Beth and the heifers

Months ago we determined that we would sell off some of our cows to pay for the wedding coming up. We discussed which cows to sell and which to keep and harder still, which to process (put in the freezer). We decided to sell our mother cows this year and their heifers from last year. And the bull calf. But, Blessing lost her calf, so, as painful as it is to say this, due to demand for beef among our family members and co-workers, Blessing and her calf from two years ago, April, get to go to Gonzales. We won't tell them why. It is humanely done for those of you who are squeamish. That's why we take them that far (there are several places closer). We are keeping my two favorite cows (and one of those is Kevin's favorite, too). Rosa and Lucy get to stay. And Dillon for the time being. But, that meant we needed to sell the two heifers and Beth. Beth is due to calf within a month. It is actually easier on the calf to be born after the cow is moved. If we were to sell them as a pair, we'd need to wait a minimum of a month from birth before transporting them. Even so, moving a young calf has its risks. So, I decided to advertise Beth too. I prayed that the LORD would make it possible to sell the cows for near market value without us having to actually run them through an auction. Auctions are hard on cows. Very. So, I took pictures of the heifers, Dixie and Dorrie, and of Beth. I wanted them to be current photos. I posted an ad on Craig's list. Within an hour of posting the ad, I got a call on my cellphone from a fellow close to 100 miles away who said he wanted the cows and he'd come get them right then! I explained that it would be Sunday afternoon before we'd be home at a time that would allow loading them. So, we set up a time (3:00) and I was ecstatic! The LORD had answered my prayer so specifically! The folks wanted the cows to baby and to have babies. Just as we had. After he'd already agreed to buy them (without haggling at all about the price); I got four more guys saying they wanted them if the first one backed out. I took their contact information. If we'd had a dozen heifers, we could have sold them all in one day! Of course I had waited until we'd gotten rain and there was more predicted so that people would know they would have pasture. Lots of folks sold off their cattle last year because of the drought; we kept ours because I didn't want them to end up in a feedlot. I made it clear in my ad that we'd gone to considerable expense to keep them grass/hay fed and save them from a life in a feedlot. All of those that responded to the ad understood our concern. Yesterday afternoon the couple came and got Beth, Dorrie and Dixie. They seemed satisfied when they saw them. The cows were extremely cooperative and walked right into their trailer! I led them in with a bucket of cubes. The buyers were relieved to see the cows were tame; they'd been eager to buy them because I had described them as gentle, easy to move and accustomed to hot wire.

What struck me today, is that we're selling Beth to pay for her namesake's wedding! And I still have the picture above of Beth as a calf with Kevin's soon-to-be-wed daughter. The other picture is of Beth last week and of the three of them in the trailer which took them to their new home. Not very roomy. Kevin says cattle travel better packed together. The couple that bought them called us when they got them home and into their pasture to say they were settling in well. That was so nice of them!

I am exceedingly grateful for the LORD making the downsizing as painless as possible for all concerned! He took care of every concern I raised to Him!

Spring, the real thing

Halfway through April and we've got Spring! Not the lushest; but, we're grateful for the greening up of the trees, fields, pastures, and roadsides. Here are some definite signs of spring in full-swing around us! On Resurrection Sunday we got some restorative, rejuvenating rain!

Well, I must confess that we really have something to rejoice about and no photos to go with it! We always get photos of everything! But, not this time! Still, the story is worth telling. You'll just have to supply mental illustrations!
On Tuesday morning at 1 am (that's wee 1:00 a.m.) I woke up and lay there trying to figure out why. I had some vague memory of our golden retriever, Sunny, whining. That's not rare for him, but he doesn't usually do it indoors in the middle of the night. Anyway, he wasn't whining when I woke up. I lay listening. I heard water running in our master bathroom. I assumed the chain was off the float. That has happened before. I went to silence it. But, when I peered into the bowl, there was no agitation. I pulled the lid off the tank. No movement in there, either. But, I could hear water running right behind the commode. Then I saw that there was water on the floor at the base of the toilet. I roused Kevin from deep sleep. I left him standing in the bathroom staring at the puddle; trying to absorb what he was seeing. Pun intended.

