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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Home with Petunia, power went off

We got home this afternoon with Petunia and got her all situated in the barn. She was really easy to get moved. She laid down in the trailer most of the way home and we put a rope on her leg just to prevent her from wondering off on the walk to the barn. She was very cooperative and went along with no fuss. She has a nice barn that stays dry and hay for a bed. We have access to water all the time and will be fed 2 times a day so she can eat free will. I am sure she will miss her sheep and cow pals that she ran with but she does have a cat to hang out with her. We noticed she likes to shove all the hay into a pile and then tunnel under it to stay warm. Odd for a pig. I think she will grow nicely with fresh corn and lots of feed.

We have had really nice weather today. Perfect fall weather with sunshine. But for some reason our power just went off. I just hope it is not another case where someone has taken out a power pole with their car. But it has happened before. So we will use the kerosene lights till it comes back on. But yes my computer is on battery backup and will run for a while. On the radio they are saying someone has been electrocuted at a sub-station and someone else is calling for help. Hope this turns out well for all involved.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Friday, October 29, 2010

We are getting a hog

We are going to west Kentucky tomorrow to get the hog that is at my friends house and bring her home. We did finally barrow a small horse trailer to haul her in. It will be better than putting racks on a pickup truck. At least she wont be exposed to the wind and possibly get sick from the ride this way. So we are leaving in the morning and will be back home early Sunday and get Petunia in the barn and feed her. If she were a different breed I am not so sure I wouldn't breed her and let her have piglets before she is butchered. But I really don't have room for pigs right now. Maybe another time.
It has been rather cool here all day. Not a short sleeve day by any means. I guess winter is right around the corner now. Not much else happening here today. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fall cleaning, nice weather

I haven't done enough to write home about in the past few days. Just kinda trying to take it easy for a bit and rest. I did get out for a bit to enjoy the nice weather before it turns cold tonight. We have a freeze warning for our area tonight and tomorrow night as well. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a blog post when you have done absolutely nothing? Well its hard. So I didn't. Today I got back to the fall cleaning inside the house and de-cluttering. I did get all the base cabinets in the kitchen cleaned and organized a little better. Tomorrow is the upper ones. Gosh I dread those because that is where all the baking supplies are and herbs, spices, that kinda thing. I know I need to sort and see what I need to stock up on when we go to the grocery next time. The extent of our grocery shopping each week is for maybe a loaf of bread, milk and cigarettes. We really don't buy much. But when we go to Sams club and the bigger stores we do buy mostly staples in bulk. That includes flour, sugar, coffee(expensive habit),just basic stuff. And we do get more than our share of what I call junk food. I do get wild rice mix and that type things. We are not big bread eaters at all so flour is not something I store a lot of. Some yes, not a lot. I did go into town today to get smokes, yeah OK, I will tell ya bout that in a minute. I though I would plunder the store a lil bit and check out the prices. The meat counter was a horror, oh my the prices. I have been buying good high quality bacon for $2.49 per lb, now it is well over $3. A friend mentioned that in her town bacon was 3 # for $15. Chicken and pork were way more than I am willing to pay for it. I am so glad we raise our own chickens and this year we are getting a hog to butcher. And the guys hunt, which is  a great help on the food bill. Here's one that killed me, chips, I have an addiction to chips. I guess I need the crunch. Dang they are near $4 per bag. I can get 10 lb of taters for that price. Sugar was $3 for 5lb, self rising flour the same. I got sticker shock and came home. That  trip made my head hurt. Well OK, now for the smoking part. I have a script for the anti-smoking medication. You are supposed to take it for a week before you stop using cigarettes. So this week I started the medicine. I know the medicine works because when I get up in the mornings I am not drooling for that first cigarette. So Thursday of next week will be my start quitting date. Care to join me? And if you choose not to join me, at least bring a damn shovel to help bury the bodies.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Projects getting done, rain

