Mountain Mama… Country Living
We have snow-about 6″. I thought I would share with you all some of our snow pictures. This picture was taken from the dining room window.
So was this one.
The front deck.
The pond.
The side yard.
The field behind the house. Everything is BEAUTIFUL!!! The snow started about 3:00 p.m. and ended around 9:00 p.m. It was so pretty. We have already made snow cream this morning. YUM,YUM!
I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
God was certainly showing off yesterday morning. We had an absolutely beautiful sunrise. The colors were so vibrant. These pictures DO NOT do it justice but I wanted to share it with you all anyway.
We were not the only ones who noticed how beautiful it was. I turned the tv on yesterday evening to catch the weather and the weatherman was talking about all the sunrise pictures they had been getting in.
The girls and I went down to Jessica’s yesterday to watch the kids while Dave and Jess went out on a date. David will be traveling to Las Vegas next week for a conference and they were wanting a little alone time. It was a good day.
Today is back to school. We originally had planned on Dave and Jess coming up today but little Sam is sick. I hope you all have a good day and God bless.
The temperatures here have been wonderful. Upper 50’s for several days now. We actually did not have a fire yesterday or today. Amazing! So what do we do when it’s this warm outside-cut wood, of course! Here are a few pictures.
This tree had been dead for quite a while. It was a pretty big tree. I hope you can see it. If you look at the right of the picture you can see where we cut it down. Hubby was very glad for his new larger chain saw. His old one would never have cut through it.
The wooded area where we were cutting opens up into a beautiful field.
We wheelbarrowed the wood to the truck. This made it a little easier to load. Hubby had to split most of the blocks just so we could lift them into the truck. We worked on this tree for 2 days and still didn’t get it finished. Hubby’s chain messed up on his saw so we had to quit until he gets it fixed. We did school in the mornings and then after lunch we would go cut wood. It was hard work getting the wood around the hill but we had a good time working together. I told Hubby all this physical exercise was keeping us young (lol).
What is more fun than riding in the truck bed after a hard day of working. God is good. We are getting ready to leave for Sunday night bible study. We are studying in Exodus. Tonight’s menu is sloppy joes, potato chips and dip, cole slaw and dessert (unknown at this time). I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.
Hello everyone! I thought I would share a few pictures from along our beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. It is lovely this time of year.
I have always loved this church sitting upon the hill. Saturday was a wood cutting day here. Chuck and his family came over to help. We brought down 2 huge trees. We got them all cut and brought home. We still have to split them though. It was a really fun day. Chuck’s girlfriend had never been part of wood cutting. (She’s a town girl). I think she had a good time though. The kids had lots of fun.
Today the girls and I went to Roanoke to pick up a few things. We went walking through the mall, which is something we don’t do very often. I stepped into Macy’s-my first time. You all remember that I have been looking for a hard anodized pot to use for cooking down my sauces. One like Mrs. Sally let me borrow this summer. Well, they had one on sale for 1/2 price!! Yeah, me!!! I was very happy. I very seldom come across deals like that. I certainly am glad I walked into that store.
Well, that’s about all that’s been happening here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Just look at all these beautiful blueberries! I think I mentioned we planted 3 blueberriy bushes this year. Well, this is one of them. They all have lots of blueberries on them but I think this one has the most. They seem to be doing very well so far.
Monday, we worked around the house. The girls and I made a batch of cherry jam. It is very tasty! Yesterday, we worked in both gardens, hoeing and weeding. We then took down the greenhouse and put it away for next year, cleaned the fish tank, and did several odd chores that have been needed to get done for a while. The girls worked on history and science while I ran into little town to get chick feed. Supper last night was hamburgers, corn on the cob, and pineapple all fixed on the grill. I love cooking on the grill. Not near as much clean up involved and the kitchen doesn’t get heated up.
Well, today we will be cleaning out the chicken house and working on the nests. Definitely not my favorite job, but it is a little cooler this morning so hopefully that will make it a little easier. This morning I am making kefir and buttermilk. I have shared before how I make my buttermilk but maybe someone is reading this that hasn’t read it before, so I thought I would share it again. It tastes a lot like kefir. Heres what I do. First add 1/4 cup of whole milk buttermilk purchased from the store to a quart jar. I suppose you could use lowfat or fat free for this, we just prefer whole buttermilk. Finish filling up the jar with milk. I use raw milk but any milk will do. I leave the cream on but you can take it off. I then shake it up and sit it out on the counter for about 20 hrs. There is no set time for how long to leave it out. It all depends on the temperature of your house. This same rule applies to kefir. The warmer the temperature the quicker it will set. It is ready when you turn the jar over and it all leaves the side of the jar in one clump. Shake the jar for about 5 min and put in the fridge to chill. Now to making kefir, I use kefir grains when making my kefir. Jess bought the grains for me a little while back. Before that I used the powdered starter. The grains will continue to produce indefinitely. I store them in the fridge in a jar covered with milk. When I want to make kefir, which is usually every other day, I take them out, finish filling the jar 2/3 full with raw milk and leave it out on the counter for about 24 hrs. This time is also dependent upon the temperature in your home. Kefir is very good for us. You can read about the benefits of kefir online. It is full of good stuff. It tastes very good in smoothies. I think it is good to drink plain with just a little sweetener.
