Cabinets Etc

 I started the day in the garden,

pulling grass and weeds from

what was "supposed" to be the

okra bed.

It totally got away from me.

And, as we learned last year,

okra does NOT like to compete

with weeds in its bed.

So I am pulling everything and

replanting.

We didn't get a great germination on

the first round, so hopefully this

one will go better.

I'm down to about 3 bags of frozen okra.

And I eat it EVERY morning for breakfast.

It takes a LONG time to fruit.

All that to say... I'm going to either be eating

awful store bought frozen okra for awhile,

or finding a different breakfast.

Anyhow.

After it got toooooo hot to do any more,

we loaded up into Kyle's truck and

headed into Hays.

First stop, Home Depot to return the drywall

and some white suits and booties we bought

for the guys for when they were painting.

Obviously, they didn't wear them.

And then we had them help us load up all

14 of the cabinets we had ordered yesterday.

(There are a couple more that needed to

be shipped to the store from another area store,

so they should be here on ... Thursday? Maybe?)

Then to WalMart to get all the groceries, etc

that we needed to purchase for the week.

And then to Taco Bell because we were

STARVING (and it was after 5:00!)

And THEN back to the farm to unload

everything we had purchased.

That's a good amount of cabinets!

We got some pretty blue paint to paint the

lower cabinets and a really buttery cream

for the uppers.

I'll paint them in our bedroom since it's not

getting any flooring for awhile and I don't

care if I get paint on the floor.

(We made an appointment to have the rooms

measured for carpet for July 8, and then once

it is ordered it will be SIX WEEKS before

we get the carpet installed!!!)

So....... in the meantime, we bought a gallon

of slate grey floor paint and we will just

clean and then paint the floors in the office,

bedroom and closet.

And put down my area runner rugs I have already.

That will work until we get the real stuff.

Meanwhile.....

Rod was BUSY!

I LOVE the floor!

It's not really this dark in real life.

More like what it looks like in the

sunlight from the windows.

Isn't it gorgeous???

I almost hate to put down area rugs

and cover it up... but it is also 

VERY ECHO-Y.

So, we will need at least a couple rugs.

And maybe I'll hang some curtains.

We'll see.

Anyhow.

It was a busy and productive day!

(And now the sky is darkening, the wind

is increasing and we may get a thunderstorm...)

Rain is always welcome.

Just DO NOT HAIL.

We are finally getting some baby 

Delicata Squash that looks like it

might be ready to harvest in a few weeks.

The garden is starting to look pretty good.

The beans are FINALLY big enough that

the rabbits aren't nibbling on the plants anymore.

We have cantaloupe and watermelon

plants starting to climb the trellis.

(And we saw a baby cantaloupe today!)

Some of the roma tomatoes have set fruit!

And one of my SunGold cherry tomatoes

has a cluster of little baby tomatoes.

So......

no hail, please!

Ok,

I'm off to see what I can feed this crew.

Forward Ho!!!!!

 The house is ALL PAINTED!

(inside...)

From the mud room hallway looking into

the main living / kitchen.

Kyle didn't paint behind the kitchen cabinets. LOL.

Looking from the sliding glass door into the kitchen

and down the mudroom hallway.

We don't have much drywall left,

but at $12 a sheet... it's worth taking back!

The plan for today was to load up

all the undamaged drywall and

return it to Home Depot for a credit

and then buy the cabinets for the

kitchen and the bathroom.

But it was taking longer than we

expected to get the vents back

into the ceilings and get the AC

running again (and since it hit 100

again today, we were HAPPY to have

that back on again!)

Had to turn it off while painting since

we use a sprayer and it gets

EVERYWHERE...

And then we had to clean up all the

piles of construction stuff that

accumulates during a build and get

it either in the dump truck to go to

the dump or over to Rod's shop

to store until we need it again.

And I had to be home by 4:30 to teach.

So I spent some time in the garden

planting the sweet potato slips I got

from last year's potatoes,

watering those in and also giving some

of the other stuff some water

(it was really windy today so we didn't

turn on the Nelson sprinkler...)

and then up to the house to help out a bit.

