Mama’s near miss, Mama and Kimberlyn, looking up

As often as possible Mama and I have been walking our county road in the evenings. The walk from our front door to the junction with the larger county road to the west and back is just over a mile. Mama struggles at times to make the distance, but she has been faithful to try. It is typically an uneventful walk. We see the same things each evening. Other than avoiding the potholes and other potential tripping hazards, there are no real hazards to watch out for. However, last night as Mama lingered near the creek that runs under our road while I walked the rest of the distance to the intersection and returned, she did not realize she was only a foot or two from a three-foot-long Cottonmouth snake.

I would have looked past it also had not the dogs been warily investigating it. It looked like a small branch. Like so many other that fall onto the road. But something in the approach the dogs were taking to the “branch” got the alarms going in my head. The snake was almost fully stretched out in length. That is unusual. The snake was completely still. That was unusual. It made no attempt to move when the dogs were investigating it. It made no attempt to move when I stood over it to take a picture. All of those are unusual actions. Or inactions. All of those worked in favor of Mama not getting bitten. When I showed Mama the snake, she immediately called the dogs away from it, but she did not panic. Fortunately, the snake was feeling passive. It could easily have bitten Mama where she stood listening to the water gurgling in the creek. It is the first time we have seen a poisonous snake near the farm this year. We know they are out there. We just do not see them very often. Even at the tank on our farm. Hopefully, it will be the last one we see.

Yesterday, Mama and Kimberlyn spent the day together lining out some of the craft items they could make and sell. Some of their ideas are extremely cute. I am reserved in my judgement of the enterprise. Not that I doubt the abilities or creativity of Mama and Kimberlyn to make items that would attract buyers, but we have typically not been good at selling anything – ever. Perhaps this is the beginning of a successful venture, but only time will tell. For the moment they are concentrating on making things that do not require us to buy a lot of supplies. Working with what we have is a great idea for as long as it will last. That way we can actually see what sells before they make a bunch of things that we cannot give away. I should have taken a picture of the Lady Bug Kim painted on a rock to be put with a small potted Aloe Vera. Since we have hundreds of little Aloe Vera plants that need to be rehomed, and hundreds of rocks that can be used in that application, I would love to see that item become a hot seller.

As it stands now, I will continue to disassemble pallets so the wood can be repurposed for craft projects and my shop will be open for use to our crafters as needed. I am continuing to set up the shop, but I have managed to keep all the tools accessible. Band saw, table saw, miter saw, scroll saw, drill press, planer, router, a wide assortment of hand tools, battery powered tools and fasteners. And a wealth of accumulated blocks of wood and pallet boards. We should have enough to get them started in their business, but I will be careful not to buy anything before it is actually needed. They have my utmost support in their venture – to a point.

This morning as I was leaving for work, storms were moving in fast from the southwest, but to the northwest, the sun was shining brightly as it cleared the horizon. The rainbow that that combination of events produced was a nice surprise. When I got near the end of our county road, the rainbow was positioned right above the little Lutheran Church that sits almost directly across from the intersection of our road and the larger county road. I could not resist stopping and taking the photo that line up offered.

It often helps to look up.

Mama’s errand, lots of rain, late deliveries, late feeding, ongoing

Mama let me know early yesterday that she would be following Krystal and the kids to the place where their van was to be worked on. They are traveling to Florida next week and Trace wanted the transmission serviced and the brakes replaced. No problem. Right? Well, that simple errand turned into an all day wait. Krystal was told that the van would be ready right after lunch. That was about the time that very severe thunderstorms hit the Denton area where they were killing time while waiting on the van. The tornado sirens went off a couple times in the next several hours and everyone was warned to shelter in place. The staff at Joann’s Fabric was very gracious to Mama, Krystal and the kids. They spent several hours in the store as the worst of the storms worked their way through the area. Though there were several near misses, no to tornados touched down in the area. Eventually, Mama had to take Krystal and the kids home; storms and all. The van was not to be ready until after 4 PM.

