Lookin' much better!

I should go out and take pictures of all that was accomplished today, but I'm too tired!  Last night, I was really feeling sick (very sore throat, aching ears and head, chills, etc...), so I took a ton of natural things (including "Fire cider") and went to bed really early and slept for 12+ hours!!  I felt SO much better this morning and got better through the day.   PTL!  I really don't want to be sick and spreading germs this weekend!!! 

 

Jacob went over to his farmin' job this afternoon, but my dad and Andrew spent the day working on projects around here, getting things spiffied up for the Appleseed shoot.  :)  It was SOOO  nice to have their help and so much got accomplished!

 

The range got remown and the whole rest of the area down there got cut and baled up today and the grass bale got fed to the bulls.  All the lawn got mowed and the weeds whacked (Mom and Andrew remowed Andrew's place, as it had been very thick the first time and didn't cut the best, so we gave it a couple days and now it looks great).  The black pickup is now fixed and out of the shop.  The guys cleaned up the shop too, plus cut a bunch of cardboard for the range (to attach the targets to).  They finished redoing the outhouse, and also found and marked the holes where the flags go the day of the shoot.   I cleaned Andrew's whole house this afternoon ; washed windows here at home; and repainted the swings tonight.  Mom and I weeded the front flower bed.  There was more that got done, but I'm not thinking of it at this moment....  Must be too tired.

 

Yesterday, while out weeding in the greenhouse while it RAINED outside (80 hundredths!),

 I took this picture of my Columbine that's blooming.

 

 This picture is of my dad straightening out the merry-go-round which has a tendency to tip when there are big people on it, hanging off the edges and things like that...  He did use the tractor for the straightening part and is just packing the dirt in around it in this photo.  He also cut and smoothed another board for our swingset (one had broke in a bad windstorm we had this spring) and put it on, melting the ends of the rope after they were tied under the swing.

 

 This picture is of "My" girls on Tuesday as we mixed up Root Beer Float cookie batter from a mix their mama had bought.  Has anyone else ever had this kind of cookie before?

 

Tonight, I'm very thankful for God's healing!  AND for His joy (the joy of the Lord is my strength!!!).  AND for the sunshine today!   AND for a nice talk with Emmy when she called (she's coming this weekend!!!)!  AND for Project Appleseed!  And that so many new friends will be coming tomorrow and the next day (as well as the old ones too, of course)!!!  :)

 

    AND, once again, I'm very grateful for bedtime.  I think I'll get to bed early tonight too so as to have lots of energy for the busy day that tomorrow is sure to be. 

 

   God bless us, everyone!

 

 

The range...

I babysat again today.  I brought the girls over to the farm for the morning.  They always LOVE coming here!  On the way, they were singing,

 

"Over the river and through the woods, to Tora's house we go..." 

 

They asked to see the animals, so I showed them our bottle calves and they loved feeding them grass.  When I took them into the chicken barn, Johanna (3) walked in and, hearing the birds clucking and the roosters crowing, said,

 

"What a commotion!!"  :) 

 

Those two make me smile and laugh, again and again!

 

I took the girls back home after our noon meal, as they sleep so much better in their own beds than anywhere else.  When they woke up, they wanted to go back to my place, but I said no....  I softened the blow by suggesting we make cookies.  It was sprinkling on and off today, so it seemed like a good cookie baking day.  They LOVE helping in the kitchen (especially stirring sweet things and then licking off the spoons).

 

When I got home, after helping prepare supper and eating, I went down to the range and mowed it.  The grass was VERY thick, so it took over an hour to mow, but looks so nice now.  The guys have been busy with remodeling the outhouse somewhat---adding a much larger tank underneath it that they'll be able to empty easier at the end, using the skidsteer to do so.   They also spent a good part of the morning trimming tree branches and small trees that were growing in the wrong places across the road at that shelter-belt area.  Some people will be camping over there this weekend, so it's nice to have that looking more orderly again! 

 

Jacob was gone all afternoon helping farmer J. again.   My dad and Andrew worked on fixing the black pickup so they can get that out of the shop before the weekend so we have more room in there.

 

I'll close with something good to think about...

 

 

"Lord, help us to be truly kind to those around us!   ~Amen"

Busy days of Summer!

There is a song (I think it's sung by Roy Rogers!) that speaks of the lazy days of summer, relaxing in the shade......got no plans to make 'cause my plans all made.....got no work to do.....things like that.  Whoever wrote that song apparently didn't live on a farm?  Life is never dull here (for which I'm exceedingly grateful)!

 

Soooooo......

 

My dad did some spraying in the fields today.

 

My mom and Andrew went to Bismarck----for Appleseed supplies mainly, although my mom came home with 2 things she's long desired:  Her very own pistol!  AND her very own carpet-cleaner (we've been borrowing a friends up to this point).  :)

 

Jacob went to work for farmer J. and was putting up new fence all day there.

