Happy Birthday Dad!!!

It's my Dad's Birthday today!

I'm excited to get to talk with him tonight!

We are going to do a family Zoom!

That sounds like such fun!!!

(I'm teaching until 10, so I'll be late...

but I'm coming!!!!)

Of all the things he has TAUGHT me over my lifetime...

From trying to get on a horse bareback,

to canoeing,

to camping,

to gardening,

to giving my ALL no matter what I'm doing,

to having a testimony of the gospel...

Love for your family is the biggest one.

He is certainly well loved...

But love, honor, respect, joy, fun

with / for your spouse is what he

has SHOWN me throughout his life.

And it's what I will always cherish.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Fixed One and Broke Another

I FIXED my pen!

Ok, so all I needed to do was get a battery.

But boy was I glad to get my buddy back!

Writing with your finger isn't a great idea...

And then...

I broke my phone.

Hahaha

Rod says there is just some dust or something

up in the hole where you stick the plug.

But I've tried and tried to blow it out

and it isn't fixing it.

I can plug it in and it will charge in my car.

But my car won't connect with it.

(NO PANDORA! Yikes!!!)

But none of my plugs inside the house will

even plug in enough to charge it.

Luckily Rod has one of those fancy wireless

charger thingies on the bed... so I CAN charge my phone.

But I gotta get this puppy fixed!

But today was busy.

And so was yesterday.

Well... and Monday.

Monday there was a MASSIVE Zoom outage.

I was out feeding the ducks (8:30) when Coach Lillian

texted me in a panic saying she couldn't connect

to Zoom, could I get on?

So I dashed up into the house and Nope... I couldn't

get logged in on any of the laptops in the house.

It was throwing all sorts of weird billing errors

and it actually looked like they didn't pay the bill!

Anyhow.

Lillian was actually able to finally log in

using her personal account - but she can't access

the webinar information from there.

And then I was able to log in on my iPad,

but can't access the PowerPoint...

So I logged in as the host and then switched her

over to the host and she was in business!

And we were only 2 minutes late!

I stayed on with her while I did the dishes and 

washed the kitchen floor and then sent 100+

emails to new students.

(Because she was on her personal account and

we weren't sure if it would kick her off after

40 minutes...)

We were all done at 1:00.

And Rod was on his way home from the ranch/butcher

with a little uHaul trailer full of feed and meat!

He pulled in about 2 - we unloaded the meat into

the garage and the feed into the barn and he headed

back to turn in the trailer.

People started showing up right away.

Ginger picked up her meat and then I

headed into the kitchen to unload our meat

into our chest freezer and then split one

of the quarters into 4 equal shares.

This is what a quarter beef looks like...

And these are the 4 mini-shares.

(Each horizontal row is a share...)

I also weighed and priced out all the organ

meat - tongue, heart, oxtail and liver.

People kept coming and picking up their meat

and then about 4:30 I left Rod with a family

(last folks to pick up)

and I ran to Chick Fil A to get some dinner.

Inhaled my dinner and headed to the 

ZoomRoom to teach my 4+ hour review session

starting at 5:30.

LONG DAY!

Tuesday I got up and headed out to feed the 

animals and water the garden.

It was a beautiful morning.

I was lazily watering the garden when I 

pulled out my phone to check the time.

It was 9:30!!!!!

I had to be at work at 10!

HA!

World's fastest shower, dress and was only

a couple of minutes late.

Luckily they don't care.....

That meant no breakfast and nothing for lunch.

I grabbed a quick glass of almond milk with

some chocolate protein powder in it as I ran

out the door and nursed it for the morning.

Worked until 3:30 and then headed home.

Jumped into the ZoomRoom and did 2 hours

of emailing, then I had to teach a 2+ hour

orientation workshop.

My ZoomRoom buddy.

(The only chair he is allowed on...)

Rod went out while I was teaching and bought

himself some new shorts and work shoes and

stopped at the store for some fried chicken & sides.

When I finished teaching I ate some dinner.

And then I fell asleep on the couch.

I had set my alarm on my phone and woke up

at 2:15 to go outside and watch the 2:16 rocket launch.

But it got scrubbed until tonight!

Darn it.

Climbed in bed and lay there counting sheep

until 3:30 when Rod got up.

So I turned on the TV (and fell asleep... lol)

Today I cleaned the kitchen, did some 

laundry, worked in the garden for a bit,

and then made plane and hotel reservations

for our family vacation next month.

