Whew!

 What a morning!

The PLAN (hahahahahahahaha)

was to make some bread and

potato soup to take to the guys.

I opened my freezer to get my

yeast and noticed some

WET brown liquid INSIDE the freezer.

WHAT???

So, I have 9 bananas in the door,

for when the itch for banana

bread strikes.

They were thawed.

And dripping.

And so was EVERYTHING ELSE

in the freezer.

ARGH!

So, luckily we have a bunch

of those white trays we use at the

farmer's market.

I loaded those up with everything

in the freezer and out to the garage

freezers it all went.

About that time Rod got home from

ANOTHER Home Depot run,

so he helped me clean everything out

of the fridge as well.

And out to the garage fridge.

The compressor is not running.

And it's a NEW fridge!

Also empty.

And dirty.

Then BACK to the original plan.

Except when you need to grab

something out of the fridge,

that means a trip to the garage.

(My tracker ways 1500 steps so far...)

Anyhow.

I got all the bacon cooked and crumbled.

The onions cooked in the bacon grease.

The potatoes cubed and in water in

deli tubs so they don't brown.

The carrots are freeze dried so just had

to grab the jar for that one.

Mixed up a little tub with all the dry 

seasonings and flour etc...

Meanwhile, I did a triple batch of

banana bread and got that in the oven.

I have LARGE pans, so just cooked it as two loaves.

Got a loaf each of cheddar cheese bread

and another with cranberries, pecans and

orange zest (Soni's idea...)

Hope they are yummy.

I'll bake them when I get to Kyle's house.

I'm just going to make a big pot of

soup and then I leave it on warm on

his stove so they can come eat it

whenever they are ready.

It's supposed to start raining around

4:00-ish so they can't stop. 

But once they DO stop, they'll be

ready for a good, hot meal.

So.

That's my day.

(Oh, also a phone call with Dan.)

E GADS!!! I nearly forgot I have

a zoom call with the RS Presidency

in 30 minutes.

GRRRRRRRR.

I'll start it on my phone and then

hopefully I won't drop the call

when I get to the farm road.

Ok.

Gotta dash.

Look Who's Here!

He got here!!!!!

And yes, he has a LOT of hair.

Lol.

He was here almost EXACTLY one year ago.

And he said he hasn't cut his hair since.

It looks good!

Who knew he had curls!

(Yup Grandma, it's still RED!)

We picked him up just after 11:00 last night

and drove through some really bizarre fog

on the way home. Sometimes we drove

through it, and sometimes we drove

UNDER it! It was neat...

Anyhow.

We were all tired, so off to bed.

And then they got right on it this morning.

(I jumped in the car and did a 2 hour run 

to Garden City Menard's for some roofing

stuff they are going to need later...)

Wall Number 1!

The telehandler makes it SO much easier!

(This is the wall in our office...)

Getting the long (40') walls up first.

The wall with no windows is the prep room.

Where the freeze dryers, etc will live.

And then the short walls (36') 

on the North and South of the house.

I headed out to drop off the stuff I bought...

Came over the hill and...

There was a HOUSE!

They are cruising along!

Hopefully the weather will cooperate

for the rest of the week.

They need to fill the gaps,

put up the rafters and the roof,

and install the windows and doors.

We have 4 days left, but there 

MAY be some rain tomorrow afternoon,

and likely some on Friday.

PRAYER WARRIORS UNITE!!!

Ok, back to teaching.........

Walls!

 Rod and Kyle worked really hard today.

They got lots of zip board on 

the framed walls.

And then you cut out the window holes.

It's easier to put the board on while

they are laying down.

Tomorrow they will finish up (they ran out

of boards, so Rod needs to run into town

to get some more and MORE screws!)

And then it will be time to stand them up!

SO EXCITING!

Meanwhile, Jim is winging his way

from Orlando to Denver.

And then there's a LONG layover,

and he arrives in Hays just after

11:00 tonight.

SO EXCITED!

More Walls! (And a Photo Dump)

 I stopped by the farm after a trip

into Hays with Rod to get some

stuff from Home Depot (big surprise.... lol)

and the weekly groceries.

But I forgot to take a picture.

It was SO FUN to walk around and

imagine what it's going to look like!

Kyle has all the 4 walls framed.

They are laying flat on the floor,

so you have to use your imagination.

Tomorrow Rod is taking his truck

to a local guy for new tires and then

heading out to help Kyle put the

Zip board (skin) on the walls.

And then on Wednesday they should be

ready to "fly" the walls and put them up!

(Plus Jim will have arrived!!!! YEA!)

Anyhow.

Last night Kyle came over for dinner.

And sent me some of his pictures.

The skies in Kansas are so beautiful!

This is heading down the big hill from his house

to our house.

Looking out over the hen house.

Our house will be just on the other side of those dark trees.

Rod's shop and the hen house.

He even got some really good shots of the Aurora!

Ok.

Time to grab a bite of pizza

and watch a little TV and call it a night.

Tomorrow I'm taking Bear to the vet

to get his stitches out.

And then.... probably cleaning the house

to get ready for COMPANY!!!!!

YEA!

SEE YOU SOON JIMBO!

WISH YOU WERE COMING SABRINA!

BUT THANKS FOR LETTING ME HAVE

HIM FOR A FEW DAYS!

Build Update

Happy Sunday!

We had a really nice bunch of meetings today.

Rod started with a Bishopric meeting.

