Smoking with the Pastor, smelly dogs, work repairs, cold next week

After feeding and taking care of a couple little things at the farm, I drove over to our pastor’s house to visit with him while he started smoking briskets for the church dinner we are having this evening. He had just started the briskets (six in total), but he had put on chicken legs as he was getting the smoker up to temperature. Those were about done when I arrived. It was a pleasant evening. A little chilly, but a fire in a small fire pit adjacent to the smoker took the chill off. Only one other man came – though the invitation was extended to everyone. We had a slow, relaxing time chatting about whatever subject came up. It is always relaxing to sit around a fire and just visit. I stayed from about 6 pm to a little after 8 pm. I am glad I went. It is the first time I have done so. Pastor was required to stay up most of the night to get the briskets done. Constantly monitoring the smoker temperature, adding wood to the firebox as needed. I enjoyed my short time there, but I am afraid I slept through the rest. Every year at our Thanksgiving dinner we enjoy the briskets and turkeys that come off the smoker. This year will be no exception.

When I got home, Kobe had been bathed and was sequestered in the sunroom. As I walked into the house the skunk smell was still pretty powerful. Mama and Victoria did not smell it so strongly as I did, but it was certainly unmistakable. When I went through the sunroom to go out and close up the chickens, the smell stung my nose. With sensitive visitors coming for dinner – Grandma in particular and possibly Brittany – we are going to have to be much more aggressive in getting rid of that smell. I have never been bothered by skunk odors, but I understand there are some who are profoundly affected by it. It certainly does not mix well with all the food we will be preparing for our dinner. What to do is the issue. I suggested putting the dogs in the wellhouse, but Mama considers that a form of imprisonment. Severe punishment. Unnecessary isolation. (Sadly, I just see them as dogs.) But the way Kobe smells we cannot keep her in the sunroom during the preparation or the meal. Keeping her in Victoria’s room is out of the question unless we light enough candles to cause our house to glow. It will be raining large portions of the time we have guests so the dogs cannot be put outside. I have not been made privy to the decisions yet, but I am sure we will find a solution acceptable to everyone – at least, minimally acceptable.  

I will spend part of the day repairing tables at the office. They are the Formica covered tables with the legs that collapse under the table to be stored. The Formica has come loose on some of those tables and it is a bit embarrassing to have clients take our eight-hour classes sitting at a table with a bubbled top. I have been commissioned to repair those tops. A simple procedure but the glue required has an overpowering odor. The warning on the can states, “Use only in a well-ventilated area.” That is not a warning to be ignored. We will have to warn everyone in the building before I start and then pray that the smell dissipates quickly. There are two pregnant ladies at the office. I am sure they will smell the glue regardless of how far their offices are from the origin of the smell.

A look ahead. Dinner at the church tonight. Dinner at the farm Thursday. Endure the food induced come Friday and Saturday. Church and rest Sunday. Travel Monday. I wish I could say I had a well thought out plan, but we will simply take things as they come until I start my week of travel Monday. I will be home Friday afternoon. This trip will not be the last one for the year. I will be traveling the week before Christmas as well. Although, that trip will be to Alabama. Not nearly as cold as the trip Monday. The forecast for St. Paul, MN is for temperatures to be in the teens overnight. Mid-twenties during the day. I do not do well in the cold anymore. At least, my bronchials do not do well in the cold. The day after I get home from Denver, CO – the second leg of my travel next week – we will have our dress rehearsal for the Christmas Cantata.

Hopefully my voice will hold up through the cantata on the 8^th.

Dinner with Seth, new twins, who let the dogs out?

Shame on Mama and me for not taking any pictures of Seth and Gabriella’s first big dinner in their new home. Months ago, Seth and Gabriella bought a shipping container and have since turned it into a nice home. They have added a living room/dining room/kitchen area onto the container. Inclosed, sided and finished, it does not even resemble it original design. It is very nice. Large enough for the three of them for now, but plans are in the works to add two bedrooms and an additional bathroom onto the current structure. Gabriella has done a great job of outfitting and decorating the home. They are in the process of adding a deck on the front. Seth and Gabriella have done almost all the work themselves with Grandpa and Normal contributing at critical junctures. I was impressed.

