38 Years and Counting!

Today marks 38 years of wedded bliss.

My darling asked me out on a date.

But since we rarely see each other

at the beginning of the week,

he used our message board.

Isn't that adorable????

We went to our favorite place.

Fiesta Azteca.

It's where we mark birthdays,

anniversaries,

friend's visits,

and just a good meal.

Their booths make the perfect backdrop

for the annual selfie.

Here's to MANY MORE!

I LOVE YOU!

RB + CB  FOREVER!

Meatballs!

I gotta be honest.

I have NEVER made a meatball in my life.

I'm not ... lazy ... exactly.

I'm just ... disinterested.

I have the attention span of a gnat

when it comes to cooking.

If it takes more than 20 minutes (hands on)

or has more than about 5 ingredients...

I'm OUT.

The thought of standing there,

rolling the meatballs,

then standing there,

frying them, 

(I hate frying meat - turning it,

browning it... my meat is NEVER

browned on all 4 sides... I lost interest

somewhere halfway through the 2nd side...)

So yesterday I made meatballs.

One of my favorite THM bloggers

posted a recipe for porcupine meatballs

IN THE PRESSURE COOKER!!!

Because we don't really use white rice

and we would never put rice and ground beef

together in a meal (fats AND carbs together

equals weight gain. No no no no!)

So she used cauliflower rice.

I do that ALL THE TIME and it's yumm!!!

I actually like it better than rice.

Anyhow.

I have lots of frozen cauli-rice.

But I also have that beautiful tub of

suntanned mushrooms from yesterday.

Rod.

Stop reading.

Hahahahaha

For several months now, whenever I

make anything with ground beef

I put some suntanned mushrooms in my

food processor and grind them up

TEENY TINY.

And then I mix them into the raw

ground beef and proceed with the recipe.

It extends my beef and makes it 

super moist and you can't even taste it!

(except yesterday, for some reason

they wouldn't cut down as small as I

wanted them so there were a couple of

bigger chunks which I could taste...)

(But I could have totally kept processing...

see above ... lol)

Anyhow.

I followed "most" of her recipe.

Except I didn't use the "rice".

And I used dried minced onions

because... well... see above.

You put a can of tomato sauce,

some Worcestershire sauce,

some garlic and some other spices

into the pressure cooker.

Then I used a COOKIE SCOOP

(looks like an ice cream scoop)

and made the balls!

I was wearing those cheap plastic gloves

so it was easy and not gross to then

sort of roll them...

then they go STRAIGHT into the

pressure cooker sauce stuff.

Cooked them for 15 minutes.

Let them naturally pressure release

and then put one on a hamburger bun.

They were perfectly cooked

and nice and tender.

I "smashed" it a little and then 

dipped it in the "juice".

I was going to turn it on to saute' and

reduce it (with a little xanthan gum to

help thicken it) but I was HUNGRY.

Next time I will.

The sauce was amazingly delicious!

I'm HOOKED!

After cooking hard boiled eggs,

sweet potatoes,

and meatballs

(with a quick wash between each)

my pressure cooker liner and lid

went into the dishwasher for a good

thorough clean.

(And a day off.)

No pictures.

Sorry!

I'm not a food blogger.

Just a lazy excited cook. 

Yum

Easy ways to stay healthy?

I got you covered!

Mushrooms.

Plain old everyday button mushrooms.

They are amazing little power houses.

And if you treat them right,

they are HUGE Vitamin D3 containers!

So how do you treat them right?

Never put them in the fridge.

And set them in the sun (a window ledge works)

for about an hour before cooking them up.

Not only are they pretty,

but they are super duper healthy!

And, of course, tomatoes are also great for you.

There is more lycopine  (sp) in the skin of

a tomato, which means little grape tomatoes

give you more bang for your buck!

And leaving them in a little basket

(again NEVER in the fridge)

helps you remember to eat them!

They are a bit like eating candy!

Only better for you.

Today I put a dozen fresh eggs in the

pressure cooker on "steam" for 4 minutes.

Then let them natural pressure release for

an additional 4 minutes and then

straight into an ice bath.

