Blessed. Again.

I'm so lucky (blessed) to be surrounded

by men who can do... everything.

This morning there was a loud bang

coming from the pump room.

But Kyle didn't see anything.

And then when I was giving the ducks

their water, the line seemed full of air.

And then when I went inside to

make my breakfast (oatmeal)

there was ZERO water.

Kyle to the rescue.

He discovered the bang was the pipe

leading to the well pump had blown

itself off, then the pump had run dry

(and HOT)... waited til it cooled a bit

and then took the pipes apart and glued them

back together with PVC pipe glue.

*He has glued a gazillion pvc pipes

by this time in his life...

Then he left for work.

And I left for the grocery store.

By the time I got back, Rod was leaving

work for the day, so when he got home

we primed the pump (with fingers crossed)

and ... tada! WATER!

Oh, the modern conveniences!

NOW I can do the dishes, and the laundry,

and all the other things you reach for 

running water for a million times a day.

But right now I need to run outside and help

Rod do a final test of all the lights, etc on

the trailer before we head out early in the

morning to load up and drive the cows

to their final destination.

No pictures...

Sorry!

Isaias

Who picks these names?????

The news people were all struggling

this morning with how to pronounce

the name of our latest storm.

Looks like we'll have a big rain maker

over the weekend.

Awesome.

Since we are delivering the cows on Sunday.

Yesterday, Allison from our slaughter house

sent me a text confirming we were still on.

I asked if we could bring them Saturday

instead, since Sunday looks like a weather day.

She said sure. Just bring a bale of hay for

them to eat over the weekend.

So tomorrow I'll go pick up a small

square bale.

Today I'm working at the Town.

Yesterday I put a coat of Thompson's 

Water Seal on the wood floor in the trailer.

It looks good and should protect it.

We'll probably drag the rubber mats out

of Andy's stall and put them in there too

so it's not so slippery.

(They came from the old horse trailer originally...)

The new trailer is a little bigger, but they

should be good enough.

And this morning we began the day

watching the Atlas V heavy launch to Mars!

It was a beautiful blue sky and a

gorgeous launch.

AND

Kyle has baby plants!

No peppers yet, but some of his tomatoes are

showing little baby sprouts!

They are all leaning to the right because he

had the tray up on the patio to protect it from the

torrential rain we got last night.

They were stretccching over towards the sunlight.

He moved them out to the garden for a couple

of hours this morning.

He's taking today off since he worked LATE

last night and has to work on Saturday.

(Getting another giant wood delivery...

sometime between 8am and 8pm. REALLY???)

See?

They popped up overnight.

There are 338 little individual spaces and

he put a seed in each one.

So we will have LOTS of extras.

(Hello... Jim!)

Kyle's Latest

He never sits still.

Linda's next project for him was to have him

tear off the giant roof from the two large

buildings (without sides) he built 10+

years ago with Doug.

Back then, they didn't really know what 

they were doing. Doug (King of Scrounge)

got a bunch of telephone poles so they

used those to hold up the roof.

And Kyle put the metal panels on.

None of it is square.

And all of it was "sketchy".

He used to come home with a big grin

and "You want me to tell you what I

did today???" Usually I preferred NOT

to know.

It usually involved death defying stunts.

He LOVED every minute of it.

But now he's NOT a stupid teenager anymore.

So this time he rented the proper equipment

and is doing it ... well... safe - er.

He put up all the frame work using that red scissor lift.

It allows him to pop up between the cross beams and

screw them rather than trying to balance on TOP of them.

The roofs are pretty TALL.

This afternoon he put up the first 3 metal panels.

Using this new guy he rented this morning.

It can lift much heavier loads much higher.

And drive around on uneven surfaces.

(The little red guy can only go on concrete

and because the floors aren't perfectly level,

it kept going over its "tip point" and

shutting down. NOT useful...)

The buildings are pretty close to Linda's new house...

so his ability to maneuver is tight...

But he's getting it done.

Getting Closer...

We are on the down hill slide.

Which is a good thing.

Because the guys are TIRED.

And the cows only have 7 days left.

Putting the new floor boards in...

Then Rod laid underneath and held the nuts on

while Kyle screwed the lag bolts tight.

They each had helpers.

Kyle's dog, Shadow, is laying by his feet

and Rod's dog, Bandit, is laying by his...

Roxie is running back and forth

and Beau is in the chair next to me.

Rod got all the lights wire up and 

boy howdy they work!

That backup light will light up the entire barn!

She's looking like a trailer!

We'll order a canvas tarp roof thingie 

(technical term) later. Won't have time

to get one here before we need it 

next Sunday and then it will be parked

under the big green metal building

out back with Kyle's Cat... so no need

to spend the money yet.