Gabriella’s parents, Ron and Christy, who own the property their little home sits on, were at the dinner – as were Grandma and Grandpa. They were are an interesting couple. This is the second marriage for them. He was a widower. She was a widow when they married over twenty years ago. Gabriella and her twin sister were a surprise to them several years after they married. Mama and Grandma were constantly wincing as Christy handled Seth and Gabriella’s baby. She was quite rough, but the baby is used to being treated roughly and pays no attention to it as she was maneuvered in her grandma’s arms. Ron and Christy’s primary interest is travel and all their money goes to feed that interest. They were quite forthcoming about that. It shows in the house they have occupied for the last two decades. No updates. No unnecessary repairs. No unrequired mowing or yard maintenance. Not even a decent drive to approach the house. That serves to bolster their pride in what Seth and their daughter have accomplished over the past year. Seth has a great job now and he is spending his money to provide a home for his family. A nice home. A debt-free home. An accomplishment he never thought he would achieve. Kudos, Seth.

As Mama and I fed Saturday evening, we noticed Dolly, our last nanny to deliver her kids, was staying away from the other goats. A sure sign she about to kid. She did not deliver overnight but was certainly at the point of kidding by the time we left for church Sunday evening. We could not get her to abandon the spot she had chosen no matter what we tried. So, we left her to her own devices. No rain was in the forecast, so there was not a concern about keeping her and the new arrivals dry. Mama and I did not give it another thought until we were on our way home. It was good that Dolly had chosen a spot near the fence at the road. Mama and I were able to shine the car lights on her and her twins as we parked on the road. We went into the paddock through a small gate I installed there. We rarely use that gate, but the goats have kept it clear for us.

It was immediately apparent to Mama that one of the twins was significantly smaller than the other. The larger, a little girl, had very curly coat but that may flatten out as she is cleaned. She had just been born judging from how wet she still was. The little male, dried and cleaned, was certainly smaller, but he appeared to be healthy. All kids are now accounted for. All safely birthed. Four females and five males. The females we will keep. The males we will sell. Late next May or early June we will put Midas, our young buck, with the nannies and start the process over again. The little ones, new to our farm, will be bred in November of next year. And so the herd grows.

Victoria left church early yesterday evening. She was complaining of a bad headache. When she got home, she let her dogs our as normal. Five minutes later they were gone. I have not checked but I have to assume they dug under the back fence again. They had not returned home by the time we all went to bed. Since I was having trouble sleeping in the bed, I got up and went to my recliner to start my night. When I stirred around about midnight, Kira was looking in the window wanting in. Not! From the skunk smell permeating the air I was pretty sure that smell was attached to Victoria’s dogs. In my opinion, they wanted out so badly, they can stay out. And so they did until this morning when Victoria went out to check them out before she got ready for work. As far as I know, the stinky messes are still outside. Mama does not tolerate skunk odors well.

I will have to get my electric fence back from the family that borrowed it and reinstall it. It is highly effective in keeping the dogs in the yard. The last time I used it, Kobe was stung by it and would not even get off the patio for several days.

Shopping, spending

Mama and I went out last night to look at pellet grills. One of the stores in our area has them on sale until Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, they did not have any at the price we were looking for specifically. Maybe that is not to unfortunate. As much as we would use one, we are not really in need of one and the money we would use on that could probably be spent in more useful ways. We did look at oil less turkey fryers. They are much cheaper than a pellet grill, but less functional in the long run. Plus, I do not want to add another countertop appliance to the large collection we already have at the house. So, we went home empty handed. Technically, not a bad thing. As far as being able to do all the cooking – especially of the turkeys – for this Thanksgiving, we have enough appliances to handle the load without any additional purchases this year. Yet still, Mama is researching a air fryer, which is basically the same thing as the oil less fryer we looked at, to see if it would be useful to us long term. so, it is still on the prospective purchase list.

It is probably a good thing we did not spend any money we did not need to spend. I got a text from our realtor this morning that he will need an additional $5,000 from us to cover material and labor costs for the work in progress on our houses. I called to confirm and to ask how far we are away from completing and marketing the houses and he let me know that we are within days of getting all the trim up and the painting done. I am not sure when the houses will be listed, but we are that close. The unfortunate part of the picture is that I will be required to ask the bank for more money to make all that happen. I am not thrilled about that, but if the bank will work with me, we should be done very soon. if the bank balks, I may have a problem. In addition to all the expenses and costs of completing the houses, I checked our business mailbox this morning. Among the items in the mailbox were 2019 tax bills for the two houses. Total - about $2000. Time to take a deep breath, pray earnestly and watch the Lord work it all out. Mama and I will probably go to Lawton to see the progress on the houses this coming Monday afternoon. That remains to be seen, but that is the plan right now.

