Let There Be Light… Coronavirus Day 41

The weather is getting nicer outside. It makes it perfect weather to go outside and dance in the water hose. Oh, wait, no, I’m not 5. We have well water and that stuff is cold. If you’ve never played in well water, it’s friggin cold. I got the opportunity to hold the water hose while the 5-year-old in my house danced in the water hose water. It was her idea, not mine, just for the record.

Hubby was recharging the AC unit so that it could keep up cooling the house. After he got that done, the next thing I knew he got out the drill and was removing boards from the side of the house.

Now if you remember, a year and a half ago or so we bought our house. Then we demo’ed it. We got the inside done. (more…)

Adding Soil/Fertilizer… Coronavirus Day 36

I gave up on the seeds in the ground. Grandma swears I should give it a little more time. And truthfully my dad always says I’m a little impatient… but they’ve been planted since March 30 and here we are April 18th (that was Saturday this all went down) and no signs of anything. The seedlings I planted were for cooler weather. Not cold… there’s a difference. But they prefer the cooler weather of April, May, and possibly June versus the summer heat of July and August.

3 weeks and nothing. So I pulled the tiller out and said screw it. Hubby started “feeling sorry” for me because I really wanted more soil from our manure pile, but we don’t have a front end loader. I wasn’t in the mood to try and bucket it as we did back in March. And truthfully he’d been wanting to rent this machine because it comes with multiple attachments including one to work on the brush in timber. (more…)

My New Greenhouse… Coronavirus Day 36

Some days I have great ideas… and other days I have ideas that make you scratch your head wondering where on earth I came up with this. Today’s project might be one of those… WHAT?!?! moments. So between the gardening and landscaping this year… I’ve really gotten into plants. I bought a lot of the flowers that I’ve used for landscaping, but the vegetables for the garden are a different story. I really wanted to grow my own plants. After garden planting #1 went awry, I decided to try the little miniature greenhouses. You know the little starter kits you buy at Home Depot (<– I used that one… not an affiliate link, just a link to what I used) or Lowes and I even found them at Dollar General.

Those starter kits are addicting. So I accidentally took over my kitchen table. Whoops. That was when I went on the hunt to see how much it would cost to make a greenhouse. There are kits you can buy but this was a DIY Greenhouse that we decided upon. This round anyway :).

My New Greenhouse

First things first… you need to decide how big it is going to be. Where you are going to put it. And buy the materials. Since I already had the trailer on from taking scrap to the scrapyard, it was the perfect time to get the materials. We decided on a 12×16. So here’s the material list: (more…)

The Day I Drove My Husband Nuts… Coronavirus Day 34

Honestly, why am I recording all of this? Because someday I’m going to look back and see this and remember. Truthfully, maybe I don’t want to remember some of this. This Pandemic is nuts. It sucks too. But I’m trying to make the most of it. Plus, I can’t seem to sit still. It’s not like I went a lot of places before all of this, but the thought that I can’t has me stir crazy. Stir crazy enough to go all over our place looking for scrap to haul off. Not because I want the money, but because I want the crap gone.

Once I was done with our house, I went off to my parents. In fact, the more I think about it, I might be driving my dad nuts too. (more…)

The Coronavirus Haircut… Coronavirus Day 30

We’re in unchartered territory here. Heard that a lot lately? The other day I watched a video of a girl who was crying her eyes out because she couldn’t get her hair done or her nails done and she said, “This is the year of the farm wife.” I kid you not. So supposedly farmer’s wives, daughters, female farmers are ugly and don’t care about their looks. That’s what I gather from that.

When I was growing up, my mom had a job outside the farm (so did my dad… the used that to pay for the farm)… But my mom had her nails done every what is it 3-4 weeks. Whatever the time frame is. I’m not into long nails. They drive me nuts. I tried them for a while. I’m good without them. 

Anyway… my mom wore gloves on her hands when she was doing anything around the farm from working horses to driving a tractor to bucking square bales onto the trailer. So when she went to work, people figured she was a “city girl.” Nails were her thing. Nice hands were too I guess. I was a little kid, I dunno. But the point is… I’m pretty sure we all care about our looks to some extent. Whatever…

Now with this pandemic thing… (haha)… getting your hair done is kind of unheard of. I poke fun at my husband a lot. I’m mean like that. I tease him because he’s a little light in the hair on the top of his head. But by golly he can grow it everywhere else it seems. (more…)

Bottle Calves – Coronavirus Day 28 & 29

 We now have bottle calves. How on earth this happened I’m still scratching my head to figure out… but… Let me paint you a picture…

Last night just after normal chore time, I got a text message from both my parents saying my dad needed help and how fast could I get there. Real fast. Abug and I threw our shoes on and out the door we went. Good thing we just live down the road. She was in play clothes so she went into my parent’s house with my mom (too cold for how she was dressed) and I went out to see what was going on. I had been there about an hour before and a cow was laying funny on the hillside. Turns out, momma was pregnant and trying to calve. 

