HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2014

Well this Halloween morning 2014 is a nice one but it is almost like all nature is quietly hunkering down for the impending bad weather that is coming tonight.
As I walked this morning it seemed "not a creature was moving" even the birds were quiet.

 Our Muscadine Grapes will need to be picked before the freezing temperatures overnight ruin them.

Back inside I started baking cakes, 12 caramel, 5 chocolate, 1 coconut and 2 pound cakes wondering as I worked it the weather forecasters could possibly be right and would market even be open tomorrow ??
After lunch I did some house cleaning then got out my Halloween decorations for the outside in case we had a few trick or treaters tonight.
I took these pics just as darkness fell.

About mid afternoon the clouds moved in and the light rain started falling.

It made it seem much colder than it really was.
I hate to say good bye to these beautiful Petunias that have bloomed so well all summer and fall.

After chores hubbie and I settled in for a nice night with our new wood stove keeping the house really toasty warm.
We had 3 trick or treaters tonight and one was of course g-son dressed in his Incredible Hulk costume.

It has a very scary mask but I'll have to get a picture tomorrow night at our church Halloween carnival as I forgot to take a picture tonight. This pic is from d-in-love when they took him out to the high school to a trunk or treat out there before the football game tonight.He was getting ready to compete in a wrapping game with his friend Avari.
The weather forecast has actually gotten worse for our area with more snow now predicted for overnight.  We are in the 2-3 inch range now.
I iced cakes tonight and got things ready for market.
I usually do a detailed recap of the month that is ending, but tonight I will say that October 2014 has been a very busy month for all of us around here. The weather has been warm and pretty allowing plenty of outside work and play time. Market for me has been very busy and daughter and Re have been swamped with baking orders from the orchard stand they are in business with. The leaves haven't been as colorful as some years but the milder weather has been very welcoming.   We celebrated g-son (8) and #1 son's (33) birthdays this month as well as the closing of Aa and Re 's farm land deal.  The month is ending with some of the coolest weather of the year expected and if it doesn't get below freezing before midnight this October will end without a killing frost for the first time in several years. Looking forward to what God has in the plans for me and my family for November.
Thankful to God for the everlasting love He shows me each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

GOOD PRE HALLOWEEN MARKET DAY

First calf of the season born early this morning over on top of the hill that Aa and Re just bought.

Baby calves are some of the cutest little things you will ever see.
A cooler morning down in the upper 30's made moving through chores quicker today.
Off to market to see what the predictions for the coldest weather of the season and even some S*N*O*W  this weekend will do to business.
I had a surprisingly good day but the roads heading south are surely going to get crowded tomorrow as folks were stopping in to pick up supplies to carry to their more southern homes with them.
After market I did the regular errands, talked to the teller at my bank about the suspect check I took yesterday and she called and confirmed it was good before she cashed it to my surprise.  Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover !!!
I made stops at Aldi and Walmart for  groceries and supplies, made it home at 4:30.
Hubbie came in from work and helped unload and get things put away before we headed outside to work more on getting the leaves raked away from the house and I also got the covers on all my chicken and quail boxes to keep the cold winds at bay this winter.

We have built a fire in out new stove for the last couple nights and opened all the doors downstairs to try and burn the new stove smell off it before we really need to warm the house with it.  The smell was much less tonight then last night so maybe by tomorrow night when we actually need it the smell won't be so bad.
After we got inside tonight I decided to take the night off and do absolutely nothing !!
Probably will be kicking myself tomorrow but enjoyed the evening !!
The weather forecasters have everyone in a panic about the weekend weather, predicting snow as far south as our area, with 42 degree high temperature Saturday with wind blowing 20-35 mph.That's pretty much blizzard conditions.

Trick or Treater's tomorrow night will just be dealing with cold rain it looks like.

Gonna get interesting around here pretty quick it looks like.  
Saw this cartoon and was glad I went to the grocery store today !!

Haha !!
Grateful to rest in the confidence that God is in total control at all times and so gracious to all His children.
Good Night and God Bless.

A BUSY WEDNESDAY !!

The ringing phone was my alarm clock this morning . As I answered it and heard a man's voice ask about the wood stove, I was reminded that I had advertised the old Bat Cave stove we took out of the basement.

