The cows are home!

This morning after chores, I learned that we were bringing the cows home today... So, after the coveralls were donned; the milk cow and the steers were locked in a separate pen; and the fence was opened, Dad and Andrew hopped on their dirt bikes, Mom got in the van, Jacob jumped in the Ram, and I got to drive the 4-wheeler. It took about 2 hours from the time we left our farm until we got the cows home from the pasture (about 3 miles up the road), so everything went pretty well. I think my mom got some pictures, so perhaps there will be some to share at a later date.


Once the cows were locked in the proper place and fed some hay bales, we all ate a quick lunch of pancakes with whipped cream and peach sauce, and then I headed for town. I just got home after a VERY busy night--it was extra busy because we were short-staffed and we had to work around the hallways-full of Trick or Treaters. But, we managed. It was fun to see 2 of our neighbor families, so that was the bonus of working today. :) I so very much dislike what Halloween stands for though that it was not very pleasant being around "Witches" and "Goblins" and etc, etc.... I'm glad that's behind us for another year!

How blessed we are!

A few minutes ago, we finished a long, sad tale about Christian martyrs in the early days of Christianity. The movie was called "Quo Vadis"...

How blessed we are here in America!! What freedom we have! May we fight to keep that freedom each and every day--the freedom to pray; the freedom to worship the Lord when and wherever we choose; the freedom to have our voices be heard in the voters' booths.... Many of these freedoms are even now limited... May we stand firm for the Lords' truths while showing His love to the world.~

Cookin' up a feast...

This was a busy day, spent mostly in the kitchen for me and filled with cleaning; laundering; separating milk/cream; and hauling grain for the others....

I made some whole wheat tortillas for our Chicken Enchiladas:


...butter, for the white sauce, for the enchiladas:

I made 2 Sour Cream Raisin pies:
Finished up the salsa I'd started on yesterday and got it canned:

And I made 1 1/2 batches of ice cream--making it into 3 different flavors: Raspberry, Maple, and Mint Chocolate Chip: (This picture was taken before the mixture was frozen...)

Mother and I also made our favorite Apple Raisin salad, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Here is the finished windmill that the boys worked on together in their spare time a couple days ago:

Oh, and here's a picture I took on Wednesday morning--looking out my bedroom window: (After the sunshine today, there's not much snow left!
My dad had a surprise tonight while driving home from the North! He was a couple miles up the road yet when a large animal ran across the road and out into a field. It was----a female moose!!!!! I wonder what she's doing in this part of the world?

Those are all the pictures I have to share for the day. After our feast was over, we all played a couple games of Foosball downstairs and then played a fun game of Rook...

Now for a good nights rest and a wonderful day spent with loved ones tomorrow. :)

Yawn...

Tonight is one of those nights when I get home from work in town very tired, so this will be very short!

"Good night"~

See?

It feels so good to be home!!!

I had "Fun" driving to work and back today... As it snowed approx. 5 inches over night and there was a strong wind, there was some snow stuck on the road in places and tonight there were some icy patches coming home, so I just took it real slow and made sure my cell phone was handy. :) The most interesting part though was finding a place to park at the nursing home, as the place I usually park in had a 4 foot snowbank in the middle of it and I didn't want to take the chance of plowing through the snowbanks around the back side of the building, so I finally found a route down a street from the nursing home, around, and plowed up the other side--and found a nice parking spot right in front by the main entrance! (The song, "God will take care of you, through every day, o'er all the way.....," kept running through my head while I was driving.) Needless to say, there weren't many visitors at the nursing home today!

As it was cold and snowy this morning, Jacob and I decided it was time to move my 10 not-so-little chicks into the barn for the Winter. (They were still in the stock-tank ring where they could eat grass, as long as there was grass to eat...) When we let them out, it was amazing to see how much they've grown, and yet how much they still have to grow when compared to the 6 others that I raised in the first batch! :)

My dad decided not to go trucking today, so instead, he started designing a logo for our farm, "Seeds of Honor". I'm not sure how far he got with it, as I had to leave and almost everyone was in bed already when I got home....