I made the hotel reservations first

and then when I went to make the plane

reservations I discovered that our cancelled 

tickets from last year EXPIRE the week BEFORE

our trip. (I thought they were good until October.)

So I bought the tickets (there were only 3 left 

on one of our flights) and then cancelled all

the hotel reservations and made new ones.

And then it was back into the Zoom Room for

2 more hours of emailing!

Rod is in his office on a Zoom with the Elder's Quorum

and then we'll have the last of the fried chicken

and head off to bed!

Tomorrow (in case I don't get back on again)

I'm working an hour early so I can get off early.

I have a 2:00 team Zoom meeting with all the

instructors and our boss...

and then I need to do 2 MORE hours of emailing.

And I think Kyle is coming home.

Friday morning I'm teaching in the morning

and then Kyle and I are going to try to get the

rest of the raised beds into the garden and get

the last of his starts planted.

Whew!

You can tell it's HUMID out there.

There is a rainbow and not a single raindrop

for several hundred miles.

(All the rain is being sucked up by Hurricane Laura...)

Thoughts and prayers to those guys tonight!

It sounds like its going to be rough!

I Broke My Pen!

So last night I had to teach.

I like to write all over the screen

(power point presentation)

so my students stay engaged.

And also it gives me something to do.

But when I grabbed my fancy pen,

it wouldn't work!

Aaaaarrrrggghhh!

I was LOST!

I finally got it to recognize my finger

and wrote on my screen that way...

but it wasn't very good.

(Fat Finger Syndrome)

At the break I quickly looked up 

troubleshooting and it said to go to 

the settings, remove the pen and

then re-pair it with the bluetooth.

So I removed it.

And now it can't FIND it!

I finally got it to see an "unknown device"

but today it won't even see that.

I'm SUPER SAD!

Tomorrow I'll go buy a new battery and

see if that might be the problem, although

before I removed it, it was showing 19%

battery and I would think that would be

sufficient to keep working...

Anyhow.

I can use a regular stylus to write on my

power point, but I MISS MY PEN!!!

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

In other news...

Kyle and I spent several hours in the garden yesterday.

He used our super cool "square foot gardening" tool

to measure out where he wanted the tomato plants

and then poke a little hole in the dirt.

You use the little orange "stick" to poke holes

and then there is also a funnel that attaches to 

the holes so you don't lose your seeds.

(If you are planting seeds...)

His tomato starts have great roots

and were totally ready to plant.

The beds look GREAT with all his little guys 

in there!

It went quite quickly.

We may have over done the tomato thing though.

We have FIVE beds full of tomato plants

(a different variety in each bed).

Which means we have something like 136 plants.

We might be drowning in tomatoes in a few months.

He and Rod left this afternoon - they rented a small

UHaul trailer, loaded up Kyle's stuff and headed

to the ranch. They'll get him all moved in this evening,

Rod will spend the night, hook the trailer up to

our truck (Rod followed Kyle - they took 

both trucks) and head to our butcher to pick up

all our meat. (The butcher is halfway between

the ranch and our place...)

Our customers are coming tomorrow after work

to pick up and pay for their beef.

And I'm excited to have meat in my freezer again!

(I have 1 package of ground beef and a pack of

soup bones... that's IT!)

Also, Kyle and I went to the beach for a bit

this afternoon before he left.

A rogue wave roared up and hit us in our

chairs, covering us in water and sand...

so he got in to rinse off.

Said the water was PERFECT!

And yes, he is in the ocean with his hat and sunglasses.

He didn't intend to go that far... was just going to 

rinse off his legs and hands.

You can't really tell, but with all the storms lately,

the sand actually stops right there at the edge

and there is a 2 foot drop straight down!

So when the wave came up, it hit that edge,

crashed over the top and it looked like somebody

took a shovel of sand and threw it on Kyle.

Luckily it missed me (mostly)...

but we had a good laugh!

(As did the people walking by behind us...)

He will miss the beach.

But he'll be back next weekend.

We have lots more to do in the garden...

Jim and Sabrina's Great Adventure

Jim had a good month at work last month

and got a nice bonus!

They have been TRYING to go on a

cruise since early this year, but

of course the cruise industry is

pretty much dead right now...

So...

He was playing around in the internet and

discovered that it is practically FREE

to fly to Las Vegas right now.

So they did!

They hopped on a plane Friday night and

spent the night at a 5 star hotel!