The weather was so nice and pleasant today. We had a nice breeze blowing although they were giving high winds and severe storms for us. The temps were so nice in the mid 70's. Then we got a good rain this afternoon, no storms tho. I got out and worked on some of the clean up projects that I had started a few weeks ago. I finally got my outbuilding cleaned out and arranged so at least you can get in the door with getting killed by something falling on ya. Then I unloaded the taters and onions that I had got yesterday and put them in plastic crates that have good air circulation. While I was out there I cleaned out the odds and ends and swept the floor. So thas 2 more projects marked off my to-do list. After I came in I started on the 2 freezers in the house. One on the side by side and the other on top of the second fridge. Got some stuff tossed that had been lost in there too long. Now you can safely open the door without risk of a broken toe.
OK with the bad but not so bad news from my doc yesterday I have decided it is time to quit smoking. I am certain it will help my blood pressure a great deal. I have one more pack of cigs to go and thas gotta be it. I think my quit date will be Friday October 29. Right before Halloween. Thas gonna be scary. I have to do this for me, no one else, just me. But the first person that bums a cigarette will likely get their throat slit. We shall see how this goes.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Monday, October 25, 2010

We finally got rain, doc visit

We finally got some much needed rain late last night. Not a lot but enough to settle the dust and snuff out some of the forest fires that have been burning in nearby counties. Some of the state parks here have been closed due to dry conditions and burn bans. The ground is so dry and sponge like that it soaked in the water really quick. Now tomorrow we are under a wind advisory with gust up to 45 mile per hour and it is posed to get cold after that. The pretty leaves will all be gone after that.
I had a doc appointment in the next town over today. As I was leaving I stopped into the local fruit stand that is just across the road. I picked up a 50lb bag of potatoes and a 50lb bag of onions to put in the cellar. The onions are nice and dry so they should keep most of the winter. We use a good many potatoes but I think we use as much rice and pasta. So this bag should do us for a good while. In winter we like to make tater soup and that takes several and will make good use of some of the fresh onions as well. But as for the doc visit, not as good as I would have liked. I had a physical several months ago and called to get the results and they tole me all my labs were fine. Then today they mentioned drawing labs again to re-check my cholesterol. I tole the doc that I was told they were OK and she let me see the lab print out. Well my cholesterol is not too bad at 210 but its the bad cholesterol that is elevated. And my white count was slightly elevated as well. She said that is probably coming from all the inflammation in my joints from arthritis. I have also had a nagging headache for several weeks and had checked my blood pressure at home and it was up too. It was up today as well. Now I have to work on those 2. I guess the first task will be to quit smoking. I got a feeling they will have me in a cage in a few days of trying to quit. Maybe not, who knows.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Peaceful existence

I think we have a rather peaceful existence here on the homestead. It is nice to be home this time of year and relax. That is about what I have done today. Just did the general pick up and straighten up here. Rodger and Jason had to make a trip to Lowes to pick up some heaters and I stayed home. Its days like that where I can just do as I please and nap if I want or what ever. They got back and then went to the shop to get some lumber cut to size to build a box around our water pump and get it insulated for winter. I think they also need to do the pump box at Jason's house as well. Things to do while we have some really nice weather.
We have been trying to locate a small covered trailer of some sort to use to haul a hog home in and haven't had any luck as of yet. So we decided this evening to just build a set of racks for Jason's pick-up and use it to get Petunia home. The next several weekends are full of plans. So this means we must go get Petunia next weekend. So that's where Jason and I will head off to. The weekend after that is chicken butchering, then the next 2 will be for deer hunting, then Rob and Amoy will be home for Thanksgiving. Rob called today and he said they took a lil drive around the area where they live just exploring and the mountains were so beautiful and they have snow already. I did remember to tell them they could keep it out there. It is pretty to look at tho.

