We had a pleasant weekend. Friday morning I went to market and bought twelve more chickens. I suspect two of the brown hens of being cockerals, so I may need to sell them in exchange for hens. We are getting more than seven eggs a day now, but we have caught a dog hauling off with an egg, so I think they may be giving more than were getting.
Two more of our pullets passed on. I think it may be due to the cold. The mornings have been in the 20’s with >60% humidity. I expect I would die if I lived outside. I may get a few more pullets in a few weeks. We want to build the flock to give two dozen eggs per day.
Friday afternoon, Lamar, Beulah, Juanita, and I went into town to clean church and to pass out invitations to the service. We handed out more than 60 invitations. Many people promised to come. (Few came.)
Saturday was spent at home. Ah… It was relaxing not to be running hither and yon for once. I planted two fig trees. The chickens thought they were delicious; I put a fence around them. The frost hit them hard; I sighed deeply. I think they’ll make it. We have no trees on our property, and essentially all the plants Levi’s had were destroyed. Beulah and I are determined to change that.
I also built a free-standing closet. It wanted to fall against the wall, but I managed to rig something so it stays upright. It has been two months that we have been living without a closet. We’re pleased.
Sunday was my happy birthday. I am now 32. Thank you for the birthday wishes. We invited Alicia and Fernando to share lunch with us. Fernando’s gave me a block of fresh cheese, and Alicia gave me a pair of socks as a gift. That was sweet.
Alicia and Esmeralda were at church with us. Joel and I seemed to really struggle with our tongues in church. I will blame it on the trains. Being next to an intersection, we have the privilege of hearing the trains blow their horns as they creep past. It is hard to concentrate with horns blaring in the background.
We spent the entire afternoon at Lamar’s. It was kind of them to host us. Only one of them got sick of us, but after a nap, felt much better.
Steph made a cake for me; Beulah made ice cream; Lamar grilled sausages. It was a great lunch. I felt special.
Some of my family in the States wished to celebrate with me, so they made a birthday cake, and we had a video call. That was precious.
We struggled with keeping the water tank filled with water. The trouble seems to be an ornery toilet that runs water in the tank when no one is looking. We ran out a couple times over the weekend, but we had enough. The electric was on and off and mostly off for the day Sunday. We don’t know why, but our guests assured us it was normal.
Today Lamar chaperoned Steph and me into Cuzco to work some more on our migration process. We went to Interpol to be finger-printed and to have our teeth documented. They found no cavities.
After lunch we came to migración to get direction on the next step, which is to pay a fee at a nearby bank. We need to find out which bank and what fee. We’ve been waiting in line for about an hour so far. We are just three people from being called, but in the hour we’ve been waiting, only one person was called.
I expect it’ll be dark when we get home.
Feliz noche!
Juan David 