Science Explorers

Saturday we went to http://www.sciworks.org It was a lot of fun. We have visited several science centers this summer and for me this was the best. So much hands on activities for everyone. I did remember to take my camera, however, I didn’t think about batteries. Therefore no pictures of all the fun stuff inside. You can tell though how excited Daniel was to be there by the picture I did get.

Yesterday we went to the http://www.greensboroscience.org.

We have been there once this summer but not since they put in the aquarium. It was awesome!

So much to see and do!

The highlight of the visit was touching a stingray!

You can’t really see him but Sam is in there too and Katie even got in on the action. First time for us to “pet” one. Another first for me yesterday was touching a snake. Not sure if I want to touch another one or not but it was not near as bad as I imagined.

We are canning rhubarb today so I better get off and get busy. I hope you have a wonderful day and God bless.

August 20, 2013 5

Winter Wonderland

I thought I would share a few pictures of what it looks like here in Floyd. Maybe I shouldn’t say Floyd because from what I can understand not everywhere in Floyd looks like this. Some areas only got ice but we have snow on top of the ice.

Yesterday was spent not doing much of anything. Just chilling out, reading, playing games. Just a fun relaxing day. Watching it snow.

It is very beautiful, however, I do believe I am ready for warmer temperatures (I think I have said that before!) Next week, we are supposed to warm up considerably.

My hero! The first thing he does after a snow is to clear the vehicles and the walkway-just in case we want to get out. Thanks, babe! I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

March 25, 2013 4

Grapes

The girls and I are starting on our grapes today. We picked 1/2 bushel this morning. We plan on making mostly jelly from these. Tomorrow we will start making juice. Yesterday I went to our friend Mrs. Faye. I helped her with her grapes. She wanted to make jelly and juice. Last year, they purchased a steam canner and a steam juicer like ours but they were not too confident with using them. So I went over to help them a little. It was a fun day. We had green beans, corn, cucumbers, cole slaw and cornbread for lunch. YUM!

Not much else going on here. Just mostly canning. We plan on picking more tomatoes this evening. We have been blessed with lots of beautiful tomatoes. Our temperatures have been cooler at night here. You can feel fall in the air. The dogwood trees are starting to turn colors. Apples will soon be ready. I love fall. As I am sitting here typing this post, the sweet smell of grapes fills my home. God is so good to us.

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

August 28, 2012 2

Tuesday

This picture was taken on the back side of the farm. If you look in the right hand corner, you will see the little white house Dave and Jess lived in for a while.

Today we have to go to Rocky Mount to get Grace’s nose piece put back on her glasses. She has not had these glasses very long. I hope this is not an indication of how they are going to hold up. Yesterday, we picked the last of our beans and got about half of them worked up. We hope to finish them today when we get back. We also pulled the last of our corn and got all of it put into the freezer. We picked about 1/2 bushel of tomatoes. I am borrowing Mrs. Sally’s kettle for this week as well. I am definitely on the lookout for one of those kettles. I really liked it. I hope to make salsa and another batch of spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes we picked yesterday.

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

August 14, 2012 4

What’s Blooming

I thought I would show you ladies a few pictures of what is in bloom around our home. First, these lilies are huge this year.

I wish I could tell you the name of these, but I have forgotten what it is.

I love yellow and purple together.

I know the name of these-strawberries!!! We just planted these this year but they are doing very good.

Our raspberries are looking good this year. We love raspberries. They are just now starting to ripen. YUM!!

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Our temperature is in the mid 70’s with a good breeze. Nice day for sitting in the shade and relaxing. We are having chicken and veggies on the grill for lupper and homemade ice cream is churning as I type. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

June 10, 2012 6

Birthday and Cherries

Today we celebrated my Julie’s 14th birthday. My, my, how time has flown by. Seems like just the other day, my Lord was surprising me by giving her to me. God is SO good. We celebrated at Groundhog Mountain with hamburgers, hotdogs and chocolate cake. The Horn’s came with us and Dave, Jess and the kids met us on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Meadows of Dan. We had a wonderful day!!

