New Tool (Toy) and a BIG Bug

 Kyle bought a new tool (toy)

and it was delivered yesterday.

This is an amazing drone!

It has the best camera I've ever seen.

We had a great time flying all over the 

farm (and surrounding neighborhood)

and checking out the world from 

a bird's perspective.

He's going to be able to use it to check out

properties before he gives a quote to clear.

Lots of times you can't tell what's in the back

of the property and sometimes he's happy to

discover it's pretty clear and sometimes its

SUPER heavy overgrowth.

This will take care of all those surprises.

And it will even follow him by itself

so he can film himself clearing.

That will make for some neat videos for

his facebook / web page.

Meanwhile this guy was on the wall when I

let the dogs out this morning.

Nancy's grands would have a field day with him!

Ugh.

Quick update

Hmmm..

It seems that when I'm not teaching,

I don't get on my computer.

Which means I forget to post on my blog!

Yesterday was a full day.

Kyle and I spent much of the morning

getting him signed up for some health insurance.

We found him a really good plan

at a very reasonable price.

Just knowing he can go see a Doctor whenever

he feels like he needs to will take a lot of the 

day-to-day stress off his shoulders.

(It's scary to know if something goes wrong

he doesn't have any insurance...)

Anyhow. We got that solved and he is now

fully insured. (It started immediately!)

After that we hopped in his car and made a run

up to look at some property he wants to clear

this weekend (if it dries up enough...)

The rainy season seems to have ended.

(Unless one of the hurricanes decides to change

direction - but at this point it looks like all 3

storms are going to head out to sea...)

Then when we got home we went for a 2 mile

walk on the beach and then home for a

3 mile ride on our bikes!

Then to the grocery store for some food

and home to cook it.

Whew!

I would have liked to join Beau!

(He gets to lick my plate when I'm done eating

and I guess he was afraid I would take it away from him... lol)

Today was a work at the town day.

Followed by teaching this evening.

(with a bagel and cream cheese somewhere in the middle...)

Tomorrow is pretty open.

Probably another beach walk and bike ride.

Trying to get my legs ready for a possible

hike in the Utah mountains next week.

Paths

 I've always been a fan of paths / trails

that vanish into the woods.

And now we have our OWN!

(unfortunately just around the corner is the END...)

But still, I love to stand there and imagine the

possibilities...

We are getting lots of cute little yellow flowers.

Sorry this isn't a great post,

but I've been working and working and working.

And if I'm not working, I'm laying on my

floating lounger in the pool and listening

to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Not really picture worthy.

Or anything else.

But there IS news!

Kyle and I are making another "move somebody"

run to Utah in October!

Some friends of ours sold their condo here

and bought a place in Logan and asked Kyle

to drive their truck out for them.

So we are going to drive out (I'm the official

passenger...) and then we'll stay for a day

or two - maybe hike a mountain with Soni

and then hop on a plane and head back.

More when it gets closer...

Rare Sighting

 I got an EXTREMELY rare photo yesterday.

Kyle does NOT take pictures of himself.

And doesn't let others take pictures of him either.

But he was in the right mood yesterday.

Wanted a perspective of how TALL

the sunn hemp is in the garden.

It's almost time to take it down and

start prepping the gardens for the winter crops.

But whatever.

I'll take it!!

Median Birds

 The neighbor paid Kyle to bush hog (mow)

his big pasture next to ours.

It was so overgrown you almost couldn't

see his goats!!!

It appears the local "median birds"

(egrets) approve.

Hope they are finding LOTS of bugs to eat.

(Keep 'em out of OUR pastures!!!)

Today Kyle is continuing to pressure wash everything.

Yesterday he did all the back patios.

Today he did the front sidewalk and all the

fence around the front of the property.

Next: the driveway...

We have a LOT of mildew covered surfaces around here.

Flowers!

 The sunn hemp is in bloom!!!

For some reason I expected them to be white flowers.

But surprise!

They are YELLOW!

They are really beautiful little flowers.

A bit snap dragon ish...

(Kyle took these pictures with his fancy

new phone with an amazing camera!)

They say when they bloom the stems get

more woody and harder to incorporate into the soil.

Sunn Hemp is a cover crop that is then used

as "green manure" and is tilled back under.

The big field in the back won't be a problem

since Kyle will just run over it with the mulcher

and then with the tiller.

But we aren't sure about the front garden beds.

Do we harvest now?

Buy a little hand tiller thingie?

What????

I'm letting him handle it.

Kyle likes the yellow zinnias best.

Although he loves them all.

But the bright happy yellow ones are

his absolute favorites.

Night Launch

 

Kyle's picture he posted on Instagram was better.

He has an expensive, fancy new phone.

(His other one died...)

It was a spectacular launch!

I can only imagine being up in space for 3 days.

The little lights off to the left side are the

positioning bursts on the Stage 1 booster.

If we had been at the beach we would likely

have been able to see it land!

But I was teaching so just took a quick break.

Long enough to watch the launch

and get eaten alive by mosquitoes.

