HOT PEPPER FRIDAY

 IR woke me this morning when her and CA arrived at regular school time since daughter is starting back to school with all virtual meetings today. It is a very foggy misty morning after some pretty heavy rains overnight left 1/2 inch in the gauge this morning.

I I got chores done and then we had breakfast . I made a cake delivery and then came home and got started turning this basket of hot peppers into hot mustard sauce and pickled peppers.

I ended up with 6 more jars of hot mustard sauce and 2 jars o pickled hot peppers for hubbie.

After I finished this we all had lunch then I played with IR while hubbie got CA down for a nap.             Before her nap was over daughter called and ask if we could come over and meet with the man that put her heat pump in. Her crawl space is all wet again and the heat pump doesn't seem to be pumping water out .  We woke CA up and headed over there to meet him. I took care of the girls out in the garage while hubbie met with the heating and air man until daughter finished her meetings.                                 The man unstopped the pump tube but told daughter she was going to have to encapsulate her crawl space and get a dehumidifier down there to stop the mold causing moisture.                                              Hubbie and I were going to make another cake delivery and stop by #2 son's house again so IR went with us.                                                                                                                                                           We dropped her back off and then came home to get chores done hopefully before a storm hit. Thankfully the storms today all went around us and we didn't get anymore rain at least before bedtime tonight.    We are hoping this beautiful sunset is the beginning of a couple days of non rainy days.

                                                                                                                                                          Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

ANOTHER STORMY AFTERNOON

Up to RL ad IR coming into wake me up. IR has a dentist appointment to check the work she had done a couple weeks ago and daughter brought CA here to stay while she is gone.

After they left RL helped me get chores done and then we had breakfast.

After we ate I read her some books and then went to deliver a cake. When I got back daughter and IR were back from the dentist and IR was fine and everything looked good. Daughter said IR was not a good patient today but hopefully she will forget this dental experience as she gets older.

While the bigger girls went with daughter to pick up Addie CA found a new playmate in Meow Meow.

When they all got back we all went inside and had lunch.

After lunch the girls all played and then daughter took IR, CA and Addie home and hubbie, RL and I went over to #2 son's house to check out all their new yard work.

It looks so good and these planters will be so pretty filled with flowers and vegetables.

We came home and got chores done between storms. We got another 7/10ths inch of  rain today.

As I was just finishing typing this post last night our power went out again. I got a notification that it would be fixed by 3am so we got ready and got into bed. I was really hoping I could get to sleep without my routine hot soaking bath.

Suddenly about 10 minutes later the lights all came back on but we didn't think it would last so we just got up turned all the lights off and went back to bed.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

SNAKE HUNT AND MORE STORMS

Up to cloudy skies this morning as I  got chores done and then grabbed a cup of coffee and pack of crackers for a to go breakfast this morning.

We changed out regular trip to the dump to today since IR has a dentist appointment to recheck her dental work tomorrow morning.

We went to daughter's to pick up the girls and her trash and recyclables. RL is with her other g-ma today.

We went to the dump/ recycle center then our bank and then to market to get payroll done and then make a deposit for market.

We headed home and as we were passing daughter's house she flagged us down and needed help finding what she thought was a baby copperhead snake she had seen while mowing .

The snake unfortunately came from under the kid's slide in her back yard. We couldn't find the snake but it made us wonder about IR yesterday when she started crying and said she got bee stung on the leg. Daughter said there was a couple little welts on her leg  but thankfully it didn't swell or cause her any trouble. She still says it was a bee so hopefully she was right, it just seems funny that happened and then there was a snake there today.

We brought the girls here while daughter finished her lawn mowing.

We all ate lunch then daughter came in and I did some baking . A storm blew up once again today and rain poured down with loud thunder. We ended up with .7 inches today which seemed a lot less than it seemed we got.

Hubbie went back over to daughter's with her to check on a leak under her house and discovered her heat pump isn't draining properly again just like last year so she is calling a repairman to come see what they can do.

After hubbie came home we got chores done and then picked in the garden. I found all these hot peppers so more hot mustard is on my to do list for tomorrow.

There was a pretty sunset this evening with all the mist left from the earlier rain.

D-in-love is modeling the new mask that all school employees must wear .

Things sure look different everywhere this year. Govenor Cooper made an announcement today that our state is staying in the phase 2 plan and not moving to phase 3 yet with the number of covid cases still not declining.

Several folks we know now have the virus so we are very thankful for each day that we all stay healthy.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

POWER OFF FIREPIT EVENING

Up to sunshine this morning at least for a little while. RL was already here and ready to help with everything we had on our to do list this morning starting with chores.

We ate breakfast and then I put a call in to Verizon to see about upgrading our plan and believe it or not after getting passed to 4 different folks and staying on the phone for almost 2 hours while the last very nice seemingly knowledgeable guy checked every way to do this and then put us off until the end of our plan month and said for me to call back then and I guess have to start all over , what ?????

Anyway by this time my head was hurting so I was just glad to get off the phone.

We ate lunch then daughter and the girls came over to play with RL for awhile.

We got another heavy rain and bad storm this afternoon that left .6 inch of rain in the gauge.

After daughter left and d-in-love picked up RL hubbie and I went out to get chores done and when we came back inside we discovered out power was out.

We soon discovered everyone in our area had no power including daughter and #1 son's family's.

They all came over here and we built a big fire in the firepit and made smores and had a very nice family night .

Unfortunately as RL and IR played on the swing set they found a yellow Jacket's nest that hadn't been there before and luckily RL was the only one that got stung and only once.

Later in the evening hubbie and son-in-love took care of the nest with some gasoline.

