Cutting Wood

Here are a few pictures of the wood pile we have been working on. During the past winter, Marvin decided to have some logging done here on the farm. They wanted to clear out a new pasture land. After the logging crew was finished, they piled up all the unwanted wood. The pile is smaller now than it was at first as several truck loads have already been removed.

This picture shows better how tall the pile is.

This is the pile of locust wood that has been moved to the side. Billy is using this as fence posts for the new pasture land.

Hubby sharpening his chain saw. This has to be done frequently. I wanted to show you all the wood we have cut so far but I didn’t get the picture yesterday and it is raining here this morning. I’ll save that for another post. Last nights low was only in the lower 40’s so hopefully we are done with chilly nights. I have several vegetable plants I want to put out in the garden. I’ve just been waiting for the danger of frost to pass. I’m not very good at remembering to cover them up at night so I usually just wait. School today as usual. We are getting close to being finished with language. It is always exciting to finish a book. I was hoping to do some laundry today, however if I do, I will have to dry them inside. I might just wait until tomorrow, not sure yet. The pile is pretty big today, it will be even bigger tomorrow. I better get started on my day. Take care and God bless.

May 11, 2010 4

New School Books

We received our new school books for next year. This is always an exciting time for us. We love looking at them to see what the next year will be about. Of course, about half way through them they will not be near as exciting. Oh well, enjoy the moment, right. Temperatures have been rather chilly here. 30 degrees this morning with scattered frost. Hopefully no damage done. We spent the weekend at Jessica’s. Saturday was her baby shower day. She received many nice things but of course I forgot my camera, so no pictures. Her mother-in-law got her a really nice bassinet. She is going to use this upstairs in the bedroom for a while. Then they will put up his crib. We also celebrated Hubby’s birthday while we were there. Hot dogs with all the fixin’s and birthday cake. We had a great time. As usual, though, it goes by too quick. When we came home last night, it was pretty chilly in the house. We hurried and built a fire. We still have one going today but I think it is going to warm up nicely. The sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside. Hubby and I are going to get another load of wood while the girls stay here and work on school. Dale-a friend from church- is bringing over his wood splitter this evening to let us borrow. Thank you Dale and thank you Lord for provided us with such good friends. We are truly blessed. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 10, 2010 5

Irises

I think irises are very pretty. These were given to us by a friend at church last year. When we planted them, we were not sure they would live but I think they look pretty good. Today has been a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperatures in the mid 70’s with a gentle breeze. A beautiful day to hang clothes out on the line. Today Hubby and I set up the wringer washing machine for us to use. We had it set up and ready last fall however the line froze and burst so Hubby had to do some repairs. We are ready now. The girls and I washed 3 loads of clothes on it today. It was hard to keep them focused on school because they wanted to help with the wash. I’m sure this thrill will wear off before summer is over but we’ll see. It is a little more work than the automatic machine but more fun to use. I am very thankful to have it. Yesterday, I made some strawberry-rhubarb jam. I used some of the strawberries we got Saturday in N. C. and the rhubarb came from our patch. This is the first thing we have canned for the year. I am looking forward to much more. I really enjoy canning our own food. It is a lot of hard work but I think it is worth it. At least I know what’s in the jar I’m opening for supper. Well, I have much to get done. Take care and God bless.

May 5, 2010 1

Our “New” Car

We have a new car. Well, new to us. It is a 1991 Ford Taurus and seems to be in excellent condition. It gets really good gas mileage. We took it down to Jessica’s yesterday and got about 27 mpg. This sounds great to us as “ol Red” only gets about 8 mpg. Please don’t get me wrong, we are very thankful for ol Red. It is just not exactly a family vehicle. The girls and I used ol Red as our vehicle to ride into town for piano and other things. We have had to use the van (Hubby’s work vehicle) for work and leisure. Not a lot of fun. We had to unload all the tools when we were going somewhere, then reload them back when we got home. Times have been hard. These are choices you make in order to make ends meet. But now by the grace of God we have another car. Paid for-no payments. Thank you, Lord. Tonight’s menu at church is Ham loaf, deviled eggs, corn, green beans, cole slaw and corn bread. I am bringing the green beans (home canned) and the corn bread. I use my grinder and grind corn to make the corn meal. It is baking in the oven now and smells soooooo good. I also cut up some fresh strawberries from yesterday. We are having pound cake with strawberries and ice cream for dessert. It all sound delicious! It has been very windy here today. I wanted to work on my bible study outside but it was just too windy. The girls say God is blow drying the earth when the wind blows like this. I guess that’s as good a description as any. Smells like my cornbread is done. I better get it out of the oven. Take care and God bless.

