Another Road Trip

Linda and I drove up to the ranch on Wednesday.

We were meeting with the septic guy.

While there, the man who had managed

the property since 2004 came by to check

the water and the cows.

(Linda arranged to have him continue

until we can get Kyle up there...)

Kyle and I were up there last week and

there were 8 baby calves at that point.

He said there were 2 more babies

within the past day or two,

bringing the total of babies to 10.

We drove around on Linda's UTV

and checked out the property

(it's only the 2nd time she has been there)

and she finally got a really good look

at her new land and all her cows.

The babies are SO CUTE!

We found a couple peeking out from behind a tree.

Check out the heart on her forehead!

Isn't she adorable?

And she's a GIRL!

Breeding stock!!!

After we chatted with Jeff (the septic guy)

and drove around the property,

we headed into town for some lunch

and to make some plans for how to move forward.

When we got back to the ranch,

we decided to recount all the babies,

so headed out to where they had moved 

(a shady line of oak trees)

and started counting.

I noticed a cow standing off by herself

who looked like she had just given birth.

Sure enough! There was a brand new baby!

We had seen Mama sitting out in the middle

of the pasture when we were looking before.

She didn't have an ear tag and they were

supposed to have put new tags in everyone.

That means the new little one is less than an hour old!

Linda was really excited!

(She LOVES baby cows...)

Next we headed down to Ocala to talk to

some folks about some housing ideas,

and then on home.

We were pulling a trailer so we could

bring (and leave) the UTV up there,

so took the "back way", which takes around

3.5 hours instead of 2.75 hours if you go

through Orlando.

On the way home, we went through

a little town and found a FUN shop

on the side of the road.

Decided to stop (since neither of us

were in a particular hurry...)

It was LOADED with these fun, life sized statues!

Of course, some of them were larger than life size.

Like this little rooster, for example.

Unfortunately, my phone battery died,

so these are pictures Linda took.

There was also another section that was 

all different kinds of pottery,

with a TON of those bowl-type sinks

that had beautiful painting.

Reminded me of the sink in Sondra's mountain house

spare bathroom.

So pretty!

We might have to come back to get some

sinks for Linda's new house!

Anyhow.

It was a fun trip.

It's Official - I'm WEIRD.

So I'm teaching today.

We are talking about Juvenile (Gerber) Insurance.

While I'm teaching and actively interacting with

my students (a GREAT group, by the way),

there is a soundtrack playing in the back of my mind.

And then we get to the end of the topic

and I send them off to work in their workbooks

for the remainder of the hour.

And I realize there is a soundtrack playing

in the back of my mind.

Which isn't uncommon, (for me anyway...)

my entire life is set to music.

What IS weird though is my brain's choice

for today's soundtrack.

Oompapa Oompapa,

That's how it goes...

Oompapa, Oompapa,

Everyone knows....

They all suppose what they

want to suppose.....

When they hear Oompapa!

Yup.

My brain leapfrogged back 50+ years

to the movie version of Oliver

and a bunch of Londoners in a pub

dancing on tables singing jibberish.

Sigh.

And as Mom is reading this she is thinking

"SHE'S ADOPTED!"

***********************************************

You're welcome, by the way.

Because now YOUR brain is singing

Oompapa Oompapa

That's how it goes.......

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Tiny House is looking like a HOUSE

This has been such a roller coaster!

Kyle was working on getting all the ceiling panels installed.

CHECK.

Got that all done.

Getting ready to run the electrical wiring 

through all the little "race ways" in the walls.

But then it started RAINING.

Outside.

And INSIDE!

The windows were leaking like CRAZY!

Realized they didn't do the final step

during installation.

Caulking the inside.

8 towels,

a couple of rolls of paper towels,

and a couple of freak out moments later...

it stopped raining and he got it all dried up.

Yesterday morning, after giving it overnight

to make sure it was nice and dry,

he carefully caulked (and in some cases re-caulked)

all the windows. (All 6 of them!)

And then it was time to start on the wiring.

FINALLY!

It was a little less easy than he thought,

so I went out to give him a hand.

With 4 hands instead of 2, it went pretty quickly!

And then the afternoon rain showers began.