Mrs. Vicki bringing trucks for the boys to play with. You will notice she has on a jacket. It was kinda chilly here this morning. 42 degrees when we got up. I think it is supposed to be about that chilly tonight too. It was a nice day though-definitely not too hot.

Daniel seems to be deep in thought.

Jess and Katie. Katie is staying warm in her blanket.

From the picnic area, we went on down the Parkway to Levering Orchard to pick cherries.

The trees were loaded with cherries.

Can you tell Sam loves cherries!

If you look closely in this picture, you will see a man in the top of the tree picking.

We all had so much fun. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than with family and best friends. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 2, 2012 7

Dandelion Jelly

I heard about this jelly for the first time last year however I did not get to try making it. Our dandelions are popping up everywhere so yesterday the girls and I gathered some blossoms. We picked all the green off however I forgot to get a picture of that. We then poured boiling water over the petals and let it steep overnight.

It isn’t very attractive at this stage. I must admit this was a time consuming jelly. It took a while to get the green off the bloom. The end result though is beautiful in the jar.

This picture doesn’t really show how pretty it is. Every thing I have read about this jelly says it tastes like honey. We tasted it when it was hot and it DID taste like honey. Amazing! You can read more about dandelion jelly here http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-jelly-recipe.html She also has a recipe for apple blossom jelly that I am thinking about trying.

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

March 30, 2012 4

Daniel and Darth Vader

Daniel is SO into Star Wars right now. He has a light saber and everything. He earned his light saber. He has just recently been promoted to a booster seat and was having trouble getting his seat belt to buckle. His mom told him if he could buckle himself in 10 times on his own, they would buy him a light saber. Motivation, you know. Well, it took him a while but he has it down pat now. He was super excited because when they went to purchase his light saber, they found a place on line where they could get 3 light sabers for the same price as one at Wal-Mart. Daniel says he got himself one, Daddy one, and Sam one so they can all be Jedi. Way to go, Daniel.

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Floyd. The sun is shining and the temperature is already 40 degrees. We have gotten a great start on our day. The house chores are done and we even have a few minutes of relaxation before school starts. I was wondering if any of you ladies make kefir and if you do, do you use the powdered starter or the grains? I have made it a lot using the powdered starter but am wondering if the grains would be better. Any opinions?

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

February 22, 2012 5

A New Apron

I thought I would show you all a picture of the apron I just finished today. I think it looks so cheerful. My friend, Vicki, found this pillowcase at a thrift store last summer. I think it turned out really nice. I like using old pillowcases to make aprons. They have a vintage look and the cost of material is greatly reduced. My aprons have not sold as much in the fall and winter as they did in the summer. I hope to make up quite a few this winter to have on hand for the upcoming summer.

The girls went to the Horn’s yesterday to celebrate Bubby’s birthday. They had a great time. Hubby and I went to C-burg to get tires put on the car so I had to miss Bubby’s cake. Our church collects fleece throws, lotion and socks for our local nursing home. The pastor’s wife meet us in town so we could deliver them. Today we have cleaned out the chicken house (YUCK!) The temperature here is mid 30’s. Not too bad. I know it could be lots colder.

Tonight’s menu is hamburgers on homemade buns, home fries and peach dumplings for dessert. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

December 29, 2011 5

My Christmas Gift

Hubby has been working on my Christmas gift. I love it!!!

This is a side view.

Front view and

all folded up. It will hold lots and lots of clothes. I will take a picture later of it full of clothes.

He has also been working on Chuck’s gift.

A porch swing. I think it is very pretty. I really like the two colors together. Chuck and his family are coming up tomorrow. I have to get busy today to finish his “goodie basket”. We will be having ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade rolls.

The Horn’s are coming over this evening. For supper, we will be having 15 bean soup, rolls and a peppermint cake. I got the recipe from http://nadinesnook.blogspot.com/2011/12/peppermint-cake.html I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

December 22, 2011 10