SEPTEMBER GOES OUT CALMLY

This last day of September truly felt like fall this morning as I would have loved to stay snuggled under the warm covers a little longer.
Hubbie took g-on to school while I did chores and had breakfast.
We made a trip to Southern States for animal feed this morning. The trip that would normally take about 15 minutes each way now takes 30 minutes due to all the road work on Howard Gap Road. It will be nice when they finish the widening and the bike path but now it is a big hassle. We didn't come back that way but rather went around which makes the 30 minute trip at least have different scenery.
Back home we spent the rest of the morning re-digging the ditch along the road. Someone at about 6am this morning according to #1 son and Aaron slid across the pile of rocks at the culvert and up the ditch filling it with dirt and grass.
After lunch Hubbie who is nursing a hurt back went up to his shop to work and I went to my sewing shop. I cut out small eyelet pillows and stuffed 6 more of the apple seat cushions to go with the 2  left at market.
When little Evy went down for her nap I took all my "boo boo bunny" making supplies over there to show Rebekah how to make them.

We worked and chatted for over an hour until it was time for me to go get g-son from school.
Hubbie rode with me to school and then g-son asked if we could go by Grand Dad's apple house for a donut.
They have their pumpkins all out now so it was a good time for my yearly pumpkin patch pic of g-son.

It amazes me at how big he is getting !!  We got do-nuts and ice cream for him and his Pawpaw and I got the last of their fried apple pies,yum yum.
Back home I read g-son's library book with him and signed a note saying we did read it.
He ate and Pawpaw rested his back on the couch so I went back to my shop to finish my pillow work. I got 21 eyelet pillows cut out with their inner cases along with stuffing the 6 seat cushions before #1 son who had to go to the doctor today came to pick up g-son.
Aaron and Rebekah came by to bring back the boo boo supplies on their way to Sam's Club.
I relaxed with my new book that I bought from the author who was signing them at Old Timey Day last Saturday. So far it is a very interesting read.

As September comes to an end tonight I reflect on a typical early fall month. The weather has been pretty normal with 70's in the day and 50's at night. We have gotten several rains and the month was welcomed in with the only flooding we saw. It has been a busy month for our family as we moved #1 son's family and Aaron and Rebekah and have helped #2 son in his search for his dream house.
I attended several fall festivities with Apple Festival, Block Blast, the Fair, Old Timey Day and such there was a lot to chose from.There was also some big news that came on Friday the 13th but I will do a later post about that next month. G-son seems to have settled into first grade nicely and is back to his old happy self most days. Daughter has also settled into her new high school teaching job and her volleyball team is doing very well,loosing only a couple games so far. She is as busy as ever with all her church activities along with everything else.
All in all this September has been a pretty normal month filled with many undeserved blessings along the way. I am looking forward to what God has in store for me in October.
Good Night and God Bless.

PUMPKIN PATCH CUTIE

Just as I was getting my breakfast this morning Hubbie got a call from daughter. She was over at a friends house to feed  her dogs this morning while she is out of town and when she got back in her jeep it wouldn't start.
He picked her up and dropped her off at church,then came home to finish getting ready for church himself.
I left before he did because I was going to help d-in-love hand out pictures from the church directory photos.
While she practiced music I handed out the pics. Everyone was surprised that they had come back so soon but seemed to be pleased with the quality of them.
Church service was good. Our associate Pastor is preaching as the senior Pastor is on vacation.
A total of 6 people joined our church family this morning, may all the Glory be to God !!
We handed out pics after the service and then hurried home for lunch. Daughter ,#1 son,d-in-love ,g-son and hubbie and I were the only ones here today.
#2 son is golfing and Aaron and Rebekah have out of town visitors this weekend.
They toured the apple houses this afternoon and Rebekah sent this pic of little Evy in her first pumpkin patch.

She looks like she is having a wonderful time !!!
Hubbie took daughter to try to figure what was wrong with her jeep. After several hours and a new battery she is back on the road again. Her old battery wasn't very old and when they tested it they couldn't tell anything about it because it was so dead. The tech at Advance Auto said her alternator was probably bad. She is going to have the auto teacher at school look at it tomorrow.
I spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the nice sunny warm day.
I tried to get Sadie the dog to eat some pork chops left over from lunch but she wouldn't even eat that.
She does look a little better to me today but she still acts very sick.
As the month of September comes to an end I looked around today and saw very little leaf color change and when I looked at the foliage viewing maps on the weather channel there is no color anywhere yet except a few spotty places in the very northeastern tip states.
Another rare weather related finding for this year is the fact that September is about over and we have had no major hurricanes this season so far. The last time this happen was in 1994 and has only happened in three other season, 1968, 1972 and 1986.
So far this is the map for the Atlantic basin.

