Summer project: Swimming pool (part 1)

One day a few weeks ago it was hot.  So hot that I decided we needed a swimming pool.  I did some super-fast internet research and decided on an above-ground 18' x 54" pool with a salt-water filtration system.  It's not huge and we certainly won't be swimming laps in it.  But on hot, muggy Midwest summer days, it will be wet and cool.

The pool itself only takes about a day to setup and fill, but the instructions say the ground has to be perfectly level.  I'm not much of a preparation person.  I would have just set it up and hoped for the best.  Dan, however, is a "if you're going to do something, take the time to do it right" kind of person.  Needless to say, we butt heads sometimes.  It should also be obvious that since he is the one that is actually setting up the pool, that the ground is being leveled. I know this is the right thing to do, but I'm impatient and just want to swim.

Here he is beginning to excavate to get the ground somewhat level...

The first round of excavating is done.  The next step is to continue leveling with standard yard tools.  I'm not sure how many steps there are to leveling ground, but I'll keep you posted of the project.

Expensive day

Scenario 1: After a couple of years dealing with 50 year old tractors, Dan decided he was done with them. Not starting, dead batteries, clutches going out, gas disappearing to God knows where, etc. He was just plain done.

Scenario 2: Each morning he and I both take care of the broiler chickens. This requires hauling feed and water and ourselves. We've been doing this on our 4-wheeler. It usually takes at least 2-3 trips and we look like contortionists trying to fit buckets of water and ourselves on it. It was time to do something about this too.

Thus began researching new tractors and UTV's (Utility Terrain Vehicle-picture a very small Jeep). Dan did the research because he knows what he does and doesn't want. I just want life to be easy. But at the same time, spending large sums of money make me nauseous. This is one of those things that's better for me to stay out of the loop on.

He narrowed it down to a few models and took a day off work to go shopping. He came home with two very shiny pieces of agricultural equipment and a much lighter wallet. But, I must say, they are both very nice and perform light years ahead of the items they replaced.

The tractor he decided on is a Kubota M7040. He ordered it with a canopy, but it that part was back-ordered, so that will be delivered later. The tractor delivery guy was gone for approximately 2.2 seconds before Dan was on the tractor playing with it.

Heading towards a pile of dirt...




Dirt scooped up...

And dumping the dirt back out...





Kid in a candy store...







The UTV we decided on is a John Deere Gator 855D. We got it with a bench seat so when Samuel is bigger, he can ride around with us...

Here's where we store it at night. It's a pretty cool "garage in a box" that Dan and Brian put up in half a day. It stores most of our yard / garden equipment...

Trying to get dressed

After Samuel's bath I set him down to play while I was cleaning up and it turned into a little baby photo shoot.  Here are some of the cutest / silliest ones...

Here, I picture him thinking, "I likes to touch my belly".  You have to say that with a hillbilly accent to get the full effect.

Then he realized he had toys to play with...

And toys make him happy...

I wish I could say something profound about this one like "he's pondering his life's decisions" or "he's looking towards his heavenly father for advice".  But he's really just looking at the ceiling fan go round and round and round...

We finally got dressed and then it's was time to play some more.  Recently he's taken a liking to book chewing...

This is kind of a deer in headlights look...

This one looks like he's trying to imitate how his bear is sitting...

Garden ready

Due to all the rain this year, our garden is months behind.  We finally had a long enough dry spell for Dan to get out there and get the area ready.  Here's the process...

First you plow through the rock hard ground...




Then you hook up the spike-tooth harrow and drag it round and round to break up the large clumps...







And finally, you run a blade over it to level everything out...

Lastly, Dan had to get a bunch of cedar trees and clear the limbs.  Then he dug a million holes and dropped the trees in.  Added some deer fencing and lower level of chicken wire, built a gate and we have ourselves a fully enclosed 50' x 100' garden area.

Now we just have to see if any of the seeds he started are still alive to plant.  Fortunately, our neighbor has too many cucumber plants and needs to thin them out, so Dan is over there as I type to get the extras. 

We may actually have a few veggies this year after all!

Thayer Deviled Eggs

These deviled eggs are a little different from the ordinary and always a hit when we take them somewhere.    The curry and Tabasco give it a little tang.  People that typically don't like these two ingredients still like the eggs because there is just a hint of it.

Here's how to make them:

18 hard boiled eggs, peeled, cut lengthwise; separate yolks from whites. This will yield about 30 halves since some egg whites will rip and makes extra yolk to really fill them up. Save the torn egg whites for tasting later!



Yolk mixture:

All of your egg yolks

1/2 - 3/4 cup miracle whip. I start with 1/2 cup and add more if it’s too thick. (If you use mayo, add about 2 tsp of sugar.)

3 tbs yellow mustard

12 healthy dashes of Tabasco

1/8 tsp curry powder

1-2 tsp dill weed

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Paprika to garnish


Mix everything well with a fork. Let the yolk mixture sit overnight if possible, so the flavors meld.

