Its' Time!

 Time for what you ask? Here's your clue... I am no longer at home. And before you get too carried away with your guesses, no, Barb did not kick me out of the house!

While you ponder on your guesses I have lots of other things to talk about. Like our son Forrest who has been on the road the past several years with his wife Somer and daughter Lily. Well, they have bought a house and are settling down! They bought a house in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Someplace we have never been, but will be in the future!

Somer has a job at a hospital in the area and Forrest got a job with an electrical company. Lily is now playing soccer locally in the area, a co-ed team. In fact, here is a video of a goal she got last weekend!

Since Dino and Lisa left, we have been busy working on projects again. The first was to carry on with the skylight and vent projects in the camper. Barb had removed all the caulk, now it was my turn to take the skylight and vent out and put in the new ones. The vent was pretty straight forward and I was done with that in about an hour. The skylight was another matter as we could not find one to fit the size of the opening of the old one. As a result, I had to fur out the opening to accommodate the smaller size of the new one. Probably about a 2-hour project. We still have to caulk it in, but for the most part we can cross that project off the list. 

In other news, the robins and gold finches have returned! No meadow larks yet, but I am sure they are not far behind. Here is your quiz for the day, how many gold finches do you think are in this picture? Answer later in this post. 

Did you count this gold finches? I got 25 which I have circled in red. I may have missed one or two though. Man, these guys are hungry. They eat a full birder feeders worth of sunflower seeds every day! No kidding, we have been filling it up every day. The red feeder in the middle they do not touch. 

I also got down to the windmill and put a cover over half of the smaller waterer protecting the float from the deer. As soon as I was done the birds started using it!

Speaking of birds, we had a little excitement last week when I heard a sound coming from our fireplace. Well, Zoey heard it first, but when I investigated, I saw a bird looking back at me through the glass. A blackbird. A very small blackbird. I went and got two fishing nets, held them around the door and slowly opened it. This bird did not even try to fly to escape, it just walked into the net like it knew I was there to help it. I then gently picked it up to see that it was not a blackbird at all, it was a bluebird covered in soot. I opened the door, opened my hand and it flew away. A good feeling knowing that bluebirds area always in pairs and it would soon be reunited with its mate. 

Before I knew it, it was time. Time to load up the camper and head to North Dakota for spring planting. 8 hours later I was there and in no time I was in another vehicle heading to supper with Farmer Bob and DeAnne (thanks Bob!). It was great to see them and catch up.

The next day I jumped right into it. We did not get into the field planting that day, in fact, we have not planted since I have been here. But that does not mean there is not something to do. There is always things to do, like replace some hoses on the seeder. 

Replace the fuel filters on the fuel tanks. 

Clean bins, this view is of the inside of the grain bin. 

Fuel trucks

The list really never ends. That was my first day and I actually got my, "I broke something moment" out of the way in the first few hours when I was moving some pallets from under the sprayer and clipped the water separator on the bottom of the fuel filter. Snapped that baby clean off and a drizzle of diesel fuel started to hit the floor. I got a bucket under it quickly and got the fuel shut off. That is actually on my list for today. Replace that part. Nothing like creating your own work to keep yourself busy!

Day 2 was cold and windy. Ty and Dylan took both of the semi's to a not so local seed dealer to pick up some seed. 

I opted to bundle up and hit some tree rows cutting down trees where they are encroaching on daily operations. 11 or 12 trees, 3 different fields, I would cut them down, grab them with the grapple bucket and carry them to a field edge where they will be out of the way.  

When the boys got back from with the semi's we put that seed into a bin. 

Chris's dad, (Bob S) arrived Friday evening just in time for a quick happy hour!

That night we got together for a game of poker. Probably the only opportunity we will get as once we are in the field seeding, we will be busy from sunrise to well into the night; 10, 11, 12:00 at night putting seed into the ground as quickly as we can. 

Farmer Bob, in addition to his other activities, has been driving bus both morning and night filling in for another driver who is out right now. DeAnne has her class B as well and fills in now and again too. Holly has kept me well fed with suppers and DeAnne was nice enough to mend some coveralls that I ripped opens when the chainsaw jumped and caught an edge of my pants. It is really a team effort with no one role taken for granted. We all get along really well which is really a blessing. 

With warmer weather forecasted in the next few days we loaded up the trucks with fertilizer and seed and transferred them over to the seeder. 

It's about to get busy. It's time!

They're Back!

