Betsy DeVos was confirmed by the Senate today with a tie vote (50-50) that required VP Mike Pence's to come in and cast the deciding vote in his capacity as President of the Senate.
Did you know that until very recently it req'd 60 Senators to confirm a cabinet nominee? Eight years ago the Republicans were blocking so many of President Obama's cabinet picks that an angry Sen. Harry Reid pushed through a rule change that backed the number down to a simple majority.
Hoisted on their own petard.
(There's your Shakespeare allusion for the day. You're welcome.)
Getting into the meat goat operation has sure been a learning experience, and we're not not close to done. Don't 'spect we ever will be. On the 25th I'm driving two hours north to Clackamas, OR to attend an all day seminar put on by the biggest national goat association with dozens of workshops to choose from, incl. many for newbies. It's aimed primarily at dairy goat owners but some of the same basics apply, like diseases, vaccinations, breeding, etc.
I'm coming up on another first - castrating Itzhak and Asante, our two bucklings. All the reasons a rancher castrates bulls apply to raising goats, too. That procedure can be done in different ways, but the easiest (for the person doing it) is the elastrator which does what's called banding.
If you're interested, here's a You Tube tutorial. It's really pretty straightforward. For the goat farmer.
I was at Starbucks this morning while Pam was at our church's ladies Bible study. We did that so I could stop at the feed store on the way home and save a trip into town. While I did things like watch You Tube videos on castrating goats that I can't view on our lame internet connection at home I listened to my "Traditional Gospel" channel on Pandora, another thing I can't do on Baker Rd. The first song that came up is my favorite, I Don't Feel Noways Tired, by Rev. James Cleveland. Go here to listen. If that isn't soul stirring I don't know what is.
I sure hope I can sing along with that and mean it when everything goes south.
(I sure wish I could sing like that. I'm WAY too white.)
I'm making slow but sure progress on getting the truck ready for listing. I have the parts for the E-brake conversion but can't do that myself, at least not reasonably so LeRoy is going to do that. He'll put it up on his lift and have it done in no time.
I've got a line on a new wiper motor on eBay, but I have to pull mine and send it to him (Nevada) to avoid a $100 core charge.
That just leaves the heater motor which I haven't started on yet. Step One: pull the motor and hook it directly to the battery to see if the problem is the motor or the switch or the wiring.
If things go smoothly (yeah, right) I should have the truck on the market in a couple of weeks. Sooner if the weather cooperates.
And I have a line on a daily driver to replace the truck and leave a few bucks in our pocket. I'll drive up to Seattle to take a look at it next week and spend some time with my folks while I'm there. More info if/when things work out. It could be a fun option.
It's mid-afternoon as I write this. At 5 p.m. we'll leave for our small group meeting - a potluck followed by a discussion of last week's sermon. I'm not by nature a very social person, and each Tuesday I have to talk myself into going. But on the way home I'm always glad we went. The conversations with this group are always stimulating, both the informal chatter during dinner and the focused discussion afterward.
Between now and then I'll muck out the chicken coop and work on pulling that wiper motor.
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