Rob also said they had already had several days of rain and was expecting more this week. I am not looking forward to winter.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Saturday, October 23, 2010

A nice class reunion

It is so hard to believe that I have been out of school for 30 years. Gosh where does the time go. We have the woolly worm festival in our town this weekend and a lot of folks who live away do come home for that event. So someone had planned a class reunion for this weekend while the out of towners were home. It was a nice time, was fun to see a lot of old class mates again. The ones that were here tonight haven't changed a lot. I was kinda proud of the fact that over 50% of my graduating class has stayed in the county to work and raise their families. I had been told that that was the largest percentage of any graduating class to stay around here. Kinda neat I do think as we are in a really small town. But a nice time was had by all and nicer time for some of us who chose to supplement our drinks. I am looking forward to next years reunion, maybe we can plan a little farther ahead and more people will know.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Friday, October 22, 2010

Making cookies

I have been making cookies this evening to take to my high school class reunion tomorrow night. It is just an informal get together. Most of my class mates are on Facebook so finding them was easy. I think it will be neat to see some of my classmates from 30 years ago. Gosh it sure makes me feel old. Anywho I got the peanut butter cookies made and will prolly make the chocolate chip cookies in the morning. I had thought of making fried dried apple pies but that is way the hell more work than I am willing to do. I really don't feel like being in the kitchen for several hours making pies. Maybe I can just make regular apple pies............or not. Not much else happening here on the homestead today as I haven't felt like doing much of anything. I got a bug and I don't know for sure yet how to fix it.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Thursday, October 21, 2010

De-cluttering

I finally had enough energy today to get a few things done that I had on my mental list this fall. I got out and cleaned up and re-organized my summer kitchen more so now there is plenty of room on the counter for cutting up deer meat when we skin deer. Then I came in to start supper and decided to organize the pantry. I have tossed and cleaned the pantry in the kitchen and then started on the refrigerators. I got both of those cleaned out and things tossed that have been in there open for who knows how long. This has been an all day project. I also rearranged the closet in the utility room and the linen closet in the hall way. Tomorrow this will continue. I still have the bedroom closets to go and all the drawers in the kitchen. I have already taken out 3 bags of trash. Goodness where does it come from. The one place I really hate to get started on is my outbuilding. It is a mess. You can hardly walk in there. Over the summer things just get "set" in there till they can be put where they really go. Well its fall and they are still there. Maybe after I get done it will at least last till spring. One can only hope. After all I can see my kitchen counter tops now. If I can get one place organized it does motivate me to keep going. When the house is organized it is much easier to clean and keep clean. Wonder if I can get the freezers organized so I don't have to take every thing out to find dinner. Hmmm........
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Nice sunny day, cool nights

The weather today was just beautiful. A nice sunny warm day, then night fall with a full moon and clear sky, cool crisp air, perfect. Not too cold but long sleeves really feel good in this kind of weather. We do need rain badly tho. Everything is dry as a bone.And I think I read today that the whole state is under a burn ban. We have a corn crib that needs to be cleaned out and some junk burned but it is far too dry to start any kind of fire out doors. So am thinking that will just have to wait till after a rain.
I went to the other house this evening with Jason to look at some building and decide where we can keep a hog that is secure from predators. I think we will be using the old log cow barn that is in really good shape. It does need some work on the doors and such but not much else. It still is dry inside and has a good roof. We have a lean-to shed on the back of one big barn that needs to be taken down and the roof re-done. All of these are cool weather projects so we don't get stung by wasp. They do have a tendency to build in vacant buildings around here. We will get to that. But I got a lot of cleaning up still and reorganizing around here at my house. The freezers need to be cleaned out and organized a bit so I can find things with ease and that will also entail organizing the out building. The cellar needs to be tidied up and ready for winter. Now once again I need to clone me to get it all done in the near future.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Creature of habit

Yep that's me, a creature of habit. I don't like when things disrupt my habits. Is kinda like when I first get up in the morning I don't want the phone to ring before I have had my coffee and a couple cigs. Yeah I smoke. And thas another thing. It is just habit, a crutch if you will. I also don't like it when things change on my computer. And I sure get bent when I cant get into blogger to complain about the changes. OK I think I am done fussing now.
I guess I have had a mild stomach bug along with this congestion stuff this week. I know there are things that need doing but dang I just don't have the energy. And the weather is so nice this fall, not too hot, just perfect. I did go out to the summer kitchen today and got my bell peppers all washed, seeded and sliced and bagged up for the freezer. So maybe that was a lil progress. I did this on the way back from feeding the chickens. Those critters are sure growing nicely.  Not long till butchering time for them tho. It will be nice to not have anything to go out and feed for a while. Well except Luna and the cats and thas no big feat.
This coming weekend is the Woolly Worm festival here in our home town. Lots of food vendors and such. Mostly people go see friends they haven't seen since last year. Also this weekend is my 30 year class reunion. Gosh where did time go. I didn't do a head count but I have been told that our graduating class has the highest number of people who stayed in our lil town and worked and raised their families. I can believe that. There was probably a half dozen of them that are school teachers. Some small business owners, and others yet that have just worked here. I think it will be fun to see some old friends and classmates and see how everyone has done.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Monday, October 18, 2010

