I'm back!

I actually returned home yesterday evening, but was too busy catching up with my family to post.... :) It's been a busy day today also, so this post too will have to be short. I hope to have time tomorrow to do a picture post of my visit to the Keisters', although tomorrow afternoon, they're coming to visit our family and to join us for supper one last time before they leave on Monday for South Carolina. I was so glad to be able to go and help them pack---but I'll tell you all about that tomorrow!

For now, I'll say good night. I see I have a lot of friends'-blog-post-catching-up reading to do too............

Something to bring a smile to your face (hopefully):

"Suppose," says the old salt of a sea captain, testing his
new recruit, "that a sudden storm springs up on your
starboard side. What would you do?"

"Throw out an anchor, sir," says the new sailor.

"And what would you do if another storm sprang up aft?"

"Throw out another anchor, sir," the raw recruit replies.

"Now," says the captain, "a storm springs up forward of the
ship. What would you do this time?"

"Throw out another anchor, Captain."

"Hold on, hold on. Where are you getting all these anchors
from?"

"From the same place you're getting your storms, sir,"
replied the new recruit.

He got to keep his job. :)


I have good news! Mother is back home, safe and sound, tired, but happy. She got back just in time, as now I'll be leaving in the morning for 3 days to help our friends, the K. family pack up their belongings in preparation for their move to SC, and SOMEBODY has to take care of our menfolk. :)

More good news: Dad sold 10 more loads of hay today to the guy in Texas who bought the first load a while back. We've also gotten paid for some hay that another guy is buying, but haven't heard from the trucker lately about when he's coming to pick up the bales?

Some not so good news: Andrew had trouble with the tractor while driving it home, as it "Died" 8 times in the 20+ miles from the field to home. The guys think they know what the problem is though, and hopefully it won't cost too much to repair!

Also, while I was driving Andrew's little car today, a light came on and it later made a funny noise, so he might have transmission problems there after all? I was praising the Lord that I made it to work and back though. :)

Well, dear readers, I shall bid thee good night and farewell for a time, as I will not be posting while at our friends' house. May the Lord bless you all.~

Pizza day!

This morning, I baked bread again and used some of the dough to make a pizza for lunch. Jacob helped me make a fruit pizza too, as we'd bought some kiwi and pineapple just for that purpose. :)

This day was spent in cutting down more hay and combining the rest of the wheat. I worked the first half of a PM shift at the nursing home today, so was home in time to make supper.

We talked to Mom on Andrew's I-Pod tonight. She said the class was very good and informitive, but there was so much to learn that she is pretty tired, now that class is over with. They'll be leaving early in the morning, so she said she may be home in time to cook supper tomorrow night for the guys. :) Please pray for safe travels for her! Thanks so much.

That was our day. Oh yes, one more thing... We 4 spent a little time tonight playing "Hang-man" on the computer, but decided we like the paper version better as, when the computer picks the words, we quite often do not even know the word it picks and then it's awfully hard to even guess letters!!! It was still fun though.

Harvest of Thanks...

My brothers and I joined today in celebrating the harvest the Lord has blessed us with. We went over to the Alfred church and took part in "Harvest of Thanks". There was lots of good music, fellowship, and food! It was so nice to see friends that I hadn't seen since last year and to get caught up with what's been going on in their lives in the last 360--some odd days.

Another "Thanks" we said to God was that we drove Andrew's "New" car over and back without any problems. When he purchased the car, he was told the transmission was not working right, and consequently he got a good price on it, thinking he'd be putting another transmission in right away. However, when he drove it home, it drove just fine. He took it to Napoleon once, and it drove just perfect. So, we took it today to Alfred (60 miles one way) and it just kept on purring down the road.... :)

Dad stayed home and did the chores this evening, so the boys and I stayed and visited/played games until a little after 9PM. It was a beautiful day! It is such a joy to spend time with others who love the Lord and do their best to serve Him in their lives!

It's been a beezy day...

After flying around this morning, getting Mother ready to go, things slowed down a teeny little bit. I went out and milked the goats, then Andrew and I worked on getting the stains out of his "New" car's seats. We hope to take it out for a long test drive tomorrow....

Andrew spent the day discing. Jacob spent most of it in cutting our 3rd cutting of alfalfa around the farm here!

