Zucchini!!!

 It's always SO exciting to see

SOMETHING finally producing

in the garden...

Today Kyle and I found a couple

zucchini plants with little baby zukes!

Thank goodness...

there's that little nagging voice in the 

background that says this is NOT going

to work, but maybe NEXT year....

So when we see signs of life,

it's such a relief!

We had to replant the beans, since a rabbit

(or something) ate them ALL.

Kyle's pretty sure he got the offending rabbit.

He shot (and fed to the big dogs) 4 or 5

down there in the garden, and he's pretty sure

he got the bad guys since we haven't seen any

more of our tomatoes being eaten.

(We don't know about the beans since

they are already gone...)

Jim replanted the beans on Wednesday afternoon

and then we got 1.5 inches of RAIN that night.

Today we are seeing little tiny bean plants

starting to just barely poke through the ground.

AND the potatoes have flowers!!!

Also, he picked a tiny carrot.

So.... there's SOMETHING happening

down there.

I spent nearly 2 hours weeding onions

again this afternoon.

Got a later start than I intended,

but had a good (2 hour) chat with Soni

on the phone.

And then I had to head home to teach.

Jim met Sabrina in town (she only works

until noon on Fridays) and they worked on

getting drivers licenses and license plates

for their vehicles.

SUCH a process.

And Kyle finished mudding and taping

(round 1) the prep room, and Rod finished

up the mud room (front hallway)...

Also, I got overheated and headed up to the

house and sat in the A/C!!!!!

(It was actually tooooo cold for me...

but the guys were enjoying it while working hard.)

And now....

off to do dinner and get ready to teach

this weekend.

Hope you are enjoying your start to summer!

(There was supposed to be stock car races

tonight and tomorrow night, but they cancelled

because of all the rain we got... the in field and

the pits are MUDDY... they had people driving

from over 10 hours away to participate and didn't

want to chance it.)

Bummer.

BIG Milestone!!!!

 This has been a LONG time coming.

And a LOT of work!!!

Yesterday they got the platform built.

The outside unit is ready to go.

Today they got the wires run to the outside unit.

And the inside hooked to the breaker.

(Well, except 2 wires, they'll connect those

tomorrow....)

But LOOK!!!!!

We have A/C!!!!!!!!!

SOOOOOOOOO exciting!

I'm amazed at these guys!

And now.... dinner.

And BED.

I'm sure they are exhausted.

It was a lot of brain power.

Buzzard Bash

 Apparently the buzzards return to

the WaKeeney area about this time

each year....

so we have an annual

Buzzard Bash.

Which is just an excuse for a party.

They closed the main streets in

downtown and there was a 

car show with over 100 cool cars.

Also a "beer garden" under the shade

trees on the court house lawn.

And some fun activities for the kids.

Also one arm of the cross street was

vendors of all sorts 

and the other arm was food trucks.

There was MUSIC during the day 

provided by a DJ in a big trailer

and LIVE music until 11:00 that night.

We went to the car show and saw some

nifty cars.

Some fancier than others.

And then we went to the farm to do

our interpretation of migrant workers.

(Weeding the onions...)

And then.....

back into town to watch the first of

the season's go cart races!

We always enjoy those!

(And they are FREE!!!!)

We left before they were over though,

the wind picked up,

there was lightning in the distance,

and like good little Floridians

we know if you can SEE it,

it can reach out and TOUCH you.

And we were sitting up in the air

on a metal bleacher.

NOPE.

Home for BLT's made with some of the

yummy bacon they gave us at the

butcher's to sample what's coming.

It was a fun filled, busy day!

Happy Birthday Jim!

 We had a nice, quiet day yesterday.

Jim and Sabrina went for a fun

drive through the country back roads

and Jim showed Sabrina the back

way to the farm.

There's some BEAUTIFUL scenery

going that way!

Then they went out again and picked

up a pizza for everybody at 

Pizza Hut.

It was good.

Not as good as the homemade ones

they make, but still good...

And in the evening Jim whipped up

some of his amazing onion burgers.

Yup,

life around here is all about the food.

Hahahahahaha.

For desert I made his favorite

chocolate cherry cake.

(Thank you Soni!)

Happy Birthday!

We are so happy to have your family

here with us!!!

Kyle and his pup Bear came to

spend the day.

The dogs all had a wonderful day

playing together.

(Charlotte watches, she's a little too fragile

to get in the middle of their nonsense...)

Catching Up...

 It's Friday today.

Yesterday was a REALLY fun day!

first, a couple of pictures I got 

from Jim from the freezer camp

visit on Wednesday...

Kyle, trying to convince the final hog

that getting into the trailer would

be a good idea!

The beef they just hung as we were

arriving. Our hogs would be hanging

there next to them in an hour...

Thursday morning we got up and ate

some breakfast.

We got about a half an inch of rain

overnight, and it turns out when Kyle

got home from Dashing Wed night,

he got his VW stuck in the mud 

in his driveway.

So after his morning chores, he

hopped in his truck and made it

about 10 feet.

Haha.

Next he got into the Trooper!

It's 4-wheel drive, and his

favorite vehicle to drive anyway.

He tootled (ok, slipped and slid)

down the backroads into town.

