End of Year Sweep Up

Good bye 2019!

It's been a year.

Whew.

There have been ups, downs, and flats.

But always trending upwards?

At least I hope so...

Anyhow.

This isn't going to be a deep, introspective post.

Nope.

It's a jumble of random stuff.

Like... this is post #165 for the year!
Pretty prolific!
(Ahem... Rozann????)
My biggest year except 2012 with 182!
It's fun to go back and read them.
I've been hanging out in 2014 this morning.

I wonder if I can save them to a flash drive.
(Rozann???  Oh Guru of all things computer???)
It would be terrible to lose them.
Rozann printed off a BUNCH of them for me
and we bound them into a book,
but there isn't that much paper in the world.
(or ink...)

I participated in a T-Tapp 30 Day Holiday Challenge.
Yup - over the holidays.
Insane, I know... but actually brilliant!
It helped me to stay accountable.
This morning I did my final workout for
this 30 days, then Rod took pictures,
and I took my measurements.

DRUM ROLL.
I lost SIX INCHES (all over my body -
most spots were down 1/2 inch)
DURING CHRISTMAS!
I was pretty impressed!
And the best part - I did it using a
FOURTEEN MINUTE WORKOUT
and only did it 3 times a week!

So... I think that will be an easy habit to
continue with for 2020.
More on that tomorrow...

Random picture just for fun...
Loved Sondra's gift and the letter that went with it!
What a nice tribute to Mom and Dad!
(And a nice shirt to boot!)

Anyhow.

Today poor Rod is up and down the ladder again.
(I think he's looking forward to getting back to work
on Thursday... I'm working him to bits!)
Today he is repairing some damage on our roof
where some water was pooling / leaking and
rotted out some wood on the front of the house.
And as long as he has everything open,
he is repairing the flood lights he put up 15 years
ago but have never worked because the guy
we bought the house from was the King of
doing things wrong and there was no way to
actually hook them up.
So he is off to Lowe's to buy the correct box
and get them working.

Oh! And last night he fixed our pretty
front door lights as well!
I guess the theme this Christmas is LIGHT!
Our house looked really nice when we
came home last night.
(Five Guys for a YUMMY {expensive} burger!)
(And horse/cow feed...)

GRRRRRRRRR
Unrelated - but while I'm sitting here blogging,
I am also cooking frozen chicken breasts in my
pressure cooker (on the island on one power strip)
and making roasted chick peas in my air fryer
(on the kitchen counter on a different circuit.)
And my power strip keeps popping and my
IP turns off.
And I didn't notice.
It has happened several times in the past week
or so, I thought it might be because I had my
Crisp Lid plugged in to the same power strip.
Even though it was turned off.
So I unplugged it.
And it still popped.
Just popped AGAIN.
So I turned off the air fryer.
Let's see if that's it.
At this rate, lunch will NEVER be ready!
(The plan is chicken breast and a sweet potato
on a bed of romaine lettuce - organic from AZ...)
Fingers crossed... so far so good...

Anyhow... (again)

My cows are growing.
They are very good friends and almost always together.
(Bummer when one of them goes to the butcher
in a couple of months - but there will be a new calf
for the other one to play with / train...)

(We've had LOTS of rain lately...)

Charlie likes to lay all the way flat.
Jake was laying flat 1 second before the camera clicked.
They looked dead.
I'm ALWAYS afraid Charlie is dead.
He lays flat with his legs sticking out.
At least Jake usually has his legs tucked under
and his head up-ish...

Check out my piano-scape!
On the left we have the clock but the outside temp thing broke,
so the black square in front is a new outside temp thing.
And my brand new fancy flashlight to walk out to the barn with.
And my reindeer candle holders. (without candles because
they melt from year to year and I forget to buy new ones...)
Our buffalo lamp with Jim's choir stick and my Harry Potter
magic wand (thanks Soni!) laying at the base.
Then a yummy candle, the super cool storm glass Rozann
sent us this year (THANKS! we love it!) and the pine
smelling thingie Soni sent us last year.
A couple of wood cutting boards that somehow ended
up on the piano and my favorite picture of my cowboy.
I'm getting ready to put Christmas away, so the reindeer will go,
but the rest will stay. I love the pine smell all year long!
(And my Primary Penny picture Mom and Dad sent us
that lives on my piano because this house has no
empty spaces on the walls... lol)
(And I LIKE it there!)

In keeping with the "light" theme,
Rod made me a matching light this year.
He made the one on his side of the couch
last year, now we finally match!
I love them!
Which meant I had to move the lamp that
used to sit there...

So now it's over here in my blogging corner.
I love this lamp!
(Thanks Mom and Dad!)
(And the hat/bridle hanger is also a M&D gift!)