Dad had troubles... He is working on seeding the cover crop yet and had a couple of things break on the drill on his last round in the one field. He called me and asked if I could come get him (he was up North on Fern's land, about 15 miles from here, without a vehicle, as Andrew had dropped him off there on his way over to the other fields.) I went and picked him up (he had a nice long walk to the road from the other end of the field) and when we got home, I worked in the house for a while until he got the parts he needed from the parts drill, then I rode back with him to the North field. I had "Shop class" then for the next hour and a half or so. :) We eventually got the drill back in working condition. While helping Dad, a giant bumble bee flew into my hair and stayed there for a while. Perhaps he liked the raspberry conditioner I use in my hair? At any rate, he wasn't leaving and so I closed my eyes as Dad used a wrench to brush him out of my hair. Not too long after that, a little honey bee came buzzing too, but thankfully he just stayed for a brief time and then went to find a more promising flower. :)

After Dad was going again, I drove the pickup home. It was 5:00 by that time, so I had to quickly get the house cleaned and supper prepared. I made a meatloaf; stir fry; deviled eggs (Jacob helped with those); milk shake; and a cake for dessert. I was alone for chores, but Sally behaved herself and the goats were in their fence, so all went well there. When all the guys got home (around 9:00), we ate our supper and watched a movie. Later, Mother called to say she was heading for bed. The journey to Winnipeg went very well, thankfully, and the first bit of class was good too. I pray she sleeps well in a strange bed tonight....

Well, the boys and I hope to go to the Alfred churches' Harvest Of Thanks in the morning, so I had better get to bed so I can get up and milk the goats when Andrew goes out to milk his cow, Sally.

Sleep well~

PS. Happy Autumn!!!

Mom's headed North--way North!

Mother is leaving tomorrow morning (early) to drive up to her friend, Elizabeths' place and then to travel with her and her daughter and another friend up to Canada to take a 3 day class in an upper module of BodyTalk. Mom is really excited! She drove tractor most of the day, (and smashed her finger badly while trying to unstick a bunch of dirt that got stuck inbetween the disc blades, so please pray for that to heal quickly!) so I helped get some things together here at home for her trip (counted out the amount of Canadian dollars that she needs for the class; boiled over a dozen eggs for her to take along for breakfasts; cooked up some broth; and dug out her passport from the safe). In the morning, we need to get up early and weigh out a quarter of beef for Mom to take along to Elizabeth. Then, there's a little more packing that needs to be done before Mom can leave. Lord willing, she'll return to us on Monday, sometime.

I should probably get to bed so I feel like getting up when my alarm buzzes!

A little something to ponder...

"If the last thing you did, was the last thing you do.

If the last word you breathed, was the last breath you drew.

Would you be ok with the way they remembered you,

If the last thing you did, was the last thing you do?"

This will be short...

...as it is quite late.

I worked in town today again. When I got home, my whole family was still up, so I got to be a part of family prayer and visit time. Then I took a nice long shower; got caught up on a few blogs; and am finally writing here in my daily journal/blog.

I think it's time to go to sleep though, so I bid thee farewell.~

Relatively Healthy Fruit Pizza Recipe:

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups melted butter
3 cups flour (I used 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup coconut flour)
3/4 cups powdered sugar (I want to try just using honey here sometime...)


Spread this on a cookie sheet and press down. Bake at 325F degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.


Mix:
16 ozs. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup honey
2 tsps. vanilla
2 tsps. lemon juice


Glaze:

2 cups pineapple juice or other juice (I used our apple juice)
4 Tbsp. corn starch (non GMO, of course :) )
3/4 cup honey


Beat filling ingredients, spread on cooled crust. Combine glaze ingredients in saucepan and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and cool. Top pizza crust and filling with desired fruit. (Grapes, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, kiwi, mandarin oranges, blueberries....) Spoon glaze over fruit; chill.



ENJOY!!!!



PS. I did get bread baked this morning. :)

My finger hurts...

...so this won't be a very long post! I guess I cut my one nail too short yesterday. Ouch!

It was a beautiful evening tonight. After Mom and I did chores, I picked some garden produce until Jacob got in from swathing down more wheat. It was nearly dark then, but it was so nice out that we sat on the swings for a while and talked. Then it started to sprinkle a little bit, and I remembered seeing the top door and vent open on one of the grain bins earlier today (the guys have it open when they're running air in there), so Jacob and I went and closed that bin (he climbed up there and I held the ladder for him) and then we also closed another bin further down. It is now raining, so I'm glad we took the time to do that.

Mom spent the morning discing up some of the alfalfa ground "Up North". Andrew baled and Dad made repairs on machinery here at home and then later took over the discing, as Mother had an appointment here at home. I took lunch over to the field and then brought Mom back home.

(My finger is hurting less as I use it more. Hmmmm....)

