HAPPY 95th BIRTHDAY TO REVEREND BILLY GRAHAM

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to an inanimate object when they had a wiring short if they could feel ??  Well I am certain the way I feel this morning would be something like a shorted out wire. I have went through my regular routine with getting g-son to school and getting ready for market with the strangest feelings from time to time. Funny thing nothing last long enough to actually figure out what is going on.
Driving to market I got pretty dizzy feeling  and took out a protein bar and had breakfast on the way and that seemed to help. But all morning I still have had twinges and creepy feelings all around, not sure what is going on but at least it doesn't feel too serious.
Market was verrrrrryyyy  slow today as I expected it would be on a windy, rainy and cool morning.
I brought to market 3 bunches of the money plant I have hanging in my sewing shop and I took the husk of 2 of them and put them out for sale.
After market I ran the regular errands and made one extra stop at Big Lots to check out their 75% off Halloween and 50% of fall tables. I got some great bargains.
I made it home just as hubbie was getting here from work so we unloaded the van and then we had to head straight out to do the evening chores. It is challenging with the time change  to get home earlier enough to get the chores done before darkness falls.
Today is a special day around here and all around the world for that matter as the Reverend Billy Graham turns 95 years old.

I wonder what else God has for him to do as he nears the century mark. He is in failing health but his mind is very sharp and he will give a public address tomorrow. This is a picture of him tonight at his birthday celebration at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

If there ever is additions wrote to the Bible I'm sure he will be in there as one of God's chosen messengers.  I'm glad he lives in our area and glad that his message has been such a strong unrelenting spreading of the love of Jesus Christ. Even at his age he is getting ready to launch the largest and probably last crusade called "THE CROSS". We viewed this 30 minute video as our Sunday morning service a couple weeks ago and it is a very touching message.

Thanking God tonight for the Reverend Graham and the many people he has brought the word and love of Our Heavenly Father to.
Good Night and God Bless.

HUM DRUM WEDNESDAY

Woke to a misty morning today. After getting g-son to school and finishing chores and breakfast I delivered 4 caramel cakes.I took this pic on the way back up the driveway . No tree cutters this morning,they are finished, leaving just the carnage as the cows check it out.

It turned out to be a nice sunny morning after only a trace of rain in the gauge, but I need to bake cakes so I will be stuck inside for the remainder of the morning. I baked 12 caramel, 1 chocolate and 2 pound cakes.
After lunch I did a load of laundry so I could hang the big comforter out to dry on the clothes line since the sun made a nice appearance this afternoon.
Love these warm,68 degree, sunny late fall days. Wish I could just stay outside and enjoy it  but other things are calling me today. I have Avon orders to pack up ready to ship and deliver and need to pick up g-son at 3:00.  I still am leaving about 2:50 to get in line and work on my towel top crocheting.
When we got home and I got him set up with his after school food, I can't really call it a "snack" because it is more like a meal.
This is his first grade picture. I can't get over how much he has changed in just a year !!

I went back outside ,gathered the laundry and pulled the chickens some of the last weeds in the garden for a green snack.
#2 son came in to check out a house he had found by driving around today on his day off. It is for sale by owner so he looked it up to get more info.
He tried to call the seller but didn't get an answer. He has to go back to work tomorrow anyway so he won't be able to look at it until Monday.
After chores I got the weekly paperwork and bill paying done. I iced cakes while I watched Survivor on TV then wash eggs and got things ready to go to market in the morning. I finished around 11:30 and headed for a hot bath, whew that bed is going to feel good tonight. My system is still smarting from the time change and this late night isn't going to help !!
G-son's CIA (children in action) class meets on Wednesday nights and tonight they went shopping and packed Operation Christmas Child boxes. Here is g-son on the right with two of his friends with one of their packed boxes. It is so good that these young kids are learning to give.

Thankful tonight for God's watchful eyes on my kids in all they do and for giving me so many undeserved blessings each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD TIME ALREADY ??

On the way home from dropping g-son at school I noticed this beautiful "fall" sky.

Thankfully I got home before any of the tree trimming road closure began. #1 son taped off his septic field and I made a sign asking to keep the driveway open and not to park on the grass so hopefully we won't have the same mess today as yesterday. Just to feel safer about letting the dogs out of their pens I closed the gate on the driveway between our place and #1 sons.

It was amazing how secure this made me feel. Me thinks I might like the "hermit life"  !!!!
I turned the hens out into their new lot this morning and they immediately began a scratching frenzy in the freshly fallen leaves.

They like their new much more roomy house I'm sure.

This project turned out to be very inexpensive using old used materials mostly that hubbie had saved from the dump.

After chores on this nice sunny day I started laundry and housework. There won't be too many more days in the weather future that I will be able to hang my sheets out to get that wonderful fresh smell.

Today was an early dismissal day for the county schools so I picked up g-son at noon. Last year they got out at 1:00 but this year changed to noon with no lunch, guess the cost of preparing lunch outweighs the money they get for it.
He was in a good mood as his class had a shoe-tying test today and he passed and got a prize from the prize-box.
After lunch he watched some TV while I finished the laundry and housework then we got out the "Operation Christmas Child" stuff .

