HA! And yet ANOTHER Road Trip.

Is it any wonder my lips are in a state

of constant fever blistering?

I get cold sores when I'm stressed.

Overly tired.

Sunburned.

And it appears, when I travel too much.

The one that popped up LAST week during

the trip to the ranch with Linda is in the

final (peeled yesterday) stages.

This morning my bottom lip is sporting

a nice new baby cold sore.

Complete with itching and burning.

Grrrrrrr.

Because, you see, yesterday Kyle and I

made a "run" up to the ranch

in his new car!

What a great little car that is!

Comfy, nice COLD a/c,

plenty of leg room.

(not to mention a back seat and a 

hatchback so LOTS of storage space)

and 40+ mpg!

The whole 400 mile trip cost him $30!

SWEET!!!

The purpose of the trip was multi-faceted.

Partly for Kyle to have an opportunity

to be on the property without either Linda

or Ronnie (the gentleman who was the manager)

or D, the old owner. Just him. (And me)

Also he wanted to get some measurements

for where he wants to put the cow working chutes, etc.

And there was a tractor in the neighboring town

he wanted to take a look at.

We started with the tractor, mostly because he wanted to.

hahahahaha

It's a pretty nice tractor!

2017, less than 400 hours on it.

Clean.

Enclosed cab with A/C and ready for a radio.

(has speakers, just needs a head unit...)

(I have no idea what I just said, but its

what Kyle said... lol)

Anyhow.

We drove up, saw it out on the lot so walked

over and poked around. Got inside and checked

out everything, including the new car smell

still in there!

Then we walked into the dealership,

asked to speak with Michael (who has been talking

to Linda's daughter Gina - who lives in Logan)

and he just handed Kyle the keys and said

go give her a run!

I stayed in and chatted with him.

Discovered that we have been hanging out 

in the "old" part of town.

Chiefland (the town we were in) has a "new"

part! Who knew!  Complete with a Super WalMart,

actual restaurants and fast food, etc.

We still like the charm of the "old" part,

but its good to know Kyle won't have to drive

30 minutes into Gainesville to get groceries!

(There is a Save-A-Lot right there in Bronson

that he will probably get his groceries from,

but other stuff like oil for his truck, etc can come

from Walmart...)

Anyhow.

He drove the tractor around for a bit,

came in and said, I talked to the Boss Lady 

and she said "We'll take it!"

Mission accomplished!

He has a tractor!

They will deliver it for him, unless he wants

to drive up there with his trailer.

I imagine he'll just have them deliver it so he

can get started mowing.

The property NEEDS it!

Ronnie has quit doing anything but driving

around, counting babies and checking the

water troughs to make sure they are staying full.

(There are multiple wells on the property,

each pasture has its own giant waterer, with automatic

floats in them so they stay full, but with all the 

summer storms we have been having this summer,

the power sometimes pops on one of the wells

and you have to go back and pop the breaker.)

Of course with all the summer storms, the

troughs are staying full on their own anyhow.

After buying the tractor, we headed to the property.

The cows and their babies were all the way

in the BACK of the property in a 22 acre pasture

that was leased out to a guy who was growing

peanuts on it. He was killed in a car accident

last year, so the land is just sitting there.

Lots of peanut plants growing, but also lots of other

random weeds and stuff.

It's pretty tall.

And perfect for hiding new born calves.

We know there were 11 on there last week,

but we could only count 8.

I'm pretty sure the rest of them were just 

hiding from us and our UTV.

But we didn't want to chance "rounding them up"

in that tall "grass" and running over somebody.

So we called it 8 and moved on.

See the babies?

Yeah, me neither.

Those are all Mamas you can see.

I just can't get over how pretty the property is.

And GREEN!

This rain is awesome!

The pond was a good foot higher than it was

just last week. But the hole its in is HUGE,

so there's no way it can flood.

Well...

I guess it could... if it rained for 40 days

and 40 nights.

But otherwise, I think we're safe.

Linda and I left the UTV in the hay barn

last week, so we just hopped in.

Well, first we had to remove some wild life

and dry off the seats...

Shall we name her Charlotte?

Or get some Raid spider killer.

She had several friends.

They are called banana spiders.

And they are BIG.

She was actually the smallest one.

Kyle carefully removed the edge of her web

from the UTV and then we drove away.