It was still raining off and on when I headed home. Some of those rains were very hard rains. At one spot on the county road the water from a flooded creek was running over the road. When I recognized how much water was actually on the road, I braked hard in approaching the runoff. At the same instant, there was an eighteen-wheeler approaching the rivulet from the opposite direction. He did not even bother to try to brake; hitting the water at 65mph. My truck was swamped. I could not see anything for about three seconds, and I was not in a straight section of the road. Fortunately, I had slowed enough to keep myself on the road while I was literally under water. The first thing I saw as the water slung onto me by the gravel truck cleared were the lights of a police cruiser flashing. The officer stationed his vehicle on the side of the road to warn other drivers to approach cautiously. Water was draining out of the back of my truck for the next several miles.

Mama still had to take Trace – now home from work – back to Denton to retrieve their van. I could tell she really wanted me to make the drive with her, but it was church night. Since the roads were flooded and the rain was still falling, I elected to make the drive with her to take Trace to retrieve their only vehicle. We had to drive out to where Trace and Krystal are now living, pick him up and make the drive to the repair shop. There was no chance we would be back in time to get ready for church. We made those calls on the way to Denton alerting the Pastor and Bro. Zach about our absence. Much of the drive was made in the rain. Much of the drive from the highway to the shop was made on very flooded county roads. But we made it safely. We were back home a little after 7 PM.

Once I had changed, I went out to feed. Our animals were happy to finally get some food. I was only three hours late. Everywhere I stepped was either soft or soupy. The pigs were extremely happy to have their mud lakes refilled. The chickens do not mind the wet as long as their feathers stay relatively dry. The goats hate to have wet feet. The sheep, I am not sure about, but they did not seem thrilled about the soft, wet ground. Kobe will sit all day in the rain while she wades through deep puddles of water. Kira does not like to get her feet wet – at all! If the patio is wet, she will hold her bladder all day or until she can find a dry-ish spot to release the contents. Our plants are liking the abundance of rain. We still have a little water that gets into the house in a hard rain and I will eventually have to find the leak and correct it, but that is about the extent of the inconvenience for me and Mama. That, and it holds us up from mowing the pastures; which are looking pretty ragged right now. That really bothers Mama.

Mama will be out most of the day today also. She has been agonizing over things at home that have not been getting done because of all her time out of the house. But most of those errands are unavoidable. She is meeting Kimberlyn at church this morning so they can finish decorating Mama’s Sunday School class in preparation for Mama getting a new group of students Sunday morning. Tuesday, I had met Mama at church to hang a little picket fence as part of the decorating process. Aliza happened to be there to help. So, Mama and I were entertained through my lunch hour. Aliza will be one of Mama students starting this Sunday.

Tomorrow, Mama will be helping Grandma make Texas Sheet Cakes to take to the nursing home. Hopefully, that will still give her the afternoon at home.

Disappointments, a brighter side

Mama was struggling yesterday. Struggling with disappointment. Not only are the houses we purchased not going to be ready to list anytime soon, but some other money she and I were expecting is not going to come to us either. It was a misunderstanding as opposed to a broken promise or a deal that fell through. It was not much money, but we had made tentative plans for using that money on several things that are out of reach for us at the moment. One of those was to pay for flights to New Jersey to attend a wedding. Since we need to purchase the tickets very soon, it looks like that will not happen. Our trip to Victoria, TX for Joshua and Alicia’s wedding is still on. We would not miss that.  And our trip to Honduras later this year is still probably a go, but we will have to wait until we have the cash on hand to purchase those tickets. Mostly it is the trip to New Jersey that is off the calendar right now. Mama was really looking forward to that trip. I was also, but not as much as Mama. On top of that we got a large medical bill from Mama’s knee surgery last year. Oh, well. Life goes on. After all, it’s only money.

