Falling Behind!

 It's not like I don't have anything to say.....

I just haven't said it.

Hahahaha.

Yesterday Rod built us two lovely oak shelves above the stove!

No more putting my spices on the stove and stuff falling behind.

Kyle and I put down some of his flooring just

to see if he still liked his choice.

I think it's BEAUTIFUL!

He got the painting done.

Doesn't it look nice?

(And he found these OLD beach chairs in the trash

the other day - they are OLD, but still comfy!)

So... that's what's going on here.

I just finished tonight's class.

Rod just pulled the pizza out of the oven.

Kyle is on his way home from Hays.

(Primary Activity Boys...)

And tomorrow I PACK!!!!!!!

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

"Spring" in the MidWest

 We woke up this morning to a light snow shower.

It was only 33 degrees!

A bit chilly.

But we are still celebrating spring around here...

My grape hyacinth is blooming

(and smelling awesome)

on the kitchen windowsill.

(None of the snow stuck, it turned to a light rain shower,

always grateful for any moisture we receive...)

SPRING!!!!!

 It's doesn't actually FEEL much like spring right now.

Today and yesterday it was high 80. (Yesterday hit 90)

Of course, over the weekend it's dropping back

into the 50's and 60's......

But either way it has been lovely.

And not snowing. 

Hahahaha.

But when I look out the front window....

There's popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

(Except it's not an apricot tree... 

but we can pretend, right?)

Isn't that just gorgeous?

There are little green buds on most of the trees.

(Except the big one in our backyard...)

But all the roses are starting to pop leaves.

And the lilacs.

And there are daffodils and tulips starting to

show up in people's front gardens....

It's SO pretty!

We had "spring" in Florida.

But this just feels like... more.

And we are loving it!

Muscle Testing, Etc.

 While I wait for my dandelion tea to cool 

enough to drink.... (HOW do people drink

scalding hot coffee???)

So... the benefits of dandelion tea

(and dandelion in general)

are MANY!

I've been drinking it daily now for a long time.

Maybe a year?

And I have also been taking a milk thistle supplement

for helping detoxing and keeping your liver healthy.

I've muscle tested my milk thistle before and my

body tells me that it is something it needs and

to continue it's use.

But this week when I was making up my supplements

for the week, milk thistle tested NEGATIVE!

Which is good news!

It means my liver no longer needs the extra support.

The tea still tests positive.

(Muscle testing is the COOLEST "voodoo"... lol.)

There are several ways to do it, but I find sway

testing to work well for me.

I start by making sure I'm in a happy frame of mind.

I usually have some feel good music playing

in the house, so I just look out the window at

the beautiful nature and make sure I'm happy.

Then I hold whatever I'm testing in both hands

and rest it against my chest.

Then I ask "Is _______ good for my body?"

I have my eyes closed to reduce distractions.

If I sway forward, it's yes.

Backward is a no.

Occasionally I'll do a baseline.

"My name is Collette". (Forward)

"My name is Beth". (Backward)

Then sometimes for fun I'll ask

"Do I need 1 pill?" (yes)

"Do I need 2 pills?" (neutral)

"Do I need 4 pills?" Almost fall backwards. lol.

So I back down... 3? 2? 1? until I find a good yes.

Yup.

It's voodoo.

But it's also pretty amazing that our bodies 

know what they need.

Anyhow.

I have recently reduced my daily pills from 17

down to 11. That means I'm healing.

(But I'm still fat...)

They say you get healthy to lose weight.

Not lose weight to get healthy.

So there's that.

Also, I eat fruit snacks.

HA!

Anyhow.

Back to dandelions.

We were in town yesterday.

There was a guy with a big tank and a sprayer,

spraying the grass patches around a hotel.

Spraying for dandelions.

Last night when we got back to the farm

to drop off the paint we bought,

we trayed up 3 more trays of seed starts.

LOTS and LOTS of tomatoes.

Some of those really fun lunchbox peppers.

And a full tray of herbs.

Echinacea, lemon balm, lemon grass, mint,

comfrey, something else... (oh yah, nettles),

AND WILD DANDELION!

Hahahahahahaha!

Everybody else is trying to get rid of it.

And we are cultivating it.

We will need to "up pot" some of those seedlings next week.

Good thing we have some extra shelves and more lights coming.

Also, a TERRIBLE picture, but it was from a LONG way away!

Those are DEER!

We were standing on Kyle's porch and there were 10 deer

WAAAAAAAAY at the back of his 40 acres.

And while we were watching them, we heard a coyote

and watched him across the road skimming around

the edges of a herd of cows. Scouting for babies?

