GOOD BYE AUGUST MONDAY

 Monday morning comes in cloudy after an overnight rain storm that blew through in the early morning hours pretty quickly.                                                                                                                                     

        RL is the only here this morning as Connie is sitting with IR and CA today.  Daughter is at #1 son's house  virtually teaching and helping g-son with his school.                                                                 I got chores done and had breakfast then we made a trip to the Amazon returns store and picked up a couple things I had ordered online. Hubbie and I took turns putting our mask on and looking around in the store and the other sitting outside with RL. I found CA some diapers at a good price but hubbie didn't find anything .  We headed home to have lunch and I got laundry started.                                           After we all finished eating we once again tackled the playroom cleanup. RL was excited to help so she could get the climbing slide put in there like we promised her. We got the crib taken down and stored in the basement and then moved the furniture around to make room for the slide. Daughter and the girls came over to help after Connie had to leave early today.  It looks really good and ready for the girls to play with something different in here when they come tomorrow.                                                   

After d-in-love picked up RL daughter went home to try her hand at icing caramel cakes for the first time alone.  CA stayed here with hubbie and IR rode with me to pick up our Aldi order which was ready early this afternoon.  We came home and got the groceries unloaded and put away and I put the last load of laundry in to wash while we took the girls home.                                                                        Daughter's icing looked fine but for some reason she didn't have enough to do 6 full cakes so next time she makes it I need to go and watch what she is doing. Since sis-in-law Sandy is taking  back over her baking items that sells at the Johnson's produce stand daughter is going to make caramel and chocolate layer cakes to go with her sour dough bread she makes for them.                                                                    Hubbie and I came home to get chores done in a light rain that left another almost 2/10ths inch to go along with the 1/2 inch the early morning storm brought.                                                                             I fixed up one of the bigger brooder boxes so I can take chicks away from 2 Silkie hens that hatch last month and are ready to be on their own but it got dark quicker than I expected so I will move them tomorrow night.                                                                                                                                            I came inside and finished the last load of laundry and then hubbie and I rested for the evening still recovering from our corn day yesterday .                                                                                                             Hard to believe August is gone marking the end of summer and even though schools are operating with students at home it still feels like summer is over.  It has been a good month for our family with some routine things and some not so routine things going on. The weather has been hot and rainy most of the month from a couple hurricanes and just the dog days of summer every afternoon rain storms with one flooding rain on the 22nd. Hurricane Isaias at the beginning of the month hit the NC coast and brought us some heavy rains and the month ended with hurricane Laura coming in the gulf coast and curving up over our area to end the month with some rain and wind.  Daughter and I were featured as the cover story in a local magazine called Bold Life for our caked goods and history with the Curb Market and CA's miracle heart surgery. This month on the 21st day we celebrated her one year anniversary of her surgery. The beginning of school was certainly different this year with it being virtual for all students and teachers had to scramble to try and get online access for all their students. G-son got braces on his teeth to straighten one tooth and help with an overbite and a cross bite. Our garden produced very well and kept me busy this month with canning hot mustard sauce, pasta sauce , salsa and tomatoes and putting up jars of dried beans salvaged from all the rains. We also got some fall garden vegetables planted in our raised beds and in the garden.  We ended up having to put up a privacy gate across our driveway to stop all the unwanted traffic coming in all hours and the day and night. Last but not least we had a near by earth quake that shook our house on the 9th that measured 5.1 and was the strongest quake since 1916 in our area. The center was in Sparta, NC which is northeast of us. Thankful that God showered us with blessings during this month and kept us all healthy and safe during this past month and praying for His blessings to continue as we face the challenges and victories of the September 2020.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