Nine named storms so far.
 #2 son came by this evening and said he is going back to work tomorrow disappointed that his week off didn't yield any prospects of land or houses. Hopefully he will have patients to wait until exactly what he wants comes up.
I saw this saying and thought of him.

Just leave it up to the One that ultimately holds your life in the palm of His hand.
Good Night and God Bless.

FALL OLD TIMEY DAY

Uhhh!!! It can't be time to get up already !!!!  Yeah, it's that kind of morning for me.
As I hurriedly got ready,did chores and loaded the final items for market I seemed to get into the mood for the day.  We got to market about an hour earlier than usual and found a pretty good crowd already there to eat breakfast of biscuits, ham and sausage cooked on the old wood stoves outside in the parking lot of market.

Hubbie always takes his turn at the old stoves.

Good music filled the air as these folks picked and sang all day.

One of our vendors is a blacksmith and he brought his portable smithing tools for a demo.

We had great crowds outside and inside all day today.

Sales were great as evidenced by my table at the end of the day.

I also sold many of my sewn craft items today.
I forgot to wear my bonnet that I always wear but I remembered my apron.

This dress I have on has a lot of Curb Market history. It was made by a market vendor named Edith Taylor (still living but very elderly) for another market vendor named Doris Volkert (deceased). Doris wore this dress at every Old Timey Day for years before her death. After her death another market vendor, Nancy Ball asked for the dress to keep to remember Doris by.  When Nancy became ill she gave the dress to me and asked me to wear it in memory of both of these sweet ladies that had given so much to the success of the market over the years.  Today I wear the dress in honor of all three of these special ladies, Edith, Doris and Nancy, thank you ladies for all you did to make the market what it is today.
Such a simple dress with so many memories attached !!!

After making a couple supply stops on the way home I was ready to get off my feet for a while.
This evening was a beautiful fall evening,cool and clear with that special fall smell and feel. Great for taking another sunset walk for me.

And a great night for a driving lesson for g-son in Pawpaw's golf cart.

It was hard to get him out of it after he got started. So much that hubbie had to come get me to steer while he pulled it back up to the shed for another re-charge.
God's work is so obvious this time of year with all the beauty He created just for our eyes. Who could ever doubt His love.
Good Night and God Bless.

PERSIMMON WINTER WEATHER PREDICTION

Brrrr !!! I'm still getting used to these cool mornings and g-son is still in shorts so that makes me even surer the older I get the colder I feel.
After chores and breakfast #2 son came by and picked me up to go out to the local Duke Energy office to see what we could find out about getting power to the property he is looking at.
To my amazement in this day and time of all our modern technology we found out there is still places that can't get power !!  This property is not in the middle of the forest or on top of a mountain, it has  at least one hundred feet of road frontage on a heavily used paved road in our community but since Progress Energy took over Duke Power they have become very un-customer friendly and since it would require putting up some poles along this stretch of highway they refuse to do it.
There is a neighboring property that has a main power box on it but apparently Duke Energy has no right of way in or out of that box. The owners of that property threw out a figure of $10,000 for every 10 feet of right of way that we would need to get power from that box which is about 50 feet from the property line of this property he is looking at. Yes, that's $50,000 !!!!   Who could do that but a  big developer which I'm sure will sooner or later buy this property along with an adjoining piece that could be for sale also for a total of 35 acres. That would be a large development so I'm sure that is what will happen in the near future. Needless to say #2 son won't be buying this property and he was sorely disappointed.  I wouldn't want neighbors like that anyway !!!
After lunch I baked cakes, 12 caramels, 2 chocolates, 2 coconuts, 2 pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes.
I managed to set up my pumpkins and mums I bought , but I need some more things.

Sadie, my tri-colored Australian shepherd is not feeling well at all today and even though she followed behind me on my walk this evening she was slow. She isn't eating anything but is drinking so maybe she will get over whatever it is that's bugging her.

