Bye 2018! Good to Know You

It was a BUSY year!

Trips to Tucson and Boulder.

Lots and lots of teaching and extra

instructor training trips.

The guys made several trips for

hurricane relief.

And of course lots and lots of trips

back and forth to the ranch.

Seems like I spent half the year

being someplace besides home.

We lost a couple of important people

in our lives this year.

And we got a couple of new "family" members.

We are finishing strong.

They formed and poured footers.

Rented a big fancy concrete mixer.

Let it cure for 2 days.

Today they are putting up the frame.

It's a beautiful day for it!

The sun is shining and there is a nice ocean breeze

coming in from the east.

Tomorrow they will put the "skin" on the building

and we will have a nice BIG building out back

to house our hay and a place to park Kyle's tractor

out of the weather.

Exciting!

However, all this work outside means there is

about a 5% chance anybody will be awake

at midnight to ring in the new year.

Toot Toot! Happy New Year!

Light It Up

My darling husband and son 

are at it again.

It took some designing.

It took some welding.

It took some painting.

But they ended up with a 

BEAUTIFUL lamp!

It looks fantastic on our gorgeous
end tables that Kyle made for us
a couple of years ago.

I like it so much that I have commissioned
another one to go on the other table.
And then I'm going to move the
pretty metal lamp Mom and Dad gave us
a couple of years ago to the table
by the arm chair and FINALLY get rid
of the hideous floor lamp our good
friends Carol & Dayle gave us when
they moved to Arizona.
A million years ago.

YEA!!!!!

However, today the guys are out in the
WAY back pasture pouring a concrete footer
in preparation for the new metal carport thing
we inherited from Linda and Doug.
It's going to be PERFECT for storing
lots of round rolls of hay (now that we
have a good source - the farmer next door
to Kyle's ranch is a hay farmer and has
really nice rolls for $40 instead of $65!)
And there will be enough room in
there as well to stash our stock trailer.
When we get it. Some day...)

Rod has been BUSY on his week "off".
He'll be ready to get back to work
and take a REST!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you had a wonderful day 

surrounded by family, fun and food.

And LOVE.

We were!

The day was nice and laid back.

Jim and Sabrina came over Christmas Eve

and we did our annual trip over to see

Santa in Indialantic and then down

to the beach to see the full moon.

Which hadn't risen yet.

LOL

Back to the house for chili and rolls

and visiting and then off to bed.

Christmas morning Rod was up bright

and early, waiting for the rest off us.

We slowly straggled in, with Jim

and Sabrina finally showing up around

11:30-ish. 

Popped the turkey breast in the oven

and opened gifts.

As always, people were thoughtful in their gifts

and everything was oohed and aaahed over

and everyone was pleased.

Jim and Kyle headed into the back yard

so Kyle could teach Jim how to do some

blacksmithing. They had a good time

and Jim made a chili pepper!

Then it was time for a yummy dinner

and more sitting around the table telling

stories and jokes and laughing and

just spending family time together.

It was wonderful!

(We also managed to "watch" the Santa Claus

and Santa Claus 2... they were playing in the

background and when favorite parts came on

everybody stopped and recited the lines together.)

All in all,

it was a wonderful, happy, relaxed family day.

Hope your's was as well!

Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year.

Which means the days are going to

start getting longer.

Which means I am HAPPY!

I hate it when it gets dark early.

I go outside and feed the horses

around 4:45 and bring the dogs

in for dinner around 5:30.

And then they are in their crates

until I let them out in the morning.

Around 9.

That's a LONG time.

So I'm sure they will be happy

as the days get longer and their

nights get shorter.

Since I don't have to get up in the

morning to go to work (usually)

I don't really care about the sunrise time.

Rod gets up and leaves before the sun

is up, summer or winter.

This week I have been working at Town Hall.

But I don't have to be here until 10-ish.

And they are so happy to have someone man

the front desk, that they don't really care

when I show up, just that I actually DO.

Last night I made a big pot of really yummy

clam chowder and brought some to work

to share with the ladies for lunch.

I also popped 12 of my new little teal eggs

into the pressure cooker for 3 minutes and

made delicious hard boiled eggs.

I swear by the pressure cooker.

Some of these eggs were laid yesterday

and they still pealed beautifully.