A small price to pay.

I love living on the Space Coast!!!

(I know, I've said it a million times...

but it's still true!)

Puppies!

 My puppy has a puppy!

Aren't they cute?

In other news...

I planted some moringa trees in the duck yard.

Back in the early winter they froze and died.

This week I noticed something exciting!!!

They are coming back from the roots!

And shhhh, so far the ducks haven't eaten them!

Do you see the little purple sweet potato flower right in the top middle

of that mess of sweet potato vine?

(And they are starting to cover the other tunnel too!)

And of course, what would a blog post be

without a picture of the sunn hemp.

I just can't get over how TALL it is!

(The short stuff is the bed Kyle pulled

the peppers out of...)

More Meat!

 Today Rod and I drove up to Braddocks

and picked up the last of the beef 

from this year's steers.

We put it in the backseat of the truck

and ran the A/C full blast.

BRRRRRR.

But it was better than renting a trailer.

It fit nicely!

Rod drove up and I drove home.

Wrapped in a blanket.

(hahahaha)

This is what half a steer looks like in the freezer!

Our hamburger is in the door and all 

the organs are on the two bottom racks in the door.

The top 2 shelves are the steaks and roasts.

The bottom 3 shelves are the extra quarter

that we haven't sold yet but anticipate will

be sold pretty soon.

We dropped off one quarter at our old house in Palm Bay!

The guy that bought the house has been doing LOTS

of remodeling, so we got to go through and see

and also sell him $1200 worth of meat.

(He split it with his Dad...)

DONE!

Now we just have to feed Spot, Red and BK.

Onward and upward (in weight... lol)

Another Week

 Another week is in the books.

I got to teach the morning sessions

which is fun because they are smaller

so I get to talk with the individual students

a little more than normal.

And I'm DONE for the day at 1:sh.

Which is also nice.

The guys are out with the mulcher finishing

up a couple of jobs Kyle did earlier in the week.

I'm going to (gag) run to Sam's to buy

the stuff I need to make dog food.

I should have done it yesterday, but it

was POURING rain and I didn't want to.

So I get to brave the Saturday crowds.

Wish me luck.

Gratuitous picture of a sunset

(with a bonus of Kyle!)

because what's a blog post without a picture?????

Taller and Taller!

 Kyle happened to be standing out in the garden.

So I asked him to stand by the sunn hemp.

You know how he feels about pictures...

but I DID get him to turn his back and let me snap one.

He spent much of the day working on a Town

project at a new Trail Head we are creating.

He mulched it and then root raked.

He built a nice big pile (on the right side of the picture)

that is easily 3 times that big now.

He was going to have to carry it to the lot next door

where it will break down.

But it helps to have friends in high places.

The Town Manager came by, took some pictures, was

really pleased and told me not to worry.

They have to bring in a couple of loads of dirt anyway

so they will have their truck and loader there...

they'll just move the pile for him!!!

That's a relief!

It was going to take him HOURS!

(Since he doesn't have a dump truck yet, so it 

was going to be one scoop at a time.... sheesh.)

We ended the day on a relaxing note.

Went down to the beach for an hour to

just sit in our chairs and enjoy the surf and sand.

When we got home we made some dinner and

did a 30 minute yoga practice and then off to bed!

All-in-all a good day!

Over the Rainbow

 Somewhere Over the Rainbow

came up on my Pandora playlist today.

I was thinking about ordering the sheet

music to his piano solo version and

trying to learn to play it.

And then I went outside.

Do you think that's a "yes"?

(grin)

Rod went back to work today.

Both jobs.

Poor guy...

I went back to Town Hall,

they missed me.

(But I worked Friday too...)

It's nice to be appreciated.

Taught yesterday morning and again this evening

and now I'm going to call it a night.

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

Update: So glad to hear Dad is healthy!!!

Our thoughts and prayers are always with you guys!

Sunn Hemp

 Although it's in the hemp family,

it is not "weed".

But it sure grows like one!!!

Look back...

July 23.

Dirt.

August 14th...

We were really impressed with the growth here...

September 6!

You can barely see the red Ford truck!

It's taller than the 4' fence around the steer pasture!

Hi steers!

The garden is full of the same stuff and growing like crazy!

It's taller than the zinnias!

Wish EVERYTHING in our gardens would grow

this well - hopefully they will do better

after a round of this "green manure".

Lots of nitrogen replacement.

And it looks pretty!

Sisters

 We had SUCH a good time hanging out as sisters

this past week!

Not sure we sounded great, but we sure had a good time!

Unfortunately it's hard to get a good picture when

we are all facing the piano...

Unfortunately, Nancy was at her house for this one!

(Sunday morning before we headed out to Phoenix...)

We do love our M&M's!!!

Sondra is just recovering from her shoulder surgery

so I got to do her hair for her each day.

We are sporting matching ... up-do-thingies???

We forgot to take our traditional "goofy face" picture this time!

But we certainly MADE plenty of them!

It was amazing getting to be together.

Can't wait until next time!