VERY fancy!

They rented a nice little Jetta and did

lots of sight seeing.

They did 1,000 miles over 4 states!

Visited several national parks and forests.

And had a GREAT time.

They also hit a special landmark.

Look familiar???

No, they did NOT get married.

But said it was fun to visit "the place it all started"...

Somebody was getting married while they were there

so they didn't go inside.

Whirlwind vacation.

Short.

Busy.

FUN!

And now they both need to take a couple of days off

to rest up.

Eeeeuuuuwww BUGS!

We've been getting lots of rain.

Chris put on his FB page 

"where did the monsoons go???"

We found them.

Ha!

Anyhow.

Along with rain (and nice green pastures)

comes BUGS!

We ordered 3 of these nifty fly traps.

This one is hanging outside the ducks/chicks/rabbits.

That's a LOT of flies!!!

There is one next to the cow feeder and

another one in the feed room.

Neither of those are seeing much action right now.

But this one is FLY CENTRAL!

Plus you can't really see it,

but each of those little grey specs are

TADPOLES!

We are fixin' to have a Moses Plague up in here y'all!

I have to wait til the cows drink this one down

so I can dump it.

But it keeps RAINING.

And then it fills back up again.

I guess its better than it being filled with

mosquito larvae which it does sometimes too...

but I imagine the tadpoles are eating those.

So there IS a silver lining.

(There nearly always is, if you bother to look...)

AND there was the thunder.

(I was just outside, moving more dirt into the

new raised beds and talking on the phone to Kyle

who is making the first of many runs up/back to 

the ranch to take equipment up there in preparation

for him moving back up next week...

but then it started raining.)

It has been a busy day.

Started at 7:30 this morning moving dirt.

Got one raised bed done.

(that's 1 yard of dirt...)

Then I was feeding the animals when Dan (my boss)

called wanting to know if I knew who was supposed

to be teaching the Wed morning Zoom Review this morning.

I knew it was Lawrence - who is ALWAYS on top

of everything - so if he wasn't on there when he

was supposed to be - there was something MAJOR wrong.

I dashed into the house to start the Zoom while he was

looking into what was going on.

Grabbed a shirt and ran a brush through my hair

and quickly hopped on the Zoom.

Lawrence WAS there.

But there is this GIANT ORANGE BANNER

running across the top of his screen that says

"Practice session only - click the Broadcast button to go live."

He has been sitting there for nearly an hour.

Looking at the orange banner.

Wondering where all his students were.

Teaching... to himself... 

I hopped on, immediately saw the banner,

unmuted myself and told him about it.

Dan was also "in the room".

We all started laughing.

Poor Lawrence!

He is a great man, good teacher, NOT techy.

Anyhow.

Crisis averted.

Back out to finish feeding the animals,

inside to feed the dogs,

hop in the shower and dash to the Town.

Worked for 45 minutes on a project - still not

working the way I want it to... and then the day's

webinar started. We learned some more good stuff

today - and when it was done we spent another 15 

minutes messing around and then I dashed out to

my car to run to the DMV to re-new Rod's registration

on his car and our trailers.

I had an appointment and it STILL took 45 minutes!

Then to WalMart to buy Rod some toothpaste, 

more dog food and some D3 pills.

Back to the house - as I pulled into the driveway,

Kyle called. I put all the stuff away while we 

chatted and I changed my clothes and headed out

to move dirt. But it started to rain.

And Rod came home, so I hung up with Kyle

and visited with Rod for a few minutes while

I did some more stuff around the kitchen,

then Kyle called again and I headed out to gather

the eggs, let the chickens out, and start 

moving dirt again.

(It didn't really rain the first time, just

started spitting and then stopped...)

I got about 1/3 of the dirt moved into the bed

and then it started to RAIN!

(And Kyle went into the truck stop to get

him a Subway sandwich...)

And now I'm here, sitting in the ZoomRoom,

writing a blog, talking to Rod about the meat

distribution we are doing Monday

and getting ready to spend 2 hours emailing

future students.

Whew!

Wow...

This has been a BUSY Tuesday!

It started at 7 am.

Which is early for me...

I headed out and started moving dirt

into the new raised beds.

Kyle joined me when I had the first one about 2/3 done.

We worked together and got that one finished

and I helped a little with the 2nd one,

but had to split off and feed the animals.

