Water

Our well pump died a few days ago and suddenly we were stuck without running water. But let's start at the beginning. I turned on the tap only to find that the water pressure was horribly low, usually that means that one of the guys has left the hose on. I called to dh to go check it out and came back with the news, there was no power in the well house. We checked the breaker and it was not tripped, so we were confused. We suddenly had to find the source of the power and after making a few calls we discovered that the power for the well comes from the garage. Now this was both good news and bad news at that time. It was great because we finally had that information, but it was bad because the only breaker box we knew of in there had a nest in it since before we moved here. After some tinkering we discovered that that was not in fact the box and so the hunt continued. On the opposite side of the garage there was an old fuse box, wouldn't ya know it, it had blown a fuse. DH went to the hardware store and picked up a new fuse and replaced the blown one. When he flipped the breaker in the well house to test it, the fuse immediately blew again :( In an effort to narrow things down DH took off the wires from the well pump and then started over, sure enough all the lights came on. He then attached the well pump again and the fuse blew as it had before. :(

As I have probably mentioned before, trying to get an electrician or plumber out to this area is almost impossible. We made a few calls and no luck. Finally we found an electrician who was willing to talk and he verified that the well pump was indeed the problem. DH went to work and was chatting with one of the regulars and the guy offered to come help us with the pump. We felt so blessed. The next day he came over and checked things out, not only was the well pump dead, so was the pressure tank :( We would need to buy practically a whole new set up to get water back to the house. Not good.

DH brought the pump into the house and asked me to start looking as he headed off to work again. There were quite a few pumps that seemed so similar, that I finally called my dad to figure it out. Once again we were blessed. We were able to find all the parts we needed at Lowes and so we got them home and were ready to begin. But life likes to throw curves so we suddenly found our self without help to install the new pump. The regular is a truck driver and he had to get back on the road. DH went out and began working on hooking up the pump and he got as much of it done as he could. We called every plumber we could find and even had one promise to show up . . . I'm still waiting. I was chatting with a friend and she suggested that I post an ad on craigslist, I had nothing to lose so I did.

Last night I got an email from a guy whose name I immediately recognized, but couldn't remember why. He was a local and estimated that the job couldn't be more than an hour or 2 and left me his number. I called him and sure enough we did know him, his wife is a para at EE's school and I'm pretty sure he had come by when we first moved here to see if he could rent our pasture. Once he realized who we were he said he'd come over first thing in the morning before he went to work and take care of it. Again we were blessed. True to his word he showed up with some of his men that he was taking to a job site and they had it installed in 30 minutes. He charged us $20, we were so thankful.

So I told you all this to say, what's your preparedness plan? Do you know how you would get by if you had to go days or even weeks without water? The farmer's Almanac promises that this winter will be VERY cold, what is you plan if your pipes freeze? Have you stocked up enough water to get by and if so, for how long? Here are a few things to consider:

1. Most important is water to drink
2. Water to wash your hands is also important, winter is cold and flu season
3. Water to cook/wash veggies etc
4. make sure you have a way to collect grey water to be able to flush your toilets.
5. Water to wash up, obviously a bubble bath is out of the question but a quick wash is very doable.
6. Don't forget that your animals will also need water.

Please add to this list.

It's that time of year again

That's right. It's time to get the septic tank pumped. JOY! I called a company in a neighboring city and once again I am hoping that he shows up. It's more like praying he shows up, given last years experience it will be nice to pay the regular rate instead of twice the price just to get someone to come out.

On the upside, Dh was able to get the truck out of the ditch thanks to some kind neighbors, though it did involve a lecture about encouraging us to fraudulently enroll our children in the local school. Don't get me wrong, I pay pretty high property taxes around here and it would be nice to see that money stay local, couple that with the fact that we have the largest family of school age and/or soon to be school age children and I can understand the position. I only have 1 teansy little problem with it, and really it's so minor it could easily have been missed . . . it's wrong. Good now that we've cleared that up.