He wanted measurements so I told him I would call him back. He was very chatty but that early in the morning I'm not.
After chores I measured the stove and called him back. He wants the stove and is coming when hubbie gets home to get it.  It is still in the wood hauling box on the back of the tractor and weighs about 500 lbs so hubbie has to load it with the tractor.
After a nice short walk enjoying the fall scenery around the farm I went inside to begin baking for the day.

The sun is fighting hard for position with all the clouds this morning.

 After a couple side tracks and just a lack of motivation this morning it was lunchtime before I realized it and no cakes in the ovens yet !
This is a hard time of year to know how much to bake as it is the day before Halloween tomorrow but that is one holiday that folks don't usually celebrate with cakes.
After I ate and after taking several cake orders for tomorrow and a large cake order for Saturday I began baking about 1:30, which is late in the day for me to get started.
At 4:30 I was putting the last of the 18 caramel,3 chocolate, 1 coconut, 8 pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes in the ovens. Whew ! seems when I get started late baking it is more of a task than when I get it done earlier in the day.
Hubbie got home just minutes before the man came to pick up the stove. #1 son came up to help with the loading and I was sure glad he did as the man was pretty drunk and the man he had driving him had borrowed a straight drive truck that he had never driven before.  It was almost comical but then scary that they would be back out on the road for the trip all the way back to Canton.  After repeatedly telling the man after I cut the price a bit that I wanted cash not a check he showed up, waited until the stove was loaded on their truck and then proceeded to write me a check for part of the price.
Thankfully he had $260 of the $300 in cash or I would have kept the stove.
The check is on some business in Waynesville, so who knows if it is even his.  I will talk to the ladies at the bank tomorrow to see what I can do to find out if there is even  a bank account in this name,I had no luck looking it up on the internet. grrrrrr!!!!
After they left I cleaned out the big hen house and put fresh shavings in it, it smelled so good in there tonight.
There were just enough clouds still hanging around this evening to create a glorious sunset.

After having a light supper I began paperwork for the week and paid a couple bills before tackling icing for the evening. Re came by with her baked goods.
I worked steadily until 1am before I got everything finished and was ready for bed, whew !!!
I fell into bed and don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.
I am writing this at market on Thursday and back dating it.
Thankful for the amazing energy God blesses me with each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

LEAVES, LEAVES AND MORE LEAVES

I had the chores done and was just finishing breakfast when Re brought little EL to stay while she went home to sleep, Re looked very tired this morning.
After EL had breakfast and played for a little while inside she wanted to head outside in the beautiful warm sunshine.
We walked and then played on every slide in the yard and also she road in the wagon around the driveway,rode her little car that she learned would roll down the hill by itself if she heal her feet up.

She  is always infatuated with the Beauty Berries.

 A nice addition to my pumpkin display, don't you think ??

It was time for lunch before we knew it so we went inside to her dismay.
After lunch she was ready for a long nap. While she napped I caught up on some reading and did some paperwork to keep things really quiet in the house for her.
When she woke up she had a snack and then wanted to go back outside to wait for her mom to come pick her up.
She got in my old car on the front porch.

The wind started blowing pretty hard this afternoon and the leaves came down in droves. Annie almost blends in perfectly with the brown leaves.

After EL and her mom left and hubbie came in from work we tackled some of these leaves that have suddenly piled up in the ditches and covered the ground around the house.
I got the ditches along the driveway cleaned out while hubbie got the leaves raked off the lawn above the house. With the coming cold weather predicted for the end of the week he always wants to have this area cleared of leaves because it is below the chimney when he starts building wood stove fires.
He also blew all the leaves off the roof of the house so they wouldn't clog the gutters in tomorrow's predicted rainfall.

While he did this I got the Silkie house cleaned out as well as the pullet's house. I didn't have enough shavings to go in the big hen house but it was just as well because I ran out of energy before I could get that one cleaned out anyway.  I will be putting their window coverings on before the week end. 
We came inside when darkness fell and had a light supper before relaxing for the rest of the evening.
Talked to daughter tonight as she enjoyed her only afternoon off between volleyball and basketball as basketball practice starts tomorrow.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day and praising Him for all His goodness each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

VOTING, WINDOW WASHING, POTATO DIGGING DAY WHEW !!!

