City Park at Hill City

 Well the farmers market in Hill City was kind of a bust.

It was just their first day (and only their 2nd year)

but....

I didn't want to take a picture from too close...

there were a total of 6 vendors.

The one on the left with the red and the white truck

was a little table with some eggs and yellow squash.

Everybody else was a craft or baking.

However, this is a DARLING park!

This is the "bandstand" with concrete seating.

In the background is a covered pavilion.

All stone and old wood.

With a super cool GIANT fireplace!

Then you walk down the path under the giant trees and across

this swinging bridge...

To another outdoor fireplace (with a 2nd firepit)

And these cool permanent, concrete, round picnic tables.

There is lots of grass, trees, random tables.

A really nice park!

And...

there's no competition, so once we get something to harvest

(grin) "if we build it, they will come". Right?

"Wilson" out in the garden ready to get back to work.

We got some nice rain overnight though so he gets a break.

(Yeah, some of that is grass and weeds... but SOME of it is

squash, corn, beans and okra...)

More Random Stuff

 Yesterday we got a little rain in the morning

so Kyle decided not to go to the farm.

It's nice to have a break now and again.

I made a nice breakfast of fresh strawberries and cool whip.

It was YUMMY!

(Beau is never far away, especially if there's FOOD!)

Then we decided to run to the storage building and get

the other dresser for our bedroom and some other stuff...

Our bedroom is starting too look like a (messy) bedroom!

And LOOK!

I found all my beautiful necklaces in one of the boxes!!!!

So excited!

(I kept 2 so I've been rotating between 1 black skirt,

1 black jacket, 3 shirts, and 2 necklaces since November.)

It will be nice to have SOME variety!

Anyhow.

It's a SMALL bedroom (cuz its a small house).

This is a full size mattress, but the frame Kyle built

will fit a queen, so when Rod gets here we will

go REAL (not cheap Sams Club) mattress shopping.

We stopped by the farm because... why not.

Look at our squash plants!!

And CORN! We have CORN!

He replanted on Wed cuz although we have some,

it's kind of sporadic. But it is growing!

Also I climbed up into his house and took a picture of 

his kitchen counters. (He plans to have open shelving

on the top...) Framed out the pantry in the corner.

Also I forgot to take a picture of the storage unit

now that it has EVERYTHING (not everything)

in it. *There are still a bunch of boxes in the garage,

but this is the bulk of the stuff.....

Anyhow.

Then we came home, had some lunch,

enjoyed the A/C for a bit and then Kyle

went out and built me some shelves for the

zoom room so I can use it as a pantry and

basic storage.

Originally this was two boards deep and I decided

it was just too big for the room, so I had him

split it into two shelves.

SCORE!!!

And then because I had him do the same with the long

shelf under the window he now has enough wood

to also build a shelf for in the garage.

So he was a "little" annoyed originally because I

changed the plan, but after he thought about it he

was pretty happy.

So.......

Today I'm teaching and he's out watering the garden

since we didn't end up getting the forecasted rain

last night.

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!!

Random

 I just finished teaching the morning class

and I'm SUPPOSED to be phoning people,

but I HATE doing that.

So instead I went back and read a couple

months worth of my blog.

I'm glad I write this... amazing the things

I had already forgotten.

Anyhow.

Yesterday we went and swapped out the storage units.

From this.....

To this!

It was HOT!!!!! (100) so Kyle put up our

big fan to blow. But we only have one,

so it was in the new unit where I put painters tape

labels on the walls and was organizing everything

by kitchen, mom, dad, garage, kyle, etc...

but poor Kyle was loading boxes onto the dolly

and bringing them down with no fan.

(He said, Mom, I work out in the sun all day everyday...

you gotta toughen up!)

Anyhow.

When we were NEARLY done I ran into town

to Dollar General and got us each a cold

Gatorade and then we finished up.

Headed to Pizza Hut as a reward and they are 

CLOSED on Tuesdays.

Sheesh.

So we did a phone ahead order to our Pizza Hut

and headed to the one in our town.

We don't eat out often, but Pizza Hut is like

the only game in town.

(There IS a Subway and McD down by the highway,

and a couple Mom and Pop kind of places, but

we just don't eat out enough to try them...)

Anyhow.

We took our pizza home, sat in our comfy

chairs and binged on Harry Potter movies.

Today Kyle is out at the farm replanting the corn

and probably the beans.

I thought I took a picture of the squash, but I guess not.

Anyhow, its coming in well, but he thinks he

either planted the others too deep or his little

seed thing was skipping seeds.

(He explained but its too complicated and you

don't really care anyway, just know he can fix

it, so he's replanting ... )

Anyhow.

It's a teaching day.

And he ran out of Pnut butter and jam, so

I'm going to make a quick run to the store.

Again.

