Here Comes the Sun

The sunrise was beautiful here this morning. As hubby and I were drinking our morning coffee, the Lord decided to give us a blessing. Just a glimpse into what He can do. I love sunrises. A new day, a day the Lord has made, and I am privileged to be part of it. Thank you, Lord. There’s just something about sunshine that always makes me grateful. The snow has stopped, the wind is laying down some. Our road was blocked by drifts again, so we could not go anywhere. We rescheduled paino lessons for Thursday, hopefully we will be able to get out by then. We are having difficulties with our 4 wheel drive truck. The back wheel is locking up. Hubby took me to the barn Monday to get milk and thats when it happened. Hopefully, he will get this fixed soon. No church tonight. The rule is if there is no public school on Wednesday, there is no church Wednesday night. We probably couldn’t get out to go anyway. School goes on as usual in our household. I tell the girls, they will thank me this summer, when we are finished early with school. I’m not sure they believe me right now, but I know it is true. Well, I better get started on our day. God Bless.

February 17, 2010 1

Snowing Again

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I thought everyone would enjoy some more snow pictures. The last picture is the pond. I know it just looks white but it really is snowing hard. Yes, it is snowing again. 2-4 inches. Well, that don’t sound too bad. We did get out over the weekend. Went to town Saturday and church yesterday. It felt good to get out. Not much else happening here today. Just school and everyday things. We brought Jasper (the puppy-I shouldn’t call him puppy anymore) in and gave him a bath this morning. Very interesting! He hadn’t had a bath in a while as he has been outside most of the winter. I was amazed at how much bigger he is. I have allowed him to stay in today while he is drying. He is a very happy dog, and of course Julie is a very happy girl. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 15, 2010 2

More Snow Pictures

I wanted to get some pictures showing how deep the drifts had gotten. Unfortunately by the time we went back down to the barn it was almost too dark to get really good pictures. This picture shows going down to the milk barn.

This is the side of the road at the milk barn.

This picture is coming up from the milk barn.

These pictures do not show it as well as I wanted them to. There was not enough light. Anyway you can get an idea of how it looks. The road crews have not even thought about our road yet. Fortunately for us, Marvin clears this part of the road with his tractor so he can get up to his cows. If not, there would be no path cleared. The wind, praise God, has slowed down. Temperatures were in the lower 20’s. The weather man says to expect below normal temperatures for the next 10 day, so I guess none of this will be melting any time soon. Chance of more snow coming in on Monday. At least we can get the truck down to the barn now. No bible study tomorrow. No one could get here. I guess I better get busy, getting things done. God Bless.

February 11, 2010 5

New Aprons

Here are two new aprons I just finished. I think the red polka dot is so cheerful. I think it would make anyone happy wearing it around doing household chores, don’t you? Today has not been a very pleasant day here in our little section of God’s creation. High wind has been the main issue today. Gusts up to about 70 mph and a steady wind of about 40-50 mph. We tried to go down to the barn a little while ago to get milk. The drifts were too high for our old 86 Chevy truck to get through even in 4wheel low. The wind is blowing so hard, the chimney is having a hard time drawing, so it has been a challenge keeping the fire going. If you look outside, you would think we live in Alaska. Of course, I’ve never been to Alaska, but it looks like the pictures I’ ve saw. We awoke this morning to single digit temperatures with below zero wind chills. The temperatures did not come out of the teens all day and the wind has continued to blow stronger. The weatherman says we are in a “nor’easter” ( I’m not sure I spelled that correct) until sometime tomorrow afternoon and then the wind will calm to about 20-30 mph. Oh well, that’s winter. Okay, I’ve complained enough about the weather for one day. I know things could be so much worse. We still have electricity, the water isn’t frozen and it’s warm inside our home. God is good! As my step-grandmother used to say “Praise the name of my King” I pray you all will keep warm and safe this night. God Bless.

February 10, 2010 3

Birds

We have been entertained all day today by these beautiful birds. Many, many birds. Every time I looked out my dining room window, I would see 50-60 birds in our yard. Probably 20 of these were doves. We love feeding the birds. They love sunflower seeds. This morning as Hubby and I were sharing our coffee together, we listened as they sang morning praises to the Lord. Beautiful! We take care of them by feeding them and they take care of us by providing beautiful praise music. I think that’s a fair trade. It was a little distracting doing school and watching the birds, though. Well, the fog has moved in here. Super foggy. High wind warnings for tomorrow and Thursday 25-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. This will be for Wednesday and Thursday. I never knew what fog and wind could be like until we moved to Floyd. No church tomorrow night-it’s already cancelled. I guess it isn’t done snowing yet. I just looked out and the snow is pouring down. Oh well. We are warm inside our home, our tummy’s are full and our children are happy. Life is good! God Bless.

February 9, 2010 0

More Snow Pictures

A picture of the field. I was hoping it would show how the sun was glistening off the snow. It was absolutely beautiful.