Giggling the entire way.

Men....

By the time he arrived and we all

got into the car, we knew we were

going to miss out on the pigs at the 

auction, but we weren't planning to

buy any. 

It's a little over an hour from town.

It was a nice drive and we had a 

good visit while driving.

Once we got there, they were just

getting started with the cattle.

They are a LITTLE less expensive

than they have been in the past,

but still WAAAAAAAAAY

more than they should be or than

we could hope to afford.

Guess I'll just be buying another

quarter beef to put in the freezer.

darn.

I really miss having cows!

These were some little bottle calves.

Probably only a few days old.

They each sold for about $50.

But you still have to bottle feed them

multiple times a day, and if you

don't have a milk cow, you also have

to purchase milk replacement powder.

And bottle calves never grow as big

as a mom raised cow.

They were cute, but we weren't interested.

Some of the herds were a little wild!

The auctioneer sat in this little alcove

where he could see he ring and the

people bidding. He had two helpers

to keep up with the paperwork

and update the display TVs.

Jim and Kyle sat above us on the

top row. Neither of us wanted to

climb up that high.

There were no steps between the

rows of benches and it was a 

BIG step.

That's us... Rod is wearing a red

checked flannel shirt.

It was chilly since it rained all day.

He was a CUTIE, but was nearly $2000.

Next they sold a bunch of sheep and goats.

We left part way through.

The benches were REALLY hard,

and we were getting hungry.

A quick stop at Subway for a sandwich,

and we were back on the road.

Today the guys are working in the house

since the garden is still pretty muddy.

Wednesday after freezer camp 

Jim and Kyle got the tomatoes all

in the ground.

They've been working in the attic getting

all the AC ducts and vents installed.

And I just got this picture from Kyle.

They have almost finished the master

bathroom!

I'm getting ready to teach tonight's class...

Hope you had a wonderful week!

It's been a fun,

busy,

productive week.

We are sure looking forward to

getting a freezer full of pork!!!

Piggie Freezer Camp

You know, 

after 2,209 posts (I know, right?)

you'd think I'd remember to

take pictures of exciting events.

But I don't.

(Ok, I took a couple, but not 

nearly enough...)

Today was a EXCITING event!

The piggies went to market!

(Ok, not really, they went

to Freezer Camp...)

It was an EVENT.

Kyle started working to get them in

the trailer by putting some feed in there.

The female (I call her Penelope...)

hopped right in and started eating.

She is NOT going to camp.

The boys..... looked.

Sniffed.

Nibbled.

Put their front legs in.

But NOPE.

Jim and I arrived and we pushed,

chased, cajoled, and eventually got

ONE of the males in.

Then we found a gate and put it in

there to lock those two in while we

messed with the final pig who was

NOT HAVING ANY OF IT!

Eventually we went down to the house

and got 3 pieces of half sheets of plywood

and while he was eating by the door,

we put those up so he couldn't see any

other options.

Then we pushed, and pushed, and about

the time we were breaking out the hot shot

to give him a little electrical goose.....

he hopped in on his own.

And THEN we had to get the girl out.

NOPE!

She ended up getting a little hot shot.

It was a good long drive to the butcher

on some fun and scenic back roads.

Finally arriving at the butchers...

 A good friend from church works there.

Kyle whipped the trailer into the

exactly right spot (he's such a good trailer backer!)

and then we had to unload the boys.

Once again, not cooperating.

But these men have worked with LOTS 

of grumpy pigs and just pushed them out.

And then Brett took us on a tour of the 

facility. It was really interesting!

We figured out our "cut sheet",

(how do we want our meat cut up...)

and he gave us a couple packages of

their frozen bacon!

YEA!

And then it was back to the farm,

and then I needed to head home to teach.

And now, Rod and Jim are working on

getting his new phone all set up.

And then DINNER!

(Jim made an amazing braised round steak

last night - took nearly 4 hours to cook,

it's all warmed up and ready to eat... YUM!)

In about 2-3 weeks, we will be eating

our own home grown pork!!

I'm so excited!

Another "You Know You are in the Midwest If....."

 This time we were in the Verizon 

store in Hays...

Yup, that's a guy's OPEN wallet with all

his credit cards, and his phone.

Just left on the counter while he

wandered around the store looking for

a phone case.

There were 10 people in the store,

plus two employees.

Wow.

So, why, you might ask, were you in

a Verizon store on MEMORIAL DAY 

instead of spending time with family

like normal people?

Poor Rod's Poor Phone.

It did not survive the swan dive from the roof.

Only we didn't realize the extent of

its injuries (since he has a case...)

until this morning when it DIED.

And, like most Americans,

he can't be without a phone....

especially since he does lots of 

highway driving (to and from the farm

and to and from church in Hays....)

(not to mention the ever present Home Depot!)

So....

we have insurance.

$99 deductible later and he has a

replacement phone coming later this week.

Phew!

And now?

I just finished teaching, because yes,

I'm a goof ball who didn't LOOK at the

calendar when scheduling my classes

for this month.

Surprisingly I had 12 students!

Guess I'm not the only person willing

to work on Memorial Day.

But now...

DINNER!

YEA!

House update tomorrow.....