NJH Homestead
Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures
01:42, Tuesday, December 2, 2008 .. Posted in Around the Homestead .. 0 comments .. Link
Some of the property over the weekend. This is the back clearing where we want to build. If we don't build here, I want to put our schoolhouse up back here anyway (just to the right of that center pine tree...that's where the trail heads back to the pond.
The next is the logging road they used a few years back to get to the neighbors property...and where they come up with the 4-wheelers. The bottom of that range there is the end of our property.
Next two are of the pond, coming in from that logging road, through the trees. It's just seasonal and lately, that has meant no real water to speak of. The first year it had maybe 2 foot of water. This year, maybe the same. The 2 years in the middle, it was just about bone dry and useless with the drought. We'd like to dig it out more and shore it up to try to keep water in it. We know there's a decent aquifer running through this part of the mountain, down about 150 here at the house end of the property. Would be nice to have some water for the animals if nothing else.
Thanksgiving weekend work on the homestead...Finally getting the holes dug out for the posts for the back porch area. Most likely, it will never make it as a porch and will be enclosed for living space...maybe that outdoor kitchen ;o) I tried to get the holes started but it's all clay...and really thick nasty stuff at that. I just can't do it. I'm a wimp. I admit it. So, as Drew was over for dinner, we put him to work with Dewey :o)
The goofy pup there is the beagles basset mutt mix we have...brains of a stuffed animal, but lovable. He chases rabbits and such all night. Pinned a coyote down in the timber last year so we could shoot it. He's a good dog...just goofy. Notice Miss Abigail's bare feet...this was the day after Thanksgiving. Sure wouldn't be out running the countryside like that back North this time of year!
Thanksgiving fixins' on the homestead...We spent all day Wednesday baking...2 pecan pies, 2 apple, 2 chocolate (that's the empty crust with the tin foil in it) and 2 9x13 pumpkin cobblers. And the yummiest yeast rolls :o) It's a mix we do up and keep in the pantry --delicious. And, yes, I'll add the recipe soon!
The full menu ended up looking like this...deep-fried turkey, a huge (h-u-g-e) smoked ham from the butcher (stupid me didn't ask about size, just got the one that looked so good...it didn't fit inside the 18qt Nesco roaster we have...had to sit cockeyed until it cooked down some and slide into the pan the right way!). Dressing, green bean casserole, baked corn, potatoes/gravy, sweet potatoes, then the list of desserts. We made honey nut crunch and ranch/dill crackers for snacking all weekend.
This was the first year our eldest wasn't at the table. He rode up with Dewey to pick up Hope's car and drive it back. He wanted it to be their first Thanksgiving, and he was frying his first turkey solo...
The 20 quart mixer...yes, that's a make-do kitchen sink set up there. We pulled out the cupboard a while back. I have a very nice, new countertop sitting out in the building, but until I know for sure what we are doing (building or simply remodelling) I don't want to use it yet ;o) And, yes, those are cinder blocks under the mixer -- it sits too low to the floor for comfortable use. I know it looks rather hillbilly-ish, but it works ;o)
The meat, part 1/Day 1...still partially frozen, even after 2 days of thawing in the cooler bag. Guess that cooler bag works far better than I thought it did! We cut up most of the chunks to more suitable pieces and readied them for the canning jars.
Back Online again....several updates here
11:29, Monday, December 1, 2008 .. Posted in Around the Homestead .. 1 comments .. Link
The computer went down again. Apparently, the first computer geek didn't do any sort of system diagnostics and simply wasted 3 days or so re0installing my modem driver.
Well, it went down on me again, 2 weeks ago now. Not that it didn't make for a quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving, and we did get many things accomplished, but still....
This time, I went to the original geek I had planned on using last time. They did a full system whatever and ran several diagnostics. They think the main issue I was having is that my BIOS system was rather outdated. There were 5 newer updates than I had, and they don't simply install with the regular system update stuff this thing does on it's own every so often. He updated me that way, installed another antivirus program then downloaded a new modem driver and viola...we have internet again.
And life picks up with hectic busy-ness, of course.
Just to note: If you sent me an email over the past couple of weeks and haven't heard from me...don't expect to. Just email me again. I had a million emails in my inbox and they are all being deleted as I write here. Please, email again if you need me!
I have all 300# of meat in the freezer...well, minus the 50# of stewing chunks sitting in the kitchen waiting its turn in the canner. My pressure seems a bit off today -- it's taking forever to get up to pressure for some reason. But, it's all cut up, the packing juice blend prepared and jars scalded and waiting.
