New animal considerations, ending 2020

Mama and I have started looking at getting alpacas. One of the men in the church approached me a couple weeks ago and forwarded the idea. He had started looking at getting the alpacas for his grandkids because they are more of a pet animal than the mini-Highland cattle the family had recently bought. He wanted to know if I had ever considered raising alpacas. I had. Mama and I looked into it while we were living in West Virginia – almost thirty years ago – but had never done so because of the expense of making the initial purchase. At that time, the animals were just coming into the United Stated and were priced between $8,000 and $12,000. As it turns out, those are still the current price tags per animal. At least the animals coming from certain farms. As I researched, I found packages of four to ten animals for sale at very reasonable prices as well as individual animals for $2,500 - $4,000. That seems more doable, but still expensive. The good part of raising the alpacas is that they require little feed and very little room. You can safely raise up to five per acre with supplemental feed.

Our church brother is currently building the fencing necessary to keep the alpacas he is looking to buy. When he has his in hand, Mama and I will spend some time with them to see if they will work out for us as well. The only issue now is the same as it was thirty years ago – money. Mama and I are praying about that. We are also praying about getting two little females in the mini-Highland cattle line to go with our little bull to raise up a herd. With the Myotonic goats, which have brought us over $3,500 in sales this year and the mini-Highland cattle, a small herd of alpacas would be just right for this little farm. Mama was looking at some expensive specialty bred pigs, but I think we will pass on them for now and just raise a pig or two as needed to fill our freezer.

This is the last workday of 2020. I will have to force myself to begin defaulting to 2021 as of tomorrow. That is always a challenge when the new calendar year starts. It generally takes me a few weeks to make the date habitual, especially since I do not write many checks anymore. About the only checks I write are to the church and those needed to transfer funds from one account to another. Writing a check to make the deposit is faster than making the transfer from account to account electronically. I will have to concentrate when writing those checks over the next several weeks.

Mama and I do not have any plans for celebrating the New Year. We certainly are not going out. The weather is forecast to be miserable. The abundance of rain we are getting today will be changing to snow after dark. That is a good enough reason to stay home. The fact that this is the heaviest drinking night of the calendar year is certainly a cautionary note. Early nightfall, bad weather and drunk drivers are all good reasons to stay home. Not that we needed any additional reasons to do so. We simply like our quiet evenings. So, 2020 will end with a whimper but we made it through.

Mama was encouraged to find an action word for the new year. Just one word. She struggled with that assignment for a couple days. I had already told her days before her getting the challenge that my word for the next year is “Now”. I remember a line from Cinderella with Drew Barrymore when the Leonardo De Vinci character tells another character, “At my age, now is all I have.” That has become more true than I thought it to be at the time I first heard it, but it struck me even then. Mama’s word is “Purpose”. The two action words go together nicely. Like me and Mama. It will be interesting to see if and how those commitments to purpose and doing it now, motivate us over the next year. It certainly cannot hurt to have those kinds of focus in our daily lives – especially in Spiritual matters. Those things that do not seem to produce any tangible benefit – either financially or emotionally – tend to get put off when they can, in actuality, start in motion the chain of events that produce, in time, the very things we have been trying to attain.

But regardless of the outcomes we perceive, it will not be wrong to do what is needing to be done now, on purpose and with purpose.

Rain and more rain, overgrowth, desperate times

The steady rain falling is forecast to continue pretty much unabated for the next several days. I will be heavier at times, but it will be continuous for an accumulated total of about three inches per the forecast. That is unusual for this area, but it is much needed. Thursday night the rain is forecast to change to snow. That would not be typical for our area, but it is not unheard of either. So far, the temperatures have been mild this winter and the precipitation has been a little under the average. Even with the lighter rainfall, I have only had to water the plants and trees once through the cooler weeks. So far, the fig trees I separated from the mother plant are all doing well but I do not know if a severe cold snap will injure them. They have not been tested with any extreme cold so far this winter. That is all the better. They will have time to get a good root system started before they are frozen by some bule-cold overnight temperatures. The temperatures are rarely cold enough for long enough to freeze the shallow roots of the figs. I hope that holds through this winter as well. I would like to harvest figs next summer.

