Happy Retirement Soni!

 Today is Soni's official LAST DAY!

(Although, in true Soni fashion, she is still

seeing select clients on Fridays... hard to 

cut that chord with some of those folks...)

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Retiring isn't as easy as it looks.

Suddenly you have a gazillion things that

you need/want to do.

Catch up on all those things you meant to do

but never had the time for.

And, then there's the weird "I can't seem to

do anything but sit / lay here for awhile..." 

while your body / mind adjusts to the new normal.

But it's WORTH IT!

(And of course then there are those of us who retired,

but are still working and taking on MORE... hahaha)

Anyhow.

Congratulations!

(She doesn't read my blog, but maybe twice a year...

but some day maybe she will read this... lol)

Anyhow.

We are still in "hurry up and wait" mode around here.

We are coming up on our 1 year anniversary 

living in WaKeeney.

Hard to believe!

Seems like we just got here and we've been here forever.

I was trying to create a timeline.

We originally "moved" in November of '23.

But that fell through and we headed back to Florida.

Kyle came out in March of '24 and painted and pulled up carpet.

Kyle and I came out in April and refinished the floors.

Kyle and I TRIED to come out in early May but his

trailer caught on fire.

We OFFICIALLY moved in May, arriving on Jim's birthday!

So Saturday will be one year.

(And Jim's birthday!)

BIG DAY!

After all the rain earlier in the week, the cabbages are doing GREAT!

Although Kyle has moved back into town,

he's still working on his house getting the finishing

touches done. We went to Hobby Lobby and got him

a bright flower and vase to put on his island.

He put some shelves in his pantry.

(And yesterday put up MORE shelves... I'll take pictures

next time I'm out there... if I hear from the attorney

I hope to head out there this afternoon.)

The strawberries be bought (bare root) are starting to 

show signs of life! EXCITING!

We should have a good crop next June!

Meanwhile SOMETHING was eating EVERYTHING in

his other two raised beds by his house.

He has been putting out 5 cubes of rat bait every afternoon

and every morning they are all gone.

The other day he was cleaning up under his porch and

caught a movement out of the corner of his eye.

We have an old tub from a washing machine that we

use as a fire pit (although currently it's just holding

scrap construction wood...).

He started digging in there and found ALL the rat baits.

AND a giant, fat, well fed rat.

He killed it.

And his garden is all coming back.

So that's good.

Anyhow.

Happy Thursday!

And HAPPY RETIREMENT SONI!

The rose bush outside our bedroom window.

Happy Memorial Day

 Yesterday was a nice day at church.

Rod got to conduct for the first time

as a member of the Bishopric.

(He has conducted before...)

He was set apart after the meetings.

It was a really nice blessing.

He's going to do a great job at this!

And then we came home (Kyle and I drive

together because they have a Bishopric meeting

at 7:30 and he didn't leave the church until

around 3:00 in the afternoon...)

Kyle and I had some lunch and just relaxed.

It has been raining since Saturday evening.

We've gotten lots of good solid rain,

not the downpour, roll off everything kind of rain.

The nice, steady rain that soaks in.

(With some lightning which adds nitrogen...)

Today it is still raining off and on,

but I taught the morning class, so I'm stuck in

my office. Kyle is getting ready to head to the

farm to water the plants that are still in his

shed, and maybe start some fall broc & cabbage.

(But he used all the dirt, so he has to stop and

buy more and they might be closed today.)

We might BBQ some steaks, if it's not raining...

otherwise they'll go in the air fryer.

Rod is working on the trim in the bathroom.

Anyhow.

I'm OFF tonight AND all day Wednesday!

Might not know what to do with myself!

(hahahahahahaha)

Tomorrow we will head into town for the weekly

Hays Run.

And we might need to go into Hill City to get

our LLC paperwork from the attorney and

the EIN from the accountant.

(same building)

And then we will probably drop by the bank and

open a checking account in the business name.

Might as well do that on the same day.

Trying to limit the trips into town.

And then............ we wait.

POST #2000!!!!

 Can you believe it???

This is post #2000!

(Well, yes, all of my elementary school

teachers would believe it... how many of my

report cards "mentioned" I was talkative...)

Hahahaha.

