Now do you suppose they overloaded this poor donkey???? I just wonder if such a thing had happened to him before? I sure hope his load was made significantly lighter!!!

My today was pretty ordinary. I did some laundry and folded it and put it away. At noon I took some hay out to the horses for their lunch. They started munching right away. I peeked in the hen house and yep, there were 4 eggs in the nest box! Winter isn't a good time for getting lots of eggs. The hens slow down their production until the days start to lengthen again. (We could put lights in their house but haven't done it yet). We get more than we can use as it is.

For supper we had sliced turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and for dessert, we has some wonderful chocolate chip cookies that a friend in Illinois sent me! They were yummy!

 

We had a 'Girls Day Out' today in Brown County. We drove into Nashville to do some Christmas shopping in the shops there. It is a neat place to spend the day. There are shops selling everything imaginable. Crafts, fudge, candles, clothing, Christmas decorations, food, country decor, antiques of all kinds, artwork and lots more. Everything. We try to get all the 'girls' together once a year, and have fun. We had lunch at neat little place called the Hob Nob Pizza Place. The sure make HUGE salads!!!

Here we are during our day. It was rainy all day but that wasn't so bad. It kept the crowd thinned down a bit. Usually it is very crowded, but today was not bad at all.

I so enjoy our time together. It doesn't happen often enough. I'm grateful for such a loving family, that we can spend time together and want to do it again!

 

 

Today I tried explaining to Maddie about our Thanksgiving dinner. And this is her opinion of Turkey and Pumpkin Trifle!! She wanted to gag, obviously!! She has strange tastes too though, she like to eat birdseed, and she isn't even a bird! I guess, we all have odd tastes if you really think about it.

Ed and I went to the sawmill and cut another truckload of firewood. We have more wood now, than we have ever had at one time! Lets hope that that doesn't mean we are going to have an extra cold winter! So far, winter has been rather kind. Pretty warm and unseasonable. But I like it this way. This make winter seem shorter, right?? 

Here is a Thanksgiving photo of 'The Girls'. Being scattered around the country it is not easy to get everyone together. I am thankful for a wonderful family, loving parents and sisters. We get along well together (thanks to our parents) and enjoy each others company. The dinner on Thanksgiving Day was soooo gooood! Can we have a Thanksgiving day monthly, where everyone brings something? Especially Shoo Fly Pie and Pumpkin Trifle??? Yum!!!

It was hard to leave and go back home, but Ed was waiting for me. I took him home a plate full and he enjoyed his too. He went hunting, but didn't get anything. It was 19° and pretty windy when I got home at 6:00 PM and he was so cold from sitting out in the wind in a tree, that he was shaking! I hate being cold so that is something I just could not see me doing!
'Ain't' no venison worth that kind of weather.

 

We had a busy day today. Ed got up REAL early to go and freeze his bum off, sitting in a tree! No, he didn't get a deer. He saw one that was out of range, but that was all.

The farrier came at 9:30 and trimmed all the horses. She showed me how to do some touch ups in between her 5 week visits. By trial and error, we have discovered that she was trimming Katie and Maddie too short, and they were lame for about 2 weeks after her trims. So the last time she was here, I suggested that we try something different, and leave them longer. An experiment. Katie didn't have a lame moment!! KJ liked the results, and we did the same this time, and Katie and Maddie are good! The weekly touchups are to keep the toes from growing too long.
KJ is from Arizona and the horses feet out there are on dry, sandy, rocky soil, and here, they are on soft, often wet or muddy soil. The feet grow totally different, and she is trying to get used to having to trim differently. She does a good job, learning, as she does different things, now that she is in Indiana.

Ed and I finished putting the kick boards up in the run in shed for the horses. This is to keep the horses from coming in contact with the metal siding and possibly kicking and getting a foot through the tin.

When we finished that job, we cut pieces of roofing tin to extend the roofing along the back of the shed roof. The rain has been running down inside and soaking the floor. This should help getting the water to run away from the wall and hopefully to keep it dry inside.

Today was warm and breezy. Just perfect for working outside. The sun was shining and it was 54°. Real nice for mid November.

Poor Kitty, am I mean? I put bird seed out on the deck, and this chipmunk stuffs her cheeks, and then disapears under the deck to stash it in her winter den. Then she returns for more. Kitty sits here watching and wanting, but to no avail. That chipmunk has run back and forth right in front of the window, knowing Kitty can't get her. I enjoy watching her, but I don't think Kitty does!!

It was 18° this morning and in my book that is cold enough! I'm not a winter person by any means. I'm ready for March and April already! At least the sun is shining. That makes it appear warmer anyway. I bundled up and went out and fed the chickens and let them out into their runs. Even the chickens thought it was cold! They would tuck one foot up into their feathers to warm up, then switch feet and warm up the other one! They do tend to spend more time in their new chicken house too, now that it is cold outside.

