Recovery, rain, fruit

After a day and a night of thinking I may have to go to Urgent Care, I believe I am finally on the mend. I still have a cough, thankfully, a productive cough, but the fever, the sore throat, and the choking, wheezing cough are greatly abated. I will stay on antibiotics for a few more days but I can honestly say I am feeling better. Mama was very worried about me last night. I was pretty worried about me last night, but we got through it and things look a little better now – other than the wicked fever blisters I have on my lips. As of next Tuesday, I will be on our new insurance, so I was hesitant to seek any medical help other than a prescription until that switch happens. It is a silly consideration, but I have gone through that sort of change before, and things get messed up quickly as one insurance provider argues with another insurance provider as to which is responsible for the bill. That very conflict years ago cost me $4,000 out of pocket which two and a half years later was reimbursed. I am just thankful to eb feeling enough better that I do not have to worry about outside medical intervention.

Overnight we got an inch of rain. The storm blew through in a little over an hour. I was sleeping on the couch, so I got a closeup view of the lightening and the downpour. (I was on the couch so that I did not disturb Mama through the night with my cough. Maybe tonight I can sleep in my own bed. We’ll see how my cough abates through the day before I can make that determination.) it was a very impressive storm. Fortunately, we did not get any of the hail that was forecast. We are now significantly ahead on rainfall for the year. Over the past couple weeks, I do not think the ground has had a chance to dry out between storms. Although the tomato plants we have in containers are begging for more water even while the ground in the yard is still soaked. So, regardless of the amount of rainfall we have gotten, when the plants look droopy, I water them. That has worked out well so far.

Even though I was feeling badly, I took time yesterday evening to collect a wheelbarrow full of compost we will use today or tomorrow the plant the last of the tomato plants I started from seeds. With the forecast of a soaking rain overnight, I wanted to get the compost in as dry a state as I could. It was all I could do to get the full wheelbarrow from the compost bin to the garage, but I am glad I expended the energy to have that ready for me and Mama to do the transplanting today. Especially since today, we are supposed to an additional inch of rain with another two inches forecast for Monday. At least the tanks are filling up before the summer dry times hit us. The temperatures are also lower than normal. As additional blessing.

Mama picked about ten zucchinis yesterday and gave them to a friend to make zucchini bread. We are not doing that sort of baking right now. Our friend was happy to have the vegetables because they have been totally unsuccessful in raising a garden at the house they are renting. We will have more than enough to share. So far, we are keeping up with the blackberries as they ripen, but we have to pick them daily to do so. I am being careful to keep the blackberry bushes in check, both the native and the non-native varieties. Blackberries propagate by sending out runners underground that send up shoots along the path of the runners. If left unchecked, they will take over an area.

So, I have to cut, pull and mow down all the plants that come into areas where I do not want them to grow. When I took the domesticated blackberries out of the bed and replaced them with the grapevine, it took me over a year to get all the blackberry shoots and runners out of that bed. Now, where we have the blackberries along the fence between the shop and the garage, I am constantly mowing or weed eating around the bushed to limit their spread. It has worked well enough so far, but the native blackberries are heavily thorned and require special handling to dig them out. I bleed each time I take on that chore. I suppose I am getting thin-skinned in my old age.

The berries are worth the effort.

Feeling rough, successes and failures

I managed to make it through the four-hour class yesterday but by the time I finished the class my cough was worsening. Ordinarily, I would have finished out the day at the office – since Tuesday is one of my two days per week to report to the office – but because of the cough, I stayed at the HQ house. There was a group of EWN employees working from the house yesterday, but I sequestered in the training room to limit my exposure to them as I finished out the day, especially as the cough worsened. By yesterday evening, my cough was severe. One of those deep, loud coughs that gives Mama a headache. For sure I am dealing with bronchitis, but something else seems to be going on. My throat is very sore, and it is painful to swallow, and I have multiple fever blisters on my lips. I am a mess. But I have been worse. This too shall pass…eventually.

