Sunday, November 30, 2014

A visitor...

 
Yesterday, Lauretta came over to visit. :) It's been a long time since that happened, as the summer months are so busy for her and for us, so it was really great to spend time with her again!!
 
Playing Apples to Apples (Bible edition)...
 
She spent the night, so she and I had a great late-night talk. Just like the good ol' days!
 Today, we did a lot of usual type things, but the one unusual part of my day was when I cut into the 70lb pumpkin that Andrew got from farmer Stan.  :)
 Pumpkin _____________ will be on the menu for a while...
I've been studying "Nature's Farmacy" in my spare time here lately. Very interesting book about health, mostly about using essential oils, but it has a few other tips tucked in there too (about lemon juice liver cleansing, and bentonite clay benefits, and things like that). It's amazing to me how God put healing properties into plants and clay and such...
 


Friday, November 28, 2014

Baby love...

 
Isn't he just precious?

Paula wanted to take the girls somewhere today and asked if I wanted to come over and spend a few hours with baby Vonn.  What do you think my answer was? ;)
 
We had a very quiet and cozy time, Vonn and I. He's such a good baby! He still sleeps a lot, but I did get to see his eyes for a while this time and heard his voice. I think I'm in love...

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Oh snowy day!

What a great day it was to be inside, cooking up a Thanksgiving feast!
 
It snowed most of the day and the wind was pretty strong too. Thankfully, my uncle Russell got up early and beat the storm here (it's a 6 hour drive for him one-way).
 
I took this picture of the combine "hiding" in the quonset this morning.
 
 My uncle's car is at the end of the line there. Hopefully the roads will be good tomorrow, as he needs to get back for work.
 We had our Thanksgiving meal at suppertime. My mom bought this 20 lb turkey and it is quite a unique bird, having 2 necks! :)
 Getting ready to dig in.....somebody was very eager to do so as you can see...
Yes, we had a very traditional meal with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and sweet potato dish, 2 kinds of stuffing, and lots of pie of course. Yummy!!
I am so grateful for so many things....for the gift of salvation; for the freedoms we do still enjoy in this Country; for living in the country; for good food to eat and a warm home to be sheltered by... For family and friends to love and to encouarge and be encouarged by.... For Blogger. :) For God keeping Kimber and Linda H. safe when their house burned down this morning....
 
What are you especially grateful for today?


Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Lord of all to Thee we raise...

...this our hymn of grateful praise!
 
This is one of my all-time favorite hymns and is so fitting for the coming holiday:
 
 

May we all remember to count our blessings, each and every day of the year.
 
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, friends!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

There's a happy feeling...

...nothing in the world can buy

when they pass around the coffee

and the pumpkin pie...

 
'Twas a busy day in the kitchen for me (and mom made the pumpkin pies).
I baked bread; made homemade pizza; cooked the pumpkin; turned another gallon of milk into yogurt; and made enough pie-crusts for 4 pies for Thanksgiving. Then I assembled the apple pie and whipped up some peanut butter pie. Yummy! Can hardly wait for Thursday to come. ;)
 
The guys finished combining for our neighbor and my dad hauled several loads of the farmer's corn to Strasburg. It was snowing a few flakes this morning, then it kept coming down faster throughout the day, making the roads not very pleasant for those who had to be driving. My dad said that traffic on the Hwy. had slowed to 45mph.
 

Thankfully, we're all done for the day and are safely home again. What a great place to be!
 


Monday, November 24, 2014

The rest of the pictures...

My mom took the majority of these pictures, but she said it's fine with her if I share them here.
 
Grandma Marly...
This is in the beautiful visiting room in the apartment building my grandparents live in.
 
