Waiting for Warm Ground

 We are just waiting for the ground

in the farm garden to warm up to

50 degrees so we can transplant

our tomatoes.

It's going to be 94 on Saturday.

But it was 8 on Monday.

So.... yeah.

Looks like the night time temps

will be in the high 30s and low 40s

with daytime temps in the low 70s

now for the next 15 days.

It might not be long now...

but in the meantime, they needed to move.

Yesterday after our Hays trip,

Kyle helped me rearrange the

"greenhouse".

(hahahaha)

We moved all the tomato plants

to the floor (with plastic trash bags

under them to catch any drips...)

Hardwood floors are beautiful,

but kind of a pain in the neck.

On the top shelf on the left are our chives.

They will get transplanted around the tomatoes.

The next row are peppers.

And the bottom shelf are 2 more trays of

72 more pepper starts and a tray of

roma tomatoes (you can't see them in this picture).

The tomatoes are SUPER leggy, but we will

"plant 'em DEEP" and get some good

root growth on them.

I pulled flowers off all the SunGold cherries

yesterday. Too early guys!

These are the peppers we were pretty

sure I had killed by overwatering.

They are looking pretty healthy now though.

(The baggie covered pot in the back are some

okra seeds from last year's crop... just checking

to see if they are viable. If they are, I have to

rake them all up before Kyle tills that area...)

Keep growing little guy!

And the little romas are going to get

up potted probably Thursday.

Or maybe I'll wait until we transplant the 

others into the garden. 

There are 72 of these guys and not that

much room on the floor for them!

We are hoping to have tomatoes 

coming out of our ears this summer.

Fingers crossed!!!!!

We need to get the cattle panels up

for the peas that have finally germinated

as well as for the tomatoes.

They are moving to where we just pulled

all the okra out.

Meanwhile, Rod is working on the

plumbing under the house for the

half bathroom yesterday and today.

I think he got the kitchen and prep room

sink plumbing (pipes to the septic)

all finished.

Then he'll work on the master bath.

Next comes the water lines (pex).

We bought all those lines and fittings

when we were in town yesterday.

Kyle will likely have to install those

since they are going in the attic instead

of under the house.

(Less chance of freezing in the winter...)

And, of course, Rod isn't allowed to 

go on ladders and into the ceiling.

(Or on the roof.)

Once all the waterlines are done,

we can start putting up drywall and

closing up those walls and ceilings!

And THEN it will start looking like

an actual house!

Nope.

Not excited AT ALL.

Silly BamBam!

 Kyle called me last night.

We decided it was too windy

for him to come into town for dinner.

He got the trailer popped back

onto its tires, but there is going

to be LOTS of work to get the

coop functional again.

Good news though, it didn't mess

up the door.

He really likes that door!

It's an actual door, not something

he built from scrap wood like

the doors on the pig barn...

Unfortunately the brand new

solar light we bought and he installed

on Tuesday didn't survive though.

and.....

possibly when the coop fell over and

made a big racket (we imagine, he was

in town at church when it happened)

Bam (the male puppy) got out.

No evidence of going UNDER any of the

fences or gates. (And if he had squirted

under, Pebbles would have followed,

she's his little shadow.)

So he probably jumped the 4' fence.

While we were talking, Kyle could hear

Bam barking and Winston barking back.

He was pretty sure he could see him

across the road, but it was about 18 degrees

outside, the wind was still roaring,

and he was just barely thawing out from

feeding the pigs.

So... good luck Bam.

This morning he saw him about .5 mile 

away across the road, 

He went over and got him and

brought him back and put him in 

with the other dogs where he belongs.

Dufus!

It was a bit brisk when I got up.

We were planning to go to the farm

around noon, but it was still

below freezing.

So no.

Instead I'm reading a book

and kind of watching You Tube.

Waiting til 4:30 to start today's class.

Tomorrow the forecast is sunny and 74.

That will feel good!

WINDY!!!!!