And it stayed DRY!

(Well, all but one tiny spot, easily fixed...)

The builder hard at work...

He's learning so much about home construction!

Mostly that he's not crazy about it.

LOL.

Taking a short, well earned break.

Incidentally, the hot water heater came in VERY handy!

Makes a great stool / seat!

Can't get over how much I LOVE this vanity!

And look! The floor is "clean"!

There has been a thick layer of 

styrofoam "snow" everywhere for a couple of days.

Beau likes to eat it.

Dumb dog.

We finally got it all swept up

and into a garbage can.

Next he framed in the bathroom wall

and installed the breaker box.

Then to get a feel for what it's going to

look like, he used his counter tops to

create a couple of faux walls and

used an empty insulation box and a cinder block

to mimic where his fridge will stick out to.

It will face towards me instead of

towards the kitchen cabinet.

Easier to get in stuff in / out.

This will be his vanity with a light and mirror

above it, imagine the metal stool is his toilet

(known as a commode down here in the south...).

'Scuse me! Can I get some privacy here?

(It's going to have a sliding barn door.)

Looking out from the bathroom.

Still looks like a construction zone,

but it's coming!

Tuesday and Catching Up

It was brought to my attention that I

was getting lazy about posting... lol.

And of course, my usual excuse...

I'm BUSY!

First... Kyle's house.

It's still in the first (or first and a half) stage.

He is working on insulation.

This insulation he bought is easier

and less expensive (or at least comparable)

than the traditional stud and batting,

but it still takes FOREVER.

He finally got it all cut out for around all his

windows, his door and his A/C unit.

There were 2 layers, first the layer that
fits in the groves of the corrugated walls,
then the solid piece that goes over the top.
The black stripes are the studs, the drywall
will be attached directly to the insulation.

The walls are all installed.

And now he is working on the ceiling.

If you look up at the roof, it looks like it has stripes.
The grey is the metal box, the white "stripes" are individual
strips of styrofoam insulation that had to be rounded on the ends
to fit in their slots and then glued in. They were held up
by the red neck's best friend - duct tape!

It still looks like a construction zone.
He has moved the kitchen to the other side
of the house temporarily while he works
on that side of the ceiling...

Each panel has to be glued and

then he has to brace it up using 2x4's.

He only has 4 of them.

And each one has to sit for 24 hours.

He did 8 panels last night.

He's doing 4 panels this morning.

He'll do 4 more this afternoon.

And hopefully the rest tonight...

(They have to cure for 24 hours, but 3 or 4 hours

seems to be enough to hold them up...)

Next comes running all the wires for 

his electricals.

He will have a ceiling fan,

a couple of lights in the bathroom,

the wiring for his A/C unit,

the wiring for his stove / fridge / hot water heater...

Did I tell you about his hot water heater?

It's not going to end up there,
it has a kitchen cabinet it will be hiding in.
But its helping hold up insulation.
And staying out of the way.

A week ago, Kyle and Rod went to Lowe's.
While there they were looking at hot water heaters.
This was is $350, marked down to $309.

While they were looking at it, an employee
happened by and they got to chatting.
He offered to lower it to $250.

In the course of more chatting, Rod told him
about the house Kyle is building and showed
him some pictures of the progress.

The guy said "My boss told me to make
a friend today. So I'm going to drop the price
for you tonight to $150!"
GREAT DEAL!

A few days later they were back at Lowe's.
They were looking at stoves.
Those are SO expensive!

Anyhow, while chatting with an employee,
they scored a GREAT deal on this
4 burner cooktop!
Even after buying another kitchen cabinet
to put it on top of, he was still several
hundred dollars ahead.
*And he'll never use an oven...
he'll have a toaster oven, which is honestly
all I ever use. Except for the Christmas / Thanksgiving
turkeys - and Kyle doesn't like turkey.
LOL

Anyhow.

It's coming along.
And this is his little helper (who eats styrofoam and isn't allowed
in the house unless I'm there to watch his mouth).
The dogs love to hang out there with him.

Meanwhile.

Saturday the guys worked on Kyle's transmission
on his new little Golf. They thought it would be a quick
30 minute thing, but 8 hours later it still has an issue.
So back burner for that... maybe he'll have time to mess
with it in September.

