2nd Farm Day

 I ended up having to sub yesterday morning.

So I didn't go out to the farm.

But this morning I got up early and headed out

before it got HOT.

This is my "office" these days.

If you look REAL hard you might be able to see Kyle's house.

It's kind of left of the middle, WAAAAAAAY up on the hill top.

That's where the garden is.

(This is not dry ground, it is the pad the stock tank sits on...)_

You are used to seeing my red toes on the beach.

Instead here are my nasty muddy shoes in the garden.

I fill the tank with water (20 minutes) and then

drive it at a "blow your hair back" speed of 6 mph.

First I have to drive down our "road" past where our

house is going to be and out to the actual road.

Sometimes I do 4 mph, and sometimes I do 5. 

If I'm feeling reckless.

Then up that BIG hill to Kyle's driveway.

Floored it does 6 mph.

Hahahaha.

I have to watch because Vince and his Dad drive

down our road and they are a little faster than me.

But they know we are out there, so they watch

for us too.

Anyhow.

Once I get to Kyle's driveway, I cut across his "yard"

and through the "orchard" to the garden.

Depending on where I am watering, I either drive to

the back of the garden and around the hay pile,

or to the front of the garden.

Get out and hook up the right hoses to the right things,

and then let Wilson do his thing.

30-ish minutes.

Between the driving and the hooking up and the

moving of hoses and Wilson (the sprinkler), one tank takes

just about 1.5 hours. (Down from 2 hrs yesterday!)

Today while Wilson was doing his watering,

I loaded up some sunflower seeds into the little

walk-behind seeder thingie and planted 48 rows

of sunflowers in the half of the garden we

aren't using this year.

I did the front 80' in sunflowers.

Tomorrow morning I'll do the back 50' 

in sunn hemp. (I left the seeds at the house this

morning. And I probably wouldn't have done it

anyway, it was getting toasty.)

I did 3 runs (tanks) today.

I could have done one more, but I was out of

drinking water and that's not a good thing.

So I loaded up and headed home.

And then headed into Hays to Home Depot to

pick up some fertilizer, a chair for my backyard,

and then to Tractor Supply for another 2 hoses,

some gloves, and another gas can.

Wendy's as a treat (late lunch / early dinner)

and then back to the house to do some computer

work and now I'm going to go sit in my 

comfy chair and probably fall asleep.

Also, I need to take a shower.

First Day on My Own

 Kyle headed out to Florida Tuesday morning.

He packed up his little car on a UHaul trailer.

The first time he's done a bumper pull with the 450.

He is heading south to sell his truck and help Rod

finish up the sale of the house and move back.

I expect he will be gone about 6 weeks.

Beau and I are here on our own.

When I was at the farm with Kyle on Monday,

I cleaned out the Trooper a little so I could sit in it.

And look what I found.

He always shows up just when I need him.

Behold the turtle! He makes progress only

when he sticks his neck out!

Mom bought that for me when I moved out into the little

basement apartment in Calgary.

She was TOTALLY against me moving, 

and then gave me this as a way of letting me know that

she supported my decision and recognized my need

to get out on my own and GROW.

I've hung him in my room and used him as motivation

when I got a new job, calling, anything hard.

THANK YOU MOM!

I'm going to be fine.

So I did my first day at the farm by myself.

I'm not as good at it as Kyle, and I didn't get out there

as early as I had planned, since I wanted to stay and see

Kyle off on his journey, so I was only out there for about 

4 hours. I only did 2 tanks (he usually does 3 or 4, but he

also stays ALL day...)

I was trying to take a picture of the volunteer

sunflowers coming up in the ditch.

But you can also see Wilson (the watering tractor)

in the background and the large circle of water he puts down.

We did a BUNCH of hoeing on Monday (and I did more

on Tuesday) so where he is, is all crop.

There is still a LOT of weeding to do, but its a start.

Meanwhile, our little house is coming together.

