Canning Planning

     Whew! I feel almost completely human today - almost completely over my cold and eye infection.  Still need to take the antibiotic eyedrops a couple more days, and go back to the doctor Tuesday. Eye infections are not something to mess around with! 
     Haven't had much to say the past few days.  Haven't done a whole lot, either.  Sometimes I think a cold is the worst kind of illness.  You just don't feel good enough to do anything other than the very basics.  Then, when you start feeling better, there's a lot of catching up to do. Today I caught up on the laundry, cleaned the kitchen real good, and did all the floors - sweeping, mopping, vacuuming.  Tomorrow I hope to catch up on  food prep.

a few jars of Summer's bounty

      Which brings me to todays' topic: planning canning/ canning planning.  I have all the jars and the ingredients lined up on the breakfast room table, ready to make some wonderful minced pear relish tomorrow.  I made a batch of it about a month ago, and it was dee-lish!! I've been looking for more pears ever since... finally found  a few more pounds of them a couple days ago, so will make it, can it, label it, and shelf it in the morning.  Now, I'm not talking about the pears you buy in the grocery store. I don't want 'em sprayed with pesticides, and  waxed to prevent bruising.  Not driven across the country and stored  for weeks before arriving in the store. No.  I'm talking about locally-grown, organic, IMPERFECT pears... the kind that make PERFECTLY delicious preserves.   Maybe tomorrow I'll share the recipe and  some photos.  This recipe is so good it'll make you wanna' slap your Mamma!
                                         Shalom Y'all - Twyla
   

That's One Happy Dawg

Uhhh, I'm a happy dawg.  Can you tell?

    
      I've never been a dog person.  I didn't dislike dogs.  And, I wasn't particularly afraid of them.  I was just always a cat person... Had at least one feline friend all my life.  And, still do.
     Then, along comes Moxie.  If you've read my blog before, you know that we adopted Moxie from friends of ours "back home".  Now, I've known a few dogs I liked - dogs that belonged to friends and family.  I've even "dog-sat" for Puppy, my mother's little dog.  But, I've never really, really, REALLY known a dog like I know Moxie.
     Moxie should've been a rock star.  Or a movie star.  She is so special.  She is a giant teddy bear when we lay on the floor to watch old TV shows on the computer (Netflix is great!). She is a watch dog. She is a nursemaid if I'm not feeling well - won't leave my side.  She is comic relief (see photo above).  She's friends with all the chickens and with CassPurr.  She's Moxie The Wonderdog!!!
     And, so, here I am.  A certified cat person; and, what did I do all afternoon?  I made homemade organic dogfood and dog biscuits.  Here is the recipe for the dog biscuits, adapted from a recipe I found on Bullwinkle.com.  Maybe I'll write my recipe for organic dogfood another day.

                                          Homemade Dog Treats

                                     1 Cup rolled oats
                                     1/3 Cup shortening (I used rendered chicken fat)
                                     1 Cup boiling water
                                     3/4 Cup cornmeal
                                     1 Tablespoon sugar
                                     1 Chicken boullion cube (you could use beef flavor, if desired)
                                     1/2 cup milk
                                     1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
                                     1 Egg, beaten
                                     2 Cups white or wheat flour

          Preheat oven to 325. Grease cookie sheets.  Combine rolled oats, shortening, and water in large bowl; let stand for 10 minutes.  Stir in cornmeal, sugar, boullion, milk, cheese and egg.  Mix well.  Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well.
          On floured surface knead dough, adding additional flour as needed, until dough is smooth and no longer sticky.  Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness' cut with cookie cutter.  Place on cookie sheets.
          Bake 45 minutes, or until golden brown.  Store, covered, after they are completely cooled.
          For me, this made 2 & 1/2 dozen large bone-shaped treats... enough for one-per-day for a month! My hubby made the bone-shaped cookie cutter just for Moxie.  Like I said, she should've been a movie star... and we could be her entourage.

They've GOT to be KIDDING!!!