Meg seems to be having trouble with the recent heat wave, pray that she can hold out for the vet who comes back from vacation tomorrow :( I have been having DH and AR hose her down every few hours to keep her cool and we have mixed up a mini electrolyte replacer for her to drink (she really seems to like it, but that might be the molasses flavor). She is drinking very well, and even eating better, her breathing had been labored at the start a few days ago but is not anymore. She still isn't going out with the others but is getting up and around to eat and drink. This summer has been brutal, I really wish we could do more. The heat makes it so hard for them to eat and keep their weight on :( So many have died this year that it is scary. I am thankful that we haven't lost any but they are thinner than I'd like them to be.



I have added a Reviews tab to the blog, be sure to check out my latest review of last week's giveaway item. I made some curry chicken in one like it last night :)

Car accident

DH and HG were in a car accident today, he believes that the Expedition is totalled, it is currently flipped over in a field. We'll know more once the adjuster gets through with it. Please pray.

On a side note it appears that the wonderful people of our town have adopted our family this year, we're not quite sure how they knew but we are thankful for their generosity.

The reason for the season

There comes a time in everyones life when you forget that you are not alone in your struggle. We have been so blessed by the love and support of those around us, not just friends and family but also those in our community. In our careful planning it had not occurred to us that we didn't have a tree, the nice people from town brought us one with lots of ham and candy. lol. Christmas has a way of bringing out the best in people, I am so thankful for the blessings we have received. The kids loved having a tree to decorate and it'll be nice to have something to put in their stockings.

Remember always that you are not alone, hard times are meant to draw you closer in you walk with God. There are many blessings in times of struggle, but there is great joy in giving. In these last days before Christmas please take the time to bless those in need around you. :) Blessings of the season everyone.

Today we lay to rest a kind man from our town, Please keep the Schmitz family in your prayers. Thanks.

Kansas weather is like a woman . . .

Very quickly she changes her mind. :) (I get to say that only because I am a woman, lol)

Here is what things looked like 2 days ago:


Today, this is what my yard looks like:




Dh went to work as this delightful storm was beginning, by the end of his shift things were in full swing and even at 20 mph he slid off the road into a ditch :( Unfortunately our other vehicle is parked at my work so I couldn't even pick him up. I got the call from him at around 7:30am and panicked immediately realising that he was stranded, and that he had walked 3 miles in the storm to get a signal to let me know what was happening. Thankfully God is always watching and one of the local business owners in the small town before ours was on his way to open up. He is also our second closest neighbor. He took dh to work with him and got him warmed up. Several cups of coffee later and time chatting with the regulars 2 of the guys offered to take him home and try to get him out. The truck couldn't get any traction because there was still a lot of water in the ditch, but it was very close to the other guys house so he went to get his tractor. Dh was able to drive home and for that we were exceedingly glad.

Dh has been eyeing a pair of overalls all winter and has waited patiently for them to get marked down. Last night they were finally at a price we could afford, as he went to pay he realised that he didn't have his debit card on him :( He was bummed. He looked for it this morning and still nothing, he figured he would have to call and cancel. We had gotten a package notice in the mail so he headed off to the post office, while there the lady says: "hey, you left your debit card here so I sent it with the mail man this morning", ain't small towns great :) This is the same mail man that always puts our packages in the car (if there is a car at home), instead of waking dh during the day, lol.

In other news:
The chicks have gotten so big lately, the roosters are so feisty, its hard not to take notice of them. They still have some flight and will fly up on the box, take a look around and then go back inside. Here are some recent shots of them:







And then of course there is stubby, the runt of the litter and she has no toes:


So how did you fair on this fine Saturday?

When it rains . . .