 Grandpa and his sons---L to R: Uncle Ronald, Uncle Barry, and my dad (Robert)...
 After getting everything ready for the party, there was time to spare, so we played some games.
Dad and his younger brother, playing "Chicken foot" with some others... :)
 Mom and my grandparents, visiting...
 Some of us brought paintings (and others, pictures of paintings) that Grandma painted a long time ago. Several years ago, she gave everyone in her family one of her paintings
(mine is the rose painting there).
 I played several games of "Racko" with my brothers and Aunt Bev...
 My mom was the punch and nut/mint lady...  :)
 I love my Grandma!!!!
She's such a caring and thoughtful person. For example, even on her very busy day, she thought to send a bunch of egg cartons home with us. :)
I didn't find a single picture of the guests on my phone or my mom's! Oops. Hopefully Andrew got some on his nice camera so we can share them with Grandma in the future.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Today, the guys have been busy combining a neighbor/friend's grain north of Braddock. Hopefully they'll finish with that tomorrow and then they'll get back to ours again.
 
I babysat for Amelia, James and Michael today. We played a drawing game and then they built quite the tent/house/fort conglomeration in the dining room. I love seeing children's imaginations at work!
 


Sunday, November 23, 2014

A quick preview:

I do believe Grandma Marly had a very special birthday. :)
 
Between Mom and I, there are several pictures to share, but most of them will have to wait for another day.  I like this picture of a mother and her son, saying goodbye...
To be continued...

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Grandma's special birthday...


 Today, my grandma Marly turned 80 years old! We will be celebrating tomorrow with family and friends. I decorated these cakes tonight for the party...
 
 
This one is just for Grandma...
 
Mom and I have several bowls of potato salad to make in the morning, so I'd best get to bed now so I can open my eyes when the alarm beeps so insistently.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Quick update

Wow, long day!
 
Dad combined and hauled corn.
Mom went to Bismarck for party supplies (Grandma Marly turns 80 on Saturday!).
I took care of things at home (got neighbors their eggs and things like that).
Andrew combined and hauled corn.
Jacob was the go-for and made it back in time to feed cows and help me with evening chores.
 
And now it's family prayer time!
 
Good night everyone.~

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Catching up...

 
It's been so long since I felt like writing a blogpost that I'm really enjoying actually wanting to post these pictures now!
 
I think the snow is here to stay. It's really pretty in a way...
 
 It's been VERY cold (below zero) the past week, but it's finally starting to warm up a little again.
 
We had a new stock-calf be born yesterday and, since we weren't expecting him, his ears froze, but other than that, he seems to be doing alright. The guys got him in a barn yesterday before leaving for Minot to get....well, something that Andrew bought (a picture I'll share later).
 
One of Andrew's birthday gifts from my parents was: 
A really nice rug for his living room.
Here Mom is giving it to him (although he helped pick it out, so knew what it looked like already).
 I know I shared a few pictures before of the game "Attack" that we played on Andrew's birthday (last Wednesday), but I found some more pictures to share.
 We had to mark some of the pieces so we could tell them apart, as the big pieces and little pieces were barely distinguishable!
 "Mother! Don't aim your soldier at me!!"
 We had hoped to have several friends come for my brother's birthday party on Saturday, but things came up for them and they weren't able to make it.
 
BUT...
Michael D. did come from MN and we had a lot of fun playing games together (ping-pong in the shop too) and eating cheesecake with cherries on top. :)
 
 
Checkers (I think he was trying to intimidate me with that look!)...
 
 
 
And now!
 
Are you ready for Andrew's news?
 
 
He bought another...
 
Dodge...
 
pickup!
 
Dad, Andrew and Jacob went to Minot to get it yesterday. You may recall that Andrew sold his big gold pickup about a month ago. I really liked that pickup, but he wanted something with a manual transmission, so his dream has come true!! It's a 2010 model, but has a lot of miles on it, so was reasonably priced. Andrew seems pretty happy with it so far. I like the color.
 
 
Since I've not been feeling well (thankfully today, I'm finally feeling much better), my mom and I've been doing some research about essential oils and are learning a lot. It's amazing to learn of all the healing that God put into plants for our benefit.
 
Well, that should get you all pretty much caught up again.
 
God bless and keep you safe, well, and growing in Him!

Monday, November 17, 2014

I'll be back to bloggin' soon...

