Temple Open House

 Yesterday was a really good day!

We picked up Jim and Sabrina

(they drove their own car)

and headed down to Wichita.

It was POURING rain in our neck

of the woods, and we drove

through lots of rain,

but was lovely when we got there!

It is one of the new style

"mini" temples with only one

of each ordinance rooms inside.

We took a quick tour

(again, MINI) but we got

to see everything.

A sister missionary took our picture

on the way out.

It was a typical Kansas day.

LOTS of wind....

They did the best they could

with the landscaping,

but it's a challenge to put in

new plants in the fall here.

Hahahahahaha.

It was a lovely day.

Doing the famous actress hair swish.

It didn't really help.

We enjoyed the visit and

spending time with family.

There were several of our ward members

there acting as volunteers.

(It was the first day of open house

for the public. Media day and 

"opinion makers" were Monday thru

Wednesday.)

Our open house goes until October 10

so Rod and I are signed up to volunteer

on the 8th.

We will be "talking point ushers" 

which means we are assigned a room

and a small script and briefly

describe what happens in that room.

The whole tour is 18 and a half minutes.

There weren't a TON of people there,

but enough to keep a tour going 

pretty steadily.

There is a brand new Braums restaurant

just a block away, so we headed there

for lunch and then Jim and Sabrina

headed home and we went to Salina

to do the Menards / Sams Club thing.

We hit lots of rain on the way home

as well and once we got home 

Kyle suggested it might be time to

purchase new tires.

So this morning Rod is having 4 new

tires installed on the car while I'm

here processing the okra from the garden,

and the mango we bought at Sams Club.

(It's going straight in the freeze dryer.)

And, if I have time, we just picked a

half bucket of banana peppers I want

to get into pickle jars.

But I have to start teaching in 2 hours,

so we'll see how much I get done.

We Got MAIL!

 Last night we went for a walk

to the back of the property

with Kyle and Bear.

(It was a Hays Day so Kyle

doesn't go back into town to work..)

(Tuesdays are notoriously slow...)

Anyhow.

If you walk to the back fence, then

come back to the house, pass it up,

walk down to the gate and go through

to the road and the mail box and then

end back at the house again,

that's 1 mile.

A good walk.

(And a little much for our little

old Beau, but Bear likes it!)

So when we walked to the street

I popped the mailbox open,

knowing it would be empty.

Like every day.

 But I was wrong!

YEA!!!

Two cards and a photo from Mom!

I framed the photo 

displayed the cute cards 

(after Kyle found the smiling pepper)

hung my new necklaces

on my necklace hanger...

(official name)

I just used some mounting putty

to hang the picture in my 

kitchen until I decide where I

really want to hang it.

Thanks Mom!

I also found some navy beans and

pinto beans we harvested from the

Florida garden in 2021!!!

Put them in the old M&M canisters.

I found a recipe for baked beans 

you can pressure can.

I'm going to make a small batch

first to see if the beans will rehydrate

and if it's a tasty recipe.

(but I trust the creator, so I expect

it will be yummy...)

I have 5 pounds and the whole recipe

calls for 4 pounds, so I'll just do

1/4 first to try it out.

I also harvested the first of the

green okra yesterday morning.

There's 2/3 of a bucket of red

under there, and then a nice small

harvest of the greens.

The nights have started to cool off,

so we'll see if we get very many.

I think I probably have nearly 

enough in my freezer to last until

next year, but it never hurts to have

a little extra!

The reds are pretty well done.

The plants are looking really 

beat up.

Between the grasshoppers and the

cucumber beetles, they are really

looking rough.

They gave us a great harvest though!

And now I need to spread out my

Louisiana manual next to the new

one I just got and move all my notes

and mark the changes to prepare

for using it in my class this weekend.

I already spent about 2 hours

"fixing" the powerpoint they published

to go with it.

(Shhhh, don't tell anybody! hahaha)

They tell us that you need to get student

interaction at least once every quarter hour

to keep the brain engaged, and then

they removed all the pop quiz

questions from the presentation!

So I put them back in.

They are from the manual, so have been

vetted and approved.

But still...

Stock Car Races

 It was that time again Saturday night!

The races are so much fun!

I know... it looks like NOBODY was there,

but it was just that section.

There's a covered grandstand to the left of

where we like to sit and it is always

PACKED.

Which is why we like to sit where we do...

This time we moved up several rows

so we were on the top row where there

is a railing so we have something

to lean back against.

We bought portable stadium seats and

then some seat cushions that fit

perfectly, so we are comfy and there's

a back, but the stands are aluminum

and can really FLEX, so if you

lean back it kind of feels like

you could go all the way over.....

So I like to sit where there's a back

to hold us in place.

Anyhow.

Jim and Sabrina joined us.

We ate hot dogs and enjoyed some

fun racing!

The wind was from the north so it

was a little chilly until the final 2 races

when it suddenly died down and it was

actually really nice!

(I bring a big bag with jackets and

usually blankets, but this time I brought

big bath towels instead. Kyle wrapped

one all around his legs {because he

wears SHORTS even though he knows

we always end up freezing...} but it

helped) and then it was actually pretty

nice by the end!

