Neighbors

The farm next door likes to

shake things up every now

and again.

They have a bunch of cows.

If you look Waaaay back there

you can see the white donkey (Snickers)

and the two little brown goats

(Lolly and Pop)

(yeah, we didn't name them...)

And standing behind one of the Moms

on the left side is one of the calves

the other one is the brown blob 

laying down on the grass on the

extreme left.

They are both boys.

Ham and Burger?

(not likely...)

They moved them to the front pasture

that borders our property.

The chickens don't mind.

The dogs were a little freaked out.

It's nice that we can sit on the patio

and watch them.

Well.

You can smell them too.

But that's ok.

It's fun to hear them moo-ing.

Aaaaaah,

life on the "farm".

Branches and Breakfast and an Update

I know.

This isn't a "food blog".

But this is a PRETTY quiche!

(Just pulled it out of the oven)

It's hard to take a pretty picture

of food with my phone and 

the oven hood light.

(see note above; NOT a food blog... lol)

We had a good weekend.

Kyle spent a day trimming all the giant

oak trees in the front yard.

There are... um ... several.

LOL

They have gotten so big and their branches

sweep the ground in lots of places.

Really pretty.

But a pain in the neck when you are

trying to mow.

Or move the horses.

Or anything else.

(And being hurricane season, we

should really keep them trimmed up 

at least a bit...)

He did a GREAT job.

I didn't take a picture.

I DID, however, take a picture

of the giant pile of trimmings!

(This was the next morning...)

I drove the first load of bougainvillea out there

but the rest of the loads required backing

and maneuvering

and actual driving skills. 

So I let the pro take over.

He's GOOD!

While we were working out there,

SpaceX shot off a rocket.

We've really missed those!

Not nearly as big as a shuttle,

but space is space, right?

One of the benefits of living on the 

Space Coast.

It was a nice break from all the rain

we've been having for the last

couple of weeks.

Meanwhile...

Rod is on his way home from the hospital.

They took George off the ventilator today.

He has pneumonia in all four quadrants

of his lungs.

He is breathing on his own,

but it's pretty shallow.

They are keeping him comfortable with

pain medicine and antibiotics for the infection,

but we aren't going to do any more

invasive treatments.

If you wouldn't mind keeping our family

in your prayers as we cross this final bridge.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait.

Not  MY self.

Kyle.

Allergies.

Ugh.

Lost/Found Eggs and a Clarification

I have two Easter Eggers who "escape"

every day.

Casper (a white Easter Egger)

and Goldie (a pale yellow EE)

(VERY few of my chickens have names...)

When you have 100+ 

that would just be silly!

Anyhow...

Goldie used to lay a green egg nearly

every day in Buddy's (the horse) feed bucket.

So I put some hay in a bucket next to it

and she moved over there.

Casper used to lay HER green egg

in the hay room in a hole she would dig

in a bale.

But then she started laying in the bucket 

with Goldie.  And so Goldie QUIT.

I wasn't finding any of Goldie's eggs.

And believe me, I LOOKED.

Well, when we finally got the lawnmower

started and moved from it's spot in the barn...

look what we found!

I was pretty sure that's where she was laying,

but couldn't get to it since the mower 

(and a bunch of other stuff)

was in the way.

Imagine a big riding lawnmower parked right here...

You know how barns can get...

Anyhow...

Not knowing how long they had been there

I did the ol' "bucket 'o water" trick.

Yah.

These have been here a while.

And over the fence they go!

Eggs

A Poem

Eggs on the counter? You need to take stock.

Fresh, placed in water, will sink like a rock.

But, if it floats to the top, like a log

Then, I'm afraid, it gets fed to the dog.

~ Collette

(Or tossed over the fence for the raccoons...)

Meanwhile--- a clarification.

Yesterday I mentioned I like mowing the front yard.

I want to be perfectly clear.

I did NOT mow the front yard.

But I could.

If I wanted to.

I just don't.

Lawn Mower

We have a riding lawn mower.

Actually we have 2 of them.

They are powder blue Yamahas.

(Naturally)

We got ours 26 years ago.

And Rod's brother Scott got the other one.

When they moved to a rental 2 years ago

they gave the other one to Kyle.

They are the BEST lawn mowers EVER!

Except they broke.

Both of them.

So we have been borrowing Jim's for the last little bit.

But this weekend...

THIS happened.

They FINALLY figured out what was wrong!

(After trying a gazillion different things)

And it RUNS!

Saturday Kyle mowed the entire property!

What a guy!

Soooo glad to have it working again.

I actually enjoy mowing the front yard.

It's nice and shady and kind of fun!

I probably won't let on though.

