Autumn at the Farm

This lovely display of pretty colors and textures decorating the Barn demonstrates why Fall is such a special time of the year.

 A warm fragrant woodfire added to the ambiance of the chilly day as we spent the afternoon with the girls on horseback.

Miss J. has developed a lot more confidence and is no longer afraid to trot on her pony, April.

Natalie helped Kit while she rode Misty. By the end of the day, Kit was trotting on her!

Hayley rode one of her ponies, Deka with her Mom, Crystal standing by.

Four generations were spending the afternoon outdoors on this family horse farm. Here is G-Dad. 

While they rode, Donna and her daughter, Crystal chatted together as lucky moms and daughters do.

 Natalie prepared Black Beauty to be ridden.

Chelsea added to her list of accomplishments with her first ever horseback lesson.

She got the hang of it quickly and was soon riding on her own.

The little girls spent the last part of  their day together grooming pint-sized Misty.
For myself, I enjoyed being outside for a change, experiencing all of the wonderful sights and smells on this brisk autumn afternoon.

Trick or Treat

Halloween was very pleasant this year maybe because my attitude toward it was less severe than in the past. I found myself really enjoying the simple idea of children dressing up in a costume and going out in the dark to get free candy from cheerful neighbors. I saw less "evil" in all of it. I know that I loved it as a kid and I saw the kids experiencing the same excitement that I felt about it all way back then.

Sam was an Army man and John was a deer hunter. Two of the guys above dressed as Batman, as did Natalie, whom I forgot to take a picture of. One of these fellows was a banana and the other a character off of Sesame Street. These boys went out with Evan's Dad who kept on eye on things keeping everything in the "Treat" realm with no "Tricks"involved!

One of these young ladies was a Cheetah, in a wonderful costume sewn by Chelsea who jumped at the opportunity to create a costume, and the other gal, a Snow Leopard.

 Matching tails makes it super fun!

It was my pleasure to escort the girls around and we took a little boy the same age who has gone with us for three years in a row. it seemed that fewer houses were available for visiting as many more than in previous years had their porch light turned off. I wondered if it was a sign of the poor economy because chocolate candy is not cheap in large quantities.

Look who we surprised on our wanderings (it was actually our destination!)! Uncle Tom was thrilled to see someone that he knew and assumed that he was related to the other trick or treaters that we had with us! Peyton, also dressed in a cheetah print, handed out goodies from a large bowl of treats prepared so generously by the lovely Holly, dressed in orange. Of course, hugs were exchanged all around as well as candy!

It was really fun to be with friends and to see our family on this brisk fall evening celebrating Halloween in the traditional way.

Cupcake Shake

For as long as I have known Larry, (over thirty years!), he has enjoyed his cake in the most unusual manner! He never eats it on a plate but always stuffed into a tall glass, covered with milk. I had to laugh to see three cupcakes turned upside down in the glass ready for a late evening snack.

He did indeed take the paper off...

Now for the best part!  2% milk saves calories!

Larry learned this from his Dad who ate cake in this way.

 Off to the basement because this snack is best enjoyed in front of the T.V.!

Restocking the Venison

Just in time for the new hunting season to begin, we cooked our last pound of venison and added it to a box of Hamburger Helper. Juby loves this and requested it by getting the box out of the pantry and placing it on the counter! Larry loves to hunt so I have had to learn to cook venison in a myriad of ways. We pay for good processing which makes the meat very easy to use. Our favorite cuts are ground, stew meat and roasts. With fewer people living at home we can eat about two deer per year. Any others harvested we donate to the hungry which is simple to do because the processor prepares it, wraps it and sends it frozen to the food banks. That is paid for by an organization called "Hunters For The Hungry", a worthy charity that helps to provide many thousands of pounds of naturally lean venison to hungry families in our area each year.

Pumpkin Farm

The pumpkin farm was even more fun than usual because we not only had our friends with us, but also our cousins!

The morning was cloudy and perfect for rain boots after the "gully washer" the night before. The hayride was lots of fun.

The G-man came with us last year and he remembered the place well. Not in school, or planning a wedding , or having a baby, Meg was able to join us for the first time! The pumpkins were especially cute this year. Each one was well shaped and adorable. We all got a free little pumpkin with our admission.

Everyone also got to eat an apple grown on the farm. These little apples didn't look like much but they certainly delivered when it came to taste.The kids noticed how tasty they were!