I went to the storage unit after the farm and picked up

one of the end tables we used to use in the living room.

The one I was using was too short so when I had

a lamp on it, the shade was in the way and I couldn't

see Kyle in his chair.

This gets the lamp out of the way.

And then I moved the one we were using into the bedroom

since it matches the one I was using on my side of the bed.

I should have turned on the other lamp, but I was getting

ready for bed and I just didn't.

As long as I was taking pictures this morning,

I decided to take one of the cute kitchen door

curtain I got last week.

The sunflower is the Kansas State Flower.

They are EVERYWHERE.

This week I'm going to plant a bunch in the

side of the garden we aren't using.

I wish I could till it up first, but I can't

change the implements on the tractor.

It will be fine.

The only room in the house that isn't "cute"

is my office. It's cute, its' just messy.

I don't know how to make the desk NOT

messy, there is just stuff I need when I teach.

And chords. LOTS of chords.

Ugh.

Anyway.

I am subbing this morning.

Was supposed to be off today, but Beth,

the morning teacher just got back from 3 weeks

in Europe and opened her mail.

She has jury duty today!

So I'm covering for her.

And she caught a bad cold, so isn't have a

procedure on Friday morning, so I'm NOT

teaching Friday morning.

Nice to have a flexible life.

Anyhow.

Gonna eat my bacon and eggs

and get the day started.

Stairs!

 Kyle got busy the other day.

We went to Home Depot to get some wood

and then he built some stairs for his house!

(Since I'll be there alone and he gets into his

house by backing his truck up to the door,

dropping the tailgate, hopping onto the tailgate

and then hopping up into the house. Yeah, NO.)

Pretty good, eh?

He even put a railing on it for me, because, see above.

The neighbor's corn is getting TALL!

We wanted to see how tall,

so I hopped out of the truck and he snapped a pic.

Today, after I finish up some paperwork,

we are heading to the farm so I can "solo" running

the watering operation. And also he can start

hoeing the weeds and I can spread some sunn hemp seeds

as well as some sunflower seeds on the half of the

garden we aren't using this year.

(He plans to rotate between the two halves each year...)

We ordered some "stirrup" hoes (because they look

like a stirrup on a saddle...). They are SHARP.

They should make weeding a little less arduous.

Nobody imagines it will be easy.

Ha.

Anyhow, that's what's on tap for today.

Plus I have to be back here to teach this evening.

Glad to be OFF the morning schedule though!

Happy Independence Day!

 It was a BUSY day.

Which is why I didn't post anything....

In the morning we had a nice breakfast

and then made a run into Hays.

We haven't been there (except church)

for 2 weeks!

We went to Home Depot and bought some

more wood, screws, a couple of plants,

and... oh yeah, a new measuring tape for me

since my little pink one isn't extremely accurate.

Then to Tractor Supply to get a new hose.

Then to WalMart (where Kyle stayed in the truck

to protect all the stuff we just bought)

and I did some grocery shopping.

Then back to WaKeeney.

One thing I have noticed in Kansas.

There are a LOT of cemeteries!

Now, everybody has cemeteries, but  I guess

they are more "out of the way". 

Kansans like to put 'em right up and center.

Up by the road.

And for the 4th they had the veterans cemetery

all decked out with flags.

It was nice to see!

Anyhow. After a bite of lunch we

loaded a bunch of boxes from 

the garage and drove them up to the storage unit.

On the way to the farm, I thought I noticed

a black cow in the middle of a

field of corn.

Kyle decided to check it out, so we turned

down a side road and sure enough.

She was standing there enjoying a "snack".

Cows are used to seeing trucks come out.

It usually means FOOD!

(It's called CAKE, just giant pellets but they LOVE it!)

So she had her eye on us.

And when Kyle stopped, she started

walking toward us.

He got out and started yelling the 

internationally recognized "Hey COW!" and

she started RUNNING.