Taste to see if it needs more salt. Put a dollop of the mixture on your torn egg whites to taste.

I put the mixture into a quart zip top bag, cut the corner and pipe into the eggs. Garnish with paprika.

Enjoy!!

Uncertain expression

I'm not exactly sure what to call this expression.

Upset?


Mad?


Frustrated?


Impatient?


Unhappy?


All of the above?



All I know is that you might get this look if you take too long to get the next bite of food into Samuel's mouth...

...


...

New expression

I'm not exactly sure what to call this expression. 

Upset? 

Mad? 

Frustrated?

Impatient?

Unhappy?

All of the above?

All I know is this is the look you might get if you take too long to get the next bite of food into Samuel's mouth...

Woodland pigs

After Dan picked up our spring pigs, we put them in a temporary location so they were close enough to watch.  They're all growing really well, so it was time to move them to their permanent home - a wooded section of our pasture.  This is the best of both worlds... they get to eat grass, but they also get lots of bushes and small trees to root around in looking for tasty treats, as well as any nuts on the ground from last fall.  Like anything we do, a plan had to be devised to get them from point A to point B.  This involved electric fence.  Lots of electric fence.

First we had to make a run from their current home to their new home...

Their home was behind the tractor.  See the small yellow line of string - that's electric fencing.  It zaps really hard and the pigs respect it, so only takes a single line of it to keep them in place.  So the idea is they walk down that little alleyway - electric fence on the left and a permanent fence on the right.  This keeps on going until we ran out of permanent fence, then it continues on with electric fence the rest of the way...

Then we had to get food and water down to their new home.  This involved using a tractor and anything that requires the use of a tractor is okay in Dan's book...

And then you put the bags of feed into the self-feeder...

And ideally, you don't want to accidentally drop the bag in or else you have to go in after it...

Now, we just have to get the piggies down here.  Put out a little feed as enticement, clap your hands and do a little dance and they slowly but surely make their way down to their new home.




And here they are, happy as can be in their new home...





 


This must be a piggy smorgasbord....





I saved the best for last.  This is what makes our pigs special and separates them from commercial pig farms - room to run and play.  Look at the last pig... he's running full speed ahead and ears flapping in the wind.  I can just hear him saying' "Hey guys... wait for me!"

Monkey pins the baby

Samuel usually takes about a 2 hour nap in the evening and then I wake him up for his final bottle of the day.  Apparently he and Sock Monkey have wrestling matches before he falls asleep though.

In this case, Sock Monkey appears to have won the match.  Then Samuel woke up and was confused by the large figure standing next to him in his dimly lit room.

Still confused......

Oh Mama... it's you!

After he had his bottle, he fell fast asleep and slept till morning.  But, he must have been dreaming about wrestling Sock Monkey, because this is how I found him in the morning...

 

Rain, snow, sleet or hail

The USPS motto applies to animal husbandry too.  Regardless of the weather, farm animals still have to be taken care of... watered, fed, moved to fresh pasture, etc.  Sometimes we can wait for the rain to stop, but lately, we're not always given a choice.

Here, Danny and I take our new sheep herding dog, Bruce, out to feed the sheep.  Bruce is just a pup, so he still has a lot to learn about sheep herding.  One of our ewes, Monty, is quite large and very vocal.  Bruce seems to be scared of her.  A sheep herding dog that is scared of sheep isn't ideal, so hopefully he'll grow out of it.

 We also recently got two sheep guard dogs, Shy and Tim.  They are also pups and although they don't particularly like going around the sheep, they do seem to understand that they are to protect our property in general.  Shy, Tim and Bruce don't always get along - Bruce is a live-wire and Shy and Tim are very calm.  As we were heading back to the house, Shy decided she needed to check out what was going on.

White Chicken Chili

This is the best white chicken chili recipe.  Ever.  One time I made it for a chili cook-off in the 'non-traditional' category and won first place.  Granted, there usually aren't many entries in the 'non-traditional' category, but whatever, it's still the best!

3  16oz cans of Great Northern White beans

5 cups  cooked chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tbs  olive oil

2  medium onions, chopped

4  garlic cloves, minced

2  4oz cans of chopped mild green chilies

1 ½ tsps  dried oregano, crumbled

2 tsps  ground cumin

¼ tsp  black pepper

4 cups  chicken broth or stock (have more on hand in case you want it thinner)

3 cups  grated Monterrey Jack cheese (about 12oz)

Sour cream for garnish

How to make if you are immediately serving:

Place chicken in heavy, very large saucepan.  Add cold water to cover and bring to a simmer.  Cook until just tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain and cool.  (If your chicken has skin on it, remove it.)  Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes.

Heat olive oil in same pot over medium – high heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, oregano and pepper and saute 2 minutes.  Add undrained beans and broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and add chicken and cheese and stir until cheese melts.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream, if desired.

Crock-pot version:

Cut raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes.  Throw into the crock-pot.