 It's been a busy couple of days!

Friday (Saturday???) Kyle got lots more

of the siding done, this time on the North side.

He is SOOOO almost finished!

(And happy about it, that's a LOT of up 

and down and up and down on a ladder...)

Looking good, eh?

And Rod has been UNDER the house,

doing the plumbing and getting it ready

for the pex inside the house...

That's lots of scooching around for a guy

with broken ribs and a not all the way

healed back.

But he's so happy to be back at work

and contributing to the build.

I'm proud of him.

(He's "mostly" listening to his body...)

Check out the temp on Saturday.

83 degrees!!!

And this morning we woke up to snowing

and a high of 37.

(Which happened about 6 am...)

Tonight it's going to be 11!

(Feels like ZERO)

And it's WINDY!!!!!

Sustained winds 38 - 40 mph with

gusts between 60 and 70 mph.

Kyle's house is fine.

Our house is fine.

Chicken house???????

Not so fine.

Of course, Kyle used his heavy equipment

and got the trailer standing up again,

but there's going to need to be some

major rebuilding for the coop.

(Looks like the roof is laying on the ground

next to the coop...)

But he wanted to get it standing up so the

girls would at least have a place to get up

under there to stay out of the wind tonight.

Hopefully they were all ok.

Oh the many joys of "spring" in the midwest.

Tomorrow is also going to be chilly and then

BAM.

Summer.

This is probably the last cold snap though,

so after a few days, we'll check the temp

in the dirt in the garden and maybe be able

to get the tomatoes in the ground.

But.... I'm not sure if our peas will survive.

They broke the surface yesterday probably.

They just don't love hot weather and it

looks like 80's for the next week.

And then probably drop back into the

high 60's and low 70s for awhile,

so as long as they make it through the

next few days, we might be ok.

HOPE SO!

We planted TEN 50-foot rows!

5 rows each.

In each row, there is a row of bush,

then two rows of pole (with a cattle panel 

in the middle of them) and another row of bush.

So yeah, tomorrow we need to put up

the cattle panels too.

Garden season is UPON US!

Happy Birthday NANCY!

 Goodness gracious,

how time is flying!

It seems like I just did a birthday

post the other day!

So... today is Nancy's big day!

And a BIG DAY it is!!!!!

Michelle (with lots of help from Nanc 

I'm sure...) is hosting her HUGE

event today.

LOTS and lots of amazing vendors

all brought together in one location

for the lucky people of Tucson to

enjoy and purchase fun and unique things

but local artisans.

SO much work.

And so worth it!!!

Sondra, Greg, Syd and Zoe got to

drive out and spend a few days

with them too!

How I WISH I could have pulled off

a visit at the same time.

I'm sure they are all having a BLAST!

There's a BIG birthday party planned

to celebrate Nancy on the 14th and Greg J

on the 13th.

(Rozann's Greg, not Sondra's Greg...)

(Good taste in husband names girls!)

But if you ask Nanc, I'm sure she will

tell you the BEST present she got was

a phone call from Chris, currently in the

hospital in Bangkok....

Some EXCELLENT health news for him!

No better news for a Mom to receive just

12 minutes into her birthday.

We are SO happy and relieved for you!

Anyhow.

We all know how amazing Nancy is.

She says she is "pulling back", but

even then, she does so much for so many.

So many people LOVE her to bits.

Every time I talk to Mom (every Tuesday)

Nancy is busy going to lunch with this friend,

and helping out with something with this friend,

and having a get together with these friends...

(As an introvert, it makes my teeth hurt... lol)

But she THRIVES!

I am so grateful to have Nancy as my sister.

I will be FOREVER grateful for her staying on

the phone with me into the weeeeeee hours of the

morning as I drove through the dark on

various versions of "Bob's Road" through the

backwoods of Kansas on my way to Wichita.

She kept me laughing and talking and

NOT stressing about what was happening with Rod.