ACK!
The pressure cooker kicked off again!
So I unplugged it and carried it
over to the kitchen counter.
Maybe my power strip is broken???
Who knows.
But this is making me crazy.
And Rod is going to be HUNGRY
when he gets home...
So COOK ALREADY!
Sheesh.
It just came up to pressure... fingers crossed!

Lights!!!

It took two full days of WORK.

But we have LIGHTS!!!

It started with Rod digging a trench

through the driveway under the gate.

And then laying the pipe.

Corners and elbows and boxes, oh my!

And then it rained all day.

We enjoyed a relaxing day inside.

But then it was right back to it!

R E A C H!!!!

Measure, dry fit, measure, glue...

It was quite the process!

Up the ladder.

The peanut gallery

Down the ladder.

Up the ladder...

Shadow supervised.

(She looks VERY relaxed!)

Rod got them all wired up and painted

the wood behind them...

They look great!

And then I sat down outside to wait 

for the "light show".

All the other "dusk to dawn" lights came on.

But NOTHING at the front gate.

We started to get nervous...

Rod was getting ready to pull them down

and re-check his wiring...

(Although he is SUPER careful with his

wiring and I was sure it was right...)

And then...

TA DA!!!!

Please note he is wearing shorts and a cotton short sleeved shirt.

I, on the other hand, was in jeans,

my cute muck boots (with pink horses on them)

and my barn coat.

Yup, I'm a Canadian PANSY.

But we LOVE our new lights!

The light shines straight down and only

lights up the gate - no "bleed" up or down

the driveway and no lights in anybody

else's property / eyes.

It's WONDERFUL!

Thanks Rod!

Friday Fun

So... we woke up to rain.

Which isn't conducive to working

with electricity outside.

So we have been watching YouTubes.

(Rod at the kitchen table on his new laptop

and me in the living room, on my iPad and/or

on the TV... depending on what I'm watching.)

And then I put on my cute apron

(thanks again Rozann!)

it always inspires me.

I watched a THM video on making

"Wonder Wraps" for about the gazillioneth time.

They are really simple, delicious homemade

tortilla replacements that I have been wanting

to try for about 4 years, but have been too 

scared to try... I was afraid they would taste

gross and be hard to make.

But I got down my big flat electric griddle

(that I bought nearly TWO YEARS AGO

specifically for making Wonder Wraps but

then never did...), watched the video 

one more time... and then gave it a go.

And they are DELICIOUS!

They are actually pretty simple... just takes a

little practice getting them to go in a circle.

I had everything I needed in my pantry...

1 Cup egg whites (I have a carton that needs used up)

1/8 cup whole psyllium husk (yup, the same stuff

that's in that orange fiber drink...)

1/8 cup nutritional yeast

1/8 cup green can parm cheese

2 pinches pink salt

and a couple splashes of Pete's hot sauce.

I discovered (thanks to a handy dandy cheat sheet

I found online and printed out and put in my

THM binder a couple of weeks ago)

that the "coffee scoop" that came with my

latest set of measuring cups is 1/8 cup!

How handy is THAT???

Anyhow.

Mix everything together with a wisk while

the griddle is heating (I used 350 because they

didn't say, but did say their's was "screaming hot"...)

and then spoon out 3 soup spoons in a puddle.

Then using the back of the spoon, spread it out

in every increasing circles until its pretty thin

and (in theory) round.

We have square, oblong, oval and ONE circle!

Let cook til it look "dry" and then flip.

The whole gig took about 10 minutes.

And then I pulled out the left over ham and

Rod and I made ham/cheese/mustard/mayo/lettuce/cheese

wraps with them.

We really liked them!

And the best part is I made 10 wraps for about

$.89.  I get a package of 8 low carb wraps

at WalMart for $4.50!!!

(And these are way better!)

WIN!

So anyhow, I was looking at that big ol'

ham bone and decided it was time to pull

the last of the meat off it.

And then there was that bone.

And I happen to have a bag of split peas

in my bean stash in my pantry.

So I pulled out my cook little veggie chopper thing

Veggie Chopper

and chopped up 2 celery ribs, 2 carrots,

and an onion. It takes longer to peel the

carrots than it did to chop up everything.

And no tears.

Popped those into the pressure cooker with some

butter on "saute" mode and softened them,

then dumped in a pound of peas, my ham bone,

some pepper and a big box (6 cups) of chicken broth.

Set it for FIFTEEN MINUTES!

Can you believe it???

I let it naturally pressure release for 15 more minutes

and then after pulling out the bone, I hit it with

my stick blender cuz I don't want chunks of stuff

in my soup. (Didn't blend it all the way smooth,

just about 2/3...) and then chopped up some more

ham really fine and dumped that in.

In a grand total of 45 minutes I have a big pot

of REALLY DELICIOUS ham and split pea soup

that tastes like its been simmering on the stove

for... HOURS.

