Months without an r, fishing evening, Mama, getting together

Tomorrow we will enter the period of the year where we work our way through the months without an “r”. There a lot of old wives’ tales about what should not be eaten during those months. Oysters and rabbits among others. Whether or not those have any merit is debatable, but the ideas persist none-the-less. The overarching truth is that Summer is almost upon us. For those of us here in North Texas, this truth will prove itself this weekend as the temperatures fly up into the upper nineties for a day of two. We will have those hot days followed by cooler days for a few weeks yet. Then we will be wholly given over to very hot days through the remainder of the months without an “r”. I do not mind the summer, but that is probably because of air conditioning. The house is always a retreat from the heat. Our bees will love it.

Pastor is coming over this evening to try out the upper lakes. We had originally planned on fishing Monday evening, but the winds were steady at 15 mph. Not a time to be out on the lake. You would think that with the two of us in the 12-foot boat that the wind would have trouble pushing the boat, but that is not the case. We would be blown about like a bobber on the water. It is a little more difficult than blowing a ping pong ball on a tabletop, but not by much. So, when it is that windy, we avoid going out on the boat. It is too frustrating to have to constantly fight against the wind while trying to fish. Last Friday evening, when the winds were up it was very difficult to cast unless you had the wind at your back. Still, a bad day fishing is better than a good day at the office.

This evening should be much better. The water will be very clear since we have not had any appreciable rain and the winds will be still; less than 5 mph. The temperature will be in the mid-eighties. I am not sure what we will find in the upper lakes when we get out on them, but we will give it a try. It will be a little bit more of a challenge to get on the boat onto the upper lakes. There is less immediate access to them than the lower lake, but it is only a matter of a slightly longer walk to access a launch site for the boat. Once in the water, one is the same as the other from the boat. We will figure that out when we have the boat at the lake. The small upper lake has given us some really large bass. I have a hunch the large upper lake will do the same, but that remains to be seen. It will be fun testing the theory. It is certain that the large upper lake has not been fished for a couple decades. It should be fun.

Mama’s business is doing very well. She has progressed within the organization quickly which translates into higher payouts for her sales. So far, this business has proven to be a good fit for her. It may be a little stressful, but it is low impact physically. Which is a good tradeoff because Mama has been hurting a lot lately. Mostly in her knees; including the replaced knee. But lately, her back has been hurting as well. I can sympathize with the back pain. I am starting to be able to sympathize with the knee pain. Some of the issue is how much time she spends reclined on the couch with her legs extended. Some is the result of arthritis setting in. The end of the couch is her office, which serves her well enough for the time being. I am thinking about how to make her a better area to spend her time in, but I have not come across anything yet. I am not sure what I am looking for, but if I continue to think on it and pray about it, the Lord will give me the insight I need. I love living for the Lord.

We will have church this Sunday. There will be some “social distancing” rules in place. No handshaking. No groups in conversation. Every other pew in use. No more than two persons in the restroom at a time. And so on. But we will be together. Some will not attend for fear of the virus. Those who are most vulnerable are being advised to stay home and watch online. Others will stay home and watch online for the convenience of it. I am pleased we are continuing to offer the online services, especially since some of our isolated missionaries are able to enjoy those services. I am looking forward to our congregation being together. Regardless of the restrictions on interaction.

Hopefully, this will be over soon, and we will lose our fear of infecting each other – regardless of the infection in question.

Teaching live classes online, hive tops, rain, more re-purposing

My coworker did a great job teaching the online live class yesterday morning. Since we have set these classes up for four hours, it is less of a strain that it would have been for a longer eight-hour classes. But I am sure those longer classes are on the docket for later this year. We had only four attendees, but it worked out for the best since this we our first attempt at this style of presentation. The program we used did well. Everyone was able to stay connected. Everyone was able to participate in the class. All the required videos and documents were available to the participants when needed. If I had been at home, I would not have been able to participate due to internet issues, but all the participants had good enough connections at each of their locations to stay logged into the class for the duration. All in all, it went well. Mostly because we had a second person acting as administrator for the class to keep up with all the sign in issues and monitor the chat through the class so the instructor could focus on the presentation. All the participants did well on the exam – which was also offered online. It will be my turn next week to be the instructor. If this is our future, it could be fun. We got a lot of very encouraging feedback from the participants. Hopefully, that is a precursor of what is to come.

Yesterday evening, I worked on building tops for the two hives I am piecing together. I have other pieces to assemble or construct over the next few weeks but, I need the tops to be able to rehouse the swarm we have caught. I did not quite get done last night. Fitting the flashing to the top to seal it is the difficult part if I want it to look good. I should be able to do all the final work Thursday evening and have the hive ready for a Saturday swap. We are still not sure it will work, but at least I will have everything I need in place to give it a good try. I have not decided if I will make the swap at night or during the daylight, but I will definitely get the swarm trap out of the tree in the daylight. Probably late evening when all the bees are home for the night. The next swarm trap I hang will be placed so that it is easier to retrieve. But I have to admit that where this one was placed – regardless of the difficulty – it worked quickly. Last weekend, I built a stand for the swarm trap so that it could be more easily set and retrieved, but I have not hung that stand yet. It may go up on the Cantrell’s property. Getting it from that area would satisfy the “two feet or two miles” mantra concerning swarm relocation.

Yesterday we received a bee suit I ordered more than a week ago. It is a jacket and hood only. I will use it and Mama will use the full suit when she gets the chance to work with me on the hives. Sometimes it is nice to have two working together on some of the hive operations. Mostly, I can do the routine things by myself, but, now and then, an extra pair of hands is a huge help. Besides, Mama wants to see the hives up close. Now, we can do that – within Mama’s physical limitations. I will probably wear the full suit for the swap this weekend. I have no idea how those bees will react, and I do not have a smoker to use to calm them down. I do not know if these are “friend bees”. One way or the other, when I start, I will have to see it the entire process through.

We had a storm blow through last night that was all wind and fury without much rain. From the winds, the lightening and the thunder, you would have thought we were going to get deluged with rain. Alas, that was not the case. We ended up with 1/4” of rain. We will take it, but according to the forecast, it was our best chance of rain for the rest of this week and into next week. So, Mama and I will have to start our normal watering routine sooner than expected. Hoses are in place for that very purpose. When the plants and trees are producing fruit, it becomes a labor of love rather than a chore…mostly.

Mama took Kobe to the vet this morning to get her fixed. No more puppies out of Victoria’s two inside dogs. Now the birthing center will be permanently repurposed to a chicken nursery. Hopefully, we can get it moved out of the yard and closer to the coop building this summer.

That will facilitate caring for both the yard and whatever chicks are in the building. Which seems to be very often.

Mama’s business, more new bees, online class

Mama’s business is doing very well. She has so many parties going on that I cannot keep up with them. Thankfully, she can, but to do so takes her a lot of time. It is time well spent. I would estimate that she spends more than six hours every day following the parties and providing the communications required to keep things moving. For Mama, it has become a labor of love and encouragement as she watched her hostesses succeed. Last week she got her first real payday. The amount was more than she was earning every two weeks when she worked for the church school. It was not a huge amount, but it was enough to help with our ongoing needs as well as supply some of her business needs. Right now, every little bit helps. Paydays will follow weekly. That will keep Mama encouraged. Coming in May, she already has several more parties scheduled. I do not know how long this will keep up, but there are ladies in her organization that have been doing this business successfully for years. That is encouraging.