And that----was my day.

Remember,
"God will take care of yoooouuuuuu, God will take care of you."

Early birthday presents, and some other things...

As Jacob mentioned in his post today, he and I were home alone for most of the daylight hours, while our dad was trucking and Mom and Andrew were in Bismarck.

We spent a good portion of our day on Jacob's schoolwork, first cleaning out his desk and organizing things. We found this little windmill (from our grandparents house-cleaning project) in the process, so as part of Jacob's patience lesson for the day, he worked on assembling the windmill tower, which has a lot of teeny tiny screws...


This afternoon, I tried a new recipe and made Pumpkin Butter. Here it is right after I added the spices. It tastes very delicious and the only bad part about it is that it can not be canned, so we'll either have to freeze it or eat a lot of it in the following weeks!

Mother and I ordered this DVD last week, after Mrs. Dagley told us about it... It looked like a good thing to have in our library of resources. I haven't had time to watch all the demonstrations yet, but was pleased with what I saw of Mrs. Rothkops' instructions...

And now, about the birthday presents...

Andrew and Jacob's birthdays are a week apart in November, but as Andrew was going up to Bismarck today to get truck parts for Dad, my parents decided to get the boys' big presents today and to give them to the boys right away......

Here they are with brand new sheets for their beds (that's not the big present though), stripes for Andrew and little animals on ice skates for Jacob. :)

Their big presents were:

NEW MATTRESSES FOR THEIR BEDS.

The ones they had before were really old, worn out mattresses that had come from the sleeper in Dad's old semi.

As Andrew already new about the surprise, he and Dad decided to surprise Jacob with his present and proceeded and suceeded in this way:

Jacob on his old, squishy mattress (both the boys' beds are up in the air.)

Andrew's new firm mattress...

After getting the mattresses up, it was time to figure out money matters. We also voted this evening and will get our ballots in the mail tomorrow...

I have one last picture--Mother doing the supper dishes...

Oh, and PS. It is snowing!!!

Rain on the prairie...

It's been sprinkling, and then raining for almost the whole day and there's a rumor going around that tomorrow, some of that rain is going to turn into fluffy, flaky white things falling from the sky! As the winds are supposed to get up to 50 MPH, it could be an actual blizzard outside... Maybe Mom won't go to Bismarck tomorrow?

I just got home from working at the nursing home and am trying to wind down for the night. Sometimes I'm really tired after getting home from 8 hours of constant walking, pushing, pulling, twisting, turning, etc..., but tonight I'm wide awake. Oh dear!

I found the following poem about October and wanted to pass it on. Enjoy the Autumn while it lasts. :)

"October's the month
When the smallest breeze
Gives us a shower
Of autumn leaves.
Bonfires and pumpkins,
Leaves sailing down -
October is red
And golden and brown."

....and white?

A regular day...

Is there such a thing as a regular day? Probably not, but this was close to such...

Dad and Andrew worked on fixing some things on Dad's semi truck.

Mother spent the day up in Bismarck doing 6 sessions.

Jacob and I did dishes, made apple juice and sauce, he worked on schoolwork, and I gave him a haircut. Then we both went out and joined Dad and Andrew on top of the building for a couple hours of pounding, pounding, pounding nails into the flooring.

And---that was our day. :)

"Thank God for regular days, for there are far too few of them..."
~author unknown

An unexpected phone call...

We all had a surprise last night and, as a result, I got to celebrate the evening of my 700th post with a friend---meaning we had a sleepover party. :) I had just finished up my post last night and was checking a couple friends' blogs when the phone rang. My parents answered it and soon my mom came to my room and said that I was getting company!

"Company--at this time of night?" I thought.

Welllllll, RubyAnn S. was on her way home for the weekend from college and was nearing Linton when her car started making dreadful noises. :( She limped into town and made it to a gas station, where a couple of mechanics "happened" to stop and give her their opinion on the car, saying that it was definitely not a good idea to drive it any farther. Sooooo, what was she to do?

