Day #30!

Well, my dear friends, can you believe that the "30 Days of Thankfulness" are up? I can not, and, well......do not, as I believe every day should be a day to give thanks to the Lord for His blessings (and blessings-in-disguise). Why stop at 30 days, right?

The official "Thankfulness challenge" is done though, as tomorrow is the first day of December and November will be officially over! Thank you to my dear friend, Rachel, for inspiring others to give more regular thanks for the things we are grateful for. :)

I am thankful tonight for the safety my Heavenly Father has granted us over the years as we do many dangerous jobs here on the farm!

I am also grateful for my earthly father and mothers' protection of our safety: spiritually, mentally, emotionally......., as well as their looking out for our physical safety...

For example:

You saw in my previous shop-project post the method we were using to get the insulation up in the walls (by way of a brave young man on a very tall ladder, and a very long stick/broom). Well, the ladder worked ok for that job, but when it comes to hammering up plywood on a slanted ceiling, a ladder does not sound like the safest thing to be standing on!

Soooo, my dad decided to play it safe and rent a scissor-lift for a week so we can finish up this project in a much safer way. Hooray! :)

When the guys went to Bismarck this morning, not only did they bring home more plywood and the lift, they also came back with a dream-come-true tool chest that they'd bought (which will come in very handy as they clean off their workbench in the next few days), and a (free!) pool table that Jacob saw an ad on BisMan for... The table does not have any cues or balls with it, so the boys are now keeping their eyes open for those items. Mother grew up playing pool with her dad, so she's really quite good and will probably beat us all at it! :)

But, back to the shop...

Millie and Lady seem to be enjoying the new warmth of the shop as much as we are! (That's the wood stove to the left of them.)

FYI: When working with insulation, it is a very good idea to wear a mask! See all of the dust I didn't breath in?

After part of an afternoons' work, we now have almost all of the West side of the shop insulated! Double hooray!!

Well friends, it's been lots of fun telling you about the things I'm grateful for these past 30 days. It would be even more fun, however, to hear from you!

I'm sure you could tell me quite a list of things!~

Little people say the sweetest things, sometimes!

A man, in a hurry taking his eight-year-old son to school,
made a turn at a red light where it was prohibited.

"Uh-oh, I just made an illegal turn!" the man said.

"Aw, Dad, it's okay," the son said. "The police car right
behind us did the same thing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Johnny's mother was having difficulty gulping down
the birthday cake he had made for her as a surprise. When
she was finished, Little Johnny happily exclaimed,

"I'm so glad you like it, Mommy. There should have been 32
candles on the cake, but they were all gone when I took it
out of the oven."

Day #29~

I am so very thankful tonight that God provided such nice weather (nice, for the end of November, that is!), as we worked our calves this morning/afternoon. Towards the end of the day, we were getting cold and our fingers were getting numb, but it could have been a LOT worse, so we are grateful! Hopefully next year, we'll get this job done a bit earlier in the year?

Anyway, thank you to those of you who prayed for us as we worked! There were a couple injuries (Jerome got kicked in the hand by a cow and Dad on his shin by a calf), but the bruises are on the minor side of things, so that is a blessing.

Here are some of the calves, needing to be worked...

We were also so very grateful that Jerome came and helped us! Here he and Andrew are waiting for Dad to bring the next calf up the alley way. Andrew's main job was catching the calves and he did a great at it this time---not missing any of the 121 calves we did!

Dad brought the calves up from the small pen at the end of the alley... ...and then banded them. Jacob kept the bander loaded and handed Dad the special knife when needed. We band the bull calves in the Fall, as we've learned that they grow better as bulls than they do as steers.

Mother and Jerome were the main shot-givers, although Jacob and I filled in when necessary...

"Caught'cha!"

I had the job of writing down the calves #, color, gender, etc...; mixing up more vaccine as needed; and tagging any calves that needed a new earring. :)

We have 3 baby calves that were born this Fall sometime. They were too small to catch in the head-gate, so we caught them by hand and "Worked" them. This little guy was quite spry and, though it probably didn't take 3 of us to hold him down, we (my brothers and I) all did so anyway!

Jerome and Jacob, checking out my record-keeping system. :)

The calves on this side of the corralling are "Done".

And now, we can scratch "WORK CALVES" off our to-do list, for another season.

Day #28!

