A Beautiful Sunset

For the last few days, we have been enjoying beautiful sunsets. We thought this one was exceptionally pretty. My thanks to Grace for taking the picture. It looked like a highway and it stretched almost all the way across the sky. God certainly is awesome.

We have been doing the usual around here. Cleaning, canning etc. Tuesday evening we visited with the Horn’s. Vicki made her delicious potato soup. Madison made a tomato pie, with fresh tomatoes and herbs she had raised and dried herself. It was delicious. It tasted amazingly like pizza. We all loved it.

Today, I am meeting Mrs. Sally in “little town”. She has a stock pot she is going to let me borrow for making spaghetti sauce. I think the brand name is Calphalon. She says it is wonderful and that her sauce never sticks. I am excited about giving it a try and grateful to her for letting us use it. Mrs. Faye from our church will also meet us there in town. I picked up an outdoor canner for her yesterday and she wants to get started using it as soon as possible.

Well, I thinks that’s it for now. I have lots to get done so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 9, 2012 4

How Many Snows?

There is an old saying that if you count the number of fogs you have in August, that’s how many snows you will have that winter.

I’m not sure how true that is but so far this month we had have 3 mornings with fog.

The geese don’t seem to mind though.

The girls and I picked a bushel of corn this morning. We put 40 ears in the freezer, keep out enough for supper, and had a few bags of corn cut off the cob for the freezer. We also picked almost 1/2 bushel of tomatoes. We will be using these to make spaghetti sauce one day this week. I am also trying a recipe for sourdough bread using my bread machine to work the dough. I’ll let you all know how it turned out.

We had a great weekend with the grandkids. Chuck brought these scooters for everyone to ride.

And a toy for him to play with.

We then went for a ride in the bumpy truck. Irma had never ridden in the back of a truck before. (I know, I just couldn’t believe it either). Sunday we had our church breakfast at Smart View Park. David and Jess came up. They had Katie dressed in the little dress and hat the girls had made her. She looked so cute in it. Later in the afternoon, we all went for another ride in the bumpy truck. Daniel so loves riding in “his” bumpy truck.

Well, that’s about it for now. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

August 6, 2012 5

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

Blueberries and Squash

The girls and I picked a gallon of these beautiful blueberries yesterday. It was a nice day for picking. It rained on us before we got to the blueberry place but stopped before we got there. The bushes were wet but the temperature was not bad and the bugs even left us alone.

Today we made this zucchini pineapple recipe. We used yellow squash instead of zucchini. It actually tastes like pineapple. You would never know it had squash in it. I got the recipe from here. http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/zucchinipineapple.htm A blogger friend of mine had made it the other day. She posted about it here. http://holcombhappenings.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/a-day-of-canning/ I think it will be really good.

Now, question time. I found out from the internet this squash is called a patty pan squash. Do any of you ladies have a recipe for it? Our pastor gave them to us and I really would like to try them. Online it says it pairs good with tomatoes but I thought I would ask you all.

Our weather change here has been amazing. We had rain yesterday which we so much needed. We laughed and said the plants in our garden were doing a happy dance for God. The temperatures have cooled off so much. We are right now at 73 degrees!!! Thank you Lord.

Well, that’s about all. I hope you have a great evening and God bless.

July 12, 2012 5

Eggs

Just look at all our little pullet eggs. Ain’t they cute? Notice the ameraucana one. We were so happy to see it in the nest. We have been busy here for the the last few days. Thursday afternoon we went over the our pastors house to pick peaches. I, of course, forgot my camera so no pictures of his beautiful trees. They are all full of fruit. Friday and today was spent working up the peaches we got. We ended up with 15 qts canned, 3 qts frozen, and 10 1/2 gals of peach juice. YEAH! Such a blessing.

We have been HOT here. Not as hot as some of you all but hot for us. Upper 90’s for the actual temperature. I’m not sure what it is with the humidity, feels like, at least, 110 degrees (to me).

Well, that’s about it for now. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

July 7, 2012 7

July 4th

I hope you all had a great 4th of July. This MawMaw was very happy! For the first time, EVER, all our grandkids were here at the same time. Chuck and his crew arrived first.

They managed to find a few ripe blackberries.

We did hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill and sit in the shade most of the day.