     Okay. It really takes a lot to get me this disgusted.  This ticked off.  Steamed enough to want to publicly rant about it.   I usually write about something either creative or amusing.  But, this morning I read an article in the Washington Post... the article is  from the Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010 issue and is entitled,"Glaxo Smith-Kline settles bad drug case for $750 Million".  (Google it if you want to read the whole article.)
     Basically, Glaxo Smith Kline is one of the largest drug companies in the world.  They manufacture lots and lots of prescription drugs.  Many well-known brands are made by them; I refuse to list any of them lest I inadvertently encourage someone out there to buy one of their medications.  I WILL list some of the ones they screwed up on: Paxil,  Bactroban, Kytril, and Avandomet.  Paxil is prescribed for anxiety and depression,  Bactroban is an antibacterial ointment, Kytril  is an anti-nausea medication, and Avandomet is prescribed for diabetes.  These medications were screwed up in the manufacturing process; they were inter-mingled with each other due to a contaminated and uncontained water system and air system at the manufacturing plant.  They also were contaminated due to unclean environments at the manufacturing site. This is not cool.  Not cool at all. 
     Not only were the medications contaminated, but, Glaxo SmithKline KNEW it and sold them anyhow!  Oh, man.  If that doesn't make your blood boil, I don't know what would.  As a Registered Nurse of many, many years, I find this offensive.  And, as a person with medical problems of her own, I find it doubly offensive.  When a physician writes a prescription there are so many things that can go wrong! The pharmacist can fill the wrong med, the dose could be incorrect or misread by the patient. The patient could have adverse side-effects from the drug... But, if you are taking something for nausea you really don't expect it to be laced with a psychiatric med or an anti-diabetic agent!
     As if that isn't enough, here is the dispersement of the $750 Million settlement: $96Million to the whistle-blower who reported the contaminations and subsequently lost her job; $600 Million to the GOVERMENT-
reportedly to cover Medicaid losses associated with these drugs; and, apparently, the remainder went for legal counsel.  Now, I don't begrudge the whistle-blower her settlement.  It is a terrible thing to lose one's job for doing the right thing.  And, although I think court costs are horribly inflated, I guess I understand those millions... But - the government???  Oh, yes, definitely... let's give all this money to the same government that is spending, spending, spending, and borrowing at a greater rate than we can imagine... That money will get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle, never to be seen again...
     Meanwhile, how much settlement did the PATIENTS get?  Yep. You guessed it - Zero. Nilch. Nada.
                                     Shalom, anyways, Y'all - Twyla

A Rainy Autumn Day

     It's a dreary rainy day; same as yesterday.  I have an eye infection, and, well, I've had better days... It was stormy during the last two nights, and a lot of the Autumn color has blown to the ground.  I wish I was feeling creative, but, truth is my color "has blown to the ground", too.  I am weary and sad; not well. But this too shall pass.
     Maybe by tomorrow the antibiotics will kick in.  Maybe within a few days I will be allowed to wear my beloved mascara again.  Maybe next week when I go back to the Opthamologist the report will be better.
Maybe I will get in a creative mood and paint an Autumn watercolor... maybe...

One of last years' Autumn watercolors by yours truly



The Sisters of Sarcasm

      Well, it's not that I really wanted the title... I earned it!
     Once upon a time, there were three women who all happened to enter nursing school at the same time.  They met in the back row of nusring 101, which was held in the auditorium.  Much of the early lectures was so basic as to nearly bring tears of boredom...one dark comment led to another, and the three of us became sisters.  Sisters in womanhood. Sisters in the fight to stay sane going to college in our thirties while surrounded by giggling girls just out of highschool.  Sisters in the  high form of humor known as sarcasm.  Not the HURTING kind, mind you... the intelligent kind of sarcastic humor... the kind that requires a knowledge of grammar, syntax, even spelling.  To be a sister of sarcasm, you also had to be a pro at puns.  And, like the stand-up comics, timing was everything.
     For example,  we took Anatomy and Physiology over the Summer;  this was the full course, usually lasting  three months,  crammed into six weeks.  To pass this class, you had to live, breathe, and eat Anatomy and Physiology for those six weeks.  There were four hours of lecture five days a week, plus lab time, which was when the REAL learning went on!   Being a cat lover all my life, I was absolutely mortified to open the drawer in the "morgue" and find that the subject of our dissection was feline!  Our threesome, the sisters of sarcasm, drew straws to see who would have "the honors" of doing the initial removal of fur, skin and fascia. Ugh.  Needless to say, I drew the short straw...
     Let me tell you, removing any sort of fur or skin which has been soaking in formaldehyde for a year or so is difficult!  Yucky. Smelly.  Even though we wore gloves, I had that formaldehyde odor stuck in my nostrils and in my hands the entire six weeks! I lost thirty pounds!!!  Maybe I should try it again sometime soon... (See, that was a bit of sarcasm, yes?)
     But, I digress. The three of us were lab "partners".  Yes, I know, partners implies two, but, there were three nontheless.  As I mentioned above, I was the one who removed all the outer stuff. revealing muscles, tendons, nerves, organs, and veins and arteries which had been injected with blue and red latex dyes so that they would show up. All the body systems were displayed before us.  Then, our instructor walked over, saw that the poor ol' cat had a big tumor on its bladder and declared that we would have to start over... the cat cadaver wasn't "safe" for us to work on, and would have to be incinerated.

I'll bet these cat owners wanted to incinerate them!

