Tuesday

Met the neighbors today. You know, the ones whose horse we've been taking care of now for, 1, 2, 3, 4...17 days now.

Funny thing though, they didn't mention the horse, but I did.

I am being a bit overly dramatic about the horse. Quite honestly it's not been a bother. It's not like I've been feeding it, because I wouldn't. We did realize Sunday though she was back on her own property and neither of us put her there. She'd need to be taken through the goat's pasture to access it so we figured someone finally came and got her. She's not too happy about being there. I never did call them, figured eventually someone would come and call on her or we'd sell her and say we didn't know a thing about any horse. We financed cats, not a horse!

Speaking of cats, I've seen them a total of probably 5 times. They come around for sure, their food bowls is emptied. Suppose it could be wild critters but I doubt these cats are ever going to come around.

Guess what? Remember how I said the school bus picks the children up on the road? Well, get this, she's now driving up in the driveway and dropping them off (and picking Rachel up) practically at the door step! Mrs. B. was having quite a hard time from the looks of it backing in every morning and every afternoon.

I had been working in the basement, came up stairs thinking the children should be home soon. Hadn't heard the bus back up beeping so decided to go out front and wait for them when I opened the front door and there was a big yellow bus in the wraparound drive! How's that for door to door service?

We'll see how that goes this winter. She said she doesn't like to pull into people's drive because it can make ruts. Our driveway seems to drain just fine (the whole property does in fact) so hopefully it'll be fine for her to just pull around twice a day for the entire year. It seems kinda funny to have a big yellow school bus pulling around our driveway!

Jeremiah says the kids are being a pain in the rear end this evening. I told him I'm taking the night off meaning he gets the bathing and teeth duty.

I wrote a list today of all the things I'd like to get accomplished. Sad to say most of them are household duties! I marvel at the fact that anything around the house gets done with both Mom and Dad work. I just don't see how!

I made a super easy, super delicious homemade bread today. Jo (my friend) has been following the recipes from Artisan Breads In 5 Minutes A Day for a while now. I've known about the book and technique for some time, just haven't gotten around to doing it. I changed my recipe from their master recipe a bit but overall it's the same basic principle. It has yeast, so it isn't a quick bread BUT it doesn't require kneading. There is logic behind why it doesn't need it (no pun intended), and I can't remember exactly why, but if I remember right it had something to do with the fact that the dough is much wetter than a traditional kneaded dough.

I made enough for 4 loaves and really, it was just so quick and easy. NO KNEADING REQUIRED. I baked 2 and I'll be honest with you. I ate practically a whole fricken loaf all by myself almost as soon as it came out of the oven. The whole reason I made the bread in the first place is because I ran out of bread for lunches and here I was eating what was supposed to be for dinner and lunch tomorrow! Oops. I say that like it was an accident, it wasn't, not at all.

The rest of the dough will sit raw in the fridge. It should pick up a bit of a sourdough-y zing. I'll bake those tomorrow into loaves or maybe turn them into pizza dough for dinner. Wish I had tried this technique long ago. I put eggs and a bit of sugar into my dough, something the recipe didn't call for. It turned out a bit like brioche (a french buttery eggy bread). After I we got a hold of it for dinner, there is just enough left for tomorrow's lunch. Phew!

I didn't get as far on my "to do" list as I would have liked today. I did manage to finish getting the popcorn crap off the basement ceiling yesterday. I tried to start priming it today but I should have wiped it down with a wet cloth to remove all the dust because the primer isn't wanting to stick. I'm just making a mess of it so stopped 1/4 of the way through and will pick it up again tomorrow.

I did start tearing off the paneling on the walls though today. Fortunately for me it's just nailed and not glued. I had thought about just priming and painting it but hell, if I am going to do it, I may as well do it right. Oye, why do projects always turn into something so much bigger than they originally start out as!? Now I am thinking of faux painting the concrete floor to look like tile. I don't know how ambitious I'll be about that by the time I get done with the ceilings and walls.

Jeremiah is doing well. Coming along with a totally unique, totally personalized lesson plan has been a bit challenging. I know there's so much I should catch you all up on in regards to that but I'm not real sure exactly how to explain it.

Long story short is that his entire morning from about 8 AM to 10:30 is taken up by a single class with a short break. He has those same students all morning. They are a mixture of totally green to welding to 2nd year students. It came as a total shock to him! He is working with someone who specialized in lesson planning (I think that's her job) and they've devised a way to teach to such a wide variety of levels without talking over anyone's head or boring any one else.

Jeremiah's spent a lot of time putting this together and I am sure after this year it will be a lot easier for him. I am also sure that as time progresses he'll revise it, add to it, take away, etc. The first year is the hardest.

We just realized the phone we plugged in over the weekend had the ringer turned off! God, I swear I feel like such an idiot! The school nurse called my cell phone today and left a voicemail. For those of you who don't know, our cell gets horrible reception at the house. So I called her back and left her a message to call me at the house and that I would be in all afternoon. I had wondered why she had called the cell when she had the number to the house. Well, gee wiz, NO WONDER!! I think the people at the school from the school bus driver to the school nurse thinks I am an idiot because it appears that I haven't got a clue on the phone issue!

Time for bed in middle America.

The weekend and today

The weekend was pretty uneventful by all accounts.
Saturday Jeremiah spent a good portion mowing, got about 1/3 of the property done. Amazing really that he spent a good 6 hours and only did about 1/3 of it. That's 5 acres. Now that I think about it though, Tex mowed Rick's 5 acres on Dawn Lane in 6 hours, so I guess it's about average.