I spent a couple of days this week making mulberry jelly. There was a mulberry tree on the horse farm where I worked last summer. And it had a bumper crop of berries. There were two employees that worked there. Myself, and the maintance man, Enrique, a Hispanic. We had worked together there for 8 years. Last summer we each collected the berries and froze them. He asked me if I would make him some of the jelly. (I had made some in the previous years also and gave it as Christmas gifts, so he had tasted some of my jelly). I agreed if he would buy the sugar, and canning jars. So, he brought me out all these frozen packages of mulberries!! He had at least 20 gallon bags of mulberries!!!!! I expected 7 or 8 bags, not 20!!!!!!
So I made the jelly. It made 4 cases of pints, that is 48 pint jars of jelly. Don't tell him this, but I saved 4 of those bags for myself since I put in all the work! And that is what I was doing this week, making those 4 gallons of frozen mulberries into jelly. It is rich, and soooo tasty! It tastes a bit strong to taste it on a spoon, but on a toasted Enlish muffin, there 'ain't nuthin better' !!! Since I don't work there anymore, these were the last ones I had. I will miss my mulberries. These were huge, big berries. Love 'em!

When I was a very little girl, I remember visiting some family friends at their home. We lived in eastern Kentucky at the time. My Dad had his reel to reel tape recorder along and this couple played the guitar and sang some lovely old gospel songs. I enjoy them so much that I thought I'd play a little of them here.

Some of these songs I've never heard anywhere else. They were sung out of a small handwritten notebook. There were recorded about 1963 I think. I still listen to them and just love the 'country flavor' of the singers.

My sunset photo. I can't get away from the power lines, since we live almost under them. The sunset was so pretty, I took several photos, as it changed every minute or so.

Today was such a nice day, it is hard to believe that it is the 12th of November! It was 70° and breezy and just a wonderful day! We moved all the equipment out of the shed behind the barn and made space to put the horse trailer under the roof for the winter. Then we rearranged everything else and put it back. (The tractor, the bush hog, the manure spreader, the riding lawn mower, and various other stuff). That is something we have been wanting to do for a long time. I'm glad it is done. We can even get it out in a hurry if we need too. But at least it won't sit out in the winter weather. Now it will just be a home for the birds that roost under the shed at night. OH, well, I guess they need shelter too! 

This has been a busy week. Ed was home all week and that limited my time to add to this, somewhat. He wanted to go hunting, but the first part of the week was too warm, so we just caught up on things that needed doing before winter really sets in with a vengence. I followed him from job to job, handing him tools or whatever.
This morning, it was 28° and he left waayyyy before daylight to go and sit in a tree!! Me??? If I was going to sit in a tree, I'd want to do it when it was 55° in the mornings, instead of 28°!!! But then...I don't plan on sitting in a tree, unless it is with a camera!

We very nearly had a bad accident this afternoon. Ed has an old homemade hay wagon that he put 2 foot tall sides on. He took it to the sawmill in Spencer this afternoon, and had them load it with two scoops of sawdust. (That will usually last us a while, for bedding the horses stalls, when the weather is bad). Since the pickup can't pull the loaded wagon up our driveway, Ed parked it up by the road and came to the house and got the tractor. He hitched it to the wagon and started down the hill with it. But the wagon was just too heavy and pushed his tractor sideways, and over a bank. Three feet more and it would have gone into a sinkhole!! Anyway, the wagon jacknifed against the tractor tire and it was stuck!! I stood on the front porch and watched this happen, with my heart in my mouth. I was expecting it to roll over, since it was down over the bank. Ed later said he thought that too!! Just by the grace of God, that tractor and wagon didn't roll and do some real damage or injury.

It took Ed 4 hours to extract it from its predicament. He had to off load the sawdust into the pickup truck, drive it up to the house and unload it, twice. The wagon was too heavy for the truck to try and move it from its jammed position.

Finally, he could hitch a chain to the back of the wagon and pull it sideways enough to get it off of the tractor tire, and we could hitch it to the tractor again and pulled it up to the barn!! Whew, I don't want to see such a thing again!!

Now you know why we want to move to a flatter piece of property. Everything,and I mean every square inch of this place is either uphill or downhill and is dangerous when using the tractor!!

I spent the day making Gingered Pear Jam. I made three batches. I was quite surprised that Ed liked it. Usually if it isn't grape or strawberry, he won't bother, but he liked it very much. Even suggested it as a birthday gift for a family member!

Ed has been home this week to go hunting, but it has been too warm. So we have been trying to catch up on 'stuff' that needs doing before it gets REAL cold. I have tried to do some of my pears in between helping him with this job and that one, so my pears aren't getting done very fast. Today a managed to get 6 small jars of Gingered Pear Jam done. It tastes really nice. There was none left to try on a piece of toast, but I did get to like the spoon!!

Yesterday we moved the chickens to their new chicken house. When I have more time I will post some photos of it. The chickens think they have died and gone to heaven!!!

Now...if I could just get my house cleaned like Ruth did hers!!!