Throw all of your other ingredients into the crock-pot, excluding the olive oil, sour cream, and Monterrey Jack cheese.

Cook in crock-pot for about 8 hours on high.  Add the cheese 1+ hour before serving so it has a chance to melt.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream, if desired.

40 mile difference

Last Friday I took the afternoon off from work so I could drive to a moderate-sized city about 40 miles away to a) take my van to the dealer for some work, b) shop at stores other than The Wal-Marts, c) eat lunch out, d) get errands done that I've been meaning to do for about a year, e) go to the nail salon for some girl time.

I had a great day, although I did still end up at a Wal-Mart.  But at least it was a full-blown, regular-sized Wal-Mart... versus the one in my town of 1600 people that is tiny and notably missing an auto center and a bakery.

The one thing that pulls at my heart-strings about moving to the very rural country is my choice of shopping establishments.  But, that's for another post.

While I was hopping from errand to errand, the sky started to look dark and ominous.  I briefly thought, "Oh great, another storm!".  But since we've been having storms for the past 3 months straight, I wasn't too concerned.  It rained for a bit and then cleared up.  Yay... more shopping!

Around 7pm, I started my drive home and arrived around 8pm.  As I pulled off of the main road onto our gravel road, I could tell the weather down this'a'way had been more than the few drops I saw earlier.  Leaves and small limbs littered the road.  As I pulled down our driveway, the tan truck had so many leaves stuck to it, it would have made a perfect camouflaged vehicle for hunting.  As soon as I walked into the house I asked Dan, "Did it storm bad down here?" and he proceeded to fill me in on the day's wrath, including hail, which we hardly ever get.

I quickly forgot about this until I was downloading pictures today and discovered Dan had taken a few pictures of the hail.

It must have been flowing over the gutters because the majority of it is around the perimeter of the house and downspouts.

If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed this photo was of snow taken in January.  Well, except for the obvious hail you can see on the porch.



And the moral of this story?  I'm tired of rain.  I'm tired of storms and wind.  I'm tired of mud.  I'm tired of not being able to put a garden in because the ground is a sloppy mess.  I'm tired of taking care of animals in drizzle morning, noon and night.  I'm tired of everything being wet.

I'm sure if we have a drought later in the summer, I'll be tired of that too, but for now, a drought looks more like the Promised Land.

Church sign

Last week I saw the following message on a church's street sign:

"To whoever is praying for rain - PLEASE STOP!"



And to that I say, "AMEN!"

First haircut

We've been joking about Samuel's hair for the past month or two.  It was so long  that the hair on the top of his head just stood straight up, it was over his ears and the front was almost down to his eyebrows.  I recently started calling him Einstein.  Dan however, thought he looked cute and thought we should wait until his first birthday.  But with that still being 4 months away, I knew there was no way he was going to make it.  One morning, we both finally agreed that it was time.

We decided to cut it ourselves with our trusty 'ole clippers.  First we had to get his hair cutting station setup.

He really wasn't very concerned with what he was doing there.  After he was in the chair Dan turned the clippers on so he could hear it.  Then Dan touched it to his feet and hands so he wouldn't be scared.  And he wasn't... he just sat there waiting to see what happened next.  And, here's the first swipe!

There was something much more interesting going on anyway.  To his delight, there was a black cord dangling in front of him that he decided he wanted to catch.

That kept him entertained long enough to finish.  We went straight from the hair cutting chair to the bath to get all the little hairs off him. 

And without further adieu...

4x4's ≠ invincibility

Last week, Dan was backing up our new-to-us 4x4 truck to the trailer so he could go to the spring pig auction. However, since it rained non-stop for 3 weeks prior, the ground was a little soggy. Okay, a lot soggy. As he tried to maneuver around a stump (have we mentioned lately that we hate stumps?) the truck got buried up to it's front axle. I'm not joking...

Told ya I wasn't joking. Fortunately, we still have our other GMC pickup, so he got it ready to go and dashed off to get our piggies (without the trailer). He made it home without incident, but since it started raining again and didn't stop for a couple of days, the truck sat here until a break in the weather. Our first attempt was to back the 'ole Ford 4x4 up to it, hook up a chain and have Dan pull while I was in the GMC trying go in reverse...

That got us nowhere; still too slippery. And I learned the GMC doesn't have posi-something-or-another which didn't prevent the truck from getting stuck, nor help in getting it unstuck. We took a lunch break so Dan could think of an alternate plan. The alternate plan, which I didn't get pictures of, was to dig a space under the frame rails, lay a piece of wood down, put the floor jack on the wood and jack the front wheels up off the ground, one at a time. Then he scooped up a load of gravel with the tractor and brought it over. He shoveled gravel in the ruts under the front tires until they were level with the ground again, and VOILA... he backed right out. I thought that was a pretty clever idea. Not to mention a lot cheaper than calling in a tow truck and a lot easier than rigging up a winch. Yankees sure are resourceful!