November 29

Outside my window...

It is a beautiful, sunny day. Yesterday it was so cold and windy but now today the weather has moderated and we are not so intimidated about stepping outside the door.

I am thinking…

...about how to get shelter for the chickens. All good homesteaders say to get your infrastructure in place before you get your creatures. Wise advice!

I am thankful for…

...a warm house. When I hear the wind blowing strong and cold I think about the people who have cold houses or no houses. And I feel guilty in my nice warm dwelling with plenty of clothing and covers. 

From the learning rooms…

We are still studying Paul's letters to Timothy. We're instructed to be soldiers for the Lord, not side-tracked or weighted down by the affairs of this life.

...chosen him

We just finished These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder as our daily read-aloud. We are considering reading the Little Britches series after this.

Otherwise, the boys are challenged to have their own reading goals in the Bible and otherwise. Melvin is reading Sherlock Holmes stories. 

Christopher read a few "new" books I pulled off the shelf for him. He's also wanting to read Josephus for the reward I offered him but he thinks the reward should be higher. He read a bit from the beginning of the book.

From the kitchen…

Here's the menu plan I set out this week but I haven't held to it entirely. 

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Egg sandwiches Yogurt	Leftovers	Deep dish Taco squares Green beans Lettuce salad
Spinach quiche Yogurt Granola	Goulash	Rice with Alfredo Spinach salad Apple crisp
Muffins Yogurt	Leftovers	Taco soup Cornbread Lettuce salad
Potato quiche Yogurt	Leftovers	Potato bar Peas & carrots Chinese cabbage salad
Baked oatmeal Yogurt	Penn Valley	Penn Valley
Penn Valley	Penn Valley	Mifflinburg
Scrambled eggs & sausage Yogurt	Leftovers	Veggie roast with sausage Lettuce salad

I am wearing…

...a head covering, an old lavender dress, ankle socks. I shed my purple sweatshirt after a morning workout.

I am creating…

Nada. Nix. Zed. Zero. 

I am going…

...to Pennsylvania to be with Stephen Saturday and Sunday.

I am reading…

...the Mitford series by Jan Karon.

I am hoping… 

...that life will get more reasonably busy for my dear husband.

I am hearing…

...wood chunks falling into the garden cart as Melvin and Christopher fill it and haul loads up the hill to stack on the pile.

Around the house…

The house kitchen (we have two kitchens) has gotten a coat of paint on two sides. The new color begs the cabinets to be white. 

The windows were washed on the outside of the house and I'm now working my way, little by little, around the inside. 

And, little by little, I'm taking care of stacks of things around my desk. I'm determined to declutter (auto correct thinks this isn't a word) and organize this house to the nth degree.

One of my favorite things…

A meal around the table with the family. 

A few plans for the rest of the week…

Continue life as usual. Cook, clean, do laundry, pack lunches, go shopping, and whatever else needs to be done. I need to figure out how and when to get the steer to the butcher.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing….

Do you ever feel awed by patterns in nature?
Even the swirl in the cooking pan? I do!

An Assortment of Topics

The smell of banana bread is tempting me. The young people are doing random acts of kindness throughout the community this evening so I made these with that in mind. A healthy one was added to the number (of breads, not people) for us to eat.

The healthy one

Melvin and Christopher peeled the rest of another box of free bananas and prepared them for the freezer. Once again, as before, most of the boxful disappeared down their gullets already -with peanut butter.

The wind is blowing in cooler weather this evening. The clouds and sun alternated across the sky today. A bit of rain fell. It's that time of year.

A snowman constructed on March 24

There are a couple of days next week where rain/snow is forecast. My friend Patricia told me that my transplants are getting quite large. It is time to set them out in the garden. Can they survive? 

We will wait a few days and then see if we can set out the lettuce and cabbage, etc. Tomatoes and peppers must wait for warmer weather. I might get in a hurry though and set some out under milk jugs... 

Christopher completed his PVC flute and has been driving his mother batty with all the shrill noises. It sounds like music to him. He is still working hard at figuring out how to perfect it. Meanwhile, we long for earplugs. 

