Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Coming Along!

 You know my guys are hard workers...
Of course Tuesday they took off because
it was Hays Day.
We still went out to feed the chickens
and harvest the tomatoes and okra,
but no work was done on the shed.

When they left on Monday evening (I was teaching)
they had the rafters built and hanging upside down
resting on the walls.
And then....


They got them all standing up the right way and secured.

(Meanwhile, I was up at Kyle's house,
sitting at his island, slicing bags and bags of
okra to put in the freezer for this winter.)
It's good freeze dried, but I prefer it frozen
for eating for breakfast.
(In the air fryer with my bacon... YUM!)

I had to leave to come home and teach.
But they just kept muscling on.


We have a roof!
(And an out of focus picture... Rod took it, 
they were both GIVE OUT!)

It was 101 degrees out there.
And likely 110 or more inside the building while
they were trying to install the rafters.
But they wanted to get it done because today
wasn't very windy.
There was a pleasant breeze, but you didn't need
to worry about it blowing you off the roof.
(Unlike yesterday!)

Anyhow.
Kyle dropped Rod at the house and he went
into town to get something at Home Depot.
Rod didn't know what... they were both tired,
so there wasn't much chatter on the way home.

Rod just fixed us a mess of nachos.
We are going to EAT and head to bed.

Happy Wednesday!

Sunday, August 3, 2025

New Shed

The guys have been BUSY!

On Friday Kyle got the floor joists all set for our new shed.
(It's a BIG ONE! 16' x 24'!)
Lots of room for all the things.....


And then on Saturday he got the rest of the supports under it
and laid the floor.
Then Rod and I joined him and they got 3 of the walls put up.


Thank goodness for heavy equipment!


It was a job!


But they handled it, no problem.
(I got in there and helped a little too!)


By the time we left, the 3 walls were up, skinned,
and secured. It was LOVELY weather out there today,
Kyle would have loved to have gotten it done,
but... Sabbath...

It was good to rest.
(Although we had to run out and feed and water the
chickens and did a quick harvest in the garden.
Okra waits for no man!)

Anyhow.
I'm working a double tomorrow, so don't know if
I will have anything to post.
So here you go!

It was a nice day today.
Rod got to conduct in Sacrament Meeting.
And we had a really excellent Sunday School lesson.
And then we RESTED.
(And went to the farm...)
And then I had a presidency meeting this evening.

On to the NEXT activity!
(Need to put in a food order...)

Friday, August 1, 2025

Weeeeeeee!

We (Kyle) have strawberries!!!


Just in the one bed.....
but although these are June Bearing, they don't seem to care.


The other bed is focusing on plant growth and sending out
tons of runners, which is also good...
but it's fun to nibble on an occasional strawberry.
And they are AMAZING!!!!!

The broiler chickens are growing FAST.
And have seriously outgrown their little brooder.
The plan was to move them into their broiler coop.
Which would require putting up the electric fence
and having Kyle move out there with Luna. (Rottweiler)

But we aren't ready for that.
(Mostly I AM not ready for that.... lol)

So... I had a brilliant idea yesterday.


We stuck them in the egg mobile!
We didn't have enough shavings for the whole floor...
Kyle is heading into town to get some supplies for
the new shed he's building, and 3 more bales of shavings.


But there is NO WAY anything can get in 
and harm them, so he can stay in town
and Luna can stay here for a bit longer until
he's ready to move out.
We will want to move them into the broiler coop
in the next couple of weeks.
They need to be on the grass.
But at least this was a good temporary option.
He put wire mesh both at the top and at the
bottom for good air circulation.
The layers will be up on the roost bars at night
or up in the nest boxes during the day.
But these little guys are down on the floor
and it was WINDY (and kind of chilly) so we
put a board up to block one side on the floor to
give them some protection.

It was in the 100's all last week,
but this week the high is in the 80's and so far
today it's only 71!
(Rod is outside working in a JACKET!)
Hahahahahaha.

Anyhow.

I'm heading out to the freeze dryer to get the
thin crust pizza I put in there on Wed.
(It was done yesterday but it was late,
so I added some hours...)

