Foosball fun!

It's been quite a long time since we've played Foosball, so we were a bit out of practice this afternoon when we headed down to the basement for at least an hour of fun! Dad, the boys and I played several games and were starting to get the hang of it again by the time we were nearly tired out. :) Then we went upstairs and played Rook with Mother, plus a bit of Rummy too.

We listened to a couple of Mr. Kevin Swanson's radio messages today and appreciated his thoughts. We also sang several hymns, which was much more pleasant this week than last, as this time I have my voice back---a useful instrument when it comes to singing. :)

My parents and Jacob did the evening chores tonight, so Andrew and I made our supper and looked through pictures he's taken with his new camera.

And that was our day----in a nut shell.

Oh, here's the new Prairie Day flier that a friend shared with me the other day. Can you find my family on the picture? How about George Washington?

Guess what we did on this lovely day?

....You still have time to guess, as I'll post some older pictures first. :)

Did you know that goats love eating banana peelings? Well, they do---amongst other things...

Here are the promised pictures of our pretty-much-finished shop project:

We're really enjoying being able to use the small side-door the guys put in instead of having to open the big door for everything....

This afternoon, while playing a few games of pool, we put a tea-kettle on the wood burner and made ourselves some nice, steamy hot chocolate. :) The guys and I were saying that we've probably spent more time in the shop this last week than we have in the house! It's such a good feeling to have such a nice, bright and warm place for the guys to work in all Winter!!!

I didn't take a picture of the shop today, (after the guys worked in there all day yesterday) but it looks more organized than in the above picture, with things put back in their places.

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

Alright, have you guessed yet what we did today for fun----and exercise?

Here's a pretty easy hint:

Yes-----we went ice skating/hockey playing, up in the North pasture!

First, we had to push a little snow around. It wasn't too bad really.

Dad joined us younger people on the ice....

We found out that we're a bit on the rusty side of things!

We also found out that the little black puck can really sail far on a smooth surface!

"Get it, brother!"

We all landed on the ice at least once (and some of us a bit more than that), although in the picture below, Andrew was just resting his ankles....

That's me:

The boys..... Our "Goal" was the small opening between the snow piles (where Jacob is standing.)

We have plans for getting an ice rink set up here at home, but have been too busy with the shop project to work on that project. Plus, it hasn't really been all that cold.....thankfully!

We talked to Mom again a little bit this evening and it sounds like she's having a really great time there. Hopefully she'll be ready to come home when the time comes to leave. :)

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~

Fun with Hristiyan~

We just finished eating our smores around the campfire and are heading for bed, as we all need to get up early to get Hristiyan back on his way to WI.

I did want to post some pictures though of the past few days, so they are below.

We had an early lunch today, then the boys took one of the 9030s and the white truck (with a loader bucket on it) over to the land up North. Mom and I followed a little later, bringing the old pickup and another vehicle so we could leave the pickup there for them and then return home ourselves. While waiting for Jacob to come with the tractor, the rest of us took some pictures. (Dad was gone all day cleaning grain and will be gone all day tomorrow too, doing the same.)

I climbed up on the baler to get some pictures of the hay and also took this one of Mom, Andrew and Hristiyan visiting...

The Lord has blessed us abundantly with hay this year (and last, as some of these bales are still from last year.) Another great blessing is the interest of the hay buyer (from Texas) in our hay!

I asked Mom if she'd take a picture of Hristiyan and I together, as I didn't have a single one yet with both of us on it! Andrew had a great idea for a place to pose, but had to give us a lift to get us there!

"Yeehaw~"

Mother then said she'd like a picture with our cousin too, so they found another place to sit. :)

We still were waiting for Jacob to come, so Andrew had the idea to do a picture like one we did a long time ago, except this time with strong man Hristiyan holding Mom and I on his hands. :)

Andrew had to show off his muscles too of course, and "Lifted" Hristiyan and a hay bale at the same time. :)

Jacob arrived then and it was time to get back to work!

