REFLECTIONS OF 2009

Happy New Year's Eve!!
Snow was off the roads this morning so daughter and I went to market,except for the orders I had we sold very little. The temperature is 40 and a lot of the snow in town is melting.
I went by the county co-op to pick up a few things on my way home.
After things were unloaded I started some laundry,hubbie is working on a couple of small jobs outside. We ate left-overs and soup for supper as I did more laundry.
We decided to go work at church a while early this evening.It is very foggy outside,I pray that all the folks celebrating will be very careful on their drive home,it is very hard to see anything.
After we came home I started to reflect on this past year. I only started blogging in July so you only know half the year.
January 2009-Annie came to live with us,she and her sister Ginger who lives with #1 son,are registered Australian Shepherds,we drove to Granite Falls and bought them when they were 4 months old.

February 2009- Was not a good month,hubbie's mother had a stroke,was hospitalized,had a heart attack and another stroke while there for a week and had to be moved to Hospice at the end of the month.Spotted a white squirrel in the trees in front of the house for the first time.






March 2009- Hubbie's mother unfortunately died on March 4th,hubbie's brother's birthday.
We bought 6 Holstein calves,6 weeks old,had to put one of them back on the bottle because of contracted tendons.We had the biggest snowfall of the season the first of March. It was about 4 inches but didn't stay long. One night stands out in my memory during this time,before bedtime we were walking up to the barn to take a bottle to the little calf and it was like daylight with the snow on the ground,so peaceful and quite.

April 2009- A very worrisome month for me, went to a dermatologist for the first time in my life and he took a stage 11 malignant melanoma off my arm and I had to wait 3 weeks for him to do the second cut to see how deep it really went. Calf miraculously walked normally.






May 2009- Got good news from the second cut of the melanoma after he cut a huge chunk out of my arm and put 30 stitches in to close it ,he declared that spot cancer free. We made our first trip to Sunset Beach for a spring vacation,#2 son stayed home and took care of the farm while everyone else went,we drove down to Ripley's Aquarium.May was a very rainy month it rained everyday for 2 weeks and flooded our pasture while we were at the beach,luckily we had sold all our cattle before we left.


June 2009-Bought more calves from cattle market in S.C. Another dermatologist visit and more bad news,he found a squamous cell cancer on my leg,will have to cut again in August. G-son enjoyed sister-in-laws pool.







July 2009- Had a huge garden and getting rain at the right times to make it grow well.Started this blog so I could leave a history for future generations to know what my life was like.




August 2009-Good news from dermatologist,didn't have to re-cut. Daughter got a new job,had our house re-plumbed and a well drilled. Busy month of canning and jelly making.G-son enjoyed a week of Bible School.





September 2009-Apple festival,mountain fair,block blast, old timey days all this month. A hail storm that destroyed the remaining apples for a lot of farmers and the rest of our garden, then a major flood caused by a minor hurricane.Daughter's long time boyfriend that she was planning to marry decided to go his merry way,breaking her heart.Found numerous leaks in our roof,put huge tarp on roof.



October 2009-Another week on Sunset Beach with entire family this time.Decided to build a sunroom on back deck and re-cover front porch before putting new metal roof on.G-son was sick on Halloween.





November 2009-Under construction on both sides of the house. Another tropical storm flood,cattle almost drowned, breast cancer scare,daughter begins baking and selling with me at market, rainy month.




December 2009-Construction finally finished,major snow storm dropped 11 inches of snow then cold weather kept it around from 18th-the end of the month,had a wonderful Christmas.





And that brings to an end another wonderfully Blessed year for me and my family. I'll ask the Lord's Blessing on the new year for us and all my blog reader friends. HAPPY NEW YEAR and Good Night.

MAKING THE BEST OF MOTHER NATURE'S WRATH

Catching up from yesterday,here are pictures of our landscaping, I think it looks really good,even if it was my idea!
I love the rock idea,it looks good and serves as a dog digging deterant. After I took these pictures this morning I headed out to run errands,make some Avon deliveries and do some groceries shopping. About 4 hours later, I have no idea why it took that long, I made it back home. Daughter had met d-in-love after g-son's dermatologist appointment this morning to get him and they had been shopping and had just beat me home by minutes.Hubbie came in from work and helped unload and put things away,we separated some ground chuck I bought,it was 40 cents cheaper per pound if you bought 5 pounds so we put it in 5 freezer bags and put it in the freezer,a little trouble but a penny saved is a penny earned!!!
We took g-son and went to the bottom to look at a tree that has fallen into the creek,but the water was still to deep for hubbie to cut it out.In fact there are 2 trees that have fallen into the creek but 1 of them isn't touching the water and is huge so we don't think we can do any thing with it.The mess on the left is going to have to be cleaned up or the beavers will use it to dam the entire creek,we saw them do it on a neighbors property several years ago and it started with this exact same scenario. It never gets dull around here!!! G-son had to have his cow boots on they are 2 sizes too small but he got them on and said they didn't hurt.Notice who is walking in the muddy cow path. But Pawpaw I have my "cow boots"on and YOU were in the water!!
This is one of g-son's favorite games lately,it's called "I hit you with a snowball and then betcha can't catch me". And no pawpaw didn't catch him! He loves the outside whether it's snow,water or sunshine he'll find a way to make a game of it. I just wish I had a little of his energy! Annie must have gotten hot running around so she found a patch of snow to cool off on!

