Happy Birthday to My Sweetheart

My darling husband was born today

64 years ago.

He loves being out on his horse.

But not as much as he loves 

doing things with his family.

Unfortunately,

I'm terrible about taking pictures when

we are all together.

I'm busy being together!

We are getting a little grey.

Like my Dad, he is a hard worker.

(They say a woman looks for her Dad

in a life long mate... I found him!)

And like my Dad, he passed that trait

on to his sons.

He is always doing something, whether

it is working at his job(s), or at his

calling(s), or around the house or farm.

Which means when he FINALLY gets

to sit down, his eyes just seem to close.

I love my Buffaloe man.

Happy Birthday Darling!

New Building - Almost...

Last week Kyle finally drove over

to the offices of the builders

and sat until somebody showed up

and asked "WHAT THE HECK?"

He spoke with the Dad who is kind

of the "silent partner".

It's his son's gig.

But he said honestly they were totally

on track (back in MAY)

until the concrete guys came in and messed

up the entire schedule.

So they moved on to other projects and

since Linda and Gina aren't very vocal,

his job kept getting pushed back.

He PROMISED they would finish the building

they were working on that day or the next and

then they were going to bring their entire crew

and all their equipment and not leave until 

they were completely done.

It took them longer than anticipated to get there...

but they HAVE been working hard for the

past few days.

It almost looks like a building!

The 16' door is laying on the floor.

He's a little sad about that one, lonely, tiny window.

But realistically, when you open the doors

you don't really need a window.

I guess.

That's another 16 footer.

It is also laying on the floor.

So at least they are THERE.

Which is more than you could say last week.

He is using a wide angle lens so it looks bigger

than it really is... but it's not bad! 

While he was out there he was pleased that it

wasn't as HOT as he thought it might be.

There have been heat warnings all week...

"Feels Like" 115+.

Which is normal for you Arizona people,

but unusual for we Florida folks.

(And he REALLY misses his ocean breeze!)

He's excited for them to get finished for real so he can

start loading it up with all the equipment

that has been outside.

They still need to find and hire an electrician

to run the power, but Kyle wants to have Rod

come up and walk through with him and help

him decide where are the best places to

put in the different power sources.

But it's getting closer!

YEA!

Welcome Back Spectrum!

It's pouring rain.

And I'm watching TV.

And my internet speeds aren't abysmal.

And the bill is $20 more per month.

And I'm happy.

So happy I decided to make some

BANGIN' Ice Cream.

(Not it's actual name...)

Doesn't that look delicious?

It's my usual vanilla and then I added

some frozen blueberries and raspberries

into the blender.

I tasted it before I put it in the machine

and it was a bit sweet but 

SO GOOD.

I need to eat some lunch so I can

have a bowl for desert.

(grin)

3...2...1...

There was a rock launch scheduled for 5:44

this morning. I slept through it.

When I woke at 6, I turned on the TV to the news

(because that usually puts me back to sleep)

and they said the launch was pushed back a bit

because of a minor glitch but should go off soon.

They went on to other stories.

And then they said... we're going live to the launch

and I heard 5...4...3... as I dashed down the hall

from my bedroom to the back door.

"Live" means it's already in the air.

They don't go live anymore.

Learned their lesson with the Challenger.

Anyhow.

By the time I got to the yard it was up over the trees

and I got to watch it streak up into the sky,

hit the rising sunlight and the humidity.

Those are the most beautiful launches.

When it was done I ran back inside to grab

my phone to catch a couple of pictures.

I like the smoke trail almost as much as the rocket.

It's almost a rainbow with the sun hitting it.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Reminds me of the cover art of one of 

Mom's old books I used to look at in the basement.

This is NOT my photo, but beautiful.

I wish I could figure out how to share the

video from Tampa on here.

Amazing how clearly they saw it, all the way

over on the other side of the state!

(We call it the West Coast - not to be confused

with California... lol)

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

Meanwhile.

Speaking of humidity.

And rain.

And EVERYTHING wet...

I turned the horses out into the front yard.

I always do on Thursdays.

That's the day all the city people come next

door to pick up their groceries.

And I don't want them messing with my horses.

(Sometimes they try to feed them stuff

over the fence... no thanks!)

Anyhow.

This is what I saw on my fence!

They are probably poison.

But they are fun to look at.

And they'll be gone soon.

But they were fun to see.

Wednesday Stuff

It was a beautiful, sunny morning

when I got up this morning.

The horses were happy to get 

their breakfast.

The cows are getting a little

less suspicious of me, but

they still stand back a little

until I've poured their feed into

their manger and walked away.

(Walking away is a challenge since

we've had a LOT of rain lately and

even under their feed shelter

it's pretty muddy!)

Because of all the rain,

our backyard (and pastures) are

ANT HILL CENTRAL!

They are everywhere!

You have to be careful where you walk

because fire ants are called that

for a reason!

They hurt!

Anyhow.

Last night we had the Elders over for dinner.

I whipped up a batch of Cheeseburger Pie.

Just basically browned hamburger mixed with

a mayo/egg/heavy cream mixture.

Then I covered it all with some shredded cheese

and popped it in the oven for 30 minutes til

it was all melty and yummy.

Meanwhile, we put out all the possible

cheeseburger toppings on the table in

little individual bowls.

