Tom took a week of vacation during muzzle loading season to get some deer hunting done and ended up getting some work done around the property too. It was very nice to have some help around here, though I believe he was ready to get back to his job so he didn’t have to work so hard.
To start with, the vanity in Kinzie’s bathroom completely collapsed and really needed to be replaced. Let me first remind you that this trailer house was built in 1998 and we paid $2500 for it. I had tried to talk Kinzie into letting me replace the vanity a couple of years ago, but she didn’t want to deal with it at the time. Now, it was a necessity. Tom and I worked to assemble the new vanity around the existing plumbing. That was a long day for us, but Tom struggled for a few more days to get the leaks under the sink under control. There is still a minor leak, but we just replace the towel under it almost daily until Tom can get back under the sink to (hopefully) fix it. A Lavatory by Another Name is Vanity can be seen here.
I’m still working to get the softball videos edited and posted. I’ll be at those for a long time. The Lady Eagles game can be seen here.
And the Porter at the Copan Tournament can be seen here.
We knew several days of rain were forecasted with a pretty good thunderstorm to arrive first. Tom helped me rearrange the rabbit cages so that they were more compact and easier to protect from the coming rain. We put “roofs” over the cages and wrapped the scaffolding they are on with a tarp. Satisfied with that, we moved on to the pigs. Wilbur and Daisy’s pig hut was missing a quarter of its roof. We will repair it soon, but we had another intact pig hut that we dragged into their pen. Wattles and her girls had a section of roof flopping around so we went out to secure it down again. If you watch the video, you can see Tom trying to work around curious pigs. Preparing for Upcoming Storms can be seen here.
My eleven ducklings are old enough now to blend in with the adult birds so I dragged the chicken tractor in to the pen with the lone adult duck and all my chickens. After a day or two, I opened the chicken tractor so they could roam. They seem to be adjusting to their new home and I’m glad.
I’m really trying to increase the number of podcasts I produce while trying to edit and post videos. Episode 67: Missions; Here and Abroad can be seen here, or you can listen to it on your favorite pod catcher
Tom did get a deer during his vacation time, although that day ended up being a long one for him. The deer traveled deep into the thicket of the property he hunts on. It is about 80 acres of family land, most of it has laid virtually untouched for decades. Tom followed the deer to see where it ended up, then called me to come help him drag it out of the thicket and load it in to his truck, like I always do. He was so far into the overgrowth that I couldn’t find him. He was also down hill and I couldn’t hear him calling to me and talking on the phone was no help at all. I wandered all around looking for him, setting off several trail cameras of other family members in the process. About the time Tom came back up the hill to get me, his Uncle Joe came looking to see who was on his property setting off the game cameras. He was very nice about it but I was embarrassed.
After Joe went back to the house, Tom and I went back down the hill looking for the deer he had shot. We wandered for two hours through thorny brambles, rocky uneven ground and all kinds of undergrowth. We made it back up the hill with the help of the compass on my phone. I had to go to town and left Tom to look for his kill for two more hours. He finally found it and dragged it back up the hill by himself. By that time, I was back home and helped him load it into his pickup. That was a long day for Tom.
After Tom got the deer processed, (we do our own deer processing), I took several of the bones and roasted them before adding water, garlic, onion and salt to make venison broth. I was able to can seven quarts. Nice.
It has rained off and on for several days, so far dropping over 19″ this month on our hill.. A section of the wall in the hallway of the house started fall off the wall. I don’t know if there is water behind that wall or if the wind caused the wall panel to buckle, but Tom ended up needing a section of the trim I am STILL trying to get up in our bathroom to hold the wall in place. Lovely.
Between rain events, Tom has also been trying to fix the washouts in our driveway and working to diminish any more damage. His work has helped some, but this recent overnight rain of over 5″ set him back. Yup. He was ready to get back to his job.
Our church building is used for elections in the area. Most of the time, the elections are very small, sometimes only seven people in the area are qualified to vote in Foyil. Something about the way school and fire boundaries are set up. I am the person who transforms a Sunday School classroom into a voting station, make sure the workers are comfortable on the very long voting day, and then transform it back into a classroom the next day.
Of course, we knew that the presidential election was going to be a big one. The classroom for the 2020 election was not big enough to accommodate that many voters and we had a line going around a couple of our buildings. The leader of the local election board came out to explore moving the election into the fellowship hall. It seemed to be a good plan. The day before the election, the pastor and I set up the fellowship hall as discussed. I knew that, because we had changed buildings and the sheer number of voters expected, I should get down to the fellowship hall early on election day. I was glad I did. The new instructions had us rearranging the entire room so that those waiting to vote came in the door at one end of the building and exiting another door. This meant that everyone waiting to vote had to enter through the sanctuary building, string down the hall and out the door to a breezeway and into the fellowship hall. I scrambled to place mud mats at the entrance, lined up to catch as much water and mud from the recent rains as possible before voters tromped across the carpet. I also closed doors and placed chairs across doorways and passageways in hopes that voters would not wander where they should not be. We got everything done in time and I actually got to be the first person to vote!
