SUMMER LIKE DAY ENDS SEPTEMBER

A 6:45 wake-up call from d-in-love saying she was bringing g-son up the drive got this last day of September 2014 started off very early.
G-son came in and turned the TV on while I fixed his breakfast of waffles and syrup. He said he was feeling much better. But there is a courtesy rule at school, if your child is sent home with a fever they ask that you not send them back for 24 hours.  So he is staying with me today to wait out his 24 hours.
I laid back down in bed since it was still dark outside and a little on the cool side.
I got up and let Tipper, daughter's dog out for her morning run. She spent the night with us while daughter had a dog sitting job in Asheville last night. Daughter will pick her up after she gets back from her volleyball game at Tuscola high school this evening.
I did the chores and was just finishing up when g-son came running out the back door, scared because he heard a whistle in the house.
We looked all around for something that could have made a whistle sound but found nothing.
I ate breakfast and he had some bacon.  After I read my devotions I went outside to walk and g-son came along .
He got out an old bike he rode when he was younger and I blew the tires up so he could ride it around the driveway.
The day is already warm and the sunshine feels really good.

He is getting so big !
I did some housework to finish off the morning and a load of bed sheets laundry. I also changed the curtains in the living room to more fallish looking ones. G-son pointed out they still had flowers on them, haha !

We had a nice afternoon of building lego creations between some more housework.
He is still a little spooked and had to know where I was all afternoon.
His mom picked him up this evening and he said he was starting to feel bad again and didn't want to go to school tomorrow.
After chores and supper I read some while the darkness fell on this September.
This month has been one of those months that cause me to wonder sometimes if I am boring everyone to death with the details of my days.  With calm weather and a normal routine this month has passed without much to write about. I have enjoyed the calm beginning of fall and have had time to relax and catch my breath from the hectic business of summer.  I only put up some apple butter and dried some green beans this month for a break from the busy food preservation of the last month.
I have watched daughter's high school volleyball games and spent time with all the kids.
Curb market business has slowed down and we had our annual fall old timey  day which was the best selling day of the month for me.
I am humbly grateful for all the blessings God sent my way during this past month and look forward to what He has in mind for me and my family in the coming October.
Good Night and God Bless

BUSINESS MONDAY

Slept in a little this morning, when my alarm went off at 8am and out the window I saw the rain falling I snuggled down under the covers and fell back asleep. Actually I don't like getting up later but maybe my body needed the extra rest today.
After soggy a chore time and breakfast hubbie and I decided to get some business things done that have been on our list for months now.
First we went to another stove retailer, the one #2 son used to work for when he first got out of college. They are the Wright's and are in Fletcher. #2 son is still best friends with the two sons that are now a big part of running this business.
After talking with the older brother Josh we decided on the same stove we talked about at the other place we looked.  Josh gave us a much better deal and we also ordered a stainless steel liner to go in our chimney as it has a build up of creosote in it.
He will help #2 son install the liner for us at no extra charge, I thought that was very thoughtful of Josh.  Our stove will be here in a couple weeks and they will put the liner in as soon as they can get their schedules together.
One job off the list !!
We have been talking for months about moving a small stock investment account we have into a more stable IRA we already have at our bank and with the stock market seeming to be a little more stable lately we decided today would be a good time for this so we spent the rest of the morning at the bank.
We will just pray that the market remains stable for the next week and a half  to two weeks so this can go through and we can stop worrying about the stock market.
Two jobs off the list !!!
We were hungry and it was almost 2:00 when we headed out of town from this so we stopped at a Sub-way and had our favorite Italian BMT for lunch.
We also stopped at Belk's and Penny's to let hubbie look for a new pair of dress pants but he had no luck.
Back home it was still lightly raining. After dumping 2/10ths inch from the gauge this morning I dumped another 2/10ths this evening making for a slick muddy mess.
A man called about the rooster I had for sale and came after him. He just lives out the road from us and needed a rooster for his 3 hens so that worked out well. He was a beautiful rooster and I'm glad he got a really good home.

I moved all my Silkie chicks into a box all together this evening and turned their moms back out into the lot.  The mom's acted like they were happy but the chicks, not so much !!
I can close this box up at night to keep the chicks warm if the weather gets too cool again but they are almost 6 weeks old so they are old enough to be without mom.
Rebekah and Evy came over this evening to see if the new gathering foot she found today would work on my sewing machine. She got it attached and it worked fine for gathering my eyelet lace.
Evy wasn't feeling too well today, so they went home to get her to bed.
G-son had to come home from school today and go to the doctor because he was running a fever but the doctor didn't find anything wrong. He thought it might be the beginning of a sinus infection.
This is the season for sickness to start and this dreary weather makes things much worse.
Speaking of weather the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season has been very calm this season with only 5 named storms so far.