Mama and I are happy that we did not take on bottle feeding the mini-Highlander bull calf we are buying. I have no good place to put the calf in the cold wet conditions other than with the boy goats. Bottle feeding a calf with the boy goats in attendance is not difficult, it is just bothersome. However, we will be picking up the little bull in February and he will probably spend the last of the winter with the goats in order to provide him cover for a few months. But at that time, we will not have to bottle feed him.

There is a good deal of work I need to do to the fence before we take on the little bull. I figure if our heifer -as large as she is – can easily get through the fence, he would have no trouble getting off out property and we do not want him to be unprotected by the dogs that guard all or stock. I am not looking forward to the fence line work because the fence line is heavily wooded with thorn trees and tangled with briars and poison ivy. The adage for flora in Texas is, “If it will burn you, stick you or sting you, it grows in Texas.” The winter months are the perfect time to deal with the fence line as far as the plants are concerned. Not so much so as far as my respiratory issues are concerned.

I am only working a half day tomorrow. I have a few hours of comp time to use up before I lose it. Since tomorrow is the last day of this calendar year, it seems a good time to use those hours. Mama and I have nothing planned for the New Year. We rarely do and with the limitations imposed on us restricting gatherings this year, we will enjoy the calendar change by ourselves. I am hoping all the nonsense concerning the virus will end soon but I still see no path forward out of the lockdowns. People in power like that power a little too much – especially when it does not affect them financially. We are paying them their full salaries week after week to force us into bankruptcy. As they shutter our businesses and wreck our livelihoods, they are living very well off of us. What a deal!

Thankfully, I have been able to continue working fulltime through all the idiocy. Thank you Energy Worldnet! I cannot imagine the desperation of sitting week upon week wondering if I will lose the farm or be able to feed my family, much less be able to buy feed for my animals. How helpless that must be to all those who are actually in that position. A Biden or rather a Harris presidency will only exacerbate that condition for the foreseeable future. Be careful what you wish for those of you who want to see President Trump gone. I prefer having a president focused on our needs as citizens of the United States rather than have much needed funds (money borrowed against our children’s future) sent to Pakistan to study gender equality issues in their armed forces. Is there anything we can we do correct the situation? I have no idea. I will keep looking for a way to be part of the solution.

I just praise the Lord we are living in Texas while this is going on.

Stillness, late arrivals, closing

After the flurry of activities and the busyness of entertaining over the last couple weeks, it was nice to be still Sunday and Monday. Saturday, I did only minimal work around the farm. I was feeling a little dizzy through the entire day and that carried over into Sunday. It was bad enough that I probably should have stayed home Sunday, but I pushed through and led the singing and even sang a special Sunday morning. Once we were home from church I went straight to bed and slept until it was time to get ready to go back to church. I asked Bro. Zach to lead the singing that night. I just hated to miss. Right now, it seems imperative put forth the effort to do my part in church. It is such a small part of the ministry, but it is my part to do and I feel privileged to participate. Today I am not a lot better as far as the dizziness is concerned, but I am not required to do much as I work at my computer through the days. Probably a good thing.

Yesterday was a very slow day and a very slow evening. I needed that. I had a chiropractor appointment at 4 pm so that took us well into the evening. We did not make it home before dark. It will be the last time I visit the chiropractor for a while. He basically told me there was little he could do for me because I was too tight for him to help me very much. He could not pop my back. He could not pop my neck. I got the impression that it actually hurt him physically to try to do so. I am still dealing with the numbness in my arm and hand from a pinched nerve in my neck, but it is not as bad as it was a couple weeks ago, so I will manage to deal with it as I go. I see little reason to pay someone to not help me. And I certainly do not know any way to make my back relax.

