It's A Constant!!!

 There is ALWAYS something to be done.

And often MORE than we have time for.

But we aren't any different than any

other farm family... August has a

way of doing that.

Check out the tomatoes!

The Romas are beautiful and HEAVY producers.

They are a "determinate" tomato, which means

there are a certain number of fruit and they all come

in at the same time.

Luckily they don't all ripen on the same day...

but once they are done, they are done.

They don't keep fruiting.

There's a LOT of them, though!

LOL.

(And that's probably only half... I have 2 or 3

two gallon ziplock bags in the freezer and

WAY more on the plants.)

The Okra is also coming in strong.

We have several bags cut in the freezer

and ready for us to enjoy over the winter.

Speaking of enjoying,

check out that beautiful flower!

I'm so in love with these orange / burgundy

okra. They are pretty, sweet and large.

We will be growing them again for sure!

And, of course, we are continuing the

moving in process.

Making our house a home.

Today we turned the living room,

put the TV under the window,

moved the piano into the living room area,

the island is still a mess... lol.

And there are still boxes, but WAAAAY less.

AND now we have TWO working

freeze dryers!

So exciting,

and good news because we have a LOT

of produce that needs to be freeze dried.

But now...

class is over, I'm going to go whip up

some alfredo and garlic bread.

And then get stuff organized for the

farmers market in the morning.

(And then I need to run into town

for a RS Activity - Bunco & Brownies.)

I've never played bunco, but they say

it is fun. And I have an order I need

to pick up from WalMart.

OK.

Night all!

Have a happy weekend!

Even MORE Fun!

 In the middle of all the moving

and boxes and hanging art,

we were at Tractor Supply on Tuesday

and they got us again.

$1.00 each chicks!

So we bought them.

All.

It was a LOT of chicks.

(Well, not really, but they only put

6 in each box, so it was a lot of boxes.)

Ok, it actually IS a lot of chicks.

24 of them are confirmed females.

The other 14 are anybody's guess.

We are hoping for 2 roosters.

If we get more than that, we will

eat them, but we need some roosters.

Partly to help protect the flock from

predators and mostly to make our own

chicks so we can stop buying them.

Chicks these days are EXPENSIVE!

Usually these Rhode Island Reds are

close to $5.00 each.

And then, if I order them, I have to 

pay overnight shipping as well.

Anyhow.

We have chicks in Rod's shop.

They should be ready to move out in

4 or 5 weeks.

In the meantime,

this morning my handy man put up

wood trim around the sliding glass doors.

And then he hung a curtain rod so

we can block the HOT morning sun.

We need another package of curtains,

they spread across, but only if they

are completely straight and I want some

fluff to them, so I'll grab another pack

when I'm in town next time.

It's coming together!!!

I REALLY like it!

ART!

 Rod is so happy to finally get to

hang art on the walls!

(I didn't let him in the WaKeeney

house... it was so small,

art on the walls stops the eye and

makes it feel EVEN smaller!)

But now that we have SPACE.......

go for it!

Hello giant metal buffalo from Arizona!

He was a challenge to hang.

Required MATH and everything... lol.

Oops, I didn't zoom in,

the wooden sign on the top says 

The Buffaloes

and 

Rod & Collette 

underneath.

This was a sign we had made VERY

early in our marriage.

It's old.

Rod ran the sander over the face and

it looks all new and refreshed.

And, of course, below is another really

cool metal piece from Arizona!

(You guys have good taste!)

(Also, yes, there are still a gazillion

boxes EVERYWHERE!)

Rod was busy while Kyle and I were

in Hays yesterday.

He got the prep room table all installed!

And this morning I used my pressure canner

to make a load of peach jam.

*YUM!

I could only make one batch because I

forgot to buy more pectin on Tuesday.

Darn it.

We also put the window AC in

the window... but since we moved

the pump to the shelf below the

freeze dryer, it hasn't given me a

single "warm room" warning and the

AC is set on 78 instead of the 76 it

was requiring to keep it cool enough.

(We were freezing, but the machine

was happy, until the AC cycled off

and then we got a warning, but as soon

as it cycled on again, it was fine...)

Today we are doing 3 trays of peaches,

a tray of mandarin oranges (customer request)

and a final tray of cantaloupe.

I really like it!

It doesn't taste like much when you

pop it in your mouth, but THEN the

flavor hits and sticks with you for a bit.

It's pretty tasty!

Here's a picture of the fence we put

up for Beau so he can use his dog door.

He uses it at night, but still scratches

at the front door during the day.

There's not much shade back there,

so maybe that's why?

It's been awhile since I gave you

a picture of the sky,

and tonight at the 8:00 break

it was SPECTACULAR!

We've been getting thunderstorms in the

middle of the night

(YEA for rain!!!)

and the sunsets have been gorgeous.

OK.

Need to go feed my darling husband.

(I ate WAAAAAAAAAY too many

peanut M&M's while I was teaching,

so I'm not actually hungry,

but I'm sure he's anxious for dinner.)

Night all!

Little Steps

 We do a little something EVERY day

to move this forward.

It's not always earth shattering

(or picture worthy)

but it's always something!

And today it was stuff I was

REALLY happy about!

Like......

Rod flipped the little metal stick

that comes out of the wall and goes

to the shower head.

It was upside down and that caused

the shower water to hit me right in

the FACE!

(And since I have a "bench" in the

shower, I couldn't just step back...)