In times like these I stop to appreciate what we do have. Salvation. Heaven is my home. Our happy marriage. A lot of people I know will never have the kind of blessing I have in being married to a woman like Mama. Children and grandchildren serving the Lord. A very nice home and farm. Paid for vehicles and equipment. A great church home and family. And so much more. All that other stuff that distracts us from what is really important is peripheral. If we have it, fine. If we don’t fine. We have each other. All the money concerns eventually work themselves out. And when we do start selling houses, this will seem like a very small thing. However, we have to deal with the disappointing timing of our current lack. This too shall pass.

On a brighter side, Mama and I dug potatoes yesterday evening. I carried a strong, medium sized box out to the garden to put the potatoes in and Mama was chiding me gently for bringing a medium sized box as opposed to a large box. She had great expectations. I told her I brought a box that, if we filled it, I would be able to carry it. If we needed more storage space, we had other boxes in the garage. It turns out that digging one row of potatoes filled the box. It weighed about thirty pounds when we finished the row. The potatoes we dug were purple and red. Those plants produced well. We still have a row of white potatoes to dig. We will wait a week or two to get those out of the ground. It will not hurt for them to mature another week or two. We are also picking onions, beets, peppers and blackberries – wild and cultivated. Within the next week or so, we will be picking blueberries. We are excited about that.

Heavy rain is forecast for today. Our pigs will be thrilled about that. Over the past couple days, we have had no rain and their mud wallow is beginning to stiffen to the point that they cannot immerse themselves in the mire. They have had to settle for nestling into the damp top of the mud. You can see the imprint of their bodies from where they have lain. Because of that they have dumped their water every morning to create as much wet space as possible. Mama and I have to climb over the fence to enter the pen, retrieve the tub we set out for them to drink from and wash the mud out of the bottom of the tub before we place it in the pen to be refilled…only to be dumped as soon as the pigs have taken a drink. Today, that may not be necessary. By early afternoon, things should be wet enough to suit their desire to have an abundance of mud to play in. We only have another two weeks to deal with the pigs. I am looking forward to getting them moved off the farm. Mama is not so excited about them being taken away.

She loves her pigs.

Victoria home, goat purchase, home visit

Friday afternoon Mama and I left the farm almost as soon as I got home. Victoria’s flight back from Honduras was due in that evening and Mama had a list of stores she wanted to visit in the general area of the airport before we met Victoria. I even took off a half hour early that afternoon so Mama could get started earlier. We got to two of the four planned stops before Victoria called to let us know she had landed – almost a half hour earlier than scheduled. We were at our second stop when she called. We were only about fifteen minutes from the airport, so we were able to drive to the terminal and pick her up after she had gotten her luggage. In all, we were in the airport toll tag area less than twenty minutes. That worked out well.

Victoria was exhausted – partly from the trip but mostly from the emotional strain of saying goodbye. She and Savanna both spent Saturday in poor health; one thousand miles apart from each other. It is always anticlimactic to come home, unpack and get into the routine that defines our day-to-day existence. For Victoria it is more difficult than for most. Female issues only added to the physical and emotional strain. She spent all day Sunday in bed as well. By Monday, a holiday, she was showing signs of recovery, but limited her activities – including contact with me and Mama – to a minimum.

Saturday evening, Mama and I went to Rick’s. He and Mama had worked out a price for us to purchase some tri-color goats. It was a steep price, but very much in line with the normal pricing of any marketable stock from Rick’s herd. We spent a long time talking – as is typical – and were about settled on one of the little nanny goats when we began to look at the little bucks he had for sale. After an hour or more of debate and general counsel from Rick, Mama and I decided to get a little buck. I could only afford one at the price agreed. I had planned to get two but had to spend almost the same amount getting us registered with Samaritan insurance. It was time to reinstate my insurance at work, so I needed to make a decision to move to Samaritan or continue paying for Mama’s insurance through work. We chose to make the move in preparation for me leaving my current job within the next two to three months. The sun was setting as we left Bowie, having taken a few minutes to check out our nanny goats Rick is currently running with bucks.