As I got my computer out this morning, I noticed a Slack message from my supervisor, asking about the class schedule and whether I needed a break. That was timely. So, I responded telling her how I was feeling and that I would not be able to teach the class tomorrow, that I would hopefully get in touch with the doctor today, and that I would keep working my normal day regardless of how badly I felt. I can only imagine the conversations going on in the background at work concerning my general health. I am hoping to be on the mend soon, but I am going to need prescriptive help to get there. As Mama and I are on this special diet to beat back Candida, I am not looking forward to taking antibiotics that will actually encourage the growth of Candida, but I have limited recourse to avoid that potentiality.

Part of what I am feeling is due to the “health crisis” that comes during a cleanse. As the body gets the herbs needed to aid in the disposal of the toxins released by the death of offensive bacteria and fungi, it will promote that disposal leading to a slight poisoning of the body as those toxins are dealt with. In my case, my immune response has been triggered and the current crisis is worse than it should have been. My bronchioles have always been the weak link in my body. I am affected there more often than in any other system in my body. Mama and I will push through on the diet and cleanse hoping to beat the overgrowth of Candida that both of us suffer from as we deal with the minor health crisis along the way. Completing the cleanse will be its own reward.

On the bright side, Mama and I are starting to harvest some vegetables from the garden: zucchini, spaghetti squash, Anaheim peppers, Bell peppers, Poblano peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and blackberries. We will start getting the larger variety of tomatoes within a few days. Mama is especially excited about the yellow tomatoes we have ripening on three plants. I do not know the variety of the cherry tomatoes, but they are a light orange color, and they are exceptionally sweet. The only problem with tomatoes is that we are not supposed to eat them – any variety – because of how they affect the arthritis Mama and I both suffer with. So, we will allow ourselves to eat a little and give the rest away. We will have a lot to give away because I have some tomato plants started in the sunroom that are a striped yellow and red variety. They will fruit very late in the summer. At the very least, I will save seeds from the ripe tomatoes so that we can grow them again next year.

We will soon be picking okra – I have a full row out in the garden – and beets. I am not sure what happened to our potatoes, but the plants died out already. Tonight, I will dig up whatever grew, if anything. The green beans are doing pretty well, but we are a few weeks away from harvesting anything from them. Meanwhile, the pear tree, which was loaded with pears is being systematically stripped of the fruit by squirrels.

The fruit is nowhere near ripe, but the tiny pears are lying below the tree eaten to the core by the thieves who plucked them off the tree. Same thing with the nectarine tree. Once loaded with fruit, it is now bare. I am going to need to reduce the squirrel population significantly if Mama and I are going to get a reasonable fruit harvest. I am not opposed to sharing.

The squirrels do not feel the same.

Our fishing trip, side effects

Friday morning Pastor Horton picked me up at the farm and we drove to Wise County Park to meet our fishing guide. I told Pastor that our guide sounded like someone who is habitually early so we were there about fifteen minutes before the appointed time and as we got out of the truck, we could see the red pontoon boat, which I had been told to look out for, round the bend and head to the docks where we were to meet. Our guide nosed the boat right up onto the shore and we got into the boat through a gate in the front railing of the craft. Introductions were made and we were off. It was a cool, overcast and slightly windy day.

We spent most of the day trolling along a shelf where the rock bass were schooling. Trolling is putting out a lure and letting it follow along fifteen or twenty feet behind the boat as the boat is driven slowly. That is the only method we used that day to fish, and it worked well because we caught thirty-four fish in this method. Some of the fish we caught had to be thrown back. The legal limit is ten inches. I may have lost count, but I think I caught twenty-six fish, of which, we kept twenty. Pastor caught the rest. Late in the morning, I hooked a very large hybrid Bass. The lake is stocked with small hybrids several times per year. This one had been in the lake for some time.

When he hit the lure, my rod was slammed against the side of the boat with considerable force. He was as long as my arm and it was all the reel I had on my rod could do to bring him in, but we were not able to land him. When our guide had slowed the boat to the point that I could reel him close to the boat and had grabbed the net to get him into the boat, the fish ripped the hook out of his mouth and disappeared. The loss was partly my fault for keeping the line too taught and partly the guides fault for not completely stopping the boat to limit the drag against the fish. At least I got to hook into one large fish. The Pastor got to see the fish as we were trying to net it. Had we succeeded it would have made a great picture for the guide to post.

