Monday Monday.....

 Popping in to give an overview of my day........

It didn't start the way I planned.

I had intended to start a new workout this morning.

But I didn't.

No excuse.

I just didn't want to.

So instead I got up and headed into the Town Hall

to help Denine transition back after being out

for over a week.

Good thing I did - she was LOST.

I spent about 2 hours with her,

helping her get it all figured out and back on track.

Then home to grab Kyle and we headed to

WalMart to buy FIVE different flavors of ice cream.

Then we came home and put little tiny scoops

on some freeze dryer trays and put them in

the deep freeze to re-freeze them.

Then I headed over town to get a hair trim.

(NOT a cut... just a trim)

And then home again and while Kyle made

the dog food (he is the new expert)

I made some German Pancake for Rod's dinner,

and then got ready to teach my class this evening.

Oh, and somewhere in there I cleaned

the kitchen and the bathroom.

Whew!

I just finished all my paperwork - it's 10:34.

Kyle and I will put the ice cream in the 

machine and it should be done in about 24 hours.

Hope its tasty!

We did mangos over the weekend.

OH MY GOODNESS they are delicious!

Unfortunately the cold snap last weekend

did a number on our mango tree AGAIN.

So hopefully Rod's friend will be able to

share some from his tree like he did last year.

OK.

I gotta run.

Hope you had a great day!!!!

Random picture of one of Kyle's carrot beds.

Having Fun???

 Soni and the "boys" are in Tucson!!!

I'm sure they are having a BLAST!

It looks like it's been COLD out there.

It's been absolutely gorgeous here this week.

Just in time for Gary and Lisa and their family

to come and enjoy the theme and water parks.

They are leaving this morning.

As a cold front is coming in.

The high yesterday was 84 at my house.

We hit the high for today at 7:30 am.

It was 66.

It's 62 now.

Awesome.

At least its not FREEZING and we aren't

getting any snow.

While I was teaching my final class for the week

this morning, Kyle put another load in the 

freeze dryer. Raspberries (THE BEST)

and some of the mangos from our tree.

And some of the blueberry's from Rod's

brother's blueberry farm.

Fingers crossed it will all be delicious.

Meanwhile.

Rod had to work from 6-2 today.

They rotate working Saturdays.

Anyhow.

Last week I finally got around to making

MY Christmas present from Kyle.

We bought some chunky yarn for him

and I "arm knit" a blanket for him to 

throw over himself while watching TV in his room.

And he loved it.

So he bought more chunky yarn for me

to make myself one.

But I didn't love arm knitting.

It's hard on my arm and my bony wrist.

And the holes are really big.

So he researched and found a YouTube that

taught how to do rib stitch just sitting at 

the table.

So last weekend I sat at the table and did it.

It's nice and big and super warm and snuggly!

It's BEAUTIFUL.

Meanwhile...

We are watching Astra get ready to launch their

very first little rocket.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

It's LITTLE!

Watching on Kyle's phone...

It's just barely bigger than the light pole!

Kyle is having a great time teasing them.

It reminds us of the Boy Scouts standing in a field

with a big red button.

No fuel tanks,

two semis.

The WHOLE ROCKET fits in semi trailers.

The company said they only need a launch pad,

internet, 

and a fence.

It's on an "official" launch pad, but not one

of the big ones they launch other stuff from.

It kind of looks like its just out on the road.

Unfortunately its pretty cloudy today,

so we probably won't be able to see it.

And since it's tiny, we might now have been able

to see it anyway unless it was dark out.

Split screen of the rocket on the right and their

little mission control in California.

(It's a small walled off room in their factory.)

Notice the guy on the back row!

He put googly eyes on his computers!!!!

These people know how to have fun at work!

But it's exciting!

Fun to see new companies trying to expand

the space industry.

Wish them LUCK!

Oh darn....

while we were watching they had to scrub

because somebody was in their range.

Darn it.

(SpaceX had to scrub last week because a 

CRUISE SHIP launched during their window.

Sheesh. Some Harbor Master is getting a fine!!!)

They'll try again tomorrow.

Meanwhile...

I washed the floors and now I'm heading

back out into the main house to make some lunch

and ... clean something, I just can't remember what it was.

