Spring Has Sprung!!!

 I know, it's still officially winter.

But......

I opened the kitchen curtain this 

morning and there he was!!!!

The first Robin of the season!

Living in Florida messed with my brain

so badly! We got robins migrating through

in January.

NO!!!!

So at least we are "closer" to the right time here.

Welcome little buddy!

Monday Funday

 Rod and I took Beau and went out 

to the farm to do some measuring

for the new A/C unit.

While he was doing that, I went

down to the garden where Kyle

was running "Nelson" the sprinkling tractor.

He's watering the peas.

We are ANXIOUSLY watching for them

to SPROUT!

(Grow peas, grow!!!)

(Nothing yet, but it's only been a few days.)

Anyhow.

I finished pulling the old okra from

last season's garden.

(My fingers are sore tonight!)

And then we headed back to the house.

Rod called to get the AC unit on order.

And I called to make a butcher appointment

for the hogs.

He said, Oh good, I just had a cancellation.

I can get you in here on May 27.

WHAT???????

I'm used to getting a butcher date within

a week or 2 at the most!

Yikes!

So.... I guess we will continue to feed

these two big boys until then.

Or... maybe we'll take them to the 

sale barn and sell them for whatever we

can get, feed the two smaller ones and

they will be ready to butcher by their date.

(The longer you feed them, they don't

grow bigger, they just get fatter. And although

fat is good, it's not what you want...)

We'll see.

The market is on Thursdays and they

sell pigs FIRST and it's like an hour or

two away, so we would have to load up

at the crack of dawn.

(Probably load up the night before

and just leave them in the trailer overnight.)

Anyhow.

It was WARM out there today!

Yes, it says 82.

On March 9.

And no, we are NOT in Florida or even Arizona.

Tomorrow will be 68.

Which is still warm for March,

but Peas like COOL weather.

So, while I love it when it's hot,

I'm hoping for several more weeks of

a little more mild temp.

Sheesh.

Anyhow.

I just finished teaching tonight's class.

Now I'm going to whip up some spaghetti

for dinner.

I grabbed some chicken quarters

(leg and thigh) out of the big freezer in the shop

(and another bag of okra - might need to plant

... well, HARVEST... more next year...)

but I don't want to cook it tonight.

Last night I made a really yummy meatloaf.

It was delicious!

We had that and mashed potatoes and some

of the spaghetti squash we grew in the

backyard this past summer.

I cooked it up and froze it in 3 serving bags.

YUM.

Ok, better go make dinner.

Happy Daylight Savings to all the Non-Arizona

peeps! (ugh)  Did you see British Columbia

decided to stick with Daylight Savings permanently?

No switching back...

I hope Kansas does the same.

I prefer lighter evenings.

I remember when we first moved here,

I taught until 9:00 and about 8:30 Kyle was

outside my window, firing up the BBQ and

making us some dinner.

While it was still light!

That was fun!

Ok.

I really have to go this time.

NITE!

More Seeds

 We ordered more seeds.

The peppers didn't do great on the

first planting.

Pretty sure it was a combo of using

the wrong dirt.

And, I kind of drowned them.

Kind of.

Ok, totally.

Whatever.

We were able to salvage some,

but decided to order more seeds and

just start over.

But then we also needed another

shelf and more lights.

I ordered the lights and Rod put up

more shelves (from the barn in FL).

The lights came yesterday, but I had

to teach so by the time they arrived

I didn't have time.

So that's what we did TODAY.

Rod got the lights all set up,

and I seeded 36 Rainbow peppers,

36 Gypsy peppers,

and 72 Aconcagua (giant red) peppers.

Ok little guys.

GROW!

Meanwhile the romas I planted last week

(or so) are all germinated and some

are starting to get their true leaves.

The chives are doing what they do.

(grow S L O W L Y)

And the tomatoes are looking pretty good.

I need to figure out another tray to put

them in and then I'll probably pot up

the best of the first round of peppers

and see how they do.

I'm NOT the green thumb in this family.

But I'm having fun.

Looks like we have 2 more nights below

freezing in the next 2 weeks and then

we might be able to get the tomatoes outside.

Maybe by the last week of March or

the first week of April.

We'll keep an eye on the forecast and

see how it goes.

