Merry Christmas Eve!

We are all ready.

The guys are all working.

Rod had to go in until 1:30.

Kyle got home last night and went

to Linda's this morning to fix some

gates she was having trouble with.

(ALL her Grandkids are going to be

here for Christmas and she needs to

be able to lock the cows in / kids out?)

It's cloudy, cool (high 50s) and misting.

Feels like it could snow.

White Christmas?

(Only in my imagination...)

But it's supposed to be sunny and

beautifully warm tomorrow.

The gifts are wrapped,

the dog is ready...

I'm going to make another attempt at fudge.

(I made some last weekend to take to

the ward's linger longer but it didn't set up...)

Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas to you!

Jail Break!

Made my monthly trip up to the ranch

Tuesday afternoon.

Just in time for a BIG rain storm.

Kyle made me a lovely dinner of steak,

yellow peppers and onions,

yellow squash in sour cream

and tater tots.

It was DELICIOUS!

Wednesday morning we got up,

BUNDLED up and headed out.

It was in the low 40s but the wind

was really whipping and it was COLD!

We got the girls in nice and easy.

We got them all weighed and treated for flies.

No calves yet... but #16 looks like she

might be getting ready.

Kyle put out a couple of rolls of hay and

some protein tubs, dumped a load of

dirt under a gate where it looks like there

is a big enough hole that new little calves

would be able to squirt into the peanut pasture

and then we loaded up the big stock trailer

and got on the road to Malabar.

(By way of Rural King in Ocala where 

I bought some more horse feed and a bunch

of bags of beet pulp pellets because my

RK in Bonita Springs doesn't carry it...)

(And it's $2/bag cheaper than Tractor Supply)

We didn't get home until about 7 (after dark)

and Rod had a nice dinner of fried chieken

and "fixins" ready for us.

This morning I got up and headed out to feed

our animals... and ...

Escapeeeeeeees!

This is the same board they broke last time.

We are going to need to replace it.

I guess its getting old and weak.

I wandered all over the property looking for

another board that would fit but they were

all about 2 feet too short...

so rather than take Kyle's truck and head to

Lowe's to buy a new board I just found an

old fence panel and dragged it over.

It made an effective band-aid.

Chained it to the existing gate on one end.

Used the old farmer's favorite,

baling twine.

But every body is back in their pasture

and all is right with the world again.

And now I'm getting ready to head over to 

Linda's with Kyle to help him round up

her cows and take all of them (except 3)

back up to the ranch.

He'll stay there on "calf watch" until

Christmas Eve.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Kyle came home last night.

It was raining all the way from Daytona,

and he was pulling a trailer loaded

with hay for Linda's cows.

Bummer.

But cows will eat almost anything

and it doesn't hurt them like it would

horses. They put the last horse down

yesterday (not their horse, boarding

for a friend...) so they don't need

to be as careful about their hay.

Meanwhile the tire on Linda's 

tractor went flat, Kyle put some air in

it and then when Linda drove it, it

popped off the bead.

So he is over there this morning 

getting that fixed.

And he got me another picture of

his shop now that he has filled up

his shelves.

He is getting so organized!

And then I was on Facebook and saw something!

Things have changed and "fancied up"

a bit since we were there 50 years ago!

Remember?

Us girls stayed by the car and Mom and Dad

walked down the trail to the "actual" site.

(And probably relished a few minutes alone...

6 people in the car / trailer / etc every minute

of every day for DAYS and DAYS...

bless them!)

When they came back we were all anxious

to know what we missed.

They said there wasn't anything there except

a REALLY hot little rabbit, stretched out

and panting on the trail.

(It's HOT there in the summer! We Canadians

weren't prepared for that!)

Memories!!!

New Calling & Building Stuff

I finally got set apart last night for my new calling.

(1st C in the Stake Primary if you forgot... lol)

We got "dressed up" to meet Pres Rasmussen

at the church and had a friend take our picture.

Yup.

We are cute.

And getting older.

And Rod has a chin thing.

And I'm wearing a LOT of bells!

Meanwhile.

Kyle has been busy at the ranch.

Fixing up the shop.

Yesterday he built a work bench.

Every shop needs a good workbench!

And then he built a set of shelves.

Every shop needs a good set of shelves.

Because his roof is like 14' high, he decided to

go UP with his shelves. They are 8' tall.

He is going to need to build a ladder on one side

so he can get to the stuff on the top.

And as always, he couldn't resist the urge to climb up

on top and take a picture of his shop when he was done.

The shop is 40' x 60' and filling fast.

Missing are the stock trailer and the "tank".

Those are still outside.

He's getting ready for the boss ladies to come

visit later in the month when the cows start

dropping calves.

Visitors

These aren't very good pictures.

But....

When I went out to check the 

nests for eggs... I noticed

we seemed to have some

visitors.

There are a total of SIX little

green parrots!

They were quite noisy.

And when I tried to get closer to 

take a better picture,

they didn't love my dogs.

The whole flock took flight,

squawking all the way,

and headed further into the woods.

Wonder where they came from!

We used to sometimes get a random

parrot (escaped pets likely) when we

lived in Indialantic.

There was even a MONKEY for awhile.

But I've never seen SIX of them in a flock.

Anyhow.

It was a fun distraction.

(I'm busy typing for the town...

it WAS interesting but the section

I'm typing now is all legal descriptions

and corner markers.

Ugh.)

I love December!

It's beginning to look like Christmas around here.

Beau loves the tree.

He has his own "Christmas" blanket.

Its supposed to be around the tree, but he pulls

it down and cuddles up on it.

So I have given up...

I spent the weekend down in Bonita Springs

again, teaching the 1st weekend of 

this month's class.

I had 12 students which is a good

size class for me.

Not too big, not too small.

I'm still waiting for my tall stool to arrive.

I'm not used to standing for the entire 10 hours.

My feet were KILLING me by the end!

But the students were really great.

And Monday I stopped at my favorite feed store

just up the street from my hotel and picked

up 600 pounds of horse and cow feed.

The lovely older gentleman who loaded

it all into my car for me told me I can

call ahead and they will load it up on

the cart and bring it up front so its all

waiting for me when I get there!

(which would be awesome because their

carts are TERRIBLE and pushing 600# of

feed bags through their store is a 

WORK OUT!)

Today I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done.

So I'd better get off here and get started.

Chilly

It's been chilly here.

And I've been doing a bunch of stuff.

Good thing I listed it all in my last

post, because I can't remember half

of it anymore... lol.

But...

there WERE 2 trips to the beach to

watch the rocket launch.

The first one on Wednesday was

cancelled due to high winds.

It WAS pretty windy.

But I was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans

so I survived.

I paid for an hour's worth of parking

and sat on my little chair and

read my book.

I've been wanting to read a book on the beach

for months, but Kyle and I end up talking.

(and talking and walking and walking)

So this was just nice and relaxing.

I went again yesterday.

This one was a go.

They are SO much smaller than the shuttles.

But still pretty.

I like this part the best.

That white dot was two guys out on ocean kayaks

but they went down behind a swell just as I

took the picture.

Fun way to watch a launch!

Meanwhile, Kyle drove home Wednesday evening.

He drove Linda's Dodge and pulled the trailer

with the Tank on it - has some work to 

do at the MeadowPine farm.

He had a small issue.

So small, in fact, that he didn't notice

until he went out Thursday morning to 

drive over to the farm.

The spare is on.

The damage to the fender is fixed (and painted)

and the trailer is getting 4 new tires 

this weekend.

Thankful for blessings!