Then, as long as the pressure cooker was

sitting there, I tossed a couple big

sweet potatoes in there and set it to

steam for 10 minutes.

I'll probably devil some of the eggs,

but we both like to just grab one now

and again with a little salt.

BUT!

I finally got introduced to Tajin!

If you haven't tasted it before, it is a

combination of lime and chili.

It is a delicious blend of tart and lightly spicy.

And it's amazing on hard boiled eggs!

And scrambled eggs.

And watermellon.

And in my pasta salad.

And on mango.

And on cream cheese on a cracker.

I'm going to make a big bowl of my pasta salad.

And the deviled eggs.

And the sweet potatoes.

And I will probably make some meatballs in

my pressure cooker next.

(It has been HOT and I don't want to actually

"cook" anything, but we need FOOD...)

Rod needs some breakfast food - so I'm probably

going to have to fire up the toaster oven anyway.

But that's better than the real oven.

So that's my Tuesday.

PANIC!!!!!

This afternoon I got a text from the

gentleman I teach for.

(I use his office... I don't work for him...)

He sent a photo of a business card

and said "she came in to audit the class".

This is Monday.

I only teach on the weekends and all our

classes are registered with the State.

So they KNOW I am not teaching today.

Her business card says she is a Special Investigator

for the Florida Chief Financial Officer

Agent / Agency Division.

Yikes!

I texted him back and asked if she needed me to contact her?

Did he give her my information?

Anything?

He said no, but I could call her

if I felt like it.

So.

I called my boss.

Sent him a picture of her card.

He and I ran all the various possible 

scenarios we could think of.

My license expired last May.

On a Friday. I realized on Sunday.

Took and passed the State Exam that Tuesday

*with 100% I might add... cough cough

so I was only unlicensed for 2 business days.

But in Florida you don't actually need a license

to teach the class, just to sell insurance.

So it couldn't be that...

So we decided she must be responding to

some sort of client / student complaint???

He called the Compliance Department.

They said don't do anything, we will handle it.

Then he called me back and said he looked

at my roster and could I tell him anything

about two students.

Tedra Hall

Teodra Hall.

I said yes, they were a strange Mother and 3 daughters unit.

There is actually

Tedra, Teodra, Todra and Teondra.

(But Todra and Teondra are both married, so they

weren't all 4 bunched together.)

So he said... ok, then that's not an auditor trying

to use two fake IDs or something.

Nope.

About that time I FINALLY heard back from the guy

who started all this and he said

"Oh, she asked for you by name. She was VERY

nice and then realized she had the wrong dates."

SHEESH!

Talk about burying the lead!

He could have mentioned that in the FIRST text!

LOL.

Anyhow.

We are pretty sure I'm going to get audited

this coming weekend.

So I'm going to go buy a new shirt.

Hahahahaha.

(Not really)

Dan said "Just act natural."

Apparently when the state "drops by" for an

audit, they email our compliance department

prior to the visit to avoid stuff like this.

But Siara, the compliance officer who is in

charge of Florida is on vacation!

There is likely an email in her in box.

And we have all sprouted extra white hairs for nothing.

I hope.

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

UPDATE!
So my boss just called me again and said
the Compliance folks said I should just
call her and find out what she wanted.

So.
I did.
She was very nice.
I introduced myself, said I understood she
came by to see me today and was sorry
I wasn't there.
She said, Oh no problem.
I went online and verified, you only have
weekend classes and everything you need
is in compliance. I thought you had a
weekday class and we sometimes just stop
by and audit classes.

Me: Well, is there anything you need from me?

Her: Nope. Everything is fine. We just sometimes
visit.

Me: Ok, so we're good?

Her: Yes, everything is good.

Ok. I guess she was ... bored? Thought she
would like a field trip?
She has a local (down there) phone number,
so maybe she just wanted to get out of the office.

Anyway.
My boss said to call him if she actually shows
up this weekend, but it doesn't sound like we
will ever hear from her again.

Crisis averted.

I hope.

Ranch Day!

