I'm Back....Again :-)

I apologize for not being more faithful to blog but I thought my days would get back to normal and slow down a bit. That has not been the case.
Unfortunately my hard working husband has been having terrible back pain. He has been seeing a doctor in Tampa and going through numerous tests. We knew that the doc would suggest surgery after all other attempts had been made. That is the point that Monroe was at. He had taken the epidural shots in his back, he had taken physical therapy....nothing seemed to help. So, last Friday he underwent back surgery to repair a disc and fuse two vertabrae together. The surgery went very well and the doctor was pleased with the results. Now it is recovery time.

The problem is my hubby has a hard time sitting still or in this case lying still. He gets cabin fever very easily. Let's just say that he is keeping me hopping around off and on all day! He will rest for a little bit but then I hear the walker dragging across the floor! He must use a walker when he is up walking. I am having trouble keeping my eyes on him!

I put a chair with cushions and pillows in it on the front porch for him to enjoy the outdoors. Was that good enough? Nooo sir. I looked out to find him in the BARN! He got himself stranded out there though. By the time he made it that far he was too tuckered out and couldn't make it back to the house. So, now we have a chair in the front yard halfway to the barn. He goes to the chair, rests a bit, then heads on to the barn. He is determined. Once at the barn, he has this padded chair on wheels to sit on. He likes to go out and sit in the barn while I work in the garden. He isn't able to stay out long though.

Speaking of the garden, the mustard greens are coming along nicely. I love thinning out the young greens and cooking them. They are so tender and tasty! Have you ever had fried greens? You know, everything we cook in the south is fried!! Actually a more accurate description would be wilted greens. To cook them you take the young and tender greens and pour hot bacon grease over them with a little salt. They only cook for a couple of minutes. That's it, they are done! Of course you must have a slice of southern cornbread to go along with the greens!

This is the row of kale. I haven't thinned this row yet nor have I had time to weed.

My late crop of purple eyed peas is in need of picking as well. See the dark pods? They will probably be too dry tasting, more like a dry bean, if I cook them. So I will not cook them with the yonger pods.

And my poor broccoli is about to get choked out with the grass and weeds. I plan to work on this row tomorrow. I may need to hire a husband-sitter while I work!!!

And this is what happened tonight. The rain started while Monroe was out in the barn and he had to call for help. Brent came to the rescue with a huge beach umbrella that belongs to Brooke (thanks Brooke for not taking it home yet!).

This was a slow walk back to the house because he has to take tiny steps due to the pain and he couldn't stop to rest halfway in his chair this time. He did stop for a small standing break, however. That outing did him in for today! But tomorrow.......

Thankful For Big Brothers

It's nice to have big brothers that remember their little brothers when they find an unexpected treasure. That is what happened one afternoon last week as Brent was coming home from college. He passed this prized possession that someone put out by the road for trash pickup! Imagine that! Disposing of this perfectly good volkswagen car! This family obviously didn't have boys or they would know that when the battery operated cars break is when the real fun begins! So naturally Brent stopped and threw the broken car into his truck. Never mind that it is pink. A little blue and white spray paint will fix that problem.
Now to rig up this fun ride. See the yellow car beside the pink one? Our neighbor saw what a great time the boys were having and donated his granddaughter's broken car to add to the fun.

Off they go!

Bryce would rather drive than be pulled. He is my ONLY child that will not throw caution to the wind and do anything too risky (smart boy).

Bryce does not have to live life on the edge like my other child that is being pulled behind the four-wheeler. By the way, the helmet is mandatory. Dad's rule!

I wasn't able to get a picture of the crashes but according to Brandon (the sometimes not so smart child) that is the best part. He would lean to one side to make the little car flip. Of course that always seemed to happen when Mom wasn't looking....hmmmm.

You know, as I sit here remembering, dare devil Brandon is the son that slightly fractured his toe doing a cartwheel on my carpeted bedroom floor (he was so excited to finally get a cast-remember he is the sometimes not so smart child) while poor Bryce severely broke his wrist a few months ago while carefully swinging on a rope in the back yard. Go figure!

Preparing For Winter

My husband is just about the most handy, creative guy I know. Really. He never ceases to amaze me. When things are broken or in need of repair in and around our home it seems he can always fix it. There are very few times we ever have to call a repairman out. You know how much money that saves us?

So, I decided to brag on him a little today. Can you tell what this invention is? I looked out my front window one morning and saw my man outside with this "thing" behind his truck. Out the door we came to see what he had created. This, my dear friends, is a log splitter!

