BUSY LAST DAY OF AUGUST 2015

I got up on this last day of August with a full slate of things to get done today around here. Hubbie and I usually use this day to go into town or run errands but not today. We are both committed to a day of  work on the farm to catch up some task that we have been ignoring.
After chores and breakfast I got laundry started for this Monday laundry day.
While the first load washed, with hubbie's help we emptied the big chest freezer downstairs. We loaded all the frozen food in coolers and threw out all the out of date or iced up things in there. The chickens will be happy for several days !!!
This freezer usually doesn't get a huge coating of ice in it , only a ring of ice near the top so defrosting isn't a big deal.

It doesn't take long for this ring of ice to loosen enough to be scraped into a big bowl to throw out.

I always hold my breath when I turn this old freezer back on. It is many years old and I pray that it keeps working. Today my prayers were answered and it sprang right back into life and cooling mode.
Hubbie bush hogged all morning while I did this defrosting and laundry. He came in for lunch and grilled us some pork chops. They hit the spot with a big salad of fresh greens and tomatoes from the garden.
Then he headed down into the lower pasture to bush hog there and I got the clippers and started to work on getting the weeds and unwanted vines and grass out of my flower beds. Although we haven't had much rain, seems these unwanted things grow much faster than the wanted plants do !!!
The roses in this bed are still blooming and now I can enjoy them again after getting all the weeds out of there.

Hubbie came in from bush hogging and brought a big wagon and a pitch fork down, following me around picking up all the things I pulled and cut out of my beds.
We decided to pull all the Oregano from this bed and use it as a greens and late vege bed since I am way over stocked with Oregano.

The plants were rooted very deep and I'm sure I will have more Oregano come up next spring from any roots we didn't get out today. I used a pitch fork to dig and scoop most of the plants out and bust up all the big clots of dry earth, it was a hot sweaty job.

But the results were worth it as this is a nice place for some Fall fresh food that can be handily watered.

With aching backs we concluded our day of work by planting a few seeds that I found. I will need to buy more seed and some plants to finish this job.
We rested for a little while in the covered patio where a cool breeze brought clouds over the 85 degree sunshine of the day. We got no rain but the clouds cooled the evening down nicely.
I remembered a surprise baby shower the elementary school workers were giving d-in-love over an hour to late after it started so I missed that . Talked to her later and she got some nice things and some money to buy some things she needs also.
After chores we neither one wanted much supper so we had coffee and hot tea with a snack and relaxed again outside to watch the clouds and sun battle to end this last day of August 2015.

As I think back over this month it seems this was the month that wasn't !!!!
Maybe it was because we took the first week of this month on vacation at Oak Island which all of us enjoyed very much.  When we got home it was already the middle of the month week.
Curb Market was very busy for me for the 2nd and 3rd week and it seemed I was trying to continuously catch up with everything.
 I canned beans, made salsa, pasta sauce and grape jelly during this month that is traditionally the busiest food preserving time for me.
#1 son and d-in-love spent the final month of waiting for the newest edition to our family as now she is expected any day before her due date of  September 11.
G-son started third grade and is enjoying it so far.
#2 son got a new boss at his work place and his job is much easier  now without as much overtime.
Daughter has had a usual busy month coaching volleyball and beginning her third year of teaching at the high school with over loaded class in all the subjects she teaches.Her JV volleyball team is undefeated so far but the varsity she assist with is struggling to win their first game. They ended the month tonight with a game at Enka high school and the JV won but the varsity lost another close one in 5 sets.
Aa and Re got moved into their new double wide on their farm property the first of this month after many hurdles. They are happily enjoying getting settled in.
We as a family are still awaiting the decision by Duke Energy to see what corridor they will choose for the big transmission lines. Whether it will be our property or not will remain a mystery until October. The way things are shaping up we don't really believe we will be involved  but you never know so we are holding off doing any major improvements to our place as we usually do when the weather cools down.
It has been a very dry month and our garden is just about finished with the little rain for the month. Even the late garden things we planted came up but are not doing well with the little rain that we have had.
Unfortunately the forecast for September is abnormally hot and dry unless we get a tropical system that breaks up that pattern.
Fred, the newest tropical storm that formed yesterday, advanced quickly to hurricane status today but is expected to weaken as the path hits cooler water.