We filled 5 boxes and had a few things left over to warrant another trip to the store much to g-son's pleasure !!!

We didn't go to the store today as the road is still a mess and he really wanted to go outside for awhile in the warm afternoon.

They sawed all the trees down in front of the neighbor's house and one tree down in the corner of our pasture. It was sad to see it go as it has been there since we have been farming.
I sat out on the front porch for awhile this evening and enjoyed God's creations.
I call this tree "nature's cradle".

And this sunset was brilliant this evening. The picture didn't really catch the wonderful red colors.

 Grateful today for God's love and care of all the little children in the poor countries who need a helping hand and the hint of Christ's love through what we are able to give them.
Good Night and God Bless.

FIRST PHASE OF BRIDGE/ROAD WORK BEGINS

UHHHH!!!!  Rudely awaken this morning by the sound of big trucks in the driveway. Hubbie had taken g-son to school so I got up to see what was going on. I saw Asplund tree cutting trucks turning around in my drive and heading back down the hill.
Hubbie said he had trouble getting out with g-son on time because they had the driveway completely blocked. Who does that !!!
They are cutting the right-of-way out for the new bridge and road. The head man that talked to us when we signed the right of way over for this project had assured us that none of the equipment would be on anyone's private land.

It looks like they think our private driveway is a public road with the cones set out !!
They also parked some large bucket trucks on #1 son's septic drain field which had him very concerned. He made some phone calls to the head folks at Asplund and I explained to them where the drain field was so by the end of the day they moved all the equipment to the neighbor's field around 4:00 when they stopped work. Then about 6:00 they came and got all the equipment from that field. They were on private property there also so maybe they called in on them also.Funny thing is they have plenty of state-owned right-of-way property to park on and we can't figure out why they aren't using it for parking.
We are not hard to get along with folks, if they had asked us if they could park some equipment in certain places we would have certainly had no problem, but they did not ask.
Our road is not going to be a road to travel while all this work is going on !!

 Hubbie and I went out the back way to Sam's Club this morning and then worked outside finishing my new hen lot in the afternoon. We moved some of the older hens in there tonight. I will take pics tomorrow as it was too late tonight by the time we finished.
I picked up g-son and he helped with the finishing touches on the house. He was sad he didn't get to play in the house anymore.
We left one pullet and the rooster in the old lot to be joined by 5 other pullets as soon as I get the house cleaned out which should be tomorrow.
It was after dark when we got inside with everything done tonight. Probably will be the trend for a while until we get used to the time change.
I worked on cleaning the new lot out today and tossing brush over the 5 foot high fence so I aggravated my sore arm and all the rest of my muscles I'm sure. Each time I sit still for a few minutes it is torture to get going again. I am surely going to feel like this lady in the morning.

Today they rolled the 40 foot Christmas tree into the Biltmore house. It just seems too early for this to me and I do wonder how in the world they keep this tree hydrated and looking good until after Christmas ???

Today I am thankful for country living and the freedom to enjoy my chickens and other animals as I please on our little farm up on the hill. And the ability and health to work like hubbie and I did today.
God Is good all the time !
Good Night and God Bless.

SPECIAL CHURCH MORNING

Church this morning was a very special time. During the invitation a young couple joined our fellowship as they dedicated their lives to the Lord and are going to be Baptized soon. This young man,father and husband is the son of hubbie's first cousin who died back in May of 2012. You can find her story in my blog post of that month. This is a picture of the young cousins with their grandmother. Hubbie is on the left of granny and Connie is on her right (with the puppy).

This is the young couple on their wedding day just three short weeks before Connie passed away.

They have been through a very rocky year and half of marriage. But through the guidance of our associate pastor and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ they have rededicated their marriage and their lives to be Christ based. I am so proud of both of them for swallowing their pride and making this happen. They have a small daughter together and a young son the same age as g-son who was her's before they met. These young children don't know how lucky they are to have these two for parents,willing to raise them in a Christ based home. I felt in my heart this morning as this was going on that Connie was surely smiling down on these two today and as my heart was bursting with pride,I'm sure her's was exploding with Heavenly fireworks.
I am also very proud of my D-in-love as all this amazing turn of events began with an invitation from her to this young lady to bring her son to our Bible School this past July.  She had no prior knowledge that anything was wrong in this marriage but just thought her son would enjoy Bible School.
That just goes to show how a simple invite could change the life of the receiver when God finds that small crack and slips though into an unsuspecting heart.
At lunch today we had some of hubbie's smoked Boston butt along with sweet potato casserole, corn , slaw, California vegetables, fresh Kale greens from our garden with Waldorf salad for dessert.
This is our November garden photo with the wide row of fresh Kale and the narrow row of Collard greens.

