So Much DONE!

 Harvest Season.

Phew!!!

We had quite the list today.

And I got almost all of it done.

Thanks to Kyle and Rod helping.....

I went down and harvested more tomatoes.

Took the ones out of the freezer

and put them in the prep room sink

to thaw. They will take overnight.

There are a LOT of them,

and you can feel the cold coming

off of them when you stand near by.

Then we washed and I roasted 2 trays

of them with some of our onions.

They took FOREVER to roast.

But then I put them in the food processor

and whirred them around and around

and then jarred up 5 pints and put

them in the pressure canner.

It tasted really good before it went

into the jars, so hopefully it will

still taste good after!

They came out during my first break 

during tonight's class.

(Yes, it's Labor Day and I had 20 students!)

Meanwhile the tomatoes we harvested

the other day were all ripe, so we

washed and trimmed those and got them

into bags and into the freezer.

And then the newest ones got laid out

on the counters to finish getting ripe.

It's a dance.

But in the middle of all that,

we peeled and chopped FIVE trays

of cucumbers - seasoned with

dill pickle popcorn seasoning.

It was  HUGE hit at the market!

I sold out!

I also cut and froze all the okra 

we harvested ... yesterday?

We are getting a nice stash of okra

for over the winter.

(There's another row above what is

in the picture, and more out in the

garage freezer and in the kitchen freezer...)

And more growing!

Good thing, cuz it's DELISH!

I also got 2 loads of laundry in,

Rod pulled out one load and got the

2nd in the dryer and during break

I got that one out and put away...

I think the only things left are the

jalapenos and some fun snacks

I want to give a try to.

Neither are very important.

I was going to make pepper jelly,

but when I read the recipe again,

it only calls for 1/4 cup of jalapenos.

I have more than a pound.

So I found a fun quick pickle for them

that I might try.

Jim and Sabrina really like pickled jalapeno,

so maybe..... we'll see.

(Well, I also have a HUGE bucket

of potatoes I need to wash, chop, 

blanch and freeze as well as that

wagon of onions still calling my name...)

And there are MORE tomatoes in the

garden, I just ran out of buckets.

I'll pick first thing in the morning again.

It was a FULL day.

I had a bowl of yogurt with some fresh

strawberries cut in for breakfast

about 8:30 and then grabbed a quick

turkey and cheese sandwich just

before I started class at 4:30.

So I think I'll go find something to eat

and then we will head off to bed.

Rod works 8-4 tomorrow.

Needs a good night sleep!

Hope your Monday was fun!

Wanna See Some of the House?

 I was talking with Soni on the phone

today and sent her a bunch of pictures,

so I thought I might share them here too!

I bought some new shelves from Walmart.

They are simple,

inexpensive,

and relatively easy to put up.

And Kyle doesn't have to manufacture them.

This one is FULLLL of dvd's from the old house.

Another matching one is on the other

side of the piano with my cook books

on the bottom, my pretty bread pan

and a buffalo statue on top.

(And now, I have some of our old

photo albums on the empty shelf...)

A third went into the bedroom where

there has been a big black tote.

It was full of blankets, but I bought

some of those vacuum bags and we

put them all under the bed.

Winter is coming..... but not YET.

The oval picture above Rod's dresser

is his Grandfather from WW1.

He loves to hang stuff on the walls.

This is "his side" of the office.

Some old pencil drawings of airplanes,

a clock made from a motorcycle part,

and a picture of the family.

And outside the office door is a hat

hanger from Mom and our old

Buffaloe sign from the Indialantic house!

(And the kitchen in the distance...)

(with... horrors... a blank wall!

Soon to have a fun picture on it,

as soon as I find one.)

Here's the view from the bedroom doorway.

Except now ALL the boxes are gone!!!!

YEA!!!

We went through them all,

pulled out some stuff,

tossed some stuff,

and sent some back to storage.

The prep room.

Shelves with canned stuff on the left.

A little red microwave, and one of my

pressure canners, and then a BUNCH

of red ripe tomatoes I need to do

something with pretty soon.

Then crates full of cucumbers...

(Jim came by and got them to sell

tomorrow at the market)

the freeze dryers, 

more ripe tomatoes,

a couple jars of freeze dried peppers

and 2 canisters of freeze dried

cucumber slices with some

dill pickle popcorn seasoning on them

(YUM!!!)

and the stand-up freezer.

