Travel Day

The long awaited day is HERE!

Today we are traveling east to

Springfield, Missouri.

It's about a 7 hour drive from here.

Of course, you have to add in

fuel stops, etc.

But at least we aren't travelling with dogs.

We are staying tonight in the Bass Pro Shop Hotel.

It should be nice. 

It had good reviews.

And they have a good "southern" country breakfast.

Then the event starts tomorrow morning at 9:00.

I got us each a notebook to write notes and questions.

Since everyone will hear something different.

And then we can compare notes on the long drive home.

Just waiting for my clothes to come out of the dryer.

And then we can load up and head on out.

Jim is HERE!

Jim got here Saturday evening!

And we have been having fun!!!

Lots of "boy talk".

(We need more chairs!)

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day.

So we had a nice breakfast of bacon and

french toast (made with raisin bread)

and then we headed out to drive around

town and show Jim a little about where we live.

And then it was out to the farm.

We had a patch of wild "ditch weed".

The guys walked over to check it out.

(Speaking of checking things out...

look how green the grass still is! And it's mid November!)

Some of that stuff got like 9 feet tall!

(It's no good for anything, just funny.)

We took him by to check out the antique plough.

It might be fun to clean it up a little and

move it up front as yard art!

Meanwhile, Rod is doing the final tweaks

in preparation for concrete.

Unfortunately, it's pouring rain today.

So we had to reschedule to Friday.

In preparation for the rain, Kyle dug a trench

along the leading edge where the water runs

off the hill and straight into our foundation hole.

That should reduce the amount of repairing

we will have to do to prep for Friday.

(We hope...)

It took him longer to drive over and back

than it did to dig the trench.

He's very talented!

He also put Jim in the drivers seat and let him

play on the hill for a bit!

It's HARD to run an excavator...

both hands are working at the same time,

and each hand is in charge of two operations.

All at the same time.

But he caught on pretty quickly.

By the way, the random dog is NOT our's.

He is from a couple miles down the road.

His name is Chester.

He likes to race the vehicles that drive down

the road... we were standing on a "cliff"

at the front edge of the property above 

the 5-ish acres we set aside for Jim and Sabrina.

He is thinking digging INTO the cliff and having

a walk-out basement/garage.

So we were standing there.

The neighbor's cow came over to check us out.

And then Chester showed up!

(I guess he could see us up on the hill...)

He spent the afternoon with us.

We will probably see him lots, now that

he knows we are there.

And we're friendly.

At least until Luna (the rottweiler) moves to the farm.

She's not quite as friendly.

Hahaha.

Anyhow.

It was a fun day!

We came home and made one of Reid's

famous roasts.

And some mashed potatoes.

And a couple of our spaghetti squash.

It was YUMMY!

Today we are watching lots and lots of

farming and chicken farm videos on YouTube.

Hopefully it will have a break in the rain

at some point so we can go outside

and harvest all the rest of the tomatoes.

It's supposed to drop to 27 tonight.

And with all the water, that's not going

to be great for the tomatoes.

But for now, we are snuggly warm inside.

Just watching and learning.

And enjoying family time together.

Fun Saturday

First exciting new, Jim is ON THE PLANE!

A little over 3 hours to Denver.

Then a layover for a bit and 

switch planes and fly into HAYS!

I'm so excited to see him!!!

We've been getting ready to add 

a fourth person to this little house.

Hahaha.

We borrowed Kyle's bedroom Laz-Y-Boy so now

there are four chairs across the room.

It's a little crowded by the door,

but we don't really use it except to check

the mail and bring in deliveries.

In the summer I keep it open for the breeze,

but these days I have closed all the heavy windows

(remember this house has double windows...

the good old fashioned 1950's windows and then

they attached some aluminum frame windows

with screens on the outside of the house.

Weird, but effective.)

There was a noticeable difference in the

temperature when I closed the big windows.

I've also been re-arranging my office so 

Jim will have a place to blow up a

mattress and sleep at night.

It's not HUGE, but there's ample room

for a twin mattress. 

There's a chair in the corner,

and I cleaned off most of my desk

so he has a place to put his suitcase, etc.

Check out all those spaghetti squash!

The guys have gone up to the farm.

The cinderblock is supposed to be delivered today.

And they have a little more to do with the

rebar in preparation for (maybe) concrete

delivery on Monday.

(If the weather forecast changes... its 

looking like rain. Darn it!)

Anyhow.

I made two batches of bread dough just now.

The closest one is raisin bread with

pumpkin pie spice.

The further one is onion/garlic and this morning

I added a bunch of Everything Bagel seasoning.

I have them sitting in the sun with my

vintage hand towels!

I'm SO EXCITED to use them!

On to the next project!

Woo Hoo! We DO Exist!!!

 Yea, thanks to Rod, we now

HAVE AN OFFICIAL ADDRESS!! 

You can now Google our address.

(We don't have a mail box... so don't send anything,

but now we can get physical deliveries without the

whole "drive to the first tree" kind of thing.)

2971 J Road

Hill City, KS 67642

If you pull it up, it will show it to you!

That thing where Kyle is looks like a lake.

It's not.

That's the death tree forest.

