Land News, bad weather, Victoria, Grammy

Mama contacted a local realtor we have worked with in the past and asked if he had any leads on land near us. She specified twenty to thirty acres in her request. He was, as always, quick to reply to her. Yesterday morning, he sent her three listings. All of them would be nice properties, but all of them were too far out for us to use for the project we are planning. She replied with thanks and narrowed her request to land with easier access to our local highways. That land will not be as cheap as the initial offerings he sent, but there is no sense in buying somewhere too far afield for renters to come. People are funny that way. Just the distance of two or three miles makes a huge difference to renters. They are not looking for peace and quiet. They are looking for convenience. In order to attract the right renters, that is what we must offer. Regardless of the increased start up cost involved. As nice as it would be to get land for the price at which these parcels were offered, it would have been a waste of money to do so. We are not pressed for time. The realtor is not an anxious man. He will continue to give us listings until we narrow our search to the property the Lord wants for us.

Yesterday evening, I held off on dinner until I had worked a couple hours on the lot I am trying to finish. The weather is supposed to be bad today – thunderstorms, high winds, hail and periods of heavy rain. I will not be working outside tonight. But yesterday I was able to put up fencing on the long part of the lot. I have only to pull it taught to complete that portion. On Saturday, Lord willing, I will weld up the gate and finish the front with a cattle panel. Once I get that done, I will lay out a small shelter made from pallets, skinned with metal siding. That worked very well in the large paddock, but I do not need anything as large as the structure I built there. This one will be two pallets deep and three pallets wide. Tall enough for Mama and I to work in, but more of a lean to than a barn.

With the goats we have, it does not need to be a fortress. It only needs to be sturdy enough to endure the storms we have at the farm. I am trying to make all the structures I build suitable for stock other than goats in case Mama and I sell the farm at some point and the new owner has horses or other livestock that needs to be separated and sheltered. But I do not want to invest too much time or money in the shelters. I have rearranged portions of the farm enough to know that what we need today will need to be removed or repurposed to meet some future need. Everything I have assembled has been done so with that in mind – excluding the shop and the coop. Those are dedicated purpose buildings. Anyway, if we need to use the lot before the shelter is complete, I will put the large igloo now in the second paddock – which abuts the new lot – into this lot. That will be sufficient for a temporary shelter for the weanlings.

Mama is headed to Bowie today to get the oil changed in the Sequoia and, more importantly, to meet Victoria for a second birthday lunch. Today is her actual birthday. I get the impression that she is both excited and depressed about this birthday. Perhaps Mama and Grandma can cheer her up at lunch. Her pre-birthday lunch last Saturday was kind of a bust, so I think Mama is hoping to make it up to her. Last week at work Victoria was nominated for Tech of the Year by her boss. Again, she had mixed emotions about that accolade. Thankful for the recognition. Dreading the fanfare and the photos requisite with the nomination. Pray for Victoria. She is seeking purpose for her life, but I don’t think she is quite ready to find that purpose.

Sunday afternoon Mama will leave for a Brittany’s. She will spend the week there helping with the twins as Brittany continues in her new job. It will not be a hardship for Mama. She is looking forward to the extended time with Zoe and Sophia. She is not looking forward to the time away from the farm or from me, but we are both thankful for the fact that they are close enough that such a time is practical. We know that will not always be the case, so, for now we are taking full advantage of the proximity.

Go Grammy!

Mama’s phone, our Savanna, Randy. house news

Mama took her phone to the Apple store yesterday. The store is about an hour away from where we live but is in an area with enough stores around it that Mama could make the trip work on several levels. We expected the repair to take some time and further expected to wait for a technician for a while. So, I was surprised when Mama called me about 10:40 to tell me she was done. The phone was reset, and all the mistakes had been corrected. Going in the morning had been a good choice. The technicians were not busy yet, so Mama got helped as soon as she arrived. The reset/repair took about forty minutes to complete. No charge. Now Mama’s phone is working much better. It no longer thinks it is an iPhone 7 or that it is my phone. I only wish my confusion would be so easy to solve.