Thankfully, she thought of us and called my dad, who said we'd pick her up wherever she was. As the mechanics were kind of headed our way, she rode with them a little ways and we met at a farm about 15 miles South of our place and picked up RubyAnn.

What fun to have a sister to talk with for an hour (or so...) before drifting off to sleep!
(I couldn't decide which of these pictures to post, as the top one is clearer but the bottom one we look more happy in, so I decided to share them both. :) )
Then this morning, we detained our friend as long as possible, as she'd never been to our farm before and of course we had to show her everything, and look at pictures, and pet the animals, and swing on the big swing-set, and share favorite piano pieces, and etc....

Then around 10:30, RubyAnn, Andrew and I headed for Linton to see if her car had cooled off enough to run properly. It hadn't! When Andrew turned the motor over, it made an awful squealing, clunking noise and it was decided then that RubyAnn had best call her brothers to come get her (and the dead car) home!

As it was going to be a while until the said brothers could get to Linton, we 3 sat in the van and watched "The Widows' Might" on Andrew's I-pod, as RubyAnn had been wanting to see that movie for a while. :)

Shortly after finishing the movie, RubyAnns' brothers arrived with a trailer to take the car home with. After the car was loaded, Matthew asked where the gun shop was in town, as his younger brother, Ben wanted to get a scope for his rifle. So, instead of trying to give directions, everyone just hopped in the van and we all went to the gun shop for a while. After the scope was purchased, and the friends were delivered back to the gas station, and the goodbyes were all said, Andrew and I headed home for our late lunch...

What adventures you can have with old vehicles, right RubyAnn? :) We were so glad you came and stayed with us and hope it doesn't take another car chugging experience in order for you to come visit again!

700th post!!!

Hooray! I've reached 700 posts! Now, granted, several of those posts were rather teeny-tiny, but Blogger still counted them as a post, so I guess they qualify. :)

If you are reading this right now, I would love to hear from you! Even just a quick "Hello" would be great--or, (a thank you goes to others whom I've seen do it this way,) I'll give you a question you can answer in a comment if you so desire...

Q. Where would you go to on your dream vacation?

I'll be back tomorrow evening with my first installment in the series,

"Press Onto 800". :)

"Filoli"--A grand country estate~

My parents toured this beautiful CA estate last week and it ranked right up there in the top 2 best parts of their trip! :) Isn't Filoli absolutely lovely? You can read more (and see more) about it at my mom's blog here: http://dawns-hope.blogspot.com/ or the Filoli website here: http://www.filoli.org/plan-your-visit/.

One of the neatest parts of my parent's visit there (outside of a man playing a special song on the grand piano in the ball-room just for them--in honor of their anniversary!) was that their tour guides' name was Robert Martin! (Did anyone else think of Emma Woodhouse right now? :) ) How fun!

I just got home from working in town and want very much to crawl under my comfy covers, so I shall wish you all a good night and a good Friday tomorrow and slip into bed.

Pictures!

The following photos are a menagerie of ones I've collected on my camera in the last few days. Enjoy! :)

My brothers and I, lined up for a photo similar to one that we took 5 years ago. (I'll try to find that one and post it so you can see the difference 5 years makes!)

Our building has a stair-way now! This picture was taken yesterday and the guys have made more progress on it today (see pictures on Andrew's blog.)

After our noon meal was over, Mother informed us that it had been 11 days since she'd washed dishes!! I just had to get a picture of her getting her hands in the soapy water once more. :)

Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon, I worked on a skirt I want to wear with one of my scrub-tops. I didn't have anything to wear with this certain top--other than a skirt that I got at a thrift store--which, once I sewed the slit closed on it, I could no longer walk in it! Soooo, I dug out my sewing machine.......

.....used a seam-ripper to open up the 2 side-seams...

...and added some material to make the skirt more full. You can see the top in the following picture. I'll give my "New" skirt a test-run tomorrow. :)

The other day, I made some butter and pressed it in our fancy wooden butter-mold. It didn't want to come out of the mold very well after it had been frozen, (I tried dipping it in hot water and all), and I needed butter, so I just took a chunk out of the corner. Later, when it did come out of the mold, this is what I had:

And now for some pictures of Dad and Mom's return home....