Lack of motivation

Not sure if I still have this bronchitis like stuff hanging on and making me feel like crap or if its just lazy lack of motivation. With that said I have done nothing today other than go out and feed the lil chickens and put food out for the Luna and the cats. I have no energy and my tummy just feels sick. A real yucky feeling. On my way to feed the chicks I did stop to look at my cabbage that I had planted a month or so ago and gosh they have grown. I just hope they make cabbage heads before we get a hard freeze. I think they will.


 I put them in the bed with the walking onions and both are doing great. I simply must get out tomorrow and do something if it is wrong. Winter is fast approaching and there is lots to be done before bad weather.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Jalapeno poppers, a successful deer hunt

I finally got my jalapeno poppers made today and in the freezer. Tomorrow I will take them out frozen and put them in bags and store them. It does take some time, but all in all they are simple. First of all ya procure some jalapeno peppers and wash them really well. Then slice them in half long ways. I take out the seeds as I don't like them really hot. Then blanch them for 2 minutes. Rinse in cold water and shake off the excess.

Put about 1 1/2 cups of plain flour in a bag and toss in the damp peppers and shake well, this will coat the peppers with flour and make the filling stay in and make them easier to get the crumbs to stick on. For the filling:



16 oz cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teas. oregano
2 teas. garlic powder
1 teas. parsley
2 whole eggs beaten
1 teas creole seasoning(optional)

Mix till well blended and set aside. Line a large flat pan (I use a cookie sheet) with plastic or parchment paper. In a separate bowl beat 2 additional whole eggs with 1 1/2 cups of milk till foamy. Set this aside. In a separate bowl put fine bread crumbs of your choice(I make my own) and set this aside. For the crumbs you can also use panko bread crumbs, or half bread crumbs and half fine cracker crumbs.

Now take each pepper half and till it with the cream cheese mixture and set aside till all are done. After all pepper halves are filled with the filling dip each one in the egg/milk mixture and then into bread crumbs to coat. Place on prepared pan.

Put plastic wrap or parchment between layers. Put in freezer and freeze. When they are frozen they can then be stored in bags for later use. To serve, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake on a cookie sheet for about 20 to 30 minutes till hot thru. Serve, so good.
The guys got home this evening with 3 deer after the weekend hunt. One of the deer took a joint effort to bring down, even if it was the smaller one of the bunch. But I think they had a good weekend.



Now there will be meat for the freezer in a couple weeks when we get these skinned out and processed. Maybe I will can some and make Hungarian goulash using my friend Rosie's method.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Friday, October 15, 2010

Fall cleaning

Not much on my list today. The guys are going out for a bit to deer hunt and I got the afternoon to myself. I got in the cleaning mode and cleaned the house really good, prolly the last time till spring. Then shampooed the carpet. How did all that dirt get in here? I guess its to be expected when you live in the country. Then again in summer I don't have time to do a thorough cleaning every week and it piles up. Or maybe we are just really messy people. Who cares, its lived in.
The weather was great today, sunny but not hot, a little breeze blowing, perfect fall weather.Tomorrow I am going to make some jalapeno poppers to put in the freezer for later. And will probably use some banana peppers and stuff them with the same filling just to see how they are. I found several recipes and I think I will blend em all together and make my own. After all a recipe is just one persons idea anyway.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Thursday, October 14, 2010

We about missed the colors

We almost missed the beautiful fall colors in Kentucky while we were gone last week. The trees are dressed in their finest fall colors right now. We got a lil rain today and lots of them fell but they are still pretty.

