33 And Counting

33 years ago today,

Rod and I got married.

We didn't know anything back then.

We thought we had it all figured out.

We thought we knew everything.

We knew what we needed to know though.

We knew we loved each other.

We knew we were happy.

And we knew we were cute!

(ha ha ha)

(that is NOT the world's biggest bustle,

it's my little brother, Gary, being

suffocated by my train and

an incredible desert wind)

We were right.

We still love each other.

We are still happy.

And we definitely know everything.

Ha ha ha ha

Happy Anniversary Darling!

I love you more and more and more.

And although I can hardly imagine it,

I look forward to loving you more as eternity unfolds.

Moses Plagues - Incident Reports

It's hurricane season.

And rainy season.

And Moses Plague season.

The current plagues are frogs and mosquitoes.

If a mosquitoe lands on you,

you smack it.

If a frog lands on you...

silliness ensues.

Incident Report #1:

Kyle came walking down the hall holding

a frog by its feet, offering frog legs for dinner.

He FINALLY captured this one.

It had been hanging out in his toilet.

(thankfully I did not know this...)

Incident Report #2:

A frog snuck into the house and was sitting

in wait on the piano bench next to the patio doors.

As I opened the doors and came in,

he made a giant leap.

Landing on my bare arm.

Much dancing, screeching and hand flapping ensued.

I managed to swoosh him out the door.

Incident Report #3:

Laying in bed, watching TV.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black blob

fly through the sky and land on the other side of the bed.

Right on/next to Rod.

Much dancing, screeching and hand flapping ensued.

He managed to catch him (on the headboard) and

toss him into the backyard.

Incident Report #4:

Last night at WalMart, Kyle opened the back door

of my truck to put the groceries in there,

and a random frog jumped IN to my truck!

He tried to swoosh it out, but it just went deeper in.

My entire school is in the backseat of my truck.

(which means lots of hidey holes)

I found the frog - a cute little leopard skinned

guy only about 1.5 inches long.

But I couldn't reach him.

No sign of him this morning.

We have no resolution to this incident report.

I'm hoping there will be NO dancing, screeching

or flapping of hands involved.

I did close my truck up tight this morning,

hoping the blazing sun would heat my truck to oven

temperatures and cook the little beast.

But I'm not confident.

I'm wearing long sleeves today.

Me Time

This weekend I am teaching over on

the west coast of the state in a 

nice little city called

Fort Myers.

I've taught here before,

but it was years ago.

It was a 3 hour drive through

some beautiful farm land.

Lots of cattle.

I wanted to pull over and

pick up one of those calves!

I usually arrive at my hotel after dark,

but I needed to be here early to meet

the folks and get the keys, etc,

so here I am at 5:00.

So I am going out for an early 

dinner, and then spend a 

relaxing evening. 

I took the day off to drive over, 

so spent the morning getting my

hairs cut and my nails done. 

I quit doing acrylic nails several

years ago,  but I just decided

it was time to try again. 

So it has been a "me" day.

NICE!

(No pictures cuz I'm on my tablet and

have never used the camera...)

Zoodles

In our quest to eat healthier

and maintain the weight we have lost

and spend money

I bought a new toy.

And I LOVE it!

(The jury is still out for Rod)

(This is HIS lunch - he hasn't eaten it yet...)

On Saturday I bought a little toy

called a Veggetti.

You use it to turn vegetables

into spaghetti noodles.

I stuck an unpeeled zucchini in it.

And then you just twist.

The result is a pile of "zoodles".

(You can also use carrots, potatoes, other

squashes, any firm vegetable!)

Then I added a big spoonful of cottage cheese

some tomato/basil spaghetti sauce

and a good sprinkle of parm cheese.

When he gets ready to eat, he just

sticks it in the microwave for 90 seconds.

The zoodles taste like el dante noodles!

They definitely DO NOT taste like zucchini!

Sunday I tried it out, made a tiny batch,

took a taste, and then handed it to Jim to taste.

When I turned around again, it was GONE!

Guess it was good...

(And that was without any cheese!)

Quick.

Easy.

Healthy.