On our way out last night – we had to run to Walmart – I backed the Sequoia up the road towards the gate to the quarry property so Mama and I could get a look at the swarm trap I had put out. Mama and I was very excited to see that we had already caught a swarm. How great is that? We had been told that we were at a perfect location to catch swarms. We had been told correctly. Now what? It is kind of like having a skunk in a live trap. We had to call a local beekeeper to find the answer to that question.

He advised that we get the swarm rehoused in our hive within a couple days. Sadly, I am not prepared to do that yet. To the best of my knowledge, the bees have been in the trap for a couple days at least. Perhaps one week. It will be as late as Saturday before I can make that happen. He thought that would be okay, but he was concerned about the proximity of the hive we will put them in to where the swarm trap is located. Where they are building their home right now. The two locations are potentially to close to make it work and the longer I leave the bees in the trap, the more difficult the successful relocation will be. The bees are very directionally astute. They will have a very strong tendency to go to the hive location they have been servicing (the swarm trap) rather than the new hive location. I will build the remaining parts I need to assemble the two hives I can put together and move the bees into one of those two hives and see if it works out. The beekeeper advising us, James, told us that with swarm traps the rule of thumb is that you move the swarm either two feet or two miles. We did not plan for that contention. If this is a fail, we will try again. It was just nice to see the trap succeed.

I am participating in another online class this morning. We are testing a different system for the training. It looks like it will work well but we are experiencing some difficulty getting it to function as presented. Today will be the pilot of the system with multiple users in separate locations. The last online class we presented was to six users in one location. This morning, the attendees (users) will be in individual locations across the United States. This should be fun. I am here to help with the class and to learn the program. Next week, I will be presenting in the same fashion.

Oh, what FUN!

Minor repairs, fishing guests, services

Friday evening Alex and Leslie invited themselves over to go fishing again. Mama told them about the upper lakes, and they were anxious to see for themselves. I went with them, but we did not have an overly successful evening. In all we caught ten keepers out of the three lakes. For them, the greater portion of fish came out of the lower lake we normally fish. They were excited about it, but it was so windy it was difficult to cast. Still they fished on. After an hour or so, I abandoned them to the lake, and I went home to feed the calf and do some much needed watering. They always drive their own vehicle and I supply them with a key for one of the locks on the gate at the entry to the property, so they were not left completely abandoned. They did not leave the lake until after dark. I felt a little bad for them. I almost went back over after tending to things at the farm to see if I could help them increase their catch, but I was worn out. Fortunately, they did well enough to give them another few fish meals. I am sure they will be back soon.

Early Saturday I made some little repairs here and there in the house and around the farm. I had to swap hoses at the chicken coop so that we could start watering the garden properly. We are planting more and more vegetables as our seedlings mature and the plants we have in the garden – mostly potatoes and sunflowers – desperately needed a drink. Mama and I have to buy a new 50’ hose about every year to replace a degraded one. They last about three years on average. Inside I made a couple quick repairs that I had been putting off for no good reason. It is too often the little things that fail to get our notice until they are not little things anymore. Mama never complains, but when the handle of the front door comes off in her hand when she tries to close it, it is frustrating. Especially when all that is required is a small screw to affect a repair. Shame on me!

Saturday afternoon, Kenny and Kimberlyn came over to go fishing. According to Kimberlyn, it has been years since the two of them went fishing. They were very excited about the outing. They had to buy a couple poles at Walmart on the way over and I supplied line for the reels in that combo package. All of us caught fish. Mostly in the small upper lake. Mama caught her first large bass. That was an interesting moment. I wanted to commemorate the catch by taking a picture of Mama with her fish. So, once I got the fish off the line, I handed it to Mama. The fish immediately fell from her hand because she did not want to really hold the fish as needed. She wanted to kind of pinch the lip of the fish in two fingers. That did not work. It took a moment to catch the flopping fish on the ground and get it back in Mama’s hand for the photo op, but we got it done. She happily gave me her catch and went back to fishing. Kenny caught two large bass and several small ones. I caught five small bass and one large one. I also caught a sizable crappie. So, we went home with a full basket of fish which I filleted out while dinner was prepared.

We were given all the fish since Kenny and Kimberlyn are not any meat right now. They had a seasoned bean, corn and tomato mixture served cold on tortillas for dinner. We added a salad to that and will had a nice dinner together. Victoria spent quite a bit of time talking to Kimberlyn. More than ordinary for Victoria. That was nice to see. Our visitors did not stay too late. Kenny is an early riser which often translates into an early bedtime. It was very pleasant evening. One we will repeat sometime soon.

Sunday services went well. The Pastor had been working with an internet provider and a missionary who is stuck in our area who is very computer savvy, to increase the speed and consistency of our online services. We are making very good progress. Broadcasting the services online will be one of the most beneficial outcomes from this chaos we are enduring. Pastor preached two very poignant sermons. One on what made Daniel stand out in God’s eyes and another on the lists that God keeps. Which list we want to be on. Which list we do not want to be on. Which list we can never be taken off of.

Sunday evening, before the service, Pastor met with the deacons to discuss how we could restart our services while still meeting the guidelines that will ensure we cannot be  accused of infecting anyone who might come to our services. It is a difficult balance in the very fearful environment that has been created around us. No decision has been reached yet, but we all agreed on how to approach populating the church once we open the doors for congregants to attend.

We will know more Wednesday.

Inserts, poor advice has a cost

At lunchtime yesterday Mama helped me don the bee suit and I opened the hives and inserted the feeders into the hives. Donning, putting on, the bee suit was the tough part. I did not think we were going to make it at first because the hood is not easy to attach to the suit. Mama tried to get the zipper parts lined up for several minutes without success. I had to pull the zipper through to get it started and finally Mama was able to zip me into the suit. That suit will be hot this summer, but it is what we have for now.

Once I was protected, I got the pitcher of syrup and the feeders – which are like deep narrow troughs – and headed to the hives. I have a ratchet strap holding the hives to a pallet in case any animals mess with them or in case of high winds. I released that tie down and took off the top of the hive and the inner cover. Once I took off the inner cover, the bees were all over me. Without the hood, I would have been stung many times. I had to remove two frames from each hive to allow room for the feeder to be inserted into the hive. With that in place, I put everything back carefully in each hive and ratcheted them back down to the pallet.

The whole process took less than twenty minutes. Mama watched from afar. The bees were not happy with the disturbance, but they calmed down very quickly. I lifted out a couple of the full frames to show Mama. It will be better when she has a suit as well. I will not leave the feeders in for more than two weeks. By that time the bees will need the frames reinserted into the hive so they can build and fill comb to fill out the box they have started in. A couple weeks after they fill that box – or are nearly done filling it – I will put on the honey super. Those frames will contain only honey when the bees are done. At least, that is the plan. I will not open the hives again until I need to take out the feeders…unless I see a problem. For now, I check the hives daily from the outside just to make sure I see a lot of activity.

Mama and I are talking about where to put this calf in a couple weeks. She is getting bigger and stronger with the twice daily feedings. Plus, she loves being in the open paddock with the boy goats versus spending the day in her stall. She will need a bigger space on the farm, but the fence is not good in some areas of the farm and I fear she could simply walk through the fence at numerous locations. I have fixed those points of exit that were obvious to me, but I am certain I have not gotten them all. I believe she would not go too far, but I hate to think we would have to catch her in a herd of cattle on someone else’s property. So, we are puzzling that through before we have to make the move. Mama wants to borrow a companion cow from one of our neighbors, but I have not warmed to that idea yet. So, we put her in with the goats in the morning and put her back in her stall at night.