This is #1 son's new house ,they have settled in nicely.He is "on call" this weekend so that is his DOT truck in the yard.

I watched the sun go down while I walked.

As I came back up to the house I passed under my Persimmon trees and picked up some to get the seeds from. Hubbie and I cut the seeds open to see what kind of winter they are predicting.
This is the page from the almanac explaining how to read the seeds.

And this is a picture of the predictors for different winters.

And now the reveal for this winter's weather !!!!!!   DRUM  ROLL  PLEASE !!!!!

Looks like we are going to be doing a lot of shoveling snow !!!!
I've never tried this before even though we have several persimmon trees in the yard but I will each winter from now on especially if this turns out to be true !!
Other signs of bad winters that are going on this year is the flurry of activity of the squirrels gathering nuts along with 12 layers of shucks on corn ears. Hubbie says he has seen some almost all black Wooly worms but the couple I have seen have a pretty long brown band in the middle.
Guess we will have to wait and see. I know I feel unprepaired this year as I haven't had any produce from my garden,vines or trees to put up this year with all the rain and no sunshine.
Guess I'll stock up from the grocery store !!
I iced cakes tonight early so we could load the van tonight and be ready to leave early in the morning for Old Timey Day at market.
Daughter brought pizza's by for us to keep warm for the 5th quarter at church tonight after the football game.  She called later to say there were close to 100 teenagers there. How wonderful to give these kids a place to go at least after every home sporting event.
I am so tired tonight and mentally wiped out. I keep hearing that Calgon Bubble Bath jingle run through my mind. The one that says "take me away,take me away".
God is in control and His way is always the best way, we just have to have patients.
Good Night and God Bless.

GOOD MARKET DAY AND FAMILY PHOTOS ARRIVE

As I took g-son to school this morning we had a conversation about what happens to all the dead animals on the sides of the road. He thinks God comes down and gets their brains so they can get new bodies when they get to Heaven. Sounds good to me !!!
Market was pretty good today with the nicer weather. We didn't have sunshine but we didn't have any rain just clouds and cool temps.
#2 son came by  market and said he had walked the property that he found yesterday and he really liked it. It is an 18 acre piece of land that borders the property across the road from us. He will be really close by the way the crow flys but around the road it is probably about one mile. He left to check with some modular log home builders to see their prices.
He called later telling me he went ahead and made an offer on the property. Maybe this is what he has been waiting for. It sounds like it is going to work out, we put it in God's hands.
After running regular errands,picking up baking supplies and some great pumpkins and mums for decorating from Walmart at a really good price I made it home just ahead of hubbie.
We got everything unloaded and relaxed while we watched the news before we did evening chores.
Aaron and Rebekah brought Evy back tonight while they gave the cow with the cyst more medicine and finally got all the gunk out of it. I know the cow will feel better without that huge knot on her neck. Evy was much better tonight as she only whined a couple times for her mama.
Daughter had a volleyball game in town tonight against East Henderson High school. She is the coach looking at the clip board in the skirt.

D-in-love brought our church directory pictures by tonight and they are really good. I am very impressed with the quality of these photos.
This is the entire family.

My fun loving kiddos !!  No, I didn't buy this pic but with the purchases I did make I was able to get the CD with our entire photo session on it with a copyright release.

This is the best photo that hubbie and I have made in a long time.

Thanking God for my wonderful family tonight !
Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY DAY AND UNKNOWN PICS FOR SEPTEMBER