I drove over to the ranch yesterday afternoon.

I got there about 6:45.

Kyle was mowing the future "bull pasture".

It's not even fenced, but in some future

life there "might" be a bull in that

general vicinity.

Anyhow.

He is supposed to be working 8 hour days.

He was nearly at 11.

So I made him stop.

And we drove into Gainesville to

check out Whole Foods.

I've never been in one before.

He is looking for ideas for things to eat.

He is getting a little tired of

"chicken, rice and mixed veggies".

His go-to.

(Unless he drives into town for Taco Bell).

(or Subway)

We got some good ideas.

But no food.

It was 9:00 and WAAAY too late to

think about cooking.

And he doesn't have many cooking vessels.

So we might need to make a run to

a store for things like baking pans,

a toaster oven,

that sort of thing.

Anyhow.

We stopped at KFC for a power bowl

(or whatever its called)

and then back to his place.

Where we watched Netflix and ate dinner

until time for bed.

We were up, dressed, breakfasted and ready to get to work

about 8:15.

After a false start (I'm a terrible cattle round-up person)

we got the girls all headed in the right direction

and moving up to the front of the property.

Just as they rounded the corner towards the

working pens, the construction crew guy showed

up with his truck and trailer and freaked them

out a little bit.

I guess when they were there earlier yesterday

the scissor lift they were using to put up the walls

broke. So he showed up, loaded it up, and left.

(They STILL haven't finished his building...)

The girls got over their fright and got into the pen.

Once we got them in,

they are pretty easy to work.

They all had a gazillion flies on them,

so the older cows were quite anxious to

get into the chute and get their fly spray.

We line them up in the alley and then they

go one-by-one into the chute where they get

a squirt of fly spray and stand on the scales.

This particular cow weighs 834 pounds.

Pretty light for a grown heifer!

(Which is why Kyle would like to get rid of most

of these cows and replace them with a breed that

gets bigger... and without horns!)

Kyle - urging them forward down the alley.

Carrying his bright green "hot shot".

They have learned (pretty quickly!) that you

need to move. If you don't, he will tap you with

his little hot shot.

Tap, pause, tap, pause, ZAP.

He only zapped a total of 3 times today.

And we worked 43 head.

Not bad!

The big hunk of steel is attached to a sliding gate.

As the cows move forward, we slide the gates

open and closed to move them on down the chute.

He bought the gates.

But a calf got her head stuck in those bars,

so he welded the big plate of steel to stop

those squirrely little calves from doing stupid things.

He has gotten 5" of rain this week

(he has a rain gauge right there on the 

top of one of those fences)

and the grass is GREEN and GROWING.

The ranch is looking good!

When we were finished working everybody except

the 4 heifers he has separated out

(didn't want them exposed to the bull - they

have 2 of them pre-sold as grass-fed beef,

and 2 of them are eventually going to the city farm

to be AI-ed with the rest of her herd down there...)

Anyhow.

He has 4 heifers in the front pastures.

But now that the bull is gone (he went home Tuesday)

when we were all done, we went around and opened

all the gates except to the pasture the facility is in

and the pasture his house and new building are in.

The two herds will combine and then we will work

them all together in July.

But since they were still separate today,

we just drove over in the CanAm and he shot

them all with his air gun thing that shoots giant

paint pellets full of fly spray.

And then we drove the perimeter fence,

just to check,

and sure enough, a tree fell on a section

and he had to do some quick repairs.

He pulled out The Tank and moved the

giant tree sections.

(Those are some BIG oaks!)

And then "we" fixed the fence,

just as it began to rain.

Linda popped by to pick up some AI supplies from

the last time the vet was here.

And to check on the progress on her house 

across the street.

(ZERO)

Just as she was leaving, the heavens opened and

it POURED!!!

We probably got 2 inches of rain in 15 minutes.

Hopefully enough time had gone by since we

sprayed the cows that it got into their blood stream

and will continue to repel flies for a couple weeks.

Otherwise it was a total waste of effort.

When it quit, Kyle and I headed into town

to pick up a Subway sandwich.