Today he is moving dirt and was probably

driving through the forest down to the valley

with a load of dirt.

But since we don't have good cell reception

it doesn't update his location very often.

But YEA!

Now you don't have to guess where we are!

I'm super excited.

As are all the tradespeople who are making

deliveries in the next little while.

I think tomorrow we are getting the

cinderblock for the crawl space.

Then on Monday they are bringing in the concrete.

Then we have the trusses coming next Friday

*I think...

And of course we will have a lumber order

coming soon as well.

Not to mention the new little shed that should

also be showing up in the next couple weeks.

So.

LOTS of activity coming soon!

Rod created a sign.

Bought a "No Parking Sign".

Turned it over,

painted it green and got some reflective

numbers and put 2971 on it.

Beats the stick with a pink ribbon on it.

WEEEEEEEEE!

Happy Weekend Everybody!

BRRRRR

 It got a little chilly overnight.

Most of the night was above freezing,

but you know the old saying.

It's always coldest just before the dawn.

And, today proved that to be true.

We bought a new little weather station

and the outdoor sensor is on the north

side of the garage.

It read 30 at 7 am.

It read 29 at 7:15.

And when I went outside to stand up

my Adirondack chair that had blown over

in the rain the other day,

this is what fell out.

Why yes, my skins IS pasty winter white.
Thank you for noticing!
Hahaha

ICE!

I'm a little nervous about our tomatoes.

Some of the leaves look a little wilty.

But we will have to see what the day brings.

Currently it is 46 out there.

It's supposed to be a lovely day.

But wow, that was a chilly start!

(Pretty sure the peas are fine, it gets cold

at night in Calgary and our peas survived.....)

Just want everything to still look "good" 

when Jim arrives on Saturday.

And then we plan to "chop and drop".

(Which means what it sounds like, cut everything

at the base and pile it up on the dirt like

a layer of insulating / composting stuff.)

You leave the roots in the ground to decompose

and also to keep the ground from compacting

too much over the winter.

Of course, we hope to be in our new house

in the spring, so not really planning to

garden in these beds.

Unless plans change.

But it's always a good idea to

"put your garden to bed" at the end of

the growing season.

The carrots are still in the ground and just

getting sweeter and sweeter.

We pick one or two everyday and boy they are 

YUMMY!

How Did It Get to be WEDNESDAY???

 Wow!

Time is FLYING!

The trusses are coming TOMORROW!

(They told us 2 - 3 weeks...... guess they 

found what they needed, as well as a driver!)

The cinderblock is coming Saturday.

Hopefully the concrete is coming Thurs or Fri.

(We are ready.... as we will ever be...)

The new shed is supposed to be here in 2-3 weeks

as well, but they will "squeeze us in" if they 

either get a cancelation or find a driver.

(Oh the joys of living off the beaten path.)

I have to run into town tomorrow and pick up

the J-hooks? J-Rods? (I don't know...) so

we can attach the walls to the cinderblock.

Whatever.

They're paid for and waiting for us.

I was supposed to get them today,

but we ALL forgot.

Also JIM IS COMING SATURDAY!!!!!

I'm so excited!!!

(Wish you were coming too, Sabrina!)

(soon, right?)

Anyhow.

Of course, that doesn't mean we aren't doing

a bunch of other stuff...

The girls are growing!

(They are afraid of the people monsters...

so when we peek over the top, they huddle in the corner...)

They are starting to get little tail feathers.

They are still in the cute stage.

I'm working on Christmas gifts.

And the guys are at the property everyday.

Rod went into the town and applied for an

actual STREET ADDRESS (house #) so we

can get deliveries and not have to say...

well, if you go to the white house with the dog,

and then drive past the pasture with a bunch

of farm equipment and then at the top of

the next rise there's a stick with a pink ribbon on it.

Hahahahahaha.

(Although, bless their hearts, that works...)

Anyhow.

We are BUSY!

And hoping to get BUSIER!

It's also cooling off.

My weather app says tomorrow will be warmer than today.

And LESS WINDY. (Thank goodness, it's been 

really blowing for the last 2 days...)

But the low tonight is supposed to be 30.

Luckily the wind will keep it from frosting.

So the peas should still be alive when Jim gets here.

The low Friday night is 46.

Hahahaha.

Anyhow.

Better get out of my office and eat some dinner.

Happy Wed!

(OK, probably Thursday by the time you see this.)

Sunday Musings

And we are back into Indian Summer!

And it's WONDERFUL!

The sun is shining.

The sky is blue.

Our cherry tomatoes are still producing.

The roma tomatoes we planted FROM SEED are

doing shockingly well. They are COVERED in fruit.

One is even starting to blush!

The peas are struggling, but we are still eating some every day.

My goodness the carrots are SWEET and DELICIOUS!

Still pretty small, but they will stay in the ground

for a couple more weeks.

Kyle mowed the yard again on Saturday.

Probably for the final time this year.

It's mostly dead, but there are pockets of green...

I love our little kitchen.

It's tiny, but we are getting it all done.....

Baking bacon and okra every morning.

And even making tiny raisin bread.

Of course, there is also some napping going on.

It's winter.

And the house build kicks into gear tomorrow.

So gotta rest up.....