(I sat in the chapel and read...)

Then we had Ward Council.

Then an excellent Sacrament Mtg with

some really good speakers.

Then Sunday School.

I got called out to help with an issue,

and ended up having an impromptu 

Temple and Family History meeting

since I won't be there next week.

I got to visit with a couple of the sisters

in my ministering district, they are all

elderly and so sweet!

It was fun chatting with them while I

waited for Rod to finish up his meetings.

And then we drove home, inhaled a quick

peanut butter and peach jam sandwich

and jumped back in the car to drive out

to the farm.

This is what it looked like last night.

Rod and Kyle got the floor all done!

Well, Rod and I made a trip into Hays in

the morning to get screws and other

fasteners... and then he headed out there.

A couple hours later he called, he was

on his way back into town for another

Home Depot trip for some MORE (different)

screws - these were for one of the guns.

Once Kyle got those, and he and I snapped

some chalk lines on the floors, he was

able to get about a third of it screwed down.

So this morning he finished that.

And after just 3 hours, this is what he did

this afternoon!

I know, it looks weird,

but that is the entire 40' east wall!

Ready to install the zip boards and then

stand up!

(Except he is going to do ALL the walls

while they are laying down and then

he will stand them up all at once. Easier

to stand one, brace it, stand another, brace it

but also attach to the first wall... etc all the

way around, so he doesn't have to worry about

them blowing down overnight or anything.)

Kansas.

Wind is a THING out here.

Anyhow.

He was pleased with his progress today,

so he knocked off a bit early so he could

feed the pigs and take the dogs for a 

walk BEFORE the sun went down.

And then he is heading into town for dinner

with us and to pick up his single bed

from his old bedroom.

He'll set it up in his living room so Jim

has a place to sleep.

So....

that's the progress report for today!

More tomorrow!

Friday Update

Look!

I got 4 jars of cranberries out of the

freeze dryer. 

Aren't they pretty?

They are (as always) MUCH prettier in person.

And tasty too!

I also got 4 jars of good, thick

spaghetti sauce.

I let it simmer on the stove for a couple

of hours while I was out at the farm.

I had an hour and a half zoom with the

RS Presidency, and did a little work in

the garden, started getting the old tomato

plants off the cattle panels.

I finished that today.

Anyhow,

I hope the sauce is yummy.

It sure smelled good, but I was running

short on time and needed to hurry and

get it in the pressure canner so it would be done.

Then I pulled out another pressuer

COOKER and put a pork roast in for dinner.

Today I went out to the farm and

finished the rest of the tomatoes.

I still need to do something with the okra

and the things on the tunnels, but I needed

to get back home to teach.

AND it was HOT out there!

Yup, it's TINY, but it actually says

EIGHTY SIX DEGREES!

On November 14.

Of course, winter is arriving NEXT week,

while Jim is here helping with the house build.

Sigh.

But goodness gracious!

It was quite toasty out there.

This is a terrible picture, but I was tired and didn't

want to get back out of my car, so I took it

out the window.

The guys are getting all the floor joists trimmed to

the right size and screwed in place!

(They add 5 inches of "trimmable" to each joist,

just in case you need it...)

Next up?

Floor boards!

It's so exciting seeing not only how big

it really is, but also where it is going

to actually BE on the property.

It was hard to tell with it just being a

big ol' hole in the ground with dirt piled all

around it.

But now I can imagine standing in my bedroom

and gazing out the windows at the woods

next to the house.

I'm so excited!

Ok, I better go eat some dinner.

And get to bed.

Another day tomorrow......

and lots to get done.

Happy Weekend!

Tomato (and Cranberry) Day

 Today is TOMATO and Cranberry DAY!

I'm finally going to process

those tomatoes that have been

sitting on the washer/dryer

for a couple of weeks.

There are still a few that aren't

ripe, but I'm done waiting.

I started by trimming and cutting

all of those tomatoes.

Filled my biggest dough bowl.

Ran them through the food processor.

I did a round using the dicer.

But decided the result was just as good

and the mess was WAAY less

if I just pureed them with the S blade.

Then I pushed them through a fine mesh

sieve and got "most" of the juice out

and was left with lots of "guts".

Ended up with a nice pot of juice

on the stove simmering down.

I sauted some onions and put in some

of the peppers I froze before.

Added a BUNCH of seasonings and

about a third cup of brown sugar.

WHY does processing food

make such a huge mess?????

But it's all cleaned up now.

It felt like it took forever,

but actually only barely 2 hours.

There's a bag of yummy treats for the pigs.

I'm going to add them to the box

of pumpkins and head out to the farm.

They are delivering our wood order.

I'll probably miss the delivery,

they are probably there now...

but I want to check on progress.

And then I'll come back and jar up

the spaghetti sauce and get it into

the pressure canner.

I also picked up 4 bags of cranberries

at the store on Tuesday.

So those went through the food processor

first with just a slicer blade.

They are in the freeze dryer.

Should be done sometime tomorrow.

YUM!

I also bought a bag of real oranges

and I'm going to try my hand at

real cranberry sauce.

Although I'm a fan of the jellied

stuff that looks like the can

when it comes out.

Soni suggested I put some orange zest

in my bread when I make it with 

cranberries and pecans.

So... a bag of oranges it is!

(They didn't have any singles...)

Ok.

Got to run!!!!

Happy... Thursday?

Sheesh.