But instead of running to us, she ran out of the

field, across the road, and JUMPED the fence!

Little brat!

(no pictures, my battery died so it was at home...)

Hahahahaha. 

So on we went to the farm and I rode the

4-wheeler around for a bit while Kyle

got 2 big buckets (using his Cat) full of

dirt and dumped them in the bed of his truck.

Once we got home, he built me a new raised bed!

(In the spirit of becoming even more independent...)

We filled the bottom with a bunch of flattened boxes from the move

and then I shoveled dirt into the little wagon (our wheelbarrow

is still in Florida... missed that thing for sure!)

And then he dumped it into the bed and leveled it out.

(We bought a new rake at Tractor Supply too... I forgot.)

Then we dumped the bags of Miracle Grow dirt on the top.

Then we planted the little tomatoes, a couple of peppers, and my rhubarb

as well as a bunch more tomatoes, some Nadapeno (a jalapeno with NO heat)

two rows of onions and some flowers to draw the pollinators.

Oh yeah, somewhere in there he also built me

a new shelf for in the kitchen.

Beau's food station is underneath,

but it's nice to get that giant thing off

the kitchen counter. I'll probably put the

Instant Pot on the lower shelf.

(And I'll move the ironing board, probably into the zoom room.)

Freed up a LOT of valuable real estate.

The counters are pretty small so every inch helps.

Anyhow.

By the time we were done, 

the neighbors had started the fireworks, so we grabbed a

couple of chairs (and a blanket because it was getting chilly)

and we sat on the back porch and watched the local fireworks.

The town didn't need to do any because these boys down

here love to blow stuff UP!

There was one "finale" (these people did about 5 of them)

but one was SPECTACULAR! Better than anything

Palm Bay ever put on! When it was done you could

hear people from all over the town clapping and cheering.

It was so fun!!!

(I'm LOVING small town life!)

It didn't finally get dark until about 10:00.

We watched until about 11 and then we were STARVING,

so went in and I threw together some quick

alfredo and we ate some dinner while we listened

to the remaining booms and then off to bed.

This morning I'm a little stiff, but not too bad.

I got up, watered the garden, made some fertilizer

and put that on the plants, watered the stuff

in the front yard, made some dog food,

made me some breakfast and then sat down

to teach the morning class.

Now I'm in my break between classes.

I need to run to Dollar General to get a funnel.

I have some, but I'm pretty sure it was in one

of the boxes I just took to storage. I'll just buy one.

And then it's back to eat some lunch

and teach the evening class.

Kyle is at the farm.

Learning

 Yesterday Kyle and I went out to the farm.

(I took Beau, since I wasn't going to be there long...

but he isn't going again.....)

Of course, there was lots of mud since we got

some rain earlier overnight and in the morning.

So now my backseat is a mess.

And I had a bag with a couple extra water

bottles in it, and he found them and his

FAVORITE game is to take the lid off

empty water bottles.

Only these were full.

Luckily it was still in the bag, so I just

grabbed the whole thing and tossed

it in the bed.

SIGH.

Plus he wanders. And he is the same color

as much of the brown grass.

So I had to really watch him.

(Hello, coyotes...)

Anyhow.

It was a one and done for him.

But the REASON I went out there was to

learn to do the things that Kyle does.

He's going to make a trip back to Florida

on Tuesday and I'm going to need to

get stuff done without him.

So he gave me a crash course (with pictures)

on how to do stuff.

What order to do stuff in.

How long stuff should take.

Etc.

(I brought my little black book and TOOK NOTES!)

So...

Wish me luck!

We are going out again Thursday (I don't teach on

Tues or Thurs) and I'm going to do it all and

have HIM watch.

WEEEEE!

Anyhow.

Then I loaded up Beau and took him home while Kyle

stayed out there and finished mowing the 40 acre

and a path from the water trough to the back of

the property and then up the hill to the old CRP.