Over the past few days Cori has shared with us some of the hilarious things Savanna has said. That poor child is way ahead of her age. She was confiding in her mommy a few days ago that she wanted to marry one little guy they know, but he would not talk to her. So, she left off with him and looked to another little fellow, but he talked too much. Oh, the hardships of picking out the right husband when you are only five years old. Later she told her daddy that she wanted to pick out her house. She is into this marriage thing pretty deeply. When her daddy told her that it would be best for her to wait and let her husband pick out their house, her response was, “But he’s not a good picker.”  She then asked if it was better to get married at six years old or seven years old. Her daddy said that was not going to happen until she was twenty-six years old. She did not like that arrangement. We will be much in prayer for the future spouse of this child. Staying ahead of that quick little mind will be a constant challenge for her parents…and her grandparents.

I was feeling pretty rough when I got home yesterday evening. Nothing specific. Just overall feeling poorly. In Spanish they call it “la gripa” After we ate a small dinner, I laid back in the recliner and slept for about twenty minutes. I did not feel any better, but I did not feel any worse. I struggled through getting ready for church and we all went. I am always glad when we go to church. Last night was no exception. Being around our church family is always uplifting. Mama and Victoria got their baby fix with Savanna; Trace and Krystal’s youngest. I got to speak some Spanish with a man who is attending BBTI this year. The pastor preached on experiencing the Lord in our lives. His salvation. His leading through His Word and by the Holy Spirit. His provisions for our lives. All areas of our lives. His attentiveness to our prayers and the answers to those prayers that can only be attributed to Him. His correction and instruction in our daily walk. It was a great sermon. It was a great time with friends and with the Lord.

Mama and I contacted Randy a couple nights ago. If possible, we will use him to build the mini-homes we want to build in the next year or so. It will take a lot of planning and a lot of money to get this done, but we are starting to explore the options. We are currently in contact with a bank to get the paperwork in place to arrange the financing for such a project. We are in the infant stages, but Mama is completely on board with the project. In fact, she is the motivating force behind the forward progress. Contacting the banks. Contacting local realtors. Shopping land listings. She really wants to get this done. We are only about eighteen months and 1.2 million dollars away from collecting rent on the little homes. So close. Randy is about as excited as Mama is. I am very interested, but I have a lot of work ahead of me. Especially as we work to convince the bank that this is a worthy investment. Randy is supposed to have some floor plans for us to look at this week. For now, even the baby steps are somewhat daunting.

Our realtor in Lawton is excited about the progress on the Dover property. Mama and I have not seen any pictures, nor have we made the trip to look at the home ourselves, but we are hopeful that the home will be listed this month. We are praying for a quick sale. That cash influx would be very welcome. Meanwhile, progress on the Aberdeen property continues. I have posted the dates for this year’s foreclosure sales on my calendar, but we will not be able to go to any of the January of February sales. Hopefully, by March, we can be active participants again. By June, we hope to be able to participate in the Arkansas tax sales. Time and money permitting.

Time will tell. God is good.

Short evenings, oops, Maggie, Mama’s diet success

If the days are slowly getting longer, it is difficult to tell. This is the time of year when I have less tan two hours to get anything done at the farm in the evenings. By the time I get home, there is less than two hours of light left. So, anything that needs to be done outside has to be done quickly or put off until the next available evening or wait until Saturday. Yesterday evening I was home later than normal because I stopped at Lowe’s on the way home to get some repair parts for Nate. Even the thirty minutes that delayed to my arrival the farm was significant. I always help Mama feed in the evenings, and she was home a few minutes after I was. So, we got a late start. Finishing just before dark. I did one little thing on the lot I am working on before we went inside. That was all I got done outside – except moving some feeder for Mama so she would not have to do all that this morning. I did that after dark when I went out to close up the coop and shut the weanlings in the pig building.

