard Their van was broken into and the presents stolen and the hotel lost all power because of the storm. Still they found a reason to rejoice in the Lord. It was well done.

We exchanged gifts after a short devotional and altar call and the pastor handed out some thank you cards and fruit sacks. That is the tradition at this church. I think this is only our second time to be here for the gift exchange. Everyone really seems to get into it. There is also a place to pile presents to be given to specific church members so the teens can deliver them during the gift exchange.

Andrew Brooks handed out pictures he had colored to a few people. He explained that he only gave them to his really good friends. Mama and I each got one. His dad, Dennis Brooks, gave out his traditional plateful of baked goods which had a sampling of all the items he normally bakes at Christmas time; pumpkin pie, pecan pie, tres leches cake, brownies, etc. it is not a convenient time of year to be worried over calories or carbs.

During the morning yesterday someone spotted a skunk in our parking lot. Out on the farm in Chico or at the at the farm in Bowie we would have been concerned but not surprised at the sighting but our office is at the edge of a neighborhood, so there was quite a bit of excitement about the visitor.

We have been told over the years that any time a skunk is seen during the daylight hours there is a good chance it is in the last stages of a rabies infection. The rabies virus affects the brain and causes them to act like the one I had to kill the other afternoon at our home. I am not sure where the skunk got to from our parking lot but I sincerely hope no one nearby or their pet is affected.

Rain fell throughout the day yesterday. I am not sure how much we got but it was a great relief to the very parched ground. It also settled the accumulation of leaves we have around the house because of the trees baring themselves to the winter. It has been a long time since Mama and I have heard the rainfall on a carpet of leaves.

That is a very unique sound with plenty of memories attached to it.

Busy times, shopping, house hunting still

The busy evenings leading up to the presentation of our Christmas play at church Sunday night begin tonight. Tonight is not part of the evenings of practice for the play but those will follow after services tonight. In light of having every evening spoken for and the need to finish some of the required Christmas shopping before we travel to Florida, Mama and I went shopping last night and spent the entire evening out.

Some of the stops we made were for items needed at the house but the more expensive stops were for gifts we needed for a gift exchange at church tonight and for regular Christmas presents – none of which were expensive, there were just a lot of them. Mama also completed her gifts for her secret sister at church. She’s been working on getting that put together for several weeks now.

We did not get home until after 9 pm. The same arrival time back home should follow through the remainder of the week. It is harder to gauge the time at this time of the year since it is dark by 5:30 every evening so most of the time I am home from the office is spent in the dark. Many evenings I have looked at the clock with mild shock when I realized it was only 7 pm.

Since Mama and I do not have TV we do not measure time unconsciously through that medium – by tracking the evening through the lineup of programs. Neither of us have a desire to have that back in our lives. The content has gotten more and more questionable in the last few years to the point that even commercials have very suggestive if not moderately pornographic content.

Before I went to bed I did my customary visual of the property in back of the house. There were three bucks just outside the chain link fence that surrounds the back yard. When the light shone on them the dogs went crazy – especially Allie. Two of the three bucks would have made any respectable antler hunter proud.

Rain is forecast for the next few days so there will be a delay on outside projects but Mama can get the well house and a couple of closets painted if I can keep her home. She has spent the past couple days house shopping with Grandma and Grandpa. They are continuing to look for a rental house that will fit in their budget. They are meeting with very little success.

When they look within their price range – which is pretty low – all they are able to find are homes that they are shocked someone would offer for rent much less ask what they are asking for the “privilege” of paying a landlord to occupy it; at your own risk, of course. So the hunt goes on.

I am not sure why Mama is involved in the process, but she is. So the sense of accomplishment that Grandpa feels having gotten all our stuff to the house and property in Chico is overshadowed for me and Mama but the daunting task of sifting through all those packed and stacked items and getting them put away properly.

