Now and Then

I posted this picture on March 11, 2012.

10 days later it looks like this. Amazing! Things are really popping out here and I am so glad. Monday and Tuesday, I had to help Hubby with the electrical at the the job site. Today, I am very glad to be here at home. We are hoping to get some outside work done this afternoon after school. I’m not sure though. The morning has been chilly with lots of fog. The fog is lifting now and the sun is starting to lighten things up. It is looking hopeful for outside work.

I wanted to share with you all something I just recently purchased for our kitchen. It is called a butter keeper. Are any of you familar with them? Well I just love it. I love using real butter but do not like the fact that it is so hard to spread when kept in the fridge. Well, this butter keeper allows me to leave the butter sitting on the table without spoiling. And it looks cute, too.

Here’s how it works. Every couple of days, I put cold water in the bottom of the crock. The butter then stays nice and cool but spreadable. I really like it.

Well, it is time for me to give a history test. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

March 21, 2012 6

Creeping Phlox

I took this picture of creeping phlox last week in Salem when Grace had her eye appointment. Lots of things have been springing to life around here this week. I hope to have pictures to show you later in the week.

Yesterday was spent outside. We got the fence posts in the ground for the new chicken lot, picked up the yard, got some mowing done and worked on a flower bed. Then it was time to get ready for church. Our church was having a special singing last night. The group singing was The Hylton’s. They were 4 generations of them singing praises to the Lord. The youngest was about 3 and she sang “Jesus Loves Me.” It was beautiful. I can just imagine Jesus listening to her sing and saying oh, how I love these little ones.

Today we have overcast skies with a light drizzle. The temps have dropped some and the fog is moving in. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and God bless.

March 18, 2012 4

Rainbow

I thought I would share with you this rainbow. Isn’t it beautiful? We love rainbows. In Grundy, where I was raised, we very seldom ever saw a rainbow. Here in Floyd, we see them much more often but they never fail to amaze us. Today, Julie was finishes up her outside chores and had taken a few minutes to spend time with the new chicks. She loves to do this. She pets them and gets them all tamed up. Anyway, it started to sprinkle rain and the sun was shining. She turned around to look for a rainbow and they it was! She came running in to get us so we could all see it. Then, of course, we stood out in the yard (in the rain) looking at it. God is good!

Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 16, 2012 6

Thursday

Hello Ladies, it has been another busy week for us. Monday we went with Hubby to the job site. This is a picture of one of the rooms he is working on. He has gutted all the upstairs and Monday we put the new subflooring down in 2 of the rooms.

He put these on the rafters upstairs to give them extra support. This is a very old house (over 100 years old). He will be running new electrical throughout the house, hanging sheetrock, lots of updates. We are VERY thankful to the Lord for this job. It is the biggest job he has had in several years.

We took our school books and when the girls had finished with school they wanted to go exploring.

Then on Tuesday, Grace had an eye doctor appointment in Salem. This usually takes all day. It takes about an hour to get there from our home. Wednesday, we did school in the morning and then went to help Hubby again. Today, we went back to Salem to pick up Grace’s eye glasses prescription and then made a trip to Rocky Mount Wal-Mart to get the prescription filled. Tomorrow we are going down to Jessica’s. A week spent on the road.

It has been warm here this week. A beautiful week for being outside. We slept last night with our bedroom window open a little. I love falling asleep listening to the frogs. We are getting rain now. The rain and the warm temperatures will get everything blooming and greening up. So exciting! I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

March 15, 2012 5

Rhubarb

Our rhubarb is coming up!!! We love rhubarb. This variety comes in early in the spring. We have another variety up in the garden that comes in later in the summer. Today has been a nice day here in Floyd. Sunshine and temperatures in the mid 50’s.

Jess had to do some more work on our soap. We did some research and tried something called rebatching. We think (hope) it is going to work. I wanted to let you all know I really like the orange cleaner I made. It smells really nice and cleans good. I have another batch making now.

Well, not much going on here today. I just wanted to let you all know about our rhubarb. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 11, 2012 5

Thursday

I took this picture this morning as Hubby and I were sharing our morning coffee on the front porch. You all remember our glassed in front porch we worked so hard to redo not too long ago. It definitely gets lots of use. We have our morning coffee on it, the girls and I do school out there, we love it.

The Horn’s came over for a visit today. I had to show Vicki our new chicks. They are doing very well. We were a little concerned the other morning when we got up our temperature was 17 degrees. That was the actual temperature not the wind chill. I went to check on them but they were all nice and warm under the heat lamp. So I am hoping this means they are hardy little ladies.

