Whew.........

 It's been a busy couple of days.....

(edited to add... published WITHOUT

reading it - so beware of spelling mistakes

and silly words that don't belong...)

Yesterday Kyle hooked up the stock trailer

and "slip sliding away" got it out of the farm.

(The snow is nearly all melted, so there

is an inch of SLIPPERY mud....)

Picked me up and we headed to Salina.

But FIRST.....

Down to the "other" highway exit where

they have a bigger "truck stop" type of

gas station with bigger bays, easier

to pull in with a big truck and trailer.

Fueled up and then back on the road.

As we were pulling out of the south exit,

there was a semi heading towards us in the

other lane, just got on the highway,

so not up to full speed yet.

And a guy in an older Chevy Malibu

was in the north exit of the station and....

just decided to pull out and make a left.

Between us and the semi.

Kyle STOOD on the brakes (and horn)

with both feet.

I seriously didn't think we would stop.

Meanwhile the semi did the same.

But clipped the backend of the car

ripping his bumper off and tearing up the

front of the semi.

We were pretty sure he was going to flip

around and hit us......

but Kyle is the best driver on the planet

and got that big ol' truck stopped in time.

We turned around and went back to where

they were both pulled over... (for a minute

it looked like the guy considered running,

but he didn't, pulled in behind the semi and

was already on the phone with the police

taking full responsibility...)

Kyle was going to offer his information as

a witness, but looked like they had it under

control, so he just berated the guy

(That was FREAKING STUPID!!!)

(but said with a smile)

and then we headed back up the road.

Stopped in Dollar General for cheap 

"road snacks" and to let our heart rates

return to a normal state...

WHEW!

Anyhow.

The rest of the road trip was thankfully

very uneventful!

We headed to Salina and when we got there,

although it was nice and warm in OUR side

of Kansas, over there it was BRISK!

We wandered around the store and checked

out paint chips for the exterior of the house,

and looked at flooring again (still like

what we picked before), and cabinets,

and found a GREAT fridge for a really

good price, and looked at the choice for

countertops and the island again.

Basically just wandered around for 

several (3) hours.

Then we went to the back and had them

load up the septic tank and steel for the

patio deck roof.

Turned out we had some room leftover,

so we also bought 20 bales of insulation

(put it in the bed of the truck) and some more

parts for the septic.

Got that all loaded up and then walked back

into the store and ALL the way to the front

(it's  HUGE store) to pay for it.

They said we needed a ticket for it.

So we walked ALL the way to the back

and got the ticket.

Then we didn't take the pallets that the

steel came on (they are 16' long, the trailer

is only 12' and the steel was only 10' so

why?????) anyhow, we had to walk

ALL the way back up to the front to

the service desk to get a refund for those.

And then ALL the way to the back again

to get out truck and trailer.

The gate guy looks everything over and

couldn't find the little foam thingies you

put under the steel.

I gave him the receipt from when we paid

for everything when we were there last week.

It wasn't on the receipt!

Oops!

(He said the cashiers often miss one of 

the pages and since the order was in the

thousands, I didn't notice...)

Anyhow...

another trip ALL the way to the front

(where we used the in-store credit from

the pallets we didn't take) to pay for

the foam thingies.

And then...  yup, ALL the way back

out to the truck!

And we FINALLY got to leave!

Whew!

Over to Braums for a burger and milkshake.

Yes, we had milkshakes even though it

was COLD out by then!

A nice drive home again,

but it was late (9:30) by the time

we got home!

Oh, on the way over we saw a giant

wind turbine that had caught on fire!

This was the best of the lousy pictures.

But the housing was just a burned up shell

and the actual blades had big giant chunks

burned out of them.

Anyhow.

It was a LONG day, but a productive one.

Then this morning we got up and headed back

out to the farm to meet with the electrician.

He gave us a good quote to bring the power

from the pole to the house.

And then Kyle unloaded the truck while

I drove Rod home and then Kyle and I

headed into Hays to do the shopping.

We stopped first a Bomgaars to pick up some

chicken feed. There was a big pile at the 

front door with a sign on it.

50 pounds on sale for $9.99 a bag

with a $5.00 REBATE making the bag

$4.99! (or 10 cents a pound!!!)

That's even cheaper than pig feed!

So we bought EIGHT.

Hahahahaha.

And then to get the groceries.

And then home again in time for me

to teach and Kyle to run to Colby and

pick up the wiring harness for the excavator

that the rabbit chewed on.

(He's still living in there... gotta figure out

how to get rid of him!)

The electrician will get the supplies in the

morning and meet us out there at noon

so he and Kyle can run the wires.

(Kyle will dig the trench and then help

pull the wires so he doesn't have to pay a 

helper and saved us a bunch more $$$$$)

That man is worth his weight in gold.

Anyhow.

I'm done teaching, so I'm going to

go finish cooking the chicken that has

been marinating in garlic herb

and then it will be off to bed.

NITE ALL!

(Good Phone Chat JIMBO!

Good luck!)