Time to Catch Up...

12/09/11

Joanna is in and the water is running.  It all has been quite miraculous.  More indication that God loves us and wants the best for us.  We had not a few set backs in getting Joanna's "mobile home" set up for her.  First the ground was freezing and we weren't sure we could finish the dirt work in time.  Then the evening of our second significant snowfall Mr. D and I tucked her camper into it's little wooded home.  There was still insulating to do and hooking up all the stuff... electric, septic, and water.  There had to be special insulation installed underneath to protect the tanks... grey water and septic so they wouldn't freeze.  That was a real challenge and a week of rolling around in the mud underneath.  Then we got all that done and the water wouldn't run.  We were all bewildered as to why.  There seemed to be enough pressure, but no flow into the camper itself.  At the last minute, just before our new snowfall... the water decided to come on... NO actually the water had nothing to do with it... God allowed the water to flow.  Praise God!  That is all we can say.  Now it can snow and freeze and do whatever it likes.  This has been the most unusual October/November I think I've ever seen.  I really DO think God had a part in it.

Now my "little" girl is here and all comfy cozy in her own home. 

The rest of the family will all be here for Christmas.  We will be taking pictures and more pictures and enjoying the season together. 

I've heard a lot of chatter about being "ready" for Christmas.  Well, if you're talking about gifts to give and decorations to put up... probably not, but I'm so ready to see everyone and spend time together it really doesn't matter.  All the rest will fall into place.

God is so good!
I'm exhausted!

12/12/11

Recap of the last few days...
Friday:  Had blood drawn at the lab at 6am  in preparation for Dr's. appointment on Thursday.

Doug was borrowing the neighbors loader and the tarp cover ripped when he was covering it up.  Had to get some ripstop nylon to mend the tarp.  Took 2 hours at the store to get that and a couple little items cut... yikes.

Saturday... went to sew the tarp and realized I had taken the extension cord from there to use for Christmas lights.  Went to store to get dog food which we needed and an extension cord.

Got home and went to mend tarp.  Found out I didn't really need the ripstop I had spent 2 hours getting the night before.  Mended tarp then made a "Bee Green Bag" for the ladies gift exchange (a tradition).  No heat in the sewing room so got really cold so went to the house and whipped up some supper... spaghetti sauce with lots of mushrooms, peppers, onions and left over sauce from Friday night pizza. 

Got the wrong kind of dog food, so had to go back to Tractor Supply to get right kind, then went to the church and Mr. D  helped me move my SS classroom stuff to new room downstairs.

Found out the freezer in the living room of the mobile home was not running, had to figure out what was going on with that.  Plugged that into my new extension cord to keep stuff from thawing out.  Thankfully the weather's been cold enough so that although the freezer must have been off for quite some time (Mr. D and his Dad had worked on the electricity a week ago), nearly all the food was not thawed at all, only a few packages of squash that were from last year anyway and I used them right away.

Sunday... Water frozen.  Had a little water set aside for drinking water and so used some of that to get cleaned up and wash hair.  Mr. D went out and turned up the heat tape and set the thermostat a little higher in the well house.  Water came back on just before leaving for church.  Had church dinner so brought stuffed peppers, spinach, brownies and potatoes. 

The fellowship at church was wonderful and renewed my spirit.  After dinner the Patch club had their Christmas presentation (songs and skit), and that was great.  The children did well and remembered all their lines.

After church Mr. D and I went to Ocean State Job Lots to do a little looking around for Christmas gifts and Mr. D needed some warm winter socks.  We found all we were looking for and I also picked up some spices and a nice cotton bath mat.  Got home around 4:30 pm.

I went to do a little laundry and the washer quit.  Joanna came home around 5 pm and told us that she smelled propane in her little house.  We went over and it didn't smell like propane to me, but did smell like exhaust.  Took over the CO monitor and turned the heat up and the monitor jumped to 88 ppm ... yikes.  Shut the heat off and the CO level fell right off.  Mr. D's going to see about taking the little furnace out and getting it cleaned today.  Joanna used the electric heater through the night and I went over this am to  check on her and it felt  cozy in there. 

