Really???

We put up our Christmas tree Sunday after church.

Got a really nice one from Sams!

Who knew!

It is a Douglas Fir.

Smells MARVELOUS!

Pretty, isn't it?

Since we bought new furniture last Christmas

and turned the room around,

this year it fits perfectly in the corner

between the TV and the fireplace.

Even looks nice when it's not lit up.

We didn't put any glass balls around the bottom.

Because... Beau.

The first couple of days I caught him

DRINKING the water.

Silly dog.

See that little bunch of branches

really low and in the front?

If you look closely below it you will see

some little needles on the skirt.

Yeah.

I have now caught Beau TWICE

CHEWING on that branch!

Really Beau?

I know you love sticks, but this is NOT a stick!

(Well, ok, technically it is... but whatever...)

NO!

What If You Could....

I have a bracelet I wear.

It's a stainless steel cuff.

Engraved on it are the words

"What if you could?"

It's a "Trim Healthy" thing.

But it has helped me be brave enough

to try several new things.

Things I normally would shy away from.

And today was a BIG one.

Kyle had a quick job he was hired to do

for a friend of a friend.

Needed to clean up a job site.

The people that did the original clearing

for this new house build did a horrible job.

So they paid Kyle to come in and fix it.

It required his Cat and a dump truck.

He was going to have to load his Cat,

drive it to the job site, then unhook

the trailer and drive back across town

to Linda's to get the dump truck,

drive that back across town to the job site,

do the work and then drive everything

across town again.

He called a friend to see if he could help,

but Marcus was already on another

job site helping another friend.

So he asked if I would help.

Drive the dump truck.

I have never driven a big ... anything.

Ok, I take that back.

I did drive the fire truck.

In 1982.

And I backed it over the parking bollard

and my brother-in-law, Tim, had to fix it.

But.

What if I could????

(I was outside, sans makeup, sitting in the sun,

doing my daily scripture study when Kyle asked...)

It's a cute, baby blue dump truck.

It's kind of old.

But it gets the job done!

And Kyle drives it WAY better than I do.

But I got it safely to the job site and

back to our house with a load of dirt in it.

And nobody died.

What if you could?????

I DID!

R I P Fred

Fred was our main rooster.

We raised him from an egg.

But he has gotten long in the ... beak.

And our newer rooster, George, decided today

that it was time for a changing of the guard.

He chased him and chased him and chased him,

running him into corners and beating him up

until we rescued him,

and then it started all over again.

Finally George went to the coop to go to bed

and Fred wandered off to the back pasture.

Where he met his end.

I know it's the natural order of things,

but I didn't want George to hurt him

badly enough that he just slowly died.

So we dispatched him.

*I needed Kyle's help.

I'm still not very accurate with my .22.

You were a good rooster, Fred.

R.I.P.

Happy Thanksgiving - Need a Turkey?

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Anybody still need a turkey?

Wild turkeys.

LOTS of them.

They were hanging out next door.

Lucky for them, I already have a turkey,

thawing in the pantry fridge.

What's going to be on your table tomorrow?

Short Days

I guess "winter" is here.

You can't really tell,

although a "cold front" blew through

an hour or so ago and it dropped from

the 80's to the 70's.

But here it is, not even 6 pm

and it's dark.

That is how you tell when winter has

come to Florida.

Short days.

But the weather has cooled somewhat.

Enough that Beau and I can walk in the woods.

With his smashed nose, he can't breath

really well when it is hot.

He enjoyed his first walk out there.

He even got to go "off leash" for about 20 minutes.

Deep in the woods where he couldn't

get into any trouble.

Relaxing?

Busy teaching weekend ...

I didn't sleep well Friday night.

Woke up a little after 3 and didn't get

back to sleep despite the soothing, quiet

music I was playing on my phone...

Which made Saturday a LONG day.

Stopped at Chili's after school and picked up a yummy

salad and bowl of soup to eat in my hotel.

After eating I climbed into my bed to read

and realized I was falling asleep.

It was 8:20.

I'm getting old.

Slept like a log.

