Friday Ladies Bible Study Group

This is our Friday Ladies Group. Okay so two are looking down but it is the best we could do. The sun was shining directly in our eyes. The study as I have said before is really good. We have 3 more lessons to go. Then we are going to do I Corinthians using John MacArthur’s study book. Today has been busy. I made a loaf of bread, then made a batch of laundry detergent. We are doing school and in my spare time I have hung out 4 extra large loads of laundry on the line. Rain is supposed to come tomorrow so I wanted to get as much dried outside as I could. We had frost this morning with temperatures about 28. The house is just now started to warm up. I didn’t want to build a fire because then the clothes I put on the line smell like wood smoke. Not a bad smell-just not that fresh spring smell I wanted. Tonights supper menu will be baked chicken, broccoli and cheese, and mashed potatoes. And of course the bread I made today. Dessert will be rhubard dumplings. Sounds pretty good. I guess I better get started on all this food. Hubby has just come in and seems to be VERY hungry. Take care and God bless.

April 19, 2010 1

God’s Dryer

I wanted to show you all why clothes dry so quickly here in Floyd. We are blessed with wind almost all the time. This is a blessing in the summer. Not so much in winter. Anyway it makes the clothes dry quickly and they are usually pretty soft. Thank you Lord. God bless.

April 8, 2010 2

Thursday

My Grace took this picture the other evening. The clouds were beautiful. Thanks for the picture, Grace. Today looks as though it will be another beautiful day here in Floyd. The sun is shining, the birds are singing praises. Beautiful! I am getting ready to hang clothes on the line. So much fun. I also just finished making some homemade yogurt. I have not made this in a long time. I usually make kefir. However I am having difficulties getting it to thicken. I think it has something to do with temperature. Without the fire, I don’t think it is warm enough in the house for it to set. I had this same problem last year in the spring. So maybe I’ll just make yogurt for a while. Must be time for a change. School today as usual. Hopefully we will finish getting the garden ready to plow today. I am really ready to play in some fresh turned dirt. Get some early crops in the ground. Onions, lettuce, peas, cabbage. YUM! I don’t think I’ve told you all, but we have a mama goose setting on the island on the pond. Much excitement. We have never had one make a nest here before. We are certainly looking forward to seeing babies swimming around. We have always said when the birds were singing they were singing praises to the Lord. On another blog, I read about listening to their praise songs. I so much like that thought. So it is time for me to go hang some clothes on the line and listen to some beautiful praise music. May your day be filled with the sound of praise. God bless.

April 8, 2010 0

Spirea Bush

Another sign of spring. The spirea bush is in full bloom. It has beautiful, small white flowers on it. I think Friday when the ladies come I will make a bouquet of spirea and forsythia blooms. Very cheerful! School today as usual. It is getting so hard to do school as usual. We so want to be outside playing and doing outside chores. The girls playing-me doing outside chores. Well, we must persevere. I know it will be worth it. Temperature is very nice here today. About 80 degrees. I have clothes drying on the line, blowing in the breeze. I love hanging clothes outside. They smell so wonderful. Tonight’s menu will be homemade pizza. Last summer, we made several jars of pizza sauce from our tomatoes. We have almost used them all so I guess we will need to make more this summer than we did last summer. I think it is important for my girls to know how to raise a garden, to harvest the produce and then how to preserve it for later use. I think in todays fast paced America this is becoming a lost art. I was blessed to acquire this knowledge from my mother and I want to pass it down.

It tastes as good as it looks. Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 7, 2010 1

Spring

Forsythia in full bloom.

The only thing missing here is my bench!

Gooseberry bush.

More forsythia bloom.

I just love spring! I think yellow is such a bright, cheerful, happy color. Busy day here. Piano practice, shopping, a little school. Beautiful temperatures. I have clothes hanging on the line to dry. Everything is getting green quick. I pray things don’t get in too much of a hurry. Frost is still very likely. Tonights menu is shimp stir fry. Dessert will be jello with whipped creme. Simple. Easy. I hope to get some outside work done this evening so I want to keep the cooking at a minimum. Hopefully more spring pictures tomorrow. Take care and God bless.

April 5, 2010 0

New Life

The field above our house has come to life. Several new calves have been born. They run and jump through the new grass. They have so much fun and are such a joy to watch. Today we worked outside most of the day, picking up in the yard, getting the garden ready. David, Jess, and Daniel came this afternoon. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Ate them outside at the picnic table. The sun was shining brightly. A beautiful day.

