Life on the farm

For the last couple of days it’s been hot. I don’t know if we’ve broken any records for the temperature or not, but it’s really getting dry and the crops need a good rain shower. Our house looks so funny when you drive by it these last few days because since no one is home during the day, and we don’t have any curtains on our windows to shut out the heat, we have blinds on all the windows that we close. So the house looks a little abandoned, but I’m telling you that it really works to keep out the heat.

Even though it was hot again today, for some reason after work I found a little bit more energy than I’ve had these last couple of days. Daryl was gone tonight, so after work I went to town and got some pictures printed that I’ve been putting off, shopped at a discount store to pick up a couple of things I needed, got groceries, and filled the car up with gas. Then when I got home I took one look at the refrigerator and decided to take the plunge and clean it out. I used to be so much better on staying on a schedule of cleaning the refrigerator. I seriously used to clean it once a week, and now I just clean it when it starts to look bad. After the refrigerator was cleaned, I ‘prepped’ all the vegetables and fruit that I brought home from the grocery store. On TV they say that this is what you should do, so I thought I’d give it a try. If nothing else, it makes the inside of my refrigerator look full of healthy stuff. After working on some laundry and housework, eggs got picked and washed, watered the flowers, the dog got brushed out, and I even had time for a couple mile run and then a shower. A little more housework and then off to bed I go. I sure hope I can get find some energy again tomorrow when I get home from work.  It feels good to get some things checked off the list, even if it is hot!

Today was a really great day. Now you know some days you think start out pretty good and then all of a sudden they turn bad? Well, today started out really good and was great all day.

If you’re wondering why, there’s quite a few things that made it what it was. The morning started out with getting the Chevelle ready for the Cross Country kids to use it in their school picture. Now seriously, how cool is that? After a quick wash and touch up, we left it at school for the kids and headed back to the farm so Daryl could work at the 5k color run in town. The reason that he helped was because where he works helped sponsor it. But in the mean time my phone rang and it was my Mom. She wanted to know if I would be home this morning  because she wanted to drop something off. Heck ya! That usually means one thing, and I was right! She dropped off a whole kettle of homemade noodle soup. She was paying me back for helping her with her internet service. She’s changing her service and hopefully we’ll have it all in place next week. So she always feels like she should give me something for helping – and I always say that I’ll take the payment  in soup the next time she cooks. I think little does she know that I’m coming out wayyyy ahead on this one.

Ma dropped off a kettle of homemade beef noodle soup. Yum!

So after I ate some soup of course, Daryl and I headed to town to buy – – – A KAYAK! I know! Can you believe it? I’ve been watching them for about 6 months now, and the one that I wanted finally went on sale, so he bought it for me. I just absolutely love it. When we were driving away from the store that he bought it at, my stomach was all in knots and I thought I was going to puke because I was so excited. The one thing that we couldn’t find though was some paddles that would fit me. So I’m hoping that I can buy some on line this week that’ll work. Once we got home, Daryl got cleaned up and went to a music show that the group that he sings with is performing at. I actually ran 5 miles tonight and didn’t have to walk (yea for me!) and am planning on spending the rest of the night scrap booking after I take a beer in the shower and get cleaned up.

Like a said, what a great day!

So by now you know that William is getting ready to head back to school and I find myself doing exactly the same thing that I did last year at this time. I’m making sure that he’ll have enough food to bring with him just in case he gets hungry. OK, first of all, he bought the meal plan at school so he should be covered right? And second of all, they do sell food in Ames you know. But did that stop me? Nope. I made a couple of pounds of beef jerky, a double batch of creme filled pumpkin rolls, I bought a box of fruit snacks, he’s bringing the big container of cheese balls, and by morning I’m sure I’ll find something else to send along. And of course we couldn’t send him off without going to his favorite restaurant for supper tonight! I’m not sure why I feel that the boys should have all their favorite foods before they leave, but I’ve got a pretty good hunch why. I know that I’m going to be getting a box ready to send to Kyle next week, and I’m pretty sure that my mom will bake some of his favorite  bars for him to be put in the box to be sent. Yea, are you seeing a pattern here? Oh well, there could always be worse things to do. I remember what Kyle said one time when he just got one of the first boxes that I sent, he said getting the box was almost better than Christmas. I guess that says it all doesn’t it.

So it’s after midnight as I’m writing this post and I just got a little spooked. Daryl had got called into work so he’s not home, and William is sleeping downstairs. I don’t know if it’s because the house is so quiet or what, but I just heard someone whistling. I could hear it so well that I went downstairs to see if I left the TV on. The last time I heard something in the house was when I went home for lunch and needed to make some phone calls. I heard someone crying so loud in the living room that I literally asked the person on the phone to hold and I went to check it out.  Oh well, I’ll take the whistle over the crying any day. Hum… maybe if whatever this is has some extra time,  they can make the pretzels dipped in almond bark for me.  I never did get that done and I could still send them with William tomorrow 🙂

It’s that time of the year already when William is going to head back to college. It’s hard to believe that the summer is pretty much over. Now where did that time go? So these last couple of days, William is packing and sorting through his stuff to take to his dorm in Ames. In our family, when you’re getting stuff organized you set up a table in the laundry room and lay everything in piles. It really works good. But it sure seems like he’s got a lot of stuff. He said that this year his dorm room is even bigger than last years so he’s not worried about it at all. But with a dorm loft that he and his roommate designed to give them even more room, I’m anxious to see just how it does all fit. The one thing that I’m not sure that I’m going to miss is this picture below,  even though it’s really kind of funny!  It’s a picture of Teddy Roosevelt, and for some reason William really likes it. It’s not really that bad, but he took down our ‘regular’ wall hanging in the living room, and Teddy has graced our walls now for a couple of weeks. But all too soon, both William and all his stuff, and Teddy will be gone, and I’m sure we’re going to miss William a lot.