Well, I was hopeful for a better week but no such luck. Dh called this morning to let me know that I would have to pick him up and drop the kids to school as he had spun out, hit the curb and almost landed in the huge ditch at Wally World. As a result of his little incident the front wheel is now rubbing against . . . something or other and the back tire is now flat, joy! The maintenance guy helped him push it into a parking space. Thankfully I live in a small town and my insurance company is always on top of stuff, they got us a call back with the adjuster in minutes. We were really happy to know we have rental coverage, though the 1K deductible is gonna hurt :( I'm not sure how Merry this Christmas will be anymore :( I'm gonna talk to the kids about a smaller scale Christmas, after all it's not about presents, it's about being together and that we've got. Wish me luck!! Anyway, I've got to get some work done, I only just made it in and they watch every minute of my time now. :(

A Green Birthday

My girl loves the color green, so dh decided to make sure she got everything green. :) She is not a huge fan of sweets so while she was excited to have a green cake and green ice cream, imagine her surprise when dh successfully got the local pizza parlor to make her a green pizza. :) This is one of the true benefits of living in small town America, the owner was delighted to give this a try and worked on small batches throughout the day (even requiring his staff to test them out), in preparation for our pizza that afternoon. (Excuse the fuzzy camera phone pics)

Before Baking


After Baking


It was delicious and green all the way through, the kids really loved it. Next year we are supposed to get HG a pink pizza and AR is really interested in a black pizza. The pizza parlor on the other hand has a new promotion for football season and St Patty's day. :)

UPDATE:
Here is the wonderful Gingerbread House (graham cracker) that EE made at school for her siblings (no sweet tooth on that one). :)

Thanksgiving and more

We were invited to a have Thanksgiving at a friend's house. Although I don't have a working oven, I didn't want to go empty handed. I began marinating 3 chickens and cooked up my mother's awesome stuffing (YUMMY!!), each bird was nicely stuffed and ready to go by 4:30. I also whipped up a macaroni pie to be baked upon arrival. The pie was ready within an hour but the chickens resisted my attempts to persuade them to cook quickly. It was hours later before they were ready, at which point we had all eaten and were enjoying wonderful conversation and lots pie :) Dh was asleep on the couch as he had to go to work for 10 (BOO!!!!) :( We all had a marvelous time and this may become our Thanksgiving tradition (less the uncooked food that is, lol) :)

We had dropped dh to work on Thursday night, so the children and I were up bright and early to pick him up on Friday morning. His wal-mart seems to clear out of all black Friday traffic within a short time, leaving the average non-crazed shopper time to go through the items left :) Dh was able to get 3 pairs of wranglers for $8 each and our youngest two got their winter jackets at the same price. Of the things left we got about 80% of the items we considered to be of interest, we were happy. We stopped off at the farm supply store and picked up a heavy duty hay ring at 25% off (YAY!!) and the pigs have finally got their feeder and a shorter water dish. Dh called the hay guy (former owner of our home 2 owners ago) and was able to get him out with a bale for the cows, which made them incredibly happy. :) Then we took a nice long, much needed nap :)

Saturday was a crazy morning trying to get everyone ready for the Vows Renewal Ceremony in Oklahoma, planned entirely by dh (Great job honey). It was wonderful, the Priest was the sweetest thing and we may start going to his 11am service, once we figure out exactly where it is, lol. (Picture to come soon). On the ride home we stopped off at a little pawn shop and bought a few items that we found interesting, it seems they buyout old restaurants and hotels. He is looking out for glass milk jugs for us :) We then stopped off at the only restaurant in town and found out why everyone eats at home, lol. Fr Mike told us that most wives cook in their little town so the husbands go home for lunch, I can't argue with that. :)

These 4 days flew by so quickly I was really sad by Sunday. I didn't want it to end though I knew it had to :( Tonight is the school play so we look forward to seeing AR and EE on stage :) How was your Thanksgiving?