Mama did not go with me to the service last night because she need to do a live presentation at 8:15. But at the service, I talked with Pastor to see when he felt we might open the service to our church. He is going to wait until he hears what the governor of Texas has to say before making that decision. Most of our church members are ready to get back together. The risk (which is minimal) is worth the reward. I am praying we open up businesses this weekend. I firmly believe we will look back on this “quarantine” as an abysmal public policy failure. Case in point. Most of us would never allow a doctor to dictate how to live our lives. What to eat. How and when to exercise. Where we were allowed to travel and who we were allowed to meet. Where you could work and what you could do at that job. And yet we have allowed the government to do just that.

Most of us listen to our personal doctor’s advice – which is always restrictive – and apply it as we see fit. “You need to lose fifteen pounds.” we say, “Yeah, I do” and then we go live our lives. What we would not allow is for that doctor to assign us a “body coach” to be with us 24/7 so they could ensure we followed their specific instructions. Most of us would say that that is oppressive. And yet, here we are. Being told what we can buy, where we can travel, what we can eat, and who we can meet. No wonder there are protests. Thank God we are in Texas. What has been done here for compliance is still too restrictive and many households are suffering the effects of those restrictions. This will end soon, and we will find out that it was mostly for nothing. No way to tell if any lives were actually saved. No benefit. No reward. Only loss. As you can tell I am troubled by it. The road to recovery will be a long one. Some businesses will not make it. Some of our friends will lose everything. Some already have. It was a sad trade off but God is still in control.

I am resting in that.

Sprouting, Dr visit, bees, fishing with Mama, watering

About six weeks ago I planted some pecan in cardboard sleeves. I have tended to those little sleeves filled with dirt since that time. I was telling Mama recently that I would give the pecans until the end of the month to sprout before I discarded them. Monday, I saw a tiny sprout. At least I thought it might be a sprout. After observing it for the last few days, I am pleased to say that it is a sprout. In fact, there is another sprout showing from a second of the six nuts planted. I would take a picture, but the sprouts are so small that a picture would not show them well. If things progress as expected, I will take a picture when the leaves start to show. Time will tell whether or not the seedlings will survive to be planted and give us pecans in the years ahead, but it will cost me nothing but patience to follow through on that plan.

I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday morning. My appointment overlapped with Grandma and Grandpa’s appointment. Mama had encouraged them to see our doctor versus the one they were seeing in Bowie. Dr. Aulds is more engaged and diagnostic than the man they were seeing in Bowie. Anyway, my appointment went well. By blood pressure was low. My pulse was low. My weight was lower. The doctor encouraged me to keep up with whatever I am doing with the one recommendation that I take a lower dose of one of the two blood pressure medication. Since I have already been doing that, it will not be hard to apply as instructed. Grandma and Grandpa were very encouraged by their visit with this doctor. Though they will not necessarily follow all her instructions, they were impressed by her approach to understanding their current health conditions and her interest in moving them to a better place in that continuum.

With the bees we have on the farm, since they are not interested in the syrup I have put out for them, I asked Mama to call Donny to see if we could pick up the in-hive feeders I left with him when we transferred the bees into our hives. We drove out yesterday at lunchtime to retrieve them. This morning we will mix the feed as instructed and I will open the hives, check on the bees and insert the feeders into the hive. If I do not do that, I run the risk of the bees dying of starvation or swarming to find a better home. I do not like either of those options. Hopefully, we will not have to deal with either.

When we finished feeding yesterday evening, Mama and I drove over to the quarry to find the lake Ricky had told Mama about. It was not hard to find. It is just above the lake we have been fishing. A wall of rock about 150 feet thick separates the larger lake from the one we currently fish. The third lake is smaller than the other two, but it has a ton of fish in it. Mama and I defaulted to trying the smaller lake for a few casts, then we went to the larger lake. The water in each lake was crystal clear. On my first cast into that lake I hooked a small bass. When I let him go, I cast out again and hooked a monster bass. Mama watched it come out of the water three times as I struggled to keep it on my line. At one point, when I thought I had it, the line snagged on the branch of a willow tree at the edge of the lake and broke. I was very disappointed. Not only did I lose the fish, which will eventually die because of the lure hooked in his mouth, but I lost a very good lure. Mama and I went back to the smaller lake and fished at a different location where I caught five bass. Three I put back. Two were huge. We took them home and filled them. Mama worked on her business while I fished because the reception was so good up at the smaller lake. Those fillets will be supper tomorrow. Hopefully, I will show the pastor the other two lakes later this week or early next week. He will be excited to have that much water to fish in.

Mama and I are having to water our plants already. After getting almost 6 inches of rain this year, we are looking at about ten days without rain. Fortunately, the days are not oppressively hot. Those days are not far away, but we will enjoy the warmth we are getting. It is perfect for the plants we are raising in the garden and all over the farm. Our peach tree is loaded with fruit. The nectarine as well. The blackberry bushes are full of berries. I might actually have too many of them around the farm, but it seemed a waste to not replant all the sprouts the original blackberry bush gave me. I have more than a dozen of the sprouts from the original that are not larger than the plant that spawned them. We should be picking those berries in a couple weeks.

Now if we could get our finances as healthy and robust as our farm, we would be in great shape.

Go, Mama, go! Bee worries, fishing, fish dinner

Mama is doing very well in her business. I am not sure what the payout will be, but the engagement has been far more than we anticipated. Mama is doing six individual, concurrent online parties. That is huge! Several of those parties have amassed an impressive volume in sales, placing Mama in the top ten in her group. Her sponsor is very impressed. Mama is still struggling with the online portion of the business, but her aptitude is growing daily as she helps others to do what she is doing. It is very encouraging to her. It takes a lot of time – which she has plenty of – but every contact seems to yield some encouragement and fosters a great relationship with her hostesses and those she is sponsoring. It is fun to watch.

Our hives are active but the syrup I have put out for the bees as a supplemental feed until the flowers are blooming in full force is not attracting them. I am not sure if I have done something wrong in making the syrup or making the feeder, but I am a little worried about weakening the hive by not giving them what they need to survive right now. When they came in the nucs there was a syrup feeder inside the nuc. I did not take it because I wanted to use the external feeder versus opening the hive to fill the internal feeder. Now, I am not sure I made the correct decision. We have ordered some feeders from Tractor Supply. Those feeders sit in the hive entrance so the bees cannot easily avoid them. Hopefully, I will be able to pick those up today. We will eventually figure this out, but for now I am working within a very narrow time frame to make sure the bees we purchased stay strong and healthy.

We had quite a day fishing yesterday evening. Pastor came over as well as Alex and Leslie. While pastor and I fished from the boat, they fished from the bank. Pastor did very well in the two hours we were on the lake. He caught seven large crappie and three very large bass. I caught two bass and tow crappie. On one of the poles I was using, the line broke twice. The bass I hooked each time was huge and the 6-pound line could not handle the load. I am replacing the line on that reel. For some reason, the lures I had chosen for that trip were not attracting the fish while the lures pastor was using worked very well. Pastor’s line broke twice as well, but we still managed to get a good mess of fish. I will be reoutfitting my rods reverting to the lures I had used successfully on the past two trips.

Alex and Leslie did not do as well this time as they did last time. They caught only four fish. They were all good sized, but they were little disappointed so, I gave them my catch. They were thrilled by that. The last time they had about twelve or thirteen large fish to share with friends and family. Alex told me they had a large group over – about ten people – and had a feast with the fresh fish. Something they are not able to get at the Chinese Market right now. They will do so again with this catch. Just with a smaller group. They ended up with ten good sized bass and crappie. Still not a bad evening on the lake.