 

I babysat the girls until suppertime, then came home and worked in the garden 'til well past sunset.

 

OH, happy news!!  There are now just 7 spots left on our range for this weekend!  There are for sure 4 other people wanting to come too that aren't signed up, so maybe we'll get a full range after all!

 

 

You may all have seen this already, but just in case you haven't, I wanted to pass on this bit of gardening advice...

 

Good night friends!

 

~May the Lord bless and protect you.~

 

PS.  We had another 10 hundredths inch of rain!!!  Praise be to God in the Highest!



Fun with the C's and the F's...

 

I was able to get the pictures off my phone in another fashion today, so here they are:

 

Rachel was SO excited to get her colt finally!!!

 

 Heather...

 Sisters...

 Horse love!

 

 I enjoyed seeing their angora rabbits!  They were SO fuzzy!!!!!

 The guys went for a walk around the farm...

 The horse-barn was a place of attraction for a while...

 Andrew...

 Aren't their ears the fuzziest things you ever did see?

 Mr. & Mrs. B & C...

 Time to say goodbye!

 The moms...

 We spent a good part of today up at Andrew's place, mowing the lawn; trimming trees;  weeding flower beds; putting the new bedding on all the bunk-beds for this weekend; getting surround-sound set up in the living room....

 

All of us (except Jacob) went to Hazelton for a meeting.  We saw friends playing ball at the park and joined in the fun for nearly 2 hours!  :)

 Mom was even up to playing!

 Andrew was a good pitcher!  (That's me, doing something I haven't done in years!)

 Run, run, run....

 Made it!

 

 My dad (he and Mr. F. hit the ball WAAAAAYYYYY far away!)

 

 Andrew and one of our young friends...

 

We all took turns playing the different positions...

 

 Then, it was time to head home for chores (before the rain came)...

 

I thank God for such a perfect day---time spent working, playing, and moisture coming from the sky!

Pleasant day!

We had such a nice day with the C. family!!!  We found we have much in common.    :)  It was really nice to see their place.  They were here one time before, although there were many others here at that time, so it was nice to have some time as just we 2 families getting to know each other better.  

 

After worship/Bible time, and sharing a delicious meal together,  I spent a good part of the rest of the day with their 2 daughters and we played with the animals (especially their new colt that we delivered to them); looked at pictures; went for a long walk; and then just talked and talked....   

 

 I took some pictures, but my phone is being silly tonight and isn't sending them to my computer, so hopefully it will be in a more cooperative "mood" tomorrow? 

 

I hope you all had as lovely a day as I had!

 

 

 

 

Major bon-fire (and some RAIN)!!

We woke to a cloudy sky and raindrops falling from it.  PTL!  It drizzled on and off all day, amounting to probably a whole 10 hundredths of an inch.  :)  Every drop helps.   I talked to a friend on the western side of the state today and she said they have so much water that they can't hardly get in the fields.  Farming is quite the adventure sometimes.  Actually, most of the time.

 

Because of the damp weather, the guys didn't do any farming and instead, they did some major outdoor clean-up work!!!!  They used the stack-mover to move the 4 falling down little sheds/chicken coops to the burn-pile.  It didn't take long for that mess to be gone.   

 

 They had quite the bon-fire roaring!  Jacob took these pictures.  He asked if anybody wanted to roast marshmallows?  He said we'd have to bring our own 20' long stick and, seeing as we don't have roasting sticks that long, we didn't eat marshmallows!

My mom and I did some big-time cleaning in the house too and sent some trash out to be burned. 

 

I went across the road and cut some rhubarb for our dessert ("Rhubarb dessert" is what it's called).  I also transplanted some flowers into the pots on the deck and let God water them. 

 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, as we've been invited to the home of some new friends of ours.  :) 

 

May our Heavenly Father guide us all through the weekend and may we all feel refreshed for a new week of work! 

Little girls...

 

 

 

 After getting up and doing chores, then helping sort off and load cows to take to the meat-locker, I headed over to babysit "my" little girls, and I spent the rest of the day there, just getting home about an hour ago.

 

Those 2 have brought so much joy into my life!! 

   Johanna told me today,

           "Tora, I love you. You're so snuggly, just like my mom!" :)

  As I really like her mom, I'll take that as a huge compliment!

 

I thank God over and over for opening the doors so I can be a part of their lives.  As I was looking through some old pictures, I found these from shortly after I first started babysitting the girls a little over 2 years ago. 

 

This was JOHANNA, way back then...

 

 And this was the happy baby Tracy Jo...  :)

 

And the 2 of them together... ( a not so happy baby this time)

 

 

 

 Here is what they look like today!  Children grow up so fast...

 

 It sprinkled a few drops today.  On the way home, I saw a glimmer of hope---a part of a rainbow...

 

 Speaking of little girls........and rainbows........I thought I'd share this song in closing.  :)  Those 2 are definitely loved by their parents and by many others!!