I have some projects that can be done in the shop, but they are not urgent. The more current critical tasks that need to be done are being done through the long evenings inside. Tax work mostly right now. But that is far less fun than anything I could be doing outside. Soon enough the evenings will extend into the early night hours, but not yet. Tonight is a church night so there will not be any extra time for outside chores – or inside ones for that matter. And the month goes on. We are chewing through January quickly. It may seem like only eight days of the thirty-one are gone, but Mama will be gone all next week. We will be traveling together all the following week and after only a week home will be in Honduras for two weeks. When we get home from our visit with Nate, Cori and the kids, half of February will have been used up and Mama and I will be pressed for time to get all the work done for the beehives we are starting, the swarm traps we need to build and set out, and calf stalls we need to complete to start two bottle calves. So much to do. So little time. I suppose that is what makes this so much fun.

Mama is heading to the Apple store in Southlake this morning. At least, that was the plan last night. I messed up her phone by loading my iTunes music to it in an attempt to get music on her phone. Because of that error, her phone does not recognize her iCloud account any longer. She has not been able to back up her phone since I added my music to it. Who knew? Anyway, she will hopefully get the help she needs to rectify the account so that her phone will work properly. I am hoping there is little or no cost to the service; that the phone can be fixed on the spot versus leaving it at the store to be repaired and having to make the return trip to pick up the phone. I am not sure just what she will lose in the process of restoring her phone, but at this point it is unavoidable. She has struggled with it long enough.

Next week could be a pivotal week for us. I will reconnect with my friend that needed some training help and potentially follow up on that tentative job offer. Also, our house in Lawton was supposed to be completed this week and be offered on the market next week. Whether or not either of those things happen remains to be seen, but they are both tentatively on the docket.

Maggie let Mama know that Aaron’s next duty station would be in Michigan, patrolling the Great Lakes. I believe she will find it colder than Juneau in the wintertime, but not nearly as rainy. We have not been told where in Michigan, but they can officially plan on the move to that area. I think, Maggie will regret not spending more time at the beach in Wilmington when they settle down in the more Northern location. Mama and I liked Michigan when we were in Port Huron for classes a year or so ago. Mama even keeps in touch with a lady she met during that time.

Mama has met with some success in sticking to her anti-inflammatory diet. Less pain in her joints – especially her knees. Some weight loss. Less inflamed bowels. Sugary snacks have been banned from the house. All good things. I do not notice the difference in what we eat. I know we are not starving ourselves, but I am not sure if I am following the diet as strictly as Mama is.

So far so good.

End of Year stuff, goats, travel prep

As I compile the end of year totals for my employer, I am also beginning to compile the totals for our business and personal life. In other works, its tax time. At least it is time to get prepared to get all my tax information to the accountant. That can be a bit overwhelming. Especially with the travel Mama and I have to do in the months of January and February. I have kept records through the year, now those records must be complied, verified and submitted. It generally all works out fairly easily, but it is a chore I have to do largely on my own. An hour here and an hour there. Sorting, arranging and totaling the myriad accounts related to the farm, the businesses (three in total - soon to be four) and our personal life. Oh, what fun. It is not difficult. It is just time consuming and tedious. Depending on how we conducted our businesses, Mama and I will owe some amount this year. Hopefully, not too much. Hopefully, by the time these taxes are owed, proceeds from a house sale will be available to cover that expense.

Scamper is now at BBTI. Bro. Schnell came over yesterday evening and loaded him into a trailer. I was not the least bit sad to see him go. Mama was a little but that will passs. At the same time, Mama caught Champ, our wether, and we put him with the girls. That leaves Midas, our lone buck, by himself. He was not too happy about that, but he was so constantly molesting Champ that we had to do something. I will have the bigger weanling bucks in the lot by Midas in a few days so he will not fee so isolated, but for now he is complaining loudly. It does not help that several of the nanny goats are in heat. Their paddocks are only about one hundred yards apart. Our front yard and drive separate the two enclosures. The goats in heat and the goat that will eventually breed them can easily see and smell each other. It is an interesting dynamic. Everybody will have to hang in there until May. That is when we will let Midas breed all the nanny goats. In November, he will get to breed the ones now being weaned. Lord willing!