Over the past weekend and even into today we are getting packages that did not make the Christmas deadline. It is a lot like our recent election which was not an event carried out on one day, but rather stretched into an election season. Christmas is still coming to us – one late package at a time. In backtracking my Amazon orders, I can find three that are yet to arrive, and one package Mama has been tracking for Grandma and Grandpa for several weeks came by FedEx this morning. Three weeks in being delivered but we finally got it. That package will be delivered to Grandma and Grandpa this afternoon or this evening. Mama felt that it would be better for it to arrive here versus being delivered to them at their house. I am not sure why, but it probably had to do with avoiding the delivery address change in Amazon. That has not worked out well for us on previous occasions.

I had Mama help me into the bee suit yesterday at lunchtime so I could double check that I had installed the slides that block the bottom of the hive boards. I made screened bottoms for the hives and in the winter, I have to install a slide in those bases to block the air that flows through the screen into the hive. I was pretty sure I had done so sometime earlier this winter, but I did not remember for sure. As an extra precaution, I screwed a block onto the front of the hive base to completely block any airflow up into the hive. Having installed the candy boards on Saturday, I can now leave the bees alone for a few weeks. Depending on the weather, I will look into the hives before we leave for Honduras at the end of January, but I will have no need to open the hives before that. I am anxious to see how long the candy boards last on each of the hives. To check that will not require any more than lifting the top off the hive. It will have minimal effect on the interior of the hive. The candy boards actually help insulate the hive through the winter. Turn out that twenty pounds of solidified sugar is a great heat absorber on our warmer days.

This year is quickly coming to a close. Two more days left of 2020. When we began this calendar year, no one could have foreseen the horrible way this year was mismanaged by out elected officials. That does not seem to be the case for 2021. It looks bleak regardless of the final election settlement. Whether we crown a cheater or reinstall the actual victor, it will be a rough and tumble time. How we deal with this next year will determine just what kind of nation we are.

I pray we are still, “one nation under God”. This year will tell.

Christmas week

Mama’s and my primary focus for early Christmas week was to meet with Chase, Makaila, Owen and Gailyn. Saturday, we had the Wycoffs, the Thomason’s and the Millers over for a Christmas party that had gone very well. Sunday, we rested up a bit and Monday morning we left for Amarillo. We were able to get with Makaila and the grandkids pretty soon after getting to Amarillo – about a five-hour drive – so we got to meet Gailyn right away. She took to us immediately which pleased Mama immensely.

Owen took an hour or so to warm up to us, but he finally did, and we had a great time with him. We had dinner with Makaila’s family Monday evening. That was fun while we got to know each other a little better. They are good people. One of their sons got a guitar for Christmas and the present was opened while we were there. I was able to tune the guitar for them so he could start to experiment with it right away.

When we got to our hotel it was pretty late, but as we were checking in, Mama remarked on the nails of the young lady who was checking us in and got a word in about Color Street. That was all it took. Once the paperwork was taken care of, Mama spent about twenty minutes with the young lady who wanted to see far more of Mama’s nail options. We had had to circle back to the house when we left that morning to get Mama’s nail case, but I thought it was worth the extra time to have it with her. Turned out to be the right move. The young lady bought two sets of nails, but she is going to start a party next week. She told Mama she knows a lot of people in Amarillo, so they are both excited.

On the way to Amarillo, Mama texted back and forth with Erin Echeveria’s boss who wanted to buy one of our goats for a Christmas present for her kids. That went on for a good part of the trip to Amarillo, while we were in Amarillo and on the way home Wednesday. But the outcome was a good one. She and her husband came over late Thursday evening and picked up the little yearling female they had contracted for but while they were there, we showed them the baby goats and they feel in love with one of the little bucklings. He went home with them as well. We provided a bag of food for them to get started caring for the little ones. They were very excited about the two little goats even thought it took us a few minutes to catch the female they were buying. For some reason, she refused to faint but instead gave us a run through the paddock until we were able to grab hold of her and get her to the cage in the back of their pickup.