Sunday Rod and I rode with another High Council member
and a good friend, down to the Lake Placid Branch where
they were speaking. It's the first time I've gotten to
hear him speak since he was called!
High Council Sunday is the third Sunday each month
and I'm always teaching on the 3rd Sunday each month.
But with 4th of July this month, I pushed my schools
back a week.
He did a GREAT job - talked about ministering with a
pioneer day theme - talked about Rhoda Chase and some
of her trials, some of the other pioneers and their trials
and how looking out after each other was so important
and then brought it to today and helping each other after
the hurricanes last year and all the things we do each day.
It was a good talk and he seems to be getting more
comfortable speaking.

It was fun to visit the Branch. We had 9 women in RS.
Maybe 14 people in Gospel Doctrine.
And when Church started, there were only 12 people
in the chapel! (Folks showed up a little later, they have
quite a drive to get to this building - BIG news, they
just bought their own building in their little town
and should be meeting there in the next month or so...)

Yesterday Kyle and I took his truck and drove up
to the ranch to do the final walk through before they close today.

They have been getting lots of rain, so everything
is nice and green.
This is the cow trail down to the pond.
It's covered in "duck weed".

We drove the perimeter and checked all the fences,
got some more insight from the current manager,
and then left him at the hay barn and walked
around a little, scouting out where he wants
to put his house.

I didn't take any pictures of the cows, but there
are now 8 babies - she bought all 28 cows,
they were supposed to all be pregnant,
we'll see how many of them really are.

(This was not a well "documented" herd...
the folks were sort of - well there's a young bull out
here with them, so they are probably all bred...)

I imagine after Kyle gets the new cattle working
pens and chutes built anybody who hasn't had a baby
will be run through and preg tested to see who is
and who isn't... and then they'll think about doing
A/I on the rest who aren't.
They really want to have 20 babies so they can
sell them in 3 months and then buy more mamas.
Their goal is 50 cow/calf pairs.

Most of the property looks like this.
But the deep hole and surrounding woods
is my favorite part...

It's exactly 200 miles from the ranch to our house.
A 400 mile round trip, with 2+ hours visit to the property
and a nice little lunch at the town diner.
Made for a long day.

Today I'm doing laundry,
making Rod's breakfasts for the week,
that sort of thing...

So...
You are all caught up!

Baby Chicks and a Plan Change

The girls are still not producing like they should.

So we have begun the "weeding out" process.

Last night I snatched 4 girls off their roost

(easier to catch that way)

and put one each in isolation

in the old rabbit hutches.

You've got 24 hours.

Lay, or freezer camp.

Your choice...

So far... no eggs.

Meanwhile, I had an order for

46 new chicks coming,

since the writing is on the wall

for these girls.

But then Rod and I re-evaluated

and decided maybe our egg selling

days are at an end.

The neighbor is transitioning over to

being a bamboo farm over the next 

two years, so we knew we were nearly done,

but we decided with Kyle leaving

(he's my backup when I'm gone)

and me being gone a LOT here in

the near future (I'll be out of town

EVERY weekend until mid-September

and then gone again the last 2...)

maybe we should just get out now.

So...

I called the chicken people and changed

my order from 46 hard layers

to 15 (minimum order) of a breed that

will lay every couple of days,

but continue to lay for 5 to 6 years.

We'll give a couple to Kyle

so he can have eggs,

and keep the rest for us.

That will give us enough eggs for 

us to eat, and also to give away

to the missionaries and a few

folks in the ward we like to help out.

The chicken people were really nice

and super helpful.

Happy to change my order.

And they arrived today!

Baby chicks are so stinkin' cute!

They were happy to check out the

water and feed.

And now they are all napping.

I have a chicken who has been faithfully

sitting on a nest for several weeks.

I grabbed her and put her in with 

the chicks, hoping she would think they 

all just hatched!

Look! Babies!

Nope.

She freaked out and pecked one on the head.

So I kicked her out.

They'll just have to be motherless.

But since it's WICKED hot,

they won't need a heat lamp.

We have 6 New Hampshires.

A large red chicken that lays well for many years.