We stopped by Jim & Sabrina's after

the race to pick up Rod's eye drops from

their fridge and she gave us a couple of

trays of cinnamon rolls and

garlic knots (YUMMMM) from the

market.

All in all, a really nice evening!

The final races of the season are next

month and then we are done until 

2027!

Bonus Post!!!!

 I just had to hop on with the

good news!!!

Got an email from my tech

at Harvest Right.

She talked with her tech team

and they were able to come to

the decision that because it was

SOOO close to the 1 year mark

that the machine broke,

they are going to treat it under

the 1 year warranty.

Which means FREE SHIPPING!

And they will do all the repairs for free!!!

What an awesome decision!

I'll be sure to jump on their FB page

and sing their praises...

you mostly only hear when people

want to gripe about something.

But when they do something amazing

like this, people should know about it!

Anyhow,

we are STOKED!

(wish it didn't break in the first place,

but so happy not to have to pay the

shipping on an extremely heavy machine

via FedEx.....)

Yea us!

Old Country Store

 So Rod told me the story of

the Old Country Store.

It was originally a old country store.

And then the Cracker Barrel company

bought it out, but didn't want the building,

so Rod's Uncle Bobby & Aunt Suzie

bought the building and moved it to their

car dealership and used it as an office.

We actually have 2 prints.

This one in a nice frame,

and then another one in just a blue

cheap frame.

We put it in the half bath.

Nobody will ever notice we have

2 of the same picture just feet

from each other...

grin.

More House Pictures

 Today was a house cleaning day.

I vacuumed and damp mopped

all the floors.

I love how they look after that.

There is always a fine dust on them

and so for a little while (maybe 

even a few days) they

look pretty good.

I also got the prep room all

cleaned up after all the

produce that has leaked all

over the counters.

I clean it regularly, but it

needed a good deep clean.

It looks much better too!

And I took some pictures of the

house to send to Nancy,

so I thought I'd share them here.

This is a numbered wall hanging

made of some sort of animal skin.

I got 3 colors of suede chord

and braided something to hang it with

this morning, and then Rod got

up on the bed and hung it for us.

It is SUPER soft... 

Really pretty,

and TOTALLY the wrong color.

Actually, it matches the room

really well, but now the bedspread

is completely wrong.

But I'm not buying a new one

any time soon.

We hung a new picture on

the wall next to the fridge.

It's a print of the

"Old Country Store"

that Rod bought for his Dad for

Christmas a gazillion years ago.

That's a store that has family

history, I just don't remember

what it is...

(grin)

We are still deciding what to hang

between the fridge and the cupboards.

I would like something bright and

cheerful and kitchen related...

I had a hanging I loved from the

old house and it might be in

storage, or it might be at the dump.

I don't remember.

But I'm keeping my eyes open...

If you zoom in, its hanging on the wall

between Jim and Sabrina.

It's a little metal hanging I got from

a catalog - it's all old fashioned jars

and tins and stuff.

I always loved it, but then Rod got

us the big 

Back 40 Beef and we hung it there.

It's now hanging on the wall in our 

living room!

I love it!

But I'm on the hunt to replace

the little kitchen hanging thingie.

The house looks much better

without all those boxes!

It looks like there is a love seat

or couch on the right...

it's just Rod's chair, which looks

just like mine, 

but the camera stretched it out

so it looks like a 3-seater.

Which is handy, because now I know

I would be happy to have one there.

Some day.

Maybe.

Today and tomorrow look like the 

last hurrah for summer weather.

It was 98 today.

99 yesterday.

Probably the same tomorrow.

And then it drops to 80 on Saturday

and then looks like mid-70's for

the rest of the month.

Can't say I'm sorry to see it!

The okra won't be happy,

it's a little too chilly for it,

probably... okra LOVES heat.

But the rest of us are HAPPY

to see fall arrive.

Good News Bad News

 So.... as I probably mentioned,

the new Freeze Dryer is broken.

It only worked for 2.5 runs.

And then it started popping the

circuit breaker.

So the good news is it didn't burn

the house down...

the breaker did its job.

But the bad news is, its broken.

I finally got in touch with the

technical support today and 

they had me do a bunch of tests

and we determined it's the freezer

unit that isn't right.

So the good news is,

there is a 3 year limited warranty

on anything related to the freezer system.

YEA!

(Because my 1 year warranty ended

on 7/23/26 and it broke on 8/25/26...)

Of course, it was in storage in the

garage for the entire time.

But anyway.

The bad news is...

I need to ship it back to the company to repair.

Tomorrow morning I'll take pictures

of all the sides (for insurance, so it doesn't

come back with unexplained damage)

and then they will put in the repair ticket

and call me with the estimated cost for

the shipping (my dime) and send me

all the boxes, etc we need to package it 

up so FedEx can come pick it up.

And then..........

hopefully they will fix it and it will

be all new and working great.

And whatever is wrong will be all

covered under the warranty.

But in the meantime,

I'm back down to one machine.

(Not that I ever really had 2....)

They needed pictures of the plug

all plugged in.

And the breaker.

And the chord (to check for damage).

So now I just need the other 5 pictures,

but by that time it was time to start

tonight's class, so we'll do that

in the morning.

Good thing we are nearly done with

harvest season!

I picked more red okra,

but the greens aren't quite ready yet.