Epiphany

They are off! The 4-H meats team is heading west on Interstate 90, so they will be heading your way, Wendy. They decided to stay north of the storm area today, and then they will go south to Denver tomorrow.

My daughter is all excited and was scurrying around this morning to get the last things packed. A hug and a kiss, and she was out the door. I pray that their trip is safe and fun and that they do their best in the meat judging competition.

The last few days I have been helping her sew a nightgown. She is taking her 2^nd year of sewing in 4-H this year, and she still has a lot to learn! She tells me she can’t see how anyone learns how to sew well enough to remember all the little tips I give her. She did a nice job.

According to the weatherman we have gotten somewhere between 9 and 12 inches of snow in the last 48 hours. My hubby was up at 5:30 to clear the lane. The cats are not very happy, but they will be more content when the boys get the decks and boardwalk cleaned off. One kitten came out of the garage this morning and jumped into ONE BIG snow pile. He was shaking his head in bewilderment when he appeared again. He has never seen snow like this!

Even though the schools are all cancelled around here, I think my boys will do some school today. Perhaps we will have a shorter day, and I will send them out with their sleds. Epiphany is the day in the church year when we celebrate the coming of the Wise Men bringing their gifts to the Baby Jesus. Today we will celebrate by taking down the tree.

Happy Epiphany!


The Nightgown

Snowflakes

Snowflakes out my window,
Snowflake on my lap.
One is cold and icy, while
The other takes a nap.

Outside the wind is blowing;
The branches bounce and sway.
The snowflakes dance and tumble
Like children out to play.

But here upon my blanket
Is Snowflake soft and warm;
He’s purring and contented,
Oblivious of the storm.
by Jean in Wisconsin

Snowflake

Today

It snowed last night and probably will continue to do so today. I love the snow, and I love winter—especially when the world is blanketed in white. There are a couple of inches on our deck. One set of little cat prints come up the deck steps, to the water dish, and then back to the stairs.

We are all healthy right now. Today we will get my daughter packed and ready for her trip to the Denver stock show. We pray that the weather will clear enough and that they will drive safely there and back. She will be judging meats in a national competition. She is anxious to do well; she came in second at the state competition in Wisconsin. She has studied and practiced hard. She will have to identify meat cuts, rank them according to quality, judge hanging carcasses and give her reasons for their placements before a judge—and these have to be memorized.

School has gone well this week. Although all the area schools have a snow day, I think my boys will have school. I will have to send them out for some snow time, though!

I did not rise at a very early hour today, so I need to get off the computer and ready for the day. I require everyone to meet in the kitchen at 7:00 so that we all can get breakfast on the table. We will have our Bible reading and will read part of the World Mission Prayer League’s newsletter and then we will pray for those missionaries working around the world. There will be time for a few chores, and then it will be time for school.

Blessings!

Meanderings

I wanted to walk in the woods today, but it was the last day of hunting and I wasn’t sure I liked walking out there when I could here bang-bang-bang all around us. Instead I wandered through the pine trees that surround my home. Behind the garage use to be a tall stand of pines. There was a fire there a few years ago killing off several of the tall trees; softwood trees and berries grow there now. I pushed my way up through the briars and branches and chipped the ice off of a log so that I could sit and listen to the sounds.

The sound of wind was much louder than I expected. I did not notice the wind at all until I took the time to listen to it whistling through the trees. A bird cried out once and then was silent. A truck passed by below on one of the farm roads. I had tried to escape from the house undetected, but Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetle Juice) saw me and followed. He crawled around on the slippery log purring and mewing. He rubbed his soft body against my legs and tried to gain possession of my pencil as it wiggled in my hand. Then he attempted to climb the head of the windmill that lay upon the ground but found it hard to keep his balance on the icy metal.

I wandered across the yard and into the stand of pines that line our lane. Here the trees are tall and block the sun so that nothing but pine needles fill the ground between them. A cow spied me as I picked my way through the branches of a fallen tree and it was obvious that she did not trust anyone who wandered through those normally empty pines. I turned and came up behind the house; the cats on the deck saw a big blue coat and a hood-covered head approaching and they ran, spooked by the unknown, until I called out to reassure them. I hung my coat on the hooks and warmed my fingers and toes by the woodstove.

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My daughter is sewing a long, pink nightgown with a big ruffle around the hem. She wants to take this to Denver with her, so she is not quite ready for her trip. She will set it aside when she gets home and keep it for the 4-H Clothing Revue and the fairs.

Merry 10^th Day of Christmas!

