Tree UP!

 Whew!

Between broken trucks and

hay deliveries and

LIFE...

We finally got the tree all decorated last night.

She's small but mighty.

VERY full.

We couldn't put but a third of the decorations

on, just no room between all the branches.

But smells fabulous!!!

And of course, we had to put her up on

cinder blocks again to protect her from

Beau and his love of all things made from sticks.

Speaking of beautiful...

Kyle snapped this out in the hay pasture

where he was picking up the hay.

So glorious!

Tomorrow????

Garden update.

Hey!

 Years ago we saw a sign on the side

of the road next to a big roll of hay.

It said...

HEY!

Lol.

Anyhow,

yesterday Kyle drove up to the neighborhood

of the ranch and picked up a load of 18

rolls of hay for us.

(It was pretty foggy this morning when Rod took the picture.)

It's nice looking hay!

And a really good price!

We pay $75.00 for a roll here locally,

but what with the price of fuel going up,

and the fact that they got 6 weeks of rain in our

preferred hay region, I fully expect that price

to go up considerably over the next few months.

18 rolls should last about 30 weeks.

Which is PLENTY.

(And we paid $52 a roll including the

fuel for him to run up and back...)

GREAT PRICE!

Anyhow.

We are set for hay for the rest of the "winter".

We have also re-seeded the back pasture

with winter rye which should be ready for them

to graze on (for a limited number of hours every

other day or so) by mid/late January.

So I think we have the feed thing covered.

Phew!

So,

HEY!

December Already?????

 Wow!

Where does the time go?

It's December ALREADY?????

I'm not ready.

Ok, I am, but I'm NOT!

We finally picked up a tree the other day.

Kyle and I went by Lowe's and got a little guy.

Small enough that he could EASILY carry it

(with attitude) over his head.

I got a quick video of him doing curls with

ONE ARM but I don't know if I can upload it.

There you go!

Anyhow.

It is now sitting in it's stand in some water,

on top of a storage tub (so it's out of

Beau's reach) until we get a chance to decorate it.

Rod is at work today.

Kyle is at work today.

They both have jobs tomorrow.

So it might be Sunday.

Or I might just do it myself?

We'll see...........

What's In The Garden?

 It's starting to feel a bit like winter around here.

High 40's or low 50's at night.

70's during the day.

Low humidity.

THIS is what winter should be like!

And the garden says "WEEEE! Canadian Summer!"

Houston!

We have a PEA!!!!!

SO exciting!

I didn't think we would get any for a 

couple more weeks!

But most of the plants have lots of little white

flowers on them and some are turning into peas!

YEA!

Also, hopefully I don't jinx it,

but we might have a yellow squash!

Don't tell the squash bugs.

Maybe the secret is to grow them in the winter???

Who knows.

Don't get excited yet.

My cilantro is looking great too!

And check out Kyle's roses!

This purple one always smells so awesome!

But my favorite will always be a red rose bud.

Anyhow.

I don't have any students tonight,

so I'm going to cancel my class

and go eat my Turkey Pot Pie.

It's hard to take a good picture in my kitchen.

The lighting is TERRIBLE.

It looks much better than that....

I used the toaster oven which is why

it got a little brown in the middle.

Hope its yummy.

I'm HUNGRY!

Way Behind

 We've been busy!

And we are WAAAAY behind

decorating for Christmas.

Usually by now we have the tree up

and all the gates decorated.

But we don't even HAVE a tree!

Friday the guys put the new steps on Kyle's

giant truck so we short people can get in.

And I had to teach in the morning.

Then Saturday they did... something else.

And we didn't get to the store in time.

Sunday we went to church and I played

the organ and it went well... whew!

Monday (today) I was going to have us go

this morning and get a tree but Rod got

a call for a job for Kyle down in Vero Beach

and so they loaded up and headed south.

So I did some grocery shopping and installed

the new Roku thingies on our TVs.

(Oh THAT'S what we did Friday night...

we went to the store and bought a new TV

for our bedroom because I cancelled the

TV cable during the day.)

So anyhow.

I'm behind.

I just finished teaching my class tonight.

I work at the Town tomorrow and teach

the Orientation tomorrow night.

But I don't have anything except a 

Stake Primary Presidency meeting down on Vero

on Wednesday.

So... maybe we can buy a tree before Rod

has to go to work?

If they are done with their job by then...