I am going to get very tired of looking at meat, I can tell that already, and it's just Day 1 of a long line of days to come! We may well turn vegetarian for a couple months once it's all said and done!
We have, aside from meat meat and more meat in the works here, fencing outside we are dealing with. Seems we are being over-run with wayward hunters. We knew they had been around the property, but they have found several signs of them running 4-wheelers clear up to the back of my barn! They are using our deer stands, running their dogs all over and apparently using our private property as their own personal hunting grounds.
That will come to a stop this week. We are getting the signs up so we are more properly POSTED everywhere, and I am setting up some wire along the back access where we know for a fact they are coming and going. If they damage a 4-wheeler with a slightly hidden barb wire fence, serves them right. It will be well inside the perimeter of my property line, where they don't belong. That and some bird shot peppering their hunting expedition should do the trick.
Before anyone takes issue to our methods here, we have a very good idea as to who the culprits are, and they know we don't want hunters here. They know we have young children who enjoy our property, and as they hunt with high powered rifles, they are definitely not welcome here. My own dogs stay on our property, and they are being annoyed with the constant traffic as well. I don't need the aggravation, or the worry of my children being shot while playing on their own land.
To give you some idea of the genius we are dealing with out here, this group was shooting targets last year in their own cleared plot just down from our line. It's their property, I have no concern there whatsoever. It's a free country.
However, they use high powered, long range shot guns/rifles whatever you call them. Where they were shooting from/at, in virtually every direction on the compas, they had nothing but timber land. Literally hundreds upon hundreds of acres going out in every direction. Nothing in line for miles and then some.
Every direction, that is, but they one they chose to shoot in. They set up just the other side of the creek and were shooting directly toward my house. Literally peppering my roof with their shot. Branches and leaves were falling after every shot. Genius, pure genius. In any other direction, they would have had nothing but trees for miles and miles, yet they picked the direction that went through my property straight to my house and animals....and children.
Running a 4-wheeler across a low-lying wire fence is going to be the least of their concerns if we actually catch them on the property hunting, instead of their leftovers and signs.
We also have a lengthy sewing list, as usual. And school work to catch back up on. We are having reading issues it seems. I need to determine where my cut-off needs to be. There is a point where not reading well is a problem, and I think we might be there. I know we took more time with our first reader learning, but I've 3 in the works now and they simply aren't coming along very quicky. I know, homeschooling certainly affords my time in that respect, no hard-lined schedules to adhere to and all, but still...we have been at this enough now there should be a bit more progress I think. Time to re-evaluate The Plan here.
As to the olders, Jennifer finished a decent amount while gone with Dewey the past couple weeks. And Johanna, well, she has her own agenda. She is set on graduating when she turns 15 years old...about 2 years or so from now. She blew right through one grade level already and is just about finished with the next set of math, language and science I bought a couple weeks ago. She definitely needs some more indepth work to keep her coccupied. She easily completes 4 or more lessons a day. Like I said, a girl with her own agenda.
I have a Christmas gift...yes, I know what I said about Christmas and all, but this is different, sort of. I came across a bargain and couldn't pass it up. Dewey said birthday and Christmas gift and I jumped on it! (my birthday is Christmas Eve...I tend to get those 'combined' gifts quite often!). I have a 20 quart Welbilt Varimixer sitting in my kitchen :o) It's huge. It's sitting on the floor right now -- there's no way my counters, besides being far too tall, would accommodate this machine. I'll have to build some sort of stand for it, but for now, it's just sitting there, waiting to be used. We will start selling bread and such soon, and much easier.
The man we bought it from buys out various businesses and such and resells the equipment. He thinks he knows of a commercial oven and stove and is checking on that for me. Dewey wasn't really in the mood to drag along with me to pick it up, but he wanted to check it out first. Well, he has found his new dream shopping warehouse now. This man has virtually everything. If he doesn't have it and doesn't know where to find it, you simply don't need it. He has all sorts of building materials and so on. Dewey enjoyed his trip more than I did I think!
I will get some pictures up this week, but today, the meat is calling!
Monday at Home
Wow, December is already blowing in...literally here in Oklahoma. The wind is really howling today and the bitter windchills are keeping us all snuggled up in our warm sweaters and jackets.
We no longer have to wonder wether this baby will be a November or December baby....He better be a December baby! LoL. My due date is less than a week away, and amazingly, I feel no closer to going into labor than I did a week ago...in fact, I think I feel farther away because last week I was having a lot more contractions than I've been having the last several days. I just keep reminding myself that this baby will be here in God's time, and not Sara time.