It's Monday... had to come to work to get a break :)

12/14/11
Mr. D took the furnace out and over to the RV place... though we'd had recommendation from another RV place that we should replace the furnace for $500-600 he decided to see if he could get it cleaned.  Those guys at Riverbrook RV are super.  They cleaned the little furnace for $80 and now Joanna has heat again.  Yea!  God is sooooo good!
We got to share that at prayer meeting too and encourage others. 

01/06/12
Quite a leap, I know.  I took 2 days off while Heather and Brandon were here and we had a wonderful time together.  No pictures yet, 'cause I need to down load them and place them here.  They arrived earlier than expected on Friday night.  We went out to eat at Friendly's and then home by about 8:30 or 9:00.  Saturday we slept in a bit and since Joanna had to work, the rest of us did a little last minute shopping.  It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be and we had a beautiful sunny day, though it was cold.  Sunday we all went to church in the morning and then home to a great meal of duck and ham and all the fixin's, gifts and lots of family fun.  Then we settled in to game time and snacks of all shapes and sizes.  I've been going through withdrawal ever since.  Monday we really didn't do anything at all.  In the morning we had blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup (thanks Joanna) and just hung out watched some movies and played some games.  It was really too cold outside to do much there and very little snow.   Tuesday was Joanna's birthday so we went in the late morning and took a 2 mile hike.  The weather was much warmer and with little snow it was a perfect day for a hike.  Got some nice pictures that I'll  share after I download them.  Then we took Joanna for lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant.  We ate sooooo much!  After that we took Heather down to her friend's house in Whilmington, VT  and visited with old friends.  Then we stopped at Friendly's again for birthday ice cream and Joanna and I headed home.  Heather and Brandon went back home on the train Friday 12/30

On New Year's eve we spent time with friends.  More games and SNACKS... seems there's a theme here.  I went over to the church afterwards and cleaned up my Sunday School room and went through boxes that had been moved to my new classroom, but never sorted out.  Now I can find stuff again.  By the time I got done it was about 11:30 and got home just in time to see the ball drop.  I was just drifting off the sleep and the phone rang.  It was Brandon calling me at 1:00 am just to wish me a Happy New Year.  Needless to say... I was tired on Sunday, but we had a blessed day of fellowship and more food!

We still haven't had any large snowstorms.  It's been a mighty strange winter.  I heard though that there's a storm coming next week.  I'm sure the ski areas are happy to hear that.  Hope we get some accumulation to help with insulation.

So here it is the last day of the first week of the New Year.  I haven't any resolutions except I want to get our bookkeeping up to date and get paperwork done (have to find stuff first).  Then my next resolution might be to declutter and get rid of as much as I can so that when we do get ready to move into the mobile home I will have room to move. 

Sound like that will keep me busy for a while :)

I promise there will be pictures on the next post and hopefully it won't be 2 months from now.

Thank you for sharing this little picture with us Linda

I haven't had much time to visit all your blogs, but I pray that you will all have a wonderful 2012!

DIGGING HOLES.

This past week we rented a small excavator and dug a lot of holes... well to be exact they are ditches.  We now have a yard full of mud again.  That makes keeping my floor clean a full-time job, but I'm still glad it's happening.  This means that Joanna will be able to move in soon.  We had hoped this would happen a while ago, but didn't realize all that was involved.  We now have water line, a culvert to drain off water behind the mobile home, and septic is nearly laid then the next project is electric.   All this will be laid in the same ditches...

view up the hill into the woods behind us you can see all the rocks that we pulled out of those holes.  it's really not too bad.  other places on the property have had more and larger rocks.

view across and up to mobile home... lots of water collects in back in the spring and in big rain storms, so it'll be good to have this all drain off.



view down the hill towards our camper and the driveway.



one of the larger rocks we've encountered.  this one was too big to move so either we'll leave it, or we'll drill it and break it up with water in the holes.



looking into the drain hole from above... this will be lined with rocks...
 Mr. D has done most of that now to keep soil from getting into the culvert.




this is Joanna's new home before the digging began and just after our October snowstorm... 
a  36' camper... nice and roomy.

 So there's lots more work to do.  The ditches need to be filled in before we get more rain.  It has been spectacular weather thus far... we have much to be thankful for.

