ART!

 Rod is so happy to finally get to

hang art on the walls!

(I didn't let him in the WaKeeney

house... it was so small,

art on the walls stops the eye and

makes it feel EVEN smaller!)

But now that we have SPACE.......

go for it!

Hello giant metal buffalo from Arizona!

He was a challenge to hang.

Required MATH and everything... lol.

Oops, I didn't zoom in,

the wooden sign on the top says 

The Buffaloes

and 

Rod & Collette 

underneath.

This was a sign we had made VERY

early in our marriage.

It's old.

Rod ran the sander over the face and

it looks all new and refreshed.

And, of course, below is another really

cool metal piece from Arizona!

(You guys have good taste!)

(Also, yes, there are still a gazillion

boxes EVERYWHERE!)

Rod was busy while Kyle and I were

in Hays yesterday.

He got the prep room table all installed!

And this morning I used my pressure canner

to make a load of peach jam.

*YUM!

I could only make one batch because I

forgot to buy more pectin on Tuesday.

Darn it.

We also put the window AC in

the window... but since we moved

the pump to the shelf below the

freeze dryer, it hasn't given me a

single "warm room" warning and the

AC is set on 78 instead of the 76 it

was requiring to keep it cool enough.

(We were freezing, but the machine

was happy, until the AC cycled off

and then we got a warning, but as soon

as it cycled on again, it was fine...)

Today we are doing 3 trays of peaches,

a tray of mandarin oranges (customer request)

and a final tray of cantaloupe.

I really like it!

It doesn't taste like much when you

pop it in your mouth, but THEN the

flavor hits and sticks with you for a bit.

It's pretty tasty!

Here's a picture of the fence we put

up for Beau so he can use his dog door.

He uses it at night, but still scratches

at the front door during the day.

There's not much shade back there,

so maybe that's why?

It's been awhile since I gave you

a picture of the sky,

and tonight at the 8:00 break

it was SPECTACULAR!

We've been getting thunderstorms in the

middle of the night

(YEA for rain!!!)

and the sunsets have been gorgeous.

OK.

Need to go feed my darling husband.

(I ate WAAAAAAAAAY too many

peanut M&M's while I was teaching,

so I'm not actually hungry,

but I'm sure he's anxious for dinner.)

Night all!

Little Steps

 We do a little something EVERY day

to move this forward.

It's not always earth shattering

(or picture worthy)

but it's always something!

And today it was stuff I was

REALLY happy about!

Like......

Rod flipped the little metal stick

that comes out of the wall and goes

to the shower head.

It was upside down and that caused

the shower water to hit me right in

the FACE!

(And since I have a "bench" in the

shower, I couldn't just step back...)

So that meant I had to stand up at the

front of the shower and duck.

Not ideal.

But today he fixed it!

What a WONDERFUL shower I had!

(And, of course, the internet guy called

while I was in there so I had to cut

it short. Darn.)

But... we also got the internet box moved

from the laundry room on the floor

(where I was concerned it might get

a} stepped on

b} wet)

and put it behind my desk.

Eventually it will go ON the desk,

but we have to build the official desk first.

It's good where it is for now.

ALSO they put an extender on the outside

of the house, pointing down the little road

so WE HAVE INTERNET IN THE GARDEN!!!!

I'm not excited at all.

I can finally listen to books or podcasts while

working in the garden!

And make / receive phone calls!

Whew!

Also, Rod put up a little cattle panel 

fence / yard in the back so Beau can

go in/out his doggie door and not wander

off into the 160 acres and get lost or 

EATEN by a coyote!

Which means if he needs to potty in the

middle of the night he can without

waking Rod and making him take him out.

WHAT a relief!

So it's been a really good day.

But the only thing I could really take

a picture of was the fence.

And I forgot.

And it's dark now.

I also baked some of

Ardith's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

But, after they were all done and

not as good as usual,

I remembered there was NO EGG in them.

Sheesh.

We'll still eat them.