Tomorrow

School. Tomorrow. Tomorrow? Sigh.

My schoolroom traditionally has a school table sandwiched between the wood stove and sofa and my books line the bay window. In the winter it is cozy. Tonight my bay window is filled with a Christmas tree. The cats can frequently be found curled up sleeping beneath it. The table is still in the front porch where it was put when the holidays began. I haven’t had the heart to get it hauled back into the sun porch. I suppose I will use the laundry basket for my books for a few days, at least until Epiphany when we will probably take down the tree.

The boys have realized that without school they have a lot of hours in the day to fill. I think that, although they do not really like to do school work, they are going to be content starting up again. I have enjoyed time to clean up my house and get caught up on laundry. I don’t mind housework; I do mind always struggling to find the time and energy to get it done. Homeschooling seems to fill too many hours of my day and too much of my energy to be able to keep the household running as smoothly as I would like. I am sure, however, that I will not regret the choices I have made.

Today Grandma invited us over for oyster stew—a Christmastime tradition in their home. For us two daughters-in-law this kind woman had also made homemade chicken noodle soup; she is always concerned about our dietary special needs! It was a nice family day, and since I had missed the Christmas holiday with them, it was even more special to me.

One night we had a kitten locked into the hen house, and last night one of our cats got locked into the garage. Shakespeare is his name. The name fits him well. He thinks he is still a kitten, but his body betrays him. This overgrown, shaggy monster keeps trying to play with our last litter of kittens; they squeal when he pounces on them. We usually prop the door open, but it had accidentally gotten closed up tight. I'm sure it did not hurt him to be inside for a half a day, but I think he was a bit offended by the whole thing!

Time to go. It’s bedtime for the teacher. Tomorrow will come too quickly as it is. I hope this 9^th day of Christmas was special for you and yours!

Shakespeare

Ice Storm 

Evening Thoughts

Quiet.

How pleasant it is when they all turn in and the house is quiet. I have sometimes thought that it would have been rather nice if God had created mothers to need no sleep. Those hours at night when the family rested we could read our Bibles and pray with no interruption. The family would become accustomed to our cleaning and cooking—comforting night sounds. How much laundry we could do in those 8 hours! We’d have time left over for reading good books and enjoying the beauty of the night.

Alas!

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I do not recall having a freezing rain like this that filled the window screens so completely that we could not see outside. Everything is covered in the wet ice, dripping and freezing at the same time. Earlier this evening those of us who had to do outside evening chores cautiously made their way to the sheds. No one walked on the lane because it was too treacherous. They carefully crossed to the grass and walked up behind the garage and past the grain bins.

I heard a cow bellowing a few minutes ago. I wonder how they are doing out there in this icy storm. Perhaps a mommy and her calf have gotten separated and are not able to get back together over the slippery ground. The cats have found their usual hiding places in the garage and window well. I pray that there are not people out on the highways trying to slip their way home, and for those who are, I pray for their safety.

My husband says this is the kind of night that brings power outages. He use to work for the electric utility, so his thoughts move towards those who might have to be out working in this weather.

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1 Comments

Diane, when I click on your manzanita picture, it opens up into a bigger screen. It looks like a nice view to contemplate in the early morning silence.

Blessed New year to you all.

Welcoming the New Year

The New Year was ushered in on the farm by a kitten complaining very loudly from the hen house. It was near midnight when my son went out to swing (two of my children like to do this at night). His brother went outside to remind him to fill the wood box and heard the plaintive mews of some cat up by the sheds. Wondering what the problem was, he went to investigate. Apparently, Oreo had followed Cub up when collecting eggs and had gotten himself trapped inside. He was in the storage area, so he had not had to keep the chickens from attacking him, but he had missed supper. Poor little fellow!

Oreo did not enjoy the hen house!

Around 11:00 last night, I wandered down the lane with my new Christmas present—a laser pointer. There were plenty of clouds, but I was able to point to several constellations to show my hubby how well the pointer worked. The little green beam looks like it is traveling all the way to those far away stars and even those who cannot find the Big Dipper can follow that little beam of light. (And no, these little penlights are not going to down any aircraft!) We found Orion, and Taurus. The Big Dipper was standing on its handle on the east side of the North Star, while Cassiopeia was on the right side. Andromeda and The Great Square were covered by clouds, but we found Sirius, Canis Major, Procyon, and Canis Minor easily enough. I was puzzled by the stars in the sky around the area I should have seen Gemini. I drew the lines down Orion’s belt to Sirius and went back up through Procyon. I drew my line through the knee and shoulder of Orion—and then realized that most of Gemini was covered with clouds. What I was seeing were the stars Castor and Pollux (the heads of the twins) and another bright object that didn’t belong there—a planet. I knew there was nothing that bright between Procyon and Castor ‘n Pollux! When I came in I looked it up—sure enough! It was Saturn! I’ve not been out stargazing lately, I could tell!

