The Needle in a Haystack

Because he can......

  We are very blessed in our  bread labors these days to have time to explore things we are interested in  pursuing. I happen to be plunged into sewing, seedlings and perfecting baked beans ( yes my dear Mom in law... no more cans!!)... Chris has been planting, mulching..... and making charcoal... Why?  His answer " beacuse I can".

  Blacksmithing is something he has been reading up on for a few years since we went to an Ag fair with some friend sof ours and saw a demo.  He is now taking the steps to set up a forge  over the next year, study with some local smiths and try his hand at some iron works himself.  I am excited for him!  such a useful skill to have!

  The above picture is simply a large pot with oak pieces in and rocks on top with a hot fire underneath. For a first try the out come was great! 

   Our goals for this week:

   1. Make a video  on constructing a hndmade pvc water pump.

   2. start pepper seedlings ( tomatoes are doing great and should be moved to bigger pots next week!)

   3. Dehydrate carrots  to add to soups etc this year.

   4.  I got an order for 8 custom napkins with a strawberry design on them... I am very excited about this project.

   5.  mulch the onions

   6.  try adding dandelion greens to a stir fry

    7.  Continue crocheting bunnies for nursing home bingo

    8.   attempt first baked bean recipe

     9.  Weenie Roast teaching Taylor how to use a flint and steel.. ( yes I will take pictures!!)

    10.  Begin a couple potato towers....

  Hands to work...hearts to God...and have a fine day...all day long!

A Visit From Taylor

... Today was a topsy turvey sort of day.  Chris started tearing up the floor in the spare bathroom and found the damage was far worse then we had anticiapted.  the room has to be gutted to the studs and part of Christophers room and hte spare room have to torn out and redone also.  The time frame and cost will double.. but we are thankful that Chris is able to do the work.  Now it will just be a challenge to find the time!

  A couple of times a month our "adopted daughter" and grandson come over for dinner and a visit.  We are blessed  with both of them in our lives and I look forward to sharing with taylor so many of hte things I did with my boys.

  Tonight it was pumpkin carving:

Taylor wasn't as brave as his mom and I about pulling pumpkin guts out!

Daddy Chris came out with just the right tools to carve up the pumpkins

 We then went walking in the woods to do a test on the hickory nuts...our verdict???

A good crop this year!  Delicious!

Supper tonight was homemade pizza and Pioneer Woman's  Awesome Apple dumplings.

Today our shipment of elderberries came just in time!  We have been battling coughs and colds the last week or more and we were OUT.. on the agenda this week make more elderberry syrup.  We have used it for coughs but this year we are going to try it daily as a preventative.  have any of you readers ever done this?

   I had a few spiritual struggles this past week. Do you ever have those days ( or weeks) when you feel you have flopped as a Christian... It was important to look to the WORD and such great comfort in these words..

Christ . . . who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. 2 Corinthians 13:3

  I am NOT Christ, I am a sinful human being saved by Grace, and I mess up... I slip... I stumble... and I am caught by the loving sacrifice of the Perfect One.

Praise Him!...and have a fine day...all day  long!

 

Catching Up

Yesterday morning we had our first appointments at the Duke Bone Marrow Transplant Center

 It was truely one of the most humbling experiences I have had in awhile.  As soon as you hit the door you scrub up and don a mask. There is a room full of patients and loved ones all masked up.   I spent the whole time in the waiting room silently praying for each person...Chris got through his procedures fine but we both left very emotionally drained. 

  We have been enjoying the garden bounty.  One of our favorite things is fresh pico de gallo

Pico de Gallo

2 lg tomatoes

1 onion

1 jalepeno ( more if you like really hot)

1 bunch of cilantro

chop and mix the above and then add the juice of two limes and allow to sit in the fridge over night..

eat with chips, or on grilled chicken.  We keep the fridge stocked with the stuff!

 

.. A visit to MeMe Rose blog reminded me I am not the only one touched by orphaned handiwork.

 

I have been amiss at posting our menus lately... mostly because in the summer we don't have a wide variety of meals... with temps spiking to the 100's every day lately our appetites are down and we avoid anything that might heat up the house more then it is already.

Monday:

Turkey Burgers ( our new favorite food)

tomato, cucumber onion salad

Tues: grilled salmon with pico de Gallo

          cole slaw

Wed: Southwest Roll Ups

Jalopeno poppers ( recipe from my friend Kristy)

Thurs:  Homemade Pizza and salad.