Tasty.

WIN!

*$10.88 in the "as seen on TV" section at WalMart/Walgreens etc.



Being Prepared

We live in Florida.

And its Hurricane Season.

We live in a part of the state

that doesn't get hit by hurricanes.

Unless we do.

We are a little weird.

We like hurricanes.

When one is looming,

we hook the TV to the battery backup

and put in the Twister dvd.

(We own a small business,

so we can't really leave...)

However, we also do LOTS of preparing.

Real preparing.

Not putting duct tape on the windows.

And we pay big bucks for insurance.

(We live less than a mile from the ocean.)

(which means we have a ridiculous

wind storm deductible)

Anyhow.

In our continuing search for things

to help us weather the storm

(literally)

Kyle and I found a great book!

We gave it to Rod on Sunday

for Fathers Day.

And then all the males in the house

spent the rest of the day drooling

over all the cool things you can do!

It's like the BEST science project EVER!

There are lots of pictures and

just enough information to "wet your whistle".

(And then you head to YouTube...)

Kyle made a candle!

He spent lots of time experimenting

with various wicks.

He started with a strip of an old t-shirt.

It worked really well.

Until it fell through the hole and sunk.

Then he used a hunk of Rod's old

shoe lace.

It didn't work very well.

Too much plastic or something.

Then he found some 100% cotton

cotton balls.

Stretched one into a long string

and tried that.

(each wick has to be soaked in a

heavy salt water solution and then dried

overnight.  Or stuck in the microwave

for a minute...)

That worked well.

Then Jim arrived for dinner and they

got even more creative.

They stretched three cotton balls

and braided them.

SCORE!

I think their next try will include poking

more holes in the lid and doing 3 wicks.

It's a neat candle, burns for a LONG

time, but doesn't put off much light.

So they are hoping by adding wicks

that will help.

Next up?

They want to make charcoal.

And a water turbine.

And gun powder.

(I'm sticking to barley fodder...)
(By the way, I made the chocolate mousse filled,
Reddi Whip topped crepes last night.
YUM!!!!!)

Random Monday Stuff

It's Monday.

My brain still thinks its the weekend.

I haven't taught a class in 4 weekends.

I might have forgotten all my material.

I'm teaching this weekend in Ft. Myers.

It's a gazillion miles away.

So anyway...

We fed out the first fodder yesterday morning.

(actually I did a sneak preview Sat evening

but only a couple of the girls were up in the barn)

Yesterday was the "official" first feeding.

This stuff is really pretty!

But we think we did too many seeds.

There are a lot of "old maids" in there.

(*The girls love them, but still...)

We cut back to 2 cups of seed and will

see what that does.

This is what it looks like in the bucket.



Up close.

I put a video of the girls eating it on Facebook.

I can't get it to upload to YouTube.

Technology.

So...

since the girls were getting a fancy breakfast,

I decided to see what I could do for the people.

We had YUMMY Mint Chocolate Chip smoothies

for breakfast before church.

But after church,

this happened!

I have never made a successful crepe before.

Nailed it!

These were sugar free, ultra low carb and tasty!

I made a nice pile of them (10)

and then used them to make turkey/muenster cheese

roll ups for our lunch.

We only ate 4 of them, so I have 6 more

in the fridge just waiting to turn into something else fun.

I was going to put some chocolate mousse

I made Saturday into them with a spritz of

Reddi Whip on top for a desert after dinner,

but then I made some mini strawberry cheesecakes instead.

(I forgot to take a picture...)

I have 3 cheesecakes stashed in the extra fridge.

So maybe there will be one left when I get home

after work and I'll take a picture then.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Pathetic

We've had lots of rain this week.

Which makes me HAPPY!

But with it has come lots of thunder.

Which makes Bison unhappy.

He was out in the "dog yard" with Duke.

When I got home, I let them back

into the "dog room". 

And he went straight to his crate to pout.

It appears he tried to dig to China.

With his head.

WHAT???

Fodder

I remember Mom sprouting alfalfa.
In a nifty little wooden frame with a
mesh/nylon botton and a tea-towel
draped over the top.
YUM!!!

