Kyles Koops

Kyle and Rod have been tag-teaming the new coop build.

Kyle hopes to take the finished prototype down to the local feed stores and sell them.

Yesterday they finished the nest box.

Put on the floor and the outside panels.

Then Rod left for work and Kyle called in "well".

(Too well to work...)

He worked on it for the rest of the afternoon, getting the roof framed and on.

This morning Kyle went to work and Rod put on the tar paper.

I'm thinking we should call them

Buffaloes Bungaloes

So Much To Tell (and a video)

It has been a busy couple of days.

But not exactly how I planned.

My computer decided to "break" in my hotel on Friday night.

So I had to use my school laptop (circa 1847).

Luckily one of my students showed me how to fix it on Sunday.

Oh, and on Saturday my boss showed up at school to "check" on us.

(And to do my annual review)

(I passed)

On the drive home Sunday night I was on the phone with Rod.

*I have a really good headset that lets me talk hands free and gets rid of the diesel noise.

Glanced down and realized the "add water before you engine blows" light was on.

The gauge needle was heading to the HOT section.

Looked up and there was an exit.

So I turned.

As soon as I slowed down to 55, the needle went back down.

Drove 7 miles to the nearest town and stopped at a gas station.

Checked the engine.

Didn't smell hot.

Plenty of antifreeze in the radiator overflow thingie.

So, I drove the 7 miles BACK to the highway and headed home.

As long as I drove between 60 and 65, it was fine.

As soon as I took it up to 70, it started to overheat again.

So I got home a little later than planned.

But that also meant I couldn't drive over to Tampa for the planned T-Tapp Retreat!

(Yikes!  Just remembered I promised to meet a friend!  She lives over there!  Better text her right away...)

Anyway.

The class I really wanted to attend was from 8 - 10:30.

Then I had a conference call scheduled at 11.

And the other class I wanted to go to was at 11:15.

I didn't even get out of bed until 8:15.

Went out to feed the horses et al and it was POURING rain.

So I turned on the TV to see how long it was going to last.

Jim came out and looked at the rain and his motorcycle and didn't look thrilled.

So I offered to drive him to work.

Jumped in Rod's truck and headed into town.

Stopped by my office and took care of the school papers and posted some money

left over from Friday.

Then dashed home.

Got there and downloaded the information just in time for the conference call.

It was really good.

And a feather in my cap.

Home office picked 5 instructors from all over the Eastern US to help them fine tune 

a new program they are working on.

And they picked ME as one of the five!

Cool!

(And the program is great!)

Didn't finish the call until nearly noon and then realized I still hadn't fed the animals.

Old MacDonald's Wife might get fired!

But there were THIRTEEN eggs in the coop!

Speaking of coops, Kyle and Rod are building me another one!

(For Rocky and I'm considering getting some new chicks for her to "mother")

These are pictures of the prototype while in early construction stages.

Kyle is hoping to make these to sell to the eager backyard chicken enthusiasts.

It's only big enough for 3 chickens, but that's all you can have in town anyway.

I'll put more on when its done.

Meanwhile, Sabrina left for work in Jim's car.

Kyle jumped in his Trooper.

Rod got in his truck.

I got in my truck.

And we caravanned to the mechanic's.

Rod told him what needed to be done.

Then he headed north to work.

Kyle and I went to Tractor Supply for some "dog" (horse) treats and another feeder for the coop.

And some new fly spray for the horses.

(The flies are BAD this year!)

Then to Aldi for some groceries.

Then home to work on the coop while I read more of my book.

And finally on a short horseback ride.

Now.

Watch this video CAREFULLY!  You might need to click on it to blow it up.

Watch Kyle's arms at the beginning!

This is what he does on our rides.

He was DANCING!

LOL

Sorry about the quality, but at the end, Andy decided to trot and I was trying to hold my camera

with both hand, so I put my reins down.

LOL

Take some motion sickness pills and hit play.
I loaded the same video twice, the first one is from my iPod.
The other one is the same video, but on YouTube - you can blow it up bigger,
but then you lose some quality.
Whatever...

Friday Funny

Today is Friday.

And a fun filled day it will be.

I'm at the office until noon.

Then a quick stop at the post office.

Then home to cut Rod's hair and pack.

Then a drive down south.

And teach a class til 10 pm.

I have a trainee again this weekend, so she is teaching the 2nd half tonight.

Yippeeee.

And I have a new teacher taking over my review class.

She is stopping by tonight so we can meet and I can give her my stuff.

More Yippeeeeeees.

Less money.

But a much needed weekend off each month.

More classes Saturday and Sunday.

Then a drive back home to unload and reload the suitcase.

Then a drive over to Tampa on Monday.

