Lake Outing - August 10, 2010

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In one of the girly cars, on the way to a birthday bash at the lake.





We had too much fun on the way over. We received a phone call from a police officer while driving. The son of one of my friends noticed us as we all had our arms out the windows, making like our SUV had wings down the highway. That's still legal, right...?

Picking up more along the way.





Follow the red canoes!





OK, this looks like a good spot!





Hey, do we know you?





Perfect. Right near the bathrooms!





I never did get that group shot. But we had wonderful shade over both tables and plenty of food.





Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,





A tale of a fateful trip.





That started from this tropic port





Aboard this tiny ship.





Actually, they were headed for that island. Some of them rode in the canoes, some swam.

I could not swim far out, as I have a bum arm, but I enjoyed the water close to shore, visiting at the tables, and watching duckies.









The thunderheads began building.





The explorers returned.





And just in time for the sprinkles to set in, we packed up





and made our way to the theater to watch Despicable Me together. I vote two thumbs down for that movie.

But two thumbs up for the day!

~Faith

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Tennis anyone? April 29, 2010

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We like to try to celebrate the Lord's festivals. We totally missed Pesach last month. But I was delighted to discover that there is a provision in the instructions for celebrating the next month if you somehow missed it.

Isn't that something??? LOL

So, we caught this one! That meant that the 30th was another Shabbat day of rest. We took some time to play some tennis with friends.

Michael and I used to play tennis every day before his dad left us. Michael was also on a tennis team. We really miss playing, so it was a real treat to get out to the courts for only the second time in about 2 and a half years!

The day was stunning. 75 degrees, blue sky and puffy clouds, a lovely cool breeze.

We stopped for some gas on the way - can't forget to bring home a treat for the lawn mower and rototiller.





Then we headed to the courts to meet our friends. Practically deserted, just the way we love it!













We had wanted to see Avatar when it came out on DVD, even getting the 3-D glasses, but when we stopped by to rent it we found that it was not 3-D on DVD. The story was Ok, just a rehash of the Disney version of Pocahontas. And the movie, which we expected to be stunning, was just like a cartoon to me. I heard that the visual grandeur was only appreciable if you saw it in 3-D.

What was amazing was that it was nearly 3 hours long. We only watched part of it before we headed off to meet friends for a group singing class at the local college. It was fun, but infused with Yoga and New Age malarky. So we all took off afterward to hang out and play games.

Great fun!

~Faith

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Workday with Friends!

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But we don't have any photos. Too busy working and talking while working, for the most part.

Before everyone arrived, a bright and beautiful spring morning greeted us. After some chores we did a few things around the place.

Michael burned some of those boxes that he and Ashlee sorted through.





We cleaned off the front and back porches, scrubbing down the furniture and setting up cold drinks for the day in an Igloo.





While I did more housework, Michael began mowing the crop area on high to knock down a bit of growth in preparation for finishing up today.





Then three boys descended on the place and enjoyed a variety of activites with Michael, including preparing an Airsoft battle zone, shopping for pellets online, doing some gymnastics, playing games, and best of all, swooping through the garden and pulling out a bunch of fence posts in about 5 seconds flat.

I had a couple of friends helping me in the garden by that time. Elaine and Ashlee came by again to help out. What a blessing. We finished getting fencing out, dismantled the tomato cage from last year, and dug out a bunch of huge weeds in preparation for tilling.

We girls headed to town for errands - a piano lesson, dinner, and shopping for 20 t-posts and the insulated cable we need to ground the fence system.

Dinner was amazing. I'd never been to this place, and it was empty when we got there. We sat out on the veranda in perfect weather, and chatted and ate some really great food.

Back at home we straightened the house that the boys had left a mess before they took off for manly type activities all night. They have a mens' group they all attend together, which they affectionately have dubbed "Man Class". We then went back down into the garden.

The horses got a new mineral block. (Funny, they don't LOOK like they weigh 50 pounds...). And we pounded in the remaining fenceline posts for the front and dug out the remaining weeds.

I nabbed one quick photo of finishing up the work last night...





Up to the house for some well-deserved cleanup, rest, lemon merengue pie, and working on Civil War ballgown stuff. Our next ball in in just a little over a week!

We watched 50 First Dates while we sewed, using the Clearplay movie filtering system. It's such a great movie when it's cleaned up.

Anyway, another morning of doing some work in the amazing sunshine outdoors, then we are off to do office cleaning and gymnastics.

I better get busy!

~Faith

Modern Snowmen and Bees

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February was to be a month of getting a lot of outdoor work done. What with the weather and an uncertain future here, none of that has been happening. Otherwise this post would be filled with images of getting our greenhouse going and building some rock-lined beds.

What we have been doing is housework, continued homeschooling, and several field trips.

Didn't there used to be a rapper called Ice Cube? I think this is where he retired.





We went to the local ballet, where several of our friends were performing and working...





And the next day, Michael worked as well...




A group of us have been waiting for just the right time and a clean movie to go see together. We finally had success with "The Tooth Fairy". I thought it was hilarious. We all enjoyed it, and it was clean. Yay!





We've had a lot of wintry weather of late, so not a lot of outdoor events. But Michael, on a field trip to a Russian Folk Ballet performance,



tried his hand at dancing.





I cooked up this sandwich for Michael's breakfast one day. I didn't notice until I'd loaded the image that that it looks like a guy in a hat, with a goatee, a long nose, and sunglasses.



They were delicious! Not having an egg ring, I fried some beaten eggs in a wide mouthed canning jar ring, melted cheese on them, topped them with bacon, and served inside well-buttered and toasted sourdough french bread.

This might look odd, but it's my young son's weapons cache for Airsoft.



"The children were snuggled all safe in their beds, while visions of machine guns danced in their heads." Hmmmmm...

