It opened!

...and it smells so sweet! To be honest, I didn't keep very good track of which dwarf fruit tree was which when I transplanted them out of the greenhouse last Fall, so it will be a surprise fruit. :) Time will tell....

This afternoon/evening, I waxed my Colby cheese.

That's the funniest kind of painting I've ever done!

I sure wonder how the cheese will TASTE! Time will tell.....

As the Endorsing Convention was canceled due to a blizzard on its way, our company did not come and we spent the day working on taxes and paperwork.

I may have found the car I'd like to buy (on BisMan).... Andrew called the owner and spoke for the car, so it will either be mine (if I like it when I "Meet" it) or he will fix it up and resell it. Time will tell...

Our life is so exciting!

"Thank you Lord for interesting bends in our road each day!"

Blizzard warnings again are in the air...

I wonder if anything will come of them?

I drove to Linton this morning to get Carol's (from FSA) signature on my calf check, then from there, I drove to Napoleon and paid off my operating loan with the a big portion of the money. It feels good to be able to pay your bills, doesn't it? :)

I put gas in Mom's vehicle and bought stamps at the post office, then realized that things had gone so well (I'd allotted plenty of time for possible bad roads) that I had a couple hours to spare before I needed to be working at the nursing home, so I drove home (15 miles) for lunch with my family. They were in the middle of a project when I arrived! They were reupholstering the dining room chairs and the 2 kitchen stools. They look so nice now!!!

Well, I just arrived home a little while ago, showered, and am very much ready to go to sleep, so I shall again say "Good night". We're getting company tomorrow, so Mom and I'll be getting up early to spend some time in the kitchen....

A post on red, Ron Paul, and buttermilk pancakes...

Mother commented the other day that my brothers and I matched----and she had to get our picture. Here we are, all decked out in red and blue denim (we all had white socks on too, but sadly they don't show in the picture). :) Don't I just look tiny in-between those two giants?




The following pictures are ones that Andrew took with his new, high-quality camera.

I mentioned about a week ago how Mom and Andrew went to see and hear Ron Paul speak (they helped greet people too and passed out stickers and the like) at the Bismarck endorsing convention... Here are a few pictures for those who are interested:

Mr. Paul----one of my heroes! Don't you just love his country look? :)



This gentleman (posing with his wife) is another to whom I give my whole-hearted support:
His name is Mr. Paul Sorum and he is running to be Governor of our great state. As a side note, he and his wife home educate(d) their children! :) He is a man of integrity and believes in many of the same things Ron Paul does, (things like: God; adhering to the constitution of our country; and the like).

The smiling lady in the middle of this photo is also a Ron Paul supporter---aka: my mom!

The gentleman in the black hat in this picture is a huge Ron Paul supporter...

...as is this young man in the white hat. :) These are the two friends Andrew went with yesterday and who he may go with again out to the eastern part of the state later this week....

Mother, Andrew and I spent our afternoon calling people from District #28, seeking out Ron Paul supporters. Our endorsing convention is this Tuesday evening in Wishek and we're trying to find people to come along and vote for us to be delegates or to be delegates themselves.....

But, that's enough politic talk for the time being! :)

I'll leave you with the picture Andrew took of me this afternoon as I mixed up a double-batch of buttermilk pancakes (minus the buttermilk, as we're out. I just put a little vinegar in the milk and it turned out fine).

I had decided to try out one of the hairstyles on a website my friend, MaryAnna sent me a link to (for Prairie Days ideas)... What do you think?

And now, I will wish you all a good night!

The first real blizzard of the Winter!

There is a storm raging outside, even as I type. We were all very glad to hear that Andrew and the young men he went with (the head ND Ron Paul guys) decided to stay in Dickinson tonight to wait out the storm! They hope to be in Grand Forks tomorrow evening for another endorsing convention there. I'm not sure if Andrew will go along to that one or not? First, they'll have to see if the roads are even passable in the morning!

We spent a quite day at home. I'm so glad I do not need to work in town tomorrow, as there is talk of the storm continuing.............

We sang this hymn this morning and I thought it was a most fitting one for this day.



I praise the Lord for how He has kept us safe through the storms of life!

Taxing work...

Yes, the guys spent most of the afternoon mulling over numbers. It's that time of year again---time to pay the taxes.

Meanwhile, the rest of us cleaned the house; cooked up a big batch of chili---using a new recipe; I made a white cake (from scratch) to go with all the leftover frosting I had from the cake I decorated yesterday; and we worked on the seemingly never-ending laundry.