CORN SUNDAY

 Up on this Sunday morning to a not so leisurely morning. We share a field of sweet corn with Aa and Re and he called yesterday and said it was ready to pull so #1 son and d-in-love went with them to the field and pulled a truck load of corn.  So today is going to be an "ox in the ditch" Sunday for us as we need to get the corn put up.                                                                                                                             Hubbie and I got up and got chores done then got some potatoes started for lunch. We had roast beef in the crockpot and I had made a broccoli salad last night and we already had the fresh green beans broke for lunch.                                                                                                                                                    We left the potatoes on the stove covered and went over to Aa's house to help shuck all the corn. We had some good help also as the kids jumped right in.                                                                                              

RL had to remove all the corn worms that EL or BB found in their ears because she was the only one not afraid of them.                                                                                                                                         

We got it all shucked by 11:30 and hubbie and I came home to finish lunch while everyone else got things set up for blanching and chilling the corn.                                                                                           We fixed the green beans and cook some of the fresh corn to go with what was already cooked and #1 son's family, #2 son and Tif, daughter and the girls, Aa's family and d-in-love's brother Tim and his 2 boys joined us for lunch. Everyone had a very nice visit and then back to the corn.                                       #1 son was in charge of blanching and putting it into the ice filled coolers alone this year because Aa had hay down and it is supposed to start raining later this evening. D-in-love and hubbie were on cutting the ends of the cobs off and getting the silks off, Re was the runner between the chilling and the bagging and daughter and I were the baggers and sealers.   G-son was in charge of all the smaller kids and he did a fantastic job of entertaining them.                                                                                             

 We started with corn on the cob because this is what all the kids like and we used all the bags we had and bagged 64 bags.                                            

  Daughter needed to go home and get her cakes baked for some deliveries so g-son took over her vacuum sealer and was a big help.  Next we started creaming the corn and this was d-in-love and hubbie's new job and Aa made it back to help with this.        Re started helping me bag and seal this because there is definitely a learning curve to this because the you can't allow the vacuum sealer to suck the juice out of the bag or it won't seal.  We bagged over 100 bags of creamed corn for our freezers and were finished and cleaned up at 7:00 this evening.     Whew !!!!!    I was so tired by this time that I forgot to take anymore pictures.          Hubbie and I came home to get chores done late and then we both crashed tired and sore from using the same muscles over and over today. 

Thankful for the ability to work like we did today to be able to stock food up for the coming months and thankful for the bounty the Lord provides for us each year from our garden and fields.                                   God Bless and Good Night

FEELING MUCH SAFER TONIGHT

 Up this morning to an unexpected calm morning after an unexpected calm overnight. We were predicted to get some of hurricane Laura's wrath overnight and into early this morning but the sun is shining this morning and there is only .4 inch of rain in the gauge from overnight with no wind or evidence of overnight wind so we are lucky and thankful.                                                                           I got chores done while hubbie was helping #1 son gather the tools to install our automatic gate down on the road. We have had so much trouble with people driving up our private drive over the last several weeks we are all ready for this to be in place.                                                                                               It took much longer than I expected and a trip to the parts store but we finally finished up and it is really pretty and works great.                                                                                                                        

Hubbie and I came home and he got on the lawn mower and I started on this table full of tomatoes.           

 A couple hours later I had 7 more quarts of tomatoes to add to the winter pantry.                                      

The picking hubbie did yesterday is significantly less than we have been getting due to a blight that our tomato plants have now probably because of all the rain and even with hubbie diligently spraying the rains have really hurt the ripening process before the plants are totally dead.                                              

     Think I will slow roast some of these next week and freeze them.                                         

   We got chores done and then picked green beans for lunch tomorrow as our beans seem to be doing great even this late in the season.                                                                                                                      We sat out in the covered patio and broke the beans then came inside and I made a broccoli salad for lunch tomorrow before we put a roast in the crockpot and headed for bed.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night                                                                               

CALM DAY BEFORE THE STORM

 Up this morning to greet all the g-kids. G-son leaves with daughter to do his school work at her house and the 3 girls stay with us.  I got chores done and then we all had breakfast.  I had oatmeal and they all had waffles and yogurt.                                                                                                                                  It is a nice day before the storm rolls in later tonight.                                                                                       