I picked up a lot of the cut haylage and fed it to the girls. They want so badly to get out but I'm a little afraid to with the property fencing only being 3 strand twisted wire. Plus too, we still have the resident horse and while I doubt she'd hurt them, she seems pretty uninterested in them for the most part, I'd rather not take the chance. It's a real shame because there is so much good forage out there.

I could let just 1 or 2 out at a time but then they probably wouldn't eat and pine for the others on the other side of the fence. Except PJ, I'm sure she wouldn't give a crap about the other and just feed her face. Being the herd queen, the others tend to follow her so my theory is that if I led her around they'd follow, but again, I am just not ready to take that chance. They'd have to go a pretty long way to get into any real trouble to be quite honest and if I stayed out there with them it would be fine but who has time for that!? Anyway, enough about that. Maybe one day I'll work up the nerve to let 'em out and say have at it.

We still haven't decided for sure what to do about property fencing. We've gone back and forth on cattle panels vs. field fencing. For those of you who don't know the difference, here's a short explanation: Cattle panels are about 16 foot long, 4 foot 2 inches high made from 4 gauge (pretty thick) steel rods welded at the seams with horizontal and vertical "rods", for lack of a better term.

(Cattle paneling)

They come in all sort of different combinations as far as horizontal stays but more often than not they are close together at the bottom, say 1 inches apart for about 4-6 inches then gradually increase in space until at the top the openings are like 4"x6" or 6"x6". There are also other panels (hog panels are about 3 foot tall) and Horse panels which was about 5 foot tall with 4x4 spacing top to bottom.

Field fencing comes in a roll, we're looking at field fencing that is about 4 foot high and the rolls are 330' long. The downfalls to this are 1. It's heavy! 2. you MUST have anchored posts (i.e. wooden or metal posts set in the ground (3 to a corner normally) and then spaced about every 50 feet with t posts set every 8 foot apart) and that requires digging or auguring holes. In order to last any good length of time it requires setting said poles in concrete. Most of the posts around the property are still good (not set in concrete but our soil is loamy and it drains well not allowing moisture build up on the wood per say making them last longer but technically you could just use t posts pound into the ground to hold up cattle panels and forgo the anchor posts. The reason it would be okay is because they are stiff and unlike the field fencing can stand up on their own with little a little bit of vertical support from a less sturdy post like one really set in. Wooden or metal posts anchored into the ground every 50 or so feet with 8 posts at every 8-10 foot intervals is ideal, but if we're talking about finances and needing/wanting a temporary/permanent solution to letting the goats graze, t-posts would do it) 3. you have to stretch field fencing with a tractor, vehicle or come-a-long. We don't have a tractor to lift it right now or to stretch it. I WILL NOT stretch 15 acres worth of fencing with a come-a-long and so pretty much if we plan to field fencing it may be years before it gets done and quite honestly, come next Spring I'd like to have the goats out on pasture at least 10 hours a day.

Field fencing is meant to give when weight is placed on it. The seams where the verticals and horizontals touch are wrapped in wire. This allows the fence to give if livestock rubs up against it. BUT, if the fence is low enough for a horse or cow (or goat) to place the weight of its head and neck on it, it starts to lean over and stretch out on top.

I am fairly sure, providing the goats have plenty to eat in any one given pasture they are in, they will have no need to climb on the fencing. HOWEVER, at least for the pasture up front or any pasture where they will have human interaction, cattle panels will be the ONLY way to go. But again, if we're talking about putting up pasture/perimeter fencing right away, I just don't see us living to finish field fencing!

Pros to cattle panels is that they are indestructible, nearly anyway. They hold up MUCH better to goats, especially, than ANY other fencing. They can be replaced much easier than any stretched fencing. If a tree falls on a section or two, you remove that section and replace it and you're done. In terms of something happening to field fencing, not so with field fencing. Cattle panels can be bought sections at a time and can be taken down, moved around, etc. Buy them as we get the money basically, a few a month. Yes, it may take a while but with it kinda being "pieced together" you just keep adding on.

Downfalls are that it can be much more costly to use them than field fencing to the tune of about twice as much. BUT considering the work saved both installing and repairing is made up for that and its longevity is unmatched.

While I will admit that field fencing is much more attractive (personal opinion). Cattle panels, if done right, can look just as nice though.

Anyway, enough about fencing. I tire of thinking about it. For all I care we could put up 4-5 strands of electric fencing. Jeremiah thinks it's double the work and it is...sort of. Anyway...

At any rate, Labor Day is coming up and I am hoping Lowes, Tractor or Orshelns has a sale on cattle panels. Lowes, at full price, has been the cheapest of all three and Jeremiah gets a military discount there. It would be just grand if they had a tax free weekend. That along with his 10% discount would be fantastic! We'll see...

I would like to buy 10-20 and make a pasture for the girls just so they have something to nibble on until the grass starts to die back. $5+ a day is getting expensive to keep them around which is what we are spending on feed and grain! Multiply that by the rest of winter and you can see that it'll be quite a bite out of the pocket book until next Spring when I finally get some milk coming in again.

If anyone asks what we want for Christmas, we want cattle panels. We're easy to please like that. You have no idea how indispensable these things are! I made a feeder out of one last week. They can be made into gates, they can be made into pens, and as I have proven, you can even make them into clothes lines.