We have found a new favorite dessert recipe, that being: "Relatively Healthy Fruit Pizza". I actually used parts of 2 recipes and made variations even then (to make it a little healthier) and thankfully everyone liked it very much in the end. :) I made it first Friday afternoon, and it disappeared so fast that I made another one today. I'd be glad to share the recipe if anyone is interested.

I talked to Sarah K. today for a while. (The K. family are our friends who are moving to SC in the beginning of October, on the 4th, I believe.) I will be going down to help them pack for 3 days next week. It will be so hard to have to say goodbye, but I was glad to learn today that they will take the time to come see us one last time on October 1st! :) We've known their family for 7 years now (Lane was my piano/voice teacher when I was a Junior/Senior) and have many fond memories of good times spent together! We will miss them very much, but are glad for them to be moving to an area where they'll have more fellowship with like-minded people.

Well, those were the highlights of this day. Tomorrow I go back to work in town in the afternoon, but hope to get bread baked in the morning first, Lord willing.

If you have a minute and would like to, please hop on over to my friend, Carra's blog and wish her a happy birthday!

May the Lord bless you all with a good night.~

Moooving cows...

This morning, after chores, my brothers and I went up to the pasture and moved the cows to their next cell. They had to go through one other cell to get to the one they were supposed to be in, so it took a while. I thanked the Lord for helping there to be no bull fights this time. :) We had to fix the fence in a few places and set up the electric fencer to electrify the top wire, and then headed home for lunch.

I worked in town today. It was a quite, peaceful day there, so that was really nice!

My family worked in the fields again. I'm not even sure what they all got accomplished? I do know that when Mom and Jacob got back to do the chores, they discovered the neighbors' horses in our alfalfa field. I guess they called up the owners and had quite a time helping them get the horses back in! It was dark before they were done.

And that, my dear friends, was our day.

Did you know...

Today is/was Constitution Day!

"On this day Sept. 17th, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by our founding fathers."

However:

May we all stand up for what is right in this present day and age!

...Just wanted to make sure you all knew what day it was!...

We also got the annual phone call we receive (at least) once a year about this time, stating that our cows were out and were headed home. :( It was supper time, but our guys bundled up and hopped on their bikes/4-wheelers and went and chased the cows, calves, and bulls back in again. Then they had to fix the fence for quite some time. Jacob came back with his bike and he and Mom did chores. Our pizza was well done by the time we finally all sat down around the table to eat it!

We then watched "Ever After"; had family prayer and visiting time; and now we are heading for bed.

Have a great new week, everyone, and may the Lord make clear the things He has for you to do in the next 7 days.~

Praise the Lord!

It froze a bit last night, but not hard enough to kill plants, just to shrivel up the tips of the outer leaves of things. I'm praying for no frost tonight, as the next few days are supposed to be in the 70s. Indian Summer perhaps is right around the corner?

I just got home from work in town a little while ago. Mother was in Bismarck all day too, so our kitchen will need a major cleaning job in the morning! The guys were once again busy in the fields... There is always so much to do on a farm, at this time of the year especially.

Before I go, I thought I'd share a bit of humor (from the G.C.F.L.), especially dedicated to my brother Jacob, who loves anything that has to do with flying! Enjoy~


One night at McChord Air Force Base, I was dispatched to
check out the security fence where an alarm had gone off.
The fence was at the end of the base runway. When I got to
the scene, I found a raccoon was the culprit, so I ran
around and flapped my arms to scare the animal away.

Suddenly an air-traffic controller came over the
public-address system and announced loudly, "Attention to
the airman at the end of the runway. You are cleared for
takeoff."

COLD!

That's it folks. It's just cold!

It was a peanut butter cookie day!

I baked a double batch of Peanut Blossoms this morning so as to have something sweet to put in lunchboxes...

Later, when I got to work in town, I realized it was "Cookie Day" there too--and guess what kind of cookies it happened to be this time? Yep. Peanut butter cookies. :)


I'm pretty tired tonight and can't even remember what we all did this morning. I know I burned the squash I was frying on the stove. ;( I know the guys were busy with grain cleaning and combining some more, and I think Jacob worked on hay too. It's supposed to get pretty cold tomorrow and we're praying it does not freeze!!!

Have a good night everyone.~

Threshing Bee pictures...

The boys headed over to Braddock right after lunch, as Andrew had to be there a little early to find out what tractor he'd be driving through the parade.

Dad and I arrived just as the parade was starting and sat on the porch of the old house to enjoy the sight of tractors of yester-year driving by...

This tractor was restored and driven by one of our neighbors, Gary (and that's his wife, Kristi up there with him...)

Now and then, there were some old cars that were driven through too...

