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.....

Quiet Couple of Days.....

 Kinda not really but sorta.....

hahahahaha.

The guys would beg to differ.

Yesterday Jim and Kyle got the AC ducts

and vents almost all installed.

They ran out of 8" duct tubing

so needed to get more.

But it rained last night so Kyle

didn't run into town to get any.

AND they were watching the

Starship launch (that scrubbed)

and by then it was raining and too late.

We got about half an inch!

YEA!

But the driveways get really muddy...

Anyhow.

I made some grilled cheese 

sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner.

Today the roads were yucky,

so we all stayed home.

Except Kyle decided to bring the Trooper

up the back roads and come into town

to bring me some eggs and watch

the Starship launch with Jim.

I haven't taken any pictures though.

Mostly I read a book.

Sabrina came home early.

They only work half days on Friday.

AND she gets Monday off!

LONG weekend her first week!

So, she baked cookies.

We are all going to need to start

running marathons.

Kyle LOVED the oatmeal raisin cookies.

She sent him home with a bunch.

(And he ATE a bunch while he was here...)

The chocolate chip cookies are really good too.

But OATMEAL RAISIN!

(Not Rod's or Jim's favorites... so Kyle

and I get to indulge to our heart's content!)

Anyhow

Have a wonderful weekend and a 

fun Memorial Day!

You Know You Are In WaKeeney IF........

 You are sitting in your car

on Main Street.

(Waiting for one of the Sister Sisters

at her Chiropractor...)

and a car pulls in next to you.

The woman and her little girl

get out and go into the hair salon

next door to the chiropractor.

Leaving the back door open 

on the SUV.

(Mom looked back, saw it open

and made the decision to leave it...)

And if you look closely, 

Mom's PURSE is hanging on

the back of the passenger seat.

They were STILL in the salon

and the door was still open when

Dinah came out and we left.

(I could have gotten out and closed

the door.... but I didn't.)

I know, right?

Poor Dinah.

She has been messing with a rib issue

even longer than Rod has.

It pops out of place.

And then she does a bunch of PT and

stuff and it gets better and then it gets 

worse again.

This time it is SO painful she can't sit,

stand, lay down, breath, or ... pretty much

anything except be in pain.

She went to the hospital earlier in the

week and they did an x-ray and said

everything looked good.

They also did a CT.

(She's a large woman and their MRI is

actually for pediatrics...)

She texted and asked if I could run her

back to the ER this morning.

Of course I can!

So I picked her up and took her over.

(Her car is in the shop today...)

I dropped her off and told her to let

me know when she was done.

An hour or so later they had drugged

her up with some IV tylenol,

and some Gabby, and some muscle

relaxants, and possibly more stuff.

Also put a Lidocaine patch on her.

And said she should go see the town

chiropractor.

He's 77 years old and really good.

So I drove her downtown

(ok, it's like 6 blocks... lol) and

was sitting there while she went in.

It was 12:45 and they take a lunch

from 1-2:30 every day, so he wasn't

busy and went ahead and did an exam

and then an adjustment.

He said her body has gotten used to where

the rib is now, and has decided that's where

it belongs. Which HURTS.

He put it back, and it REALLY helped.

But he said we have to retrain your body.

So it's not going to last.

Come back at 3:45.

I took her across the street to our little

town pharmacy for her prescription

and then home, where she fell asleep

for the first time in several days!

Picked her back up at 3:30 for her

appointment.

She said she felt really good until 3:00

when she felt it pop back out of place again

and all the muscles tighten up again.

He said he was able to get 3 in easily

but the 4th really wanted to fight.

So she's got another appointment

tomorrow morning.

But her car should be done by then.

We'll see.....

Anyhow.

Rod worked on the shower and then came

home to get cleaned up and go into Hays

for Mutual.

Jim and Kyle worked on getting in the

AC ducts in about half the rooms!

YEA!

Sabrina had a good day 3.

And I played Uber.

And now, class is over and I'm heading

out into the living room to eat the yummy

pork chops I can smell Jim cooking!

Have a great night everybody!

Woo Hoo!!!!

 Howdy!

Welcome to Monday.

Sabrina started her new job today!

She did orientation starting at 8:20

and they said she would be done at 3.

So she was planning to leave.

BUT, they were really happy with her,

and the people in her new office came

and snatched her away and brought

her up and spent the next 2 hours

showing her around and introducing

her to the doctors and just basically

making her feel welcome.

YEA!!!!!

It's what we were praying for.

(She was NERVOUS!)

So that's good!

Kyle and I drove out to the next

little town west of us, called Colyer,

where our mechanic is located.

(When we NEED one....)

He hasn't had any AC in his VW Golf

for a while and it gets HOT around here.

You can survive it when you are 

beebooping down the roads at 75 mph

with the windows down...

but when you are sitting in a parking lot

waiting for a door dash gig, it gets a bit warm.

So we dropped his car off.

Fingers crossed it won't cost 

an arm and a leg!

And then we went up to the farm and

checked on the progress.

They are getting the prep room all

taped and mudded.

Looking GOOD!

