One Month

Today marks one month since I retired.

I'm bored and ready to go back to work.

And I have some beachfront property

in Arizona I'd like to sell you.

LOL

I'm drinking my Yum Yum Bitty and 

getting ready to go next door with

Kyle for Round 3 with the cows.

Wish us luck!!!!!!!

Busy, Productive Morning

As usual, I've been busy this morning.

I woke up nice and early and decided

to indulge myself and watched a

Christmas movie on Hallmark

instead of getting up before the

break of dawn.  

(5:00)

Then it was time to get up

and feed all the animals

and get them going for the day.

Meanwhile Kyle left for work.

And then Scott got up and

worked on Jim's 4 wheeler for a bit.

Got it running,

but the darn rats chewed one wire

down so short that he doesn't know

if he'll be able to fix it.

Might have to get a new wire harness

just for that one silly wire.

Oh well.

While he was working on the patio,

I baked a big pan of Rod's favorite

German Pancake with pecans.

He loves it.

I cut it into individual servings and

he has one with a chocolate protein

drink for breakfast each morning.

While it was baking,

I whipped up a batch of sugar free

homemade ketchup,

which I then used to make a batch

of really delicious BBQ sauce.

While that was simmering on the stove,

I put a lovely Boston Butt roast I 

picked up next door into the pressure cooker

to get it thawed and started cooking.

Then it went into the slow cooker

with half a recipe of BBQ sauce.

That will cook on low for the rest of the day

and we'll have it for dinner and

leftovers for lunch for the next few days.

Now I'm researching a banana bread

recipe.  I have 3 overripe bananas

and I'm craving banana bread.

So I'll see what yummy sugar free / gluten free

recipes I can find.

I know there's one in the cookbook I use.

But it has an oat flour base and I'm

wondering if there's something else

that isn't quite so heavy.

We'll see.

But I just realized it's nearly 1:00 and
I haven't had breakfast yet.
LOL
Guess I'd best get on that!
(I guess you would call it brunch...)

Missed posting about yesterday...
I went to the doctor in the morning and got
a clean bill of health.
He said my numbers were "stellar".
YEA!

And then he uploaded a couple of new books
for me to read.
(We are book buddies from way back....)

Next it was off to the Hair Cuttery
to get my hair trimmed.
She did a nice job.
But butchered my bangs.
At least I'm not teaching this weekend.
By next weekend (thanks to collagen)
they will have grown out enough that I
will survive.
hahahaha

And then it was up the street to Walmart
to get some plain Kefir.
I put it on the counter for 24 hours to do
a double ferment and then use in a drink.
I also needed to find a clear water bottle
for Rod to take to work.
They are cracking down on what the guys
are allowed to drink out of and where / when
they can drink water.
It's kind of hard on him... but he is adapting.
And of course, I needed some more veggies.

Then it was across the street to pick up
my refill on my thyroid meds.
And home to make a nice big pan of
sausage and cabbage for lunch.

I'm thinking about making another batch now.
Or maybe a big pan of yellow squash,
sauted in butter with a couple of eggs
scrambled in.
That's pretty darn yummy too.

Decisions, decisions...  

The Fun Never Stops

It was another fun, busy day

here on the farm today.

This morning Kyle and I headed

next door to try to load some

cows into our horse trailer

to take to the butcher.

Again.

We got a little steer in there

pretty quickly without much fuss.

And then it was on.

Kyle tried and tried to get the

cows to come into the little

corral we were using.

But the goats kept getting in the way.

(He put the goats in the front

pasture yesterday, but they were

back there with the cows again today...)

Grrrrrr

FINALLY he got a big mama cow

to get into the little corral.

I slammed the gate closed behind her

and she headed down the squeeze chute.

But she got out the front hole

instead of getting in the trailer

because we weren't fast enough.

So we tried again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

He FINALLY got the same cow back

in the corral again.

And back into the squeeze chute.

And got the gate closed behind her.

(nearly broke his ankle in the process...)

But when I opened the trailer door

and headed her that way,

she just knocked down the panel to

her right and bolted anyway.

Kyle jumped over a SIX FOOT FENCE

to try to stop her,

but was a split second too late.

So we tried and tried and tried

some more.

But they weren't having it.

We got several of them HALF in,

but no dice.

(This would have gone MUCH more

smoothly if we had 3 people instead of

just 2, but something held Brock up

and he never arrived...)

After 3 hours, we finally gave up.

gathered up the truck and the tractor

and headed back out.