I should be able to weld the gate up on the new lot this evening. This weekend at the latest. I will need to move pretty quickly, because Mama and I took two more weanlings to the lot I threw together at the pig building. Another will be added to that group this weekend. That will bring the total to six. The building and lot are big enough to house the little ones safely, but it will be crowded. Neither Mama nor I like that. Fortunately, it has been dry for the most part. We have had rain but not the flooding rains that would turn that little lot into a muddy mess. It has been cool, so the goats have not suffered from the lack of shade in that area. So, it has worked out well as a stop gap solution. I am building the other lots as a longer-term solution. Something with more shade and more room is in the works.

I had planned on working on the lot yesterday evening, but Mama needed me to get other things done. I did sneak a few minutes work in as I grilled burgers and asparagus after dinner. All I accomplished was fully setting the t-posts and the two prices of pipe I used on the fencing, but that was something. Tonight, I will be ready for panels and fence. My hands are still sore (muscular not skeletal) from the work done Saturday. But the old saying, “What does not kill you makes you stronger.” applies in this case.

Mama is spending the day on the road today. She will head to Kimberlyn’s this morning. The two of them will work at Kimberlyn’s house today. I am not sure what is on the docket for their crafting, but I am sure the two of them will enjoy the time together. On the way home, Mama will pick up feed. We are now planning well into February. Since Mama and I will be in Honduras the first two weeks of February, we will need everything in place for Victoria to keep the farm running in our extended absence. Opening the coop in the morning. Feeding and watering every morning. Feeding and watering every night. Closing up the coop after dark every night. It is not a lot of work, but it takes time. It takes an active interest in the welfare of the animals. Mama is far better at that than either me or Victoria. Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa will help in the morning. We are planning that now so that we have it in place in a couple weeks.

Victoria will get to practice this month. Mama will be in Wichita next week so Victoria and I will split up the feeding chores during that absence. Mama and I will be in the panhandle the week of the 20^th. We will be at the farm for one week after that. Heading to Honduras the 3^rd of February.

It is all happening fast. Hopefully we are preparing properly.

Bus calling, birthday lunch, new lot, pecans, Scamper

Mama and I started off our Saturday by going bus calling with the church. It has been a long time since Mama has gone with me but recently the students from BBTI have been coming out on Saturday mornings, so Mama felt less intrusive being there. Normally, we have only men going out. I am not sure why that is, but that has been the case. That made Mama feel like the odd person out. Plus, the issues she has had with her knees in the recent past hindered her ability to join us. Saturday, she felt strong enough to go. It was a pleasure to have her there and we had a good time. We went in the large church bus with seven others. Mostly young people. It was fun. Zach, who drove the bus, split us into teams at several stops so we could knock doors and invite people to church. We were back at the church by about 11:45. Victoria met us at the church.

Victoria had made a specific request for her birthday lunch. Her birthday is Friday, but she will be working that day and Mama will be packing to travel. She wanted to go to The Breadwinner’s Café. As it turned out, a great place for dinner, but not so much for lunch. As we left the church headed to the café, I had Victoria check the menu so she and Mama could be thinking about their selections before we got there. In doing so, Victoria found out that the two items she wanted were not offered on the lunch menu. Rather than make the hour drive to that restaurant, we opted to go to the Five Boys Café in Bridgeport. We had not been there in a long time and we like supporting the local restaurants when possible. Victoria had the chicken fried steak. I had the chicken fried chicken. Mama had the meatloaf. Overall the food was good, but not great. I hate to admit to being disappointed, but we were. All of us got nauseated later that evening. None of us ate anything for dinner. Victoria even missed church Sunday because she had a very rough, very sick night. Whether that was from the food or from a bug is hard to say, but that is how things turned out. I hate to associate such a bad experience with the café but will be unable to disconnect the two. It may be that the food was just too rich for us. Too much fried food at once? It may be a long time before we try again – if we ever do.

