Snow

Can you believe we are getting snow? Amazing!! I can’t remember ever getting snow in October in Floyd. Maybe years ago, but not since we have lived here. Anyway, we are getting it now. It is COLD here-well, maybe not real cold but cold compared to last week. It has been a drastic change in temperature. We are right now in the upper 20’s with wind gusts of 40 mph which makes it seem much colder. Needless to say, we are so thankful for a dry wood supply. Definitely makes all that hard work on Saturday seem worthwhile.

Last night we had an intruder in the meat chickens coop. It was an opossum or as we call them-possum. We leave off the o part. Jasper and Hubby took care of it though. He is definitely becoming a valuable part of our family. Shadow is getting too old for critter chasing. Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting school in just a little bit. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

October 29, 2012 6

Wood Splitting

A little while back, Hubby was working on a bathroom remodel. Him and the owner started talking about getting wood for winter and the owner showed him the wood splitter he made. He said he would be glad to come over and split our wood for us so today we took him up on the offer. It was an awesome machine.

He started around 1:00 and finished about 5:00. It is a really fast splitter.

Here they are just getting started. Notice our ever present helper, Shadow. He is always where we are. He’s such a good dog.

So while the men split the wood, us girls stacked it inside the building. We are now 3 rows deep and 1 side row. There is still much more to stack. Time ran out for today. Of course, they could split much quicker than we could stack.

This is where I would have liked to be. Oh well, sitting won’t keep us warm this winter. I’m just kidding, I really enjoy work especially when we are all working together. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 27, 2012 5

New Project

Here is a picture of my lastest project. This picture is of one I did several years ago. Grace has requested one so I am working on hers now. I have finished the pink and blue rows and will be starting on the red. I also have found a new favorite way of making popcorn. I am not found of microwave popcorn. It always leaves a yucky taste in my mouth. I have been making this recipe for microwave kettle corn and we all love it. You can make it sweet like the recipe says or just leave out the sugar and make regular popcorn.

Much has been going on here for the last week. That’s one reason why I haven’t made a post in a while. First off, last week I threw my back out. I used my mom’s old cane to walk around the last part of the week. I am so thankful that I do not have chronic back problems. It was intensely painful. Then on Saturday we went down to Jessica’s for a pumpkin carving day. We have never carved pumpkins before. It was a lot of fun.

Jess made this cheesecake. It was the first cheesecake she had made. It was very good.

Everyone had a great time.

Then Saturday evening we went to the “Critter Chompin”. It is a wild game banquet that our church sponsors. We do door prizes and I won a new bible “The Story”. Have any of you ever heard of it? It is supposed to be the bible but told in a story form Later on that night though we had some bad news. Hubby Dad had been taken to Pikeville hospital with a heart attack. We went down to see him on Monday-11 hrs driving. Hard day in MANY ways. He is on a ventilator and unable to breathe on his own. Later in the week, he had to undergo surgery for a preforated bowel. Today he is still in extremely critical condition. I would ask if anyone feels led to pray, we would certainly appreciate your prayers. He is 81 years old, a Christian man, and wasn’t in very good health before all this happened. Hubby and I are praying for God’s will to be done.

Well, that’s about it. I will try to keep everyone posted. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 26, 2012 3

Tweetsie Trip

Saturday we went to Tweetsie for the last time this season. We had a lot of fun. The fall colors were beautiful!

Sam was so excited. He loves riding the “choo choo”.

Daniel had a great time. He loves riding all the rides.

This guy has a magic show. The girls loved it. They have always been interested in magic tricks.

Friday we went bowling with the Horn’s. We had so much fun. On the first Friday of every month our bowling alley has homeschool day. They offer discounts on games and shoe rental is free. We are hoping to get to go again soon.

School is going good so far. Of course, the first week or so usually does as it is mostly review. I helped Hubby yesterday so we took our school to the job site, which is one of the reasons we love homeschooling.

Speaking of school, lunch break is almost over so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 9, 2012 4

Wednesday

Hi everyone. I’m sorry about no pictures lately but I have been having trouble with my computer. Hopefully all is fixed now. Saturday, Dave, Jess and kids came up for a visit. Dave and Hubby went to Pastor Tom’s shoot. They had a great time. Then on Saturday afternoon, Chuck and his kids came over too. I was one happy mawmaw. All my grandbabies here at one time. I hope this becomes a habit. We all went to cut wood. I so wish I had taken my camera. It was so cute seeing them all carrying wood to load in the truck. Everyone went. We even had Katie and Sam in the stroller, which did not make Sam happy. He kept saying, “I wanna help PawPaw too.” We thought Sam might be a little too much “help.”

We had a great supper of pork, pintos, mashed potatoes, rolls, peaches and pears. After cutting, loading and unloading two truck loads of wood, everyone was hungry. As they were leaving, I gave them all an apple for the road. Alexius was getting in the car and got her finger shut in the car door. Chuck asked her how she managed to do that and she said, “I was trying to hold my apple and I wanted to give MawMaw another hug”. I felt so sorry for her.

