Light Switch Plate

Remember the cute little (ok it's 3 acres...)

place Linda and I stopped at a couple 

of months ago?

Rod and I decided to stop by on our way

home from the ranch last Thursday.

He took a couple of pictures,

but I haven't gotten them from him yet.

We had a blast wandering around,

looking at all the thousands and thousands

of interesting things they have there.

And we found a little something to buy.

We have a 4-switch thing.

It had a traditional, ugly switch plate.

But now it's CUTE!

I love it!

And here's a picture of MY buffaloe.

Another Busy Day

I worked at town hall for a couple of hours

yesterday - paying the town's bills.

Got the checks all ready for signatures

and dashed home for a minute.

There is literally NO FOOD that doesn't

require defrosting and significant cooking.

So I tossed some okra in the air fryer,

some eggs in the fry pan,

and repeated breakfast for dinner.

And then dashed back over to town hall

for the special meeting and workshop.

Got all my checks signed and stayed in my

office with the door open so I could hear

and see but not be seen (for the most part).

(I was entering some deposits etc into QuickBooks

in the meantime, so I wasn't just sitting there...)

The meeting lasted 2 hours.

Some of it was very informative.

Some of it was BORING.

And some of it got a little rowdy.

But they FINALLY got to the point,

accomplished "something" and called

it a night.

Whew!

I got home about 9:20.

This morning I headed back over,

got the checks and invoices all copied,

the checks into envelopes and ready

to take to the post office,

and then plugged in my ear buds and

started typing up some minutes of the meeting.

It took me nearly 2 hours!

Ha!

That even includes skipping over the 30 minutes

I knew was just the town engineer going over

a surface map showing every ditch, canal,

and drop of water in the entire town.

(We have a stormwater problem... the 

drainage / ditch system is broken.)

I finally got it so it was (I hope) coherent,

put it on the Town Administrator's desk so

he can take a look.

Hopefully he recognizes it as the meeting

he attended.

(haha)

Left about 4:45 and headed to the post office

and then home.

Once again, I was starving.

(I had a delicious bowl of oatmeal for breakfast,

but I didn't have anything but a hand full 

of almonds for lunch.)

Okra and eggs to the rescue!

Ha!

And now I'm making protein balls for snacking

on for the rest of the week for Rod and I.

And in a little bit I'm going to get up

and make a "cheesy chicken & broccoli casserole"

for Rod and I to eat for lunches this week.

Random picture of Roxy since I haven't put any pictures in my blog for a couple of days!

Still Alive

Whew!

Last weekend --- Class

Monday --- the Ranch and first cattle run through.

Tuesday --- Orlando for instructor training.

Wednesday --- Orlando for instructor training.

Wednesday --- Town Hall to do payroll & bills.

Wednesday --- drive to ranch with Rod.

Thursday --- 7:30 am vet & cowboy cattle working

Thursday --- drive back.

Friday --- Town Hall to pay bills & make deposits.

Friday --- Drive to West Palm Beach

Saturday --- School til 7:15 pm

Sunday --- School til 9:15 pm

Sunday --- Drive home.

Monday --- Town Hall to work & take minutes

for Special Town Council Meeting.

Tuesday - Friday --- Town Hall to work.

Saturday --- SLEEP.

Today Kyle is at the Ocala Cattle Auction.

I WISH I was there with him!

But I have to do the minutes for the

special meeting at Town Hall.

Darn it.

He loaded up 11 yearling calves into the

new stock trailer and drove them over.

Now he's sitting at the cattle auction,

waiting for it to get started at 1:00.

Wishing he could be at the ranch

working on the facility.

I'll try to take it a day (or two) at a time

and write about all the stuff we did.

It was an interesting couple of days.

But now I have to get in the shower and

get to work.

Cattle Containment First Run

I’m in Orlando.

Class starts at 9, I just woke up.

Kyle and I went up to the ranch on Monday.

Drove up in the morning after running

around to Lowes and Tractor Supply.

When we got there he did a couple of quick

modifications and then he headed out to 

bring the cows in.

He installed this nifty gate latch.

He made it.

About half the herd followed him in while he

Shook a feed bag from the atv.

We ended up with 29 cow / calf pairs in the first 

holding pens. It wasn’t over crowded, but

probably as many cows as we should do at once.

Started out slow. Only working 2 or 3 at a time.

It went pretty smoothly. We had a couple of

minor challenges. A cow who refused to turn her

head in order to run through the chute

without catching her horns.

Another who tried to turn around and got kind

of wedged in there. Dumb cow.

And a calf that we finally gave up on.

We got some things figured out and got better

at what we were doing, figured out that having

both of us on the ground herding them into the

working pens was more successful.

