A Faithful Friend

There are two things that I never leave home without when I travel.  One is the Travel Log.   A detailed day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute written record of the people, places and things encountered along the way.   I believe this is something either my father or oldest brother encouraged.   Many have signed the car log over the years.

The other is the car blanket.   A over-sized denim patch quilt made over 25 years ago.  The actual time frame eludes me; although the backing of the quilt is material that was used as a tablecloth at my oldest brother and sister-in-law's rehearsal dinner in 1991 (27 years ago)

Emergency warmth in the event of winter car failure is the original purpose for a car blanket. 

Thankfully,  it has never been needed in that capacity.   Instead, it has been used as a beach blanket, a picnic tablecloth,  to wrap naked kids that have gotten too muddy and wet, to camouflage Christmas presents,  to protect furniture through several moves, a play tent and a camping blanket.  It has traveled in at least 5 different family vehicles and made many trips to other states including 2 long distance trips to Wyoming and California from western New York. 

My older sister lost her car blanket in a move west.  My daughter made herself a red flannel car blanket.

Yesterday, in anticipation of summer travels, I washed the car blanket. 

Today, since I am not prepared to part with a faithful friend, I mended the car blanket. 

However,  some friendships eventually wear out.

 

A WRITING ASSIGNMENT

In an effort to regain the ability to write a complete sentence, I have been following a scripture writing plan found at www.swtblessings.com 

I started on February 1st and made it through the entire month.  I simply copy a text out of my bible with each daily scripture taking 10 minutes or less to copy. 

  February was all about LOVE!     

 Looking forward to what March has in store.

BLOGGING REVISITED

This past Christmas (2017) I bought my own present from my husband: a laptop, a nice laptop!

He bought his own present from me: a pair of slippers, nice LL Bean slippers.

If I had bought him his present that is exactly what I would have bought him. He wears slippers. He goes to the basement in his slippers. He takes the garbage out in his slippers. (I understand this is a common husband habit.) He needed slippers.
I asked him what he would have bought me if he had bought me anything. He replied, "New pots and pans."

I made a good decision.

So, I think I will give blogging another try.

I have this fear that I will forget how to formulate sentences as I age.
We shall see.
Follow along.

Typical Wednesday?

Thought I'd let you all know just what I've been up to lately.
This was my March 9th 2011.


6:15 am I am awaken by Samantha running down the hall to the bathroom, making noise that resembles vomiting, and returning quickly to her bedroom.

6:17am I jump out of bed to access the situation: Samantha is snuggled back in bed and Sarah is sitting up in bed holding the dogs water dish from the bathroom (the vomit sound was the water being dumped in the sink). The colon cleansing 'bug' has attacked during the night. This particular 'bug' does not compliment itself well with paraplegia.

6:30am Sarah is on her way downstairs, bed is striped, 2 of 3 foster boys are awake, and Spencer is on his way out the door to work.

6:45am First load, of what would be 5, of laundry is started. Sarah is showering.

7:00-7:30am Breakfast of Peaches and Cream oatmeal with a side of peaches was refused by both boys.

7:45am Jake calls from the family farm for help with a lamb. The 'family' is on vacation!

7:50am I wake Samantha up to watch the 2 boys. This action wakes the 3rd boy.

8:00am I am on the farm holding a ewe still while Jake attempts to get a newborn lamb to nurse.

8:00 - 9:30am I work with Jake and said lamb (the surviving twin) and several techniques accumulating in milking a ewe and bottle feeding the lamb. Jake is the best ewe milker I have ever seen. Lamb is still alive when I return home.

9:45 - 10:45am I shower, switch laundry, dress boys. But why didn't the 3rd boy eat breakfast?

11:00am - 12:15pm WIC intake appointments. All three foster boys are weighed, measured, and iron tested. WIC checks in hand. 3rd boy feels warm.

12:25 - 1:15pm Lunch of fish sticks, baked potato slices, green beans. 3rd boy sleeps through lunch. Laundry loads switched again.

2:00pm Wake 3rd boy, cheeks very rosy and load all three in car for trip to Olean for 3:00pm Dr. appointments.

3:00pm Meet the boys Mom and Dad and case worker. All three boys Dr. checked. 3rd boy failing fast,102 degrees. Croup...Decision made to admit to hospital for overnight treatment.

4:30pm -5:15pm 3rd boy admitted and I am on my way to the lab for blood draws. After much screaming by 2 boys, blood is red and batman stickers are in hand.

5:30pm Stop by the Optometrist office to get new glasses of 1st boy adjusted.

5:45pm Quick stop at Walmart.

6:11pm Call ahead to the Village Pizzeria to order pizza and bread sticks for supper to be picked up on the way home. "Could you please have that ready at 7:00?"

6:57pm Pull into pizza place. Wait 3 minutes for pizza to come out of oven.

7:00pm Home, eat, switch laundry, and talk to Jake to see if lamb survived the day. Yes it did!

