Wednesday, December 30, 2009

On pie crusts and complex puzzles...

A few days ago, I told a friend that I'd share my favorite, whole-grain pie crust recipe with her, so I thought I'd share it with the rest of you at the same time. It is as follows:

BARLEY PIE CRUST
2 cups freshly ground barley flour
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp. salt
4-5 Tbsps. very cold water

Mix together well. Roll out between two pieces of wax paper, then flip gently into pan. Flute the edges and prick the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes for pies that require a pre-baked crust.

This recipe is enough for one single-layer pie crust, so I had to double it today when I made my pumpkin pies. :)

Here's a picture of the crust before I put the filling in...


...And here's a picture of the finished product...


You may recall that I said a while back that we were, in our spare moments, working on doing the puzzle my grandparents' gave us... Well, last night, my dad put the last piece into it, and it looks so nice. It's going to be hard to take it all apart again...


And now, the moment that you've been waiting for has arrived--the moment when I'll tell you what the mystery picture was!


You all had the basic idea correct (Grace, you had it exactly right, and Andrew, I'm sure you knew what it was, even without reading the label on the picture!).


The picture was of: ------------------------


Steamy, warm milk, sloshing into our holding jar out in the barn! In order to save time, and seeing as Grace gave a very good explanation of what this was in her comment, if you'd like to know more, you can read Graces' comment. :)


Here's wishing you a wonderful last day of 2009! May the Lord guide us all through every day of the new year that's just around the bend!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

An update and another mystery picture...

My mom and brothers went down to Eureka again today to help move grandpa Harvey into the assisted living room that my uncle & aunt had reserved for him. Currently, the arrangement is for him to live there just for the Winter, as in the Summer, he enjoys being out of doors and helping on my uncles' farm. We were just too concerned that he'd hibernate all these cold months away--without getting out to visit. Also, an even greater concern is that we weren't sure that he was always remembering to take his medication, so this way a nurse will see to it that he gets his meds. twice a day, and also, he never wanted to cook anything, so this way he'll get three good meals a day. We all feel much better that he'll be under closer supervision now. We have invited him several times to come and stay with us on our farm for a while, but he doesn't want to do that (we're guessing a big reason is that he's pretty addicted to watching television and we don't have TV access here!) So, my grandpa's spending tonight in his old home and then will be moved entirely over to the assisted living place once his new twin-sized bed comes in. We're praying that his health and his spirits will improve with this change in scenery and care!

While they were gone (and while my dad was trucking) I kept things going here at home. One thing I accomplished was I made a batch of Mint Bon-Bon ice cream to take along to our friends' house on New Years Eve. I hope everyone there likes mint ice cream!

As I was folding some laundry, the phone rang and it was one of our neighbors, saying that he had been moving his cows from one place to another when some of them got away. Two cows went off in one direction (and he was at that time working on retrieving them) and then a cow and a calf headed towards our farm. He asked that, if they came into our yard, that "We" lock them in a pen and he'd come get them tomorrow with his pickup and trailer.

So.... "We", which consisted of me, got all bundled up then and went outside to take a look around for the four-footed wanderers. After walking all over, in all directions, and not seeing hide nor tail of them, I thought that perhaps they had gone someplace else, and proceeded to go back in the house and took off all my snow-gear. I had just accomplished this task when I happened to look out the window toward the road and saw a cow and a calf standing right in the middle of it! I'm still very curious where they were when I was out looking for them...?

Anyway, at this time, I decided to call my dad, as I was hoping he'd be home soon and could help me. Shortly after I dialed his number, I saw our black and blue semi coming around the curve in the road just south of our place---and I breathed a sigh of relief. :) I warned my dad about the cow that was standing in the middle of the road... When he pulled into our drive-way, the cow and calf headed north, towards their home. After parking the truck, Dad walked out to the road and saw that the cow and calf were already half way up to the corner where they'd have to turn to get to our neighbors' place, so he came back to the house and called our neighbor, who happened to be driving down the road then and he saw the cow and calf and said he'd follow them the rest of the way back to his farm and get them in with the rest of his herd. So, everything turned out alright after all!

