July 4th

I hope you all had a great 4th of July. This MawMaw was very happy! For the first time, EVER, all our grandkids were here at the same time. Chuck and his crew arrived first.

They managed to find a few ripe blackberries.

We did hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill and sit in the shade most of the day.

My oldest granddaughter, Alexius.

My youngest, Miss Katie.

Everyone was very impressed by the little frogs that are in the “little pond”.

Sam, just being Sam.

The swings got lots of use.

I think the hammock was the most loved though. They spent lots and lots of time making the hammock into a big swing. After we ate, we all took a ride down the Parkway to Mabry Mill. I, of course, forgot my camera but Dave took a picture of everyone there at the mill. He is going to email it to me so if I can figure out how to transfer it over I will post it. I so badly wanted to get a group picture but the day just sped by and it slipped my mind. Then on up to a little place called Meadows of Dan. We ate pizza in a little gazebo there. Thanks Dave! The little boys had tons of fun playing with rocks that were there. We then came home and Dave and Chuck set off some fireworks Dave had brought with him. The first boom sent 3 or 4 deer running out of the cornfield. I guess they thought it was hunting season starting early. After that it was off to “little town” to see the big fireworks display. We all had a great day. From about 10:30 in the morning till about 9:30 that night, my entire immediate family was together. God is good. Now, I wonder when we could do it again!!

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

July 5, 2012 7

Birthday and Cherries

Today we celebrated my Julie’s 14th birthday. My, my, how time has flown by. Seems like just the other day, my Lord was surprising me by giving her to me. God is SO good. We celebrated at Groundhog Mountain with hamburgers, hotdogs and chocolate cake. The Horn’s came with us and Dave, Jess and the kids met us on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Meadows of Dan. We had a wonderful day!!

Mrs. Vicki bringing trucks for the boys to play with. You will notice she has on a jacket. It was kinda chilly here this morning. 42 degrees when we got up. I think it is supposed to be about that chilly tonight too. It was a nice day though-definitely not too hot.

Daniel seems to be deep in thought.

Jess and Katie. Katie is staying warm in her blanket.

From the picnic area, we went on down the Parkway to Levering Orchard to pick cherries.

The trees were loaded with cherries.

Can you tell Sam loves cherries!

If you look closely in this picture, you will see a man in the top of the tree picking.

We all had so much fun. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than with family and best friends. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 2, 2012 7

Saturday

Hello ladies, I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. We worked today on putting a fence around the gardens.

The “ladies” were very glad. They had not been free all week as we had not had time to get the fences up. We knew the minute they were turned loose they would head straight to the gardens. To express their dislike of not being turned loose they cut back on their laying. We usually get 11 or 12 eggs every day. This week we got 7 or 8. I told them I expected full quota next week. No excuses.

We found this drift netting at the barn, rolled it out and cut it in two pieces. The posts are cut from old wood we got from the job site. Not bad-zero expense. I am hoping the plastic bags that you see will keep the birds away. So far it seems to be working. I replaced the 14 plants they had eaten and so far all is well. It took us 4 hrs to put this fence up. Hubby helped or it would have taken much longer.

The rose bush at the green swing is in full bloom. I think it is lovely this year.

Another picture of the rose bush.

I realized it had been a very long time since I put a picture of Jasper on here.

He is our farm dog in training. Shadow has been teaching him all the tricks. (Most times, Shadow just tolerates him). Well, that’s about it for today. Supper was hotdogs and beans. Simple because Mom was tired. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend and God bless.

May 26, 2012 4

Jess and Sam

We have had a BEAUTIFUL day here in Floyd. The temperature right now is 60 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love it. The girls and I worked on cleaning the house this morning, then we started on school. Hubby is working on a chair design for us. He made our kitchen table several years ago and he made benches to go with it. Well, you know how we women are, now I want chairs instead of benches.

After he worked some on the chair, he decided to cut wood. He went up on the hill and cut wood while we finished school. Then we all worked together splitting the wood and stacking it. It was a great day for outside work. My menu plan for tonight has changed. I had planned on meatloaf, fried potatoes and pinto beans but it is a little too late to do meatloaf. Hubby said he would like hotdogs so we are having hotdogs and pintos. Tomorrow we will have the meatloaf.

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

January 6, 2012 4

Roses-Getting Ready

My rose bush is full of these little buds. I can’t wait to see them in bloom! Of course, I will take a picture so you all can see them too. Today we begin our new study today on I Corinthians. Pray for us, as the ladies seem to think this will be a hard study. To me, hard means digging deeper. Hopefully, digging deeper means understanding deeper. We’ll see. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, not too warm, just right. I washed clothes again and hung them out on the line to dry. I thought I should take advantage of the sunshine. They are calling for rain this evening through Monday. Every year, our church does a youth Trout Fest day. It is scheduled for tomorrow. The pond is already stocked and ready to go. It is a big day. The kids fish from 9:30 to 12:00. Then we have a picnic lunch. Hotdogs with all the fixin’s. Lots of desserts. The kids and the adults have a LOT of fun. Hopefully, it will not get rained out. We went over to a friend’s house last night. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and took them to share. Good coffee, good food, good fellowship. Life is good and God is great! I took Jessica’s advice and made the rolls a little different this time. I put chopped pecans in the middle along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Then for the icing I made a quick caramel frosting from my Mennonite cookbook. The recipe is:

1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Melt together on low heat and boil 2 min. stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup milk and heat just until boiling again. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar.

This was very good on the cinnamon rolls. I know it would be excellent on cakes as well. Time for my day to get busy. Take care and God bless.

May 21, 2010 1