The girls enjoyed some fishing time. It was one of those days that I just thank the Lord I live where I do. Clothes blowing dry in the wind. The birds are singing so beautiful. Frogs peeping. It makes me want to do all my work outside. I even open my window just a little bit at night so the frogs can sing me to sleep. Wonderful time of the year in Floyd. It’s been a really hard winter but spring in sweet. Just like life. Sometimes life is hard but the Lord is good and brings us through to spring. Well, I must go. My baby boy is here. Take care and God bless.

March 20, 2010 1

More Signs of Spring

I could hardly wait to post these pictures! The crocus are so bright and beautiful. The rhubarb is coming up nicely. I LOVE SPRING! This has been a busy week for us. All day Tuesday spent in Roanoke at the eye doctor. Wednesday was a fun day spent with our friends, the Horns. Today has been a beautiful day here. Temperature around 60 degrees. We can hardly believe it. I hung our clothes out on the line-they will smell sooooo good! I plan on having london broil on the grill tonight, probably home fries and corn on the cob (from our garden last year). I purchased some strawberries at the store today. I usually don’t do that this early in the season but they looked so good. Strawberry Shortcake for dessert tonight. We usually go down to Jessica’s in early May. There is a” pick your own” strawberry patch. We love it. We try to pick a lot, freeze them for winter. We also make lots of fresh strawberry jam. YUM! Anyway I have a praise. My truck is fixed!!!! Hubby and his brother worked until dark last night but we are back on the road. I never imagined how much I would miss that old truck until I had to jiggle my schedule with Hubby’s. One vehicle can be a little trying to say the least. The girls and I don’t go a lot of places but it sure is nice to be able to go when we want to. I guess I better get busy cooking supper, Hubby is looking in the pantry so he must be hungry. Take care and God bless.

March 18, 2010 2

Geese are back

What are beautiful sight! The geese are back. They look so pretty on the pond with the sun shining on them. We heard our first frogs peeping Saturday night. Spring is on its way. I will be posting pictures this week of other signs of Spring. I am sooooooooo glad. Yesterday was a good day. Pastor Tom had a good message, then we had a team leaders meeting afterward. Our Sunday School Director retired and George accepted the position. We really have no idea what his duties will be as of it but I’m sure we will learn as we go. Last night’s menu at church included a hamburger casserole, baked beans, potato salad, pretzels and dip, a peach jello salad, and brownies. I took something no one from church had ate before, pickled corn. It was a success. Most seemed to like it. I guess its kinda like kraut, you either like it or you don’t, not much in- between ground. Today will be school as usual. Tomorrow both girls have eye doctor appointments. We plan to leave early in the morning so as to do some shopping for shoes. Recital is this Sunday. I hope to hang clothes on the line today. It gives me an opportunity to be outside, plus saves us money. Temperature is supposed to get in the upper 40’s today. Things are drying up from all the melting snow. It will soon be time to start preparing the garden for summer. I get excited just thinking about all this. Well it is time to begin working. Take care and God bless.

March 15, 2010 0

Remember This

Who remembers these? Obviously I do. This machine was given to me by my mother-in-law several years ago. And yes we do still use it. Last summer, we had very little rain. Our water source is a spring. So in order to save the spring water, we washed our clothes on the wringer. Wringer washers use much less water than automatic washers. It was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed it. Now however it will be much easier to use. My hubby hooked it up in his wood working shop. Am I special or what? It now has hot and cold water at the touch of a faucet. It also has it’s own drain. No more carrying water to fill it up and then carrying water to empty it. I know the body of the machine looks pretty “rustic”. It works great though and thats what counts. Well, I thought some of you might like a trip down memory lane. Have a great day and God Bless.

December 1, 2009 0

New Dog

I must be getting soft in my old age. What was I thinking? We went to visit my oldest daughter this weekend. She wanted to get our grandson a puppy. We found some free and I suppose Dad and I gave in to the excitement of the moment and brought this guy home. He completely enjoyed the ride home(over 1 hour) in Julie’s lap so I suppose this means he likes to ride. He is lab and shepherd mix. We already have 1 large dog (chow and retriever mix)

He is an excellent farm dog and we want him to train Jasper to be a good dog also. Other than the puppy we also got some new clothes for the girls while shopping with Jess. Dad and David did some more remodel on Dave’s bathroom. Walls are sheetrocked and shower stall is built. Pictures of this can be found on Dave’s blog www.dlbates.com. We also received some much needed MawMaw and PawPaw time. I wanted to let everyone know my husband also has a blog he has started working on www.gdjg55.com. Check it out.

August 23, 2009 0