I was completely worn out by the time we got the goats into the carrier. I had worked all day on the pig pen I was refitting. It had taken me all day to get to the point that all the panels, posts and barbed wire were in place. It was about 5 pm when I opened the access door to the new area and let the pig discover it. She ran into the new area like she was entering a brand new playland. She hopped, spun and squealed in excitement while I closed the door in the building that would keep her limited to that side of the pen. Having her on the new side allows me and Mama to feed her without having to deal with her at our feet the whole time. It will be especially nice when we get the rain that is forecast for Wednesday. Watering her is a challenge because she routinely takes her water pan and drags it into the pen requiring us to fetch it in order to fill it. Other than that, it is nice to have the pig in the larger, separated pen. Later this week, I will take down a portion of the fence for the smaller enclosure so that I can use the tractor to level out the mess she created in that area.

I got fussed at Christmas morning because I had already bought in the course of days leading up to Christmas all the items Mama and Victoria tried to buy for me as Christmas presents. Oops! But Victoria and I got Mama an apple watch – which she loves. Setting up that watch frustrated her but we finally got through it. Mama and I had bought Victoria some presents while we were at Christopher and Banks in Amarillo along with some stocking stuffers. It was a fun morning. Maggie called. Brittany called. Cori called. Becky called. So, we got to witness some of the activities of Christmas morning remotely. Mid-morning, I started the pellet grill to smoke a ham and warm up the half turkey we saved from the one we smoked for our Thanksgiving dinner with Andrew, Brittany and the girls. That afternoon we had the Echeveria’s over for dinner. We had a good time. It was relaxed, unhurried and very pleasant. We enjoyed each other’s company far past the time Luke was ready to go home.

Saturday I finally got the candy boards placed on the hives. Mama and I had to buy some more sugar to fill the third candy board. Each of them easily holds twenty pounds of sugar as well as a third pound of pollen. I was able to install them on the hives in the warm afternoon we had Saturday. Now we can relax a bit in our worries for the bees.

It was a full week.

New tires, our visit, Azle, next up

Kimberlyn came over yesterday to help Mama get some things done for Mama’s planned attendance of the market day in Azle, TX. Part of Mama’s day included a trip to the post office to get a number of packages mailed out. It was on the way home from the post office that Mama and Kimberlyn heard a sound that frightened them both. The sound seemed to be coming from a tire but none of the tires were flat. They stopped twice to investigate but could find nothing. Mama finally decided to drive the vehicle home but at a very slow speed. Still the wound was continuous and loud. When they got home, we investigated and found that the tread on one of the rear tires had begun to shred. As the tread peeled off the tire, it would slap the inside of the wheel well causing a very loud banging – especially when Mama was going sixty miles per hour.

It was nearly lunchtime when they got back to the farm, so I put the spare on the Sequoia and headed to Discount Tires to have them evaluate the tire. I did not remember when Mama had bought the tires, but I was reasonably certain that we had gotten a good amount of mileage out of them. That turned out to be correct. The tires were rated for forty thousand miles and we had driven almost sixty thousand miles on them. We had certainly gotten our money’s worth. The longevity impressed the young man who tended to me at the store. The front tires still had some good tread on them, but I bought a set of four tires. These are rated for sixty thousand miles. They will hopefully last longer than we intend to own the vehicle.

Mama was a little worried that I would be upset by the requirement to replace the tires, but I told her I had been praying that the Lord would make evident anything we needed to have worked on in the Sequoia before we took it to Amarillo next week. That was an answer to prayer. Better that the tire lost its tread a few miles from home than to have that happen as we shot down the highway at seventy-five miles an hour on some lonely stretch of road a couple hundred miles from home. There would be ways to deal with that occurrence if it had happened, but it is always better to deal with something like that in a more relaxed set of circumstances. Praise the Lord for His perfect timing!

Around 6 pm, we headed to visit with Red and Joanna. We had a bit of trouble finding their house but finally got to the right driveway. I drove the truck in case Red wanted to load the wire roll he was needing to get rid of, but it was after dark and it was cold outside, and it was much more comfortable to just take the time to catch up with each other. So, we talked for a while before Mama and Joanna moved to a table where Mama could apply the nails she had given Joanna. All in all, we spent a couple hours just enjoying each other’s company in a familiar, friendly, comfortable way. It was a very pleasant evening and Joanna really liked the nails Mama applied for her. Red was impressed as well. HE especially liked the price and convenience.