In choosing a place nearer to home, I was able to work a few hours on the new lot I am making to allow us greater flexibility to separate the goats as needed. I know we will need the extra lots following each kidding because we will need to wean babies from their mommies and further separate kids by age and size to keep them from being overly tormented or forced out of the feed trough by their larger cousins. Right now, we have two sizes of kids to deal with along with the two sexes. We will have to separate the boys and girls very early. I will have the next lot ready this week. The older boys will go into that lot. The girls will be put in the lot at the pig building. Next month, when we get back from Honduras, I will build an additional lot to further separate the herd. As they grow to full size, we will combine the girls and the boys – until breeding time. Then the girls will need to be separated once again. The boys, for the most part will be left together. Oh, the fun.

While I stayed at the farm and worked on the first lot, Mama and Victoria went to Bowie and picked up pecans. They were able to hook up with Grandma and Grandpa so the four of them could pick up the pecans at Rick and Nancy’s. They got an additional fifteen or so pounds of pecans for the effort and I got to get all the posts set for the new lot. If given the time this evening, I will finish getting the posts fully set – i.e. driven all the way into the ground. Tomorrow, if the rain comes, I will weld the gate I set at the lot to the posts already set. it should turn out to be very functional. I have yet to build a shelter, but we will use the igloos for temporary shelter for the young bucks we will house there. With all the activities that kept me away from the farm Saturday morning and afternoon, I still was able to get a good bit of work done. My hands are still sore this morning from work done that afternoon.

Since Mama and I have failed to find a buyer for Scamper, our one horned buck, we talked about taking him to the meat market. With that thought in mind, Mama suggested we donate him to BBTI. Either way he gets processed, but at BBTI, it would be a blessing to them to offer him for their Jungle Week activities. For me it does not matter. I want him gone. He is a destructive little goat. Constantly hooking his horns in the wire fence and pulling it out of shape. Knocking his horns against the shelter trying to rip off the metal siding. Constantly aggravation Champ – our lone wether. A constant threat to Midas, our breeder buck. I will be happy to see him gone.

They will be here to pick him up this evening. Praise the Lord!

Bee meeting, our little graduate, Victoria

Yesterday was kind of a blah day. Too quiet at work. Equally quiet at home. The only thing that livened up the evening was our monthly bee keeping meeting. Mama took her lip balms and sold $25 worth of product before the meeting started. She was thrilled until we had to use that exact amount to pat our membership dues for the year. The meeting kicked off with mostly business – being the first meeting of the new year. But we quickly got to talking about catching swarms of bees. That was exciting. Mama and I are in a perfect area to catch swarms. We have actually seen swarms pass through the trees on our farm in the past. With all the open acreage around us, we are situated perfectly to set traps to attract Spring swarms. What is exciting is that each swarm equals a full hive. Not just a portion of a hive as Mama and I are buying for two hives this year. All we have to do is attract the swarm to a swarm box and then transfer the bees to a hive box. I will start building swarm traps this evening. Mama and I will set them out right after we get back from Honduras.

If they work as expected, we will be able to fill our extra two hives. I also have a top bar hive to fill. That’s exciting! Mama and I are planning to put a couple traps at Kenny and Kimberlyn’s place near Gainesville. That way we can start them in bees and we can swap locations of the swarm boxes relative to the hives we will keep the bees in so the bees are not trying to go to the location of the trap where they were caught and find nothing there. They are very smart creatures. I will have to start building hives soon. It is much cheaper than buying the prefab hives. Mama and I may end up with more than we anticipated when we started this quest. Tim will tell.

Maggie sent a picture of her little graduate. I have always thought we make way too much of progressing our children through the elementary grades. By the time a student gets to the actual meaningful graduation – from High School – it is a bit anticlimactic. Having graduated from Kindergarten or first grade – never considered that a milestone in a person’s life – and sixth or seventh grade, whichever it is now, to walk the stage for a diploma is not nearly as meaningful to the graduates as it used to be. Just another ceremony for mommies to get more pictures to put in a drawer. But on the purely cute side of things, it is a darling picture.

