Christmas Pickles

I have made these pickles for about 30 years. They are definitely a favorite at our house. These are made from the large overgrown cucumbers. We intentionally let these get large for the purposes of making these pickles. The fat, yellow ones are the best but the large green ones will work as well.

7 lb cucumbers (after cutting), 1 cup lime, 1 cup vinegar, 1 sm. bottle red food coloring, 1 tbsp. alum, 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 8 cinnamon sticks, 10 cups sugar, 2 packages cinnamon red hot candy or 8-10 drops cinnamon extract.

Peel cucumbers. Cut in half long ways. Using a spoon remove seeds. Slice into thick slices. Soak in one cup lime and enough water to cover cucumbers for 24 hours. Remove from lime water and wash well. Soak in ice water 3 hrs or overnight in the fridge. Drain. Mix one cup vinegar, food coloring and alum in enough water to cover cucumbers. Simmer 2 hrs. Drain. Put back into ice water. In another kettle bring to boil 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and cinnamon red hots. After boiling, pour over drained cucumbers. Let stand 24 hrs. Drain reserving juice. Pack cucumbers into jars. Bring juice to boil. Pour hot juice over cucumbers. Process in a water bath canner 5 min. for pts, 10 min. for qts. Makes approx. 14 pts.

These taste like spiced apple rings. Very delicious!

July 31, 2013 5

Thursday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great today. We are kinda warm here in Floyd-86 degrees but we do have a very pleasant wind so it doesn’t seem so bad. At least, not if you are in the shade!

We worked in the garden this morning. We started early but it still got pretty hot before we were done. This is a picture of the first raised bed. We have been enjoying the salad greens and green onions for a while now.

We had a great visit yesterday with my Uncle John and Aunt Elaine. They live in Mighigan and had never been to the farm before. Jess and her kids came up. Everyone went for a ride in the bumpy truck. It was so good to get to see them.

Our grapevine seems to be doing okay now. I was a little worried about it as it got frostbite by the last frost we had. We won’t have as many grapes as last year but it looks like there will be a few.

The roses are blooming and look very beautiful in the tree. We spent most of the evening sitting here yesterday enjoying the view and time spent with family. I wanted to tell you all about something beautiful I saw last night. I almost ALWAYS have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. Well, last night when I got up I looked out our bedroom window and the sight I saw was totally amazing. The stars were shining so bright in the sky and underneath them the lightning bugs were everywhere! So many it looked like blinking Christmas lights. I stood there watching it all thinking how good our God is to allow me to see something like that!

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 13, 2013 5

What We Still Look Like

Hello everyone! I thought I would show you all what it STILL looks like here in Floyd.

Ice still covers everything. I was hoping to show you all how beautiful it is when the sun shines on it but none of these pictures do it justice.

We are still snuggled in and enjoying the slow pace of days with nothing major to do. We will be starting back school next week.

I have to tell you all about all the fun we had last evening. We opened the chickens gate to see if they would come out and explore a little. Well, they came out just fine. The problem was, they didn’t want to go back in. I think they didn’t want to walk on the ice. When it started getting dark, instead of being on the roost, they were scattered everywhere-under buildings, in the wood shed. We had to gather them all up and put them in their house. Needless to say, we were SO COLD! Silly chickens, they will not have an open gate this evening.

Our actual temperature here this morning is 15 degrees. I’m not sure what the wind chill is but I am certain it is in the single digits. COLD!! I am working on another afgan. I made Jessica and Chuck one each for Christmas but forgot to take a picture of them. Jessica’s is purple and white-Chuck’s is green and yellow.

I hope you all have a great day. Stay warm and God bless.

December 28, 2012 3

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. We certainly did. Saturday was a full day. All my kids and my grandkids here at our home. God is SO good. We enjoyed a good meal. We had ham, rolls, potatoes, green beans, corn and so many desserts I don’t think I could name them all. It was such a fun day.

We will be having our candlelight service this evening. We all look so forward to it. I think it is a beautiful service. I wish I could get pictures of it but my camera doesn’t take very good night time pictures.

I pray each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas. God bless.

December 24, 2012 1

Mrs. Sally’s Decorations

We love to visit Mrs. Sally and see all her Christmas decorations. Her walls are covered with these beautiful wall hangings she has made.

She also has so many nativity scenes.

This one came from Israel. I think it is my favorite.

She has lots of snowmen.

We had a really nice visit. She cooked a beef roast with potatoes and carrots. I took fresh made rolls and an oatmeal pie.