In the meantime, I'd sure appreciate prayers to get over this stubbornly sore throat/earache!
 


Friday, November 14, 2014

Cold days!

It feels like winter here!! Really and truly, temps were -12 in a nearby town this morning. Not sure I'm ready for this yet?
 
It was a busy day here, but then it usually is. Mom and I cleaned the house and did a lot of cooking. Then, we got company this afternoon from MN. :)
 
Tomorrow, we'll have a birthday party for my brothers, and since it's too cold to do much outdoors, I'm guessing it will be a stay inside and play a game kind of day.
 


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Happy birthday to Andrew~

Once again, we were celebrating the birthday of a brother of mine. :)
 
Andrew Robert Bornemann turned 24 years old today.
 
 Playing a very LONG game called "Attack" (similar in ways to Risk)...
I also babysat for the 3 neighbor children for a few hours.
 
May God bless my brother richly! He does so much to help keep things running smoothly on the farm and with all of our technical computer type stuff in the house, and usually does it all while whistling!He's a pleasant fellow. :)
 


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Apples and yogurt and snow, snow, snow....

This kind of weather just makes a person all the more grateful to stay inside and cook. Mom and I cut up another box-worth of apples for sauce and juice and vinegar. I turned a gallon of milk into yogurt. We made broccoli-cheese soup and baked potatoes and fried steak. We are so blessed!
 
And yes, it snowed on and off throughout the day and is snowing still.
 
Happy FALL! Ha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And because of the day:
 
 
Both of my grandpas are/were veterans of war...
 
God bless and protect our soldiers
 and may He bless all of those who fight for freedom---
in big and little ways!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Baby Vonn...

 
Yep, he's so cute that he gets a blogpost named after him! :)
 
Paula had appointments in Bismarck, so I watched the girls AND boy for a few hours today.
 He is such a good baby!!
Tomorrow is Johanna's 4th birthday, so she was all excited about that! The years sure fly by...

Saturday, November 8, 2014

After a restful day at home...

...my parents decided to spend the next few hours combining corn. There's a threat of SNOW coming our way, so it's time to keep filling those semis! My mom just shared this picture on Facebook:
 
It sounds like Andrew will return in the morning. Sally will be so glad to see him. ;) OK, we all will be.
 
 

Friday, November 7, 2014

Blow away...

It started this morning, early.
 
It's still going tonight.
 
It never stopped for a moment in between.
 
It's making me very tired!
 
It is called the wind, but it seems like there should be a stronger word for it,
like:
 
blizzard-without-the-snow!
 
 


Thursday, November 6, 2014

Babysitting....

Paula asked me if I'd take the girls with when I went to babysit the other neighbor children, as they just needed to get out for a while, so I got to see baby Vonn and hold him for a while before leaving with the girls. :) It was the first time I saw his eyes open, but that didn't last long, as he fell asleep again as I was holding him.
 
The 5 chiluns had a lot of fun playing together and were very energetic. Tracy played so hard she fell asleep on the way home!
 
My dad combined a little, but then a big belt broke and it was after 6 already, so he couldn't try to find a replacement. Looks like that one will be expensive.
 
My mom is in Bismarck still.
 
Andrew is in Fargo still.
 
Jacob is 19 still.
 
It seems like so many people are hurting physically these days!!  Please keep a 9 year old boy named Evan in prayer, as he got burned pretty badly (40% of his body) and is going through surgerys. Also, pray for Bob (a friend's husband who is going through a lot of health problems now). And for Miranda's little brother, Micah who is sick in the hospital with pneumonia. And for my mom, to get her health struggles resolved at last.  And, if you're not sick or hurting, please remember to thank God for the good health you're enjoying!
 
 


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Harvest...

Dad (and my brothers both ran the combine for a little while) harvested corn all day.
 
 Jacob had a pin break on the PTO on the auger when I was out helping him with something, but he was able to repair it in short order with the help of that hammer there...
 My mom and I (Jacob helped for a few minutes) cut/shredded up a BUNCH of our garden vegetables (cabbage, beets, carrots, tomatoes, onions, peppers) to turn into soup for canning for winter.
 