When I got home I went online and

ordered all the cabinets and got those

all paid for.

Just got a text, they are ready for us to

pick up tomorrow morning!

Meanwhile.....

Jim got all the switch plates and outlet covers

installed on all the many switches and outlets.

And Rod and Kyle got started on laying the floor!

It looks SO GOOD!!!!!

There is still MUCH to be done,

but we are getting closer!!!!!

PAINT & Farmers Market

 The guys are FINISHED MUDDING!!!!!

Can we all just take a moment

and be so grateful for that...

Yesterday was a rain day.

Like it rained.

All day.

Which means the roads were a mess.

And our driveways are a MESS.

But J Road dries out pretty quickly.

And the driveway was actually pretty

good except for right in front the

the porch.

So we all stayed home yesterday.

(Well, not Kyle.... he rode the 4-wheeler

down to the house and did some stuff...)

And then today...

PAINT!!!

Thank goodness for the sprayer!

It makes a horrible job less horrible.

But it DOES put little particles in the air,

so they each wore a mask to try to help

with not breathing it into their lungs.

They got it 3/4 done and ran out of

flat ceiling paint, so Rod came home and

then headed into Hays to get more.

But tomorrow we will be busy doing

other stuff.

Like Farmers Markets.

Jim and Sabrina will be headed into Hays

to do the same market they did last week.

And Rod and I will head to Hill City

for their first market of the season.

(It's only 2 hours, from 9-11... 

Hays is 7:30 to 11!)

I packaged up some more bags of

peaches, salt water taffy, and

some cherry tomatoes with basil 

that I did last year.

And we have LOTS of zucchini and some

beautiful onions.

So we will divide those up and each take

some to our markets.

We'll see how it goes!

And then,

it is also our

45th Wedding Anniversary!

Can you believe it?

We were such children!

Hahahahaha.

We don't have anything planned.

Just spending the morning together

at the farmer's market,

doing what we love to do.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

(This Sunday is our RS "Blended" class

where we bring EVERYONE from all the

different organizations for a good discussion,

this week is Stephenson's Lost Luggage...

and then we have smoothies... cuz they are blended.)

I'm in charge of the smoothies.

I should probably look in the garage to see

if I can find my blender.

I have 2 coming, but it would be nice 

to have an extra.

I know I've seen it in a box out there.

Somewhere.

Maybe not.

Anyhow.

Byeeeeeeeee

NO MORE MUD!!!!!

 Ok, it's been raining a little every night,

so there is actually LOTS of mud....

but the guys are DONE MUDDING!!!!!

I'm SO excited!

(And so are they!)

Now they have moved on to prep...

Getting those windows and doors

covered with plastic.

They got most everything out of the house.

And what they can't move

(the flooring mostly)

they are also covering in plastic.

And then comes PAINT!!!!!!!!!!

Yippeeeeeee!

We are all so ready to be done with

mudding and taping!

Meanwhile, the garden is starting to produce.

Jim and Sabrina SOLD OUT all the zucchini

and something like 23 onions on Saturday.

And then last night Jim and I sat in the backyard

and washed and skinned all the onions.

From this....

To this.

Looks MUCH MUCH better!

We shouldn't have any trouble selling those!

We are going to separate them by size,

some are "pearl" and some are a fairly decent size.

(Again, they are Texas Yellow NOT WallaWalla,

so they won't ever be HUGE, but they are nice!)

(Most of the big ones are on the bottom...)

He also brought home a nice handful of

some of the spicier peppers.

Those tend to fruit MUCH sooner than the

bell type peppers.

He's in the kitchen now, cooking up

some peppers and onions.

Plus we have some chicken nuggets we are

cooking and putting in wraps with some

ceasar salad.

Nice and fresh and perfect for a warm evening.

Hope you had a wonderful Wednesday!

OH.....

Rod and I stayed home today,

he slipped off the bumper of the dump truck

the other day and skinned up his shin pretty badly.

It is all nicely scabbed over, but his leg

keeps swelling and is pretty uncomfortable,

so today we decided to go to the little

walk-in clinic at our town hospital and get

a quick x-ray to make sure it's ok.

We should hear back tomorrow.

