Day 71, Monday and not much to report

As Mondays go, this was a good one.  I had so much to get done for our Board retreat tomorrow that the day flew by.

I left work in time to get to my workout appointment in Bend.  Having missed lunch, I was a little hungry and almost starting to feel a little weak.  All I could think about was the cold pizza that was sitting in my refrigerator at home.  Strange combination, working out and pizza, but I was hungry.  I should have been thinking of healthy food.

The workout was great and I was home by 6.  I let the chickens out for a few moments of free time and then I devoured the pizza.  With food in my stomach I sat on the couch and read my 12 pages for he day.  I love watching the sun sink low on the horizon and seeing the long shadows across the ground.

Before I knew it the sun was set, the chickens were in the coop and I had read my 12 pages.  I locked the chickens in for the night and then did some cleaning for tomorrows Board meeting.  I had my entire Board and staff coming for our annual retreat.  The house looked pretty good and with some extra effort I was ready for company.

I was in bed by 11.

Day 70, I've had the Traveleze 10 weeks

It's hard to believe that I have had the trailer 10 weeks.  I haven't spent much time with it lately and winter is fast approaching. 

I slept much better last night with little interruption and I woke up at 7am feeling pretty good. This was a good time to get my 12 pages read before going to Church, so I stayed in bed and read.


Hmm, is sin to take a picture in church?


Church was at eleven and even the Pastor admitted that reading the Bible in 90 days can be a challenge.  Staying focused through the repetition of the Old Testament.  That made me feel a little better, knowing that it wasn't just me.  I tell you I have had to read more than one page twice because I zoned out and didn't know where I was.

After church the first thing I needed to do was bake a cake for my fathers birthday.  I haven't baked a cake in probably 5 years so this was going to be interesting.  This wasn't just any ordinary cake either.  It was my grandmother apple spice cake this brown sugar frosting, which I should have made several days ago.  This a cake that has to age and it actually is at its best when it is about a week old.  In order to make this cake I had to make home made applesauce.  So with a few apples from my trees and a few from the store I was all set and in about an hour a half I had a cake cooling on the counter.  It didn't look to bad for being as rusty as I was, but would it taste ok?  I guess we would find out after dinner.


Corn stalks at the end of the driveway.


I spent the rest of afternoon working in the garden, cutting down corn stalks and harvesting the pumpkins.  I pulled off several small ears of corn that never quite matured and fed them to the chickens.  They love corn and will peck the cob clean in no time.  Once I had the corn stalks cut down, I loaded them in the back of the pickup and took them to he end of the driveway where I placed them into two bunches flanking the entrance to the driveway.   With a few pumpkins placed strategically at the base of each bunch I was pretty much done.  The only thing I needed to do was mix up a batch of Deer Away and pour it over the pumpkins and corn stalks to keep the deer from eating them.  The stuff smells nasty, kind of like rotten eggs and fish.

We gathered at my folks house for birthday dinner and the cake turned pretty good.  It definitely needs to age and if there is any left by Wednesday it should be perfect.

There was no time for the trailer this weekend which is starting to get pretty sad.  I'm going to back it into the shop this next weekend and continue to see if I get someone to work on it.  My schedule is crazy and I want to see this project finished in time for next summer.

Day 69, Wow, what a night

After going to bed at 12am, I was ready to sleep like a baby with the windows open and the feel and smell of fresh clean sheets, what could be better. 

At 4am I awoke to the sound of what I thought was a cell phone going off in the living room and the room lit up with a soft glow of a light.  I figure my friend Bruce had left his cell phone here, so I got up to check, but when I got up to look, I couldn't find anything.  I know I saw the room light up and that I heard the beeping of what I thought was cell phone, but there was nothing there.  I then had this realization, that could someone have been in my house?  A brief moment of "hmm, should I be nervous" came over me.  I then I looked in the kitchen and the dishwasher was lit up, meaning it had been opened and shut.  Now I really had a moment of "HMMM, is there someone in here"?  I thought I should go back to my bed room and put on my glasses. I then realized that the alarm clock was flashing, as if the power had gone off, so I then figured the power had flickered and the dishwasher reset itself.  I figured it must have made a noise like a cell phone.  It was then that the motion-detector lights came on in the back yard.  I then saw a flash of light on the spruce tree in the back yard and the power went out.  Needless to say, it was a bit too much to process at once, so I just got back in bed to think about what was going on.  At that moment my cat Harris jumped up on the bed and faced the window.  He then started to growl, so there was something outside, I just didn't know what.  I convinced myself it was a deer and tried not to think about it.  Not more than 5 minutes later my other cat came to the window (he was outside) and he had a live gopher (I could hear it squeaking).  My cat was meowing with a mouthful of gopher to get my attention.  There is a cat door in the window next to the bed and he was starting to come in with the gopher, before I knocked him back out the window.  He was so proud of his catch and since he knew I knew he had caught it, he ate it outside my window "crunch, crunch, crunch".  Yuck!

Deer eating on the plants in the yard.



My wonderful night sleep never came to be.  I was so tired and there was very little chance of me going back to sleep and waking up refreshed.  I did fall back to sleep and I ended up getting up at 8am, I was so beat!  I laid in bed and read my 12 pages that I missed from the night before.



Around 9am I was still without power, so I called the power company and as it turned out, someone lost control of their car and took a power pole across the field from my house, so the flash I saw in the back yard must have been the transformer blowing up.  It took the power company 8 hours to replace the  pole and to restore power.  When you live in the country it means you have a well, and without power the pump doesn't work, so I had no water.  It's amazing how much we take for granted, like electricity and water for instance.

Trailer and leaves.



