Roofing is a New Years Day Theme?

This was 2 years ago.

(I think...)

It was New Year's Day, for sure.

And this was THIS New Year's Day.

This is the building the guys were working on.

Kyle took it down at Linda's

so he was familiar with how to put it back up.

Thankfully!

There were a couple of snags,

but for the most part, it went up pretty slick.

Not to say it wasn't a LOT of hard work...

but at least it wasn't worse.

There were a few hairy moments,

but nobody got hurt.

And it looks GREAT!

(And very nearly invisible... it's behind the palm tree...)

We are currently using it as a "run in"

for the horses. The new hay feeder is in there.

Once I get some hay (ahem) I'll take a picture.

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Never one to just sit around... once we were all finished,

we headed over to Lowe's with Kyle and he picked out

a new washer and dryer for his new house.

Of course he brought his trailer to bring them home.

There were more than a few "wise cracks". It's a BIG

trailer for a small load!

Made MUCH more sense once he got his

tractor loaded up there with them.

He headed back up to Bronson to spend the night.

As usual, there was drama.

During the night he could hear the water pump

kicking on and off, but he was understandably exhausted.

When he got up in the morning, the cows had broken

the pipe next to one of the water troughs and it

was well and truly flooded.

He got the water turned off and went into town

to buy the parts to get it fixed.

Then he unloaded his washer and dryer into his

house and got them all set up.

Turned on the water and heard water rushing

under his house.

Took the skirt off, and discovered that when the

installers put the pipe on, they tightened it down

so hard that they split the pipe.

Got the water turned off, another trip into town

for more pvc etc, and got THAT one fixed.

Phew!

And now he doesn't have to drive an 8 hour round trip

when he needs clean clothes.

(Not that I'M complaining... but it was kind of silly...)

Happy Birthday Sondra!

I'm late.

I had to work today.

And do a bunch of stuff the minute I got home.

But I've FINALLY sat down.

And I wanted to wish my wonderful

big sister a HAPPY Birthday!

We got to all get together this year.

(Sorry everybody! I'm TERRIBLE about warning folks before I click... lol)

She learned to ride this nifty bike of Rozann's!

(And there wasn't enough money in the world

for me to even TRY!)

We took lots of family photos.

Doesn't she have beautiful hair????

 First time all five of us were together in YEARS!

She brought her granddaughters to Florida

for a fabulous mini vacation!

We went to the BEACH!

(The girls got in - we did not. It was JANUARY!)

We had so much fun just BEING together.

She is a Great Grandma.

But not yet a GreatGrandma... lol

She brings joy.

She brings fun.

She brings love of life.

She is loved.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Bye 2018! Good to Know You

It was a BUSY year!

Trips to Tucson and Boulder.

Lots and lots of teaching and extra

instructor training trips.

The guys made several trips for

hurricane relief.

And of course lots and lots of trips

back and forth to the ranch.

Seems like I spent half the year

being someplace besides home.

We lost a couple of important people

in our lives this year.

And we got a couple of new "family" members.

We are finishing strong.

They formed and poured footers.

Rented a big fancy concrete mixer.

Let it cure for 2 days.

Today they are putting up the frame.

It's a beautiful day for it!

The sun is shining and there is a nice ocean breeze

coming in from the east.

Tomorrow they will put the "skin" on the building

and we will have a nice BIG building out back

to house our hay and a place to park Kyle's tractor

out of the weather.

Exciting!

However, all this work outside means there is

about a 5% chance anybody will be awake

at midnight to ring in the new year.

Toot Toot! Happy New Year!

Light It Up

My darling husband and son 

are at it again.

It took some designing.

It took some welding.

It took some painting.

But they ended up with a 

BEAUTIFUL lamp!

It looks fantastic on our gorgeous
end tables that Kyle made for us
a couple of years ago.

I like it so much that I have commissioned
another one to go on the other table.
And then I'm going to move the
pretty metal lamp Mom and Dad gave us
a couple of years ago to the table
by the arm chair and FINALLY get rid
of the hideous floor lamp our good
friends Carol & Dayle gave us when
they moved to Arizona.
A million years ago.

YEA!!!!!

However, today the guys are out in the
WAY back pasture pouring a concrete footer
in preparation for the new metal carport thing
we inherited from Linda and Doug.
It's going to be PERFECT for storing
lots of round rolls of hay (now that we
have a good source - the farmer next door
to Kyle's ranch is a hay farmer and has
really nice rolls for $40 instead of $65!)
And there will be enough room in
there as well to stash our stock trailer.
When we get it. Some day...)

Rod has been BUSY on his week "off".
He'll be ready to get back to work
and take a REST!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you had a wonderful day 

surrounded by family, fun and food.

And LOVE.

We were!

The day was nice and laid back.