The hurricane experts say this chart below tells the story as the wind shear is so high it weakens the storms before they get formed.

This is a foggy evening ,hope everyone is careful out there.

Thankful for a day of catching up on business and praying that God's will was done in all that I did today.
Good Night and God Bless.

RELAXING SUNDAY

Up and out to do chores and get ready for this Lord's day at church.
Our associate pastor Craig Stepp delivered the message today in the absence of the senior pastor who is on vacation. This is Craig and his wife Renea.

After church while Rebekah and I fixed lunch the guys unloaded a trailer that Aaron and Rebekah had some things stored in into the new storage building we have. The associate pastor needed the trailer to help someone move.
The timing was perfect as he came after the trailer as soon as  they got it unloaded.
We had everyone here at lunch except #2 son who is golfing today.  We had fresh corn , green beans, some mustard greens, potatoes and slaw to go with grilled pork chops.
After we ate d-in-love helped daughter grade some of her students papers, Rebekah and Evy went home to get a nap and the guys talked.
When the paper grading was finished d-in-love took g-son to play putt putt with the cub scouts and daughter and I made a trip to Penny's and Belk's to check out their sales.  We didn't find much on the sale racks today.
She went home to take care of her dogs and then go to youth at church, I came home to do the chores and then relax.
Today hasn't been the wash out all the weather predictors were saying it was going to be. It has been partly cloudy in the low 70's but no rain has fallen yet.
The next week is looking like pretty average fall .

Giving God all the glory for this beautiful blessing filled day.
Good Night and God Bless.

FALL OLD TIMEY DAY

7AM alarm this morning as we want to get to market early to get a closer parking spot.
We arrived at 8:10 and the lot was almost full already. That is a good sign and a bad sign, it is good we have this many customers but it is bad to have to carry all my baked goods across the parking lot.
Hubbie carried in while I got things set up.  All the car occupants must be outside getting biscuits because the isles inside were pretty empty early.  I put my fall table cloth on the table and got ready to sell all the extra things I baked for today.
This is my table and me in my "old timey" outfit early today.

Daughter came a little later and hubbie helped her get her things inside before he went outside to help cook the ham and sausage on the old wood cook stoves.

A bluegrass band called Appalacian Fire was providing the music for the day.

Daughter and I stayed busy all day selling almost all our things .
This is our almost empty table with daughter selling to a late customer near the end of the day.

Daughter left to go pick up a couple dogs she is sitting this weekend and I made a stop at Aldi to pick up baking supplies and things for tomorrow's lunch. Then I went to a farm outlet to get some fresh vegetables. Probably the last fresh corn on the cob we will be having this season and some really nice greasy beans for my first bean purchase in a long time. I also picked up a few October beans for me to eat this week as most of the family don't like these but I love them.
I stopped at d-in-love's with her some things I picked up for her as she and g-son are both sick with colds and congestion today and didn't want to get out.
Hubbie was mowing the lawn and came up to help me unload.  I had a snack then helped daughter find some dog crates she came by after for the dogs she is sitting.  Rebekah and Evy came down made some labels then Evy stayed with us while Rebekah went home to get her baked goods ready to take to the apple farm.
After Hubbie finished the lawn he bush hogged the upper pasture to Evy's amusement .

When he finished she had to have a ride on that tractor.

This little girl loves tractors and animals.  She is going to be a true little farm girl for sure.
Her mom came back and they went to make their delivery.
I did the evening chores and had supper then hubbie and I relaxed for the evening. 
This day has been a beautiful fall day with plenty of sunshine and clear blue skies with mild temps around 75 degrees.  A beautiful season and I am thankful for the blessings of all the changes that make this time so special.
A photo to end a perfect day. 
 In perfect step ........................

God is Good !!
Good Night and God Bless.

FALL DECORATING AND THE UNDATED PICTURES FOR THIS MONTH

Woke to another cloudy morning today.  After chores and breakfast I walked up around the driveway and around the garden  for my morning walk in case the rain started at any time.
No rain came but the dark clouds hung around all day keeping the humidity high and the temperature climbing into the upper 70's to feel more like a return of summer.
I baked 12 caramel, 1 coconut , 2 chocolate, 6 pound cakes and 3 wine cakes before lunch.
I gleaned some tomatoes and peppers from the garden this morning with the idea to make a run of salsa later today, but after cleaning up the kitchen after baking I was too tired to make the salsa today.
Maybe another day if we don't eat the tomatoes !!!
Instead I thought some outside work might pick my energy level up so I gathered the small gourds that had come up from a stray seed around the quail cage and behind the dog lots. I got a basket of these cute little guys.