Last winter Monroe borrowed a store bought log splitter from a friend. We use a lot of wood during the winter. It is our main source of heat for our home. We have a large fireplace in our living room that keeps us nice and warm but it surely likes to devour wood. So, using that borrowed log splitter set my hubby's imagination spinning. He had been pondering about building one for a few days because we talked about it several times. Work has been very slow over at the shop so that gave him some extra time to put his thoughts into action.

He used all scrap pieces of metal, parts from a wrecked truck and a lawn mower motor that were of no use at the shop and TAAAH...DAAAH....a log splitter!!

The axe or blade thingy that splits the wood is just a flat piece of metal that he bent and welded together. Then he used a grinder to put the edge on the blade. Pretty nifty don't you think?

The trailer was an old road sign trailer that is used on the highway to hold the flashing signs.

I looked in the Tractor Supply flyer that came this week and they were advertising what else but log splitters! Guess how much they cost???? They cost from $1,000 to $1,800!! Talk about a savings!

It makes me happy to know that my boys can learn from their Dad. They are watching and learning. One day when they are in charge of their own household I hope they will look back and remember all the things their Dad made and repaired at our home. I have a feeling he will be getting some phone calls in the future for some advice which he will not mind at all :-)

They are already excited about the new log splitter because splitting logs is a chore they must take a turn doing during the winter months. Now they just have to stack, stack, stack!

A Summer Re-cap

Summertime always seems to fly by too quickly for me. Before I know it, it is time to hit the books again with my boys. This summer was no different. We worked, we played and we visited friends. We were not able to have a family vacation but we did manage to take a couple of weekend get aways and day trips.

So here is a quick look at some of the highlights of our busy summer.

We bought a pregnant Saanen dairy goat the first of this year and by late spring we had two does born! There is nothing quite like having baby goats. They are so much fun. They can be just as much a pet as a farm animal. Just look at these two! We named them Sugar and Spice. We chose the right name for Spice because she does have a "spicy" attitude ;-)

We learned how to milk a goat, how to prepare the milk and I was very busy finding ways to use all of the wonderful milk we were able to get! I began to hear complaints every time someone opened the refrigerator. "I can't find anything in here for all this milk!" was a common remark.

So I began making yogurt, shown below, and a yummy soft cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and ricotta cheese. Talk about busy!! It was very rewarding though.
I was fortunate to make a trip to the farmer's market with a dear friend. She suggested going along with me for my first "buying experience" and I am so glad she did! It can be very overwhelming. There are so many vendors and they will negotiate with you on their prices! What fun! I bought this box of tomatoes for only $5.00!!! Aren't they beautiful? I had planned to can them but we ended up eating them all fresh. They were so delicious.

I also bought corn from the farmer's market. This was my first attempt at freezing corn. Brooke went in on halves with me so she came over and together we put up creamed corn....whew.....sore fingers and a messy kitchen was our sacrifice. Speaking of messy kitchen, even now, months later, every once in a while a speck of something will catch my eye in the most unusual place in my kitchen and I will wonder, "What in the world is that? Oh, of course, CORN!" Next year this will be a back porch job!!

Our summer garden didn't produce as much as I would have liked but we were able to get a few good pickings of peas. We did get lots of okra. It seems every year we have a good crop of okra that continues producing through the entire summer.

Here is our pea sheller. What a time saver!

There was time for a little R & R. Brooke and I had girls' night out with a couple of friends and we went to see Mary Poppins at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. We really enjoyed ourselves and this was something that no one else in my family envied me for going to see. This was most definitely a "girl thing" to do, according to all my guys!!

How was your summer?

New Website

I am a proud momma and proud momma's just have to share with the whole world when they are proud of their child/children.....right???

Well my first-born, Brooke, now officially has a website for her photography business and I would like to invite you to go and take a peek if you haven't already done so. I was (am) very impressed but my opinion may be slightly biased! The photo below is just a sample of her work. Here is the link: http://brookescottphotography.com

If you ever find yourself in need of a photographer, please keep her in mind. The Lord is so good and she has been able to stay home with her babies while maintaining a photography business. She is a busy mommy!

Brooke and Brent, my second-born, have worked together on several weddings now. Brent loves photography as well and is currently in college majoring in Communication Arts. Imagine that, two photographers in my family and how long has it been since we have had family pictures taken? Many years ago is the answer to that question!! I guess trying to photograph your own family is probably harder than photographing someone else's family. No matter! I am ready for a family photo session!!

I'm Back

Finally I have time to sit at my computer long enough to gather my thoughts for a blog! Can anyone tell me what happened to the month of August ;-) I seem to have lost it somewhere!
We have been so very busy this summer. I will share the highlights of our summer in the next few blogs.