And 9 "True Blues" who also lay well

for many years, but they lay a blue egg.

And who doesn't love a blue egg?

I told Brock today that I was winding down

and wouldn't be bringing eggs after next week.

He lost 25 chickens to coyotes over the

past week or two,

so he's actually thinking about being

done and just ordering his eggs

from a supplier from now on.

I'm sorry the coyotes are eating his chickens.

But I'm glad the coyotes are eating HIS chickens!

(grin)

I guess my girls will have to stay in their yard.

Of course once I whittle the flock down

to the 2 dozen who are still laying,

that will be easy.

And when the new babies come on board

(around Thanksgiving)

the old ones will go and we'll just

have our little family only flock.

End of an Era.

Take THAT Chickens!

When I first retired,

one of the first things I did

was repair the holes in the fence

in the chicken yard.

We have NEW holes.

Half the flock is getting out daily.

The rooster hops in and out at will.

My egg count is down.

I think...

Well, I don't know what I think.

I ordered new chicks that should be here

early next week.

I'll be rotating my flock in November.

Anyhow.

Today I got out there early 

(early being a relative term)

and did more repairs.

That's all new chicken wire.

And an annoyed flock of chickens.

HA!

Just went out again.

There are...

ZERO eggs in my nest boxes.

Guess they showed ME!

(Yesterday nobody laid until after 2:00...

I have seriously weird chickens.)

Independence Day

Still working on Kyle's Independence...

Today they are installing the last window

and the A/C unit.

If they have time they might also do the door.

But since it's already 3:30,

that might not happen...

There is going to be LOTS of light in there.

The open end (which will be closed off eventually)

is the "living room" and the loft.

The door will be where the black pole is.

Still lots of work to do.

But it's coming along...

This is the side the door will be on.

And this is the kitchen side.

With all the on-lookers.

Left to right,

Roxy, Beau, Bandit, Shadow.

And of course the neighbor's cows in the

background, always watching...

Beau and cows.

They like each other.

Maybe because they both have 

big, black, flat, rubber noses...

Meanwhile, it's Wednesday,

so I washed all my eggs.

They are ready to deliver.

I need about 5 more to make 

one more carton... so I'll wait around

for a little bit.

Lay girls, LAY!

And I made 8 individual servings

of a yummy no bake cheesecake Kyle loves.

They are SUPER rich, so a tiny portion is

very satisfying.

Kyle's version has full sugar blueberry pie filling.

Rod's and mine are topped with sugar free

cherry pie filling.

Kyle sometimes gets them confused. 

(grin)

This is a "double batch".

1 cup heavy cream.

Whipped.

Add a splash of vanilla, a splash of almond extract,

and 2 T stevia sweetener.

Then drop 2 bricks of room temp cream cheese

into the bowl and whip that in too.

This time I used 1 brick of 1/3 less fat and 

1 brick of regular cuz that's what I had in the fridge.

It's good with either or both!

Whip it till its well mixed and then

spoon it into containers.

You CAN just spoon it into one container, 

but if Kyle lives in your house, 

it's better to portion it out for him.

Otherwise he thinks the whole thing

is a portion.

He really likes this stuff.

LOL

Last night's meatloaf turned out really good.

My experiment with the baked / grilled

onion was a bust. I ended up leaving them

in the oven for over an hour to get them

even close to what they get on the grill...

Oh well.

This afternoon I chopped one up pretty small,

browned it in a fry pan with some butter

and then added a couple of diced hot dogs.

Steamed up some cabbage, topped with more butter

and put the hotdog / onion concoction on the top.

It was a yummy lunch.

(The guys opted out of the cabbage and just ate

the dogs and onions...)

Kitchen Stuff

Rod went back to work today

and Kyle went to work at the city farm.

(He now has OUR farm, Linda's city farm,

and in 2 weeks he'll be living at Linda's ranch...)

Not confusing at all...

This morning I got up and went out

to feed all the animals and then

came in the house and did a 15 minute workout.

(Day 2 in a row!)

Then I gathered up all the garbage from

the kitchen and garage and took the

can out to the street for pick-up.

Once I was done, Kyle and I headed over

to the feed store in his truck.