(I only did 3 minutes because they are tiny...

normally it's 5 minutes under pressure,

5 minutes letting the pressure release,

and an additional 5 minutes in ice water...)

Anyhow.

We are all happy Christmas is nearly here.

Being a small town, everyday we have gotten

a plate or two of lovely homemade yummies.

I've been pretty good about avoiding them.

But it must be adding up.

Today I'm having an ocular migraine,

I'm sure it's the sugar.

(And it's nearly gone...)

Meanwhile - Kyle got to spend the night in

his new house and sleep on his new bed

and shower in his new bathroom

and sit on his new couch.

If only he could watch his new TV.

(But he took his xBox / Play Station / whatever

so he could watch all the movies he has

downloaded...)

I'm sure he was excited!

I know I was!

Last night Rod didn't have to work his 2nd job

so he came home "early" and we got to go

to a couple of stores we've never been to before

to wander around and window shop and then

out for a yummy burrito.

It was nice to have a date with my love!

Hope you are enjoying the "build up" 

to Christmas this year.

It's the best part!

Gone and Back Again

Kyle loaded up his stock trailer this morning.

Yesterday we went shopping and he

bought himself a new mattress,

a really nice couch,

a 55" TV,

and a microwave.

He loaded all that, as well as his dresser,

all his kitchen stuff,

and some other random things

and headed up to the ranch

to get all moved in.

And then he got a phone call with an

offer for a job using his Cat tomorrow.

So when he finished unloading the

trailer, he parked it,

unhooked his truck,

and headed back south again.

LOL

But at least he has a bed to sleep in

and a couch to sit on

if he ever gets to ACTUALLY move in

up there for reals.

I can't wait to see it all!

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

In other news,

I'm working at the Town Hall again

this week. That's always fun.

The folks there are so friendly and

it's fun to get all the "back story" on

what's going on in the town.

A resident's house caught fire Friday night.
Luckily for them, our Volunteer Fire Department
was holding their Christmas Party at the
Fire Station and all hands were on deck.
When the call came into the station,
they were able to all load up and get
there right away and keep the house
from being a total loss.
The fire started in the living room / kitchen,
but they were able to save the garage
(and all the stuff in there!) as well as
the bedrooms and all the stuff in there!
Nobody was hurt.

And then the benefits of living in a little
town kicked in. Saturday morning there
were 15 people with trailers in their yard.
They were able to load everything that was
salvageable and take it to a storage building
and then Sunday morning they hopped on
an airplane to spend the holidays with their
family in Colorado.
She called today and sounded a little
shell-shocked but seriously grateful
that it wasn't worse and so thankful to her
friends and neighbors and other town folk.

Yea for small town community.

Radio Silence - Again...

It has been a sort of busy week.

Don’t know why, exactly...

But I have been busy.

This weekend I’m finishing up my

final class of the year.

Started with 16 students and ended

with 14. Not bad attrition for December.

I’m sitting here at 8:20 waiting for the final

2 students to finish their exams.

Out of the 12 who finished so far,

3 didn’t pass, but two of those got

68% and 69%. (70 is a pass)

I hate it when that happens.

However.

I had my first 100% in about 4 years!!!!

So I’m happy about that.

He teaches school, so has good test

taking skills and learning / retention.

But still.

Pretty impressive!!!

I can’t leave until 9:00 anyway,

so I don’t really care how long these

two take. One took my class last year

and failed the final, so she’s trying again.

I’m not going to be surprised if she doesn’t

make it again.

And the other is an “English Second Language”

student, but he did well on most all the

chapter quizzes, so I’m not going to try

to predict how he’ll do.

I’m reading a book on my Kindle

and trying to “quietly” munch on Trail Mix.

And watching the clock.

Next week the town secretary is on vacation,

so I’m going to spend a couple of hours

there all week. Unless I decide not to.

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

In other, exciting news, Kyle got his CO!!!!!

So he might be moving this week.

So I might make a run up there with him

one day... or not. Depends on what he wants.

He picked out a new couch he wants,

and he needs a mattress - and then, talented

guy that he is, he’s going to make his

own bed frame. It will be wood.

I’m just so excited he’s finally going to be 

able to move in! I just wish it wasn’t the

week before Christmas.

