First Harvest!!!

 Since none of our peas even germinated...

well, that's not true.

We found a random pea plant hiding today

in the middle of the carrots.

Like 5 rows away from where we planted them...

there were 3 ripe pods on there!

They were DELICIOUS!!!!!

But that's hardly a harvest.

As usual,

zucchini wins the race!

We counted 18 zucchini ready or nearly ready

for harvest!

Jim picked as many as would fit in his shirt.

Looking good!!!

I left one at Kyle's place for him to eat tonight

and we are cooking one up here for us.

We should also be able to harvest a bunch of

the onions by Friday.

They are starting to flop over, which is

the sign they are ready.

And I'm going to go through my freeze dried

stuff from last year and package some up.

I think Jim and Sabrina may take what we have

over to the Farmers Market in Hays and see

how they do.

(I have to work this weekend...)

And so it begins.....

Finally Flowers!

One of my favorite things last year

was my flower garden.

 

This year it is FINALLY starting to be pretty!

These are my little tiny pansies.

I didn't think they would survive,

but they seem really happy down in the

shade under the buttons.

The buttons are all volunteers from last year.

And the holly hocks overwintered!

The zinnias are from seeds I saved from 

last years garden.

They are finally starting to open up.

Same with the marigolds.

The little tomato next to the flower

is a volunteer from last year too.

There are lots of flowers and

even a couple baby tomatoes.

It's starting to look pretty out there!

And then I need to start over at the

new house...

but it will be FUN!

Who is THAT?????

 Poor Jim drew the short straw.

Which meant he spent the day laying

flat on his back on a scaffold and

sanding the ceiling!

He was wearing a hat, so his hair was protected...

He climbed down about every 15 or 20 minutes

and cleaned off....

They were both using power sanders, but

Kyle was doing the walls using a sander

on a long pole with a shop vacuum attached

(less dust...).

He got all the walls done today, so they

will be using that sander for the ceiling next.

He did the master closet that way and said

it was WAAAAAAAAAY better.

But Jim was already dirty.

Tomorrow is Hays Day.

So they get a break from sanding, but then

it's right back to it. They should be done

in one more day.

And then they need to put on a skim coat

of mud (thinner and easier / faster to sand)

and then they will be DONE with

mudding and taping.

EVERYBODY hates that job.

Meanwhile Rod got the shower all finished.

And I got more of the onions weeded.

And then I noticed a bunch of the onions in

the other beds are starting to flop over.

Which means they are ready to harvest.

I'm going to get it all weeded just in time

to pull them out and plant something else.

Hahahaha.

So I might switch and weed the beans.

Kyle started those the other day and

they look much better all weeded.

I planted some replacement cucumber

seeds today on a section of trellis that

didn't have any tomatoes.

The carrots are looking pretty good.

There are zucchini.

And some flowers are starting to pop

out on the delicata squash....

Now if we can just get some rain.

Which is what EVERYBODY in the west

is praying for.

While the east is kind of drowning.

Isn't that the way it goes?

Anyhow.

Enjoy your picture of the abominable snowman.

Or the guy from the band KISS.

I'm going to go make dinner.

Fun Tree!

 On the way into Hays,

along Highway I-70,

there is a hill.

And on top of the hill,

there is a tree.

It is a VERY large tree!

And it looks, for all the world,

like a buffalo!

Isn't that the coolest???

Since I first saw this one,

I've been noticing lots of trees around

that kind of look like that.

Rod and I saw one waaaaaay off in the

distance on our way to the butcher yesterday.

It was too far away to get a good picture of though.

Also, speaking of plants.

Last year I "chaos" planted the flower bed.

All that means is I dumped all the seeds

from the various seed packets into a bowl

and then sprinkled them liberally on the dirt.

There was this one plant that came up.

The leaves kind of looked like a squash.

And since we had random squash coming up all

over the yard (remember the spaghetti and

zucchini from the chickens?) we just let it

grow, not knowing what it would be.

Well, it turned out to be nothing.

And when I cleaned out the bed last fall,

it was still green, so I left it.

This spring it was still alive and started to

grow and then got these big buds on it.

Kyle and I decided it was likely some sort

of weed and considered pulling it.

But I didn't. No reason. Just didn't.