All I all, it was a great trip. Terry, our guide was quite a talker. The pastor and I did not need to add much to the steady stream of conversation through the nine hours of fishing. Our guide took that upon himself recounting stories his days in Vietnam, rodeoing, raising kids in a different time, religion, and God, etc. He covered the gambit and we trailed along. In the end, he told Pastor that he was going to come to church and bring his wife and daughter – who is relocating to the area – with his grandkids. He reminded me of some cowboys I knew years ago when I was a teenager. He loves the idea of God as that idea conforms to his view of the world, but he may not really know God, having more of a tangential relationship with the concept versus having a personal relationship with the Savior. Pastor asked him if he knew for sure he would go to Heaven when he dies and he assured Pastor that he did, so we can only go by his testimony. He seemed deeply touched when the pastor asked him about his salvation. Maybe he really will come to church. That interaction made the trip even better.

After all the fish had been cleaned, and we were piloted back to the area where we had parked the truck, Pastor and I headed home, slightly sunburned and pretty worn out. Having spent the better part of the day on a rocking boat due to the winds blowing across the lake, my back was hurting badly. The next morning the pain was brutal. Not only was I dealing with the pain from steadying myself as best I could in the boat, I started to develop a cough. Although Mama was staunchly opposed to the idea, I started on antibiotics right away. We have some left over from bouts of bugs last year. I did not get into much Saturday as I allowed my back to recuperate. Sunday, my cough was bad enough that we decided it would be best if we stayed home from church. Right now, people feel mortally threatened when around someone who is coughing. We got to listen to the services online, but we did miss being in the service. If I had gone, I would not have been able to lead the singing and we would have been too great a distraction. So, Mama and I stayed home, watched online, rested.

It seems we both needed the rest, and we made the most of the day that had been given to us to do so.

Company, beefing up, working from home, insurance

As I taught my class yesterday, I had the entire Education team at the house with me. It was not too disruptive. They are a quiet bunch for the most part and I was able to shut the door to the room that I teach from so the noise they did occasionally produce was largely muffled by that simple closure. The class itself was a very good one. I had several participants that were more than willing to participate and several asked very good questions which sparked some helpful discussions. As I taught, Anayeli (my compatriot in Instructor Led Training) monitored the class as a backup so those in the house got to sneak peeks at the class through her view. From that little bit of exposure, I got some good feedback. That is always welcome because I cannot see what others see, so hearing those suggestion and solutions helps me improve through every class. By the time I present this class a few hundred more times, I should be pretty good at it.

We will soon be onboarding another instructor for the class I teach most often. When my company did a review of everyone in our system that should have renewed their qualifications within the last year (it is required to be renewed every three years) they discovered over 500 persons in our program that are out of compliance. That means when those clients are contacted, we will need to add to all the classes we have currently scheduled as well as add an additional thirty or so classes through the end of the year. Since it can be assumed that I cannot teach them all, we are arranging to have additional instructors added to the teaching roster. That will help greatly in facilitating all these classes. Plus, it will generate a lot of income for us as a company. The downside is that we will have a few disgruntled clients who feel they are being put upon to renew their qualifications – that always happens – but those will be the exception and not the rule. The additional attendees will add significantly to the administrative work we are required to do in the background, but we are expanding our department for other projects so we will have the resources to pull that work off as well. Job security.

I have to admit that it is good to be working from home today. Not only do I get to sleep about forty minutes longer when I work from home, but I get to enjoy Mama’s interruptions throughout the day; and we get to eat breakfast together. I do not eat breakfast when I am working at the office or teaching a class, so those breakfast times together are a little bit of extra I get to enjoy on this split schedule. I do not want to skip over those small blessings. We are too often on the lookout for big things to happen in our lives and too easily pass over the multitude of little things the Lord continues to do that eventually heap up to equal some very large blessings. Not only do I get to enjoy breakfast with Mama when I work from home, but I get to listen in on her phone conversations – mostly with our children – which helps me keep up with what is going on in their lives. Mama sometimes forgets to pass on to me that information; like Maggie’s struggles with and anecdotes about Walter, Brittany and Andrew’s roller coaster emotional adventure of trying to find a house in New Jersey, or the latest update from Honduras. At least this way I get in on part of the conversation. That helps me to pray more effectively.