(No Radiologist on staff today...)

I'll be sure to update when I hear.

I'm sure he's fine, but we want to be sure.

We all know he has TOUGH BONES.

But......

Ok, off to dinner!

Happy Birthday Rozann!

 Today is the Birth day of my little sister!

So Happy Birth Day to Rozann!

(And to Mom!)

It's been a few years since she was born.

But they have been full of fun

and love

and adventure.

She has been a constant example to me of

just putting one foot in front of the other

and taking the good times

with the disappointments.

(Thank goodness for Facebook photos!!!)

I'm so excited for the new adventures that are

on her horizon.

There are lots of fun and exciting things

yet to come!

I wish we were closer and could spend

more time together,

but when we do, it is like no time passed at all.

(I wonder if she still scratches her pillow

at night - drove me to distraction!)

Or calls baseball games in her sleep.

Oh the joys of sharing a room with 

someone who was so filled with LIFE!

Happy Birthday Frozie Rozie!

I LOVE YOU!

Holy Onions Batman!

 We planted 3 and a half, 50 foot rows of onions,

with 4 rows of onions in each row.

That's a LOT of onions.

Some of them have flopped over,

which is the sign they are ready for harvest.

So...

today we harvested SOME.

(It didn't make a dent...)

There are a dozen or more zucchini in the 

bottom of the yellow milk crate.

Otherwise, it's alllllll onions.

When I got ready to leave to come 

home to teach tonight's class,

I hopped in my car 

and...

Oh my burning eyes!

Jim put them in the back of MY CAR!

(instead of the bed of his truck...)

Hahahahahahahaha!

I had to drive home with the back

windows open because WOW!

That is a lot of onions.

They are "Texas Yellow". 

So a pretty good size for a regular

yellow onion.

I did pick a few red onions, but

we didn't plant a gazillion of those

and they weren't ready yet.

We kept expecting them to be HUGE,

but last year we planted Walla Walla and

they get to be monsters.

These are much more reasonable sized.

(Most people don't need / want a HUGE onion.)

Anyhow.

Jim and Sabrina are all ready to head into

Hays to the farmers market in the morning.

But tonight there is a drive-in movie!

(A group has been working on building a

drive-in for about 2 years now, tonight they

are showing Smokey and the Bandit

as a fund raiser to get more of the 

infrastructure built.)

Sounded like fun!

So they went to the movie.

I'll put the finishing touches on the stuff

they need for the market tomorrow.

Wish I could go, but I'm teaching this weekend.

Meanwhile, on the way home I glanced

down at my odometer.

Cool, eh?

And the new holly hock is finally in bloom.

The flowers are stark white!

So beautiful!

Ok, need to finish my paperwork for tomorrow's

class and then get the rest of the stuff 

gathered and organized for the market.

NITE ALL!

First Harvest!!!

 Since none of our peas even germinated...

well, that's not true.

We found a random pea plant hiding today

in the middle of the carrots.

Like 5 rows away from where we planted them...

there were 3 ripe pods on there!

They were DELICIOUS!!!!!

But that's hardly a harvest.

As usual,

zucchini wins the race!

We counted 18 zucchini ready or nearly ready

for harvest!

Jim picked as many as would fit in his shirt.

Looking good!!!

I left one at Kyle's place for him to eat tonight

and we are cooking one up here for us.

We should also be able to harvest a bunch of

the onions by Friday.

They are starting to flop over, which is

the sign they are ready.

And I'm going to go through my freeze dried

stuff from last year and package some up.

I think Jim and Sabrina may take what we have

over to the Farmers Market in Hays and see

how they do.

(I have to work this weekend...)

And so it begins.....

Finally Flowers!

One of my favorite things last year

was my flower garden.

 

This year it is FINALLY starting to be pretty!

These are my little tiny pansies.

I didn't think they would survive,

but they seem really happy down in the

shade under the buttons.

The buttons are all volunteers from last year.

And the holly hocks overwintered!

The zinnias are from seeds I saved from 

last years garden.

They are finally starting to open up.

Same with the marigolds.

The little tomato next to the flower

is a volunteer from last year too.