Melvin discovered Brighty of the Grand Canyon this week. It held his attention for a number of days. It still thrills me to see him buried in a book. He was also in a silent world for a few days because of earache-induced-deafness. He's hearing again now.

Christopher read The Secret Garden for the first time and realized it's an interesting book. His comment, "Frances Hodgson Burnett likes to write about India." (We listened to A Little Princess just recently.)

I've been reading The Canterbury Tales. I thought this was supposed to be some classic of worth but I'm rather turned away by the wicked stories. Why didn't someone warn me?

Like a video I watched the other day. It wasn't wicked. There is a homesteader whose channel I subscribed to and they showed a detailed video of disbudding a goat. More than my tender heart could watch.

Some people like blood and gore and smoke or whatever but anything that looks like pain turns my stomach, head and nerves in all directions. Obviously, I wasn't cut out to be a nurse.

On our homestead, we have a cow that gives dry milk at the present. Well, you know, she is just dry. We're giving her a break from milk production until her baby comes in May. 

Otherwise, the chickens are laying eggs daily and keeping us happy with orange yolks. There are usually enough eggs for a breakfast of some sort. Hopefully a chicken or two will get broody sometime this spring and give us some chicks.

For supper tonight we tried a new recipe, King Ranch Chicken. Some rice and a cabbage salad completed the meal. Christopher rated it "top-notch".

Till next time....

Words-
Opportunism
Negligee
Dressage

Reading and Thinking

The wind is blowing; rain drops are spattering the glass doors. This morning the snow was falling. Later there was rain. Then the clouds parted and blue sky shone through. You never know what will happen next.

And isn't it that way with all of life? I awoke feeling fairly chipper but after everyone had their breakfasts and were on their way, I felt weary. These smoothies are making me feel a bit rough. Must be working out toxins. 

After a couple smoothies-turned-salads, the ingredients have normalized into very palatable drinks. There has been no noticeable change in my eyesight yet but I didn't really expect that there would be, this soon in the game.

We spent time reading from the Bible about Israel's change in leadership from Moses to Joshua. Have you ever wondered how Moses and Aaron died? Moses, yes. God buried him and no one knew where his grave was. But we're told he would die "as Aaron did".

...thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. Numbers 27:13

Of Aaron's death it is recorded that he climbed a mountain where his priestly garments were given to his son. And he died there. He had strength to climb a mountain. But then he died? How was it? A heart attack? God just took his spirit from him? How was it for those watching? Many unanswered questions. 

The conversation yesterday turned to wolverines. Which reminded me of the story of a boy who lived with a badger. The younger ones had never read the story (Incident at Hawk's Hill) so I introduced it to them by reading the introduction and first chapter. Christopher took it from there and finished it.

Matthew and Melvin spent time planting food plots for the deer. They report sprouting peach seeds in their plots. (They dumped food scraps there throughout last summer.) They plan to plant them - in the plot and in the orchard.

Both Melvin and Christopher are in books that they keep gravitating to whenever they have a half chance.

These books occupied my reading time today. Skimming the first (Constructing the Universe), reading the first few chapters of the second- War Torn Valley (about Mennonites during the Civil War) and starting the intro of the third (The Canterbury Tales) before I finally succumbed to sleep.

From the intro of Joe Montana (which I read on Monday)- 
"A Winning Attitude
In math class, I learned that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. Sports has taught me that the whole is either greater than or less than the sum of its parts. Teamwork is seldom, if ever, a fifty-fifty proposition. Teamwork is whatever it takes to get the job done. 

There is no time for the measurement of contributions, no time for anything but concentrating on your job. Believing in doing whatever it takes to get the job done is what separates a successful person from someone who is not as successful." -Chuck Knoll

So true!

Interesting fact- The small town of Ismay, Montana changed its name to Joe in honor of this "greatest quarterback of all time".

We recently finished Mathematicians Are People, Too (as a read-aloud). Real people took an interest in math and wrote the books we can read today that explain the hard-to-understand concepts. They were boys and girls once upon a time, as well.