That night, Tom came with me to help close up the building. While the workers did their thing, Tom and I were able to put away most of the voting equipment that stays on our property between elections. All I had to do the next day is put tables and chairs back where they belonged to turn it back into the fellowship hall. I was certainly glad for all the help I got for this election.
Another podcast that I really enjoy doing is called Books Highlighted. It is an audio-only recording where I simply read highlighted portions of books I’ve read recently. Episode 13: Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz can be heard on your favorite pod catcher or here.
As I have stated before, I have lots of footage that I’m trying to get processed and posted. While working on editing a vlog, the program crashed and I lost most of my work that day. I’ve been having some trouble with this program off and on for a while but I’ve been hesitant to invest in a different program. Mainly because I don’t want to learn a new editing program at my age. I know that I’m going to have to sooner or later. Still, I keep putting it off. Maybe I can get caught up and then go with a new program. We’ll see.
A couple of years ago, we bought Kinzie a 2010 Ford Fusion. It certainly had some miles on it but I knew the previous owners and that the car had been taken care of. Plus, I got it at a really sweet price. Since then, we’ve had to make a few repairs on it, a couple relatively expensive, but truly not too bad. Early on, she did back into something and damaged her rear bumper. A few months later, someone sideswiped the passenger door while she was in Walmart, leaving a nice, white dent on a black car. A couple of weeks ago, one of her friends backed into her car, damaging the driver side door, badly enough that she couldn’t roll up her window. The young man who did it tried to blame it on her because he always backs up that way and her car should not have been in that parking space. She was pretty irritated with him. Tom was able to straighten out the dent enough to allow the window to be rolled up again and she is looking into the insurance part of the ordeal. I will admit that she has insisted on handling the situation herself, with only an occasional question for us. So far, she has done an excellent job. As usual, I’m very proud of her.
Tom and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary by driving to Copan for a cancer benefit that was serving barbecue and had live, generally local bands playing. It was chilly and we didn’t know what to expect but actually had a really good time. The barbecue was excellent. I was glad that we went.
Kinzie is not playing basketball this year but is helping the coach for the boy’s team. She seems to be really enjoying the work. The other night, after a home game, Kinzie called to tell me that there was a cat that kept insisting to get into her car. She kept putting it out but it would jump back in before she could close the door. I am absolutely not a cat person, but we have had a run of mice here so I told her to bring it on home. She arrived with a skinny gray kitten that immediately made himself at home. I had a canister of cat food in the barn from when Mopar lived with us and kept the rodents at bay there, so I brought it in. It has taken a few days for him to learn some manners, but Smoky seems to be very happy here. The dogs, well. They are not thrilled but there really hasn’t been any problems and I’m grateful.
Kinzie has been working hard to get her stats, grade, GPA, grants, etc. all lined up to attend college this next year. Last week, she and her best friend drove to Harris, Arkansas to check out the Northern Arkansas college there. She got a tour, met the softball coach and other team members. She seems to like this college pretty good and is considering signing on with them. Of course, Tom and I had hoped that she would look for a school closer to us but she’s ready to test her wings and I don’t blame her a bit. I’ll get back with you on the college she ends up going with.
Apparently, several ladies in our 9:00 class at the gym have birthdays in November and we decided to go to lunch to celebrate their birthdays. There is an old mansion in Claremore that has a very nice restaurant on the bottom floor that is called The Pink House. The house itself has a wonderful history and the restaurant is kind of an upscale, luncheon tea room. I had a wonderful time sitting and talking with the ladies while eating our lunches. I usually don’t take time out in the day to do things like that because I’m busy and productivity is important to me. But, sometimes, you just got to have a little fun too…and I did.
I also recorded another audio only podcast for Books Highlighted. You can listen to Episode 14: Flood Tide on your favorite pod catcher or here.
My youngest granddaughter, Ivy just turned three years old and we got to celebrate with her and her parents along with her mother’s parents. Suffice it to say, the girl got many gifts, especially from her other grandparents. We ate Ivy’s favorites; hot dogs, hamburgers, macaroni salad, chips and all the other fixings. Cupcakes were in order with Ivy’s cupcake sporting a big “3” candle that she blew out perfectly. It was a lot of fun. Grandchildren are the best.
This blog has been a long one. Hopefully, future blogs will be shorter. We’ll just have to see. Until then, I pray you have a very blessed Thanksgiving celebration.