Oops

 Oops!

Guess I got busy there...

Grrrrrrrrr..... Blogger has made another change and now I'm getting double space whether I want it or not. And I don't.

Whatever.

Anyhow.

We started the week with a "spur of the moment" trip up to the ranch to pick up a couple of calves that Kyle's neighbor up there was selling. He was going to load them all up and take them to the sale barn, but if we wanted to give him "market price" he would sell them to us instead.

Unfortunately for him, "market price" right now is ROCK BOTTOM.

Now is a TERRIBLE time to be selling cattle.

But a great time to buy them!

So we picked up two really nice little steers who have been "on their Mommas" until Saturday... they were both born in January-ish so they have gotten a good start to life. 

Travis (Gina's cowboy up at the ranch) picked them up and ran them across the scales. One was 535# and the other was 555#, so a good start! (I think our last two were probably in the 250# range...)

They were a little more expensive, but because they are older, we should be able to keep them (and feed them) for a much shorter time - which will save us $$$ in the long run.

Anyhow.

Introducing "Red" and "Baldy".

They are a bit skittish, but have already learned where the food is served and are pretty vocal about "WHERE IS MINE" when I'm feeding the horses. (The horses get fed first because Andy will slap the gate with his hoof (LOUDLY) until I let him in the barn and it drives me NUTS...)

It was a good trip - up and back - and then I worked at the Town on Tuesday.

And spent Wednesday catching up on my house chores that I didn't do on Monday.

Worked again on Thursday and taught a 2 hour Zoom class last night.

This morning I have been doing lots of "behind the scenes" typing and emailing for my classes and then I'm teaching a 4-hour Zoom class tonight.

Whew!

Also, Kyle came and woke me up at 1:00 this morning so we could stand on the patio and watch another SpaceX launch. We LOVE the night launches. It was kind of cloudy, so we didn't get as clear a view as we had hoped, but it was still fun!

And the garden is looking really good.

All the little seedlings Kyle planted in his tray have come up. We were a little worried about the Marconi Red Peppers, they were SLOW to germinate, but they are starting to pop their little heads out now, so he's happy.

He bought a couple more trays and planted some last night while he was waiting for the launch. Our garden is going to be FULL of yummy produce this fall/winter season! And there are TONS of extra starts that he plans to give to Jim for his garden...

The okra is growing! I can't wait to start harvesting tons and bunches of okra... but I guess I will HAVE to wait because they won't start setting fruit until September.

Sigh.

That's about it... Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Freezer Camp

Goodness Gracious.

This morning we got up and got everything

ready to load up the boys and head north.

Except that Brock (the next door neighbor)

moved his cows into his front pasture

a couple of weeks ago.

And his 2 heifers are in season.

And my Charlie is a "failed castration".

Which means he THINKS he's all that.

And this morning he and Jogger (Brock's bull)

decided they should stand next to each

other across the fence and make 

bull faces / noises and see who is tougher.

And Jake does whatever Charlie does.

Which means they broke the board on the

fence (again - for the gazillionth time)

and were in the alley (still our property) next

to the fence where Jogger was.

So we had to round them up and push them

back into their regular pasture and fix the fence.

But then they were all riled up and didn't

want to come in for breakfast.

Which means we couldn't get them into

the chute to load them in the trailer.

We finally gave up after 2 hours.

By then they were hot and stressed and it 

would have been a bad idea anyway.

So then!

Rod had a BRILLIANT idea!

He built a RAMP at the end of the chute

so they didn't have to hop into the trailer!

Pretty snazzy, eh???

And then I had to teach.

Kyle came home from work and I locked myself

into the Zoom Room.

It WORKED!!!!!

Rod poked his head in the door about 7:15

and said they were all loaded up and heading out!

WAY TO GO GUYS!

I can't wait to hear the story.

It's 10:00 and I just finished teaching.

And, according to Google Maps, they just

pulled into the yard up there.

Fingers crossed everything goes well with

the unloading. It should be fine.

They'll put them in a pen and then give 

them a bale of hay and leave their pictures

in the little mail box so they know who is who.

And then head back home.

Bye Charlie!

Bye Jake!

You were good cows.

Blessed. Again.

I'm so lucky (blessed) to be surrounded

by men who can do... everything.

This morning there was a loud bang

coming from the pump room.

But Kyle didn't see anything.

And then when I was giving the ducks

their water, the line seemed full of air.

And then when I went inside to

make my breakfast (oatmeal)

there was ZERO water.

Kyle to the rescue.

He discovered the bang was the pipe

leading to the well pump had blown

itself off, then the pump had run dry

(and HOT)... waited til it cooled a bit

and then took the pipes apart and glued them

back together with PVC pipe glue.

*He has glued a gazillion pvc pipes

by this time in his life...

Then he left for work.

And I left for the grocery store.

By the time I got back, Rod was leaving

work for the day, so when he got home

we primed the pump (with fingers crossed)

and ... tada! WATER!

Oh, the modern conveniences!

NOW I can do the dishes, and the laundry,

and all the other things you reach for 

running water for a million times a day.

But right now I need to run outside and help

Rod do a final test of all the lights, etc on

the trailer before we head out early in the

morning to load up and drive the cows

to their final destination.

No pictures...

Sorry!

Isaias

Who picks these names?????

The news people were all struggling

this morning with how to pronounce

the name of our latest storm.

Looks like we'll have a big rain maker

over the weekend.

Awesome.

Since we are delivering the cows on Sunday.

Yesterday, Allison from our slaughter house

sent me a text confirming we were still on.

I asked if we could bring them Saturday

instead, since Sunday looks like a weather day.

She said sure. Just bring a bale of hay for

them to eat over the weekend.

So tomorrow I'll go pick up a small

square bale.