Fast.

hahahahahahahaha

We spent about an hour just driving around,

checking all the fence lines,

driving into each pasture,

several of which we hadn't even been in before!

Drove around the old windmill (it still works,

just has been unhooked since they have electric

wells, but good to know he has a backup system

in case of a longer power outage - ie: hurricane...)

It is on one of the only low spots on the property

and was surrounded by several inches of water,

one of the only spots on the property we ran into flooding.

The property is significantly higher than the neighbors.

Some of the other properties around us were pretty flooded,

but except for around the windmill, theirs is good.

He got a good sense of what he wanted to do

as soon as he gets up there.

First order of business - MOW.

Then there are a lot of BIG oak trees all around

the perimeter that haven't had any attention

paid to them in a good many years,

they need to be trimmed up so he can get the

tractor under them.

And there are some fences that need some minor repairs.

And of course he needs to build the 

cow working pens and chutes,

but he is still trying to plan out what he

thinks will be the best way to do it.

Since he isn't going to use metal panels

like what Ronnie had, he is going to build

permanent stuff with wood, he needs to be

pretty sure what he's doing before he does it.

Meanwhile, I know you are wondering about his house.

Yeah.

Maybe the source of all my stress induced cold sores.

Turns out the county the property is located in

has some ridiculously picky laws. Even on giant

pieces of privately owned land.

And a tiny house violates each and every one of them.

Who knew!

Here in our county (and in nearly every other county

in the state) you are free to do whatever you want

on agricultural land.

But Levy county?

Nope.

So the "house" has become the "office"

and will move to the property in the future.

And will have to be taken off the trailer and

installed on the ground.

Meanwhile, Linda is going to have to get a 

mobile home for him to live in until she

decides what she wants to do for permanent

housing. Neither of them are very fond of the

mobile home idea.

But it will have to do for now.

And the sooner, the better.

He can't live on the property until the county

signs off on whatever he is living in.

And there are no other places to live that are

closer than Gainesville. (there is one motel in

Bronson, and I wouldn't put my worst enemy there.)

And it is actually cheaper to drive back and forth

from here (thanks to his little car) than it is to

stay up there. (naturally)

So.....

back to the drawing board a little bit.

We were supposed to look at a mobile home

in Ocala yesterday, but ran out of time.

And as Kyle said,

it doesn't really matter what it looks like.

Buy it, get it on the property and I'll live in it.

(He has considered the tent option, but I'm sure

the county wouldn't approve of THAT!)

(grin)

Meanwhile (again), Linda has gone up to

North Carolina (or South Carolina... I can't ever

keep those straight...) to visit her daughter and

celebrate her granddaughter's 2nd birthday. 

Thank goodness for phone calls.

And texts.

And picture sharing.

Ain't technology grand?

Nice to be able to go on with your life

but still be in touch so nothing gets messed up.

Meanwhile the neighbor has a bunch of cows

in a field of stuff we can't identify.

Looks like cattails.

But it's not as beefy.

I have no idea what it is!

But the cows seem to like it....

Better get on with my day.

Looks like more rain here,

and I need to get some feed for my horse.

*Buddy gets special feed cuz he's old.

So is Andy, but Buddy's teeth are falling out,

and Andy doesn't seem to have lost any of his...

Another Road Trip

Linda and I drove up to the ranch on Wednesday.

We were meeting with the septic guy.

While there, the man who had managed

the property since 2004 came by to check

the water and the cows.

(Linda arranged to have him continue

until we can get Kyle up there...)

Kyle and I were up there last week and

there were 8 baby calves at that point.

He said there were 2 more babies

within the past day or two,

bringing the total of babies to 10.

We drove around on Linda's UTV

and checked out the property

(it's only the 2nd time she has been there)

and she finally got a really good look

at her new land and all her cows.

The babies are SO CUTE!

We found a couple peeking out from behind a tree.

Check out the heart on her forehead!

Isn't she adorable?

And she's a GIRL!

Breeding stock!!!

After we chatted with Jeff (the septic guy)

and drove around the property,

we headed into town for some lunch

and to make some plans for how to move forward.

When we got back to the ranch,

we decided to recount all the babies,

so headed out to where they had moved 

(a shady line of oak trees)

and started counting.