It was a good, busy day. This evening, Andrew received a call from Jared H. (head of the Ron Paul campaign here in ND), asking him if he'd be willing to ride along to Dickinson tomorrow to help with their district meeting. Andrew agreed to go, but we're not sure what the roads will be like, as "They" are talking snow for this weekend. I guess the Lord will make it clear in the morning whether or not Andrew should go or stay home! God knows best, after all...

A picture post!

I took the time to upload my pictures tonight and thought I'd share a few of them with you all...

Here is the boxful of cake divider-plates that my neighbor brought over and that I bought from her:

Brother Andrew, cleaning off the trailer he used to haul a few round hay bales home.

This is the big kettle (it holds 4 gallons) I ordered when I decided to experiment with making hard cheeses:

My not-so-fancy but very practical, use-what-you-have cheese-press: :)

....and the resulting 2 chunks of cheese: NOTE: I did not wish to add any artificial coloring to the cheese, so that is why my Colby cheese is cream colored! The cheese dries on these mats for several days, then it gets dipped in hot cheese-wax and put away in cold storage. It still needs to be flipped over every day for a while...

This last picture is of the cake I made per request of one of my coworkers. Her granddaughter, Kaitlyn, died last year on this day in a car accident (slippery roads). My coworker was having a special memory-birthday party for her this evening, so I took this cake to her at work this afternoon:

That's all for now.

I just want to say a huge "PRAISE THE LORD" for the wonderful price we got on the calves we sold today! This will help so much..................

Good night everyone.~

We're selling our calves---

----tomorrow in Napoleon. :) If you so desire, I think you can watch the sale by going HERE, clicking on the "Internet Auction" button, then scrolling down until you find Napoleon Livestock and pushing the button there. The calves will most likely be sold sometime in the middle of the afternoon or on into the evening. Sadly, I need to work in town, so will not be able to be at the sale, but the nice thing is that, every Thursday, several of the TVs are turned to the channel that shows the sale and so I might be able to see some of our calves sold if I happen to be in the right room at the right moment....

We sorted the calves this morning and loaded a couple loads before I left for work, then the others finished up this afternoon with loading and hauling. I hope it went well, although I don't know for sure, as everyone was in bed when I arrived home. I praise the Lord for granting us safety while working with those rather large animals!

Colby cheese~

I attempted to make Colby cheese for the first time today!!! :) Now we just need to wait 6 months to know if it turned out well or not! Has anyone who's reading this ever made hard cheeses before? How did they turn out for you? What did you use for a cheese-press? I'll share a picture with you of my "System" when I load my pictures someday soon.

I also cleaned out my aquarium thoroughly (even boiled some of the rocks that had black fuzzies growing on them and soaked my bridge and fake plants in very hot water). I also baked and crumb-coated a cake that I'll decorate Thursday morning and take to my coworker who asked me to make it.

Dad and Andrew were busy in the shop most of the day and also fixed some fence. Mom and Jacob worked on schoolwork and tax work; laundry and dishes. Jacob was out in the shop all morning too.

Please pray for safety for us all tomorrow morning/afternoon, as we'll be sorting some calves and loading/hauling them to the salesbarn to sell on Thursday! Thank you.~

'Twas a busy day!

I got up early and went babysitting at Helen's. Since she and her husband are supposed to return this evening, the children and I spent a good portion of the morning and afternoon making a "Welcome Home" banner for them----complete with lots of colors, scribbles, hand outlines, and stick people. :)

When I got home, Jacob and I made a double batch of cookies and cleaned the kitchen. Dad was hauling hay home again and visiting with our neighbor when he stopped in for quite a while. They talked politics, I hear. This gentleman/friend said he likes Ron Paul and what he stands for, "But he just won't win". Dad agreed, diplomatically of course, that, no, with that attitude, he won't win.... It's all simple logic: If we don't vote for the guy we really want, he won't win! We, the people, need to support the men we really want to be running this country and then they can stand a good sporting chance of winning--and WIN--of course, all with God's help and blessing!

Mom and Andrew went to Bismarck to hear Ron Paul speak this afternoon/evening. I had really wanted to go along with them, but it just didn't work this time. They just returned home about half an hour ago.

We spent part of the last couple hours chasing cows in, as the cow-feeder this evening had forgotten to close the gate behind him, and the cows took full advantage of the situation. Dad, Jacob and I thought we had them all in, but when Mom and Andrew drove in, they said there were still quite a few out by the back driveway. Thankfully, they went in pretty easily. Dad just went out now again, as he saw one more cow out. She must have been hiding in the trees?

That was our day! I'm so glad that tomorrow I get to stay home (unless God has other plans for my day, that is). :)

Short night...

I just returned home from working at the nursing home and need to get to bed right away, as I need to be out at Helen's Daycare one last day tomorrow---bright and early.


So, good night everybody!