According to the calendar it is still spring, but it
already feels like summer.
Last week we
finally gave up working in the afternoon due to the heat.
In case you missed the past few posts, we
include Rick Sanchez and me.
After much
prayer Rick decided God was leading him to move out here to help me with the
many building projects that need to be accomplished and to minister to others
in a variety of ways.
Rick has been working on this first project for months
now.
At first he thought installing a goat
fence would be easy until he came out here and discovered soil is scarce but
rock (including bedrock) is plentiful.
But after many months of work, talking to others in the area about local
fence building techniques, and purchasing a lot of new tools, this week Rick
finally dug his last hole.
He still has
a few more support posts to weld and then he will be done with stage one of
installing a fence for a goat enclosure.
Up until this past week we were able to work outside most
of the day, but our afternoon highs are now reaching into the 90’sF (32C and
higher).
So starting this past week we
have had to resort to indoor activities during the hot afternoons.
So our pattern has been to work all morning,
come in for lunch and then rest and work inside until supper.
After supper the sun is no longer overhead
and therefore not beating down on us, so we can resume working outdoors until
dusk.
While Rick has been digging holes and then pouring
concrete around pipe and t-posts, I have been scraping dirt off a slab of rock
which will form the foundation of a goat shelter.
Once again this job proved easier said than
done.
I purchased a flat shovel for
scrapping up the dirt.
I would use a hoe
to break up the dirt and then by hand push the dirt onto the shovel as roots
and rocks often prevented me from sliding the shovel under all the dirt.
Due to abundance of rocks around here, roots
are often very shallow and therefore make the project more difficult.
I also had to pick out anywhere from 10 to 30
rocks per each shovel-full of dirt.
That
is no exaggeration.
The rocks ranged
from large (requiring two hands to pick them up) to the size of a green pea.
Sometimes it feels like for every rock I
picked out of the wheelbarrow, five more would spontaneously form.
Stage one of building a goat shelter is to remove the
dirt down to the bedrock and I too am nearing the completion of this
stage. I have a little over a foot more
to go and then I too will be done with stage one. Then Rick will anchor three 4 by 4’s to the
bedrock. Once he is done I will start
hauling caliche to form the floor of the shelter as the floor must be elevated
so when it rains the shelter will not flood. Goats do not like to get their
hooves wet. At first I thought about
pouring cement to even out and raise the floor, but upon further study learned
that cement is hard on goat hooves.
Caliche is dirt and rock made up of sodium nitrate and/or
calcium-carbonate which occurs naturally in this part of the country and
South America. It packs down hard and is
often used for shelter floors, dirt roads, and many other tasks. For instance it was used to cover all the
plumbing pipes to prevent freezes since it is impossible to bury pipes
underground.
We both are excited to see the completion of stage one of
building a goat enclosure.
Stage one of
both projects is the most time consuming part of the job.
The next stages should go much faster and in
no time there should be a completed quarter acre goat enclosure for Lawn Mower
to roam around in.
Once she is out of
the garden, the plan is to head for Kerrville and buy vegetable plants.
If it was not for the goat I would have had a
vegetable garden planted by March at the latest.
So I am eager to get one in the ground.
We may be spending a lot of our time outside working on
the goat enclosure, feeding and taking care of the animals and other related tasks,
but there is plenty to do inside during those hot afternoons that are now upon
us.
Both Rick and I are busy studying
various topics and preparing for the future.
We also have had lots of conversations concerning the future.
Alpha Omega Christian Communities For The
Chemically Sensitive (AOCCCI) is about helping people, especially chronically
ill homeless people.
In order to fulfill
our purpose we need to build cabins and other structures; so many of our topics
of conversation center on those topics.
This
is a Christian ministry, so many of our topics of conversation center on
God.
We have also been watching videos
in the evening dealing with the topics of the brain, mind/body/spirit
connection, and the occasional Christian movie.
We also read.
I just finished The
Meat Goat Handbook; Raising goats for food, profit, and fun, by Yvonne
Zweede-Tucker.
I enjoyed the book,
especially the photos.
I did learn a lot
about raising goats and can recommend this book to any novice interested in the
topic.
I have another book on the topic
of meat goats to read, but I think the next book I will read will be a
Christian book.
This past week a potted cactus and a prickly pear blessed us with beautiful flowers:
