The reality of nature

Remember those cute little kittens I posted earlier about? Well... a wild, male cat had at them the other night and now they're in kitty heaven. Living in the city completely removes one from realizing that while nature is beautiful--and many of us humans have suddenly come to the conclusion that we need to get back to "our roots"-- it can also extremely vicious, particularly with newborns of any origin. As a city girl, the violent death of our two cute barnyard kittens was shocking! There is one more kitten left, and Tanner took it upon himself to hunt the wild cat with his gun the day after the "murders."

Speaking of newborns and nature, Vance and Louise ordered 100 day-old quail, and they arrived this morning. We put a little tray of water (.1 millimeter high, it seemed) in the feed trough (their new home) with them and when I came back 2 hours later they were soaked and almost 20 were dead. The live ones were piled on top of each other under the single heat lamp trying to keep warm, death camp style. We separated the feed trough in two, added a second heat lamp, figured out a better watering system, and now they're as perky as ever. (The reddish photos are the result of the heat lamp.

It's that time of year again

Harvest time! When the wheat is golden and everyone's stress management capabilities are, well, stressed.

The combines are huge beasts of machines--the biggest in the business. We have a first taste of the harvest this year: the very high yields are a bright point amidst the gloom of low wheat prices. (Since I'm beginning to sound like a farmer-analyst, this simply means that EVERYONE planted wheat around the world 2 years ago. There's so much of it that it barely costs a thing.)











Mom and my Aunt Vicki (my Dad's sister) came to visit via rental car from TX, via plane from San Francisco. It was great to see Vicki. My mom promised her this road trip because she wasn't able to come to my wedding in March. They got to stay in "The Scale House", and Vicki couldn't get over the dead animal heads hanging from the wall. What a cool building!

"Wildlife" at The Ranch

I've never had pets other than guinea pigs. Now I'm infatuated with animals! We have 20 chickens (and 10 eggs per day), 8 cats and 2 VERY new kittens at The Ranch. Figuring out a way to "get rid" of so many cats without actually ending their lives is the biggest problem they've posed so far.

"The Ranch" is a name Tanner and I chose because we needed an easy way to differentiate between my in-laws house. I like to call Vance and Louise's place "The Compound" because there are so many cool buildings on their property! Check this one out. And that's just one of them!

Getting settled

Yesterday was spent hiking in the beautiful Konza Prairie with Tanner, stopping only to stalk hidden wild turkeys and photograph wild flowers. I'm amazed at how Native Americans (the Konza Tribe--you can guess where Kansas's name comes from) and the European settlers were able to tame this wonderful wilderness.


Our apartment is on the 2nd floor of a house built in the 1850s, one the very first homes in this city. It's located in, of course, the old area of town, within walking distance to plenty of shopping, the University, and most importantly, Starbucks. Our landlord Dave did a knock-up job of restoring this house, using the original wooden framework, vents, and even door hinges! Most interesting are the tops of the door frames: the family who first lived here wanted the state of Kansas to secede from
the United States and become its own country! They were, after all, on the edge of the wilderness. Hence, the engraved sunflowers topped with a royal crown to mark the state's sovereignty as a nation. Little did these people know that half the country was yet to be discovered.