Goings-On

The weather has been cool and you can see the changing colors of the trees more and more each day!

Yesterday was overcast with a little bit of rain, but that didn't stop Daddy, Trevor, and Collin from putting some siding on Trevor's house. Daddy had taken the day off from his "bean counting" in order to meet with the well digger and Trevor had gotten rained out from work, so I'm sure they enjoyed the break from the normal everyday routine. I wish that both Daddy and Trevor could stay home everyday as it makes the day brighter when they are home.

"Trevor's Driveway"
I finally made it over to Bull Run for the first time in several weeks yesterday morning! You would think with it being two miles down the road I would make it over there at least once or twice a week! Anyway, Trevor had gotten his driveway laid out, the dirt tilled up and raked out on each side of it, and grass planted last week! I can't wait to see what it looks like come spring!

"The Siding Begins"
Trevor is patiently awaiting his electrical friends to come out and run the electric, so in the meantime he is working on the siding. I love the way the windows are "framed" as it makes it look neat and trim!

"Sewing Away!"
As some of you may know, I have recently become a part of a group called "Sinfonia" at a local college. We had a concert last night that I needed a black dress for, so I have spent the past few days in the sewing room. Sawyer sits in there with us and has taken to cutting fabric scraps which he says are for Thelma!

"Problems"
Although I had bought fabric for the dress weeks ago, knew what pattern I was going to be using, and realized that I needed to make the dress soon, I somehow forgot about making it until Monday afternoon. I was finally able to begin assembling it on Thursday and as with all projects that you start at the last minute, problems arose! Such as... I accidentally sewed BOTH sleeves onto the wrong side of the bodice (the bodice is lined and I mistook the inside for the outside!); and then, the knob on my machine became stuck and I couldn't wind a bobbin (after much exertion, my Mom and Thelma laughing at me, and quite a few goofy pictures later, it loosened up!)
With Momma and Thelma pitching in the dress was done five minutes before I had to leave! What have I learned from all this? Start a project as soon as the fabric is washed and dried, that way you have plenty of time to finish it!

Now for the Breaking News!!!!!!Maggie had her puppies last night!!!! As of ten o'clock this morning there are eight black and furry pups nestled in the dog house!

"Momma and her babies"
They lay in a giant heap and grunt a squeal when they are disturbed. We can't wait to see what they look like as they get older and I can already foretell a bunch of rambunctious fun that is coming our way!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Happenings

Many things have happened since this time last week!! Trevor's house has gone from a foundation to something resembling.....

THIS!!!
Actually, this picture was taken last Friday so the framing is almost done! The rafters are on, the sheeting in, house wrap applied, and I hear that there is a porch in the works!

Sayre has been faithfully helping Trevor frame the house and is really enjoying the time spent with his older brother. It's so neat to go over there and see them both up in the rafters or working together to get sheets of plywood up. It is a perfect example of siblings working as friends.

This is looking out from where the front porch will be. Someday soon there will be cattle grazing in that field!

"Thelma's Art"
Picked and arranged by her own hands.

"Trevor Art"
This seems to be normal for him!

On Friday I headed out to watch these children for an entire three days! Oh what fun we had! We spent Friday afternoon getting "reacquainted" with each other and finally decided that it had been about two years since we had last been together.

After Caleb's' ball game on Saturday, I brought the kids over for "The Grand Tour". We walked around the property, peeked into graveyard, and showed them the things that you would want to see if you keep up with my family!

"Touring Trevor's House"
"Left to Right~Christian, Sayre, Caleb, and Lauren. Oh, that's part of Trevor's' arm hanging off the ladder.

"At the Rabbit Cages"
Caleb has the and imagination that rivals Sawyers so he was able to get right down on Sawyer's level to help shoot the bad guys or the deer!

"Christian and Sawyer"
Sunday found all of us attending my family's church in Abbeville as well as a delicious dinner at our house! I was so glad that I had brought the kids over the day before as I felt that they were more at ease with us on Sunday.
I can remember Christian holding Sawyer when he was several months old, and not letting the girls hold him! Thank goodness there was another baby in the church for the girls to hold!

"While We Wait for Sunday Dinner"
Lauren and Sawyer became fast friends on Sunday. While they waited for us to finish lunch preparations the read books and played with his toys; it was sweet to watch.
I hope the kids had as much fun as I did last weekend! It won't soon be forgotten!

So what have I been up to since Sunday? Well...