I have been helping Hubby all this week with a bathroom remodel. We finished it today. Tomorrow, he will start installing the cabinets at the old farmhouse he has been working on. We plan on going with the Horn’s this Saturday to Grayson Highlands for their fall festival. We are looking forward to it. It sounds like lots of fun. Well, I think that’s about all that is happening around here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

September 26, 2012 3

Our Trip

Hello everyone! I thought I would tell you all a little about our trip yesterday. I did not get any pictures-sorry. We didn’t actually go down into the town of Mt. Airy so we didn’t see any Andy Griffith stuff. We did have a great time though. We left here about 8:30 yesterday morning and got home about 6:00. A full day. We stopped at lots of produce stands. They were all stocked with beautiful fall mums, pumpkins and such. We ate lunch at Libby Hill. We enjoyed it a lot. We then walked around inside the Mayberry Mall for a while and had ice cream as a treat while in the mall. On the way home, we stopped at a few more produce/farmer market type places. Hubby bought 2 knives that he thinks will be good knives for working up deer and other meats. I bought 10 lbs of pintos, 5 lb. kidney beans, 4 lb. black beans, 3 lb. yellow eyed beans, some white sweet potatoes and a cushaw. I am hoping to can most of the beans to have on hand when I need them quickly.

We are working on our last sack of apples today. I am ready to start canning something else (beans, soups, and chili). Temperatures here are beautiful. Much cooler with lots of sunshine (after our downpour the other day). Dave, Jess and kids are coming up tomorrow. The pastor has a clay shoot at his house every year. Dave and Hubby are going to it while the rest of us go check out some yard sales and maybe a trip to Michaels. Jess has requested an oatmeal pie for tomorrow. I plan on making that this evening. It is a very good pie that tastes like pecan pie, just less expensive to make.

Well, I guess that is about all that’s happening here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

September 21, 2012 5

Rainy Tuesday

Hello everyone! We are really getting rain today. I think it is predicted to get about 5″ but I think we have already gotten that much. Well, we really need rain so I’m thankful besides I love the sound of rain on our tin roof. Makes me want to curl up with a good book and a cup of coffee or tea. However, that is not possible as we are still working on apples. I love the fact that we have all these apples but I am getting a little tired of working on them. So Thursday or Friday, Mrs. Faye and her hubby and us are going to Mt. Airy to purchase new crop pinto beans. We will be spending the day looking at little shops along the way and fun things like that. Then she and I are going to get together next week and can them or at least that’s the plan as of now. I went to her house yesterday to help her with her apples. We did apple juice, applesauce and canned apples. We had a lot of fun together.

Well, that’s about it. Sorry I haven’t posted much but there’s not much going on here. I don’t think I mentioned it but Mt. Airy is the home of the Andy Griffith show. Have any of you ever watched it? I’ll try to take some pictures to show you all. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 18, 2012 3

Tuesday

Hi everyone! Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Actually it has been a beautiful week so far. Our nighttime temperatures have been in the mid 40’s and daytime highs are low 70’s. Perfect temps in my opinion.

Sunday we took the girls to Tweetsie Railroad for a day out. We had actually planned on going with Dave, Jess and kids but the kids had some type of virus going on. Daniel and Sam had it earlier in the week and we thought maybe Katie had escaped getting it. However, Saturday afternoon Katie came down with it so they did not get to go with us. Hubby actually decided to go with us at the last minute. He is not much for amusement parks but I think he didn’t want us going alone. We had a really fun day but kept missing Jess and crew. Sam so loves trains.

Today we are working with apples, SURPRISE! We also had 4 more l00 lb sacks of apples gave to us Friday evening. We will have plenty of apples this winter. I am juicing most of the ones gave to us Friday. We are making applesauce and applebutter too. Our steam juicer and our sauce maker sure do make this work go faster. I am very glad we have them.

Seems like we have been so busy here. I haven’t had time to make a post or read anyone else’s posts. I will try to catch up some today. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 11, 2012 8

Divide and Conquer

Yesterday we divided up to get more done. This is not something we usually do. We normally all work together on projects, However, Hubby wanted to start boxing in the remainder of the back porch and we had lots of tomatoes to work up. So Julie helped me with the tomatoes and Grace helped Hubby with the porch.

The girls worked with me today on more tomatoes and Hubby worked alone. We had to run into little town first to get a few supplies that he needed .The walls are now up and there is a window where they are standing at. He still has to put a door on and the siding but it is almost finished. T.

I better get busy working on my Sunday School lesson. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

August 18, 2012 3

A New Dress for Katie

Remember how I told you all Mrs. Sally (our pastor’s wife) is teaching my girls how to sew. Well, this is their latest sewing project. Julie made the dress and Grace made the hat. I think they did a great job.

It has been a busy but productive and fun week for us. Monday we went down to Jessica’s. Tuesday, I helped Hubby and then the Horn’s came over for a visit on Tuesday evening. We had a great visit. We had hamburgers on the grill. The wind was blowing so hard though that we had a little trouble keeping the grill lit. It was a beautiful evening with temperatures in the mid 70’s. We sit outside on my green swing and enjoyed the breeze. You wouldn’t know that today though. It has been hot and humid. Oh well. Yesterday, the girls and I made sweet pickle relish. I have never made relish before. I think it will be very good. Today, we worked on green beans. We canned 28 quarts. It really helps to have two canners going. Grace has an eye appointment tomorrow in Salem. Tomorrow evening we are going to the pastor’s house to cook out, then we will be picking beans as they are so generously sharing with us. I hope to remember my camera so I can show you all some pictures. His apples trees are loaded with apples this year.

Well, it is time for the last canner to come off. YEAH! I think we are all tired. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

July 26, 2012 5