There is one mature buck that I would like to buy if he turns out to have a low sperm count. If his count in healthy, he would be worth $7,500. With a low count, he is worth only about $250. That is a problem for Rick because this champion buck will only successfully breed about half of the nanny goats he is put in with. That means the nanny goats that did not take have to be run with another buck to ensure kids are produced. For me and Mama, that would not be an issue. We would simply run him with our herd for as long as needed to get the nanny goats bred. Any offspring from him would be championship stock. Plus, we would have our tri-color buck to take up the slack. We will see if that works out or not.

Sunday was a normal day. Great services. Lots of fun with the girls. Since it was the day before Memorial Day, we had a fellowship after church. Because of that the girls insisted on coming back for the evening services. Since Monday was a holiday, they were allowed. There was less food set out than is normally done, but there was a pile of brisket sandwiches that made up the difference. The dessert table was overloaded. So, the girls had a lot to choose from in total and a lot of children to play with when the eating was done. We got them home a little before 9 PM.

Monday morning, Mama and I headed for Lawton. We were anxious to see how much progress had been made on the houses – especially the first house we purchased. When we got to the house, we were disappointed by what we saw. Nothing had been done on the first since we had been there in mid-April. Some work had been done on the second house, but not an impressive amount. As we ate lunch Mama and I prayed about what to do. What to say. When I did contact Glenn, I was humble and non-accusatory in my text, but I got an immediate response. Not overly defensive, but he definitely understood the extext of our disappointment. He promised to have the house finished and on the market by the 15^th of June. We are doubtful of that promise and I told Glenn so by letting him know that would be awesome, but I would not hold him to that date; knowing the extent of the work that needs to be completed. He said it was not only possible but that it would be done. We certainly hope he can come through on that promise. We will see.

For now, I am moving my two-week notice date out to the end of July.

Diet decisions, little things

After writing yesterday that I was not as excited about a low carb diet as I was about encouraging Mama, she and Kim Cantrell had a very long discussion and came to the conclusion that there are better, less faddish ways to change our diet sufficiently enough to lose the weight that is troubling both of us. As stated yesterday, I do not do well with a high protein, high fat diet. For some reason, my digestive system cannot process proteins or fats in the quantity required to sustain that diet – and, believe it or not, I do not lose weight on that diet. Though counting carbs is an easy way to monitor intake, it has never worked for me. I do far better if I fast; if I just quit eating. However, that does not work for Mama. And it is not a good long-term diet plan. I know Mama realized that I was struggling with the low carb diet. I was doing it to help and encourage her. And it worked.

Over the years Mama has gotten several books outlining various diet plans but none have been effective in the long run. She would follow one and lose a significant amount of weigh only to gain that weight back after reverting to “normal eating”. We have always needed a diet plan for a lifetime. A change-of-life diet plan. I believe in this renewed effort to find a solution, Mama may have stumbled onto something workable. It is far too soon to tell for sure, but we are looking at a couple options that focus more on the overall attitude toward food, both in consumption and preparation. Not only what to eat but how to combine foods in beneficial ways as opposed to creating weight control issues through unhealthy combinations. Mama is excited about a renewed focus on something we can do that will change our eating habits, not just jumping on a fad diet that cannot be a life-long pattern of behavior. We will see how this turns out, but I am encouraged, and my digestive system is relieved.

Last night Mama attended a party at Erin Echeveria’s. it was a “Ditch Your Bra” party selling bras that were not called bras. Not sure how that works, but she had an interesting time. She did not order anything if that is any indication of how impressed she was with the product and the prices. I am sure she was tempted to buy just to support Erin, but I had cautioned her to avoid spending any money. We have way too many other things to do with money that are not discretionary expenditures. She did share a couple things with me about the party, but I had to shut her down when she got a little too graphic about the fitting portion of the product demo. I go to church with all the ladies that attended the party.