When they got back on Monday, they had many things to show and tell. I think my favorite thing they brought back with them was the 1,700 some odd pictures they had taken while gone!!! All of the photos were stored on the lap-top computer they had taken along--all except for the following 2 which they purchased on Friday while on their-----

HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!

(The picture of the balloon was also taken while Dad and Mom were inside the basket...)

This is the pretty hair-comb my parents bought me in China Town. :)

Dad--happy to be unpacking.Our parents bought all of us a T-shirt, as a souvenir:

Dad and his palm trees...

Mother and the Golden Gate bridge... (which they crossed several times on their journeys.)

Me with the sparkly cable cars...

Andrew with his favorite color--and the Golden Gate Bridge...

Jacob and a cable car, the big bridge, and the curviest street in the country!

They also had bought a big bag of jelly beans while on their tour of the Jelly Belly Factory (NE of San Francisco quite a ways.) These jelly beans, the Belly Flops, are ones that didn't turn out quite perfect--they're misshaped or don't have the Jelly Belly logo printed on them. There are around 50 different flavors of jelly beans, so it was fun to look through the booklet of varieties and try to figure out which was which... There are some REALLY strange ones too, the weirdest, I think, being "Skunk Spray"--of which I was an unhappy recipient while thinking that black bean was a black licorice. Ewwwwwwwwww......!!!!

AAAAnnnyway....

Here are the pretty roses that Mother couldn't help but bring back with her from their bouquet in CA. How lovely~

Oh, and here is when Dad and Mom first got home. (I guess I loaded these in reverse order tonight!)

I got a picture of Mom getting a picture of me getting a picture of....

While at work one day, I saw in a book in the lunch room this really cute way of making a fruit flower. I purchased the necessary ingredients and, after some help from Andrew...

...this...

...was the result. (It's covered here to keep all flys or other pests off of it until serving time.)

Jacob and I had also made a cake for the vacationers...

And that, dear friends, is what we've been up to (that I've taken pictures of, anyway!)

Sleep well (and I hope this posts this time...)

Pictures coming soon...

I was working on a picture-full post, but "It" is being slow right now, so that post will have to wait for another time to get posted.

Today was another busy day, with the guys working on the building; Mom doing sessions with clients in Bismarck most of the day; and myself washing, drying, and folding/hanging up Dad and Mom's clothing that they wore while on their vacation. Plus, I ground up (then froze) the batch of tomato sauce the boys and I had cooked yesterday and then worked on a skirt alteration project... I'm feeling a little better today thankfully, but am glad I have one more day to recuperate before heading back into town for work at the nursing home!

Andrew and I did something during evening chores that really brought back memories for me... He sat on one side of his milk cow, Sally, and milked while I sat on the other side and milked--resulting in getting done in half the time that it normally takes to milk her. Sally held her milk up at first, but then got used to us quickly, relaxed, and began eating her grain. :) My mom and I used to milk our first 2 milk cows, Sadie and Clara, that way all the time, so it was fun to do that again with someone...

Off to rest~
Cora

Glad to be sick...

Yes, today was a rare day when I was actually glad to have a throbbing headache; a stuffy head; a slight fever; a non-stop runny nose; a frequent sneeze explosion; and an earache!

WHY, you say? Because---I was too sick to go to work in town (and didn't want to spread this around, so I took my first sick day leave ever) and consequently was home when my parents arrived at 5:00pm... They showed us lots and lots of pictures before (and after) our supper of tacos, (with cake and homemade ice cream for dessert.)

It is soooooooooo nice to all be together again!!! Dad and Mom are very happy to be back too (although they say they had a wonderful, wonderful time) and are so glad to be able to sleep in their own bed once more and drink their own water and eat their own, healthy food. Hooray for ND farm living!!!!!!

(Pictures to come tomorrow. For now, I need to get some good healthy sleep.)