When he moves I'll have to arrange to 

switch vehicles with Rod now and again

(or I can use the Trooper, as long as I

don't need a round roll of hay...).

We picked up a beautiful smelling round roll.

Smells like fresh cut hay and is nice and green.

But it was TINY!

Sheesh!

Half the size of the rolls we have been getting.

I also got the rest of the horse feed to last

us 2 weeks.

They are getting OLD and need supplements

to keep them healthy and keep weight on them.

Anyhow.

I filled 3 metal garbage cans with feed.

(Rice bran, texture sweet feed and alfalfa cubes...)

Then Kyle hooked up to his big trailer

and headed off to the steel place to get more

steel for his house and then over to Linda's

to do some work over there.

While he was gone, I fired up my counter top

electric griddle (I LOVE that thing!) and made

a giant batch of on plan pancakes.

I ate three of them for breakfast (brunch)

and saved the other 6 for breakfasts for the 

rest of the week.

Then it was back outside to re-mow the grass.

I mowed the front and middle yards yesterday,

then Kyle came behind me and mowed the edges

*I'm not good at it yet and don't get close enough

to the edges... 

He also moved all the vehicles they were using

while working on his house, so he mowed under

where they all were parked.

This morning he took his truck and trailer,

so I got the mower out again and mowed

where those were parked.

Also the dogs were still in the garage in their

crates eating their breakfast, so while they

were gone, I opened up the dog run and

mowed in there as well.

Then it was back into the house to cut up

a watermelon I bought yesterday and

get it chilling in the fridge,

make a batch of "Skinny Chocolate" and

get that in the freezer,

clean up the kitchen and get the dishwasher running,

and then sit for a minute with my

books and figure out what's for dinner.

I'm trying a new meatloaf recipe.

It has caramelized onions and cheese on top

instead of the traditional ketchup.

We have some Vadalia onions in the fridge.

They are kind of like the Walla Walla onions

you guys are familiar with.

Flat and super sweet.

These ones come from Vadalia Georgia.

They are PERFECT cooked on the grill,

but its a pain in the neck to fire up the grill

just for onions.

So this morning I got two of them out,

put them in a little roasting pan with a bunch

of butter and covered them with some heavy

tin foil. Put them in my toaster oven

(I only use my real oven for Thanksgiving

and Christmas turkeys! My toaster oven is

big enough to fit a 9x13 pan! I love it!)

I'm going to see if roasting them in the oven

is a close enough substitute for grilling.

Probably won't be exact, but hopefully good enough.

(And I HATE cooking them on the stove...)

(lazy)

Yesterday I made up a big batch of pea salad,

we had it with country style ribs I boiled on the 

stove and then finished in the air fryer.

It was delicious!

But Kyle was looking for grilled onions to go with...

Anyhow.

Now I'm sitting quietly,

watching a couple of videos from the Trim Healthy girls

and getting inspiration for what we are going to have

for dinner tomorrow.

Probably T-Bones on the grill.

We are getting closer to butchering the cows

and I still have several steaks etc in the freezer,

so we'll be eating plenty of beef in the 

upcoming weeks.

*I cut WAY back on cooking beef for a bit there

because I was afraid we would run out...

Anyhow.

No pictures today.

They put in another window yesterday,

but the house is all closed up today and I

can't get the back door open by myself.

Looking More and More Like a Place to Live...

Amazing how much WORK goes into 

putting in these windows...

They sure do make the whole place

look bigger though!

I'm glad Kyle decided he wanted to

go with the giant windows above

the kitchen counters.

It looks AWESOME!

The bathroom vanity is under the back window

but only while they are putting in the

next window on the other wall.

(It will be above the toilet...

there will be a mirror above the vanity.)

The vanity is so pretty,

I almost wish it wasn't going in the bathroom

where you will only see it if you are in there.

He really is a talented furniture builder!

Next... the A/C unit.

I think...

I tried to stay out of their way today.

Mowed the yard.

And made a yummy "pea" salad.

Remember those?

Green peas, red onions, orange cheese cubes,

red ham bits, and yummy dressing over it all.

Delicious!

We are having that and country style ribs

for dinner tonight.

The guys have been working hard and are HUNGRY.