We will be getting a couple calves

in a couple of weeks, but won't need

the tarp for that run either.

And then the trailer will just sit for

a year until the next butcher run.

So no hurry for the tarp.

Meanwhile...

My new okra plants are coming up nicely.

The right side of the bed is all okra,

the left side is sunflowers, but I'm thinking

I might pull those feather duster flowers

and transplant them into another bed

and put tomatoes in instead.

This was supposed to be the herb bed, 

but except for a couple of random basils,

they didn't come up.

So I did another heavy planting of okra.

This bed is Kyle's pride and joy.

He just loves it.

All full of random flowers.

All grown from seed, with the exception

of the little orange and yellow merrigolds.

He bought some of those in the spring and then

when he was dead-heading them, he seeded

the garden with them and they went CRAZY!

This afternoon he went out and planted

338! new little seed starts in this nifty

box he ordered online.

All tomatoes and peppers.

Getting excited for the fall garden!

Early Start

I'm getting an early start today.

Rod had another skin cancer removed

from his lower back Tuesday,

so he wasn't supposed to go to work

for the rest of the week.

No working out, heavy lifting, etc etc etc.

So he went to work.

He had a bunch of computer stuff to

catch up on...

And he had already scheduled Thurs and Fri

off so he could finish the trailer.

Anyhow.

This morning he is off "work" so I got up

early to go out and feed the animals so

he wouldn't.

But he was already half done.

(And now he's out there painting parts 

for the trailer... nothing heavy!)

I put fish emulsion on Kyle's roses

and on my new little okra plants.

They both LOVE that.

Then I went out front and pruned the

bougainvillea that is right outside Kyle's

bedroom window and has grown big enough

that it bangs on his window when it's windy.

Drives him crazy.

And today is yard trash day.

Then it was back into the house to feed 

the dogs and then get Rod's breakfast started.

While the bacon was cooking I cut up a

fresh mango (it's GOOD! I didn't think I liked mango!)

And then headed to the "Zoom Room"

to email all my students from last night.

(I taught from 5:30 til just after 10)

We had 15 students last night.

Good class!

Anyhow, I smelled the bacon, so

headed back to the kitchen to scramble some

eggs for Rod and fry some for me to go

with my roasted okra.

Now I'm sitting in the Zoom Room,

finishing up my emailing and doing a quick

blog before I go get cleaned up and

head into Town Hall to work today.

(10 - 3)

Then I need to run into town because I fed

the dogs the last of the dry food and the

cows and horses are nearly out.

And then it's home again to make some dinner

and then back to the Zoom Room to teach

an Orientation Workshop from 6:30 - 9:00.

Whew!

 

Productive Weekend

The guys continue to work on the trailer.

And they are SO over it.

But it is getting closer to the finish line.

Rod suited up.

He bought some bed liner spray and a cool gun thing.

They got it all taped and "masked" and

he went at it.

Unfortunately he ran out and had to order more.

It will be here Wednesday.

They got the back doors all finished.

They've been doing lots of fabricating

and coming up with all sorts of nifty designs.

They will certainly be glad when they are done!

Meanwhile, inside the house, I spent Saturday

refilling our freezer.

It's always good to know there is food in there,

for those times (mostly Rod's lunch) when I 

don't have anything else ready and he can

just "grab and go".

(Like today, last night we had steak for dinner

and there is NEVER left over from that!)

I love painter's tape!

Makes marking the tubs so easy.

Busy Week!

You know how you get to the end

of a week and think Whew! 

That was BUSY!

And then you look back and can't think

of what all you did all week that

made you so busy?

Hahaha

Yup.

That was my week.

But I DID accomplish a bunch of stuff.

I spent a couple of hours in the waiting

room at the local lab for a 4 minute

blood workup in preparation for next

week's checkup.

I spent LOTS of time on the phone

with my boss about teaching stuff.

Some of it was even productive.

I actually got a "new" job.

I am now officially the 

Town Building Dept Assistant Clerk.

I'll work at the town on Tues and Thurs

for 5 hours each.

We'll see how that goes...

I got a new project - the company randomly

picks 12 brand new people (draws their names

literally from a hat) and they win an all 

expenses POSH trip.

In the event the trip is cancelled, they 

get a $5,000 check.

One of the people this time was from Florida.

So my job was to take her from brand new

to licensed before October 11.

And then another phone call to say never mind.

Turns out she speaks NO english.

Hahaha.

Oops... sorry - can't help with that one.

We had a new young couple from our ward

stop by on Thursday evening to introduce

themselves and we showed them the farm.