Mama loaded up this morning to head to Azle, TX to check out the little market they have there. I am not sure what she will find but what we have heard about the market sounds good. It is much smaller than Trade Days in Bowie so there will be less competition for sales and less competition in getting noticed. Hopefully it will work out, but we do not know. Sometimes you just have to test the waters and see how things work out. This will serve as our first test of that venue. I am praying it goes well. I am glad Mama is willing to give it a try.

Next up on our agenda is our Christmas party here at the house tomorrow evening. The potential attendance has grown from about ten to probably closer to twenty, but we will have a good time. After all, the get together revolves around eating and exchanging gifts. Mama will be stressed out over the cleaning needing to be done to the house, but I am sure we can get it all done in a satisfactory manner by the time we start to entertain. If not, we will just go with it. I am going to put a small ham and a couple dozen sausage links on the smoker but that is the extent to which I will be required to prepare food for the meal. I should have plenty of time to help Mama cook and clean.

In between cooking and cleaning, I will put up the panels for the pen in the hopes of getting the pig into that pen before Grandpa has to take over the feeding next week. It will be a lot more pleasant for him if I can get him out of the mud – but I am not entirely sure I will have the time to get the pen secured to my satisfaction in only one day.

We shall see.

Class, materials pickup, shopping all day, a visit with Santa

Class yesterday was another good one, but I felt like I was a touch distracted through the entire class. Like my mind was not clear and I was not making the connections I normally would between the class and the content. I hope I did not come across that way, but it was a more of a struggle on my part than I usually have to deal with. I had eight participants and most of them engaged very well in the class, so it moved along at a good pace broken by very good question and multiple short discussions. Everyone did well on the test, and everyone told me they enjoyed the class. Perhaps I did not review enough as I normally do the day before the class because I was caught up in getting the speeches ready for the Christmas program Mama and I are participating in Sunday evening. The class is done now, and it was done well. I just do not ever want to waste anyone’s time and money when I am the instructor for a class, and I have the nagging suspicion that I could have done better. I have all next year to improve my performance.

As soon as the class was over I headed to Tractor Supply to get the panels I need for the pig enclosure. I had towed the trailer to work with me so I could get the panels while the store still had them. The last time I tried to get the panels all the supply stores in the area had been sold out, so I did not want to miss the opportunity to get what I needed. Although the temptation was there to buy more than what I needed, I did not. I spent only what was necessary to get this project moving. Mama and I need to get the pig into the other lot so we do not have to walk through her mess in order to tend to her feeding. Once I do get her into the larger lot, I will have to take down a fence to gain tractor access to the area she had plowed and rooted up to level it for me and Mama so that the ground has a chance to dry out. I may plant some seed in the freshly rooted ground, but I have not decided. I will reset the fence once the ground is properly worked. We need the lot from time to time and I need to be able to keep the cows out of that area. It is a lot of extra work, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Mama spent all day shopping with Grandma and Grandpa. They are still without a vehicle. I am told that Norman has bought one for them, but it will not be brought to them until early January. Norman will then take the truck they have here back to West Virginia and sell it to recoup some of the money spent on the replacement vehicle. Without a vehicle, they feel trapped at home and that is not a comfortable feeling for them or for me and Mama. Until their replacement transportation comes, we will share the truck with them, so they are not without transportation.

Anyway, Mama took them to Wichita Falls to peruse a variety of stores in order to allow them to get the things they needed for the month; from groceries to reading material. These shopping trips are done on a monthly basis as Grandpa gets paid. Mama enjoys the trips for the most part, but it is a slow-moving day for them all. Nothing happens quickly with Grandma and Grandpa. Besides, Mama was able to get the remaining items we forgot in our last trip to Sam’s. These days spent with Grandma and Grandpa are a blessing to us and to them. There is little they will allow us to do for them. This is one service we can give them freely without any feeling of indebtedness on their part.