Sunday morning I woke up to the beginnings

of a cold sore. I get them if I get a sunburn on

my face, or if I get overtired.

Class was good although only 50% of my

students passed the final exam.

I even GAVE them the right answer, 

including the question NUMBER to a

particularly "sticky" question

and some of them STILL got it wrong.

Sigh.

I just can't stress over that stuff.

However, I collect their phones at the 

beginning of the test and when they are

done, while I am grading it, they get their

phone, turn it on, and use it to sign back

into the system so I can enter their score.

When the last student left (8:55) I started

entering scores and realized I was one student short.

I KNOW he logged in, I have to move the keyboard

in order for them to sign.

But the system didn't capture it.

So I started emailing, texting and calling him.

He FINALLY answered his phone at 9:30.

Said he could drive back over and be there in 20.

So I called my boss.

He approved another night in a hotel.

I used the next 20 minutes to finish putting

the room back together, bagged up the trash,

that sort of thing, and when he got there

we got him all signed in and then he left,

I got the rest of the scores in and finalized 

and finally left my school at 10:05.

Straight to my hotel to get a room and then

to McDonald's to get a salad to take back with me.

Naturally then I couldn't go to sleep.

Watched a couple of episodes of 

"Beat Bobby Flay".

Super boring and usually a good cure for

insomnia, but not this time!

I was probably asleep shortly after 11:30.

(the last time I looked at the clock)

Bing.

Eyes open at 6:35.

I didn't even take a suitcase up with me.

So I got up, put my clothes back on,

checked out of the hotel and hit the highway.

Where there was a wreck or construction

or who knows what that had it looking

like a parking lot.

FINALLY made it home by 8:30-ish.

Fed the horses, cows and dogs,

and then jumped back in the car at 9:40 

to make a quick run to Rockledge

(just up the street from my old office)

to deliver some decals Rod made over the

weekend to our last customer.

Back home about 11:20.

And here i sit in my chair, blogging instead

of composing an email to HQ about the

challenges I had with the system yesterday.

Guess I'd better get on that.

I DID, however, receive TWO birthday

packages today!

Thank you Mom & Dad and

Rozann & Greg!

I'm being a good girl.

They are sitting on the speaker in my 

living room, patiently waiting for

my birthday on Saturday.

So far.

Hahahahahahaha

Love you guys!

Yum

You might have seen the recipe for a cherry crumble

thing on my facebook page yesterday.

This morning I got up.

It was chilly!

Actually put on jeans, a long sleeved shirt

(thermal) and a jacket.

It was 52.

Fed the animals and then came inside

and MADE the cherry stuff!

While it was baking in my toaster oven

(I planned to do it in my air fryer, but

ended up doubling the recipe and

doing it in a 9x13)

I switched to shorts and a tank to do

my morning workout.

And now.......

It's time to EAT!

(That's non-fat greek yogurt with a little

sweetener on top...)

Beau is bummed that it's not okra.

(I share my okra with him but he won't

be getting any of this... poor boy.)

Back turned to indicate annoyance.

LOL

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

UPDATE:

Yum! A little dry - the cherries didn't give
as much juice as I hoped, so it was more
like a regular baked oatmeal with cherries,
but still DELICIOUS!

Prayers / Blessings

Thank you to each of you who have

kept my family in their prayers.

Traveling up north to assist with hurricane

relief has been a great opportunity, but

not without challenges.

Mainly, it's a long way.

And our trucks are old.

And the loads they have been pulling

are HEAVY!

(Kyle figures he weighs in around 26,000 pounds)

It's an 8 or 9 hour drive one way, and then they

work long hours doing mental and manual labor.

Kyle says it's exhausting work, even though he

is sitting in his air conditioned cab...

Other people's inexperience around heavy equipment

means they are constantly walking in front, behind,

beside, under his loads, etc.

He has to keep his head on a swivel (even with the 

back-up camera) to make sure he isn't going

to run over and crush a person, animal,

car, building, what have you.

Rod doesn't get to sit.

I've been learning to drive the "Tank".

Running it around our farm a little.

It's fun.