As Alex and Leslie pulled into the drive, Pastor and I were leaving the farm with the boat in the back of his truck. Alex had prepared a fish for Mama to cook and brought all the necessary flavorings to use in preparing that fish. Mama started cooking the fresh fish when Pastor and I were back and unloading the boat. It was so good. Mama and I ate that as a very late dinner. Late for our culture. It was about 8 pm when we sat down with the fish and a salad but it was a healthy meal.

Just before Mama and I ate, Ricky called to ask Mama to have the “teenagers” that were still fishing to lock the gate when they came out. He was referring to Alex and Leslie. When Mama told him they were or Chinese friends, he asked that she not tell them he had called them teenagers. I think they would be happy for the mischaracterization. From the distance, I guess they look like teenagers. Anyway, he told Mama we need to try the “upper lake”. Ricky said it had lots more fish and some of the bass are huge in that lake. Another lake to fish. This just keeps getting better and better. Pastor will be thrilled. Mama and I will explore the lake this evening. First, we have to find the road to the lake through the maze of gravel piles on the property. It will be another fun little adventure. If true, it will allow us to share the lake we are now fishing with others without worrying about overfishing it.

Praise the Lord!

Final Bee Prep, pickup and placement

Friday evening and a good portion of Saturday were spent in making the final preparations of the hives so we would be ready to get our bees Sunday afternoon. Late Friday evening, I took an oak pallet and set it in place as suggested by one of the Master Bee Keepers we have in our club. Actually, James is working on the training program that will certify him as a Master Bee Keeper.  Once I was satisfied that the pallet was level and secure where it would sit as a platform for the hives, I picked it up and put it in the bed of the truck. I planned on putting the hives on the pallet as they would be sitting onsite and strapping the hives and pallet in the bed of the truck so we could drive to Donny’s house and get the bees transferred to the hives. I made the last few adjustments to the hives early Saturday morning. I wanted to be sure they would make the road trip without slipping or misaligning the multiple boxes making up the hive.

Once the pallet was in the truck, I put the hives on the pallet and strapped them tightly to the bed of the truck. I had to add strap hooks to the pallet so that once I got home with the active hives, I could strap the hives to the pallet as I used the tractor to move it from the truck to its permanent setting. Fortunately, I had all the little hooks I needed to do so. At that point we were ready to make the short road trip to pick up our bees.

While I was working on the hives this weekend, I also finished up my adjustments to the top bar hive. I attached legs and retrofitted the top to secure it to the hive as well as eliminate the multitude of openings it offered to predators. Wasp and other bees will rob a hive if the bee occupants are not able to guard all the potential entrances to a hive. I had to close up quite a few of those potential entrances. Once I was fairly certain, I had enough done to make it an attractive place for some bees to settle, I got the tractor and put the hive in the same general area as the typical beehives. However, once I go the new beehives set in place Sunday afternoon, I moved the to bar hive to a different location just in case it was too attractive to the bees we just brought to the farm.

Sunday morning Mama did not go with me to the service for fear there would be to many there. We are still abiding to the limitations set in place – whether we agree or not. We keep the attendance to ten or less. Most of those in attendance at the church are there for the production of the online service but we have a couple there just to cheer the pastor on during the preaching. The sermon was just what Mama and I needed. Acknowledging your fears to God and seeking his help in overcoming those fears. I got home in plenty of time to eat lunch and make sure we had all the equipment needed to make the transfer.

We arrived way early, but that did not cause and issue. Donny’s daughter Sarah met us at the gate to his property, got us signed in and took our check. A very efficient 10-year-old. We were given directions to the working site and Mama and I drove down the hill as directed and found Donny working with two other beekeepers who were getting their nucs. Some were being transferred into their hives. Others were loading the nucs into transport vehicles to meet up with beekeepers at a secondary location. Bees were everywhere. Mama and stood watching until it was our turn to participate. It was pretty exciting.  I do not know how many more transfers Donny had to get done, but there were only about four nucs left that I could see when I picked our two from those remaining.

Once in place, I got one hive out of the truck and placed it on the working table, put on my suit and hood and opened up the hive. Donny opened the nuc and worked carefully with me to get the frames transferred into our hive. We took out four empty frames and replaced them with the four full frames. Hundreds of bees on each frame as we made the transfer. Hundreds more were in the nuc box and had to be shaken into our hive. Donny showed me what I was to look for on each frame. We even found the queen on one of the frames in the first box. I did all the work transferring the bees to the second hive. Once we were done, I strapped the hives to the pallet in the bed of the truck, took off my suit and headed home. The whole process took less than thirty minutes.

Just that little bit of time working with the bees took a lot of the fear away. They are not as aggressive as I had imagined. The bee suit kept me protected should they have become angry and the hood kept the bees away from my face without obscuring my vision at all. While l set the hives in place, Mama prepared a syrup mixture to feed the bees. They will need a supplement for several weeks while we wait on nature to provide the flowers they need to feed naturally. I waited until after church to remove the screens I had placed over the opening to the hives. This morning the bees will be able to map their new surroundings. Hopefully, they will eat the syrup mixture.

Since I am in the office this morning, I will have to wait until this afternoon to check on them, but I am anxious to do so.

Happy calf, swarm traps, office work

If Mama was worried about the curious goats bothering the calf, her worries were abated when she, Grandma and Grandpa saw the calf chasing the goats around the paddock. The scene unfolded as they were getting back from their doctor visit/shopping trip in Denton. I was just signing off from work as they pulled into the drive. The calf seems quite content to be in the larger area. Spending her day grazing, eating from the remnants of the bale of coastal hay that has been in the paddock for months, and resting in one of the many sunny places offered. It was good to see her enjoying the freedom to run and jump and chase the goats.

Feeding the calf her bottle yesterday evening was no issue. She knew it was about time to get fed and was looking for me when I entered the paddock. She was on the very far side of the lot, but she saw the bottle in my hands and came running. The only issue was the goats were very curious about the bottle-feeding process and kept crowding in to see what was going on. As they got closer and closer, the calf twisted herself around so she could watch them as she sucked out the contents of the bottle. That made for some interesting maneuvering during the three or four minutes it took her to empty the bottle. I will clean her stall this evening, put in fresh straw and put her in the stall overnight. we are expecting rain over the next couple days and I do not know if the calf will go into the goat barn to get out of the rain. Even though if she were in the field with her mama, she would not have that option. It matters to Mama.

Through the day yesterday, as I took my breaks from work, I worked on the beehives as well as completing the swarm traps. I even got to the point yesterday that I was able to hang one of the traps in a tree I hope is a likely spot to attract a swarm. The tree is at the edge of our property. Adjacent to the road. It took some time to figure out how to safely get the trap into the tree, but I eventually got it in place and baited. I do not know if it will work or not but based on what we have learned in our studies, it should work. It will be nice to test the theories we have been reading and see just how effective they are in practice.

While I was in the process of completing the hanging process, the owner of the property and his wife drove by on their way back from checking their cattle. They stopped to be polite and to ask what I was doing. As I explained what was going on, I asked permission to hang one of the traps (I built three) on his property. He quickly agreed. In fact, he offered to allow me to set up some hives on his property as well. They were excited about the prospect of having active hives in the area. Ricky remarked that it has been more than thirty years since he has seen any active hives. His wife asked if they could get some honey once we began to harvest from the hives? Of course.