Lucky we have a good one, and its right on

our road - just up several blocks.

So.....

Happy Wednesday!

All Aboard!

 When we first got here, there was a 

sales flyer in our mail from the local

TrueValue Hardware store advertising

a nifty little yard sprinkler.

But by then the sale was LONG past.

However, as we wander around town

we have seen LOTS of people who 

have this nifty little sprinkler.

And yesterday I took the leap,

(And a leap it was,,, they are pricey...)

Introducing the Rain Train.

It's not a great picture, but it was running and I

didn't want to get wet, so I took it through 

the kitchen door.

It is called a Rain Train Traveling Sprinkler.

It is a beefy little guy.

The body is cast iron.

You hook it up to your hose and then spread your

hose in the pattern you want it to follow.

And then it just walks along the hose

and waters wherever you want it to!

It's pretty nifty!

It has a good solid watering radius and

the water isn't like tiny and ineffective.

(Some sprinklers just don't seem to put

out much water,...)

Anyhow, Kyle set it up in the backyard

while I was teaching and it did a great job!

(And then we had a thunderstorm and it 

rained anyway... lol.)

Anyhow.

I'm pretty impressed.

We will probably have it go through the back gate

and water the back back yard as well.

Just need to move all Kyle's vehicles.

Today we are heading to the storage units.

Gotta get moved out of #10 and into #3.

No need to pay for 2 if we can fit it in 1.

(And #10 leaks and has a mama bird who

keeps coming in, laying eggs, hatching them

out, but the babies can't figure out how to

get back out and they die. Its sad, and stinky.)

Once we move out the owner said he will go in

and fix it before he rents it again.

(It's just one small screw hole in the roof

that is causing the leak... and some foam spray

stuff under the eave should take care of the bird.)

Won't Do THAT Again!

 Kyle and I went to Hays on Saturday

and when we got back he went home

and I went to fill my truck.

(We had to drive separate vehicles...)

Anyhow. 

He got home first and let Beau out.

And then he was watering the trees.

And he decided to spray Beau.

Who doesn't really love water.

Well, he loves to get IN the water,

but he's not a fan of being squirted.

Anyhow, about that time I pulled

into the driveway so it was a double whammy.

He was trying to get to "the lady"

AND he was trying to get away from

Kyle squirting him.

So he thought he might go THROUGH the gate.

He got himself good and stuck.

He was a little freaked out.

His front end is much larger than his back end,

but his ribs are pretty big too, so he got

caught right behind his front legs but

before his ribs.

He was STUCK.

Kyle had to go bet his crowbar and remove

the slats of the gate to free him.

Hopefully he has learned his lesson.

He is undamaged.

Except his pride.

I laughed at him.

Silly dog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROZANN!

 It's my little sister's birthday today!

And I do mean little.

She is not only younger,

but she takes SUPREMELY good

care of herself so deserves the moniker LITTLE.

I haven't been out there in awhile,

so I don't have any recent pictures of her.

And she doesn't post many...

But that's ok.

I remember what she looks like... lol.

She and I grew up sharing a bedroom

(and a bed).

Turned out she was allergic to feathers.

We had feather pillows.

She would roll over in the night,

have a nosebleed on MY pillow,

and then go right back to sleep.

Took us awhile to figure that one out.

(Also, feather pillows are NOT all they

are cracked up to be, they have little

spiky feather stems that jab you in

the face in the night!)

She also talked in her sleep.

Not just talked, but she would

call play-by-plays from a baseball game!

She always smelled like summertime.

And she was willing to "practice Christmas"

starting in... oh, July.

(We had to sneak past Mom & Dad's

bedroom door to get to the Christmas tree...

that was a skill that required MONTHS 

of intense training!)

I liked dolls. 

She liked playing hockey.

I liked reading.

She liked playing baseball.

But we were still perfect roommates.

(Except the the time I stabbed her in

the top of the head with my scissors

because we were both sick in bed,

cutting out paper dolls, but she was

sicker and was getting more attention.)

(I was 12.)

(Just kidding, I was probably... 5...?)

(But I still feel bad. Mostly.)

SORRY ROZANN!

We took turns sleeping out in the backyard,

one of us got to sleep in the hammock.

But you had to get tied in so you didn't roll out.

So the other one had to sleep next to you

on a cot in case you needed to go to the

bathroom and had to get untied.

We piled up ALL the blankets and sleeping

bags on the deck and slept out, even in 

the "winter". (Not likely REAL winter, but

it wasn't summer either!)

We spent MANY nights sleeping out

in the tent trailer.

We rode bikes,

ate marshmallows covered in margarine,

slept on the tramp,

and went ice skating until our feet froze.

We had a good childhood together.

And I'm blessed to call her my little sister.

Here We Go Again...

 Ok, we are BACK on the market.

