Swallowtail butterfly
I missed the best picture. On my way in to the house there were 3 of these beautys on the same flower. I ran for my camera & when I came back only this one was left. But isn't he/she gorgeous?
"Tiny caterpillar, climbing up a tree He wiggles & he wiggles & he wiggles back to me I put him in a box, "Don't go away" I said But when I opened up the box, a butterfly instead! I can never make one, even if I try Only Jesus Christ can make a butterfly." Blessings. Let freedom ring!
Happy Independence Day! Blessings. 4th of JulyHappy 4th of July !!!!!
Happy Birthday America! { Posted by
blessed mom
}
{ 11:04 , Saturday, July 4, 2009 } { Posted in holiday traditions } { 0 comments } { Link }
Happy Birthday America! Today I am especially grateful for the wonderful freedoms we enjoy. The freedom to worship, the freedom to praise God, the freedom to own our own property and live and work as we wish. For all these freedoms and more I very thankful for! I pray each one of you enjoys a blessed & wonderful day! Gloria Praying for the Sun to Make an Appearance Today!!!Happy Birthday America!!!! Let's all cheer for the Red, White and Blue!!! I love the Fourth of July, and the cookouts, family gatherings, and fireworks. But this year, we aren't sure if there is going to be much fireworks. We might be able to still arrange the cookout, and just eat indoors. But is is difficult to celebrate with fireworks when it is raining!! UGH! The weather reports aren't sure if the rain will stop before sunset and the big firework displays or not. DARN IT! Matthew took off earlier this morning with our Noah, 3 years old, to pick out some fireworks. We always wait until the 4th to buy ours because of the wonderful sales they hold the day of. He alsos picked up some sausage and milk on the way home for our breakfast....sausage gravy and biscuits!! YUMMY! He even made breakfast for us. Matthew never cooked (except for Hamburger Helper) until he met me. LOL Now he is the breakfast expert and won't let me in the kitchen when he is making pancakes or his specialty of biscuits and gravy. The rest of the day we are going to hang out, relax (finish putting away laundry, do a few dishes) and just enjoy having daddy home! Tonight we are going to my brother's house for a cookout (possibly cook in...depending on the whether), and then back to town for the city wide fireworks display. I am looking forward to seeing my family today. We are all so busy, and it seems working schedules conflict that we don't get together more often. Looking forward to seeing how big my neice Megan is getting with her first pregnancy. She is due in October, and I am sure she isn't much bigger than her little frame was before, but maybe a tiny bit. Matthew's family is all scattered this weekend. We made a comment last night that if everyone wasn't gone, we would have loved to get them all together at our house this weekend. Oh well. His parents church is having a 3 day meeting, his sister lives in Washington,DC area and unable to come home, and his other sister, her hubby and 5 year old daughter just started their 5 day trek back to Missouri from California and today. They visited Sea World, Disney, etc. and had lots of fun. I can't wait to hear about their trip!
Auction DaySaturday! Auction Day in the neighborhood. We will see how everything goes. There are a lot of neat things down on Elmers hay pasture. Everything from smokehouses and gazebos to wringer eashers and wood cook stoves. Mark drove our tractor down last night. The little ponies and carts are selling today too. I hope the buyers with money come :) My in-laws arrives last night to stay the weekend. My father in law hopes to get a bunch of chickens today at the auction. I think they are selling about 300 young hens. He set up shop in our front yard yesterday and made a picnic table out there. It is made out of the extra rough cut lumber Mark has accumulated, a mixture of maple, oak and poplar. The table weighs a literal ton and I think we will need a group of amish guys to move it over to it's final spot under a maple tree. Until then, it can stay where it is. I worked a lot on staking our 70 tomatoe plants the other night. My hands are such a mess now, between the scratches from the raspberry brambles, and stained fingers from the berries and stained hands from working in the tomatoes.... definitely not a hand model moment here. Good weather today, thank you Lord. I think I need one more cup of coffee before I go out to face the cows. I'm trying to dry up Mrs Calloway ecause she should be due in a couple months (if I calculated right) and I'd like to give her a little rest. I just milk her out about half way each time until her milk supply goes down to the point where I don't milk at all. She has had a good long cycle this time, nearly two years. Not bad for an old girl. Well, I'm off to get coffee in me. Have a great one!
I love roosters.
So far they have taken 3 truckloads out. They found better than expected trees here, so maybe we will be getting some extra money for them. We shall see.
