Do you sing "Aqua-pella?"

The following came to my inbox this morning and I just had to share it with you. :)


"What kind of music do you sing?"

"Aqua-pella."

"Don't you mean 'a cappella,' singing without instrumental accompaniment?"

"Nope. I mean 'aqua-pella,' singing accompanied only by the water coming out of the shower-head."

Want to buy some calves? :)

We're needing to sell these yearling steers very soon, so I took pictures of them today and Dad, Andrew & I placed an ad on-line (on Bis-Man) for them. If nobody is interested from there, then these fellas will be heading for the sales-barn shortly... (They're starting to eat a LOT!)


For some reason, our turkeys were wandering around in front of the house this afternoon. Mother asked me to get a picture of them, as they look so pretty in all their Winter finery...

My family and I took it easier today, as we're trying to get over a cold; and because Mother was worn out from her classes; and also because the snow made it seem like Winter--and Winter is our vacation time! Not that we don't work in the Winter, but there is more time to do pleasant things like reading; sewing; baking; and playing games.

We did get a few things accomplished this afternoon though... For example: We sat down with paper; pen; receipts and a calculator to accomplish the daunting task of figuring out who owes who what! We young people owed Dad & Mom for some feed that they purchased a while back for our cows and calves, plus for some supplies for the barn... Andrew & Dad owed me for the slings that I had purchased for their/our guns... Dad bought the old fencing vehicle (the "Ram") back from Andrew, as Andrew has his own wheels now and we need the Ram for fencing... Etc, etc, etc...... It was a bit confusing, but it's a good feeling to have that taken care of now. :)

After a while, we headed downstairs for a few rounds of Foosball. Mother joined in even--something that she hasn't done for quite a while. So, while I was waiting my turn to play, I took some pictures... Like my Hubbard squash border?
Well, another day has come to a close and it's once again time to head for bed. Here's a little thought to put a smile on your face:

"It is good to let a little sunshine out as well as in." :)


Goodnight!

The snow~

by Marguerite Church Clark

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

Last night when we were sound asleep,

The snow fell fast, the snow piled deep.

When morning came and we looked out,

The snow was lying all about.

The wind was blowing high and low,

And wrinkling up the pure white snow;

And everywhere that we could see,

We found that God made mystery.

Tomato sauce, salsa and a fondant recipe!

This was another tomato day for me... I made a double batch of Freezer Tomato Sauce and Jacob helped me cut up tomatoes for Crock-Pot Salsa. It's a good feeling to be catching up on the most ripe tomatoes!

The guys worked outside and Mother was in Bismarck all day...

As some of you showed interest in making fondant, I thought I'd share the link to the recipe I used, as there are pictures there that I thought were most helpful. Let me know how it turns out for you, if you decide to venture it. :)

Before I sign off, I thought I'd also share a lullaby with you! Sweet dreams~

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today was my parents' 29th wedding anniversary!!! The sad part was that Mother had to be in class today (and tomorrow yet), so they didn't get to spend much time together on their special day...

Here's a picture that I took of my dad and mom this Summer--in front of the church that my dad attended as a boy:


"Happy anniversary to you two!" :)


Dad and we three younger people listened to a Dr. S. M. Davis message called, "How to name your children." It seemed a little funny to listen to this kind of a message, when naming a child won't be something any of us do for quite a while (!), but it sounded really interesting, so we decided to listen to it. Dr. Davis talked about the meaning of names quite a bit and gave us some good food for thought...

We spent three hours this afternoon playing a game of "Settlers of Catan"--using a variation that Andrew had found on-line. It ended up being a close game, but then Andrew snuck out in front and won! :)

Here are all the "Barbarians", ready for battle...

Dad looks like he enjoyed the game...

This fella was doing some serious thinking!

Mr. red...

We had a lovely day together and were glad when Mother returned at 7:30 so we could all spend a little time together!

Now I'd best get some sleep, as we need to wake up early in the morning to weigh out and box up 2 quarters of beef that Mother is delivering to customers in Bismarck at 8:15AM!

Polka Dot cake~

I decorated a cake today for a neighbors' friends' baby-shower... It was my 3rd attempt at using fondant on a cake and it turned out fairly well. As I'm so tired, I thought I'd just post these pictures and let them tell the story for me. After all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Sleep well everyone~

A dream come true~

I have long dreamed of being a part of a wedding and today I found out that my dream is to come true!!!!!! Amanda Dagley has asked me to be her Maid of Honor at James' & her wedding! I am looking forward to November SO much now! :) Before then though, I need to find a nice, off-white cowgirl hat, as the wedding has a western theme, and I don't own a cowgirl hat--yet! ......... I'm just so excited!!! Can you tell?

Today was a special day for another reason--that being that we've now milked cows for 5 years! It surely doesn't seem that long...

One more reason that this was a wonderful day is that we got all of our potatoes, carrots and beets in from the garden and the guys lugged them downstairs. Now we're ready for it to freeze hard.

I need to get up early in the morning to help Mother get ready for her classes, so I'd best get some sleep--that is, if I can quit being excited long enough to drift off to dreamland! :)

I'll leave you with this beautiful quote by A. W. Tozer:

"All we are and all we have is by the love of God! The goodness of God is infinitely more wonderful than we will ever be able to comprehend."

The Wind and the Leaves~

by anonymous

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
"Come over the meadows with me and play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold,--
For summer is gone, and the days grow cold."

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering one and all.
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew.

Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went;
Winter had called them, and they were content;
Soon fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a coverlet over their heads.



The cold weather makes us dance into the house pretty quickly these days! It's so much nicer to be working in the busy kitchen amongst boiling kettles of soup than it would be to join the leaves in their twirling in the breeze~

Squash and misc. items of interest...