Then made a quick okra/egg breakfast and

hopped in the shower, gathered up and took 

out the trash, and then drove to the Town.

I had to be there by 10.

We are learning how to use the software they

purchased about 2 years ago... but are WAAAAY

under utilizing.

There was a webinar yesterday and another today.

I learned a lot on yesterday's demo

so today I was experimenting and learning how

to create custom reports.

The town clerk had asked for some information

so I figured out how to create a fancy report

and spent a couple of hours getting 2 years 

worth of information for her.

Then someone else asked for some info

(amazing what people "need" once they find

out what you can do!)

So I spent another couple of hours working

to get that one figured out.

I eventually had to call the company directly

(they are in LOGAN!)

and he said, "Yup, you're right...

I'm just going to create this custom one

for you... cuz there's no way you can do it."

He was SUPER helpful!

However, I went in at 10 and usually work until

around 3 - I didn't get out of there tonight until

nearly FIVE!

Straight home and into the ZoomRoom to spend

2 hours sending emails to people who are registered

for the state exam but haven't been on our review Zooms

yet - lots of people don't know about it!

And it's such a great resource!

And now I would like to head back out and put

in another hour moving dirt...

but I just went out to take that picture

and it's raining.

So instead I'll finish the laundry I put in

when I got home from work and head

into the kitchen to make some dinner.

And then I might just collapse on the couch.

It's 7:00.

It's been a long 12 hours...

(Rozie - this looks like a NORMAL day for you...

but I'm out of practice!)

Last night's sunset.

Dirt

Kyle had to take a load to the dump in

Linda's dump truck.

So as long as he was over there,

he went next door and got a load of dirt.

We put down a big tarp.

He dumped it right on the tarp.

(Yup, there is a rain storm coming...)

He paid for 4 yards.

I don't think the guy who loaded him

knew how to count.

That does NOT look like 4 yards.

Darn it.

He built us some new raised beds.

This is only half of what we need...

but an excellent start!

And then we lined them with cardboard.

I need to cut up some boxes and finish

filling them in before I fill them with dirt.

Of course, the dogs think we put the pile there

for THEM to play in...

So I'd best get it in the boxes...

(But not tonight - its dark already...

and tomorrow I have to work at the town...

but soon!)

And She's Baaaaaack!

Last night after we took Rod out to dinner

at our local BBQ place (it was delicious!)

we headed out to close up the chickens.

I checked and didn't see Ethel.

And then Kyle came out and we walked

around a little and then went back to

the rabbit hutch.

Kyle peaked over the fence and

THERE SHE WAS!

Just sitting there, eating grass.

So he hopped over the fence and reached

out and pet her, but before he could catch

her she hopped away.

I handed him our big fish net we use

to catch wayward critters 

and he finally caught her with it.

Once he got ahold of her (and cradled her

back end) she settled right down and he

carried her back up to her pen.

Bob was VERY happy to have her back.

Me too...

She's nearly old enough to breed and I really

didn't want to have to start over...

Welcome back Ethel!

Happy Birthday Rod!

Today's a big one for my darling husband!

As always, he has been so busy

building, fixing, creating.

Leading, guiding, helping others...

Always working hard to take care of his family.

Making friends wherever he goes.

Loving life.

Loving his family.

And always being a blessing to me.

I love you Rod!

Happy Birthday!!!

Sad...

I was running around trying to feed everyone really

quickly last night... why??? I don't remember.

Oh yeah, Rod had an EQ meeting and then

we had an appointment for our Temple Recommend

meeting with a member of the Stake Presidency

and I wanted to make dinner first...

I ended up not though - so we ate late.

Anyhow.

I was hurrying.

And I didn't get the rabbit hutch cage door closed

all the way.

This morning I went out to feed the critters

and noticed the rabbit door was open.

Bob - the fat, lazy male was hanging out

just munching on some breakfast pellets.

But Ethel is gone.

She might be hiding under the shed that is

next to their hutch.

Or under the hay ring that is on the other

side. Or ... a gazillion other places that

rabbits can easily hide.

Or she may have gone through the fence

and be LONG gone.

So I'll keep my eyes open for her...

but I'm not super hopeful.

I had to work, and I had to go in an hour

earlier than I usually do, so I didn't have 

much time to search for her.

I let the dogs out - but they routinely walk

past wild rabbits and don't even notice them.

WORST HUNTING DOGS EVER!!!

Sorry Ethel!

(You can just see her in the background - 

she's black with pretty silver tips on her fur...)

