Happy Halloween!

 

Hi.

I'm back!

Wow, what a wonderful visit!

And then I needed a bit to recuperate!

The flight home was uneventful.

And the drive was nice.

(windy, but nice...)

We got home just after dark.

And went to BED.

Wednesday I spent the day with Kyle.

We needed groceries.

Then on Thursday I went to the farm

and we brought the big dogs back to town.

(They are bugging the pigs and Kyle is

WAAAAAY too busy to have all those

animals right now. Eventually, when the

house build is a little less intense,

we will move them back.)

Rod has been working on getting 

Kyle's new pump for his well all ready

to drop in the hole.

Plus he caught a cold.

And I cooked up 2 pork roasts

(in the pressure cooker)

and pulled it for dinner for 

the missionaries.

We had pulled pork sandwiches,

coleslaw, (which people around here

put ON their pulled pork sandwich...

WEIRD)

and potato salad.

And cookies (Walmart bakery)

for desert.

We had a nice visit with them.

They helped me take down a dog crate

and move it to the garage and put it

back up for Luna.

And also put up the table in the living room.

Today....

Kyle is coming over and we are heading

into town to Home Depot to buy all

the windows for the house.

They are 10% off today and tomorrow

and I HATE going into town on Saturday.

He had to pause pouring the concrete

around the posts since it has been below

freezing overnight the last few nights.

But it is warming up again next week

so he will get back to it.

He only has 6 more to go.

But it's a process.

You lift four 60 pound bags of concrete

into the mixer. Add water and let it mix.

Then you dump some into an orange

pail and lift it into the 5 foot tall form.

Do that until it's full to about 4 feet.

(Even with the ground outside the hole...)

And then do it all again.

Each post takes 12 bags of concrete,

so you do it 3 times for each post.

He moved over 4,000 pounds of

concrete on Monday.

But each bag needed to be handled 

multiple times, so he actually moved

over 17,000 pounds of concrete.

On Monday.

He's a little tired.

And totally amazing.

But I'd best get me some breakfast

and be ready when he gets here.

Tuesday Busy-ness

 Started the day with a fun phone chat

with Mom and Dad!

They are doing well....

I love visiting with them!

And then I made myself some

french toast for breakfast and

then started on the peppers

from the gardens.

But got side-tracked putting up

the light socket thingie on the

front porch so we can put up our

orange halloween lights.

And then Kyle arrived, so we headed

into Hays to do our Tuesday stuff.

First to the church to hang up a poster

in all the auxiliary rooms for next 

month's RS activity.

It should be fun.

But I'll be teaching.

Then into Tractor Supply to get some 

shavings for in the egg mobile.

While we were there we found some

good insulated boots for Kyle for this

winter - I'll take Rod later and see if

he likes them and maybe get him a pair.

Then Jim called, so while we were 

wandering around the store on the phone,

Kyle found more things he needed.

(a bag of tennis balls for the dogs,

an inner tube for the flat tire on his

wagon he uses EVERY DAY, and...

something else? I don't remember.)

Anyhow.

Then across the street to WalMart.

I got Rod a new suitcase that will fit

under the seat on the airplane.

Exactly like mine only black.

And then we were looking for some

jeans for Kyle and found some

cargo pants that are FLEECE LINED!

They are men's, but I tried on a pair

and they were SOOOO comfy and toasty!

So I bought a pair for me.

Next week I'll take Rod to try on some.

Kyle bought a pair too.

They are cargo pants and not cute,

but I don't care! 

They are going to be WARM!

YEA!!!

(Maybe no long johns???)

Neither of us needed much in the way

of groceries, sour cream, eggs, and

some grits for Rod's breakfast.

It is so nice to be eating from our

pantry, lots of it is food we GREW!

Tonight we are having goolash made

with some of my spaghetti sauce with meat.

I had too much to fit in the canner,

so put the last in a deli container and 

stuck it in the fridge.

So I'm boiling up some elbow mac and

we will have that for dinner tonight.

Then we went to Arby's for lunch.

Had a yummy Rueben and Kyle tried

the new steak nugget bowl.

Basically little steak nuggets over

white cheddar mac & cheese.

He said it was DELICIOUS!

(Like all males, he LOVES mac and cheese

but hadn't been able to eat it for

several years, but his gut is healed

enough finally he CAN!

He was SO EXCITED!)

Then back to WaKeeney to unload the car

and catch the chickens and put them

in one of the dog crates and into the

back of Kyle's truck.

That was an adventure!

I didn't take a picture, once we finally

got them in there, we needed to get

on the road.