We'd like to get them in the ground

earlier than last year.

We felt like we were BEHIND last year....

CAT

 Introducing "Cat".

It is really pretty!

(We have no idea the gender....)

The internets told Kyle he needs to keep

it in a dog crate for 2 - 4 weeks to let it

get familiar with the location and realize

this is now "home". 

He had been feeding it dog food because

that's what we had.

(It's been living off of rabbit innards/heads

it was digging up at the Sisters, so...)

but yesterday we bought it a bowl and

some cat food.

It was happy!

Originally Kyle put it in the dog crate

we used to pick up the piglets,

surrounded it with hay for insulation

and put in a cardboard box.

It immediately hopped in the box and

he hadn't seen it since.

But the box got wet, then the cat sat on

top of it, and it got all smashed in,

so we bought it a plastic rubbermaid

so it still has a place to get out of the weather,

but it won't get wet or wrecked.

(We also bought some spray paint

to paint it on the outside in case it didn't

want to live in a fishbowl...)

Anyhow.

Hopefully it's happier now.

(Kyle said he just named it Cat because

he fully expects it to just run away

when he finally lets it out.)

Anyhow.

He has been working on the siding

on the house, but took Monday off 

because it was COLD outside.

And now he's at a stopping point because he

needs to put in the attic fan.

We bought one, but it needed the grill

for the front and they didn't have any.

So yesterday we ordered one, it will

be delivered to the house tomorrow.

Meanwhile, today he will be working on 

the watering system for the garden.

There was a little damage over the winter,

so he needed to repair a couple things,

and then reset the drip tape so we can

water all those four 50' rows of PEAS!

(That's a LOT of peas.....)

I see a rocking chair on the porch with big

bowls of peas, shelling for hours.

But that's ok.

Also, peas in the pod, freeze dried are

DELICIOUS!

I'm excited!

EGGS! (And other stuff)

 Weeeeeee.....

We are finally getting eggs on a fairly

consistent basis.

Pretty sure it's only the easter eggers

and the red hens who are laying.

The Black Stars should start soon.

But Kyle is collecting between 5 and 8

nearly every day.

Aren't they pretty?

Meanwhile, I taught over the weekend.

Kyle stopped by after church yesterday

(I was on my lunch) and I told him I was

going to make fajitas for dinner.

But then I realized I don't have any tortillas.

Or tortilla chips.

Or yellow rice.

Or sour cream.

So, I went out and found a steak in the freezer

and put it out to thaw while I taught the 

afternoon session.

I decided to make funeral potatoes to go with.

But when it was time to make it,

I didn't have any cream of chicken.

So I subbed cream of mushroom.

I also didn't have any sour cream.

So I subbed cream cheese. (A REALLY good sub)

And I didn't WANT to put 10 tablespoons

of butter in it, so I didn't. 

(Cream cheese is plenty creamy...)

I DID have lots of yummy cheese,

thanks to the Christmas present that keeps giving.

(Thanks Mom & Dad)

Also I didn't have any corn flakes for the top

so I subbed Ritz.

It was actually delicious.

But not "funeral potatoes".

Just cheesy potato casserole-ish thing.

But yummy.

This is what life looks like when

you are trying to clean out the

pantry and freezers prior to a move.

Creative, eh?

Hahahaha.

So we had steak, potato and mixed veg.

It was good.

We got full.

And had a nice visit while watching

old episodes of "The Commish".

Today was overcast and cold.

It only got to 40.

(It was 71 on Friday)

So we stayed in.

I read a book and Rod watched

stuff on his tablet.

(I watched a bunch on mine too....)

It was a relaxing day.

Which is always nice after a weekend class.

Tomorrow we are back on track.

Hays Days!

(And a phone call to Mom!)

Time Flies!!!

 Ok, let's see......

Wednesday Rod and I up-potted

the few Roma tomatoes that were 

salvageable.

We also moved the shelves from the wall they

were on to the long wall between the bedroom

and the bathroom and brought in some more

shelves from the Malabar barn so we will have

more space for these plants....

Then we headed out to the farm to pull the

old, dead okra (better idea to wait til they are

dead, I tried to pull them last fall and they

were HOLDING ON for dear life!)

Now they just came right out.