For his weekend, I have not made any plans as far as projects around the farm are concerned. We have to go to Seth and Gabriella’s house for a mid-day meal Saturday. That will take up most of the afternoon hours of daylight, so I have only a few hours in the morning to do anything outside. Mama has let me know we need an additional space for the baby goats as they are weaned. That will require me to speed up the work on the pig area. We can repurpose that yard and building for the little ones to use. It is the only shelter I have to offer right now, but for that to work, I have to finish the attached yard. I think I still have a few weeks to complete the project before it is needed which will allow me to work on it over the Thanksgiving holiday. Weather permitting. It would be nice to have it completed before I begin traveling following week.

I will have to wait and see how all that works out as the weekend and the following week progresses. on the very bright side, I work only Monday and part of Wednesday nest week. I am looking forward to the short work week with a lengthened holiday celebration.

Catching kids, Lilly’s three, news from Lawton, lunch at work

By the time I got home yesterday at lunchtime, all the kids had been caught and were waiting transport to the vet. Yay! The Thomason boys were more than happy to recount the adventures of capturing the little ones. it appears that all went smoothly. Much as Mama had expected. We sat around and visited as I ate lunch in the abbreviated time I had left – considering the drive to the farm and the return trip to work. Mama was leaving for the vet at the same time I left for work; or so I thought. Obviously, she had not left the farm yet because she called me just as I got to work to tell me Lilly was having her babies. One kid had been delivered and the second was on the way. As she was getting in the truck to leave, she heard the cries of distress as Lilly was having her second kid.

Mama was concerned that there was a problem with the birthing. She found Lilly on the ground with the birth sac protruding from her backside. It looked awful to her. Like something was wrong. She was asking me to come home and intervene. With that in focus I headed to the truck and started home until Mama called me a second time to tell me that the second delivery was successful. She was headed to the vet and Krystal and the boys were headed back to the farm to monitor the birth of the third little one. They arrived in plenty of time to watch the birth. The boys were thoroughly disgusted by the birthing. Especially when Lilly began licking up the fluids that came out with the third kid. A memory they will not soon forget. But, in the end, all three (two males and one female) were born healthy and active…just before the rain started.

As Mama and I left for church rain began to fall and Lilly and her triplets were still outside the barn. Mama wanted to get redressed in her farm clothes and try to herd the family into the barn, but I discouraged her from doing so. My reasoning was that it was warm enough that the rain would not bother the new arrivals. It would work to help clean the babies off. Lilly clearly knows where the barn is and if she was not willing to get under the roof provided for her, there may be a good reason for her not doing so. At least not at that moment. We agreed that we would go out to check as soon as we got home from church. Which we did. By that time, Lilly and her three were safely camped out in a dry spot inside the barn. Mama slept better knowing they were safe – and dry.

Just before we left for church, our realtor sent us some pictures of the new fence that was just installed at one of our houses in Lawton. Progress. It was encouraging to see. I still do not know what is happening with the interior remodel, but we assume the works is continuing since the majority of the materials have been bought and delivered. I am tempted to go up this week, but it would have to be tomorrow night. That is the only night I have available, other than next Monday night, for the next couple weeks. Saturday, we go to Seth’s for dinner. Tuesday, we have our church dinner. Wednesday, Joshua and Brittany and their families are coming to the farm in preparation for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving takes up the following four days. The Monday following Thanksgiving, I leave for Minnesota and Colorado to teach classes. I will be gone all week. The week of the 16^th of December, I will be gone most of the week as well. Christmas is the week following that absence. Not much spare time to do an inspection. Mama and I trust the Lord to work on our behalf through Glenn and his crews. Praise the Lord!

Today we will have a potluck lunch at the office. Our annual Thanksgiving lunch. It is always a big deal. today will be no exception.

Suitcase bed, walking in the dark, wrangling kids

Part of the fun of being married to Mama is pretty much knowing what to expect and yet finding what you expect to be a little unexpected as it unfolds. Last night we watched Savannah and her brothers. Less Leo, who went with his mama, Krystal, on her venture to a moms-night-out with the home school group they belong to. They made cranberry jelly – which we got to taste later. Sometime after dinner, Savannah needed to nap for a bit, but we had no safe place to lay her during that nap. For some reason we no longer have a pack-and-play which we would typically use. Instead, Mama asked me to get a large suitcase out and set it on the spare bed. We put a pillow in the bottom of the suitcase, covered that with a soft blanket and placed the baby in the repurposed “bed”. It worked really well. Mama told me later that she got the idea from my Mom, who when Joshua was little took a dresser drawer out of the dresser and used in in the same way as we had used the suitcase. A perfect baby bed for temporary use.