 Twas the day after Easter and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even an overstimulated French Bulldog. Barb was on the couch recovering from overstimulation herself thanks to our good friends Dan, Bonnie, Merrell and Vicki who decided we should have "just one more" at several establishments on our way back from Easter brunch. 

When all of a sudden what do we hear? The sputter of an old broken-down Ram truck dragging something behind it coming down our driveway. "Are you expecting anyone?" Barb asked. I wasn't but thought maybe someone might be stopping by to look at one of the many items I had listed on Marketplace. But it was obvious from the condition of this truck that they could not afford the fuel get here let alone anything we might have for sale. 

With a final sputter and a puff of smoke the truck comes to a stop in front of our garage. From the dust cloud surrounding the truck what do we see appear? Not Santa, unless Santa gained 200lbs and lost all his hair. Not the Easter Bunny, unless some homeless degenerate mugged the Easter Bunny from the local mall, rolled in some mud and stole his costume. No, what emerged from the truck was our "good" friends Dino and Lisa, fresh in from their Super-Secret Undisclosed Virus Free Location somewhere several hundred miles east of here. We call them "good" friends because they were hours from us, now that they are here, they are just friends. 

"See, I told you we could make it on one tank of gas", Dino exclaimed to Lisa as she brushed the dust off her jeans. Turning to me, he says, "We're going to need some diesel if you ever want us to leave". Thinking if I fueled them up right away, they might just turn around and leave, I started carrying fuel cans to their truck. "Old Betsy will need a few days to cool off before she'll start up again, mind if we crash here for a few days?".

"We wanted to show you our new travel'in trailer we picked up last week", Dino said. "So, you thought you would drive 9 hours to show us?", "A picture would have worked just fine", I said. As I sat there looking at this brand-new trailer, I knew there was more to the story. "I didn't know you guys were even looking for a new trailer", I said. 

Dino replied, "Well to be honest we weren't, well at least I wasn't, but when Lisa said she wanted to take me to Pleasureland I was all for it!"  "I was all excited, but when we walked in, there were no flashing lights, no music and no poles. Just RV's!" "The woman dupped me!" Soon a salesman walked over, and he said he had just the trailer for us." "It's called an Imagine, he said, because I can't imagine that you could afford it!" 

"Well, we fooled him, he let us take it for a test drive and here we are!" "By the way, if someone calls looking for us, you have not seen us".

And so started our "few days" (5 day) adventure with Dino and Lisa. Luckily, we had just bought a 1/4 beef last week (a story for another time), so we had plenty of grub to keep them fed for a few days. 

We got them all set up in our RV site reserved for geriatric clientele, complete with water, power and sewer, just a few feet from our front door. 

We spent the afternoon catching up, Dino and I in the living room, Barb and Lisa in the kitchen doing the prep work for a delicious Chinese dinner. "Lisa, if you are done, menopausing supper, can you get me another beer?". "The term is Mise en place and get your own beer!", she replied. "But it's my birthday week and you have to treat me special", he said. "You brought him here on his birthday week?!?", I asked. "I'm sorry, I did not know what else to do", Lisa replied as she handed him his 8th beer in two hours. Dear Lord, it is going to be a long week. 

Supper was delicious, pepper beef, general tso's chicken and fried rice. So good, so stuffed. The next day started with an egg bake. Next came the hardest of tasks; getting some work out of Dino. Lisa had asked me to do what I could to get Dino off the couch and see if I could get him outside. Since he doesn't hike, I thought maybe I could entice him with a ride on the side by side. He jumped on the idea when I asked him. Little did he know, my plan was actually to try to get some work out of him. I gathered up the necessary supplies and tools and away we went for our side by side "ride". 

We stopped by at the water tank by the windmill and I was commenting how, while the deer love drinking out of the water tank, the rabbits and other small woodland creatures cannot get at it. Dino stated that I should up out another, smaller water tank for the smaller animals. I told him that that was a genius idea and in fact I think I have everything with me to do just that! I started pulling hoses, a small bucket, a water vale and other parts of the ATV. An hour later we had an auto-fill smaller water tank installed next to the big one! I put it inside the frame of the windmill to protect it from the cattle. Hopefully it works!

Here is Dino helping me. 

Later that afternoon we went to Dan and Bonnie's. The last time Dino and Lisa were there, the walls were just studs and wanted to see what it looked like finished. Upon our arrival, Dino immediately asked "You have any beer?" An hour later, after drinking all their beer, Dino stated it was time to head to our next stop. On the way back to our Jeep, Dino wandered over to an open spot on their driveway and was kinda looking around. I walked over and asked him what he was looking at. His response made my heart flutter and gave me some hope that prayers do indeed sometimes get answered. "Do you think our trailer would fit in their driveway?", he asked. "Yes, I am sure it would!", I responded. 