Turned around and darn if 

the cows weren't ALL in the 

stupid little corral.

Sigh.

Whatever.

Instead we went home and loaded the

feed barrels into his truck bed,

hit Chick Fil-A on the way out of town

and then headed north to get our feed

for the month.

So we accomplished SOMETHING.

And I got a nice little sunburn.

And neither of us got hurt.

So it was all good.

In other news...

Look what I found in Buddy's feed bucket.

I guess he is getting old.

That is what's left of one of his

back molars.

It is polished smooth on the chewing

surface and had no roots left.

So it just fell out of his mouth.

He IS nearly 30 years old.

He gets soaked alfalfa hay every morning.

*they all do.  They are all old.

Kind of a cool find though.

Glad THAT is Over

What a weekend.

Friday, on my way to the grocery store,

my boss called and said one of my

best friend / fellow instructors

(we are often partners in crime)

had a heart issue and was in the hospital.

Could I run into Orlando for the weekend

and cover his class?

Sure!

It involved lots of logistics.

Making hotel reservations.

(always a challenge)

Making arrangements to get the keys.

Making arrangements to get through

the security system.

But it all got done.

As I was preparing to load my 

suitcase in the car and head out,

Rod called and said he was

out in the pasture and needed my help.

We found Bison's body out in the

pasture over by the cows.

He was old, not in great health,

and it was a daily concern if he would

pass on or if we would have to 

put him down.

As long as he seemed to be happy and

not in any pain, we decided to let

nature take it's course.

And it did.

I was grateful.

I did NOT want Kyle to have to deal with that.

(But he insisted that it was his dog and he

would be responsible for the decision, etc.)

About that time, Kyle showed up and

took his tractor out back to dig a grave.

RIP Bison.

Meanwhile, I had to get on the road.

Drove up to Orlando in my nifty

new blue car.

It was a nice drive!

And it has on-dash GPS, which was

really nice, because the hospital is in

downtown Orlando where there are

a million one-way streets and construction

and a bunch of stuff I don't like to

deal with!

And while driving through all that,

my low tire pressure light came on.

Luckily I was only blocks from the hospital

so I kept going til I got there.

(When we got the new Passat, the same

thing happened on the way down to

West Palm Beach.  I pulled into a service

station and checked the air pressure and

everything was fine, Jim said it was a

thing that sometimes happens...)

When I got to the parking lot, I visually

checked the tires and they all looked ok.

So I headed upstairs.

(First I had to walk around the ENTIRE hospital

to find the one and only public entrance!)

Went upstairs and had a nice visit

with Larry and his wife.

He was feeling good, all things considered.

And he has such a hilariously dry sense

of humor, we had everybody laughing.

(We feed off each other.  Sometimes our

boss has to threaten to separate us...  lol.

Makes the dry old meetings more fun though!)

After about an hour, I headed back down

to my car where I found my passenger side

rear tire FLAT AS A PANCAKE!

Dang.

Luckily we pay AAA a billion dollars a year

for premier service.

Got them on the phone.

And an hour later, the guy showed up,

pulled the flat tire, found the nail,

and replaced the tire with a donut.

(I was hoping there was an actual SPARE

in the trunk, but nope, just a donut...)

In about 5 minutes, he was on his way.

(Oh, he also gave me a bottle of water.

Which I appreciated, since I hadn't eaten 

since noon and now it was 9:30 pm...)

Next to find my hotel, without driving 

on I-4.  (It's scary at the best of times,

and right now we are in year 2 of a 

4 year "I-4 Ultimate" project where they

are totally re-configuring the entire highway.

NOPE!

Not driving THERE!

By the time I got to my hotel, got all

checked in, it was 10:00.

And although there was a McDonalds

on the next block, I wasn't willing to walk there.

And with the one way streets it would take

longer than it was worth to drive.

So I colored my hair instead and then

headed off to bed.

Saturday morning dawned bright 

but foggy.

Turns out my school was only a mile away.

So that was nice.

I had 102 people registered.

The room holds 20.

But we haven't had any trouble

with too many people showing up.

The company is running a contest

with the prize being a trip to...

Tahiti or someplace like that.

I can't enter, so I don't know... lol

Anyhow,

they get points for registering people

for the classes, so they are just signing

random people up.

I had a bunch of people show up.

I got all the pre-registered folks signed

in, gave them books, and let them in

the class to find seats.  There were 13

of them.