There was some excitement yesterday evening. Jeremiah and I were in the bucks pen lowering the gates. There are 2 metal lean-to structures split in half, so technically there are 4 pens that utilize 2 shelters. That's besides the point but I was inside one of the shelters watching the boys as they ate and Price Charming was looking at something curiously. I turn around and there is a huge snake slithering across the pen! I am fairly sure the words I used were not suitable to repeat.
Jeremiah jumped up and probably said some choice words too. He wasn't nearly as close to it as I was. He asked me what I wanted to do. I am fairly sure it was a gopher snake but I told him I didn't care if it was poisonous or not, NO SNAKE THAT BIG WILL BE ALLOWED ON THIS PROPERTY so Jeremiah threw a cinder block at it. I think it landed on top of it but didn't kill it. I ran to get a shovel and it slithered off to the other side of the fence. Jeremiah went after it and between the two of us we killed it.

I really do kinda feel somewhat badly about killing it. It measured in at 4 foot 6 though anyway, it's gone.

To date we've seen 4 snakes and quite frankly, that's 4 snakes too many. Reason #1 for keeping the place mowed or grazed down. I really have to start reading up on the snakes around here.

The neighbor said the previous owner did kill a rattler many many years ago. They are supposed to be rare though. Our real estate agent told Jeremiah Kansas doesn't have snakes when Jeremiah asked a few months back. When someone tells you that, take it like you would when the government tell you they are there to help you.

At any rate, I've got to get on getting the Explorer registered here in Kansas. I went to Walmart today and bought Kilz primer and concrete primer to paint the paneling downstairs in the basement. I'd prefer to take the paneling off but I assumed it was glued and nailed and quite frankly I just need to do something quick down there so I can get back to work. I also started removing the popcorn ceiling after lunch and it's coming off so nicely. I asked the inspector when he was out inspecting the house if he thought the ceiling had asbestos in it and he said there was none. Now granted, he could be wrong, but I'm going with that. There was small bit of paneling I started removing just to see if it was glued and it was just nailed so I am hoping it's all like that and I can just take it all down and paint!

The floor is concrete. Yesterday I used a stain remover and etcher. We're going to paint the concrete. I'll let you know how that turns out but I am pretty confident it will be just lovely. We were visiting friends a couple weekends ago and they had a painted concrete floor and it was just gorgeous! They were no experts so I figure if they can do it, so can I.

Anyhoo, that's all for now. The kid's school bus should be here soon and I want to get back to this crappy ceiling.

Misc. photos

A glimpse

I've been working hard on getting things unpacked. It's not going quickly but it's going well. Bit by bit, that's my motto.

Last week the kids rooms were a disaster. In an attempt to keep them busy, get them "back to normal" and take their minds off of the stress of moving we just took every box labeled toys and brought them in, let them unpack them in their rooms and PLAY. It was a good thing, but what a mess!

So, like a good homemaker mama I went to sorting and cleaning and organizing. Drew's room took me 3 hours but it's done. I still need to paint and I won't get to that for a while. He wants a light green "just like home" in which he means like California. He has bins in his closet sorted with blocks, and shoes, and balls, and Legos, and Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs, and train tracks, and stuffed animals.

Rachel's room is another story. She has a walk in closet and every single dress up article is piled on the floor in the back. What a mess. I need to pick up a piece of lumber, sand it, route it, paint it and apply hooks to. Jeremiah said we should hang another pole closer to her height so she can reach the hangers but if I know Rachel, and I do, she will not spend the time to place each article on a hanger and hang it up, so a hook is better!

Rachel wants purple walls. We let them look at the myriads of colored paper samples at Lowes the other day. Rachel was not too happy I wouldn't let her have the darker purple she wanted but we settled on a nice medium lavender.

I finished up refinishing one of the oak dressers for our room and we moved that in Thursday night. I spent half my day yesterday going through 3 large boxes full of "bathroom stuff". Why oh why do we keep expired medication!?

Our room is nearly complete minus the paint job but there's still boxes of clothing out in the shop somewhere along with a lot of the hangers! Trying to put clothes away without hangers is difficult at best.

We've yet to put the headboard and foot board on the bed. For that matter, we've yet to put the mattresses on the actual bed frame but Jeremiah put a fresh coat of paint on the head and foot board so we can get that all put together this weekend.

Things are coming together bit by bit.

School Days

I love and hate this photo all at the same time. I love it because it encompasses everything there is about (my thoughts) on school, mostly romantic notions (if school can be thought of that way). At the same time, I feel like it takes something away from me.

If you click on this photo it should show it in full screen. You'll see how happy the children are, truly truly happy. They come home like this EVERYDAY! I feel truly truly happy (for the most part).

I meet them everyday at the end of our drive, I wave to the driver to let her know "I'll take it from here, thanks!", and take their hands and they vie to tell me about their day.

I love this photo because it shows how happy they are to be home, happy that they've had a good day, happy about life. I hate this photo because it symbolizes time lost, time gone by, growing up, memories missed.

I hate that they ride the school bus for just a couple of reasons. It's a tug of war with my heart. Maybe it's silly.

First of all, it's good that they are going to school. We did not nonchalantly decide to put them in school. There are a few reading this blog who are home schoolers and you'll know we did not come to the decision to send them to school lightly. Not that I value (or don't value) your opinion, but these are our kids and this IS the best decision for them (right now). But I'll discuss that some other time.

Throughout preschool and Kindergarten we took Rachel to school and picked her up. While it was a pain in the rear at times to often drop what we were doing (often times delivering a goat or working in the yard) to go get her (I know that sounds kinda bad but it is what it is), it was a time when we got to see her come out of class, talk to the teacher, and experience school in that respect.

I kind of miss that now. I miss the interaction we may have with their teachers. Knowing daily if there was a problem I could find out right then and there if one of the children had a bad day right from the horses mouth. Now, we don't have that interaction. I send them off with a driver, they are dropped off by a driver and shuffled around by people all day long. Entrusting the lives of our most precious children to others is extremely difficult, let me tell you.