He grew up in Alaska and she in Kansas.

They are really nice, with a cute little girl

and another on the way.

They offered to take care of the farm for

us when we go on vacation.

That will be nice, she was pre-vet before they

got married and moved, and he lived on a 300

acre farm in Alaska and is just finishing up

his time in the Army Reserves.

And I cooked, and cleaned, and did laundry,

and mowed the yard, 

and took care of the animals...

Just the normal stuff that keeps me busy.

And, of course, the guys are still working

on the trailer. No pictures because the stuff

they are doing isn't easily seen.

Wiring harnesses and hinges and the like.

The mangos must be close to ripe because

every squirrel in the county has been

hanging (literally) in the tree and

munching on them.

I just missed the squirrel... he was hanging upside

down having a lovely breakfast.

Nope, not ripe enough yet.

This one isn't either...

So last night Kyle and I harvested all of them.

You pick the high ones and I'll pick the low ones.

And I'll fill my bucket before you!

(hahahaha - did you SING along?)

So now they are spread all over the kitchen table

until they get ripe.

(The squirrels got more than half... we'll have to

pick them sooner next year...)

Kyle's flowers are doing really well!

So I leave you with some.

Paint!

Houston, we have PAINT!

Before - Primer grey.

(kinda pretty!)

Midway - shiny black!

On the top.

They still have to paint the bottom.

And run the lights.

And a bunch of other stuff...

But its getting there!

And its going to be beautiful!

Hope the cows appreciate it.

I know I do!

Excited About Beef!

The countdown is on for the steers.

They have an appointment for

"freezer camp"

on August 2.

This morning Rod got a text from one

of his friends / customers.

Please show the cows their fancy new vacation home!

To which Rod replied...

We are nearly finished the new motorhome

to take them on vacation...

Silly men!

Looking good though, eh?

Kyle says there are still a gazillion

little things that have to be done before

it is road worthy.

And right now he has one of the ranch's

side-by-sides on the patio.

Fabricating a new bed for it.

He fixed the broken wheel, but as long as 

he has it down here he needed to do

something about the totally rusted out

and therefore mostly useless bed.

As always, its going to be great.

But it takes a lot of work.

He finished just as I went out to take a picture.

Its all loaded up and ready to go back to the ranch.

Blessed!!!

Wow!

Kyle and Rod were out working on the 

trailer last night.

They were using hand held grinder

thingies (technical term) to grind the

surface rust off so they could prime

the metal.

I was in the house.

And I heard a yell.

Kyle's grinder hit a burr and jerked up.

Hit him in the chin with the back

of the grinder and the brushes 

skimmed across the lens of his 

sunglasses.

(Thank goodness for $200 Oakleys!)

He thought the grinder knocked his

teeth out or at least cut deep

into his chin...

But the end result was some dirt

on his face and some ruined sunglasses.

But he still has all his teeth

and he still has his eyeball.

That man is so blessed!

(And today we went to the mall and

replaced the sunglasses - the old ones

were about 3 years old and he didn't

realize just HOW scratched they were

until he put on his new ones!) 

Medical Memories

My internet group has been talking about vaccines

and remembering all the shots and little pink sugar cubes

and other medical oddities from our (way long ago) youth.

This is what I shared with them...

I remember being EXCITED to get mumps. I was probably 4... I got to wear a MUMP RAG!!! Just like the little kid in the story! (My little sister was still in diapers so Mom used a diaper and tied it in a knot on the top of my head just like in the picture... lol). I don’t remember it being awful... no worse than tonsillitis - which I had enough times that they took them out when I was 4... 

I remember my little sister and I getting ... the flu? Maybe? Or measles? Chicken pox? I know we all got those... Anyway, we were both sick at the same time but she was WAY sicker than I was and was getting all the attention. We were in our bed together, cutting out paper dolls and I stabbed her in the top of her head with my scissors. My mother was not amused. I was a HORRIBLE sister! (Again we weren’t very old, I might have been 5 or 6 which would make her 3 or 4, old enough to cut out paper dolls... Of course 55 years ago they LET little girls use real scissors with pointy ends. Bet THAT stopped at our house... hahahahahahahaha)

We had HOUSE CALLS! Dr. Meddlicott came to our house to treat us! He had nose hairs. (And our dentist was Dr. Payne... do these guys change their names when they pick their profession or pick their profession based on their names????)

Oh the memories.

In other news, Kyle and I went to the beach

this afternoon.

NO WAVES!

(And almost no breeze... it was HOT!!!)

The beach still has a 45 degree angle down

to the water... all the darker stuff is wet

sand and STEEP!

