Christmas Tornado!

Yep, that's right!  We spent the better part of the 22nd building a kidding barn and re-doing our milking parlor because they were forecasting a winter storm for our area.  We did manage to get it all done...just in the nick of time. 

On Dec 23 we were under a thunderstorm watch that eventually turned into a tornado WARNING!  We went outside to keep an eye on the weather and were able to see the storm cell from the street.

It was really scary because it was so calm.  We watched as the funnel clouds developed and then were sucked back into the cell....

An ef2 tornado touched down about 10 miles from us, but no one was injured.  Here is a 3D radar image of the tornado as it touched down.  You can read more about the storm here.

No one was hurt, but some of the property damage was severe across town.

After the storm had passed, an eerie fog came across the road and all was calm.

Moments like this remind you count your blessings.

There's Something to be Said for....

Being a family of procrastinators!  We have not got the living room decorated yet, so our beautiful Christmas Tree is still standing in the driveway.  Oh it's in its' stand, we give it plenty of water, and I think it has enjoyed the cooler weather we've been having.  But it's in the driveway instead of the living room!

The temperatures have really dropped over the last few days, and yesterday the unthinkable happened.  Well, it's nearly unthinkable....for East Texas anyway......

Yes, that's right....SNOW!!!

Of course none of it stuck.  BUT my beautiful Christmas tree was covered with these huge snowflakes!

Is that cool or what? 

Just as we are each individual people, our Creator made each individual snowflake, and each individual tree. 

To me, the fresh live Christmas tree (an evergreen) is a symbol of the gift that God gave to us.  He is an ever-living gift and we celebrate His birth every year.

How blessed were we this year to get these delicate reminders (snowflakes) of God's love for us!!

O Christmas Tree!

Since the kids were babies we have made it a family tradition to go to Danville Farms and cut down our Christmas tree.  This year we only had Rebekah with us, but the tradition continues.  This year was special because Mom was able to come with us.

This is also the farm that we buy our peaches from each summer.  They have a huge peach orchard as well as acres and acres of Christmas trees.

Bekah and Bob cutting the 2009 tree!

And mom picked out hers...

After we got home everyone came over for lunch and we had a great visit. 

Thanksgiving!!

Mom hosted the Thanksgiving meal this year which was a big change for me!!  I got some great pictures of the kids, but unfortunately Rebekah had the camera most of the day and didn't get any shots of the meal, but she got some great pictures of the family.  We had a great visit and we have many things to be thankful for!
Beth, Rebekah, and Catey waiting for the others to show up.

Stephanie turns away from the camera every chance she gets....Lacy and Curtis aren't so shy.

Then Rebekah got the camera and got this not so lovely shot of me....

Meanwhile Bob was busy running the fryer and smoker....

And then the guys played football...

Bekah did get a nice picture of Stephanie and Curtis...

And this picture of Lacy and Ben...

Grandma loves Gracie....

Our usual routine involves mom coming over each morning for a cup of coffee.  Together we plan our days, talk about the family, politics, religion, ..... and anything else on our minds.   Usually mom walks over here and I make the coffee.....so that I can stay on task with the things I need to do.  Mom can sip cofffee and visit with me, and I stay busy...how great is that?!?!

Of course on occasion she has had to take up the stick because we had a hog or goat out of their fence.  She helps us get things back in order.  Mom helps when she can!

But on most mornings, Mom can be found sitting in one of my dining room chairs sipping a cup of coffee brewed by me....probably a little too strong for her.  We talk about a lot of stuff.  It is a great time.

And Gracie watches for her every day. 

Gracie loves her grandma.

And then Mom loves on Grace. 

I hate that this one is so blurry....but look at Grace's feet next to mom's feet!

and then mom told Grace to take a "serious picture".....

I am thankful that I was blessed with such a great mom.  And that I was blessed with such a great dog.  And that they have a bond.

The Mom Song

Although most of my kids are grown....there are some days I still feel like this. 

Bargains galore!!