A good portion of our day was spent in bringing in some more of the bounty from the garden. As it's supposed to get very cold on Friday, and as we had the first SNOW of the year this morning, we figured it was time to pick our squash...



I read in one of our preserving books this year that, if you oil (with vegetable oil) your squash before putting them into storage, it will keep them from molding for a good while longer. So, we're giving it a try! See how shiny our Zucchini are now? :)

While I worked on making another batch of tomato soup to can, the rest of my family picked the rest of the tomatoes and cabbage from the garden and brought them in... (This isn't all of them.)

I thought I'd point you to some other blogs tonight for some things of possible interest to you...

1. You can visit my mom or my brothers' blogs for more pictures of our Appleseed;
2. You can help name a goat on Hannah's blog;
3. Or you can see a long list of recipes for things to do with apples by visiting Rachel's post (you have to scroll about half way down the page until you find it.)

Enjoy~

Bang, bang, bang.........

Well, our Appleseed event (the 3rd one to be held in ND) is now over-with. What a great time of learning; fellowshipping; and noise it was!

I have a very picture-heavy post ready to share with you, but first I'd just like to say a big thank you to the 4 instructors who donated their time; materials and gas money to make this event possible!!! Thanks, too, to the participants who came and shot alongside of us--making these last few days very memorable ones indeed!

Now, onto the pictures~

The Bartlett brothers arrived around 4:00 Friday afternoon. After going out to the shooting range to look things over, the young men headed downstairs for a few games of Air-Hockey and Foosball...

I think they had an enjoyable time?!?

At about 5:00, the instructors (Alex from Iowa and Kyle from Minnesota) showed up. After they checked out the range too, the guys tried out our swing-set!

Everyone helped (or watched) during chores and then visited for a while afterwards until Ben & Amanda showed up, at which time, we shared a meal and got to know each other better. The instructors spent the night in my grandpa's pop-up camper and the Dagley young people camped out with us in the house.

The next morning found most of us up bright and early to get the milking done before 8:30--when everyone was supposed to register and then head out to the range. Several people car-pooled out to the shooting spot, as there was a lot of mud to go through and not everyone had a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Eventually, the instructors and the students made it to the range; everyone got their blankets spread out; and the Appleseed event began...

This picture was taken during one of the history lessons...

Here Peter Bartlett is giving some advice to Ben D....

Steve S. (that's him on the left) came on Saturday. As you can maybe tell by the way people are dressed, it was a bit cold that day. It kept on sprinkling throughout the morning and a bit in the afternoon, but we made it through. Sunday was a much nicer day, and we're praising God for the relatively nice weather He did give us, as today and the rest of this week (according to the weatherman) is really wet and chilly! Thanks for praying!!!

Here, Alex (from Iowa) is teaching the next part in the history lesson--

--while the audience is taking shelter behind the stack of straw bales!

These fellas mustn't have been too cold. :)

Left to right is: my brother, Andrew; my brother, Jacob; and Instructor-in-Training, Jonathan.

In this picture, most of the group was preparing to head back to the farm after one days work was over.

We had 12 shooters on the line on Saturday--the 5 of us; Ben & Amanda; Steve S.; Cory from Valley City; Mr. Knight and his son from Dickinson; and Jeremy from Minot. The next day, the Knights and Steve weren't able to join us, so we were down to 9 participants.

Ben, Amanda & I stayed out a little longer, as Amanda wanted to site in her gun and Ben had to clean his, (and I wanted to take pictures.)

Back in the warm house once again, my parents, Steve, and Ben visited, while Alex & Kyle drove to a small town to fill their car with gas and my brothers; the Bartlett boys; Amanda and I went downstairs and had fun playing several 6-person Foosball games.

After supper, our living room was filled with music...

Then everyone slept well until chores time once again.

The next day was spent in practicing what we were taught the day before. We shot a lot of AQTs, which is the target you shoot at and then add up your score afterwards and see how much you've (hopefully) improved. There are 4 possible ranks you can be in:

1. Rifleman (highest)
2. Sharpshooter
3. Marksman
4. Unqualified!

I'll tell you how my family and I scored later. :)

The two guys below (in the red hats) are the instructors:

Here is Jonathan with his orange hat--meaning he's an Instructor-in-Training. He and Peter will need to help with teaching 2 more Appleseeds and pass a test before they get their red hats... Here Peter is helping Cory get his sling on correctly...

In this picture, you can also see Jacob (in the red) who made Marksman and my dad (in the blue) who made Sharpshooter!

Jeremy shooting his high-powered, noisy rifle... Nobody wanted to park their blanket too near to him!

Mother is looking pleased with her score--and well she should be, as she made the rank of Sharpshooter!!! She was surprised, as it's been many years since she's shot, although she used to be quite good.

Ah, here you can see me--in the red riding hood. :) I made Marksman, or rather, Markswoman...

Andrew shooting his new gun...

Jonathan timing him...

This is what the far end of our range looked like...

Peter--looking happy...

Instructors again--Kyle on the left and Alex on the right...

Amanda and I had fun "Shooting" in another way too... (She and Ben both made Sharpshooter and said they were glad they came, as they learned a lot of helpful information.)

Peter--pretending he's shooting at Andrew's target...

Amanda again...

Scoring...

Dad and Jacob shooting in the standing position with Peter looking on...

Andrew was determined to make Rifleman--

--and he did! Here he's getting his patch to sew onto, well, whatever he wants to put it on. :)

You can visit Jonathan's blog (http://jonathanjbartlett.blogspot.com/) for even more pictures if you like!

Once again, thank you to everyone who made this Appleseed Shoot a wonderful experience! Especially, I'd like to thank Jonathan (and Andrew Bartlett, as it was his gun) for the use of the much better rifle, as it was so nice to be able to hit the target a little more frequently than I did the day before! :)