And we decided the placement for the

electrical outlets we want to install in the

living room floor. 

(So we don't need extension chords

running all over the place..... YEA!)

We also met a neighbor, Barb,

who dropped by to say thank you 

for reporting the fire and getting it

put out before her house burned down...

She lives in the farm to the west of us,

where the fire started.

We had a nice visit!

And, we checked on the garden,

I've got some baby cantaloupe

and watermelon plants starting!

(Now if we can keep the rabbits from

eating ALL the leaves off the bean plants!)

And then I headed home and made a big

pot of potato soup, because

YESTERDAY it was 90.

TODAY it made it to 57.

BRRRRRRR.

Soup just sounded good.

And then off to my office to teach.

And while I was teaching, I got an email

from my boss with the first half of the

year bonus contest.

I pretty consistently come in 4th place,

which is pretty good considering I only

teach zoom review and Louisiana

(who doesn't have a very good track record...)

The bonus is based on total licenses achieved.

So 4th is respectable and still earns a

couple hundred dollars.

But THIS time......

I came in SECOND!!!!!

(1st place did 101 licenses, she teaches

GIANT classes in Miami every weekend...)

I did 42 which is pretty good for people

who are just coming to review!

AND my bonus is a very useful

$1500!!!

All-in-all a pretty good day!

(And now I'm going to go eat some soup.)

What a Class....

 Actually, it was a good class.

Most everybody arrived on time and

stayed all day.

Those who were substantially late

also left early, so not my problem.

(grin)

But.........

I had TWO women in my class named Eleanor.

In fact, I thought it was cool, so I even

took a picture of the Kahoot score page

where they were both listed.

I was thinking about Grandma all weekend!

And then it got weird.

Friday night, I re-type the list of all the students 

into Excel, because the list I get from the company

is alphabetical by last name.

And NOBODY logs into Zoom with their last name.

Trying to find them to keep track of their attendance

that way is a nightmare.

So I re-type them and then have Excel put them

in alphabetical order by first name.

Phew. So much easier.

BUT.....

tonight when I was finished class, I pulled up the

official roster to put in the hours and Ellenor was

MISSING from the roster!

(Ok, maybe her manager cancelled her thinking 

she wasn't going to attend... could happen...)

Except her company ID number came up belonging

to some person with a really weird name in AZ.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

And then, to make things even weirder, I had

a guy show up for class this morning and he

wasn't registered. Which happens. They are just

walk-ins. Maybe he just joined the company

last night and his people stuck him in class.

That happens too.

Except when I tried to register him,

he doesn't even EXIST!

(Maybe he's NEW NEW and they just 

haven't updated it yet? But he had a company

ID number..... its a mystery.)

So, that was fun.

HOPEFULLY one, or both, will reach out to

me and want to know what happened to their 

hours.

Otherwise?

No idea what to do next.

I sent a nice LONG email to my boss.

He loves those.

Ha!

Anyhow.

Saturday Rod got the walls in on the shower.

And then had a minor glitch which will require

replacing one of them.

But that shouldn't be a problem.

And the guys got the gardens weeded and the alleys

between the rows mowed.

THAT is a job, because it's a PUSH mower.

And those corn rows are 170 feet long!

(And there are a LOT of them...)

And then, once everybody was home and 

Sabrina had made us some awesome homemade

pizza (supreme and mac&cheese! yum!)

we turned on 

Ryan Hall Y'all

(A YouTube weatherman...)

who had guys IN WAKEENEY storm chasing!

Ok, they didn't START out in WaKeeney,

but there was some CRAZY storms last night,

so there were live streams from KS, Nebraska,

Missouri, Iowa.....

But there was a big storm with 82 mph winds

recorded at the Hill City Airport!

Terrible picture, but across the top in the red

banner it says 82 mph wind gust reported in

Hill City, KS as severe storms sweep the plains.

So yeah.

The farm is about 10 minutes out of Hill.

But Kyle kept a close eye.

He got 1.03 inches of rain. *YEA!!!

No hail. (or tiny if there was...)

And his home weather station reported

the biggest gust was 31 mph.

So all good there.

However, all over social media today there

are pictures of a Haboob, which is a giant

dust wall like in the movie The Mummy.

And it was LITERALLY right outside

of WaKeeney.

The Sister Sisters got a "sort of" picture of it!

Out their back patio!

So when the weather chasers went live and

they were sitting at the gas station here in town,

Jim hopped in his truck and headed out.

He didn't see them, they had moved on already,

and it was too dark to see the Haboob by then.

But it was an exciting night, for sure!

And now.... Sabrina and I are going to try

to figure out what to feed this herd for dinner.

Kyle is coming into town.

And everybody is going to want something more

than spaghetti with Ragu sauce.

Ha.

Have a great night!

I hear Rod watching Ryan Hall Y'all again....

but looking out my office window,

the sky looks nice and blue.

It's been in the 90s for the past few days.

Tomorrow and most of this week

the highs are in the 60s.

Nice break.

AND Sabrina starts her new job Orientation

tomorrow!

Fingers crossed she loves it 

AND they love her!

(They will....)

Nite all!