Paint!

Houston, we have PAINT!

Before - Primer grey.

(kinda pretty!)

Midway - shiny black!

On the top.

They still have to paint the bottom.

And run the lights.

And a bunch of other stuff...

But its getting there!

And its going to be beautiful!

Hope the cows appreciate it.

I know I do!

Excited About Beef!

The countdown is on for the steers.

They have an appointment for

"freezer camp"

on August 2.

This morning Rod got a text from one

of his friends / customers.

Please show the cows their fancy new vacation home!

To which Rod replied...

We are nearly finished the new motorhome

to take them on vacation...

Silly men!

Looking good though, eh?

Kyle says there are still a gazillion

little things that have to be done before

it is road worthy.

And right now he has one of the ranch's

side-by-sides on the patio.

Fabricating a new bed for it.

He fixed the broken wheel, but as long as 

he has it down here he needed to do

something about the totally rusted out

and therefore mostly useless bed.

As always, its going to be great.

But it takes a lot of work.

He finished just as I went out to take a picture.

Its all loaded up and ready to go back to the ranch.

Blessed!!!

Wow!

Kyle and Rod were out working on the 

trailer last night.

They were using hand held grinder

thingies (technical term) to grind the

surface rust off so they could prime

the metal.

I was in the house.

And I heard a yell.

Kyle's grinder hit a burr and jerked up.

Hit him in the chin with the back

of the grinder and the brushes 

skimmed across the lens of his 

sunglasses.

(Thank goodness for $200 Oakleys!)

He thought the grinder knocked his

teeth out or at least cut deep

into his chin...

But the end result was some dirt

on his face and some ruined sunglasses.

But he still has all his teeth

and he still has his eyeball.

That man is so blessed!

(And today we went to the mall and

replaced the sunglasses - the old ones

were about 3 years old and he didn't

realize just HOW scratched they were

until he put on his new ones!) 

Medical Memories

My internet group has been talking about vaccines

and remembering all the shots and little pink sugar cubes

and other medical oddities from our (way long ago) youth.

This is what I shared with them...

I remember being EXCITED to get mumps. I was probably 4... I got to wear a MUMP RAG!!! Just like the little kid in the story! (My little sister was still in diapers so Mom used a diaper and tied it in a knot on the top of my head just like in the picture... lol). I don’t remember it being awful... no worse than tonsillitis - which I had enough times that they took them out when I was 4... 

I remember my little sister and I getting ... the flu? Maybe? Or measles? Chicken pox? I know we all got those... Anyway, we were both sick at the same time but she was WAY sicker than I was and was getting all the attention. We were in our bed together, cutting out paper dolls and I stabbed her in the top of her head with my scissors. My mother was not amused. I was a HORRIBLE sister! (Again we weren’t very old, I might have been 5 or 6 which would make her 3 or 4, old enough to cut out paper dolls... Of course 55 years ago they LET little girls use real scissors with pointy ends. Bet THAT stopped at our house... hahahahahahahaha)

We had HOUSE CALLS! Dr. Meddlicott came to our house to treat us! He had nose hairs. (And our dentist was Dr. Payne... do these guys change their names when they pick their profession or pick their profession based on their names????)

Oh the memories.

In other news, Kyle and I went to the beach

this afternoon.

NO WAVES!

(And almost no breeze... it was HOT!!!)

The beach still has a 45 degree angle down

to the water... all the darker stuff is wet

sand and STEEP!

While we were sitting in our chairs

a little family of dolphins swam by!

2 adults and 2 juveniles.

The kids were having a GREAT day

at the beach!

Splashing and jumping and doing

belly rolls....

But then the Moms got them back under

control and took them on down south.

It was a fun afternoon!

Need a Good Book?

I just finished (like 15 minutes ago...)

reading a fun book.

I borrowed it for free from my

Kindle Unlimited account.

I've been reading 1800's pioneer-type

novels lately and I kind of ran out of them.

So the other day I had seen this one

over and over (it's a best seller)

(so you might have already read it...)

and decided there was no virtue in

being the last woman on earth who

hadn't read it.

Hahahaha.

(I hate following trends... but then I

end up doing it anyway, just WAAAY 

behind everybody else...)

Ok, anyway.