Well, I guess we better get busy with our day. God bless.
I thought I would share with you all a few pictures of the snow we got on Sunday. It was (in my opinion) the perfect snow. It was beautiful to look at, it didn’t get bitter cold after the snow and it is already melting off.
We have been working on school and getting housework caught up. I wonder how it is that our house got so dirty when we were not even here! Well, you know what they say, “a woman’s work is never done.” But I love it. It really makes me happy to look around our home and have things be in order. Speaking of which, I guess I better get busy with our day. Tonight’s supper will be tuna cakes, pinto beans, fried potatoes, rolls and (maybe) a peach pie for dessert. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Beautiful grapes! Last night a friend of ours called and said they had some grapes that we could have if we wanted them. They had already used all they wanted so we loaded up and went over to pick. We picked about 3 bushels. The girls and I have been busy all day, processing them. We are using the steam juicer. I think we will end up with about 20 qts, maybe more. What a blessing. God is so good!
Guess what? We have a broody hen! Well, where I come from we call them setting hens but here most folks call them broody. Anyway, she is only 4 months old. I don’t think I have ever known one to set that young. We have kept Mr. Rooster separate from the hens so her eggs would not hatch but she doesn’t seem to know that. The girls and I wanted to put her back in the coup with Mr. Rooster so we could let her set but Hubby said no. No more chickens-(this year). Anyway, we moved her out into her own little coup for a few days. The other hens were glad as she was hogging the only nest they will use. They have two other nests but for some reason they all prefer to use just this one.
I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.
Look what I found today at the dumpster. Beautiful! I should tell you all that at our dumpsters people set things out beside the dumpster for others to get. It is amazing the things you will find. It is not uncommon to find appliances like dryers, etc. Sometimes they will even put a paper on it telling you what is wrong with it. We call it “greenbox shopping” (our dumpsters are green). Anyway, today when I stopped to put the trash in, there was a box with this beautiful teacup in it.
Also this set of old teacups. No saucers though. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything.
And this old sugar bowl. I could hardly wait to get home and clean them up. I love old dishes.
Today was busy running errands and shopping. We have been gone all day. Thank the good Lord our car has air conditioning as it is hot again today. Grace has a dentist appointment tomorrow so we will be gone most of the day again. Well, it is past time for us to eat supper so I better get busy. Tonight’s menu is garlic bread and baked spaghetti with cantalope for dessert. Enjoy your evening and God bless.
We have a very small snowball bush that was given to us last year by a friend from church. I was not sure it would survive the winter but it did and now has one beautiful bloom on it. It also has several new starts coming up from the root. Next year we are hoping for lots of bloom.
Yesterday the girls and I went to big town. We needed chicken feed and a few other things. We went to Books-A-Million, which is a big treat for us. We used to have one in Christiansburg but they moved to Blacksburg. The girls had some money they had been saving. They each bought a new book with their money. I found this documentary in the bargain DVD basket. I am thinking of using it some for next year’s history course.
We have had several days of fog and rain. Today, though, the sun is peeking through the fog. Hopefully the weekend will be nice. Dave, Jess, and the boys are supposed to come up for the weekend. Our church is having a clay shoot tomorrow. Dave is going with Hubby to shoot and the rest of us are going to a big yard and craft sale here in Floyd. We hope to picnic Sunday and celebrate Hubby’s birthday.
Enjoy your day and God bless.
These beautiful yellow birds are one of my favorites. For years, I tried to get them to come into my feeders with no success. I bought the expensive thistle seeds that they are supposed to love. They were not interested. Then David’s grandmother, Doris, told me to buy the black oil sunflower seeds. Not to buy the wild bird mix, just the sunflower seeds. That was several years ago and she was absolutely right. We get all kinds of birds at our feeders and all I ever use is the sunflower seeds. Today was the first spotting of the goldfinch. Isn’t he breathtaking? I love the cheerful yellow of his feathers and of course their song is so pretty. We have had several male and females at the feeders all day. If you look closely you can see the sunflower seed in his mouth.
Grace is feeling some better and so far she is the only one sick. Thank you all for your prayers. Today our thermometer says 70 degrees!!!! I am so happy! After school, we plan on cleaning the inside of the car before taters start growing in there. Just kidding, its not that bad but it does need a good cleaning.
Enjoy your day and God bless.
Merry Heart Crafts 