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.

Wheelbarrows

I like wheelbarrows. This is a picture of the three wheelbarrows we own. The one on the left belonged to my Grandpap Lane. He used it on the farm for many years. I have good memories of him. The one on the left was found in the field when we moved here. It belonged to the neighbor. She didn't want it anymore. The one in the middle was given to Jim for Father's Day a few years ago. The cat in the foreground is Newman; named for Paul Newman because as a kitten he had newman blue eyes.

This is a picture of the same wheelbarrows with the same history. It was painted by Spencer for an art class. The art class was taught by Mrs A. who lives in Porter Pepperdine's house on Pepperdine Hill. I like Spencer.

View from Pepperdine Hill

Cattaraugus was an important station upon the New York and Erie Rail Road. The land for the village was deeded to them, by Joseph Plumb, on the condition that no intoxicating liquors should be sold there. There still are no bars in town. The village has an area of 1.1 square miles.

This picture of Cattaraugus was taken looking west from the driveway of the original farm of Porter Pepperdine. Isn't that a great name! Our house is located up the valley and cannot be seen in this picture.

If you click on the picture you can get a better view of the down town area.

HAPPY AUTUMN

If it wasn't raining today and if the trees in our yard produced leaves with beautiful colors, I would post a lovely picture of Autumn in New York. But...instead I will wish you all a very happy autumn and take a picture on another day of someone elses yard with scarlet leaves and gold and a frog who was a particular friend. I'll wear my sweater and socks and scarf and mittens. I am tired of living in a house! Enjoy

Before and After

Just several shots of the house being fixed up and painted.

Welcome Luci

Hello Luci Thanks for responding.

We had been on an extended family vacation in Maryland for a week. Getting back in the groove of things again. This summer has been the 'Year of the Workmen'. There has been someone working on our house since the beginning of April. We had a new roof put on and a bedroom expanded. Now the house painters are here. The plumber even made a visit last week and needs to return this week! I'm beginning to tire of men making noise early in the AM. Jim is back home and we are adjusting......I'll leave it at that! The more you blog the easier it gets.

nancyann

thanks for the invite

Do not know much about this stuff. Thanks for inviting me. You must be glad to have Jim home. Nice to hear the whole family is together. Hope you are enjoying the summer
luci

Figured this out

I think I've figured this all out. The posts have appeared again.

Why is nothing here?

Can you read this?

I'm having trouble seeing the original post, so I'm just typing this quickly to see if it gets published to the blog. Have a great day!

Let's keep connected

This blog was created by the Hurst family for the Hurst family so that we may get to know you better and you get to know us better. All family members of the immediate JPHurst family will be the authors. Only these families will be able to read and publish on this blog. Hopefully this will help us to stay in touch with each other better. Please join us.