Thursday, October 23, 2008

Nature's Water Cooler

Yesterday we went for our first outing to feed the catfish and put corn out for the deer and turkey. We saw 1 raccoon, 3 armadillos, 1 buck, 1 fawn, and 11 does. Actually "we" didn't see all of those. I was the only one who saw the raccoon. I hope he's okay. Here's the scoop.

Two nights ago, Mom and I were visiting in the kitchen and a opossum climbed up a tree in front of her window. It went up on the roof, and then came back down. He then went up again, so I ran to get the kids because I figured he was sticking around awhile. When the kids came back, there was no performance. Mom and the kids went outside and could hear "crunching," like claws on the tile (Too bad I don't have the video of Caleb telling me he heard the crunching. It was too funny). Still, no opossum coming down. So I went out a little further than they did to look up on the roof, but I saw two eyes staring at me from somewhere else.

Doug and I put our refrigerator outside on the carport because with five extra people here, we needed another place to hold food. Right beside the refrigerator is a tall stand my dad built for the cats to keep their food up high so night critters couldn't get it (It doesn't work - it is the "water cooler" for the nocturnals around here). It has three shelves and the middle two are very close together. Sitting so still between those two shelves was a opossum, staring at me.

Well, forget the one on the roof, I told the kids to come out and see this one. The "crunching" could have been "Bonnie's" partner, "Clyde" eating the cat food. Anyway, "Bonnie" eventually scampered down the tree 20 minutes later after the scene had been cleared, but when I went out after an hour to put some food up in the fridge, "Clyde" was still stuck in his position, pretty scared.

That leads me to the raccoon. I went out last night around 8:30 to put some "Foza bread" (a bread my wonderful Baton Rouge neighbor, Foza, made and sent with me) in the refrigerator (which is white). When I opened the white door towards the cat tower, the raccoon must have thought it was the "ghost light" from "Cars" (check out that extra video if you haven't seen it). I never saw him on the tower, but I saw him hit the carport. That joker is huge. He's been eating cat food for quite sometime.

He landed hard on his right shoulder and then ran in place like they do in the cartoons because his claws were slipping on the cement. He finally scuttled away, but he might not be back to the "water cooler" for a while. I hope he's okay.

Today, we leave for Waco for Paw Paw's 90th birthday. It will give the animals some time to get comfortable coming around again, and maybe they will visit again when we return. More adventures.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

God's Acts of Kindness

our new home
God so graciously gave us cool, cloudy days to load and unload the truck. He also blessed us with so many people who came to visit Saturday and Sunday as we loaded the truck and packed the final stuff. How thoughtful of Him to put my family on the thoughts of others.

Doug, my mom, and I unloaded the truck today into two storage sheds in Yoakum. My mom left eventually, but the student pastor from First Baptist Church Yoakum came out to help. Was I ever happy!!! Doug and I would still be out there struggling to lift pieces if Eric had not come to the rescue. We were unloaded in four hours!

We came back to my mom's house and went through over 20 boxes pulling out items we needed to "make a home" in our room and the kids' rooms. Then, tonight, after the kids went to bed, Doug and I went back to storage to put back all the stuff we didn't need out of those boxes. God (and Doug's awesome packing skills) allowed us to have room left over in one of the sheds.

Caleb and Kylie rode a tractor this morning with our neighbor who leases our land and helped him pack down his grass jigs (that is basically running heavy equipment over an area of land where a farmer has put down some blades of grass (jigs) to pack them down so that they will eventually root). Karis just stayed on the four-wheeler with my mom to watch. The kids stayed outside a majority of the day climbing trees, jumping on the trampoline, decorating the driveway with chalk, and riding bikes. Two opossums entertained us tonight on the carport as we watched through the window, and all-in-all, it was a good day. As sad as it was leaving Baton Rouge yesterday, I'm glad I have some place so peaceful to come.

Whirlwind from October 3rd to today

On October 3rd, a nice couple and their soon-to-be-three year old daughter, Paisley, set an appointment to come see our house. THEN, they came again the next day. THEN two days later made an offer on the house.

This was only the second time someone had come to the house since we put it on the market September 11th. God has amazing plans! How grateful I am that He allowed our house to be sold with the economy and market the way it is. I am wonderfully amazed by Him.

Anyway, long story, very short, is they wanted to close on November 2nd, but we couldn't. The date we were available for was October 20th. From the time we agreed on a price to closing, was 12 days! Wow! What a whirlwind. I can't believe it's over. It was so fast I didn't have time to be depressed - which is good! Actually, God is the good one!