Irritation

Well, after a spectacular parent teacher conference 2 weeks ago, I was informed this morning (before coffee) that my down syndrome daughter is making no progress in any of her 3 teachers opinions (a complete about face from 2 weeks ago btw). Shocked and surprised I asked for their suggestion as they have effectively said she is not performing in a classroom setting nor with one on one instruction with a special ed teacher. Then I got it, all of a sudden I was hearing about a wonderful program at another school, and that the teacher had already been by to observe her and felt she could help her learn to read. They had successfully found a way to pawn her off on another school and maintain their precious high test scores :bravo: I decided to roll with this and after commenting on the fact that they were effectively conceding defeat to my child, I went to see the new school. I was really impressed by the teacher, she seems fitting of that title, unlike the women I had previously met with . . . seriously they should consider a new profession or maybe take the extra classes and move to the gifted program. Teaching is not just about helping the average or above average kids, it is supposed to be about helping all kids learn. If you give up the second a kid throws a tantrum, then you are ensuring that that will continue every time you say something they don't like. I think I might need to go get me one of them diploma's, apparently they don't teach them what they used to. The sad/funny thing is that this is probably thanks to the "No Child Left Behind" Act (ironic name), they have taken a great idea and destroyed it. The point was for ALL children, regardless of ability, to get a quality education without the system leaving them behind. It seemed harsh but bad teachers kept passing kids without regard to if they were actually learning and there was a serious problem. Holding teachers accountable is a great idea but how? Testing is probably not the greatest but it's what we've got, it's what we know. The mistake made is that the special ed kids are tested with the reg ed and so test scores became skewed, this created problems as no one wants the low score. The special ed system doesn't retain students it promotes them regardless of their ability and so causes a severe strain on the schools scores. I think, if we are going to use reg ed testing on special ed then the special ed student must be able to do that level of work to move on to the next grade. This will maintain a healthy balance and produce a truer score. Anyway, I'll be getting off my soapbox now. But let me just say this, shame on you teachers, special ed directors, administrators for forgetting the children and only looking at your numbers.

Sorry for the silence - for my desk at work

Alright, I have been AWOL for the past few weeks as my busy season has gone into full swing, on top of which my computer at home is temporarily out of commission :(

So let's do a very quick recap:

HG (our middle child) found her self on the wrong end of an oak china cabinet :( The small spider monkey within must have finally taken hold because my sweet princess decided one fine afternoon (while I was on my way home from work) to climb up the old cabinet, left over from the previous owner, and in the process pullet it down on herself :( Fortunately, dh was in the bathroom (less than 10 feet away) and was there to push it off of her within seconds of the fall. Barefoot he scooped her up and got the children in the car as they raced off to the emergency room. The building was locked, he went to the little grocery and they directed him to the correct building. When I got to the hospital they were both covered in blood and she was very tired. Scared does not quite do justice to the feelings I had at that point. With the exception of her going for the x-ray I couldn't leave her side. They determined that nothing was broken but felt that she should be transferred to the bigger hospital in Wichita (an hour away), just to be on the safe side as they do not have a CT Scan machine. We agreed and waited patiently for the ambulance to arrive. The EMS worker noticed that she was not on a spine board while they knew that it was not needed, they didn't want to have to deal with the doctors at the other hospital throwing a fit. I looked on as dh went on ahead of us to pick up food and meet us at the hospital. My little princess was now in pain and I asked how long she would have to endure this, to which the response was: "until they clear her". I said NO!! That was just unacceptable. She was not in pain and they were causing her to be in pain, suddenly they realised that I was serious. They began working to make her more comfortable, imagine, they had that option the whole time. Anyway to make this short, she was fine though the doctors in Wichita couldn't believe it so they kept her for observation. They didn't release he until almost dinner time :( Once she had had a "good" night sleep she was up and about ready to go again. Praise God she escaped this entire ordeal with only a few bruises.
Pic from the hospital:

Pic yesterday:


We did luck out on that trip however as the child life department brought us a nice assortment of costumes for our dress up box. We are still collecting pieces now that Halloween (we don't celebrate) is over :) AR turned 11 in the midst of all this drama and had the pleasure of going to his first ice hockey game, he loved it!!

Lot is finally back home, YAY!!! We missed him, so did the girls. It was a bit of an adventure that can be read here

HG celebrated her 5th birthday this weekend and is in the midst of planning her 6th, lol :)

I found a new doctor and really love his office. For one thing instead of the usual ob office decor a la contraceptive manufacturer, this guy has awesome assortment of NFP posters and reasons to avoid contraceptives. I was really pleased to see an office that was willing to give families information about the effects of contraceptives on the marriage and their correlation with the ever rising divorce rate. *NOTE: we do not use NFP but do consider it the only option should it be truly necessary.