Yesterday was beautiful here. Sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50’s. Today we are getting some rain. It is still warm though- upper 40’s. I tried a new recipe for supper last night. It is called Crockpot Teriyaki Pork. I got the recipe from http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/ It was very good. I will definitely be making it again. Sorry about the print being different. I’m not sure what is going on.

Lunch is over and time for school to start. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 8, 2012 2

Busy

Hello ladies. I had intention of having pictures to go along with this post but somehow managed to completely forget to take any. Sorry. Anyway, yesterday the girls and I attempted something new for us. We rendered fat into lard. What I thought would be fairly easy, of course, WAS NOT. Things are usually more difficult the first time you try to do it so we are hoping-if- we try it again it will go smoother. First off, we tried to do it on the propane burner we use for canning. We couldn’t turn it down low enough without it going out. Then we put it into the crockpots. That went better. We have 3 crockpots. We filled them up and let them simmer for about 5 hours. Then we strained the fat through a colendar and a cheesecloth. We then had enough to fill 2 crockpots with fat and start the process again. We finished last night about 8:00 P.M. Long day. I’m not really positive we did it right though. I was probably about 14 the last time we butchered a hog and my Mom was in charge of rendering the fat. I think I should have paid more attention.

Then today we went to Jessica’s and attempted to make soap. Key work, attempted. We have made soap before with lard purchased from the store but not rendered lard. For some reason, we could not get the soap to trace. We finally just poured it into the molds and said a prayer. We’ll see how it turns out. We made regular lye soap and a laundry soap bar. Even if it doesn’t turn out, we sure had a lot of fun doing it. I’ll keep you all posted on the outcome.

Well, it’s been a long two days and I am tired. I hope you all have a great evening. God bless.

March 6, 2012 3

They’re Here

We got the baby chicks yesterday afternoon. Aren’t they cute? We have 22 of them. 5 are Buff Orpingtons and the others are Rhode Island Reds. They had sold out all the Buff’s but 5 when we got there. We took the last of the Reds that they had. The lady said they would get more in on Monday but didn’t know what breeds they would be. The odd one is a Ameraucana. I think they are also known as Easter Eggers as they lay colored eggs. We are hoping this one is a hen. The girls thought it would be fun to get something different. Anyway, they spent the night in the kitchen next to the wood fire. It was pretty cold here last night with rain, fog and wind so we thought they might be better off inside the house. Today, we moved them to the coop with a heat lamp for warmth. The house seems quiet without their chirping.

The girls and I are off to Sam’s and Lifeway today. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

March 3, 2012 7

Chicks Coming Soon

The girls and I have been busy today getting Mr. Rooster’s coop converted to a chick house. We have been planning on getting new chicks this spring. Jess and David are going in with us to get them. The girls and I went over to Tractor Supply the other day to get a new wheelbarrow tire. The breed of chicks we wanted to get were already there. We are getting Buff Orpingtons (not sure I spelled that right). We also are getting a few black chickens which I have forgotten the name of. I thought they would give the chicken house a little different color. We plan on putting them in Mr. Rooster’s coop for temporary.

The inside of the coop.

This is the area the chickens from last year are in. They will soon be moving into another house and lot area. (As soon as we get it ready.) Then the new chicks will move into this house and lot. When they get old enough we will combine them all together.

The day was absolutely beautiful here. Lots of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60’s. While we worked, as you could see from the previous pictures, we had lots of help from the chickens. Sometimes even jumping up into the new coop. Our ladies are very curious. We also had these visitors. They did not come very close though. We hope they decide to nest on the island again. The mallard ducks have also been checking the island out. Spring-I think- is definitely on its way.

We hope to get the new chicks tomorrow!! Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 1, 2012 4

Maple buds

Grace took this picture of the maple buds last time we were down at Jessica’s.

Today has been a very beautiful day here with lots of sunshine. Temperatures are in the upper 50’s and the wind has finally laid down. Very nice. We had planned on going to the Horn’s today after school but Grace is getting a sore throat. So we decided not to go. Hopefully, it is nothing serious and we can go over there on Thursday. That’s the plan anyway.

I have found a new curriculum for school and was wondering if any of you all were familar with it. It is http://www.clp.org/christian_light_education It seems pretty good and I am thinking of going with it for math especially. Their teacher books have the solutions to the problems, not just the answers. I need that especially now as we are getting into geometry and alegbra.

I think I will go enjoy some of this sunshine. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 27, 2012 5