There was one cow who was really aggressive.

She will be sold.

Especially since she did THIS.

And So It Begins

And so begins the BUSY week.

I spent a couple of hours at the town hall

this morning.

There wasn't much to do... send some emails,

print some stuff for signatures,

enter some bills to be paid later...

So I came home.

Put some laundry in.

Meet the neighbor to and show her 

how to feed the animals so she can

cover for us while we are gone.

Make some food for Rod for while

I am gone.  I should probably

get started on that...

Pack.

Drive to West Palm to teach this weekend.

Sunday night I'll drive home and unpack.

Monday morning early I'll repack and

head up to the ranch to help Kyle

do a "dry run" through the cattle facility.

I'll probably stay up there Monday night

and drive from there to Orlando on 

Tuesday morning to be at my meeting

by 9:00. (ish)

I have meetings all day and a team dinner

that night. I'll go to the dinner and show up

at the "after party" in the director's suite,

but only long enough to be seen.

Wednesday I have meetings from 9 til noon

and then it's back in the car and drive

to the Town Hall to process payroll.

And pay some bills.

Then back home to unpack and repack,

feed all the animals, do whatever needs

doing, and then when Rod gets home from work

we will jump in the truck and head up

to the ranch again.

The vet is coming Thursday morning early,

but I got a text from Linda that she wants

to keep the calves on their Moms until they

are 500 pounds. So we might not bring

anybody home with us.

I'll make that decision when I'm up there

on Monday. If we are taking 2, we'll bring

the trailer up on Thursday.

Or we won't.

I love stuff that's up in the air...

(grin)

Anyhow.

When we are done up there we will head

home again and maybe unload 2 new

calves and get them settled.

Rod might (or might not) go to work

on Friday. I'll spend the day

unpacking / repacking 

and doing laundry

and then I'll head back down to 

West Palm to teach for the weekend.

I get home LATE Sunday night.

And I need to go into the Town Hall

on Monday to do some minor stuff

and then go back that night at 6:30

for a Special Council Meeting and

a 7:00 Workshop.

I am supposed to take minutes, but we

are recording the meeting so I can

do the minutes from there.

I'm not sure if I will stay for the whole meeting.

Depends on how tired I am.

(But I need to go to collect $ from the council

members who are pre-paying for a dinner

meeting the following week...)

Tuesday it's back to Town Hall to type

up the minutes.

And then the week slows down.

I'll go in for a couple hours everyday

for the rest of the week, 

but there's nothing urgent at that point.

The Treasurer comes back on Saturday.

Whew!

I'll be glad to see her!

I'm not taking my laptop so I might not post

next week.

It's hard to blog from my iPad.

But I might.

You never know.

If not, have a great week and I'll

see you on the other side!

Grove Collaboration

The THM girls introduced me to a new company.

Grove Collaboration.

They sell natural cleaning products

for a good price and ship them to

you for free on a regular basis.

(Or you can just order when you want.)

There is a special where you get $30

worth of stuff for free!

So I ordered it.

I did the order on Friday evening

while the guys were out of town.

And it came today!

I ordered a couple of extra things

because I wanted them.

This is what I got in my box.

Here's a closer look...

First off we have a little cloth bag filled

with natural bamboo drinking straws.

They have Grove Collaboration stamped into

each straw.

And came with that little brush for

keeping them clean.

Cuz, ya' know... plastic straws are EVIL.

(grin)

A Walnut and Cellulose sponge.

Cuz... I wanted it?

(And it was FREE!)

I already use a natural toothpaste.

But I'm nearly out, and this one looked

like fun...

So I'm giving it a try.

Cinnamon bar soap!

Kyle loves bar soaps.

So I got this one for him.

(And he loves cinnamon...)

A glass spray bottle with a silicone bottom.

Cuz', ya' know... plastic is EVIL.

(But it was FREE!)

(grin)

A CALMING mud mask.

Cuz... mud.

And calming.

Sounded like a fun thing to try

while in my hotel room this weekend.

A nifty little carrier thingie filled with free

Mrs. Meyers cleaners.

I picked Rosemary flavor.

Hand soap, dish soap and general cleaner.

I use this stuff ALL THE TIME

since Rozann sent me some for Christmas.

I'm hooked!

(And it was all FREE!)

Mint flavored daily shower cleaner spray

in a (gasp) plastic spray bottle.

You are supposed to spray your shower walls

after each shower and then you never have

to scrub your shower again.

That would be awesome.

Wonder if it will work with our well water...

I'm willing to give it a try.

(And it was FREE! hahahaha)

Wanna give it a try?

grove.co/TrimHealthy

I think I paid $23 for all the extra goodies I bought.

