Where's Waldo (Pig Version)

 I drove from Kyle's house,

down to the farm,

and as I passed by Pig World,

I glanced over and couldn't find Fred!

Can you?

Little silly!

He LOVES his mud wallow.

We got LOTS accomplished yesterday.

First we went to the farm and did some

more weeding (getting the rows ready for more okra)

and harvested the rest of the onions.

We started processing them in Kyle's shed

since there's air conditioning...

but that many onions in a closed space

was PAINFUL!

So we moved the operation out to his porch.

Jim and I chose to wear gloves, because... ONION!

Kyle said "Now THIS is Homesteading.

Family all sitting on the porch together,

processing the harvest."

We cut the green tops off the onions,

as well as the root beards,

and put them in the wagon.

We FILLED the wagon,

2 milk crates AND a 5 gallon bucket!

It was shady and a nice breeze.

Actually REALLY nice!

Next job is to wash and clean them up.

We will probably sell some of them,

but most of them will get preserved.

We don't have a cold room,

so they will either get chopped or sliced and

frozen in vacuum sealed bags,

or some will get freeze dried.

And some will get caramelized and then either

freeze dried or canned.

We probably will not need to grow onions

next year. (Except a few for fresh eating...)

And then we headed into town.

Found some carpet for the office, bedroom and closet.

(Didn't buy it yet, not ready...)

Picked up some more kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

There is still ONE missing, I'm hoping they have it

tomorrow in the store (they didn't yesterday, but there

was a truck in the loading bay, so ... maybe???)

And some stuff to try to get a handle on the

squash bugs that would really like to eat

the zucchini, delicata, spaghetti and honey baby

squash we have growing.

And we went to Taco Bell.

And then grocery shopping.

We also bought a gazillion hoses and some of

those birdie type sprinkler heads that go

around and around in a circle.

This morning Kyle got them set up in the

"upper" garden where we are "growing" corn

and just planted more pumpkins.

It worked MOSTLY great!!!

We will need to make a few modifications,

but for the most part, it was a WIN!

He and I finished weeding one of the onion rows

getting ready to plant our fall carrots.

And then up to the house where Jim got the

rest of the ceiling fans (minus one still missing)

in the kitchen, bedroom and prep room,

installing the light in the master bathroom

and working on getting all the light switches

hooked up.

(Rod has been on forced REST,

he's doing too much and his back has

been hurting lately, so I made him stay home

for a few days to try to give it a break...

He did head into town tonight for Mutual though.)

About 3:00 we needed to leave so I could

get ready to teach tonight.

And Jim washed all the red onions.

There's only about half a bucket.

But they sure are pretty!

And now....

dinner, an episode or 2 of House on Prime TV

and then bed.

Mostly Gardening Today

 We were SO focused on the house

that we fell a little behind on the garden.

Had to rectify that.

I spent the morning weeding the okra

bed that I TOTALLY let go.

(After 2 hours I went up to the house

to check on Rod and Kyle finished it up.)

Meanwhile, Kyle and Jim re-tilled the

rows for the cucumbers and got 

those all planted.

I think they are trying 5 or 6 new types

this year. Well, that includes the

Marketmores that we grow every year.

But there were some new ones too.

Some slicers and some picklers.

We'll see how they do!

Jim also picked 20 zucchini!

They look really nice!

We should be ready to replant the okra

in the newly weeded bed tomorrow.

The orange okra suddenly took off

and are looking pretty good.

Hopefully they will produce well

and be tasty!

I headed into town to teach,

and Rod and Jim worked in the house

for a little longer.

When I started teaching, I got a text

from Kyle.

He harvested the onions.

Actually this is NOT all of them.

It's just all that his wagon would hold.

He still has 2 more rows to pick!

We will hang some to dry for storage,

clean some to sell,

and freeze some in slices and chunks

for us to use over the winter.

That is a LOT of onions!!!!

Gratuitous fireworks picture.

We drove to a hill outside town

and watched.

There were fireworks across the entire 

town! Just not at the moment I snapped

the picture.

It was fun to watch!

Sabrina stayed home with their dog who

is NOT a fan of fireworks.

Our frenchies didn't care at all.

Ok, just finished teaching and doing all

the paperwork for last week.

I can smell dinner....

I'm OUT!

More Progress.....

Yesterday we made the 2 hour trek to 

Salina to visit Menards.

It was Jim's first visit.

He was appropriately awestruck.

(grin)

It's HUGE!!!!!

We spent SIX HOURS looking,

figuring, loading carts,

changing minds,

unloading carts,

and making FINAL selections.

(And then paying a TON of money!)

Most of the year, they offer an 11%

rebate on EVERYTHING in the store,

so, since we bought our flooring there,

we had a nearly $400 rebate,

so the countertops we purchased were

already paid for!

YEA!

They are the marble things on top of the cupboards

and on the floor. (Those are for the island

and the prep room counters...)