    
Oh, man!  Now, we had to do all the preliminary work over again!  And, this setback put us behind the other students.  Once again, we drew straws to see who would have to do the dirty work.  And, once again, I drew the short straw.  Disgusted, I dove into the project. Quickly this time.  No "Poor Kitty... I wonder if it was somebody's pet."  Just cut, tear, rip, cut, pull... well, you get the idea.  I got our second cat stripped in about one-tenth the time it took to do the first one.  The instructor came over for inspection, and said, " Well, Twyla, what have you learned so far?"  Deadpan, I replied, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."

       Okay, so I'm actually the Queen of Sarcasm.  I can't seem to help myself.  Puns, jokes, song lyrics, nicknames, rhymes, and odd little plays on words run through my movie screen all the time.  It's not that I WANT to be a smart***;  it just seems to be who I am!

You didn't really think I'd show a picture of me in the shower...

       Some people provide more fodder for this type of humor than others.  Enter Moshe... He walks into it on an almost constant basis.  For example, this morning  I was in the bathroom taking a shower.  Moshe walks in, and says, "Hey,  are you taking a shower?"  My reply, "No, I'm just in here checking to see if the water's working."  One day a couple months ago, I was in the kitchen.  I had the big pressure cooker going, two or three big pots cooking on the stove, canning jars everywhere... It's 90+ degrees in the kitchen, and I'm soaking wet from work, heat, and humidity.  Moshe walks in the back door and says, "Are you hot?"
Reply, "No. I LIKE looking like this. Oh, and feeling like this, too."


The Queen, wearing her crown...
                    


      Fortunately, Moshe always laughs. Well, almost always...  One time we were having a loud discussion - y'know what I mean?  Okay, we were arguing!  I don't remember at all what about.   I had gone to bed on the sofa.  Uh-oh!  In the middle of the night a naked Moshe came out to the living room to try to make ammends.I said something not-nice, and Moshe said,  "Well, I guess you think you wear the pants in this house."   My reply, "Well, I'm the only one wearing any."  He didn't laugh that time.


Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Putting Everything in Perspective

     Ugh.  I have a cold.  A head cold and just the beginnings of a sore throat.  Taking Fenu-Thyme for the congestion and plain ol' Aspirin for the headache.  Despite feeling "yucky", I managed to get the house cleaned (see yesterday's blog), and even help with the screened-in porch project - we are turning it into a greenhouse for the Winter.
     I guess I could feel sorry for myself for having a cold, but, no.  Putting things in perspective, a cold isn't much to worry about.  You feel a little low for a few days.  If you're lucky, you lie low for those few days.
Take it easy.  Watch a few movies.  Read.  Play games on the computer.  And then, you're feeling better and even more thankful for good health than before.  Funny how we take things for granted until they are gone or at least threatened...
     Putting everything in perspective,  I would say that life is pretty darned good.  I have a very appreciative Hubby, a happy cat, a really happy dog.  The chicks spent most of the day out in the sun  (in their cage, on the porch).  The Winter crops are growing extremely well. The house is clean.  And I have a full box of Kleenex!
            Shalom Y'all - Twyla

The Funny Farm Gazette

CassPurr  and  Sophia

  I didn't blog yesterday.  I couldn't blog yesterday. Yesterday was one of those "Funny Farm" days...

     You see, the day before I had thoroughly cleaned the house. Everything except our office was in order, neat, clean, pretty.  (The office is another story for another day.)  All the floors, especially, were just swept, mopped, and vacuumed.  The only chore left to do was laundry... a piece of cake, right?
     So, once breakfast was over, my plan was to start the laundry and to work on some little decorating touches in the bathrooms, maybe hang a picture or two in the living room, kind of putter around between loads of laundry...
     Then, Moshe said he was going to re-vent the clothes dryer so that the heat would return back into the house during the winter. Just a little project, right?  I postponed starting the laundry because he had to move the dryer out from the wall and remove the canned goods from their corner so that he could work in the little laundry room.  We found new "homes" for the canned stuff and some of the other things that had been stacked  in the tiny little laundry room. Anything that couldn't readily be put somewhere logical got piled either on the screened-in porch or in the guest room.
     In order to redirect the dryer vent into the house, Moshe had to cut through the wall, into one of the hall closets, then put the vent hose in and secure it. Simple, right?  Except that this particular hall closet was piled with stuff floor-to-ceiling.  It had been a catch-all closet. A giant junk drawer. A hiding place for whatever it would hold.  Ugh.  We moved all that stuff into the guest room. 