I will hang one more trap tomorrow, but I will do it differently. I had trouble balancing everything as I set the trap in place and got the strap around the tree. Obviously, I got it done, but it was not without difficulty. For the next trap I will hang a platform in the tree that will be strapped to the tree. That will allow me to simply set the trap in the shelf of the secured platform. I can then strap the trap to the platform. It should be much easier. Especially if I try to place the trap as high as I did the first one. It is about twelve feet off the ground.

I am in the office this morning. I will work half the day from here and finish out the day at home. One day soon, I will be working for myself from home. I look forward to that day, but for now, I am quite content to work for this company. Whether from the office or from home. They seem content with the work I am doing, and I am content to receive a full paycheck every payday.

God is good.

Deposits, Victoria’s car, shopping with Grandma

It would appear that the stimulus checks are making their way into the bank accounts of those we know. Last night we were told by several people that the deposits had been made into their accounts. They were gleeful at the sudden increase in those balances. Mama and I have not seen that happen for us, but we rejoice with those who needed and received the money. I am not sure if we will get such a check, but it appears likely we will. When? I do not know, but it has proved a blessing to those who have already gotten theirs. Since Mama and I have owed taxes every year for the last several years, I am not even sure if I have direct deposit information on my returns. Plus, we file our taxes through our company, so that will complicate the transaction a bit. God’s timing is always perfect. It will be perfect in this as well.

Victoria will get her car back today. Late yesterday Roger called to tell Mama he could not pinpoint the issue, though he had tried to make the starting issue present itself to him. He has a strong suspicion that the issue is caused by a leaking injector, but that is a difficult thing to definitively isolate since it could be any one of the six on the engine. He did not charge us anything for his diagnostic work, which is good. But he was not able to fix the problem, which is not good. Victoria will have to live with the car as is for the moment. Roger believes the car will eventually start as needed – even if it fails a time or two. Until the situation gets far worse, we will work around it. Victoria is excited to get her car back. She and Mama drove to Bowie early thing morning so Victoria could pick it up.

Later this morning, Mama will be taking Grandma and Grandpa to a doctor’s appointment in Denton. She will be chauffeuring them around most of the late morning and early afternoon. They will be making their stops at WinCo, Sam’s and Kroger’s. This trip will be Grandma and Grandpa’s grocery outing for the month. They stock up on what they need and buy little bits as needed to supplement through the remainder of the month. It is better for them to limit their time out right now. Whether the danger be from the flu, a cold, or the corona virus. They are in the most effected age range and have the underlying comorbidity issues associated with deaths credited to any of the above seasonal infections.

Since Mama had to rush out of the house to get Victoria to her car this morning before Victoria was scheduled for work, I had to feed the calf her bottle. While I was doing so, I walked the calf into the boy goat paddock very near where we have her little stall. She was so focused on her bottle that she gave little heed to the fact that I was leading her somewhere new. I felt like she needed to get some exercise and have something to graze on. She, upon finishing her bottle and realizing she was in a much larger area, began to explore the area. As she got her bearings, she began the little skip dance that baby animals do. Their happy dance. She ran at top speed along the fence adjoining the quarry lake property and bawled at the cows she could see through the fence. She really needed the extra room. She eventually settled down. I will be checking on her through the day to make sure the goats are not bothering her too badly, but for the moment, they seem disinterested and she has found the hay we have in the paddock for the goats. That really captured her interest.

Pastor is supposed to come over this evening to go fishing. It should be a beautiful day to do so. He still has our portion of the catch from the last time we were out on the quarry lake. Hopefully, we will get stocked up on fish before the dog days of summer hit. At most fishing spots the fish stop biting through those very hot times. Besides, it is just too hot to be out on the water in those times.

So, we are making the most of the opportunity while we can.

Online class, visitors, weather

I was in the office yesterday morning for the online class presentation. I was happy to be a part of the pilot. There are definitely things we will need to improve upon, but overall, it went well. Claude did an excellent job with the presentation and pace of the class, meeting the timeline easily. My supervisor was also in the office listening in on the presentation. I was told that we are piloting another such offering in the near future and was asked to be a part of the development group. I am not sure we will need to do the online classes for much longer, but I can certainly lend my help to the project. I left the office as the tests were being handed out. Mama needed me at the house to help her get whatever was bugging her taken care of as we prepared the house for visitors. I am still not sure why we will live with a mess until we have to share the space with someone outside the home, but that is how it is.

Yesterday afternoon, the Miller family came out to the farm. Eleven in total. Eight children ranging in age from four to seventeen, the mom and dad and the grandmother. Mama made brownies and decorated them with Caleb’s – the birthday boy – name. I made banana bread muffins, which finished right before they arrived. Those were a very big hit. I was surprised to have three left at the end of the visit. I am sure several of the boys were just being polite. Coming fresh out of the oven, they were able to lather them with butter. Mama and I buy only real butter, having long ago abandoned any commercial substitute. I guess the kids had not had real butter in a long time. They were fawning over it throughout the visit. Mama and I will have to buy the family a block of real butter for them to have in the home. It is generally the simple things that bless us the most.

We toured the farm with our visitors, played with the dogs (especially Mocha), held the chicks, fed the bottle calf and just generally enjoyed the quite freedom our farm allows young visitors. It was too cool to stay outside too long. Most of the coats and jackets the family had access to had been packed away so Mama and I provided temporary replacements for them so we could spend the time that we did in the chilly wind. The temperature was near 40° and the wind was steady at fifteen miles per hour. I was not dressed warmly enough to stay out too long either.

When we got back in, we had a little birthday celebration for Caleb. Ice cream and brownies. It was not much, but the family enjoyed it. Mama had a few little gifts and more silly string and confetti eggs. Both were used liberally. We all had a great time visiting. It has been too long such things have been disallowed. It is high time to go back to living our lives. As exemplified yesterday, that is where we get to enjoy the pleasures of this life…in sharing what we have with others. It was not much on our part to open our home and bake some goodies, but it was a real highlight in the week for our visitors.

I got sufficiently chilled Monday evening while we were fishing, that I fear I will not be able to sing this evening. Yesterday, my voice was scratchy, and my throat was just a little sore. I took some elderberry syrup later last night and will repeat that several times today. If I cannot sing, I will have to let the pastor know by this afternoon so he can get Zach to replace me for the shortened song service. I should know for sure by lunchtime. If I cannot sing, we will not attend the service. Mama will be disheartened by that.

This cold is supposed to dissipate over the next several days. Fortunately, it has not gotten to freezing. But it has gotten close. So far, the plants have accommodated the cool overnight temperatures without shedding the fruit developing on their branches. Hopefully that will continue until we get some more warmth. In less than a month we should be able to gather blackberries, blueberries, peaches, and nectarines. Too bad Cathryn is not here to harvest blueberries. She really enjoyed picking and eating them right off the bush. Where they are relocating, she should be able to pick local blueberries next season. Soon after the berries and tree fruit are harvested, we will have grapes for the first time. My grapevine is doing very well in the bed behind the house. It has nearly filled the trellis I build for it.

This looks like it will be a great year for our plants and our garden. Time will tell.