They are going back down tomorrow again.

Meanwhile, I DID do some MINOR decorating.

I bought a couple sets of wall art stickers.

So this is on the closet in the front hall where

I usually hang the Christmas cards,

but since those are nearly a thing of the past....

And I stuck this one in the kitchen.

It's in the wrong spot, but I'm

afraid to move it because it might not

stick again....

And I found some fun Zoom backgrounds

that are Christmas themes.

I forgot to put one on tonight,

but I'll use one when I do the more casual

Saturday "wrap up" session.

So......

That's us and our pathetic attempt at

Christmas decorations.

So far.....

Stay tuned!

It can only get better.

(I hope.)

More Baby Chicks!

 One of the little boys in our ward had

to do a science project.

They chose to try to hatch chicks.

They asked if we could take some if they

were successful hatching them.

I said "sure".

I don't NEED more chicks but...

Anyhow.

They started with SEVENTY TWO EGGS!!!!

(Yikes!!!)

They did them in two batches.

In the first batch, 24 of them hatched, but

luckily another family in the ward took those.

The second batch wasn't nearly as successful.

They had an even dozen but one died last night.

This afternoon they brought them over to our place.

We got them all set up.

I have one "broody" hen who has been

sitting on eggs for a couple of weeks.

When we put the babies in the pen next door

she went NUTS!

Trying and trying to get in with them.

If she's still fussing later maybe I'll catch her

and put here in there and let her broody them.

But we'll see.

They are happy and catching her "sounds" easy...

Lolololol!

Anyhow.

I guess we are back in the baby chick business.

(Just glad I got eleven and NOT 72!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 Yesterday was a lovely day.

While Rod met with the guy about the

new water treatment system

(our water is SUPER hard and is

killing our appliances... the ice maker

doesn't make ice, the washing machine

had to be replaced last month,

and the dishwasher isn't looking good...)

Anyhow. 

While Rod was dealing with that,

Kyle and I got the TV etc all set up 

on the new stand he made for me.

It looks fantastic in the living room!

It's the perfect size, color, shape, everything!!!

And!

I got a package from the Arizona Gang!

Right now he is standing on the table out on the patio.

The patio needs some design / decoration / style work.

(Or we just need to put all the bug killer stuff

someplace else...)

The old TV stand is right there too - we put it on the

free marketplace to see if anybody wants it.

If there are no takers, we'll carry it out

to the curb and somebody will be sure to

pick it up.

Then last night Rod took us to Texas Roadhouse

for dinner. I had pulled pork.

Kyle had chicken.

Rod had steak.

Ours is better, which is why Kyle and I opted

for something else.

We ran into a Back40Beef customer there who

chided Rod for going out to a steakhouse when

we have a freezer full of the best beef around.

Rod said "It's my wife's birthday and this is what

she wanted - why are YOU here when you also

have a freezer full of the best beef around?"

Big Mike said - "Anniversary - and this was MY wife's choice..."

Hahahahahahaha

After dinner we went across the street to Lowe's

 and looked at kitchen sinks and faucets,

then went over to look at kitchen remodels,

and after deciding what we want

and then remembering we haven't won

a lottery recently we just bought a new 

doorknob and headed home for some

cheesecake I made on Tuesday.

This morning, of course, we are all busy.

Rod finished fixing my Trooper.

(the power steering line popped a hole, so he

had to replace it, but that meant taking out the

radiator, and finding a broken mount, so making

a NEW mount {my men are SO handy} and then

putting it all back together...!)

Kyle made his contribution to the dinner - his

specialty is the sweet potato casserole.

But the kitchen isn't big enough for ALL of us

to be working on our parts at the same time,

so he did his this morning.

It's in the fridge, waiting for it's turn in the oven.

Then he replaced the doorknob on the patio

door - which was sticking and we couldn't get it open!

(And the front door has been broken since we moved

into the house - 17 years ago! So.... yeah.)

Now he's out in the garden.

The peas have FLOWERS!!!!!!

I put the turkey in the oven, made breakfast, made

the dog food for the next 6 days,

put the rolls (Rhodes) on to rise,

and put some brussels sprouts in the crockpot.

Now I'm going to sit for a few minutes and then

it's time for round two.

No idea what that means, but I'm sure there is

something I'm supposed to be doing... 

lol

I'm 62 now.

So I'm allowed to be forgetful.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!