Woke to the sound of pouring rain this morning. D-in-love called back after she dropped off g-son to say the water was ponding badly in the lower pasture where the cattle are.
Fortunately by the time it was time for us to leave for school the rain had slacked some and the water wasn't rising as fast.
I sloshed through chores and then went over to my friend Markeetta the beautician to have my hair shampooed and cut. Her and her husband have just finished setting up a rental house in Sunset Beach, NC. The rent is very reasonable and I told hubbie we definitely need to check this out !!
Back home I did some housework while #2 son came by to work on the internet looking around for land or houses.
School had an early release day and I picked g-son up at noon. He and his uncle D  had pizza for lunch.
#2 son left to go look at some properties and g-son got absorbed in Lincoln log construction projects so I started my baking.
I baked 6 caramel, 2 chocolate, 2 pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes.
I spent some time this afternoon talking with g-son about how he is doing in school. I just hope he is doing as well as he thinks he is !!!!
#2 son came back after finding another piece of land to look at, he talked to the selling realtor and his buying realtor who happen to be husband and wife !!
Since it has rained all day and is still raining he will have to wait until tomorrow to go walk around on the property.
Aaron and Rebekah brought Evy by while they examine a large cyst on one of their cow's neck. She was not a happy little girl after playing for about 30 minutes happily she began to cry and nothing could appease her.
She still didn't act happy when mom and dad got back. I hope she isn't getting sick, bless her little heart.
I did weekly paperwork,payed bills and iced cakes for the rest of the evening.
Daughter came by and picked hubbie up for a meeting at church.
I have one more decade series for this month. There were no 2003 pics so the September unknowns are the final series of photos this month.

 I've always wondered if this picture below is my mother at a younger age because I see alot of resemblance in some of mine and daughter's pics.

 The man on the left in dark sweater is my uncle Anderson Holmes but the other man ???

 I think the lady on the left is my Aunt Carol but not sure.

I have gotten a couple identities since I started doing these so it has been worth my time copying and posting them, thanks to all who have ideas for identifications.
Grateful to God for blessing me with another day of smiles and laughter and good health.
Good Night and God Bless

ROUTINE TUESDAY AND 1993 SCHOOL PICTURES

A "pea soup" morning as I drove g-son to school.

It won't take the sun long to burn all this fog away.  Uhhh!!! my camera is still putting the wrong date on my pics.
Back home I did chores and had breakfast while making some phone calls. One for a hair cut appointment and one to AT&T to cancel my land line phone because it is not working again. I got transferred to several people when I told them the reason I was canceling was because  apparently my phone could not be fixed and stay fixed for more than a few days at a time. I must have got pretty high up the ladder as the last man I spoke with told me there would be a repair man here within the hour. And he was !!  He worked at fixing this same problem for over two hours and now the phone works clearly so we will see how long it last this time.
I spent the morning doing laundry and housecleaning finishing just before lunch time.
Rebekah and Evy came down after lunch to use my internet for some forms she needed and I got to spend some time playing with little Evy. she is so sweet !!!
I went after g-son and we stopped by the Dollar General store for some cleaning supplies on the way home and of course he got a new toy.
He was a little ill this afternoon because his teacher had taken a necklace from him that had some fund raiser monkeys on it. He said she put it on her desk because he was playing with it during classtime.
After his dad picked him up I did the evening chores and sat outside in the sunroom to relax for a while.
Back in September 1993 there wasn't much relaxing time going on with a  3rd grader, a 5th grader and a 6th grader .
Daughter was the 3rd grader, her teacher's name was Mrs. Whitesides.

#2 son was in 5th grade that year, his teacher was Mrs. Awry.

#1 son was in the first 6th grade class that went into the new middle school that opened that year called Apple Valley Middle School. He had several teachers as they changed classes for each subject.
For some reason I do not have his class picture for that year but I do have his football pics for that year. He was in his second year of youth football.

This was his team and coaches.

Wow, 20 years ago ??!!

I am very thankful that the Lord allowed me to enjoy all those years with all the activities and also guided me to teach all my kids to love the Lord.
Good Night and God Bless.

MOUNTAIN LAND EXPLORING

G-son was here at 7am this morning to get this first week of Autumn started !
It is cool today but sunny. I noticed while I did chores that the dew was extra heavy today so it will be  awhile before hubbie can get on the lawn mower.
We made a trip to Sam's Club this morning to get some groceries and dog food. I also found g-son something for his 7th birthday that is coming up soon.
We got home before lunch time and made a startling discovery. Annie the red merle Australian Shepherd had a full sized raw steak that she was licking. She hadn't taken even a bite of it so hubbie immediately took it away from her . We have no idea where she got the steak,it was still cold as if it had been frozen but was completely thawed now. I just pray that it wasn't laced with poison. Usually she doesn't go off our property but Flash the male Basset Hound will from time to time  wander up around my brothers house so I am going to have to be extra vigilant to keep them in the yard when I turn them out in the mornings.
After lunch #2 son who is on a weeks vacation came by to get us to go with him to look at a piece of mountain land he found for sale.
It is some of my dad's family's land from years ago and I think his old cabin remains are somewhere on this property but I will have to wait until snakes hibernate to go roaming around up there.
These are some pics I took of the views from the house sites that were graded out.