But standing on that little platform

while it bumps and jumps and hops

over all the ruts and hills and dips

is HARD on your knees and legs and

hips and back.

But they have certainly been blessed during this time.

They have built friendships and relationships

with the other members they are working with.

And we realized a huge blessing yesterday.

When the guys got home Sunday night, they were bushed.

We had some rain here and our ground is a little soft.

Kyle pulled his big rig around to back it into his spot

and promptly got stuck.

He was going to have to unload his tractor.

And he was just too tired.

(It was 10:00 at night... after a full day of work

and travel.)

Monday he mostly rested.

And then in the late afternoon he went out,

unloaded his tractor and gave it a good bath.

Put it away in the cow pasture.

And went to move his truck.

Only to find his batteries (big diesel trucks have

TWO giant / oversized batteries...)

DEAD as a DOOR NAIL.

He and Rod ran over to the local auto guy

to get them tested, but they didn't have 

the right equipment to test these big boys.

Tuesday morning he headed into the city

to the Interstate Battery folks.

Yup.

Dead.

One was still under warranty.

Which is good, because not only are they big,

they are EXPENSIVE.

Turns out it has been 33 months since he changed them last.

We are so blessed and grateful they held out

until he was here.

Not in the Panhandle.

And not on his ranch where his only form of

transportation is his... tractor? UTV? Feet?

So thank you again for your prayers.

The Lord answers and protects.

Monday Monday

Happy Monday!

And belated Happy Remembrance Day.

I had a nice, small class this weekend.

Only 10 students.

All super nice.

A retired English / Reading teacher sat

directly in front of me and we had

some really good conversations.

He was fascinating.

Saturday was just a good class.

Sunday I was tired.

Kept watching the clock and couldn't

believe I still had SO MANY HOURS

left to go... hahahaha.

Usually it's the STUDENTS who feel that way.

Finally finished up.

I was done "teaching" material early, so

the students spent the last hour or so

working on their workbooks and I

got all my materials put back in my

cabinet so I would be ready to leave 

the minute class was over.

Best laid plans...

A student had an issue.

And then another student had an issue.

And then I remembered the trash.

Finally rolled out of there 30 minutes later.

Sigh.

Rod called, they were on the road heading 

south, I was on the road heading north.

I had a good book (Baldacci) to listen to.

Glanced down at my GPS and had 2.9 miles

to my exit.

And then, there it went!

I MISSED IT!

The next exit was 36 miles away.

And of course the road changes direction,

so then I had to drive another 25 miles

east to join the highway I was supposed to be on.

So I exceeded my mileage limit for the week.

(no big deal)

And I was an hour late getting home.

But I finished my book.....

LOL

The guys got there about 10 minutes before me.

We were all tired, sat and visited for a few

minutes and then headed to bed.

This morning we were up early again,

Rod had an eye doctor appointment at 7:30.

(He took the day off to rest up from 

working over the weekend...)

His eye pressure is great.

The doctor was very pleased.

We came home, ate some yummy breakfast,

and now he's out back, moving a pile of old

hay Kyle had pulled out from the cow's

hay shed and left in the pasture to dry a little.

I'm doing laundry, dishes, and blogging.

And then we might all take a nap.

Cattle and More

Again with the BUSY week!

Wednesday morning found me up EARLY

to feed the horses and cows,

load up my car and head over to Linda's

house to be there by 9:00.

(It only took 15 minutes to feed the animals,

but much longer than that to feed me,

pack my clothes, eat my breakfast... lol)

I have 2 fresh fried eggs (I've still got some,

I get about 5 eggs a week now) and a BIG pile

of okra done in my air fryer every morning.

It's a lot of food and takes 20 minutes to cook

and about 20 minutes to eat! LOL

(Although I rushed through the last and fed some

of the okra to Beau - strange little dog loves

okra and broccoli, but do NOT offer him

a green bean. Harumph...)

Anyhow.

I was only 3 minutes late.

We switched my stuff from my car into her's

and headed over to Orlando to the temple.

She had some names for each of us,

so we did Initiatories and were there just

in time to catch the 11:00 session.

It was so calm and peaceful.