LOL

I’ll keep the blog updated.

Unless I don’t.

How’s that for ambiguity.

Hahahaha

FINALLY! Eggs!

We bought new chicks in the summer.

I was hoping they would start laying

around Thanksgiving time.

But that was optimistic.

However, over the weekend while I

was out of town, Rod got a little

green egg!

(Surprising, since I paid extra for

BLUE egg layers...)

But hey. They all taste the same.

Monday I got TWO MORE!

Nothing yesterday, from anybody.

Not that I blame them. 

We had another cold front blow through

and it was brisk out there.

And then this morning there was one

lonely little blue egg on the floor

in the coop and two more in the nest!

We also got 4 brown egg layers.

They haven't figured it out yet.

The counter skelter is looking pretty!

(Ignore the dirty egg right there in the front!

I didn't even notice it until just now...)

We don't wash our eggs until just before

we crack them into ... whatever.

This morning I'm attempting Instant Pot

Sous Vide eggs.

Everybody raves about them.

We'll see.

Anyhow.

The yard chickens still give me 3 or 4

everyday. And keep the bugs down.

I'll keep them around.

And I'm probably going to send a couple

of the newer girls up to the ranch with Kyle

if he ever gets to actually move in... Fingers Crossed!

Freezer

Our chest freezer is a black hole.

And then it frosted up and built big

ice bergs that wouldn't allow us to

slide the shelves around,

so everything under them was going

to have to stay there until the end

of the current ice age.

Which finally occurred last week.

Kyle and I got out there and

after unplugging it and leaving it

open to thaw, pulled out all the old

2014 stuff that was buried in there.

You think I'm joking.

There were still a few things we

couldn't get out. Still frozen.

Friday my farrier came by to do the

horses' feet and I gave him all the old

rabbit pelts. I know they will use them

to make something cool.

And I won't.

And then after he left I had to drive south

to teach my class.

So the freezer remained mostly empty.

And warm.

And it STANK!

So this morning after a trip into town for

some church stuff I needed to do...

Kyle and I pushed it out the door so it could drain.

We pulled the drain plug out,

put a hose in there to rinse it out,

and let it do its thing.

Then I sprayed it down really well with some

bleach water and cleaned it all up.

It's beautiful.

Then we slid it back into it's rightful spot.

Where it awaits our next load of beef.

The girls have an appointment for "freezer camp"

on the 6th of January.

Which means the freezer should be full in a couple

of weeks after that.

Meanwhile, I was nervous Beau would get 

in the way. At the very least he would run

around in the stinky water and then he would

need a bath. And it was only 50 degrees out there.

So we put a Bull(dog) in the Bull / Stock Trailer.

He was not amused.

Chilly

It's not just me, right?

It's chilly here in Florida today.

It was actually nice when I went out

to feed the animals this morning,

but the house is cold.

And it's NOT just me.

How can I tell?

All my oils are solid.

(The butter one is a little melty,

but that's because I just took it out

of the microwave! LOL)

I have switched to these pretty glass

bottles for all my oils. They don't drip

or leak like the ketchup bottle ones did.

And they are pretty.

The vanilla is homemade.

I made it 2 years ago. 

It's been in the dark of the back of my pantry

since then. I tried it after 6 months and

decided it tasted like vanilla flavored turpentine

so I never used it, but I also never tossed it.

(I made 2 quart jars!)

The other day I tasted the imitation junk I've been

using lately. (Real vanilla is ridiculously expensive...)

It tasted like watered down vanilla flavored turpentine.

Huh.

So I put it in the pantry and pulled out my version.

It's DELICIOUS in stuff.

Anyhow.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

Butter flavored coconut oil is my

other new favorite thing.

I use it on everything.

Especially my favorite breakfast.

*Which I just ate, even though it's 2:30 in the afternoon.

Beau loves it too.

2 fresh, lightly fried eggs in butter coconut oil.

Half a bag of cut okra done in the air fryer.

Mix them together and drizzle some more

of that yummy butter oil and add a good

shake (or 6) of Everything Bagel seasoning.

YUM!

Beau loves the okra and I sometimes share

a piece of two with him.

Truth: not today. Or yesterday.

Today he was munching on a horse hoof.

The farrier just left.

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

Update: the Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies

were good last night but AMAZING today.

