A Look at this Past Week

Yes, our computer is back in working order again! The time spent with it not working was quite nice as I felt somehow more relaxed, if you can imagine that.

I'm going to share a smattering of pictures from this week. Nothing of great significance has happened so maybe my pictures will reflect more of our "normal life".

"Thelma in the Drivers Seat"
On Monday Thelma, Ashley and her husband LD came to visit the house site. Momma put together a delicious picnic lunch of chicken fingers and potato fries and Ashley brought the cookies. After eating Ashley and LD went on a tour of the property; then the fun began!!! Trevor showed Thelma how to drive the mini-excavator! It's all done by levers (such as the left arm moves the left track and the right moves the right track etc..) which can get rather interesting as there are multiple levers or joysticks!

"Lets See How many People Will Fit On It"
After grasping the driving part it was time for her to put it in action, so off she drove to the dirt pile.

"Is it really scooping?"
After scooping several bucketfuls of dirt it and then parking it, it was time for the party to come to an end. Thanks for coming LD and Ashley!
I LIKE this picture! Everyone is smiling and looks happy!

"Ready and Waiting for the concrete"
This is what Trevor was able to accomplish on Monday. Yesterday the footers were poured and tomorrow the "block laying buddies of Trevor's" will be there laying block! By tomorrow evening there will be something SOLID and PERMANENT there! It gives me shivers just to think that Trevor's dream is becoming a reality! Praise the Lord!

"A Normal Scene from the Barnyard"
Billy thinks he's a mountain goat when he's on top of the dog houses. He does all sorts of acrobatics that include twists, jumps, and tossing of his horns. I got a kick out of watching him this particular morning as he was determined to get the cow worked up! I obviously caught the cow in the midst of rubbing her neck while billy appears to be scheming up a new tactic! Whatever it was he came up with didn't work as the cow was more interested in dog food than in pesky goats.
Note: can you see the dog food?

"Work continues in the Garden"
One afternoon, as I sat pondering a stack of flat rocks, I had an idea; why not put in a steeping stone pathway to my bench?! Well, stepping stones didn't happen but a pathway sure did! I laid the stones into the ground rather than just laying them on top of the dirt. I'm hoping that they will stay put and not "walk" all over the place like stepping stones tend to do.

"My Happy Helper"
Sayre was willing to go get more rocks for me... it's the brown looking pile in the right of the picture. I was able to get the walkway done in an hour but I'm still "tweaking" it a little, hence no picture yet!
I've begun to see more and more how willing my brothers are to help us. They will put aside what they are headed out to do at the moment and instead do what Momma, or I, need done. This is a real blessing to see in addition to being convicting, for I know that this is something that I need to work on.

"Additions to the Dog Family"
Meet Molly (Right) and Maggie (Left) the two most recent dogs eating out of my bag of dog food. They've been here three weeks now although two of those weeks were spent being chased by us and four wheelers, getting hollered at, and having Jasper "attack" them. Last week we finally decided that the "weren't from 'round here" so we began feeding them and treating Maggie's' ear. Today Maggie's' ear is healing, although she'll always have a "raggy" ear, and both are eating up the attention we give them. Molly will be heading to the Humane Society soon as she is to domineering with the other dogs; she needs a home where she is the center of attention!
They both are sweet "pups" and I've enjoyed having them here!

"Roofing"
While Trevor waited for the concrete man to arrive yesterday he tackled the pile of shingles that have fallen off the garage of late. I guess the recent roofing his boss has had him do is now paying off here! Sayre sat at the bottom of the ladder so that it wouldn't slide. The dogs loved the easy access to petting!

"Tristan and His Cow"
Excuse me, it's not a cow, it's a heifer! Each time I call it "Moo Cow" Tristan rolls his eyes and says- "she's not a cow until she has a calf. Until then she's a heifer!" Either way the BOVINE loves her feed and apparently couldn't wait to dig in last night! That container is three-quarters full of feed and most all of it is gone by morning!

"Yes?!"
Maggie is a vegetarian. Really. She likes pears from the tree in the front yard, ant infested eggplant from the garden, and this morning she was carrying around a half-ripe tomato that I had thrown for her! I am feeding her dog food. I think maybe vegetables are her dessert?!

"Getting ready for Deer Season"
Collin turned the two or three remaining deer carcases in the freezer into ground meat this morning. He said that we have about forty pounds of ground meat now which is a huge blessing! It takes two pounds of meat to make spaghetti sauce or taco meat for our family and we try to use half deer-half beef. We've been out of deer meat for a while so this is wonderful!

Deer season begins with-in the next several weeks and Collin is getting all set for it. Bow hunting is first which he's planning on doing (I think. He's been shooting I know), then it's muzzle loader which I pretty sure he's doing, and then it's open for gun (or is it called shotgun? I can't keep all those different type guns straight!). He has everything necessary to process his own deer now, so we shall see what this season will be like!

"The Heavens' declare the glory of God..."
The clouds have begun to "change" in the past week or so. They have become "fluffier" which is something that I remember happening at this time last year. Fall is definitely on its' way to our region. In the next several weeks the days will begin to get cooler and the air will have a crisp clear look to it. I can't wait!

Have a wonderful weekend!