Late in the evening, I went for a walk. I am trying to do the mile walk three or more times per week. With darkness coming so early, those walks now have to be taken after dark. Last night as I started down the road, I heard a commotion in the trees off to the north. It sounded like two cats fighting. But we do not have a lot of cats in the remote area where we live. It was a horrific commotion. I almost turned around to head back to the house but decided to continue. Whatever was happening, it quieted down by the time I walked to the end of the road and back. I will have to start taking my pistol with me as I take those walks in the dark. I doubt that I could use the pistol effectively in the dark, but it would make me feel less at risk in the event of an encounter with a predator. Although, I am more likely to cross paths with a skunk, a raccoon or an opossum, the coyotes are getting more numerous lately. We are seeing them more often. Hearing them every night. Last night was a little odd in that Sam and Sasha did not go with me on the walk. Maybe because it was fully dark, and they were already on duty at the farm.

I will have to go home at lunchtime today. Mama has the Thomason’s coming back over at lunchtime to help us catch the kids. Three of the four will need to be debudded. Two of the three will only need an application of a solution to will inhibit the growth of their horns. Julian, however, will need to have his horns surgically removed. Horned Myotonic goats do not sell well. Plus, the horned goats are a nuisance. As we are continuing to discover with Scamper. I had to stop what I was doing yesterday evening to put more wire on the part of the fence he was trying to pull down. He loves hooking his horns in the wire and pulling back as far as he can. Before I reinforced the fence, he was able to pull back a good way. After I added the wire ties to the fence, he was completely frustrated that he could not repeat his triumph. It is frustrating for me given the fact that Mama has been planning to sell him for two months now. That sale will eventually be made, or he will be taken to the market. One way or the other, I plan to permanently interrupt his destructive tendencies.

Catching the kids this afternoon is another of those times that make living with Mama a continuous adventure. I will try to video some of the process, but I may be too involved in the activity to document any portion of it. That is usually the way these things work out. I have the crates ready for transport – loaded in the back of the truck. The vet appointment is set, so all we need is to get the patients into those crates. Tada! Simple, right?
Only in Mama’s eyes.

Escapees, the holiday season, a passive generation

Kobe and Kira got out of the yard yesterday. Mama was perplexed because none of the gates had been left open. Every time the dogs do escape the yard, they eventually return, but not being in the confines of the yard puts them in danger of traffic, hunters and ranchers in the area – especially if they are bothering cattle in their liberated escapades. They always come back filthy. By the time Victoria was home, the dogs who had been out twice, were in the yard once again. A bathing line was set up and both dogs were washed, rinsed and severely scolded. I thought the cleanup was premature because we had not determined where the dogs had gotten out. So, after feeding – because Mama was helping with the bathing – I started to walk the fence to see where the escape had taken place. Once that was found, I reinforced the fence, hoping that would be enough. I did not want to pile rocks, logs or cinder blocks along the fence. That is too noticeable. Too ugly. Instead, I used some old top bar from the fence in the pig area I am redoing to attach to the bottom of the fence that needs to be replaced. it does not look so obvious. hopefully, that will be all that is needed. Time will tell.

Tis the season for overeating. Not that it is the only time of year when we can eat far more than we need. But it is harder, it seems to me, to avoid overeating during the holiday season. I have always found that a challenge. Thursday of this week we have our annual Thanksgiving lunch. Saturday we will be having an early Thanksgiving dinner with Seth and Gabriella. Tuesday of next week we will have our annual Thanksgiving dinner at church and Thursday of next week is Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. But as I have gotten older, I have found that I have to participate very carefully. It does not take away from the fun of the celebration, the feasting and the fellowship if I eat conscientiously. Not much anyway. The real fun for me is the cooking and preparation of the meals. That part is still non-fattening.