I had one for "breakfast desert".

That's a thing, right?

Like most things baked with a stevia blend,

they are much better after 24 hours in the fridge.

Totally tasty!

Kitchen Day

I've been busy in the kitchen today.

I made a fourth batch of turkey stock

from our thanksgiving turkey carcass

and then smashed all the little bones

into the bits of meat (neck, etc) with

my fingers.

It's amazing how after pressure cooking

them for a couple of hours over and over,

they feel like salmon bones.

I bagged that all up for the dogs.

They LOVE it.

(Beau got a preview taste - that's what

happens when you are the 

"in the house" {spoiled} dog.)

Cleaned that all up.

Then I made some Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies.

Except I didn't do them right,

so here's hoping they turned out ok.

They SMELL delicious!

I was using two different recipes, smashed together

and I forgot about the smashed together part.

So I baked the brownies and then poured the

cheesecake stuff on the top and using a fork

poked many many holes in the brownies

so the cheesecake batter could flow down into them

and then baked them again.

Fingers crossed.

They are in the fridge, cooling now.

Put out a dozen Rhodes dough rolls to thaw

and rise, and then made a batch of Rod's

favorite German Pancake.

He's been having 2 eggs and bacon for

breakfast every morning for a couple of

weeks, so I thought I would give him

some variety to choose from.

In a bit I'm going to make some other rolls

that are on plan (since Rhodes definitely

are NOT) and then get started on my

Butternut Bacon Soup.

It's the one that tastes just like

Campbell's Bean with Bacon.

The Sisters are coming over for dinner in a 

couple of hours.

Rod has to work late tonight, so it will

just be the three of us girls.

So soup, rolls and brownies should be

just about right.

Stock Trailer

If you have cattle, eventually you are going

to want / need to move them.

And it's bunches easier if you own a trailer.

Enter the "new" stock trailer.

This was a really nice youngish cowboy who

was selling his 2006 stock trailer for a really

decent price. He brought it from Montana

and has used it to haul both cattle and horses.

He took good care of it.

Well... it's a stock trailer,

so "taking care" of it is relative...

but the tires are good, the lights work

and there are no holes in the floor...

(and the tarp / roof is only 1 year old.)

And he had a cute dog.

They looked it all over.

Came to agreement on the price.

Both parties were happy.

So we hooked it up and took it home.

Fort Christmas

Over the weekend we drove up to Fort Christmas.

It was a fort that was built to defend against

the Seminole Indians in Central Florida.

They started building it on Christmas Day.

And then moved out in March.

So it wasn't used for very long.

It has turned into a really nice park.

Not on the scale of Heritage Park,

but still a pretty nice place.

They had a really cool display of antique tractors.

Rod loved this little old Ford.

And this was an early calf chute with a head catch

and escape door on the side.

It was pretty small, so we decided it was

either for calves or goats.

Or cows were WAY smaller back in the day...

There was also a gentleman who had a neat display

of several early steam engines.

They were running and making loud

popping noises.

The guys were fascinated!

It was quite the collection!

And they LOVED this old car turned into a tractor.

I could just imagine Dad wandering around

with them taking it all in.

I'm teaching this weekend.

Wouldn't be surprised to come home and

find the Trooper has been turned into a tractor.

Hahahahaha.

In the background you can see a very SMALL

portion of the vendors there.

They had a bunch of soap makers / sellers,

and then nearly anything else under the sun

you could imagine.

We saw some really neat stuff,

but nothing that caused us to open our wallets.

(although lots of people were buying...)

All of the old buildings were decked out for the

holidays and I thought I took some pictures.

But I guess I didn't.

I want to make this cool star though. 

We have LOTS of sticks!

I also thought I took a couple of pictures of the

guys at another really fun spot.

There was a blacksmith making leaves like

Kyle is learning to make.

He had a terrific little forge that the guys

were salivating all over.

He was really interesting and happy to share

his knowledge and experience with them.

Kyle showed him some pictures of some of

the things he has made and he was very

encouraging.

They also got a line on some better coal

at a really good price!

There is a club... FABA.

Florida Area Blacksmith Association?

They meet the first Saturday of every month.

Rod and Kyle are going to try to remember 

to attend in January.

It was a really fun day!