I LOVE alfalfa sprouts!
I have sprouted them many times since,
(I prefer a blend of alfalfa/radish)
in everything from a mason jar covered with panty hose
to a plastic "wanna be" of Mom's frame.

I would kill for Mom's frame.

However.

This week we are experimenting with something new.

Not for us.
(although I might sneak a taste...)

We are sprouting barley!
For the chickens.
And possibly the rabbits.
(and maybe the farmer's wife...)

My fabulous neighbor took an 8 hour drive
(round trip) to north of the Ocala area
to the (and I quote) middle of the middle of nowhere.

She was up there anyway.
Her amazing 2013 World Reining Champion horse
is living in the Ocala area at a fancy barn
with a fancy trainer.
She drives up several days each week
so they can train together.
Getting ready for this year's campaign.
(GO MARI!)
*Mari is the horse...
(GO NEIGHBOR!!!)

So anyhow.
She drove another hour+
and eventually found this little farm.
These folks run a co-op.
She picked up 1000 pounds of chicken feed.
500 for us and 500 for her.
It's amazing feed out of Ohio.
DNA TESTED non-GMO.
And just a hair over 1/2 the price we've
been paying at our local feed store
for stuff that has an "organic" label
on it, but with the new USDA regulations,
that could mean anything!

So anyhow.

She also bought a 50# bag of barley seeds.

We have been researching foddering for awhile.
But she's a go-getter.
Since they had the seeds (I've looked everywhere
locally and nobody carries it!)
She bought a bag.
And then she bought a bunch of buckets.
And then she gave it all to me.
LOL

She's a go-getter.
But I'm an experimenter.

That was Monday morning-ish.
So while Kyle et al were out riding in the woods,
Rod and I (ok, Rod) built a fodder "system".

It's really fancy.



Rod's fancy fodder system

Yup.

5 buckets.

(with 1/8 inch holes drilled in the bottoms)

Some cinder blocks.

A wood frame and chicken wire "lid"

to keep them safe from chickens and horses.

We needed to do some re-arranging in the barn

to accomodate this new system.

But all the materials (except the latch/hinges)

were stuff we already had laying around.

(Well, and the buckets, see above...)

The system is blindingly simple.

Every evening you put some barley seeds in a bucket.

Add some water.

Go away.

Every morning you dump those seeds and their water

into one of the buckets with holes and let it drain.

Go away.

Then it gets nifty.

Starting on day TWO, (and from then on)

now that you have more than one bucket with seeds in it,

every morning and every evening, you stack them.

Oldest on the bottom, newest on top.

Then you just dump a bucket of water into the top

bucket and it drains all the way through,

watering all of them in one shot!

Set them back on their cinder blocks and go away.

By the end of day 5, the ones in the first bucket

are ready to feed out and be replaced

by some new seeds that soaked the previous night.

It literally takes less than 5 minutes.

But here's the neat part.

50 pounds of seed grows to equal 200 pounds of feed.

With 18% protein!

Which means that's 200 pounds of expensive feed

we don't have to buy!

50 pounds of seed is $17.

200 pounds of DNA tested, non-GMO feed is $75.

(plus $40 for our share of the fuel to run get it)

Can you say SAVINGS?!?

We soaked our first seeds Monday evening.

This morning (Thursday) they have tails!

(They had some yesterday, but without my glasses,

I had to take Kyle's word for it...

This morning I could see them for myself...)

We now have THREE buckets in various stages

of sprouting.

I'm so excited!

We should be ready to feed some to the critters

by this weekend.

I'll be giving half to the neighbor.

And then we'll set up her own system.

(Her son does all the actual "labor" except when

Kyle is doing it... and he (the son, not Kyle) was

in the Bahamas resting up last week.)

I'm sure he's thrilled with this new development.

If you were interested

(and are actually still reading this novel)

here's a website with all the skinny.

Frozie - I'll bet Sam could do this!

Dead Simple Fodder System



KBuff is also gettin' up there!

Yesterday was Kyle's birthday.

(He was due on Jim's birthday,

but has always danced to his own music...)

