Birthday Pictures

Daniel’s birthday cake. He was very excited about his cake. He loves “Cars” and especially “TowMater”. (Hope I spelled that correct)

Daniel blowing out the big #3 candle. My, but they sure grow up fast.

Friends playing at the party. All in all I think he had a really fun day.

David, Jess and the boys are coming up tomorrow for a visit. Our church will be sponsoring a clay shoot tomorrow. David will be spending the day with Hubby at the shoot. Julie and Grace are going to be with them. Jess, myself and the boys will find something else to do-too much loud noise for little ears. Sunday they plan on going to church with us. This will be Sam’s first visit to our church. MawMaw can’t wait to show him off. After church we will be going to the Mennonite church for their annual hymm sing. It is always such a blessing to go there. Beautiful hymns!

Sunday night we will be starting our new bible study. We will be doing John MacArthur’s study on II Corinthians. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

September 17, 2010 3

A Resting Kind of Day

Today has been a kinda slow day. Julie went shooting at the shooting range with her Dad today. She had a really great time and says she wants to go again. Grace and I stayed home. We made applesauce muffins. I got the recipe from one of my blogger friends. Remember the “peach sauce” we made earlier in the summer, well, we used it instead of applesauce. They turned out really good. Then we made some homemade rolls to go with supper tonight. We will be having beef roast, corn from the garden and potatoes, with the homemade rolls of course. I think watermelon for dessert.

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperatures in the upper 70’s, low 80’s. One of those nice relaxing days. I thought the picture of the cat summed up how the day has been. Slow and lazy. Yesterday was bible study day. We only have one more lessons in I Corinthians and then we will start the Ruth study. I am really looking forward to it. I’m sure there will be lots to learn.

Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather. My green swing is calling me. Of course, the other cat will have to move over.

God bless.

August 28, 2010 1

Country Living

These are just a few pictures I took yesterday on our way into town. This road runs alongside the Parkway for a while. Then branches off into other roads. It is one of the many roads we can take to get to town. I thought you all might enjoy seeing it.

On the side of this road, fall flowers are already beginning to bloom. Joe Pie and Goldenrod.

A field on the same road.

In about another month, corn cutting will begin. This hill will have lots of activity. These are just a few things I am blessed to enjoy every day. Sometimes the beauty of this place I live overwhelms me. I haven’t lived very many places in my life but I do know this place I live now is very beautiful.

The girls and I had fun yesterday. We ran some errands, went to the Salvation Army and Goodwill, Wal-Mart of course. I found Hubby a nice church outfit at the Salvation Army and a tie to match at Goodwill. He normally doesn’t wear a tie but now that he is a deacon, they have to wear a tie on the day we do the Lord’s Supper. We also found Grace a skirt and a top to match and both girls got a swim suit. They did not have one and they hope to get to swim over the weekend at David’s mom’s pool. We are going down this evening. She has some more apples that are ripe and some pears.

Today is Ladie’s Bible Study. We are still doing it at Barbara’s house, probably all this month. However today is starting out nice and cool so we might could have done it here. Oh well. We’ll just stick to our original plan. I have dessert this week and I am taking a peach pie I made. The girls are going to play at the Horn’s while I am doing bible study. They are very excited. It will be a fun day for everyone. Vicki and I will visit when I come to pick the girls up. I’m planning on surprising her with a new type of tea for us to share. I guess though if she reads this before I get there it won’t be a surprise.

Well, I gotta go. There’s work to do. We want to be ready to leave when Hubby comes in this evening. Gotta go get me some MawMaw time. Take care and God bless.

August 6, 2010 1

More Spaghetti Sauce

Yesterday we had 12 more quarts of spaghetti sauce. I think this will be all the spaghetti sauce we make unless we have lots more tomatoes. I want to make salsa and maybe try our hand at ketchup. We also usually just can tomatoes and tomato sauce for use in soup and chili. Temperatures here have been hot and humid. Low to mid 90’s.

Jess talked to her mother-in-law yesterday and she said the name of this apple is Scarlett Apple. She thinks she ordered the tree from Stark Bros. I typed it in on Google and found all kinds of information about it. Very interesting.

Today is bible study day so I better get busy. We have decided to do it at Barbara’s house. It is so hot here and Barbara has air conditioning. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2010 4

Spaghetti Sauce

Our spaghetti sauce turned out really good. We got 12 qts from a half bushel of tomatoes. Today we will do the other half bushel. The recipe we used:

Scald and peel half a bushel of tomatoes (we used our food strainer instead), 6 cups chopped onions, 4 chopped green peppers, 1 clove of garlic. Cook for 1 and a half hours, stirring frequently. Add 1 pt crisco oil, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp crushed basil leaves, 1 tbsp italian seasoning, 1 tbsp parsley, 5-12 oz cans tomato paste, 4 jalopeno peppers. Cook another 45 min stirring frequently. Put in jars. Heat lids and seals to boiling. Put lids and seals on jars. Cover jars with towel and let sit overnight.

This recipe does not call for processing as the liquid is so hot when you put it into the jars. However, if you are uncomfortable with this method you can process in a hot water bath canner or freeze the sauce.

We better get busy. Lots to do today. We need to get busy on the other spaghetti sauce and on cleaning house. The ladies will come tomorrow for bible study. Take care and God bless.

July 22, 2010 2

Just a Swingin

Sam really loves his swing. He does not however like his car seat. He was sooooooo ready to be home Saturday after shopping. He wanted his swing and some sleep. Us girls got up early and went blueberry picking. We picked 2 gallon-1 for us and 1 for Jess. We came home just before the rain started. Good timing. It rained most of the day there.