We watched P.S. I love you this weekend *Disclaimer: if you're a guy reading this, you may wish to avoid this movie, lol :) I cried for the whole movie, it was such a beautiful love story.

Not much else, dh had the pleasure of chasing after our cows who had escaped when the barn doors were blown up again :( It worked out alright though, Lot who had stayed with his new main chica Treva, wandered out behind dh and called the girls home - he probably figured that it was time to get some grain and didn't want that held up, lol :)

Well, I'll update again soon. Thanks for the comments and emails. :)

The right place at the right time

Dh picked up the kids from school and stopped in quickly at the local grocery and can you believe they already had more stuff for us, this time for free :) There were boxes of lettuce and fruit and veggies, the pigs are really enjoying their new cuisine :)

Dh is going to college part time this semester and there has been no end of headaches with the school he went to last semester. They would not even give him a copy of his GED :rolls eyes: Luckily the school he is going to understand and are working with us.

The cows are loving the wonderful new pasture area. They have never been in the arena (with our permission that is). Lot and the other little bulls are having fun stomping around in the wild sunflowers, while the cows and heifers wander around checking out the new digs. We are hoping to start on milking on Wednesday, wish us luck :)

And as always, I love small town doctor's office's, we called to get an appointment for AR and they worked it out to be right after school tomorrow, lol. They are always really well prepared for our visits and make sure they have enough staff on hand to help out.

AR's teacher called and asked if it'd be ok to pick him up and take him to practice to help out if I need it and she talked to the coach to make sure that someone could get him to games. We probably won't need it but it was so nice that they thought of us. It's been a while since a new family of many has moved to town, everyone seems to be enjoying it.

A great day

Ok so the weather is lousy and the highways are closed due to flooding, it means dh gets to stay home and that sounds awesome to me :) Today the rains wasn't so bad and we decided to trek into town to pick up a movie. Having never been to the little movie place/antique store dh took us all with him. A wonderful thing as I got to do a little shopping, all books were 10 for $1, I got 3 large thermoses and a coffee mug for 4 for $1, a milking bucket for $3 and some great knives for a quater. The wonderful finds just kept coming. A glorious day. Then the guy from the local grocery appraoched dh to see if we wanted the old fruit and vegies for our pigs, we got 6 cases of stuff @ $3. He even took our number to call us when they have more and most times they'll just give it to us instead he said :) The pigs were in their glee when we gave them the first box of stuff. Gotta run.

Good Neighbors

While we may always live at the old Engles place, the people in and out of our little town are more than willing to help out the new family. :) Noticing that our lawn was in need of a good mowing, a kind older lady stopped by and said hello. Turns out she works the lunchroom at the kids school and had the pleasure of meeting the children. She lives about 2 miles away and offered to bring her lawn mower over and help us out. Now I think I have sufficiently expressed how much I love mowing, but let me just say that watching her handle her John Deere 318 I felt like a baby playing with a toy tractor. The way she handled each turn and cut the grass in a uniform manner, it gave me a whole new respect for the art of mowing. It truly is an art and it gives you this wonderful oneness with God as you reflect. I thank God for the wonderful neighbors that He has given us.

Amused, thankful and other ponderings

I was driving to work this morning when I was forced to slow down at the outrageously slow town closest to mine, just then I noticed a very familiar sight, cows. Not just any cows, actually it was just 1 cow really and she was on the wrong side of the fence. I was so tickled by this, I am so happy that I am not the only one who's cows feel a need to walk the highway :) Had I not been running late I would have stopped and knocked on the door or something. Of course driving through small town America means there is no AT&T coverage for miles (i.e. a big town), so there was also no way to call the county sheriff. Luckily the house is just outside city limits and there are many neighbors nearby, we have no neighbors for almost 2 miles all around (I really prefer that).