This is the ole "wait till pawpaw gets his arms full of wood then hit him in the back with a snowball" game.He thought this was hilarious!!
When we got inside I had to dry his pants for the second time today,the first was for spilling a slushie in his lap when he was in the car with daughter. That's just part of being an active little 3 year old boy.
After his dad picked him up daughter and I took turns baking and icing cakes and making candy. I'm blogging while it's her turn on the stove. I fortunately got several cake orders today.If the weather doesn't get in the way again maybe tomorrow will be a decent day at market.
However I'm sitting here listening to them say it's already snowing in places around here and guess what I looked outside and it is snowing !!!!It is midnight,I just finished icing my cakes and snapped these 2 pictures in the back yard,this doesn't look good for market tomorrow. Maybe we will get that miraculous warm rain the weather guessers said we'd get!!! God only knows and He isn't telling. If we trust in Him it'll all work out, HIS WAY!!!!! Good Night and God Bless.

THIS YEARS SPECIAL MEMORIES (ORNAMENTS)

Today has been a busy,busy day! Hubbie and I followed daughter to market and helped her get set up. Left there went to his eye doctor because the lens fell out of his glasses last night,they fixed them while we ran to Tractor Supply for feed. Then it was off to Lowes for more landscape blocks and edging,we found some really nice composite edging,never heard of it before, but it worked great. Also picked up more bedding to put in the outside dog houses,it is going to be the coldest of the year this weekend. Grabbed lunch on the way home to save time.
We finished the grill patio,hauled dirt and finished the back filling,spread the mulch and hubbie hauled large rocks and placed them in the beds so the dogs can't dig in there. To busy for pictures today,they'll come later,but it really looks good! I crawled all the way up under the room and filled a hole against the house with dirt,I don't like close places and did not like being up under there between the floor joist with hardly room to wriggle,but it had to be done and hubbie was to big to fit! We got out the chain saw and cut down 2 huge bushes that have gotten ugly with age and all the trimming over the years. #2 son came up and said he came in from work and heard the chain saw and that reminded him he needed a tree cut down, so if we get ice it wouldn't fall on his well house. While we drug all the brush and piled it up in the woods he found ropes and put gas in the big chain saw. We went down to his house and he climbed up the tree and tied a rope around it as high as he could reach,he and I pulled it away from the well house while hubbie sawed,landed in the perfect spot. I guess they got confident because they tried to cut another dead tree but it lodged on 2 other trees,they just left it because there's no way it can fall toward his house now and it is up in the woods. We came home did our evening chores and ate supper. I rested on the couch for a while then payed bills and did paperwork.
It's almost time for the Christmas tree to come down and I was thinking tonight about the ornaments (memories) I have added this year.We vacationed on Sunset Beach,N.C. for the first time this year.It is an island off the southern coast of N.C. We spent a week there in the spring and in the fall,we stayed in a house on Tubbs Bay and loved this quite little island.To get on or off this island and back to the interstate you pass through Calabash,N.C. known for it's delicious seafood restaurants. Hubbie and I used to drive up here to eat when the kids were small from Myrtle Beach,S.C. But I hadn't been here in many years and the seafood was still great.
Daughter's "little sister" Caitlyn made this ornament and gave it to me for my tree,before I store it away I'll find a way to put her name and the year on this. She is a very resourceful young lady and seems to be very responsible and mature for her age.This has been a very good Christmas for her because her and her mom got to move into their first real house.They have been living at mainstay and other 1 room places,Caitlyn was excited about having her own bathroom.The house they moved into is actually not far from us and I think this is the first time they have lived out of town.

This ornament needs no explanation and with the date on the back,it'll always bring back memories of g-son's 3rd Christmas.
I love having these memories brought back every Christmas,that is a big part of the joy of Christmas for me.
Well my 3 days of digging and lifting have caught up with me,I feel like I've been run over by a truck tonight.Hubbie said he felt like a 55 year old that had been working like a 25 year old. I guess tomorrow will bring a break from the work because he is going back to work and I have a bunch of business and errands to run at least in the morning,he gets off early at 2:30 and we'll be back at it after that as long as the rain or snow doesn't start.
Thank you God for the strength I've had today and all the blessings that You sent my way. Good Night and God Bless.