I noticed a cow standing off by herself

who looked like she had just given birth.

Sure enough! There was a brand new baby!

We had seen Mama sitting out in the middle

of the pasture when we were looking before.

She didn't have an ear tag and they were

supposed to have put new tags in everyone.

That means the new little one is less than an hour old!

Linda was really excited!

(She LOVES baby cows...)

Next we headed down to Ocala to talk to

some folks about some housing ideas,

and then on home.

We were pulling a trailer so we could

bring (and leave) the UTV up there,

so took the "back way", which takes around

3.5 hours instead of 2.75 hours if you go

through Orlando.

On the way home, we went through

a little town and found a FUN shop

on the side of the road.

Decided to stop (since neither of us

were in a particular hurry...)

It was LOADED with these fun, life sized statues!

Of course, some of them were larger than life size.

Like this little rooster, for example.

Unfortunately, my phone battery died,

so these are pictures Linda took.

There was also another section that was 

all different kinds of pottery,

with a TON of those bowl-type sinks

that had beautiful painting.

Reminded me of the sink in Sondra's mountain house

spare bathroom.

So pretty!

We might have to come back to get some

sinks for Linda's new house!

Anyhow.

It was a fun trip.

It's Official - I'm WEIRD.

So I'm teaching today.

We are talking about Juvenile (Gerber) Insurance.

While I'm teaching and actively interacting with

my students (a GREAT group, by the way),

there is a soundtrack playing in the back of my mind.

And then we get to the end of the topic

and I send them off to work in their workbooks

for the remainder of the hour.

And I realize there is a soundtrack playing

in the back of my mind.

Which isn't uncommon, (for me anyway...)

my entire life is set to music.

What IS weird though is my brain's choice

for today's soundtrack.

Oompapa Oompapa,

That's how it goes...

Oompapa, Oompapa,

Everyone knows....

They all suppose what they

want to suppose.....

When they hear Oompapa!

Yup.

My brain leapfrogged back 50+ years

to the movie version of Oliver

and a bunch of Londoners in a pub

dancing on tables singing jibberish.

Sigh.

And as Mom is reading this she is thinking

"SHE'S ADOPTED!"

***********************************************

You're welcome, by the way.

Because now YOUR brain is singing

Oompapa Oompapa

That's how it goes.......

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Tiny House is looking like a HOUSE

This has been such a roller coaster!

Kyle was working on getting all the ceiling panels installed.

CHECK.

Got that all done.

Getting ready to run the electrical wiring 

through all the little "race ways" in the walls.

But then it started RAINING.

Outside.

And INSIDE!

The windows were leaking like CRAZY!

Realized they didn't do the final step

during installation.

Caulking the inside.

8 towels,

a couple of rolls of paper towels,

and a couple of freak out moments later...

it stopped raining and he got it all dried up.

Yesterday morning, after giving it overnight

to make sure it was nice and dry,

he carefully caulked (and in some cases re-caulked)

all the windows. (All 6 of them!)

And then it was time to start on the wiring.

FINALLY!

It was a little less easy than he thought,

so I went out to give him a hand.

With 4 hands instead of 2, it went pretty quickly!

And then the afternoon rain showers began.

And it stayed DRY!

(Well, all but one tiny spot, easily fixed...)

The builder hard at work...

He's learning so much about home construction!

Mostly that he's not crazy about it.

LOL.

Taking a short, well earned break.

Incidentally, the hot water heater came in VERY handy!

Makes a great stool / seat!

Can't get over how much I LOVE this vanity!

And look! The floor is "clean"!

There has been a thick layer of 

styrofoam "snow" everywhere for a couple of days.

Beau likes to eat it.

Dumb dog.

We finally got it all swept up

and into a garbage can.

Next he framed in the bathroom wall

and installed the breaker box.

Then to get a feel for what it's going to

look like, he used his counter tops to

create a couple of faux walls and

used an empty insulation box and a cinder block

to mimic where his fridge will stick out to.

It will face towards me instead of

towards the kitchen cabinet.

Easier to get in stuff in / out.

This will be his vanity with a light and mirror

above it, imagine the metal stool is his toilet

(known as a commode down here in the south...).

'Scuse me! Can I get some privacy here?

(It's going to have a sliding barn door.)

Looking out from the bathroom.

Still looks like a construction zone,

but it's coming!