We also took down all the cattle panel trellis

and Kyle tilled where the tomatoes were

last year in preparation for the new peas.

But we decided we should fertilize first,

so we didn't plant.

(And I needed to get home to teach.)

We also checked out the critters.

Pebbles is growing tall!

The chickens are now all going outside.

And staying.

DUMMIES!

You're supposed to go IN at night!

Sheesh.

I have the dumbest chickens in the world.

Thank goodness for the guardian dogs

that keep the predators away.

Oh, actually, Thursday is when we

moved all the plants to the new shelves.

(It all runs together....)

Thursday evening, we went to a 

College Women's Basketball game!

(Yup, US!)

One of our YSA is a player, so some

of the ward members attend each game

to support her.

Usually the stands are pretty bare,

but this was the final game of the season

and it was PACKED.

It was a fun game, even though they lost.

They just weren't playing well.

But we still had fun.

(they had a good year though, 24 wins 4 losses...)

So they should be in the playoffs.

And then we went to Taco Bell for some

dinner and then to WalMart for dog food.

And then home.

Rod wore his brace and did well.

I forgot to take ANY pictures.

Yup.

Bad blogger.

Friday Kyle called and wanted to go to 

Home Depot, so I went with him.

We looked at insulation.

We looked at drip irrigation for the garden.

We bought some fertilizer for the

new peas, and we bought some wood

for the exterior where the decks will go

eventually.

And then back in town so I could teach.

This morning I was up again early to 

teach the weekend class.

Came out at break...

Hahahaha.

Both sound asleep.

Silly boys.

And now..... I need to do some paperwork,

and then I'm going to give Rod a haircut.

I also need to print the handout for the

March Relief Society Birthday Celebration

on the 12th. (I'll be teaching so can't go....)

Rod will take them with him tomorrow

and give them to the RS Pres so she 

can hand them out to everybody.

And then it will be time to eat and go

to bed and do it all again tomorrow.

Kyle planted the peas today.

OH!

And the Sister Sisters called just as I was

starting my lunch break.

Something was digging up where they 

"buried" the heads and guts from the

rabbits they butchered.

So they put out a trap and caught a CAT!

So they took it out to the farm for Kyle

to use as a barn cat.

We haven't really ever had a cat before,

so we don't know how to make it stick around.

Kyle put it in a dog crate with some food

and water for a couple days so it starts

to learn this might be a good place to live...

and then we will see what happens.

It might stick around.

It might get eaten by a coyote.

Who knows.

But whatever.

It was pretty.

But none of the neighbors claimed it.

So....

it's a "barn" cat now.

We hope.

Anyhow.

That's kind of what's been happening

around here this week.

I'll try to do better next week.

But it was kind an "all over the place"

sort of week.

It's Getting to be Garden Season!

 Yesterday Kyle and I went to Salina for 

another Menard's pickup.

We returned the concrete forms we ended

up not using and got a $350 store credit.

And then turned around and bought some

potting and seed starting dirt,

some more electrical wire for the house,

and a couple of watering wands for 

the garden. Our water is SO hard out here,

they only last a season (maybe) and are

quite pricy! ($20 each).

We found some on clearance for $8.99!

And EVERYTHING in the store gets an

11% rebate! YEA!!!

Anyhow.

We also picked up our 53 boxes of flooring.

And since the rebate started within 14 days

of us paying for it, they gave us the rebate

on the flooring too!

YEA!

Another $300-ish, so our kitchen countertops

will be all paid for!

Yippeeeeee.

Anyhow.

As always, we hit Braums on the way out of town.

Kyle actually let me take a picture of him!

He said he realized there are almost NO pictures

of him in existence except when I sneak one.

So he said it was ok.

This morning Rod and I up-potted all the best

of the Lemon Boy, Sun Gold (cherry) and

Big Beef Slicer tomatoes into pots.

And then we refilled the 72 cell tray with

more Romas.

The first round didn't do well.

So we are starting them again.

I put a dome over them after I took the picture....

And am being MUCH more mindful how I water them

this time around.

The first round we did them in coco coir

which has NO nutrients in it and had a hard

time both with watering and feeding.

This time we bought actual seed starter mix

that has feed in it and holds water better.

So fingers crossed!