This morning I've already taken the van to the car repair place. So for the next several days or weeks, we are without a vehicle. As I've said before, I'm thankful my parents live only a couple of blocks away, and are available whenever we may need them. I went on Saturday and stocked up on groceries for the week, and shouldn't need to go again until at least Thursday, which is my usual shopping day. I'll have to go to the midwife this week, and my mom will be taking me to that. And my dad will be taking my husband to work every morning and my mom will be picking him up in the afternoon. So with the exception of going to the store once this week, and the midwife once, we'll be home all week, which I am very thankful for. I so enjoy time at home, especially when the weather is cold out.
Other plans, here at home this week are to work on Christmas presents for everyone, do some holiday baking, do some fun crafts with the kids, and finish up the rest of schoolwork needing done before we take off the rest of the year, and also to reclaim my once cleaned home to what it was before the holiday. Not that it is anywhere near as bad as it was, but when hubby is home, everything gets much more relaxed around here, plus we spent the weekend putting up Christmas decorations, and I need to finish that up and pack the boxes away. I ofcourse have laundry to do, towels today, and sheets, and whatever else I can get do to keep us busy. I'm off for now, as I speak my kids are off playing *gasp* together. And it seems they are actually getting along for the moment. I may have to take a picture! Have a blessed day!
sara
What’s Been Coking in my Kitchen?
Update on Christmas cards for soldiers
After my post a few days ago about sending cards to Recovering Soldiers, I found out that is not going to work. Walter Reed gets so many that they cannot handle them, so the Red Cross has a program to distribute cards in many areas. Following is some information and the address to use. Please disregard the previous post I made, sorry for the confusion.
Also note that the cards must be sent by Dec. 10!
Another thought I had was to plan to do something for patients in your local V.A. hospital.
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Mail for mending G.I.s swamps Walter Reed
Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 8:10 PM
Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., gets so many holiday cards addressed to "A Recovering American Soldier" each year, they've enlisted the help of the Red Cross to handle them.
Hospital officials can no longer accept cards addressed to the hospital.
Instead, they're encouraging messages of support to be sent to the Red Cross "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program, which will help distribute cards to servicemen and women, including wounded soldiers recovering at military hospitals across the country.
Last year, Walter Reed teamed up with the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, which will screen, sort and distribute the cards to soldiers for free.
"This opportunity is such a great way for the public to personally support the military and say a special thank you for their service this holiday season," said Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern.
"I hope everyone will take the time to join us and send an extra card for the military," she said.
All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10.
Only cards - which can be downloaded for free at www.redcross.org - will be accepted. No packages, long letters, photos or any other inserts will be accepted.
Last year, more than 600,000 cards were mailed to the troops. Red Cross officials said they expect more than 1 million to be sent this year - and many of them will end up at Walter Reed, the nation's largest military hospital.
"As we enter this holiday season - a time to celebrate with family and friends - it's important to remember the thousands of men and women who serve our nation in harm's way and those who are recovering in military and veterans hospitals," said Army Col. Norvell Coots, commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System.
"The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is a wonderful outreach effort and a great way to acknowledge the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform."
To send a card to the troops, address it to "A Service Member" and mail it to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Pox 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5464
Or log on to www.redcross.org for more info
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Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead
Tuckered out
That's what we both are tonight! Hubby announced this morning that he was going to back a trailer into the shed and we were going to start cleaning it out. Well all I could say was WooHoo! I should have taken a picture of the mess we had, but honestly it was a little too bad. It is a shed that is open to the south and we use it for shelter for the goats. They have been using the front half, but there was a cattle panel across the middle and the back half was total junk! When we moved here 71/2 years ago, we stored things we didn't know what to do with there..........well, you know boxes got damp and gave out and stuff just got to be a total mess. I have had the best intentions every year to get it cleaned out so the goats could use all of the building as well as just getting the junk cleared out. But everytime I looked at it, it just seemed like too big of a job to start on myself, so I would just walk away. So when hubby was in the mood to start on it this morning, I was overjoyed! A lot of work, but a good tired at the end of the day. I am guessing we burned 10 or more trash bags full, plus some boxes that we just carried to the burn pile. Besides a trailer pretty full of stuff to haul to the dump tomorrow. There is a huge pile of used lumber along one side that my Dad had stored there, so we will have to start on that tomorrow too. We are thinking some of it may be no good, but some can be salvaged. Then of course there is a row of "stuff" that we want to keep that will need to find a home before we can say we are finished. I doubt that we can finish it tomorrow, but we sure have made a good start and I am thrilled.