So that meant I had to stand up at the

front of the shower and duck.

Not ideal.

But today he fixed it!

What a WONDERFUL shower I had!

(And, of course, the internet guy called

while I was in there so I had to cut

it short. Darn.)

But... we also got the internet box moved

from the laundry room on the floor

(where I was concerned it might get

a} stepped on

b} wet)

and put it behind my desk.

Eventually it will go ON the desk,

but we have to build the official desk first.

It's good where it is for now.

ALSO they put an extender on the outside

of the house, pointing down the little road

so WE HAVE INTERNET IN THE GARDEN!!!!

I'm not excited at all.

I can finally listen to books or podcasts while

working in the garden!

And make / receive phone calls!

Whew!

Also, Rod put up a little cattle panel 

fence / yard in the back so Beau can

go in/out his doggie door and not wander

off into the 160 acres and get lost or 

EATEN by a coyote!

Which means if he needs to potty in the

middle of the night he can without

waking Rod and making him take him out.

WHAT a relief!

So it's been a really good day.

But the only thing I could really take

a picture of was the fence.

And I forgot.

And it's dark now.

I also baked some of

Ardith's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

But, after they were all done and

not as good as usual,

I remembered there was NO EGG in them.

Sheesh.

We'll still eat them.

I also vacuumed and mopped all the

floors in the house.

And Rod fixed a leak under the

kitchen sink that sprung up today.

ANNNND I made us some really yummy

breakfast burritos that were very similar

to Sonic breakfast burritos.

(My favorite breakfast of all times...)

And now I'm done teaching.

I need to get the peaches and cantaloupe out

of the freeze dryer and get it bagged up.

And make something for dinner.

And Kyle brought 4 buckets of produce

up from the garden I should at least 

look at.

(But I won't.... I'll take care of it in the morning.)

So,

all in all, a very good, very productive

day... but no pictures.

Cuz... who wants a picture of a 

shower head?

Or an eggless cookie.

Or laundry.

Oh yeah, I did that too... better

get it out of the dryer.

Happy Saturday!!!

 Despite being Rod's birthday yesterday,

we still were hard at  work.

We now have an OFFICIAL office!

Yippeeeeeeeeee!

We still need to install real blinds

on the windows, but I haven't even

ordered them yet, so in the meantime,

sheets and blankets work.

We weren't the only ones hard at

work though.

Sabrina was baking her heart out!

She sent Jim to the farmers market

and when she woke up from her nap.....

They sold EVERYTHING except one

lone little chocolate chip pumpkin loaf.

WOW!!!!!

Congrats guys!

She's an amazing baker,

and he's an amazing salesman.

What a great team.

Today I'm teaching, and Rod and Kyle

headed to WaKeeney to work on

Kyle's ..... (something mechanical on his truck).

There's a concrete driveway,

which is more fun than working on

the dirt here in our yards.

Last night I pulled another 10 dozen

eggs out of the freeze dryer,

let it thaw over night,

and this morning before I started

class, I popped in 3 trays of cubed

cantaloupe and 2 trays of peaches.

They are happily drying.

I haven't started up the new machine yet.

It's been over 100 here lately,

so the AC is struggling to keep up.

But the next week should be in the

more reasonable high 80's.

So we'll give the new one a go then.

Meanwhile... I'm "done" for the day.

Happy Birthday My Darling!

 Today we celebrate the birth of

my darling husband, Rod.

It's been quite the year!

Might have even been touch and go

for a minute there!

From here......

To here....

To here....

To here....

To here!

He is a walking miracle!

Literally.

And from there it has continued to be

quite the journey.

He worked hard.

And before long he was back on

the stand, serving the members

of our ward.

He was feeling pretty good about the

doctor telling him that at 60 days he

was doing AMAZING!

Had a great visit with his brother

Scott and Janis, his wife.

He continues to support us in everything

we want to do.

From building our house,

to growing food in our garden,

to raising and butchering hogs,

and everything imaginable in between.

Through it all, he loves his family

more than anything.

He works HARD.

And deserves a nap.

I love you my darling.

Thank you for sticking around

and making our life together amazing.

Happy Birthday!

So Grown UP!

 I'm 66 years old.

And I'm FINALLY feeling

like an actual grown up.

I have a REAL bedspread!

I have a thingie to split my cabinet shelves.

I wouldn't need one if they actually included

TWO shelves in these cupboards.

I had the guy at Home Depot call the cabinet

vendor and they sent me an extra one for

my corner cabinet and one for this

cabinet.

The one for the corner was perfect.

The one for this cabinet fit Kyle's perfectly.

Haha.

But it was free, so I guess I can't complain.

Yes, the clock is on the counter.

It was hung over the window using a

command strip, and in the middle of the

night, it fell off the wall and landed

in the sink and then "someone" turned

the water on and filled it with water.

It is slowly drying.

And, so far, still working........

I have a spice riser like all the big girls!

It doesn't really help me see them all,

but looks better.

And I only BUY spices.

Don't actually USE them, so it's all good.

The ones I use are on the handy shelf

Rod built me above the stove.

And did I show you my actual

laundry room?

It's so exciting!

I did laundry!

And folded and hung it all as soon

as the dryer stopped.

And there were no wrinkles!

(OK, less wrinkles...)

There are still a GAZILLION boxes,

but little nooks and crannies are

coming together!

It's SUPER EXCITING!