Clean Coop

Kyle took on a HUGE project

for us yesterday!

Our chicken coop is FULL of

um

dirt.

Yeah, that's right.

Dirt.

We use a bare earth system.

(Some coops have a wooden floor

which means you have to put hay or

shavings down and then strip and clean

it every couple of weeks.)

That is SO not going to happen!

We built our coop with a bare dirt floor.

When we first moved the chickens in,

we sprinkled shavings on the floor every

couple of days.

And then every couple of weeks.

And now every month or so...

(if I think about it...)

Anyhow.

Over time the floor has built up.

(A lot of it IS dirt - those girls track in a 

LOT of dirt on their feet and in their feathers...)

(not my photo)

The girls love to take a dirt bath!

Which means they are DIRTY.

Anyhow.

Recently (over the past several months)

we have noticed we can no longer stand up

in the main chicken coop.

So...

I asked Kyle to clean it out.

And yesterday he DID!

Excuse me CJ - you're in the way!

That's about 18 inches!

He pulled a gazillion yellow wagon loads

out of there.

Enough to completely rebuild Buddy's stall floor.

And CJ's stall floor.

And fill the holes in Andy's stall.

And fill in the hole at the gate that Andy digs

nightly (while he is frantically pawing - convinced

he is going to starve while waiting to come in for food...)

And fill the hole behind the water trough.

And fill the holes around the outside of the coop.

And fill the holes in the pasture.

Good grief!

It was a LOT of dirt!

But doesn't it look great?

The girls were a little freaked out when they

tried to go to bed.

Somebody raised their roost by about 18 inches!

They were still fussing when I went out

to close the door last night.

They got over it though.

(I guess... I went to bed.)

THANKS KYLE!!!!!

I'm so glad he's home.

Pink!

The skies were beautiful last night!

Isn't that gorgeous?

The bizarre thing sticking up in the front

is our lamp post in our yard.

Several years ago a hurricane took the

lamp off the top of the post and we

just never got around to replacing it.

(We have another lamp on the other side

of the yard...)

About an hour later this particular

cloud was LIT UP with almost non-stop

lightning!

Thankfully by then I was home from my

Trails & Greenways meeting and we were

all tucked safely in our house.

Meanwhile, they just moved Pops to

the Medical Surgical Floor.

He is doing some better...

More awake and alert.

He was singing yesterday.

Rod tried to video him, but he wouldn't

sing anymore... (silly man!)

The tests seem to show the MRSA is all gone

but he is still struggling with keeping his

blood pressure, oxygen and heart rate at an even level.

Lots of tests and therapy and treatments

and doctors and nurses and and and...

We are keeping him in our prayers and Rod

goes up nearly every day to visit him.

Surprise!

Look what we found Thursday night!

Kyle LOVED driving his big truck over the road.

He LOVED seeing this beautiful country.

*and he got to see some of the best parts...

But he HATED driving his big truck in the city.

A gazillion cars all going a gazillion miles an hour

switching lanes without signalling,

diving in front of his truck and then slamming

on the brakes to make an exit,

blocking him from making HIS exit,

signs and more signs and more signs

everywhere...

It was too much for him.

We are disappointed it didn't turn out to 

be a job he loved.

But we are SUPER proud of him for

listening to the promptings he was receiving

LOUD and OFTEN that this was 

dangerous not only for him, 

but for the others he was sharing the road with.

Congratulations Kyle on making the best

possible decision for YOUR life.

We love you!

What's next?

He doesn't know for sure - 

but really - who does?

(and meanwhile his previous employer is 

BEYOND thrilled that he is back...)

Whatever it is, I know it will be awesome.

Because HE is.

Independence Day

Happy 4th!

We had our fireworks display last night.

One of our friends from our old ward

is a professional pyrotech guy.

He has done the town fireworks for

a couple of years.

Last year they were rained out.

(MAJOR thunder storm)

The contract says he needed to

do it again within a year.

So....

We are having our fireworks

on July 3rd.

Weird, but ok.

We park at the local Ford dealership

(since we drive a Ford we blend in...)

Put the chairs in the back

and enjoyed the show!

So anyhow.

Here's today's lunch.

(yup, NOT a food blog, but it was good!)

These are gluten free

"bagel" dogs.

The batter is made with cream cheese,

mozzarella cheese, almond and coconut flours,

egg, all wrapped around a jalapeno dog.

Hot dog - check!

And then to complete the traditional 4th theme

we had a little bowl of cottage cheese (white)

with (red) strawberries and (blue) blueberries.

It was yummy!

I think the hotdogs were a bit undercooked

but Rod went back for seconds,

so I guess it wasn't bad.

(grin)