Jim and Sabrina came over Christmas Eve

and we did our annual trip over to see

Santa in Indialantic and then down

to the beach to see the full moon.

Which hadn't risen yet.

LOL

Back to the house for chili and rolls

and visiting and then off to bed.

Christmas morning Rod was up bright

and early, waiting for the rest off us.

We slowly straggled in, with Jim

and Sabrina finally showing up around

11:30-ish. 

Popped the turkey breast in the oven

and opened gifts.

As always, people were thoughtful in their gifts

and everything was oohed and aaahed over

and everyone was pleased.

Jim and Kyle headed into the back yard

so Kyle could teach Jim how to do some

blacksmithing. They had a good time

and Jim made a chili pepper!

Then it was time for a yummy dinner

and more sitting around the table telling

stories and jokes and laughing and

just spending family time together.

It was wonderful!

(We also managed to "watch" the Santa Claus

and Santa Claus 2... they were playing in the

background and when favorite parts came on

everybody stopped and recited the lines together.)

All in all,

it was a wonderful, happy, relaxed family day.

Hope your's was as well!

Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year.

Which means the days are going to

start getting longer.

Which means I am HAPPY!

I hate it when it gets dark early.

I go outside and feed the horses

around 4:45 and bring the dogs

in for dinner around 5:30.

And then they are in their crates

until I let them out in the morning.

Around 9.

That's a LONG time.

So I'm sure they will be happy

as the days get longer and their

nights get shorter.

Since I don't have to get up in the

morning to go to work (usually)

I don't really care about the sunrise time.

Rod gets up and leaves before the sun

is up, summer or winter.

This week I have been working at Town Hall.

But I don't have to be here until 10-ish.

And they are so happy to have someone man

the front desk, that they don't really care

when I show up, just that I actually DO.

Last night I made a big pot of really yummy

clam chowder and brought some to work

to share with the ladies for lunch.

I also popped 12 of my new little teal eggs

into the pressure cooker for 3 minutes and

made delicious hard boiled eggs.

I swear by the pressure cooker.

Some of these eggs were laid yesterday

and they still pealed beautifully.

(I only did 3 minutes because they are tiny...

normally it's 5 minutes under pressure,

5 minutes letting the pressure release,

and an additional 5 minutes in ice water...)

Anyhow.

We are all happy Christmas is nearly here.

Being a small town, everyday we have gotten

a plate or two of lovely homemade yummies.

I've been pretty good about avoiding them.

But it must be adding up.

Today I'm having an ocular migraine,

I'm sure it's the sugar.

(And it's nearly gone...)

Meanwhile - Kyle got to spend the night in

his new house and sleep on his new bed

and shower in his new bathroom

and sit on his new couch.

If only he could watch his new TV.

(But he took his xBox / Play Station / whatever

so he could watch all the movies he has

downloaded...)

I'm sure he was excited!

I know I was!

Last night Rod didn't have to work his 2nd job

so he came home "early" and we got to go

to a couple of stores we've never been to before

to wander around and window shop and then

out for a yummy burrito.

It was nice to have a date with my love!

Hope you are enjoying the "build up" 

to Christmas this year.

It's the best part!

Gone and Back Again

Kyle loaded up his stock trailer this morning.

Yesterday we went shopping and he

bought himself a new mattress,

a really nice couch,

a 55" TV,

and a microwave.

He loaded all that, as well as his dresser,

all his kitchen stuff,

and some other random things

and headed up to the ranch

to get all moved in.

And then he got a phone call with an

offer for a job using his Cat tomorrow.

So when he finished unloading the

trailer, he parked it,

unhooked his truck,

and headed back south again.

LOL

But at least he has a bed to sleep in

and a couch to sit on

if he ever gets to ACTUALLY move in

up there for reals.

I can't wait to see it all!

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In other news,

I'm working at the Town Hall again

this week. That's always fun.

The folks there are so friendly and

it's fun to get all the "back story" on

what's going on in the town.

A resident's house caught fire Friday night.
Luckily for them, our Volunteer Fire Department
was holding their Christmas Party at the
Fire Station and all hands were on deck.
When the call came into the station,
they were able to all load up and get
there right away and keep the house
from being a total loss.
The fire started in the living room / kitchen,
but they were able to save the garage
(and all the stuff in there!) as well as
the bedrooms and all the stuff in there!
Nobody was hurt.

And then the benefits of living in a little
town kicked in. Saturday morning there
were 15 people with trailers in their yard.
They were able to load everything that was
salvageable and take it to a storage building
and then Sunday morning they hopped on
an airplane to spend the holidays with their
family in Colorado.
She called today and sounded a little
shell-shocked but seriously grateful
that it wasn't worse and so thankful to her
friends and neighbors and other town folk.

Yea for small town community.