Linda has had a kind of stressful couple of days.

We knew we were heading to Gainesville on Wed

anyway, so on Sunday after Relief Society I

suggested we make a detour to the temple on the way.

When we finished up there we went over to the

clothing store (on the temple grounds) and I

bought another copy of next year's lesson manual

(the ward got one for each family but I want my own)

and changed our clothes - jeans are better for travel,

especially when your end destination is the ranch

where there are no amenities (yet).

A quick 2 hour drive up to the ranch.

We took a tour, driving the new Can Am,

and Kyle showed off all the work he has done up

there lately and then we walked from the hay barn

over to his mobile home and toured that as well.

She had never been inside.

Showed her the plans he has to customize it a little

for himself. She definitely approved of all of them.

And then of course we went out and visited 

the cows and the babies.

(Who aren't looking very baby-ish anymore...)

We headed over to Gainesville where I had made

a reservation at the Hampton.

Checked in and relaxed for a bit while Kyle

finished up doing his daily stuff and then

he drove over and met us for dinner.

We are SUPER fancy. We walked next door to

Waffle House.

We love Waffle House!

He headed back to the ranch and we headed

to our hotel and bed.

Unfortunately, neither of us slept much.

We were asleep by about 9 and both were 

wide awake by midnight.

We both put in some headphones and turned

on our books and tried to let that lull

us to sleep. Cat napped throughout the rest

of the night.

And then the alarms went off at 6.

(It was hot. 

Then it was cold. 

The bed was hard. 

blah blah blah)

Showers, packing, etc and then downstairs

to grab some breakfast in the lobby

and then in the car to drive 40 minutes to Ocala.

We were scheduled to spend the day at the

Florida Cattlemen's Association convention

and trade show.

Kyle met us there.

It was GREAT!

We learned about a fantastic idea for working cattle.

(SUPER expensive, but a really nice system...)

The cow is in the rust colored chute on the left...

We had a presentation by a local vet on doing

ultrasound pregnancy testing on your cows

as an alternative to blood testing or the old fashioned

method of just sticking your arm in...

Keeping the picture small... lol

We broke out into mini classes and I learned

what it feels like to palpate a pregnant cow.

Without the cow.

It was fascinating.

And stinky.

Kyle and Linda have each attended a 4-day school

at the church ranch and have each done it

WITH a real cow (which involves a glove that

goes all the way to your shoulder... hint hint)

so they opted out, but I donned my little blue glove

and dove right in.

Then there was a class on weeds.

Poisonous and non-poisonous.

They had several live weeds for us to identify.

Kyle got most of them right!

And we got posters to take home with us!

There was an excellent little lunch.

Pulled pork, the worlds BEST loaded mashed potatoes,

and some macaroni salad.

Totally not on plan, but the great thing about

Trim Healthy, is you are never more than 3 hours

away from getting right back on.

And nobody ever RUINED anything

with one off-plan meal.

After lunch we had a fascinating class on forage and feed.

What grasses to grow when and what food to 

supplement with and how to coordinate nature

with your breeding program.

(for example, figure out when your grass is best and

plan to have your cows calving and nursing then...)

We got a really good take-away book and Kyle

and I made a TON of notes.

(Linda was having a little nap... lol)

Wrapped it up with a presentation on 

Cattle Futures and what prices are likely

to be for the next couple of years.

(Low until 2020 and then a spike for the 

next decade... basically, hang in there,

better times are just around the corner...)

Most of it was really technical and you could

watch the REAL ranchers hanging on his every

word and making notes, etc.

We felt like he was speaking Greek.

One day we will understand.

We hope.

Then they had a door prize drawing.

Kyle was REALLY hoping for the Yeti cooler.

First prize drawn: $50 gift card - LINDA!

Second prize drawn: 200 pound protein bucket - COLLETTE!

Third prize drawn: 150 pounds cow feed - KYLE!

Hahahahahaha.

And no, he didn't win the Yeti.

We went out and got our prizes - I traded Kyle.

I would have loved the protein bucket,

but it was SO heavy there was no way we 

could have gotten it in Linda's truck

and NO WAY we would have gotten it out.