(just a fenced off area that WAS under contract

with the Fed Gov as protected, but we got out

of that contract. They pay $800 a year and we can't

use that property until like 2032! NOPE!)

Anyhow. (again)

Then he came home and we had a nice

dinner and watched some TV.

Today I'm teaching and he's back out there

watering and doing whatever else he needs

to do to get stuff ready for me.

This is my final week of "double dipping".

Beth returns from Europe this weekend.

But I cover for her the next 2 Friday mornings.

Hahaha.

I THINK I have all of Wednesday off next week

because we traded her Friday morning 

for my Wed night since she probably could

use a paycheck.

That's what my calendar says...

But that's open to interpretation.

Anyhow. (again)

HAPPY Independence Day!!!

Since I might not get on here tomorrow.

Bunnies!

 Last night while I was teaching,

I took a 10 minute break and went to let

Beau out into the yard.

There were FIVE rabbits in the yard!

They scattered through the fence

as soon as Beau went out,

but they hung around.

(All but one... he took off!)

This was the largest and he went through the 

fence into the neighbor's yard.

This little guy sat and watched us for the whole 10 minutes.

This guy went out under the tree

and then I noticed his friend.

Just chilling in the shade of the tree.

It was a hot day - got to 100.

So I'm sure they were just enjoying the cooler evening.

But before I put in a backyard garden I'm going

to need a better fence!

Monday Musings

 Rozann and I were chatting this morning

and talking about memories.

My earliest memory is the one with the scissors.

We were VERY young.

My next earliest memory is when I got lost at the zoo.

I think I've told this story before, but if not,

here we go again.

Mom LOVED to go to the zoo and she would

randomly announce she wanted to go to the zoo

and she would load up the car with us 4 girls

and any of our friends who got permission to go.

Well, I remember Rozann was in the stroller

(and I seem to remember the black leather coat

with the fringe, that seems to go with this memory,

but that would mean she was older than I think....

anyhow. Memory is a funny thing.)

Anyhow.

We went to the children zoo and looked at all

the baby animals they had there.

There was a bear "pit" with red metal stairs

like the ones on a slide that went up  to a catwalk

above the baby bears and then you went back

down another set of red stairs on the other end.

We all went up and we all went down.

Well, not ALL.

I was enthralled with the baby bears and when

I finally was done watching them, I looked around

and I was alone.

So I went down and looked for Mom and the kids

and they were nowhere in the children's zoo.

So I started to cry.

And some kind zoo worker took me to

"lost and found" and while they announced

over the loud speaker for Mrs Stoddard to come

collect her little girl, they bought me an ice cream cone.

We were in a backroom and there was this picture

on the wall.

There was a macaw in the other room,

I could hear it, and some other animals,

and I was SURE there were dogs in the other room,

but they were playing cards and DRINKING BEER!

I was honestly terrified.

They were doing something I had been taught was BAD.

And I was so afraid what would happen if they

opened the door and found me in there.

Well... anyway.

Mom had left the children's zoo and walked across

the grass field over to the playground and broke

out the bag of sandwiches she brought for lunch.

And then at some point she did a head count

and realized one was missing and as soon as 

she gathered everybody up and headed back to the zoo

she could hear the announcement.

(They apparently don't pipe it to the playgound...)

So she went and rescued me.

And all was well.

But I am eternally traumatized.

(NO, I'm really not.... in fact I TOTALLY forgot

this memory until one night when I was working

an overnight in 1980 at Dairy Herd Investigators,

punching in dairy cow information, which is a

MIND NUMBING job, so my brain was wandering

and pulled this memory up for my entertainment!)

Anyhow.

Good story.

With a visual.

You're welcome.

And now I'm finished teaching my class

and I'm off to make us some lunch before

Kyle heads back to the farm.

(He had to come home and clean the carb

on his little generator - had some trash in there.)

I just heard it start, so he'll be coming in soon.

Have a fun Monday!