When Victoria was quite young – maybe eight or nine – she announced that she would not leave home until she was 32 years old. Whether that has become a self-fulfilling prophesy or not, it has become an actuality. She will reach that age with this month’s birthday. It is not that young men have not been interested in her; she has never been interested in any of her potential suitors. A couple of them would have been okay matches, but she was not ready. It would be not presumptuous to see that she has chosen very wisely in avoiding any romantic attachments to this point in her life. Now having waited, we will see what the Lord brings into her life.

That is one of the many things that Mama and I are looking to happen soon. Potentially this year. As our houses sell and we grow our business, as we pay off all our debts, as I explore new job opportunities, many things in our lives will change for the better. It will be a challenging year, should the Lord allow us to remain here, but this is shaping up to be year of dramatic change.

In our lives as well as in the world around us.  

Cleaning, trimming, grilling, processing

Mama and I were up early on the 1^st. I got out to feed right after we did our morning Bible reading and while I was feeding, Mama made breakfast. Mama is studying an anti-inflammatory diet which we will adopt for a few weeks. It is not an onerous diet, but it does eliminate some of the foods that are typically in our diet. None of which we need to be eating anyway. A quick meal of steel cut oats and toasted homemade bread and we were both out the door to clean the coop. It was in dire need of cleaning. I should have worn a dust mask for that chore, but I did not think to get a mask as we exited the house. That cleaning took us over an hour to complete. Two full wheelbarrow loads of chicken manure were added to the compost pile that morning.

I was planning to finish cleaning the pig building next, but I needed a few minutes rest, so I got a saw and cut a couple drooping tree branches that have been in our way between the coop and the pig building. Just cutting away those two branches opened up the area more than I had imagined. I will need to repeat the process throughout the entire farm this Spring. A huge task. By the time we had finished the coop and trimmed the branches, my watch was telling me I already had 6,000 steps in.

Once I rested a few minutes and got a drink, I went to the pig building. With the work I had done recently, I was able to finish the cleaning in about an hour. There was less dirt left than I had thought. One full wheelbarrow was all it took to get the last of the accumulated, dried mud off the floor. I wore a dust mask through the scraping and shoveling operation but still ended up getting a slight cough from the dust that was stirred up. Once I generously limed and strawed the cleaned floor I let the three weanlings into the building proper. We had them in the little entry way up to that point. They were curious and excited about the increased room and all the hay I had put in there for them to bed down in. All that was done before noon.

Having that chore finally behind me, I fired up the pellet grill to get started on Victoria’s recent purchases of foods to be grilled. Several different types of sausages, shrimp we marinated overnight were the first on the agenda. There is are lot more items to get cooked on the grill, but I was running out of time to get it all done. I baked the stuffed peppers Mama had made for Victoria just before we left for church. Victoria actually met me and Mama as we were on our road. She was coming home, and we were headed to church. Today I will finish the requested grilling with asparagus and stuffed jalapenos being prepared on the pellet grill. I asked about returning the grill last night at church, but Bro. Zach said to keep it unless it was in the way. If he needed it, he would come and get it. That suited me and Mama.

I did not get all the grilling done in the afternoon because Brittany Wycoff was scheduled to come by at 3 pm to help with the chickens. I spent a little time getting things set up for her and I to work on the chickens before she got there. She was thankful for the table I had set up in the shop. It was windy outside and a little too cool to set up out there anyway. Most times they do the processing on the ground. Yuk. While she got started on the first chicken, I killed the remaining birds. There were four in total, but one died of a heart attack, literally, before I could kill it. I put it in the creek for the coyotes and opossums to eat. The other three we dressed out, washed them thoroughly and tried to put them in gallon freezer bags. All of them were too large to fit in the bags, so I wrapped the chickens in the unsealed bags in aluminum foil and set them in the fridge. They will go in the freezer Sunday afternoon. Brittany’s help allowed us to get the processing done in about forty minutes. Praise the Lord!

By the time Mama and I were ready for church I had registered 19,000 steps for the day.

When I looked at my phone this morning. I saw a text from our realtor. He sent a picture of a bathroom sink cabinet and mirror he bought for our house in Lawton. It will be installed today.

Wow!