Fourth of July Plans & Menu { Posted by
blessed mom
}
{ 05:23 , Friday, July 3, 2009 } { Posted in holiday traditions } { 2 comments } { Link } Sunday our Church is holding an evening meeting and then a potluck meal. I'll be brining watermelon, lemon meringue pies and spinach salad. The girls are making cookies & cupcakes. We are also going to bring a pinata & water balloons! It should be a fun evening! Fourth of July is one of our favorite holidays! We sure enjoy celebrating and taking time to remember how blessed we are in this land of the brave and home of the free! I am also thankful for the freedom and perfect law of liberty thru Christ our Lord ! Jesus died so ALL men could be set free! How grateful I am for that! We are no longer under the bondage of the law -- but are free thru the grace and liberty in Christ! Thank you Jesus for your precious blood shed on calvary so all men can be free! Hope you all enjoy a blessed Holiday! Gloria Cute Children and pets picturesMy Mom sends me some cute e-mails. I love these one and had to share with you all. Who is walking who?
Ah, can I keep him? (the dog is asking):
Um mom, why am I wearing clothes and his is not??
The Creative FamilyI stumbled across this book at the library: "The Creative Family" by Amanda Blake Soule. It has lots of fun artsy type things to do with your kids.One in particular we are going to do is the painted placemats. Using canvas (she suggests saving some money by buying a canvas drop cloth at the hardware store instead of by the yard at the fabric store) and acrylic paint, we are each going to design our own placemats: dad included! I plan on having the top pieces cut out and ready for when the older kids come home for a visit. I think I'll even have Jack make a few for Christmas gifts. One word of caution: the book has a few new-age-y references such as a blessing that begins with "Earth, we thank you for this food..." But, as with all things, I approach it with a salad-bar mentality: take what I want and leave the rest. I'll post pictures of our finished projects. (Hopefully they'll be done before the snow flies!!) Blessings! Connie Thinking about the Fall Garden { Posted by
HSB Front Porch
}
{ 10:43 AM , Jul. 3, 2009 } { Posted in Homestead Garden and Farm } { 0 comments } { Link } I know, Summer just started, and I'm talking about Fall already! But, in order to have a Fall garden, some things should be done now- planning, ordering seed, planting seeds to transplant into the garden when it is time, adding compost or any other needed soil builders, etc. In my area, July 1 was the suggested date for planting tomato, pepper, and eggplant seed. I'm a few days behind schedule, mainly because I'm trying to keep up with harvesting the tomatoes that are ripening like crazy right now! Most of the Fall planting for my area comes a little later, since July and August are always HOT Many of the same vegetables that grow in the Spring garden can be replanted for Fall, they like the cool weather and will do well if they have time to mature before a frost gets them. You can probably get a list of what grows well in your area in the Fall either online, from a local nursery, or from your County Extension Agent. Here's a little chart to show when the first predicted Fall frost date is: Zone 3 - Sept 1st - 30th If you aren't sure what zone you live in, here's a map that will show you. With that information you can see how long it takes a particular crop to mature and then count backwards to get an estimated planting date. Of course, it all depends on the weather, and it is good to give your plants at least a week or two of a head-start if your area often has early frosts. I live in Zone 8, and sometimes we don't even have a frost until close to Thanksgiving. Fall is a great time for growing here. Please share what you grow in your Fall garden and any tips you have. Those of you who live in colder climates, please share your wisdom, as this Texas gardener has never had to garden where it really gets cold
Hope you have a great holiday weekend, and maybe next week, spend some time planning (and perhaps planting) for the Fall garden!
Blessings, { Last Page } { Page 1 of 5 } { Next Page } |
I have been planning our weekend. Tomorrow we will enjoy a quiet day at home.. just family ( all 12 of us!). We always enjoy a special meal on America's B-day.. so this year I will be making grilled steaks ( a rare treat) , baked potatoes, homemade baked beans, watermelon & homemade apple pie! It's not the fourth w/ out homemade apple pie! 
I look like you or is it you look like me?
Look Mom at what I learned :
Just one little bite that's all:
Are you sure they taste like chicken??
Are you sure they are in here???
That's all for now, Blessings,Mj
. The bulk of planting comes from September to November. But, if I don't at least make a plan now and make sure I have seeds ready, I may miss my planting date when it arrives.
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