Please pray for us tomorrow as we will be working our calves.... My dad's cousin, Jerome will be coming to help, so that's a blessing for which to be thankful for!

Speaking of cattle, I was so glad to be able to make my cattle-loan payment today!!! Now I just need to be able to make my operating loan payment in Feb. and I'll be good for another year (the sale of this years' calves should easily be able to cover that, Lord willing and all, of course)....

I worked in town again this afternoon/evening and was glad to meet our new CNA, as a couple of my coworkers have quit in the last couple months and we need the help! She said she knew where I lived and every time she drives by our place, she wants to stop and swing on our huge swingset. :) I said she was more than welcome to do so!

Well, I'd best get some sleep now as tomorrow will be a very busy day, I'm sure.

Blessings to you all~

Cora

Day #27...

I am thankful tonight for the gift of kindness! I was the recipient today of such an act of generosity, when the sister-in-law of one of our residents asked me today if I would like a silk jumper that she had no use for anymore? I said I would be pleased to accept it, so she came over again later with not only a soft, black jumper, but a silky pink blouse to go with it! I thanked her ever so much and gave her a hug... :) This is the 4th of such acts of kindness (someone giving me skirts/dresses/blouses) since I've begun working in town. I feel truly blessed!

I am also thankful that Blogger uploaded my pictures this morning without any problems! Are you ready for a tour of the shop-project?

First, the guys picked the spot where they wanted to divide the shop (so there is a smaller area to heat), and they built a wall there...
They left room for a door too! They put up some plastic...

...then a bunch of chip-board.... Jacob and I did a lot of the hammering for this part of the wall.

Andrew had to direct Dad so he knew where to cut the door frame out at. :)

Jacob, smacking the nails in....

"Now it's starting to look like a wall!"

Even without insulation in the walls, the wood stove that the guys installed was keeping the inside temp. about 20 degrees warmer than outside.

See that white thing in the background of this picture? That's our wall--with a door even! Mother and Jacob did most of the painting there, while Dad and Andrew insulated the wall and put another layer of chip-board on the other side of it. Dad wants all the walls painted white in there to reflect as much light as possible so they can see while they're working!

Next step=insulate the walls! Before we could start insulating however, the guys had to take down the plywood that was on the sides of the walls:

Jacob and I hammered out the nails so the plywood could be used again...

Dad filled the cracks along the edges with "Great Stuff".

Finally, it was time to begin putting up the insulation in the walls---a rather itchy job, I must say! It took 4 of us to get the long pieces installed....

It's a good thing Andrew's not scared of heights!!!

....and this is how far we got (except we did put up a few pieces of plywood on the left side there)! Before we can put up more insulation, the guys have to tear apart some built-in storage shelves, and their work bench, and then take down the plywood that's behind there. This project will take quite a bit more time, but it's great to be getting a start on it! The guys have dreamed of having a heated shop again ever since we moved here 8 years ago.

Some dreams really do come true!

Day #26~

It is hard to believe November is nearly over! I've found I'm thankful for so many things---many more than just 30. :)

As I do need to pick just one thing tonight though, I'll say that I'm very thankful for good, wholesome games to play together as a family! We all spent a good portion of the afternoon playing Andrew's farming board game, "Agricola"---with the expansion. It was pretty complex with all the new pieces added into the game, but Andrew must have got it figured out, as he won by quite a long shot! I think our family's favorite game is still "Settlers of Catan"---with a couple expansions....

I'm also grateful for a day of rest on which to spend time together as a family, relaxing; worshiping God; studying His word; and just plain old having fun. :)

It sounds like there's another very busy week ahead of us now........ I'm thankful for rest, and for work! Without one, the other would get quite old, don't you think?

Day #25...

I'm thankful tonight for tools! I spent the afternoon in the shop with the guys, working on insulating the building so as to be able to keep it very warm in there this Winter and let me tell you, tools come in very handy!

My dad and brothers installed a wood burner and had it going all day, so it was pleasant in the shop. :) I'm working on loading pictures of the project here, but for some reason, it's not working as it should, so the pictures will have to wait a while..........

Day #24---an extra special thankful day!

I am thankful for photos (and memories) of the good old days....

I hope your Thanksgiving was as pleasant as mine!

After spending the morning in the kitchen with Mother, we ate a regular feast! The turkey was tender; the potatoes and browned butter hit the spot; the cranberry sauce was tasty, as always; the dressing, delicious; the pies-----well, they weren't quite cool enough to eat yet, so we had some cake instead!