Our road after the tractor had made a path.

Going up the hill beside the hay barn. Yes, that brown spot proves there is still dirt under all this snow.

Guess what? We’re supposed to get more snow tomorrow. Not much though-about 3″. After all this, we probably won’t even notice 3 more inches. Anyway, we have company coming over today. My brother-in-law and his wife are coming. I made homemade vegetable beef soup(cooked on the wood stove, of course)and I’m making rolls as I type this. I use my bread machine to mix and knead the dough. I love this machine. It is a Zojirushi.

I bought it used several years ago and consider it a very valuable helper. I put 1 cup lukewarm water into the machine, 1/4 cup butter-cut into chunks, 1egg beaten, 3 1/4 cups bread flour, 4 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp powdered milk, 1tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast. Set the machine to dough cycle and walk away. It takes the machine l hr 50 min. to run through this cycle. Then I take the dough out, punch it down and form the rolls. I get about 15 rolls from 1 batch. Then I spray them with olive oil and let them rise for about 1 hr. Bake 12 min. at 425 degrees. When I take them out of the oven, I brush them with melted butter(being generous with the butter). Half of these never make it to the table. They get eaten as soon as the butter is spread on them. One thing I do a little different from this recipe is I put 1 1/4 cup fresh ground wheat flour and 2 cups bread flour instead of using all bread flour. My family doesn’t care a lot for whole wheat so I mix it. I guess I better go check on my rolls and get ready for company. God Bless.

February 8, 2010 3

Our Home

These shots were taken last summer. This is our home. As I have said many times, I think we live in a very beautiful part of God’s creation. Of course, today you would have to really look hard to find the house. It kinda blends in with all the snow. The snow stopped falling yesterday afternoon. It’s very pretty, but I thought maybe I would post something else besides winter scenes. I thought of flowers but decided to go with these pictures. Yesterday and today were snuggle in days. The girls and I watched the 2 disc movie of “Little House on the Prairie”. We watched disc 1 yesterday and disc 2 today. We enjoyed it a lot. We are big fans of the Ingalls family. I’ve worked on aprons and a little on Grace’s quilt/wallhanging. I love snuggle in days. Well, I think I’ll go play with my girls. God Bless.

P.S. I didn’t realize when I put the pictures on but they are almost the same. Sorry about that but as I lack the computer skills to fix this mistake I had to leave it like it was.

February 7, 2010 2

Honey Bun Cake Recipe

This is my honey bun cake recipe. It is really easy but oh so delicious. 1 box yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup oil, 8 oz.sour cream (or sour cream substitute). Mix ingredients, spread 1/2 mixture in a greased 9X13 cake pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the following mixture on top–1 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon. Spread remainder of cake batter on top sprinkle remaining brown sugar mixture on top of this. Swirl batter with a butter knife. Bake at 350 degrees 35 minutes or until done. For the glaze I use 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla and 5-6 tbsp evaporated milk. Drizzle glaze on while cake is still warm and enjoy. I would like to take a minute to thank my friend Marie for this recipe. She is one of the best cooks I have ever known. Unfortunately, Alzheimers has robbed her memory of many great recipes but every time I make this cake I think of her. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do. God Bless.

February 6, 2010 2

Before and Now

I thought you all might enjoy seeing how much snow we have. I wanted to give you something to judge by, so I found the picture of the rock area in summer and then how it looks this morning. And guess what? It’s still snowing. Perhaps most of the day. Wow! This is definitely a record year for snow accumulation here. But you know, even with all the snow we’ve had, I still think it is beautiful. When it is fresh and bright white, it is georgeous. However, one can only stand so much white, right. I am ready to see some yellow, purple, red. Some pansies would be nice, right Jess. Well, everything has a season. I think I want to enjoy this season and what God wants to bless us with instead of wishing for something else. I’m working on this process, anyway.

I made a honey bun cake yesterday. It turned out really good. The recipe called for sour cream. I did not have any and as we are snowed in couldn’t just run to the store to get some. I went on line (what would we do without the internet) and found a substitute for sour cream. Put 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice in a cup-add enough milk to make 1 cup. It really works. I could not taste the difference. Well, I thinks I’ll get busy watching the snow. God Bless.

February 6, 2010 2

More Snow

More snow! We already have about 3 more inches and as you can see it is still coming down. It is supposed to snow all day today and tomorrow. Wow! I think it is going to be a snuggle in weekend. I hope to work on Grace’s quilt this weekend, maybe make a few aprons, have fun with my girls, make a pot of coffee to share with my hubby. Our front porch is enclosed with glass. We love to sit out there, drink coffee and watch it snow. All the beauty without the cold. I have a beef roast on the wood stove cooking. I haven’t decided what to put with this yet, probably potatoes and carrots. Yesterday’s menu was meatloaft, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac & cheese, and biscuits. School today as usual, maybe make some snow cream later. Enjoy your day and God Bless.

February 5, 2010 1