This week we were required to sign up for insurance at work. I was initially excited about the new insurance we were offered from a cost and services perspective, but when I went online to get me and Mama signed up, I found that the price advertised, which is somewhat on the high end of premiums, was not a monthly but rather a per payday cost. I was disappointed when I saw the $900 per month price tag. I told Mama I loved her, but we could not afford that on a monthly basis. I opted for the plan that was offered at about half that cost. $6,700 annually versus $12,000 was not a difficult choice but it was a sad one. I do not want that large a chunk of my gross income to go to medical insurance. So, I chose a lesser large chunk of my income to go toward insurance. Not necessarily a winning option, but a doable one.

At least we will have some usable health insurance for Mama.

Little victories

Saturday was a slow day for me and Mama. I was in a lot of pain, so I was not overly committed to taking on too many projects at the farm, but Mama and I still managed to get a few things done. We decided not to attend the graduation for BBTI. Mostly because of the pain we were in. As things turned out, it was good that we did not go to Bowie for the graduation because Seth called fairly early Saturday morning and asked if we were home. Since we were, he, Gabriella, and Rosalee stopped by and visited for a couple hours While we talked, the baby played – dumping every container of toys available to her.  They had a new pug puppy with them, so we got a double dose of baby in one visit. The puppy was cute and extremely active, but she was terrified of Kobe and Kira, both of whom were very curious about her. It was hilarious to watch the puppy back quickly away from the step at the living room and into the kitchen area to avoid the big dogs getting too close. They are not allowed in the kitchen area. Eventually, Kira and Kobe would move away but as soon as the puppy moved to the edge of the step they both hurried over to investigate and the puppy would retreat once again. Eventually, the big dogs got their way without terrorizing the puppy too much.

At one point Mama asked Seth if he would mind helping me get Midas from the girl paddock to the boy paddock. We had failed to get that done earlier in the week when we had Victoria to help, but Seth was willing. It took a few minutes to get Midas into the barn so we would corner him and get the collar on him, but once that was done, Seth headed for the gate and Midas literally dragged him across the yard to the boy paddock. I had to run to keep up. Once in his home paddock, he stopped and let us take off the collar and leash. He and Julian started butting each other around almost immediately. Julian was happy to have him back. The girls were happy to have him gone. Later that day Mama and I got dog crates and loaded the little girls from their temporary pen back into the girl paddock. We drove them over this time since carrying them over proved to be a bit of a strain on us last time we moved them. They were not as happy with that move. The larger nanny goats began to prove their dominance over them right away. Mama always hates that part of raising goats. A victory considering the way Mama and I were hurting.

When we both felt up to the task, Mama and I cleaned the large coop building. Another small victory. That is always an hour or more of work, but it is nice to have it done once we do the cleaning. So far, I have filled two compost bins with the pine shavings and manure from the coop floors and am in need of a third. I will probably get to that sooner rather than later. After all, the chickens are not going to stop producing manure. Hopefully, they will not stop producing eggs either. Right now, we are getting about two dozen per day. More than enough to keep all our customers happy. That was about the only big thing Mama and I got done that day because Mama and I spent most of Saturday with our TENS units working overtime. I would use my unit for an hour and take an hour or more break, then start the unit back up for another hour of treatment. Overall, the extended treatment routine helped. By Sunday both of us were markedly improved as far as pain levels were concerned but I was still wearing the back brace as much as possible – at least at home.  