Whew !!! what a busy day but with sore muscles I have a really good accomplished feeling tonight as three things got marked off our "Fall to do"  list today.
After chores the first fall duty we did was go vote.  Our county opened up another early voting site at a community center not far from us at all so we headed over there to see how long the line was. Each time we have early voted in the past we have had to stand in a line, some longer than others but always a line.
To our surprise there was no line and we went in, signed in, voted and left in about 5 minutes.  There was a steady stream of voters but not enough to make a line with the amount of machines they had.
We left with our stickers but no where to go to show them off.

Back home , hubbie gave Bernie and Dolly a bath while I got laundry started then it was on to the number two "fall duty".
We always wash the sunroom windows in the Fall because we do a lot of sitting out here in colder weather. We got the inside done and had lunch before tackling the outside. Hubbie removes the screens and washes them while I wash the windows.

 After stumbling around a bit continuing my clumsyness from last week I was told to stay off the ladder, haha.  I didn't argue as I tripped over the vacuum cord about the time hubbie was saying that.

It always amazes me how much brighter things look in the sunroom after the windows and screens are washed.  You don't realize how dirty they are until a few are washed for comparison.
 This job took until about 3:30 and we figured we had time to tackle task number three.

Potato digging !!!

Little E L  thought this job looked like a lot of work !!!

The potato crop was a good one this year along with most of our other crops, we ended up with six buckets and some really nice sized baking potatoes.

All the work done for the day and now it's playtime !!!!!!!!   Yay !!!!

She has discovered running !!!!!!!

Another beautiful but summer feeling day today as temperatures soared into the mid 70's  with bright sunshine.
The garden has served us well this year. The only thing left in it now is some turnips, which I sauteed some for my supper and they were really good , and some kale greens which I am feeding to the quail and  chickens because they are covered with those dreaded white flies.

As the three of us ate supper tonight after Re went to work at the hospital I thought how perfect this day has been and how perfect this time of year is.  Not to hot , not to cold and the world seems to be sighing a restful sigh as the end of the growing season is here and the harvesting is coming to an end.
Now all nature awaits a dormant time of rest before the process begins all over again next spring.
Aa picked up little E L and I finished and ordered the 10th volume of my blog book. Wow 10 volumes that is 5 years of blogging as I make a book every 6 months.  I am already enjoying the previous books as I look back to see what was going on at this time up to 5 years ago.  Hopefully these books will be very interesting to future generations of my family as a reminder of what life was like at this time and maybe they will feel like they know me better and appreciate their heritage more.
I am blogging early and looking forward to a hot soothing bath for these tires achy muscles tonight.
Thankful for the strength God chooses to give hubbie and I each day and I give Him all the praise for all the work that gets done during each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

BEAUTIFUL LAST SUNDAY OF OCTOBER

Slept in a little on this Sunday morning after this very busy week.  After chores and breakfast I made it to church a little early and even remembered to put together my "secret sister" gift for October.
The service was nice, still from 2nd Timothy.
Everyone made it to lunch except #2 son who is probably playing his last Sunday's golf game of the season. It is supposed to turn colder next weekend.
We had a big crock pot full of beef stew with corn bread and apple cobbler for dessert, it was all delicious.
After everyone left hubbie and I spent the afternoon working on our trunk or treat idea for this year's church event.
#2 son came by for left overs and said he is back to working 6 days a week at the post office after a couple temporary workers they had hired to help quit.
The temperature today was warmer,in the low 70's and very sunny.
Hubbie and I had time to sit out in the outside patio and watch the sun go down this evening. We were almost to late.

The foliage maps say that it is our peak week of leaf of color but around here there is still lots of green leaves on the trees.

There are some pretty spots of color mixed in with the green.

On this slow reflective Sunday it is a good time to finish the October decade pictures with the "undated" ones.
These first two are of my Aunt Mary, my mom's youngest sister.

This is another picture of Mary along with an older sister, Hattie .

This is a picture of my mom dressed for a parade of some sort.

This is an old metal photo of my dad, looks like maybe late teens to early twenties.

This photograph isn't metal but it is a later picture of my dad.

This is another way of preserving these old photographs by putting them on this blog and then into my blog books as I get them published.
Grateful for a nice Sunday surrounded for family and friends and for all the blessings from God I received today.
Good Night and God Bless.