Mama Goose

I thought I would show you all Mama Goose on her nest. She is nesting on the little island on our pond. Somewhere close to her but invisible to us is Mama Duck. From what we can figure, they both starting setting at about the same time. We look forward to seeing babies soon.

The girls and I had a fun day yesterday. Julie does have to start wearing glasses though. The eye doctor called them part time glasses. He said for her to wear them when she was doing school, reading, doing computer work, etc. To which I said well, that’s pretty much full time glasses. But anyway, she was just glad they didn’t put drops in her eyes. She was SO dreading that. After the eye appointment we went to Goodwill, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot and Lowes. We were looking for a certain color of stain for outside but we couldn’t find the color we have always used. We then ate lunch at Little Caesar’s (the girls favorite eat out place). After that, we came towards home-stopped and spent some much needed time at the Horn’s. It had been so long since we had been able to get together. We had a great visit but time just went by too quickly. It seemed like we had been there no time and it was time to go. She made me a nice hot biscuit so I could sample her dandelion syrup. It was really good. You can read about it here on her new blog http://oneandahalfacrehomestead.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/dandelion-syrup-tastes-like-honey/ My dandelion jelly did not set up. I used powdered pection that I had on hand instead of the liquid (Sorry, Mrs. Faye, I will listen to you next time) so my jelly will now be called syrup. I used some this morning to sweeten coffee and it was very good.

We had rain early this morning. Everything is very wet and the temperature is chilly-low 40’s. I think we will probably get a frost tonight and maybe tomorrow night. I am hoping it doesn’t damage any of our fruit. When I walked out toward the pond to get the picture of Mama Goose, I turned back toward the house and took this picture of our hens.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 5, 2012 6

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello ladies, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. For some reason, things have been busy around here and it’s been difficult for me to make a post. Grace is feeling better and I thank you all for your prayers for her. So far, we have been blessed that no one else has gotten sick.

We are on Thanksgiving break from school. The girls are very happy. Today is planned out as just a fun day. We will watch a movie, The Prince of Egypt, also play a few games, and listen to Christmas music. I will also be busy baking today. We are doing Thanksgiving at Jessica’s. Everyone is bringing something. I am to bring the rolls and the ingredients for punch. The punch we all love is called Angel Punch. Jessica’s grandmother, Marie would always make this punch at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We really like it.

My bread machine just beeped so it is time to start shaping the rolls. I better get busy. I pray you all have a safe and happy thanksgiving. God bless.

November 23, 2011 7

A Wood Cutting Day

Saturday, before Grace’s party, we went up on the hill to cut wood. Grace decided (just for fun) she wanted to chop this log with the ax. She chopped for a pretty long time. This is how much she chopped.

Pretty good, considering it was splitting maul and not an ax. Then Hubby had difficulties with his chain saw and we had to load up and come back home for him to work on it.

Now you can’t see him but in the left corner at the tail gate is Shadow. This is what he is waiting on.

He is too old and too heavy to jump up into the truck bed. Hubby has to lift him up now but we would never dream of leaving him behind. If the girls are riding in the truck bed, he thinks he has to be there too. He checks out the area where we are cutting and then comes back and stays where we are. If the girls go for a walk, he goes with them. He has always taken his job very seriously.

Everyone loaded and ready to go. Hubby did get his chain saw working again. He went back up and finished getting the load of wood while the girls and I stayed down and got everything ready for the party. It was a really fun day.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 7, 2011 7

Natural Bridge

We had such fun day yesterday. We went with the Horn’s to Natural Bridge. I have lots of pictures to show you all. We’ll start today with the bridge itself. Isn’t it beautiful?

This picture shows how big the bridge actually is.

I love this picture of Grace. I wanted one of Julie too but she was ahead of us with the Horns.

I wanted to tell you all the amazing blessing we had on Friday. We went with Hubby to check on a job and were coming home from C-burg. We had some rain and then the sun came out. When this happens, we are always on the lookout for rainbows. Well, we found not one but two. The girls and I had never seen a double rainbow. These both were complete arches reaching from one end of the sky to the other. They were so huge. Sometimes it seemed as if we were driving right into them. We got to see them for at least 15 min. It was so amazing. We were so excited. I wish I had my camera with us to take pictures but it probably would not have done any good. Vicki was at home with her camera but she couldn’t get a picture of it. She said it was too big to get it all. Isn’t God good to show us something like that.

I’ll show you all more pictures of our trip next time I post. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

September 26, 2011 8

Sunflowers

I just love sunflowers. I think they are so cheerful and fun. These come up underneath the feeder and I think they add so much to the area. The cats have played there so much though that a lot of them are drooping down to the ground. They still look pretty though.

I have been kinda busy for the past few days. As you all know, we went down to Jessica’s on Friday. We had a great visit and enjoyed play time with the boys. Then we went to pick the apples. She didn’t have very many but we got what was on the tree. I haven’t worked them up yet so no picture of pink applesauce. On Saturday, we went to pick apples at Faye’s sisters house. We ended up with about 4 bushel. When we got home I started working on them. I have told Faye all about our steam juicer and sauce maker. She has been wanting to buy them for herself. Sunday evening at church Gene (her husband) said he was going to buy them for her. We met them yesterday morning in town at the Farmers Supply. He bought the steam juicer, the sauce maker and a steam canner for her. She was so excited. We then went home with them and showed them how to operater their new equipment. She had a 5 gal. bucket of apples to work up. From that she got 2 qts of juice and 5 qts of applesauce. It was a really fun day. I really want one of those steam canners. It takes my water bath canner about 1 hr. to start to boil. The steam canner is ready in about 10-15 min. Amazing. We definitely would be saving on the amount of gas we use. Hopefully, we will be able to get one soon. Much faster and more economical.