And it's a good thing!

It turned out to be a DEEP purple hollyhock!

There's another tucked in the bachelor buttons,

it has buds, but since it is so shaded, I don't know

if it will do anything.

We think that's why last year it didn't bloom.

It was buried deep under the zinnias.

But this year it got a head start!

Pretty, eh?

I also tucked some tiny little pansies under the

bachelor buttons hoping they will shade them and

keep them cool enough they can continue to bloom.

So far it's working.

I forgot to take a picture and I just watered out

there, so everything is wet.

Anyhow.

I'm nearly finished with my computer tasks this 

morning, (bill paying, ordered new garments,

some phone calls... that sort of thing) and now

I'm going to get dressed and head to the farm

to do some more weeding (shocked, I know...)

before it gets too warm.

PORK!

 Today Rod and I drove back over to

the butcher's and picked up our pork.

There was a LOT of it!

Between the two pigs we had 

436 pounds of "hanging weight"

which is what they weigh once they

have removed all the extra stuff like

head, legs, skin, innards...

All of it is cut and wrapped in white

butcher paper.

We got TWO boxes of bacon!!!

YEA!

Once we got back to the farm, we loaded

it all into the giant freezer.

Yes, those are "chicken paws"... dog treats.

Good thing we got an extra large one!

It's FULL!

The plan is to wait until we move and have

cleaned out the garage in town.

Then Jim can move all his motorcycles out

of Rod's shop and into the garage and

we can move the 2nd chest freezer in there.

Then we can get everything out of the boxes

and into milk crates so we can see what we

have and keep a good inventory.

(And know when we are running low!)

But for now, I'm just happy to have it all there!

Food security!

(On the far side, under the sliding tray,

there are still a BUNCH of packages of

frozen chicken I did in the fall...)

Meanwhile, the guys were busy at the house.

Working on putting in a backer board so we can

hang a grab bar in the bathroom (other side

of the wall he is working on...)

They got the entire breaker panel all wired

and everything clearly labeled!

And then they drywalled around it

And got the panel door on!

Rod is working away getting a plastic

panel installed above the shower.

Kyle was supervising.

Hahahaha.

I spent 2 hours in the garden weeding the onions.

Story of my life these days.

I'm on the final row.

But the arthritis in my right hand doesn't

let me do more than about 2 hours a day.

And then I had to run home for a zoom meeting

with my boss about the next big bonus contest.

The house is coming along.

The garden is starting to produce!

And life is GOOD.

BONUS POST!!!!

 So much to tell and so little time 

to tell it in! 

(grin)

So......

This morning (after a BUSY day yesterday)

after we picked up Fred, 

we headed into Hays to do the shopping,

and then I took Jim and Kyle out for

a late lunch for their birthdays.

(It was YUMMY!!!!!)

Then home for dinner.

Except we were FULL.

So Sabrina made some mac & cheese

for her and Rod to share.

Also oatmeal raisin cookies because

they are Jim and Kyle's faves!

Anyhow.

This morning Rod and I were on the road

by a little after 7:00, headed to Wichita.

Tuesday night there was a ROWDY storm.

We were on the Veeeeeeeery edge of it,

so heading back from Hays it was pretty windy!

There was a truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer

we were SURE was going over.

That trailer was wagging more than the tail

on a really happy dog.

But to the east of us, Salina got SLAMMED.

115+ mph straight line winds.

About 60% or more of the signs along the

highway looked like this.

(I had Rod take some pictures, but he's at Mutual

and didn't text them to me yet.... so I grabbed this

one from facebook...)

Most of the city was without power.

Those guys have it figured out though!

On the way to Wichita, we saw LOTS of twisted signs

on the side of the highway.

Just a short 3 hours later, on the way back,

ALL the signs between Salina and Wichita

were fixed already!

There were still some down on I-70 West of Salina,

but it was lunch break.

(grin)

I just pulled up Salina Weather on Facebook to

snag pictures, and looks like they are under

a tornado watch this evening.

Glad we chose to live in the north west of Kansas.

We don't typically get the rowdy weather they

do further east of us.

(Plus WAAAAAY less snow in the winter!)

Anyhow.

We drove down to Wichita for Rod's 

6-month checkup.

