What "It" is...

 

I loaded a few pictures from my phone, so thought I'd share them here.

 

Johanna was in a painting mood yesterday, so we painted a couple of key-chains

while Tracy Jo was still napping.

 

 Our steam juicer...

Andrew found this organ in the giveaway ads on Bismanonline.  :)  It smells like cigarette smoke, but other than that, it's really nice.

 

 

 And now, I'll show you what "It" is! 

 

Hint *  These go in "It": *

And here IT is!!! 

 

 Andrew bought a "player piano".  :)

Here he is "playing" it...

...and here it is, making music all by itself.

Neat, huh?

 

 

Well, once again, my blog will be silent for a few days.  I'll be gone at Family Camp. 

 I'm really looking forward to seeing many friends again

 and listening to the messages which are always so good!!

 

God bless and keep you all!

Andrew bought something neat today...

...but until I'm sure it's alright with him that I tell you all (he might want to share about it first), I'll try to keep from telling you.  But, it's interesting, and noisy, but in a good way!

 

I babysat Johanna and Tracy Jo today again.  It was a pretty usual kind of day.  The girls are getting so smart!

 

My mom was picking green beans today, I see. 

 

The guys burned the big garbage pile, then went to Bismarck to pick "it" up.

 

 

~ More tomorrow!  :)

Another apple day!

 

 

 

Daily update---and a bit o' humor...

My dad, mom, and Andrew spent part of the day in Bismarck (Dad delivered the scarp metal and the other too did a lot of errands----Andrew even got a new volleyball). Jacob helped me by picking up apples up at Andrew's place while I did some work inside the house.

 

 I had the kitchen to myself for most of the day and put it to good use....making apple sauce, juice, butter, and a kettle of tomato soup to can tomorrow.  The house smelled REALLY good!! 

 

This came in my e-mail Inbox this morning and I thought some of you may find it amusing as well, so I'm sharing it here:

 

 

 

The boys had been up in the attic together helping with some cleaning. The kids uncovered an old manual typewriter and asked her, "Hey, Mom, what's this?"

"Oh, that's an old typewriter," she answered, thinking that would satisfy their curiosity.

"Well, what does it do?" they queried.

"I'll show you," their mother said. She went downstairs and returned with a blank piece of paper. She rolled the paper into the typewriter and began striking the keys, leaving black letters of print on the page.

"WOW!" the boys exclaimed, "That's really cool -- but how does it work like that? Where do you plug it in?"

"There is no plug," she answered. "It doesn't need a plug."

"Then where do you put the batteries?" they persisted.

"It doesn't need batteries either," she continued.

"Wow! This is so cool!" the brothers exclaimed. "Someone should have invented this a long time ago!"

Zucchini and apples....

 

We are abundantly blessed in the apple and zucchini department at the moment, so much so that we gave some apples (and tried to give zucchini) to the wife of the guy who came and bought Jacob's Rover this evening.  :) 

 

The guys loaded up another load of scrap-metal this afternoon.  There were a lot of loud noises out by the shop because of that project.

 

My mom and I shredded/blanched/froze zucchini and turned apples into sauce and juice.  Then, we made Zucchini Fritters for supper, with a baked Apple Walnut dish for dessert.

 

Guess what?  There was no rain today and we even saw a glimmer or two of sunshine!!  We ladies washed all our bedding/comforters and hung them out in the strong wind to dry, so now, even with my windows closed to keep out the very cool breeze, my room smells like the great outdoors.

Awwwwwwww....

 

 

~I'm feeling blessed and contented and happy and peaceful and tired tonight.~

 

 

 

Drip, drop, splash....

It's been raining on and off all day, again!   What an unusual August this has been.

 

My mom and I are very happy, despite the gloomy weather, as we took and passed the Concealed Carry class/test!   We even shot in the rain.  :)

 

The guys stayed home and I'm not sure what they did, actually.  Probably just rested and took it easy (and ate the chicken enchiladas we prepared yesterday). 

 

My mom shared this on Facebook this evening and I thought it was just perfect for this day:  I hope it's a blessing to others who may read it too! 

 

Now, may God guide us all through another full week of life

.........and show us how to be a blessing to others!

Another wedding...

My mom and I went to the wedding of an "Old" friend of mine/ours

(Lindsay M) this afternoon in Bismarck. 

 

Mom, getting some pictures of the decorations...

 

 

 "I do."

 It rained before and after the wedding, but God stopped the rain

 long enough for the outdoor ceremony to take place.   Yay! 

 After the wedding, my mom and I drove by the place we used to live in Bismarck.  Lindsay's family lived in the top half of this unique looking apartment home and my family and I lived in the basement there.  Lindsay and I were together ALL the time!!!  We haven't stayed in touch over the years as much as one might think, but Lindsay and her MOM, Sandy came to my high school graduation several years back, and more recently, we saw Lindsay where she works, as she gives my grandpa his dialysis treatment often!  And now, she's married---to a man named SANDY!  :) 

 Playing dress-up---way back when...

 What a beautiful bride!! 