Fri:  Homemade chicken salad and tomato/cucumber/onion salad

Sat: Grilled hotdogs

I have been toying with the idea of asking the menfolk to make an outdoor oven for me as a Christmas present this year. I am still doing research on them

Miranda has one over at Nutured By Love

Mel has one at Day by Day

I am seriously thinking my yard needs one.... I worked at a pizza shoppe for many years and know all about cooking a great pizza in a wood fired oven...

 

   Time to hang some clothes on the line... great thing is they dry in about a half hour in this heat!

 

Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.  James 5:14

 

Have a fine day... all day long!

Keeping it real

I have a confession... I can be a bit impulsive... which is sort of strange since I tend to be a great list person and love it when things flow according to that list.... but sometimes... sometimes my mind goes into elaborate scenario mode and.. well.. I usually regret it afterwards....

   such is the case of this

  Its the bottom part of my hoosier cabinet.... and yes there is another part.... but I am not even going there yet...

  we were at the market a few months back when one of the antique booths was going out of business... they announced a hoosier cabinet for 125.00... Well, this is the reason I don't do auctions much... I ran over to the booth and a couple ladies were talking about going to the cash booth and someone said they would be back the next day... and I sort of got excited and slapped the 125.00 in her hand and licked it all over to claim it as mine ( OK, I didn't really lick it) .. I walked away content I had a hoosier cabinet... finally...

  Well, it looked great decorated with antique knicknacks.... but when we loaded up and got it home... umm... I definitely got the short end of the deal..

  the table didn't slide... veener ( shudder) was peeling , the flour bin didn't work , the roll cabinet was gone, the back was warped.....

   So, I am attempting to make the best of a bad situation... my heart really isn't in it though... the bottom part will be finished over the next couple of weeks and I will use it as a baking table.... the top part that is now living in my spare room holding bits of yarn is still on a probation period.... it may or may not be tossed on the burn pile.....

  Usually Chris and I make these decisions together.... he is very good about saying lets think about it.. but this time  since he knew I REALLY wanted a Hoosier he told me to use my judgement...

~sigh~

 

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

   and have a fine day...all day long!

...stump update..and preparing for winter

... Thought I would post a picture

just thought I would give you an update on the stump removal... that is now a crater

 

..and with the weather a balmy 75 degrees the last couple of days, it was perfect weather for the guys to split some wood...

 

..AND how about these fancy new boots I have to work in the yard... classic huh?

 

Pray for the troops....and have a fine day...all day long!

Crochet Kitty... stump project...lights out!

Rarely do I treat myself to something new... we tend to be very compacty around here... thrifted, recycled...reused.... when I saw these sweet little custom WOODEN crochet hooks I had to have one... I love wooden crochet hooks... and to have one like my sweet kitty Cubs was too fun.... I have happily finished my first project with it...Goodness does it feel good!

a late storm came through the other night and the power was knocked out for a time... it reminded us of the year we lived off grid.... sometimes we miss those days.... some days ...not so much...

I told Christopher that Abe Lincoln use to study by candlelight ( he was working on a Spanish project) ...he looked rather  discussed and said " Mom, everyone before Tom Edison studied by candlelight"...point taken!

stump project?

We have found so many weird things embedded... yesterday's find..a hubcap and an iron pipe... huh???

What did cubs think of her crochet look a like?

Hmmm....

Pray for the troops...and ahve a fine day...all day long!

Do they really eat like that in Mongolia?.... Stump update...and stuff..

Yesterday we finally were able to get together to celebrate Jeremy's birthday. he chose the Mongolian Grill

it  turned out to be an awesome choice! The concept is you choose raw food from a huge buffet of ingredients and then the "grill masters" cook it for you while you watch...

...I think each of us went back a couple times and some of us 3 times.... Good Stuff!! Its always good to see Jeremy and Heather!

  now..the stump progress

The elves have moved and set up cookie shop elsewhere!

Pray for the troops and have a fine day...all day long!