He took his home to eat and I ate mine

on the road.

And now I'm home.

All in all, another successful ranch day!

New Calf

We had our first loss last week.

Our little black MaineAnjou/Angus mix

took sick and died Wednesday evening.

It was fast.

He was fine in the afternoon and

gone in the evening.

And our little white calf was VERY

unhappy about losing his pasture buddy.

We put the horses in with him to keep

him company while we waited to 

pick up a new calf.

This morning we headed out early again,

back to Raney Cattle Sales over in Lakeland

and picked up the little Brangus we were

looking at originally.

Meeting Buddy through the fence.

He is bigger than the Maine.

And a little skittish.

He and the little Charolais joined up immediately.

They were pasture buddies until last week anyway.

Garry told us what he feeds his herd

and he boasted about 10 pound/week gains!

So we stopped at their local feed store

and picked some up.

They LOVE it!

You can't really tell from this picture,

but he has REALLY big ears. 

I forgot to take a picture of him

while he was in the trailer,

which was the closest I was able

to get to him.

And his ears are pretty large.

It shouldn't take him too long to

grow into them though.

So...

2019 Herd Take Two has begun.

Q-Tip Quest

So... you may remember I went in and

had my hair cut and colored in March,

in preparation for my Tucson trip.

The goal was to bring the beautiful 

gun metal grey from the top down.

Instead "we" brought the horrific

orange/yellow/??? from the bottom, up.

Whatever.

I've made peace with it.

As much as I ever will.

But it's been 3 months and my hair

is still growing like a weed.

And it needs to be cut.

So I went in and had Amy cut it.

Now to be clear,

I HATED the color job she did.

But 2nd only to Chris, she gave me

the best cut I've had.

So... it was back to Amy.

In March she had blue hair.

Or maybe it was purple.

I don't remember.

This time I was shocked,

and let's be honest,

a little jealous.

Her hair is the most PERFECT

gun metal grey.

Harrumph.

The only saving grace is it is

SUPER over processed and looks

a little like a beautiful gun metal grey

bale of straw.

So there's that.

Anyhow.

I had her cut my hair.

And I'm very happy with the cut.

But I needed to get out of there

before my envy got any worse.

*grin

Sans makeup and wearing my

bathroom glasses.

(Yes, I have bathroom glasses.

And kitchen glasses.

And bedroom glasses.

And teaching glasses.

And couch glasses.

And purse glasses.

And armchair glasses.

And piano glasses.

Don't YOU?)

Bath Day

Over the weekend, while Rod was home

the dogs discovered an old, dead rat.

Which, being dogs, was pretty much

nirvana in their minds.

They had ALL rolled around on it

by the time I figured out why all the dogs

were suddenly STINKING.

Found it and tossed it over the fence

where they wouldn't be able to get

to it ever again...

and then it was time for a BATH.

Bandit having her turn, while Beau peeks in...

Beau loves water, but isn't a huge fan

of getting an actual bath.

Yup. We use horse shampoo.

It does a good job and then they

all smell a billion times better!

Didn't get any pictures of Roxy.

But she got a bath too.

Thanks Rod!

They are all nice and clean!

Julie! We got COWS!

That only works if you love the movie

Twister like we do...

It's our traditional "Hurricane Movie".

Anyway.

We got COWS!

Introducing Charlie and Lil' Man.

The little white guy is a Charolais (Charlie).

The little dark guy is a Maine Anjou Angus cross (Lil' Man).

Yeah, I know. I don't name my beef.

But these sort of named themselves.

This morning Rod and I ran over to Lakeland,

about 2 hours away, over on the west side of Florida.

It was RAINING (not raining, RAINING) just inches

to the north of us, but we happily were dry.

(But now that we are home... BRING IT!)

It was a nice, uneventful run.

Except for leaving 26 minutes later than planned

so arriving about 30 minutes later than planned...

but we kept them in the loop, so they didn't have

to sit around waiting for us.

(They live 10 miles from the cattle property.)

Rod and Gary headed off into the cow pasture

and I stood and visited with... Gary's wife.