Same song, second verse...

Tomorrow, our parents plan to arrive home...............................

Due to some low lying clouds slowing down progress at the San Francisco airport this morning, the flights got delayed and our parents ended up leaving SF this afternoon instead of this morning, which meant they wouldn't catch their next flight in time. They ended up staying in a hotel in Salt Lake City Utah, and hopefully will be home again tomorrow afternoon. I truly don't understand God's timing on things... But, God has a plan. I just wish I could be at home when they get here. :(


"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future..."

(Jeremiah 29:11)

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Tomorrow, our parents will not even need to look at a map to find the airport, so they tell us! They're flying home and should be here in the late evening. :) It will be so nice to all be together again and to hear pictures of their travels and see stories--or the other way around... I've planned a nice meal and the boys have helped me with doing a couple small things to welcome them back home. In fact, I've taken pictures, but I won't post them until perhaps tomorrow night, for obvious reasons. :)

The boys and I had a delightful day of doing nearly nothing. We listened to a Dr. S. M. Davis message on the 3 different kinds of leadership which was very good, as usual. My grandma called tonight and I visited with her a while and told her about Dad and Mom's vacation and that, right at this moment, they should be sitting in the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, listening to (and watching) "The Marriage of Figaro"--a good, romantic sounding opera... (I'll let you know later if they liked it or not! )

Well, I feel refreshed and ready for another busy week---after a good nights' sleep, that is....

Please join me in praying for safe travels once more for our parents as they fly back home---and that it won't take too many days for them to come back down to earth again after their 2nd honeymoon, as they call it. :)

At last, Sabbath is here~

After a long day of cleaning grain for Andrew and a long day of cleaning house, cooking a feast, killing flies, cleaning the fish-tank, etc.... for Jacob and I, we are all ready for a rest! I thought it kind of funny when I talked to Mom this afternoon and mentioned that I should get back to work. She asked what I was up to and I said I was cleaning the house. She chuckled and said something like, "Oh, I guess it is Friday, isn't it?" :) This is probably the most fun Friday she's had in many, many years!!! I can hardly wait to tell you what our folks were up to today, but I will try to restrain from doing so...

I must tell you a little something though, or I'll burst, so here it is: They had fun with a balloon, beans and science. That tells you a lot, I know. :) Tomorrow they're out to spot some large fish.....

I'm off to dream-land. Good night~

I'm praising the Lord tonight...

...for several different reasons!

#1. My dad and mom had another wonderful day in CA, visiting 3 different places (of which I won't post about yet, as Mom may wish to do so first?)

#2. My mom posted 2 interesting, picture-ful posts this morning on her blog (A Ray of Hope)!

#3. Andrew's able to drive the semi around to pull the grain cleaner--and has another day of cleaning tomorrow.

#4. There's just one more day of work before Sabbath comes!

But probably the biggest reason is:

#5. I was supposed to work in town on Sunday, but hoped to use a vacation day so I can be home when my parents fly in and drive home Sunday evening. I hope to make a nice supper and have the house cleaned nicely, etc....... BUT, almost everyone I've asked has had plans for Sunday already and couldn't work for me, and I was really thinking it wasn't going to work out--until today--when God heard and answered my/our prayers! One of the 3 other PM ladies I worked with tonight said that she'll work for me and we signed the shift-switch form and everything so that it's all set up. HOORAY! What a kind Father we serve and love.~

By the oceanside...

We just finished talking to our parents who spent the day exploring Muir Woods and then sitting beside the ocean, dipping their feet in the cold waters. They said they're really enjoying themselves (outside of the driving part of the adventure which is daunting, but which is getting better as they get more familiar with things.) They like their hotel and had just begun watching the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice that we sent along with them when we talked.

I realize now that I didn't say where they went yesterday and Mother hasn't had time to write about it yet, so just in case you're curious, they went to the "Organic Pastures Dairy" for a tour and to buy some raw milk products! It was quite a drive for them, but they got to get out in the country that way...