Birthdays, fishing with Alex, live on-line class

The one time I got away from the house yesterday was to participate with Mama in a “birthday parade” for Nathan, Trace’s youngest boy. Mama had gone out to get silly string and confetti eggs for the drive by birthday, so she wanted me to drive while she bombed Nathan. I have to admit that it was fun. I am not sure how many others had been by the house, but we did what we could to give Nathan a happy birthday. And today, those birthday activities will continue as Joshua and Alicia celebrate birthdays today (Joshua) and tomorrow (Alicia). Also, today, one of the Miller boys is celebrating a birthday, so they are coming to the farm. It will give the kids a chance to stretch their legs and see Mama’s little zoo. They will not stay long this time. They are headed to a relative’s house in Gainesville for an actual birthday party. I like the drive by idea. It saves a lot of money hosting a party and it does not restrict the invitation list at all. Anyone who wants to can participate. – and you don’t have to feed or entertain them. In our current isolation stratagem, it is a great idea. One we might want to keep going. I vote yes.

Yesterday afternoon, Alex and Leslie came over to go fishing. We were at the lake about 4:40. We started catching fish right away. I caught two bass and a small crappie. Leslie caught a large crappie. It was almost an hour before Alex caught his first crappie. We tried several places and had limited success by my standards, but my Chinese friends were overjoyed. They had been fishing several times at Bridgeport lake and had caught nothing. This was really exciting to them. It was fairly cool for this time of year – about 52°. I wore a vest over a long sleeves shirt and was okay for a while. but after a couple hours, I started to get chilled. The wind was steady at about 15 mph. I told Alex and Leslie, I needed to get out of the cool air and they told me they would walk back to the house if I did not mind leaving them to continue fishing. By that time, we had caught about twelve nice bass and crappie. Many had been thrown back. We were only looking for the bigger ones.

I left them there about 7 pm. I went back to the farm and fed the calf her evening bottle, helped Mama with a few late evening chores and drank a little hot broth. About 8:15 I drove over to the lake to check on Alex and Leslie. They were just starting home. I do not think they realized how long a walk it was going to be. They had the bucket of fish between them supported on their two fishing poles while they carried all the other items we had brough for our evening fishing trip. They were obviously struggling with the weight of the bucket of fish the water used to cover them. They had only just started the long walk home when I met them. They were delighted to see me. Once we were offloaded at the house, we talked about splitting the catch, but I told them to keep all the fish. The only thing I asked is that Alex cook one of the fish the way they normally do so I could share that meal with Mama. He quickly agreed.

This morning, we are doing our first ever online Instructor Led Training from the office. One of my coworkers is presenting the class. It is set up to be a refresher class for a group of individuals that have taken this class multiple times. The client we are presenting to is a long-time client and agreed to be the guinea pig class for this premier presentation. I am curious to see how it will go – especially from the presentation angle. One of the things that brings a class to life is the participation and engagement of the participants. Here, there will be no face-to-face interaction. Only a live stream. One on one, that is effective. Think Facetime. But in a group or classroom setting it is fragmented. Those who would be reluctant to be drawn in in an in-person classroom setting will be very reluctant to participate in this setting. They have no reason to do so. But we will see.

It is something that is long overdue. I have been after our management for three years to offer something like we are doing this morning. My idea has been to produce a computer-based course for this need versus doing something live. I believe we will lose something in delivery if we try to do only remote classes, but I will not make that decision. we will learn from this one and make all the required improvements as we learn.

Ready. Fire. Aim.

Long weekend update

Friday, Mama and I tag teamed the moving in the barnyard lot. It took us three hours to complete. She used her mower and I was on the tractor with the bushhog. It was fun, but it really kicked in my allergies. As is customary with Mama at one point she bit off a little too much and ended up in the tank/pond with the mower. It was very easy to get her out, but we had to go to the shop to get a strap to hook to the mower. We finished about 11 am and ran some errands to get a few supplies for a cookout we had planned for Friday evening. We also delivered some fried potatoes and onions to Bro Plumley. He was excited just to have someone to talk to in person. So many are getting so lonely in this enforced isolation.

I fired up the grill at 3:30 and Trace and his crew came over about 4 pm. By the time they got to the farm I already had ears of corn on the grill. I left them there the entire time we were visiting prior to cooking some burgers and throughout the time we finished the burgers. I have had to use out charcoal grill in lieu of the smoker that has now been returned to its owner, but everything came out well enough. Lastly, I put on some chicken breasts. Mama had baked beans, potato salad and macaroni salad. Krystal brought some slaw. We had a great supper. Afterwards, I took Trace and the boys fishing at the quarry lake. We had a wonderful time. Together we caught over thirty fish. Nathan was the last to start catching fish. I swapped out his lure several times before I hit the right combination of weight and color for his rod, but when I did, he really started to have fun. Even trace, who spent most of the time either getting fish off the boy’s lines or taking pictures, caught several large bass. One was more than three pounds. All the fish were thrown back. Neither Trace not I felt like spending the time required to clean the catch. That’s okay, we will go back and catch them again soon enough.

Saturday, Mama and I worked in the garden early. We were expecting rain, but it had not come so we tilled a bit. Hilled up the rows of potatoes and I built cages to corral the blackberry bushes. I made what resemble large tomato cages to help the very long branches of the bushes stand up versus dragging the ground or lay on everything around them. They are loaded up. Mama and I will have plenty of blackberries from both out thorn-less and our wild blackberry bushes – which have plenty of thorns. I tilled a row for sunflowers and a spot to some cucumber seeds to be planted. All of that got done only minutes before the rain came. Over the course of the day we got about ¾ of an inch total. Plenty for our garden plants and trees. While it was raining, I started some seeds on paper egg cartons. If those germinate, they will be relocated to the garden. For once, we are just about on time with our garden.

Sunday, we had great services. Jake texted a picture to Mama of him and his family watching the Easter morning service on their big screen TV. Mama was excited. When we told the Pastor that evening, he was excited. Pastor was told of one young man that got saved Sunday morning. He was ecstatic. With the upgrades in internet, the publication of the service seems to be smoother. The only constraint is that the Facebook app times out at one hour, so we have to meet that timeframe. People online are giving me good feedback about the music. We only do two songs per service, but it still seems to add to the services.

After church last night Mama was asked to take some photos of the Miller family. They are missionaries on deputation living in the house next to the church since they are prohibited from traveling. They were all dressed up for Easter and did not want to skip the family tradition of getting those yearly photos. As we prepared for the photos the younger boys were talking to me about the music. They said, “You usually do one long sone and one short song, but tonight you did two long songs.” “The songs this morning were really high. You had to sing ‘like a girl’ high, but you sounded good.” I loved that comment. It is their grandma that has been playing for our song service and she does such a wonderful job with the music. As we were getting ready to leave, the oldest son shook my hand and said, “It’s just really good just to talk to someone.” We are going to have them over this week. Just so we can let them talk.

It will be good to get back together as a church family when that actually happens.

Church, a really large snake, holiday weekend

Mama and I got to go to church last night. The sermon seemed to be just for us. It was the direction and encouragement we need right now. I am sure others felt the same, but it was nice to be there in person. We have been using a cell phone to stream the services and until last night that has worked well enough. But last night the cell phone dropped the app and shut down the broadcast. Pastor was every near the end of the sermon when it happened, but it demonstrated the need to get a better system in place. The app was opened and restarted fairly quickly, but the interruption was painfully obvious. Pastor did his best to finish once the broadcast service was restarted, but you could tell it really fragmented his train of thought. Now, if you look, there are two recordings on our website – unless our foundling technicians deleted the one cut off by the interruption. So many people commented on the page about losing the service that it was impressive to me. Maybe that added to the difficulty of getting the signal started again. Maybe not. It was all good. We average about 400 hits per broadcast from as far away as Africa and India. That shows the reach of such a simple electronic app.