While we were sitting in our chairs

a little family of dolphins swam by!

2 adults and 2 juveniles.

The kids were having a GREAT day

at the beach!

Splashing and jumping and doing

belly rolls....

But then the Moms got them back under

control and took them on down south.

It was a fun afternoon!

Need a Good Book?

I just finished (like 15 minutes ago...)

reading a fun book.

I borrowed it for free from my

Kindle Unlimited account.

I've been reading 1800's pioneer-type

novels lately and I kind of ran out of them.

So the other day I had seen this one

over and over (it's a best seller)

(so you might have already read it...)

and decided there was no virtue in

being the last woman on earth who

hadn't read it.

Hahahaha.

(I hate following trends... but then I

end up doing it anyway, just WAAAY 

behind everybody else...)

Ok, anyway.

From the description it kind of sounded stupid.

But she sucked me in with like the first paragraph.

The writing is EXCELLENT!

It's funny.

And sad.

And uncomfortable.

And funny!

(And a happy ending...)

(spoiler alert... kind of...)

Anyhow.

I enjoyed it.

It's one of those books I "read aloud"

to myself because it's just that good.

And would totally make an excellent

book club book.

Or beach book.

(I DID read it on the beach on Monday...)

Or backyard book.

Or curled up on the couch book.

So.

What are you waiting for????

Load it on your Kindle and get reading!

Productive Monday!

It didn't start the way I planned...

I got up a bit earlier than usual

(don't be impressed, it wasn't "early")

and went out and fed the animals.

Stopped by the garden on the way back

in and picked enough okra for breakfast.

Put the okra in the air fryer and went out

to feed the dogs. Kyle was up and in the shower.

So far, so good!

Once the dogs were fed, I put my 2 eggs

in the pan with coconut oil, salt, pepper

and some nutritional yeast.

 (SO yummy, and lots of B vitamins!)

Mixed the okra and eggs together, topped

the whole mess with some MCT oil

and some "everything bagel" seasoning.

By then Kyle was out of the shower, dressed

and making himself a chocolate milk and

a fresh peach. (Publix had some REALLY

good, ripe, juicy ones from California...)

Kyle is on a fruit kick.

Anyhow.

About the time we were both done with

breakfast and getting ready to get ready

to head to the beach, he got a text from Linda.

The pastures are flooded.

(So are our's... we got a LOT of heavy rain

both Saturday and Sunday afternoons...

welcome to Florida in July!)

Can you come fix... something... I want to

weigh the cows and then move them into

a drier pastsure.

So much for his beach plan.

(I planned for us to go for a walk on the

beach and then split up - he would head

to work and I would head out to do errands...)

He went to work.

And I went to the beach!

Without him!

Sacrilege!  

(That still doesn't look like its spelled correctly,

but Uncle Google says it is... so whatever...)

I parked in our old spot and put my chair 

on the beach but I didn't even sit down.

(I knew I'd never get up if I did... lol)

It was exactly 10:00 when I got there.

(See, I said it wasn't "early")

Headed south down the beach.

My goal was the tall tree.

I had my music in my ears and lots of

thoughts in my head (although I had an

audible book on my phone on standby 

in case I needed it...)

It was a beautiful morning!

The tide was coming in, but with all the 

weather over the weekend, the beach was 

quite heavily eroded and the beach wasn't

"flat". It was actually a pretty steep incline/drop-off

down to the water line.

Which meant you were walking on the side of

a pretty steep hill ... at least you got to switch

sides when you walk back! Haha

Also the sand switched from nice and firm

to super soupy, and back again.

Kind of like walking through thick mud.

With shells.

I made it to the tall tree and pulled out my phone.

It was 45 minutes and EXACTLY 2 miles!

Who knew!

Turned around and headed back.

I finished 4.1 miles in 1 hour and 14 minutes.

Which is pretty good for me!

Once again I didn't sit down, cuz I knew that would

be all she wrote... so I headed to my car to grab

my orange bag with my water, glasses, Kindle

and body brush (I use it to brush the sand off

my feet / legs before I get back in my car.)

"My" spot was sparsely populated, down by the tall tree

(the public beach with parking and a bathroom in the 

next town south) was MUCH busier but still not

what I imagine it looked like over the holiday weekend.

(You can't see the drop off in this picture, but just before

the water line there is actually about a 3 foot drop/shelf.)

Once I got my stuff, I sat in my chair,

put on my reading glasses (I was wearing my

sunglasses - I've GOT to get some tinted

cheaters...) and read my book for the remaining

45 minutes on my parking meter.