Then I counted and found I had 7

"walk in" / stand-by folks.

So got them signed in and at

8:00 I started the class.

And then the rest of the people

started showing up.

I had people dribbling in all the way

until 8:45!!!!!

I had to stop and explain to each of them

that the class was full and they 

would have to register for another

place / time.

Student: But I'm registered!

Me:  But you're late.

S:  But that doesn't matter.

M:  Yup, it does.  You were supposed to be 

here at 7:30 for registration.  At 7:45

you weren't here and I gave your seat

to a stand-by student.  Sorry.

S:  But I drove all the way here from

Daytona Beach!

M:  And I drove all the way here from

Melbourne, and yet I managed to be here

by 7:30.

Yup, I'm mean.

LOL

Hey.

My dog died.

My friend ended up in the hospital.

My brand new car got a flat tire.

Tell your problems to someone else.

The rest of the day went really well.

There were hiccups.

There always are.

But the students were awesome.

Friendly, happy, engaged.

And it looks like Larry is going to be fine.

So he should be able to teach next weekend.

Of course, then I had to drive home

last night on the highway with a donut.

And the guy told me not to go faster

than 50 mph.  But I could go 55 if I

felt I needed to.

So I crept home on the highway,

doing 55 mph.

Trying not to get run over by the

rest of the people driving home

after a weekend away.

Only 3 people tried to kill me.

Drove RIGHT up on my bumper,

rode there for awhile with their

bright headlights blinding me.

(Like that's going to make me speed up.)

Fun fact:

All three of them were white pickups!

A)  People who drive white pickups are

inherently aggressive drivers.

B)  People who drive white pickups can't 

see little blue Jettas and need their eyes checked.

C)  Florida has a LOT of white pickups.

I'm going with C.

Because I started paying attention.

And there are a LOT of white pickups

out there on the highway!!!!

(And it can't be A, because KYLE drives

a white pickup and while he sometimes

drives a little closer to the guy in front

than I am personally comfortable with,

it's never an unsafe distance.  I'm just

a total pansy passenger.)

This morning I went in for blood work.

And then came home and Kyle fixed my tire.

This is the offending nail!

Pretty big offender!

Kyle and I are SUPPOSED to be driving

to Ocala today with 2 of Brock's (neighbor) cows

in our horse trailer - heading to the butchers.

But the goats are in the wrong pasture

and are in the way.

The cows won't get in the trailer,

even for sweet feed.

We can't get the trailer back out of the pasture

because the cows are in the way.

The butcher just called and he has

a family emergency and is closed today.

So we went to Sonic.

Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.

Or maybe Brock can eat chicken.

Another exciting day on the farm

Tuesday was Kyle's friend, Jessica's 21st birthday.

So yesterday morning she came over early

(early being a relative term)

and we went for a horseback ride.

It rained lightly just as we were leaving,

but that didn't damper our spirits.

The sun came out and it was lovely.

We had a nice ride.

There was a LOT of water out there though.

At one point I realized my fanny pack

with my phone in it was missing,

so I left them to go on

and went back to find it.

Then I called and set a place to meet them.

Took a "short cut" through "Pig World".

It's a meadow that is generally wet,

but this time I knew it was going to be 

WET.

Yup.

Andy didn't want to want on the trail,

so he went to the left and I don't

know if he sunk in the mud at the

bottom or if it was just that deep,

but I honestly thought we were

going swimming.

I put him back on the trail where at

least I knew the ground was solid.

And he muscled through.

It was chest deep on him and up to

the bottoms of my boots!

We found their trail and followed

their tracks until we met up with them

and then headed back towards the house.

There were a couple of impromptu streams

that needed to be forded (or jumped as the case may be)

but we all made it back safe and sound.

It's HARD taking pictures of a moving horse while on a moving horse.

I swear that tree wasn't there

only one second ago

Anyhow.

I ran some errands, over to the health food

store to restock my Oil of Oregano supply.

Rod has an abscess in his tooth and he's

been taking it until he can get in to see the dentist.

And I needed to drop off a key to the old Passat.

Rod went to the dentist after work.

They took an x-ray and said the infection

was nearly all cleared up but put him on an

antibiotic anyway just to be sure.

He's going back for a cleaning today.

He was really happy with them.

(First visit is free, cleaning is only $59

and that's without insurance!)

Yesterday was our friend Linda's birthday.

(She is the lady Kyle works for.)

Her brother in Moana Scoville's husband.