Chase and Makaila are coming over Friday afternoon so Makaila can paint Mama’s kitchen cabinets. That will help a great deal since Mama has been hesitant to put anything away while she waits to get the cabinets finished.

We are still weeks away from getting settled but we are happy to be where we are.

Spare time, enclosures, wildlife

Mama and I will be busy with church and play practice beginning tomorrow evening so I was anxious to get some things done at the house last night in a brief moment of uncommitted time. It is difficult in times like this to know where to start so I started in the well house getting a makeshift work bench torn out in order to paint the wall behind it so we can put shelving there enabling me to empty the garage. It took Mama’s help and about an hour to get that done – less the painting.

There were some things I could arrange in the garage to give us more room until we can move things into the areas where we are going to either use them or store them, so I worked on that for about an hour also. Now there is room to actually park a car in the garage when needed. In the very near future I hope to have room for two cars in that garage.

All of that happened after dark because Mama and I went to Lowe’s after I got home because she wanted to show me a small metal building she and Grandpa had found that could serve as a chicken coop. They had already bought the material for the hog building so getting the coop ready would be the next project. Grandpa should get started on the hog building late today after they look at a house for rent in Weatherford.

The little metal building will do for the present but I would like to build a proper coop in the near future, but with Grandpa anxious to get off the farm in Bowie I will have to make something work for now to keep Mama’s flock near her. With the enclosure we have at the house in Chico we can make the coop and yard in very short order. And it should be defendable against a family of raccoons we see on a regular basis at the property as well as serving a secondary purpose for more storage at the farm once we get the larger coop in operation.

Last night before I went to bed I got one of the powerful flashlights I keep on hand and looked over the back yard and the property beyond it. I saw a large hog for the first time – about a 250 pounder. I also saw the raccoons in question as well as several deer.

I suppose our property has the largest concentration of oak trees in the area and the wildlife in our area are well aware of that fact. These oak trees produced a huge crop of tiny acorns which all the variety of animals seem to like. I do not think we can keep them off of the property so we will have to figure out how to share it with them while still getting the produce we desire from the ground – like garden plants, fruit trees and flowering bulbs.

So with the rabbits, the squirrels, the hogs, the deer, the raccoons, the birds of many varieties, the armadillos, the skunks, the possums and the  regular population of rats, mice, moles and lizards we will have to figure out how to make this work. Not to mention adding our chickens, pot belly pigs, cattle and dogs to the mix.

This could become quite entertaining.

Small moves, skunk issues, party at church

Friday night at RU we had a new couple come to the program. That is always an encouragement to Lee and Laura. We were very late getting home that night. I am not sure why. I guess we just stayed there visiting longer than usual. It was a good night even though Mama and I were very tired.

Saturday was a busy day. I took down the ceiling fan in the living room of the house in Chico and replaced it with the one Mama and I had put up in the apartment at the farm in Bowie. I am hoping that fan – which has followed us in all our moves beginning in New Jersey - has finally found its final home. The apartment is completely cleared out. It looks very much like it did when Mama and I moved into it a little over a year ago. I am praying it will be a blessing to Danny Benson in the years to come.

We did not have a lot of items to move on Saturday so we were done pretty early. That was a good thing since we are weary of moving – and we are running out of space to put the boxes we are amassing at the house in Chico. Victoria started putting some things away; mostly books. Mama is still not wanting to arrange the kitchen because of the pending work to be done on the cabinets.

As we unloaded Saturday afternoon, I was working on items in the truck which was parked at the garage while Grandpa, Mama, Victoria and Grandma unloaded the trailer, which Grandpa had backed up to the front of the house. All of a sudden I heard everyone screaming at Rosie –who is pretty hard of hearing. I did not react too quickly because I am used to such commotion. (I did get a call from the Chico Emergency Response Center about the commotion but I told them things were under control.)