I also vacuumed and mopped all the

floors in the house.

And Rod fixed a leak under the

kitchen sink that sprung up today.

ANNNND I made us some really yummy

breakfast burritos that were very similar

to Sonic breakfast burritos.

(My favorite breakfast of all times...)

And now I'm done teaching.

I need to get the peaches and cantaloupe out

of the freeze dryer and get it bagged up.

And make something for dinner.

And Kyle brought 4 buckets of produce

up from the garden I should at least 

look at.

(But I won't.... I'll take care of it in the morning.)

So,

all in all, a very good, very productive

day... but no pictures.

Cuz... who wants a picture of a 

shower head?

Or an eggless cookie.

Or laundry.

Oh yeah, I did that too... better

get it out of the dryer.

Happy Saturday!!!

 Despite being Rod's birthday yesterday,

we still were hard at  work.

We now have an OFFICIAL office!

Yippeeeeeeeeee!

We still need to install real blinds

on the windows, but I haven't even

ordered them yet, so in the meantime,

sheets and blankets work.

We weren't the only ones hard at

work though.

Sabrina was baking her heart out!

She sent Jim to the farmers market

and when she woke up from her nap.....

They sold EVERYTHING except one

lone little chocolate chip pumpkin loaf.

WOW!!!!!

Congrats guys!

She's an amazing baker,

and he's an amazing salesman.

What a great team.

Today I'm teaching, and Rod and Kyle

headed to WaKeeney to work on

Kyle's ..... (something mechanical on his truck).

There's a concrete driveway,

which is more fun than working on

the dirt here in our yards.

Last night I pulled another 10 dozen

eggs out of the freeze dryer,

let it thaw over night,

and this morning before I started

class, I popped in 3 trays of cubed

cantaloupe and 2 trays of peaches.

They are happily drying.

I haven't started up the new machine yet.

It's been over 100 here lately,

so the AC is struggling to keep up.

But the next week should be in the

more reasonable high 80's.

So we'll give the new one a go then.

Meanwhile... I'm "done" for the day.

Happy Birthday My Darling!

 Today we celebrate the birth of

my darling husband, Rod.

It's been quite the year!

Might have even been touch and go

for a minute there!

From here......

To here....

To here....

To here....

To here!

He is a walking miracle!

Literally.

And from there it has continued to be

quite the journey.

He worked hard.

And before long he was back on

the stand, serving the members

of our ward.

He was feeling pretty good about the

doctor telling him that at 60 days he

was doing AMAZING!

Had a great visit with his brother

Scott and Janis, his wife.

He continues to support us in everything

we want to do.

From building our house,

to growing food in our garden,

to raising and butchering hogs,

and everything imaginable in between.

Through it all, he loves his family

more than anything.

He works HARD.

And deserves a nap.

I love you my darling.

Thank you for sticking around

and making our life together amazing.

Happy Birthday!

So Grown UP!

 I'm 66 years old.

And I'm FINALLY feeling

like an actual grown up.

I have a REAL bedspread!

I have a thingie to split my cabinet shelves.

I wouldn't need one if they actually included

TWO shelves in these cupboards.

I had the guy at Home Depot call the cabinet

vendor and they sent me an extra one for

my corner cabinet and one for this

cabinet.

The one for the corner was perfect.

The one for this cabinet fit Kyle's perfectly.

Haha.

But it was free, so I guess I can't complain.

Yes, the clock is on the counter.

It was hung over the window using a

command strip, and in the middle of the

night, it fell off the wall and landed

in the sink and then "someone" turned

the water on and filled it with water.

It is slowly drying.

And, so far, still working........

I have a spice riser like all the big girls!

It doesn't really help me see them all,

but looks better.

And I only BUY spices.

Don't actually USE them, so it's all good.

The ones I use are on the handy shelf

Rod built me above the stove.

And did I show you my actual

laundry room?

It's so exciting!

I did laundry!

And folded and hung it all as soon

as the dryer stopped.

And there were no wrinkles!