And now Rod and I are heading into town to

Gordon's restaurant supply house to get a couple

of those really LONG pancake turner things

to make flipping the wonder wraps easier.

I'm having so much fun!

Guess I should take off my apron though.

(Who is this person??? She COOKS?)

Happy Boxing Day!

We had a lovely Christmas Day!

We all got to be together

and had a wonderful time.

Annual Santa on the Fire Truck.
They pared it WAY down this year!
One police car, a fire truck and a rescue truck with a trailer with Santa et al.

Jim and Sabrina came over around 11

and we exchanged gifts.

It was a nice morning with lots of

thoughtful presents, love and laughter.

And then we worked together to

make our yummy Christmas dinner.

Sabrina was in charge of the stuffing

and sweet potato casserole.

Jim made the green bean casserole

and he and Kyle grilled the asparagus.

Rod made the giant fruit salad.

I made the rolls, turkey and ham.

(Turkey in the Pressure Cooker.

Ham in the crockpot...)

I had the easy jobs.

It was a nice, laid back, relaxed day.

(No photos!)

So here's another from Christmas Eve...

Everybody left about 5:30.

Jim and Sabrina headed home to feed their dog.

Kyle headed back to the ranch to be on

"calf watch" again.

They had 4 calves already - should have

a couple more in the next few days...

(He made it safe and sound about 9,

said he saw another bear on the side of

the highway in the Ocala National Forest!

His 2nd sighting!)

This morning I slept in.

And then it was ham and eggs for breakfast.

Rod headed out to the front gate to start

digging the trench to put in the wiring

for our new front gate lights.

It was a LOT of work to dig through the driveway.

It's road gratings... that Bill put in 16 years ago.

Well mashed down.

He got the pipe laid.

The connectors connected...

The view from the front pasture/yard.

His "helpers"...

I helped him get the dirt back in the trench and the driveway

swept back into the hole.

It's hard to sweep asphalt!

                    

 

Then it was out to feed the critters.

Jake (the black steer) tried to eat my phone.

Charlie was more interested in the hay.

And now we are sitting in the living room.

Hallmark movies on the TV.

Thinking about dinner.

Hope you had a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas Eve!

We are all ready.

The guys are all working.

Rod had to go in until 1:30.

Kyle got home last night and went

to Linda's this morning to fix some

gates she was having trouble with.

(ALL her Grandkids are going to be

here for Christmas and she needs to

be able to lock the cows in / kids out?)

It's cloudy, cool (high 50s) and misting.

Feels like it could snow.

White Christmas?

(Only in my imagination...)

But it's supposed to be sunny and

beautifully warm tomorrow.

The gifts are wrapped,

the dog is ready...

I'm going to make another attempt at fudge.

(I made some last weekend to take to

the ward's linger longer but it didn't set up...)

Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas to you!

Jail Break!

Made my monthly trip up to the ranch

Tuesday afternoon.

Just in time for a BIG rain storm.

Kyle made me a lovely dinner of steak,

yellow peppers and onions,

yellow squash in sour cream

and tater tots.

It was DELICIOUS!

Wednesday morning we got up,

BUNDLED up and headed out.

It was in the low 40s but the wind

was really whipping and it was COLD!

We got the girls in nice and easy.

We got them all weighed and treated for flies.

No calves yet... but #16 looks like she

might be getting ready.

Kyle put out a couple of rolls of hay and

some protein tubs, dumped a load of

dirt under a gate where it looks like there

is a big enough hole that new little calves

would be able to squirt into the peanut pasture

and then we loaded up the big stock trailer

and got on the road to Malabar.

(By way of Rural King in Ocala where 

I bought some more horse feed and a bunch

of bags of beet pulp pellets because my

RK in Bonita Springs doesn't carry it...)

(And it's $2/bag cheaper than Tractor Supply)

We didn't get home until about 7 (after dark)

and Rod had a nice dinner of fried chieken

and "fixins" ready for us.

This morning I got up and headed out to feed

our animals... and ...

Escapeeeeeeees!

This is the same board they broke last time.

We are going to need to replace it.

I guess its getting old and weak.

I wandered all over the property looking for

another board that would fit but they were

all about 2 feet too short...

so rather than take Kyle's truck and head to

Lowe's to buy a new board I just found an

old fence panel and dragged it over.

It made an effective band-aid.

Chained it to the existing gate on one end.

Used the old farmer's favorite,

baling twine.

But every body is back in their pasture

and all is right with the world again.

And now I'm getting ready to head over to 

Linda's with Kyle to help him round up

her cows and take all of them (except 3)

back up to the ranch.

He'll stay there on "calf watch" until

Christmas Eve.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Kyle came home last night.

It was raining all the way from Daytona,

and he was pulling a trailer loaded

with hay for Linda's cows.

Bummer.

But cows will eat almost anything

and it doesn't hurt them like it would

horses. They put the last horse down

yesterday (not their horse, boarding

for a friend...) so they don't need

to be as careful about their hay.