The other are acacia wood for the island!

Aren't they pretty?

(The other side is the same, but more of the

dark and less of the light, we are planning

to have that the side facing up.)

We were concerned about rain on the way home,

so took the time to wrap everything in

shrink wrap plastic.

Oh, we also bought a new stove and ordered

a new fridge that will need to be picked

up in a couple of weeks.

(They will hold it for 30 days...)

We picked out two matching lights

for the two bathrooms.

Jim got the one in the half bath installed,

and then he and Kyle headed down to the

garden because they were forecasting more

rain tonight and they needed to get the

pumpkin seeds in the ground.

That was a project!

They cut a small diameter pvc pipe in half

and walked along sticking it 2 inches into the 

dirt and then you drop a seed down the pipe

and into the hole, lift the pipe and push a

little dirt over the hole with your foot.

Beats the socks off crawling down the line

on your hands and knees!

(They need to plant something like 2400 seeds!)

Jim doesn't do small stuff...

(And the seeds are spaced too far apart

to be able to use the Jang seeder we usually use.)

Anyhow.

Meanwhile, Rod worked on getting the

plumbing ready for the new toilets

(which we didn't buy yet...)

And I worked on the final painting of the

upper cabinets.

Terrible picture, yes my legs are DIRTY!

(I was down in the garden for a bit...)

And yes, there is paint on my toes.

But you can see the creamy color.

I am NOT a fan of painting cabinets.

I MUCH preferred the drawers and

base cabinets.

But... if they can mud and tape, I can paint.

Then I made Rod come home with me

(his back was pretty sore)

we left the truck for Jim to drive home.

And now, I'm done with teaching.

The thunderstorm (including a little hail)

has passed, so Jim and Sabrina might

be heading to the drive-in for 

Captain America.

And dinner at Dairy Queen.

Rod and I will have something to eat

and then off to bed.

Tomorrow is the first WaKeeney Farmers Market

so we will need to be up and out by 7:... something.

It starts at 8 and we need to set up.

I'm not sure how many people will come by,

but it will be fun to reconnect with all the

vendor friends we made.

Enjoy your Independence Day!

Be safe!

(Don't blow anything up!)

Movin' Fast Now!

 Woo.... it's a WHIRL WIND up in there y'all!

I spent the day painting base cabinets.

Side bar... don't you love the view out our bedroom windows?

It reminds me of the color of well

worn blue jeans.

But we actually did a color match

of Kyle's SHIRT!

(While he was wearing it.... lol.)

The guy agreed it was probably the strangest

color match he had been asked to do.

Meanwhile, Jim got the rest of the outlets wired

and covers installed.

And then moved on to installing the pot lights.

And then ceiling fans!!!

No more random holes in the ceiling!

Kyle got the floor all but finished in the

living room / kitchen and moved on

to the prep room.

Rod spent the day helping where folks

needed it and running into town (Hill City

and/or WaKeeney to get stuff we needed.)

I had to leave early since I need to

teach tonight,

so he is taking over and painting all the

uppers a lovely buttery cream color.

I'm SO excited to see how they turn out!

Anyhow.

I just walked in the door.

Gonna make a quick sandwich,

try to scrub the blue paint off my hands,

and get ready to start my zoom.

Have a great night!

Rozann and Greg, hope you are having an

absolute BLAST at your "summer home"!

PICTURES!

We need PICTURES!

Cabinets Etc

 I started the day in the garden,

pulling grass and weeds from

what was "supposed" to be the

okra bed.

It totally got away from me.

And, as we learned last year,

okra does NOT like to compete

with weeds in its bed.

So I am pulling everything and

replanting.

We didn't get a great germination on

the first round, so hopefully this

one will go better.

I'm down to about 3 bags of frozen okra.

And I eat it EVERY morning for breakfast.

It takes a LONG time to fruit.

All that to say... I'm going to either be eating

awful store bought frozen okra for awhile,

or finding a different breakfast.

Anyhow.

After it got toooooo hot to do any more,

we loaded up into Kyle's truck and

headed into Hays.

First stop, Home Depot to return the drywall

and some white suits and booties we bought

for the guys for when they were painting.

Obviously, they didn't wear them.

And then we had them help us load up all

14 of the cabinets we had ordered yesterday.

(There are a couple more that needed to

be shipped to the store from another area store,

so they should be here on ... Thursday? Maybe?)

Then to WalMart to get all the groceries, etc

that we needed to purchase for the week.

And then to Taco Bell because we were

STARVING (and it was after 5:00!)

And THEN back to the farm to unload

everything we had purchased.

That's a good amount of cabinets!

We got some pretty blue paint to paint the

lower cabinets and a really buttery cream

for the uppers.

I'll paint them in our bedroom since it's not

getting any flooring for awhile and I don't

care if I get paint on the floor.

(We made an appointment to have the rooms

measured for carpet for July 8, and then once

it is ordered it will be SIX WEEKS before

we get the carpet installed!!!)