She got the calf out all right, especially for a first-time momma, but then she ran off. The baby needed a little assistance. So dad and I grabbed some towels and off to the field we went to try and dry the baby off. It wasn’t cold out, but it was cool and just coming out of mommy, the calf was cold. Momma cow wouldn’t come near. I think part of it was because we were there but she was a first-time momma and sometimes they don’t have those instincts they’re supposed to. (more…)

Time to Play on the Horse Walker (again)… Coronavirus Day 19

When I was a kid, my parents bought this horse walker. What is a horse walker? It is exactly what it says, a horse walker. There have been times we had horses get hurt and we had to slowly bring them back (think physical therapy for people, but for horses). You can put them on the walker and it helps build back muscles. Say you have multiple horses and you need to warm them up or cool them down, you place them on the walker. Say it is winter and you want them to get outside and stretch their legs, hello horse walker.

It’s a machine that helps the horse walk around in a controlled manner.

When I was a kid, one of the arms had a swing put on it for me to ride on. The horses learned how to stop the machine and as a kid, I loved to ride the thing… it was my job to keep the horses walking. (more…)

Landscaping My House… Coronavirus Day 14 & 15

This spring has been quite interesting, to say the least. Between school being postponed and doing some work at home for school (challenges)… and the fact that the oldest daughter’s school was canceled while the youngest was on Spring Break. And all the reports of the coronavirus… aka COVID-19. So much uncertainty. 

But one thing that has happened I think for a lot of individuals is we’ve been given the gift of time. Something we all beg for. Everything is canceled. Can’t do anything. So why not work on that “honey-do” list.

One of the things I’ve been wanting to do is landscape our house. There have been a million reasons why I haven’t. Actually, if you look at that picture above… there to the left side of the picture, that left side of the porch… last year I planted perennial flowers. What is a perennial flower?

A Perennial Flower/Plant is a flower or plant that live more than 2 years.

While we’re at it… what’s an annual flower?

An Annual Flower lives for just one season/year.

The flowers I planted there by the porch DID NOT come back. Bummer. Here is where I tell you that I have a degree in Agriculture and I’m pretty sure I have a black thumb. My background is animal agriculture. Although when I was in college I loved the agronomy side of agriculture (plants, soils, horticulture) to the point I almost switched majors to be an agronomy major. But still… growing things is not my strong suit. I struggle, but that doesn’t mean I don’t try.

So why not give landscaping a try? I actually had to take a landscaping class in college so I got the basic gist of how to landscape. The rest comes from trial and error and the internet.

First things first

Decide on the area where you are landscaping. It is a good idea to use something such as spray paint to outline your area. Another good tip is to pay attention to your sun. Study for a few days, weeks, whatever your time frame you can so that you plant flowers that are based on the lighting.

So I outlined my area. We planned on making a walkway as well as having flowers/shrubs. Next came brainstorming on how I was going to make a retainer for my material and then what kind of material I was going to try and retain.

So many questions have to be answered before you can start. (more…)

George Strait Concert Kansas City: Where We Stayed and Ate

We saw George Strait in concert. The end. 

Haha, no, but seriously, we did! He was friggin awesome!! So here’s how our day/trip went.

Hubby and I have been doing Keto (More to come on that). We decided that we could find something to eat at José Peppers. Plus, we really like José Peppers… win win.

José Peppers

1100 E North Ave
Belton, MO 64012

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King George – The Bucket List

King George. That’s all I need to say. If you don’t know who he is… we might not be friends. Haha. 

Okay, so King George is also known as George Strait. One of the best singers of all time. He could sing the phone book and make it a #1 hit.

When I was younger, I always said that there were 3 men… a cutting horse trainer, a family friend who also showed cutting horses, and George Strait. My dad used to laugh at this. They don’t let me forget that either.

I have always wanted to see him in concert too, but then in 2012, he announced that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last tour. He was retiring. And… I didn’t get to see him. I was a little frustrated. The tour ended on June 7, 2014. That was it. I was so sad and frustrated. 

BUT then… he announced that he was going to do a very short tour, including Las Vegas. My parent’s trip last summer got rerouted to Las Vegas and they got to see him in concert. My dad bragged and bragged. Last fall I had some friends who were headed to Las Vegas and I asked if they were going to see George Strait? They said, No, Reba. And somehow that got us started looking up George Strait. 

My friend Shaye, who was looking this up with me, found tickets to see him in Kansas City in January for dirt cheap. I didn’t believe her so I mentioned something to hubby. Next thing I know…

We. Had. Tickets.

(more…)