On a complete other note, I was browsing craigslist and found what appeared to me to be the stanchion I desperately need to begin milking, YAY!! The price is beyond reasonable and while it is not close by, I talked to the owner and they will be coming to the city in a couple weeks and they will bring it :) That means I only have to drive an hour to get it, YAY!!!! :) This is definitely an answered prayer. Have I mentioned how much time I spend on craigslist? Let's just say, they should probably employ me. :)

I was talking to the owner of my stanchion and musing that they really never bothered to show people how expensive farm living really is on Green Acres. I mean, I've never actually seen the show but I know the concept. It only occurred to me last night that it's a good thing that guy was a lawyer or they'd have been much poorer. So here is a tip or two for those looking to make the move:
1. Never buy animals in the spring, unless you want to pay a premium. If you wait until the end of summer/fall then the prices fall dramatically as farmers don't want to have to buy as much hay. Avoid sale barn animals if you can, if not make sure you have an area that they can be quarantined for a week to 10 days.
2. Never trust existing fencing. Actually there is no fencing that I would trust even if it were new. Electric fencing is wonderful til it grounds out for some reason, then it becomes nothing more than smooth wire. Barbed wire is the equivalent of a human back scratcher, don't use it for livestock. Whatever fence you do use, check it at least twice a week, you animals are working on it daily.
3. If you wait til the end of the harvest, tractors get cheaper. Also auctions are a great place to pick up tools.

I'll think on it more and get back to you if I come up with anymore. And just so you know, I submitted my paper last night, it's not great, probably not even good, incredibly incoherent but that's not the point. :)

The great escape continues

BANG! BANG! BANG! That was the sound that woke me up this morning. I looked out the window see the sheriff at my door. Immediately I wok dh and sent him to the door. They'd received a call of 3 cows on the loose. :( He said he only saw 1 though. As we were getting dressed to deal with it I passed by the door and realised that the nice sheriff was parked next to the cow with his lights flashing, waiting for us. We jumped into the car after waking AR, so that he could watch the others if they woke up. As we got closer we saw that there was in fact 3 cows loose. All repeat offenders I might add. Lot, the supposed Herd sire/big toddler, Christmas in July, Lot's main squeeze, she's not that friendly but has calmed down considerably lately and last but not least Keegan, the newer bull to the herd who has been singled out to be banded soon (i.e. the first to the freezer).

We pulled up, parking on the side of the highway just behind them, the officer was parked in front of them. I started to talk to them as I always do and they immediately began to walk toward the house. DH went back to get the car and the officer turned around, also following closely. At one point they took off in a run then they stopped. I guess they were waiting for me to catch up :) They headed toward the fence at one point and we hoped they'd reveal their point of exit, no such luck. As I was lagging behind I called to them as they continued to walk, keegan had slowed, it looked like he might turn around, he continued to move with the group. Then Lot began to head toward the house instead of the barn I called to him and he turned, the officer (obviously used to cattle) then drove around the side by the house to keep them from turning, meanwhile dh had already got to the corral and opened the gate. They all ran in with no issue. Knowing the drill Marion and the calves came up from the pasture and they waited by the second corral gate as dh locked them out of the pasture once again. :(

I was relieved that the officer was very nice about the whole situation, having a third person to help really makes a difference in rounding things up, though this time AR would have had to be driving rather than on foot. His driving lessons are going very well so if there is a next time, hopefully we'll be ready.

The most amazing thing about their attempts to escape is that they only do so to eat the grass on the side of the road, they aren't leaving for good. I guess it's that whole grass is greener on the other side deal. Well I'm done procrastinating, I've got to finish my paper for school and then get to that fence.

The right tools!

So I got a call last night from the nice lady with the Australian Shepard puppies, we must have talked for 3 hours, anyway, her friend is selling her tractor. Well this produced quite a tricky set of mind racing questions. Should we buy this tractor? Is this as great a deal as it sounds? Do I really want to take the money I was going to pay off the Credit Card with to buy a tractor? Do we really need a tractor? So many questions!

Feeling really conflicted about this I talked to my mom and a few other people. DH prefers to leave a lot of these type of financial matters to my judgement. The general consensus seemed to be that buying a tractor was all about having the right tools for the right job. Winter is fast approaching and we will need to move bales of hay for our animals. Not to mention that if we're ever going to get our truck garden started, we'll need to be able to clear a section of land, a little riding mower is not up to that kind of challenge. Of course that would only be applicable to a working mower of which mine has decided it no longer wishes to be counted among :( Anyway, the point is that we are once again looking and trying to find the best solution.