And then it was back to the car,

and head into town to Sam's Club to get

Kyle some chocolate milk mix, 

Rod some lemon juice for his lemonade,

some butter (cuz we go through it!),

and some guacamole, cuz their's is really good.

Home to put a load of clothes in the washer

and out to do a quick mow in the middle yard.

(I mow the grass set on 4" so it gets nice long

roots, but it needs to be mowed twice a week...

especially with all this rain!)

And then in to wash a sink of dishes while the

laundry finished in the washer, then put it in the

dryer, sit on the couch and write a quick blog,

and now as I glance out the window,

it has started to rain.

I might stretch out on the couch and take a quick

nap since I have to teach until 10:00 tonight.

And there's nothing better than napping while

it's raining.

Aaaaaaahhhhhh.

Hope your Monday is going well!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

The rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air

drove my steers crazy last night.

Jake laid in his hay pile under

the palm tree and chewed his cud.

Charlie stood in the middle of the

pasture and bellowed for HOURS.

They are all happy again this morning.

(The horses went straight out back to 

the big green shed where Kyle parks

his Cat - they know where the good

shade / shelter is...)

It has been a busy week.

For everybody else.

Kyle headed up to the ranch on Tuesday.

Gina broke one of the wheels off one

of the side-by-sides a week or so ago

and he needed to go up and get it so he 

could bring it down here and fix it.

And she had some other things she wanted

him to do as well while he was up there,

so he took an overnight bag and his

air mattress.

In the evening, while he was driving his

truck out to the back pasture to check on

the state of the grass and the cows,

his power steering pump blew.

What a blessing!

If it had blown while he was on the highway,

pulling a trailer, it would have been BAD.

(The power steering fluid on this truck

is also connected to the brakes - lose one,

lose BOTH.)

So I planned to drive up Wednesday morning

and pick him up, then he and Rod would drive

up on Thursday and either fix his truck or

load it on a trailer and bring it home.

But over night, once the adrenaline calmed...

he took another look and realized it was 

just the hose, not the whole pump,

and he can easily fix it.

So he grabbed the ranch truck, drove into

Gainesville to the parts store

(where there is a mandatory mask requirement

or a $150 fine! And he didn't bring a mask...)

so he had to wait in the parking lot while

they tried to find what he needed,

bring it out, take it back in, bring something

else back out, take it back in...

rinse / repeat...

It was only 97 degrees in the parking lot...

But once he got what he needed, it was not

simple, but not as hard as it could have been.

(He had to climb up and kneel on the battery

to get to the hose to change it!)

Ouch!

Anyhow.

Scrub my trip to the ranch.

He fixed his truck and then finished cleaning

out the "show barn" Gina wants to set up

on her side of the street (there is an old 

barn / lean-to on the property the old owners

used as a junk storage and didn't clean out when they moved...)

Loaded up the side-by-side on the trailer.

Then he headed back down south.

The truck ran great.

Meanwhile, our last remaining Buffalo Graffics

customer called with an order for more 

Trailer Ranch decals, so Rod spent Tuesday

evening cutting them and I spent Wednesday

afternoon on a Zoom meeting while weeding,

masking and cutting them up.

Thursday Rod took the day off so they could

work on the stock trailer.

But first he had to run up to Rockledge to

drop off the decals for Frank.

Meanwhile, I mowed the middle yard, the

dog yard, and up and down the driveway 

out by the street (while Kyle was my official

gate opener/closer...) It's so nice not to have

to get off the mower to do that!

When Rod got home, we had some lunch

and then they headed out to work on the trailer.

More trailer work on Friday.

And Saturday.

With some grocery store trips,

Lowes trips, and trips to the welding

supply place for more and more welding supplies

thrown in for variety.

But LOOK!

It has fenders, sides, and a DOOR!

That's a LOT of measuring, cutting, grinding, and welding!

The other door frame is done, but Kyle still needs

to weld all the bars on it.

Getting closer!!!!

They are doing an amazing job.

It's costing a lot of money,

but still less than half of the price of a new one.

And since THEY built it, they know its good.

Today?

REST!

Kyle has been going full speed ahead ever since

we got back from Utah.

(And the last 3.5 days of that trip were long,

hard driving days for him...)

He is ready for a break!

Hope you had a lovely week!

I'm teaching every day except Friday this week...

Monday evening 6-10, 

Tuesday I'm co-hosting 7-9, 

Wed I'm teaching in the morning 9-1, 

Thurs is another co-hosting gig from 7-9.

Off Friday and then I teach Sat evening 6-10.

Gonna be a busy week.

Looks like it will be mid-late August or even

September before I get back in an actual classroom.

But boy I can't wait!