When we got to our farm road, a neighbor

pulled me over to introduce himself

and say Hi, so by the time I got to the 

farm, the men were already getting the

chickens into the egg house.

So I didn't get a chance to take a picture

then either.

Oh well.

Imagine 7 stressed chickens piled on top

of each other in a dog crate.

You get the idea.

Then we all walked over to the pig house

and fed them and got them settled for

the night. Then Rod headed down to the

shop to get his trash and bring it

into town. (No trash collection out there...)

I got Kyle's and put it in the trunk.

And then we went into his shed so he

could show off how nice and OPEN it is

now that he moved Rod's giant mower

down to Rod's shop.

We noticed a crate of squash I need to

deal with, and there was a tiny 

watermelon on the top of the pile.

Hey, there are Kyle's new boots in the background!

It looked WAAAY more vibrant in real life.

And it was DELICIOUS!

We sat on his patio as  the sun was setting

and ate it.

Then I headed down to the shop to put

several gallon bags of frozen okra into

the giant freezer.

And then on the way home, I saw some

of our neighbors out harvesting their

corn in the near dark.

I love living out here!

(There were two big tractors,

but they were WAAAY at the back of the

field, so you couldn't see them well....)

The lights on the horizon to the right, are 

headlights on the highway, several miles

away - you can see FOREVER out there!

And the lights behind the tractors

is WaKeeney! (20+ miles away!)

OH!

Last night before I started teaching

I made a bowl of jalapeno loaded 

mac & cheese and opened my very

own jar of pickled beets!

They were SOOO good!

I'm looking forward to growing more

so I can have jars and jars of them!

Ok,

dinner should be ready.

Counting down!!!

Thanks Frozie!!!

 It was CHILLY in my office over the 

weekend while I was teaching.

We woke up Sunday morning to temps

in the low/mid 30's.

But Frozie Rozie to the rescue!!!

I pulled out the electric mug she

gave me last year...

I filled the mug AND the measuring cup

next to it with nice, hot dandelion tea!

Sipped on it all day long and stayed

nice and toasty and hydrated.

(The humidity in the house is 35%...)

So THANKS!!!

It was a life saver!

This morning Rod and I headed back to

the mechanic in the little town of Colyer.

(We took a scenic backroad and nearly

ran into a cow standing in the middle

of the road... silly cow!)

There's another issue with his truck,

so we left it there to get it fixed.

(We already have the part, just need

him to install it...)

And now Rod is going to hop into the

Trooper and head to the farm to work

on those pilings.

And I'm going to do some laundry and

work on some tomatoes and maybe

some zucchini?

We'll see.

Kyle found a recipe for those little

pie pumpkins we harvested, but I

think that's a project for next week.

Happy Monday y'all!

Sunday

 Just finished my Louisiana class.

Whew!

We had a consistent 21 students.

And some of them were REALLY FUN.

It's fall in the midwest, and if there

is a TINY crack, the flies are coming in.

(Looking for a warm place to hang...)

There's a fly in my office.

He's driving me NUTS!!!!!

Ok.

Enough of that...

Hahaha

We were concerned there might be a 

frost last night, so I did some harvesting.

A full bucket of orange cherry tomatoes.

Half a bucket of reds.

(There were more, but I needed to get done

and head to the house to teach Fri night class...)

I took those to the pigs.

Also a flat and a bucket full of green

amish paste tomatoes.

We'll see if they do anything.

Saturday after class I went into the backyard and 

picked all the rest of the peppers and any

roma tomatoes that were of a decent size.

There are still a TON of tiny ones... we'll see

if they survive and ripen.

I also have a gallon of ripe ones that have

been sitting on my porch.

They are going through the food processor

and turned into pulp.

Then through the sieve and straining out

all the seeds and skin.

Then into jars as unseasoned tomato sauce.

If I have time.

I also have some zucchini and yellow squash.

But I found a recipe online this morning for

fake apple pie using zucchini!

So, I might give that a try!

Saturday evening Kyle went and harvested

all the pumpkins.

It's colder at the farm (north) and EVEN

colder in the valley where the garden is.

*UGH!!! Get away from me fly!!!!

HA! Got him.

Ok.

Anyhow.

He's a really good photographer!

Meanwhile...

BIG NEWS!!!!

We have officially started our house!!!!

Rod is putting the pilings in the ground.

Once they are all in, and held in with rebar,

the guys will work

on getting the tubes around them and

filled with cement.

Kyle is digging another BIGGG hole.

And moving the dirt to the "staging area".

He needs a total of 225-ish yards.

He's got about 114, so just over half way there!

He's banging it out!

He did 12 loads (4 yards each) on Friday!

(In just about 5 hours....)

LOVING the new dump truck!