Hahahaha

(Oh, and practice the hymns for tomorrow.)

SO BUSY!!~~

 Denine is still in the hospital.

So after teaching on Monday I headed over

to the Town to help out for a bit.

Then Kyle and I did the grocery shopping for the week.

We got to watch an AMAZING rocket launch.

More later.....

Tuesday I went to Town Hall from 9-5 (WOW!)

I'm not used to working that many hours!

But it flew by - I was BUSY!

Then home to finish processing all the onions

and peppers that were finally ready to come out 

of the freeze dryer.

Whew! The ice in the machine smelled VERY

onion-y. After it all melted and Rod tossed

the water, it wasn't as bad.

Yesterday I taught until 1 and then Kyle and I

jumped in his truck and headed up to Samsula

to pick up feed for the animals.

Got home about 5:00 and after unloading the

trailer and cleaning up the feed room

(we took down the cat's crate and the banquet

table it was sitting on and put all that away)

then it was into the house to make some

German Pancake for Rod's breakfasts for the 

next week. And some pork loin, mashed potatoes

and veggies into little trays and in the freezer

for his lunches. Then I chopped a bag of carrots,

blanched them and got them on a tray in the freezer.

Did 3 more trays of green beans, and a tray of

frozen peas (store bought - we ATE all the peas from

the garden...) got all that into the freezer and 

ready to put in the machine this morning before work.

I also cleaned the inside of the machine with some

rubbing alcohol - they recommend doing that every

now and again - just to keep it clean and I figured

it would help kill the last of the smell......

I left the door open overnight. Should be good this morning.

By then it was nearly 8:30 and I collapsed on the couch.

This morning I was up at 6:30 to type up my notes

and thoughts for the Stake Primary Activity we 

are having next month. The theme is Noah's Ark

with a focus on all the different things we learn from

Noah's Ark. Bullying, making friends, gathering Israel  

(instead of gathering animals)

emergency preparedness,

and BUGS! (hahahaha)

Along with maybe a photo booth.

And then lunch.

Anyhow. We are having a stake primary zoom this

evening but I'm going to take Kyle and go meet Gary

and Lisa for dinner instead, so I had to get all my thoughts

on paper and send them to the Presidency.

And now I've got to get the freeze dryer turned on and

cooled down and get the trays in there

and then head off to the Town for the day.

WHEW!

Here's a lousy picture of the AMAZING rocket launch

from Monday evening. It was probably the best we have seen!

This is when the rocket boosters separated from the rocket

and began their flight back down to the Cape to LAND!

I don't know why it's more impressive that they landed back

where they started than when they land on a BOAT in the OCEAN.

But it was pretty neat.

Kyle put his drone up 136' in the air and we could see it

actually LAND at the cape! It was so cool!

Anyhow.

I have GOT to get this day started.....

FROST

 GRRRRR

They predicted we were going to have 

COLD nights and mornings Sat and Sunday.

And we survived.

And then last night (although we covered EVERYTHING)

we got a heavy frost and it killed it all.

Lost the hibiscus, the tomatoes, the peppers,

the mangos, everything.

The dew fell, it froze, and it all died.

(The sheets were frozen...)

Darn it.

We were planning to pull everything out

of the garden and plant beans in the next

week or so anyway, but we tried to save those

wonderful black tomatoes and the peppers.

Sigh.

Tomatoes and peppers.

Hibiscus "ghosts".

Sad.

But - life continues on.

We'll just plant new tomatoes and peppers.

(The watermelon got taken out by the previous

week's cold snap...)

Meanwhile......

It wasn't terrible yesterday.

That was our high.

Today it is 67 and climbing

to 80 by Friday.

I've been running the freeze dryer out in 

the garage non-stop.

Both to preserve food, but also because it

puts off a good amount of heat, so the dogs

stayed nice and warm during these cold nights.

Sunday we finished a load of green beans.

And then put in a load of onions and

colored bell peppers.

LOTS and LOTS of onions and bell peppers!

Saturday between my classes I chopped them all.

Luckily I have my favorite little chopper

so it only took about an hour.

As it was, my eyes were starting to water.

I can only imagine hand chopping them all!