This shed is where we hold the Live Nativity that we host each year. So that is another reason to be happy to get this project done now before Christmas. Past years we have just hung a tarp across, covering up the mess.
Today was a perfect day to work outside, we were out of the wind, so not cold, but just right to work and not get hot either. There was very little wind, so we were able to keep the burn pile going and get rid of the burnable stuff right away.
One more blessing to share with you. I send out a newsletter from our farm, and in the one I did last week I added a wish list of things we could use here that folks might have laying around and want to get rid of. Included was a baby monitor, jelly jars, concrete wire, and pieces of chain link fence to cover gates. In response, a friend emailed and offered some fencing. We borrowed a trailer and picked it up yesterday when we were in the area for Thanksgiving. There was part of a roll of wire, several hog panels, some are bent, but we cut them up and use the pieces for hay feeders, a chain link walk thru gate, some steel posts. And they also gave us 2 rubber buckets, a rubber feed pan, some metal wash tubs. I think that is everything........ We were so happy to be blessed with these items and she told me she had wondered for 2 years what she was going to do with this stuff. So we helped her out as well. Isn't God Good!!!
I have 2 pies to bake by noon tomorrow. Being busy all day and worn out tonight, I was very happy that I had made an extra single pie crust last week and put it in the freezer. I stirred up the filling for a custard pie in no time and it baked while I got the dishes from the day caught up. In the morning when I have a little more energy, I will make an apple and be done baking till Monday I hope!
Country Blessings,
Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead
What to do with Turkey Leftovers
No baby yet....
I say that with a bit of bitterness...and yet at the same time, I'm okay with him not being here yet. My ticker still reads 9 days to go, but for the past week, I have been having awful contractions keeping me up all hours of the night. And when morning comes, it's as if nothing happened. My body aches all over, and yet I want to relish so much in this joyous time that only lasts but a short while. I know he will be here soon, before Christmas even, but my impatience overtakes me some days, and then on other days, I am happy, and enjoying the moment that I am in.
I haven't updated my last nesting mission yet, but you'll be happy to know that I did get the girl's room done. That's where my discouragement over the dreaded playroom got to me, and as I was just about to finish full circle cleaning through my house, I quit. I'm still working daily on maintaining the rooms that I worked so hard to clean, and I'm thankful that my house with the exception of one closed door that's contents remain uncleaned for now. I'm sure I will get to it...eventually, but for now, I just do what I have to and will worry about it more later.
Our Thanksgiving was a blessed one, and for the first time in many years, I had to do absolutely nothing, except for stuff my face. I'm usually the main meal preparer for holidays, but everyone agreed that this year I would get a break, for which I am most thankful. I was so babied yestereday, even being made to lay down when my feet began to look too swollen. We're heading back over to my folk's house in a bit for lunchtime leftovers. YUM!
Black Friday...I don't know if I even want to get started on this ridiculous tradition, but my husband chose to partake of the shopping events this morning. I told him he was nuts. At 4 am, he went to walmart, and wrestled 30 people for a trampoline, a big gift we decided to get for our children. It was a good deal, really, but I just can't imagine it being worth that kind of anxiety. He nearly gave himself a hernia lifting the nearly 200lb box into his shopping cart. He is now on the couch recovering from his exciting morning.
Today we are going to be putting up our Christmas decorations, and relaxing. I intend to spend the next week, or until the baby decides to make his arrival working on some Christmas gifts, maintaining my clean home, and just spending some time with my 3 precious children before they number 4.
I'm not sure how much time right now, I'll have to post, but I will work on giving an update on the baby as I have time. I pray your Thanksgiving was a blessed one, and that your weekend promises to be filled with joy.
Blessings, sara
Friday on the Homestead
. While I napped the kids and Tobin played Taboo. Then we moved onto pumpkin and apple pie. Emily was in charge of table decorations and she did such a nice job. Here is a pic of the table and place settings…
Our Thanksgiving Day
We had such a nice day today. We did not get up early and put the turkey in the oven........no, not us.........DIL Edye had to do that this year! Just had to do chores, get cleaned up and go to their house. I am happy to report that DIL did a wonderful job of cooking, the food was very good! We have a thing about dressing (stuffing some call it), we really like good dressing. The first bite I took was of the dressing, and it was great!! Here are some pictures of our day.
The cook of the day and Maddie.
Son, Ryan and my Mom.
Nick and Hubby.
Granddaughter, Lexi.
This is my Aunt Ernie, she just celebrated her 90th birthday last month. She is amazing for 90!
Country Blessings,
Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead
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