Check out our listing on zillow.

Especially if you looked at it before.

1280 Corey Road, Malabar FL

We have a new agent, and a new photographer.

She knows how to photograph a home!

AND she did some virtual staging in the

dining room and the "tack room" off the back

of the master bedroom and turned it into a home gym.

Brilliant!

The written description is much better as well.

So........ fingers crossed!

(We did get an offer, but it's out with a counter,

I'm not super hopeful, but we'll see...

Full price, cash, but with some weird contingencies...)

Also, they finished the roof on the new house today.

It was pretty noisy while I was teaching,

but we got through it.

And now it's DONE.

It looks so much better with a silver roof.

We are probably going to have to sod the yard.

We seeded, but the robins ate all my seeds.

Kyle planted some great trees we bought on sale in Hays the other day.

I went to Night Relief Society and he came home a little earlier than usual.

Hopefully they will grow up and hide the neighbors.

(We will probably also put in a privacy fence once Rod gets here...)

Have a fabulous weekend!!!

We plan to check out the farmers market in Hays in the morning.

Meanwhile....

 While we have been out here doing what we are doing...

Rod has been back in Florida getting stuff done as well.

We took the house off the market for a minute

and switched realtors.

We are hoping she will be the golden ticket.

She walked in the first morning and was all ...

"change this, fix that, paint this, move that...."

instead of "wow, this looks nice."

So...

in the spirit of fix, paint, move, etc...

Rod has been working HARD on the tack room.

He got everything moved out of the tack room.

Then he repaired, patched and painted all the walls and the ceiling.

Then we had a young man who is leaving next month

for his mission in Brazil come over and put new trim

around the bottom.

And then Rod repainted the fancy french doors.

(they go into the master bedroom)

It looks SO GOOD!

He's been trimming up some of the exterior plants.

Repainted and got new bulbs for the outside lights.

I have always loved those lights!

They came with the house.

I'm tempted to take them..... lol.

Did a bunch of work in Kyle's bathroom where some

of the caulking was looking a little rough...

And today they are there taking all new pictures.

We hope to put it back on the market next week.

He sent me these pictures this morning.

Bumper mango crop!!!

And I'm not there with my freeze dryer to

take advantage!

He said he would pick them and drive them

up to us. I would LOVE that.

(It would be nice to see him, especially

since next Thursday is our 43rd anniversary!)

But... realistically, no.

Anyhow.

We are feeling optimistic.

Home Interior Day & An Adventure

 Kyle was focusing on the interior of his

new home yesterday.

I stayed at the house to wait for Amazon.

We ordered another water filter system

(just sits on the counter but has a 

really good 5?, or 9? filter system...)

Anyhow.

We ordered a second one for out at the farm

so Kyle didn't have to carry in water every day.

He can just get some from the well and filter it.

So.

The weather forecast said we were going

to get a good rain about 6:30.

It was 4:00.

So I jumped in the Ranger, got some fuel

(we are running through that stuff 

like its water... lucky our local gas station

has gas for $2.99 and using the Upside app

I get $0.10 back on every fill up...)

Anyhow.

I filled 'er up and headed out to the farm.

It started to sprinkle on the highway,

but still looked clear out by the farm.

And then I turned onto our road.

And it was raining.

Not hard, but raining.

And it was fine, until I came to the first

hill. It was REALLY slippery!

My "traction control" thingie came on

and I was slipping around and it was

a little unnerving for someone who hasn't

driven on slippery stuff for over 40 years.

I pulled into the first driveway.

(There are only 3 houses on our road...)

Sat there for a bit and gave myself a pep talk.

And then I soldiered on.

Got to the big hill next to the 2nd farm,

where you can look down the hollar, up the 

next hill and see Kyle's house.

Except I couldn't. It was REALLY raining

up there. And it's a fairly good sized hill.

So I drove to MY driveway and sat until

it stopped raining. (About 10 minutes.)

And then on I went.

And then I got stuck in his driveway.

HAhahahahahahahaha.

We have good soil.

But when it gets wet, it is like Florida marl.

It's slippery as ice and sticky as peanut butter.

So I left my truck there and walked in.

He still doesn't have steps built up to his door.

He had his truck backed up with the tailgate down

so he could run the generator out of the 

bed of the truck and run the chord through

the window. I had to climb up onto the bed

and THEN up into the house.

(His door is a good 4 feet off the ground.)

That was entertaining, since I'm old and

climbing isn't really a thing.

But I did it.

And what a sight awaited me!

HA! So, I don't know what happened, but

the picture I took is all black.

Anyhow.

He built his kitchen counters! They look great.

You'll have to take my word for it. 

HA!

And then we went upstairs.

He framed in his bedroom wall, as well as the 

bathroom wall and closet (as you come up the stairs).

It looks really good!