Afterward, we all went out to eat at Golden Corral. Then we went to look around at Lifeway. I purchased a new bible study. It is Ruth by Kelly Minter. I think this will be our next Friday Ladies Study. It looks very interesting. I saw so many new studies that I want to do. We even picked out one for the girls to do for their bible class this coming year. It was a great day. We all had lots of fun.

We are getting some much needed rain today. Temperatures are cooler too. 74 degrees right now. I like that. Did you all notice my drying log on the right. My darling baby girl, Grace, did that for me. She told me she watched David put the others on. I was very impressed with her knowledge as I have no idea how to do any of that. Thanks Grace.

Church was very nice yesterday. Our pastor’s sermon was on what it takes to make a man. It was a very good sermon. Then we had communion, followed by a fellowship meal. LOTS o f good food. Then we had more good food last night with our Sunday Evening Study. All in all it was a really good day. I better get busy. Take care and God bless.

July 19, 2010 1

Applesauce

The girls and I finished the apples yesterday. You can check out our logs at the right to see our total. I really like cooking the apples in the microwave. So much easier. It makes the applesauce thicker too. When I cook them on the stove, I have to add a little water to keep them from sticking, so it makes the applesauce a little thinner. Today we will be canning a bushel of green beans. Also working on cleaning the house as tomorrow is bible study day.

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week. When we got up this morning about 6:00, the temperature was 59 degrees. This makes it so much more comfortable for sleeping. I would guess yesterdays high was in the low 80’s. Very nice. Days like we have been having remind me why I like living in Floyd and especially here on the farm. God was very good to bring us to this place. Thank you Lord.

The birds are singing such beautiful praises this morning. I think I’ll join them in their worship. Breakfast outside sounds wonderful. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 15, 2010 1

Grapes

A picture of our grapes. They look like they will be plentiful this year. When we bought these vines several years ago, we thought we were buying purple concord grapes, however they are green. They first year we almost didn’t get any because we kept waiting on them to turn purple. They are very good, though. We just had to adjust to grape jelly not being purple. I am thinking about making grape juice this year. I have no experience with it though. All I’ve ever done with our grapes is make jelly but a family can only eat so much jelly. If anyone is familar with making juice, I would appreciate any advice you can give. I am thinking about purchasing a steamer/juicer for this but I am not sure it would be worth it. What do you all think?

It was extremely hot here yesterday. When we went to bed last night it was 90 degrees in our bedroom. When we got up this morning about 6:00 it had cooled down to 82 in our room, thats still pretty warm. Hopefully, today will not be as hot but it is what it is. Tomorrow our bible study will meet at Wanda’s house. She has air conditioning.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 8, 2010 3

Yummy!

If I were making a list of things that make me happy, this would definitely be one of them. I feel so blessed when I go out in my garden and gather delicious food for my family to enjoy. I know it sounds kinda way out there but it is true. This evening’s supper will incorporate all these healthy veggies. I’m just not sure how yet. Maybe grilled chicken, grilled squash-I’m not sure but I know it will be good. Today has been busy. I’ve been trying to get some of the outside work done before it gets too hot. After seeing the big snake yesterday evening, Hubby immediately started weed-eating. I started mowing the yard. We got about half finished before it got to late. I finished mowing the yard early this morning. I have been washing clothes and getting them on the line to dry. They are probably already dry. It is hot here but we have a really great breeze so it’s not so bad (especially in the shade). I am going to work some more in the garden after lunch. I need to tie the tomatoes, get rid of some nasty potatoes bugs. It also needs to be weeded but I think I’ll save that for this evening. The girls have been busy inside doing housework. The ladies come tomorrow for bible study.

This is a picture of what we call the canning building. The bottom is our cellar and on top we store all our empty cans, our canners and all our canning supplies. When the girls were little, they started calling it the canning building and the name has just stuck.

Well, I think it’s time to get some lunch going. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 24, 2010 1

Enjoyment

Time to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor. Our first zucchini, our first squash, and our first peas. Delicious!! I think it is so exciting when the garden first starts coming in. I combined all these together with a few other ingredients and had a wonderful stir fry for supper last night. I am eating the remainder of it for lunch today. Today is ladies bible study day. We are on our third lesson. It is about being a true servant of God and how we can encourage our church leaders. I think it is a very interesting study. Many times in churches today, the members can’t encourage their leaders because they are too busy criticizing them. This lesson shows us ways to avoid that trap. The girls and I cleaned house yesterday, found some new kittens (which are adorable) and in general just enjoyed the day. Dale and his mom came by for a visit and to pick up his wood splitter. They came right when I was taking some homemade rolls out of the oven. It was so much fun to be able to share them. Hot and buttery. YUM! Food is so good when it’s shared.

Can you believe this is the baby geese? They are almost as big as mama and papa. It certainly has been entertaining to watch them grow. This morning as Hubby and I enjoyed our morning coffee together, there were lots of wildlife activity here on the farm. The geese were playing at the pond, a deer was grazing in the field straight in front of us, and a coyote was passing through on the ridge to our right. Some mornings we don’t see anything but cows and birds. Other times there are lots to watch. I so enjoy our morning time together. We think its worth getting up a little earlier for. The ladies will soon be here so I guess I better get ready. We are going to Jessica’s tomorrow. PawPaw has yet to see his new grandson. Take care and God bless.

June 18, 2010 1