Our memory verse in SS class this week was Ephesians 5:20... it sure is easy for me to be thankful when things are going well and we have good weather/sun is shining etc, but when the tough times come it is harder to be thankful for those times.  I pray that this year I will continue to learn to thank the Lord for ALL things.

Giving thanks ALWAYS for ALL things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

New Collage

I've put on a new collection of pictures in the header and since I don't care for pictures without captions I thought I'd walk you through this collection of pictures from our family...

from L to R... top to bottom

Heather last Christmas... peering through the palms
Mr. D with our tiny Christmas tree
Joanna when we went sledding 12/27/2009
Mom and Dad on their wedding day, Asbury Park Baptist
My brother and I in the sandbox
Our wedding day, my Mom and Mr. D's Mom and Dad
Brandon with a Luna Moth this past summer
The little "camper" our family lived in in Maine for 6 years - don't know how my Mom did it.
J and H last summer
Mr. D on his tractor
Our little "camper in the woods" covered with snow last winter
Washington DC in the cherry blossoms this past April.

Thank you for visiting.

Have a wonderful day.

Hello Again...

I am participating in

To join in the fun go to... "From This Side of the Pond"

How do you typically react in a sudden, extreme, pressure-filled crisis?  Would we want you nearby an emergency?

Honestly, I don't panic but I do shake.  Guess that means something is going on inside.  Once got into a heated discussion with a parent of one of my students who would not listen to reason.  To this day I can feel the trembling in my gut.  It was time to leave and breathe.  It's the only time I gotten like that so guess I wouldn't be too good at debate.  On the whole in emergency situations I am very calm and am able to think clearly.  It is something I got from my Dad who was so wonderfully calm... at least on the outside... when things got crazy.  My mother would react more easily, but she also was a calming factor.  My brother also, so being surrounded with such calm people... how can you help being calm.

Caramel apple, Caramel sundae, Caramel corn, Caramel macchiato... of these four, which caramel treat would you choose?

I love caramel apples but my dentures do not... however, that doesn't stop me from eating them... I just get out a knife and fork.  I do love warm caramel corn, but not so much caramel sundaes or macchiato.  Of the two, guess my favorite would be warm caramel corn... like you get on the boardwalk.

Is there such a think as destiny?  Explain.

Of course there is destiny. 

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."  Ephesians 1:4-6   

Also Romans 8:28-31

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Probably not what the world thinks of as destiny... like in matter of love and wealth and possession.  I can't think of any "higher" destiny that becoming a child of God and living for Him.

What's your favorite piece of furniture?  I'm referring to something currently in your possession as opposed to something on your wish list.

About the second year of our marriage my Sweetie got me a mission rocker for Christmas.  I love that rocker and can't wait to get into our home again so I can enjoy it once more.  I also have a tall sewing chest that was in my Mom's family.  My Nanna always had it stuffed with old velvet purses.  When I inherited it the drawers were still stuffed with ancient sewing stuff... needles, thimbles, threads on old wooden spools and a knob for mending socks.  I kept all that stuff where it was and only use the top drawer for my current hand sewing/mending needs.  This also is in storage till we get moved in.

Wednesday night marks the start of the 2011 Baseball World Series. Did you know? Do you care? Will you be watching? Ever been to a professional baseball game? If you're not an American do you find the title 'World Series' annoying or amusing?

Oh my... we don't watch sports in our house.  I loved watching my kids play sports... basketball and soccer, but now I really don't have a lot of interest.  I hear a lot about it at work... mostly in the pools that are going on and who won for the week.

A sound that takes me back to my childhood is....

We had some old records... George Beverly Shea recordings that my Mom loved to listen to while she was working around the house.  Not too long ago on our Christian Radio Station I heard one of those songs from that recording... wow was that a wave of nostalgia.  Sometimes there are smells that I catch that take me back to childhood like "Bell Seasoning" my mom always used in her turkey stuffing.  Those reminders are getting less and less these days.

On average, once you've linked your hodgepodge post to mine how many other participant blogs do you visit? Do you ever come back to the Hodgepodge later in the day or even the day after to read posts?