Full of frozen tomatoes.

(With an empty shelf for me to put

freeze dryer trays on...)

Lots of bags of frozen okra in the door.

And a peak at some of my

canned goods and some of 

the spaghetti and honey baby

squash on the bottom.

(And MORE cucumbers.....)

Anyhow.

Now that all the boxes are gone,

that wall looks really bare.

We have some nice wood that used

to be the bed frame for our old

double bed (the new one is a king)

so I think I'll ask Rod to build a

shelf on the long wall.

I always have more stuff to put

on a shelf!

There are LOTS more books in storage.

Ok, I'm off to watch a little TV and

then to bed.

We are doing the WaKeeney market in

the morning and it starts at 8.

Night!

Rodeo Fun!

 I'm late posting this, but it has

been a busy week.

Saturday morning we attended the

Hill City farmers market.

It was a really light day...

most of the vendors weren't there.

We usually set our table next to 2 really

nice ladies - Julie & Jacqui.

They are neighbors.

(Jacqui rents a house on Julie's farm.)

Jacqui was going hiking with her

family and Julie was starting calving

for the next 2 weeks.

The lady with the cake pops wasn't

there either. And neither was the

sour dough bread lady.

But Phyllis was there with her jams

and jellies and some produce,

and a new lady, Cindy, was there

with some muffins.

And us.

They had arranged for the karate club

to come down for kid's story hour.

One of the members read a story and

the club acted it out.

It looked like they were having great fun!

Then 2 high school students read 2 more

stories and then they helped the kids

make beaded caterpillars.

We had a good day. 

Sold lots of freeze dried peaches and

ice cream sandwiches.

Even a couple peeps.

Jim and Sabrina had a GREAT day at their

market - sold over 100 cucumbers and

lots of her amazing bread and rolls.

She makes yummy cinnamon rolls and

some lemon/blueberry rolls.

They have quite a following now!

And then, in the evening, we drove

about 45 minutes north west to a town

called Hoxie for another rodeo.

This one was bull riding, ranch bronc riding,

and barrel racing.

Lots of local talent.

We sat next to this guy's parents.

It was a short ride, didn't make the whistle.

He's only 19 and just getting started.

His second ride of the evening

was also pretty wild.

Everybody walked away.

But it was exciting!

He got a re-ride off that one,

but didn't do much better on that one.

By that time I was tired of taking

pictures and just enjoyed the show.

Kyle messed with my shutter speed

so I could get better pictures.

Lots of guys got tossed.

And one of the ranch broncs

jumped out of the arena and only

made it half way!

Got stuck on the top of the fence,

half in and half out.

Luckily there is another pen on

the outside of the arena and she

jumped into that....

the cowboys were able to get her

safely over the fence and,

although she was probably sore

the next day, maybe she'll never

try that again!

It was a fun night,

under a beautiful moon.

A Very Sad Day

 Today we lost a beloved member

of our family.

Jim and Sabrina's

cherished dog, Sweet Charlotte

crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

She was such a character!

She actually liked her socks!

They really helped on those slippery

hardwood floors!

She truly loved her people.

Even as old as she was,

she jumped and spun and sometimes barked

when Sabrina came home from work.

And never left Jim's side when he was home.

She had such a sweet smile!

She (and Aunt Karen's dog) were the only

dogs I've ever seen really WATCH TV.

But time catches up to all of us eventually.

And today was her day to cross the bridge

and reunite with others of her family.

We are so honored to provide her a 

final resting place there under the

beautiful trees along the walking path.

Rest in peace our Sweet Charlotte.

Know that you are loved.

You will be missed terribly.

But we are grateful you are 

again comfortable and able to

again run and jump and play.

Til We Meet Again.

Another New Chapter Begins

 You know Rod.

Never content to just relax...

so now that the house is nearing

completion...

he got a job.

Today was his first day.

He's working Tuesdays at our little

local hardware store in Hill City.

I guess he figured he was there all the

time, they might as well pay him.

(grin)

Today he put together a giant

BBQ grill and 2 weed wackers.

Plus they showed him how to

custom mix paint, and a bunch

of other things.

