DAIRYING TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Thermometer by the door said 23 as g-son and I left for school this morning.
By the time I got back home the sun was shining brightly making it look much warmer than it felt.
After I finished chores and breakfast and read my Bible verses for the day I just sat and watched the activity at the bird feeders for a  little while. It felt good to relax in the warm house before having to brave the cold air for much of the rest of the day with the temperature barely reaching 40 for a short time this afternoon.
I had to run all my regular errands in town as well as search for a small corner shelf to replace a larger one that I keep hitting with my computer chair.
I came up empty not realizing how rare small corner shelves were. I found a square shelf in one store and measured it to see how that would work. I picked up 3 boston butts and 6 split chicken breast for the smoker as hubbie is going to fire it up again Saturday.
After eating a late lunch I spent the afternoon determined to finish #2 son's taxes. I was just finishing up when hubbie came home to ask if I wanted to ride up to #2 son's house to deliver his lawn mower and weed eater hubbie had picked up from daughters on his way home.
I  fed and put up the dogs and fed the chickens and gathered eggs before we left.
Son was busily cleaning his house from top to bottom. As I looked around at how pretty the house is I thought I sure wished it was in a different location so son could keep it. The realtor is coming Saturday to take pictures and list it on the market for sale. #2 son said the other realtor called today with a counter offer on the lot of land he has a bid in on and he accepted the counter so he closes on that property in May. At least he is off next week so he can work on having that land surveyed and perked before he officially buys it.
Hubbie and I came home to find #1 son searching through all our out buildings for a small gas grill we have. He finally found it in his half of the shop covered with other things on a bottom shelf. Maybe that will inspire him to organize his things. (doubt it) !!!
Today on the way home I had another memory flash as I passed this old dairy farm my cousin used to run. These old barns have lots of memories for me as I grew up in them. I remember I loved to stand in the warm milking parlor when it was cold outside and  watch the milk spurt through the overhead clear plastic lines to the big stainless steel tank.I can close my eyes and smell the cow smell and see them looking at me with those huge brown eyes while they slowly munch the grain from the feeders.

My dad's nephew ran this farm and we were always around there as dad helped in the fields and wherever else he was needed and his nephew's wife was my babysitter when she was needed.
This farm was my dad's old homeplace. As I grew up that old 2 story white house was a landmark in the community. The only thing I didn't like about it was the tin roof when it was raining. The loud noise of the pounding rain was deafening inside that house.
This is a picture of the house with my grandfather standing on the porch.

 And here it is in the background of this photo of my dad and his second wife and her daughter,they lived with his nephew and his wife for years in this house. My dad and Dottie lived on the second floor and his nephew and his wife lived on the bottom floor.

Unfortunately this old house burned down in the late 60's and they rebuilt a nice brick home in it's place.
In this pic you can see the roof of the house in the background beside the silo.

Dad's nephew had one daughter who married and moved to Georgia and taught school there while her husband worked in research. She held on to the farm with the dream of moving back here to retire. But God had other plans for her as he called her home a couple years ago with a respiratory illness. Her husband who is also originally from up here is staying in Georgia so he sold the house to another cousin about a year ago. She like my daughter is a single young lady and is doing well for herself.

The barns and pastures are all rented out now.
It always amazes me how things change so much yet stay the same in the memories of the mind.
Thanking God for these wonderful years and the memories I have of them.
Good Night and God Bless.

MAYBE PLUMS THIS YEAR ???

28 degrees and an unexpected icy windshield almost made us late for school this morning, but we made it !
I did chores and was pouring myself a bowl of cereal when the phone rang with a call from my friend who delivers gravel asking me if I would lead him up to #2 son's house with the load of gravel he ordered. I sat down the cereal bowl,luckily I hadn't poured the milk in yet and it will wait until tomorrow morning. I grabbed a protein bar and poured my coffee in my travel mug and away I went.
This guy is an expert at spreading gravel,especially in tight places and he impressed son and left him with almost no shoveling at all.
I left and headed home to start housework for today.
I had to spend some time outside this afternoon, although it was a bit cool,50 degrees, the sun was warm. I raked the leaves out of the fire pit area and pulled the weeds and grass from between the blocks.
I smelled these little sweet guys before I saw them. Although they look pretty punny this year they still are fragrant.

I noticed how different the plum trees are also from last year. Even with the mild winter we have had this year the blooms are not as far out as this time last year.
This is the plum trees last on March 10,2012.

I took these pictures today of the same tree.

This is a good thing for the fruit and I am more optimistic that we will get some plums this year which we didn't last year.
After I picked up g-son and got him settled down with food and toys I continued my sewing schedule finishing 3 medium bonnets today.

