Update on Repairs

I have no pictures to post today as I forgot the camera at Jessica’s. The girls and I came home to check on everything and wash some more clothes. We are leaving this morning to go back down. Hubby stayed at Jessica’s so he could get the drywall hung on the ceiling after David got in from work. They decided since the damage was so major they should just redo the entire laundry room. A redo was on the to-do list anyway. This just speeding it up a little.

Saturday was Daniel’s birthday party day. We had lots of fun. I have pictures of his party on my camera. I will post those next time, if I don’t forget my camera again. Well, I just wanted to let you all know where we where on the repairs. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 8, 2010 1

Unexpected Repairs

Water can do a lot of damage. This is what Dave found when he discovered a water leak behind the wall where his breaker box is. Lots of damage. Obviously this had been leaking for quite a while.

We went down on Tuesday evening as soon as we got the distress call.

Hubby and Dave fixed the leak yesterday and went to Lowes to get materials. They are tearing out the floor today and beginning repairs. Jess and I came back to Floyd to do some of her laundry as this leak occurred in her laundry room. The plan is to put new sheetrock on the walls and ceiling, also they are putting down tile on the floor. All the old must come up before any of the new can go down. They think they will also have to replace the floor joists too and level up the floor. Lots of work. I have been really blessed to have a man who knows how to fix all this.

Lots to get done so enjoy your day and God bless.

September 2, 2010 0

An Unplanned Visit

Yesterday was a fun day. At the spur of the moment, we decided to travel down to Grundy and visit Hubby’s parents. We took food for lunch. We took canned beef, green beans, corn, and peaches. We also dug some potatoes, gathered some tomatoes, cabbage and grapes. This was a special treat for them as they are no longer able to raise a garden. While we were there, she gave me some more empy canning jars. This way hopefully we won’t have to buy any to finish up the canning.

She does have, though, growing on her hill a huge cushaw vine. This is one of the hidden treasures it contains. I really like cushaw, probably more than pumpkin. I think it makes a better pie than pumpkin. We really had a good visit. We took the scenic route home. I’ll post some of those pictures hopefully tomorrow.

Today will be spent catching up and enjoying the day. We will be starting school next Monday, so this is kinda our vacation week. Take care and God bless.

August 31, 2010 2

Peaches

Today we have been busy with peaches. We had 11 qts of peaches. After peeling them, I decided to try out my new helper. I put the peelings into the steamer juicer and got 2 qts of juice. From that juice, I made 6 pts of jelly. I think they look really pretty in the jar. It was easy to do. I think it was a wise investment. Supper this evening was fried chicken, gravy, corn and biscuits. Of course, peach jelly for dessert.

A new visitor to our pond. He (or she) arrived the other day for a short visit. Hubby says he thinks it is an egret. Of course, he stood out with his white color. I think the geese were a little amazed. We have been having rain lately. It is raining now as I am doing this post. I had hoped to go to the garden and check on things but I don’t think that will be happening. Oh well, maybe I’ll just rest. Take care and God bless.

August 17, 2010 1

Newest Helper

My newest helper. It is a steam juicer. I only found out about these this summer. I think it will be very helpful for making juice. I also can steam veggies in it. Our grapes are almost ready so I am excited to try it out. Hopefully it will be a wise investment.

We had a very busy weekend. Hubby went to a shooting range with some people from church and the girls and I went to do some shopping. I’ve been having trouble with my blood pressure being high and I am taking Hibiscus capsules for it. Our health food store does not carry it so we have to go to another town to get it. We also had to go to Lowes and purchase new stove eyes. All the eyes on my stove had stopped working but one. We got those put on but still had to go back Sunday and get two new receptables. I think we are in good working order now. It felt like I was cooking on a new stove this morning, with all the eyes working.

A couple at our church celebrated their 50th anniversary this past week. The church and her family gave them a surprise party. Yes we did manage to keep it a secret. Pretty amazing! We had lots of good food and fellowship. We are so blessed to have such good examples for our young people to follow.

The decorations were very nice. One little boy asked me if the cake was real or was it just to look at. It was very pretty. It was real by the way.

Well, we have lots to do today so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 16, 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

Peaches

We were very blessed to have these peaches given to us. They are called Saturn peaches or donut peaches. These are very small and I was not really sure how to best use them.

As you can see, we had quite a few. We decided to make something like an applesauce from them. We used the food strainer. We made a pie from our peach sauce yesterday to see how it would taste. It actually was very good. Hubby was home yesterday and he helped. Thanks, Babe.

