The Eagle has landed!

Mom 'landed' in Lincoln a week ago today thanks to my saintly BIL, and has been staying at my sister's house. She had lost the keys to the padlocks on the U-Boxes before she left Texas, but the neighbors found them a couple days later and overnighted them to Lincoln, saving my sister drastic measures. The U-Boxes were moved into place yesterday, and a hired crew unloaded them into Mom's apartment this morning.

So now Mom has 'landed' in her new home, although she has to do some unpacking before she can stay there. When the dust has settled, it will be interesting to see what made it and what didn't; Mom realized she forgot to pack any cookware so was cramming that into her car at the last minute. Her old neighbors (the ones who found the padlock keys) bought/are buying Mom's house, and believe me, they got a huge discount for a reason. You would not believe how much stuff Mom left in every room; the neighbors are sorting through and getting rid of it. (Why my mom is okay with leaving a houseful of stuff for the neighbors to deal with but refused to let her daughters help her sort/pack is beyond me.) They found tons of family photos that Mom didn't take, and will send them to her so that Kristine and I can have them even if she doesn't want them. They texted me a sample: Mom as a child, her parents . . . and my mom, me (probably late teens), and my sister in kitschy old West get-up from a fair photo booth.

Shocked my son with this one, I did!

She did take this photo with her, a precious candid of Daddy that neither my sister nor I had seen before:

So 'him;' oh, how we all miss him!

Anyway, back the the 'farm.' Little man Bryan was getting too independent to reliably follow his dam and 'aunties' out to pasture in the morning (although he stays in the pasture once there, a nice change from past years' lambs!), so it was time for haltering. He accepted it surprisingly well, and once he had experienced neck scritches and brisket rubs, I couldn't get far enough away from him to get decent conformation shots! He's a tail-wagger, too. 😁

Garden production is picking up. In addition to burpless cucumbers (found an apple-cucumber salad recipe that's simple and refreshing), I've started getting snow peas, eggplant, and picked a couple bell peppers that got sunburned(?) before turning color. Along with an onion and potato, the harvest below turned into a delicious frittata last week:

I took a mess of snowpeas and a tub of hummus to a picnic yesterday, and will be cooking with the first zucchini (and maybe green beans) this week:

Summertime, and the eatin' is easy! 😋

Still car-crippled but crossing fingers that improves tonight.

That's it for now from . . .

And we have lift-off!

Against the odds, my BIL and Mom are actually in route to Lincoln, NE. The third time (my BIL got a ticket to fly to TX) was not a charm, but thanks to his gentle perseverance, it is on its way to being successful. Whew. My sister and I have been sharing chuckles, because it is better to laugh than cry, right?

The third flight was booked for Saturday night, July 5. When all systems were still "go" by Friday night, we dared to feel confident. Silly us. I felt my phone vibrate while sitting in church, and the following ensued:

But wait; there's more. My BIL's flight was delayed multiple times due to weather, so instead of getting in Saturday night, he arrived at 1:00 a.m. this morning. With an extra day on her hands, Mom was ready and waiting, right? Texts between my sister and BIL this morning:

Honestly, my BIL should be nominated for sainthood. This is going to be an interesting new chapter in all our lives.

At home we are still trying to figure out what to do about two dead vehicles. Rick and Brian spent a lot of time working on the vet truck, fixing one problem only to be faced with a new one. Argh.

I remind myself often of Isaiah 26:3; you can't stay focused the problems!

That's it for now from . . .

Wheel woes

The friend whose vehicle we took to BSG after mine died

So nice to play with color after all the black I've been spinning!

Since I just went to a fiber festival, you might be thinking spinning wheel. While I do have one, it's been years since my Louet S10 has seen any action; my Jenkins Turkish spindles are the yarn producers around here. (And yes, I got another one at Black Sheep Gathering, the one that completed my collection.😉) No, our wheel woes are much more troublesome, and expensive....