From the description it kind of sounded stupid.

But she sucked me in with like the first paragraph.

The writing is EXCELLENT!

It's funny.

And sad.

And uncomfortable.

And funny!

(And a happy ending...)

(spoiler alert... kind of...)

Anyhow.

I enjoyed it.

It's one of those books I "read aloud"

to myself because it's just that good.

And would totally make an excellent

book club book.

Or beach book.

(I DID read it on the beach on Monday...)

Or backyard book.

Or curled up on the couch book.

So.

What are you waiting for????

Load it on your Kindle and get reading!

Productive Monday!

It didn't start the way I planned...

I got up a bit earlier than usual

(don't be impressed, it wasn't "early")

and went out and fed the animals.

Stopped by the garden on the way back

in and picked enough okra for breakfast.

Put the okra in the air fryer and went out

to feed the dogs. Kyle was up and in the shower.

So far, so good!

Once the dogs were fed, I put my 2 eggs

in the pan with coconut oil, salt, pepper

and some nutritional yeast.

 (SO yummy, and lots of B vitamins!)

Mixed the okra and eggs together, topped

the whole mess with some MCT oil

and some "everything bagel" seasoning.

By then Kyle was out of the shower, dressed

and making himself a chocolate milk and

a fresh peach. (Publix had some REALLY

good, ripe, juicy ones from California...)

Kyle is on a fruit kick.

Anyhow.

About the time we were both done with

breakfast and getting ready to get ready

to head to the beach, he got a text from Linda.

The pastures are flooded.

(So are our's... we got a LOT of heavy rain

both Saturday and Sunday afternoons...

welcome to Florida in July!)

Can you come fix... something... I want to

weigh the cows and then move them into

a drier pastsure.

So much for his beach plan.

(I planned for us to go for a walk on the

beach and then split up - he would head

to work and I would head out to do errands...)

He went to work.

And I went to the beach!

Without him!

Sacrilege!  

(That still doesn't look like its spelled correctly,

but Uncle Google says it is... so whatever...)

I parked in our old spot and put my chair 

on the beach but I didn't even sit down.

(I knew I'd never get up if I did... lol)

It was exactly 10:00 when I got there.

(See, I said it wasn't "early")

Headed south down the beach.

My goal was the tall tree.

I had my music in my ears and lots of

thoughts in my head (although I had an

audible book on my phone on standby 

in case I needed it...)

It was a beautiful morning!

The tide was coming in, but with all the 

weather over the weekend, the beach was 

quite heavily eroded and the beach wasn't

"flat". It was actually a pretty steep incline/drop-off

down to the water line.

Which meant you were walking on the side of

a pretty steep hill ... at least you got to switch

sides when you walk back! Haha

Also the sand switched from nice and firm

to super soupy, and back again.

Kind of like walking through thick mud.

With shells.

I made it to the tall tree and pulled out my phone.

It was 45 minutes and EXACTLY 2 miles!

Who knew!

Turned around and headed back.

I finished 4.1 miles in 1 hour and 14 minutes.

Which is pretty good for me!

Once again I didn't sit down, cuz I knew that would

be all she wrote... so I headed to my car to grab

my orange bag with my water, glasses, Kindle

and body brush (I use it to brush the sand off

my feet / legs before I get back in my car.)

"My" spot was sparsely populated, down by the tall tree

(the public beach with parking and a bathroom in the 

next town south) was MUCH busier but still not

what I imagine it looked like over the holiday weekend.

(You can't see the drop off in this picture, but just before

the water line there is actually about a 3 foot drop/shelf.)

Once I got my stuff, I sat in my chair,

put on my reading glasses (I was wearing my

sunglasses - I've GOT to get some tinted

cheaters...) and read my book for the remaining

45 minutes on my parking meter.

And then it was back to the car,

and head into town to Sam's Club to get

Kyle some chocolate milk mix, 

Rod some lemon juice for his lemonade,

some butter (cuz we go through it!),

and some guacamole, cuz their's is really good.

Home to put a load of clothes in the washer

and out to do a quick mow in the middle yard.

(I mow the grass set on 4" so it gets nice long

roots, but it needs to be mowed twice a week...

especially with all this rain!)