On Saturday I drove down to Mom and Dad's and we worked in the garden all day. My baby sister came too, and we got a lot done together. With teamwork I think we rearranged it a little. We dug up the old railroad ties that divided it into sections. Most of them had rotted, so we dumped them on the trash pile.

I used Dads tractor and pulled out the old T posts and to drag out the old ties. We were going to rototill the garden when we got it all done, but the rototiller wouldn't stay running long enough to get the job done. I got frustrated with it, trying to restart it every few minutes. I gave up on that and parked it!

It was a beautiful day for November, sunny and 70°. Mom made a yummy lunch of turkey sausage links cooked with potatoes, gravy, steamed broccoli, and corn. For dessert we had homemade chocolate covered candy bars. Mmmm!

I didn't know if I should publish this here, but I couldn't resist! Ed brought me this from work.

If They Only Knew...

Calling in sick makes me uncomfortable. No matter how legitimate my illness, I always sense my boss thinks I'm lying. On one occasion, I had a valid reason, but lied anyway because the truth was too humiliating. I simply mentioned that I had sustained a head injury and I hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on my crown. The accident occurred mainly because I condeded to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute little kitty. Initially the new acquisition was no problem, but one morning I was taking my shower after breakfast when I heard my wife call out to me from the kitchen. "The garbage disposal is dead. Come reset it." I protested, " You know where the button is. Reset it yourself!" She pleaded, "I am scared! What if it starts going and sucks me in? C'mon, it'll only take a second." So out I come, dripping wet and buck naked, hoping to make a statement about how her cowardly behavior was not without consequence. I crouched down and stuck my head under the sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember performing. It struck without warning, without respect to my circumstances. Nay, it wasn't a hexed disposal drawing me into its gnashing metal teeth. It was our new kitty, clawing playfully at the dangling objects she spied between my legs. She had been poised around the corner and stalked me as I took the bait under the sink. At precisely the second I was most vulnerable, she leapt at my most private area and snagged it with her needle-like claws. Now, when men feel pain or even sense danger anywhere close to their masculine region, they lose all rational thought to control bodily movements. Instinctively, their nerves compel the body to contort inwardly, while rising upwardly at a violent rate of speed. Wild animals are sometimes faced with a "fight or flight" syndrome. Men, in this predicament, choose only the "flight" option. Fleeing straight up, I knew at that moment how a cat feels when it is alarmed. But, whereas cats seek great heights to escape, I never made it that far. The sink and cabinet bluntly impeded my ascent; the impact knocked me out cold. When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me. Having been fully briefed by my wife, the paramedics snorted as they tried to conduct their work while suppressing their hysterical laughter. At the office, colleagues tried to coax an explanation out of me. I kept silent claiming it was too painful to talk. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" If they had only known.

Here is another photo of my 'little buddy'. I have been putting bird seed out on the deck and as you can see by his full cheek pouches, he is packing it away!! I have also seen him picking up leaves in his mouth and using his front paws, he packs them in too, then disappears under the deck. I suppose he is insulating his nest for the winter hibernation. I think this one is a female but don't know for sure.

P.S. by clicking on a photo, you can usually get a larger version to view. 

I had a busy day today. I left the house at 7:10 this AM to go and take some photos of the fall colors. I put quite a few miles on my truck. I was taking a photo of a little white church surrounded by orange maple trees, when a farmer from the neighboring farm walked down to where I was. He wanted to know if I was surveying for the water lines!! He was older, and said he told them the water lines are in his cow pasture and he thinks they should find them because if he dies, and a mean person gets his farm, no one would know where they were! I guess that makes sense.

I got home about noon, and started working on canning my pears again. I put a roast in the crockpot with some potatoes. That is one thing less to have to do this evening. It is also one of Ed's favorite meals.

I carried a milk crate and a 5 gallon bucket of shelled corn down the back pasture to refill the deer feeder. It was nearly full already so that was a useless trip. We love to watch the deer. Usually there are at least three and sometimes more that come out to eat. If the dog isn't around they usually come out about 5:30. I hate it when they eat my blackberry bushes, and get in my garden, but I love watching them. A couple of them walked through the horse pasture this evening and the horses just watched them go.

I squeezed in some laundry in between slicing pears a slicing my thumb. I wanted to use the leaf bagger on the lawn mower, but ran out of time to get it all done.

This is rather crude, but I laughed out loud when I saw it! Someone had to have a very active imagination to think up something like this for advertising!! Even the shirts match in color!!

I took a long drive out on the back country roads of Owen County today, looking for some nice fall scenes to photograph. I found some, but also found some sites that I need to come back to in the early morning to photograph. If I can drag myself out of the house that early, that is what I am planning to do tomorrow morning. I also forgot my tripod and had to turn off my truck (to lessen vibration) and use the top of the door to set my camera on it.

We are having a photo share at the Photography Club and I need twenty images to submit. Some of them are from photos I have taken this last summer, but I need some fresh ones too.