Cooler weather, slowing down!

My Rose is blooming again--I took this yesterday.  It's the fourth time it's bloomed this year!

Tracy got his very own "ATV"--we saw this and couldn't resist getting it for him!  He took to it right away.  :)

 

It's "foot powered"--he IS the motor.  But it has cool buttons that make revving noises and talks, so he had to check those out as well:

Things have slowed down considerably here, since it's cooled down, not much is producing.  The tomatoes now taste bland, a step up from store-bought.  (bleh!)   I still have carrots and onions to harvest, but am letting them grow until we do get a frost or freeze.

It's been nice to slow down and just relax some!  Daisy has decided she likes the wheat I've planted out in the pasture (winter grazing).  I put the 7 pullets in with the two hens in the chicken coop/run, and the hens are molting, so no eggs for now. The 8 roosters are still in the chicken tractor, growing more and will be processed soon.  :)  I'll keep one to put in with the hens, I've got one picked out that isn't the dominate one.

Kyle is at training, at least he's in-state this time.  Jared called the other day and I got to talk to him briefly, sure was good to hear his voice.  DIL sent me this snapshot of them video chatting, it's the first time I've "seen" him for awhile:

As for time off for either of the boys, not sure how that will go for the Holidays.  I'm sure Thanksgiving is out (usually is) and Christmas is still up in the air for now.  No matter, we can celebrate late or early, whatever works out.  I just roll with the flow and don't get too excited about it, doesn't do me any good to get fretful!  ;)

Went with Pat last weekend to sight in his gun, sure was pretty where we were (only a few miles from here).  Saw plenty of deer tracks and I've been hearing lots of coyotes, even at 8:30 in the morning.  There's lots of them out there.....  :(

And that's the quick update for now.  I'm glad things are a bit "boring" around here for now, it's kind of nice.

Quick shout-out to Omaha Dave:  I know y'all have gotten hammered plenty of times with storms this year....there are some years like that.  I'm just grateful that some have extras to sell/share!  Putting something up is better than nothing. 
I'm bummed for you your Grandson isn't staying with you, I got a lump in my throat when you first said anything.  Amazing how we get used to so-n-so being around, and it's weird when they're not underfoot anymore.  He'll eventually realize the awesome times he's had with you, and I sure hope he gets to talk to you now and then.  ((HUGS))

Totally late on blogging-Been busy harvesting/canning, etc!

Pat and Tracy on Pat's Birthday--Grandkids are great presents!!  :)

Wowza, where does the time go?  Lets see, where to start in the last month since I've (not-ha) updated?
Here's what else we've gotten canned:
Pressure Canned Green Beans, two batches.  Now we have lots!
Canned Pears
Canned Apples
Pressure Canned Chili
Pressure Canned Stew
Oh and probably other stuff we've put away already and forgot to mention!  And yes, there is more to do.  There was a frost in the area a couple of weeks ago, but we didn't get it (whew).  So the garden still gives her bounty!  We did get a couple of light showers in the past month, so that helped everything.
Now the Ash and Catalpa trees leaves are turning and dropping.  Soon the others will follow.....it's hard to believe it's the end of September already!

Finally got a full-sized fridge!  No water or icemaker, but now I have more 'cold' room!  The little fridge made do, but didn't hold much, and certainly not a whole gallon of milk.  We'll hang onto it for now for "just in case" us or someone needs it.

Pat had a birthday on the 17th, Chandra made him cupcakes and a Camo Cake.  Her and Tracy came over and spent some time with us.  Mr. Activity (Tracy) likes pots, pans and cooking utensils to play with.  Who needs toys when Grandma has all the good cooking toys?! HA

One morning at 6 am I get a phone call from Kyle--the clutch went out again on my Ranger.  He got it fixed enough that I could drive it home from their place.  So that needs fixed again.  (GRRR)
So just before Pats' birthday we went up to Lincoln, Kyle and Sammi took us out for supper--we went to Golden Corral.  We also found Kyle a car, and he went home that day with a "new" (used) car.  Its a Maroon Toyota Corolla and I think it's a 2000 model.  It'll be easier on gas for him and it should last him awhile.  Sammi can use it as a back up car once he's deployed, so it helps both of them out in the long run.

Here they are at their "new" apartment with Kyle's spoiled kitty:

 

I haven't talked to Jared online much, but Pat has.  There was a suicide bomber, a car packed with explosives that detonated by where he was at the time.  Thank goodness he didn't get hurt, but he did find car parts (shrapnel) near his tent, and some by where he sleeps.  Here's one piece:

 

Those rips in the green tarp-y stuff isn't supposed to be there........none of these guys are Jared, I got this photo from online.

I got the cows' shed cleaned out....I did most of it, then the neighbor came over with his ATV and scoop and finished it.  Now we have the start of an awesome compost pile again!  The next day I unloaded AND stacked 70 bales of hay in half the shed for winter storage/back-up hay.  I wasn't near as tired or sore as I thought I'd be after two days of pretty good labor.  At least it's done and I can check two BIG items off my "to do" list!   Yeehaw!

Pat canned one batch of green beans while I was out slaving in the cow shed......he's gotten really good at pressure canning.  It makes things so much easier and faster with two people working on it.  We both worked on the Pears (from our tree) and Apples (from the neighbors' trees).  We just canned the Apples for two reasons:  1) we were limited on time to get them done and 2) we have plenty of Apple Pie filling, Apple Butter and Applesauce canned from last year.  I can always re-make them into something else if needed.

My pullets are getting bigger--these are the ones a gal hatched out for me earlier this summer from my eggs.  Out of 15, I count 7 hens and 8 pesky roosters.  They are trying to crow, that is funny!  Not sure if I'll keep one, as it seems they turn into evil roosters after time.  Not sure if I'll eat/freeze the 'boys' or get rid of them.  Depends on how much work we feel like doing.  Processing chickens is messy, but now that I have a refrigerator, we can free up room in the freezers for them.  Or we could pressure can some.....much depends on the weather and what else we have going on.

Bratman is still here--and Peewee is getting bigger.  I weaned Bratman when Daisy stepped on my toe, I didn't need to be wrestling him even once a day and risk more injury.  I have too much to get done to get sidelined unnecessarily!  Peewee takes all the milk now, so it's one less thing for me to worry about when we need to go somewhere.  Daisy is back to her old self, the vet asks about her every time I see him at work (totally nice vet!).  I let him know how much he's appreciated!

Well, that's all I can think of for the newest updates!  Hopefully we won't be quite so busy and I'll have a bit more "blogging" time!