I called the very nice receptionist at the school, a member of the local Catholic Church, and she is working on helping us. She was raised on a farm, but having 5 brothers she really didn't have to do much by way of farm work. However, she knows everyone, I mean EVERYONE!! She has advised that we get the word out so that we might be able to find someone local who might help us look at prospect tractors. Not to mention, if they have one they are willing to sell.

I really like this little town, it is amazing how much it is like you see on tv. It's kind of like taking a step back in time to a period when things were a little simpler and people really took interest in their community and neighbors. Being a bit of a recluse, I'm going to have to work on getting out and mingling. On the up side, the sale barn is back on Saturdays so that should be rather fun :)

Lazy days of Summer

Summer vacation is winding down and the start of the new school year is quickly approaching. This is an exciting time for all of us, especially since there are all these papers to fill out. I got a call last week from the nice lady at the school office asking if I could come in early to get the paperwork done, it was really nice that they were willing to work around my schedule. She had everything ready and waiting for me and that was really great, this will help speed up the process next week when we go to drop off the paperwork. I am really thrilled to see how this school will work and it is nice to only have 1 place to take all the kids. For a small town I am impressed by the advanced services that they are able to offer compared to some of their bigger city counterparts.

Today dh and I watched "The bucket List", there were a few moments I felt like I had just experienced some of the worse acting I'd ever seen from Jack Nicholson but by the end I really liked the movie. The message was very nice and I was left with that really happy, fuzzy feeling :)

On a completely different note, I was chatting with a colleague yesterday giving him the annual be nice to your wife and kids talk, when it occurred to me that it might be nice to have a tip of the day for husband on here. Here's my first tip: Wives appreciate random acts of Jewelry :) It doesn't have to be big, or really fancy, but it is always nice to get a gift when one wasn't expected or warranted :) Please note this is not the same as Apology jewelry (jewelry given because you screwed up, feel bad and she hasn't quite figured out what you've done) :)

Any other tips you can think of, I'd love to hear :) Don't forget to vote in the poll this week :)

A visit with the Sheriff

I got up early yesterday to get feed for the animal from the Co-op before they closed at noon. I really like that place, they have the most interesting stuff. :) Anyway I got back home and started watering the cows when the county sheriff pulled into my drive way, I don't know about you but that usually gives me a sinking feeling, could just be me though ;). He introduced himself and asked if we called 911, I immediately thought of the children but that wasn't it. He was inquiring because he was recommending that we call 911 so that they know where we are in case of an emergency. Having never lived in a rural anything, this seemed rather bizarre. Then he went on to ask if we had a weapon, I thought I was being rather reassuring when I eagerly said no. He then told me that I might want to consider getting one. My first thoughts were, is he serious? I mean why would I need a weapon? I'd thought about it sure, but that is usually in fits of complete panic which I can be prone to now and then. Then he asked if we had little ones and I told him yes, he said well, it's just a suggestion, or maybe it would be better to just call 911. (since they'd now where I am). I thanked him kindly for his visit, told him we would keep it all under consideration, reassured him that if we did get a weapon that my oldest was at least trained an with that he left.

I am new to this rural life, is this normal? How great is the threat of coyotes and/or wild dogs? Would you get a weapon? What kind of weapon would you get? So many questions,so little time.

Pig Adventures: Part 2

Having decided very early this morning that we were not going to run after the little buggers, we decided to build them a pen. I went down to the coop and talked to Tony our wonderful store keeper and he recommended pig panels. The funny thing about that is that I have at least 3 laying around the ranch. I picked up an extra 5 just in case and some T posts.

I had to send dh back to actually pick up everything as the panels are 16 ft long, thankfully we have a 16ft stock trailer :) Once he returned we got right to work and soon we had a 16 x 48 pen with a door that we took from Quinn's former isolation chamber . . . er . . . pen :) (Quinn has since joined the relocation program and be moved to an undisclosed location, lol, nah, we put him in the corrals).