  After we ate I took RL and IR to help me and we cleaned up in the playroom. I am wanted to revamp this space and take out the baby crib that is only being used as a catch all and put some new things for them to play with in there. We made some good headway in getting this done before lunchtime.               We found several things they opted to take outside to their playhouse trailer to play with so that was a good thing, only thing they couldn't decide to get rid of anything !!!                                                           We all sat down and ate a good lunch, guess the girls worked up a great appetite in all our cleaning.  They both had mac and cheese and biscuits and I had boiled egg salad and green beans from the garden that I had cooked yesterday. Hubbie always fixes his own food and I don't pay much attention to what he has so that's why it isn't listed here.                                                                                                           Daughter came in after lunch to get her salsa started before her virtual teacher meeting. She managed the meeting and the salsa and even helped a couple of her students while we worked. I delivered and cake at 3:00 and she finished with 13 jars of delicious salsa and 1/2 jar to eat now.                                     Hubbie picked more tomatoes this evening so I will definitely be canning more tomatoes tomorrow hopefully and then maybe looking for another interesting recipe for using all our extra tomatoes. He thinks this is the end of them but he has said that a couple times already and they just keep producing which we are very thankful for.                                                                                                                      We worked some on our automatic gate opener this evening but decided just to chain the gate shut tonight and finish installing it tomorrow as the rain moved in on us this evening.                                       We got chores done and then relaxed for the evening thankful for another blessing week and still praying for all the victims of hurricane Laura who will be passing out area overnight tonight with rain and wind for us.

God Bless and Good Night

HURRICANE LAURA MAKES HISTORIC LANDFALL

 Well thankful to wake to sunshine this morning unlike so many folks along the gulf coast who are getting their first look at the devastation left by hurricane Laura who came ashore about 1am with the highest winds seen there in over 160 years.                                                                                                                   

Praying for all these folks in this storms path.                                                                                              As I got chores done and had breakfast before we headed out to make a couple egg deliveries I noticed it didn't take long for the cloud bands of this huge storm to reach our area.

When we got home I laid out all the tomatoes hubbie had picked last night and thought about a canning schedule for the upcoming days.

We all ate lunch together and then the girls enjoyed some outside playtime and CA decided out of the blue she wanted to swing.

When IR got tired of running round an round the covered patio we came inside for snacks and rest time.

IR tried to rest in the new chair bed we got the girls but CA wanted in it also. After trying to move her sister and failing she decided to just lay on top of her !!

Ahhhh  Sisterly love !!!!!!!!!!

After the girls were picked up hubbie and I did chores a little early so we could help #1 son but the mechanics on our gate but he had to work late so we decided to wait for another time to do that. We have the gate up so tomorrow night we will close the gate before we go to bed whether we have anything else hooked up or not.

The airb&b's probably will get rented for the weekend again and folks will be lost again. I have tried to call airb&b all week but without an account you can't get a call to them to check the address on these units so we will just block our driveway.

Hubbie and I ended out day sitting out in the covered patio feeling the tropical humidity from the storm moving in but no rain or wind for us yet.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

HERE COMES HURRICANE LAURA

 Up to a very foggy morning. This must mean at least one big snow this winter.

We welcomed all 3 girls this morning and they acted like they were happy to see one another after being apart for 2 days.

We went on our regular dump / recycle center run and stopped at the PO to mail one bill today. We also went to Fletcher feed to pick up some chicken feed on the way home. We asked the girls if they wanted to stop for lunch but they said they wanted to come home and have spaghetti and corn.

After we had lunch went outside and they played and played until they were wore out and we came inside to rest and have snacks.

I had to deliver a cake at 4:00 and while I was gone all the girls were picked up.