I baked them and then cut them into little
cracker-sized squares.
Here's hoping they are good!
There's a brand that sells 3 for $9.
So I bought 6.
One for each tray, and one for lunch.
It was just pepperoni, but it was tasty.
I'm excited to give these a try.
I need to get them bagged up for tomorrow.
And then I'm teaching again tonight.
I might run out to the farm real quick though
just to check on the chicks since Kyle is 
going into Hays.
And I'm curious.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Hays Days

 Rod is STILL trying to get his truck fixed.
It turns over, but won't catch.
He changed out the fuel filter.
The fuel pump is working.
He's doing other mechanical stuff...
and watching LOTS of YouTube University
videos to help him.
But it's still broken.

Meanwhile, Kyle and I headed out to town
to do the shopping...
First stop, Ollies to get some carpet
to put on his landing for his stairs.
We also got him some shorts and I got
more trays for our stuff at the farmers market.

Then to Bomgaars to get a new nest box for
the girls coop since they keep eating eggs!
We found one we can hang on the back of
the coop and they go in, lay, and the egg
rolls away into a little compartment they can't
(hopefully) reach and they can't eat them.
Plus they don't step on them with their dirty feet
so the egg stays nice and clean.

Also a new bigger waterer for when we move the
broilers into their new coop.
And some spent coffee grounds to help with the
smell in their brooder because DUDE.
(Remember, they eat and POOP a LOT...)

Then to Walmart for the usual grocery run.

Back to the house to trade vehicles.
Rod needed to head into town to meet with the 
Bishop to go do some member visits.
And we needed to go to the farm to take care
of the chickens.
And put the new onions Kyle just harvested
on those hanging racks in his shed.

And then we went down to the garden to see if
there were any tomatoes or okra to harvest.
No tomatoes.
SOMETHING is doing a number on them.
Probably the grasshoppers.
We bought a seed spreader and some grasshopper
bait to spread out there. Kyle's going to do that today.
They eat it, and then they are carnivores, so their
buddies eat them, and EVERYBODY DIES.
YEA!
Takes about 2 weeks to see a drastic drop in the
population, but I'm all for it.

Meanwhile, we are picking the tomatoes as soon
as they start to blush, then we will let them ripen
on the counter. Otherwise, the bugs get them all.
NOPE.


Kyle did some mowing on Monday.
He mowed some of the top of the hill above the garden,
so we climbed up there to get a bird's eye view.
That's corn there at the front.
And it goes all the way to his car.
Corn, okra, the cattle panels you can see have cucumbers,
cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon and sweet potatoes slowly
covering the arch.
Then the tall, really dark green is the 4 rows of tomatoes.
The plants are SUPER healthy and COVERED in little
green fruit, we just need to get it FIRST.
Then we have a row of cabbage (we harvested the first 3 
last night... they were TINY - personal cabbages, 
but I chopped them up and sautéed in butter and seasoning
and they were YUMMY!)
Then onions, beans, 2 random brussels sprouts, for about
4 or 5 more rows.

We are taking most of that out this week when the seeds
get here and putting in about 2000 carrots.
We want a good fall harvest.


I thought you might enjoy a glimpse of the backyard garden as well.
Our volunteer sunflowers are doing really well!
That's our home tomatoes and peppers to the right.


And the red potatoes, sweet potatoes (starting to climb the panel)
and some tomatoes (Roma) and peppers (no heat jalapeno
and a fun little pepper IF they actually produce) along
with some nice healthy nasturtiums. 
Then my crazy flower bed.
And finally a bed with green beans (nearly done) 
and all my cucumbers.

We are doing well with everything except the peppers.
We just aren't great pepper growers.
We picked a couple last night but the skins are
SO THICK. They smell great, but aren't a pleasure to eat.

But we'll keep trying.

Ok.
Time to get something in the freeze dryer for this week.
I pulled the cucumbers out last night.
They turned out well.

And I'm teaching again tonight.....
Have a great Wednesday!