While doing this we realized that all the pigs were loose and roaming various locations of the property, including the front by the highway. Apparently they found it very nice and cool in the ditch among the tall grass. I think the biggest thrill for this lot is that they'd never had a chance to really free range. They were having a great time, especially in the areas that were muddy from the rain. :) Pigs and their mud, lol.

I have found that they are not stinky once they have a large area to roam but it's only the first day :) We headed off to Wichita and took care of making sure our lawn would be mowed and took full advantage of banana Thursday as we call it (you can buy them at $0.18/lb and wally world has no limit on that), since wally world also does price matching we bought some cantaloupes 3 for $4 as opposed to their 2.50each :) We were able to find several leads in our quest to lower our feed bill for the pigs, it was a very productive day :).

Once we finally got back home the pigs had regrouped and were looking for water. We filled a couple bowl and began cutting up fruit to lure them to the pen, then pulled up a couple chairs and watched them work it out. It was beautiful, we even took some pics. (I will post soon).

We met the guy from the repair shop and he gave me some great tips on tractor buying, he does seem to think a bit too much like dh however. They both thought of a 12 gauge shotgun, men!! It was nice to meet a neighbor out of town like us :) They have a beautiful 90 some odd acre property that is practically tucked away behind these massive trees, but when you get up close and it is like Home and Garden Magazine. I love meeting neighbors :)

Anyway keep watching for future installments of the pig adventures, to be continued . . .

Long Day!!

We started the morning pretty early heading out to Wichita to take care of business. Of course we realised 40 minutes into the trip that we forgot the stock trailer which was half the purpose of the trip :( We still needed to go so we continued thinking that we'd go to the bank and then check mail and head home to take care of our fence. Not quite.

We got to the bank and everything moved quickly, YAY!! Then as we looked for a bite to eat I remember that I had scheduled a Dr's appointment this afternoon :( That was way too many hours away but we took it in stride figuring that we could go look at plants in the mean time. We went to Lowes and found a few, I was devastated however that they were throwing away shelf after shelf of plants :( (Devastated that they would just send them home with me that is :) )

At this point I was driving as DH's face was still swollen from an abscessed tooth for yesterday. I called the local dentist but since they hadn't seen him they could do a prescription. I finally found a real live person at our former dentist's office and they wrote the prescription. We went to wally world to have it filled and as Dh went it the phone rang, it was the local dentists office calling to make sure he was able to get the prescription. (aaawwww)

Anywho, we decided to go to the local tag office and get a refund on our tag from the voyager, figuring that it would be a while and it was but we'll soon have our $35, lol. Then we headed back to wally world but the prescription was not ready yet. I started looking around the garden department to see what vegies they had available, I was in luck they had way more than Lowes :)

As I perused their selection a woman walking out caught my eye, only because there were 2 men and another woman hurrying toward her. It was crazy, she stepped out of her flip flops and started yelling that they could not touch her. Well the 2 big guys weren't listening to that, one subdued her by grabbing her arm and keeping it behind her back as the other instructed the woman with them to grab her bag. They all left to go have a nice little chat elsewhere until the police arrived. Fortunately for me I had heard a million stories similar to this so it was really interesting to see it first hand.

I finally checked out with about 20 plants and dh went off to check on the prescription. We made a brief stop at Family Dollar who was having a 50% off sale and got a few books for the children, since Dh forgot to pack milk or formula for IL :( Then we were finally on our way home. We needed to make a quick stop in the little town before ours to let the nice folks we met yesterday that we would not be buying one of their puppies. While we would love to get an Australian Shepherd, neither of us has the time to commit to train the puppy to be a herd dog. :(

We went home and finally got started on planting the 25 new plants and spreading some seeds for the cattle feed we are trying to grow. We want to be as self sufficient as we can. In fact several of the plants bought are in preparation for our soon to be bought pigs.

Anyway the day has finally ended and it was at that point that we realised that we completely forgot to do some grocery shopping. Turns out our little town (Liquor store and all) shuts down at 9pm Monday thru Thursday. :( Dh had to drive 20 minutes to get a few things from the horribly overpriced convenience store on the Highway. :( Well I'm off to enjoy my $2 soda.