NEED PROTECTION FROM EVIL SPIRITS?? READ ON!!

Woke early this morning to g-son's arrival,thought he would go back to sleep,but wroonngg!
The septic pumper came at 9:30 and got that dirty job done.G-son enjoyed watching out the window.While he was entertained I finally made some pictures of some of the furniture I bought for the new room.This is my favorite piece,I found this at an interior decorating place moving sale.It was marked down 1/2 price and I got it for 1/2 off that price,$300. I had looked at several of this type cabinet and smaller ones that weren't antiques were $450 and more. This is an antique,almost 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide,the largest one I found and has lion heads carved into the front and claw feet on the legs. Open mouthed lion heads in old beliefs would ward off evil spirits and protect the home in which they were placed.Not that I believe in any of that junk but it makes for interesting conversation. I have done a little research on the net to see just how good of a deal I got and the cheapest one similar to this was $2,000, so I think I must have gotten a decent deal. And it matches the table I got perfectly. Another smaller corner curio I got at the same sale is older also but not as old as this one and it is the only piece I bought that isn't perfectly matched.I just couldn't pass it up at the price they offered it to me for $37,no lion heads on this one and by putting it in the opposite corner the wood mismatch isn't noticeable. I still have things to put in these but have just been to busy with other things,I'll be glad to slow down and have time,unfortunately that means my business is slow and I won't have any money!
Daughter came up and stayed with g-son a while this morning so I could go outside and help hubbie,we got the tarps down and put some protectant on the siding so we could put dirt and mulch against the walls. We ate lunch,daughter left to run errands and we took g-son and went to Lowes for mulch and landscape blocks. It is colder than heck outside,the temperature is 30 and the wind is blowing. G-son went to sleep when we stopped for gas on the way home,and we remembered to get generator gas this time. We carried g-son in,put him on the couch and sat up the monitor, then went outside and filled in the septic tank holes and layed the blocks out only to discover we needed more. We worked on back-filling around the upper sides on the room,that'll have to be finished tomorrow as we ran out of time.Hubbie fed cattle and I took care of the dogs. We came in and g-son was still sleeping. We had a pot of pinto beans on the stove,made a cake of cornbread and #1 son and d-in-love ate with us. G-son was cute as he demanded a piece of cake,was he surprised when he took a big bite. The wind has gotten worse,I can hear it as I type this,bbrrrrr!!!
I made 3 caramel cakes and 1 chocolate,this time of year is hit or miss baking,if you guess wrong either way it's bad. Daughter is going to market tomorrow as hubbie and I have 1 more day to get some things finished before the next round of bad weather.
Thank you Lord for the blessings of today. Good Night and God Bless.

CLEAR BLUE SKY SUNDAY

It was nice to see the clear blue sky this morning after church as I waited for hubbie to take some elder's cars back up to the door.Unbelievable amount of snow still on our church roof.
We had #2 son for lunch,daughter is dog sitting and #1 son's family is at a Christmas family gathering this afternoon. Forgive us Lord but after everyone left hubbie and I started a "finding the lids on the septic tank" project. After a long afternoon,several blisters,and 2 aching backs we accomplished our mission. With the weather as unpredictable as it's been we are having to do things when weather allows,otherwise we wouldn't have undertaken a project like this on a Sunday afternoon. By the weather prognosticator's (is that a word?) predictions we have a 2 1/2 day (maybe!) window to get a lot done around our very muddy yard, so we can take the tarps down and remove the plywood pieces that are keeping mud from splattering on the siding and windows. I should deliver Avon books tomorrow but I'm postponing that until we get some of this stuff done.It was a nice day to be outside,50 degrees with plenty of sunshine,but later in the evening a few clouds started rolling in but the snow tonight is suppose to be north of us.
After soup and brown rice for supper we rested for a bit then made a trip to Walmart for some baking supplies I'll need tomorrow night. When we got home hubbie went to read and I downloaded some photos onto another site. I'm ready for a good hot soak in the tub and maybe I'll be able to pull myself out of bed in the morning! I thank God everyday for giving me the strength and health to work like I do and am grateful for the good tired feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long day. Good Night.

