Week in iPhone Pictures 20/52

Link up with Kat @ Living Like the Kings.

*We went from winter straight to summer with 92 degree temps.  *At the last baseball game for the local high school. *After vollebyall I had myself a supper of popcorn. *Wednesday night we had a little storm that dropped 0.05″ of rain.  But there was a pretty rainbow though. *Later that night another storm moved through. Still nothing.  *Friday night I headed over to the town Mildred lives in to celebrate a graduation of one of the boys on our vball team who has become a good friend.  *First I snuggled with my nephew Sophers though.  <3 him!! *Mildred, Nate & I at his after graduation party. *Saturday morning I was up early trying to find a plug for the sprayer. *On my way to the field to take the plug I ran into this guy.

*After killing a rattlesnake you have to take a souvenir. Then you have to leave it on the dash in the pickup. *My co-pilot for the day.  *TNT spraying. *I stopped by my boss’ farm and picked some asparagus and lilacs.  She was in Chicago and told me to cut as much asparagus as I wanted. It was so good! *In the mail on Saturday I received newborn wraps. can’t wait to use them.  *Before the storm came through TNT and I were working on the tree row along the highway.  *Sunday I worked on the tree row again for about 3 hours. Busted up my finger, but a little blood doesn’t hurt anyone.  *Sunday afternoon Molly and I watching college softball.
*Then Tails chased Molly away and took her spot.  *TNT hollered to turn to channel 3. Wichita was getting hit with tornado’s. *My whole family in the living room watching the tornado’s in Wichita.  *Molly stole back the ottoman from Tails and was watching him walk by. *That tail gets you every time! *Sunday night headed to the races. *TNT hot lapped a late model.  Not sure I like driving someone else’s car.  But TNT loved the horse power that baby has!

Monday night dust storm. Our neighbors on the west side of the highway have corn stubble and it is so dry.  That big dust storm is going right into our yard.  We better get some rain soon to slow down that dust!!  TNT thought it was a tornado when he first saw it.

And because I know everyone loves these guys!

Drought in Kansas

Last year the first weekend in April I took my sister’s Ooh La La pictures.  Granted the wheat crop was a month ahead of schedule and we ended up harvesting in early June. However this is what the wheat looked like that day. That wash tub is 20 inches or so tall. We had an amazing wheat crop last year. The few rains we received hit at the right times when the wheat really needed it. Our fall harvest was terrible. TERRIBLE!! Not even worth getting the combine out of the shed.

 

 

 

First lets take a minute and check out that sky!! WOW! I love it. I didn’t even notice the sky until I was posting to here and thought now that is why I love Kansas!

We had very little rain last summer and fall which means when the wheat was drilled in September there was no moisture in the ground to sprout it.  We hoped for a moist winter to maybe help the wheat come spring. However, that hasn’t been the case.  On top of that we had freezing temps till the first week of May so what the drought didn’t hurt the freeze has.

As you can see the wheat that has survived is thin and just above my ankle.  If you compare these two pics to the first you can definitely see the difference.  Some years it’s sad to be a farmer.

Asparagus Pile

Last spring I conned TNT into building me 4 raised garden beds.  I’ll first say that last year was a terrible year in Kansas. The wind blew nonstop and when you have weeks of 100+ temps it takes a tole on everything. Most of our grass in the yard is buffalo grass which is pretty hardy and even that had blown bare with large cracks.  So it was no wonder my garden didn’t produce much. I really think the combination of the bad weather and the raised beds is what gave me the most problems.  I couldn’t keep the raised beds watered enough and everything died.

(last year’s garden pics)

I had cucumbers and peppers in this bed. (Last year’s garden pics) I decided this year I was done with them and pulled them out. I’m sure you can see my husband rolling his eyes since I had made a big deal about him helping me build them!  Then TNT piled all the dirt from those beds into a pile.

I had planted asparagus in one of the beds and they didn’t last long. I figured there was no way with the way the summer was that they’d survive so I really didn’t think twice when TNT piled all the dirt.  Well now I have a bunch of asparagus coming up in the pile above. 

While I had the tiller out last week (which in itself to start is a huge task) I found a new place for my asparagus patch. So now every few days I go out and dig in the pile of dirt to see if I can find more. It really makes me mad since next year I would have been able to start cutting some to eat.  Now I have to wait two years since I transplanted them.  

