Danny heading out, Erika heading in

It's the height of hurricane season in Florida.

Our favorite time of year.

Time to dust off the generators

and our dvd copy of Twister.

We've got a BIG thunder storm 

heading our way.

Part of the departing Hurricane Danny.

It's the coolest it's been in MONTHS.

A lovely "breeze" that feels like low 70's.

Which is awesome.

Except it's raining.

We have the doors and windows open

but might have to close them if the 

rain starts coming sideways.

And, of course,

Hurricane Erika is heading this way.

Likely going to hit further south than us.

But we'll get the back end.

Which only means more rain.

The guys are out in the shed

tuning up all the generators.

Just in case.

This sort of weather makes for glorious

sunsets though!

Catching UP

Goodness Gracious!

How does time keep getting away from me?

When we were last together, Rod was

turning...  sixty

Those of us who are also old

won't be able to read that.

So it's ok.

Right?

LOL

Here's a glimpse at a pretty common 

sight at our house.

The laptop is mine.

The other two are on their phones.

I'm more blind than they are.

Or I just like my laptop.

Now that the days are getting a little

shorter (no where NEAR fall yet though)

I'm able to catch the sunrise sometimes

on my way in to work.

This one was stunning!

And a glimpse of our power company heros

who fixed our power.

The yard was pretty flooded.

In fact the next day Rod got his

little Honda car stuck right there

under that tree.

(And I should mention I got my

pickup stuck on the other side of the tree...)

He's such a good man.

He took his birthday off work.

And washed and waxed his car

AND my truck!

What a guy!

Just one of the gazillion reasons I love him.

Happy Birthday Darling!

Today is my darling husband, Rod's birthday.  I wanted to do a blog post letting him know how much I love him.  But we had a huge thunderstorm yesterday that took out our power and our Wi-Fi router.  So no internet.  We took him to dinner and then I had to drive over to Orlando to substitute teach for the weekend.  The good news is I am staying in a hotel.  But their Wi-Fi is out too.  So I'm on my phone. And I'm posting blind.  So.....

I love  You baby.  I'll do better tomorrow. I hope!

Can't Win!

Watch with the sound off.

It's not in english and the message

doesn't need words anyways.

Sometimes it just goes this way!

LOL!!!

(No hidden message here - just thought it was FUNNY!)

Feed Feed and More Feed

We feed our chickens an awesome

non-GMO soy free layer feed.

It comes from Ohio.

The only problem is,

it gets shipped to north Florida.

And there it sits.

We can sometimes get a semi to

deliver it to the farm next door,

but it's EXPENSIVE to do it that way.

So this time, we decided to go 

get it ourselves.

(The last time we did that,

we had a flat tire...)

It was a HOT MESS!

07-07-14

Kyle sold that trailer to our neighbors.

But when he went over to get it,

it had some issues.

And it's only rated for 6000#

and we were getting nearly 7000#.

So....

We borrowed his boss's giant flat bed trailer

that he uses to haul his tractor around on.

It's rated for 10,000#.

More than enough.

It was a beautiful day.

We loaded up and headed north.

Everything went well.

Until the GPS took us on the

"scenic route".

We turned down this single lane

dirt road (actually NOT dirt,

Florida Sugar Sand - which is 

exactly what it sounds like!)

It twisted and turned and wandered

through an interesting,

off the beaten path,

I think the drug dealers live here

sort of area.

Beautiful.

But we did NOT want to have to stop.

We eventually got onto the CORRECT road.

(Thank you Google Maps!)

Still skinny

Still dirt

But MUCH nicer!

A very helpful gentleman dropped what he was doing

and loaded us right up.

Which was good, because behind me is a

HUGE black cloud.

This is just 2 of the three pallets.

But with the storm looming, I had

to put my phone down and help Kyle tarp.

We made it safely out of the farm

and to the local KFC for some late lunch

while the storm passed over us.

And then on towards home.

Via the Scenic Route.

Again.

LOL

(This time we couldn't get to the exit

on the other side of the highway in time,

so ended up going about 10 miles out of

our way, but it's ok...)

Our detour put us BEHIND the storms

so our drive home was nice and

uneventful.

But we got home with just enough time

to unload our 1000# and run the rest

next door and park the trailer in the barn.

By then the sun was down and the

mosquitoes were out in force.

Guess we will be unloading all that feed

in the morning...

Just another fun day at the farm!

Neighbors

The farm next door likes to

shake things up every now

and again.

They have a bunch of cows.

If you look Waaaay back there

you can see the white donkey (Snickers)

and the two little brown goats

(Lolly and Pop)

(yeah, we didn't name them...)

And standing behind one of the Moms

on the left side is one of the calves

the other one is the brown blob 

laying down on the grass on the

extreme left.

They are both boys.

Ham and Burger?

(not likely...)

They moved them to the front pasture

that borders our property.

The chickens don't mind.

The dogs were a little freaked out.

It's nice that we can sit on the patio

and watch them.

Well.

You can smell them too.

But that's ok.

It's fun to hear them moo-ing.

Aaaaaah,

life on the "farm".

Branches and Breakfast and an Update

I know.

This isn't a "food blog".

But this is a PRETTY quiche!

(Just pulled it out of the oven)

It's hard to take a pretty picture

of food with my phone and 

the oven hood light.

(see note above; NOT a food blog... lol)

We had a good weekend.

Kyle spent a day trimming all the giant

oak trees in the front yard.

There are... um ... several.

LOL

They have gotten so big and their branches

sweep the ground in lots of places.

Really pretty.

But a pain in the neck when you are

trying to mow.

Or move the horses.

Or anything else.

(And being hurricane season, we

should really keep them trimmed up 

at least a bit...)

He did a GREAT job.

I didn't take a picture.

I DID, however, take a picture

of the giant pile of trimmings!

(This was the next morning...)

I drove the first load of bougainvillea out there

but the rest of the loads required backing

and maneuvering

and actual driving skills. 

So I let the pro take over.

He's GOOD!

While we were working out there,

SpaceX shot off a rocket.

We've really missed those!

Not nearly as big as a shuttle,

but space is space, right?

One of the benefits of living on the 

Space Coast.

It was a nice break from all the rain

we've been having for the last

couple of weeks.

Meanwhile...

Rod is on his way home from the hospital.

They took George off the ventilator today.

He has pneumonia in all four quadrants

of his lungs.

He is breathing on his own,

but it's pretty shallow.

They are keeping him comfortable with

pain medicine and antibiotics for the infection,

but we aren't going to do any more

invasive treatments.

If you wouldn't mind keeping our family

in your prayers as we cross this final bridge.