Meanwhile I went through the bathroom door that leads into the mudroom (that's my designation for it/utility room (Kevin's designation) to the kitchen. As I entered the kitchen I became aware that I was wading into running water! Wearing the thick soled rubber flip flops that I use for house shoes, cold water was over my toes. That meant it was close to a half inch deep! The kitchen was dark and I was scared to turn on the lights (water and electricity should not mix, I know). I instinctively feared to find out if they had mixed. I opened the french doors onto the porch and began shoveling water out of the kitchen onto the porch with the broom. Kevin, went by me out into the darkness, wearing his robe, to the water cut off. In my imagination I could envision water flooding through the wide opening from our kitchen into our living room, onto our labouriously laid precious laminate floor (which would ruin it). I was sure that with as much water as there was in the kitchen, the living room was also immersed. I noted Kevin had turned on the light in the hall before going outside and nothing had shorted, so, I decided I might turn on the one in the kitchen. I did. And Lo and Behold the water had not quite reached our beautiful floor. It was within a half inch of it. Kevin got towels and put them down to stem any water than might venture closer to the floor. The reason the water hadn't gotten there was because the house has AC/heat vents in the floor. The overflow had run into the two floor vents in the kitchen instead of into the living room. Amazing! If I had slept another 30 minutes the tiding flow would have gotten to the floor.

The LORD was so merciful; Kevin and I saw this more and more in the hours that followed.
1. we were home when it happened, not at work or off on an errand.
2. I woke up just in time. Please note that I am giving the LORD full credit for this; He has used an ass before to get someone's attention; He may have used our Sunny on this occasion, but we are not giving the dog a medal for this! Sunny cries "wolf" far too often.
3. The old linoleum floor kept the water for the most part off the subfloor in kitchen, bath and mud room. I guess it is a subfloor? The part that is under the linoleum or carpet or laminate? The surface that supports everything? Whatever water went through tears in the linoleum or and at the baseboards, reached plywood. This is not the first time we've been grateful that our subfloor is plywood. Kevin says that most mobile homes use particle board and water just soaks into that and it rots. Plywood doesn't absorb water as easily. Or spread it.
4. Our temperature was in the 40s. Because of this we were able to leave the door wide open long enough to push a lot of the water out that way. Then we commenced to mop. I filled buckets. Kevin found his old wet/dry vacuum, but it drowned at the task.
5. I had vacuumed our kitchen just two days before and gotten up doghair and dirt. So, the water didn't make near the mess it would have otherwise.
6. Kevin went straight to the cause of the flooding by some divine intuition. I was clueless. I was thinking that the old pipes to the toilet must be the culprit. Or that a pipe under that area had broken after freezing weather recently. But, for some reason, Kevin suspected the water heater. He pulled off the door of its cubby and sure enough, the water line to the hot water heater had broken. A fitting had just let go. The line was totally separated!
7. The water that had gotten into the flex ducts under the house had saved the whole house from being flooded. It was still a major hassle for Kevin to squirm under the house to disconnect the flex duct so that he could reposition it down hill to allow the water in it to run out. He left it for several hours to drain and dry out.
8. Kevin was able to purchase the fitting he needed in Lexington when stores opened. He had to make two trips; the first fitting leaked. But, he got it done in time for us to test it well before we went to bed Tuesday night. We washed dishes, took showers, and used all faucets without any more problem.
9. This was a much easier fix than if the waterline in question had been in the floor, walls, or buried!

I am so grateful that this didn't happen while we were out of town on our two week trip. I am glad that our housesitter didn't have to deal with it! I am glad my mother wasn't with us at the time (she had spent the night with us just two nights before).

The timing of the incident continues to impress us both! The LORD protected us, our house, our dogs...

10. We now pray that there will be no mold or mildew in the ducts. The unseasonable warm dry weather should help! The humidity is 13 per cent!