Anyhow.

It quit raining for a bit, so we went out and checked

on the garden (and picked up about 4 inches of mud

on the bottoms of our shoes) and then he realized

HIS truck was also stuck.

So he put mine in 4H and we got it out and

headed back to town to the car wash and then

to the grocery store and home.

Sorry - had to cut the story telling short because

my class starts in 10 minutes and students

are beginning to arrive.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

It's another rain day today.

High for the day is 65. 

It is currently 64 and I am SUPER grateful

for the slippers Mom sent me!

Thanks Mom!

I'm going to hurry and finish my bagel

and yogurt and get to work.

(I'm publishing this without proof reading,

so ignore any spelling etc.......)

More New Roof

 The roofers are back this morning.

Replacing the gutters.

The wind is pretty rowdy again today.

Which makes roofing challenging.

(As well as lots of other things....)

Kyle said he drove through some

dust storms that were like being in

the Sahara! The visibility was about

30 feet... The farmers are harvesting

their wheat before the big rains come

this afternoon and tomorrow.

Not sure if they will start on the roof on

the main house today. Dewey said he

would wait to see what the weather was

going to do. Might just finish the gutters

and then knock off until Thursday.

AFTER the storms.

Either way is ok with us.

But so far it is looking good.

I like the look of the silver roof better

than the orange/brown it was before.

When Rod gets here we plan to paint the house.

This is only the 2nd house we have ever purchased.

(We built the Palm Bay house...)

And both of them were faded out yellow.

We have been driving around town looking at other

houses and have it narrowed down to a blue and

a kind of sage green with white trim.

But that's down the road.

We need to GET him here first.

Meanwhile, the roof is looking good and we

are very happy here in this cozy little house.

YIPPEEEEEEE! New Roof!

 My co-instructor, Beth, is on a fabulous

vacation in EUROPE for 3 weeks.

Which means I'm teaching both classes,

morning and evening for the next 3 weeks.

And, since I'm teaching the morning class,

my roofers decided to show up today.

But that's ok....

I am excited to get a new roof!!!

As I'm teaching I'm looking out the window at the garage.

Took them a couple of hours (with a crew of 4) to remove

the old roof, tar and a GAZILLION nails.

And now they are on to the peel & stick 

underlayment.

Then it will be the shingles (silver) and the white gutter.

And then on to the main house.

Of course, I start teaching again at 5:00.

I hope they knock off at 5 and come back

again tomorrow.

Cuz they are LOUD.

And that's on a different building.

I can only imagine the noise level if they

are right above my head.

(I was teaching when we got the new roof

in Florida as well, but it's a bigger house,

so they were able to hold off on my end of

the house until I was finished with class...)

But this little guy is LITTLE.

(888 sq ft total. LOL.)

Anyhow.

Whatever, we will make it work.

I'm just thrilled to get a FREE new roof.

(Paid for by the prior owner's insurance 

since it was determined during inspection to be

hail damage from a storm in 2017.)

WEEEEEEEEEE!

Happy Fathers Day!

 Happy Father's Day to the important

men in my life!

I miss my darling husband and can't wait for him to join us!

We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

He has been an amazingly supportive Dad to 

our sons. They can count on him to always

be in their corner, no matter what.

And of course, my OWN Dad.

I have so many wonderful memories of times we spent together,

from the lunch organ recitals downtown to trying

desperately (and eventually giving up) to teach me

to leap onto a horse bareback like they do in the movies.

Nope.

Can't do it. (Still can't.)

I have been so blessed by the men in my life.

They are such good examples of Christ-like love.

They both have strong testimonies

and a love of God and family that is

second to none.

LOVE YOU!!!

I'm Kinda Proud!

 My friend, Merilee, inspired me to

try to do things I don't think I can do.

It started like this.

Short, ugly, leaks and no sprayer thingie.

I needed Kyle's help to undo the plastic nuts

holding the faucet to the sink.

He said I could have done it.

But it was good to have his help.

Anyhow.

This morning, it looks like this!

I took the old faucet off,

put the new faucet on, and the center stem

was too big for the hole in the sink.

A quick trip to our really nice little

hardware store on Main Street

(with VERY nice people, I might add)

where we bought a Dremel .

(Ours is still in Florida but needs to be

replaced anyway - it is getting old.)

Kyle ground out the hole for a bit

and then I took over again.

Installation was quick and much easier

than I thought it was going to be.

And now I have a pretty new faucet

that does NOT leak, is tall enough for

me to get a large pan under

(since the sink is pretty shallow)

and has a sprayer thingie!!!

Oh the simple joys in life.

And Kyle put a new fan in my messy office

for me this morning.

I have to teach both morning and evening

classes for the next 3 weeks and those

windows face east, so it gets pretty

toasty in there in the morning.

YEA!