Thankful to our Lord for a wonderful blessing filled month of August and excited to see what He has in store for our family in September.
Good Night and God Bless

NURSERY DUTY SUNDAY

On this last Sunday of August hubbie and I were both up earlier than usual on Sunday mornings to get lunch partially prepared. We expect  a long service this morning as there are 7 folks being Baptized, glory be to God  !!

We  are also electing 4 new deacons for the next three years. Our deacons serve three year terms and rotate off for a year before they are eligible for re-election.
Hubbie was on the ballot and later this afternoon they called him and informed him that he was one of the four elected.
Re called and said both the kids are sick so they weren't coming to lunch or church.
Hubbie and I had our quarterly nursery duty today. We had a very easy time as we only had 2 little boys.
The service was actually over on regular time so we all headed home for a spaghetti lunch. I cooked one of our big spaghetti squash to go with the regular noodles.
#1 son's family, daughter and Josh and Aa made it to lunch today. #2 son is golfing and Re is home with the stuffy nosed kids, bless their hearts.
We all had a nice visit and the spaghetti was delicious.
After everyone left hubbie and I relaxed on a cloudy, rainy afternoon.
The Atlantic hurricane season is really heating up now with one storm after another coming off the coast of Africa.
The remains of Erica is going to give the southeast a drenching this week.

And today the 6th system was named as Fred quickly formed as a tropical storm. Wonder where he will go????

I decided to work on the 13th volume of my blog book tonight. Blurb still won't let me do but 3 months instead of the the 6 months I used to do. Maybe it is because I have more pictures now, when I tried to load 6 months I had over 1400 photographs in that 6 month period. I got the first three months of the year downloaded, got the covers all set and the first 15 days of January edited tonight before my eyes got tired.
It is much easier and quicker to get only three months edited !!!
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day and praising His Holy name tonight with the additions to our church family this morning. May all these lives reflect the love and glory of His name forever.
Good Night and God Bless.

MARKET SATURDAY

Another Saturday market day rolls around. Thankfully my back is better this morning after more cream and a heating pad all night. I still can't stoop to pick anything off the floor but at least I'm not in pain today.
Market was okay today but nothing like it has been for the past couple months. The orders for the holiday next weekend are slow to come in also.
I left market and stopped at Stienmart to check out their red dot sale and found a couple summer dresses and a pair of jeans at great deals.
The only other stop I made was at Sav Mor to get baking supplies.
When I got home hubbie helped me unload then I rode with him over to daughter's house to let her dogs out to run. She is at the Clemson volleyball game with her team today. Josh drove down after he got off work at noon so we said we would take care of the dogs.
Back home hubbie went out to weed eat around the house while I moved some things around in the sunroom. G-son says hubbie looks like a "Ninja" when he weed eats !!!!

I bought some new plants on sale Thursday and moved things around to make places for them. And you know how that goes when you moved one thing that always leads to moving several more things.
When hubbie came inside he laughed at me and said "your back feels better so you decided to move some furniture around" !!!!!
After chores we had a salad supper then hubbie watched TV while I blogged.
The news on Erica the tropical storm is good. She has dissipated but not before 30 people lost their lives in the Dominican Republic islands.

She is still supposed to bring heavy rains to Florida and maybe even for us all the way up here but no high winds.
I am loving these cool Fall feeling nights and mornings.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day and grateful for each day the Lord allows me the strength and health that I have.
Good Night and God Bless

SIGNS OF FALL

Uggggg !!!!!  I got a stark reminder this morning as I rolled out of bed of that 40 lb. bag of dog food I shouldn't have lifted yesterday !!!
With a back brace, medicated cream and a heat pack I started my day.
 I thought maybe a nice slow walk would loosen up my lower back muscles.
These Beauty berries are really pretty this year.