I really had best get to bed now. First, though, I want to post another mystery picture. For some of you, this will probably be pretty easy, but I imagine it will be harder for others--and that's all I'm going to say. :)




Monday, December 28, 2009

An attentiveness test...

I've been saving this video to share with you on a day when I lacked other things to blog about and, seeing as this seems like one of those days, I'll share the link with you now. :)

You are only supposed to watch this video once. Seriously, just once! Then come back here for further directions.

In the video you will see a group of basketball players, some in white and some in black passing two balls around. Your goal is to count how many times the ball is passed by those wearing white shirts. It‘s that simple. Remember, count just the passes of the ball by those wearing white. Once the movie is over, write down the number of passes you have counted.


Watch the movie HERE before proceeding any further--unless you wish to know what's so interesting about the test before you've taken it (in other words, if you want to ruin it!)....




....Did you watch it yet?





....How many passes did you count?







....OK, good...





Now let me ask you something: Did you notice some kind of a critter walking across the screen while the players were tossing the ball around? A mouse maybe, or perhaps a gorilla?




Hmmm... Maybe you'd like to go watch the movie over again.....






I, for one, did not notice anything the first time I watched this, and most of the friends we've shared this with have not either--so don't feel bad! It's just interesting to see how easily we can be deceived by having our attention drawn to other areas, isn't it?

May God help us to be wise!!!!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

We went to Grandpa's house~

My family and I braved the roads today and went down South to try to cheer Grandpa up. We took a meal along and ate lunch with him and later Mom gave him the photo album we'd put together of our family's doings this past year...
Then, while Mom did a session on Grandpa (and then while they both napped,) the rest of us went downstairs for a couple hours worth of fun playing ping-pong. My dad used to play quite a bit with his brothers, so he's quite good and he kept the rest of us hopping!
We finished our Balentyne book, "The Young Fur Traders" on the way home and then ate a quick supper before heading out to the barn to take care of the animals. Thankfully, Dad & Andrew pushed a large quantity of the snow out of the yard this morning before we left, so getting to the barn was much easier tonight!
I thought I'd note here that it's finally stopped snowing, as that in itself is an event! :)
Before I go, I'd like to share a prayer that's on my calendar--one that I thought would be a blessing to you as well~
"Lord, I pray that You would give me an ever-renewing sense of Your purpose for my life. Use me for Your glory as long as I am on this earth!"
~Amen~

Saturday, December 26, 2009

SNOW!

It truly is a Winter-wonderland around our place these days! I tucked my camera inside its' case and took it out with me this morning to get some pictures...

Here, my milk cow, Louisa, was peeking in the barn door to see if it was her turn to come in or not. :)


My brothers, milking their cows, Cheerio (left) and Lilac (right)...
My dad had to clear some snow away from the Quonset door in order to get out to feed the cows this morning...
This picture is of our turkeys--cleaning up a little grain that one of my brothers had spilled. Speaking of turkeys, we had a funny experience with our little hen this evening during chores... My dad had gone across the road with the tractor to feed the heifers their grain and then proceeded to the hay-yard to pick up a couple large square bales to feed to the cows. When he came back in the farm-yard with the hay... ...Jacob noticed that there was something on top of the tractor cab and then pointed it out to the rest of us. It was--our little hen--just sitting up there, holding on tightly with her feet! We motioned to Dad to stop and then informed him that there was a turkey on top of the tractor. He got out and was going to lift her off, when she spread out her wings and took to the air, landing in the snow a little ways away. Silly little bird! :) Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera along at the time, so we don't have a picture of our brave turkey.

Here is the snowy alley way that leads out to the stock cows...
...And here is the semi. It looks like Dad will have to push some snow away before he takes off Monday morning!
We had a lovely day at home today, singing; praising the Lord; fellowshipping together; playing a game and working on a thousand-piece puzzle (which we're a little over half done with--the easy half is done though...!)
Before I go, I'd like to inform you that Grace has a mystery picture posted on her blog currently and she would like lots of people to try to guess what it is before she gives the answer on Monday. It's a peculiar picture and it has me puzzled, so if you'd like a challenge, I suggest you visit her blog soon and try to figure out what "It" is.... Have fun! :)

Friday, December 25, 2009

A lovely birthday party~

Though the weather outside was frightful!...