We are a little behind getting our garden cleaned off this year as we have been busy with other projects.
 Our lunch bunch was #1 son,d-in-love,g-son,daughter, her b-friend, his little boy Dawson and Rebekah and little Evy.  #2 son is golfing again today and Aaron is in the soybean field.
All the girls had went to the estate sale before lunch and D-in-love and Rebekah found both found a couple things they couldn't live without.
I didn't go because I always try to start cutting out my spending this time of year because my business really slows down and I don't want to be taking money from our savings account to spend at estate sales unless it is something I really need.
After everyone left today except #1 son who was working on painting a new door for their house and g-son who was helping hubbie and I tie up some loose ends around the new hen house. All we have left to do is the lot so hopefully we can get that done tomorrow and get them moved tomorrow night.
#2 son came by to check out realestate on the computer and get his supper of left overs.
G-son left to go to choir practice where they are practicing their Christmas play.
When the dogs started scratching on the door this evening it took me a while to figure out what they were wanting, then I realized their tummy's was telling them it was feeding time although my clocks still said 4:30 !!!
At least we are in the house now in time to watch the 6:00 news because it is already dark !!
I agree with the old Indian on this one !!!

Thankful tonight for God's loving intervention into lives who least expect it.
Good Night and God Bless.

SLOW MARKET DAY

Off to market this morning on another beautiful fall morning.
A slow day with sparse customers set off alot of moans and groans from fellow sellers today.
I had a couple orders so I had an okay day.
After market I picked up a few baking supplies for next week as I expect it to be slower than this one.
I also stopped by my friend Louise's house to pick up my Avon order.
I discovered from a lady that called market for a cake order and from Louise that my home phone isn't working again, grrrrrrr. I am so tired of calling AT&T it is pitiful. Every time we get any rain or wind out goes my phone. This time along with the static buzz incoming calls don't ring through. The caller just hears the phone keep ringing as if no ones home and no answering machine comes on but we can call out on it.
It has gotten really cool quickly this evening so after we got things unloaded hubbie and I took a break to watch the news. We both almost went to sleep so we got up and did chores. I put up the plastic window covers on the chicken houses tonight to help keep them warm on this windy cool night.
Hubbie has the smoker full of meat. We took the chicken breast out at supper time and ate 2 of them,yum yum they were sure good.  We wrapped the 2 Boston butts in foil and turned the smoker up to cook for the next several hours.
I had a nice relaxing evening listening to the winds outside and watched the temperature drop.
The next week's weather is a mixed bag with night temperatures remaining cool.

November's outlook looks warm for us maybe.

Thanking God for His continuous love for each of us and for the opportunity to meet with my brothers and sisters in Christ and worship Him tomorrow.
Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY MORNING, SUNNY AFTERNOON

Rain greeted us this morning on the way to school. As I drove home the clouds were hanging low over the mountain tops on this dreary fall morning.

I did chores in a steady rain and was glad to get inside and warmed up.
I spent the morning doing some house cleaning and baking cakes. I baked 12 caramel, 3 wine cakes, 2 pound cakes, including my special black walnut for this time of year, and 1 chocolate layer cake.
After lunch with the sunshine finally making an appearance and the temperature pushing 70 again I couldn't stay cooped up inside any longer so I took a nice long walk. The warm sunshine felt so good and I know there won't be many more days like today to enjoy this feeling.
I picked up g-son today since his other g-ma is sick. He was in a good mood today as he had a prize from the box for getting all his math problems correct.
Snapped these pics from the same place as this morning for a much nicer view this afternoon of the colorful mountains.

After he ate we tackled the task of removing all the Halloween decorations he had helped me put up last week.
I even changed out the placemats on the tables.

Halloween is officially over at our house except for a couple bags of left-over candy that definitely needs to go somewhere else!!!!
#1 son went deer hunting this evening so g-son got to help his pawpaw feed the cow and then I saw him driving pawpaw around in the golf cart. He is getting very good at driving that and now thinks he can drive a car. He told me the other day on the way home from school that I didn't have to worry if I couldn't drive one day as he would drive us home !!! I asked him how he figured could reach the gas and brake petal and see where he was going at the same time? He calmly told me he would use "cruise control" , how does he come up with these things ????
It made me sad to look at him and think that really it won't be that long until he is driving, he is growing up way too fast !!
When his mom got home he walked down and tried to surprise her.
I took another walk around the lower pasture as the weather is just so nice this evening. These Mallard ducks were making the best of the sunshine. I love these pics, the light must have been just right for these to appear more like paintings instead of pictures.

As the sun sank in the sky it provided a canvas that was perfect for showing off some of God's finest handiwork on this first day of November.

These Rosehips brighten up the landscape.

As I walked along the creek I noticed across the creek that all that is left of the neighbor's renters, Driscal Berries, were piles of metal from all the hoop houses they grew the berries under.

They have decided that these mountains aren't profitable for their berry production and moved east.
I iced cakes and got ready for market, getting finished earlier than usual.
It felt nice to snuggled in bed with my 4-legged kids as the temperature goes down into the low 40's tonight.
Thankful today for the unbelievable beauty God created just for our eyes.
Thanking God for a wonderful blessed day and the health to be able to get out and enjoy it.
Good Night and God Bless.