How do you like this tractor? My dad said it was mainly used for cultivating.

Those tires aren't going to go flat anytime soon!

The grounds of the Braddock Threshing Bee are set up as a small old town. The building right across from the house (where we were sitting) is the school house and further down is the church....

Finally, Andrew drove by, and waved. :)

He's driving one of our neighbor, Alan's restored tractors...

Later in the afternoon, the boys helped run this outfit:

It's hard to see from this angle, but the machine is a corn husker and is run by the big belt you can see there, which hooks onto the big pulley sort-of-thing that's on that tractor.... I took some videos of it in operation, so hopefully Andrew will have time sometime to edit them and post them on his blog!

Our guys...

In the pole barn, there was a HUGE (what's it called again, guys? "Miss and go?") engine! It wasn't running, but I imagine it's popping would be quite loud, judging by how much noise the much smaller engines make!

We walked around and watched the different demonstrations for quite some time. Sadly, my camera batteries went dead then, but I was able to take pictures with Andrew's camcorder. (I do not at this time have access to those pictures though...) There was a rock-crushing machine banging away; a tiny square baler machine where you have to hand feed it; a huge lumber saw making boards; another machine that made wood into sawdust; a stationary silage chopper; and a couple of threshing machines that were in operation. We also walked through the printing shop and watched our newspaper editor set type and another elderly gentleman was printing pages with the very printing press he used to operate as a teenager (a machine from the 1800s).

Each year, they update and add on to the little town there. This year, they had an addition of a Blacksmith Shop. A couple of guys were bending pieces of very hot metal into different sorts of tools. That was pretty neat to watch!

Here's an old windmill (that works), not far from the large, 2 story house:

Isn't this a lovely picture? Want to guess what building I found it in?...

...in the old train depot! I love the tall ceilings in there...

...and Jacob liked the wood stove. :)

Still inside the depot...

And now on the outside...

My brothers could be waiting there for quite some time until the train comes through!

I love old fashioned things, so this little "Town" was fun to explore! The boys went back over the following day (Sunday) and helped out again. They didn't have to pay admission fees consequently. :)

This day was spent in the fields for all of my family, except me. While everyone else worked on combining and haying, I was at home, making pickle relish to put away for Winter and doing some more laundry.... I also drove up to our hunter-neighbors' place (they live down South, but bought a little homestead to stay at when they come hunting in the Fall), as they said we could/should pick the apples from their tree, as they hate to have them be wasted. Their tree is LOADED with apples, which aren't quite ripe yet. I picked up the apples that had been blown off though and then made another batch of our new favorite dessert, Baked Apples With Walnuts. Yummy!

Well, Dad just got home, so I'll go make sure he finds his supper..... ~Good night~

Picture post coming soon...

...until then, have a good nights rest! :)

I need to get to sleep SOON!

I've picked up an AM shift at the nursing home for tomorrow morning at 6:00, so I'd best get to bed now and get as much sleep as possible before the alarm sounds at 5:00...

We had a delightful day, resting at home for a while and then attending the Braddock Threshing Bee with my dad and brothers (Mom stayed home to read a new book she recently received.) Braddock is a little town about 8 miles from here, so it was not too far to drive! I took lots of pictures (and videos with Andrew's camcorder when he was helping with one of the demonstrations), so be looking for those here (and on Andrew's blog) soon.

And now, here's a quick "Good night".

May God guide all of us through this new week...

Supper time!

I was going to write my daily post now while waiting for the guys to get home for our weekly feast, but they just pulled in the yard now. It's been a long and productive day, (Dad cleaning grain, then helping the boys in the fields and Mom and I doing some thorough house cleaning and food preparation) and we are all very much ready for a day of rest!

But it's not bed time yet! We have Lasagna and Yum Yum Brownies to dine on first, perhaps in very small portions....... :)

(I guess I have a couple more minutes to write yet, as they need to carry in our years supply of honey. My dad took several empty 5-gallon pails to our local beekeeper a couple days ago and had him fill the pails. We traded him some of our beef for his honey. :) )

I'd better go make sure Mom is still awake....

Things we say wrong....

An eventful morning...

It was another busy day here. After morning chores were done, Jacob and I headed for the garden to pull a row of beets. We brought them in the house and got them cooking and Mother later chopped them and froze them (the ones she didn't serve for supper.) We ate sweet corn from the garden today too. Delicious! We worked on apples again too...

Dad was cleaning grain today, but I believe the boys went over to Ferns' land to work on hay and wheat harvest again. I worked in town the rest of the afternoon/evening again. One more day and then I'm done there for the week. This weekend, a small town near us is having their annual Threshing Bee, so I hope we can go to that....