Rick's current vet truck has been a lemon – trying, it seems, to live up the Ford acronym taunt "Fix Or Repair Daily." He has been pondering a replacement, but late model pickups big enough to handle his vet box, extra equipment, and mileage are obscenely expensive, so he keeps patching his 2002 Ford F350 back together. Early last week another major problem presented itself, putting it up on blocks, so to speak. Fortunately our old '94 Ford keeps on truckin', so he makes do with that when his vet truck is sidelined once again. At least the shop is finally to a useful/useable stage:

Last Wednesday evening on our way to agility my car dramatically lost power. In order to prevent further damage, I had it towed to the nearest VW dealership, in Salem. The diagnosis was grim; the repair would cost more than the car is worth. So we hauled it home where it sits, awaiting its still undecided fate. I was grounded for a few days, and then my boss generously loaned me her mini-van to get to and from work until Rick's vet truck is fixed or replaced. 

Between the fleeces delivered to buyers at BSG and the two shipping out tomorrow, almost half my clip has been sold. Now to skirt and advertise the last eight.

Yesterday Rick was given four tickets for tonight to the St. Paul Rodeo. We haven't been to it in years, and I can't say I'm looking forward to it, except for the fireworks at the end. The risk to man and beast is real, and I sit in dread of something bad happening, especially to the animals (I figure the human participants go in willingly with eyes wide open; animals don't get a choice.)  This is not a hypothetical fear; Rick and I saw a bucking bronc break its leg in the middle of the run, then get shuffled off to the stock pens to wait until Rick went and demanded humane measures be taken. My parents witnessed Lane Frost get gored to death at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. Praying there are no accidents of any kind tonight....

To end on a more hopeful note, our garden is still going great guns (but for the beets and carrots). The snowpeas and bush beans have started to bloom. I've harvested three cucumbers so far; soon we will be enjoying tomatoes, sweet peppers and eggplant, too.

Inside, my littlest orchid is budding out (again!) as my African violet blooms fade:

And last night's sunset was a lovely one!

That's it for now from . . .

For the first day of summer we got SPRING!

Last weekend we enjoyed a lovely throwback to spring weather, which for us ended abruptly and much too early. It was cool and cloudy Friday-Sunday, and on Saturday, gloriously wet. A half-inch of rain was enough to rinse off the dust, refresh the earth, and save me watering duty for a few days. It also added enough weight to an already loaded branch of our bigger prune tree to bring it down. 😞

This coming Sunday I'm looking forward to going to Black Sheep Gathering with a friend. As usual I will be proxy-shopping for several people, although I do have a short shopping list for myself. I'm also delivering three fleeces to a buyer; glad I thought post that option to the Jenkins Spindles group on Ravelry.

I thought I'd also be celebrating Mom's arrival in Lincoln, NE by the end of Sunday, but for the second time my BIL has had to cancel his flight to TX to drive her north. Mom has decided – again – that she just can't get everything done in time to leave then. My sister and I don't know how long this situation is going to dribble out, but figure she can't back out of the move now that the bulk of her possessions are already sitting in U-Boxes in Lincoln. Mom's freshly carpeted and painted two-bedroom apartment is waiting for her as well; below are a few of the photos my sister sent me. As you can see it is a lovely space inside and out (all her windows face that green space which cannot be developed). Now if we can just get her there....

Below are a couple recent sunsets, the first enjoyed on horseback, the second during an evening walk. I'm trying to walk more often to build back my endurance post-surgery.

Our nine hens are still keeping us and the neighbors in plenty of fresh eggs. Occasionally I manage some decent photos of a few:

Amber Stars Snowcone and Toffee Bits, and Cream Legbar Honeybun  – GREAT layers!

Puff and Ashes, 'farmyard mixes'

Spangle, a Whiting True Blue

Poppy and I did indeed return to agility class last week. She was a rock star, and I managed to keep up, so we're back!

I'm not quite this bad, but am certainly not up to full speed yet.

That's it for now from . . .