...combatting fleas has been my top priority lately and I put all my energy into ridding us of them yesterday. ALL four dogs received baths and a powdering of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) when they were dry. I sprayed my room, washed all their bedding, put down DE where Buck sleeps, and dusted the clean bedding with DE. You would think that all that would be enough to cause the fleas to pack up and leave but I'm still going to be dusting the dogs with DE everyday as well as giving baths more than once a week inf necessary! I HATE fleas.
Today is a beautiful breezy day and I will be spending the afternoon outside with the dogs, in the garden, and maybe over at Bull Run! Have a wonderful afternoon!

Happenings at Trevor's

Trevor took most all of last week off from work in hopes that he could get some work done over at his house site. I don't know if he got everything done that he was hoping to as he had difficulties with the weather.

"The New Driveway"
He was able to borrow his boss' skid steer and used it to pull the Chinese Privet out from along the fence. As you can see, we had some rain... actually we had allot of rain, praise the Lord! We received in the neighborhood of two inches of rain this past week, which has really made a difference already! Tristan told me that it was so easy to dig the post holes with the auger Saturday as the ground was wet most all of the way down!

"A Row of Pecan Trees"
The new house site sits at the other end of these trees. Do you the Suburban? It's to the left of it. The area that the pecans trees are in is where an old house used to sit. There is what appears to be the remnants of a rock wall meandering through the trees which is rather neat!

"Work has Begun!"
Trevor didn't let the rain dampen his plans for getting the house site graded out Tuesday afternoon!

Do you like our red dirt?! It's amazing that anything will grow in it!
Today, Trevor will, hopefully, begin to dig the footers for the foundation! Sawyer will be in raptures of delight because "Tefor" will be home again (he's been gone since Friday) AND he will have a new piece of equipment to dig with!

Wednesday evening I was summoned over to Bull Run and told to bring the 'burb. The dump truck wouldn't start and they wanted to jump it, so I loaded "squeaky clean" Sawyer up and off we went! He loves being with Trevor, loves dirt, and loves BIG trucks! All he wanted to do was sit in the "Bi Twuck" and talk to Trevor! What a delight it is to see the younger boys wanting to be with the older ones!
Today promises to be a delightfully full and active day over at Bull Run! Have a wonderful Labor Day Holiday!

Odds and Ends

Last Saturday our whole family spent a good part of the day down at Bull Run either watching Daddy or just puttering around. Momma had packed a picnic lunch of BLT's, Cucumber Salad, Chips, and Iced Tea- it was delicious!!

Daddy and Tristan were working on the holes for the corner posts in the fence which was a rather interesting procedure.

With the first hole that they did, the auger got stuck. Two hours later, and after taking the auger almost completely apart, they were able to begin work again. Despite their best efforts, the auger kept getting stuck but they were able to get it out with much wiggling and backing the tractor back and forth. The only thing we can figure is that the bit is so new and the ground so hard that it gets "sucked" in (which doesn't make any sense I know). They were only able to get three and a half holes done which I know was frustrating to them.

Look at our beautiful, fertile, red dirt!!!

Sawyer and I were looking back at pictures from a year ago today and we found some that really brought back fond memories!!!

"Do you remember the post on "One Way To Spend an Evening"? We spent a good couple of hours running down the neighbors' herd of cows that had gotten out!! This was my first encounter with bovines and it certainly hasn't been my last!

All we had to do was to walk behind them and they knew where to go. Who would've ever thought that a year later, we would have the beginnings of a heard in our own "back yard"?

A year ago Sayre was selling extra garden produce out at the mail box! Most of the time we seemed to have a garden stand and a garage going at the same time which I'm sure was very amusing to those passing by! Sayre did quite well at this venture and has talked about doing it again; alas, we have no extra produce this year for him to sell.
Also, a year ago we were having some of the hottest temperatures that we can remember. Every afternoon, for two weeks, the temperature reached 104 if not more. Now, a year later, we're enjoying temperatures in the low nineties.
I'm so amazed to see how different things are a year later and I'm thrilled to see the areas that we've grown in. The Lord is so faithful and I can't wait to see how He works in this upcoming year!

Another Saturday at Bull Run

For the past several Saturdays I have spent some time over at Bull Run either watching the going's on or taking part in them. Last Saturday was no exception and it was just beautiful!!! The temperatures have been in the lower nineties since late last week and it felt more like fall than summer!! A wonderful respite from the really hot temperatures that we have been having.
Sawyer and I headed over to Bull Run later in the morning to see what Trevor and Sayre were up to and found them occupied putting up the forms for the concrete.

