Sunny Morning Chores with Beet Pulp.

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My citrus grove, happily enjoying a new flush of growth, due to some fertilizer.





I am just enjoying the light. Forward lighting can take a back seat today.





Thaw is in full force. Not real warm yet, but the sunlight is hard at work.





Is there any breakfast today?





Why yes, as a matter of fact. There is!





Beet pulp!





Stirring up in some warm water. Don't want to take any chances, even though the information of dry versus wet is still a bit conflicting.





Oh, yes. Warm, sweet, tasty, healthy, fibrous, metabolism-boosting, lovingly prepared beet pulp. Just for you!





Breakfast is served!





Is this for me? You are too kind!





This is new. What is it? Mom, come on over and try this.





What is this slop?





Maybe this one is better.





Nope, same stuff. I don't like it, do you like it?





Maybe the 20 dollar a bale stuff will come on the next delivery. We're not eating this!





Tune in next time for "As the Stomach Takes Turns" when the ruminants arrive and happily enjoy this same meal four times as much.

I'll trade two horses for a Dexter cow! Any takers?

~Faith

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Old Stuff

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Some things that were my grandmother's.

Circa 1970s





Circa..... ?





The containers are metal.

Now you get to see the tops. I'm not going to clean the dust off of them. That could very well be the dust my grandmother swept off her porch while drinking her tree-ripened lemonade on a beautiful sunny June morning! That, and the fact that I tried cleaning the dust off once before and it didn't work. I was afraid to scrub to the point of damaging them.





And her old bread box.





Air vents in the back as I lift the hinged lid.





I keep my cookie cutters in there.





Wishing I had better photos up there. Those are about 10 years old.





Someone is watching Mythbusters, who are testing to see if you can escape the state pen with antacids.





You never know when that is going to be a necessary bit of knowledge.

~Faith

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I Miss Two Things At This Moment.

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Time to do this, and mild enough weather to do this.





This was taken in January of 2007. Michael and I were focusing on sports that home school year. We played tennis, every sort of _______ball you could think of, swimming, skating, and pretty much everything.

I'm so grateful for that last year before my DH left us. It was a fantastic year for Michael, to be able to experience those things before we no longer were able to do so.

My folks even came a long a couple of times, and that made it extra special.





But four years later...

We are hibernating as much as our garden beds!





Not a lot to blog about beyond that. I've been working really hard on learning computer things. I am reminded at just how near to being brain dead I am. Michael has been working on school and is the brains of the family.

I'm getting really good at driving on ice. That will be helpful in the coming ice age, um brought on by global warming?

Life is good
and cold.

From the woolly mammoth den,

~Faith

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A Photo Montage

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For 2011, I've decided to look at the world in a whole new way.





Maybe not. I can see the plates go flying on the way to the dining room.

On Shabbat the sunlight hit the greenery we have still not put away, intensifying the colors. The lovely golden hue that was there was lost however.





Michael, testing and finding the roads still providing the perfect skating medium for shoes. Not so good, though, for driving to rehearsals and office cleanings. We went anyhow, very carefully, but there were many wrecks all over town, including in front of us.





I had dug up our pepper plants to save for next year. They lost all their leaves, but had grown lots of new ones. We took them out on days above freezing, and brought them in before frost hit. Until one night we got home too late. I'm hoping they'll come back.





Brrrrrrr.





The horses were shivering, poor things.





A snow angel from the day before.





Photographing used children's clothing for ebay is using up a lot of my time. I can see this is a poor return on my time, but I am grateful for any income at this point. Now, if I can just figure out how to get them up and selling.





Michael is still getting used to the fact that these are indeed, man shoes.





And yesterday, after foraging food for the horses from where ever we could scavenge it from, making snow angels, and having a snowball fight. We did a little outdoor work, planting grass seed.





I'm told that during snow is the best time to broadcast seed. You can not only see where and how much you've strewn, but as the snow melts, it pulls the seeds into solid contact with earth, and next spring it should do very well. This is Kentucky 31 blend, only good for the sunny side of the house.





I hope this old seed is still viable. We've tried to thicken up this grass for years, and it doesn't like to grow. I'm thinking something tall, thick and lush would be mighty fine. Except for mowing. OK, a modification; thick, lush and green. And bad bug repellent. And....

Slap!

Realistically, the days are getting longer. And we have passed the official date where the northern hemisphere begins to gradually warm up its average temperature. Hold on, any faint of heart, we are on the upswing!





There's no place like Figi. There's no place like Fiji. There's no place like Fiji.

~Faith

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She's BACK!

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My beloved camera!





Thank you, so much, dear blog friend who provided the funds to repair my camera! Such generosity overwhelms me.

I am greatly looking forward to begin blogging more in earnest again. Things are quite busy, and only going to get busier as spring approaches. Spring is probably going to be coming on this year like a whispery little butterfly, battered about by icy chunks of air, but it will come eventually.

In the mean time, here is what a portion of our schedule looks like this month. See all those highlighted circles?



Those are merely the continued rehearsals, classes, and set work for the ballet Michael is in. As you can see, we are doing a lot of running around. But that's another wonderful thing about home schooling; all the really cool learning experiences you get to share together as a family, and with friends.

So, dear friends, thank you for hanging around and cheering me on, despite being without my precious picture box now for three months. It felt like a lifetime.