We don't have to send them, I REALIZE this. But it's good...for everyone.

Anyway, there it is..

Every morning at 6:45 our alarm goes off. I get up, I normally wake Rachel up, Jeremiah gets up. I walk into the kitchen to make lunches, Jeremiah dresses and comes into the kitchen to make breakfast for he and Rachel.

While Rachel eats, I finish their lunch, pack it into their lunch bags and put Rachel's in her backpack. I do her hair, help with shoes if need be and we see Daddy off to work at about 7:20. There's been just one day where we've actually been standing outside waiting for the school bus but all the rest of the days we hear the "beep...beep...beep" as the bus backs up into our driveway and Rachel races out the door, me following behind trying to get shoes on, as she races across the yard and waits for the bus to completely back up and stop before she waves goodbye, throwing kisses and boarding the bus with a smile and saying good morning to the driver. I wait until she's pulled out of the drive and walk back into the house.

Rachel is the last pick up on our road and so the driver backs up into our driveway, which is nice!

Early morning routine complete.

Andrew wakes up, we feed the goats and his school bus shows up at 11:30 on the dot. He's the first to get on. I wave goodbye and then it's back to work. The driver for Drew's bus, Mrs. R., comes from the east and since their school is west of us, she just pulls over, picks him up and continues straight. Our driveway has a pretty big shoulder so it's safe.

In the afternoon they ride the same bus home that Rachel rides in the morning with the same driver, Mrs. B. (the preacher's wife for a local church). If Drew didn't have siblings at the school, he'd ride the little preschool bus home and I suppose he still could but this is easier.

Anyhoo, so that's school life here.

Memories...like the corner of my mind...

Misty watercolor memories...of the way we were...scattered pictures....

Man, Lois and Becky, you'd love this place!

Yesterday evening, begrudgingly at first, the kids and I tagged along with Jeremiah to the first hometown football game of the year-a scrimmage game for the high school. You'll never guess what their totally intimidating, totally fierce and scary mascot is. Hutchinson is...drum roll please...the SALTHAWKS!

Yes, the salthawk is a creature of mythical proportions (literally). If this creature ever existed in history tyrannosaurus' would tuck tail and run, a loin's roar would sound like a mere kitten and you would tremble with fear at the very mention of its name. At least, I think so. Since they never existed and since I've actually never seen one, I can only imagine how mighty and powerful they really are.

Have no fear the salthawks are here.

Okay, enough poking fun. Yes, I realize a salthawk doesn't exactly sound fierce and strong. I will say this though, it sure beats the fighting Zebras! Lincoln High's mascot was the Zebra. It's almost laughable. A bit sad albeit. I realize that Zebras are fierce in their own way. But, for the most part (if not for the whole part) they are pretty docile creatures unless attacked. And maybe that was the point of it, but seriously? That makes it sound like you'd always be on defense and who wants to be a perpetual defender?

Or maybe it's that something like 9 out of 10 times the Zebra gets away to live another day. I can't speak of the salthawks -since, you know, they don't exist and all- to know what their tract record is (speaking specifically in terms of the animal life cycle that is).

Anyway, in all seriousness though, the Hutch High football team has been state champs 6 years running. That's pretty impressive.

What's also impressive is the football stadium. The visitors side, eh, not so much but who needs a good visitors side anyway? You don't want the cheering section for the opposing team to be comfortable. No, you want to stick them on metal bleachers (new and nice though mind you), facing the west so they get the westerly setting sun right in their eyes, beating down on them on a hot hot late summer evening so they are blinded and sweltering and suffering from heat stroke before the game even begins and cannot efficiently root for their team.

Meanwhile on the home teams side we sit in luxury on beautiful concrete bleachers in real seats just like a Dodger game, sun to our backs and shadowed by the massive concrete structure keeping us cool and shaded so we can efficiently root for the hometown heroes sipping soda pop, spilling eating popcorn and hot dogs from the concession.

This stadium is amazing! And what's more amazing is that football for this town is like better than going to see a movie at the theater. (Okay, maybe not that well liked but anyway...) Either my high school wasn't good, or wasn't as well liked or it's just not something people did for fun (to go watch the game) but I don't remember it like this!

This town loves their football games and people who don't even have kids in the school go to watch...for fun! And admittedly I HATE football, and admittedly we did not want to go, but admittedly, the kids and I had fun!

Jeremiah had to go to learn how to work the food concession stand. I am not 100% positive how it works with the proceeds but something about a bunch of the voc. ed. teachers get a few kids from their classes and work the concession for home games and the proceeds get pooled together to benefit their clubs. Like, Jeremiah's will go to benefit Skills USA. So, it's a wonderful thing and for $3 we got a popcorn and a soda which beats the $18 we paid at the movie theater some months back for a popcorn and 2 sodas!

So anyway, the kids and I sat and watched the freshmen hold their own against the sophomores. Meanwhile Rachel sat entranced by the cheerleaders.

We hadn't been there two minutes when Rachel said she like the Zebras (team). And I'm thinking Zebras? I thought this was a scrimmage game against themselves, why were there Zebras there and are you kidding me that there is actually another team, near Hutch no less, that are the Zebras???? Well no, not exactly.

Bless her 6 year old heart, they were the refs. HA! So I had to explain to her that the people dressed in stripes weren't zebras, they were the people who made sure the game was played fair. She said she was still voting for the zebras. I don't blame her quite honestly. They are the smart ones staying out of the line of fire.

