7-6-10 Blueberries

Did better at getting up to walk with Dad this morning, and it was a good thing too because later on it got hotter than yesterday. Boys milked, Jacob did math, Tori put another tape on the computer and did some sewing for me, Jesse went to work for Uncle Randy, I printed out CIS bills, etc. Another ‘slower’ day which is very welcome after a busy Monday. Went to Uncle Jerry’s for awhile after lunch, and kids had fun swimming with Kate and Lincoln. We came home when it started to cloud up; although it didn’t rain until later, we wanted to get clothes off the wash line. Kids had a few snacks, and then I put Joshua down for a nap and called the ortho about Levi’s chipped tooth. They wanted to see him today, so as soon as he got back from CIT, he, Jewel, and I zipped down there. His tooth is ok for now, but he’ll have to have his retainer re-bonded in a couple weeks. We drove home in pouring rain but it was dry here; found chores mostly done, littles happily playing Legos in the basement, and Jacob and Tori BOTH making a batch of bars. What a nice surprise. I took a quick catnap and felt much better; soon after I got up, the storm reached us, and then we got the rain. The blueberries and beans loved it I’m sure. It was really really windy, and I was glad the kids were already playing in the basement – they hardly knew it was raining. I love our basement; what a cozy safe place to be in a thunderstorm. Storm passed, supper prep, supper, Bibletime at the table; then Dad and Ben went to see a neighbor farmer about the tractor driving event we’re planning for F/S Night. I took all the girls and Joshua with me to pick up blueberries from our good friends the Kochs, Jacob did some chores he forgot to do (watering a calf – kind of a major thing, you know?), and Levi and Jesse did k.p. Here’s how that went [smile]:

They did get ‘er done eventually, though, and also did some other outside chores for Dad before all three boys loaded up on a quest for more tubes for their Mackinaw River tubing escapades. They’re really getting into this tubing thing. After dropping off blueberries at Aunt Sarah’s and Aunt Marcia’s, we headed home (met the boys on their way out) and washed all but one box of our blueberries (we’re saving that for the weekend). They are delicious!

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Baths for 3 littles, and then when everyone got home again we had a little time to catch up with everybody before heading to beds.

My first student?

Love those smiles.

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7-5-10 More Beans

Slept in this morning (except Levi and Jesse who milked) but still got 40 quarts of beans in the freezer and the shed retaining wall built by late afternoon, not to mention a Monday laundry and routine chores. Whew, and it was a hot one too. Aunt Joyce and Grandpa helped with some of the picking, and it was very breezy so didn’t seem so terrible hot while we picked. We stemmed in the shade, and it was very pleasant; our men in the sun had a quite different opinion. After I walked with Aunt Sarah, I changed my opinion too. It was HOT.

::Bountiful beautiful beans::

Dicing beans to be used for potpies, beef stews, and mixed vegetables.

Just starting out.

Breaktime.

White rock? Perennials? Strawberries? What a fun decision!

Almost done…

North side of shed.

Northwest corner. I think it looks great! Final decision is perennials, but not until next spring.

Water fun. Joshua just watched so close when Jewel stepped on the corner seat…

“I think I’ll just try that myself.”

“Oooohhh, that’s cold!” (after he slipped off and landed on his face/belly!)

“There! I knew I could do it!”

Thank you Lord for our precious baby. He brings us so much joy!

Tori worked on watering beans, cucumbers, and melons; Jacob started on chores, and Kate started in on beans with Dad so I could take a walk with Aunt Sarah before she went home.

Washing.

Ready to go.

Hard at work.

Done! On the left are 4 gallon bags of diced beans; plus we ended up with 36 quarts of regulars, bringing our year’s total to 80 quarts. My goal was 75 to 100, so 80 is good. Next time we’ll switch to canning.