YIKES!

I bought a stack of those little pizza thingies.

It's a little white post that they put in a pizza

box so the lid doesn't crush the pizza and all

the cheese gets stuck on the inside of the lid.

But it's also handy so I can stack my trays and 

don't have to worry about them getting stuck

or crushing each other.

It's pretty nifty.

And it was like $5 on amazon.

(Stole the idea for someone on facebook...)

OK.

Well, my co-worker at the town is in the hospital

so I might need to run to the Town for a couple of 

hours - so I'd best get done here, eat some quick

lunch and get on about my day.

PIG!!!

 We FINALLY got photographic evidence

of Pig the cat.

SOMEBODY has been eating the cat food

we put out in the barn at night.

Turns out originally it was Bandit,

Rod's dog.

She just hopped right up on the table

and helped herself.

So we moved the food to the top

of one of the 50 gal drums we

use for the cow/horse feed.

Looks like he came by right after 1 a.m.

and had a little snack and then did

some hunting.

Then back again for breakfast at 5:30

before he headed to

his hidey hole under the shed.

Just glad to know he is healthy and 

doing his job.

He certainly appears healthy and happy.

Welcome to the farm Pig!

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

Wounded finger update:  

I took the Band-Aid off yesterday.

It's still a bit tender, but at least its

not bleeding. It is swollen, and looks

a bit icky... but it is healing.

(It wasn't very happy when I was slicing

MORE frozen peaches last night...

but it survived...)

Thanks for asking!

Checking In

 Just checking in...

It's 10:20 pm.

I just finished teaching the 2nd class for the day.

And I still need to prep the next batch

to go into the freeze dryer.

Should only take 15 minutes.

And then.....

BED!

Speaking of the freeze dryer.

Kyle bought a bunch of large totes

and a chalk board and HE wrote the

inventory!

We are SO organized now!!!

We now have FOURTEEN bags of peaches.

And after this load we will be done with them.

Next will be ... raspberries?

And then we'll do the onions and bell peppers.

Then... I have the rest of the green beans from the garden.

Who know what's next!

Maybe some beef stroganoff!

We'll see.

It's been fun!

And it feels good to have food put away.

Although it's mostly fruit right now.

My freezers are looking much emptier

and maybe I can consolidate them and

unplug one!

That would be good.....

We Lost

After LOTS of meetings and back and

forth between the County and my little Town...

This morning at the County Commissioner's meeting

they basically said

"Yah, we hear you. But we don't care."

So...

They are taking down 146,000 trees.

Yes, you read that right.

146,000 trees.

In the "Preserve" behind our house.

(They've already done it to another 

"Preserve" in another end of our town...)

All because of a "Florida Scrub Jay" which 

is projected to be extinct in the next 10 years

DESPITE their efforts.

So they are going to cut down 100 year-old trees.

Trees that won't grow back in our life times.

Because of a bird.

Who prefers low vegetation.

Which would be ok if they were actually

just going to go in surgically and take out

the trees. (They are promising to leave

ONE TREE PER ACRE.)

(Thanks.)

But they are going in with a machine called

a root chopper - when they are done it looks

like the surface of the moon.

And THEN they BURN whatever is left.

The Town TRIED.

The County let their permit expire.

So we were requiring a new permit with

all the associated fees.

We had TONS of people show up at the meetings.

We put stories and pictures in the newspaper

and all over social media.

We had experts give reports and testimony.

And they said,

"We appreciate your efforts, but we are the County

and we don't actually need permits, and we COULD

go through meetings and compromises but we are

going to just pass an "emergency" motion and

by-pass all that and do whatever we want anyway."

And an hour later they closed the Sanctuary.

Which is basically a joke because right next to it is a

knee-high gate/fence that folks will just step over.

The woods at the end of the our street is sandwiched between

these two county run preserves. (read PUBLIC LAND)

And our woods are owned by the Town.

So they can't touch them.

Everybody will just go to our woods and access

the sanctuary from there... it won't stop people

using the trails, but the TREES!

They will be gone in weeks.

And they won't be back.

Hearts are breaking all over the county.

And County Commissioners will be needing to

brush up their resumes.

Because elections are coming.