Hello!

I thought I would share with you all a few pictures. Things are really coming to life here in Floyd. This is a field not too far from our home. Look at how green it is!!!

Yesterday, we went to check on a job. We took a few pictures along the way.

I love goldfinch. These were certainly enjoying their feeder.

Today is a nice day here in Floyd. Temperature is 66 degrees. The sky is overcast though. Dandelions are popping up all over the place. I think it is getting close time to make some dandelion jelly.

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

April 17, 2013 4

Another Update

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you all know how everyone is doing. I came home yesterday. The Bates clan seems to be on the mend. A long way from better but on the mend. Jess took Daniel to the doctor this morning. He has a lot of congestion and a double ear infection. Also please pray for our friends, the Horns. As of right now, 3 out of 5 of them have the flu and one has strep throat with the flu. I know many blogs I read have had this bug going through them. It is horrible.

Today we are working on school and other normal things. The girls and Hubby kept things running smoothly here while I was away. I did come back up Sunday morning and went to church. You all remember, Sunday was the girls big day of playing music. They did a great job. I hope to get a copy of the CD this weekend. If I can figure out how to put it on, I’ll try to share some of it with you all.

Well, that’s about it. Lunch break is over and time for us to start back on school. Thanks again for your prayers. God bless.

January 8, 2013 3

Before and After

Hubby is almost finished with the farmhouse he has been working on. I thought I would show you all a few before and after pictures. Here is a picture of the stairway before.

And here are a few after pictures.

Here is the livingroom before.

After.

Dining room-kitchen area before.

Okay, so this area still looks really cluttered but I am hoping you can see the floors enough to tell how nice they look.

Of course, being an old farmhouse, none of the bedrooms had closets. He built closets in all three bedrooms.

Last is the bathroom. I could not find my before picture of it but this is the after.

The house is so DRAMTICALLY changed. It really looks like a new house inside, which I guess in a way it is. Everything was torn out except the outside walls. He did a great job. It was such a blessing to get this house remodel. Thank you, Lord! (Oh, by the way Lord, another one like this sure would be great!).

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We went down to Dave and Jessica’s. It was a good day, full of good food and lots of grandbaby time. God sure is good to me.

We are warm here-low 50’s- with lots of sunshine. A beautiful day. Another blessing from the Lord. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

November 23, 2012 7

Friday

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful Friday. Things are good here. School is finished for the week. The girls and I are getting ready to clean out the chicken house. Definitely not a fun job but necessary. It is a nice day here in Floyd so that will make it a fairly pleasant job to do. We have been really cold here in the mornings though. Temperatures all this week have been mid to upper teens when we get up. CHILLY! However it warms up nicely during the day.

Chuck is coming tomorrow to help Hubby do some maintenance repairs on my car. I don’t think I have mentioned it before but please be in prayer for him as he is laid off from his work. We are praying he will get called back soon.

Well, I have lots to get done. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 16, 2012 6

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

Blueberries

Just look at all these beautiful blueberries! I think I mentioned we planted 3 blueberriy bushes this year. Well, this is one of them. They all have lots of blueberries on them but I think this one has the most. They seem to be doing very well so far.

Monday, we worked around the house. The girls and I made a batch of cherry jam. It is very tasty! Yesterday, we worked in both gardens, hoeing and weeding. We then took down the greenhouse and put it away for next year, cleaned the fish tank, and did several odd chores that have been needed to get done for a while. The girls worked on history and science while I ran into little town to get chick feed. Supper last night was hamburgers, corn on the cob, and pineapple all fixed on the grill. I love cooking on the grill. Not near as much clean up involved and the kitchen doesn’t get heated up.

