Glug Glug Glug

 It's a little wet here...

It has been raining pretty steady all day.

And then about 4:00 it broke

and the sun actually came out for 

a few minutes.

Then, just about 15 minutes ago,

it opened up again for another deluge.

The time is wrong, it's 9:05 not 7:05...

We are now at 3.01 inches for 

this 24 hour period!

Kyle walked down during the break

so he and Bear could get out of the

house. He said it was pretty muddy.

So we are all just staying in

for the next day or so.

Rod spent the morning sanding the

top of the big island.

And then an hour or so CLEANING

all the fine dust off everything

in the house.

(hahahahaha)

It created a nice fine mess,

but it sure looks and feels nice!

If we are ever able to get out

of the property again,

he's going to run to his hardware

store and get some varnish and

we will coat it so it will be protected.

I don't want to spend forever saying

"Ack! Don't put that on the island!!!"

We want to be able to LIVE here.

I'm excited to see how pretty it will

turn out with a nice clear satin finish.

It's such beautiful wood!

Anyhow.

I just finished class.

Rod just cooked us a nice big pot

of spaghetti (with our home grown

and home canned sauce!) 

so I'm going to go eat.

Stay warm and dry everybody!

(Most of us were in the path of 

this one.... it says it will stop

raining here sometime overnight.

And then the cold front comes in

so we have a high in the 60s and lows

in the 40's but then it jumps right

back to perfect fall weather again.)

Nite all!

ONIONS & Hurricanes

 I've been promising myself I would

process the onions.

But I keep putting it off......

So today I pulled the mango out

and set the machine to defrost,

and started on the onions.

I made a nice dent in the basket.

There are still a LOT left...

but most of them are still nice

and firm and juicy.

Kyle said the internet told him these

are NOT storing onions and are

only good for 3-4 months after harvest.

But its already been 3 months and

they are storing just fine.

I'll probably put the basket under

the shelf next to the squash and leave

them until later.

We have PLENTY.

Kyle processed a WHOLE BUNCH and

froze them in his chest freezer in his shed.

And I did 5 trays for the freeze dryer.

I read on the internet that if you put

bread slices on the top of them,

it helps to keep the smell down

AND (bonus) when you are done,

you have onion flavored croutons!

We'll see.

All I can tell you is every time we open

the freezer.... HOLY ONION BATMAN!

I'm in my office and Rod needs to open

the freezer to get some ice (I put it in

a tub with a LID, hopefully it doesn't taste

like onion...) and then he needed to

get the pizza for tonight's dinner.

And I'm in here with my eyes BLEEDING!

(hahahahahaha)

Anyhow.

I'll probably have to change the oil

after this run.

But I need to get them OUT of my

freezer.

So I'll start the batch in the morning.

Meanwhile,

Rod and Kyle have been working on

getting the bottom of the house

all closed in for the winter.

Looking good!

It's 1/4 of the way done.

But now that they have finished this section,

it always goes faster on the next runs,

since you know what you are doing.

So hopefully they will be able to finish.

However, the hurricane is a'comin'.

Who knew we would still be thinking

about hurricanes after moving to Kansas!

They are predicting between 3 and 5 inches

of rain over the next 3 days.

We have a flood warning until Thursday.

So, probably no work on the house.

And Kyle will not be going into town.

(He won't be able to get his car out

of his driveway... it gets REALLLY thick

with sticky, slippery mud.)

I plan to can some more spaghetti

sauce and run the freeze dryer some more.

I think the rest of us are all getting rain

this week too, right?

I know Utah and Arizona are both in

the path... so get out your snorkles!

Good luck everybody!

Random Weekend Stuff

 I taught this weekend,

so Rod did the farmers market

by himself.

And he had a pretty good day,

considering it was the last one

of the season.

(Last week we did $15 total... hahaha!)

This week he caught a GENEROUS

Dad and daughter, so he made $66!

Kind of glad the season is done.

We have OTHER stuff to do!

We got the packing material on Friday,

so tomorrow we will watch the

tutorial video and then pack up the

freeze dryer and get it on its way back

to the factory.

They say 4-6 weeks to repair.

In the meantime,

it was a BEAUTIFUL moon last night!

We put christmas lights around the back

section so Beau can go outside at night

and not worry that he might get eaten.

He gets a little nervous out there.

But the lights have helped!

Yesterday was a lovely day,

the high was in the 80's.

And then today it cooled off again.

So for lunch I opened a can of

cream of mushroom soup,

mixed it with a can of milk and

ATE THE WHOLE THING.

I haven't had a can of soup in 

FOREVER.