...Inside it was sooooo delightful!

And since there was a blizzard and we couldn't go any place, we just said,
"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

It was Mother's birthday after all and we had lots of things planned to make the day special for her!

But, I'm sure she'll be posting soon to tell you all about it!
So, I'll just say we had a marvelous day and I hope you did too!

Oh yes, thank you to everyone who guessed what my mystery picture was. :) As everyone guessed correctly, it obviously wasn't much of a mystery picture after all!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

PS...


If you're looking for something pleasant to buy with all that Christmas money you just received, :) I'd like to suggest the harp music CD that another Hannah friend of mine recently made! Learn more about it here: http://gloryandgrace-hannah.blogspot.com/.
I received my copy of "Still, still, still" in the mail yesterday and we have been enjoying it immensely ever since!!! :)

Name that thing...

My blogging friend, Hannah has recently been posting mystery pictures and then, whoever wishes to can guess what the picture is of. I thought of something to take a picture of just now and am posting it here for you to guess, if you like!



Got any ideas???

We all had a busy day doing regular cooking and cleaning, and then did some more cleaning (our messy closet got a major overhaul!) and some special cooking/baking (Andrew made ice cream and I made cookies.) Oh yes, Mom and I also had a fun time putting the pictures in the photo album that we'll be giving to Grandpa!

As my dad stayed home from trucking because of the weather, when our work was done, we all sat down and played the game, "Rage." As tomorrow is my mom's birthday, I thought it would be nice if she'd win, but Papa won instead. :)

It's still snowing..... We were planning on going to SD tomorrow, but if it's a blizzard, we'll be celebrating here in our cozy home!

Well, it's family prayer time once again, so I'll bid you farewell~

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The first blizzard of this Winter~


It has been snowing most of the day here in ND! While out at chores this evening, we plodded through about 2 inches more snow than we had to go through this morning. The snow is still coming down fast and the wind is picking up, which means one thing--it's a blizzard! The weathermen are predicting a blizzard for a few days, so we'll probably be staying pretty close to home for a while. :)


Lots of different things got done today around here... Dad hauled another load of grain to Enderlin and got loaded up again. Mother went to Bismarck and brought home some supplies. The boys and I picked out pictures on the computer to have printed in town (which Mother then brought home) for a photo album we're putting together for Grandpa Harvey. We also folded the letters (put them in envelopes; addressed the envelopes; and mailed them) that Mom wrote up for him, announcing to friends the fact that Grandma isn't with us anymore, as Grandpa had received several cards from people recently who didn't know that she had passed away.


Speaking of Grandpa Harvey, he didn't have to have surgery today after all. PTL! He's back at home now and will have to see a gall-bladder specialist after the holidays are over with to see if he needs the surgery done or not. Thank you so much for praying for him! As the nice, older gentleman on Rejoice radio always says, "God hears and answers prayer!"

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Sweet arrivals~

The first new arrival to our farm this day came in the form of a new calf... I had gone in the house already after morning chores when Andrew came in from feeding cows and announced that another of my cows had calved! Jacob & I bundled up again and went out to get the new baby into a warmer location--someplace warmer than it's current bed--a snowbank!

The second arrivals at our farm came in the form of our blogging friend, Kimberly and 3 of her children, my friend Whitney (who's married now), Daniel & Leah. They had come for BodyTalk sessions with Mother, but we had a great time visiting too!!! It had been a long time since Whitney and I had had a chance to just sit down and talk and we got a few minutes to do that today, so that was really nice! Our friends had never been here before, so we children bundled up and gave Whitney, Daniel & Leah a tour of the place and swung on the snowy swings for a while.