This is the first time I've participated in Hodgepodge, but I like doing these Q&A posts.  It's fun to read others too, so I'll probably look at them throughout the day today.  It depends on what happens today whether I'll get to read all of them.

Insert your own random thought here.



God has been giving me lots to do lately.  I'm just plugging along and getting something done each day.  I try to prioritize, but the rules keep changing ;)

We've been trying to get the camper ready for my daughter to move into.  We hoped to rent the little excavator this weekend, but it's looking a little iffy... we still don't have all the supplies together (ie drainage pipe, underground wire etc.).  I finished laying the plywood in the kitchen, but haven't screwed it down and filled the holes, then it needs to be sealed.  I would like to get that done this weekend if we can't get the ditches done (see what I mean?).  We also have a muskovy drake to butcher and chickens to tag.  I also have carrots and beets to harvest and squash to cook up and freeze.  The chores just never end.  I'm not complaining really, just stating facts.  I think I need a helper for a few weeks to get everything done.  Any volunteers?

Well, it's been an incredibly busy year all way 'round.  As you can tell by my blog posts, I just don't have time to sit down and do anything on the computer even though I would like to.  Maybe this winter...  there isn't a lot of gardening to be done in the winter, or butchering, or ditch digging, but I have lots of sewing I want to do... we're expecting another grandchild and I WANT TO SEW (little temper tantrum there).  Hope it's a girl.

That's my "random thoughts" and there's lots more where that came from.. really too many to type out here.

another little "blast from the past"  my Auntie had a book with this picture in it.

What's up with us....

I haven't been sitting around reading, or sleeping, or twiddling my thumbs ya know....

Here's our new "egg box". Quite an improvement over a cooler on a folding chair at the end of the road...

The cooler is in the middle section.  On both sides are some veggies.  Some are free and some we're selling.

Mr. D made the boxes and I painted the door.

Then on the 21st and 22nd we went and had some fun at camp :)

That girl out there grinning at me is my daughter.  Yup, she went with us and we had lots of fun.  What a great weekend.  It was sooooo cold that night... first frost... and though we were prepared we slept little.

Our speaker was Mardi Collier who came from SC to be our speaker was wonderful.  God was really working through her to say just what I needed to hear.  She spoke about the promises in God's Word and "100% words"  such as "...my God shall supply all your need..." Philippians 4:19  or "blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" Ephesians 1:3  or another one of my favorites "...hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness..." II Peter 1:3  How cool is that?  Not just some things that we need, but all things that we need.  What a great God we serve!

I needed to hear this message. We've been through some unsteady times lately and it can be frightening, but God is my stability... He is my rock and fortress.

This is Mardi's book and if you have a chance you should find a copy and read it... well worth your time.


So glad that my daughter could go with me too.  It was fun to share a little mother/daughter time.

We've got more stuff to get in from the garden.  I pick lots of green beans and all the corn. We do not have all the squash in yet, but probably will stack it under tarps for a little while... it's going to get cold tomorrow night and probably will frost.  Don't want the little squashes to get rashes :)

I made some stuffed squash blossoms on 9/30 for my Sweetie's birthday.  He had gone to pick up my daughter's camper that day and it was driving rain facing one challenge after the other.  First he had trouble meeting up with his dad.  He got questioned by the police while he was waiting to meet up with him.  He was stopped by the police after he and his dad got separated on their way back.  He had to replace all the tires before coming home with the camper 'cause they had dry rot.  I'm telling you, my Sweetie has huge amounts of patience... after all, he puts up with me.

So a special dinner was in order.

first I sauteed some onion, mushrooms and fresh herbs in a little olive oil

I picked about 12 squash blossoms... not going to produce fruit now anyway

I removed the insides, they give the flower their sweet smell and I just don't care for them in my casserole.  Watch out for bees if you pick them when the weather is a little cold... I found about 5 or 6 tucked down inside.  I washed the flower to get any sand/dirt off.

I took a small container of ricotta cheese and mixed in the sauteed vegetables, which I had cooled off a little then added some Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)





Then I stuffed the blossoms with the cheese and veggie mixture and laid them in a small baking pan.  I did not fry them first to avoid all that step and all that oil which neither of us need.