8:30pm Two boys in bed...last load of laundry in washer.

9:00 - 10:30pm Watched some mindless movie on TV with Sarah and Samantha. Sarah is feeling better by this time.

10:30pm Make Sarah's bed with new mattress protection and all clean blankets.

11:00pm Everyone is in bed and I am waiting for last load of blankets to dry.

12:00pm Last 2 blankets delivered warm to Sarah and off to bed for me.




This day could not have been possible without Samantha's help. She was there every step of the way. Thank you, Samantha, I owe you big time.

Half a Century

On November 12, 2010, I turned a half a century old. Enough said!

Do You See What I See

Stephen and Sarah

















Spencer and Samantha

Family Picture...

...of the Hurst from the west.

Fat Tuesday

Breakfast Stretch

Stretching before breakfast has been documented to improve your appetite.



What about stretching while eating breakfast?





























(It was difficult to get a good picture without the glare from the window or the squirrel being frightened.)

Activity at the Kitchen Window

The following series of pictures were recently taken in the early Saturday morning at the kitchen window.














Note the abundance of snow that continues to remain ever present despite slowly increasing daytime temperatures and daylight coupled with sunshine.
















Wildlife was also abundant.

Turkeys, bluejays and grey squirrels jockeied for a turn at the bird feeder and an occassional coveted grey striped sunflower seed.














Prior to these pictures a white-tailed deer was observed from the upstairs hall window by earlier riser.


Winter has been long this year!

Back At The Kitchen Window

Stopped by the kitchen window this afternooon after shoveling the driveway for 3 hours. It's a long driveway with lots of snow!

The view hasn't really changed in 2 1/2 months.



Sometimes, I feel like a goldfish in an aquarium with one of those fake landscape pictures adhered to the side.
Just seeing the same view day after day ....







(Update 01/12/2009)















It is beautiful when the sun shines!

One Better Bird

I finally got a better picture of the male Red-bellied Woodpecker that visits the feeder, occassionally. As to why it is called red-bellied when it has a red head is a mystery to me.

Update: On December 10,2010 I took a picture of a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the suet feeder.

What are the chances it is the same bird?

Me and Fuzz

This is my first post ever in all my years of posting. The picture is of me and Fuzz. I have made the picture black and white and Fuzz has one pink shoe. I find it very cool.

We were at the Creation Museum, you can see a dinosaur in the background.

Totally Cold

This picture says it all......Brrrrrr!

Totally Cool

Today, around lunch time, while driving on I86 along the Allegany River between Bradford, PA and Salamanca, NY, I spotted 5 adult Bald Eagles. Yes , five! Totally cool! Samantha saw 3 ---She was in a separate car. But one of hers was in flight. The first time I ever saw a bald eagle was on my honeymoon in Alaska. Totally cool... Sorry no pictures

Happy Thanksgiving

My favorite Thanksgiving Dinner food is Cranberry Jello. I don't remember where this recipe originated. Somewhere back in the recesses of my brain, I recall Speecie (Florence Speece), my parents landlady from days gone by. Not all of my family likes this recipe, but Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it. In fact, if this is all that was served I would still be very thankful.
It contains ground cranberries, sugar, grapes, walnuts, celery, crushed pineapple mixed into cherry jello.

This is what my recipe looks like:















I used to grind the cranberries in the blender with a little water. My blender is broke. This year I used an old fashioned meat grinder clamped to the kitchen stool. ( The counter is to thick for the clamp) I remember grinding the cranberries this way as a child. I also remember this recipe taking a long time to prepare. It is soo worth the effort.















As with all holiday traditions, this is so good because it is only made at Thanksgiving and Christmas. If we treated every day as a holiday: hey, maybe a gift from God, every minute would be savored.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The Changing

For Christmas, many years ago in 1994 my younger sister made me a cookie jar with a hand-painted lid. Three years later in 1997 she gave me a new lid for winter. (Another new one would be nice.) This is what sits on my counter most of the year:














Now that the snow has arrived and is planning on staying around for awhile, it is time to change the lid of the cookie jar.

Now, sitting on my kitchen counter:

As for cookies.....

They are all for Sunflower.

Sienna Mohawk

It is difficult to tell from this photo, but the Toyota ended up with a mohawk of snow....I guess that makes it a snowhawk!

More Snow

Before the next storm arrives tonight, I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the snow. the treehouse...

the trailer...

the stump...

A New Kitchen Window View

Revealed through the kitchen window this morning was a fresh 2 feet of snow. Can anyone say lake effect?

Identify the bird
on the feeder for bonus points.

Grandma Lane or Just Call Me Florence

(I've been working on this post for awhile. )
I remember my Grandma Lane's kitchen always looking like this. Yes, I am going to blame this on heredity! Her counter, stove, refrigerator and table were always full of 'stuff'. She WAS a busy women.