"Prep-Work"
Sayre spent all day helping Trevor who I know really appreciated it!
Just as a side note- Sayre got stung or bitten by something on Saturday and his eye is not quite swollen shut. The poor kid looks absolutely pitiful but it hasn't kept him from causing trouble!!!

"Tools of the Trade"
There are benefits when your boss owns a construction company and you want to build a house. You can borrow his tools!!

"Bush-Hogging"
Sawyer and I next went and found Tristan. He had spent most of the morning pushing the piles on the edge of the field into the gully or at least getting them closer to the edge. He was in the process of bush hogging where the piles had been when we found him. Tristan works for a local dairy and has done allot of haying, bushing hogging, and other such tractor work for them, so he knows what he is doing!
After finding Tristan it was time to head back home for lunch.... Tristan's favorite meal!

"The Graveyard...."
Thelma had arrived while we were gone, and it was a jolly lunch hour that we had!!! After clean-up we all headed back over to the property. I was going to spend the afternoon getting the "graveyard" all cleaned up and Thelma was happy to help!

"Teamwork"
We started out by raking around the "graves" and cleaning a spot that looked decent. We loaded everything into the back of the beast and then dumped it in the gully.

"Help Has Arrived!"
On their way home from the bow shoot Daddy and Collin stopped by to see what everybody was up to and they some how wound up helping us!! Tristan had a chainsaw handy and was willing to cut a few limbs out for us which then turned into "cut down all the rotten trees"!

"Tire Tracks"
I found this picture humorous as you can see where everyone has been driving!!

"Pondering"
Trevor and Sayre came and helped us girls finish up the raking. Thelma had spent some time pruning an old oak tree that stands over the "Graveyard" and she did a wonderful job! It's so nice to have something looking well taken care of!

"The End Result"
Oh it looks so much better!! The landowner next to us does not think these are graves, but they are obviously something. Part of the fun is thinking about what they could be!!!

Saturday Afternoon

After spending two hours dealing with modem/Internet issues on Saturday my brain was more than ready to take a break. It was time to get outside! Exploring Bull Run has been on my mind lately so I decided to head over and see what all was going on!

"Let's go!"
I have a hard time saying "no" to the pair of brown eyes that watch me as I drive off, so I loaded Jasper up and off we went.

I soon found Trevor and Sayre picking up and hauling off the brush and limbs that were along the old fence line.

"After the cleanup"
They were working in the area in which we find the old "graves", so I pitched in and helped load up the truck!

Sayre enjoys driving the truck around and Trevor is more than willing to let him! He does a good job of getting the truck right where it needs to be.
I was amazed at the amount of brush there is along the fence line. It just goes to show what happens when you let things get grown up.

Instead of hauling the brush down to the gully, they were making a big pile up at the edge of the field.

Trevor then brought the tractor in and pushed it all into the gully! It saved so much time to do it this way! As I watched Trevor I have to admit that I was a little nervous about him getting so close to the edge. I asked him later if he was nervous about being that close and he said "Yes, I was watching my wheels to make sure I didn't get to close and fall in!"

"Jasper's Cooling System"
The afternoon temperature reached one-hundred degrees but thankfully there was a nice breeze blowing which made it very bearable. When Jasper gets hot he heads for water and proceeds to lay in it. I find this very amusing as he despises bath time!

"Field Cleanup"
Daddy, Trevor, Tristan, and Sayre had spent the morning getting these piles pushed into the gully. They weren't able to get it pushed all the way to the gully, but just far enough so that the field looks even neater!

"Daddy"
Daddy spent most of the afternoon bush-hogging a thicket and it looks great! I was reminded of a park when I saw the end result!!
He did run over a in-the-ground yellow jacket nest and several of us were the victims of their excessive anger!

"Daddy and Trevor"
It's so neat to see the men-folk taking dominion like this! I know that they are very happy doing this type of work and for Daddy, I think it's almost like his way of relaxing.
Momma and I feel very blessed to have men-folk who enjoy working like this!

"From the Hill"
The last thing I did as I was preparing to come back home, was to drive up Trevor's driveway and "survey the view". Do you see that tiny white speck in the middle of the photo? That's a church steeple! Off to the left you can see a little more cleared rolling land (not in the picture). It makes one look forward to fall just thinking about how spectacular the view will be!

"The Road"
I love dirt roads!