Around home, things are going smoothly. Andrew went out grain cleaning all day, which meant that I got to/had to milk his cow, Sally both times today. She's not used to me I guess, as she just stood there like a statue the whole time, not even bothering to eat the corn I'd dumped on top of the grain in her trough. Perhaps she ate too much alfalfa hay to be hungry, I don't know.

Jacob and I worked on homey things (made more ice cream!) and on a surprise for Dad and Mom for when they get home. (I'm not going to post about that though, as they read my blog, I know!)

And once again, it is the end of a busy day and time for sleep, so I shall bid you a good night.

Repeat...

This day resembled yesterday very much...

I worked in town; the boys worked at home; and both Mom and Andrew posted updates on their blogs (and Mom's has lots of great pictures too!)

Oh yes, I'm also tired again, so I'll say "Good night" to whomever happens to be reading my blog this late in the day and "Good morning" to those of you who will be reading this after the sun rises in the sky again.

God is an artist!

A Sunday school teacher began her lesson with a question,
"Boys and girls, what do we know about God?"

A hand shot up in the air. "He is an artist!" said the
kindergarten boy.

"Really? How do you know?" the teacher asked.

"You know - Our Father, whose art's in Heaven..."

~author unknown

Hooray and hooray!

I just got back from working in town and see that my brother, Andrew has posted, so I have decided to direct you to his blog for an update on things around here (that's one hooray). Then I saw that my mom has posted about their flight and their first day in San Bruno, (that's the second hooray!) and you can read that here. They weren't able to go on the whale-seeing tour today, as there was a bad storm that came up, but they did find many other interesting things to do--things of which I will let Mother tell you about as she has time, as she has the pictures. :)

And next on the agenda for the day: Get some sleep! Hooray (for the third time...)

Favorite hymns~

The following was in my inbox this morning... Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Dentist's hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns

The Weatherman's hymn: There Shall Be Showers of Blessings

The Contractor's hymn: The Church's One Foundation

The Tailor's Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy

The Golfer's Hymn: There Is a Green Hill Far Away

The Politician's Hymn: Standing on the Promises

The Optometrist's Hymn: Open My Eyes that I May See

The IRS Agent's Hymn: I Surrender All

The Gossip's Hymn: Pass It On

The Electrician's Hymn: Send the Light

The Shopper's Hymn: Sweet By and By

30 years ago this day...

...my parents were wed!

(My mom was my age in this picture. :) )

"Happy anniversary, Dad and Mom!!!"

~Like a rugged lighthouse on the rocks
Withstanding stormy weather,
Your love has shone throughout the years--
Stronger now than ever....

author unknown

Keep on keeping on! Love you lots...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, they made it, safe and sound! Praise the Lord... They're tired, and they got a little lost once, but they're getting settled in their hotel and are eating cheesecake and smelling lovely flowers that they bought each other. :)

I have a few pictures to share from today, the first two I took this morning at 3:15 or so...

"Check in" luggage...

"Carry-on" luggage... (They got compliments from a stewardess onboard on their really nice, antique suitcases and were told they are very valuable! Interesting!!!)

Meanwhile at home, the boys made progress on the building and now have the North joists all up and worked on putting more of the South side ones up as well...

Then, to celebrate our parent's anniversary :), we roasted all-beef hot dogs over a campfire for supper (can you see them in this picture?), and ate home-made ice cream for a late-evening dessert!

Yummy! Fresh baked bread, hot dogs with condiments and freshly baked cookies...

After the evening milking was done, the boys and I watched a movie for a while until Dad and Mom got connected to the internet and then we talked to them (literally) over the computer for about half an hour! Here, Mother was showing us the cheesecake they bought. Doesn't it look simply scrumptious?

ANDDDDD, here's a picture that I took of the lovebirds in San Bruno, California. :) (...That's the boys and I in that small window on the right side of the computer screen...)

I could write more about what they've told us, (and post videos of it too!) but I should probably get to bed and leave some things for Mother to post about on her blog as she has time!

Tomorrow, it's off to the ocean for them......

"They're going on a whale hunt. They hope to see a big one!"