APPLE FESTIVAL SATURDAY

Up an hour early this morning to get to market before the apple festival crowd descends on all the parking spaces.
Hubbie went by daughter's to pick up her breads and then we met at market. There was plenty of parking this early but shoppers were already looking for cakes and breads so they could get out of town before the festival crowds clogged the streets.
Our town is too small for this festival and with the perfect weather there will be a bigger crowd this year.
I had pretty good sales this morning so much so that hubbie stayed and helped with our table.
We ate lunch from the food trucks that had rented space in our parking lot.
I was in my apple festival attire for the day.

Hubbie left to make stops at Lowes, Tractor Supply and Walmart for some things we needed and I came straight home pretty wiped out from the heat of the day.
I got things all unloaded before hubbie got her and then we decided to go over to the corn patch to see if there was any corn still tender enough for eating for tomorrow's lunch.
We found plenty of corn that was pretty full but still good for eating. We gather a bag full and then stopped by daughter's to take her some to eat.
The girls were playing on CA's new entertainment mat.

We came home after a short visit and got chores done at Aa's house as well as ours while his family is in Georgia at the rodeo.

After chores we shucked all the corn and put some in the freezer for the kids to eat on this winter.

The last time I put up corn on the cob it lost all its flavor so I'm hoping with my food saver vacuum bags this time it will be different. This will be a good test and next year I can put up more if it works.

Son-in-love sent me this picture of daughter and the girls after we left.

Hubbie and I are both really tired also and got in bed early also.

On this last day of August I can honestly say I am glad this month is behind us . It has been a pretty stressful month but as it ends on a really great note we are all humbly thankful for the mercies of our Heavenly Father.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night.

GOOD DOCTOR REPORT FOR CA

Up to a busy day on this Friday. I got chores done and had breakfast then hubbie and I cleaned house until daughter brought IR here to stay with hubbie and I went with her to take CA to her cardiologist , Dr, Friedman in Asheville.
This is his first look at CA since her surgery and he was very very pleased with her progress and weight gain.
She had sneezed her feeding tube out of her nose earlier this morning and he didn't see any reason to put it back in. This pic was just before she had her sneezing fit.

He wanted an ultrasound of her repaired heart and CA was really good and slept through the entire thing.

Unfortunately she has a small leak at the top of the patch over the large hole but it is very small and shouldn't cause her any problems even if it doesn't close.
We left there and stopped for a quick sandwich and iced frappe at Starbucks then daughter went into Ingles for some things while I sat in the van with CA who is still not supposed to go into stores or any crowded place where there would be many germs floating around.
We came home and daughter took IR and CA home to have a late lunch.
I started my baking, I baked 6 caramel cakes, 2 chocolate, 4 pound cakes and 1 applesauce cake plus a pan of brownies.
Hubbie's mowing afternoon started with him pushing the mower to plug for a jump start once again.

I finished baking about chore time then I spent the evening in the kitchen icing the cakes and getting things ready for market.
The 73rd apple festival started today and the weather is supposed to be beautiful for the entire weekend of the festival.

This is something we don't see everyday as the Good Year blimp flew over our area today.

Thankful for the blessing of CA's miraculous recovery and for all the other blessings sent my way on this day.

God Bless and Good Night.

GOOD MARKET AND HURRICANE DORIAN GETS STRONGER

Up to get ready for market this morning. The mornings now are really cool and refreshing with temps in the upper 50's.

We got loaded and headed out to market right on time. Hubbie stopped at daughter's to pick up her things and I got to market early enough to change out my decorations to apples before he arrived.

Sales were pretty good today as hubbie had to stay and help with the table while I got the market banking done and paid all our employees since I had rather take time to write checks today than Saturday.

Deb brought RL by to see as she was wanting to come in to market.

Hubbie left after lunch and made his dump run plus stopped at Sam's Club and Ace Hardware on his way home. Ace sent a coupon for a $8 for a propane refill so hubbie filled our tanks for winter there.

I left at closing time and made my stops at the bank, the PO and Aldi plus a stop at CVS drugs to pick up more infant Tylenol for CA.

I came home and hubbie helped me unload then daughter who was driving around to get IR to go to sleep stopped by for the Tylenol.

Connie and Tommy, IR's other grandparents took her to the Nature Center today to see all the animals.

Hubbie and I had plans to go check out the corn patch to see if the corn was still good enough to put some more up but we both wound up napping until dinner time .

The news on the now hurricane Dorian isn't good as it has evolved from a tropical storm that wasn't expected to get any stronger than a weak cat 1 hurricane day before yesterday to now being a major cat 4 hurricane that is  heading into Florida's coast.

Tuesday at 11 pm......

 Yesterday at 5 am.....

 Yesterday at 11 am.....

 Today at 11 am.....

It is still along way off so maybe the predictions will go down before it gets to the coast and then they are saying it could turn up our way by mid week.

Hubbie and I spent a quiet evening recharging for a busy day tomorrow and Saturday on this Labor Day/ Apple festival weekend.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

BACK TO A BAKING DAY

Got an early phone call from g-son saying that a lady had hit a deer at our driveway and the state patrol officer had the drive blocked. He was worried that he couldn't get out to get to school on time.
Since Deb , other g-ma is there today hubbie just goes by and picks him up.
Hubbie had to ask the officer to move and let them out but g-son got to school on time.
The lady said it was a big buck deer she had hit and her car had a lot of damage. The deer had ran off.
I got chores done and had breakfast then I put all the canning things away and all the canned tomatoes and jelly stored in the basement and got out all my baking equipment.
I started baking and baked 12 caramel, 2 chocolate, 2 pound cakes, 1 applesauce cake and a pan of brownies.
Hubbie picked IR up from daughter's and brought her here so daughter could get her baking done.
As I was working in the kitchen my ring alarm went off and looked out the window to see this big limb break off the side of the Willow tree in the yard.