March has come in like a lion. Banished are all thoughts of gardening for awhile. Although I do plan to do some transplanting again tomorrow. Seedlings. Indoors.

The sky yesterday morning-

Other places received much snow yesterday but it only sleeted a bit here.

And one parting shot-

I had said the wind didn't do much here but it demolished the boys' basketball hoop! They have spent hours playing there. Now they'll need to find some other means of letting off steam.

New words-
Incipient
Argosy
Assiduity

Sunshine, Injury and Studying

I'm facing a blank page today with a mind that suddenly feels blank. Because I wrote a really good article I was going to post today and the stupid Google ate it! Just consumed it. The big ol' meany.

Well, now what? 

I'm processing a lot of things right now and nothing seems quite ready for words. 

So I'll just ramble about what's been going on here in the hollow where we find our home. And outside the hollow where life calls us; some of us daily, and some less often.

The sun is shining in our world! It really is. This morning I thought daylight seemed very long in coming. Then I realized there was a heavy cloud cover. It would be awhile until we saw sunshine.

This forenoon while we were reading together (the boys & I) there was a sudden downpour of sleet which quickly changed to rain. It rained awhile and then the power was suddenly cut off. We finished reading in the darkened room; then just as we finished and were speculating what to do without electricity, it came back.

But, truth to tell, I don't even know when the sun decided to come out from behind those clouds. Yeah, I know, it was the clouds that hurried on and there the sun was, shining like he was all the time and we just couldn't see him.

And the air is warmer! That "springtime feel" once again. Maybe if I can get past the mud, I'll go start some seedlings at my friend's house this week. Yesterday we needed 4 x 4's to get out of here.

While I helped one boy decide what to study today, the other was writing another story. Then while I helped the next one decide what to study, the first one studied. 

Melvin wrote a grammar rule and illustrated it, worked on memorizing and read from a book about animals. Our Magnificent Wildlife.

                               

Christopher read a whole book. I guess. He says he did. It seems impossible to me. But I think he's a speed reader. He read Madeleine Takes Command (204 pages)

                                        

Now he's started another, The Golden Goblet. We picked out four books for him to read this week. I asked, "Can you read that many?" He said, "Let's see how far I get."

                                      

My personal goal for this year is to read 30 books. I have never set a goal or kept track of how many I've read so I have no idea how realistic this is. I'd love to hear how many you read in a year on a normal basis. 

The problems I experience with reading are these- 1) If I get into a captivating book, I have an extremely hard time doing the normal life things like, eating, working and sleeping. 2) If I try to read a deep book or one that is not so captivating, it is extremely hard to get into it while doing the normal life things like eating, working and sleeping.

Can you relate to my dilemma?

Austin is recuperating from a fall that sprained his wrist and banged his head. He wrapped his wrist and puts ice on it periodically. He bandaged the head. He is a silent sufferer so I don't always find out how much he's hurting. 

He reports that there is marked improvement from yesterday. He was able to squeeze the shampoo bottle this morning and button his pants.

He is cubing a lot today with the one good hand. I wonder when or if he'll ever outgrow this obsession? I begged him to go relieve the calf who is staked out in the yard. Every time I looked out, there seemed to be a big branch accompanying his head, along the ground.

Austin confirmed that he was indeed greatly entangled with that branch. He was having difficulty with life while tangled up like that. He seems like a rather stupid creature.

Austin also did a bit of house cleanup and some basketball hoop shooting. I think he feels really hampered with only one functional hand. I know I would. 

Thomas and I are heading, with a group, to PA this afternoon, Lord willing. We want to visit a teen Kid's Club evening in session. We are looking for options for the teens we know. Hopefully I'll have something to report on that later.

Thomas and Matthew went to the job this forenoon. The plumbers are there to do their work. This is another job where Thomas needs to fix another contractor's mistakes and finish work another started. It's appalling how many contractors will start and then skip off with the money, leaving the owner in a state of frustration.

All the hampers are full again today. I had emptied all four of them Friday. (I can't remember if ours was empty but pretty near, if not.) I'm sure you can relate if you have five children. 

By the way, one pair of 34 length jeans fills the hamper about a quarter full. And 4 or 5 of them fill the washer. Four guys in the family wear that length. (Yes, the family picture on this site is sadly outdated.)

I think lunch wants me. Talk to you later....

Today I am thankful for...
...clothing.
...four wheel drive.
...rice.

Strategy

When there is more to do in one day than one is able to accomplish, what do you do? I strategize. (Isn't that a word? Spell correct puts a red line under it!)

The bathrooms need cleaning. Clean the toilets and the mirrors and be done. There are three bathrooms. That's a bit too many. Especially when you really hate to clean bathrooms. Hello. How did they get so dirty in the first place if I wasn't always leaving them till last?

Surfaces cleaned, add a wonderful pick-up to a room. And why is it so hard to clean surfaces? Because EVERYBODY in this house of seven will set things down on a surface that is empty rather than putting it in its proper place. So clean the surfaces. Even if it's hard. It makes the room look ten times better. 

Camera and bag, tool set, jacket, calf wormer, art project, toys, pencils, erasers. You name it, it gets set out and doesn't get put away. All these types of things I set aside on one surface for the owners to put in their proper places.

Laundry? Fold what's dry, already, for once! Empty the one hamper that's overflowing with dirty laundry and wash what's sitting in the laundry room too. Run those wrinkled shirts through the dryer with some wet laundry ('cause I really, really do not like ironing).

Grocery shopping. Get it done first thing so it's not weighing on my mind all day. Well, really the push that sent me out early was that the guys wanted to work on the vehicles. A vehicle on the road can't be worked on.

Matthew wanted me to check at Goodwill for a pair of jeans. I should have known better than to go in there. 30 x 34 jeans are just not to be found but books are magnetic, I think. Not good strategy, Mama!

Tomatoes? Well, just ignore them. It's cold today. The guys were working in their jackets and wondered why I have the door open. "Cleaning", I said. That totally explains it. If you're cold, clean your house.

The partial fridge clean out contributed to the millions of pounds Americans waste. So disturbing.

Ten quarts of applesauce from yesterday to can. Just get 'er done. All the pans and equipment to clean up too. Accomplished.

Dishes and meals. They just won't go away. And my mind is so deplete of cooking ideas. Everyone got their own breakfast. For the next meal I (finally) made a dish of zucchini, peppers, onions and canned beef chunks, seasoned with garlic, chili powder and cumin. A pan of cornbread, some fruit and milk completed the scene. Poor guys are fending for themselves with leftovers this evening.

Christopher needs a haircut. By now my back aches and I'm begging for help. Thomas so graciously does it, commenting on how it compares to sickle mowing. He took off a heap of red hair.

Then he started the first fire for the season in the furnace. It's the last day of September. 

Have you noticed that there are spiders in great quantity this Fall?

How are you addressing food waste?

Parting shot- 

Don't you just love these guys' creativity?

Home Library

"Oh, here is a good book. This is a classic. 

And here's another. 

And another!"

"Mama, you better stop", my son says as I load up on books at the thrift store. So with a dozen or more books we head out. How can you leave a good book behind when it's only $0.75?

When this scenario repeats itself many times, the books will increase. Therefore, some organization would be helpful. 

Yesterday Austin began to work on my dream home library. Not being able to find a simple list of categories, I gave him liberty to categorize in his own way. He is making good progress. 

 And to answer a few questions from yesterday-
The "feel-good" chemicals in your brain are called endorphins. Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin to name some. When you exercise outdoors these are produced naturally and work like anti-depressant drugs and morphine, without the side effects. So why not take a simple walk? Just dip in the river, Naaman!

Toad bellies, as I was told they are called, are also called frog bellies, Autumn Joy sedum is a more technical name. The reason they got the belly name, as I understand, is that you can rub the leaves until the two layers separate. You can then inflate the leaf until it resembles an amphibian belly.

Do you have a library?

How many books do you have?

Do you enjoy reading?