Double Duty

Here is a picture of our hens hard at work. For some reason, they all want to use the same nest. Yes, they do have other nests. At least, these are big enough for two at one time. Our rooster is still under consideration. We have not put the new chickens in with the old ones yet. We plan on increasing the size of our lot this Saturday. Anyway, I have a few questions to ask. My experience with roosters is not too pleasant so I think I might be prejudice. When I think of roosters, I think of flogging and aggressiveness. What do you all think? Have you all had good experiences with roosters. The girls have made such big pets of our hens. They will sit out there in the lot and pet them and the hens love it. Do you think a rooster would go along with that or would he try to run the girls out of the lot? As I said, I have not had good experiences with roosters and I do not want this to happen to the girls. We so enjoy hearing him crow but I’m just not sure. Please share your opinion on this. Here are a few pictures of flowers that are blooming around the house.

A rose of sharon bush my mother-in-law gave me when we first moved here.

A white hibiscus. Or as my aunt used to call them “a high biscuit”. We had a great time with the boys yesterday. We played outside, saw the chickens LOTS of times, picked blackberries and drank homemade apple juice. God is good!

Today, the girls and I will spend some time cleaning our poor, neglected home. Canning takes priority and the housecleaning gets behind. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 5, 2011 4

An Old Lamp

As you all know, I love old things. My mother-in-law gave me this old lamp while we were down helping her move. It needed a new shade and a little cleaning. Grace cleaned it for me and we are on the lookout for a shade that will do it honor. I have it on top of my treadle sewing machine for now.

We are getting some much needed rain here today. I understand we are about 4 in. below normal on our water level. It seems very cozy, the rain on the tin roof, a warm fire. I think I need to light some candles to make it even cozier.

We are working on school today. Also cleaning house. The ladies will be coming tomorrow for bible study. Tomorrow will be our last lesson in this study, “Women who believed God”. It has been a good study. Tonight’s menu is sloppy joes, french fries, green beans and a peach pie with homemade whipped creme for dessert. YUM!

I hope you all have wonderful day and God bless.

P.S. In answer to the question about what sassafras tea tastes like, it resembles a root beer or birch beer taste. You can drink it hot or cold. We prefer hot but it is good cold.

February 24, 2011 4

Cushaw and Pumpkin

Today along with my many other duties, I will be processing these beautiful cushaw and pumpkin. There were 3 cushaws altogether but one is already in the steamer. I plan to steam them enough to cut the peeling off, puree them in the sauce maker and then freeze the puree. You see the pumpkin in the box, I have never tasted this type of pumpkin. The lady who gave it to me said she thought they were called cow pumpkins. She said they were very good for pies. The cushaw was a gift from my mother-in-law. Thanks, Judy.

We had a nice afternoon yesterday. Hubby needed a haircut so we went over to our friends house who cuts our hair for us. We shared coffee and an excellent dessert she had made. Then after he got his hair cut, Hubby and Faye got out their guitars and we enjoyed singing some old hymns. I so enjoy these times. The dessert she made was very simple. 4 large apples, 2 containers of store bought crescent rolls. Quarter the apples and place a quarter in each crescent roll. Roll the crescent around the apple. Put into baking dish. Heat 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon (to taste) and 1 1/2 cups water until melted. Pour this mixture over the apple dumplings and bake at 350 about 45 minutes or until cresents are golden brown. Serve warm topped with whipped creme. They were delicious. I guess since I am working up pumpkin today I thought this recipe would work with pumpkin instead of the apples. I think I would change the sugar to brown sugar, also add a little nutmeg. Maybe I’ll try that today. We’ll see. Sunday is our Thanksgiving dinner at church. I need to get started making rolls.

The sun is shining here today. Lots of wind-gusts of about 30 mph. This made walking a little more difficult. Hubby went with me though and that made it much more enjoyable. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 17, 2010 2

More Spaghetti Sauce

Yesterday we had 12 more quarts of spaghetti sauce. I think this will be all the spaghetti sauce we make unless we have lots more tomatoes. I want to make salsa and maybe try our hand at ketchup. We also usually just can tomatoes and tomato sauce for use in soup and chili. Temperatures here have been hot and humid. Low to mid 90’s.

Jess talked to her mother-in-law yesterday and she said the name of this apple is Scarlett Apple. She thinks she ordered the tree from Stark Bros. I typed it in on Google and found all kinds of information about it. Very interesting.

Today is bible study day so I better get busy. We have decided to do it at Barbara’s house. It is so hot here and Barbara has air conditioning. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 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

Remember This

Who remembers these? Obviously I do. This machine was given to me by my mother-in-law several years ago. And yes we do still use it. Last summer, we had very little rain. Our water source is a spring. So in order to save the spring water, we washed our clothes on the wringer. Wringer washers use much less water than automatic washers. It was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed it. Now however it will be much easier to use. My hubby hooked it up in his wood working shop. Am I special or what? It now has hot and cold water at the touch of a faucet. It also has it’s own drain. No more carrying water to fill it up and then carrying water to empty it. I know the body of the machine looks pretty “rustic”. It works great though and thats what counts. Well, I thought some of you might like a trip down memory lane. Have a great day and God Bless.

December 1, 2009 0

Before and After

Never give up on cast iron. We made a trip to our homeplace over the weekend. My mother-in-law knows how much I love cast iron. She had purchased these kettles in a set many years ago. Maybe as many as 50 years ago. I think she told me it was a 20 piece set and it cost about $20.00. ( thats says it was a long time ago) She had stored them in a building many years ago. We went on safari to search for them. When we found them I thought “Maybe they are too far gone”. But I brought them home and searched the internet for ways to clean them up. First I used an equal part of salt and oil. Rubbed that in(really good) with a cloth. Then for the really stubborn spots of rust, I used a brillo pad. Washed them in soapy water and reseasoned them. ( To season cast iron, coat the kettle with a light coat of oil. Turn upside down on a cookie sheet and bake at 250-300 degree oven for about l hour) I was so pleased with the result. I couldn’t wait to post about it. The largest kettle she called a pinto bean pot. I can just taste how good beans will be cooked on our wood stove this winter. Thanks so much, Judy. So don’t throw that old cast iron out. Re-do it. It’s worth the effort. God Bless.

November 24, 2009 1