Monday, July 28, 2025

Dodge City, Kansas

 Unfortunately, on Sunday morning when
Rod went out to drive his truck to church
EARLY (for Bishopric Meeting) it was dead.
(The batteries, not the whole truck...)

So we jumped in the Escape and headed into town.

After church he looked and looked in the
garage for the battery charger.
And Kyle and I checked out the storage.
But none of us could find it.
But... diesel truck batteries usually are fine
until they are dead. And then they are DEAD.

So..... this morning he got on the phone and
called to a gazillion Interstate Battery stores
because his are still under warranty.

He FINALLY found two at the store in Dodge City.
Whew!

So...

ROAD TRIP!!!!

He and I loaded up in the Escape
(after I prepped some cucumbers for the freeze 
dryer and put in a load of marshmallows...)

It was a nice drive. Takes about 90 minutes.
But it's all directly south of us and we
drove through some really beautiful farm land.

As you approach the city they have a very
unique welcome sign.


More than life sized.
(We stopped on the way out of town and Rod
took a picture for us...)

We were able to get the batteries with no trouble.
And they recommended we go to
Miss Kitty's Cafe for lunch.


It was just up the street on the way back out of town.
Naturally it's on Wyatt Earp Blvd.


We all remember Miss Kitty, right?

Rod had a yummy chimichanga.
And I had some hot beef on an open face sandwich
and some REALLY good mashed potatoes.

And then we were back on the road.

On the way out of town Rod tried to get a picture
of the BIG beef stock yard.


And this was only a fraction of it.
That's a LOT of beef!
Reminded me a little of Fort Worth TX.

Anyhow.
We had a nice drive home.
Stopped at a service station in a little
town about 30 minutes out and Rod ran into
a man who was driving an original Willy Jeep.
The kind they built for the military.
(Like the one the General was driving in 
White Christmas...)


He had a nice visit with the gentleman.
His Grandfather bought 2 of them and he
has lots of fun driving this one around town.

It was a productive day.
But it kind of looks like the batteries died
because of a bad alternator.
Or something mechanical I didn't understand....

I had to teach.

The marshmallows... sort of worked?
I wasn't super impressed.
They might go to Linger Longer instead of
the Farmer's Market.

And now the cucumber slices are in there.
Hopefully they are good.
I did some last year and they were pretty popular
so they are back by special request.

And now?
I'm off to see about dinner and then bed.
Tomorrow is Hays Day.

Friday, July 25, 2025

Always SOMETHING Going On.....

 I think Kyle might be tired of having the
baby chicks in his shed.
They stink.
Hahahaha.

So today he built their "broiler coop".


Of course he painted it the same cheerful blue.


This particular breed of broilers only live for 8 weeks
before we send them to "freezer camp".


During that time they eat, poop, and grow.
They never learn to roost.
So they can stay in a very short coop.

This will be moved to fresh ground daily.
Because... see above.
They eat.
A LOT.
And they poop.
A LOT.

We have an electric net fence that is 50' on each side
so they have a LARGE area that is fenced in and
protected from predators. We will move them
inside that area and then we will move the fence
to another area.
We will also be bringing Luna out to live in that
fenced section with them to discourage animals
that want to dig under or jump over.
The chickens will stay INSIDE the coop.

But eventually (next spring) we will be adding
the layers in their egg mobile, and they will be
outside during the day. So the fence will keep
them in and predators out... but it will still be 
Luna's job to patrol and protect. 
She might have to be outside of their fence in her
own little enclosure though... she dearly LOVES
to chase chickens. (A day or two of training
will likely take care of that though, she's a 
very smart dog, and Rottweilers were bred
originally as livestock guardian dogs...)

Anyhow.
As usual, Kyle continues to amaze with his ability
to "see" a project and then get it done.

Meanwhile... Rod spent a good portion of the
day weeding the okra patches - those poor things
are buried in weeds! It's quite a job. Some of those
rows were never weeded. (Others just require some
maintenance, but even that is a job...)

And then he came home to keep working on
painting the house.