And then in to wash a sink of dishes while the

laundry finished in the washer, then put it in the

dryer, sit on the couch and write a quick blog,

and now as I glance out the window,

it has started to rain.

I might stretch out on the couch and take a quick

nap since I have to teach until 10:00 tonight.

And there's nothing better than napping while

it's raining.

Aaaaaaahhhhhh.

Hope your Monday is going well!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

The rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air

drove my steers crazy last night.

Jake laid in his hay pile under

the palm tree and chewed his cud.

Charlie stood in the middle of the

pasture and bellowed for HOURS.

They are all happy again this morning.

(The horses went straight out back to 

the big green shed where Kyle parks

his Cat - they know where the good

shade / shelter is...)

It has been a busy week.

For everybody else.

Kyle headed up to the ranch on Tuesday.

Gina broke one of the wheels off one

of the side-by-sides a week or so ago

and he needed to go up and get it so he 

could bring it down here and fix it.

And she had some other things she wanted

him to do as well while he was up there,

so he took an overnight bag and his

air mattress.

In the evening, while he was driving his

truck out to the back pasture to check on

the state of the grass and the cows,

his power steering pump blew.

What a blessing!

If it had blown while he was on the highway,

pulling a trailer, it would have been BAD.

(The power steering fluid on this truck

is also connected to the brakes - lose one,

lose BOTH.)

So I planned to drive up Wednesday morning

and pick him up, then he and Rod would drive

up on Thursday and either fix his truck or

load it on a trailer and bring it home.

But over night, once the adrenaline calmed...

he took another look and realized it was 

just the hose, not the whole pump,

and he can easily fix it.

So he grabbed the ranch truck, drove into

Gainesville to the parts store

(where there is a mandatory mask requirement

or a $150 fine! And he didn't bring a mask...)

so he had to wait in the parking lot while

they tried to find what he needed,

bring it out, take it back in, bring something

else back out, take it back in...

rinse / repeat...

It was only 97 degrees in the parking lot...

But once he got what he needed, it was not

simple, but not as hard as it could have been.

(He had to climb up and kneel on the battery

to get to the hose to change it!)

Ouch!

Anyhow.

Scrub my trip to the ranch.

He fixed his truck and then finished cleaning

out the "show barn" Gina wants to set up

on her side of the street (there is an old 

barn / lean-to on the property the old owners

used as a junk storage and didn't clean out when they moved...)

Loaded up the side-by-side on the trailer.

Then he headed back down south.

The truck ran great.

Meanwhile, our last remaining Buffalo Graffics

customer called with an order for more 

Trailer Ranch decals, so Rod spent Tuesday

evening cutting them and I spent Wednesday

afternoon on a Zoom meeting while weeding,

masking and cutting them up.

Thursday Rod took the day off so they could

work on the stock trailer.

But first he had to run up to Rockledge to

drop off the decals for Frank.

Meanwhile, I mowed the middle yard, the

dog yard, and up and down the driveway 

out by the street (while Kyle was my official

gate opener/closer...) It's so nice not to have

to get off the mower to do that!

When Rod got home, we had some lunch

and then they headed out to work on the trailer.

More trailer work on Friday.

And Saturday.

With some grocery store trips,

Lowes trips, and trips to the welding

supply place for more and more welding supplies

thrown in for variety.

But LOOK!

It has fenders, sides, and a DOOR!

That's a LOT of measuring, cutting, grinding, and welding!

The other door frame is done, but Kyle still needs

to weld all the bars on it.

Getting closer!!!!

They are doing an amazing job.

It's costing a lot of money,

but still less than half of the price of a new one.

And since THEY built it, they know its good.

Today?

REST!

Kyle has been going full speed ahead ever since

we got back from Utah.

(And the last 3.5 days of that trip were long,

hard driving days for him...)

He is ready for a break!

Hope you had a lovely week!

I'm teaching every day except Friday this week...

Monday evening 6-10, 

Tuesday I'm co-hosting 7-9, 

Wed I'm teaching in the morning 9-1, 

Thurs is another co-hosting gig from 7-9.

Off Friday and then I teach Sat evening 6-10.

Gonna be a busy week.

Looks like it will be mid-late August or even

September before I get back in an actual classroom.

But boy I can't wait!