Totally worth it, I think.

Last... Again.

Why am I always the last person on the planet

to learn stuff that everybody else knows???

Sigh.

Anyhow.

Over the weekend I was watching some random

YouTube videos. I don't do that often, but the

guys were up at the ranch, pouring concrete

and I was here alone.

I ended up on the channel of a news anchor

from somewhere in Texas.

She was really polished and pretty and

was teaching how to do "mature" makeup.

Well... I'm not sure I'm "mature" but

since I'm 59, I'm old.

So I decided to watch.

I got some good pointers.

And then her next video was tips about

taking selfies.

I do not take selfies.

It's hard.

And stupid.

And narcissistic.

(Which are my excuses cuz the REAL reason

is it's too hard to hold the phone and 

push the stupid camera button at the same time.)

So yeah.

She starts out with

"I'm sure you already know this, but when taking

a selfie, the bottom half of the volume button

on the side of your phone will also snap

the picture."

WHAT??????

It's a whole new ball game out there people!

Sunday, after church, (read makeup... lol)

I decided to give it a try.

Yup, works!

It would work better if I didn't have an

"otter box" on my phone which makes

it hard to push the buttons,

but this is a whole bunch easier!

I played with it a little.

And decided I'm still not a selfie person.

But I learned something!

And that's always good!

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

Busy week this week.

Nothing as busy as NEXT week is going to be,

but still.

This week I'm spending a couple hours at

Town Hall every day.

Our Town Treasurer / Town Clerk is in Atlanta

for the next 3 weeks helping her sister who

is going through chemo / radiation.

I'm covering for her.

Today I went in and did the deposits.

And researched a bunch of stuff.

Tomorrow I'll do the bills.

I'm hoping the Town Administrator will

be there tomorrow. (He wasn't there today...)

He set up a laptop for me to use,

but it won't connect to any of the websites

that I need access to while I'm there.

I have a bunch of stuff I need to update

in QuickBooks, but can't do it if I

can't get in the system...

I'm starting a new class this weekend.

I have 49 people pre-registered, so it 

should be a good 18-20 person class.

I like that size.

Next week "we" are closed on Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday I'm in Orlando at 

our annual "Train the Trainer" meeting for school.

9-5 on Tues with a "team dinner" at 6.

Wed is 9-12 and then I jump in my car

and dash back to the town to get Payroll done

before the deadline.

Also post the agenda for the regular 

Town Council Meeting.

And then meet Rod when he gets off work

so we can drive up to the

ranch and help Kyle with the vet 

at 7:30 (in the MORNING! Yikes).

They are vaccinating all the cows,

castrating all the little bull calves,

weighing everybody,

and hopefully putting two new little steers

in the trailer for Rod and I to bring home.

And then Friday it's back to the Town

during the day and driving down to school

that evening.

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

I still hate my hair.

(grin)

Hair

Yesterday I took a huge plunge.

I went to a hair salon and told them

I thought it was time to "grey gracefully".

I have a significant patch of iron grey

hair on the top of my head.

Which is why I wear my hair up

99% of the time.

Cuz then you can see the grey,

but not the weird red/brown on

the rest of my head.

No idea why I took that picture.

I was sitting in my "office" at school.

Anyhow.

I spent FIVE hours in the chair.

Who does this?

Thank goodness I brought my Kindle.

I finished Hunger Games #2 and started #3.

First she did a "weave" and stripped the 

color from a bunch of my hair.

It was practically white and I was 

VERY EXCITED!

Then she added the "beautiful gun metal grey".

It took FOREVER.

And I spent WAY too much time with my

head hanging in the sink.

My neck was not happy at all.

And then she cut it.

And then she dried it.

And then I paid a gazillion dollars for it.

And then I came home.

And was SUPER disappointed.

Yes, I'm wearing a tank.
Just finished working out and doing my 20 minutes
of daily"Vitamin D Therapy".
ie: sitting in the sun while reading.

I'm really pleased with the cut.

But the color is SO not what I wanted.

It's dark.

She got rid of the ugly red/brown,

But she also got rid of most of the grey.

There are ZERO streaks.

What did we spent over an hour doing

the stupid foil weave things for?????

Grumpy.

I'll live with it.

Cuz I'm never spending 5 hours in a 

salon chair again as long as I live.

It just means I have to start over with 

the whole "going grey" thing.

But at least its not pink.

BLT on a "Diet"

I was craving a BLT today.

But I don't really do bread.

I can do sprouted whole wheat bread,

but that is a carb, and the ingredients in BLT

are most definitely FATS.

So...

I got creative.

Granted, I didn't invent this... but I get

points for remembering its existence. 