I pulled all the grass and cleaned the weeds from this area and gave them to the grateful chickens.  They are always happy about weeds I pull for them.
I also collected these gourds that hubbie had to cut out of a small apple tree on a bank below the house because they were actually pulling the little tree over with their weight.

I don't know how long they will keep since they were cut early before the vines died but they are pretty. I'll put cheap prices on them to see if anyone wants to take a chance on them.
These are a couple crossed gourds that grew on my well house roof. The worms are in them so I used them for my decorations.

This got me in the mood for my fall decorating. So I got all the outside decorations and got them set up.  These guys you all have seen before but they are in a different position each year. This year my first car made a perfect seat for them on the front porch.

Flash is the prettiest part of this decoration picture !!!

I love this time of year, the weather hasn't really been too good since fall began but this evening the sun finally came out and ended the day with a beautiful fall evening.
Too bad I have cakes to ice and need to get things all ready to get an early start market tomorrow so I can't stay outside and enjoy it.
The last part of the decade photo project for this month is the "no date" pics.  These I know the subjects but don't know when the pictures were taken.
This first one is my uncle Anderson Holmes on one of his horses. He lost his arm in the war.

My grandfather Richard Pryor is on the far right as you look at this picture but I don't know who the other men are. Looks like a working crew but maybe it is Sunday because they all have their hats off ????

My grandmother on my mother's side Vinnie Laughter Ruff was a high percentage Cherokee Indian as you can see in these pictures.

This is a picture of my grandfather ,(my mother's dad)  in his war uniform. It is inscribed on the back to Vinnie from JG Ruff.

This has been a blessing filled Friday and I am thankful for the strength God gives me each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

MARKET , VOLLEYBALL

Daughter came about 7:15 with her baked goods this morning to give me an early start.  It isn't as cool today so it wasn't hard to get out from under the covers.
Market was slow today as expected and I had time to check out some of the festive fall things for sale from my neighbors at market.
The Bittersweet wreaths are always a big hit.

Folks love these pumpkins with this growth all over them. I think it looks like they are covered with peanuts.

I was in a festive vest today waiting on customers.

I had long sleeves layed out to wear today but changed my mind in the warmer morning air and I was glad I did as it was humid and warm all day.
I left market, ran my regular errands and stopped at Aldi and Walmart on the way home. I got here about 4:30 and hurriedly unloaded the van.  I changed into a pink shirt and headed for daughter's volleyball game.
They were playing cross town rival East Henderson and both teams won pretty easily tonight.
This is daughter watching her team during her JV game.

The teams are raising money for cancer research this week and next so the varsity players were all in their pink jerseys today.

D-in-love, Rebekah and little Evy met me there .
In this picture taken by the paper photographer you can see me in the hot pink sweater and d-in-love in the gray top watching the game, Evy's cup is sitting on the bleacher between us while she and her mom went to load apples in daughter's car.

 Evy's favorite part is the music between matches and during the time-outs.  She is actually dancing in this picture.

G-son was also there but stayed on the top bleacher with his mom's I-pad for entertainment as he has no interest in volleyball.
We all left after the 2nd match with it looking like daughter's team had it pretty much sewn up and they did go on to win.
I came home and did the evening feeding chores and had a light supper as I haven't eaten since lunch and I was hungry.
Today has been another cloudy dreary day with about 2/10ths inch of rain falling overnight. The temperature is climbing into the mid 70's and it is still 63 at 10:30 tonight.
Grateful for the blessings of this day and for the grace God shows me each day as I strive to do His will .
Good Night and God Bless.

PERSIMMON SEED WINTER PREDICTION

Up and out to meet another cool morning, 48 degrees this morning, definitely jacket weather today !
After chores and breakfast I took a nice refreshing morning walk. One of my favorite things about fall is the beautiful blue sky and this morning it was in all its glory.

I baked cakes this morning, 6 caramel, 1 chocolate and 5 pound cakes before going over to the school to pick up g-son.  It is an early release day for students but his mom has to stay all day.  He got out of school at noon.
He isn't feeling well today and has a nasty sounding cough.  All he wanted to do was settle down with his mom's I-pad.

I miss the g-son that wanted to play outside and was always getting excited about all the new creations he could build with his legos. I'm hoping this electronic addiction is short lived and the old g-son comes back soon.
I have been asked by several readers about what our persimmon seeds are predicting for this winter. Today hubbie cut one open and it looks to me like it has the knife in it this year. This means an extra cold winter with wind that will "cut right through you".
This is this year's seed predictor.

This is the choices from the internet site.