Paying it Forward

I always try to do something nice for people. Some may say I’m a sucker. I probably am, but I feel like I’m doing some good. I partnered up with two teachers I had in High School and told them I wanted to donate a Senior session to one student who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford pictures. I had told them both that I wanted this to stay between us three so it was something I could do every year. It was my way of giving back. Our scheme was to tell the kid I was building my Senior portfolio and he won the session. Both teachers raved praised for this kid. We met one day after school right after a snow. It was cold, it was wet and windy.  But we got some really nice pictures.  My deal with him was he’d receive a 30 minute session and 40 wallets for free!  That’s aro

und a $200 deal. The whole time we were taking his pictures I got the feeling he wanted me to feel sorry for him since his mother has breast cancer.  My mother is a NINE YEAR breast cancer SURVIVOR and I never once used her illness to my benefit.  I wasn’t owed anything because my mother had cancer. I finished editing his pictures put them on my smugmug website and told him to pick a few pictures he wanted me to print for his 40 wallets.  That was in January and I hadn’t heard from him until last Wednesday.  He wanted me to RUSH those wallets to him because “graduation is this weekend” (last Sunday).  I told him he’s had this whole time to tell me the pictures he wanted and there was no way I was going to pay the extra money for them to be rushed to me. He goes well you know I haven’t had time since my mom has cancer.   Wrong answer buddy! Well he never got around to giving me the pictures he wanted printed. So I’m writing him off. I also decided that was it for being nice and “Paying it Forward.”

I’m changing the subject now, but it’ll all come back together at the end! Back in January there was a FB page set up by a teacher, Miss Kay,  in Council Grove, KS.  The assignment for the class was to have a person from each of the 648 towns in Kansas to post on their wall. I became a fan of it and I worked pretty hard getting people to post their towns.  I’ve always been a proud Kansan, but this project really jumped it up a notch. Towards the end they would post the towns that they still needed. Some towns only had 20 or so people living there so it was a chore to get comments. If I knew anyone living in that area I would email them and tell them to comment.  Well they got someone from each town to comment and over 6,000 likes.  How cool is that!  The next assignment was for the students to come up with a new state motto.  The teacher picked 4 finalists and the other teachers and staff at their school v

oted.  The teacher also asked FB what their winner would be.  Since I started out being a landscape photographer I have many pictures so I volunteered to help announce the winner by putting the motto on one of my landscape pictures. The student selected a picture he liked and it was announced.  Miss Kay and even the boy’s mother thanked me for helping them with this project.  To me it wasn’t much because I enjoyed doing it.  I then took the remaining finalists and placed their motto’s on three other landscape pictures.  I ordered those prints one for each kid and then each picture for the classroom.  It cost me around $30 to have them printed and shipped to me so I wasn’t out that much money, but I wanted to do something nice for these students since they brought a new sense of Kansas pride to me. Plus I felt the students should be rewarded for their hard work.

Here’s the winning motto and the Kansas landscape picture the winner picked.

I dealt with the kid from the above paragraph last Wednesday and decided I was done being nice. Then on Friday I returned from work and Miss Kay left this post on my facebook wall:

Carrie-I wanted to take a minute to say thanks! I just got our pictures today and the note and they are absolutely beautiful. I sent home one with each kid and I’m going to get some frames so that we can display them in our hallway at school. I would LOVE to be selfish and keep them in my room — but then ALL the kids/parents/visitors won’t get to enjoy them as well. WE have LOVED all the photos and you’re a “REAL LIVE” reason for me to explain to kids how a stranger can be our friend and do nice things for us even when we have never met that person! Kids need real examples of just humans being nice to other humans — and you knocked that concept out of the park! Thank you for being a wonderful example of mankind for us! You have given a gift that we can enjoy for many years!!! I truly cannot say thanks enough!!!    Thank you for being a KANSAS Supporter!!!

I didn’t do any of this for the recognition. I did it because I wanted to be nice and help.  After Miss Kay’s kind words I had to take a step back and remember not to let a few bad eggs ruin the experience for others.  So next year I will again donate a Senior session to a deserving kid. And that is the real reward for Pay it Forward!

Here are the other 3 finalists.

oops!! It should be prevailing.  I did print the right one for the student though!

And I may have put my  own twist on this motto   I should mention that Council Grove is located in K-State Wildcat country so I’m guess that’s not what the student was going for.

Week in iPhone Pictures 19/52

Link up with Kat @ Living Like the Kings. Who is a Mommie for the second time!! Congrats!! Much love!

*Volleyball was Monday night. We played two games and won one.  We played our butts off in that first game. *Bored at work so I play the fb game Pet Rescue Saga. *Retagging 20 pallets of planting seed here at work.  Was nice to get out from behind my desk! *Sunset Thursday  night after a session I had in town. *Supper Thursday night, Crock Pot BBQ’d Country Style Ribs.  They are amazing and so easy!.  Here’s the recipe. *Tails excited I allowed him into the living room while I set up my backdrop. *Lopsided backdrop that I fixed after taking this picture. *New video light used in a newborn session on Friday.