As the sun went down this evening the temperature plummeted and is supposed to be around 25 tonight with a strong wind,brrr, it is still winter !!
This is my little red silkie setter keeping her eggs all covered up nicely inside her warm brooder box.

She is funny when I peek in on her she is so still she looks frozen, maybe she thinks if she doesn't move I can't see her ??!!
After supper I buried myself in weekly paperwork and bills. I had to call Verizon to have a bogus charge removed from my bill. Apparently some company found my number and decided they would do business with me even if I didn't know about it. They removed the charges and blocked the vender.
What a crap to have to scrutinize every bill to make sure there isn't any added unknown charges. It always makes me wonder how many people don't catch these charges ??
Watched Survivor on TV ,this show used to be entertaining but now they feel the need to add so much drama it is getting ridiculous.
Grateful for the love of God tonight and for the blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BLIZZARD

This is my view of the sun on the way to school in the mornings since the time changed. It is not quite over the mountains yet instead of directly in my eyes when I turn left off this road onto the main road the school is on. As you can see by the water spots on the window it rained hard last night,about 1 1/4" in the gauge this morning.
I had a cake order to deliver after dropping g-son off then headed home to get Tuesday's laundry and housework started.
I made out a new house cleaning schedule and will try it out for a couple weeks,hopefully it will be easier when the temperature warms up  and I can get back to my early morning walks that I'm really missing lately.
#2 son came over after lunch and dug up the rest of the Murray Cypress trees along the road.

I went to pick up g-son and he surprised me with his spring pictures,they are so good.

He is looking more and more like a little man !! He was very proud of this picture and had to put it in the frame on the wall over his fall pic as soon as we got home.
While he ate and relaxed as he said he was very tired this afternoon I sewed up another couple bonnets.

This day marks a historic time  around here, 20 years ago. The blizzard of 1993 hit March 12,   dumping over 4 feet of snow in places and packing winds over 100mph. More than 250 people lost their lives including one man we knew in town when a limb crashed through his roof and hit him.The storm caused over 3 billion dollars in damage from Alabama to Maine and our NC mountains were right in the middle of it.

This winter storm took the shape of a hurricane and at times it felt like we were in the middle of a snow hurricane.

Factors that had never happened before and haven't happened since came together to create the monster storm.

At our farm,luckily we had enough warning to get extra hay to all the rented pastures we had cattle in so we only lost one calf that was born right in the middle of the worst of the snow storm.
When the snow started visibility was near zero with the strong winds whipping the heavy snow.

The amount of snow on this table was early in the storm.
Nothing anywhere in any of the buildings escaped the blowing snow.

Lots of trees around the farm were blown over in the high winds as the landscape changed forever in places.

In 1993 #1 son was 11 years old, #2 son had just turned 10 and daughter was getting ready to turn 8.
We lost our electric power for 5 days and cooked on the wood stove along with a couple camp stoves we had,totally forgot about the gas grill buried in the snow on the deck !
Those buckets in the back ground of this picture were kept full of melting snow to flush commodes.
I never dreamed it took so much snow to make a little bit of water !!

Playing outside wasn't much fun in this deep snow.

All the snow piled on this deck caused it to pull loose from the house and we had to have a new one built.

We finally got  a tractor dug out and hubbie began scooping the snow out of the roads,it was way to deep to push.

 That's Hank our dog at the time,thankful to have a place to walk.

 

All the animals were appreciative of a place to walk that wasn't 2 feet of snow.

All the limbs blown from the trees made this a very dirty snow.We were left with huge piles everywhere.

At least the kids had a place to sled with the driveway scooped out.

Even after DOT scraped the road walking was the main mode of travel for days.

There wasn't any use getting out because none of the stores were open,they either didn't have power or were snowed completely in. One of our friends who ran the dairy where we bought all our calves gave milk away to anyone who could come and get it. It was better than just pouring it out as the milk truck couldn't get there to pick it up.
I had never been through anything even close to this in my life before or since and hope this was a "once in a lifetime" event. I know for a long time after almost a week without power the kids and hubbie and I were appreciative of the convenience of running water !!
We were lucky to have gotten our power back that soon and it was only because my mother was on the same line and was elderly and lived alone and couldn't get out that the power folks worked on our lines off the road that had many trees on it.
It definitely was an event that anyone who lived through will never forget. The 20 years since haven't done anything to dim the memories of those snowed in days.
God looked after us at that time as we took care of the animals and the kids and I am very thankful for His undying love then and now.
Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY DAY TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