In my personal opinion, some of the cheerleaders of them could take a makeup lesson, others could learn to smile, but overall fun to watch and amazing to see how much more gymnastics these girls know than girls in my day (12+ years ago. If that doesn't make me feel old. Laugh if you will).

Rachel, naturally, wants to be a cheerleader and while there are classes now where 6+ year olds can go learn and be cheerleaders, I think she'd be better suited to learn gymnastics. So I convinced her she needs to to gymnastics class first. She was cool with that.

What was really great was the drummers! The marching band was average size I guess. The gal next to us mentioned how small it had gotten. It looked pretty big to me. The drummers put on a pretty great performance, in my personal opinion, at the closing of halftime.

We didn't end up staying for the senior vs. juniors varsity team. We went to eat pizza instead.

Sitting at that great high school stadium last night with people from town having a good time, chatting, and enjoying themselves, it was fun. I was telling Rachel was a nice evening it was. We're finally getting some bearable temps. I think it was about 82 yesterday evening, with a slight breeze, sun shadowed by concrete and it was just a really good time. Glad we went.

As we sat there I thought how much Becky and Lois would have liked to have been there. Maybe someday they can come out and join us in the Fall and enjoy some hometown football.

Over dinner Jeremiah mentioned the fact that we did well. We take no credit for landing up here, just luck of the draw maybe. Or fate, or will or whatever you want to call it. And I am sure there are a million other towns like this in the US but this place, it's a good place! I'm telling you, we're happy. This place, well, it's great. The people are great, the town is great, the amenities are great. I tell people who don't know Hutch it's got a small town feel with big town amenities.

It's Kansas. I say that with less enthusiasm than I probably should. My preconceived notions of Kansas have not held true. I don't know why when I say Kansas I still don't think of myself as actually living in Kansas, but we do, and we're happy. So, IT'S KANSAS!

Go Salthawks!

The New Trend In Privacy Fencing!

Alternately titled: Does this make us trashy people?

Alternately titled: Airing out dirty clean laundry.

Alternately titled: Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

I suppose this looks like an average clothes line. Yeah well, you're wrong. This, my friends (and family), is a state of the art new trend in privacy fencing thought up by none other than yours truly right here in the heart of Kansas.


This new fencing will hide neighbors unsightly keep prying eyes out and give an aesthetically pleasing environmentally friendly new look to your back yard.

Not only is this new fencing attractive environmentally friendly, it's also multifunctional! It allows you to fence in pets, fence out critters and also utilizes the power of the sun to dry your clothes!

On sale now at your local Tractor Supply, Orsheln's or other farm store today. (Clothes pins sold separately. Some assembly required. Many styles to choose from.)

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Is it sad that I just made up a sales gimmick for this?

Is it sadder that I am seriously using our cattle panel back yard fence as a clothes line?

Is it sadder yet that we HAVE a dryer and I am still hanging the laundry out like this, or that we have trees to string a line or that I WALK up and down a hill to hang clothes out?

Or is the whole thing just pathetic and trashy?

Maybe the saddest part about the whole thing is that I've actually gotten good at utilizing the space of the vertical clothes line so much so that I can put 3 loads of laundry in half the amount of space that it used to take when we moved in 2 weeks ago. How's that for resourceful!

I'd say the whole darn thing is resourceful. Trashy albeit, but hey, a penny saved is a penny earned and if drying the clothes on our cattle panel back yard fence saves the dryer from running up the meter, so be it. Call me Mrs. Parsimonious!

P.S. We do have a clothesline solar dryer, it's waiting for a t post to be pound into the ground and we've just had other things that were more important to get to. So, my cattle panel fence turned solar dryer is doin' the job famously for now.

This is how lazy my goats are...

Instead of getting up to stroll along and pluck grass from the ground, they lay down at the top of the slope and gradually slide down once they have eaten everything good within their short reach!

An update

I had been writing religiously on the computer daily about life thus far but it wasn't on this computer (that I'm sitting at typing this on) and I don't have internet hooked up on the other computer and I just don't think I feel like re-writing it all out. Yes, I realize I could put it onto a drive and put the driver into this computer and then I wouldn't have to type it all but to be quite honest, I don't even feel like doing that.

So here it is, less humorous than what was originally written and much shorter too:

1. The kids are great.
2. The goats are great.
3. The dog is great.
4. Jeremiah is great.
5. I am great.

The end.

Ha, just kidding. I can do a bit better than that.

First off, Jeremiah's first day of official teaching was Wednesday for all of those who were confused. He officially started the 24th of July. He's spent the past month working long and hard hours getting his shop ready.

For those of you who weren't aware, his shop is the old automotive shop. The school had a brand new facility built for it. Jeremiah's new shop has been retrofitted with all the things he'll need to run said shop (i.e. vents, electrical drops, outlets, plugs, and all the other crap stuff a true welding shop needs.). So basically, when we arrived the shop had every single machine sitting in the center of the room, dust everywhere, welding rods, and masks, and gloves, and jackets and wire brush dooflinkies, etc. strewn about.

He's spend the past month getting it all in order so that come Tuesday he would be ready to teach some people to weld...

SCREEEEEEETCH...um can anyone say lesson plan? The whole month he had been putting together one in his head. BUT, alas it did little good when the big day came because his morning block is composed of brand new people who have never seen a welder before to those who have been in welding class for the past 2 years.

How are you supposed to teach to that broad of a spectrum? Well, we're working it out. After a few stressful days, a crisis hot line phone call later, I mean, uh, a sleepless night later (I really am kidding about the crisis hot line phone call, it wasn't that bad) and things are on the straight and narrow. We realize these first few days are the hardest, the first year is going to be harder than all the rest but if we make it through this, it should be smooth sailing.