I taught a double.
And in between got the stuff ready for 
the market tomorrow morning.
I also made a giant broccoli / bacon salad for
the Ward picnic tomorrow at the WaKeeney
swimming pool / park.
But then I changed my mind.
I'm not sure I want to bring something with a
mayonnaise sauce... it's going to be in the 90's.
So on the way home from the market I'll
stop at Dollar General and buy a couple bags
of potato chips to go with the hotdogs and
watermelon the ward is providing.

Oh, and the Elders stopped by for a minute
to share a scripture and spiritual thought.
Unfortunately they showed up just a short
EIGHT minutes before I needed to start class.

So... another busy, productive day.

OH!

And we had another visitor.....



Isn't he beautiful?
I love my little flower garden.

We also have this random patch we let grow in
the middle of the yard.
It's volunteer sunflowers and zucchini and I think
a spaghetti squash from seeds from the chickens.


It totally cracks me up.
I harvested our first zucchini from it though!

Happy weekend!!!!!

Thursday, July 24, 2025

So Fun!

 The birds have been getting into our tomatoes.
We are having TERRIBLE luck with our
Amish Paste tomatoes.
They just aren't setting fruit.
And then they FINALLY set a couple.
And they were blushing.
And the birds pecked them.
They are also pecking the cherry toms.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

So......
while we were in town on Tuesday,
we bought a bunch of pinwheels.

And this morning while we were all up 
at the farm, Kyle installed them on
our cattle panels to try to discourage them.


Aren't they so cheerful?


They just totally crack me up.
(And right after I took these pictures, Kyle
mowed all the alleys so it looks MUCH better...)

Rod and I went to the farm to drop off the
new electric net fencing we bought for the
chicken pens we are building.
And then we harvested half the potatoes.


These are some I brought home to have for
dinner tonight. I'm making creamed peas 
and new potatoes, because.... why not?
We got nearly two 5-gallon pails full.
They are small, but the grasshoppers did a
number on them. All the leaves are gone.
So they aren't going to get any bigger.
I have to teach a double tomorrow.
Rod might go down and dig the rest
on his own in the morning. We'll see.
Otherwise, we'll get them on Monday.

We also harvested a bunch of okra.
And I think Kyle is going to pull the
rest of the onions.
Same problem.
They are looking good, could still get
bigger, but the grasshoppers ate all
the tops off.
So we need to get those out of the ground.


The view out Kyle's front door
because it's SOOOO GREEN!
It's so beautiful out there right now.
We've been getting a thunderstorm
nearly every night this week so everything
just looks so green and beautiful.

Rod dropped me at the house and went into
Hays to get some wood at Home Depot.
And I took a nap.
I was SOOOOO tired.
Teaching the weekend class really takes
it out of me. And I have to do a double.
So I decided I'd better rest up a little.
Saturday morning is farmers market.
And Saturday evening is the ward picnic
at our WaKeeney park / swimming pool.

And then Sunday it's the 4th Sunday so I
get to attend Ward Council for Temple and
Family History, and then we are doing a
blended RS for ALL the sisters in the ward.
And I think I have some ministering 
interviews after church.
So it will be a busy day.

And then next week Beth is out of town again.
So I'll be doing doubles.

I just put 4 trays of bananas and 1 tray of
banana peels into the freeze dryer.
I don't know if they will be ready for Saturday.
I hope so.......
(The peels are just going into the food processer
and getting turned into powder for 
garden fertilizer. I'm not selling it.)

So....
that's Thursday!
(I started the RS Pres Mtg zoom at 7, but
nobody logged in. They were all planning to
"try" to attend, but there was a gazillion
things going on in their lives this week...)

So, now I'm going to go start dinner.
Not that we will be ready to eat it yet.
Kyle comes home when it's dark.
That's 2 hours away.
But I can get the chicken out and start it
thawing, at least.
And Rod should be home in a few.

Have a lovely evening!
Oh yeah, HAPPY PIONEER DAY!
(Poor Soni, navigating downtown today was
IMPOSSIBLE! All the streets were closed
for the various festivities......)