Here's a picture of a game of UNO--a game that Leah's a pro at... See how hard she's thinking? :)

Later, Andrew dug out our UNO Blitzo game and he, Whitney, Leah and I played a few games while our mothers visited and Jacob & Daniel played other things...
I think they were having a great time!...
Daniel really enjoyed my brothers' remote controlled trucks. He told me they set up a jump for the trucks outside, and he was happy he got to drive for a while!
The afternoon passed quickly and soon it was time for our friends to go....
Thanks for coming, Kimberly and all!!! I hope you enjoyed your time as much as we did ours. :)

After they left, we had a little time yet before supper, so we separated the 17 gallons of milk we'd saved up and got 5 quarts of cream. We're planning to make some ice cream in the near future!

For supper, I made blueberry pancakes with the blueberries that our friends had given to us. Delicious!!!

Before I go, I have a prayer request for my grandpa Harvey again. He had to go to the Eureka hospital yesterday, as he was having pain again. The doctors have decided that, if he's strong enough tomorrow, they're going to ship him to Aberdeen for a surgery to remove his gall-bladder. This will be the 3rd time he's been in the hospital this year... Poor Grandpa!

Monday, December 21, 2009

It's Winter in North Dakota!


It's winter in North Dakota--
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.

Oh, how I love North Dakota--
When the snow's up to your knees...
You take one breath of winter
But then your nose begins to freeze!

Yes, the weather here is wonderful,
So I guess I'll hang around.
I could never leave North Dakota anyway
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!
~anonymous


Well, maybe it isn't quite that bad yet, but sometimes it does feel pretty cold outside!

I just wanted to wish you all a happy Winter and to share a quote with you... :)

"Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together!"

A cute picture from a forward~


Sunday, December 20, 2009

A sinking feeling (and babysitting~)

This morning, after our chores were through, my whole family headed up to ice skate. When we were in Bismarck last Wednesday, God helped my brothers and I to find some really great deals on hockey skates, so we had each purchased a pair and really wanted to use them. As the area of our cleared off ice was only about a third the size it should be for a real hockey rink, the guys had the idea to take the tractor up and clear the ice off--if the ice was thick enough. Andrew did some research on-line this morning to see how thick the ice would have to be in order to hold up a heavy tractor, and then he took a drill bit and drilled down through the ice in a couple spots and found it to be thick enough to hold the tractor up. SOOOOOOO..... Dad cleared a lot of ice off in a short amount of time and planned to make the rink a 100x200 ft. rectangle.
However, before he was entirely done, he had a slight change of plans!
Right along the edge of the ice, the reeds had obviously kept the ice from freezing as solidly as everywhere else... Talk about a sinking feeling--for us to see Dad try to get out of the mud and water and also for Dad--as the tractor sank down! The guys had confidence that they'd be able to pull it out later with our other 9030--which they did and everything is OK on the tractor that went in the water, so it's just our ice surface that's not the greatest in that spot... Talk about an adventure. :)
A little before 11:00, I headed home to change quick and then drove over to our neighbors to babysit their children while they did some shopping and spent some time together.
These are the same children that I watched on Thursday, but this time I took my camera along and got some pictures, so I thought I'd share them with you....
Meet Amelia (called MeMe): It was hard to get a good picture of her because she was always on the move! :)
Here's James (or Jimmie)...
And curious Michael--who's getting some teeth in currently...
The twins at the window:
Amelia hard at work coloring a picture:

And the twins once again--with their Cheerios! You can tell that James was more hungry than Michael...
We played together; colored together; read books together; sang together; danced together; watched Winnie-The-Pooh together; ate together; they slept together; and we had an enjoyable time until their parents came home a little after 7:00.
.....The best part of it all is--I get paid to have that kind of fun! (True, dirty diaper dealings aren't the most fun things in the world, but they're a fact of life!!!)
That was my busy day. I'm sure many other things happened around the place here, so perhaps my family will fill you in on that in the next few days....

Saturday, December 19, 2009

A family day~


My family and I went to Eureka, SD today for the Bornemann family's Christmas gathering. We watched some old video clips from way back--when my dad was a little boy, and we prepared food; ate food; and then put lots of leftover food away.