Or just on his way to find his nightly rabbit.

Kyle said it was the first time he had SEEN one.

You HEAR them out there, but they aren't usually out in the open.

(Unlike in Tucson! lol.)

Anyhow.

We got LOTS accomplished.

Although we didn't get his drivers license.

You need a birth certificate. I forgot.

Oh well... we'll do it next time.

We did go to Hays Greenhouse and got Kyle a

lavender plant (SUPER $$$ but whatever...)

it was offset by SUPER cheap seed potatoes.

($0.85 a pound!!!)

So we got 12.5 pounds of yukon gold

as well as 2 bunches of Walla Walla and 2

bunches of Videlia onion sets.

Kyle tilled the garden on Monday.

We will be ready to start putting stuff in the ground

in two weeks. We have another possible snow event

coming this weekend. Nothing like the last one...

but still in the forecast, so we'll see.

It's Official. I'm Old.

 Yup.

You'd think I was officially old when I turned 65.

Nope.

It didn't happen until today.

When I got my FIRST

Social Security Retirement check.

Yesterday we set up the shelves and lights

in Kyle's shed.

Everything looks a little dusty right now.

They were in his house while he was drywall sanding.

But a few day getting daily water spritz will take care of that...

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are nearly ready for up-potting.

Another couple of days.

The stuff under the domes is coming along.

I think we are supposed to plant tomatoes this week.

Guess I should check.

Kyle started working on filling in the pond yesterday.

But I think today he's going to start tilling where 

we plan to put the garden.

Meanwhile Rod is building a stand for the new well pump.

(Actually our OLD well pump from the other house...)

And then we need to get started on running water to the garden.

I'm SOOOOO EXCITED!

This is going to be such a game changer!

And Then it was SPRING!

 WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Spring has Sprung!

Most of the snow is all melted, there are a few stubborn

spots (mostly in the shade) but yesterday it was 60.

And today should be in the mid 60's.

Tomorrow... 75.

It only went down to 40 last night.

My new little rhubarb is growing about an inch a day.

I planted one last year, its peaking out of the ground,

but it's a green variety and Soni said those are slimy.

EEEEUUUWWWW.

This one is a red variety.

I'm excited!

Isn't he cute?

He's in the house for now, but will be moving outside soon.

Rod took some good pictures of our snowball fight,

but I forgot to get them from him and they are gone for the day.

I'm home today, it's a "double" day.

Just finished teaching the morning class.

Now I need to do some tidying around the house

and get ready for tonight's class.

Yesterday Rod and I had a Town Date.

Went into town to Home Depot and Ace Hardware.

And then to Taco Bell.

It was fun!

(We are so fancy! hahahaha.)

Next week we are going out for a steak dinner

at the High Plains Farm Credit customer appreciation gala.

So there's that.

But for now, I'm going to go eat something.

I have to start teaching at 7:30 and I don't usually

get up that early, so I had a piece of toast.

But now I'm hungry!

(Been drinking lots of dandelion tea in my fancy cup though...)

Thanks Rozann!

(You gotta wear bright red lipstick when you zoom

or you look like you don't have a mouth... its weird.)

 

And Then There Was SNOW!

 Overnight the forecasted blizzard hit.

It's not THAT cold out there, about 30.

But with the windchill it feels like 14.

(So the guys tell me... I am inside...

just climbed out of my nice warm bed to

give y'all an update...)

It's still snowing and quite windy.

The crews have been out on the roads already though.

There is less snow under the trees... the wind is blowing from

the north so where there's nothing to stop it,

the snow is just sweeping away.

What car?

In the little cave between the houses, there's no wind and it's really piling up.

However, in our backyard where we have privacy fence,

the wind is less severe and EVERYTHING is buried.

Notice the chair and A/C unit up against the house.

The chickens have an IGLOO!

Kyle moved them yesterday to a more protected spot.

Hopefully the girls are ok.

No sign of them yet this morning.

(As usual though, LUNA is LOVING it!)

(Beau peed in the house.)

Kyle and his snow shovel to the rescue!

Rod couldn't even get the back door open this morning.

He said there was 4-5" of snow piled in front of it.

We are snuggly warm inside though.

There are approximately 6600 people without power,

many of them in Hays.

But we are fine.

Can't see out any of our windows though.

And........ tomorrow's high is in the 60's.

So this won't last.

It's a HEAVY, WET snow, which is going to be good

for the fields and our new garden we are planting in 2 weeks.

Grateful for the moisture.

And the adventure.

And praying for all the first responders and others

who have no choice but to venture out.

We retirees are staying put.

(And I'm going to bake chocolate chip cookies.

Because.)