The doctor was VERY impressed with his progress

and lifted ALL restrictions.

Said he can do anything he wants (as long as he

uses common sense.... bungie jumping would

probably be a NO.)

We were BOTH very happy!

(And wind blown!)

He said the only way you could TOTALLY

be sure the bone was growing back was to

do a CT scan, but based on these x-rays

he was confident we were well on our way.

He said it helped that his bones were

super healthy to start with.

So, YEA!!!!!

We've gotten a little rain over the past 2 weeks,

and look how BEAUTIFUL Kansas is!

Amazing what a little water will do.

We stopped in Hays at Tractor Supply and got a couple

black rubber water troughs for the pigs

(they love to play in / with them, and they

are pretty indestructible...) 

and then Rod took them to the farm and I 

started teaching.

Rod went to Mutual to teach the boys about

basic vehicle maintenance.

Checking oil, tire pressure, washer fluid,

that sort of basic stuff.

And now we are all home and it's time 

for some dinner.

So happy about Rod's great dr visit.

We were confident it was going to be 

good, but it's always a relief to hear it

"from the horse's mouth".

Thank you for everybody's continued prayers!

Quick Update! And an INTRO...

 Introducing Kyle's newest pig!!!

Introducing FRED!

He will be the new hubby for Wilma

(nee Penelope)

He's not really Kyle's, but since it

WAS Kyle's birthday...

We spent the morning running up to

8 miles shy of Nebraska to pick up

this lovely registered Berkshire boar.

He's only 5 months old, so needs to stay

in his own pasture for 2 more months

until he and Wilma can share the honeymoon

suite for a month or so.

And then it's back to separate quarters.

Took a minute for the dogs to warm up.

But they got it all figured out.

He was REALLY hot from the ride,

so the first order of business was to

fill his wallow.

He was very very happy.

Just like a pig in mud.

Hahahahaha.

OK.

Class is filling up,

better run.

I'll update on Rod's dr visit etc after class.

So you MIGHT get a bonus post ....

watch for it!

Busy Monday.....

 I spent the weekend "in" Louisiana,

I had 36 students!

A big class, with lots of attentive

students who actually participated.

And then Kyle came over and Jim

made us some yummy burgers

for dinner.

(Sabrina made pizza Saturday night...)

I'm REALLY looking forward to

moving to the new house.

But I will MISS my in-house chefs!

(grin)

Anyhow.

This morning we got up and headed into

town to get some essentials we need to

move this build forward.

(MORE mud for the drywall,

the exterior lights for the porches,

that kind of super exciting stuff...)

When we got home, Rod loaded it all in

the back of his truck and headed to the farm,

with a quick stop at the auto parts store for

something or other for working on 

cleaning the carb in the dump truck so we 

can take all the construction trash to the dump.

He called and said it was a good thing

he didn't go straight to the farm,

because his truck was maxing out at

ONE MILE PER HOUR.

Sheesh.

So he limped home and parked in the back

yard (instead of on the street in front of the

house where he usually parks)

loaded everything BACK in the car

and headed out to the farm to get the

stuff to the guys.

Jim said they planted nearly 10,000 corn seeds

today!!! 29 rows of sweet corn!

Hopefully we get a BUMPER crop!

(That's what he is planning to sell...

that, and the acre of pumpkins they will

be planting here in a few more weeks.)

Anyhow.

I started teaching,

and when the guys got home,

Jim jumped on his favorite AI site and

figured out it was just a blown fuse.

So the truck is fixed.

And now, I can hear them making dinner....

We have a VERY busy week coming up.

Tomorrow is KYLE'S BIRTHDAY!

(A couple packages showed up here today!

Thank you!!!)

We are going into Hays to do the usual,

but we are also heading about an hour north

of the farm to get a little something special.

(Cliff Hanger!)

Then Wednesday is Rod's 6 month check up

at the spine doctor's.

Thursday we go to the butcher's to pick

up the pork.

(It's ready now, but I just don't have

time to run get it...)

So....

LOTS of stuff happening around here!

Zucchini!!!

 It's always SO exciting to see

SOMETHING finally producing

in the garden...

Today Kyle and I found a couple

zucchini plants with little baby zukes!

