New Living Room

 This morning Rod and I decided to rearrange

the living room.

It just isn't wide enough for THREE

recliners across the width.

From the bedrooms

Now we have our backs to the windows,

not ideal.... but it will be ok.

From the kitchen

And I can't just pop out the kitchen door and see

what's on the TV,

but it will be ok.

Haha.

It would be better if it were flipped and the

TV was against the windows and the chairs

were against the wall, but that's the hallway.

I don't know, maybe we'll swap it and see if

we like it better.

But for now... I've got stuff to do.

Zucchini EVERYWHERE!

 We have been bringing pounds and pounds

of zucchini home from the farm every day.

That's not even all of them!

This morning I broke out my food processor

(I forgot I had it...)

and we grated two crates full.

We ended up with 17 gallon ziplock bags

full of grated zucchini to put in the

freeze dryer!

Rod got the upright deep freeze plugged

in the other day so it was nice and cold.

Then he made some cardboard liners for

the shelves, since they are wire and when

you try to put bags of stuff it falls through

the wires and then it freezes all wonky.

Right now I have 2 trays of Honey Crisp apples

and 2 trays of Granny Smith apples and

1 tray of tomatoes in there drying.

All from the farmer's market!

I put them through the french fry cutter

and then tossed them with pumpkin pie spice.

They are a HIT with the folks in town.

The zucchini is getting good and frozen

so when the FD is done, it will be ready 

for its turn.

We also have a full crate of yellow squash.

That needs to get processed next.

But I bought a fancy new food processor

that should arrive tomorrow.

It will DICE stuff!

I'm so excited!!!!

I want to dice the yellow squash and a

bunch more zucchini.

Oh yeah.

We also got a great haul of okra and 

green beans!

So Rod washed zucchini,

Kyle cut it into halves

and I ran it through the grater.

We were all done in about an hour.

Then he cut a bag or so of okra.

I think I still have 2 or 3 more in the fridge.

Maybe I'll try to cut some this evening.

We had to run into Hays to Home Depot

to get some more supplies for the fence

and then WalMart for some lighter fluid

for the BBQ (Kyle used rubbing alcohol the 

other night - not the best idea he ever had...)

and some pickling spice and salt to make

some dill pickles with.

Wish me luck!

I've never made a pickle!

But I have a whole box full of cucumbers.

So I guess it's time I learned.

PRIVACY!!!!!

 One of the biggest challenges of the move so far

would have to be ALL THE PEOPLE!

The yards are all long and narrow.

So sitting in my backyard I can see

all the way through several neighbor's yards.

And that's just too much people.

(I know, horrible English, but that's what

Kyle and I say...)

SO.

Yesterday Rod and Kyle got busy.

Monday we went to Home Depot and bought a TON of wood.

And yesterday they put up a new privacy fence

between us and the neighbors.

(Yes, the trees are dead. So sad...)

The gardens look great, don't they?

The one up front left is all beans.

In the far back is the tomatoes.

They are COVERED in cherry tomatoes!

Then the carrot bed.

And finally peas (with carrots between the rows.)

This morning Kyle and I headed to the farm

and Rod headed back to Home Depot.

We got our usual haul of cucumbers,

zucchini and yellow squash.

And our first spaghetti squash.

It split, so we picked it and we'll see what it does.

We also got a nice haul of okra

and green beans!

We didn't expect to get ANY beans,

so we were pleasantly surprised.

After lunch I'm going to tackle the zucchini.

Now that the standup freezer is up and running,

I have a place to put them.

The guys are also building a dog yard

so the poor girls can get out of their crates.

They will be SO HAPPY!

Beau is always happy.

Happy Labor Day

 Today we are building privacy fence.

So, this will be short.

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Happy Birthday Dad!

 Today is my darling Dad's birthday!

This is a quintessential picture of my Dad.

In his favorite hat.

(He's worn a similar hat ... forever?)

He is so loved by all his family.

He has been our example of love.

Of kindness.