ROAD TRIP WITH MY GIRLS

Well the water is down,it isn't snowing or raining,but it is still dang cold outside this morning.
As we ate breakfast and waited for daughter and d-in-love to come for our road trip,hubbie decided he should stay home and check the fences so he could turn the cattle out in the lower pasture. So we 3 girls took a road trip,we hit the antique malls and shops in Tryon,N.C. then moved on to Landrum,S.C. a little town that I have been all around but never visited directly.
There wasn't much to it,we parked and walked up and down Main Street,only finding a couple of stores interesting enough to go in.One of these the people that worked there were eating lunch and they were telling some customers where they got the food ,saying it was the best place in town to eat.D-in-love got the name and directions as we all decided we were hungry especially after smelling their food,mmmmm!!! The little restaurant was only a mile further down the road,didn't take us long to find it.Stone Soup was the name,we went in about 2:30 and they said lunch was over but we could get soup ,salad or sandwiches. I had sweet potato/roasted red pepper soup,I've never had this,but I like trying new things when I go out to eat.It was delicious,but didn't taste like sweet potatoes,it almost tasted like it had tomatoes in it and a little spicy. D-in-love had chili,
daughter had an open face chicken salad sandwich.This was a unique restaurant in an old house,with a lot of outside seating.
All the tables had a different table cloth on them.The outside area was interesting,note the hanging windows and window treatments!!
The shopping trip/antiquing was a success for me except I didn't get the one thing I thought I was going after,the horse collar mirror that I had seen before.It was still there,the price was more than I remembered it being and after looking at it for a while I thought it was a bit small,so I made an offer on it,but the manager couldn't get hold of the owner so I didn't buy it. But I did find some treasures,this old whiskey barrel will make a beautiful potted plant holder,and these pictures are a perfect fit for the boards between the windows in my sunroom. I love old saws,I have my dad's old hand saw and have bought several old saws to hang in the new room on the wall,when I saw this old Bow Saw I had to add it to my collection. We got home late afternoon . Hubbie and I had to clean church tonight as we haven't done it all week so after we ate a bite and watched the news we headed to work.
We came home and as tired as I am I did get my blog post done.
Thank God for a blessed day,see you in church tomorrow!! Good Night.

AN INTERESTING AND EXCITING CHRISTMAS DAY

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
What a crazy Christmas morning Mother Nature has bestowed on us today.We have a full blown flood,plus freezing rain,high winds last night,wow! Now this is something I don't ever think I have seen here, flooding waters surrounded with snow. One sad thought I had early this morning when I took these photos was how can there be so much traffic on Christmas morning.Where are all these people going,all the stores,even Walmart are closed today??? I can only hope they are on their way to grandma's!! There was ice all over my sunroom windows where the rain had blown into them and it is 2:30 and it's still there,goes to show it has not warmed up much at all today.With 25 predicted for tonight,the roads may be very bad with all this water. I am very grateful again today that we still have our power,as over 2,000 households in our county and many more in surrounding counties don't this morning,some still are without from last weeks storm.Lord bless them as well as all the power workers that are out there working on this Christmas day.I took all my decorations off the Appalachian wood stove in the living room so hubbie could build a fire in it to try and heat the new sunroom,so it will be warm when the kids all get here this evening.
#1 son called and g-son wished me an excited Merry Christmas over the phone but didn't have time to talk with all his new toys to play with.
Talked to #2 son and he told me the lady that hit the truck on the bridge was arrested for DUI last night,I thought she looked and talked kinda strange.That would also explain why the man who came and took the baby in a carseat and the other young lady out of the car was so upset. What are these people thinking when they get behind the wheel of a car with their children inside when they are under the influence of drugs and alcohol!!!! I just thank the Lord she wasn't any farther over and hit the truck head on .
What a difference a week makes the picture on the left was taken Saturday December 19 2009 , the picture on the right, Friday December 25 2009. They call our city the city of four seasons,they forget to mention that it is possible around here to have all four seasons in the span of 1 week.And yea for me I didn't realize I took these pictures from almost the exact same spot in both weeks.
I spent the afternoon cooking and catching up on some housework and laundry.When the kids got here we had a wonderful dinner and then the presents.Oh the anticipation,g-son could hardly wait until we ate to get at those presents.Time for 1 picture with aunt T before the excitement begins. I remember last year how we had to coax him into opening each package,somehow I don't think he is going to need any encouragement this year. After he handed out all the packages and was allowed to open his,it was a blur as he ripped off the wrapping paper to get at what was inside. The twinkle in his eyes brought back so many Christmas memories. I also remember all the Christmas' when we didn't have a little one around and how different they were. My kids all know me pretty well as I can attest to by the gifts I got,I love,love,love all of them! When g-son was born I choose to be Nana and that is what everyone called me,however when g-son started talking and putting names and faces together to him I became Nena. How sweet is this necklace and what memories this will stir as the years roll by! What a wonderful Christmas with my family,I think this was the best but hubbie says he thinks I say that every year! When all the presents had been opened daughter,#1 son,#2 son,d-in-love and I played d-in-love's new game,Apples to Apples and we had a great time playing until #2 son had to leave to get to bed so he could get up early and go to work.The mail must be delivered! Hubbie and g-son played with g-son's new toys until both were worn out. I thank God more than ever tonight for the special family He has given me and thank Him for the birth of His Son,our Savior that we are celebrating during this season. Good Night and Merry Christmas to all!!