Stump Burning

I seriously thought this looked like a volcano eruption... nope... just our tree stump... most of the weekend was spent keeping a fire going and pressing on to the ever elusive tap root..the tree really is beginning to tell us short stories... mostly whodunits... how did the rock get embedded in the tree... or the chain that is also embedded at the base... how many years ago?  How many rings ago  was that bolt placed there?   since we really are not in a rush this is a great pondering project...We'll be sitting in the chair reading and one of us will say " lets go check the stump"... and we walk out after dark to see the glow of the stump...and we talk...and sip tea /coffee... its a good thing...

One of the things suggested to us by some of our bloggy homesteading peeps was to cut notches in the stump and pour kerosene in... then light... Chris called me out to look at the tiki torch effect...I thought it looked quite awesome

 The weather has turned a bit cooler... I love waking up and throwing open the doors, sitting on the deck and watching the deer try to figure out how to get in my garden....

...its also made me want to sew....

there is so much quilting going on in the blog world... I really don't want to be left out.. Alicia

was first up with her delicious quilt ( and yes I HAD to but the pattern)....then Amanda made one for her princess'  4th birthday that just made me want to visit and snuggle under... so I seriously am thinking "quilt"... but oh the fabric and color choices out there... and *gasp* what if I get the colors wrong... silly me... there IS no gettign the colors wrong.... still... getting started might be half the battle for me...

and along with cool weather and the need to quilt comes baking up tons of goodness int he kitchen... when I was putting groceries away the other day there was no room in the freezer cause i must have 20 over ripe bananas in there waiting for "someday"... so today is some day  when i ran across this post at Mini Van Life  I suggest if you have wees at your house you click over to her pj out of a pillowcase post...  too cute and now I feel Miss Sophia might need a pair...

but writing about it won't get things done so let me get things going...

Pray for the troops...those that are sick...and those that suffer....count it all joy..and have a fine day..all day long!

Myrtle Beach

Numbers were slim for the annual Myrtle Beach trip this year. We were sad that Jeremy and Heather couldn't be with us as Heather's grandfather had passed away the night before we left. We were hesitant in leaving but they insisted we go... my Grams is 90 this year and we weren't sure how many more years she would be able to make the trip.

  Josh was doing his Guard 2 weeks a year, not too far away from us at Ft. Jackson....

Grams tired very easily so there wasn't alot of time with her... Emily and I managed some girl talk and shopping which was fun...Chris and Jamie watched sports and had a great time...

 Christopher was able to meet an online freind he has known for 2 years.  That was pretty exciting.  she moved to Myrtle Beach from Washington State in June.

... I was fascinated by this little table

I'm thinking with all the tree branches on the ground we should be able to make one of these ..or a set...

How is the house building coming along????   the 60 inch across stump is perplexing us a bit... and we have these long family meetings playing lets make a deal with what we want... I really honestly think the tree stump is like our hour glass buying us time so we aren't rushed into a decision.... the tree guy suggested we simply hollow out the stump and live in it.... yep... its a big tree stump...

On the hook... finishing up a gift for William and Jenn, married Sept 5... I will consider it an achievement to finish the gift in the same month as the wedding ... and then dear Alex and grace get married next month so the process is repeated..

 But the hooks really need to fly to finish some wonderful projects in yummy yarns by Nov 6... we're scurrying away for a few days to celebrate by dearest' birthday... caps and mittens require...

Pray for the troops...and have a fine day...all day long...

Firewood for Sale

..so  while many of you were enjoying Labor day with cook outs and my son was turning 26... we spent the day on the edges of our seat watching a 150 year old plus oak come down.  she stood about 90 feet high and was about 5 feet across at the base.. but ... she was also in the way of the latest building project..and with high winds and hurricanes prominent  in our area... we felt it best to take her down... she stood 30 feet from the house with many of her huge branches ( the size of a tree) hanging over the house...

The little man in the tree is Freddie the cutter

he doesn't speak English but I think he understood "augua" when the branch fell within 3 inches of the well house

..and I don't speak Spanish but I think he said "I meant to do that"

Here are Christopher and Daniel holding tension on the branch getting ready to be cut so it doesn't fall on the well house... it did clip a hickory tree... but not the well house

 a little bobcat action going on...

..it made me sad to see something so strong and mighty stripped down to nothing...

..when she hit the ground ( in the rain) it was sort of anti climactic ...

I'll spare you the pictures of all the poison ivy, oak and chiggers that we are suffering from now...

Pray for the troops...and have a fine day...all day long!