I did eat a piece of pie when I got home from work in town tonight though!

Oh, and these are our turkeys on Thanksgiving day: If they knew about what happens to most turkeys this time of year, they'd be most thankful that they're 4 years old already and too tough to be appetizing! :)

This is part of what I did in the kitchen this morning:

I took this cake along to work to share at the potluck meal.... One of my coworkers liked it so much that she took 3 pictures of it on her phone and then was showing the pictures to everybody. :)

It was a lovely day and I'm so very thankful for the MANY blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us all!!!!!!!!!

Day #23~

I think I've probably already said how thankful I am for my family, but I'm just so thankful for my family!!! None of us are perfect, true, but we do work together so well and accomplish many things while having some fun at the same time..... :)

Mother and I cleaned our entryway this morning as it was in desperate need of attention again (tons of potatoes and carrots out there, plus a couple boxes of apples yet, and beets, and honey pails, and....). It looks MUCH tidier now!

The guys meanwhile were working on building their wall in the shop. I went out and helped hammer nails in the plywood for about an hour before heading to town to work at the nursing home. Jacob and I were surprised how out of practice we were, but we did improve by the end of the hour. :)

My parents made a trip up to Bismarck later this afternoon for more building supplies (more plywood and lots of insulation). I hear they just barely got home before me tonight.

It was lovely outside and the temp. even climbed up into the 50s! We are so THANKFUL for the lovely weather this Fall......

Now here's wishing you all a beautiful THANKSGIVING day tomorrow! I pray you find many things for which to be especially thankful for this year. I will be spending a good portion of the day with my elderly friends and younger coworkers at the nursing home.

Day #22------

I am so thankful for beautiful, peaceful music, like this song:


...and this one:

...and these songs too!



"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD."
~Psalms 40:1-3

Day #21~

I'M SO ^THANKFUL^ FOR THE LORD'S GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE!!!!!!

Amen!

We had a really nice day, getting some projects done that needed doing (the guys worked in the shop, getting ready to build a wall so they can insulate and then heat the shop for the long Winter months! Mom and I made another batch of apple sauce/juice and I made a batch of Freezer Tomato Sauce and worked on taking the tops off of more carrots.)

This evening, we all went into Napoleon for the first of several John Birch Society meetings (our friend, Chris S. from Jamestown is teaching the class) and it was SOOO good! Our country has drifted so far from obeying the great constitution that it began with, but there is still hope that things can be turned around! If the good men (and women) of this country will work together, then there is hope indeed! As we know, "Evil prospers when good men do nothing!"

We had hoped there would be more people than the 9 of us there attending, but we ended up getting into some good discussions and are excited to get together again next month. I learned a lot and hope others will join us for the next meeting (tentatively scheduled for Dec. 17th at 7:00PM in Napoleon also....) Let me know if you'd like more information!

Day #20...

My family went and spent the day with my Bornemann relatives, playing games; visiting; and eating.

I came down with a cold yesterday though and didn't want to spread that around (plus I just didn't feel up to going visiting!), so I stayed home. I cleaned up the house a bit; did a little laundry; rested for a while; then watched the first half of Anne (of Green Gables). :) I am thankful that I didn't need to work in town today so that I could just take it easy and hopefully get over this bug soon! Plus, this way, I was home to do the milking so the others could stay later than usual. All things work together for good.....

A friend of mine asked how the cake I made (in the shape of a hexagon) would be cut? Well, I guess you can cut it just about any way you like, but if you want to do it the CORRECT way, you can choose between the 2 different methods shown at this site and this site. I thought I'd share this here, just in case any of the rest of you were curious about cutting cakes...... :)

I pray you all have a wonderful week,

~Cora

Day #19!

....for cake!

Just think about it.... What would the world be like without cake to celebrate special events with? I know my mom wouldn't mind (she's on a grain-free diet right now), but most people like their cake! :)

My grandma asked me to make a cake for the get-together she's having at their apartment tomorrow. I had thought she said it was a Thanksgiving get-together, so, as she said I could decorate the cake any way I liked, I started with a harvest theme. Then, while in the busy middle-ness of decorating this afternoon, Mother talked to Grandma on the phone and learned that it was kind of a birthday celebration for Grandma, SO, Grandma is going to have a Thanksgiving-ish birthday cake this year!!!

I hope she doesn't mind!~