Haven't my two sweet grandsons grown? They are so much fun!
They have new backpacks and they were so proud so show Nonna!Uh-Oh! Here's trouble! She is too sweet to get into too much trouble. Just ask her Poppa!!

And here is Reese's partner in crime! Oh well, no harm done.

School is back in session in our household. We are beginning our studies this year with the people of the Pacific Ocean and SE Asia. It has been AMAZING thus far. I just love learning along with my boys! Did you know that between the area of West Africa to East Asia live 95 percent of the world's unevangelized?! Eight-four percent of the world's poor live there as well!

What a mission field! This is the basis of study for our school year and I can't wait to dig in. Let me just put in a good word for the wonderful people of Sonlight Curriculum. If you are looking for the BEST of the BEST in home school curriculum look no further! In all my 22 years of home schooling I have never found any other curriculum that measures up to Sonlight! They are a great resouce.

That's all for now. I have a couple of videos from our camp this summer. I am having trouble getting them to post but I am not giving up yet. I hope to have them posted soon. Stay tuned...

Newly Found Treasures

I have to confess something. I have an addiction. I have an addiction for books!! I just love them, old or new it doesn't matter to me. Just ask my children! Anytime we are at a yard sale or thrift store they can always find me in the book section. They have to "talk" me out of that area by reminding me of how many books I already own and where in the world would I put another one! I am blessed to have a school room to home school the boys in and we have a small library in there. I have an antique china cabinet full of antique books. My kitchen cabinet is full of cookbooks and farm books... it's an addiction I tell you! My family is keeping a close eye on me, though. When I stop stocking the pantry with food and start putting more books there I know they will call for some professional help ;-)





I do have a special place in my heart for old books, however. I love to touch them, smell them and imagine what life must have been like in days past. My sweet husband just loves to collect old things. So, you can imagine my excitement when he drove up to the front door recently with a trailer behind his pickup full of old things! Someone called him and wanted their storage building cleaned out. The contents belonged to this person's grandfather who had recently passed away. Monroe didn't have to think twice about it. He would be glad to clean the building out! Some of the belongings were just junk and had to be discarded but packed away in a box was a treasure just for me....OLD BOOKS!! There were other great finds too like a collection of cast iron wear and old ball canning jars. I will blog about those later but I just had to share my "new" books with you.



The Farmstead Magazine is from 1977 and was published in Maine. Hot Weather Dishes was published in 1888 by Mrs. S. T. Rorer!! She writes in the preface: "During the hot weather old housekeepers frequently become embarrassed over the arrangement of seasonable dishes. The Author, feeling this difficulty, sends this little directory as a helpmate to her fellow housewives." Now come on ladies, it doesn't get much better than that!







And just look at this little recipe booklet, copyright 1933, from K. C. Baking Powder!! Priceless!

The red book on the left from the first photo above is a cookbook compiled from the Ladies Aid Society of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, South Jacksonville, Florida, copyright 1905! On the page for the bread recipe section I found this quote; "But tho' so much of learning had been crammed into her head, she couldn't for the life of her compound a loaf of bread." Ha! Ha! How funny! And the dedication page reads: "To all the housewives and sweethearts throughout the land who are aiming at greater perfection in the art of cooking, this little book is respectfully dedicated." Wow. That is a sobering thought for we women of the twenty-first century! We have lost our "aim" somewhere along the way, ladies.

From the same red book I found some interesting Home Remedies and Household Hints. I must share one remedy with you. It is "Cure For A Felon: A felon may be cured by tying the affected finger in a poultice of pulverized rock salt and turpentine, renewing as the poultice becomes dry. Usually twenty-four hours application of the above will cure the felon."

Are you as confused as I was when I first read this home remedy? What in the world is a felon? I conjured up in my mind a thief that a family caught on their property. They must have brought him into their house, and hanged him up by his finger while applying a painful poultice...tee hee hee. That will teach him!

Luckily, I found out what a felon is by looking in this Webster's New World Dictionary, copyright 1952.
This dictionary was also in with the goodies from the storage building. This is what Webster's definition is for felon- n., a painful, pus-producing infection at the end of a finger or toe, near the nail. Ahhh, now that makes perfect sense and I learned a new word for the day, did you?

Last but not least, a songbook by Bill Monroe. It is dated 1947 and is in fair condition.

I also got several old magazines. I have the perfect place for them, an old, antique trunk Monroe brought home a few years ago. Actually, he brought home two old trunks. Oh, the goodies I found in those trunks.

There were old letters, baby clothes, wool scarves.....well, I better save that for another post. I am sure you have heard enough!

We have been very busy this summer with a camp/ministry our church has been blessed with. We were gone last week to the camp with the youth from our church. It was awesome! I am gathering photos and video to post soon.

Stay tuned...