Thank goodness...

there's that little nagging voice in the 

background that says this is NOT going

to work, but maybe NEXT year....

So when we see signs of life,

it's such a relief!

We had to replant the beans, since a rabbit

(or something) ate them ALL.

Kyle's pretty sure he got the offending rabbit.

He shot (and fed to the big dogs) 4 or 5

down there in the garden, and he's pretty sure

he got the bad guys since we haven't seen any

more of our tomatoes being eaten.

(We don't know about the beans since

they are already gone...)

Jim replanted the beans on Wednesday afternoon

and then we got 1.5 inches of RAIN that night.

Today we are seeing little tiny bean plants

starting to just barely poke through the ground.

AND the potatoes have flowers!!!

Also, he picked a tiny carrot.

So.... there's SOMETHING happening

down there.

I spent nearly 2 hours weeding onions

again this afternoon.

Got a later start than I intended,

but had a good (2 hour) chat with Soni

on the phone.

And then I had to head home to teach.

Jim met Sabrina in town (she only works

until noon on Fridays) and they worked on

getting drivers licenses and license plates

for their vehicles.

SUCH a process.

And Kyle finished mudding and taping

(round 1) the prep room, and Rod finished

up the mud room (front hallway)...

Also, I got overheated and headed up to the

house and sat in the A/C!!!!!

(It was actually tooooo cold for me...

but the guys were enjoying it while working hard.)

And now....

off to do dinner and get ready to teach

this weekend.

Hope you are enjoying your start to summer!

(There was supposed to be stock car races

tonight and tomorrow night, but they cancelled

because of all the rain we got... the in field and

the pits are MUDDY... they had people driving

from over 10 hours away to participate and didn't

want to chance it.)

Bummer.

BIG Milestone!!!!

 This has been a LONG time coming.

And a LOT of work!!!

Yesterday they got the platform built.

The outside unit is ready to go.

Today they got the wires run to the outside unit.

And the inside hooked to the breaker.

(Well, except 2 wires, they'll connect those

tomorrow....)

But LOOK!!!!!

We have A/C!!!!!!!!!

SOOOOOOOOO exciting!

I'm amazed at these guys!

And now.... dinner.

And BED.

I'm sure they are exhausted.

It was a lot of brain power.

Buzzard Bash

 Apparently the buzzards return to

the WaKeeney area about this time

each year....

so we have an annual

Buzzard Bash.

Which is just an excuse for a party.

They closed the main streets in

downtown and there was a 

car show with over 100 cool cars.

Also a "beer garden" under the shade

trees on the court house lawn.

And some fun activities for the kids.

Also one arm of the cross street was

vendors of all sorts 

and the other arm was food trucks.

There was MUSIC during the day 

provided by a DJ in a big trailer

and LIVE music until 11:00 that night.

We went to the car show and saw some

nifty cars.

Some fancier than others.

And then we went to the farm to do

our interpretation of migrant workers.

(Weeding the onions...)

And then.....

back into town to watch the first of

the season's go cart races!

We always enjoy those!

(And they are FREE!!!!)

We left before they were over though,

the wind picked up,

there was lightning in the distance,

and like good little Floridians

we know if you can SEE it,

it can reach out and TOUCH you.

And we were sitting up in the air

on a metal bleacher.

NOPE.

Home for BLT's made with some of the

yummy bacon they gave us at the

butcher's to sample what's coming.

It was a fun filled, busy day!

Happy Birthday Jim!

 We had a nice, quiet day yesterday.

Jim and Sabrina went for a fun

drive through the country back roads

and Jim showed Sabrina the back

way to the farm.

There's some BEAUTIFUL scenery

going that way!

Then they went out again and picked

up a pizza for everybody at 

Pizza Hut.

It was good.

Not as good as the homemade ones

they make, but still good...

And in the evening Jim whipped up

some of his amazing onion burgers.

Yup,

life around here is all about the food.

Hahahahahaha.

For desert I made his favorite

chocolate cherry cake.

(Thank you Soni!)

Happy Birthday!

We are so happy to have your family

here with us!!!

Kyle and his pup Bear came to

spend the day.

The dogs all had a wonderful day

playing together.

(Charlotte watches, she's a little too fragile

to get in the middle of their nonsense...)

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!!!