Just a typical thing that Nancy does without

even thinking about it.

She just..... does.

Whatever people need.

And she is so intuitive about WHAT they need.

I love you Nanc!

And I miss you!

I'll get out there to visit........

once things here calm a little.

(hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

Happy Birthday!!!!

Siding Going Up

 It's pretty windy out there...

but if you play your cards right

(And Kyle usually does)

you can work on the side of the

house that's NOT in the wind.

So yesterday he finished the

South side of the house.

Looking good, eh?

The raw board on the bottom is where we will

attach the deck and above will be the deck roof.

But we have to get the septic tank in first,

since the pipes run under the deck.

Yesterday Rod went into town (by himself)

and picked up all the PVC to run the pipes

under the house and out to the septic.

We dropped it all off today.

Had to pick up 500# of pig feed,

so did it all in one trip.

Tomorrow he's going to start working

on the plumbing.

He's SO EXCITED to finally be able to

do something besides sit in his chair

and walk on his treadmill.

He PROMISED to listen to his body

and not over do.

Meanwhile, it was 74 out there today!

(And windy)

We dug down into the rows and discovered

some little pea seeds that have germinated.

Another day or two and they should

break the surface of the soil and we

will see little pea plants!!!!

I'm so excited!

We are going to have an artic blast 

(hopefully the last) on Sunday.

But then it looks like it's going to be

spring weather going forward.

We just got back from a quick trip to

our little town grocery store (Malays).

They are having a big 3-day sale.

We got some personal frozen pizzas for

$0.50 each, some pot pies for $1. each

and some hot dogs for $0.97.

(And buns for $2.09..... lol. Not on sale.)

We like to support our little grocery

store when we can.

Sometimes their prices are just too high,

but when you just need a gallon of milk

or whatever, it's cheaper to pay their

prices than to make a trip into Hays.

And they DO have some awesome

specialty things we can't get at WalMart.

Like their stuffed mushrooms.

SOOO yummy!

Anyhow.

It was a fun day and we got quite a 

bit accomplished.

And now I think I'm going to go make

us some hotdogs and BBQ potato chips

for dinner.

Sounds like fun.

Oh, and we got a single daffodil.

He doesn't look too happy.

Better get some water on him!

GROWING!!!!!

 Egads!

The tomatoes are GROWING like crazy.

They have OUTGROWN their shelf.

Jim laughed at me today...

they are SunGold cherry tomatoes.

Indeterminate and FAST growers.

He was all like... "You planted them ALREADY???"

Well, yes.

Last year we felt like we were behind.

So this year we decided to be proactive

and plant them early.

Possibly a little too early.

Possibly.

LOL.

Monday it was 84.

Today the high was 52 and its going

to be pretty chilly out there.

But LOOK AT SUNDAY!

And then it jumps back up and

nothing below 32 overnight for the

rest of the 15 day forecast and

likely for the rest of "winter".

(although there's always that surprise

spring storm possible...)

Anyhow.

We really need to do something with them.

We are thinking about taking them off the

shelf and putting them on a big table

and making a little PVC frame to hang

their lights (adjustable) above them.

Similar to Jim's setup.

Except his is permanent so he

made it out of wood.

Anyhow.

Hopefully by mid-next week we can

start moving them outside to harden off

and then get them (at least the cherries)

into the ground.

We have a lot of Roma tomatoes, but they

aren't in such a big hurry.

They'll be ok for awhile longer.

And I have another tray of 72 that are

just now getting their true leaves

so it will be at least a month before

they need to go outside.

But those CHERRIES!

Goodness gracious!

Hahahahahahahahaha.

(I've been picking flowers off them...

don't want them to start fruiting yet!)

But they WANT to.

We might be sitting in a parking lot

with trays of cherry tomatoes while

everybody else in town is just

starting to plant!

Spring Has Sprung!!!

 I know, it's still officially winter.

But......

I opened the kitchen curtain this 

morning and there he was!!!!