For a while in the afternoon, I went with Grandma to an annual event the town holds where you can enter your tickets (that you've gotten for buying locally ) into a box alongside of a prize you'd like to have a chance to win. Then, after the 500 or so other people have entered their tickets into the boxes too, the announcer calls out the winners whose names have been drawn for the items. Grandma didn't win anything, but it was still interesting to watch and to look at the prizes. :)

We visited late with our extended family and, consequently, got home late too. We just got in from chores a little bit ago and now my sugar buzz is worn off and I feel very tired!

So, until we meet again--may peace and joy be with you.

"Where the soul is full of peace and joy, outward surroundings and circumstances are of comparatively little account."
~Hannah Whitall Smith

Friday, December 18, 2009

Home-made is best!

For our Friday night feast, I made home-made pasta... We've had our pasta maker for about 15 years and it's served us quite well! The only problem is that the lid isn't built very sturdily and I just broke it again. Oops!
The nice thing about whole-grain pasta is that it's very filling, so a little bit goes a long ways...

Want to come sample some spaghetti tomorrow? You'd be welcome. :)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Yea, though I walk.......

Isn't that just the perfect verse for this picture? My cousin sent me a neat forward tonight and this was one of the pictures in it. I'll try to share more pictures in the days ahead...

I babysat for some of our neighbors today and, as the children were very well behaved, my job was pretty easy! Little Amelia (2) was so cute and kept saying "Honey" at the end of most everything that she said. She knows how to win a persons heart! :) The twins, James & Michael were so adorable too and I so much enjoyed watching them work on their standing abilities... They are all just SOOOOO cute and sweet!!!

There's so much more I could say, but I need some rest, so I'll try to do a catch-up post in the days ahead. No promises, but I'll try!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

We got home very late, so....

.....I'm SO tired and need to get some sleep, as I have a full day of babysitting tomorrow. :)

We got some great deals in Bismarck and had a great time at the library finding lots of interesting books, but I'll tell you more about all that another time.

Oh yes, I'd like to mention now, though, that we have company tonight... Mr. Dagley was doing some business in the area and needed some more goats' milk for making his soap, so we invited him to spend the night and he took us up on our offer. As most of us didn't get home until quite late (Dad was able to visit longer) and then had to do chores, we didn't get much visiting time in, but maybe we'll have a chance to get caught up a bit in the morning--when everyone is more awake!

I shall bid you all a goodnight and wish you God's richest blessings as you follow Him.~

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

We need to get up early, so....

....This will be short!


It was very cold this morning (20 below) and the water pipes in the heated milk-room had froze a bit, so we had to thaw them out with warm water for a while before we could even start morning chores. Brrrrrr!

The rest of the day was spent in usual household duties--pretty much. I did dig out my paperwork for my year-end analysis with my cattle loan and got started on that. I also made bread (the slower, healthier way) and it took until 9:00 this evening to rise to the point where we decided it was high enough to bake. :)

Tomorrow, Mom and we 3 younger Bornemanns are headed for the city to run around and do errands all day. Thankfully, going to the library is on our list, so that part will be enjoyable!

Before I go, I wanted to direct your attention to our friend, Peters' blog to see the very amazing things that he made out of one block of wood this afternoon... It's really neat!

Until we meet again~
Cora

Monday, December 14, 2009

He has a name!

We usually don't name our stock calves, unless, that is, they have some distinctive marking or we had to work with them for a while. As this little guy is distinguishable for now, I thought I'd give him a name, and as he was born on our friend Kimberly's son, Brandon's' birthday, I thought Brandon was the perfect name for my little guy, so Brandon he is. :)

Today, my dad went back to trucking again (he had to wait in line for 4 hours today--due to a computer problem they had at Enderlin) and the rest of us did a lot of odd jobs around the house. (Jacob did his schoolwork too...) I cleaned my room; did some paperwork; and worked on putting together a website to promote Prairie Days. Will you please join us there this year??? :)

Oh yes, I made a batch of Halva too and thought I'd share the recipe with you, as we like it very much. (That is, all of us except Mother, as she has a reaction when she eats sesame seeds, so she avoids Halva!)

HEALTHY HALVA~
Grind finely in blender:
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup coconut (shredded)

Then add:
1/2 cup Tahini (sesame seeds ground into a butter)
1/2 cup honey

Mix this all well and then put it on a piece of wax-paper and roll it into a log shape. Freeze until firm, then slice and serve.