Church was great Sunday. We got to pick up our Chinese girls and then go to the restaurant to eat after church. That is always fun. I got soup to make sure I could stick to the diet. Mama got Hibachi Steak. So far so good. Then Alex brought out sushi, spring rolls, crab Rangoon and some fried pot stickers. Mama and I violated out diet just a tiny bit to indulge. I had only one spring roll and two pieces of avocado sushi. I am not sure what Mama had that was not on our diet, but we did not go past the diet excessively. So far Mama had lost seven pounds. I have lost six pounds. A small victory.

This morning I met at the HQ house with my team from wok and we did breakfast. It was a huge breakfast complete with freshly made tortillas, ham, bacon, sausage links, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sweetbreads and pastries of all sorts, freshly made bread, jams, jellies and apple butter, assorted fruits, juices and milk. Mama and I supplied the ham, eggs and apple butter. There were four or five of the participants that had never had apple butter before. They became instant fans. It was a large spread, but we had sixteen people to feed. Having a kitchen to work in we were able to keep all the cooked items warm while we finished the ones that still needed to be cooked. It was all delicious. Everything seemed to be cooked to perfection. Other than the lack of seating for eating, it as a great place to pull off this kind of activity. I had to pass up on all the sweets and pastries, the coffee and a Choco-flan cake, but I had plenty to eat from items that were on Mama’s and my current diet.

We will more than likely do this again soon, and maybe I will be able to get a small piece of the cake at that time.

Pain, planning around the weather

Yesterday I was in so much pain that it was hard to concentrate. There are odd times that I go through these bouts of severe pain in my lower back, often without any identifiable event that could have caused the increase in pain, but for this pain I can track it back to carrying a bag of feed on my shoulder from the shop to the well house. I did that because there was only one bag to carry, and it seemed the fastest way to get the bag to it destination. Not a wise decision and I paid for it. I am far better this morning, but that little episode of pain was a quick lesson in not challenging my abilities beyond what I am currently able to accomplish – which seems to be diminishing far more quickly than I anticipated. To help mitigate the pain this morning I got out the TENS unit and put the pads on my back. One of the advantages of working from home since I will not wear the unit to work. Surprisingly, the unit is now once again functioning properly. When I last used it, it would not work on the TENS mode but only on the massage mode. The TENS is far better for providing relief to my aching back.

Since Mama had gone to Muenster to get feed yesterday evening, I was not looking forward to moving fifteen or more bags of feed from the back of the truck to the pallet in the shop where we store the feed when she got home with the load, but Mama was thinking ahead. She had the feedstore put the bags on a pallet so that I could use the tractor to move the lot in one trip. It required me swapping implements on the tractor front loader, but that is a simple task. So, I swapped the bucket for the pallet forks, moved the pallet of feed into the shop and then swapped back to the bucket. All that took me about fifteen minutes – and I saved my back a lot of potential strain. Thank you, Mama.

Since the forecast if for a lot of rain beginning tomorrow and continuing through next week, I am planning on looking into the hives today. I would like to check the progress the bees have made in drawing out the comb in the honey supers. In one hive I put frames of Permacomb, a plastic equivalent to drawn out comb. In that honey super the bees can begin immediately to fill the comb with honey. I am hoping to get more than one full honey super out of that hive, but I am not sure if that will happen or not. I printed off a blog about harvesting honey so that Mama and I could study on it before we attempted it and the author, who has only four hives as well, stated that he often gets fifteen gallons of honey from his hives. That would be encouraging. I am looking at getting at least the minimum equipment Mama and I need on hand to collect our first honey. That’s exciting.

This evening we will move Midas back into the paddock with Julian and hopefully get the little does back into the paddock with their mommies. That will simplify the feeding next week and ensure all our livestock have a dry place to stay during the rainy week. We are forecast to get over four inches through the week. That would be a huge blessing since many of our tanks and ponds are very low, but I do not know what effect it will have on the guided fishing trip Pastor and I are supposed to go on next Friday. Sometime through the week, I will contact the guide for an update. Rescheduling should not be a problem since both the Pastor and I are pretty flexible but I do not want to miss the opportunity to see Lake Bridgeport from the perspective of a professional guide. Knowing his go-to places on the Lake will be very helpful. Many people go out and second the day fishing coming home with very little to show for their efforts, our pastor included. A free scouting lesson will be put to god use.