But STILL!

2000???

My very first post was dated November 25, 2010.

It's been nearly 15 years.

Back then, we were getting ready for Rod to

go over the road in a big truck and I was

looking for a way to stay in touch and help

him feel connected to what was happening on the home front.

(Which is why it was named The Corey Connection...)

(We lived on Corey Road)

(get it?)

(haha)

As the years went on, I chronicled the things

that were going on in our lives.

From Jim joining Rod over the road,

to Kyle moving up to work on Linda's ranch.

Retiring from MIMA/Health First.

Teaching, in a gazillion different locations

all across the state of Florida.

There were LOTS of pictures of horses and

horse rides in the woods.

And walks with dogs.

And toes on the beach.

I was SO YOUNG!

(and skinny)

Here's a little something from my post 

5 years later in 2015.

Rod gave me that awesome photo and frame for my birthday.

It was in my office on my filing cabinet for a LONG time.

And five years after that, Rod colored my hair!

He's so talented!

And I had a cancer removed from my upper arm.

And for my birthday (2020) I got a.....

Steer!

Yup, we turned into red necks.

And here we are, nearly five years later in 2025.

Living in Kansas of all places.

In a cute little yellow house.

(Incidentally, when we moved to Corey Road,

that house was ALSO yellow!)

And working on starting an egg laying business.

I've enjoyed rummaging through the various

posts over the years.

They are all listed over on the right side of this page.

I just grab a random year.

And then a month.

And wander through the memories.

Thank you to all who have joined me on this journey.

I've loved writing here (semi) consistently.

And I look forward to MANY more posts.

Here's to the next 2000!

First Harvest of 2025!!!

 Shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anybody

who has ever gardened... 

but it's still EXCITING!!!

Like literally 3 days ago, they were just 

little hairs.

And now they are RADISHES!

And they are yummy!

We are going to harvest them all today so

they don't get too big or hot.

They have a little spice, but nothing

that isn't yummy.

Nelson the tractor in the background on the left.
Tomatoes on one side of the trellis,
peppers on the other, with all the cukes 
and melons on the tunnel trellis.
Can't WAIT to see it all covered in producing plants!

The cabbage and broccoli were getting beat up

by the EXCESSIVE wind yesterday.

It was blowing a stead 32 mph all day.

Even the Kansans were complaining.

Hahahaha.

The onions (in front of the cabbage/broc)

are leaning a little, but they are bulbing up nicely.

In front of that are teeny tiny carrots.

You'll just have to trust me.

And to the right we have the beginnings of 

some young romaine lettuce.

STAY AWAY!

They were WAAAAAAAAAAY at the back of

the property, up on the ridge.

But there WERE deer tracks in the garden.

They come down and check it out,

but so far haven't bothered much.

(Except for STEPPING on a cabbage and

breaking the plant at the bottom...)

Way less invasive than the cows were.

It's early season yet, but so far so good.

We have baby okra plants, 

lots of cucumbers and squash plants

breaking through the ground and even getting

some "true" leaves.

And Kyle got all the gazillion sweet potatoes planted.

(As well as the regular purple, yellow and white potatoes.)

No corn yet, but yesterday we bought some

more 100' hose so he can run the Nelson

tractors we used last year.

With the actual water coming from the well,

he can run it one direction and put down 1/2 inch

of water and then turn them and run the other

direction and put down another 1/2 inch.

And today it's NOT windy.

Whew.

He also ran drip tape for the rest of the rows.

Tomatoes and peppers are now taken care of

as far as consistent watering goes.

He left WIDE rows between the okra and corn

every 3 or 4 rows so we can run Nelson

and not have the water hitting and damaging

the plants like happened last year.

(It was too close together...)

Anyhow.

We are learning and adapting.

Today we meet with the attorney at 1:30.

And then I think tomorrow we will try to

meet with the banker.

PRAYERS PLEASE!

It's getting real.

And tomorrow will be a special post!

See you then!

Oh My Goodness.....

 There is just SO MUCH happening around here.

(Still NOT THAT...)

Over the weekend, I taught my first

Louisiana Virtual Life Class.

It was long, but it was fun.

But boy was it a LOT of admin work.