Tomorrow we have lots of running around

to do, as well as getting more pilings in.

And I have food processing to handle.

And teaching.

Then Tuesday is Hays Day.

Wed I'm teaching again and getting everything

else all finished up.

And Thursday is a TRAVEL DAY!!!!

Yippeeeeeee!

(Somewhere in there we need to move the

dogs and the chickens up to the farm!)

Hope Mom's Birthday was great!

SEE you all soon!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!

 Whew!

It's ok to tell people your age now, right?

Because you are NINETY!

And that's an amazing accomplishment!

So cute!!!

I get to chat with Mom every Tuesday morning.

I really look forward to our visits.

Sometimes they are planning something

special (this week was a trip up Mt. Lemmon...)

and sometimes it's a quick bingo game while

Ministering Brother Bob visits with Dad for a bit.

Or working on the hall puzzle.

Or eating an orange together.

Service has been Mom's mission statement.

She has ALWAYS looked for ways she

could be of service to others.

Obviously, she is Dad's full time caretaker.

Service kind of comes automatically.

And she serves him with love.

But she wants to serve MORE!

So every month she makes a little

crafty thing with a fun card and saying

that she hangs on EVERY DOOR for

EVERY RESIDENT in their facility!

(And, by special request, some of the

staff get one too.....)

Plus, I'm one of the lucky ones and she

mails one to me!

Thanks for the keychain this month!!!

It's adorable!

(I just got it AND the fun halloween

necklace in the mail today!)

So many of the folks look forward to her

monthly treat!

It's fun to walk down the halls and see

some of their favorites displayed on their

doors or little tables.

(Another thing she kind of started...)

She might not be able to go and do an 

official ministering route.

But she finds ways to minister to the folks

she interacts with daily.

(She also crochets colorful lap blankets

and gives one to folks on their birthday...

I wonder if someone will give HER one?)

This will ALWAYS be my favorite picture!

I have it on my home screen on all 3 of my computers.

So when I'm sitting here at my desk,

I'm surrounded in (what's more than stereo?)

pictures of my Mom and Dad with the most

adorable, loving smiles!

Cracks me up EVERY SINGLE TIME.

My Mom.

(Sondra and I laugh about how we each call her

MY mom...)

She inspires me.

Regardless of what is happening, she looks

for the happy.

Even when she's sad.

And I'm blessed she is able to share those

times with me as well.

It gives me a chance to serve her.

Even if it's only by listening.

I want to be like her when I grow up.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you!

Counting the days 'til we get there!!!

Fall is SO Beautiful!

 Things are turning brown,

and the leaves are starting to yellow...

but it's beautiful in its own way.

It was a little foggy the other morning

when Kyle and Bear went on their walk.

They walk down to the pig barn

to feed them,

and then down the "road" to the garden.

And then up the "road" (the split in

the trees) up to our "house" and then

over to the equipment pad

and back down the trail and to their house.

It makes a nice walk!

(It's a quarter mile between our houses...)

Afterwards, Bear needed a nap.

He has discovered he can jump up

onto Kyle's bed....

Little stinker!

I was at the farm the other evening.

The sky was so gorgeous!

The Pied Piper and his little followers.

The garden is down on the right....
The tomatoes are looking amazing!
Just in time for a frost this weekend.
Sigh.

I brought Beau out for a play date with Bear.

Bear is now BIGGER than Beau.

Yesterday I went down and got a bunch

of tomatoes.

The pumpkins.

And the last of the spaghetti squash.

(I have 9 or 10 in the kitchen sink

getting ready for processing,

these are just not quite ripe...)

As good as it gets for

"decorating" around here...

Ok, I also hung our little skeleton.

And I finally remembered to take Kyle's 

Tin Man up to his house yesterday!

The gnomes are in his strawberry bed.

But I got distracted and forgot to take

a picture. (Found a strawberry!)

It was REALLY windy yesterday so I

propped the Tin Man in the corner to

keep him from blowing away.

He stuck there all night!

YEA!

And now, I'm off to process spaghetti

squash, honey nut squash (turns out that's

the kind of "butternut" I grew! We bought

a few more at the farmer's market in Hays

last weekend...)

And then I might make a batch of

pumpkin cookies.

We'll see.

I have to teach tonight and then it's my

Louisiana class this weekend.

Plus we may get a frost Saturday night,

so sometime in there I need to get down

there and cut all the stems on the

big pumpkins.

And pick the last of the tomatoes.

I'll just give all the cherries to the pigs.

Kyle and I ate some yesterday and they

have a weird, slightly fermented tasted.

Ugh.

Plus I'm over cherry tomatoes.