And yes, we took the time to go and vote...
 
 Jacob drove us to Hazelton in his car...
 
Andrew finished his cleaning job this afternoon and is working on packing now for a Christian film academy class he's attending in Fargo for the next few days. 
Sally (his cow) and I for sure will miss him.  :)
 
Tomorrow is Jacob's 19th birthday!!!

Monday, November 3, 2014

What we've been up to...

Thursday evening found Michael D. joining us around the dining room table once more. He stayed through Sunday and we all had a very pleasant time with him, PLUS, he helped us with several things that needed doing.
 
Friday morning, some of us went to pick the last couple boxes of apples off of Andrew's tree and to see if it was dry enough to put the ridge-cap on Andrew's roof (it was too frosty for that though). Andrew was going to use the telehandler to lift us up to pick the apples, but it absolutely refused to start, so we did it the old fashioned way, having a brave person go up on the ladder and toss the apples down to those below.
 That afternoon, my dad was able to combine some of the corn here at home. Michael helped Jacob and I clean out a bin for the corn. Jacob had the job of pulling this box back and forth from the field to the bin with the corn inside and then auguring it into the bin.
 ...this bin...
 The view from inside the combine...
 
On Saturday, we all (except Jacob, who wasn't feeling well) went to church in Alfred and, afterwards, we shared a meal with the Pastor's family and some other friends there at the church.
 
 
That evening, I drove my parents and Michael to the S. family's farm for their annual hayride/bonfire. The wind had died down and it was a beautiful evening to sit around the fire and visit. The hayride was fun too, especially since the wagon was pulled by a beautiful team of black horses. Sadly, it was too dark to get pictures with my phone camera.
 
 
Sunday was a busy day! After getting Sally and the cull cows/steers locked up in the small pasture, then opening up a spot in the fence, the guys got on their noisy machines and headed up for the pasture to round up the cows, my dad and Michael on 4-wheelers and Andrew and Jacob on their dirt-bikes. My mom and I drove pickups.
 
It ended up being a GORGEOUS day weather-wise!
 
 Everybody seemed eager to go home!
 The move went very well this time! I think it really helped having an extra person. There was one very tiny calf up in the pasture that walked a good portion of the way home, but then got exhausted and had to ride the rest of the way in the pickup cab with Mom. :)
 My dad is going to combine some corn for a farmer friend, so needed to go get a moisture sample on the fields to see if it was ready to be harvested or not. Michael and I rode with him. After seeing that those fields of corn were not dry enough yet, we went over to our field "up north" to check it.
 
We picked several cobs from random places in the field, then shelled them into a pail, from which my dad then took the sample. It was a little too wet too yet, although this afternoon, he was able to start combining there.
 
Andrew had gone over to Stan's to combine for him, but ended up coming back, as the combine was down still (somebody sent the wrong part for the combine and, as it was Sunday, there was nothing to be done about it that day).
 
Since it was so beautiful out, Andrew asked for our help with finishing up the main part of his roof. It took a while to finish up around the chimney, to make sure it would be waterproof and all. The caulk was very dark and smelled like chocolate. :) Nobody checked to see if it tasted like chocolate though.
 
 Don't slide off!
 Michael helped with that project too, and it took us the rest of the afternoon to finish.
Andrew gave us a ride up as high as the telehandler can go. That's our farm in the distance there... 
 "Hello little brother!"
 Dad, finishing up the caulking way down there on the roof....
After supper, Michael left us for his home in MN.
(Thanks again for coming to visit us, Michael and for all of your help!)
 
We had a short visit today from the hunters who sold Andrew his place. They had pulled in there and said they liked how the house and shed roofs look now. :)
 
Andrew is gone on a 2-day grain cleaning job for farmer Dave near Linton.
 
Busy days! 
 
"Thank you, Lord, for safety as we work and for refreshing rest when we sleep."