Of finding joy and doing what needs to be done

even when its difficult to find the joy.

I love you Dad!

Happy Birthday.

I hope your day was filled with happiness.

HOME SWEET HOME!

 The guys made it!

They got here late Wednesday night.

I had finished teaching and was standing

outside waiting for them when they pulled up.

It was a LONG two days.

The dogs were anxious to get out of their crates.

And then we put their crates in the garage

and stuck them right back in again for the night.

Poor girls.

Yesterday after a breakfast of bacon and eggs

and a walk around the blocks for the dogs,

we headed up to Hill City to unload the truck

into the storage unit.

Well darn.

I thought I took some pictures.

Guess not.

Anyhow.

It's STUFFED to the gills.

We got a little sprinkle of rain a couple of times,

but nothing big.

It was POURING at the farm though.

(Hill City is only 10 minutes from the farm,

so we could see it raining over that way.)

We finally got all finished about 4:00

and headed to Pizza Hut.

Little mid-west towns.

They all have a Dollar General and a Pizza Hut.

(And that's about it.)

It was delicious, and since it wasn't really

a standard meal time, we had the place to ourselves.

Just us and the manager. He said all his people

called out sick.

While we were there, the storms finally caught

up with us and it rained pretty good.

So we made the decision NOT to take the U-Haul

out to the farm. The roads are kind of slick

going up and down the hills when it is raining.

They dry quickly, but while it's raining its

a little bit of a challenge if you are driving

something big and heavy.

(or small and light)

There are often tire marks in the road where

somebody was trying to get somewhere...

Anyhow.

We headed back to the house.

It was still raining, so we came in and settled

into the living room for some TV and rest.

I made some muffins for a late evening snack.

(We were all still full from Pizza Hut.)

Rod headed off to bed about 9.

(That's 10 Florida time, it will take him a 

bit to adjust to the change...)

Kyle and I were off by 11.

This morning Rod has been unpacking his truck.

This is a SMALL house - so now there are things

tucked under all the beds and in all the 

closets and cupboards.

I'm trying NOT to have stuff cluttered in piles.

That raises my anxiety levels to an uncomfortable

point and life's too short to be stressed all the time.

We just had breakfast and now we are going to

go take the dogs out for a walk.

Mom and Dad sent Rod a marble checkers set

for his birthday.

Can't wait to play it on nice dark, cold evenings.

Thank you guys!

It's beautiful!

On the Road, AGAIN.

 The guys are ON THE ROAD!

Kyle is driving a 30' U-Haul truck and pulling

a car hauler with his VW Golf on it.

Rod is driving his pickup truck and pulling

the stock trailer loaded to the GILLS.

The zero-turn lawnmower is in the front.

There's obviously a bunch of stuff on top of the dogs.

And, of course, the dog crates went into the wooden

structure designed to keep them comfy.

They just did their first stop.

Luna (Kyle's Rottweiler) is a veteran of this trip

and she is doing fantastic. 

Bandit (Rod's Blue Heeler) is not.

She is quite nervous and a little unhappy.

But she will settle in.

Of course, years and years ago when Kyle and I

drove to Arizona with his yellow lab in the back

of his truck, Bison refused to eat the entire trip.

So there's that.

Anyhow.

Speaking of loaded.

Rod put stuff on every flat surface in his truck.

The backseat has lots of blankets, etc.

But under all that stuff is another window for

Kyle's house - darn those Florida specific windows.

And, I think, a TV.

We just kick back our seats and sleep there on these trips.

So he filled up the passenger seat as well.

We have a lot of stuff.

The U-Haul isn't packed as neatly or efficiently as they would

have liked, but that's what happens when you have help.

It will be interesting finding places to put all this stuff.

But we'll cross that bridge when we get closer.

We will be building a larger house, probably next year,

so will need most of it. And most of this stuff is tools and

other misc. garage-type stuff.

But for now.......

Anyhow.

Safe travels guys!

See you tomorrow!

(Or Thursday morning... depending on how it goes...)