Immediately after church, Mama made the calf’s bottle as I changed. Sadie was ready to eat. She downed the entire bottle in a couple minutes as I tried to swat at mosquitoes. Feeding her, closing up the chicken coop and turning off the lights in the well house – where we have the chicks – is part of a normal night routine. It takes me about twenty minutes to get all that done so I was surprised when I went back inside to find Mama still in her church clothes. She was waiting on Ernie and Raylinda to come. Raylinda was picking up something from Mama and Mama did not want to be in her PJ’s when they arrived. They were taking longer than she had expected and when they did arrive, they pulled part of the way into the drive and stopped. When Mama went out to greet them, she saw why.

There was a snake that stretched almost all the way across our driveway. It was about seven feet long. Impressive. So, Mama called me out to look. When we interrupted the snake from getting where it was going, it was not happy. Since it was at a disadvantage being on the ground, it climbed up the fence and started slithering along the top rail of the fence. Showoff. From that position it made several threatening moves toward me and Ernie, but it was basically defenseless. On Mama’s insistence, I went to the shop and got a piece of 2x4 to kill the snake. I did not kill it but I knocked it out for a few minutes. Long enough to let all of us disperse. I may have injured it sufficiently that it will die from those wounds, but it is hard to know with snakes. They are very resilient. I did notice that it was very thin. Not fleshed out. It has probably just come out of hibernation only days ago and was hunting its first meal in months. It is always a shame to me to have to kill them. Snaked do us a great, albeit, unseen favor controlling the rabbit and rat population. When they get tot the chicken coop, unfortunately, they have to go.

Tomorrow is a holiday. Praise the Lord! Our observance of Good Friday. This will be an unusual Easter nationwide. Mama and I will get to attend the service but most of our congregants will attend electronically. Hopefully, we will be able to use the video camera we have at the sound booth in the back of the church for future broadcasts. A stronger broadband service was installed in the church yesterday afternoon which will allow us to live stream services for the foreseeable future. Our shut-in community is thrilled about the prospect. Pastor is okay with the idea, but he has resisted it for some time. Now it is happening. I think overall, it is a good thing. We still have a few technical items to work out, but by Sunday, we ought to be able to begin a live stream that will continue every service.

Now we just need the right people in the sound booth to handle the more technically advanced needs of live streaming.

Goat trimming, unexpected doctor’s call, a great catch, Mama’s mower mishap

Foremost on the agenda yesterday was getting one of our young bucks to the vet to have them trim back a horn that was curving downwards into the skull. This goat, along with six others was dis-budded several months ago, but the horns still showed some growth on three of those six. It does not look horrible but, it is disappointing to see any growth. On this one, Mama has been worried for some time about one of the little horns curving sharply back toward the top of his head. The vet was able to schedule the appointment. I was home to catch the goat and put him in a cage in the back of the truck. Mama was free to make the appointment. The vet was able to easily remove the growth. She even showed Mama what we could do in the future to remedy the situation. So, it all worked out. Getting those appointments scheduled right now is a bit tricky.

I had a surprise video call from my doctor yesterday. She had been given the results of my recent cardiology visits and wanted to talk with me about those findings. She also wanted to put me on a cholesterol drug immediately. I am not in favor of taking the medication, but I will follow protocol for a few months until we can get another blood test to determine if my cholesterol really is high. One test is not conclusive to me. The doctor agreed. She is being a bit more aggressive in my treatment since there is a clear indication that I had a heart attack already. I was not surprised by the news. I can remember the time it happened. I do not remember the calendar date, but it was a Sunday morning. We were getting ready for church. The pain, the sweating, the anxiety, the nausea were classic symptoms, but it passed in about fifteen minutes. I changed my shirt and t-shirt and finished getting dressed. No real issues since then – until now. Once the societal panic over this virus has calmed, I will be scheduled for an angiogram to determine if there are any blockages that need to be dealt with. It is a wake up call for me to start eating more healthy choices and lose weight.

Pastor and I went fishing yesterday afternoon for about three hours. We caught about thirty bass and crappie. I took a fish basket to put the fish in as we caught them. When we filled that up, Pastor started using the one he had brought. When we filled his up, we got out a stringer and began to fill that up. We set out three juglines but did not catch anything on them. It is probably just as well. As pastor set out the out the juglines, I caught five fish. I caught three more before he started hooking some bass. By the end of the three-hour tour, we had both caught to our heart’s content. we found another place I can access from the bank that is populated heavily with crappie. I may check it out Friday morning since we are off that day. Pastor took all the fish home with him to fillet out. Both our families will have enough for several fish dinners over the next week or two. It is a good thing fish are on my heart-healthy list.

When we got back and sowed the boat, I ate a sandwich as Mama described her mower mishap. She was mowing in the nanny goat paddock when she drove over a cable hidden in the deep grass. The cable has been there for the entire time we have owned the farm, but we never paid much attention to it. I believe I had at one time wound it up and placed it on a knot on the tree, but obviously, it had fallen down and been dragged out by the goats. The mower was sitting where she had shut it down.

Since I did not want to work on the mower in that tall grass, I took a hacksaw and cut the cable away from the mower so we could move it to the shop. Once that was done, I got the car ramps and Mama drove the mower onto the ramps. That put it high enough for me to position myself under the deck to look at the tangle of cable around the blades. I actually like those kinds of puzzles and it had not gotten would too tightly. It was all unwound in about ten minutes. There was no visible damage to the mower since Mama had reacted quickly to the event. She finished up mowing the paddock and even mowed a bit in the boy’s paddock, parking the mower just at dark.

It was a good evening all around.

Plumley’s request, Honduras needs met, A simple poem

Mama and I had a very busy day yesterday. Nothing urgent, just one thing after another. It was a little frustrating, but at the same time it was kind of nice. Nice to be doing. Nice to be needed. Nice to be busy. I am encouraged by the help Mama is getting on her Color Street business. She has been carefully guided through several issues which all have been quickly resolved. When her sponsor does not know how to resolve an issue, she knows who to call. Last night they tracked down an issue for Mama that turned out to be a simple typing error in a website address. Mama did her little “happy dance”. Of course, it is only an upper body happy dance, but the resolution of the problem earned both a Yeah and Woo Hoo. It was a big deal.

Somewhere during the day Bro Plumley called Mama with a request. He left a message on Mama’s phone that he needed her to do something for him. It was not until Mama and I were out getting some supplies to finish cleaning the coop that she called him back. We did not get started on the coop cleaning until about 5 pm and found that we had no lime to put down on the floor of the coop. Tractor Supply was closing early so we ran to another feed store in our area and bought some specially processed straw Mama has used in the past to put down instead. Anyway, Mama called Plumley on the way. He took a minute to state what he needed, but it made me and Mama smile. “Would you bring be some fried potatoes and onions? I haven’t had any in a long time and I just got to thinking about that.” Of course, we will. He is being observed more closely right now because he took a short walk yesterday and got in trouble for leaving the nursing home. Everyone is more than slightly paranoid about the current new virus. This too shall pass, in fact, we will look back on this some time from now and ask ourselves, “What were we thinking?” Mama set the delivery date for the special breakfast item for Thursday morning.

Cori let us know last night that several churches in the Stated have sent extra monies to the missionary families on her team. Enough money that they have been able to supply meals to over 500 families in their church and the areas where they typically run their busses. Somewhere they were able to buy some staples in sufficient quantity that many have been provided for. They are calling it their COVID-19 Ministry.