SMALL WORLD.

Moana called me yesterday

(Messenger Calling - first time - weird, but works!)

She said Linda told John she doesn't like cake,

so she was just going to make herself a pie

and stay home and eat it by herself.

That just sounded sad and lonely.

So Rod and I invited her out to dinner.

We had a really nice visit with her,

and when we brought her home, someone else

had stopped by with flowers and a box of chocolates.

We have a nice ward.

Anyhow.

This morning I went out early (again relative)

and after feeding the animals, I dragged out

the air compressor and power staple gun

and did some more repairs to the chicken yard.

About that time Kyle came out to go to work

so I prevailed upon him to shoot the last 4

of the red chickens.

(Somehow we missed them last time...)

So I'm down to about 50 solid layers now.

That's about right.

So now I'm going to make some lunch.

Have a GREAT FRIDAY!

Expensive Couple of Days Part 3

So on... Monday.

*The days all sort of run together

I had a HUGE roster, 

although I only had 31 students.

There were 150 students registered.

And that meant I had an 82 page roster.

And 25 exam answer sheets.

I've always just popped it into

the office high speed scanner and

emailed it up to the home office.

But now I don't have access to that.

We have a scanner at the house though.

But it turns out it only does ONE page

at a time.

And each one is a separate file.

I ended up with 115 individual files.

I spent about 4 hours

scanning all the files

and then trying to figure out how

to stick them together in one document.

No dice.

I gave up and went out

to look at a new car.

Tuesday rolled around and I still needed

to send up my roster.

I got the brilliant idea overnight to just

run it over to Staples and scan and email

it from there.

I even remembered to bring my flash drive.

After about 10 minutes of scanning,

I ended up with 2 files.

And then the machine figured up the bill.

$57.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

NO WAY!

So I cancelled the transaction and 

walked over to the other side of the 

store and picked out a home / office

scanner, regular priced $200 on sale

for $119.99.

Bought it and brought it home.

While I was setting it up on my

kitchen table and figuring out 

how to use it,

I emailed my boss to ask if I

could expense it.

He emailed me right back and said

"Return it.  I'll order you one from

the company since they have them

in inventory."

I finished scanning

(ended up only being able to do

30 pages at a time, ending up with

4 files.)  Then I tried to email them.

The program I was using wouldn't send

more than 3 files at a time.

Then it turned out more than one file

at a time was too big for it to handle.

So hour and hours later I was finally

finished sending up all my paperwork.

Whew!

And then I boxed it all back up

and took it back to Staples and

got my money back.

And then I met Rod at the dealership

and we picked up our new car!

So although it was POTENTIALLY

an expensive day, it ended up being FREE!

(Although who knows when the scanner

will actually show up...  I'm watching my

UPS box...)

I "think" this might be the end

of the run of expensive days...

Fingers crossed.

Expensive Couple of Days Part 2

And the saga continues.

Monday Kyle took the day off work.

It rained hard again over the weekend

and his property is FLOODED (again.)

(still, actually)

So we did some running around and

took care of some things that needed

doing around the house.

We went into town to Sams Club

to pick up the groceries for the week.

While driving up the highway,

I did an exaggerated "shoulder check"

because that is what you do before

you do a lane change in a car

that has significant blind spots.

(And you are out there on the highway

with other drivers who appear to have

gotten their licenses from a 

correspondence school on the internet...)

He made fun of me.

And then he said I needed a car

with blind spot assist.

And a backup camera.

And the new 2017 Jetta has these things.

So our errand running expanded a little

into an innocent visit by Jim's

place of work.

We had a nice visit.

And picked out a pretty blue car.

Which we picked up yesterday.

LOL

It costs less per month than the Passat.

And while I loved the Passat, this is

also a nice little peppy car that can run

me up and down the highway for 

almost no money for fuel,

and has many varied and wonderous

features I will likely NEVER figure out.

Most importantly though,

blind spot assist,

backup camera,

and a built in GPS system.

Oh yeah,

and I can listen to my books

without having to  have a zillion

wires and hang my tongue to the left.

And a sun roof.

Pretty color, isnt' it?

He was teaching me all the features.

Hahahahahahahaha

I like the pretty metalic blue.

I was going for a white one,

but Rod doesn't love white,

and it was $1000 more.

Naturally,

being related to the best salesman 

in the dealership,

we got an awesome deal.

And I really do like it.

And my salesman.

Thanks Jimbo!