And he was going to buy a protein bucket

for the ranch this week anyway.

He headed to the ranch and we headed south.

I was WIPED out!

Stopped at Tractor Supply (Linda lives just around

the corner) and picked up some beet pulp

for the horses and saw a great sign!

And then to Sam's Club to get some food for the guys

for their Panhandle Hurricane Rescue trip this weekend,

and then Rod and I met at ...

WAFFLE HOUSE.

Hahahahaha.

Home so Rod could finish loading up

and I fell asleep on the couch.

Slept like a log and woke up when Rod

got up to leave this morning.

He was out of here by about 5:30 this morning.

I was up and feeding by 7.

Put a saddle on Andy (after giving him some Bute)

and we went for a ride out in the woods.

The Town is doing some new promotional stuff

and needed a picture of a horse and rider out on

the trails so I agreed to meet them out there.

We had a nice ride for about 2 hours.

There were a couple of spots where Andy

decided he was done and we were NOT going down

that trail! But we eventually got where we were going,

took some pictures and video,

and then headed home again.

(At a good, motivated Trot... his idea... lol)

We were both tired by the time we got home.

I gave him a nice cool shower,

and came in to make some breakfast

and get ready for this weekend's school.

Whew!

And now you are all caught up!

No More Chicken Yard

Kyle continued working hard yesterday...

took down all the fence around the chicken yard.

It's pretty old fence - it used to be our garden.

Using heavy equipment makes it easier!

It seems so BIG in there now!

It will make good pasture for the animals.

It's good to have him home when he is bored.

He gets SO much done!

Such Talent!

The guys were in town over the weekend.

I bet they wished they had gone north.

It would have been less work.

LOL

I'm a hard task master.

I looked all through my photos.

I guess I don't have a "before" picture.

So you'll just have to trust me.

The space beside Buddy's stall was 

A MESS!

We sort of stacked (threw) all the

extra stuff we didn't know what to do

with right there.

And the weeds grew tall.

It was a MESS!

Not anymore!

You might remember my chicken yard.

This was 2 weeks ago after a rain storm.

To the left is the large "condo".

Straight ahead is the little red coop.

The condo was our original coop the guys built.

It used to be shorter.

When it was a "tractor" and was out in the pasture.

But then they moved it into the chicken yard

and raised it up a couple of feet so I could walk in.

It took the the better part of the day

to move it. They used a 4 wheeler

and a bunch of large pvc pipes - and did

it like the ancient Egyptians did.

They worked HARD!

And I loved it.

Until this weekend.

When they decided to take down some fences.

Clean out the corner by Buddy's stall.

And move the coop.

This is a 4 minute video.

Fast forward to about the 2 minute mark.

Or watch the whole thing.

Kyle is AMAZING.

At one point he calls Rod over and reminds

him that if he drops it, it will crush him.

He should probably stand back.

I'm not nearly as good at running the camera

as he is at running his equipment.

But WOW!

They rebuilt the fence around it.

And now my chickens are in the space

next to Buddy's stall.

We are going to paint the door

cuz. ugh. It's ugly!

Kyle thinks we should paint the whole

thing barn red.

But I like the weathered wood look.

However that door has got to go.

I'll pick up some red paint for that...

Meanwhile,

we (Rod, the master chicken catcher) moved

the "babies" into it so they have a nice

new home. Close to the barn (and the food).

They left the fence down, and the rest of it

is coming down today.

(Kyle is out there now...)

We are turning the chicken yard back into pasture.

The grass should grow GREAT in there.

Here's to a hand full of blue eggs

everyday (starting in a couple more weeks)

and the end of the egg business era.

I'm happy/sad. 

But mostly happy.

(There are a few of the original flock left...

I'm keeping them as "yard chickens" so they

can clean up after the horses and cows

everyday and keep the flies under control.)

I got 2 eggs yesterday.

That's good enough.

For now.

Radio Silence

Sorry for the radio silence.

I've been BUSY!

Last weekend I finished up my October class.