Mom and I have found some great bargains at the grocery stores lately, such as pork butt roasts for .88/pound!! Today we found even more and I thought I would share.

At one store I got:
2 pkgs split chicken breasts (bone in and skin on; 4 breasts/pkg)
2 pkgs chicken breasts (boneless, skinless; 5 breasts/pks)
6 boxes saltine crackers
25# carrots

Then at the next store I got:
4 Cucumbers
10 - 1 quart bottles Gatorade
6 bottles of our favorite bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's)
10 - 15 oz cans Dole mandarin oranges
10- 15 oz cans Dole tropical fruit
4 - 4.4 oz Hershey bars (the ginormous ones for baking..or eating if you've had that kind of day)
40 pounds of leg quarters

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but I got this for a total of just under $105 bucks!!!! These things will make a nice addition to my food storage; I'll can the carrots this week.

100 mile challenge

Have you seen this show? It is really cool! I watched it today for the first time. It gives you a lot to think about, especially since it makes you eat seasonally. In the spirit of the 100 mile challenge, Rebekah and I picked wild persimmons today. Persimmons grow like crazy here, and this year there is a bumper crop. I had planned to pick some as a treat for the goats, but ran across a recipe for persimmon bread and decided the goats could have what was left after I made a loaf.

We picked 4 pounds of ripe fruit, the bread recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of persimmon puree.

Since they are wild, they aren't very large....but they are very flavorful!The first step of making the bread is pulling off the caps, and washing the fruit.Next we run them through a food mill to remove the pulp.To make the bread, cream together 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, and 2 eggs; set aside. Sift together 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Add 1 1/2 cups persimmon puree and the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Add 1/2 cup nuts if desired....I added 1/2 cup of chopped dates instead. Spread batter into an 8x11" buttered pan and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

This would be really neat to serve with Thanksgiving dinner. Topped with a cream cheese frosting it's a yummy dessert!

Back to normal whatever that is...

Gracie does her best to keep us on track with the latest fashions and reminds us that normal is a matter of opinion. The house is nearly back to standard operating procedures and we've recovered from the decorations, the rain, and the stress. For the most part. Rebekah and I are busy with school work, I need to get busy canning....and I need to update our harvest totals....even though our hens are in molt and we're not getting eggs. I also need to read some blogs and catch up with others.

In other words, we're nearly back to normal....just a little behind but catching up as fast as we can!

Postponed

The flowers are done, the meal is planned, the dress bought, wedding hall rented, and invitations mailed out. But the wedding has been postponed. Stephanie and Curtis still love each other, but have decided to have a longer engagement. YAY!

Introducing William Curtis Anton

My soon to be son-in-law!

He fits right in with our crazy family.....and even got Stephanie to let me take a picture.
18 days and counting!! Holy cow!

Scare Queen

We have been very busy these last couple of weeks getting the florals done for the wedding. Rebekah and I have been tangled in a web of flowers, ribbon, and hot glue....but we are finally done with the bubbles, pew bows, and boquets! Here are some of the pew bows that we've made....
Just for fun, today we made a couple of decorations for fall. Fall is my favorite time of year for decorating...maybe Rebekah and I had too much fun! We're calling them the ScareQueens, aren't they a cute couple?

October 16, 2009

That's the date! Stephanie and Curtis have finally set the date for their wedding! We love them both and wish them all the best!

On August 22, 1982...

I met the man that would become my husband. I was a 17 year old college student and he was a 19 year old in the USAF. That was a LONG time ago, but I can't think of anyone else I'd have rather spent all these years with.

It's That Time of Year AGAIN

My calendar is full of things I need to do. Books to be bought, school supplies needed....and lesson plans to be made. I have a stack of textbooks just itching for the summer's dust to be blown off and feel the fresh crisp air of fall hitting it's pages.

I would love to say that Rebekah is so enthusiastic about starting a new school year I barely got this picture....

Yep, it's that time of year!!

Up and Down

We are still working on our electrical usage. Our daily average has dropped and we are averaging about 70KWH/day now. I am hoping to get that number down to about 50 and keep it there, but it takes time.

