TEACHER WORKDAY MEANS ALL KIDS ARE HERE

Another cold mid teens morning and frozen water pans. I  was able to break the ice in them yesterday but this morning they were frozen solid so I had to beat the ice out of them and refill them. Hopefully the animals will get a drink before they freeze back.
I put out the game camera last night to see what if anything was coming through the yard since one of my guineas is missing.  I got a rude surprise today when I looked at the pictures as a couple coyotes or  foxes (can't really tell ) were milling around right above the house next to the chicken houses.

We had all 4 grands here today since it is a teacher workday.

At lunch today I had some of this broccoli from our garden. I picked this yesterday and it was frozen solid but it thawed and tasted very good and fresh. It has been such a mild late fall and early winter this year that things in the garden have kept going strong.

Hubbie took g-son to wrestling practice and the girls got picked up shortly after he left.
Hubbie and I got chores done early so the animals could get a good snack before another cold night.
It is already 22 degrees at 8:00 so this may be the coldest night so far.
Each time I go downstairs to put wood in the stove I have to stand and watch the flames for a while.
I really enjoy watching the flames and wish that we could have a wood stove upstairs in our living room so I could sit and watch the flames but I know with our small living room it would be much to hot . We have the Appalacian in there but can only build a fire in it when the temps get down into the single digits and open the sunroom door.

I put the camera back out in the same location to see if this is a regular coyote route. On these cold nights we are bringing Rosie into the basement so there is no barking dog outside and maybe that's why they decided to come through .
Hubbie and I relaxed for the evening.
Thankful for the blessings of the day.
God Bless and Good Night

A COLD MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Got to sleep in a little while this morning and enjoy the warmth a little longer as schools are on an optional work day. Daughter has to work but d-in-love is taking the day off.
Daughter didn't go in until 8:00 so that gave us some extra time this morning.
IR and CA were both in good moods this morning and had breakfast while I went out into the 17 degree morning to break ice off all the waterers and give out some extra feed to help keep the animals warm. Thankfully our cat,aka, Meow Meow to the girls is better of his sickness and is eating and having his warm milk. For the past couple days he has layed in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch and refused to eat of drink. He was getting up to use the bathroom and I'm sure was drinking some water and maybe eating some dry food that is always out for him.  Thankfully yesterday he started feeling better and started eating. We gave him some extra coverings last night for his very warm little house on the front porch and seemed to make it though the cold night fine. He hates being inside or trapped in a cage because he is so used to roaming free.
I came back inside and had my breakfast and then gathered the laundry together.
This little girl is starting to be able to have some solid foods and she loves eggs and bananas.

Between laundry loads and keeping the wood stove going downstairs I played with IR and fixed lunch for all of us.
After lunch d-in-love dropped off RL to play with IR while she went grocery shopping. They had a new doll house to play with that I found at Sam's Club last week on clearance and it kept them entertained for a long while.
Daughter came in early from school and took her girls on a ride to get them to take naps and d-in-love picked up RL to go with her to take their basset hound to the vet for his rabies shot. RL says she wants to be a vet when she grows up so she wanted to go see them give the shot.
Hubbie and I got chores done early and got things all settled in for another cold mid teens night.
Hubbie grilled us a couple pork chops to go along with some fresh collard greens we picked from our garden this evening. They were frozen but tasted very good cooked in the instant pot.
We settled in for a relaxing evening.
Thankful for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

COLD SUNDAY

Hubbie, #1 son and I had nursery duty at church this morning and we took care of 7 little 2 year and unders.
We came home to lunch with everyone except son-in-love who is working today. We had beef stew and corn with corn bread or sour dough bread slices.
Everyone had a nice visit and catch-up time.
After lunch hubbie went up to his shop and I walked around the farm. I am afraid this is really way too early for these Daffodils to be blooming. I remember them blooming in February but can't think of a time that I saw blooms in January before.

Also the Butterfly bushes along the driveway are loaded with green leaves already.

The prediction of mid teen nights starting tonight and going through the middle of the week will definitely hurt these.
Sadly I lost the oldest rooster that I have today. I don't even know how old this guy is but he had gotten really feeble the last couple weeks and I wasn't surprised to find him in his house dead this morning. He surely had a great life as he was able to roam free and had the run of the farm for the last several years.