 This is a view from the garden looking back to the house. As luck would have it last evening when we decided to go dig our sweet potatoes we could not find the potato fork that we always use. So Rodger had to dig them by hand. He said the potatoes had grown down into the soil all the way to hard pan. They were nice size taters and they do require very little care.

The garden is finished, now for the clean up and putting on a cover crop. We are putting the garden in another spot next year. Not much else happening on the homestead today. The guys are getting ready to hunt this weekend. So hopefully we will have some venison for the freezer.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The last of the garden harvest

Well its time to pee on the fire and call the dogs, the garden is done. Rodger and I went to the garden this evening after supper and got the sweet taters dug. We had about a bushel of them. Not bad for just having about 10 plants. And they were big ones too. Got those in the out building at Jason's house so they can cure before we store them.
I picked the tobacco worm beans off the vines that were dried so I can shell them out for seed to plant next year. There are more on the vines that will dry later and I can pick those as well. I got the rest of the banana peppers, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers off the plants. I had some jalapeno poppers at a restaurant in Nevada when we were there and dang they were good. I do think they had cream cheese in them. Now I just gotta figure out how to get em all fixed and freeze em for deep frying later. Those were quite tasty and not too hot. Just wonder how good banana peppers would be with cream cheese in em and battered and deep fried. I think I need to do some research on how to's and see what I can come up with.

Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Here in my world

Here in my little world lots of things went undone this summer while I was busy canning. Nothing major really, just minor things that annoy only me. Such as the siding needed to be cleaned. No one notices this but me. The sun doesnt hit the back side of our house and moss starts to grow. The side of the house looks really dirty and green in places. So I got out today and fixed a bucket of detergent and bleach water to scrub it down. To me it looks better but when Rodger and Jason came home from work, they didn't even notice. I did spend most of the day outside just picking up stuff and pulling weeds out of the landscape rocks and really enjoying the wonderful fall weather. As I was doing this I noticed a lot of the weeds look like they have been frost bit. I am thinking we may have had some light frost while we were in Nevada. The trees here are all dressed in their fall colors and I almost missed it. If it don't rain tonight I am going to try to dig our few sweet potatoes and pick my tobacco worm beans to save for seed.
I had planted some cabbage plants that Deb had sent to me the second week of September and they grew by leaps and bounds while I was gone. As did my little chickens. They are all healthy and doing great.
My friend Rosie called today. She and her hubby had gotten some pigs to root her garden place up and get rid of the grubs. Now the pig is bigger and is just a big pet. The plan was that I was going out there to help them butcher Petunia, but now Rosie is so attached to her she cant bear to butcher her. She ask if we had a place to put her to finish her and get her ready to butcher. So in the next couple weeks we are going to try to get a small trailer and go get Petunia and bring her home to our house. Then later on this winter she will be butchered for meat and lard. We do have corn that is hard enough to feed now so the timing is great to have a hog. The corn picking is the next major project on our to-do list. But that will be a lil while yet. It needs several good hard frost to dry it really well for storage. This week I need to spend some time cleaning out our corn crib as well so we have a place to put the corn once it is picked. Aaah the joys of farm life.
This weekend is the beginning of muzzle loader season for deer hunting. I think the guys will be hunting this weekend. And hope they get a few deer for the freezer.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Finally some pictures

Now that I got a bunch of pictures uploaded to photobucket I can post the link here for all of you to see. So here's the link, enjoy.

http://s718.photobucket.com/albums/ww190/sbemt456/Road%20trip%20to%20Nevada/

You will need to copy and paste the link in your address bar to view.
Now all I can do is hope it works.

Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Monday, October 11, 2010

Home at last

Just a quick note to let you all know we made it back home to Kentucky on Sunday night about midnight.
Our flight plan was to fly out of Salt Lake City to Denver to Minneapolis to Lexington. We FINAlly got checked in thru security at SLC and went to our gate. And waited and waited. It was well past time for our flight to leave. The announcer came on to tell us there was a mechanical issue with the plane we were to board. And ya know thas what ya alas want to hear. So we were directed to another gate to board another flight to what we thought was going to be Denver. They called our names and when we approached the deck the lil lady tole us we would be on a different but direct flight to Minneapolis so they could get us there to make our connecting flight. Thas all good. Then she said the down side is "your gate is at the other end of the terminals and ya have 30 minutes to get there." Well crap, down side is an understatement for that. We headed to the OTHER concourse. We did make our flight to Minneapolis but as we were boarding they ask us if we would mind checking our carry-on luggage due to the fact that there would not be enough room in the overhead storage compartments. Now I am thinking, "overloaded plane". OK so we did that. Rodger and I did not get to even sit close together on that flight. I was in like row 12 and he was in 33. Oh well. We made it to the connecting flight in Minneapolis and got on the flight to Kentucky. We still didnt get to sit together. And I was at the back of the bus this time. Last row, but the upside is we arrived in Lexington 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Jason picked us up and we came on home. Gosh it is nice to be home again. I have been in 16 different states in the past 2 months and none of em I like more than Kentucky. It is nice to travel and see other places, but I sure dont want to live anywhere but here. Hopefully I can post some pics tomorrow evening of our trip.
Till then, blessing from the McGuire homestead at home.

stella

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Finally.........

Gosh I have done a pitiful job blogging from the road on this trip. Kinda hard to stay up late to do a blog when your body knows you should have been sleeping 3 hours prior. But I will try to catch ya up a lil bit.
Rob and Amoy have had a really hard time finding the "right" place to live. So they decided to just put their stuff in storage and look till they find something that they will be comfortable in. Yesterday we went to the Uhaul place which as we understood was supposed to provide 30 days free storage unit with rental of the Uhaul truck. Well we find out that the Uhaul place where we were to go does not honor that benefit. I will never rent from Uhaul again. I think they could have told us prior to renting that the nearest storage facility would be 3 hours away. And I did let the customer service rep know that when I spoke with one on the phone yesterday as well. Not discount for turning the truck in early, nothing. Any way, they finally found a storage unit to store their stuff and we got the truck unloaded and returned. They are staying in an extended stay hotel till they find a place to rent. Really not any more expensive than a house. Rob starts his new job tomorrow and Amoy will have time to look for a rental place.
We had dinner last night at a local restaurant and gosh do they believe in serving a lot of food. It was really good, very close to home cooked. I was impressed and thas kinda hard to do with eating out. Later we decided to get out and visit one of the landmark casinos at Stockmans. We are not big gamblers by any means, we just play for fun. Had a nice time and a few drinks and back to the hotel. Today there is a huge liquidation sale at the convention center here and we are going there before we go on to Salt Lake City to spend the night. Then we fly out of SLC and head home tomorrow. So time to get this day started.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road in Elko Nevada.

Stella

Friday, October 8, 2010

Finally a day to just relax

We made it to Elko Nevada and on Thursday finally got a chance to relax and check out the town. The kids were off looking for an apartment or house. Rodger and I went to check out the Northeastern Nevada Museum. It is a really nice collection of pieces of the history of the area. The whole town is mostly based on mining (gold). The area has several culturally diverse groups that actually settled the region. Have a look if ya like.

http://www.museumelko.org/

Elko is a small town with old west elements. Some newer hotels and casinos and some older ones. Tomorrow night we might hit the casino just because.
I am having trouble getting my pictures uploaded to blogger, so for now I cant share them with you. Maybe when I get home I can take time to actually put them all on Photobucket and just post the link for ya.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.

Stella

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Moving right along

We are moving right along on this trip. So far, so good. We finally made it out of Missouri and into Iowa for a short piece, then into Nebraska. We are staying in Sidney Nebraska tonight. We were all kinda tired, but better driving today. The speed limit in Nebraska is 75 so we made good time. Well except for the construction. We have had dinner and are settled in for the night now. We are hoping to make it to Elko Nevada tomorrow night. I will post pics of the whole trip when I get home. It is kinda hard to get all them downloaded and then put on here and get rest too. So forgive me please.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.