I spent HOURS getting the presentation

up to a standard I felt comfortable using.

(And needs more tweaks...)

And then today I spent another SEVERAL

hours getting everybody's time ready to

report to the company.

Since it's zoom their phone batteries die

and they have to run get their charger

so they log off and then on again.

Or their internet crashed,

or she WENT INTO LABOR!

(no baby though)

So it took a LOT of time and notes to get

that all straight.

And then I needed to teach again.

But that's NOT the important thing.

Yesterday Rod was sustained as

SECOND COUNSELOR IN THE NEW BISHOPRIC!

(Our Bishop is in the military and got re-assigned

to Hawaii with his family - he's medical...)

I'm so proud of him!

He will be a great asset to our ward.

(They released him as Elders Quorum Secretary.

(And the new Bishop was also in the EQ Presidency...)

He's looking forward to working with the Young Men.

(He is over the Deacons and we have some CUTE ONES!)

Anyhow.

We love him and are happy to support him in

his new calling.

FAIL but Exciting News Anyway..... (not that)

 Hahahaha.

I was TOO BUSY to walk today.

But yesterday we walked for 2.5 miles

and over an hour including a trip inside

the grocery store to get the stuff for the

missionaries to come to dinner.

I did 2 pork loin roasts as pulled pork.

(Good thing too! They ate nearly all of it!)

We had all 4 of them.

Transfers are coming next week so we 

wanted to spend a little time with all of them

in case some of them have to leave us.

And then this morning I was SUPER busy!

I called and talked with a couple of CPAs

and an attorney.

And then I had to type for 4 hours!

My Louisiana class starts tomorrow and the

schedule shows the final 3 hours on Sunday

is supposed to be instructor guided quizzes 

utilizing our online study program.

Except when I log into it, it brings up KANSAS.

Which is not useful for them...

So I typed up 100 quiz questions and answers

for us to work on.

And if that doesn't take enough time we will

just play all the Kahoot games over again.

BUT.

The BIG NEWS IS.....

Rod got me (us) a new Yamaha keyboard for 

Mothers Day

Anniversary

Birthday... lol

It's beautiful!

A full 88 keys.

Touch sensitive like a real piano.

It has real pedals.

And it also has about a zillion other sounds (voices).

The guys have been having lots of fun

playing around with it.

I started a 7-day free trial for a virtual piano lesson

app that they have been enjoying.

I still need to find my books... so I'm playing the

short hymns using my tablet...

and I ordered a music book while I'm looking

for "the box" that has all my music in it.

But, it's EXCITING!!!

(I'm experimenting with various glasses... so far my prescription

ones work best, but not great. The music stand is much further

away than on a real piano because of all the buttons, etc... so I might

have to just buy some stronger cheaters.)

Anyhow.

We are having FUN playing it!

Ok.

Just finished teaching, gotta do something about dinner.

Tomorrow is SCHOOL!

Tuesday Plants!!!

 We walked again!

Ok, so twice in a row..... that's good, right?

This time we turned right and went

UP the street and then right again.

Ended up at the park and town swimming pool.

They got it all painted 2 weeks ago and 

this past week they filled it all up again.

Getting ready for school to let out this week

and then there will be children at the pool

every day, all day.

(Actually I think the mornings are reserved

for classes and teams... then there is

city swim in the afternoons and it's closed

and available for reservations in the evenings?)

Anyhow.

You can buy a summer pass or just pay to go.

Either way, it looked crystal clear and inviting.

(But I know it's COLD because ALL water

in Kansas is COLD... lol.)

Then we headed south on 7th St.

I don't think we have ever walked down 7th.

(Or maybe it was 6th... who knows...)

Anyhow.

It was a lovely walk.

Ended at Downtown, because all roads lead

to the downtown Main Street.

Back up 5th Street (Main) to our back alley

and in through the back door in time to

chat with Mom for our Tuesday chat.

And then Kyle showed up and we headed into

town to do the weekly shopping.

O'Reiley's (auto parts)

Harbor Freight (more auto a/c stuff)

Ace Hardware (plants!!!)

