Greetings and salutations to all of my friends and family! My prayer is that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has blessed everyone and kept all safe in His arms.
I couldn't believe it has been so long since I last wrote, but, it does seem right. We, my beloved and I, seem to have fixed the computer; so I should be able to get back to writing on a more reasonable schedule. It had gotten so bad that I couldn't even open my writing program or get on the internet. Let me tell you, we were not happy people. I never realized how much time I actually spend on the computer until it wasn't working! I did get my ancient laptop running. But it takes forever for it to do something. And since it is so old, it runs out of virtual memory and has to adjust which makes everything run even slower. Needless to say, I didn't do much on that one. Checking email was about all I could do. Anything else would have caused it to overload and explode! I have been informed by my dear husband, that if I am a good girl this year, Santa may bring me a new laptop. I told my sweetheart I am always good, bring on the laptop! So there should be a new addition to the family and I won't have to tie up my husband's computer with my writing and blogging and book reviewing and whatever else I want to do. I am blessed being married to such a wonderful man.
Okay, enough of the computer saga.... on to better things!
I love the Fall. I love how the trees have changed colors and I love the smell of the air. I think foggy mornings are beautiful and something about seeing clouds nestled between the hills tugs at my heart. Two of my favorite spots on my way to work are probably overlooked by everyone else, but to me I think they are beautiful. One is on Carpenter Creek just before I get to my road. There is a field to the left and behind the field is a row of oak, alder and maple. The colorful leaves of the trees and the honey color of the field is very pretty. The second place is on Stringtown Road. The place is called Westwind Gardens and lining the road is Redleaf Maple, fir, another type of maple and more fir.... It is so pretty seeing the dark green of the fir between the wines and golds of the maples. Now that I think about it.... it's almost a Christmas type of colors...... I know my eyes enjoy looking at them as long as the leaves last.
I did gather some leaves to place in a bowl. Just a little fall to enjoy in the house. Here is a couple of pictures.....
They are pretty, aren't they. Fall is my most favorite time of year.
What next..... Oh yeah.... The chickens....
I still have all of my chickens. However, I believe there are really 15 hens and one rooster. We finally got nesting boxes built and on a good day, I am getting 15 eggs. One of the black chickens actually acts like a rooster. He doesn't cock-a-doodle-do but he does let you know he is the king of the hen house. I also have a broody hen and my husband tells me they do that if there's a rooster.... so I may have some baby chickens... if I leave her eggs alone. One of the leghorns is laying double yolkers, HUGE double yolkers. She is quite noisy when she lays them, which is about 3 to 4 times a week.
We finally got some chicken wire, so now we can fix the outside for them and keep them safe from other critters who happen to like chickens as well. The coyotes are hanging around liking the smell of my chickens so I haven't been able to let them go outside. When my dear heart has an extra minute, he's going to fix things for the chickens.
We still have the pheasants. But they shall soon be pheasants under glass. Not this coming week-end but perhaps the next one, they will be in my freezer. This week-end, my sweetheart is going deer hunting with his friend and will hopefully bring home a nice big deer. The deer will become ground meat and the hide will get tanned. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I might just put it on our bed. We'll see after it gets back from the tanners.
Because of all of the rain, the garden didn't do as well as I had hoped. No one's vine vegetables did well. I think I am going to do it a little differently next season. I still have carrots to pull and I need to get the last of the apples in for applesauce. Mmmmmm.... yummy... I love applesauce!
My dear husband and I did manage to take a honeymoon of sorts, finally. We did a three day tour of lighthouses. We have lots of pictures so I am going to put them in a slide format and then post it with the story. Hopefully I will be able to do that this week. I'm back to working six days a week but I have been told that we are getting a couple of new people so my hours will start going down a bit. I am looking forward to that happening since I have a lot to do to get ready for Christmas. I am making gifts for the family and I need time to do that..... it's rather difficult when I'm working 40 plus hours 6 days a week.
Hmmmm..... remember when I told ya'll that I drove our dump truck? Here's a picture of it....
You can't see it, but it says in gold paint "Kintz" above "Excavating". That is just one of the many loads of dirt we moved from one end of our neighbor's property to another.
The sawmill got put on hold until Spring, but my husband put a log on what has been done, just to give himself some encouragement and to show me what it will look like.... check it out.....
Pretty cool, huh?! It will be awesome when it's operating.... just needs a few more things done and we'll be sawing some lumber!
Now, when you only have a wood-stove for heating, you need to have some wood to burn. If you don't have any wood to burn you have to go find logs to cut. That means there has to be downed logs that have been seasoned because green wood doesn't burn, it smokes. The week-end before my husband and I took our trip, we went and cut up some very large logs into rounds. Those got loaded into the bed of the pickup by me, Cal and our neighbor/friend, Kerry. Well, I did as much as I could until my hands were completely numb up to my shoulders due to the carpel tunnel. After we got back from our trip, Calvin started splitting the rounds into burnable sizes that will fit into the wood-stove. The whole point of this is so I can tell you what a genius I am married to..... He rigged up a conveyor system that allows him to split the wood and put it on the conveyor and the conveyor dumps it into the woodshed. All I have to do is stack it! Between the wood-splitter and the conveyor... he has eliminated several back-breaking steps! I would include foot-wearing but, if I'm not fast enough the wood will fall on my poor feet reminding me to MOVE! Ahhh.... to be married to such a genius..... He really is the best!
Well my dear friends and family I'm afraid it's that time. I must bid you adieu until next time... which will hopefully be later this week or next week and not next month. Watch for our story of our lighthouse trip. I will be posting that soon.
Until we meet again..... I pray our Lord and God will keep you and your families safe, healthy, and blessed. Please pray for my mother-in-law (such a sweet lady, I love her so....), she is undergoing tests. The doctors are looking at her pancreas. Please pray for her, her husband (who has Parkinson's), her children, the doctors, we all need strength, hope, peace, healing, and Jesus to lift us up. I am praying that there is nothing there and she is going to be fine. Her name is Grace. Please remember her as you pray.
May the Lord bless you and keep your families safe and well.......
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies'
Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Psalm 103:1-5 (NKJV)