Nothing says Fall like these pretty orange Chinese Lanterns.

 The Sedum is starting to get its nice Fall red color.

These red Coleus I got from the green house sale out at the school have really been beautiful all summer.

 The Butternut winter squash are ready to be brought inside and stored for winter.

The Crown of Thorns is still blooming, seems it likes this cooler weather better than the heat of the last few weeks.

Time to dry out some Persimmon seed to check their winter forecast !!!

These nice low 60's mornings are so nice, but they make me want Fall to come quickly before the heat moves back in.
The walk seemed to help my back some so I started baking when I got back inside. I baked 12 caramel,3 chocolate, 8 pound cakes before having a late lunch.
I rested out in the nice sunshine until hubbie came home. I tried to nap laying on my stomach but found my back wouldn't stand for that so I sat up with my face turned away from the sun, just to feel the warmth on my back.
When hubbie came in from work we watched the news. I laid on the couch on a heating pad and that seemed to really help the soreness.
After chores we sat outside and watched the sun set on another late summer evening.

High school football season has started and as we sit on our covered patio we can here the announcer out at he local high school.
This is a picture from the football game at the high school.

 The huge full moon was so pretty tonight I tried different settings on my camera to get the best pictures.

I spent the evening icing cakes and got into bed about midnight. I am writing this on Saturday at market and back dating it.
God is good !!!! all the time !!!
God Bless

SLOW MARKET THURSDAY

Up and getting ready for market early this morning. Another cloudy morning greeted me with 58 degree temps it is feeling a lot like Fall.
I made it to market on time but there was no one there to notice !!!
I was right about the school starting slow down but I am grateful for all that I did sell.  I am glad I didn't push the issue yesterday and bake more !!
I looked around market for some Wolf River apples to make apple butter with but none of the apple growers had any today. This is an old apple variety and not good to eat so not many growers even have these any more. They make a very good thick apple butter so I try to find some each year just for that.
It always amazes me as I look around market at the few customers who even choose to walk though today and wonder how a week  can make that much difference but it does.

Oh well,maybe now I can catch my breath and catch up on all those task I've been too busy all summer to get done.
After market I stopped at the bank, p.o., Sav Mor, Aldi and Walmart and made it home by 4:15.
I got things unloaded and put away before hubbie got in from work.  I am very tired this evening. A slow market day makes me more tired than a busy day. I sat down to watch the news and fell asleep .
Hubbie was outside mowing the lawn so the 4-legged kids and I were snuggling in the recliner.
I woke up just in time for chore time. We ate a salad for supper and then we took a  short break out in the covered patio as darkness fell.
The days are certainly getting noticeably shorter.
Daughter called tonight and said her JV volleyball team won tonight making them 2-0 but the varsity lost in four sets to Reynolds HS, they are 0-2 .
She said they are clearing the lot next to hers in her development and she is wondering if they sold it.
The house behind her is for sale again so she may have a couple new neighbors.
I am headed to bed early tonight to she if I can get recharged for a busy Friday.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day and for His unending love all the time.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAY OF WAITING FOR THE REPAIR MAN AND OLD UNDATED PICS