It was a good class, started out medium sized

and we lost several students as the days 

went by. But those that remained were

lots of fun, but as the years go by,

I find it more and more tiring to teach.

I still LOVE it though.

And I'm blessed to be able to rest up

during the week between classes,

so it's all good.

Anyhow.

The guys were out of town helping those

in the Panhandle who were so devastated

by the hurricanes. It wasn't the same sort of

devastation they saw in Key West.

The Panhandle is COVERED in trees.

They are saying we lost MILLIONS (plural)

of old growth trees up there.

Most of the jobs the guys were called on

had an average of 20 to 30 trees down.

Massive loss.

You plant pine and then you wait for 40 years

for it to be ready to harvest.

In the meantime, you harvest the pine needles

each year and sell it for garden mulch, etc

and that's what you live on while you wait.

It's all gone now.

We all got back Sunday night, within an hour or

so of each other. And we all were EXHAUSTED

on Monday. Rod had the day off, so we got back

in the truck and headed up to our feed mill.

All the feed barrels were empty.

It always feels good to have 1200 pounds of

feed in the barn.

Tuesday morning I decided it was time to

do something about my lazy chickens.

I still had 50+ and only got EIGHT eggs.

Kyle got out there and we dispatched 36 chickens,

leaving me a dozen or so and 2 roosters.

That's too many roosters, but Fred is an OLD

man we raised from an egg and we just

couldn't kill him. George is a good rooster,

he's young, only a year old, so I will likely keep

him anyway. We'll figure something out.

I sent Brock (next door) a text letting him know

I was getting rid of my chickens that day and

wouldn't be selling eggs anymore. (We have

talked about it for several months - I thought

I could hold out until Thanksgiving when my

new girls would take over, but last week I only

had 8 dozen eggs for the entire week - I remember

when I used to have 30! and at only $3 per dozen

its not worth it...) He has a commercial supplier

that he orders from on Tuesdays, so it wasn't

a problem for him, and a relief for me.

Kyle and I also went to our town's new

Yamaha dealership to look at side-by-sides

to replace the old worn out one at the ranch.

We found a nice one and sent some information

to Linda and her daughter, Gina, to think

about for the future.

Wednesday found us driving Kyle's car up to the ranch

to move the cows, check out a source for

fence posts and just basically check stuff over.

On the way up, Kyle got a text from Gina.

She found another side-by-side up in the

Gainesville area for a good price - we should

go buy it right now.

Hahaha.

But we didn't have the credit card or the check book.

Or the truck.

So we went up. 

We looked at it.

We bought it.

(With a deposit...)

And then we went back to the ranch,

checked the cows, walked through Kyle's house and

made some plans for the future and headed home.

We got home late.

Looking into his new kitchen.

Not a bad looking little kitchen.

And then Thursday morning we got up again,

jumped in Kyle's truck and drove over to Linda's

to pick up our trailer and head back to the ranch again.

We went to the dealership, picked up the new

side-by-side, loaded it up, drove it over

to the ranch and took it for a ride!

It's FUN!

It's fast.

It's NICE.

And it has super comfy seats!

(hahaha)

We drove around and checked all the fences,

visited with the cows,

and then it was time to drive home again.

Kyle is a cow whisperer... they love him!

The babies are growing up and they are curious!

We made it home just 10 minutes before Rod got

back from his High Council meeting.

We were all sound asleep within 30 minutes.

This morning (Friday) Kyle and I slept it.

(Poor Rod)

And then I got up, fed the animals,

caught up on my BoM reading (I was 2 days behind),

baked some yummy little cookie/brownie things

(chocolate / peanut butter... YUM)

showered, changed and headed out to

meet Linda for lunch for her birthday today.

We went to Red Robin for some delicious sandwiches

and a fun conversation. The poor server kept

coming over to get our order and we still hadn't

even looked at the menu. She finally brought over

a basket of french fries so we didn't starve.

LOL.

We ended up ordering two of the exact same thing.

Anyhow.

I'm home now.

I need to make hotel reservations.

We are all going back up to Gainesville on Wednesday

for a cow seminar thing on Thursday.

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

I am!