(I didn't realize until after we left we never 

introduced ourselves... lol. I have AWESOME

social skills...)

Before I knew it, Rod had the little boys all

loaded up in our trailer.

And they knocked $25 off Charlie's original

price since he's a little thin.

Cows grow like a teeter totter. They get tall in the hip, then match it in the shoulders. That's why
Man is a little "hip high". Gary says they are each about 4 months old.

We brought 'em home and unloaded them

into their new cow pasture.

 

They seemed happy with their little spot.

Then they wandered over to meet the neighbors.

(The goats are standing on either side of

Man's ears... the donkey is just out of the

picture to the right...)

Our little horse, Buddy, stood by the fence for

a minute to check them out, but CJ and Andy

didn't seem to care one way or the other.

(Of course I had just let them into the "green"

pasture and new grass trumps new neighbors...)

The cattle breed website says both of these breeds

have a potential grown out for males at

... wait for it...

2200 pounds! for a full grown male!

We won't keep them that long.

That's probably age 3.

But they will likely be double the size of

our last little heifers.

The plan... which is always subject to change...

is to grow them out for a year or so and then

take one to butcher and buy 1 replacement calf.

Then six months later we will butcher the

other and get another replacement calf.

We'll continue to leap frog like that.

We have enough people who want meat to

sell a cow and a half.

But not enough to sell two whole cows at a time.

So we are going to give this a try.

Welcome guys!

Eat hardy!

Grass Seed! and CALVES!

Kyle called me this morning.

Yesterday he tried out his nifty roller

that he made out of barrels.

Sadly, it was a fail.

The steel on the barrels was just too thin

to hold up to the beating.

The idea was sound, but he needs to find

a more sturdy barrel. Or something.

So....

fast forward to the next step in the process.

Since he won't be rolling the fields,

he is now ready to spread seed.

And the weather forecast is calling for rain

all weekend long,

so now is the time...

Gina called him this morning with the go ahead

to pick up $4800 worth of bahia grass seed.

That's 80 50-pound bags people!

Good thing his trailer is up there!

We had a nice visit while he drove over

and picked it up.

Then when he got back to the ranch it 

started to sprinkle and he was worried about

it getting wet, so he backed his trailer

into his new (but unfinished) building.

It took some doing, since the concrete

guys poured a floor but no aprons 

around the outside.

It took his amazing driving skills to get in there.

But, as always, he did it.

When we hung up, he was hoping for a bit of

rain this afternoon so the ground wouldn't be

desert dry before he spread seed...

fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, he hooked up the mower and

was going to head across the street and mow

the land around Linda's new house.

Meanwhile, back at OUR homestead...

Rod found some CALVES!

Well, one calf so far, but the hope of a second

before we pick him up on Saturday morning.

Not sure which one is our's, but he

bought a little Charolais steer calf.

I'm excited to get cows on the property again.

I've missed them! 

Wednesday Fun.

I always forget to look, but yesterday I
posted blog #1050!!!!
Wow.

I love Wednesdays.

It USED to be the day I washed all my eggs.

So just not having to do that anymore

makes this a good day by default.

(grin)

It's also the day we get a new

Trim Healthy Mama podcast.

It's 45 minutes of random chatter

between the sisters with little nuggets

of knowledge interspersed in.

It's mostly just fun.

Kyle mentioned that he was tired of

always buying (or swiping from me)

rolls of paper towels.

Amazing how that works when you start

paying your own bills, eh?

So he went to his Wal-Mart and bought a

stack of cheap dishcloths.

(18 rags for $3.98!)

He keeps them in a drawer in his kitchen

and everyday when he washes his dishes

and cleans his sink and counters he grabs

a washrag instead of a handful of paper towels

and when he is done he tosses it directly

into the washing machine.

I thought that sounded brilliant, so I went

out yesterday and got me a stack.

I don't have any empty drawer

(he has a brand new kitchen so he has lots

of empty drawers...)

so I just have them stacked on top of my

microwave. I'll probably get a cute basket

or something, but for now...

Anyhow.