Home Depot (MORE plants, a wand sprayer

and 6 bags of dirt for Kyle's raised beds)

Tractor Supply (garden hose)

WalMart (food and toenail polish)

Taco Bell (lunch)

And then it was home to drop off all the stuff

and head up to the farm to put the dirt in the

raised beds and plant ALL the rest of the

stuff we grew from seed.

There are some blueberry bushes, 

the gooseberry bush,

and LOTS and LOTS of flower and herbs.

With a couple peppers thrown in.

And then I think Kyle put 4 strawberries

in each bed as well.

He calls it chaos gardening.

Just put stuff in any where, kind of like nature.

He's going to need to build 2 more beds

(at least) though for all the strawberries.

I'm even considering putting one in our backyard 

and filling it with strawberries too...

We'll see.

Anyhow.

It's time for today's walk!!!

Going to swing by the town hall and

pay the water bill.

And I need to go by the Sister's house and

drop off the tomato plants I bought for them

yesterday. I offered to give them some of the

ones we started, but then Kyle didn't get the

message and he planted all of them.

So I gave them 5 peppers on Sunday and I

bought a couple more tomatoes yesterday

at Ace and I'll take them by.

(Plus she has been looking for a pablano pepper

plant so I got one of those for her too.)

Anyhow

Gotta run! (walk)

Fun, Busy, Monday!

 Rod and I started our day with a new habit.

(If you do it once, can you call it a habit??? lol)

We went for a WALK!

Our goal was to walk for an hour.

First we walked through town to the park where

the farmers market is held in the summer.

These little christmas trees are all over town.

This one had a little history and a cool

painting of buffaloes and a teepee.

SOMEBODY is a pretty good artist!

The town smells SO GOOD!

There are bearded iris EVERYWHERE!

Next we headed back "downtown" to the North Pole.

Rod got to be a snowman.

Isn't this a gorgeous home?
It was built in 1906 for $5,000.00

They are renovating it and bringing it back

to it's former historical glory.

No idea what this one is, but it's gorgeous!

People have these beautiful little beds in their front yards.

Lots of iris, lots of peonies, lots of just beautiful flowers.

And everything is SO GREEN!

And we ended up at our cute little house.

If you look REALLY closely in the left corner,

I borrowed Kyle's tin man until his patio / balcony is done.

He's adorable, and looks great with the buffaloe.

The big pot has sweet peas planted in it.

Fingers crossed!

Anyhow.

It was a fun way to start the day, and we DID make it for an hour.

Then Rod headed up to the farm to help Kyle make 

some raised beds to put strawberry plants in.

And I went through my new Louisiana manual and

highlighted and made notes since I teach my first

class this weekend.

And then I taught my night class.

And now it's dinner, bed, and start all over again tomorrow.

Have a GREAT NIGHT and a lovely Tuesday!

(Hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers Day!!!!

More on that tomorrow...)

Night!

Tomatoes, etc

 We planted "several" tomatoes.

(And by "we" I mean Kyle and Rod... lol)

We planted 'em deep.

So they look small.

But they are "indeterminate" so IF they don't get eaten

by deer, rabbits, grasshoppers, etc......

they will grow to the top of the panel and beyond!

And we will have .... a gazillion tomatoes.

There are probably 35 sun gold (yellow) (REALLY yummy)

cherry tomato plants.

We got 35 seeds.

Didn't actually expect all of them to germinate.

So we planted all of them.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Each row is approximately 50' long.

The first row is black cherry. 

(with 6 sun golds at the end.)

The next row is an Amish Paste - like a Roma tomato. 

(with 6 sun golds at the end)

The next row is Super Sweet 100, a VERY prolific cherry 

(with 2 extra sun golds)

and the final row is....... ALL SUN GOLD.

Yeah.

Everybody is getting freeze dried sun gold cherry tomatoes

for Christmas this year.

Hahahahahaha

(They actually make a fun crouton for salads!)

Speaking of which, Sunday is Linger Longer.

The ward, in all its wisdom, decided the theme

should be salad, because that's easy, right?

Just cut up some lettuce.

Or buy a tub of egg salad, tuna salad, potato salad, etc.

Since its also Mothers Day.

I'm bringing a jar of freeze dried cherry tomatoes

from last year's backyard harvest.

(Also I think I got some from Dave & Mary... I don't remember.)

