Siding Going Up

 It's pretty windy out there...

but if you play your cards right

(And Kyle usually does)

you can work on the side of the

house that's NOT in the wind.

So yesterday he finished the

South side of the house.

Looking good, eh?

The raw board on the bottom is where we will

attach the deck and above will be the deck roof.

But we have to get the septic tank in first,

since the pipes run under the deck.

Yesterday Rod went into town (by himself)

and picked up all the PVC to run the pipes

under the house and out to the septic.

We dropped it all off today.

Had to pick up 500# of pig feed,

so did it all in one trip.

Tomorrow he's going to start working

on the plumbing.

He's SO EXCITED to finally be able to

do something besides sit in his chair

and walk on his treadmill.

He PROMISED to listen to his body

and not over do.

Meanwhile, it was 74 out there today!

(And windy)

We dug down into the rows and discovered

some little pea seeds that have germinated.

Another day or two and they should

break the surface of the soil and we

will see little pea plants!!!!

I'm so excited!

We are going to have an artic blast 

(hopefully the last) on Sunday.

But then it looks like it's going to be

spring weather going forward.

We just got back from a quick trip to

our little town grocery store (Malays).

They are having a big 3-day sale.

We got some personal frozen pizzas for

$0.50 each, some pot pies for $1. each

and some hot dogs for $0.97.

(And buns for $2.09..... lol. Not on sale.)

We like to support our little grocery

store when we can.

Sometimes their prices are just too high,

but when you just need a gallon of milk

or whatever, it's cheaper to pay their

prices than to make a trip into Hays.

And they DO have some awesome

specialty things we can't get at WalMart.

Like their stuffed mushrooms.

SOOO yummy!

Anyhow.

It was a fun day and we got quite a 

bit accomplished.

And now I think I'm going to go make

us some hotdogs and BBQ potato chips

for dinner.

Sounds like fun.

Oh, and we got a single daffodil.

He doesn't look too happy.

Better get some water on him!

GROWING!!!!!

 Egads!

The tomatoes are GROWING like crazy.

They have OUTGROWN their shelf.

Jim laughed at me today...

they are SunGold cherry tomatoes.

Indeterminate and FAST growers.

He was all like... "You planted them ALREADY???"

Well, yes.

Last year we felt like we were behind.

So this year we decided to be proactive

and plant them early.

Possibly a little too early.

Possibly.

LOL.

Monday it was 84.

Today the high was 52 and its going

to be pretty chilly out there.

But LOOK AT SUNDAY!

And then it jumps back up and

nothing below 32 overnight for the

rest of the 15 day forecast and

likely for the rest of "winter".

(although there's always that surprise

spring storm possible...)

Anyhow.

We really need to do something with them.

We are thinking about taking them off the

shelf and putting them on a big table

and making a little PVC frame to hang

their lights (adjustable) above them.

Similar to Jim's setup.

Except his is permanent so he

made it out of wood.

Anyhow.

Hopefully by mid-next week we can

start moving them outside to harden off

and then get them (at least the cherries)

into the ground.

We have a lot of Roma tomatoes, but they

aren't in such a big hurry.

They'll be ok for awhile longer.

And I have another tray of 72 that are

just now getting their true leaves

so it will be at least a month before

they need to go outside.

But those CHERRIES!

Goodness gracious!

Hahahahahahahahaha.

(I've been picking flowers off them...

don't want them to start fruiting yet!)

But they WANT to.

We might be sitting in a parking lot

with trays of cherry tomatoes while

everybody else in town is just

starting to plant!

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!)