I'm photographing items to sell on eBay today, what a chore! But a nice way to spend all this indoor time.

Busily working,

~Faith

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Endless Summer, Endless Winter

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2010 gave us the summer that began in the first week of April and ended in the last week of November.

It has also given us the coldest winter I've seen that began the first week of December, giving most of us a taste of cryogenics. Our pool looks like it has known many ice ages.

This has give me an optimal window to work on some much needed projects indoors. For the last week I've had my nose to the grindstone working on several things. One of them being photographing a bunch of things to sell. My friends, having seen and pitied me unable to do this because of my lack of camera, came over and we had two really fun days visiting while photographing madly.

What a blessing!

I am looking forward to getting my camera back from repairs, hopefully very soon, and snapping happily away. We've got photography field trips to plan. We need a bus or something....

Now comes the real work. Organization and getting them on eBay. Not much break in the weather, so I'm good. However, the ballet is going to be soon, and we are beginning to do a lot of running around for increased rehearsals as well as set building and painting. It's a busy time.

Catalogs have begun arriving!!!! Spring is on our minds. I've been working on cuttings of whatever makes itself available. I'm going to make a nuisance of myself and begin asking people everywhere I go if I can take cuttings; keeping pruners and cutting medium in my car to ever be at the ready. Whatever I can't buy, I hope to find free to populate this place. What great memories, too. Every plant will have a pruning memory. Good thing I don't scrapbook, because THAT could end up being scary! "Aw, and little Celia Celery came from the lady that lives across from the BP. Isn't she cute?"

My focus is on food crops, but maybe one day I can have a yard, and have some foofy things as well. A lawn would be nice. I love this earth the Lord created, but the red clay heel lifts I would not miss.

I began working on learning to sew custom dress shirts for Michael, something that would actually fit those long arms, but haven't gotten very far, with Christmas and these more necessary projects in the works. Judging from our weather.... I will probably have more time to put into them for the next couple of months. I dropped by the thrift stores and found table cloths and curtains for sewing fabric. The thicker the better. I don't do well sewing flimsy stuff.

Michael is officially taller than me! Shaving, talking in that deep voice. He says stuff to me and sometimes I just break out giggling. It's going to take me a while to get used to this big voice. His hugs are getting stronger too. Gotta love that. :o)

No time at all for finishing that greenhouse. But as soon as this weather breaks, we have the supplies to finish it. While I was hoping to raise food through this winter, it would have been tough to try to learn to use it during this really cold weather, so I am not too heartbroken by the delay. I just really want it up for starting our own garden plants in February and March. I hope we get a week of mild weather for doing that.

Well, I'm off to run Michael to town for working on sets today and I'm going to continue working here at home.

Can you believe only one day left of 2010?

Wowsers!

~Faith

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Busy Christmas Season, and a Thank You!

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We've just been running like crazy. Not much time to post anything. Lots of work, lots of activities.

Bad news, I think I have another cracked tooth.

Wistful news - I'm dying here. I have wanted a Dexter pair for AGES! I found all sorts of them for wonderful deals here. Sadly, morosely, dejectedly, horrendously - they are in Canada!

But what really matters is this:

I have to tell you, going from a couple of months of bad financial news; months filled with unexpected bills, land taxes coming due, a call saying no support will be given, car repairs, etc., the Lord has blessed us. We have had so much kindness shown to us and generosity from Heavenly family, both far and near, we are fantastically grateful, humbled, and awed by your love.

I was able to get Michael something he really needed, a replacement MP3 player for Christmas. He's already in possession of it, we shopped together and found an amazing deal, at about half price and free shipping. I think it must be a Christmas special. But he is as happy as a clam, and I could not help but shed tears at watching him receive such a gift from the Lord. In our work, we use them to listen to messages and worship music to encourage us. Others have given him lovely gifts as well.

More than anything, the gift that is the greatest is seeing just how the Lord cares for us, even when we have no idea how it could be possible to make it. And how others want to be used by Him, and offer their love and friendship.

Thank you so much! Some of you call, some of you write, some of you chat, some of you send surprises. All of you touch our hearts so deeply, there is no way you could possibly know how much your friendship and love mean.

Yeshua Meshiach was not born in December. He was born most likely in September. But because of various historical events, we followers of Christ have taken up the habit of celebrating the joyous occasion of His birth here in human form at the end of December. We rejoice, we sing, we give gifts to one another.

But the most wonderful thing about this world-wide celebration is the fact that so many people choose to set aside things that usually distract us, and instead focus on reaching out to others and loving them in tangible ways; from fun random acts of flash mobs, to giving to perfect strangers.

What a beautiful thing to see! I pray every day that we are blessings to others and that the Lord would show us how to serve others in whatever way we can. I know I fail much more than I am successful, but I am grateful to be growing. What an amazing thing it will be when the whole earth is a reflection of Christ's love for us, when He returns.

As I read of your own adventures, your own trials, your own walks, and share your loves and passions, I am blessed beyond all measure. I learn from you. I am humbled and grateful for all the blessings we have from the Lord; how He brings us through our trials and heals our pain. All our promise of the future, all our hope is in Him.

Merry Christmas to all of you. May you all be blessed. But even more, may we bless He who loves us, who is our Savior and Provider. May we all learn to love Him as He deserves and learn to serve Him and minister to Him in whatever way He shows us.

Much love to you all,

~Faith

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