Great Country Farms has a lot of fun things for children to do. We spent about five hours there and the kids really enjoyed themselves. As the day went on, the sun came out making the view very pretty by lighting up the foliage. All of the school groups left by one-thirty pm and then we had the place almost to ourselves!

They really loved the Corn Crib which is a pavilion filled with loose corn kernels about 7 or 8 inches deep.

I sat in a lawn chair in the kernels and watched the kids play for at least a half an hour. None of us had any idea how dusty corn could be!  Their clothes were covered in a thick layer of fine, yellow dust.

 

The activities go on and on. We always luck out and get a good price to visit because we come with a group but there is so much to see and do here that in my opinion, full price would be worth it for a wonderful family outing.

Visiting the pumpkin farm is an October tradition for us. But as I write, I realize that this Agribusiness celebrates every season with the pick your own produce that each month has to offer. I will have to consider bringing the kids back to visit in other months because of all the great outdoor activities it has available which would be great fun at any time of year.

Confirmed in the Spirit

Sam made his Confirmation and chose the name Nicholas after his patron, St. Nicholas, whose feast day is in his birth month. Grandpa was his sponsor as a model of living the Faith.

Sam has been studying what it means to be Confirmed for the past year with quite a few of his school mates. At our children's Baptism, Larry and I chose for them to be Catholic. At a young person's Confirmation, that individual chooses to follow the Catholic Faith for himself.

Confirmation is administered by the Bishop. Our Bishop spoke directly to the young people and to the entire church as a shepherd and told them exactly what the Church teaches on marriage, violence, abortion and pornography. He continually emphasized that they would be emboldened by the Holy Spirit and strengthened by the grace of this sacrament to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the modern world out there "where it really counts". He minced no words but did so lovingly and took this one opportunity to reach this group of young people and their parents, family members and sponsors to be witnesses for Christ in all that they do. He had a teaching moment and he didn't squander it. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet in the church as the congregation paid rapt attention. I was impressed and had a lot of respect for what he said and the manner in which he related to the youth.

 These seventy ninth graders are only half of our parish's Confirmation class. There were another seventy students at the second Confirmation Mass that afternoon. Let us all hope and pray that these Confimandi be Soldiers for Christ and do great things for God and the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit in which they are now all sealed.

Quick and Easy Dinner

It is always fun to try a new dinner idea and I had high hopes for this combination.

I picked up smoked sausage and a whole grain product, red beans and rice. This company has the most appealing packaging. On the back of the package they tell all about the fact that they make their own electricity at their farm. I was intrigued! Better yet, this frozen item was only fifty cents!

The sausage was cut up, browned in a skillet and then added to the red beans and rice which was all ready to go straight out of the package. i put it all into the crockpot. After heating for awhile, this meal wanted to get a little dry so I added a few cups of white grape juice which is so delicious. That moistened it well and gave a good flavor.
This would have been better if I hadn't doubled the recipe and used two of each product because one night was enough for this and the crockpot wasn't the best way to cook it as it dried out over time.

Remodeling

After much discussion and prayers for guidance, we have decided to put a heating and air conditioning system into our basement which will make the air fresher and less moist. The 95 degree temperatures for most of this summer did not bring much to the party as far as a comfortable basement is concerned. We've got a great team of workers who so far have been very competent and reliable. That is to me an answered prayer. They've got a solution and are implementing it steadily with skill.

Most of our water softener room has been demolished and will be rebuilt and rearranged.

 We lost a very nice clothes closet  in the process but the shelving units were removed in whole pieces.

Then a Dream Closet was built for our resident "clothes horse" in an old paper storage closet using the same shelves. The truth is that the carpenter built it with one rod in the usual spot but Natalie knew that wasn't going to be big enough, so Larry came home from work and rebuilt it with two rods that evening.

This should work very well. If only I could find a new place for all the stuff I used to keep in here! The trash can is starting to look really good for all that!

Meanwhile, the HVAC man is installing duct work into a completely finished basement. That takes skill which I am definitely seeing. He is snaking the flexible tubing through the ceiling to bring air to the other side of the basement from the main trunk line and putting in air returns as well.

After the ductwork was completed, the carpenters built the bulkhead, first they covered it with plywood to be sturdy and quiet, and then drywall. These gentlemen are great about showing up for work and work all day in a very pleasant and professional manner. Although I am sure that we will enjoy a warm fire in the woodstove on the weekends, it will be wonderful to be able to heat the basement this winter by adjusting the temperature on the new thermostat!