Tuesday and Catching Up

It was brought to my attention that I

was getting lazy about posting... lol.

And of course, my usual excuse...

I'm BUSY!

First... Kyle's house.

It's still in the first (or first and a half) stage.

He is working on insulation.

This insulation he bought is easier

and less expensive (or at least comparable)

than the traditional stud and batting,

but it still takes FOREVER.

He finally got it all cut out for around all his

windows, his door and his A/C unit.

There were 2 layers, first the layer that
fits in the groves of the corrugated walls,
then the solid piece that goes over the top.
The black stripes are the studs, the drywall
will be attached directly to the insulation.

The walls are all installed.

And now he is working on the ceiling.

If you look up at the roof, it looks like it has stripes.
The grey is the metal box, the white "stripes" are individual
strips of styrofoam insulation that had to be rounded on the ends
to fit in their slots and then glued in. They were held up
by the red neck's best friend - duct tape!

It still looks like a construction zone.
He has moved the kitchen to the other side
of the house temporarily while he works
on that side of the ceiling...

Each panel has to be glued and

then he has to brace it up using 2x4's.

He only has 4 of them.

And each one has to sit for 24 hours.

He did 8 panels last night.

He's doing 4 panels this morning.

He'll do 4 more this afternoon.

And hopefully the rest tonight...

(They have to cure for 24 hours, but 3 or 4 hours

seems to be enough to hold them up...)

Next comes running all the wires for 

his electricals.

He will have a ceiling fan,

a couple of lights in the bathroom,

the wiring for his A/C unit,

the wiring for his stove / fridge / hot water heater...

Did I tell you about his hot water heater?

It's not going to end up there,
it has a kitchen cabinet it will be hiding in.
But its helping hold up insulation.
And staying out of the way.

A week ago, Kyle and Rod went to Lowe's.
While there they were looking at hot water heaters.
This was is $350, marked down to $309.

While they were looking at it, an employee
happened by and they got to chatting.
He offered to lower it to $250.

In the course of more chatting, Rod told him
about the house Kyle is building and showed
him some pictures of the progress.

The guy said "My boss told me to make
a friend today. So I'm going to drop the price
for you tonight to $150!"
GREAT DEAL!

A few days later they were back at Lowe's.
They were looking at stoves.
Those are SO expensive!

Anyhow, while chatting with an employee,
they scored a GREAT deal on this
4 burner cooktop!
Even after buying another kitchen cabinet
to put it on top of, he was still several
hundred dollars ahead.
*And he'll never use an oven...
he'll have a toaster oven, which is honestly
all I ever use. Except for the Christmas / Thanksgiving
turkeys - and Kyle doesn't like turkey.
LOL

Anyhow.

It's coming along.
And this is his little helper (who eats styrofoam and isn't allowed
in the house unless I'm there to watch his mouth).
The dogs love to hang out there with him.

Meanwhile.

Saturday the guys worked on Kyle's transmission
on his new little Golf. They thought it would be a quick
30 minute thing, but 8 hours later it still has an issue.
So back burner for that... maybe he'll have time to mess
with it in September.

Sunday Rod and I rode with another High Council member
and a good friend, down to the Lake Placid Branch where
they were speaking. It's the first time I've gotten to
hear him speak since he was called!
High Council Sunday is the third Sunday each month
and I'm always teaching on the 3rd Sunday each month.
But with 4th of July this month, I pushed my schools
back a week.
He did a GREAT job - talked about ministering with a
pioneer day theme - talked about Rhoda Chase and some
of her trials, some of the other pioneers and their trials
and how looking out after each other was so important
and then brought it to today and helping each other after
the hurricanes last year and all the things we do each day.
It was a good talk and he seems to be getting more
comfortable speaking.

It was fun to visit the Branch. We had 9 women in RS.
Maybe 14 people in Gospel Doctrine.
And when Church started, there were only 12 people
in the chapel! (Folks showed up a little later, they have
quite a drive to get to this building - BIG news, they
just bought their own building in their little town
and should be meeting there in the next month or so...)

Yesterday Kyle and I took his truck and drove up
to the ranch to do the final walk through before they close today.

They have been getting lots of rain, so everything
is nice and green.
This is the cow trail down to the pond.
It's covered in "duck weed".