Chores (L & J milked) and supper; then Dad and I did some errands. No one wanted to go with us, preferring to stay in the air conditioning. Smart kids! We got back much later than we expected, but kids were mostly in bed and the house was picked up nice so it was ok. I always miss when we can’t do Bibletime but sometimes it just can’t be helped. We should have done it at supper but we thought we’d be home earlier than we were.

Beds.

7-4-10 Independence Day

This morning I did something I haven’t done for a long long time and I wish I could do it more, and I’m going to TRY to schedule it in, somehow. I played a few songs on my guitar. My soft fingers wouldn’t let me play very long, but IF I can stick with the discipline of practice, and toughen up my fingers sufficiently, I’m going to invest in a self-teaching guitar course, of which there are many online, and eventually teach some of the kids too. We’ll see if this goes anywhere.  I do really enjoy it, but the discipline of practice is a challenge…

Also enjoyed a beautiful early morning walk with Dad which was good because later it was too hot to think about a walk. Our walk ended when Dad stopped to help Levi finish up chores and let the cows/calf down to enjoy the leftover grass that wasn’t baled in Uncle Harley’s pasture.

And still had time to enjoy 3 songs before church.

Loren Schrenk from our St. Louis church had the morning sermon, and Steve preached in the afternoon. There were many nuggets during both services, and the afternoon singing was especially beautiful too.  Or maybe I just enjoyed it more because I was able to sit farther front. At any rate it was such a blessing. Steve read just a few verses from Hebrews 5, but there is much food for thought in those 5 verses he read. I keep thinking about v. 5 where we are told to not be covetous; it also says “be content” which is absolutely key to Christian victory; it’s actually the polar opposite of covetousness. Further, we are created to praise God. When we are content, that’s very good, but when we praise, we are taking contentment one step further: if we are praising, we cannot be coveting.  “…be content with such such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (v. 5). What an incredible promise; God is so worthy of our praise. He will never leave us or forsake us, and we KNOW that this is so because we have faith that “every word of God is true” (Proverbs 30:5). So… besides the countless material blessings we’ve been given, we praise God for the freedom of worship we enjoy in America, for the precious precious family and friends with which he’s blessed us, and, ABOVE ALL, for JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED, Hallelujah For The Cross. One more thing – Steve pointed out that when v. 3 says to “remember them that are in bonds,” it isn’t limited to those who are imprisoned for their faith; we need to pray for all those who are in prison. Although I often think of those who are persecuted and in bonds for their faith, I’ve never thought much about those who are jailed for other reasons. I appreciated this reminder; I definitely will do better at this.

After church, little girls laid down for some rest/quiet time, Joshua napped, and 6 older kids  went to swim in our creek…netting a nice bull snake for their efforts too. I offered to take them to Uncle Jerry’s, but they said they’d rather swim in the dirty, cold, snake and snapping turtle infested creek. Whatever. Dad and I had some cherished time to talk, much of which was planning for KWA, F/S Night, and our own family trip to Yellowstone this fall. Running this crew takes a lot of planning, and it sure is a whole lot of fun too!

After chores, we headed south to enjoy a delicious meal and precious fellowship with Todd and Val’s. It has been a very long time since we’ve been with them, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Kate took the camera outside for awhile.

After a wonderful evening at their house, we all loaded up and went to watch fireworks at Brock Lake. We parked on a country road by Uncle Dan’s cornfield – in the Mackinaw River bottom – and that’s where the mosquitoes found us and attacked with full force. Yikes, they were awful! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced mosquitoes quite that bad.

Here’s Joshua doing his adorable “BOOM”! (Notice Jesse, next to him: scratching.)

Some of us. (Notice me, Ben, and Val: scratching!)

Kate took many photos of the show – this one turned out fair.

After spraying everyone with some peppermint oil/garlic bug deterrent (whose effectiveness was hotly debated), I retreated quickly to the van with Joshua, and so hopefully spared him some bites.  Jewel and Sarah soon joined us, and there we remained, enjoying the fireworks without the wildlife. Kate told me later she had sixteen mosquito bites from last night!  I’ve wondered how Todd’s fared – hopefully better than we did!