As for Rachel. She loves school. I failed to mention that the other day she came home from school and said that some boy had said she was hot. I hadn't heard it put quite like that before, but it comes as no surprise that the boys think she's attractive. We've literally been dealing with this since preschool when boys would fight over the right to sit by her, even the little boy we thought would surely grow up to be homosexual (YES, I did just write that!).

Then Rachel wanted to know if I locked the doors (to the house). I asked why. She said because he said he was going to break in. I said oh, well then we'll get the use the guns BEFORE hunting season officially starts.

My only hope is that the next time this boys talks about breaking into our house that Rachel pipes up to tell him his head will look nice mounted on our wall. 'Nuff said. I doubt she'd say that, but a girl can wish.

I don't know, maybe that was a little harsh. They are, after all, only 6 and 7. I can tell you that I don't feel all that bad about it or wish I could take it back.

I told her she should not be hanging out with people like that. Yes, school is great!

As for Drew, he loves school too. He loves the fact that he is riding the bus. I don't know how long the newness of riding the bus will last. Rachel, I think, is already sick and tired of having to wake up early to catch the bus BUT so far she's too stubborn proud to tell Mama that riding the bus stinks after all. So, she will live to ride another day.

I'll do a little more updating later. I have more photos to show, much more to share.

BUT, the bus is almost here and the damned precious ruminant pets of mine need to be checked in on to make sure they are still where they are supposed to be. More on that later.

One Potato Tick, Two Ticks, Three Ticks, Four

Rachel had a tick on her ear one time in California. Like, it had sunk in and all. I flipped out! Daddy to the rescue, pulls the thing out, we have a ceremonial burning (no, we really did burn it. They pop isn't that cool?) and that was about my experience with ticks. I HATE ticks, worse than I hate snakes.

I can't even tell you how many ticks we've seen since we got here. They are like friendly spiders now...only...they're ticks...and I still HATE them...and they aren't really friendly. So, in that case, I guess they are nothing like friendly little spiders.

Yes, I know, ticks carry all sorts of nasty diseases. I KNOW! But, you try explaining to these little buggers that we would prefer they stay outside and suck the blood of the wild creatures instead of our family pets and ourselves.

Yes, I also know they make spray to repel them. I KNOW! The spray smells and let me tell you that remembering to spray myself every time I go outside (or every time the children go outside) is like remembering the thing you keep forgetting. If you remembered, you wouldn't forget it! And I realize that if one of us were to come down with Lyme Disease that I probably wouldn't forget the spray. BUT, you haven't stopped eating raw cookie dough or brownie mix have you? No, I didn't think so. Not that you can get Lyme Disease from those things, but you understand what I am saying.

Anyway, so to date, I have lost count...lost count people, of the number of baby ticks I have pulled off of our beings. Not just like flicked off, oh no, PULLED off. Gross right? I KNOW!

Lordy, it's been, what, 2 weeks almost we've been in our new house and I have lost count? Sad right? I agree. I don't even remember who the first one was I pulled it off of. Drew I think. Rachel came running out to the back yard and this is how the conversation went...

Rachel: "Mama! Drew has a tick on his pier!"
Mama: "Um, where?"
Rachel: "His pier!"
Mama (comes running up to the house thinking surely his "pier" is a pretty scary place to have a tick so I had better hurry) "Okay, I'm coming."

And so it goes that Mama comes running in and sure enough Drew does have a tick on him and it's close to his "pier" and not on his "pier" and by "pier" they heard someone referring to a penis as a "peter" and mistook "peter" as "pier". I can only imagine who would have called a penis a peter to begin with because Jeremiah calls it a pecker but whatever, it's all the same thing in the end.

So, there Mama is with poor Drew, pants down around his ankles laying flat out on the couch calm as can be while Mama pries this tick from close to her poor son's "pier". GOD, of all the things to be doing on a Saturday! Some people paint, some go hiking, some go fishing. NOT ME, I pry ticks from my son's genital area! Though I suppose that those who participate in hiking on Saturday may consider prying ticks from their genital area a Sunday hobby, bwahahahaha.

I realize that some people think it's difficult to pry a tick off. It's not, at least not these. I don't know if it's because they are babies, or because they haven't been on long (and I know this because we examine each other nightly), or what the case is. I know I am getting the whole thing, I am not leaving the head in (Mother) so rest assure that we are safe from whatever leaving the head in can cause.

I have yet to find them on the goats and I am all but astonished that the dog has never had one here or in Ca. that I knew of. My only guess is that they prefer humans because we are less furry.

To say it's been a bad year for ticks is almost laughable. We've been here two weeks and this seems pretty bad! I realize there are things we can do to minimize bringing ticks in but you know what? I can't exactly lock the kids up in their bedrooms and never let them come out. I can't feed the goats from the house and the lawn needs to be mowed, trash taken out, oh, and someone needs to go to work; that's just the reality of it.

I just really can't envision myself pulling a tick out of anywhere near Drew's "pier" though when he's a few years older so hopefully we can come up with something before then.

P.S. I'm sure he'll love me for this story in a few years. Is nothing sacred?? Muahahahahahahaha

Dorothy we're not still in Kansas!

Silly me, how could I have forgotten that weather in Kansas is not the same as weather in California. Because, you know, IT RAINS in the summer!

Round about 3 AM thunder woke me up. That along with some sort of swaying of the bed made me think, Oh God, TORNADO!

There was in fact no tornado, I mean, obviously but it was a torrential downpour! I should have taken the camera out to document how much rain actually fell-not that you couldn't find an updated annual rainfall to prove my case- but anyway...