(I'm an easy grader... lol)

Start with two big ol' romaine lettuce leaves.

And then a shmear of Duke's mayonnaise.

I feel sorry for you people who don't live

in the south where Duke's is the mayo of royalty.

It's amazing.

Then I pulled out two slices of baked bacon.

(I did a rasher {two cookie sheets} full on Sunday.)

Heated them up quick in the microwave.

Sliced up a Roma tomato (more meat).

And half an avocado, changing this from a BLT

to a BLTA.

It was DELICIOUS!

I probably should have dusted it with some

Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

But I didn't think about it until just now.

Anyhow.

It hit the spot.

Scratched the itch.

Satisfied the craving.

And made me very very happy.

All By Himself...

Kyle is such a talented man!

He has been building the cattle containment system.

These are the pictures he took Saturday before he

headed home. (He ran out of wood, needs 100

more boards and they come from Orlando,

so today he is here, changing the oil in his

truck, while he waits to hear the wood is ready.)

He's part monkey and takes pictures
from WAAAY up on top of something
he probably shouldn't be on... lol

This is the LONG alley leading to the

scales (still to come), palpation gate and

squeeze chute.

He and Rod are going to pour a concrete pad

to put the scales on. Probably this week or weekend.

Fingers crossed!

The metal gate in the foreground and also
way down the alley are ones they
ordered. Kyle wasn't super happy with
the quality, but they work and he didn't
have time to fabricate them on his own.

There are several of them.
These are the gates that were in my
backyard last week...

The material is pretty good quality, but the

welds leave something (a LOT) to be desired.

This is the "sweep"...

He fabricated a hinge so the gate can swing the entire 270 degrees.
Again... talented!

A close-up of how he did the round section.
Each of these cuts were with a CHAIN SAW.
You use what you got....

Mid construction

Here's a quick video he took to show the swinging gate

and his nifty, bright blue hinges he created.

He greased the hinges after the video.
LOL

Riding with my Husband

Rod suggested we take the horses out.

They (we) haven't been out in a long time!

This morning was the PERFECT morning for it.

Tacked up, put the dogs away, and headed out.

Getting on my horse was an abomination!

Luckily I was behind Rod and he was

focused on getting his horse ready

because that mount was NOT graceful!

(More of a "drag" than a "mount" really...)

And then, while getting on, he knocked off his hat.

So I gallantly offered to "hop down" (loose definition of "hop")

and rescue it for him.

And then I had to get back on again.

Very nearly caused us to abort the entire ride,

right there in our driveway!

Sheesh.

But I made it into my saddle.

And again, luckily, without an audience.

Andy wasn't too impressed though.

Check out that blue sky!

CJ walks much faster than Andy does.

We spend a lot off time jogging to catch up.

And the cute cowboy and his horse!

A really nice couple is building a new house

right there at the end of the road,

next to the entrance to the preserve.

(Working in the town building department lets me

meet all sorts of folks!)

Rod's stirrups were too short, so we stopped

at the trail shelter my committee built,

and he fixed them.

Luckily he is much better at the mount/dismount thing.

We met a couple of bike riders just coming in 

for a rest. They were very pleasant and looked

like they were having a fun morning.

(although the two "newbies" looked a little ... exhausted?)

hahahahahaha

The guys that ride out there all the time

forget how taxing "mountain / sand" riding can be!

And we were off again!

After the obligatory photos, of course.

Beautiful morning, eh?

And a really nice ride! 

We rode for about an hour.

We have other stuff to do.

And none of us are getting any younger.

The horses were ready for a little rest and a good

roll and back scratch when we got home.

All in all, a nice morning.

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

So.

This month is the first month of my 

60 day T-Tapp Challenge.

Today, for day 2, we went riding.

My goal for this challenge is

1. Consistency

2. Drop a size from 8 to 6.

My goal for this MONTH of the challenge

is to improve my thigh strength.

Hahahahaha.

Yard or Parking Lot?

This sometimes happens when Kyle is here.

There is Kyle's truck, trailer and Cat.

Linda's dump truck is in the background,

filled with a load of dirt, leftover from a job

he and Rod did over the weekend.

In another part of the yard is his car

and a load of sliding gates that will be

going up to the ranch along with the trailer

they will be going up on...

Better picture of the gates.

And to the left of his car is our black truck

and Linda's horse trailer.

We still have it from all the various cow trips.

We have another one coming up in a couple

of weeks, when we go north to get our calves.

Also, of course, we have the Trooper.

And the gates.

And the busy guy himself.

Loading? Unloading? Who knows...

Sometimes the yard gets BUSY.

And then he leaves.

And it's EMPTY out there.