Home after fireworks, and all straight to beds.

America

My country ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims pride, From ev’ry mountain side,

Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee, Land of the noble, free,

Thy name I love:

I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills

Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees

Sweet freedom’s song;

Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break,

The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God, to Thee, Author of liberty,

To Thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright With freedom’s holy light; Protect us by Thy might,

Great God, our King!

************

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” Psalm 33:12

7-3-10 Tubing the Mackinaw

First off this morning, we butchered the remaining 30 smaller-than-they-should-be chickens. We were joined by Dean, Judah, Astrid, and Joseph Kaisner who wanted to see how we did our butchering. Done by 9:00, Dad had jobs and errands, and girls and I had kitchen projects to do. One project was a huge batch of frozen fruit cups – a recent favorite that we are thoroughly enjoying. VERY refreshing on a hot day.

Frozen Fruit Cups:

1 pint blueberries

2 quarts strawberries, drained

2 cans peaches, drained and cut into smaller chunks

4 cans mandarin oranges, drained

2 cans pineapple chunks, drained

1 box instant vanilla pudding

1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate

Mix all ingredients, reserving juice to drink later. Fill cups and freeze for 1 hour. Enjoy.

This recipe makes about 12 of the bigger cups (see size below), but that makes a huge serving so we’re going to use smaller cups next time. If cups are in the freezer longer and are frozen solid, they need to be taken out at least an hour (maybe a little longer) before they’re eaten so they can partially thaw. Delicious…and a fun project because little girls can help with many things.

After lunch – the youngest six kids and I headed to Uncle Jerry’s; Sandi and her youngest five kids met us there and we had a delightful hour or so of swim and fellowship fun. Then home for a beach afternoon – with the hose hooked up to the rainwater tank and slowly draining into the sandbox, the kids were happy for a couple hours. Sand + water = very much fun! Meanwhile, Dad and the boys went tubing on the Mackinaw River with Nate, Gabriel, and Josiah – it was a beautiful day for a lazy float down the river, complete with all its accompanying rope swings, swims, and bridge jumps. They were home a little after 4:00, right after our crew here had started to clean up and go through showers etc. We had very much fun hearing about their river adventures; but I’m even more convinced that I don’t really want to be that adventuresome. Maybe someday? Well, maybe. Certainly not right now, though.

Chores, lots of cleanup, supper prep, and supper. To CIT to check out the hay they had baled, and then to Morton for fireworks. I forgot my camera; I didn’t want it for fireworks (go borrow a book from the library – it would have much better pictures) but rather, I wanted it for pictures of Joshua. He was SOOO CUTE. He was on Jesse’s lap eating crackers when the first one started, and he stopped mid-chew and just stared and stared and stared. After half a minute he decided this was not fun, and he dove for my lap and kept pointing to the van. Smart little boy – he knew the escape route pretty well. I took him in the van, and he kept staring and staring, and after a couple minutes he started saying, real quietly, “Boom” after every boom. I’m not sure how he knew to say that, but his “Booms” got louder each time, and his smiles got bigger too. When Dad brought Jewel to the van (scared), Joshua was ready to go out with him again. And he spent the rest of the show just grinning so cute and saying “BOOM” after every explosion. On the really loud ones, his whole body would stiffen up and he would shout pretty loud…all with big grins and laughing. I so wished I had my camera; a video would have been precious. Oh well. It was such a good time regardless.

Home to beds.

7-2-10 Friday

Another beautiful day. Dad and I took an early walk, then he and Jacob checked the bees and started in on farm jobs (he took the day off). Aunt Joyce was here at 8:00 and dug into a job list with the girls’ help as they got their Friday jobs done. I think their last job was to wash Dad’s car – that was the most fun for Sarah and Jewel!