So....... in the meantime, we bought a gallon

of slate grey floor paint and we will just

clean and then paint the floors in the office,

bedroom and closet.

And put down my area runner rugs I have already.

That will work until we get the real stuff.

Meanwhile.....

Rod was BUSY!

I LOVE the floor!

It's not really this dark in real life.

More like what it looks like in the

sunlight from the windows.

Isn't it gorgeous???

I almost hate to put down area rugs

and cover it up... but it is also 

VERY ECHO-Y.

So, we will need at least a couple rugs.

And maybe I'll hang some curtains.

We'll see.

Anyhow.

It was a busy and productive day!

(And now the sky is darkening, the wind

is increasing and we may get a thunderstorm...)

Rain is always welcome.

Just DO NOT HAIL.

We are finally getting some baby 

Delicata Squash that looks like it

might be ready to harvest in a few weeks.

The garden is starting to look pretty good.

The beans are FINALLY big enough that

the rabbits aren't nibbling on the plants anymore.

We have cantaloupe and watermelon

plants starting to climb the trellis.

(And we saw a baby cantaloupe today!)

Some of the roma tomatoes have set fruit!

And one of my SunGold cherry tomatoes

has a cluster of little baby tomatoes.

So......

no hail, please!

Ok,

I'm off to see what I can feed this crew.

Forward Ho!!!!!

 The house is ALL PAINTED!

(inside...)

From the mud room hallway looking into

the main living / kitchen.

Kyle didn't paint behind the kitchen cabinets. LOL.

Looking from the sliding glass door into the kitchen

and down the mudroom hallway.

We don't have much drywall left,

but at $12 a sheet... it's worth taking back!

The plan for today was to load up

all the undamaged drywall and

return it to Home Depot for a credit

and then buy the cabinets for the

kitchen and the bathroom.

But it was taking longer than we

expected to get the vents back

into the ceilings and get the AC

running again (and since it hit 100

again today, we were HAPPY to have

that back on again!)

Had to turn it off while painting since

we use a sprayer and it gets

EVERYWHERE...

And then we had to clean up all the

piles of construction stuff that

accumulates during a build and get

it either in the dump truck to go to

the dump or over to Rod's shop

to store until we need it again.

And I had to be home by 4:30 to teach.

So I spent some time in the garden

planting the sweet potato slips I got

from last year's potatoes,

watering those in and also giving some

of the other stuff some water

(it was really windy today so we didn't

turn on the Nelson sprinkler...)

and then up to the house to help out a bit.

When I got home I went online and

ordered all the cabinets and got those

all paid for.

Just got a text, they are ready for us to

pick up tomorrow morning!

Meanwhile.....

Jim got all the switch plates and outlet covers

installed on all the many switches and outlets.

And Rod and Kyle got started on laying the floor!

It looks SO GOOD!!!!!

There is still MUCH to be done,

but we are getting closer!!!!!

PAINT & Farmers Market

 The guys are FINISHED MUDDING!!!!!

Can we all just take a moment

and be so grateful for that...

Yesterday was a rain day.

Like it rained.

All day.

Which means the roads were a mess.

And our driveways are a MESS.

But J Road dries out pretty quickly.

And the driveway was actually pretty

good except for right in front the

the porch.

So we all stayed home yesterday.

(Well, not Kyle.... he rode the 4-wheeler

down to the house and did some stuff...)

And then today...

PAINT!!!

Thank goodness for the sprayer!

It makes a horrible job less horrible.

But it DOES put little particles in the air,

so they each wore a mask to try to help

with not breathing it into their lungs.

They got it 3/4 done and ran out of

flat ceiling paint, so Rod came home and

then headed into Hays to get more.

But tomorrow we will be busy doing

other stuff.

Like Farmers Markets.

Jim and Sabrina will be headed into Hays

to do the same market they did last week.

And Rod and I will head to Hill City

for their first market of the season.

(It's only 2 hours, from 9-11... 

Hays is 7:30 to 11!)

I packaged up some more bags of

peaches, salt water taffy, and

some cherry tomatoes with basil 

that I did last year.

And we have LOTS of zucchini and some

beautiful onions.

So we will divide those up and each take

some to our markets.

We'll see how it goes!

And then,

it is also our

45th Wedding Anniversary!

Can you believe it?

We were such children!

Hahahahaha.

We don't have anything planned.

Just spending the morning together

at the farmer's market,

doing what we love to do.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

(This Sunday is our RS "Blended" class

where we bring EVERYONE from all the

different organizations for a good discussion,

this week is Stephenson's Lost Luggage...

and then we have smoothies... cuz they are blended.)

I'm in charge of the smoothies.

I should probably look in the garage to see

if I can find my blender.

I have 2 coming, but it would be nice 

to have an extra.

I know I've seen it in a box out there.

Somewhere.

Maybe not.

Anyhow.

Byeeeeeeeee