Saturday afternoon is the graduation at Bible Baptist Translators Institute. It is always sad to see our BBTI attendees graduate and move on with their lives, often hitting the deputation trail. We have had three couples and two singe students from BBTI with us in church for the entire year. When they move on, they will be sorely missed, but that is the way of life at BBTI and as much as we know it will happen each year, it is still sad to repeat the process every time we must. That graduation and the lunch following will take a chunk out of our time Saturday, but we always enjoy participating and supporting BBTI.

How heavy the rain is on Saturday will determine what else I can get done that day, but I can always find something to do.

Israel, cyberattacks, shopping

For anyone who is a Bible End-Times Prophesy student, the events taking place in Israel now are further proof that the coming of our Lord is nearer than ever. As the United States at the governmental level has largely abandoned Israel to its enemies, Israel has begun on its own to fight back against the rocket attacks launched against it with the force necessary to overcome the threat. As a nation, it is perfectly capable of doing so without help from the outside. This response in self-defense will stir the world to pick a side in the conflict. If we choose Israel, we will do well. If we do not, we will not do well. It has always been so, because God has chosen to bless those who bless Israel; to curse those who curse Israel. Mama and I were talking about this as we drove to church yesterday evening. It is difficult to empathize with those who have had to run to bomb shelters during the onslaught of rocket fire while our lives seem so normal. Yet what is happening half the world away will have a profound impact on our future, quite possibly on our eternity. It makes me wonder if I am making enough of a difference where I can. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, life goes on – mostly uneventfully for us. Other than higher gas prices from the pipeline hacking incident recently, the world does not seem to be shaken much by the conflicts raging around us. Since my whole work life is attached to the oil and gas industry, and thereby the pipeline industry that transports oil and gas, I know that the hacking incident is a big deal. That computer hackers were able to penetrate the firewall of the operator of the pipeline and shut down the operation of the line, speaks volumes of our vulnerability to such cyberattacks. The fact that supply to seventeen states was impacted by the one hack is dangerous on a scale few people recognize. Thankfully, the hackers were not set on causing damage to the pipeline, only on shutting down operation of the line, which the operating company was able to safely accomplish in the middle of the cyberattack. Next time the intent might be more nefarious.

One reporter was gleefully questioning the Whitehouse person in charge of oversight of cybersecurity asking whether the recent successful attack would force the Whitehouse to look at focusing more strongly on alternative energy since the oil and gas industry was so obviously threatened – causing a panic related to gasoline availability. The answer was as silly as the question. Think about it. Hackers got into a company operating system and shut down a pipeline operation. They can just as easily get into the electrical grid and do the same. That type of shutdown would have a far broader impact on the lives of our citizens than causing a shortage of gasoline. The issue is that our computer systems are not safe. The question is, how do we make them safe and what is our response to this threat?

That question was not asked. If our government does not focus there, we are in for a panic the likes of which we have never seen before. Just a few days without power a few weeks ago caused so much damage here in North Texas that we are still repairing systems affected during the power outage. That power outage was due to our government required use of renewable energy sources. Had it not been for the oil and gas fired power plants taking up as much slack as they could, the outage would have been far worse. Thought that was an act of nature versus a cyberattack, it still exposes a vulnerability that should be adequately addressed to ensure we do not repeat the event.

Enough bad news for today. While I am at work today Mama will be on the road. We need feed at the farm so that is on the agenda but to make it a worthwhile day out, Mama is going to Whitesboro to spend some time with Kimberlyn. I think the two of them will spend some time shopping in Sherman, a nearby town that seems to have all the stores Mama needs to visit today clustered together in a small area. That makes things convenient for Mama. Having the company while she does all this shopping makes it a lot more fun for Mama, even though it makes is a bit ore expensive for me. Somehow, Mama tends to spend more when she has a shopping companion. She will pick up feed in Muenster – in the same general area – before she heads home. Were it not for the fact that the feed store closes at 5 pm, I am not sure when Mama would plan on leaving Kimberlyn’s?

She needs the interaction. After all, I am pretty boring to live with.