Mama will be shopping this week to get all the food items for the four meals stated above. It will be a more expensive grocery month than typical, but we have planned for it. Hopefully, well enough. Anyway, I will have to coordinate preparing a turkey and ham for our Chinese family as well as the turkey and ham I will be preparing for our family on Thanksgiving Day. Mama has purchased four turkeys so far this season. The ham is being given to us by the company I work for. That is a blessing. One or two of the turkeys will be kept for later. we have plenty of room in our freezers right now and Mama and I always enjoy turkey – even in the off season. It is one of the few dishes Mama will eat out of season.

In researching the generation of young people coming into the workforce, I stumbled across a one-word definition that really struck me. The professor speaking to Sebastian Gorka about the coming generation in our culture described them an “passive”. Along for the ride. Things have been given to them. Things have been done for them. Things have been thought out for them. They are mostly content with the way things are and are not looking for any discontinuance of that arrangement. I have struggled to come up with a concise definition for the prevailing attitude of the generation entering the workforce and that one word seems to capture the sentiment I am seeing. Not in every one of the young people, but generally across the culture. Perhaps that is why there is a growing appeal of socialism within our culture. I don’t know for sure, but the dots seem to connect.

Mama is going to Kimberlyn’s today. Picking up feed on the way home. If I am not mistaken, this will be the only time this month that the two of them will get together. The current focus is on making Christmas presents. That should be fun. I am obviously in favor of hand-crafted Christmas presents versus buying things. so many useless things change hands in the Christmas season. It would be nice to personalize Christmas this year.

We will have to wait and see how that works out.

Shelter completion, picking pecans, the canoe, the Marksmen

I focused all day Saturday on completing the siding on the goat shelter. When I gathered and cut to size the metal siding from the shed I had taken apart, I had just enough to complete siding the shelter. All I have left from the original shed is a few very small scraps and the angled tops that fit each end of the shed. It not only enclosed the shelter, it cleaned up another pile of scrap I had lying about. The shelter will be painted in the Spring to unify the two colors of metal used to cover it, but for now, it does not look bad. At least all the lines match and the colors are compatible – other than the rust spots. A few more little holes in the roof to patch and the shelter will be as complete as I intend it to be.  

Friday evening, I took three pallets to make a play area for the kids. I disassembled one pallet and cut the recovered boards in half lengthwise. I used those thinner strips to fill the gaps between the boards on the other two pallets. Then I attached legs to one of the pallets. Those pallets were carried into the goat paddock Saturday morning and set up to provide two levels of play area. One pallet was set on cinder blocks which will help delay the decay that will come naturally. The pallet with legs abuts the one on blocks. The little ones figured out right away what to do with the bilevel deck. As we were pulling into the drive on our way home from picking pecans, the four kids were playing king of the mountain, knocking each other off in turns. I was quite the spectacle. It will be fun to watch as all the kids grow more accustomed to the playground. Mama can see it from our bedroom window. We are still waiting on Dolly and Lilly to kid, but that should happen this week or next.

Mama talked me out of starting another project about 2 pm Saturday. She and Victoria had been shopping and were getting ready to head to Bowie to have some soup at Grandma’s. From there they planned to go to Rick and Nancy’s (our goat mentors) to pick up pecans. Having gotten to a good place to stop, I went along. I could not eat much soup because Grandma uses V-8 juice as the base. As much as I love the taste, I do not so well with that. Once we had eaten and visited a while, we went see what pecans we could gather. Between the three of us, me, Mama and Victoria, we picked up about forrty pounds of pecans in about an hour.

These were the large, long, paper shelled pecans. Premium quality. We will go back this week to gather more and to see if the other three pecan trees have ripened to the point of gathering those pecans as well. The other three trees have smaller, more round pecans. Good quality as well, just not as big as the ones we picked up Saturday. Mama may take Bro Plumley back early this week. He wants to get a stash of pecans to sell and he really liked those big ones. We looked at the pecan grove next to the church at the end of our road, but most of those pecans were very small. Mama had hoped she could take Bro Plumley there to get his pecans, but that may not work.

Late Saturday evening a man called to see if I still had the canoe. Mama took the call and gave him all the particulars. He really wanted it, so we agreed to be available Sunday afternoon for him to pick it up. He was later than he had told us, but he kept us abreast of his expected arrival time. He finally got to the farm about 3:30 pm. He was loaded and gone by 3:50. A man on a mission. He was very excited about getting the canoe. We are excited about selling it so that I can upgrade to a boat Mama and I can share with less worries. That was a timely answer to prayer.

Sunday evening, we had the Marksmen Quartet at church. It was a very enjoyable evening.