Hristiyan drove this truck by himself today, hauling the bales from one of my brothers who was loading them in the field to the other brother who was stacking them up. This is sometimes my job, so I was glad he was willing to do it so I could stay home and rest a bit; milk Sally; and make supper.

Friends and second cousins...

This picture was taken last night. While we were enjoying hot dogs roasted over an open fire, Lady was enjoying the scent of them (and was hoping for a taste of them too, I imagine.) My Lady is a very shy dog, but today she actually ran up to Hristiyan and wanted him to play with her! I think he liked that...

Our campfire: Tonights campfire was much prettier, as it was quite dark out!

Here Hristiyan is "Farming" with Jacob, my brother being on a computer just to the right of Hristiyan. I guess they didn't get enough real life farming in....

Andrew, taking his fixed car out for a spin...

The clouds were so pretty yesterday! Here's a picture of our farm from a distance with the pretty clouds up above:

That's all for now. I'd best get some sleep! I wonder if the boys will go right to sleep tonight???

First campfire of the year!

Last year we had many campfires, but for some reason this year, we had not had a single one yet. The boys started one this evening though and we roasted hot dogs for our supper. :)

The rest of the day was spent in playing games (indoor and out); listening to a Dr. Davis message; singing; some of us went for a drive in Andrew's car that he bought reasonably and fixed up; and we watched a movie tonight. No, we did not go to the zoo. Everyone was just too tired, I guess.

I have some pictures to post of our campfire, but they're still on my camera and I don't feel like loading them right now. Maybe tomorrow.....

Oh, Kristi, just so you know, Hristiyan still is not very fond of pickles. :) He was a good sport and did try one, when Andrew put it on his plate. We're enjoying his visit a lot!

Until tomorrow then,
~Cora

The Murphys arrived...

Around 8:30 PM last Wednesday (how can it almost be a week already???), my mom's cousin, Kristi Murphy and her family arrived at our farm for their Summer vacation. You may recall that last Summer, Kristi and her son, Hristiyan came her for a few days to visit and learn more about farm life. Well, they must have enjoyed their time, as they came back and brought the rest of the family along. :)





We ate supper and cleaned up the kitchen a bit before settling down for the night.





The next day....





Cousins in the kitchen...



My dad let Jason (the Murphys' youngest SON) drive/steer the tractor over to the bull pen to feed the bulls a bale, which he liked quite a lot... :)

Michaeljon and his daughter, Rachel, making good use of the double swing...

Q. What's more fun than swinging on a tall swing on a lovely day?

A. Swinging on a tall swing on a lovely day with friends/family!

(left to right: Rachel, Michaeljon, my dad, Hristiyan, Eric, Jacob, Jason and my mom)

...We had a mini-unofficial-appleseed-shoot, with Dad and Andrew as instructors. Kristi (and Eric too, I believe) had never shot a gun before, so we were pleased with their wanting to learn.

2nd cousins and pals...

The younger guys, checking out the results of the first round of shooting...

Our guys had set up some bales as a windbreak for the cows a while back and they worked just perfect for a rifle range background...

While the others were shooting, Mom and I were busy in the kitchen and with packing and Jason M. was busy catching up on some reading... :) (That's Millie at his feet.)

Thursday evening, right after supper, the Murphys and our family (all except Dad who so lovingly stayed home and did chores so the rest of us could have a really nice vacation) headed for the Dagley farm! I have pictures from that night, but I think I'll save those for another time, as I'm really tired tonight, again. ....Still trying to catch up on lost sleep, I think!

I see that my brother Andrew has done a Prairie Day post, so if you'd like to read/see that, head on over to the Man of Courage blog (on my sidebar).

Sweet dreams~

Fence fixin'...

Due to the lovely weather we've been having of late, the snow on the south side of the shelter belt has been melting slowly and we can now see the fence posts and a bit of the wire. The weight of the snow has pulled most of the wires down to the ground in some places. It would be easy for cows to walk out if they didn't mind stepping through the snowbank, so after Jacob and I did the morning chores, and after the electric fencer was zapping in the front part of the milk cow pasture, and after putting air in the van tires, he and I went out and pieced the top wire of the fence back together. Hopefully it will discourage the cows from leaving their pasture while we wait for the rest of the snow to disappear!