There are lots of flowers and

even a couple baby tomatoes.

It's starting to look pretty out there!

And then I need to start over at the

new house...

but it will be FUN!

Who is THAT?????

 Poor Jim drew the short straw.

Which meant he spent the day laying

flat on his back on a scaffold and

sanding the ceiling!

He was wearing a hat, so his hair was protected...

He climbed down about every 15 or 20 minutes

and cleaned off....

They were both using power sanders, but

Kyle was doing the walls using a sander

on a long pole with a shop vacuum attached

(less dust...).

He got all the walls done today, so they

will be using that sander for the ceiling next.

He did the master closet that way and said

it was WAAAAAAAAAY better.

But Jim was already dirty.

Tomorrow is Hays Day.

So they get a break from sanding, but then

it's right back to it. They should be done

in one more day.

And then they need to put on a skim coat

of mud (thinner and easier / faster to sand)

and then they will be DONE with

mudding and taping.

EVERYBODY hates that job.

Meanwhile Rod got the shower all finished.

And I got more of the onions weeded.

And then I noticed a bunch of the onions in

the other beds are starting to flop over.

Which means they are ready to harvest.

I'm going to get it all weeded just in time

to pull them out and plant something else.

Hahahaha.

So I might switch and weed the beans.

Kyle started those the other day and

they look much better all weeded.

I planted some replacement cucumber

seeds today on a section of trellis that

didn't have any tomatoes.

The carrots are looking pretty good.

There are zucchini.

And some flowers are starting to pop

out on the delicata squash....

Now if we can just get some rain.

Which is what EVERYBODY in the west

is praying for.

While the east is kind of drowning.

Isn't that the way it goes?

Anyhow.

Enjoy your picture of the abominable snowman.

Or the guy from the band KISS.

I'm going to go make dinner.

Fun Tree!

 On the way into Hays,

along Highway I-70,

there is a hill.

And on top of the hill,

there is a tree.

It is a VERY large tree!

And it looks, for all the world,

like a buffalo!

Isn't that the coolest???

Since I first saw this one,

I've been noticing lots of trees around

that kind of look like that.

Rod and I saw one waaaaaay off in the

distance on our way to the butcher yesterday.

It was too far away to get a good picture of though.

Also, speaking of plants.

Last year I "chaos" planted the flower bed.

All that means is I dumped all the seeds

from the various seed packets into a bowl

and then sprinkled them liberally on the dirt.

There was this one plant that came up.

The leaves kind of looked like a squash.

And since we had random squash coming up all

over the yard (remember the spaghetti and

zucchini from the chickens?) we just let it

grow, not knowing what it would be.

Well, it turned out to be nothing.

And when I cleaned out the bed last fall,

it was still green, so I left it.

This spring it was still alive and started to

grow and then got these big buds on it.

Kyle and I decided it was likely some sort

of weed and considered pulling it.

But I didn't. No reason. Just didn't.

And it's a good thing!

It turned out to be a DEEP purple hollyhock!

There's another tucked in the bachelor buttons,

it has buds, but since it is so shaded, I don't know

if it will do anything.

We think that's why last year it didn't bloom.

It was buried deep under the zinnias.

But this year it got a head start!

Pretty, eh?

I also tucked some tiny little pansies under the

bachelor buttons hoping they will shade them and

keep them cool enough they can continue to bloom.

So far it's working.

I forgot to take a picture and I just watered out

there, so everything is wet.

Anyhow.

I'm nearly finished with my computer tasks this 

morning, (bill paying, ordered new garments,

some phone calls... that sort of thing) and now

I'm going to get dressed and head to the farm

to do some more weeding (shocked, I know...)

before it gets too warm.

PORK!

 Today Rod and I drove back over to

the butcher's and picked up our pork.

There was a LOT of it!

Between the two pigs we had 

436 pounds of "hanging weight"

which is what they weigh once they

have removed all the extra stuff like

head, legs, skin, innards...

All of it is cut and wrapped in white

butcher paper.

We got TWO boxes of bacon!!!

YEA!

Once we got back to the farm, we loaded

it all into the giant freezer.

Yes, those are "chicken paws"... dog treats.

Good thing we got an extra large one!

It's FULL!

The plan is to wait until we move and have

cleaned out the garage in town.

Then Jim can move all his motorcycles out

of Rod's shop and into the garage and

we can move the 2nd chest freezer in there.

Then we can get everything out of the boxes

and into milk crates so we can see what we

have and keep a good inventory.

(And know when we are running low!)

But for now, I'm just happy to have it all there!

Food security!

(On the far side, under the sliding tray,

there are still a BUNCH of packages of

frozen chicken I did in the fall...)

Meanwhile, the guys were busy at the house.

Working on putting in a backer board so we can

hang a grab bar in the bathroom (other side

of the wall he is working on...)

They got the entire breaker panel all wired

and everything clearly labeled!

And then they drywalled around it

And got the panel door on!

Rod is working away getting a plastic

panel installed above the shower.

Kyle was supervising.

Hahahaha.

I spent 2 hours in the garden weeding the onions.

Story of my life these days.

I'm on the final row.

But the arthritis in my right hand doesn't

let me do more than about 2 hours a day.

And then I had to run home for a zoom meeting

with my boss about the next big bonus contest.

The house is coming along.

The garden is starting to produce!

And life is GOOD.

BONUS POST!!!!

 So much to tell and so little time 

to tell it in! 

(grin)

So......

This morning (after a BUSY day yesterday)

after we picked up Fred, 

we headed into Hays to do the shopping,

and then I took Jim and Kyle out for

a late lunch for their birthdays.

(It was YUMMY!!!!!)

Then home for dinner.

Except we were FULL.

So Sabrina made some mac & cheese

for her and Rod to share.

Also oatmeal raisin cookies because

they are Jim and Kyle's faves!

Anyhow.

This morning Rod and I were on the road

by a little after 7:00, headed to Wichita.

Tuesday night there was a ROWDY storm.

We were on the Veeeeeeeery edge of it,

so heading back from Hays it was pretty windy!

There was a truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer

we were SURE was going over.

That trailer was wagging more than the tail

on a really happy dog.

But to the east of us, Salina got SLAMMED.

115+ mph straight line winds.

About 60% or more of the signs along the

highway looked like this.

(I had Rod take some pictures, but he's at Mutual

and didn't text them to me yet.... so I grabbed this

one from facebook...)

Most of the city was without power.

Those guys have it figured out though!

On the way to Wichita, we saw LOTS of twisted signs

on the side of the highway.

Just a short 3 hours later, on the way back,

ALL the signs between Salina and Wichita

were fixed already!

There were still some down on I-70 West of Salina,

but it was lunch break.

(grin)

I just pulled up Salina Weather on Facebook to

snag pictures, and looks like they are under

a tornado watch this evening.

Glad we chose to live in the north west of Kansas.

We don't typically get the rowdy weather they

do further east of us.

(Plus WAAAAAY less snow in the winter!)

Anyhow.

We drove down to Wichita for Rod's 

6-month checkup.

The doctor was VERY impressed with his progress

and lifted ALL restrictions.

Said he can do anything he wants (as long as he

uses common sense.... bungie jumping would

probably be a NO.)

We were BOTH very happy!

(And wind blown!)

He said the only way you could TOTALLY

be sure the bone was growing back was to

do a CT scan, but based on these x-rays

he was confident we were well on our way.

He said it helped that his bones were

super healthy to start with.

So, YEA!!!!!

We've gotten a little rain over the past 2 weeks,

and look how BEAUTIFUL Kansas is!

Amazing what a little water will do.

We stopped in Hays at Tractor Supply and got a couple

black rubber water troughs for the pigs

(they love to play in / with them, and they

are pretty indestructible...) 

and then Rod took them to the farm and I 

started teaching.

Rod went to Mutual to teach the boys about

basic vehicle maintenance.

Checking oil, tire pressure, washer fluid,

that sort of basic stuff.

And now we are all home and it's time 

for some dinner.

So happy about Rod's great dr visit.

We were confident it was going to be 

good, but it's always a relief to hear it

"from the horse's mouth".

Thank you for everybody's continued prayers!