This year our seed isn't as clear as it was last year.  It was clearly a spoon last year which meant lots of snow to shovel and we did have a couple big snowfalls so I am getting ready for a really cold winter this year as the seed seems to predict.
This is the snow fall predictions for the country and you can see our area is in for a rough time this winter, especially if the cold weather prediction is correct.

My food preserved shelves are packed to the brim with all the garden produce we have been blessed with this season.

While g-son was absorbed in his I-pad I sewed a couple aprons up from my stack of sewing beside my machine. I got one towel apron and one jean apron made before his dad came after him this evening.

Hubbie fixed our rototiller today with the new carberator we ordered and now it is ready for next spring. We thought we would be buying a new rototiller but on repairclinic.com we found the exact same carberator we needed for around $100, which is much cheaper than a new tiller !!!!
It has been another day like yesterday with some sunshine this morning but then clouds moving in and taking over after lunch. It is misting rain tonight and is still 60 degrees after a high of 74 today.
After chores I did weekly paperwork and payed bills before I iced the cakes I baked this morning.
Daughter's volleyball team always has a week of fund raising for the cancer society and this is the week for it this year.  All three of the coaches dressed as  super heros today at school.
They are the "Cancer Crusaders".

Thankful to God tonight for a wonder blessing filled day and for the work of these teachers, coaches and young ladies as they raise money for this worthy cause.
Good Night and God Bless.

APPLE BUTTER MAKING ON THE FIRST DAY OF FALL

I just wanted to snuggle deeper under the warm covers this morning as the first really fall feeling morning greeted me.  It wasn't as cold as the predictions but 52 is sure  different than the mid 60's I've been waking up to.
After chores and breakfast I decided to get my apple butter started.  I washed and peeled enough of the old time "Hoover" apples from my friend at market to fill 2 crock pots with apple slices. I added just a little water to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pots and turned them on low.
These apples are really nice tasting apples. I was expecting a tart apple but these taste really good so I saved a bowl full for the table to be snacks for us.

I went into the lower pastures for my morning walk. The sun was shining brightly as Annie and I made our way along the banks of Clear Creek which borders the pasture.
The sun seemed to dance off the waves of the rushing waters.

The water must have been cool along with the temperatures as Annie never got more than knee deep in the water and only went in a couple times.

These yellow daisies created pretty splashes of color along the banks.

There are splashes of pretty colored flowers all around the pasture.
These Purple Asters and  white Daisies were dancing along in the cool breeze this morning.

There is a good supply of Poke berries for the birds to feast on this fall.

As I walked I couldn't help but notice this line of purple Heart Heal that is growing in what seems to be a line down through the pasture.

 Both ways you look it is a pronounced line.

This is where my dad built a wooden culvert down through the bottoms to drain an under ground spring that continued to pump water into the pasture and kept a muddy spot.  He built this culvert in the mid to late 1950's before I was old enough to remember. I only remember hearing him talk about it.  It was built to carry the spring water into the farm pond which is still the same pond we have. I would imagine the wooden culvert has long since collapsed and the spring is now on my brother's part of the bottom pastures so that is why we have a hard time keeping water in the pond now.  It just amazes me and makes me wonder why the ground on top of this old culvert appears to support different plants than just the grasses of the pasture.
I came back to the house to get the house work done for the day.
I finished at 3:00 and headed outside to let the floors dry while I soaked up some sunshine, only to discover the sun was now totally covered by clouds and a cool breeze made it uncomfortable to be out there in the low 60's temp.
Hubbie came in from work and I put some supper in the oven.  We bought some "white" sweet potatoes yesterday and I put a couple those in the oven to see what they were like along with a turkey breast tenderloin. The potatoes were very good,although they don't taste like a regular sweet potato.
After chores and supper I seasoned the apples in the pots and removed the lids. To my surprise I didn't need very much sugar at all and the apples were very thick.

After a couple more hours I put the butter in jars and processed it for 10 minutes.  This may be the best apple butter I have ever made. There was 8 pint jars of it, 7 for the cupboard and 1 for the fridg.
Hoover apples are a good butter making apple for sure.

These apples were developed by a man named Hoover from Edisto, SC around 1850.  It is an old variety that folks are coming back to, one reason is that it is a late bloomer thus hardly ever gets killed in the late freezes we have in spring.
It has been a nice evening,the first day of Autumn has been a really fall feeling day with breezy, clouds and mid 60's temperatures. As I write this tonight at 11:00 it is already 55 degrees outside headed for the mid 40's overnight. 
I guess you could say that fall arrived like a lamb, wonder how it will leave ??
Grateful for the blessings God sent my way today.
Good Night and God Bless.