Hahaha.

We have 3 tiny watermelon that won't

have time to ripen, so those will go

to the pigs as welll.

(I LOVE having pigs!!!)

Better get busy!

OOPS!!!

I didn't fall off the earth.

I accidentally posted the last 2 posts

on Rozann's old blog!

Not sure how that happened...

but...

I've moved those over to my page.

So if you want to know what's going

on in our lives,

go back and read those first.

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

 I checked the pint jars I processed

last night.

They looked like they all sealed.

But then I found there was one

that was a "false seal"...

That one went into the fridge

and we'll be having it for dinner

in the next day or two.

More Food Prep

  Today started with an early morning

(ok, 9:00, but that FEELS early)

RS Activity Committee meeting

in Hays.

(She brought fresh doughnuts though... yum!)

Anyhow.

We had a really good meeting,

and our committee planned for what they are

calling "Snacksgiving".

They are setting up a fire-pit in the 

parking lot and doing hot dogs and s'mores.

(And other stuff...)

It sounds like fun!

Then I headed home and got to work on

the spaghetti sauce.

It was MESSY!

I ended up with two of these big pots of spaghetti sauce.

I pressure canned 8 pint jars of sauce with ground beef,

onions, peppers and mushrooms.

I still have another pot, so I'm going to waterbath another

8 pints without the beef.

I just finished teaching.

So I'm going to quick and get those in the jars and

into the Nesco Electric Canner.

(Instead of steam canning... they are already

out on the counter...)

Anyhow.

It was a busy and productive day!

(Oh, I also chopped and froze two quart

bags of colored peppers... now that the

summer is over, the peppers are producing

like crazy. Of course.....)

Welcome Bertha!

  I didn't want to jinx it.....

but it looks like the guys have successfully

arrived at the farm!

Here she is, all loaded up in Nebraska.

She's a big girl.

Hopefully she will be what they need

to get through this next phase of 

the build!

Kyle has ALWAYS wanted a dump truck!

He really wanted to buy Linda's old one.

But...  I have NO IDEA how we would have

gotten it to Kansas....

ANOTHER long trip with a loaded trailer

for Kyle? (And at the price of diesel, etc,

it was cheaper to just buy one here....)

So!

YEA!!!!!

I just finished teaching.

I expect Rod home within the hour.

So I'd best go make him some dinner!

More tomorrow when we can see her

in action!

(We might postpone Hays Day... I have

to go into town for a meeting on Wed

at 9 am anyway... I might just let Kyle

get to work and shop alone on Wed.)

We'll see.

Spaghetti Squash

 Last year was a total fail.

We grew a bunch of really nice

looking spaghetti squash.

We harvested them.

And I stored them on the shelf

in my office.

There was a TON.

And we ate..... five?

The dirty little secret is,

while I love to eat spaghetti squash,

I hate cooking it.

I look at it.

EVERY DAY while I'm in my office.

And I actually think about cooking it.

But it's HARD to cut.

And takes FOREVER to roast.

And we tend to eat quick meals.

So.....

the other day I packaged it all up

and took up to the pigs.

And then I harvested 16 more from

my backyard volunteer plants.

And I was excited to have them.

Because I really do love spaghetti squash.

I cut one

(ok, let's be honest, I had Rod 

cut one... and it was HARD!)

and we stuffed it with ground beef

and roasted it for an hour

and it was DELICIOUS.

And not likely something I will do again.

So.

Today I washed them all.

And then I put them, 2 at a time,

in my pressure cooker.

(WIN! You put them in there WHOLE!)

Set it for 20 minutes.

Then pulled them out, cut them and

let them cool, while the next ones were

in the pressure cooker.

Rinse and repeat.

Things I learned.

If you cut them in the middle instead

of lengthwise, it's WAAAAY easier

to cut, AND way easier (weirdly) to

scoop the seeds out!

I have a bowl of guts that will eventually

go outside to the chickens.

Meanwhile, I also peeled and cut all the

little teeny tiny (personal sized) butternut

squash we harvested the other day.

It was a PAIN IN THE NECK.

But I got them all cut into cubes.

And then, as long as I was doing it,

I also peeled and cut the big normal sized

one I bought from Dave & Mary at the

farmers market this weekend.

Put them on trays and roasted them

in my toaster oven.

The pretty bright orange ones are the ones

we grew ourselves.

There's a bag of Dave's in the back.

It's more yellow....? Hmmmm.

And a bunch of bags of spaghetti squash.

I'm not quite done.

I have 2 in the cooker.

One cooling on the counter,

but I need to start tonight's zoom.

(There's ONE left!)

But I feel VERY accomplished.

Whew!