Today I'm working at the Town.

Yesterday I put a coat of Thompson's 

Water Seal on the wood floor in the trailer.

It looks good and should protect it.

We'll probably drag the rubber mats out

of Andy's stall and put them in there too

so it's not so slippery.

(They came from the old horse trailer originally...)

The new trailer is a little bigger, but they

should be good enough.

And this morning we began the day

watching the Atlas V heavy launch to Mars!

It was a beautiful blue sky and a

gorgeous launch.

AND

Kyle has baby plants!

No peppers yet, but some of his tomatoes are

showing little baby sprouts!

They are all leaning to the right because he

had the tray up on the patio to protect it from the

torrential rain we got last night.

They were stretccching over towards the sunlight.

He moved them out to the garden for a couple

of hours this morning.

He's taking today off since he worked LATE

last night and has to work on Saturday.

(Getting another giant wood delivery...

sometime between 8am and 8pm. REALLY???)

See?

They popped up overnight.

There are 338 little individual spaces and

he put a seed in each one.

So we will have LOTS of extras.

(Hello... Jim!)

Kyle's Latest

He never sits still.

Linda's next project for him was to have him

tear off the giant roof from the two large

buildings (without sides) he built 10+

years ago with Doug.

Back then, they didn't really know what 

they were doing. Doug (King of Scrounge)

got a bunch of telephone poles so they

used those to hold up the roof.

And Kyle put the metal panels on.

None of it is square.

And all of it was "sketchy".

He used to come home with a big grin

and "You want me to tell you what I

did today???" Usually I preferred NOT

to know.

It usually involved death defying stunts.

He LOVED every minute of it.

But now he's NOT a stupid teenager anymore.

So this time he rented the proper equipment

and is doing it ... well... safe - er.

He put up all the frame work using that red scissor lift.

It allows him to pop up between the cross beams and

screw them rather than trying to balance on TOP of them.

The roofs are pretty TALL.

This afternoon he put up the first 3 metal panels.

Using this new guy he rented this morning.

It can lift much heavier loads much higher.

And drive around on uneven surfaces.

(The little red guy can only go on concrete

and because the floors aren't perfectly level,

it kept going over its "tip point" and

shutting down. NOT useful...)

The buildings are pretty close to Linda's new house...

so his ability to maneuver is tight...

But he's getting it done.

Getting Closer...

We are on the down hill slide.

Which is a good thing.

Because the guys are TIRED.

And the cows only have 7 days left.

Putting the new floor boards in...

Then Rod laid underneath and held the nuts on

while Kyle screwed the lag bolts tight.

They each had helpers.

Kyle's dog, Shadow, is laying by his feet

and Rod's dog, Bandit, is laying by his...

Roxie is running back and forth

and Beau is in the chair next to me.

Rod got all the lights wire up and 

boy howdy they work!

That backup light will light up the entire barn!

She's looking like a trailer!

We'll order a canvas tarp roof thingie 

(technical term) later. Won't have time

to get one here before we need it 

next Sunday and then it will be parked

under the big green metal building

out back with Kyle's Cat... so no need

to spend the money yet.

We will be getting a couple calves

in a couple of weeks, but won't need

the tarp for that run either.

And then the trailer will just sit for

a year until the next butcher run.

So no hurry for the tarp.

Meanwhile...

My new okra plants are coming up nicely.

The right side of the bed is all okra,

the left side is sunflowers, but I'm thinking

I might pull those feather duster flowers

and transplant them into another bed

and put tomatoes in instead.

This was supposed to be the herb bed, 

but except for a couple of random basils,

they didn't come up.

So I did another heavy planting of okra.

This bed is Kyle's pride and joy.

He just loves it.

All full of random flowers.

All grown from seed, with the exception

of the little orange and yellow merrigolds.

He bought some of those in the spring and then

when he was dead-heading them, he seeded

the garden with them and they went CRAZY!

This afternoon he went out and planted

338! new little seed starts in this nifty

box he ordered online.

All tomatoes and peppers.

Getting excited for the fall garden!

Early Start

I'm getting an early start today.

Rod had another skin cancer removed

from his lower back Tuesday,

so he wasn't supposed to go to work

for the rest of the week.

No working out, heavy lifting, etc etc etc.

So he went to work.

He had a bunch of computer stuff to

catch up on...

And he had already scheduled Thurs and Fri

off so he could finish the trailer.

Anyhow.

This morning he is off "work" so I got up

early to go out and feed the animals so

he wouldn't.

But he was already half done.

(And now he's out there painting parts 

for the trailer... nothing heavy!)

I put fish emulsion on Kyle's roses

and on my new little okra plants.

They both LOVE that.

Then I went out front and pruned the

bougainvillea that is right outside Kyle's

bedroom window and has grown big enough

that it bangs on his window when it's windy.

Drives him crazy.

And today is yard trash day.

Then it was back into the house to feed 

the dogs and then get Rod's breakfast started.

While the bacon was cooking I cut up a

fresh mango (it's GOOD! I didn't think I liked mango!)

And then headed to the "Zoom Room"

to email all my students from last night.

(I taught from 5:30 til just after 10)

We had 15 students last night.

Good class!

Anyhow, I smelled the bacon, so

headed back to the kitchen to scramble some

eggs for Rod and fry some for me to go

with my roasted okra.

Now I'm sitting in the Zoom Room,

finishing up my emailing and doing a quick

blog before I go get cleaned up and

head into Town Hall to work today.

(10 - 3)

Then I need to run into town because I fed

the dogs the last of the dry food and the

cows and horses are nearly out.

And then it's home again to make some dinner

and then back to the Zoom Room to teach

an Orientation Workshop from 6:30 - 9:00.

Whew!