*Saturday morning I ran to town picked up some groceries, the plants for my garden and a few flowers. On the way home I picked up McDonald’s for lunch.  PS…..I do not eat in the car! LOL  *Rototilling the garden.  *Tomatoes planted.  *Found asparagus growing. *Cucumbers planted. *Our sad wheat crop.  With the drought & late freeze it doesn’t look too hot! Sunday I helped TNT in the tool trailer. He has sold the company and now he has to inventory and send all the tools back. Not a fun job. *What happens when I spend my time outside on the weekends?  Five loads of laundry to fold.   *And because I ran out of pictures here’s two more of Mildred and I at vball!

I swore I’d just do a small garden this year.  As you can see it’s not small!  My plan was tomatoes, cucs, peppers & potatoes.  Well now I have 8 bell or sweet peppers, 3 tomatoes, 4 hot peppers, two long rows of potatoes, 4 rows of onions, 2 watermelons, and I still need to plant bush green beans.  I also had to find a new home for my asparagus, but more on that later. To help keep the weeds out I put wheat straw down. It also helps when it’s muddy so I don’t walk in it.

Molly the Bird Knapper

Every night as we get ready for bed we let Molly out one last time.  When we let her in I have usually shut off all the lights and walk to the bedroom.  Well the night of this incident she jumped up on the bed before I climbed in so I made her get off. She was acting strange and from the glare of the TV I could see something sticking out of her mouth. I reached for it but couldn’t grab it.  I turned the light on and sure enough she had this bird.  Took TNT and I both to get it out of her clenched jaws.  She wanted this bird bad!  Luckily she never sat it down on the bed so I threw it out and we washed our hands real good.  Then we had a good laugh!

Silly puppy!

Not really sure what type of bird it is. I’ve never seen one like this. Those are red feathers and not blood.

You took my bird away!!

Week in iPhone Pictures 18/52

Link up with Kat @ Living Like the Kings.

I wasn’t sure what to do with myself this week and weekend.  All workshop prep was done as was the basement. Still waiting on carpet though.  Every night for the past month I’ve had a to-do list a mile long that I worked on and now nothing. I took  4 pictures before Friday and I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to fill up a 9 picture template.  Guess not!

*I usually wear a cami under this shirt but couldn’t find it Monday morning so then I realized I looked like a lady trucker in plaid. *Got my badge for taking the farmgirl workshop!! *Wednesday morning woke up to 3 inches of snow!  *24 hours later it was all melted.  *Still following the damn pilot car. I am really starting to dislike this road crew! *Made Kat’s chicken quesadillas. Holy Crap were they ever good!!!  *Saturday morning I had to run to a town 20 miles east and get Zinc since TNT was ready to plant corn.  *I had to stop at Don’s Drive Inn while in that town. This place has the best burgers and pick-a-los.  *Received an old fashioned hand written thank you card from one of the workshop girls.  I thought I was the only one who hand wrote notes. 

*This old coffee table has been with TNT since he moved from his parents house. Since I feel bad for getting rid of his bachelor items I decided to paint this black and recover the cushions.  I’ll show you the finished product later. *I edited some track pictures and Tails helped. *Then I was on the road again hauling fertilizer to the corn field.  *My co-pilot on these trips. *Selfie! *TNT planting corn.  This is our new 16 row planter which is a huge upgrade from the 8 row we had before.  *I rode in the tractor with him a little bit. This is looking out behind the tractor at the planter.  *Every other pass TNT gets out of the tractor to make sure the seed has been dropped and that it’s spacing it correctly.  *Drive home.

*Every month I wash the disher washer for a 1/2 cycle with a cup of  baking soda and then the second half of the cycle with a cup of white vinegar. I love how sparkly it is afterwards. *Molly was mad I took the paper clip she was chewing on away.  *I made homemade mac & cheese but it got done faster than I thought.  *Helping TNT move the irrigation system by using a generator. *Had to run and get a roll pin for the planter. *Hurrying up to wait in line.  TNT filling the fertilizer tank and I’m waiting to be next.  I asked him to take a pic of me when I was doing what he’s doing in that pic and he just shook his head.  *Bags of corn all ready to be taken to the field.  *My peonies are growing fast.  *Eight client CD’s ready to go in the mail.

*TNT is putting a dry conditioner in the planter so the seeds move through the planter easier.  I’m driving the pickup with the white tank and I unload the white tank into the blue tank.  *I made a German favorite of fried noodles and beans.  Not as good as gma’s, but it is edible.