This morning after I ate my breakfast it

was time to clean my kitchen.

Grabbed a washrag.

It worked great!

The rag has a little bit of a nap to it,

so it actually cleaned better than

a paper towel!

And when I was done, it went right

into the washing machine.

SLICK!

Thanks Kyle!

(Yes, I know, EVERYBODY already does that...

but I've been a paper towel fan for years...)

Rod mentioned today that he was out of

breakfast bars. So as soon as I get my pan

out of the dishwasher, that's on my list of things

I need to do today.

I have two 9x13 pans, I think this week I

will make both a pan of german pancake and

a pan of giant blueberry pancake.

That way he will have some variety in his life.

And as long as the oven is on,

I'm going to bake some bacon

and even make some lemon poppy seed cupcakes.

My Roomba ran this morning, so this is also when

I mop my floors. No point in mopping when there

is a bunch of stuff on the floor.

There is ALWAYS sand on my floors.

But its better after the Roomba spends an hour

bumping around.

(Which reminds me, I probably need to

dump her out...)

Kyle got a letter letting him know he had jury

duty today, but luckily when he called last

night they didn't need him.

Which means no quick trip today!

Good news since he is NEARLY finished

prepping his fields. He would really like to

get the seed in the ground before the rains

really get started.

He still needs to get here a little earlier than

usual on Friday because his tags and 

drivers license will all expire on Sunday

(his birthday)

so he needs to spend Friday afternoon at

the DMV. 

I'll make an appointment for him,

so hopefully it won't be an all afternoon thing.

Meanwhile, I've got YouTube playing

a bunch of videos from a young cattle farmer.

He kind of reminds me of Kyle.

He sees something that needs doing,

and then he does it.

And if there is a way to make it BETTER,

he does that too.

(Right now he is fixing his cattle squeeze chute...)

I'm learning a lot!

Anyhow, time to get back to it.

Enjoy YOUR Wednesday!

Things That Make Me Smile

Yesterday I had to run to WalMart.

As I pulled out of the property,

the classic song "American Pie"

came on my Pandora.

It's a pretty long song.

It ended just as I found a parking

spot at Walmart!

So... I now know it takes 8 minutes

to drive to WalMart.

LOL

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

This morning Kyle and I went to Joanne's

fabrics to buy some cloth to recover

part of his door panel in his car.

It's gotten old and is falling apart.

As we were walking around looking at the

billions of options (none of which were 

exactly what he was looking for...)

I said "We are going to have to finish

up or I'm going to need to find the bathroom

cuz I had a way too much to drink this morning."

He replied (totally deadpan and with NO

pause) "The first step is recognizing you

have a problem."

Then I REALLY needed a bathroom.

He makes me laugh so hard on a regular basis.

And we found some charcoal grey fabric.

Wish us luck!

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

After Sondra and I put some brown sugar

on the bacon we made for breakfast for 

everybody at Nancy's... I decided to give it

a try here... but without the "sugar" part.

I made my own substitute.

It's easy and tastes good.

I put some of my Pyure stevia/erythritol blend

into a small jelly jar.

Then I added some black strap molasses.

And mixed it all together.

I used a fork, but next time I'm going

to make a bigger batch and use my

immersion blender, cuz it was kind of a pain

using the fork.

I sprinkled it on Rod's bacon before I

baked this last batch. (Poured it into an

old spice jar and sprinkled it from there...)

He grabbed a couple pieces out of the fridge

and microwaved them for a second the other

night when he got home from work.

Came and sat on the couch next to me,

took a bite and said "WHAT did you do

to this bacon? It's DELICIOUS!"

SCORE!

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

When I was at WalMart yesterday I was in a 

pretty good mood, and I've made it a habit

to try to ALWAYS smile.

I have a mantra I repeat to myself all the time.

I don't even really notice I'm doing it anymore.

"Ribs up, shoulders back, butt tucked, SMILE."

Anyhow.

I guess I was smiling.

Because all the little old men shopping

by themselves that afternoon commented

on how happy I looked today!

Hahahahahaha.

It really IS the little things.