Guess it's time to take another picture of the

baby chickens!

They are all grown up now!

And living part time downstairs with the ducks.

(Who are also huge.)

(And LOUD!!!)

Wednesday Already???

 I've been working this week.

I taught a 4 hour review Monday morning and

then spent a couple of hours emailing a bunch

of online students who have scheduled their

state exam, but have not yet been to our review Zoom.

Tuesday I worked at the town for 6 hours

and then while I was cooking dinner, 

I got a phone call that nobody had started the

evening Orientation Workshop on Zoom,

so I hopped on real fast and taught until 9.

This morning I hopped on the 4 hour review

as a "student" (incognito - "Beth") and just 

listened and watched while I emailed another

hundred online students.

Whew!

I was going to go outside and mow the grass,

but I hear it is POURING out there just now.

And I don't like to cut wet grass...

So maybe later.

Sorry - no pictures today.

There's nothing to see... (grin)

Just as I was finishing up at 1:00, my phone

went NUTS! I got a phone call from a dear

Sister from the ward looking for information about

good clean vegetables to purchase,

Linda texted me about the gate latches I use on 

all my gates - I bought her one and she loved it

and wants to order a bunch more,

then Dan (my boss) sent an ANGRY text about

WHY he didn't know anything about last night's

Orientation issue (luckily Lillian - the scheduled coach -

emailed him last night and took the brunt of his anger...)

and Rod texted to tell me an update about some of

the folks we are selling our latest beef to.

Whew!

Like all at the same time!!!

Oh, and the instructor I was watching figured out 

it was me and was talking to me live on the Zoom!

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Now it's just me and Beau - who is SNORING away

here in the Zoom Room.

So it's time to grab some lunch and move on to the

next activity.

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

BUT WAIT!

I meant to say THANK YOU to Mom for the multitudes

of wonderful little notes I've been getting in the mail!

It has been such fun!

And YESTERDAY in the midst of all the busyness...

I got her latest book!

I can't wait to sit and read it!!!

THANK YOU MOM!!!!!

You are the BEST!

I LOVE YOU!

Multi-Use

 Remember these?

I bought a set of these mesh re-usable grocery bags for

me and another set for Rozann for her birthday this year.

I've been keeping them in my trunk to use when

I go to the grocery store.

Sometimes I use them for veggies, and sometimes I

just use them as a grocery bag - like when I shop at Aldi

where they don't HAVE bags (unless you buy them...)

Anyhow.

I grabbed 2 of the smallest ones (red) and hung on

on the side of my fridge from a magnet hook I have there.

I hang my extra seals for my Instant Pot from it.

But now I also have a bag hanging there.

I put my scrubbies in it after I use them each day.

(I've gone back to hand washing the dishes.. I just

can't reconcile letting the dishwasher run for an HOUR AND A HALF

when I can do the same amount of dishes in under 20 minutes.)

I have a GAZILLION scrubbies - so I get a fresh one each

time and the used one goes in my bag - and then I toss

it in the laundry!

Well, this morning I grabbed another one and tossed all

our stupid face masks in there!

I WAS hand washing Rod's face masks every night

when he brought them home from work.

But then I bought him a spray bottle of colloidal silver

which is a great disinfectant - and he sprays the inside of

his mask multiple times every day.

So this morning I grabbed all his masks and my one mask

that I keep in my purse for those rare occasions when I

go somewhere that requires I wear one...

Tossed those puppies in with the laundry.

Done!

Don't get me started on the mask thing.

But at least now they are clean.

And so are my scrubbies!

WEEEEEEE!!!!!

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

In other news, I switched back to "legacy" blogger

until they get the double space thing figured out.

Whew!

Yet ANOTHER Project

 Linda moved into her new house this week.

FINALLY!

It only took them 2.5 years to build it. (Ridiculous!)

Anyhow... she has Kyle tearing down the fences around the property and rebuilding them with wood so they are prettier... And then putting the wire back up so they are safer. (You really only need one or the other, but she has the money and "wants" it... so, he does it... Whatever...)

Anyhow. Like everything he does, it's AMAZING.

And it didn't hurt that there was an absolutely stunning sunset when he got done and took pictures.

The view looking out to the street (and they neighbors across the road...)

The corner going into the property.

Looking up her driveway.

Yes. Blogger is still being STUPID. But hopefully enough people will complain that they fix it. Sheesh.