We had left a 10 cubic feet wheelbarrow out by the goats and the dang thing was more than half full. All the dishes that were left out were overflowing with water. It's nearly 1 now though, the thermometer outside is hovering at 70 degrees and the breeze is blowing and you'd think it's Spring! Ahhhh, what a relief.

Round about 3 AM I realize I had hung two loads of laundry outside on my makeshift clothes line (i.e. cattle panels) the night before. CRAP! Not only that, but as I sit and write this my whole rear end is completely soaked. I left the windows down in the car. To make matters worse, all the paperwork for Andrew's preschool teacher was sitting on the passenger side seat...wet. Yep, this was shaping up to be a great day!

I cannot tell you how much I am really enjoying the rain in the summer. The lightening and thunder storms are awesome, truly truly awesome! El Paso had storms that came close to these, but only a few weeks here and I've seen more than a handful of storms that kinda put what I knew to be thunder storms to shame.

Everything is so green and it really is quite beautiful...reminds me of the Spring in Ca. That was one thing I thought I'd miss...but it's like California Spring all Spring and Summer long here. Can't beat it. If it could remain like this all year round, hovering around 70 with a slight breeze for clothes drying, keeping the air fresh and house aired out, I'd love it!

I'm sure one day into winter and I am going to wish we had weather like we did today!

Day 6: New School and New Year

Day 5: It's Official!

Alternately titled: It's Official...We ARE Trashy People.

A pretty uneventful day here at the homestead. The kids and I are making the daily trek to Jeremiah's classroom to use their internet so I can check mail, etc.

Oh wait, I guess it wasn't so uneventful. We did finally close escrow today, 5 days late no less. So, it's painful. Official, but painful. Wait, that should read...It's official. Painful, but official. There, that's better.

I've been playing phone tag with Andrew's potential preschool teacher. The cell reception is terrible out where we are. Go figure, we're probably no more than 3 miles from some extremely tall cell towers but we get no reception.

After signing I had wanted to go to Wichita for dinner. It's only about a 45 minute drive but we ran out of time and Rachel starts school tomorrow so I don't want her to be overly tired from being out too late. After a bit of back to school shopping I race back home to feed the goats so we can go back to town for dinner. Jeremiah follows me out and on the way up he and Andrew stop to pee. As in, in the yard! Dammit, I had hoped to leave the "NOT" sign off the front of the house for at least 24 hours!

Mexican for dinner in town, back to the house for baths and bedtime.

Day 4: We are NOT Trashy People

Alternately titled: Let Andrew the dog out to go pee.

Alternately titled: NO BUGS ALLOWED!

I slept like absolute crap last night. About 3 AM something woke me up. I tried to go back to sleep twice but kept feeling like something was touching me. I shrugged it off before I finally jumped out of bed knowing for sure something was under my covers that surely wasn't supposed to be, husband excluded. I turned on the light, carefully pulled back the covers and there was it was...a grasshopper! I found a washcloth to put it in reminding myself not to forget in the morning that it was wadded up inside. I dozed off to sleep thinking I would get a sign to hang above the front door bell that says "NO GRASSHOPPERS BUGS ALLOWED!" (so as not to discriminate the insect species).

Jeremiah left for work a little after 7 AM. I got up shortly after he left. As soon as the (goat) girls see me they bawl. It's normally May. Since I speak goat I'll interpret, "Yo, woman, get down here and feed us!". May doesn't use profanity but the rest of them do from what I understand so you can only imagine what they are saying.

I came up to the house and looked around the kitchen and there were a few boxes to unpack. I am kind of tired of unpacking.

Andrew and Rachel woke not long after I came back up from feeding. I asked the kids to let the dog out. I poked my head out the laundry room door to make sure the dog was staying in the fenced back yard and to make sure he was potty-ing outside like a good dog. And there was Drew, potty-ing outside...like a good boy.

I shake my head and decide that along with my "NO BUGS ALLOWED" sign, I am also going to get one that says "Trashy People". I'll paint one like Lois did to say "NOT" so as to let visitors know whether or not people are peeing in the yard that day and put it up and take it down accordingly.

Day 3: Gettin' the Goats

It's a lovely day in Enterprise, FINALLY! I swear if you hadn't spent much time here you'd think the whole summer was 110 degrees night and day with an occasional lightening storm and 1,000% humidity!

We got the goats loaded around 2 and headed for home. Butters was ecstatic to get into the car as we had left him every other Monday morning with Jo and the "fam" while we traveling down to Hutch.

We pull up at the house about 6 PM and surprise surprise, guess who's STILL here? If you guessed Horse, you'd be right. I am a little perturbed at this point and lock horse up in her own property and loan her one of our water buckets. I'll call the neighbor tomorrow.

Let me take a minute to say that so far I have learned a few things about sounding like a local to both Kansas and more importantly Hutch. 1. If you call it the Arkansaw river, you're not a local. It's ArKansas. 2. If you call Hutchinson, Hutchinson, you're not a local. It's Hutch. 3. If you don't have some sort of accent, you're not really local. It doesn't matter what kind of accent you have, it could be Minnesotan and it would be fine, you just have to have some sort of accent. No accent at all gets you funny looks. 4. If you don't know what a co-op is and where your local one is, you're not a local.

I have mastered 4 of the 5. I don't know what a co-0p is nor do I "know my local one" but I don't let on, I just nod and smile and pretend I know what they're talking about. I'm trying hard to figure this one out without being found out. As for the accent, I didn't used to have one. But I do now and people think I pulled something over on them when I come out of Tractor Supply and hop into my car with California plates. Which isn't to say you won't be treated with the same warm and genuine hospitality if you're not a local, you just get treated like you need a Kansas education in what it is to be Kansan.