I came upon this path down through the woods marked with blue ribbons so I carefully watched each step making sure I didn't step near a snake and followed it to the edge of the property which borders my cousin's land that she just had logged. It was a sad sight to see the mess the selective loggers left as they just took certain trees and left all the branches of those along with all the other trees they knocked down.
The woods on this land that is for sale haven't been logged and they were so pretty and contained some beautiful old trees and plants.

We saw this huge tree growing out of this large rock. We couldn't get around to the other side of it to check that out but this is definitely something you don't see everyday.

We were high enough for the leaf color on some of the trees to be really fall like.

I love this piece of property but I see  a lot of problems and work as there is a very long gravel road that hangs off the side of the mountain to upkeep. And there is a lot of rocks up there and I'm sure any grading for a house foundation would be tricky.
We came back to the house just in time for me to go pick up g-son from school.
He had a good day and was ready to get home to something to eat and his Lincoln Logs.
His dad had to work over this evening to pick up some carpet on the interstate that had blown out of a truck so he got to stay here longer.
#2 son came back to do more research on the internet.
Hubbie got the lawn mowed and then we finished chores. It has been a cool day only around 70 degrees but the sunshine made it really comfortable.
Talked to sis-in-law today and she told me that I am going to be a great aunt again as my nephew and his wife are expecting their second baby around next April.
Thankful for this beautiful day and for all the beauty our wonderful Creator puts before us. Asking for guidance for son as he again searches for that perfect home.
Good Night and God Bless.

BEAUTIFUL FIRST DAY OF FALL 2013

A beautiful first day of Autumn greeted me this morning. The overnight cooler temperatures that followed the cold front through our area making the "open window" sleeping  so good last night I am ready to jump into the Fall season today.
Church was good this morning as our Associate Pastor delivered the message in the absence of the Senior Pastor who is on a 2 week vacation.
After church we had a small lunch bunch with only daughter,#1 son and #2 son being here today. D-in-love took g-son down to her parents restaurant to meet some of their old friends from Charlotte and Aaron and Rebekah were letting Evy get a good nap in.
After lunch and some relaxing time hubbie and I met up with Aaron, Rebekah and his dad and wife for a Sunday afternoon walk. There was a purpose behind this walk but that will be another story for a later post.
G-son was riding down the driveway in a wagon for fun this afternoon.

He is getting so tall his legs won't fit in the wagon any more.
 G-son came home with us as we walked by his house and had supper up here with us. We did evening chores and then his dad brought a ladder back and took him home.
He was back a short time later with his fund raiser papers. I remember these from years of buying from my kids. At least I only have one now to buy from.
I picked out some jewelery and some cookie dough. Maybe he will get the price he wants for tomorrow !!
The weather for the next week looks good and fall like to welcome in the 2013 fall season.

The summer has slipped away and didn't really seem like a summer at all. We had rain almost everyday during the months of June, July and August and unseasonable cool temperatures. The garden didn't do well at all and I haven't canned, froze or preserved anything hardly all season.
Summer 2013 will be remembered as a transitional time for all four of my kids. #2 son listed the house he bought last fall back on the market in March and it sold the last of June and closed the end of July so he moved into a friends condo at nearby Wolfpen. He also sold his first house on property we gave him to #1 son and d-in-love  in August and they moved in the first weekend in September. Aaron and Rebekah who have become part of our family and  were renting the house from #2 son moved into #1 son's doublewide on that same weekend, whew !!! 
Daughter also got in on the transitioning as she took a teaching job at the local high school and spent the summer getting her classroom spruced up and ready along with several teaching workshops she had to attend. She also began dating a new boyfriend in June.
Couple these exciting developments with all the regular stuff that goes on in our family such as a weeks vacation at Oak Island this year and a week of VBS at church along with the start of first grade for g-son, a busy Curb Market season for me, chickens , cattle, dogs and horse care and it's easy to imagine why I feel this was the summer that really wasn't !!!
I feel very humbled by all the blessings my family has received during this summer and am grateful to our wonderful Loving Savior for these. I look forward to what He has in our futures for the Fall season.
Good Night and God Bless.