Their team leader, Matt, has a special pass that allows him to move about the city while the rest of the city is under a very strict quarantine. Grocery stores are closed to the public, but Matt has connections through the church that give him access to food goods that he can purchase to be given away. He also called several church families who he know would have extra to share and they each quickly gave of what they had to be distributed to the families they wanted to help but could find no way to do so. It is impossible to know what the Lord will do with this simple ministry, but when a family has no food available to them, the supply that Matt and Nate were able to give is miraculous in its timing. Life sustaining. Praise the Lord!

My company has made several HR adjustments during this unusual time and I wanted to say thank you to our management team. The Lord gave me a poem and my manager sent it out to those individuals.

He Knows my Needs

When times are hard

And hope seems lost in knowing.

He knows my needs.

When life is hard

And I struggle to keep going.

He knows my needs.

When neighbors fear

And I their fear am showing

He knows my needs.

His blessings coming now.

I know I’ll make it through.

He knows my needs.

Some of those needs

God met for me through you.

He knows my needs.

Your willing heart

Is something that He knew.

He knows my needs.

You gave to me

Far more than I was due.

Because He knows my needs.

Thank you for all you have done for me.

Timothy O Kline March 2020



Feel free to use it if you can as a thank you to those who have helped you.

God is good!

Dreary weekend, actual church

Mama and I had planned to drive to Lawton Saturday, but we backed out given all the unknowns caused by the state and local quarantines. We need to go as soon as it is feasible to do so, but yesterday did not seem like the right time. Mama and I could not be certain that we could meet with our realtor. He ahs been somewhat evasive. Nor could we be certain that we would find places to get gas and go to the bathroom. We probably could but you never know. Nor are we certain that we are allowed to travel interstate without express permission. Weird times. The United States is looking more like Europe than the United States. Having made that decision, we accepted Trace’s request to keep the kids while he and Krystal spent the day together shopping. It is the only full day they have had together in three weeks. The boys are not a problem and Victoria and Mama love having a baby in the house.

It was raining off and on all day Saturday. Temperatures never got out of the forties. The winds blew hard throughout the entire day. When I worked in the shop, I was dressed for winter with all the doors closed. It reminded me that I need to take the time and seal the openings over the roll up doors on the north and south end of the shop. Even the chickens did not venture too far out of the shelter of the coop. They were hunkered down inside the building until late in the afternoon. When we opened them up to forage outside of the coop yard, they flooded out in spite of the drizzle. We have adopted the practice of leaving them in the coop yard until late in the afternoon. Partly to keep them out of the garden and partly to keep them closer to the coop so we can steer them away from the coyotes. The longer they are out, the farther they roam from the coop. Making them easy prey for the scavengers. Even still they go too far afield to satisfy Mama.  When the Lord gives us the money, we will install a better fence on the south and west sides of our property. That will help us control the predators a little better that the rickety barbed wire fence we now have in place.

Mama has chicks in the garage. Two batches that are about a week apart and the slightly older batch is at the point that the tote we have them in is not adequate to house them. So, I set up the large cage we typically use in our progression in the swell house for her to house the chicks until we move them to the Banty house and then to the coop. Integrating them into the coop is always a traumatic experience for Mama. Per her request, I installed two roosts per side in the large cage. That will help the little ones find space to sleep without squatting on the floor of the cage. Mama does not like that arrangement. That transition will happen today. At least with the first set of chicks. I have installed the cage in the coop in times past, but Mama was not thrilled about that idea this time around.

It is interesting to see the difference in the breeds of chickens. The first set of chicks is wild and flighty. Mama cannot fool with them without them squawking and flailing around. The other group is so calm, they will approach Mama and hop into her hand. They seem to love the attention. We will see how they grow, but it is an interesting dynamic to see in such little ones. The wild ones will eventually calm down somewhat. They always do, but for now, you can expect a panic every time you approach them.

Pastor called me Saturday to ask if I would be willing to lead a couple congregational songs for each service. Of course. I was praying he would ask. So, yesterday, Mama and I actually got to go to church for both services. There were only a few people there. Less than ten. Mostly the “film” crew, the pastor, me and Mama, and a couple men there to cheer on the pastor. It was wonderful. We had all gone to the church Friday night so Victoria could update her new computer and so Mama could get a party on the books electronically. We needed a faster internet connection than we can get at the farm. I told Mama it was nice to be in church even though we were not there for services. So, when the pastor called, I was ready to agree to his request. We will continue with that arrangement until we are able to have regular services. Hopefully soon.

This week will be another worked largely from home. I think most everyone at this company is ready to get back to work in the office. I know I am.

No fishing, Mama goes live, a good dunking

I thought it was strange that as the day drew on that the Pastor did not contact me about fishing. It was a dreary day yesterday. Windy with patches of rain followed by times of bright sun. It may not have been the best day to go fishing, but it was not much worse than a couple other times we went out. About 3 pm I texted the Pastor. No response. Then I called. No answer. So, when I got off work, I fed for Mama and got some things together so I could at least retrieve the juglines I had set out. I had located the juglines on my lunch hour, and was fairly certain that three of the six I put our were empty, but I did not want to leave them out in case there was a fish on them and it died solely because of my carelessness.

I fed for Mama because at 4 pm – when I got off – she was going live on Facebook for the first time ever. She had spent the day dreading the moment. She wrote out a script for the occasion. She debated not doing it at all. But finally, she resolved to go through with it. Showered, did her makeup, dressed to the nines – earrings and all – and got set up to be seen online. She chose a spot at the dining room table with the coffee bar in the background. We could not find a good way for station her phone to have her hands free for the presentation. Nothing came to mind, so she had to hold her phone throughout the short presentation. About ten people joined her live stream. The whole idea behind the live stream was to draw a winner for the contest Mama had put on and to get word out about her business. It worked well. Now she has a bunch of new contacts and her first online party is now on the books. Mama is getting comfortable with the online portions of her business. She is not proficient yet, but that is sure to come.

Back to my excursion to the lake. There was so much wind when I was headed out, that I abandoned any thought of using the boat. Since I do not have a battery to use for the trolling motor, I would have had to use the small oars I inherited with the inflatable boats. That did not seem feasible. So, I took one fishing rod and climbed down the steep bank on the west side of the lake to get near the water where one of the juglines was resting. I was able to draw it in but just as I got the line in my hands the rock I was keeling on collapsed from under me and I tumbled into the lake. It was a very short fall into relatively shallow water. I had my life jacket on incase that very thing happened. So, I was in no danger at all. But I was soaked through instantly.

It took some energy to scramble up the steep bank. Once at the top, I sat down and drained the water out of my gum boots. There was one more jugline I thought I had access to so I sloshed over to that line and tried to retrieve it, but it must be caught on a branch or rock because it would not budge. Using the pole and hook I had with me, I snagged the jug several times without budging it. When I finally hooked it firmly enough to give it a really good tub, the line on my pole broke. I had to leave that one as well. I will get the pastor’s help retrieving the lines the next time we go out. At this point I am fairly certain I did not catch anything. However, there is still one jugline that was taken by something large enough to pull it underwater. That jug has not resurfaced.

Getting home was problematic because I did not want to completely soak the seat of the truck. I used a cold bag to keep me off the seat as I drove the truck back to the house. Even still, the driver’s seat got pretty wet on the sides. Hopefully, it will dry out before Mama needs to drive it. Victoria’s car is still with Roger, so the truck is our only transportation at the moment since Victoria is using the Sequoia to get too and from work. It will all work out eventually.

By the way, the Pastor called me about 6 pm. He had forgotten completely about fishing and had been tasked with getting a large bale of hay to his son’s home. About a 90-minute drive from here. We have not scheduled a new date to get back out on the lake…but I am sure we will soon.