I worked up some more of our apples yesterday evening after we came back from Faye’s house. We will be working on them more today. So far, we have 8 qts of applesauce and 4 qts of apple juice. Grace has been taking some more pictures. This is a picture of the sunset God gave us yesterday.

I forgot to tell you ladies about the nice weekend we had. Remember Thursday evening I said temperatures were cooling off. Well, Friday and Saturday morning the temperature when we got up was 58 degrees. Can you believe that? Then Sunday and Monday morning it was 61 degrees. The highs for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were only in the mid 70’s. Wonderful!! Thank you Lord!! Yesterday, it started warming back up and today I think it will be back to normal but it certainly was wonderful to enjoy a few fall-like days in summer. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 19, 2011 6

A Good Day

Yesterday was such a fun day. Daniel and Sam spend the day with us. We went riding in the “bumpy truck.” When we came back Daniel told me “That SURE was a fun ride, MawMaw.” I love it. Children are so easy to please. Just simple things make them so happy.

Wild strawberries we saw blooming on our ride.

PawPaw, of course, pointed out the deer trials. It was a very nice day here yesterday, warm with lots of sunshine. This allowed for lots of outside playing. They saw the chicks, the new kitties, the baby calves and the goslings. A full day in little boy world.

We had a storm pass through last night with thunder, lightning and lots of rain. I’m not sure what the day will hold. Right now it is cloudy and everything is soaked. Maybe not a good day for hanging clothes on the line. We’ll see.

This rosebush came up on its own at the fence line. It has had a tough time getting started. The cows keep wanting to eat it. This year though it is huge and full of buds. It has never bloomed before so we are excited to see what it looks like. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

May 11, 2011 4

Pandapas Pond

Yesterday we decided to take the day off from school. Hubby had to run a few errands in Blacksburg. This little pond is close to B-burg so we thought it would be a nice to have a picnic and hike around the pond. We had a really fun day.

This is one of the side trails you can walk on. We stayed on the main trail that goes around the pond.

We saw lots of ducks and geese. Also turtles. I will show the turtle pictures and some more of the scenery tomorrow. Temperature is so nice here this morning. The birds are singing beautifully. I have bread rising and a pork tenderloin roast ready to put in the oven for supper. I think it is going to be a good day.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 22, 2011 7

Hard Worker

We start them working young around here. Daniel was a big helper Friday as PawPaw, MawMaw and Daddy worked cutting wood. He rode in the “bumpy truck”. He was a very tired, very dirty, little boy at days end but definitely a very HAPPY little boy. He had so much fun and I considered myself blessed to be part of his fun day.

They have been visiting since Thursday and we had a wonderful visit. Dave and Hubby went to shoot sporting clays Thursday and Saturday. We worked on the wood Friday. David will need to go back to work tomorrow to rest. We have been having beautiful weather here in Floyd. Friday, when we were cutting the wood, we worked in short sleeves most of the day. Temperature was in the mid 50’s. Unbelievable but great. Temperature today is 40 degrees. It is a little overcast with some sun and a slight breeze. So much better than last week (in my opinion).

I think I will go enjoy some of that sunshine. Take care and God bless.

January 2, 2011 5

Sunday

Yesterday was such a fun day for us. We decided to take the girls to the movies as part of their Christmas gift. As we very seldom go to the movies, this was a big treat. We found (thanks to our friends, the Horns) a movie theater that is affordable and family friendly. We watched The Chronicles of Narnia-Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was a very good movie and we all had a great time. Grace has read the book and Julie is in process now of reading it.

Also, as my aprons are now being sold in a local store, I thought it would be nice to try out some different patterns. I had been told it would be nice if I could do matching aprons. One for Mom (or MawMaw)and one for a little girl. I found a pattern I like pretty well. Here is a picture of it.

Not exactly what I was looking for but a good place to start.

This is the material I picked out. The floral will be the main material and the striped will be the contrasting material. What do you all think? I am having difficulties with my sewing maching, so pray I can get it up and running soon. (Could be the operator, who knows!) Anyway, I am excited to start a new project and upping my abilities. I have not made many things from a real pattern. Usually, its something I just figure out on my own or I alter the pattern so that it fits my abilities. Sally, our pastor’s wife, has agreed to help me if I get in over my head. I don’t think I will though. It looks pretty easy on paper. I will show you the finished results when done.

I think I’ll go check out my machine. Take care and God bless.

December 19, 2010 4

Candy

We had so much fun yesterday making candy. When we got to Vicki’s, she had already made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. They loved it. After lunch, we made oreo truffles, then peanut butter balls and last we dipped oreo cookies in white chocolate. It was such a fun day. The recipe I use to make the peanut butter balls is:

1 stick butter-softened, 1 lb powdered sugar. Mix these together. Then add 2 cups creamy peanut butter. Mix everything together. You will need to add about 1/4 cup water to this. Just add a little at a time until it is a little creamy. Be careful not to add too much water. Form into balls. In a double boiler, put 2 cups chocolate chips and 1/4 block parafin wax. Heat until chocolate is creamy. Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate. Place on wax papered cookie sheet. Refrigerate and enjoy. These are much better after they chill. I want to make Martha Washington balls next. I think they are my favorite.

Time for us to leave for piano practice. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 9, 2010 3