Not much going on here. Just normal stuff. Hubby is gone to work and I am letting the girls sleep in a little bit. Clothes are in the machine washing and dishes are waiting.

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 19, 2012 6

Monday

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. Things were kinda slow for us-just the way we like it. We didn’t do much of anything on Saturday, just normal cleaning chores. Yesterday, we had a nice day at church. My Secret Sister gave me a tin of homemade cake pops. They were delicious. We came home, ate lunch and then the girls and I went to the movie theater. We very seldom go to the theater. It is reserved for big treats. We usually try to go at Christmas time as part of their Christmas gift. We then went to Wal-Mart and finished up some shopping. Everyone is coming to our house Saturday for our Christmas get together.

Not much else going on here. I am making another batch of homemade yogurt. This time using the pureed fruit. Supper tonight is cabbage casserole, pintos and cornbread. We are warm here today-mid 40’s. I do not have a fire as of yet. We are holding off as long as possible.

I hope you all have a great day. God bless.

December 17, 2012 3

Christmas Play

Sunday our youth performed their Christmas play. They always do such a great job.

It was hard to get a good picture that showed everyone. All the youth participate and even some of the adults. Our pastor said he thought this years play was the best one yet (of course, he says that every year!)

This beautiful kingfisher came by for a visit the other day. Grace did a good job of getting his picture.

She also took this picture of our sky the other day. We have been having beautiful weather here. We are in the low 50’s right now. It is cloudy today though with wind. I think we are supposed to get some rain later on. We are hoping it holds off for a little while as Hubby is working on my car. I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but my car is not working. Hubby thinks it might be the distributor cap. He is replacing that today. We are all praying that fixes it.

We have been doing school this morning, laundry, etc. All the things that seem to build up during busy weekends. I am making some homemade rolls to go with supper and I also am trying a new recipe for homemade yogurt. I’ll let you all know how it turns out. I really like the idea of homemade yogurt but I REALLY prefer the taste of flavored store bought yogurts. I am just not very fond of plain yogurt-kinda tastes like sour cream to me. Anyway, this recipe has jelly in it. We’ll see. I don’t want to say much about it until I have tested it.

Time for lunch for us. We are having homemade chicken noodle soup. Tonight’s supper will be meatloaf sandwiches (on homemade buns), fries (using our home grown potatoes) corn on the cob (frozen from our garden). I love it. Eating fresh made and home grown. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

December 10, 2012 7

Monday

Hello everyone! I thought I would share a few sunrise pictures from yesterday morning. It was a beautiful sky.

Saturday was very cold here. We ended up not doing much outside as it was just too cold. Sunday was cold in the morning but warmed up nicely as the day went on. A good thing too as it was parade day here in Floyd. We LOVE our Christmas parade. It is always so much fun. Pastor Tom and Mrs. Sally came home with us after church. We had taco soup and applesauce for lunch. Then we left for the parade. Our church did a float this year for the first time. Julie, Grace and several others walked behind the float and gave out candy. It was a lot of fun.

In this picture is Pastor Tom, Mrs. Sally, myself, Julie and Grace. Our float was one of the earlier ones, so everyone got to watch the remainder of the parade.

We are getting back into our routine today after a week break from school. We are working on science now. We have already finished bible and history. It promises to be a nice day here. It has warmed up already. Our temperature is upper 40’s with lots of sunshine.

Well, I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 26, 2012 5

Chuck’s Visit

Today, Chuck and his family came for a visit. We had a very nice day. We ate baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, sweet potato casserole, homemade rolls and biscuits with peaches for dessert. He loved his swing. I am hoping it makes it home safely. He left with it tied on the top of his Pathfinder. The kids played with the kitties most of the day. The other big entertainment was clothes pins. Children have such imaginations.

A picture of the food table.

Here we all are getting ready to eat. Julie is hiding behind Chuck.

I pray you all have a wonderful Christmas and God bless.

December 23, 2011 5

My Christmas Gift

Hubby has been working on my Christmas gift. I love it!!!

This is a side view.

Front view and

all folded up. It will hold lots and lots of clothes. I will take a picture later of it full of clothes.

He has also been working on Chuck’s gift.

A porch swing. I think it is very pretty. I really like the two colors together. Chuck and his family are coming up tomorrow. I have to get busy today to finish his “goodie basket”. We will be having ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade rolls.

The Horn’s are coming over this evening. For supper, we will be having 15 bean soup, rolls and a peppermint cake. I got the recipe from http://nadinesnook.blogspot.com/2011/12/peppermint-cake.html I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

December 22, 2011 10