And it was really good.

The weather is cooling off now that

fall is officially here,

so I might be adding more soups to

the weekly menu.

Potato,

Nancy's corn,

broc cheddar,

and anything else I find

that might be YUMMY.

But for now,

I just finished teaching and doing

all the necessary paperwork,

so I'm going to go sit in

the living room with Rod.

Well, first I'm going to whip up

a meatloaf and get it in the oven,

and then do some potatoes to mash...

The freeze dryer just switched into

"extra dry mode" for the next 24 hours

on the mangos I put in there on Friday.

So I'll process them on Monday.

And then I need to get working on the

potatoes and the onions that are

taking up a ton of space in the prep room.

(Also, there are always MORE cucumbers

that I could also get into the machine

and do more dill pickle flavored chips...)

Always something to do.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

We did!

(During my 15 minute break this afternoon,

I hopped on the 4-wheeler and buzzed up

to the 40 acres behind Kyle's house where

he is on the tractor and mowing where

he plans to put his garden next year...)

It was FUN!

(And I made it back with 46 seconds to spare!)

Whew!

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.

Monday Monday.......

 Rod and Kyle went over to Jim's to

help him with some plumbing issues

and see what's what with his truck.

I harvested and processed a BUNCH

of red okra.

AND the green okra got it's first

flowers today!!!

So just as the red is petering out....

it's still producing, but the plants

are looking pretty ragged...

the green will take over!

It's not as tasty, but still beats the

socks off WalMart okra.....

(grin)

And then I washed and trimmed a

bunch more tomatoes and got them

into bags and into the freezer.

I'll be processing them later in the week.

And then....

I read a book.

I taught all weekend,

and because Labor Day threw off my schedule,

I'm teaching again this weekend...

I decided to just relax for a minute.

It felt REALLY nice.

I'll get back to it tomorrow.

Farmers Market Update

 Jim had a good market today.

I talked to Sabrina this morning before

my class started... she was up until

3:30 baking.... but they got their

computer and printer hooked up so

she was able to PRINT all the little

labels they have to do for baked goods.

That's WAAAAAY better than

hand writing them all!

(Has to have a tag with your info,

as well as ingredients in order of

how much is in it... just like "real" stuff. lol.)

Sold a BUNCH of their baked goods...

(no wonder she was up all night,

there was a TON!) as well as

all of the roma tomatoes, about 100+

of the cucumbers and 7 of the pumpkins.

(It's not really feeling like fall yet...)

A good day for them!

Rod was at our market which was held

in conjunction with the town's car show today.

So we started at 8 instead of 9 and went as long

as you wanted..... (he finally left about 1:15)

It was really busy until shortly before 1:00

when the BBQ truck started selling food and

everybody went over to sit down for lunch.

Sold zero pumpkins, but some

of the other produce and a BUNCH

of the freeze dried stuff we sent.

Had a really good $$ day.

So, all in all, not a bad Saturday!

AND the high for today was only 77.

The AC just kicked on for the first time,

(and I'm going to go adjust it because

it's still too chilly in the house for it

to be running, I'm wearing sweat pants

and slippers and a blanket on my lap...)

The stuff in the freeze dryer says it's 

finished, but I'm not sure I believe it...

there are 2 trays of sliced lemon boy

tomatoes (which are DELICIOUS,

by they way... for sure we will put in

more next year...) as well as a giant

tray probably overloaded with

all the jars of caramelized onions I did

last year.

We never open the jars, so I decided

to dump them, drain them a bit, and

then freeze dry them and put them

in a mason jar in the kitchen.

If I SEE them, I'm more likely

to use them, and they should be

REALLY good on a burger!

(Along with a dried slice of tomato!)

Fun crunch!

Also probably awesome in our

morning omelets...

We are back to using freeze dried

eggs these days since it's been SOOO

hot, the girls are on strike.

Kyle collects 4 eggs a day.

He and Bear eat 4 eggs a day.

So... yeah.

Omelets and scrambled eggs it is.

But once you rehydrate them,

you actually can't tell them from fresh,

they are just already scrambled.

So, crumbled, baked bacon...

some freeze dried bell peppers,

some freeze dried caramelized onions...

sounds DELISH!

(And probably I'll cook up a big mess

of our own pork sausage to mix in too.)

Ok, I'm hungry.

Guess I'll get out of my office chair

and head into the kitchen.

Have a wonderful weekend!

*** PS - the air FINALLY cleared of

all the vinegar / jalapeno - it was a little

scratchy still this morning, but my voice

is fine now... whew!