A Perfect Sunday

I had the perfect Sunday yesterday.  I love going to church, but have such a painful, slow start every morning, taking a long time to limber up and get moving, so, since they changed the time to 8:30 and I have either a 10-mile or a 20-mile drive, it makes it tough sometimes to find the motivation.  So I struck the deal with God that I described in an earlier post:  If it's good for me to be there, wake me up in time, if You let me sleep in, I know that's what You want for me.
Well, yesterday I woke up quite energetic at 6 am.  I saw the sign.  Had a leisurely breakfast (my favorite kind), time to play on the computer a little bit, then off to church, wonderful weather, lovely service, awesome fellowship afterwards.  Hurried home, did a bit of knitting, was very happy because the newlyweds were coming for lunch:

The wedding had been three weeks ago.  So I made a lot of lamb chops and her favorite, fried green tomatoes, and his favorite, rice (not his way of making rice--I made Rice-a-Roni from scratch--he liked it), and had made a blueberry dessert yesterday.  We were chatting and chatting and learning about the Fijian culture, when our "dingaling" went off (infra-red sensor that let us know someone is driving into the yard) and the dogs started barking.  I checked who it was, didn't recognize the car, but the passenger that alighted--couldn't be--is it?--no--yes--it IS Eleanor--and the driver--it's Bob.  WOW!!  They were our new neighbors when we bought our first house in 1967.  Our kids played together--Our kids got into mischief together--our kids had birthday parties together.  We moved away in 1982, but they stayed in the old neighborhood until just recently.  We shared wonderful, happy, sad memories, Eleanor and Bob knew all about other neighbors and were still in touch with some--a wonderful blast from the past, and a resolution to visit more often.  And woo hoo--Eleanor and I are now friends on Facebook.  I'm so impressed that they headed into the countryside, to find us--they did know about the greenhouse, since we had met on a few occasions, while shopping (I still sometimes shop in the old neighborhood, and my last 12 years of teaching were in the old neighborhood) and I had also met Bob and their little grandson while I was supervising the playground at recess.
I hated that we had to cut our visit short, because we had made plans to go off to Vegreville (Kubota Man and I and the newlyweds) since DD3 was having a birthday supper for DGD2, Kayla.  So off we went on that trip.  There we had a wonderful supper, a lovely visit with more family members on that side, and my last-week's prediction at the Kubota dealer came true.

New story:  My DH's alias is Kubota Man--he loves orange equipment. We bought our first Kubota a number of years ago, a 24HP with big mower, rototiller, bucket and pallet jack.  That kept him happy for a couple of years.
Then it became harder and harder to unload the semi-trucks that came with bags of dirt for the greenhouse and trees and shrubs for the nursery.  So we decided he needed a 70HP with a bigger bucket, and pallet forks.  All was good.  Another new toy.  A couple of years later, it got too hard to switch implements (I needed the rototiller on, he wanted the mower on, etc.), so we decided that a 29HP was needed.  this one has a pallet lifter on the front, and generally holds the mower, so the rototiller stays on the original machine for the summer so I can maintain my berry patch and the neighbor's fallow garden.  The summer we bought that one, as we were waiting for it to come in, we couldn't mow, so the dealer lent us a 25HP tractor that was set up just for mowing--a belly mower, with grass catcher and a hydraulic dumping system--perfect for feeding the grass clippings to the sheep.  I was the first to use it, and, since it can almost do 360 degrees around corners and trees, I fell in love.  Kubota Man saw the enchanted look on my face and said, " Call Tim, ask how much, and if it's affordable, buy it--after all, we can't take it (our piggy bank) with us".
So, in this situation, I considered that an order-- it was expensive but affordable, so I bought it.
Last year we bought no new toys, so when I was at the dealership picking up maintenance parts, I bought him a real miniature toy implement instead, the $6.95 size.  That was the 2013 "toy".
Over these years, we had added more toys (attachments that would make our work around this big place easier), an auger head with different size augers for fencing and planting trees, a dozer blade for snow removal, etc.  This spring he ordered a quick attachment so he can put a bigger blade on the front of the 29HP for snow removal, and I insisted he buy a removable cab so he would be out of the wind when pushing snow.

Kubota Man loves mowing rocks in the rougher parts of the farmstead, so the original 55" mower is getting somewhat beat up.  And we have a lot of grass to cut where the land is smooth, no rocks, but it's too far to drive to dump the grass catcher, and mulching is good fertilizer, so he decided it's time...for a 72" finishing mower that would only be used for "good grass", he told me to talk to the dealer.  My conversation with Tim went something like this:  I know you sharpen the pencil for us, but keep it sharp, because (although he hasn't said anything about it yet), now he will need another tractor (I said that with tongue-in-cheek, but for some reason it had a ring of prophecy).

Back to the lovely Sunday--as we're driving home, he says, "talk to Tim about a new small tractor for the new mower", I almost choked laughing, but I was driving, so I had to keep controlled--we have distracted driving laws in Alberta, and I'm sure insane laughing with eyes flooded with tears of laughter would qualify as distracted.  It turns out, the mower brochure offered an optional quick rear attachment (quick on/off), but this invention had more problems than what it was worth, lots of breakdowns and repairs, so the dealer doesn't offer it any more.  So we were back to manually switching implements, so my orders for today are to get another tractor--something in the 24HP range.  We can't take it $$ with us.  I had to agree, because my rototiller would have been on the chopping block since it is not used as regularly as the mowers. So now, with tongue-in-cheek, I wonder when we'll need an addition to the Machine Shed.

C'est la vie in Kubotaland.

Today it is supposed to hit 30 degrees C and my goal (after talking to Tim) is to see how many greenhouse trays I can get washed (outside, since the greenhouses will be like ovens) before I pass out from heat exhaustion.  I'm hoping to get about half done, thanks to my new blue toy--a pressure washer.

Life is good.
Keep an eye on this post, because when I find the camera, there will be some photos of orange things edited in.

Kubota talk is about as inspirational as I can muster this morning, so have a great day, everyone, stay healthy, be safe, and most of all, enjoy life!!  You can't take it with you!!