We had:

onions,

lettuce,

tomatoes,

ketchup, 

yellow & brown mustard,

bacon bits and

pickles (bread & butter and dill).

The green salad I bought was NASTY (slimy)

so I steamed up some broccoli 

for a veggie.

The night before I baked a Trimtastic Chocolate Cake

and added about a half can of 

sugar free cherry pie filling

to mimic Sondra's chocolate cherry cake.

That stayed in the fridge overnight to 

get rid of the stevia after taste.

(If you let it sit, you can't even tell its not sugar)

Then while the pie was baking I tossed

some delicious vanilla ice cream stuff

into the ice cream maker.

The little bottle is vegetable glycerine - keeps the ice cream from freezing SOLID
when you put it in the deep freeze! I add about a tablespoon.

It was a delicious dinner!

And I didn't take any pictures.

The ice cream is SO easy!

But the machine is a bit loud so we

plugged it in in Kyle's bedroom.

LoL.

Anyhow...

What with all the rain and the ants, we

had an ant invasion at the back

french doors last night.

Which meant a quick trip into town

to the WalMarts to get some spray.

We had some out in the shed,

but its old and didn't poison them so

much as drown them.

This morning after I fed all the critters

but before I let Beau into the house,

I swept and damp mopped all the floors.

Especially around the french door.

Got that all cleaned up.

And then I made a big bowl of yummy

oatmeal with frozen raspberries for breakfast.

Stripped the sheets off the bed and

ran them through the wash.

Unloaded the dishwasher from last

night's feast, and finished cleaning

up the kitchen.

Listened to my weekly Trim Healthy podcast

while doing some school paperwork and emailing

and then it was time for lunch.

I really MISSED my daily okra and eggs,

so that's what I made for lunch.

Hahaha

I love okra in the air fryer.

(And Pioneer Woman on the TV in the background.)

Pulled out a London Broil for dinner.

And put some fresh eggs in the Instant pot

to hard boil.

They go in a little mesh bowl I have and I

set the IP for 4 minutes. When it beeps I 

let it sit for another 4 minutes and then release

the pressure and put the whole mesh bowl into

my mix master bowl with ice water in the sink.

Rod really likes having egg salad made up

in the fridge. So I'll peel (it literally falls off)

drop them in the food processor with some mayo

and whir it up. 

Done.

Meanwhile, I just got another alert on my phone.

We are the little blue dot east of Palm Bay.

Oh goody.

More rain.

Yup. 

It's raining.

In case you don't have a window to look out,

here's confirmation that its raining.

I am SO switching from satellite TV to cable.

Super annoying.

Anyhow.

Better go make the egg salad

and get the sheets back on the bed.

Happy Wednesday!

New Neighbors

Brock (the guy next door) went to

Costa Rica for the week last week.

While he was gone, I got to take care

(ok, dump feed over the fence)

of his 2 goats and donkey.

We call the donkey Snickers because

he hasn't ever mastered the art of

doing the donkey noise.

And we call the goats Goats.

They have names, but they are silly.

The girl is Lolly and the boy is Pop.

Yeah, we call them Goats.

This is Snickers.

He has a name.

But I can never remember it.

Years ago Kyle named him Snickers.

Everyone in the neighborhood calls him that.

Except Brock.

He calls him..... whatever. Nino? Maybe?

Anyhow.

Last week up at the ranch, when the vet

was there and we were working all the

cows anyway, we pulled off two nice

looking little heifers.

And Kyle sold them to Brock.

Kyle brought them down on Thursday

and we put them in the pasture with

the donkey and goats.

We were glad Brock was out of town

because the donkey wasn't pleased.

He chased them all over.

We were afraid the cows were going to

just jump the fence and head for the hills.

But after a couple of hours,

everybody chilled out.

They stick right together at all times.

And sometimes moooo at our cows through

the fence. (There is an alley between them

so they can't actually get very close...)

But they have settled in.

I can still see you!

Brock came back today and was very happy

with his two new little girls.

Here's to a happy new life and maybeeee

Mommy-hood.

It's Raining It's Pouring

I wish I was snoring...

LOL

I woke up this morning about 6:40

to a HUGE thunder storm.

It sounded like the house was going

to rumble off its foundation.

And then it cleared up.

I went outside and fed my animals

and the neighbor's animals.

And then I came in and Soni called.

We had a wonderful visit!

(Poor woman couldn't get a word in

edgewise!)

And then I made my breakfast

(10:30)

and Kyle called.

He is on his way home, pulling the

big stock trailer with two little

heifers he sold to Brock next door.

When he hung up (had to stop for

fuel and a pit stop) I headed back

outside to mow the yard.

(12:00)

I got 3/4 of the way done and here

came the rain again.

I finished up in the pouring rain.

And since I was soaked to the skin

anyway, I hopped in the shower.

LOL

And now I'm sitting in my big comfy

chair, emailing my students - gotta keep

them motivated to get that testing done.

And then I'm heading to the kitchen

to make some egg salad and some

new peanut butter protein bars I discovered

the recipe for.

Here's a gratuitous photo since I haven't

put many pictures on here lately.

It was a beautiful, sunny day yesterday.

Andy and Buddy are enjoying a little

nap in the sunshine.