November Was Busy

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Rick’s son brought his family up for the holiday and it was wonderful visiting with everyone.  Rick’s grandchildren are in the 7^th and 9^th grades and they loved feeding and playing with the kids (baby goats).  For safety reasons we did not allow anyone in with the older goats.  Rick’s grandson had fun chopping up a huge pumpkin for the goats, all of whom enjoyed eating it.   These are city teenagers so this was an experience they will long remember.  I am sure they will be out here again soon.
    

The week following Thanksgiving was not so wonderful.  First, Rick came down with a bad cold and with the damp chilly weather outside he was forced to stay indoors and rest.  I know that was hard on him because his to do list is very long.  Then on November 27 Rick received a phone call that he knew he would get sooner than later but hoped it would be later rather than sooner.   The phone call was informing him that Abi had died.  Rick has once been married to Abi’s sister and had been friends with her off and on for 40 years.  Abi has been living in Rick’s house.   Abi’s death was not a shock but it is a sad affair.  Her death also meant Rick needed to go back to San Antonio and clean her stuff out the house and deal with other issues since Abi has no family in town.  We are hoping he will be able to return to the ranch later this week.

    

Before Thanksgiving Rick helped a local elderly man with some plumbing repairs on a rental house.  Rick has had several opportunities to help people in town with maintenance problems.  His ability as a handyman has opened up ministry opportunities to local residents.  Though time does limit what he can do for others.  He has a very busy schedule here at the ranch with a very long to do list.  Really more than any human being can accomplish alone.  Anyone wanting to spend a day or two out in the country is welcome here in exchanged for little help with some of these projects.  

    

Rick also was given the opportunity to preach one Sunday night.  Those who heard him all said he did a great job.  Rick has pastured a church before and preached in non-traditional locations.  So I am sure he will get more opportunities to preach out here in the future.

    

I have been very busy too.  There are also goats to be fed and other chores to accomplish around the ranch.  When the weather makes going outside undesirable, both Rick and I spend our time studying different subjects.  Thanks to the Internet we can access information quickly online and in books and magazines.  We both have a lot to learn so we can accomplish the tasks that God has called us to do.

    

It has been a very busy month overall.  No matter how much work we get done there is still so much more to do both inside and outside the house.  The holiday, followed by Rick getting sick, and then having to leave for San Antonio, has put us behind in our work schedule.  With him gone caring for the animals is left totally up to me.

   
I do have one praise to share.  Back in May we received our first kid.  He was a 2 week old Spanish buck we named Midnight.  I was in the process of weaning Midnight when I got a call asking me if I would like another kid.  Sport, Boer buck, was only hours old when he arrived.  I spent several weeks bottle feeding both boys until finally Midnight was completely weaned.  Then before we could wean Sport, a rancher called us asking us if we would like twins.  Bottle feeding twins was a lot of work and after a few months we started craving a break.  I informed God I did not want to spend the winter having to go outside to give a kid a bottle in the cold.  I wanted a break.  Rick wanted one too as bottle feeding kids really ties us down.  Well, Saturday night we gave the twins their last bottle.  We expected to bottle feed them longer but a few weeks ago they finally started eating grain and suddenly they could care less about that bottle.  So we decided to speed up the weaning process and now we have no kids that need to be bottle fed.  After six months of daily having to go mix goat milk replacer, then prepare bottles multiple times a day and go outside in all kinds of weather to stand bent over feeding kids, we now have a break.  If God wants to give us some free kids in the spring (does please as we have enough boys) then I will freely take them.  But for now I am glad to have a break from that task. 

In closing, last Friday a friend came over and decorated a Mountain Cedar tree at the corner of the driveway and road.  Traffic is very light on that road but for the few cars that pass by they are blessed by Christmas decorations.  This same friend helped decorate the same tree last year and we had fun doing it.  The tree is too far from electricity so we use solar lights.  Instead of garland, this year I decided to go as natural as possible and string popcorn.  It was fun and I am sure the birds will enjoy it.