I'm really tired tonight and am not thinking of anything else to say, so I'll bid you all a good night and be off to dreamland.

May God bless you all~

An apple recipe~

BAKED APPLE CHUNKS WITH WALNUTS

(We usually 4x this recipe for a 9x13" pan:)

2 apples, peeled and cut into bite size chunks

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

2 tsp. honey

1/2 cup walnuts (Sally Fallon's Crispy Nuts are especially good!)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 375 F

2. Toss apple chunks with remaining ingredients, except walnuts.

3. Place in a covered casserole dish and bake for about 35-45 minutes or until tender.

4. Top with walnuts and bake 15 minutes more uncovered.

Delicious!!!

Busy day!

This morning, after milking goats, I baked bread and made a homemade pizza, then baked some gingerbread and worked on more laundry.... Mother and Jacob have been working on schoolwork in spare moments, so that's what they were up to at that time. Dad and Andrew were changing a tire on the white truck and doing other odd jobs until lunch time. After eating, all the guys headed over to Fern's land. Mother spent a good part of the day mowing the lawn and I worked the rest of the day in town.

I will try to post the apple recipe for you all tomorrow morning sometime. :)

Here is yet one more great song! ~

A labor-full day...

Yes, we spent this holiday laboring. :)

The guys worked on hay and combined a bit of the wheat. Mother and I made more apple sauce and juice; cleaned the front refrigerator thoroughly (and then washed a bunch of jars); we did a LOT of laundry; and Mother did 3 health sessions, 1 of them being in person. We also made another batch of our new favorite dessert, called "Baked apples with walnut chunks". We laughed at the originality of this recipe's title, but the resulting product is quite out of the ordinary! If anyone would like, I'd be happy to share it (the recipe). :)

Here are 3 great songs that are arranged/sung by the Maranatha Singers... Be blessed.~




My dear friend, Dorena taught me this one:

And now, for one fun thing before I go.
See if you can make any sense out of this:

‎7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3 Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4 LLY W17H 0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C34R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15. R3 P057 1F U C4N R35D 7H15..

Good night~

Spending time with family...

The guys worked in the shop this morning and Mom and I cleaned the kitchen up; prepared an early lunch; and pressed some shirts for the guys. We ate quick, changed and headed for Mandan to help celebrate the anniversaries. :)

We spent most of the afternoon playing games. At the table I was at, we played Chicken Foot dominoes and Skip-Bo.

Then we ate a very yummy supper together.

Here is a picture of the couples whose anniversaries we were celebrating:
Becky & Dean; Donna & Yatsin (Dean's parents); and Earl & Marly (my grandparents. My grandma and Donna are sisters.)

Everyone enjoyed the cake, although my uncle thought I should have put a pickle on top. :)

We dropped my dads' aunt off at her home around 7:00, then headed for our home to do the barn chores. We just finished watching a "Highway to Heaven" episode....

It was a good day.~

It was a lovely day~

Peaceful, quite, restful and fun..... That's how our day was.

I had time to play piano for quite a while this morning and also looked up some of my favorite songs on-line. I decided to share the following one with you all, as it is lovely and inspiring! May we all be His servants each day!

Anniversary cake (and giveaway winners announced)...

Today, I baked and decorated a cake for 3 couples' anniversaries. My grandma asked me to make the cake for their get together on Sunday, so I wanted to be sure to have enough time to get it done and proceeded to bake it today.

Marble cake:


After cleaning the house quick, I had time to decorate the cake too! :)

Now, all that's left is keeping it safe until Sunday!

I thought I'd let you all know too that my brothers drew names for my giveaway winners on my 1,000th post. The names drawn are as follows:

KIMBERLY K.

&

HANNAH F.

Congratulations, dear friends! Please leave me a comment, ladies and let me know which of the prizes you prefer! :)

Wishing you all the happiest of weekends,

~Cora

Bull fight.

Andrew and I did chores this morning, then jumped on the 4-wheelers and headed up to the pasture to move the cows. They had moved themselves (by breaking down the fence) and needed to be in that one cell for a few more days. While moving them quite a ways, two of the bulls got feisty and decided to push around on each other. They wouldn't stop for the longest time, but thankfully, God had the strongest bull be in back, so he was pushing the weaker one in the right direction and slowly moved along behind the rest of the herd. Eventually, just as we got close to the gate, they quit fighting and walked nicely through to their old stomping grounds....

Happy September everyone! It felt like Fall here all day.

I worked in town again today. Now I'm done for the week though. I'm very tired tonight, so will post this without further ado. :)