(OK, less wrinkles...)

There are still a GAZILLION boxes,

but little nooks and crannies are

coming together!

It's SUPER EXCITING!

Should Have Taken More Pictures!!!

 But we all know I'm NOT great

at remembering to do that...

Rod was BUSY BUSY today!

(I helped some...)

He put up the big Back 40 Beef

picture on the longest wall.

And our hairy cow on the shorter wall.

And the Welcome he and the boys

made for me for Christmas a gazillion

years ago...

But instead of emptying boxes,

we are just bringing MORE into the house!

You know what they say.

It has to get worse before it gets better.

Right?

Right???

It's going to get better..

Right???????

Hahahahaha.

We are making a trip into town tomorrow.

We will swing by the dump first and drop

off some of the empties.

That should help some.

And then pick up MORE STUFF from

the WaKeeney house.

(Or maybe wait and do that Wed?)

We need some wood from Home Depot

so we can get the second counter up in

the prep room so I can move stuff off

my pantry shelves and then move stuff

out of boxes onto the shelves.

And then get the shelves from my old

office and put stuff on those.

That will help.

A LOT.

But it's been less than 2 weeks.

And we have a lot of stuff.

And it's that old domino thing.

Can't do this until we do that.

And can't do that until we do this

other thing....

It will all get done.

Meanwhile, it's also harvest season.

So I'm also processing 5 or so 

cantaloupe, and all those peaches,

and okra, and green beans.

So it's fair to say we are busy.

Oh, and the day started with a lovely

rain shower. (We got about 0.16 last

night, with a little hail, and then a little

more rain this morning so I didn't

start the sprinklers until after lunch.)

Anyhow.

There's lots of do.

And we are doing it.

And we are HAPPY to be here!!!!!

It's so fun to look out the windows and

see the beautiful property and know

that it belongs to us.

YEA!!!!!

Getting Stuff Done

 I spent a couple of hours down

at the garden today.

Pulled a bunch of weeds and

harvested a gallon bag of 

green beans.

(Those are a PAIN to harvest!)

I planted them on the trellis

but also planted watermelon

and cantaloupe on the same 

trellis and they are TOTALLY

wrapped up in each other.

But as they get taller, it 

should get easier.

I hope.

Anyhow.

We got a nice haul today.

Actually there are five MORE cantaloupe, the green beans, AND a gallon bag of okra!
Plus Jim harvested a bunch of peppers and took them home for dinner.

Got a little sunburn, but not bad.

Also made sure I was up to speed

on the watering system since

Kyle is going to start

Door Dashing on Monday and it 

will be up to me to make sure

everything gets sufficient water.

The guys went over to the storage

and got Jim's washer and dryer and

took it to his house.

Took our machines out and put his

in and got them all hooked up.

And then they brought our machines

over to the new house.

YEA!!!

I don't have a dryer vent yet,

so I can't do any laundry,

but Rod will pick up one tomorrow.

The brown box is a shelf to be

installed over the machines so I can

store my soap and dryer sheets

and also hang the clothes as they

come out of the dryer.

We got all the boxes off the island.

It looks GOOD!

(But we haven't sealed it yet, so 

there shouldn't be anything on it.... lol.)

Got the piano, but it's still in the

box. Going to move the TV over a little.

Eventually the TV will be on the other wall,

but currently that wall is covered in boxes.

One day at a time.

The office is a mess,

but I plan to get it all set up tomorrow morning

while Rod is in town helping a member

move to their new house.

(No farmers market...)

(There is one, but we aren't going.)

I can't find my little bags I put my

freeze dried stuff in.

I have an idea, but don't have the

energy tonight to find them and then

package up a bunch of stuff.

So we will just take the weekend off.

Oh, and here's the bedspread in the daytime!

I really like it.

OK.

Class is over.

Blog is done.

Paperwork is submitted.

I'm going to go find something to feed

us and then we will wind down and

head off to bed.

NIGHT ALL!

Have a great weekend!