Anyhow.

We are about to be DROWNING in cherry tomatoes.

As long as nothing happens.

See above.

Just finished my LAST morning class!!

Whew!

I'm glad THAT'S over.

And now to do some house chores and get

ready to teach the night class.

I made myself a smoothie before I started,

but it tasted kind of rancid? So I thought maybe

it was the jar I made it in... it had pickles in it before,

so maybe it was still kind of picking up that taste.

So on first break I made another one.

Nope. 

Different jar (and I re-washed it first)

but it still tasted funny.

So either the can of coconut milk I opened

was bad, or .... ???  

Anyhow. 

If I get dead, tell them it was the smoothie.

Hahahaha.

But now I'm STARVING!

So.... better get some food in me and then we need

to move everything BACK the way it was.

Kyle is moving home again.

He has been SOOOO busy, and then he moved,

and we are now just watering for 4 hours a day.

(After he does a bunch of seed planting today...)

He's doing 6 rows of corn, 4 rows of okra,

2? rows of green beans,

and a row or two of squash (zucchini, yellow, spaghetti...)

Then tomorrow we will plant the potatoes.

And the peppers. 

(They go on the opposite side of the cattle panels

from the tomatoes... fingers crossed that's not a dumb idea.)

And nothing else for a month or so.

And he's BORED out there all by himself.

So he's coming back into town...

he'll move again when it gets busier again

(and Jim is out there too, it's LONELY out there!)

Tired.....

 Whew!

It's been a busy week. 

Do I say that EVERY week?

Lol.

I probably do.

Because every week IS a busy week.

Yesterday while I was loafing around,

(teaching)

the men got the cattle panels in the ground

and the tomatoes planted!

I'm going to head out there in a few to bring

some more things Kyle forgot.

(Like his TOOTH BRUSH!)

In the evening, Kyle took Bear for a walk

down the road, down a BIG hill.

I guess it was a little too far... 

Lol.

I'm tired!

Carry me!

But DON'T PICK ME UP!

Whew!

I have LITTLE legs...

Like my impression of a dead dog?

The tongue peaking out really sells it, I think...

This morning, after a nice phone chat with Soni,

we set up our "new office"...

Rod says "You didn't even let me comb my hair!"

Anyhow.

Variety is the spice of life.

And now, speaking of spice,

I'm going to have some dandelion tea and head to the farm.

MOVED!!!

 Kyle officially MOVED on Monday.

Then yesterday he and I went into town

and spent a gazillion dollars (hahaha) on

all the little things you forget you need when

you move into a new house.

He has a LOT of stuff from when he lived at

Linda's ranch, but he was living a VERY minimalistic

lifestyle then (and continues to do so now) but there

are just some things you need.

Like throw rugs.

And a vegetable peeler.

And a garbage can.

And FOOD.

Hahahahaha.

We also bought him a baby meyer lemon tree.

It already had 3 little lemons on it!

So we got it for him as a house warming gift.

Along with a GIANT pot to put it in.

And a couple of bags of dirt to fill said pot.

(Bear is still pretty small, so that pot is HUGE!)

Speaking of Bear.....

This is the view Kyle wakes up to in the morning.

(Bear sleeps in his crate in the bathroom, but once

everybody is "up" and has used the bathroom,

they all head back to bed. Kyle watches videos

on his phone and Bear watches Kyle.)

(Ok, he sleeps...)

I'm STILL teaching doubles... this might be my last day.

Won't know for sure until tomorrow.

Beth's cruise will be over, but they will be in a hotel

and it will depend on the WiFi (and if she WANTS to teach...)

so I might teach Friday. 

Or not.

Meanwhile, it rained overnight, and for much of the morning,

but it has stopped now, so Kyle is putting up the 

cattle panels in the farm garden so we can transplant

the tomatoes (which are getting really big and NEED to be

in the ground, but need support...)

Rod took his 4-wheel drive truck up there an hour or so ago

so he could help him out with those.

Hopefully it's not too muddy!

Yesterday, Rod got the bathroom all tiled!

I LOVE IT!

It looks a gazillion times better!

I like it even better than the kitchen.

It's so nice to have a retired (and handy) husband!