While she was at the party I worked outside. Last week we brought home four file cabinets from Rick’s. I had emptied those cabinets, but they needed to be cleaned of the dirt, the mouse droppings and mud dauber nests. The shop vac made easy work of that. So, I began to fill the drawers of the largest of the four with items that were sitting on the floor of the shop and on open shelves. At least in the cabinets they will stay cleaner than out in the open. The cabinets still need to be painted, but two of the four are in the place where they will sit for the foreseeable future.

Once that was at a point that I felt I had spent enough time on tidying up the shop and packing items in the cabinets, I got the weed eater and made some more adjustments to see if I could make it less awkward and painful to use. I still need to work with it, but I have finally gotten to the point that I can use it for more than thirty minutes at a time, but I am not there yet. It still hurt my back to use the weed eater, but not as quickly as in the past. Maybe I made a little progress. Time will tell.

After my mile walk to the end of our road and back, I was done for the evening. Or at least I thought I was. When Mama got home, fairly late, she was in the mood to talk. Mostly about what she was reading in one of the two books she is working her way through in her study of a workable diet plan for us. It was interesting enough and she was excited enough about the information that we were up until almost 11pm.

By that time, I really was done.

Small class, boot mishap, wrong wipes

I taught a small class yesterday. It was one of twelve classes extra we had added to our schedule in a flurry of activity only to cancel all of those classes except the one yesterday. Ordinarily we would not have held a class as small as the one I taught yesterday, but I thought it best not to cancel out on those who had made travel arrangements to attend. It was a good class of individuals; seven in total. All were eager to participate. There were lots of discussions and I think everyone walked away from the class feeling that the day had not been wasted. One of the participants hung around after class and chatted with me as I cleaned up and packed everything away to be returned to the office. We spent almost an hour talking. Mostly about the class and related topics, but also about personal topics. It was a good class. It may be one of the last times I teach that class – depending on how quickly Mama and I can get our business going.

Our evening went very quickly since it was a church night. Mama now has a pressure cooker she is not intimidated by. I t was ordered from Pampered Chef. She prepared a pork roast in that cooker last night. We have a pressure cooker that Cori gave us but for some reason Mama will not use it. Only Victoria and I will brave danger to cook in it. The new one looks more professional. More heavy duty. And it is has a dial to select the digital setting required versus touch buttons on the other. Anyway, Mama did an outstanding job of seasoning the meat she cooked in her first attempt to master the appliance. That is what we had for dinner along with a small salad.

We are counting carbs for a few weeks to see how well that does for us. So far, I am not impressed, but I typically do not do well with high protein diets. Not with the ongoing digestive issues I have. But Mama is encouraged to be trying something to limit carbs and sugars in her diet. She is meeting with moderate success and is encouraged to keep going as she refines the process of determining what foods should and should not be eaten. High fructose corn syrup is still her flavor of choice and we are determined to attenuate and possibly redirect that desire. We will not know if was have succeeded for many months. There are so many easy horrible choices out there that can quickly wreck our progress.

As I dressed for church last night, I got a pair of boots out of the closet. I noticed when I sat down to put them on that they were reversed. The left boot was on the right. The right boot on the left. I thought to myself, “I must have been pretty tired when I put these up the last time I wore them.” To have them in the closet that way would be unusual for me. It was not until I got home and was putting the boots back into their spot in our small closet that I realized I had grabbed one boot from each of the two pair of brown boots I have sitting next to each other in the closet. They are so close in color that no one noticed – including Mama. I thought about not saying anything to Mama but confessed my mistake so we could both get a laugh out if it.

Another anecdotal story. Mama casually mentioned that in her purchases earlier this week, she had picked up wipes for the hall bath. She mentioned that we had not had any in there for a while and since she thought about it while she was in Walmart, she picked some up. I told her there were in fact wipes in that bathroom. I had used them a couple times. “Oh, no! Honey.” She gasped. “Those are Victoria’s expensive makeup removing wipes.” No wonder my butt felt so good after using them. I told her I could retrieve them and put them back.

She advised against that.