If any of you are looking for a few maps and some information about what is going to happen in the skies this year, Sky and Telescope puts out a little magazine once a year called Skywatch. I had Skywatch ’04 and now am using Skywatch ’05 ($5). It is a nice compilation of sky-news. I also use their calendar called Celestial Wonders, which has info on what is going on above us on each day of the calendar. I find this very helpful because I tend to forget to check to see if there is something happening up there.

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Diane, could you post a link to your blog? I haven’t seen those manzanita trees yet!

Donna, the table that was in the kitchen has been put into the study because we have no computer table or any other kind of table to put in there. I would like to get some furniture for my hubby’s room—it was suppose to be his Christmas present! The big, oak table that was in our dining room is now being used in the kitchen.

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My hubby and JM went off with Uncle Stephen to hunt the elusive deer early this morning. The cats are fed and content. The rest of the household is very quiet. I think they are enjoying sleeping in after being up so late last night! We watched a video and had some snacks. We quietly welcomed the New Year in.

And those New Year’s resolutions: The 1^st one is to seek the face of God and drawer nearer to Him. I think my 2^nd one would be to build up relationships with my husband and my children, to continue to make that a priority as they all are into those double-digit years. My third, perhaps, is to continue working on becoming the person God created me to be: to be gentle in Spirit and to be a good wife, homemaker, teacher and friend.

Did you make resolutions this year?

Blessings.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

--My true love gave to me a room of my own for working.

Yesterday I spent the whole day moving rooms around. The dining room is now the living room. The cold, front porch that housed my husband’s desk and, um, papers (piles?), is now a porch again, more or less. And the old living room is now my husband’s workroom. The Study. We called my dad’s workroom “The Study”. Do you have a room like this? What do you call it? I still need to get the desk moved, but I cannot do that without hubby’s help. The filing cabinets are there. The computer is still up in the hallway, but it will soon be there, too. His bookshelf and all the “stuff” that belongs to him will soon all be in one room. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give up my dining room, but I was willing to do so if it made our house more efficient. And I think it will make my hubby happier. I hope so. He will soon be spending a lot of time there working on his taxes.

All of this came about from one of those discussions on TWTM boards about little houses. I never thought of our house as little. I’m guessing it has around 2,000 square feet. We have 4 bedrooms and two porches, a living and dining room, a farm entryway, and 2 baths. It is not until you consider that we have a school and a home business being run out of these same rooms that you can begin to see how we get cramped for space. A lot happens here. That discussion got me thinking about how we use our space, and I decided it was time to use it more efficiently. The mostly-unused dining room had to go. There is not room in our home for a mostly-unused room.

It was not easy to persuade the family to do this. The children keep telling me why it is not a good idea to have the living room in the dining room. One reason is that now when the chore chart says “clean living room”, they won’t know which room they need to clean! And when the visiting outside cats get out of the sun porch, they will be in the room with the oriental carpet rather than the dining room! Now that I have put a chair in a doorway, we won’t be able to get that door closed without first moving the chair (it’s not blocking entry, but it no longer allows us to close the door without moving the chair --a door we almost always leave open)!! Oh, my! I’ve suggested that we move the two boys back into one room, giving dad the spare bedroom, but that was not greeted with great enthusiasm, either. LOL! We will give this a try.

So the farm world goes forward—sunshine today. We all are wondering what caused it to get into the 60’s yesterday. My kids were outside without coats! Just a couple of days ago it was down around zero. The cats look lazy lying in the sun on the deck. The cattle are wading through the soft mud, making big hoof holes all around the pastures, and the little ones are struggling to follow mama through the muck. I don’t think I’ll spray the garden for an ice rink…

Well, time to be off to work. I’m going to keep organizing the house some more today, and then we will have to decide how to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I think we should rent a video and pop some corn. I don’t know if anyone will drop in—Grandma and Grandpa, perhaps? I suppose I COULD give some serious thoughts to New Year’s resolutions. I usually don’t. I always have my head full of resolutions, and am not quite certain adding new ones would benefit. Perhaps writing my old ones on paper would be beneficial. Well, if I do, I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!