I think he will enjoy it!

He likes interacting with folks.

Congrats Rod!

Thinking About Dad

 Today Dad would turn 95.

I'm grateful he is able to celebrate

this day in heaven with his friends and

family from that side of the veil.

But I miss him here.

In his honor I went for a walk this morning.

Grateful for the shade of some

trees along the way.

Dad enjoyed his time in nature.

If I could whistle, I would have.

But I can't, so instead I listened to

some pretty music on my phone.

This is the very back fence on our property.

(Also the ward boundary... lol)

This is where our herd of deer bed down

during the night.

When you turn to go back you

realize it's a LONG way... hahaha.

When I zoom in you can see the

tip of our roof off to the left.

And if you look up and zoom in,

there is the pig barn on the right,

the chicken house in the center,

and Kyle's 2nd floor on the left.

The garden is in the valley, but

off to the left where you can't see it.

(This is taken at the 1/3 mark, by 

the water trough...)

Speaking of the water trough...

it had some visitors this morning.

There's only a little bit of rain water 

in the bottom right now.

I watched them for a bit and then

hollered, EVERY BODY OUT OF THE POOL.

They scampered away...

But his buddy had to get a peak at

me first...

I know Dad would have enjoyed the encounter.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love you.

I miss you.

I'm proud of the life you lived.

And if I knew what you were 

up to up there, I know I would

continue to be proud to 

be your daughter.

Pictures..... Lots of Pictures. LOL

 It was another productive day.

Rod installed our new weather station.

Yup, UPS was actually able to

find our house.

So exciting!

There's a little hill of dirt Kyle

piled up when he was digging

the house foundation.

Rod also MOWED a TON of land.

It's much bigger than it looks.

And there is actually some green

under that brown stuff on top.

It goes out a good bit,

and then all the way to

the front gate!

(That's the neighbors, a couple miles

west of us... Barb and Steve.)

He also cleaned up around the

stock tank and is going to re-install

the solar pump so that well can start

filling the tank again so the deer

will have something to drink.

And although you can't see it,

he mowed a nice wide trail

going from the house,

to the stock tank,

and on up the valley all the way

to the back property fence.

It will make a good walk in the

mornings and/or evenings.

I've also been busy.

Aren't these the CUTEST labels???

There's tomato sauce and peach jam...

Thanks Mom! They're adorable!

Yesterday I did 4 pints of tomato sauce.

And this morning I did the 

final 8 pints of peach jam.

(not pictured here...)

Some of the roma tomatoes Rod and I

harvested yesterday.

As well as the rest of the banana peppers

after Kyle and I pickled 2 pints today.

(All I had enough vinegar for...)

and a good batch of jalapeno peppers we

harvested the other day.

Kyle and I just harvested a 2-1/2 gallon

pail of orange okra and another big

bunch of jalapeno.

I'm thinking about doing some pepper jelly. 

And check out THESE gorgeous peppers!

These are what was left after Kyle 

chopped 5 trays worth and got them

into the freeze dryer.

We are so excited! We've never been

successful growing peppers before!

Here's our pretty pickled banana peppers.

We have a bunch of yellow ones in the 

garden, but wanted to get these ripe ones

into jars.

They smelled really good!

Here's a peak of my favorite view 

on the property.

The little road through the woods,

down to the garden.

And here is the latest iteration of

the living room layout.

There's more "stuff" on the island

than there should be,

but I'm pretty sure that's going to 

just be something I'm going to have

to get used to.

(grin)

Tomorrow we are going to install

the new blinds for the office.

And then I'm heading in to WaKeeney

to spend the afternoon with Sabrina

learning how to make her amazing

focaccia bread.

Hopefully I can do half as well as she does.

Just got back from taking Bear and Beau 

for a quick evening walk.

The sunset was beautiful.

Standing up by the pig pastures

and looking out over the west

side of our land.

The little road is behind the left

side of the gate.

The garden is down in the valley in front

of the trees.

You can't see it unless you are on top of it.

Can you find Bear?

He's nearly the exact color of

the grass. He loves to go 

"off trail"... while Beau, the

City Dog stays on the path and

almost never strays into the "wild stuff".

And yet, Beau comes home with a 

tick and Bear doesn't......

Sigh.