Stella

Monday, October 4, 2010

On the road


We got started this morning about 9 am and have so far had a pretty good trip. Although being from the country we both hate big cities. And we all know that is part of all road trips. We are staying the night in Columbia Missouri. We did get to see the St Louis arch as we came thru there earlier. Hopefully we all can get some rest and get started a lil earlier in the morning. So here are a couple pics from the road.


Not a lot of excitement for the trip but different scenery for us. We came thru Indiana, Illinois, and are now in Missouri. We are officially out of the mountains and into the flat land of the central part of the country. As for me I still prefer the hills of Kentucky.
So am off to bed for now, hope to post more pics tomorrow.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Loaded and ready to travel

It has been a long day. First off I drove Rodger to the doctor this morning and got medication for his bronchitis and the doc went ahead and gave me meds as well. We cleaned the furnace blower out here at home last Thursday and the dust may have been the culprit. With us being on the road and the doc being out of their office this week on a cruise, they were thinking if I got sick there would be no one to call to get a script so she took care of me today as well. So nice of them I thought.
Then we were off to pick up the truck and get loaded up. I really didnt know the kids had that much stuff in their apartment but after we got there I had my doubts that we could get it all on the truck. Jason packed the truck and I dont know how he did it but all the stuff fit on the truck. But heaven help who ever opens the door. It is stuffed to the gills. So hopefully we can get a good nights rest and be ready to go in the morning.
Not sure where I will be blogging from tomorrow night but I will share pics and bits of the cross country trek with you. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Things never go as planned

Sometimes things just never go as planned for us. We had went to a birthday party for Rodgers dad this afternoon after I finally figured out how to set our home phone to forward calls to my cell. Or I would have stayed here to take the call from the U-haul company confirming our U-haul rental truck for tomorrow. We have paid for that feature on our phone for probably 20 years and this is the first time we have used it. Thank goodness for internet, cause I had to google how to make the dang feature work. Then we just got started having dinner and Jason was sick with sinus and chest congestion stuff. Rodger has it too and I had already made him a doc appointment for Sunday morning. Then I called an made one for Jason as well. Shortly thereafter Jason seemed much worse. He said he could not breathe. So I took him on to the ER and the gave em a breathing treatment, steroids, antibiotics and an inhaler. He is doing better, at least he can get air in now. Rodger still goes to the doc in the morning for his congestion. We really don't need him ill as we get ready to head out to Nevada with a U-haul truck. I am usually the one that gets this allergy induced bronchitis. I guess after this trip is over I will be the one that crashes and burns. But any who, after all the online hassle of reserving this damn truck and they tell me online that someone from U-haul will call me by 6pm today with the location of the truck. I get home and find I have an email telling me the truck pickup location is in Lexington. Which really pisses me off because we cant pick the truck up till noon tomorrow and then load it in Richmond then back home to get ready to leave on Monday. That could actually mean extra miles for me to pay for. I think I am going to insist on a discount or a lot of free mileage. After our house sitters get here Monday morning we will be heading out to Elko Nevada. So next week I will be blogging from the road again. Hopefully by means of pictures I can take all of you along with me on this trip as well. Our route will be across I-64 west to I-80 all the way to Nevada. I have looked at the weather and it is gonna be tricky trying to dress for the weather changes across the country. So off to bed to rest and take Rodger to doc in the morning and off the get a truck an load up. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Friday, October 1, 2010

Am I caught up yet?

Ya know, I just may be about to catch up with all the stuff I need to do. All the things that need to be canned right now are canned. Will pick my beans for seed in a couple weeks. The sweet taters will be good for another couple weeks. The little chickens are growing and looking good. The weather is nice and cool. The trees are changing into their pretty fall colors. And its allergy season for all of us I do think. Every one here has a runny nose and congestion.
I  got out today and cut up a couple of the watermelons for Rodger to take to his dads birthday party tomorrow. I likely wont be going as I will need to wait for the Uhaul rental company to call and confirm our reservation for a uhaul truck to move Rob to Nevada next week. Rodger will be driving the truck out there and flying home. So Rob and Amoy are out tonight having a last dance and drink with friends before they move away.
Not much else happening around here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella