Caving II

Our oldest came up for a few days this week. Yesterday, while Dad was working, Mom  loaded everybody up & we went to the caves. We did 3 new caves & one old stand-by. Yes, that's alot of caves. Especially when you are 7 months pregnant .

Everybody had fun tho, so it was worth it.

Oneof the new caves had the coolest skylights

Aren't those awesome?

Here we are after finishing the first cave

Biggest brother & littlest brother

Crawling thru the last cave of the day

We decided one of the caves would be more accurrately named "Bat Crap Cave"

A good time was had by all.

Blessings.

Boys & Their Dogs

Where there's a well...

Our well pump died on Tuesday .

So we spent all day Tuesday pulling it. 100 feet straight up. Pumps weigh a lot. We got it pulled & made a trip to town for parts just before dark. My husband hooked  up 'redneck plumbing' for that night. We have a seperate irrigation well at the barn so he hooked up a hose to that, dragged it up to the house & stuck it in the bathroom window. We used that to flush the toilet & fill the tub. Redneck plumbing makes for a very messy bathroom.

Wednesday we got to install the new pump. Much simpler & quicker than raising the old one but still took all day. And one more trip to town for 100 ft of new electrical wire. We finished again just before dark.

Water is a fabulous thing. As soon as the water was running I washed the dishes, did 2 loads of laundry and scrubbed the tub, toilet and sink. I felt much better .

Today we were actually able to return to our normal lives. School, chores, baking bread, making butter & ice cream (we have LOTS of cream right now).

Never underestimate the power of running water available at the twist of a faucet.

Blessings.

God's Bounty

My garden bit the big one this year, so I had practically NO veggies to put up. I did get some zucchini "gifted" to me that we froze & there is one row of carrots waiting to be pulled & frozen. But our fruit has been abundant. As a matter of fact I am so sick of canning right now it's not even funny .

Today I put up apple butter & pears.

My feet hurt just looking at the jars.

So far our provisions include:

20 qts applesauce

3qts apple butter

11 pts apple butter

8 1/2pts apple butter

11 qts pears

11 pts plum jam

6 1/2pts plum jam

7 pts apricot jam

2 pts blackberry jam

3 1/2pts blackberry jam

9 qts apple pie filling

4 qts dried apples

3 gal bags dried apples

We still have lots & lots of apples so I think we will keep on drying & freezing pie filling.

The kids have been working right along side of me & they have been such a help. And hopefully, when they have families of their own, they will be able to pass on this knowledge. I learned it the hard way. Trial & error, totally on my own. And there wasn't even internet to turn to then!

I am tired & my feet hurt, but I am so thankful to the Lord for giving us this bounty. In a few months when there is snow on the ground & we can open a jar of summer fresh fruit to enjoy it will be totally worth it.

Blessings.

Birthday Nightie

For her birthday, my oldest son bought his little sister and her doll matching nighties.

How cute is that? Here they are posed in their rocking chairs

As soon as they arrived in the mail, my daughter had to put them on. And we had to do her hair in the matching braids. She even tried to con me into cutting her bangs so they would be total twins.

She's a happy girl.

Blessings.

Valleys

I can't sleep. It's 4 a.m. here and I just can't sleep. My husband is gone, I never sleep well without him. I expected him home last night but he won't be here until sometime today.

We're going thru something in our marriage. Something I thought only happened to "other people." It feels like there is a wall between us and it is lonely. I hate it. I hate the cause of it. I want to go back to how it was. But we can't go back. We can only go forward. I wish we could go far enough forward that this was just a dim memory.

My husband is everything to me. I am completely dependant upon him. Mentally, physically and emotionally. And right now I feel kind of bereft. Stranded. Maybe I should be "strong" and "independant", but I am not. I am weak and clingy.

Do you ever wonder what we're supposed to learn by what God let's us go thru? What exactly am I supposed to take away from this experience?

I wonder if our kids feel that way about the lessons we teach them? There's a thought.

This is a deep valley. And it sucks in here. I hope I make it out soon. I miss the sun.

Blessings.

Updated Pups

Here is the updated photo of the whole family. Aren't they cute?

Blessings.

Christmas Giveaway

Had to sneak this in before the deadline (tomorrow). A great Christmas giveaway here The Mennobrarian. Check it out.

But don't enter 'cause that inceases my chances

OOps!

I posted too soon! She's had 3 more boys!

Puppies!

Our little white rats I mean puppies were born today! Four squirmy, whiney, little yellow labs. 2 girls & 2 boys. Mama & puppies are doing fine .

The girls are spoken for but the boys are for sale. Any takers?

Blessings.

#9

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 9 . How did that happen?

She celebrated today by having a friend over to spend the night. We did the cake & ice cream & presents. She chose all pink party stuff (big surprise ) & she wanted a pink teddy bear cake

As silly as it sounds, I didn't get any pictures of her . We did the whole party part with the video camera, so, oh well.

She has had SO many requests for her birthday. She wanted the pink teddy bear cake. No problem. She wanted donuts for breakfast (homemade). Okay. She wanted chicken pot pie for dinner (again homemade). Anything else???? Plus tomorrow is potluck so I made another cake for that. For the last 2 days it feels like I have done nothing but stand at the kitchen counter & mix, bake, fry, roll or cook something. I'm tired. But my baby girl is happy so I am happy.

This last picture is just for fun.

Blessings.

Silly Boy

My oldest son is 19 and lives in California. He recently broke up with the girl he had been dating for the past year. It was really a good thing because she was far more serious than he was.

So now apparently he has no one to talk to. Why do I say this? In the last 2 weeks he has called me a dozen times . This is a child who normally calls once a month if he's feeling chatty. Now he's calling almost every day during his lunch hour.

I am sorry for the turmoil in his life but it is good to talk to him. He calls up and wants sympathy and he gets absolutely none  I think he likes it. It's so much more fun to deal with a teenager and their life shattering events (which occur every 20 minutes or so) long distance. It's much easier to stay detached. When all the turmoil is under your roof it is much less fun .

So I have no idea how long the phone calls will last (probably until he finds a new girl) but I'm enjoying them while they do.

Blessings.