Meanwhile the tire on Linda's 

tractor went flat, Kyle put some air in

it and then when Linda drove it, it

popped off the bead.

So he is over there this morning 

getting that fixed.

And he got me another picture of

his shop now that he has filled up

his shelves.

He is getting so organized!

And then I was on Facebook and saw something!

Things have changed and "fancied up"

a bit since we were there 50 years ago!

Remember?

Us girls stayed by the car and Mom and Dad

walked down the trail to the "actual" site.

(And probably relished a few minutes alone...

6 people in the car / trailer / etc every minute

of every day for DAYS and DAYS...

bless them!)

When they came back we were all anxious

to know what we missed.

They said there wasn't anything there except

a REALLY hot little rabbit, stretched out

and panting on the trail.

(It's HOT there in the summer! We Canadians

weren't prepared for that!)

Memories!!!

New Calling & Building Stuff

I finally got set apart last night for my new calling.

(1st C in the Stake Primary if you forgot... lol)

We got "dressed up" to meet Pres Rasmussen

at the church and had a friend take our picture.

Yup.

We are cute.

And getting older.

And Rod has a chin thing.

And I'm wearing a LOT of bells!

Meanwhile.

Kyle has been busy at the ranch.

Fixing up the shop.

Yesterday he built a work bench.

Every shop needs a good workbench!

And then he built a set of shelves.

Every shop needs a good set of shelves.

Because his roof is like 14' high, he decided to

go UP with his shelves. They are 8' tall.

He is going to need to build a ladder on one side

so he can get to the stuff on the top.

And as always, he couldn't resist the urge to climb up

on top and take a picture of his shop when he was done.

The shop is 40' x 60' and filling fast.

Missing are the stock trailer and the "tank".

Those are still outside.

He's getting ready for the boss ladies to come

visit later in the month when the cows start

dropping calves.

Visitors

These aren't very good pictures.

But....

When I went out to check the 

nests for eggs... I noticed

we seemed to have some

visitors.

There are a total of SIX little

green parrots!

They were quite noisy.

And when I tried to get closer to 

take a better picture,

they didn't love my dogs.

The whole flock took flight,

squawking all the way,

and headed further into the woods.

Wonder where they came from!

We used to sometimes get a random

parrot (escaped pets likely) when we

lived in Indialantic.

There was even a MONKEY for awhile.

But I've never seen SIX of them in a flock.

Anyhow.

It was a fun distraction.

(I'm busy typing for the town...

it WAS interesting but the section

I'm typing now is all legal descriptions

and corner markers.

Ugh.)

I love December!

It's beginning to look like Christmas around here.

Beau loves the tree.

He has his own "Christmas" blanket.

Its supposed to be around the tree, but he pulls

it down and cuddles up on it.

So I have given up...

I spent the weekend down in Bonita Springs

again, teaching the 1st weekend of 

this month's class.

I had 12 students which is a good

size class for me.

Not too big, not too small.

I'm still waiting for my tall stool to arrive.

I'm not used to standing for the entire 10 hours.

My feet were KILLING me by the end!

But the students were really great.

And Monday I stopped at my favorite feed store

just up the street from my hotel and picked

up 600 pounds of horse and cow feed.

The lovely older gentleman who loaded

it all into my car for me told me I can

call ahead and they will load it up on

the cart and bring it up front so its all

waiting for me when I get there!

(which would be awesome because their

carts are TERRIBLE and pushing 600# of

feed bags through their store is a 

WORK OUT!)

Today I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done.

So I'd better get off here and get started.

Chilly

It's been chilly here.

And I've been doing a bunch of stuff.

Good thing I listed it all in my last

post, because I can't remember half

of it anymore... lol.

But...

there WERE 2 trips to the beach to

watch the rocket launch.

The first one on Wednesday was

cancelled due to high winds.

It WAS pretty windy.

But I was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans

so I survived.

I paid for an hour's worth of parking

and sat on my little chair and

read my book.

I've been wanting to read a book on the beach

for months, but Kyle and I end up talking.

(and talking and walking and walking)

So this was just nice and relaxing.

I went again yesterday.

This one was a go.

They are SO much smaller than the shuttles.

But still pretty.

I like this part the best.

That white dot was two guys out on ocean kayaks

but they went down behind a swell just as I

took the picture.

Fun way to watch a launch!

Meanwhile, Kyle drove home Wednesday evening.

He drove Linda's Dodge and pulled the trailer

with the Tank on it - has some work to 

do at the MeadowPine farm.

He had a small issue.

So small, in fact, that he didn't notice

until he went out Thursday morning to 

drive over to the farm.

The spare is on.

The damage to the fender is fixed (and painted)

and the trailer is getting 4 new tires 

this weekend.

Thankful for blessings!