Our little mud hen, Grandma, Kobe

Friday evening as I was working on the pig building, I noticed something odd. One of the pigs was flopping in the mud hole on the far side of the little shelter I had put up when I ran the pigs out of the building. She would stand up and flop against what I thought was a stone or a price of wood. About the third time the process was repeated, I realized what she was smashing into the mud. It was a chicken. The chickens often fly into the pig pen to get tiny scraps of food, worms, fly larvae, and edible droppings. We say “Yuk”. They say “Yum”.  This time the chicken had chosen the wrong place to land in the pen and was mired in the mud. Once her feet landed in the mud, she was doomed. When she tried to get herself out of the mud, her wings had gotten covered in the mud as well. By the time I got to her, the pig had almost buried her in the mud. Fortunately, it had been several says since we had any rain so the top of the mudhole was a little more firm than it otherwise would have been.

I was able to stretch over the fence and reach the muddy hen but I did not have enough balance to hang onto her when I got her onto terra firma. She made a mad dash away from me, the pig and the mud. Some of the mud was flung off in her haste, but she as still thoroughly caked. I went back to working on the building so the pigs would have a dry spot the next day. When Brittany, the twins and Mama got back from visiting Grandma I enlisted Mama’s help in cornering the hen so we could bathe her. Unfortunately, she was mobile enough that at the first hint that we were interested in catching her, she ducked under the coop. That was it for Friday night. Saturday night we saw her in the coop, but it was too late in the evening to get her bathed. She was safe so we let it go. I was finally able to catch the hen Sunday evening and put her in a cage so she could be dealt with properly. That bath finally happened last night.

It took me thirty minutes or so working with the clods of dirt that remained on her wings and underside to get them removed. The clods were hard as little pieces of concrete, but eventually they began to dissolve, and her feathers were visible once again. All the time I worked on the mud balls the hen was immersed in a tub of water. She did not fight too much. Maybe she realized we were helping her. The amount of dirt that had accumulated in the tub we washed her in amazed Mama when she rinsed it out so that we could rinse the hen. Once she was clean enough to satisfy Mama, the hen was put back in the cleaned cage so she could dry out a bit. Later that night, as Mama closed up the chickens, she let the hen out of the cage so she could roost. She was able by that time to fly up onto the roost. All that work for a chicken. No wonder Mama’s chickens love her.

As I worked in the shop, Mama got an urgent call from Grandma. Grandma had called a couple times earlier in the evening but with this call, Mama felt compelled to go to Bowie and spend some time with her. I am still unclear of the urgency, but Grandma was having trouble, and a good deal of pain, with her acid reflux. Mama went to comfort and coach. It was one of those difficult times that nothing that was tried produced the results Grandma was looking for. But together, Mama and Grandpa got Grandma to a point of at being able to rest. While Mama was on her way home Grandma called to tell Mama she thought she was allergic to whatever oil or lotion Mama had used on her because she was itching. Mama assured her that was not likely, but she could wash off what had been applied of that would make her feel better.

Grandma has had some troubling episodes lately. We are never sure if there is true medical need or not. No matter what test is run or what doctor sees her, there is nothing uncommon in the diagnosis presented after all the results are evaluated. The healing process for her esophagus would be a long, patient, bland, disciplined road to travel and so far, Grandma has been unwilling to make that commitment. I am not sure she even understands what would be required. What will follow this morning is anybody’s guess. But I hope Grandpa and Grandma were both able to rest last night.

Storms rolled in this morning. Those thunderstorms that produce high winds and lots of lightening but little rain…thankfully. We do not need the rain right now. Mama is scheduled to take Kobe to Kim Cantrell’s this morning to visit Leo. The storms should be well away by the time she is ready to leave for that trip. This will be the last puppies we will have. If Victoria does not change her mind. Kobe’s puppies sell very well and Mama and Victoria love caring for baby animals – especially puppies. The birthing center is ready, if there is a successful breeding, we should be able to handle the offspring.

Such is life on the farm.