Levi and Jesse milked; then Levi went to CIT and Jesse joined the outside crew here. After lunch, the girls, Ben, Joshua, and I went to Uncle Jerry’s to swim; Joyce joined us, and Karol and Moise came for awhile too. Home again, Dad and the 4 boys fixed the flood gate in preparation for letting the cows down there now that it’s been baled.

On Wednesday, our Charolais cow had her little Charolais calf; Kate got a picture today. It is VERY cute to see this:

During chores, I mowed the orchard, which is not a very fun job at all – those nice low apples that are so easy and fun to pick are not so easy and fun to mow around; the girls hoed the potatoes so the plants don’t get swallowed up in weeds like they did last year. By 6:00 we were on our way to Pekin for my birthday present – all 11 of us had supper at Applebee’s. We had such a good time – we like to watch other people as much as they like to watch us (“Are all these YOURS?”). Afterwards we went on a deer drive and ended up at the Mackinaw River where we won’t ever forget what Joshua did. I’m not going to write about it either; it was not much of a nugget so I’ll not report it. I will just close by saying that we came straight home from there; I went STRAIGHT to the shower, Joshua went STRAIGHT to the bathtub, and all clothing and one blanket went STRAIGHT to the wash machine.

That’s all!

7-1-10 More Bean Patch Ponderings

To the bean patch by 6:30; this morning at different times I was picking with every one of the kids. Levi and Jesse started out with me, then Levi left to take the truck to Mike’s Garage; Dad brought him home. Levi then took Jesse to Uncle Randy’s so I lost him then too. Ben wandered out to help next; Joshua was close after him, and all the girls eventually helped at one point or other too. As much as I appreciate the solitude and silence of the job, I enjoyed the chit chat of the morning more. I had some ponder time too after everyone had left to start snipping/snapping; I always go over everyone else’s rows no matter what the age. Obviously the older 3 only take me a few minutes to go over, and I find very few beans, but some of the others’ rows were another story. I found more beans on the second pick than they did on the first pick. And sometimes, as I would be looking at the next row over, which I had done, I would find beans I myself missed. My conclusion: we all need someone to check up on us, no matter what our age and ability, no matter if we’re picking beans, washing dishes, mowing a lawn, weeding a garden, typing a story, managing a household, milking cows, building trusses, disciplining children, discipling children, or WHATEVER it may be; we need to check up on each other. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” (Phil. 2: 4) And next week when I pick beans again…I’ll know that all the fat overripe ones were because no one checked up on me. I’ll have my report card then.

Anyway. Beans all day, and Aunt Sarah took Tori to the orthodontist and did a few errands for me in the morning too. Levi went to CIT in the morning, and was home soon after Uncle Randy brought Jesse back. They went to bale hay for Gregg by noon, and, due to some unforeseen happenings, were home for supper with us. We babysat for Maria for a little while in the afternoon; I walked with Karol, and other than that beans were the focus of the day. We ended up with 30 quarts with which I was very happy. After supper we went to Grandpa Kaiser’s to help Aunt Joyce tear out her old carpet in her bedroom. Well, the older kids and Dad helped; Grandma read to the littles and I played with Joshua outside. It was a beautiful evening but I didn’t enjoy it like I could have – I hate it that my back/legs/shoulders get so sore after picking beans for a few hours. I don’t want to get old and decrepit. It was after 9:00 until we got home from Grandpa’s so we all went straight to beds.

A few pictures:

This was five 5-gallon buckets, or about 2 1/2 bushels.

Don’t Grandpa’s yellow beans look pretty?

Hard at work (more or less).

Grandpa was bring haybales back and lining them up on the levee; everyone got a turn to make a couple rounds with him.

Aunt Sarah brought butterscotch bars for my birthday. Yummm!

Joshua LOVED his turn on the tractor.

Making progress…

Have to take a break to pet a kitten.

::Smiles::

::Sunshine::

Sarah was such a good babysitter for Maria.

Almost done!

Work’s done; time for some fun!

“Thank you Lord for Your blessings on me.”