Well, today we will be cleaning out the chicken house and working on the nests. Definitely not my favorite job, but it is a little cooler this morning so hopefully that will make it a little easier. This morning I am making kefir and buttermilk. I have shared before how I make my buttermilk but maybe someone is reading this that hasn’t read it before, so I thought I would share it again. It tastes a lot like kefir. Heres what I do. First add 1/4 cup of whole milk buttermilk purchased from the store to a quart jar. I suppose you could use lowfat or fat free for this, we just prefer whole buttermilk. Finish filling up the jar with milk. I use raw milk but any milk will do. I leave the cream on but you can take it off. I then shake it up and sit it out on the counter for about 20 hrs. There is no set time for how long to leave it out. It all depends on the temperature of your house. This same rule applies to kefir. The warmer the temperature the quicker it will set. It is ready when you turn the jar over and it all leaves the side of the jar in one clump. Shake the jar for about 5 min and put in the fridge to chill. Now to making kefir, I use kefir grains when making my kefir. Jess bought the grains for me a little while back. Before that I used the powdered starter. The grains will continue to produce indefinitely. I store them in the fridge in a jar covered with milk. When I want to make kefir, which is usually every other day, I take them out, finish filling the jar 2/3 full with raw milk and leave it out on the counter for about 24 hrs. This time is also dependent upon the temperature in your home. Kefir is very good for us. You can read about the benefits of kefir online. It is full of good stuff. It tastes very good in smoothies. I think it is good to drink plain with just a little sweetener.

Well, I guess we better get busy with our day. God bless.

May 30, 2012 5

Wild Roses

Wild roses are blooming everywhere here. We took this picture over at the job site.

Also, blackberries are in bloom. If the amount of bloom is any indication of how many berries we will have, there should be an abundance of them this year. I helped Hubby again today at the job site. We pulled wire all day for the electrical. I think I have always taken for granted the amount of wire that is run in a house to make everything work. I will be helping him again tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow will finish up most of the electrical.

I wanted you all to check out the size of this toad frog. He was huge!! He had wondered up in the back yard. The girls carried him back down to the pond. We thought he would be much happier there.

Another picture of the goslings. I hope you all don’t get tired of seeing them. It seems every time they come up into the yard they have gotten bigger. Well, that’s about all for today. I put a beef roast in the crock pot before we left this morning. Green beans and biscuits sound good to have with it for supper. I try to keep supper easy when I work with Hubby. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

May 24, 2012 5

Rainbow

Hello everyone! Sorry that I haven’t posted as much as usual. Things just seem busy here right now. Anyway, yesterday evening the Lord gave us this beautiful rainbow. If you look close you can see it was a double rainbow but the one on the left is fading. This picture was taken at the top of our driveway.

Yesterday, we went to help Hubby on the job site. It is coming along nicely. After school, the girls were entertained by this guy. He and a few of his buddies were very busy in the walnut tree.

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We did get some much needed rain yesterday evening. The garden is all in, however, the birds have already discovered it and destroyed about 1/3 of the tomato plants. They love the tender young leaves so all that is left is the stem. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any solutions?

Hubby has been working all week on my car. He has replaced the rotors on the front and today we picked up rotors for the back. I am so thankful he knows how to do all this. His knowledge saves us lots of money. Well, I will leave you ladies with a picture of the purple flowers that are blooming everywhere here. I don’t know the name of them but we think they are beautiful.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 22, 2012 8

New Home

The little chicks new home is ready!! We worked on it all day today-running the fence and putting up the gate. Hubby helped or we would not have finished it. They have 150 feet of fenced in area to run in.

Check out their gate. It was an old baby crib spring.

They seem very happy to have more room. We are planning on leaving them in the building part tonight to give them time to adjust. Tomorrow we will open the door and see how they do in the fenced in lot. Needless to say, we are all tired but SO happy to get this big job done.

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

May 7, 2012 6

Ouch!!!

I thought I would show you ladies what happens when a cinderblock falls on your toe. Thankfully, I was wearing boots or it would have been lots worse. I must tell you all though, I really hesitated about showing you this picture. I did not realize I had such strange looking feet until I took this picture. Oh well, they are what they are, I guess. It didn’t get me out of work though. I had to go with him this morning to texture the ceiling on the sheetrock job. That job is finished now so we can go back to working just the remodeling job. He has been going to the sheetrock job in the mornings and the remodeling job in the evenings. Doesn’t that sound wonderful!!! 2 jobs at one time. We are so blessed.

Our temperatures did warm up some today. I think we actually got to about 50 degrees. It is supposed to be cold again tonight. I just finished building a fire to keep us toasty warm. I kinda thought we were finished with fires for this season but I guess I was wrong. I hope all this cold doesn’t destroy the fruit harvest.

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

April 24, 2012 8