The six of us were then off to Custer to play a little Bingo. Dan and I each even won a round! Which was a good thing as when we were ready to leave, Dino informed me that he had forgotten is wallet, but he would gladly pay be Tuesday for a burger today. Being that this was Tuesday, I had little hope of ever getting paid back. 

The next day, Wednesday, was a big day, it was Dino's birthday! Barb started off this special day with a breakfast made of strawberry and banana crepes! 

After resting a bit, I asked Dino if he wanted to ride down and see how the new water tank is working. "You're not going to fool me into work again are you?", he asked. "Of course not", I said. On the way to the water tank, I stopped by a section of fence that the deer had broken and said, "Oh look, a broken section of fence, good thing I have everything I need in the back of the ATV to fix it!". So we spent the next hour driving around the perimeter of the property fixing and tightening the fence where it needed it. 

That afternoon Dan and Bonnie came to help us celebrate Dino's birthday! Barb even had a special t-shirt made for the occasion. 

We cooked a couple of steaks on the grill, played some dice games and had a few cocktails. 

For dessert, Barb made a Better Than Sex Cake, to which Dino said he would need a side-by-side comparison to see if the cake really lived up to its name. There were no volunteers, even Zoey and Dakota ran to the other room to hide.

Dino was not unappreciative of all our efforts and had even gotten us a gift! He said he had noticed that we did not have nearly enough coasters around for all our drinks, so he had some made for us....

Looks like we have another item to put in our garage sale pile!

Thursday started out with a haircut from Lisa! A former stylist, when she asked if I wanted a cut, the answer was a definite "yes!"

After that we drove to Rapid for lunch at our favorite sushi place. Now, one might shudder at the thought of Rapid City sushi, but this is surprisingly good! What would make you shudder, is watching Dino us chopsticks. There was sushi flying everywhere within a 10' radius of our table!

Then it was off to the Ellsworth Air and Space Museum. A very interesting stop as Dino, having served in the National Guard, knows a lot about airplanes and everything military. It was interesting getting a firsthand account of how each of these aircraft were used and other little-known facts about them. 

I even jumped into the cockpit and shot down a couple of enemy jets complete with pew pew sounds!

Our last stop for the day was a mere few hundred feet from the museum; The Hairy Cow Brewery. Having just opened in February, they are Rapid City's newest brewery and are at the top of the list as our favorite brewery in the city!

Friday, I had a plan. Anyone who know Dino knows how much be hates any physical activity and even more so how he likes stairs. If this plan worked, they would be leaving soon, very soon. Plan in place I told them that I had a surprise for them today, starting out with a leisurely drive in the country. 

Little did he know that the drive was going to end at Jewell Cave where we had 4 spots reserved for their 2:45pm tour. We lured him into the building saying we were just going to walk through the visitor's center. We then told him that we had 4 tickets to the cave tour, a short walk on boardwalks and concrete paths. What we did not tell him that it was far from short and included over 700 stairs!

You should have seen the look on his face when the tour guide mentioned the not 700, but almost 800 stairs! But he was locked in at that point so away we went! His first sight upon entering the cave? A set of stairs!

As many of you know, we toured Wind Cave a couple of weeks ago. While that was cool, this cave system is even cooler! The main formation at Wind Cave is box work. Jewell Cave has not only box work, it has pretty much every other formation you can think of; popcorn, soda straws, flow stone, stalactites, stalagmites, and crystals galore! 

Did I mention it had stairs? There was a lot of huffing, puffing and groaning going on. There might even been a mention of a cramp. Thankfully it had benches strategically located throughout the tour. "They put these benches here for a reason", Dino would say anytime he saw one. 

Can you say cramp?!?!?

My plan worked like a charm as when we got back, Dino walked into the house, sat down on our bench and said the words we had been waiting for, "I think we are heading out in the morning". Hallelujah! 

Saturday morning. Departure day!  I put enough fuel in his truck to get him a couple miles down the road explaining that I did not have enough to fill it up, but I thought that Dan and Bonnie might have some. And in fact, I talked to Dan this morning and he said that they went to the liquor store and restocked their beer supply. And just like that, Dino was tearing off down the driveway with the trailer fishtailing behind them, his eyes set on more free food, free beer and someplace that would not put him to work.....