May 2, 2010 1

Baby Geese

Here’s a picture of the baby geese. We have 6 of them. Ain’t they cute! I have been hoping to get a better picture of them but so far this is as good as it gets. We have been really busy around here. I had to take Grace to the doctor Thursday. She fell and we thought she might have broken a bone in her foot. Thank the Lord, it was not broken just a sprain. She is feeling much better today. We went down to Jessica’s today for a short visit. We fixed hamburgers on the grill for lunch. There is just something special about sharing food fixed on the grill with family. I love eating outside and today was a beautiful day for it. We also went down to a pick your own strawberry patch that is close to her house. We got 4 gal. for us and 2 gal. for our friend Vicki. We ate 1 of our gal. on the way home. They were delicious! When we got home, we went up on the hill above our house and starting cutting wood for this winter. We got 1 truck load cut, brought it down and unloaded it. Many, many more loads to go but it is a start. We will split it later. So of course, all of me is tired. Hubby is mowing and I am ready for a shower. Take care and God bless.

May 1, 2010 3

Growing Up

This boy has definitely grown. I’m not sure based on the past year if he’ll ever grown up but he has certainly grown. He is a very playful pup and has brought lots of love into our house. (Lots of other things too-but we won’t go into that.) Things have been busy around here for the last couple of days. Saturday I went grocery shopping while Hubby worked on clearing out some stuff from his wood working building. Sunday was church. Then early Monday morning we decided to make a trip to Grundy to see George’s Mom and Dad. We didn’t get back home until a little after 10:00 that night. Long day. Yesterday was piano and I attempted to move that mountain of laundry that had built up. We had to dry everything inside. It was very overcast, chilly and windy. Today promises to be better. The sun is shining already. Hopefully we can use the clothesline today. We have 5 baby geese on the pond. Big excitement. I hope to get a picture of them today so you all can see them. Our rhubarb is ready. I think I will make some strawberry-rhubarb jam. It’s one of our favorites. Well, I think my crew is hungry. I better get some breakfast going. Take care and God bless.

April 28, 2010 1

Garden

First step in getting the garden ready.

Then Billy plowed them with the tractor. Sorry I forgot to get a picture of him plowing.

Hubby finished tillering them yesterday evening. We now have peas, onions, and lettuce planted. I hope to get the potatoes and cabbage in the ground this week. I also planted a few cosmos flower seeds yesterday evening. Today will be school as usual. Julie is feeling some better. Hopefully we are getting over all this. We have sunshine at this moment but it is supposed to rain this afternoon. Believe it or not, we actually need rain. The garden was extremely dry. I would have thought with all the snow we had it would not have been. Time for school. Take care and God bless.

April 20, 2010 7

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

Honey Bee

We have actually been seeing a few of these guys around this spring. Very good news. Grace took this picture. Thanks Grace. Things have been a little busy here. Saturday was spring cleaning day at church. We had lots of fun. About 16-18 people showed up to clean. We started at 9:00 in the morning and finished about 2:30 that afternoon. We grilled hot dogs for lunch with all the fixings. You know we got to eat. Then when we came home, I had the most precious message on our answering machine. My little man singing happy birthday to MawMaw. He did such a great job! Hubby mowed the yard and tillered the first garden. I plan to start planting this week. Julie has an earache today. She feels a little better this evening than she did this morning. Hopefully it will not last too long. This weekend has been a little cool here. Upper 50’s for the temperature. Very windy. I guess it wouldn’t be Floyd without the wind. There will be no bible study tonight as some were wanting to go to another church for their revival. We won’t be going. I think Julie needs to stay in and rest. Speaking of rest, I think I’ll go do just that. Take care and God bless.

April 18, 2010 1

Dandelions

I think life is much about choices. How we look at things determine how we react to them. For example we can choose to see this as just ugly weeds we wish did not grow in our yard or

we can view them as bright, beautiful, yellow flowers. Years ago, when my daughters were little, they taught me to love dandelions. Dandelions are usually the first flowers little hands gather and deliver with much love to their mamas. How special that makes them. Perhaps that is why God created them. Anyway my girls and I love them.

This is a flower almost everyone loves. My lilac bush is starting to bloom! I can hardly wait. The bush is outside our laundry room window and it smells wonderful when in bloom.

The girls and I worked very hard last week getting the garden ready to burn off. Somehow the pile seemed so much bigger last week. Anyway we worked every day after school except one. It rained that day. It is now ready to burn. Hopefully if it is not too windy Hubby will do it this evening. Then it will be ready for him to till. He has to do some work on our tiller first but anyway we are gettting closer. I hope to have it tilled and ready to start planting by the end of the month. I love it! David is gone on a business trip, so Jess and Daniel are coming up to stay with us. I am looking forward to a great visit. Everyone take care and may God bless your day.

April 12, 2010 3