Stupid Blogger won't let me rotate, even though
this picture looks right in my files...

He and his "minions" built this swing.

It is NOT on our property.

It is also kinda sketchy.

But they had fun...

The same "minions" celebrated his birthday

by loading up the motorcycles and heading

out into the woods for a day's riding.

They also brought hot dogs.

Built a fire and cooked over it.

They had a BLAST!

I don't have any pictures.

Kyle has never liked cake.

So I made his traditional birthday cake.

It will last a whole lot longer than a regular cake.

Until we get LOTS of rain.

And, although this is the rainy season,

we haven't had more than a little drop

in several weeks.

So this might be around for awhile...

Then we all got together last night

for a family birthday dinner.

Steak, hamburgers, and a big ol' green salad.

(I had all the stuff to make his favorite side.)

(I forgot to make it.)

(I took the day off and we worked all day long.)

(I was a little tired.)

(I'll post tomorrow about what we were doing.)

Dinner was really good.

(Kyle and Jim did the seasonings - they rock!)

But the company was even better.

It's so wonderful to spend an evening with the gang.

I worry that those days are limited.

As they get older and start thinking about

trying some place other than THIS place

to live.

Like Utah.

Or Arizona.

Or Kansas.

All WAY too far away for this Mama.

We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

In the meantime...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!

I LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!!

Red Sky At Night

If I were a sailor,

I would have been super excited

to see last night's sunset.*

It was gorgeous!

Kyle and I WISH we had good cameras.

You just don't get the true picture.

(ha ha ha)

There are many skies over our little farm

that we just look at each other and grin.

If you painted it,

people would think we were

painting from our imaginations.

Sunsets.

It's kind of our thing.

Except that this week Kyle has been

"pulling doubles".

Which means he has to be up BEFORE

the crack of dawn to go next door to

take care of all the chickens, and

then come home to shower, cuz

really, who wants to smell like

chicken coops all day?

And then head over to his other

"farm" where he has been rebuilding

a roof they built a couple of years ago.

It's really high up.

And built out of really heavy materials.

Which means it is risky.

And probably actually dangerous.

And he LOVES it!

But it also means he has actually seen

a couple of sun RISES lately.

And discovered they are also beautiful.

(They are on HIS phone and he forgot

to send them to me...)

Anyhow.

The sky has been extraordinarily beautiful lately.

Which means we've been taking lots of pictures.

And lamenting the lack of rain.

But you can't have it all...

*Red sky at night

Sailor's delight.

Red sky at morning

Sailors take warning!

Jimbo is OLD

Saturday was Jimbo's birthday.

He's old.

He's finished the first quarter and entered the second.

He said he feels old.

Especially when people ask him if he feels old.

Old and Cranky.

LOL

He had to work.

Bummer.

So I tried to lighten his day by taking him to lunch.

We went to a favorite, Makotos.

It's a Japanese restaurant.

One of those where you sit in the pit

and they cook right there for you.

But we were on his lunch.

We didn't have time for a meal AND a show.

So we just ate in the lounge.

It was DELICIOUS!

I've never actually ordered sushi before.

It was better than I expected.

But not as good as I hoped.

(My favorite part was actually the Bento Box!)

(I wanted to take it with me!)

And there were, of course, a couple of surprises.

The pretty little square in the middle.

Thinly sliced candied carrots

and an avacado puree.

YUM!!!

Except it was actually thinly sliced candied ginger (hot)

and wasabi puree (HOT HOT HOT)

(My eyes popped out of my head

and my nose fell off my face.)

It was tasty!

I ate more.

In T.I.N.Y. bitelets.

Jim had a pretty plate full of goodies too.

(It was a little dark... it's a Lounge.)

We had a great visit.

I love spending time just chatting with my boy.

Sadly, I am also OLD.

I trusted my camera to focus for me.

Since I wasn't wearing my glasses.

And was unable to focus for myself.

(I put them on AFTER the ginger/wasabi fiasco)

Trust me - it was a cute picture

of a handsome guy!

Happy Birthday Jimbo!

I LOVE YOU!