The rest of the day would consist of getting the oil changed in my truck, some shopping, yard work and then at 5pm picking up my parents at the airport.  They had just returned from Iowa, where my mother sold her farm that had been in the family since 1965, the year I was born.  We had diner and then I came home  to blog, read and to go to bed. 

 I didn't have any time for the trailer today.  The day started off with light rain and with all my running around nothing got done.  I really need to make some phone calls tomorrow to see if anyone can help me with the restoration.  If not I need to back it into the shop and keep it dry and warm for the winter.

Oh, and the chickens spent the day out in the yard and laid 3 eggs..

I so hope tonight I sleep like a baby.

Day 68, Woo Hoo Friday

To say I was excited for the weekend, would be an understatement.  I was exhausted and ready for a few days off.  I really need a few day to decompress and to slow things down.


I had a lunch meeting in Bend and was able to stop by the house on my way back and let the chickens out.  I figured 5 o'clock would get here soon enough and they would enjoy the time out in the yard.



1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88



When the magic "quitting time" rolled around I had several errands to run.  I needed a few items from the store and then ever since our Dinner and Auction, I have wanted to look for this little toy car that was on top of a cupcake that was donated as an auction item.  I had asked the cupcake maker where she got the car and she said it was from the Johnny Lightning series at WalMart, so that's where I went to look.  To my surprise they still had one and in fact they had two, so I bought them both.  The grand total was $5.98 for the two.  I guess at 45, I still enjoy a good Match Box car.  I actually leave my cars out in cabinet in the living room and when little people come over they know where to look for the toy cars. There was just something about this car that I had to have.  It was great little 1950 Oldsmobile, now when is the last time you saw an Oldsmobile?  I opened one up for use and I will keep the other one pristine and in the box.  I now need to find a small Traveleze trailer to put behind it.  I wonder if they make any small canned ham trailer  that are Match Box sized?  I'll have to look on eBay and see what I can find.

The chickens put them selves to bed and I closed the pen door around 7pm.  I spent the evening catching up with a good friend, who I haven't talked with in a long time.  He had stopped by and we had a beer and talked about our old college days.  I ended up going to bed at midnight.  I was so ready for a good night sleep.  I had put fresh sheets on and there is little I love more, so I was really looking forward to laying in bed and just enjoying the peace and quiet and clean sheets.

It had been a long week.

Day 67, Thursday Halloween is coming

 

Chickens on the path

There is something about Thursday I love, I think it's the anticipation of Friday and the weekend.   Work was extremely busy and I got  home around 5:45.  I don't think I had been in the door more than 10 minutes when my brother called and asked if I could come get him, his truck had broken down.  I put my shoes back on and off I went.

I was back home this time for good by 6:20.  The chickens were still in the yard but getting closer to the coop and pen.  I do love the autumn days and especially when the sun starts to sink low.  Everything seems to turn golden. 




There were deer in the yard, the quail were starting to head to the Blue Spruce, the cats and chickens were out, it's really just a special time of day.  As I looked at the corn and pumpkin patch I decided to put the pumpkin patch sign for Halloween.  This weekend I will have to cut the corn stalks down and put them up at the end of my driveway.  The holidays will soon be here.



Halloween is around the corner



 Before I knew it, it was dark, I closed the chickens in the pen and went inside for the night.  I then realized that tomorrow was garbage day, so I put my shoes back on pulled the trash can down my driveway, which I think is around 700' long'.   I actually enjoy taking the trash out, it a nice walk and when the stars are out it can be breath taking.

It was time to read my 12 pages in the "Read the Bible in 90 Days" challenge and I was now on day 26.

Day 66, Wednesday on the down hill slide

This has been a week where I seem to be constantly forgetting something.  No matter how many notes I leave myself, I just can't seem to remember all that I'm supposed to be doing.  I obviously just have too much going on at the same time and my brain just cant keep up.


Another beautiful sunset.

The nice thing about Wednesday is, it's a workout day and works outs are about me spending time on myself, which I need to do.  It's a chance for me to slow down a bit and focus.

I had a great workout and was finished by 5:30pm.   I had let the chickens out at 2:30pm, so I wasn't in a rush to get home.  I ran a few errands in bend and headed home about 6:30pm. 

By the time I got home the sun had set and the sky was beautiful.  The chickens were still in the yard, but were starting to head toward the coop.  I fed them a few slices of bread and closed them in their pen for the night.

Tonight I need to read my 12 pages and then head to bed. 

Day 65, Tuesday morning Frost and Ice.



Ice in the fields Winter is coming

It dipped down to 30 and it is safe to say that the garden is officially done for the 2010 growing season.  The yard was frost covered this morning and the irrigation in the fields had coated everything with a nice layer of ice.

Work was busy and I got home around 6pm, just enough time to let the chickens out pull all the green tomatoes off the plants and to change the straw in the Chicken coop.  The chickens were there usual happy selves running around the yard and their play time would over by 7pm when it is pretty much dark.

Three male orange kittens 4 weeks old.

There really is no time available after work to work on the trailer.  By the time I change and do my few daily chores it's dark.  I did place a call to the vintage trailer restoration shop in Bend to see if they would be interested in my trailer, but I just got a voice mail. I haven't heard from the other guy who came and looked at it was going to get back to me.  I might need to call him again too.   

I did receive a lead on replacement cat if my older cat Scrappy does not start to get better.  I have  a fondness for orange cats and my friend Lee and his wife Linda had rescued 3 kittens.  I asked if any of them were orange and here is the picture they sent.  Needless to say, I might need to get 1, or 2 or 3....I have acreage...that's not creepy is it?  Single guy and 5 cats?  Ok, way creepy...but I have chickens, horses, fish, deer, etc, yeah still creepy.  Ok, so maybe I will just get one.

Tonight is going to be a repeat of yesterday, TV and another 12 pages.