I received a wonderful surprise from a friend I met through this blog, some delicious honey! From their own bees! We have had a beehive in the past, but it did not last. I believe a raccoon got the hive. But we are hoping to try again. We've had our eyes on building our own hives for a while now, and we even attended a local bee meeting with some friends of ours who said they would donate some starter bees.

We've looked at several alternative methods of keeping bees, but the Top Bar method is the one that is intriguing me right now.




http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

The object of a Top Bar Hive (TBH) is to be easy and cheap to construct, easy to work and having natural sized cells. A Kenya style (sloped sides) is so that the combs are more naturally strong and less likely to break and collapse when they are full of honey. This hive worked very well with no comb collapses. The small combs are easy to handle and not nearly as fragile as large free hanging combs. The pictures are, from left to right:

1. Kenya style Top Bar Hive being constructed. The sides are one by twelves 46 1/2" long. The bottom is a one by six 46 1/1" long.
2. The ends are one by twelves 15" long. None of the boards is ripped or beveled. They are just cut for length and nailed together.
3. The sides are spread to where they fit the ends and the ends are nailed. I ended up using deck screws on the end because when I pried the bars over I would pry the end off of the hive.
4. With bees. The top bars are ripped from one bys with a beveled comb guide glued and nailed on. You can see a bar on top of the hive on the right end. The brood nest is 1 1/4" wide bars and the honey is 1 1/2" wide bars These bars are 15" long.
5. Comb from the KTBH. Can you spot the queen?
6. A close-up of the queen on the KTBH comb.
7. See through drawing of KTBH (thanks to Chris Somerlot).

The entrance to the KTBH is just the front bar back from the front at least 3/8" The top sets on top of a 3/4" top bar so the entrance is 3/4" high and 3/8" wide and is really just the gap in front of the first bar.

Parts List:

• 2- one by twelves 46 1/2"
• 2- one by twelves 15"
• 1- one by six 46 1/2"
• Any kind of lid 15" by 48"
• 16- bars 15" by 1 1/4" by 3/4"
• 18- bars 15" by 1 1/2" by 3/4"
• 34- triangular comb guides cut from chamfer molding or the corner of a one by 3/4" by 3/4" by 1" by 13"
• 2- four by fours 16" long cedar or treated for stand.

All cuts except for the triangles are square cuts.


Here's a link to a video about how to build one.

And a link to images of several Top Bar hives and pages.



Watchin' the snow melt...

~Faith

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Kitchen Organization?

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Yes, just as soon as I have time to finish!

We did the freezer outside.




And the canned goods cupboards.








And we started on the rest, although there is no photo of the badly-in-need-of-cataloguing spare bedroom which was taken hostage last year by filled canning jars and equipment....








But have been so busy with school that we haven't gotten any further.

I am adjusting to the fact that Michael's boots, which are now too small for him ---- Are too big for me. And I have big, size 10, feet!





I have been initiated into the world of eBay. I've probably put in a total of 40 hours and made about 10 bucks.

It gets better. I just know it does!

Got rid of this movie.


A lot of legal books...


An old joystick. And thanks to a special family who went out of their way to test if for us on their old computer.




And Michael, who seems to know things without being taught, took over installing our replacement ClearPlay set.




Ask me how your family can watch formerly unwatchable movies with this neat set up. We bought one about 5 years ago, but let our subscription run out. We are up and running again.





And Michael is really happy over this sitar case he was given to use as he pleased. He made it into a case for his airsoft gun.





The testing we are going to have done for Michael is the 1970 CAT. California Achievement Test. Its standards are higher than school standards for today, so we've been busy preparing for that. It's nice to have something different to do.

We are also taking a class together on the founding of the nation and, more specifically, the Constitution. They give these classes all over the place, and free; a 12 week, one night a week class with a little homework. So if you are interested, look up the IOTC, Institute On The Constitution, and sign up.





Enjoying snippets of spring-like weather,

~Faith

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Caramel Apple and Movie Night.

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In honor of Reformation Day, since we don't do Halloween, we had a party. It did get bumped up a day, but we are calling it our Reformation Day party anyhow. Because it was our party and we can call it what we want.

I was baking three loaves of bread. Ashlee wanted a heart. So here is Ashlee's heart on a platter, formed with a few bashes and tugs. Try not to take that as a metaphor for life.





Folks started arriving about noon, and we had to get started on the caramel pretty quickly. This was a recipe I used last year, and it is TO DIE FOR! The girls had never done caramel so I handed the recipe and ingredients over to them.









Bringing in back up, for all that constant stirring.





It went just a little past soft ball stage, I could tell by the smell when I came in the room. Remind me to shop for a candy thermometer with a clip on it. But despite the rapidly thickening caramel, they managed to coat them all!





But check out that surface area! I did not buy enough white chocolate to cover that. LOL





Not a problem. They just spread instead of dipped.





Who gets the leftovers.....





And this very generous young man worked tirelessly for hours on getting an old computer running again for Michael. What a blessing!





Everybody loves truffles. And this had a nice surprise. Cayenne pepper. Two tough guys, feeling the heat...





Now we are talking! The final semi-sweet chocolate coat, to be sprinkled with butter brickle bits. We called this "Leah's Dress in A Pan". Silky, yummy, dreamy chocolate, to smooth out all the rough spots on the candied apples and fix every problem that exists in the universe.

















Let's see what this young lady is up to...





Mmmmmmmmm. The main dish for tonight - Pumpkin Stew.













Beginning to pile into the room to watch the BBC mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. It was not the typical BBC dry flick, but actually very good.

















When people begin to fall asleep on the furniture, yours truly included, you know the evening is being milked for all it's worth. We love each other and I'm so grateful for friends who are like family.





Happy Reformation Day!

~Faith

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