Halva is quite often served at this time of year--although we make it year 'round. Please let me know how you like it if you try the recipe!

My baby~


Sunday, December 13, 2009

An unexpected arrival!

This afternoon--around 3:00, I chanced to look out of our kitchen window towards the cows and saw something surprising... A heifer was in the process of giving birth! As it was very cold out (-4) we knew we had to get her in someplace--preferably before the calf was born. Dad thought it was probably one of Andrew's heifers as one of his was a little bit off by herself this morning, so I told Andrew the news. He then dug out the binoculars and announced that the ear tag was white (my color) and not yellow! As I look back on it, this whole process was a little silly, as we both knew that we'd dress up and go help each other anyway, no matter who the cow belonged to. :)

Dad, Andrew & I put on our many layers of clothing and then headed to one of the barns first thing to set up the calving pen that was still in pieces from when the boys cleaned the barn out this Fall. Then, we all went to try to get my cow in on foot, but she was too quick for us and, when we had her close to where she was supposed to go in, she turned around and ran past us, back to the herd. So, Dad decided to go get a straw bale to bed down the barn (where she'd be with her baby) while Andrew & I went to put a different battery in the Ram so that we'd have something faster to move around with out in the pasture. To make a long story short, after much bumping around and running around with the Ram and the tractor, we finally got her in a small pen and then into the section of the barn where the calving pen is.

Dad thought it would be best to pull the calf right away, as she was a heifer and the calf was good sized. He got a hold of one of the calves' legs and it pulled back, so that was a good sign! After a lot of pulling on Dad's and my part, out came a slimy, live bull calf. :) We pulled him over into a nice pile of straw; cleared the junk out of his nose; got out of the pen; and let his mama loose. She didn't know what to do at first, and was nervous about us being in the barn with her, so we went outside. A few minutes later, Dad and Andrew peeked into the barn windows (I would've too, but I'm too short to) and saw that Mrs. Heifer was licking her baby off. We left them be then until chores time. By the time chores were finished, the baby was up and walking around and drinking his colostrum like a good little boy. I imagine he and his mother will need to stay in the barn for a while if it stays cold like this...

I'm just so grateful that everything went well! New life is such a miracle!!!

I'll try to get a picture of the new baby tomorrow and post it here so you can see him. ~

Saturday, December 12, 2009

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT...

My family and I memorized this poem and did it with some friends as a skit several years ago. As I was looking through one of my favorite poem books (Poems for Memorization) tonight, I found this poem/story and thought I'd share it with you.

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"The elephant, the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said:"E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact, who can?
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
~Poem by John G. Saxe

Friday, December 11, 2009

Just in case you'd like to join us on ice...

...I thought I'd give you directions to our rink. :)
All you have to do is:
Drive through these corn stalks;
and follow this winding trail;

and you will soon be at our ice rink! Yes, it's that easy. :)

My brothers and I whizzed through house-cleaning today so that we could take advantage of the beautiful weather (20 degrees ABOVE zero!) and do some ice skating. We had to clear the ice off again, so we got a bit tuckered before we even started skating... This is what Andrew does when he's tired:
Jacob was very pleased to have made a point in our hockey game this time. :) It was he and I playing against Andrew--and we lost, but had fun. :)

Oh, and did you know that hockey sticks work really nice for writing in snow? The results almost looked like Calligraphy to me...
When we weren't outside or cleaning the house, we were visiting with a man who came out to our place to buy some farm products and then also visiting with a neighbor lady who stopped in for a gift-card (for Mom's business) that she'd like to give to a friend of hers.
Also, Andrew finished up with his order of Prairie Day DVDs that the Dagleys and their friend are buying from him to give to their friends this holiday season. Andrew spent a lot of time conglomerating a bunch of video clips and tons of pictures to make a nice, 50-some-minute long Prairie Day presentation movie--with cute music and everything. :) Here's just a sampling of it--the trailer that he made a while back...



Well, I'd best head for bed. Here's wishing all of you a good nights rest and a lovely weekend!

"I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me." ~Psalm 3:5