My oldest granddaughter, Alexius.

My youngest, Miss Katie.

Everyone was very impressed by the little frogs that are in the “little pond”.

Sam, just being Sam.

The swings got lots of use.

I think the hammock was the most loved though. They spent lots and lots of time making the hammock into a big swing. After we ate, we all took a ride down the Parkway to Mabry Mill. I, of course, forgot my camera but Dave took a picture of everyone there at the mill. He is going to email it to me so if I can figure out how to transfer it over I will post it. I so badly wanted to get a group picture but the day just sped by and it slipped my mind. Then on up to a little place called Meadows of Dan. We ate pizza in a little gazebo there. Thanks Dave! The little boys had tons of fun playing with rocks that were there. We then came home and Dave and Chuck set off some fireworks Dave had brought with him. The first boom sent 3 or 4 deer running out of the cornfield. I guess they thought it was hunting season starting early. After that it was off to “little town” to see the big fireworks display. We all had a great day. From about 10:30 in the morning till about 9:30 that night, my entire immediate family was together. God is good. Now, I wonder when we could do it again!!

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

July 5, 2012 7

Eggs

We got our first egg from the chicks we bought this spring!! Isn’t it cute? I thought I would show you the difference in sizes. The one on left is the pullet egg, the middle one is our regular size and the one on the right is our extra large. We have a few white hens that were gave to us last year. They are the ones who lay the extra large white ones. Anyway, I guess it doesn’t take a lot to get us excited.

Here’s a picture of Chuck and Hubby working on the car Sunday. They replaced several things. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if that fixed it or not. The girls and I have been busy this morning doing laundry and some house cleaning. Our Pastor brought us a 5 gal. bucket of peaches Sunday night. We are going to work those up after lunch.

Not much else going on that I can think of. I hope you all have a great 4th of July and God bless.

July 3, 2012 4

Friday

Hello everyone! Well, as we knew would happen, our wonderful, cooler weather is gone. Today, as I type this, we are at 94 degrees. HOT! Oh well, this makes us appreciate cooler weather more. Days like today I really wish we had air conditioning!

My car has been giving me trouble lately. Hubby is not exactly sure what is going on with it. Chuck is coming Sunday to help Hubby (hopefully) fix it. They are trying several things to see if that works but Hubby says it could be the fuel pump. We hope not but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Our VBS is over. This is kinda good and kinda sad. It is a lot of fun but also a lot of work. We leave home around 6:00 P.M. and don’t get back until around 10:00. It takes us 30 min to drive to church and 30 min. back home so a lot of our time is spent on the road.

Well, I think my crew is getting hungry so I guess I best get started cooking. Supper tonight is fried chicken, corn, gravy, homemade biscuits and some homemade blackberry jam to go with the biscuits. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 29, 2012 4

Around the Pond

The other day we all decided to take a walk around the pond. It has been absolutely beautiful here in Floyd this week. Our morning temperatures have been mid 40’s. Amazing!! Wonderful sleeping weather. The days have only gotten into the mid 70’s. I love it. For my part, the Good Lord could just let it be this way all summer and I would be happy.

The girls had lots of fun. They came in the house and got their wading shoes and spent lots of time wading in the pond. Jasper even joined them for a while. He doesn’t care much for water. I suppose after his accident the first winter, he thinks water isn’t much fun.

Lots of cool bugs were flying around the pond.

I have no idea what they are but if you look closely you can see the tiny blue bugs that were hovering around the blade of grass.

We have so many of these birds. I couldn’t tell for sure from the picture if they were barn swallows or tree swallows. Both birds are abundant here. They will fly down to the pond and touch the water. It is amazing to watch. Sometimes as many as 50 or more just skipping above the water. I’m not sure if they are getting a drink or catching bugs but it is one of our favorite evening passtimes to watch them.

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

June 27, 2012 4

Apples

Yesterday we walked up on the hill to check out the apple tree that is along the fence line. It is loaded with apples!!!! We are so glad. These apples are very good. We don’t know what kind they are. The tree was already here when we moved in.

This picture of the pond was taken from up on the hill at the apple tree.

This is a view of the house from the hill. I will have to make this a short post. Our VBS starts tonight and it is time for us to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 24, 2012 4