I then laid a little sauce over the top, not too much and this is organic spaghetti sauce I buy at Price Chopper grocery store.  I could have used some of my own, but had this open already.  I put on some mozzarella cheese and popped them into the oven. and this is what we got....



This was really yummy.  I noticed we have lots more squash blossoms out there... maybe there's still some time to make more before the end of gardening season.

Hope you have a great week.

God Bless!

Fall Ducklings.

Because the summer was so hot our poor Momma ducks did not have an easy time incubating their eggs.  Although the coop is in the shade and we keep it ventilated, it still is quite warm in there during the summer months.  We have one Momma duck who has tried several times unsuccessfully to raise a family.  She seems a little spooky too and we thought this year she'd be headed for the roaster.  Well, good thing we kept her around a little longer....

make way for ducklings.... 15 of them to be exact.

She was not going to be unsuccessful this time.  She hatched 15 little yellow ducklings.  We are keeping them inside until they get feathers since it is getting cold at night. 

Doesn't this just make you smile?

Busy Days

I know it's been a long time and probably most of my followers have given up on me.  I also don't like it much when someone doesn't write for a long time and after a while just don't visit anymore, but hope you can empathize with me when I say it has been very busy. 

Brandon stayed with us until the first week of August.  We had a good time, but he was really ready to go home and missed his mom terribly.  There were many changes for him at home and I think he was getting nervous about what was waiting for him there.  I've talked to him several times since he went back and he seems to be settling into the routine and is now back in school. 

We've had a good harvest from the garden.  Picked 2 bushel of Jacob Cattle beans and then while I had pneumonia it gave me something to do with my hands.  I have recovered for the most part, but still feel a little wimpy.  I have found that my stamina took a nose-dive and we're working on that. 



shelled Jacob Cattle beans



We put up 15 quarts of dill pickles.  The tomatoes have been pouring in and I've been enjoying them so much... nothing like a sun ripened tomato!  This weekend I'll be picking the remaining shell beans and also the Romano beans and getting those put away.  Also want to can the tomatoes for soups, stews and sauces (those that I don't eat fresh). 

We didn't have a huge crop of beets this year, but it's OK since I got a bunch from another source and Mr. D put them up for us already (sweet man!). 

Our corn is almost ripe and ready to pick.  We'll enjoy that fresh since we do not freeze or can corn.  Mr. D won't eat frozen or canned corn, but he will eat it roasted fresh.  Because of that we don't plant much and we invite folks over during corn season for a corn roast and fellowship... great times.

Well, now that I seem to be recovering and the harvest may be winding down a little, maybe I can get back to blogging.  I have been collecting pictures to share with you of the flooding that we had around here from Irene

I go over this bridge twice/day.  The water came up and over flooding on either side.  See all the debris caught in the underside of the structure.

This is the shopping plaza in West Lebanon, NH  it was under 6 feet of water.  Where I am parked to take this picture was in front of a grocery store in the same plaza... it wasn't touched, but all the other stores were flooded.

The next morning after Irene, the sky is blue, sun is shining so innocently and this is the mud that used to be a beautiful green soccer field and dog park.  After 2 weeks it still is like this... so many lost houses this is not a priority for cleanup.

God is so good!  We didn't have a lot of damage here on our property from the hurricane.  The eye went right over us, but a few miles to either side of us they received a lot of rain and there was much damage from flooding.  Some of the folks from work were stranded and couldn't get out.  One girl had her mobile home flooded and is still living in a camper till it dries out and she can replace the carpet and wall board.  She lost a lot of other stuff even though it was only a few inches of water and the insulation underneath had to all be torn out.  So sad to see all the destruction.

Here's a few links so you can see the damage around VT and NH...
http://www.mansfieldheliflight.com/flood/

http://www.cvps.com/Jobs2.aspx

I've been calling customers this week that are in the damaged areas.  It is amazing how nice everyone is.  So many volunteers out there helping to clean up.  The mud is so thick as you can imagine.  This is not an area that floods very often.  In fact some of these places have not flooded in recorded history.

Well, I am very grateful and humbled too that God would spare us as He did.  I am ever mindful that these things happen to the godly as well as the ungodly.  It's all for His purpose and plan. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Keep looking up!