We drove the perimeter and checked all the fences,
got some more insight from the current manager,
and then left him at the hay barn and walked
around a little, scouting out where he wants
to put his house.

I didn't take any pictures of the cows, but there
are now 8 babies - she bought all 28 cows,
they were supposed to all be pregnant,
we'll see how many of them really are.

(This was not a well "documented" herd...
the folks were sort of - well there's a young bull out
here with them, so they are probably all bred...)

I imagine after Kyle gets the new cattle working
pens and chutes built anybody who hasn't had a baby
will be run through and preg tested to see who is
and who isn't... and then they'll think about doing
A/I on the rest who aren't.
They really want to have 20 babies so they can
sell them in 3 months and then buy more mamas.
Their goal is 50 cow/calf pairs.

Most of the property looks like this.
But the deep hole and surrounding woods
is my favorite part...

It's exactly 200 miles from the ranch to our house.
A 400 mile round trip, with 2+ hours visit to the property
and a nice little lunch at the town diner.
Made for a long day.

Today I'm doing laundry,
making Rod's breakfasts for the week,
that sort of thing...

So...
You are all caught up!

Baby Chicks and a Plan Change

The girls are still not producing like they should.

So we have begun the "weeding out" process.

Last night I snatched 4 girls off their roost

(easier to catch that way)

and put one each in isolation

in the old rabbit hutches.

You've got 24 hours.

Lay, or freezer camp.

Your choice...

So far... no eggs.

Meanwhile, I had an order for

46 new chicks coming,

since the writing is on the wall

for these girls.

But then Rod and I re-evaluated

and decided maybe our egg selling

days are at an end.

The neighbor is transitioning over to

being a bamboo farm over the next 

two years, so we knew we were nearly done,

but we decided with Kyle leaving

(he's my backup when I'm gone)

and me being gone a LOT here in

the near future (I'll be out of town

EVERY weekend until mid-September

and then gone again the last 2...)

maybe we should just get out now.

So...

I called the chicken people and changed

my order from 46 hard layers

to 15 (minimum order) of a breed that

will lay every couple of days,

but continue to lay for 5 to 6 years.

We'll give a couple to Kyle

so he can have eggs,

and keep the rest for us.

That will give us enough eggs for 

us to eat, and also to give away

to the missionaries and a few

folks in the ward we like to help out.

The chicken people were really nice

and super helpful.

Happy to change my order.

And they arrived today!

Baby chicks are so stinkin' cute!

They were happy to check out the

water and feed.

And now they are all napping.

I have a chicken who has been faithfully

sitting on a nest for several weeks.

I grabbed her and put her in with 

the chicks, hoping she would think they 

all just hatched!

Look! Babies!

Nope.

She freaked out and pecked one on the head.

So I kicked her out.

They'll just have to be motherless.

But since it's WICKED hot,

they won't need a heat lamp.

We have 6 New Hampshires.

A large red chicken that lays well for many years.

And 9 "True Blues" who also lay well

for many years, but they lay a blue egg.

And who doesn't love a blue egg?

I told Brock today that I was winding down

and wouldn't be bringing eggs after next week.

He lost 25 chickens to coyotes over the

past week or two,

so he's actually thinking about being

done and just ordering his eggs

from a supplier from now on.

I'm sorry the coyotes are eating his chickens.

But I'm glad the coyotes are eating HIS chickens!

(grin)

I guess my girls will have to stay in their yard.

Of course once I whittle the flock down

to the 2 dozen who are still laying,

that will be easy.

And when the new babies come on board

(around Thanksgiving)

the old ones will go and we'll just

have our little family only flock.

End of an Era.

Take THAT Chickens!

When I first retired,

one of the first things I did

was repair the holes in the fence

in the chicken yard.

We have NEW holes.

Half the flock is getting out daily.

The rooster hops in and out at will.

My egg count is down.

I think...

Well, I don't know what I think.

I ordered new chicks that should be here

early next week.

I'll be rotating my flock in November.

Anyhow.

Today I got out there early 

(early being a relative term)

and did more repairs.

That's all new chicken wire.

And an annoyed flock of chickens.

HA!

Just went out again.

There are...

ZERO eggs in my nest boxes.

Guess they showed ME!

(Yesterday nobody laid until after 2:00...

I have seriously weird chickens.)