We have talked about how all the trees around our yard are dying but when we thought about it these trees were all planted at the same time in the mid 80's when we built this house so they are all the same age and most have outlived their normal life spans.
Hubbie took IR home on his way to pick up g-son from school and then we worked on cleaning the limb out of the yard.

I got chores done and found the guinea nest filled with 24 eggs while she got off to go eat. It wasn't long until she was right back on the nest. She might make it through the setting this time as she is really close to the house.

As hubbie and I took a break out in the covered patio this evening it is becoming very evident that the season is changing as the sunset is coming back into our view from the patio.

Unfortunately when #1 son and Aa got home they tracked and found the deer that got hit this morning. It was a nice young buck who made it to the creek before collapsing .  So sad.

The "E" storm was named today as it heads away from the US coast line.

I iced cakes and got things ready for market tonight and got into bed by 11:30 which wasn't bad.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and thankful for the answered prayers for CA.

God Bless and Good Night

GRAPE JELLY TUESDAY

Up to meet RL and g-son this morning as hubbie took g-son to school. He acts like he is happier this year than last year at school.
I got chores done and RL and I had breakfast before getting started on the basket of grapes hubbie picked earlier.

RL was excited that she would get to help take all the ripe grapes off the stems and get them ready for juicing.

We actually had enough juice to do 3 runs of jelly instead of the 2 I had planned so hubbie and RL had to make a run to Ingles for more Sur-Gel while I got started on jelly making.

I stuck with it right through lunchtime and ended up with 32 half pints of delicious grape jelly and a couple small jars that RL claimed for her own to take home with her.

I needed a break for my aching back and RL needed a nap so I sat down and held her until she went to sleep then hubbie layed her on the couch.

He went to pick up g-son and I rested.

RL woke up when her mom came in after them and they were going to get something to eat for supper.

RL ate some of her jelly she took home for dessert.

I decided it would be a good time to defrost my freezer and hubbie helped get everything out of it.

We didn't have as much to throw out as we thought but it sure looks nice all "ice free" and clean now.

There was a lot of ice in it and we realized that we didn't get around to defrosting it last year.

After we got that done hubbie went up to the garden to clean off a place to plant our winter greens and I watched the news. It has been a cloudy cool day in a string of cool days but the heat is coming back just in time for the main street apple festival this weekend.

The past several days have given us a brief taste of Fall temps and it has felt so good. We have been close to records on several days.

Dorian the 4th named storm has been upgraded and now it is believed it will hit Florida hopefully just as a strong tropical storm.

I got chores done and then helped hubbie with the garden clean up and got a nice spot cleaned off to plant our greens.

We came inside and rested for the evening and I finally got my blog post caught up.  I always write my post each night but if I only have my laptop I have to wait to download the photos for the post because for some unknown reason my laptop spaces the pics all crazy.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

BACK TO SCHOOL MONDAY

Up earlier this morning to get into our new schedule for this school year. G-son and RL arrived before 7am as d-in-love went to work at the elementary school.
With daughter not teaching right now hubbie is taking g-son to middle school and picking him up each day. After g-son had a big breakfast they headed out about 7:30 to get into the crazy traffic that always happens the first week of school.
G-son looks so handsome and grown up !!!!

RL and I stayed here and watched some early cartoons until hubbie got back. Her pre-school doesn't start until next week.
EL started 1st grade this morning at the elementary school d-in-love works at.

D-in-love made this picture of her having lunch with some friends, looks like she is doing great.

BB also started his pre-school year this morning.

I got chores done and then had my breakfast while RL had a scrambled egg with me.
After we ate she helped get the weekly laundry started.
Daughter called and asked if I would go with her grocery shopping while hubbie stayed with CA.
I needed a couple things also so we went over and picked her and IR up and left hubbie with CA.
These 2 had fun grocery shopping with us.

We went to Walmart and I got groceries as well so it was a good trip.
We came back home just in time for CA's next feeding time. CA is eating most of her goal formula amount from her bottle now so  she isn't having to use the feeding tube which is a good thing.
While she ate I fixed RL and IR lunch of chicken nuggets and ketchup and RL ate very well but IR still isn't eating much right now.
Daughter got something to eat and then I helped her give CA a sponge bath and wash her incision. Every time I look at this incision and know that less than a week ago her little chest and heart was actually cut open and then look at her smiling face now I am in humble awe and feel like she is nothing less than a little miracle. I can't wait to see what God has planned for her life.

She surely doesn't like getting a bath but we found a really raw spot on her neck where the tape actually pulled the top layer of skin off so it is a good thing we washed her. Re took some cream over to put on it and we will need to really watch it so it doesn't get infected.
Hubbie and I brought RL and IR over her to play this afternoon so daughter good rest.
They played well together all afternoon while I got the rest of the laundry done .
Hubbie picked up g-son and seemed to have had a good first day of 7th grade and was happy with his teachers.
D-in-love picked him and RL up and hubbie and I put IR in the Honda and drove over to daughters and she went to sleep on the way.  RL also went to sleep when she got home and her daddy took a nap.

Re took EL and BB to our friends apple house to pick sunflowers this afternoon after she picked them up from school .

Hubbie and I came home and got chores done then we picked the Roma tomatoes to go along with the other tomatoes to can tonight.

These Roma have really done well this year and made for 6 quarts of thick canned tomatoes.

August is always "food preservation" month for me and with grapes ripe and ready for picking and making jelly looks like I will be busy right up to the end of the month.

I am thankful for the blessings of this day and humbly thankful for the miracle CA received .

God Bless and Good Night