When I did round the corner of the house Mama let me know that there was a skunk on the driveway and Rosie was getting too close to it. When Grandpa and I looked closely we saw that the skunk we just walking around in circles between pointless dashes in one direction or another; obviously rabid. I had to get the rifle and shoot it. Oddly enough, even Grandma gave me permission to do so.

I should have gotten the 410 shotgun but I got the .22 rifle instead. I say that because I cannot see the front sight of the rifle without my bifocals; however, with the bifocals I cannot see anything clearly past the front sight. It took four shots to kill it (because three of the shots were misses – before I got my glasses out) but I did finally succeed. Fortunately, it had wandered back across the road by the time it was put out of its misery.

We are seeing (and smelling) lots of skunks by the roadside these days but this one was a little close for comfort. Mama and I counted the dead skunks along the road on the way to church yesterday morning and I think we got to eight between our house and Hwy 380. That is a distance of about six miles.

Victoria, Mama and I went to church Saturday night for the Adult Sunday School Christmas Party. We had a really good time. I think that at this Chinese Christmas everyone got something they could live with if they were not pleased to have it.

The dinner was Mexican food and there was an abundance of it. It would have been very easy to over indulge but I had not eaten anything that day – on purpose – and I was not about to get full that night. Mama and Victoria took home two plates of leftovers but I was disappointed to discover that it was all desserts, no real food.

Peggy, who usually does not attend such functions, came to the party because Mama and I were coming and we had a great time during dinner.

Backing away, play practice, another busy weekend

Mama found out yesterday that the house we put a bid on for Victoria to buy – and did not get the bid – is not open for bidding again. This time our realtor was able to get us some more information on the dwelling. It is in need of about $                15,000 worth of repairs. Which would not be overwhelming or difficult if Mama and I were buying it to fix up to live in. However, it presents a major obstacle to Victoria and her grandparents since I will not be funding the repairs. In light of that we have backed away from it.

Yesterday evening, Mama got home a little after I did because she was at the laundromat in Chico getting the dogs blankets and towels watched. And just after she got home Grandma called to tell me she and Grandpa were at our barn unloading some miscellaneous items – it was mostly junk but would be useful in the right situation. We went over to help them and spent a few minutes visiting before they headed back to Bowie and we got ready for play practice.

We were at play practice from about 6:30 to a little before 9 pm but it was a great time. We went through the entire play and none of us had ever seen it put together. To this point Sam Echeveria has worked with all the scenes independently. It is going to be an effective presentation of how much one life really matters; of how an enduring faith leaves a tangible mark on the lives of others.

This coming weekend we have a short reprieve from practice.  We will not get together again until next Thursday but we will practice every evening from then through the weekend. At that time we will be adding lights and other theatrical effects to the presentation – like where we stand during our lines or how we sit and still face the audience rather than each other, how loudly we need to speak, etc. It is fun. It is rewarding. It is tiring. But every time we are done with things like this, we realize just how much we enjoyed it and doing it well.

Friday night we have RU, Saturday we will be loading more items from bowie to bring to our new farm and Saturday night we have the adult Sunday School Christmas Party. We are preparing Mexican food and having a Chinese Christmas. That is where, at your turn, you select a gift from the pile and open it in front of the group so everyone can see what you got. Any person coming after you can exchange what they got for what you have. The only rule is that a gift can only change hands three times.

The goal is to get what you want and make sure you are the final, or third, recipient. None of the gifts are expensive. I believe there is a five dollar limit so none of the losses of gifts are great; however, the competition is fierce.

Since I do not enjoy such competition, I do not enjoy the game and last year I did not participate. I supplied a gift for someone who did not have one to put into the game and I watched from outside the circle. This year I do not think I will be allowed to do that – either by Mama or the folks at church. Boy, am I looking forward to it.

My new boss is a breath of fresh air. Time will tell how things will work out for my position in particular but for the moment I am enjoying discussions aimed more at giving my folks every perk available to them rather than taking the easy out and denying them something that takes a little effort and coordination to implement.

I am cautiously optimistic.