I watched the early news on Laura the now category 4 hurricane and all the warnings for the folks around where she is predicted to come ashore early in the morning.

And by the time Saturday arrives we will be feeling the affects here with strong wind gust and rain, the amount will be determined by the exact path she takes after coming inland.

I got the evening chores done while hubbie picked more tomatoes and then we helped #1 son get the gate set up and ready for the controls.

We came back to the house and relaxed for the evening. I didn't sleep well last night so I am looking forward to an early bed time tonight.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and praying for all the folks in the path of this storm.

God Bless and Good Night

MORE SALSA MAKING

 Up to meet IR and CA this morning as RL's other g-ma is up here to stay with her today. I got chores done and then we had breakfast together. I needed to go to the Curb Market this morning and make a deposit so we headed out there about CA's nap time.  She was asleep before we got out of driveway so that was good.                                                                                                                                               Hubbie and IR stayed close around the car at market while I went inside and got the deposit ready.  We made a stop at our bank to deposit a check then on to the market bank for the deposit then we asked IR what she wanted for lunch since we were out. She wanted a cheese quesadia from CookOut and she loves their hush puppies so we stopped there on our way home.                                                                  IR, hubbie and I had a good lunch while CA still napped.                                                                             Daughter came in and brought a package that I had ordered and it was this little pull out sleeper seat for CA and she loved it.

Daughter had brought over things for another run of salsa since we have an overrun of Roma tomatoes right now. While the girls and pawpaw played with blocks we made 11 pints of very thick, delicious salsa.

Daughter left and hubbie and I got chores done before walking down and checking out #1 son's work on the gate.

It has been a nasty cloudy drizzly day and there was .2" of rain in the gauge this evening.

I spent the evening baking and icing 6 caramel cakes.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

TOMATO CANNING, FENCE BUILDING, MASKED SHOPPING MONDAY

 Seems Monday mornings come around faster and faster these days. RL was our only grand today as, Connie, IR and CA's other g-ma came up to stay with them today. Daughter came over to d-in-love's house to teach and stay with g-son while he did his school work.                                                                     I got chores done on a cloudy cooler morning and then had breakfast with RL, She is really hungry this morning which is a good sign for a good day but she is sad because she doesn't have IR here to play with.   We loaded up and drove to Asheville to the Home Depot over there that has the gate opener in stock that we have decided on.   This store was huge and they pretty much had anything you want and everyone we met had a mask on which was very comforting. RL is really good about wearing her mask and keeping her hands to herself as she understands that touching things could make her sick.                                                 

We found all the things we needed for the gate opener except some remotes which I ordered online. We also shopped around for light bulbs and some other things that we needed.  When we headed home we took the Parkway and RL saw a deer  standing on the side of the road so she was tickled.                         We came home and had lunch of yesterdays left overs and RL once again ate very well.                          I got weekly laundry started and did three loads of laundry in between playing with RL and canning this sink full of tomatoes.

I finished up with 7 more quarts to add to the winter pantry. 

I only have 5 more ids left if the order we put in trough Target doesn't rescue me I guess this will be all the tomatoes that get canned this year. I do have the 2 cases of jelly jars I am saving for jelly but that is all. We have our fingers crossed for the lids we ordered from Target so hopefully they show up this week.                                                                                                                                                              Our tomato vines are looking pretty pitiful with all this rain but something tells me I shouldn't let anything go to waste this year !!  I can freeze tomatoes thankfully to make sauce or something later.        Daughter has 2 packs of lids left and is coming tomorrow to make her a run of salsa from the mostly Roma tomatoes we have gathered.

D-in-love picked up RL and after they left hubbie and I decided to get chores done early to try and beat the rain that is headed our way.

We just finished when a light rain started falling . We took umbrellas and walked down to #1 son's house to help with the fence he is building  beside our gate spot.

This should definitely solve out wayward travelers problem.

We came back home still with a light rain falling and hubbie went down and brought a battery back to charge and took son another post.