Day 2: Mowing

Alternately titled: Still here.

I dare say there are two very attractive things in this world. One is my husband in uniform. The other is my husband on a tractor. Since I no longer get to see the first, I'll be more than happy to settle with the second.We were up about 7:30. We haven't brought the goats home but do have plans tomorrow to pick them up. Lots to do today to prepare. Jeremiah moved the entire pasture and made 2 passes deep from the property line fencing with the brush hog.

Neighbor of ours came over yesterday and asked us if we needed anything and didn't hesitate to loan us his tractor!
I found a hay supplier on Craigslist to buy some alfalfa from. Kansas is a bit different than California in that you cannot actually buy hay from a feed store. Strange right? Yeah, you walk into a "feedstore" in Kansas and say I need some hay and they look at you like you are an idiot. Afterall, what would a feedstore be doin' sellin' hay for cryin' out loud! Am I the only one who finds this ironic?

At any rate, here in Kansas you buy all your hay directly from growers. I was doing the same thing in California but it was always nice having the feed store as a back up even if their prices were really quite inflated.

We bought the last 30 bales the guy had. Back in Ca. that would have been enough to last well over a month. Things are a bit different here in that A. bales don't weight the same they do there (which is both good and bad) B. feedstores don't carry hay and C. growers sell out and D. The winters are much harsher than we are used to. So, while "A." doesn't have a lot to do with "B." and "C." and "D.", I will say that it's nice having smaller bales weighting about 65-75 lbs. because it means I can load them and feel accomplished where as with the 110+ lb. bales in Ca. I kill myself trying to flip them end over end. What "B." and "C." means is that I need to stock up, like, for the entire winter and with 70 lb. bales, going through a bale a day, 14 goats, harsh winter, 2011 cut not happening until mid May, that calculated to about 180+ bales I need! YIPES! D. means that I cannot just wait until after a rain storm like in Ca. and go get a few bales from the local feed store to hold me over if needed. You can't just go out in the middle of a blizzard and go get hay from the feed store here. Moral: Plan WAY ahead.


Okay then, well...um...fortunately with all the rain they normally get in Kansas, they can get like 5-6 the grower was sayin'. That's great! That means I still have time to stock up before winter. He said he'll let me know when he cuts next. Normally if you pick up in the field they'll give you a discount and hopefully he'll sweetin' the deal if I buy in bulk. $4 a bale would make me happy because right now at $5 a bale, doing the calculations, it's costing me more to keep the beasts than it did in Ca. and since they are dry I have no milk to sell, I have to wait longer to breed this year so I don't have frozen kids in January and gee wiz, these animals!

On to the alternative title: "Still Here". The neighbors horse has been living here for who knows how long. The sellers had a horse they had to have put down a few months ago and I guess the neighbors horse was a companion. The sellers-whom we met with a few times before closing-told us that the neighbor was aware the property was selling and that he needed to deal with the horse. We were under the assumption that meant the horse would be gone by the time we moved in.


"Horse" has lived here because the neighbor has about 3 heavily wooded acres and there isn't much, if anything, to eat so the horse grazes here. Well, fine and dandy but gosh, I don't want to feel obligated to care for this thing. She's a nice mare. Hasn't tried to kill us yet or anything which, of course, is a good thing 'n' all but we arrived on Friday to move in and she's still here..on our property (or soon to be our property if the dang lender could just get their act together and file the correct paperwork!).

There is a gate that we share with the neighbor. It's pretty common, I think, to have gates on the property line. It makes it easy to go from one property to another. You may ask why that's a positive thing...well if you're doing tractor work, or running animals, or whatever the case may be, it's just nice to not have to go all the way to the main road when you can just go through the fence.

So, okay...I need to contact the neighbor (the vet) and see what to do about this horse. The main pasture gate has been open for her to seek shelter but come tomorrow, it'll be closed off and while horses can be out in the elements and there are groves of trees and bushes out there enough to shelter her, this is our property now.

I'll deal with the horse on Monday. We took off for Jo's 90 miles away to stay the night and bring the goats home tomorrow. Butters (our dog) will be happy as he's on the verge of a psychological breakdown I think.

A Prelude of Sorts

Most of you reading this know our story.

For those of you who don't, here's the short of it.

Jeremiah and I met while he was stationed in Southern California at Fort Irwin. After a beautiful wedding with friends and family in attendance, we drove off into the sunset and lived happily every after. The end.

Oh what, you want more? Okay, well...after 3 deployment orders, 2 cats, 1 baby (Rachel), 1 move from Fort Irwin to Fort Bliss (El Paso, Tx), 1 dog, 1 home remodel, numerous field rotations, 1 "flipped" house on the market after 2 years of renovation, 1 new baby (Drew), 1 move back to California with 2 babies, 1 dog and 2 cats, 3 1/2 years of college, umpteen dairy goat births, 1 resume, 1 trip to Hutchinson, Kansas, 1 interview, 1 acceptance, 1 homemade dairy goat trailer fabricated by none other than my dear husband, 1 LONG drive from Northern California to Kansas hauling 14 dairy goats, 1 flight back to Northern California, 1 "this is it" house on the market, 1 escrow, 1 24' moving truck, 1 car trailer, 2 really long days of loading, 3 really long days of driving, 1 flight, 2 kids, 3 weeks and FINALLY we are in our new home on 15 acres and ONE slice of paradise!

Read on into the future...