Got chores done and settled in for a restful evening thankful for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BB

Up early to get chores done and head out to market. It is a rainy day so sales will probably be pretty slow.
If the old saying "red sky in the morning, sailers take warning" is true we must be in for a rough day !

And as if right on cue the rain began and it rained all day.
Daughter and the girls were already there and getting set up when we arrived.
She hung around for awhile until I got some market business finished and then she took the girls home on this nasty day.
Sales were okay especially for a rainy cold day and I was definitely ready to get home and in the warmth of the wood stove hubbie had a fire built in.
We didn't have long to enjoy our rest before it was time to get the chores done early so we could get over to Aa's house for BB's 5th birthday party.
All the kids had a good time and BB enjoyed the trick candles that wouldn't blow out and all the festivities of the evening.

 Hubbie and I got him this guitar.

HAPPY  5TH  BIRTHDAY BB !!!
Thankful for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night

JANUARY 13 thru JANUARY 17

This will be the last multi day post as I am now thankfully caught up with my blog post and picture downloads.
This week started off with a rainy Monday. These 3 were all satisfied to stay inside and have lunch then rest on a rainy day.

 I did laundry and put away all the clean laundry from last week while they had a pretty low keyed afternoon.

Tuesday was IR's second day of pre-school and she seems to be adjusting slowly to spending the morning at school.

It was her choice today of where to have lunch and she picked pizza at Sub Way.

We couldn't stay long as we had to get CA home and get her ready to go to the doctor for her 6 month check up and shots.

She weighs 15 lbs 12 oz and is in the 24 % for weight and 68% for height. This is the first time she has been out of the single digit percentages for her weight. We are forever grateful for God's blessings on this baby.
IR loves this cat and even though he acts like he doesn't like her attention he keeps coming back for more !!!

I spent Friday baking while hubbie watched the girls.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset.

Hopefully tomorrow's blog post will be for one day.
Thankful for all the blessings of this week .
God Bless and Good Night

WEEK OF JANUARY 6 thru JANUARY 12

Back to work this morning for everyone means all 4 grands were here early. Hubbie got g-son to school and then I got RL to pre-school which she loves and had no hesitation at all about getting right back into the routine.
The girls didn't miss a beat this afternoon and got right back to playing.
During the holidays daughter got a call from Mud Creek Christian School where RL goes and where IR has been on the waiting list for the 2 year old class and got the news that a 2 day a week spot had opened up for IR.
Thursday was her first day and she was excited.

Son-in-love celebrated 20 years at the Boys and Girls Club today and they gave him this pretty cake.

Also this week Christmas was officially all the way over as I took all the Christmas covers and rugs to the laundry on one of the pretty days and got them all washed and dried and put away for another year.

The rain started Friday and it rained all day Saturday and into the night causing a pretty big flood. The wind also blew really hard and daughter's family came over for the evening because they lost power at their house. Thankfully we kept power and only lost a couple trees from the high wind gust. Thankfully the trees fell where they didn't hit anything and we spent Sunday afternoon after everyone left from lunch cleaning out our driveway ditches and cleaning up the fallen trees.

This little bear cup appeared to be trapped up in this tree above the flood waters but he soon came dawn and swam to land.

In this pic from this morning the flood water is visible in the bottoms through the trees and the pic from this evening at sunset shows the remnants of standing water in the bottom pastures.

Thankful for the blessings of this week.
God Bless and Good Night

JANUARY 1 thru JANUARY 5 TO START 2020

New Years day dawned clear and beautiful.

I spent the morning after chores cooking our traditional lunch of ham, collard greens and blackeyed peas for health, wealth and luck.

#2 son and d-in-love Tif were our only guest today as daughter's family and Aa's family are all still recovering from the flu and #1 son's family went to Rutherfordton to have lunch with d-in-love A's family.
#2 son went over to check on the progress at their house and were pleased with how much they have gotten done so far.

The rest of this week was work days for hubbie and I as the holiday break is coming to an end .
The days started out foggy but cleared off and were warm but there was some snow predicted but our area only saw a few flurries.

I had a good market day Saturday to begin the new year.
Thankful for this first week of a new year and all the blessings it contained.
God Bless and Good Night