I finished getting the last load of laundry out of the dryer and then relaxed for the evening.

The first of the storms made landfall tonight at 6pm as Marco was a weakened tropical storm that came ashore around the mouth of the Mississippi River and is headed west hopefully pulling this rain away from us as he goes.

The major threat is to come later this week as hurricane Laura makes her way into the gulf and heads for the same area but turns east and comes up over our area at the end of the week.

This will not be a good thing is she brings a lot of rain to our already saturated ground around here.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for a loving gracious Savior.

God Bless and Good Night

RESTFUL SUNDAY

 A leisurely Sunday morning felt so good today and the sun shining through the bedroom windows didn't hurt either.  We got chores done and then had breakfast, hubbie always likes to eat a huge breakfast on Sunday mornings.  After we finished eating we started lunch preparations.                                                     We cooked a ham , fresh boiled potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh green beans, slaw, sliced tomatoes and biscuits.                                                                                                                                                               #1 son's family, #2 son and Tif, Aa's family were our guest today. Daughter's family had lunch with son-in-love's family.                                                                                                                                                  After lunch the girls ran an errand while the guys stayed here and played with the kids and #1 son and I decided on an automatic gate opener.  As hubbie questioned another car that came driving up in the yard he found out there is an air b&b at the address folks keep thinking is ours so we definitely need to get a gate up.        After the girls got back #1 son and hubbie went ahead and put in some post for the gate. We found a gate opener in Asheville that I can pick up tomorrow so we are on our way to eliminating the unwanted traffic in our driveways.                                                                                                                    I put away some laundry and then went down to watch the work until choretime.                                            After chores hubbie and I relaxed for the evening to get ready for another busy week.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day                        

God Bless and Good Night

YARDWORK SATURDAY

 Got a rude awakening just after midnight today when a truck came driving up the drive. It was pouring rain so he had trouble backing down to get turned around and #1 son who was awake called to see what was going on because he had seen him pass his house.  The truck headed back down the drive and stopped in front of son's house for awhile then turned around in the highway and came back up here. With the warning from son we were ready for him with a big spotlight and when he saw the light he stopped and said he was looking for an address that isn't on our driveway. He left and we went back to bed but then the rain started pouring and thunder and lightening kept us awake for quite awhile. I think I finally went to sleep around 2am when the storm passed and the rain slacked off some.                                                         When we got up this morning we saw the results of the heavy overnight rains were a flooded bottom pasture.                                                                                                                                                               

It looked like the water had been quite a bit higher and had already went down.

Hubbie and I got chores done and everything acted like they were certainly glad to see the warm sunshine this morning.  We had breakfast then went outside to get some yardwork done.

These bushes in this bed are getting way overgrown and there is poison ivy starting under the bushes that needs to be removed. This is what is looked like before I started.

I put on gloves, long sleeves and even a face mask to crawl around underneath the Azaleas and butterfly bushes to pull the poison ivy out and then came inside to wash my face and arms anyway with a poison ivy scrub just to be on the safe side. This is after the trimming. And we moved our house number sign into better view.

I cleaned a little more in some other beds but didn't want to take away any of the flowering vines as there was honey bees all over them. 

We came inside and had BLT's for lunch then went up to the garden to pick green beans and more tomatoes. The clouds grew dark for a while but the  storms missed our area today thankfully. I got more Fall crop seeds planted today. I planted lettuce, spinach, Swiss card, carrots, kale and rutabagas in a couple of my raised bed cattle waterers.

#1 son came up and we decided to put a gate on our driveway with a coded access so we can stop the middle of night wanderers from getting up in here.

The weather is still the main story with not both storms having names as Marco was named today.

After chores hubbie and I ended the busy day watching  the storm clouds build around the horizon again tonight.

There is still a lot of water standing in the bottom pasture as the ground is so saturated it can't sink in right now.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night