Once the fencing was done, we still had 1 1/2 hours worth of time until I had to head to town to work, SO we grabbed our 22's and headed out to gopher territory. I shot 2 and Jacob got, I think, 5 in the half hour we were out there. We could have had more, except that we're thinning them out so much that we have to drive around searching for them, whistling as we go.... We headed back to the house then for a quick lunch and I showered and got ready for work and made it just in time.

When I returned home, I found a brand new garden hoe on my bed. Hooray! Thank you Mom! Our old ones have slowly been disintegrating (and one got run over by the tractor, oops!) so I'm excited tonight. :)

It is bed time however, so I'll say good night and I'll "Talk" to you again tomorrow.

A day spent with friends, and a greenhouse update!

This has been a very pleasant day, especially for me! First thing this morning, (first thing, that is, after getting up, dressed, doing chores, and showering) our neighbor, Kristi and her 3 little ones (Amelia, James & Michael) came and picked me up to go with them to Napoleon for the morning. We did some errands and then we went to the nursing home I work at and watched Amelia and her daycare friends "Tumble" and sing songs for the residents. It was fun to see other neighbors there as well, and it was different to be at the care center without having to work there! After Kristi dropped me off again at my house, Mom and I made a quick lunch and, after we all ate, she and I headed for Linton to do some more errands and then drove to our friends, the K. family's (the ones who had a little baby girl about a month ago) house to help Sarah with whatever needed doing. Mother helped Sarah by taking up a broom and scrub mop and folding clothes, while I got to be outside in the nearly unbelievably beautiful weather! (Ila informed me that it got up to 65 degrees!) My job was to cut off and rake up all the dead flowers and leaves from Sarah's flower beds. The children helped me some of the time and, once we were done, they (Ila, James and Edmund) wanted to show me their big water puddle. So, after putting away the shovel, rake and pruning shears, I followed Ila over to where her brothers were already splashing around in the "Puddle"---the puddle proving to be the ditch, with quite a bit of water lying in a flat area. :) The children assured me that their Mama lets them "walk around in the water because it's so nice out", so I watched them play for a while and then, as the water was coming in my boots already from the soggy ground that I was standing on, I took my boots and socks off and joined them in the cold water that was sparkling in the sunlight.... Sarah came out a little time later with the baby to ask if I'd be willing to hold her (and keep her dry) so she could get some things done in the house, so I stayed on the dry land then, cuddling the sleeping baby. It was a great day! The following pictures were taken over 3 days time and are of our greenhouse project. The first step was to level out the ground, as our garden area is slanted and we wanted the greenhouse to be level. We thank God for tractors that can do in a few minutes what would take us a few days to accomplish with shovel and backache! Meanwhile, the boys trimmed off several branched from the trees by our garden, both so we can mow under them and so we can get to our greenhouse easier from the house. At this point, the guys were laying out the bottom boards and getting them level, sometimes piling dirt up and, more often, digging a trench so the board would go down into the dirt.

The next day, the guys built the frame and the greenhouse started to really look like something. They put the black plastic on the storage shed wall to attract as much heat as possible.

Now, what do you think they used the 4-wheeler for?

Well, the guys thought it might come in handy to stand on while putting the extra little braces in the ceiling, and they were right!

They had to dig out the long ladders though when they got to the 3rd row!

Here, Jacob is drilling holes in the boards and then putting bolts through to clamp the boards onto the rods the guys stuck into the ground several feet.... I helped too, by holding boards while Dad measured and screwed them in, and also by leveling out the dirt inside a bit, as there was quite a mess left from the tractor tires and all..... We still need to bring in some composted manure and possibly some top soil from the field and then mix it all together so as to have a soil that will actually sustain life!

Cutting...

Screwing...

And finally, enjoying a nearly finished project. We just have to put up the clear plastic now and build some doors and, yes, get the dirt ready. This greenhouse is really a dream come true for Mom and I!!! And it's so big!!!!!! I can hardly wait to start planting in it. :)