"God bless you, Sandy and Lindsay as you start this new chapter in your lives!" 

Looking back...

I was looking through pictures tonight and realized I never posted these from our cousin,

Hristiyan's visit!   SO, enjoy!

 

(For those of you who don't know our cousin, he really, ReAlLy, REALLY likes camo!)

 

Boys will be...?

...flat out on the ground, laughing!

 

 Looking at the future silage corn:

 We ALWAYS enjoy your visit, Hristiyan!!  We're looking forward to the day that you have your own driver's license and can stay with us (hopefully) a little longer in the summers!!!

 

 

Tonight, I'm extra grateful for the blessing of family and dear friends!!!

 

 



More company! :)

 

We had a very nice visit from a Minnesota guy (Michael D.) for part of yesterday and today.  Some of us took him up to the pasture to check the cows in the old Ford pickup...

 

 Michael's a cattleman himself, so I think he enjoyed seeing more cows...  :)

 

 Last night, Lauretta and some of her siblings came over for a couple hours of volleyball fun.  When we were tuckered out, we all went in for rice-krispie-bars, cake, AND ice cream! 

 

Today, we did some target-practice.  I think we're improving!!??  :)

 

 I babysat Johanna and Tracy Jo.  I brought them over here for the day and they loved swinging and collecting eggs the best, I think, although they had fun with other things too.  They both took such a nice nap too this time, so they must be getting used to "Tora's house", as they call it.  OH yes, and they enjoyed watching "Tora's Dad" and Jacob play a few rounds of ping-pong!  The girls can be pretty good cheer-leaders.

 

Right now, there is quite a storm blowing through, complete with thunder, lightning, and more rain!

 

I feel a little sleep deprived, so I'm going to wish you all a good rest, and for God's blessings and direction in your life to be made obvious----and I'm going to be off to dreamland. ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doing this and that...

 

Today, we had rain showers off and on.  My dad took the old combine and some headers up to Bismarck and the yard looks so much larger without that lawn ornament sitting by the trees!  :)

 

Andrew and I made up all of the beds up at his place this morning, then I cleaned his whole house again, as we're getting company tomorrow and possibly this weekend again.

 

It's been great getting more and more garden produce now (my mom cut up a large kettle full of our broccoli for creamy soup)---and it's REALLY nice that God's been watering everything!!

 

 

This evening, I baked bread.

 

Right now, the crickets are singing (I think it's the "Hallelujah chorus", as they keep saying the same thing over and over....).

 

 

Good night, everybody, good night!

Archery...

Andrew and I went down to the range this morning to do some target-practice.  My mom joined us later, but then I left to go make some lunch and so I don't have pictures of her shooting.

 

After running some ammo through our pistols, we experimented with my bow...

 

 

I REALLY like this kind of "shooting"!  :)

 

 Andrew tried being back about 50 yards,

and actually got several arrows on the cardboard (lost 1 too--oops)!

 This was my best grouping (standing back about 25 yards):

  Lots of room for improvement, but better than I thought I'd do.

 

After I went back to the house, Andrew sent me this picture of his best grouping.  NICE!!!

 

The guys loaded up the old Massey combine and some old headers to go to the scrap-metal-yard tomorrow.  My mom and I got some apples cooking for juice and sauce and washed and hung out all of the sheets/bedding from up at Andrew's place (7 beds worth).  I harvested our first large head of cabbage from the garden.   

 

Shortly before supper, Andrew said he wanted to go swimming, so my mom and I joined him and we played water-volleyball for a while.  Now we just have to figure out how to get Jacob and my dad in there and we can have some real splashing fun!  :)

 

 

Celebrations...

Andrew and I went to Moses G's graduation celebration this afternoon and got home around 10:00pm.  :)  There were LOTS of people to visit with there, and Andrew had fun playing volleyball too, I hear. 

 

Meanwhile, my parents went to Eureka, SD for the 80th birthday celebration of a family friend. 

 

Jacob stayed home and did all of the evening chores so we could all go. 

 

AND, it RAINED today!!!!  Almost 4 inches!

 

  "Thank you, Lord!" 

What a great day!!

Andrew took me to Bismarck and we went shopping!!!  Fun shopping...

 

 (my brother thought it was too) 

 

....for things like this:

 

 I've wanted a bow and arrows for many years, (probably ever since I was little and had a small toy plastic bow with suction cups on the ends of the arrows) and today my dream came true!!!  :)  I bought it at Scheels and one of the nice workers there took us in the little room pictured above so we could test out the bow.  I had never shot one before, so he had to teach me what to do first, but I did hit the outside of the circle target, so I was pleased.  I'm looking forward to practicing now!!

 

Another thing that's been on my wish-list for a while is a pistol.  Andrew drove me to all of the gun-shops (that we know of) in Bismarck and Mandan and we looked at a LOT of pistols!  At Jay's Pawn Shop in Bismarck, Andrew highly suggested that I pay the small fee to rent a .380 pistol and to shoot it at their indoor range to see if I wanted to buy a gun of that caliber. 