Up to a very different Wednesday for me with no baking plans for this morning. The Sear's repair man is coming today to check out my ovens and I don't want to have hot ovens when he comes.
After chores and breakfast on this cool Fall feeling morning I sat in the sunroom and read my devotions enjoying the nice crisp cool of the morning.
The sky is filled with clouds which is a surprise this morning but maybe they will burn off.
I started out on my walk but then decided I needed to stay close to the house phone in case the repair man called to say he was on his way.
I came back inside and started housework. Since I didn't do any yesterday this was a perfect time.
I had a late lunch then tried to catch some vitamin D rays from the sun but the clouds are still too thick for that.
I stayed around inside working on little task that usually get skipped for lack of time until the repair man finally called and said he was on his way around 3:30.
Bad news for me on the ovens, although he didn't really impress me with his expertise, it is going to cost $500 to replace a couple worn out parts that might be causing my problems in both ovens.  One of the things he is replacing makes sense as he showed me the sloppy movement in the temperature dials on both ovens and said this is a pretty routine complaint with this type oven. He said that is probably what is causing the ovens to shut off randomly.
The other problem he discovered is the convection fans in both ovens slow down once the ovens build heat which says the fans are wearing out. I know this can be a problem because I had to replace the convection fan motor in the oven I previously had.  He said to get them replaced would probably be a smart move sense they were going to have to take the oven out of the cabinet anyway to replace the temperature dials.
This fan slow down might be leading to a harder time of maintaining a constant temperature which could also be confusing the mother board and causing shut down.  Luckily when he turned both ovens on one of them shut off while preheating to show him the exact message it was throwing when this happens. At the cost of $95 just to have him come out and tell me what I needed which was  included in the $500 I figured it best to go ahead and get all the new parts and hope that it fixes the problem. For some unexplained reason the parts will be here Monday but they can't get back out to fix it until Sept. 15,oh well !!!  I will cross my fingers until then !!!
Hubbie came in from work and got on the lawn mower so I went to my office to do weekly paperwork and pay bills.
After chores and supper I started my baking for the day. I am really glad this is a slow time. I only baked 4 pound cakes.  I expect tomorrow to be really dead sine school started this week.
To wrap up the decade pictures for this month here is the old undated photos.
These are from my mom's sister, Hattie's old photo album.  The first pic is of her and another of their sisters, Carol or Carrie as she was referred to most of the time.

This is Hattie all alone in this picture.

The remainder of the photos is their youngest sister, Mary...

I am thankful that my Aunt Hattie was a "shutter bug" as I know picture taking was much more involved back in her day than it is today but I sure enjoy looking through these old pics.
Daughter came by this evening on her way to Re's house to make apple jelly for the orchard they work for in the fall.
Her bee stings are much better this evening, thankfully.
Looks like next week may get very interesting as Erica's path brings her into Florida and then ????

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the grace that God blesses me with each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

PLAY DAY

Up early to get the chores done before Re brought the kids over . She worked all night last night and needed to sleep today.  So these two little sweeties stayed with me.

The weather is perfect this morning so  we headed outside for some fun. El loves to push baby brother around in the stroller.

She always finds plenty to do outside.

Baby BB appeared to be taking notes so he can best his sister in just a short time !!!

Anything we do or anywhere we go is A-okay with this little happy boy.

We came in for lunch when the sunshine got too hot outside.
After they ate they both went down for their afternoon nap.
I sat out in the sun for my daily dose of vitamin D while I watched the monitors. I try to keep the house as quiet as possible when they both go down for a nap together.
About 3:00 they both work up. I fed BB another bottle, he has been a hungry boy today, polishing off almost all the milk mom brought for him.
Mom came after them around 3:30 after a good day's rest.
Hubbie was late getting home after he stopped at daughter's house to spray weed killer.
I sat out in the covered patio and almost went to sleep before he came home.
After chores we ate supper then moved some things around in the kitchen so the Sear's repair man can get to the oven easier tomorrow for the repair. I hope it is a quick fix as I need to bake cakes some time tomorrow. The ovens both work now but shut off during cooking on their own which creates burned cake tops if I am not watching very closely.
As hubbie and I ended the evening sitting for a few minutes outside I got chill bumps when a breeze kicked up signaling that Fall can't be far away.
This week's temperatures are so nice. Loving that 56 degrees tonight !!!

Got a call from daughter tonight saying she was pulling up some weeds and got in a Yellowjacket nest in her yard. She got stung 3 times on her back. Josh was there mowing her lawn and they put baking soda and vinegar on the stings and watched that they didn't swell. They were going to gas the nest after it got dark.
Hubbie couldn't believe he didn't get into the nest today while he sprayed weed killer as he walked over the same area.
Thanking God for the wonderful blessings of today and asking for His grace in all that I do.
Good Night and God Bless