On the UP side....check out our food harvest totals!! I set a goal at the beginning of the year for half a ton and we are already over 3000 pounds!! YAY! I had no idea how much food we were producing, God has really blessed us this year.

Kill-A-Watt

Our electric bill has gotten out of control, so we are taking drastic measures. We can access our electric usage for the last 18 months. Using this number we have come up with an average monthly usage of 2948.9 KWH per month or a daily average of 98.2 KWH. WOW! This is way too high. With the skyrocketing costs of electricity these days it won't be long until our electric bill exceeds our mortgage payment. Not acceptable.

I have been doing a lot of research and learning ways to cut down on our electric usage. Keep in mind that we have a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house. We have 3 deep freezers and 2 refrigerator/freezers, plus the house is all-electric. That means water heater, stove, central air and heat, and most importantly, well pump. We also have a milking parlor, Bob's workshop, doe barn, chicken coop, brooder house, and now a buck barn. All have lights and/or fans. The milking parlor also has my radio and a small refrigerator.

After getting our newest electric bill, I decided that it was time for us to conserve. This is an old house that has very few updates, so conserving electricity without some major overhauls is going to be interesting.

The first thing that we did was turn off the refrigerator in the milking parlor. It was running way too hard in this 100º heat, so we turned it off for the summer. We also cut the breakers to the outbuildings, unless we are out there. We had lights and fans running even when no one was out there, which was a pure waste. The next thing I did was to defrost and clean out the 3 freezers. By defrosting and organizing, we were able to condense them to 2 freezers (not counting the refrigerator/freezers). We will keep the third one empty and unplugged until fall (hunting season and we will butcher the hog). One key to help a freezer to run more efficiently is to keep it full. When we have an empty space in the freezer, we place a plastic bottle full of water in that spot. Once frozen it will keep the temperature in the freezer from fluctuating. It costs more to run an empty freezer than it does a full one! It also uses just as much electricity to run a full load of clothes in the washer as it does a partial load.

We also did the standard things to make our house more energy efficient. We do not run air conditioning until the house is over 85º, and then we are only running energy efficient room air conditioners. Our central air unit is nearly 30 years old and is far from efficient! We also changed out all the incandescent bulbs to the new compact flourescent bulbs.

I am doing a daily reading of our electric meter to help us pinpoint where our electricity is going and help reduce usage. We have gone from an average of 98.2 KWH per day to 78.2 just by the few changes we have made. My goal is to keep our average use below 75 per day during the warm months, and cut that to below 50 per day for the cold months.

One other thing that we did was buy a nifty gadget called a Kill-A-Watt moniter. This handy dandy device plugs into any wall outlet, then you plug in your appliance. You can set it according to your electric rate (the rate that your electric company is currently charging you) and find out how much your appliance is costing you to run each hour, day, week, month, and year. By using this you can actually show the kids how much money they waste by leaving on a lamp or a fan; and it is interesting to find out which appliances cost you money even when they are turned off.

1 Tree + 1 Roof = 4 Holes

We have been praying for rain. After such a wet spring, we have had a long dry summer so far. Thursday night it looked like our prayers were to be answered. There was a cool front moving in and it was bringing rain with it.

Unfortunately, it brought some severe wind with it as well. Our old split oak tree finally turned loose. God has been bringing this tree down for us one piece at a time. It withstood the winds of Hurricane Rita, it held it's own during Hurricane Ike....although it did lose a few branches. But this summer wind storm was too much for it to bear. Here is a picture of it the day after Hurricane Ike. It lost some branches, but you get an idea of it's size, and proximity to the house.

The noise it made when it hit the house was horrifying. Bob got up on the roof to evaluate the damage.The power was out, and stayed out for about 13 hours. The next day we were able to begin the process of cleaning off the roof and evaluating what we need to do.
It is nothing short of a miracle that more damage was not done, and no one was injured. Here's the view from the roof.

The goats are happy to help with the clean up duty...but this is gonna take a chain saw.