The first Robin of the season!

Living in Florida messed with my brain

so badly! We got robins migrating through

in January.

NO!!!!

So at least we are "closer" to the right time here.

Welcome little buddy!

Monday Funday

 Rod and I took Beau and went out 

to the farm to do some measuring

for the new A/C unit.

While he was doing that, I went

down to the garden where Kyle

was running "Nelson" the sprinkling tractor.

He's watering the peas.

We are ANXIOUSLY watching for them

to SPROUT!

(Grow peas, grow!!!)

(Nothing yet, but it's only been a few days.)

Anyhow.

I finished pulling the old okra from

last season's garden.

(My fingers are sore tonight!)

And then we headed back to the house.

Rod called to get the AC unit on order.

And I called to make a butcher appointment

for the hogs.

He said, Oh good, I just had a cancellation.

I can get you in here on May 27.

WHAT???????

I'm used to getting a butcher date within

a week or 2 at the most!

Yikes!

So.... I guess we will continue to feed

these two big boys until then.

Or... maybe we'll take them to the 

sale barn and sell them for whatever we

can get, feed the two smaller ones and

they will be ready to butcher by their date.

(The longer you feed them, they don't

grow bigger, they just get fatter. And although

fat is good, it's not what you want...)

We'll see.

The market is on Thursdays and they

sell pigs FIRST and it's like an hour or

two away, so we would have to load up

at the crack of dawn.

(Probably load up the night before

and just leave them in the trailer overnight.)

Anyhow.

It was WARM out there today!

Yes, it says 82.

On March 9.

And no, we are NOT in Florida or even Arizona.

Tomorrow will be 68.

Which is still warm for March,

but Peas like COOL weather.

So, while I love it when it's hot,

I'm hoping for several more weeks of

a little more mild temp.

Sheesh.

Anyhow.

I just finished teaching tonight's class.

Now I'm going to whip up some spaghetti

for dinner.

I grabbed some chicken quarters

(leg and thigh) out of the big freezer in the shop

(and another bag of okra - might need to plant

... well, HARVEST... more next year...)

but I don't want to cook it tonight.

Last night I made a really yummy meatloaf.

It was delicious!

We had that and mashed potatoes and some

of the spaghetti squash we grew in the

backyard this past summer.

I cooked it up and froze it in 3 serving bags.

YUM.

Ok, better go make dinner.

Happy Daylight Savings to all the Non-Arizona

peeps! (ugh)  Did you see British Columbia

decided to stick with Daylight Savings permanently?

No switching back...

I hope Kansas does the same.

I prefer lighter evenings.

I remember when we first moved here,

I taught until 9:00 and about 8:30 Kyle was

outside my window, firing up the BBQ and

making us some dinner.

While it was still light!

That was fun!

Ok.

I really have to go this time.

NITE!

More Seeds

 We ordered more seeds.

The peppers didn't do great on the

first planting.

Pretty sure it was a combo of using

the wrong dirt.

And, I kind of drowned them.

Kind of.

Ok, totally.

Whatever.

We were able to salvage some,

but decided to order more seeds and

just start over.

But then we also needed another

shelf and more lights.

I ordered the lights and Rod put up

more shelves (from the barn in FL).

The lights came yesterday, but I had

to teach so by the time they arrived

I didn't have time.

So that's what we did TODAY.

Rod got the lights all set up,

and I seeded 36 Rainbow peppers,

36 Gypsy peppers,

and 72 Aconcagua (giant red) peppers.

Ok little guys.

GROW!

Meanwhile the romas I planted last week

(or so) are all germinated and some

are starting to get their true leaves.

The chives are doing what they do.

(grow S L O W L Y)

And the tomatoes are looking pretty good.

I need to figure out another tray to put

them in and then I'll probably pot up

the best of the first round of peppers

and see how they do.

I'm NOT the green thumb in this family.

But I'm having fun.