The ability to clutter flat areas, make piles balance precariously, and save useless objects because 'that might be useful someday' has been genetically past down through the bloodlines of my father's family. I constantly fight against this tendency. I lose more often than I win. But I fight the fight!

That is until I get sick.....After a week or so of not feeling well this is what my kitchen counters looked like. This is a sampling....I have 3 counter spaces this size. I think I could make a case for abiogenesis.

















This week's mission in life has been to clean this area.
Mission accomplished!
YEAH!
See the empty basket on the right? That holds the household papers that need to be filed.
It holds a whole year's worth!

Like I said, "I've been working on this post for awhile."

New Feeder Eater

The snow has arrived! However, Friday's daytime temperatures are to be in the mid 50's.


The bird feeders have been filled. The garbage can in the barn is full of freshly bought sunflower seeds. New windows have been installed in the dining room making for a clearer view. Let the birds come! There are juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, bluejays, downy and hairy woodpeckers and american goldfinches. New this year, a red-bellied woodpecker has been coming to the feeders. We are at the upper edge of the range for red-bellied woodpeckers. Everyone is trying to get the best bird picture. This is not it! But it is the best of this guy for this day.

Sometimes...

It may just be better to seek an alternate route.

The Power of Navigation

James 3:3-8
"Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue."


The Bible compares the tongue to a rudder of a ship and to the bit in the mouth of a horse. Though relatively small, all three have tremendous power. A rudder turns a ship, a bit turns a horse, and our tongues turn our lives in the direction we will go. Where you go today depends on what you say today.

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood

This is a great road sign....seems you can get anywhere
from this corner where County Route 13 joins County Route 12.
The decisions you make thoughout your life have the
ability to make all the difference.
Which way should you go?

Kitchen Window View

If you think about it, a lot of time is spent in the kitchen. Nutritious meals are prepared three times a day. Dirty dishes are loaded into dish washers and later emptied. Pots and pans are scrubbed and put away. Mail is laid on the counter to be sorted and read. Garbage cans are filled with unwanted items to be taken out. Coffee and tea are brewed and consumed on well deserved breaks from life. The refrigerator is opened and subsequently closed many times by hungry children. Apple pies baked in the oven give off sweet aromas.














This picture shows the view of the backyard from the kitchen sink window. All is good in the kitchen.


Update: as of 10/20 all the leaves have been raked and hauled away.

A Favorite Corner

The southeast corner of the barn is a great place to keep an eye on the world!

Autumn Colors

Today was Fall Festival in Ellicottville. As tradition, we went and rode the chairlift to the top of Mardigras Hill at Holiday Valley ski resort. There were hundreds of people waiting in line to ride to the top. The fall colors are at peak and the daytime temperatures where in the mid 70's. A gorgeous day!

Afterwards we ventured over to Humphrey for the end of the season soccer picnic. The highlight of the evening was the parent vs players soccer game. The players won but the parents did alright considering that they were out numbered by several. Fun was had by all! I'll be walking a bit stiffer over the up coming days though.

Bacterium Man

This year for science we are exploring creation with biology. I am teaching this class to 12 high schoolers during our Thursday co-op using the text published by Apologia Educational Ministries. This past week we learned that a bacterium can reproduce asexually every 20 minutes. Theoretically, there could be billions of this bacterium in 10 hours and in one week the weight of said bacteria would be greater than that of the planet. Spencer found this to be intriguing. Slurrrp POP! Hi,I'm Spencer...Slurrrp POP! Hi, I'm Spencer! Think of how much work you could accomplish, how many different places you could be at the same time, and how much you could annoy your mother. This sounds a bit Calvin and Hobbes to me! I am not a fan of exponential growth.


As a side note: The phyla of the kingdom Monera (Gracilicutes, Firmicutes, Tenericutes, and Mendosicutes) end in 'cutes' which is pronounced kyoo'teez as in cooties as in all boys have cooties. However, as Bacterium Man's mother I think he is a cutie.

Spencer says

"We don't even live here!"

Nevertheless, it is a lovely road.

Shephardine

In keeping with the Pepperdine theme......These are some of the sheep that live on the farm that Porter Pepperdine (don't you love that name!) once owned on Pepperdine Hill. Occasionally, we farm sit for the family that now lives there. We will once again watch over things for a week beginning on October 11th. In the past, dogs have escaped, peeps have been discovered, lambs have been born when none were expected (more than once),and turkeys have gone missing. I wonder what excitement will be in store for us this time! We do get to drive the 4 wheeler.



Update 10/29/08: Spencer and I looked after the farm from Oct 11-19th. All was well...nothing died.

Iris

Earlier this year, we (the children and I) took a road trip to the Creation Museum in Kentucky with a group of homeschool families. http://www.creationmuseum.org/ You can check it out at their website. While walking through the extensive outside gardens, Sarah took a picture of this iris. Because I like irises and these are the colors of our master bedroom, I asked her to do a watercolor painting. I put it in a green frame and this picture now hangs on the wall in the bedroom.