The power came back on about 9:45 so everyone left and hubbie and I came inside and got ready for bed. Our internet was still off so this is a back dated post.

#2 son and Tif are both off this week and getting some things done around their house . They found these old post in the woods in back of the house and used them for the gate post on their driveway gate.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

MAGAZINE COVER STORY

Monday morning again and this Monday begins a new phase for us as d-in-love goes back to work full time. We have been keeping RL each Monday all summer when she worked just a couple days a week so today feels pretty normal but tomorrow will be different with her here.
We woke to a thunder storm this morning and I waited out the heavy rain before getting out to get chores done.
I had breakfast then got laundry started with the help of RL who is very clingy today and doesn't even want to be in the next room by herself ??
I put away laundry and got a couple loads done before lunch time.
All RL wanted was biscuits for lunch and hubbie and I had some fresh vegetables and cottage cheese for lunch.
After lunch daughter brought IR and CA over to play and we discovered by a phone call that the magazine was out that daughter and I were featured in. We hopped in my car with RL and IR going with us and drove to Flat Rock to pick some up. We did not expect to be on the front page.

The article was very good and we are very pleased with the photos and all.
After d-in-love came in to pick up RL they all left and hubbie and I took supper over to sis-in-law Sandy's house. They weren't home but had left the door unlocked for us.
In a call later Sandy had been back to the emergency room to get another x-ray of her foot that was still swollen and painful. Thankful there aren't any broken bones.
We came home and waited out another heavy rain storm before getting out to get chores done.
There was 1.4 inches of rain in the gauge for the day.
The hurricane Isaias is set to make land fall tonight close to the border of NC and SC.

Our rain is coming from a front that is stalled over us by the hurricane so hopefully when it moves on the front will leave us. The rest of the week looks pretty normal for this time of year.

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

VIRTUAL VBS BEGINS

A slow leisure Sunday morning to get chores done and have breakfast.
We had cooked beef stew in the crockpot overnight so we added green beans, corn and biscuits plus I made a blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Everyone made it for lunch except daughter's family and we all had a nice visit.
After everyone left hubbie and I cleaned up the kitchen then we picked up d-in-love and RL and went up on the mountain to our blackberry friend's farm to pick up some honey they had just pulled off.
I got my winter supply of 4 quarts today since this will be the only time she will pull honey this year. She lost several of her hives of bees last winter and has waited this long to take any honey and won't take anymore this season hoping she won't loose any more bees this winter.
We stopped back by daughter's and let RL and IR play a little while before we headed home.

We left there and came home to sit out another rain storm today and then get chores done.
We ended the day getting 6/10ths inch of rain from a couple hard showers with sunshine in between.
After choretime tonight I had to move the last incubator chicks from the long brooder box into another box because a new waterer I put in their box leaked and made quite the mess in the box .
They will probably be much happier in the bigger box they are in now. I was going to use it for the hen and 10 baby guineas but I think I have a buyer for all 10 of these keets and he wants them next week.
I helped hubbie restake a couple tomato plants that blew over in the wind today and hubbie picked up another couple limbs loaded with pears that fell off the loaded Kiefer pear tree.
The moon seems to be all alone in the sky tonight.

We came inside and relaxed for the evening.
VBS started tonight and it looks like nothing we've ever seen before as RL , BB and IR's class was all virtual and they got to enjoy looking into a computer screen at one another and their teachers tonight.

It's definitely a strange world right now and I often wonder how much of this strangeness are these kids going to remember and how it will change the way they live their lives. I know g-son and EL are old enough to remember things and it is going to be very interesting to watch them grow up and see how they view things after things hopefully settle back down after this pandemic is over.
The covid 19 numbers are still rising in our county, state and country and July was the worse month for death totals since the pandemic started. Still there are so many folks out there that are refusing to take this threat seriously and are causing the spread to keep rising as they refuse to wear mask or practice social distancing.
It has really opened my eyes to how self - centered people are and how self righteous attitudes appear to be the rule of thumb in our society. Disrespect of your fellow man is running rampant right now and if this is a prelude to what the end of time will be like the old devil must be dancing a jig through the fires of hell .  If a small thing such as wearing a face mask to save your fellow man is viewed by so many as too much to ask I hate to think what would happen if the Lord makes some really hard request of us to save us at the end of time.  How many folks will question His request ???
Thankful that I have a wonderful Savior and praying that His grace shall forever be poured out on me and my family.
God Bless and Good Night

RESTFUL SATURDAY

Up early to pick up our curbside Sam's Club order that is ready an hour earlier than planned. We rushed through chores and headed there to pick it up.
We were the only car in the curbside pickup spots this morning.
We came home and put away our order and then we went up to the garden to pick vegtables for tomorrow's lunch. I picked green beans while hubbie dug some new potatoes. We are also taking dinner to sis-in-law Sandy on Monday so we gather extra things from the garden for them.
I talked to Sandy when we came inside and she said she is still very very sore and is having an especially hard time laying down because of the pain . Her sternum is broken right in the middle probably the hard hit caused her seat belt to break it.
Hubbie and I relaxed out in the covered patio until lunch time then we watched storm clouds pass us by while we did some housework.
I delivered the cupcakes I made to my friend for her wedding tomorrow and helped her set them up and get a few things organized for the wedding.
We came back by Walmart and picked up our curbside order there.
We came home and got chores done then grilled some steaks for supper.
It has been a pretty boring day around here today.
But tonight starring at this big bright full "Sturgeon" moon with the planet Jupiter shining brightly above it was a good way to end a Saturday.
Hello August 2020 !!!!!

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