Sunflower Status

FYI: The sunflowers are getting planted TODAY!!!

(If everything goes right.) I can't wait, because they will be planted in a field that surrounds my house. Soon, I will get to have breakfast on my back porch, look out, and see a sea of these:

Too perfect!

Q: What do farmers eat for lunch?

A: Anything they can get their hands on...and lots of it!

I once read an article (early on in my marriage and my new way of life) that most farming accidents happen mid-afternoon. Why? Because many farmers simply refuse to get off of the tractor to eat. They get run-down from low blood sugar, and they don't think straight. This made sense to me. The article was urging anyone available to make "snack runs" to all of the local farmers in the area. Well, I didn't do that, but I have run many, many, many lunches and suppers to the field. It is absolutely true that farmers will often forgo food or simply forget to eat because they are just too busy to notice that they missed a meal. Shame on them! (Wish I had that problem.) My stomach will always remind me that it needs to be fed.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what yesterday's lunch was (and today's for that matter since I make tons of food and generally love left-overs) and share with you the all too simple recipe for the rice that they make at Chipotle. I've been so addicted to their rice that I was beginning to think they put crack in it!

Cilantro Lime Rice

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

2/3 cup long grain white rice

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

juice from 1 lime

Heat oil in a pan. Add rice and lime juice and simmer for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes (or until done). Fluff rice and add cilantro.

Yummy!

Serve with pulled pork, cheese, salsa...whatever! Or just eat it straight out of the pan. I'm not watching! Enjoy!

Calgon, take me away...

Most of you will remember that old TV commercial where the housewife is ordering (begging) a box of Calgon water softener to transport her (mentally) to someplace other than where she is. She needs to get away from making dinner, the pets, the kids, the bills, and most likely...the laundry! I know exactly how the chick in that commercial felt. Especially when Ted comes home looking like this:

This is actually not all that bad. I've seen (and smelled) much worse! I think I should just ship his clothes off to a laundry machine testing facility somewhere and they could send them back to me clean. I'd even pay the postage. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? Okay, probably not. But still...

Beans, Bees and "the Big Yee Haw"

I thought I would take this moment to reflect on the joy that all of the beans are in the ground! Yeeeeee Haaaaawwww! They were "officially" done planting beans last weekend...I think it was June 6th. Ted called me on the phone with a big "Yee Haw!" "The big Yee Haw" is a tradition that (as far as I know) started with Ted's dad Jim. Whenever something momentous would happen on the farm (and there are only two events worthy of this distinction...all the crops planted, and all the crops harvested), Jim would get on the two-way radio and give a big "Yee Haw." This was the clue (to whomever happened to be listening) that all was finished. Well, the two-way radios are long gone...they were replaced by the cell phones...but "the big Yee Haw" has remained. Ted has carried on this great tradition and will call me up on the phone and holler in my ear. I love it! Technically, Ted still has sunflowers to plant, but since they will wait and are more of a hobby crop, "the big yee haw" doesn't depend on them.

Now, as far as bees go, our awesome neighbor called us over yesterday afternoon to witness something happening in a sweet gum tree several yards off of his back deck. Honey bees were swarming. It was fascinating.

There were literally so many of them, that their weight was bending the branch.

They kind of looked like a large bunch of grapes...a very odd looking bunch of grapes.


OK, I'm not ashamed to admit it...I was too chicken to get this close (even with my zoom lens) to take this last picture. Ted did it for me. I tried to discourage him: "Honey, you might get stung and drop my camera!" After he assured me that he would never drop my camera, I said: "Oh! OK then! Go ahead!" He got about 8 to 10 feet away (I'm really bad at visual distances) but the bees let him know that that was as close as they wanted him. They would start peeling off and buzzing around in a kind of warning (if bees do such a thing). Nobody got stung. It was a neat experience. (And for the record, had I gotten stung, I assure you that the experience would not have been nearly as neat...for me, anyway!)

Hiding Out

Ted has been busy in the field getting the soybeans planted. He needs one or two good days and he will have them all in. By "good days," I mean days without flat tires (he's had more than his fair share of those lately) and little rain. We've had rain, which is good, and so far, it has been relatively light. The sun comes out and dries things out enough that it hasn't stopped work...for too long.

I've been up to my elbows in "kids and their friends out of school for the summer." While I always look forward to school getting out, I forget just how much work it is having more bodies around that seem to constantly need something from me. I haven't been able to shadow Ted as much, but what I have been able to do is to go out into the backyard and take a few pictures...and escape from my kids for a few minutes...

I took these shots today. It was absolutely gorgeous out! We had about a half an inch of rain last night and things were cool and beautiful today. I thought I'd share these pics with you, since I don't have any of Ted changing a tractor tire...which, I'm sure, you would have found immensely interesting.

This water spider was very cooperative for his (or her) portrait sitting. He (or she) never moved even though I got just an inch or two away.

This tadpole just looked frozen in a green bubbly jello or something. I found it interesting. I'm odd.

Water lily...not Monet's and not at Giverney.


A tiger lily that I moved from my old house that was originally planted by a bird that dropped a seed...I imagine. It just showed up one year.



I really need to write down the name of this flower. I keep asking Mary Jane, and she keeps telling me, and I keep forgetting. I think it's just lovely!




Clematis. I believe the variety is Jackmani.



I hope you enjoyed this little escape to my backyard. I know I did!

The Fine Art of Chicken Hypnosis

My oldest loves to entertain little kids. And what could possibly be more entertaining to a kid (of any age) that to hypnotize a chicken? I assure you that the chicken in this photo is quite alright. She's just taking a break from doing what chickens normally do. My eldest accomplishes this by setting the chicken on the ground (I'm sure the hard part is catching the chicken) and then she draws a line on the ground starting at the bird's head and going around to it's side. She repeats this a few times. She can then let go of the chicken and what you have is one hypnotized chicken and a crowd full of elated children. Great party trick! I promise that the chicken snaps out of it with absolutely no damage whatsoever. Well, maybe a wounded ego, if it could remember...

Other people have different ways of hypnotizing chickens that are just as effective. (They must be pretty easy to hypnotize!) Bird brains! *Disclaimer* (The girl you see in this photo is a professional and you should not attempt to try this at home.)

Corn all in...check!

Ted finished planting the last of the corn today. Whoot! We celebrated by him taking the evening off and going out to dinner as a family...a very rare and special occasion these days. We ate at Aladdin Cafe (my favorite, and if you're ever in Lawrence, you simply must go there! Their Schwarma is out of this world delicious...but I digress...).

The next thing Ted has to do is get some spraying done and then get about 1000 acres of beans planted. We won't even begin talking sunflowers...yet.

This is one of the sprayers. I like it because it has my maiden name printed right on the front: "Hagee," only they've misspelled it "Hagie." Oh well, the hubby just can't keep away from things (or people) with that name.

This is the look I get when I say things like: "Honey, now that you have an evening off, I have a list of about a thousand things I want you to get done before tomorrow morning when you go back to work...okay?"

Just in case you are wondering, during planting season, Ted sets the alarm for 4 am, may or may not hit "snooze" until 4:30, work all day and get home between 9:30 and 10 pm. That's why an evening off is such a BIG DEAL!!!

Tomorrow, when the rest of the USA will be laying flowers on graves or maybe grilling a hot dog or a burger with family and friends, Ted will be working. As much as all of that spring rain got him so far behind in the field, I could really use for him to have a rain day right now!