But I have a conference call Monday morning.

Do I leave early and do the call from the hotel over there?

Do I stick around the office finishing school paperwork and do the call here and then drive over?

Do I do the call on the highway?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

(I have a really good hands-free set, but sometimes there's an echo...)

Anyhow.

I'll be in Tampa Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hanging with my T-Tapping buddies and working out.

So who knows if you will hear from me between now and Thursday.

*Oh and Thursday is official Ta-Ta Squishing day.  Love those mammograms!

So here's a funny to end on.



In case I'm not back in time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADIANS!!!!!

Way to do the holiday right!

Americans.

Sheesh.

Egg Wisdom

Eggs.

A Poem.

Eggs on the counter, you need to take stock.

Fresh, dropped in water, will sink like a rock.

But, if it floats to the top, like a log

Then, I'm afraid, it gets fed to the dog.

Wasn't that GREAT?

I wrote that.

Lieing in bed last night..

Thinking about eggs.

We made "breakfast burritos" for dinner last night.

And, while cracking a bunch of eggs, I remembered a video I saw on a blog.

But I can't remember which blog.

And it was all in Japanese anyway.

So I made my own.

With Kyle's help.

And Sabrina's support.

Clearly I need to practice.

And we need work on our video skills.

You gotta give it a try though.

It's pretty fun!



All you need is an empty water bottle.

And some eggs.

Slick as a whistle!

Done!

This weekend I was, again, training a new instructor.

It was nice to sit in the back of the room and watch somebody else.

And, since I can't usually "just sit"

I FINALLY finished my lap blanket!

Remember the one I started in Tucson?

In MARCH?

I'm glad it's finished, and it looks really nice.

I kind of wish I had one more ball of yarn, it's just right for a lap blanket, but I'd rather snuggle up.

And now I'm probably going to get some more yarn and make some more.

Just a different pattern.

This was easy, but I had to actually pay attention.

Useless peice of information.

Those traffic lights don't look very big, do they?

But when you see a MAN next to them,

you realize they are MASSIVE!

(And when they are swinging around like they weigh nothing during a hurricane, it's SCARY!)

Sometimes they even fall down - we are slowly moving away from the ones hanging on the wires,

we lost a BUNCH of them in the last round of hurricanes.

And they are EXPENSIVE!

October Skies

Fall is my favorite time of year.

Until Spring rolls around.

And then I'm all over Spring.

But it's fall, and I'm excited about it.

Well...

It was fall last Monday.

Today it's full-blown July again.

150% humidity and HOT.

But last night was pretty nice.

Humid.

Hot.

But a nice breeze.

So Kyle and I saddled up after work and headed to the woods.

It was WET!

We've had quite a bit of rain lately.

There is a spot on our favorite trail we call "Pig World".

(There used to be wild pigs that lived there...  They are gone now...)

There's a dip in the trail and it gets pretty wet.

Kyle was sure it wasn't going to be very deep.

I ride this trail a LOT.

So I sat back and just watched.

He finally had to lift his feet up.

The water was lapping his toes!

His horse LOVES water.

You need to be aware or Buddy will "go for a roll/swim".

But they managed to cross without mishap.

When we got home, the 7:00 rain shower clouds rolled in.

But before it rained, we got a pretty sunset.

 Kyle climbed up on the shade cloth roof to enjoy it for a little bit.

(And he likes to sit up there and then make boogey man noises as the horses leave the barn...

He is easily amused.)

Healthy

I had a doctor's appointment this morning.

Annual physical.

They gave me a whole page of "current symptoms" for me to read and circle

if they pertained to me.

I circled weight gain.

And hearing loss.

(but I wrote in MINOR)

When I went in to see him, he said, yes dear, you are gaining weight. 

(6 pounds in 6 months.  YIKES!)

(Like I hadn't noticed...)

So we chatted about how for each year you are over 50, you get to cut back 40 calories a day.

Why is it nobody tells you these things when you are young?

I blame it on my employer.

They moved me across town and now I can't walk to work.

Cost me 7 miles/day several days a week.

And a BUNCH of extra time and gas money.

Then he asked me about the hearing loss.

Did I want an appointment with the ENT lady?

Nope.  (she says)  I just circled it cuz I felt silly only circling ONE thing.

We needed SOMETHING to talk about!

LOL

I also brought him 6 freshly laid eggs.

In a pretty cup.

He uploaded every book written by James Patterson (and a bunch of others)

to my Kindle and has kept me in books for over a year!

Fair trade!

So, in addition to chatting about books, and eggs, and calories, and walking in the woods

(he runs the trails I ride my horse on...)

He suggested I might want to move out to the barn.

Cuz I'm healthy as my horse.

But might want to stop EATING like him.