Looks like we have 2 more nights below

freezing in the next 2 weeks and then

we might be able to get the tomatoes outside.

Maybe by the last week of March or

the first week of April.

We'll keep an eye on the forecast and

see how it goes.

We'd like to get them in the ground

earlier than last year.

We felt like we were BEHIND last year....

CAT

 Introducing "Cat".

It is really pretty!

(We have no idea the gender....)

The internets told Kyle he needs to keep

it in a dog crate for 2 - 4 weeks to let it

get familiar with the location and realize

this is now "home". 

He had been feeding it dog food because

that's what we had.

(It's been living off of rabbit innards/heads

it was digging up at the Sisters, so...)

but yesterday we bought it a bowl and

some cat food.

It was happy!

Originally Kyle put it in the dog crate

we used to pick up the piglets,

surrounded it with hay for insulation

and put in a cardboard box.

It immediately hopped in the box and

he hadn't seen it since.

But the box got wet, then the cat sat on

top of it, and it got all smashed in,

so we bought it a plastic rubbermaid

so it still has a place to get out of the weather,

but it won't get wet or wrecked.

(We also bought some spray paint

to paint it on the outside in case it didn't

want to live in a fishbowl...)

Anyhow.

Hopefully it's happier now.

(Kyle said he just named it Cat because

he fully expects it to just run away

when he finally lets it out.)

Anyhow.

He has been working on the siding

on the house, but took Monday off 

because it was COLD outside.

And now he's at a stopping point because he

needs to put in the attic fan.

We bought one, but it needed the grill

for the front and they didn't have any.

So yesterday we ordered one, it will

be delivered to the house tomorrow.

Meanwhile, today he will be working on 

the watering system for the garden.

There was a little damage over the winter,

so he needed to repair a couple things,

and then reset the drip tape so we can

water all those four 50' rows of PEAS!

(That's a LOT of peas.....)

I see a rocking chair on the porch with big

bowls of peas, shelling for hours.

But that's ok.

Also, peas in the pod, freeze dried are

DELICIOUS!

I'm excited!

EGGS! (And other stuff)

 Weeeeeee.....

We are finally getting eggs on a fairly

consistent basis.

Pretty sure it's only the easter eggers

and the red hens who are laying.

The Black Stars should start soon.

But Kyle is collecting between 5 and 8

nearly every day.

Aren't they pretty?

Meanwhile, I taught over the weekend.

Kyle stopped by after church yesterday

(I was on my lunch) and I told him I was

going to make fajitas for dinner.

But then I realized I don't have any tortillas.

Or tortilla chips.

Or yellow rice.

Or sour cream.

So, I went out and found a steak in the freezer

and put it out to thaw while I taught the 

afternoon session.

I decided to make funeral potatoes to go with.

But when it was time to make it,

I didn't have any cream of chicken.

So I subbed cream of mushroom.

I also didn't have any sour cream.

So I subbed cream cheese. (A REALLY good sub)

And I didn't WANT to put 10 tablespoons

of butter in it, so I didn't. 

(Cream cheese is plenty creamy...)

I DID have lots of yummy cheese,

thanks to the Christmas present that keeps giving.

(Thanks Mom & Dad)

Also I didn't have any corn flakes for the top

so I subbed Ritz.

It was actually delicious.

But not "funeral potatoes".

Just cheesy potato casserole-ish thing.

But yummy.

This is what life looks like when

you are trying to clean out the

pantry and freezers prior to a move.

Creative, eh?

Hahahaha.

So we had steak, potato and mixed veg.

It was good.

We got full.

And had a nice visit while watching

old episodes of "The Commish".

Today was overcast and cold.

It only got to 40.

(It was 71 on Friday)

So we stayed in.

I read a book and Rod watched

stuff on his tablet.

(I watched a bunch on mine too....)

It was a relaxing day.

Which is always nice after a weekend class.

Tomorrow we are back on track.

Hays Days!

(And a phone call to Mom!)