After shooting 5 bullets, I knew I wanted something less scary. 

 Some of you are probably laughing at that last sentence, but, well, it was scary! 

Andrew thought it was a great gun to shoot.  Hmmmmm

 I bought a .22 cal pistol and look forward to getting very comfortable with using it in the days ahead!  Maybe, someday, I'll be ready to move up to bigger and louder things?

Oh yes, Andrew also found the part for my car at Napa, and that wasn't too expensive, so I was glad about that.  It was just a great day----spending some fun time with my brother and having dreams come true!

 

 

When we got home, Andrew worked on my car

and I helped Mom finish up with the house-cleaning and laundry. 

My dad was cutting down some alfalfa hay.

Jacob was over working for his farmer boss(es) all day.

 

 

May your weekend be sunny and bright and cheerful and lovely! 

Remember to spread God's love and joy around!

Pictures from Michael and Amanda's wedding...

They asked each family to pose for a family photo.  As we had 2 guests visiting at the time of the wedding, they were a part of our family that day.  :)

 

L to R:  Andrew T, Andrew B, Cora B, Daddy B, Mother B, Jacob B, and Hristiyan M.

 

 

So lovely!

 *Andrew B took most of these pictures with his nice camera*

Praying...

 Some of the guests...

 Mother of the groom...(wearing the shawl)

The very happy couple!

 The reception area...

 Me with some of my "Old" friends, Camille and Susanna....

 The menfolk:

 (this was before the wedding, while I was getting the cake set up, I think...)

 Want some flowers, Michael? 

 Awwww....  :)

 The cake and pie auction was pretty fun to watch! 

 (My dad bought the cake I'd baked for the auction.  I guess he likes raspberries a LOT!)

 

May the Lord bless these two young people as they set out on new adventures together!

 

 



I spent almost all day....

....with Johanna and Tracy Jo and just got home.  We had lots of fun!  :) 

Many more pictures of a shiny red roof (and of how it got to be that way)...

I won't write about each picture individually, as I do want to get some sleep before midnight, but I wanted to share more pictures of the reroofing project for future days when we look back at this day as a memory that happened "way back when".  :)

 

My dad cut/pulled the tree out of the way...

 

 Ripping 2 layers of shingles off...

 My dad and I were the main nail-pullers while the others were the shingle-rippers...

 

 

 Andrew did most of the chip-board cutting in the shed...

 He ran the telehandler too...

 Getting extension cords hooked up...

 

 

 Jacob...

 We had SUCH a great team!!! 

 Andrew T. and Hristiyan were a huge blessing!

 The view from way up there....

 Somebody, please hand him a violin so he can be the fiddler on the roof!

 My dad used to be on a carpentry crew, so he looked very comfortable up on that roof!

 

 Now for the tin!

 

 

 *Note* My mom was helping too!  She helped Andrew B. hand up the tin to us and picked up several thousand nails with the large magnet we have, plus kept us supplied with water and cooked meals.  She also took most of these pictures.  I took some of her, but they're on Andrew's phone, so hopefully I can get those sometime...

 

 We saved this side for Monday...

 Looking at the results of our labor...

 For a couple mornings/evenings, I went over to Zach and Paula's to do a couple quick chores for them while they were gone on vacation.  One of those chores was watering the pigs....

 

After supper Sunday evening, Andrew T. had to head for home.  Shortly after he left, Lauretta and most of her family came over to play volleyball for the rest of the evening and into the night.  :)  It was Thaddaeus's birthday, and he really enjoys volleyball.  It was REALLY fun, as we're all improving and we spent quite a bit of time hitting the ball instead of running for it!

 

Early Monday morning, we were back at ripping off shingles...

Look, the sun is shining through the roof!

 

 

 This is how far we got before stopping for lunch...

 The platform/cage we're standing on belongs to Zach.  It was SO helpful!!

 

 Look out for the wasp nests nearby!

It was about 5:30 when we said our goodbyes to Hristiyan and my mom and Jacob headed up to Rugby with him to meet up with the rest of his family...

Dad, Andrew and I did the chores, then went back up to Andrews' and finished the building by putting the ridge-cap on...

 Don't fall down!!  We're so thankful to God for His protection over us yet again!

 

 PUTTING IN THE VERY LAST SCREW!!!

Ta-daaaa!

Now that we have a little experience, Andrew hopes we'll help him with his house roof!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I babysat the princesses for part of the day (Johanna and Tracy Jo, I mean. 

They LOVE playing princess...). 

 

 When Paula got home, we visited about life for a while.  :)  She's SO nice!!

 

After getting home, I picked raspberries, then washed the chokecherries the guys picked on Friday and juiced them.  My mom had cut the broccoli from the garden, so I turned that into broccoli cheese soup for supper.  And, I milked Sally tonight.   The others were working on and washing vehicles and Andrew went to Bismarck for parts.  Mom had clothes on the line when I got home.  She also helped Jacob clean up his Rover, as a guy was going to come look at it tonight, but he never did...

 

It's been a good day!