Temperatures here are hot. We are getting a small shower here this morning. Much needed. However the sun is already back so it probably will get hot fast. We are headed into town for piano practice. I also need a few spices for the beets. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 27, 2010 2

Garden Enjoyment

I thought I would post a few pictures of things that are growing in our garden.

Green beans starting to set on the vine. I will soon be able to pick some of these and enjoy them.

Our hot peppers. They will taste so good in our homemade salsa.

Sweet banana peppers. YUM! Hubby and I have had to start watering our garden. It is so dry here. Forecast is calling for a chance of rain over the weekend. We really need it. Seems like no matter how much you water, it never does the garden as much good as rain from God does. I think I forgot to tell everyone what a nice weekend we had here-very cool temperatures. Two mornings when we got up the temperature was 43 degrees- then up to the lower 50’s, upper 50’s and today mid 60’s. Daytime temperatures over the weekend were great-low to mid 70’s. Starting Monday though its been back up to HOT-not near as hot as some places but hot for us. 96 degrees yesterday when Hubby came through Christiansburg. Upper 80’s here on the farm.

Last nights supper was grilled chicken, green beans, pasta salad and rolls. I fixed everything on the grill so as not to heat the house up any more than it already was. We ate outside at the picnic table. It was really nice. A little breeze was blowing which helped a lot . Yesterday I got a recipe from my friend Vicki-applesauce pie. I made it and thought it was really good. I wanted to share it with you all.

2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1 tsp.ground nutmeg, 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg.(You can use cinnamon instead or a little of both). Beat eggs, add eggs to dry ingredients. Gently combine butter applesauce and vanilla until mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 45 min or until golden brown. (I would recommend if your applesauce is sweet to cut down some on the sugar, I didn’t but Hubby thought it was a little too sweet. I thought it was just fine.)

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 7, 2010 1

Butterfly Paradise

This is a picture of our butterfly bush and our rose of sharon. I think this is a very pretty spot in our yard. The butterflies and the hummingbirds really love this area so there is always lots of activity here.

Just one of the many who enjoy.

Our gooseberries. This bush has been loaded this year. The girls and I so enjoy eating them. I looked them up on the internet once and read that they are a dessert gooseberry. They are very sweet and delicious. I am thinking about looking up a recipe for gooseberry pie. I think it would be good.

Yesterday for ” lupper” we enjoyed steak on the grill, french fries, steamed carrots and broccoli. The broccoli was our first from the garden. So very good! I know lots of you think I misspelled supper, but ” lupper” is our name for a late lunch and an early supper. We just combine lunch and supper together and got the word “lupper”. We have “lupper” a lot when Hubby is home and then have just a little snack later in the evening.

Time for me to go hang some clothes on the line, enjoy God’s sunshine and the birds beautiful songs. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 5, 2010 1

VBS

Here are a few pictures of the decorations for bible school. Our theme this year was Harvesting God’s Word. We had lots of good lessons, fun crafts and games, and of course good food. We averaged around 17 kids each night. I wanted to get some pictures of the kids, but Hubby put it all on video and I don’t know how to load that on the blog. Our pastor was there every night. He has such a heart for kids. I think he had as much fun as they did.

Progress is slow but moving on the new room. A minor setback occurred when we decided to put the door in a different place. This required undoing almost all we had done. Hubby had to remove the floor and do all the plumbing drains different. This will be much better though than the original plan.

The girls and I have been busy today putting up gooseberries in the freezer. We had 6 bags. This is the first time I have froze gooseberries. I hope they will be good. I also gathered some squash and zucchini to put in the freezer. We will be enjoying the first of our broccoli this evening with supper. I think home grown broccoli is so much better than store bought but then I think everything is better home grown. If I finish these other veggies in time, I think I will put up some rhubarb. I have gotten a little behind with my harvesting due to bible school and the new room. Oh well, all in God’s time. It has been a very pleasant morning for me. I so much enjoy putting up our own veggies that we raise in our garden. It always gives me a feeling of peace and contentment.

We are planning to go to the fireworks this evening in town. We had hoped the Horn’s would get to meet us there but Quentin had to work. Jess and Dave are going to enjoy fireworks down at their town. They will be coming up next weekend. Sam’s first trip to the mountains. I can hardly wait to see them all. I guess I better get busy if I expect to get anything done. Happy 4th of July. Take care and God bless.

July 3, 2010 1