Mama and I are going to Red and Joanna’s this evening. Red is our official Wise County Santa, but he has this evening off from his many Santa duties. Mama promised to help Joanna apply the nail set she gave to her a week or so ago – and I do not think they have many visitors. Red and I will load up some fencing he has been wanting to get to me, but that was too heavy for him to handle by himself. But the overall intent of the visit is just to visit. I think Mama and I need that contact as well. Mama and I have been busy every evening so far this week and that will not end tonight. We will be busy each night this week through the weekend and into next week as we travel to see Chase and Makaila. We should be able to slow down a touch after Christmas. Just in time for my schedule to accelerate at work.

So, Mama and I will enjoy the time between Christmas and the New Year when our schedule is not so crowded. Hopefully, I will be able to steal the time to catch up on a couple projects at the farm and in the house. Time will tell. That is the time we typically take down and return to storage all the decorations set up for Christmas. A chore I do not necessarily look forward to.

Quick run to Sam’s, Grandpa’s truck, bonus, teaching tomorrow

Yesterday the chiropractor cracked my upper back and neck back into place – it sounded horrible. He did some decompression on my neck as well. I felt better for a few hours, but the pain in my neck is not abated much. I woke this morning with much of the discomfort still intact and the index finger on my right hand was numb again, as it has been for over a month. It was recommended that I go back on Wednesday and Friday, but I am teaching tomorrow, so Friday it is. I do feel some relief in my upper back from the adjustment. I wish I felt the same in my neck. He had to try three times to get my back to crack back into place. That is about normal for me.

Mama and I made a “quick run” to Sam’s yesterday evening. That venture also included going to the bread store for more chicken treats, any bread will do for that, and a stop at WinCo. We had only a handful of items to get at WinCo, but those items took almost an hour to gather once we were in the store. I believe Mama and I were the only persons in the store that were not wearing masks, but it did not bother either of us and no one made a comment directly to us. It would have been interesting should they have decided to confront us. I do not have a planned response, but I am sure we would have come up with something. Most of the items we needed from WinCo were in the bulk bins. Those allow Mama to purchase only what she needs for the baking she is planning to do. I like that approach. It is much cheaper at the front end of the purchase and much cheaper at the back end when the unused portion of a large bag is discarded because it had aged beyond use. Buy it. Use it. Don’t keep overages to throw away later. I like that plan.

At Sam’s we were once again the only patrons in the store unmasked. It is almost frightening to think that everyone could actually see our faces! Not. We had a lot of small discussions while in Sam’s concerning what to buy for our party on Saturday. I was leaning toward ham and scalloped potatoes. Mama was in agreement but did not remember if we had more than one ham in the freezer. She wants that ham for Christmas dinner. So, we bought a small ham to fix for the party along with some sausages I can fix on the grill. Everyone else will be coordinating a potluck dinner to add to our offerings. I bought a “guy” gift for the exchange while we waited in line to check out. SO, I believe we are ready for the party – food item wise. The entire excursion took almost four hours. I am just glad it was a quick trip. I would hate to have spent the entire evening at it.

Grandpa is giving up on trying to repair his truck. Despite his best efforts, he has been unable to get the transmission working properly and both he and Norman feel it is best to find him a replacement. When that replacement is to arrive is up in the air so Mama and I will have to share a vehicle with them in the interim. For now, Mama and I are retrieving my truck one night this week because we will need to make a run to the feed store before the end of the year. But since Grandma and Grandpa will be staying at the farm to watch over out animals early next week while Mama and I travel to Amarillo to visit with Chase and Makaila, they will have access to the truck as needed. I do not get involved in the wheeling and dealings of Norman, but those seem to mostly work out in the short run for that side of the family. They never seem to work out in the long run, but they manage to get by.

I got a very nice Christmas bonus from my employer that was paid out today. I was expecting a bonus, but this was a generous one, much more than I had expected. It is always a pleasant financial bump at a time that one always seems needed. As I participated last week in a review of the company’s performance through this shutdown, I was amazed at how well we did – extremely well in fact. We have grown in income, sales and personnel. It has been a great year for us in almost every way – other than missing out on the personal interactions that made us a more family-oriented workplace. Perhaps that will return sometime next year. Perhaps not. Time will tell.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. My last for the year. I will have two weeks to rest up before I am set into a schedule that will be quite busy through the first quarter of next year.

I am mostly looking forward to it.