A dreary morning greeted us today. The weather wizards said the rain would be here about 5pm,not so !!  It already is lightly raining at 8am,yuck.
Hubbie took g-son to school while I did chores and moaned and groaned about it being so early,guess I better suck it up and get used to it ,huh !!
Hubbie spent the morning replanting some of the trees he and #2 son dug up yesterday then he took the rest up to #2 son's new house to set them out to hide the open area under his porch.
#2 son is taking 2 weeks off to spruce up the new house and put it up for sale. He doesn't like it up there on the mountain with the 30+ minutes drive to work.
I worked on Avon orders all morning and after a late lunch went to run an errand for daughter on the way to the post office to mail some Avon packages. Daughter is busily registering new kindergarteners and has to work until 6 tonight.
After a couple more errands for me it was time to pick g-son up on the way home. I could tell he was tired also from the earlier morning wake up time.
We came home and he felt much better after a large snack of mac and cheese followed by a cookie.
It is still raining lightly so while g-son watched some cartoons I sewed up a couple more bonnets to keep my sewing schedule going.

After his dad picked him up I did chores and relaxed while I waited for darkness to run all the animals into their houses so I could shut them up for the rainy night ahead.
I baked and iced a coconut cake tonight to be delivered to school tomorrow morning.

I took a trip down memory lane on my way back from the school daughter works at today. I passed by this large pasture that hubbie and I rented back in 1991 for our holstien steers we raised. It was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kilpatrick. They were vendors in the Curb Market,he was a wood carver and she made sewn items to sell. I think her name was Vinena ,but I'm not positive.
We asked him if he would rent his unused pasture to us and he agreed. Back them the upper half of this field was an old apple orchard which we cleaned all the overgrown briars and vines out of.

This small creek was enclosed in all woods back then.

I was glad to see the old house still standing but sad to see the old barn behind the house gone. I pictured in my mind the many times when we came by to check on our calves that we would find Ralph sitting out under the shed part of that old barn making walking sticks and slingshots from branches he had picked up from the woods around his property.

I was intriqued by this older couples simple lifestyle back then. They acted as if they didn't have a care in the world and smiled and laughed like there was no tomorrow. This elderly couple passed away many years ago now but my time with them will always be special. They had 2 sons neither of which lived close but 1 of them did move back and build a house on the land in 1992. I lost touch with them after the older couple passed and noticed that in 2005 the entire property was sold. The old fences,some of which hubbie and I built are still standing and in good repair.
These are special memories for me that were awakened when I happened across an old diary I kept during that time of my families life. When I changed desk it had fallen behind the old desk and I had forgotten about it. This was 1991, I also found some months from several other early years. I liked keeping a written record of my life at times even back through time when I had the extra time. Most of the months are the slow winter months as there wasn't much time any other time of year. I have a plan to type all these snippets into a book to go along with my blog books as soon as I have time to do it. I am almost finished with my latest blog book so it will be a good time to start a new project,huh !!
This evening the rain has really picked up and the temperature is hanging out in the upper 40's so it feels pretty damp and cool tonight.
God has a grand plan for all of us if we only allow Him to put it in place.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY SUNDAY AND 1983 MEMORIES

When I woke up and looked out the bedroom window I moaned at the prospect of a cloudy day but then I remembered the time change and that the sun wasn't up yet,uhhh !!
As I finished chores the sun made an appearance and warmed the morning.
Church was good today with our associate pastor still doing the preaching as our senior pastor is still in Turkey on mission. Eight members of our congregation left yesterday to join him for the next two weeks.
After service and lunch with everyone here daughter went out to meet Claudia and pick up g-son's friend who came last week to spend the afternoon with him,she brought him here and then she went home. #2 son and hubbie went to Home Depot to get potting soil to put in the pots with all the Murray Cypress trees we need to move from the right of way property the DOT just bought. D-in-love and I tackled their taxes.  I need to call the IRS with a couple questions for them before we complete the forms. G-son and his friend have played while we worked. They all left and I had time to bird watch some this evening in the extended daylight.
This Sunday has been blessed with the business of family and friends and has been wonderful.
Back in March of 1983 things were very busy also as we welcomed our second son.
I am ready to pop in this picture.

On the last day of February I went for my routine doctor's appointment and found my blood pressure had sky rocketed. They let me go home but I was to report to the hospital early the next morning,March 1st to have my labor induced.
Labor was induced about 9:00 and about 9 hours later,whew !!  I had my second darling baby boy in my arms.

He was such a peaceful baby and slept through the nights, even through his early photos.

Slept through his first meeting with his older brother.

And the introduction to his Aunt Laurie.

He was a big baby.

May mother never came to visit me in the hospital when any of my babies were born but was happy to see each one when we got them home.

I've never really understood why she never came to the hospital because wild horses couldn't keep me away from my daughter or daughter in law's when my grand babies enter this world !!
My mom had strange ways and we were never really close but I know she loved her grand babies.
As I finish this blog post it is already after 10pm so with an extra early morning coming up I'm off to bed.
Thanking God for the blessings of today and for the wonderful memories.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS !

Another chilly morning getting ready for market today. I had a lighter sweater layed out to wear and regretted not changing it for a heavier one all morning in the cold holding old cement block market building.
I had a decent day but didn't have to worry about selling out of anything. Took a couple orders for later in the week. They will mean extra baking times but this time of year I hate to turn anything down.
I stopped by Sav-Mor to get frozen coconut and stopped at my friends house to pick up my Avon order on my way home.
After getting unloaded I sat outside in the warm sunshine to finally get warm today. The temperature was in the upper 50's with no wind so it felt really good.
I watched signs of spring all around as Aaron and Rebecca dragged the lower pasture getting all the manure spread out,ready for the grass to soon start turning green.

Rebecca's baby is due April 2nd and bouncing around in that mule might speed her up,which she probably is hoping for !
I was joined by many feathered friends while I sat outside.
Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal are showing off their bright colors in the sunshine.

This White Throated Sparrow will soon be on it's way back up north to spend the summer months.

I cleaned out the box where the roosters I sold yesterday were and moved the little red silkie hen in there to set. I put 8 eggs under her and she was happily covering them when I left.
Hubbie had spent the day working on his wood pile for next winter, (get out the heating pad again tonight)  !!
After chores, to the dogs delight I sat on the front porch and took turns petting Annie,Sadie and Flash.
They are so jealous of each other I need three hands to keep them from pushing and shoving.
After a fresh egg salad supper hubbie and I did our routine Saturday night country music watching then started to watch the UNC/Duke ballgame but quickly lost interest as UNC fans !! Need I say more !!
Yuck and double yuck as I see hubbie going through the house setting all the clocks ahead. Yikes, it is already and hour past my bedtime !!!   I do not like this time change !!!
All the poor animals won't know what to think when I show up an hour earlier in the morning.
Well since it is almost midnight (new time) I'm outta here !!
Thankful to God for the blessings of today and for the opportunity to worship Him tomorrow.
Good Night and God Bless.

FUN FRIDAY

Another Friday morning with g-son,each one brings it's own interesting happenings each week.
I was expecting, hoping for a much warmer start to this day,28 degrees is not my idea of warmer !!
After chores I was determined not to forget to put an ad for the silkie roosters I have in a separate house on Craigslist so I did it right then.I very seldom ever get on the computer during the day but this needed to get done today !
I baked cakes until lunch time, 6 caramel and  2 pound cakes. I have no idea what sales will be like tomorrow with the temperatures expected to be near 60 with nice sunshine. I may not have enough but I am going to take a chance.
After lunch I treated myself to some estate sale shopping. I spent all of $3 so I surely didn't break my budget today. In one of the sales I saw these 2 old photos in these magnificent old frames. I stared at these a long time thinking and wondering who the folks in them were and how such family treasures could end up in an estate sale with no apparent ownership.

They both had hefty price tags on them so I wasn't interested in buying them only curious about who these folks are.

When I got home it was time to start on a sewing schedule . I have had a stack of bonnets and aprons cut out for several weeks and they haven't been touched. I have decide that after picking g-son up from school each afternoon I will spend at least 30 minutes in my office on the sewing machine that I moved to the middle of the room so I could sew more easily. After 30 minutes I had these two baby bonnets finished.

I love these little bonnets and think they are so cute on little girls. I got another one started so that was a very good showing for only 30 minutes of work.
I got a call about my silkie ad and they came at 6:00 to pick them up. They were a nice Vietnamese couple with three young boys,12, 7 and a sleeping baby left in the car.  The 2 older boys loved all the animals on our farm especially Sadie the dog.
I was glad to see those 6 roosters go as they were getting very antsy in that small cage.
I have my first silkie hen setter tonight but didn't leave eggs under her yet as I want o make sure she doesn't change her mind.
I iced my caramel cakes tonight while hubbie watched TV.  Talked to #2 son, the heat pump repairman is coming Monday morning. Daughter dropped off her baked goods tonight so she can catch a few extra winks in the morning before hosting a Glory Girls Conference for 6th - 12th grade girls at the Bible institute across from our church.
Enjoying tonight as the last on regular time before daylight saving time starts tomorrow night,yuck !!
I dread the early mornings next week ! It usually takes me a couple weeks to settle into the new time change. One good thing about it for awhile will be that the sun won't be up and directly in my eyes as I take g-son to school each morning.  That's about the only good thing I can think of !!!  Most people like the longer evenings but for me not so much as that just adds work time to my day !
Grateful for the blessings from God today as He is always beside me in all that I do.
Good Night and God Bless.