    
     Moshe, of course, had to go out to the shed and get his power drill, etc.  Every move Moshe makes, his shadow - Moxie - follows.  So, the two of them made a few trips back and forth to the shed. (Oh, did I mention it had rained the night before?)  Leaves, twigs and muddy dogprints now decorated my floors...
     Around noon, Moshe realized he would need to buy a part in order to finish the dryer vent project. So, I gave him a small grocery list as well, and off he went to town.  Still in my PJ's, I debated whether to get right in the shower or clean up a few things first.  I decided to clean house for a while.  Someone knocked on the door. Mortified, I answered it.  It was a fellow looking for Moshe, and he said he would try to get him on his cell phone. Okay, enough humiliation for one day -  I went immediately to the shower, got dressed, put on makeup, etc.
     Moshe returned just as I was finishing the dishes. Things were still chaotic, but I was beginning to think I would get things straightened up. CassPurr, who had been sleeping at the foot of our bed all day, got up, ate some canned catfood,  used the litter box, then went back to our bed and threw up on one of my antique quilts.  Deep sigh. Another load of laundry added to the collection, which, by the way, had still not been started.

 
       But, I must also back up and remind the reader that we have six baby chicks in a big birdcage on the work table in our office.  These babies talk.  Alot. They have different sounds.  There's the morning singing while they are eating.  There's the conversational sound, which is a bit louder.  And then there's the distress call, which is ear-piercing.  Like all babies, the peeps need food, water, warmth, touch and talk.  About once an hour, I take a break from whatever I'm doing and check on the peeps.  I make sure they have all these things. This involves sitting down, holding two or three chicks in my lap for a few minutes to quiet them down.  I try to remember which ones I had last time and rotate shifts so that they all get some personal attention.  Moshe helps alot with this, too.  Often, we both are sitting at our desks, each holding three peeps. We bring out their little food bowls so that they can eat in our laps. The chicks scatter their mash everywhere.  This is minor compared to the fact that baby chicks poop almost constantly. Oh, what-the-heck.  At this point, a few more tee-shirts, added to the laundry pile won't make much difference, will it?
    The dryer project DID get finished!  It was about 3 in the afternoon.  I had washed one load of laundry in anticipation of the dryer being usable.  So, I started drying that load and washing another.  By now, it was 76 degrees outside.  Quickly, it became  80-something degrees inside. Ugh.  Reminder: until it gets really cold out, use dryer only in early morning to prevent overheating of house.
  

      Sometimes Moshe can be a little absent-minded... At one point he was the one who put the chicks back in the cage after a chick-sitting episode... About half-an-hour later, I was in the kitchen putting together the lasagna for supper.  I was busy, but realized that the peeps' noise was getting louder, and louder, and LOUDER.  I looked up from my work, and all the peeps were marching down the hall towards the kitchen!
The office and hallway  are carpeted. ( Did I mention that peeps poop almost constantly?)  I gathered them up and put them back in their cage.  And I closed the door to the cage - this was the step poor Moshe had omitted.
     Okay, so it wasn't exactly a "Better Homes & Gardens" day.  Maybe I need to start a new magazine.  How 'bout  "The Funny Farm Gazette"???

On opening the mail...

Twyla, age 4, with her parents

     Oh, my goodness. I received a letter in the mail.  It was from my Dad, and arrived in a big yellow envelope.  I couldn't imagine what it might be... Something important; maybe a legal document of some sort, maybe he and Mom updated their will or something? Or, maybe it was some sort of bill? (Ugh). Or, maybe something to do with my recent court appearance for the case of my purse being stolen?  All these thoughts raced through my head as I opened the big envelope.
     When I opened it, I realized that Dad had received a letter addressed to me and had forwarded it in the big envelope.  My heart skipped a beat when I read the return address on the inner envelope.  It was from my best friend way back when I was ages 6 to 10.  My family moved to another state when I was 10. My friend and I wrote to each other for quite a while; then, stopped.  I have thought of her many, many times over the years.  And I have recounted stories of her family life while teaching women's Bible classes, etc. I always thought of her parents as miraculous.

Twyla, age 16

  
      Come to find out, my friend has thought of me, too.  Her letter explained that she has googled my name on and off through the years... finally got a hit, and after corresponding with one of my high school classmates, got my parents' address.
  
      Imagine that!  My friend, Marilyn, and I are going to start emailing, etc. after all these years. (I refuse to admit how MANY years that is!!!)  I so look forward to finding out about her life, her parents, her brothers.  Does she have children? Grandchildren? What does she do as hobbies?  Etc., etc., etc. I'm going to email her as soon as I finish this, and can't wait to hear her reply!

And, Twyla now...

Make new friends,
Keep the old.
One is silver;
the other is gold.

Shalom Y'all - Twyla

What A Day!!!



      This is one of those chain of events wherein nothing would've been the same if the timing had been a little different...
     We took a truckload of stuff from the shed to donate to the local Humane Society.  Literally a truckload.
I had argued with myself many times  about whether to donate the stuff or try to sell it; it was good stuff!
Finally, this morning I told Moshe that the right thing to do was donate it all so that someone else could be blessed... So, we loaded it all up before lunch and took it into town right after eating.
     When we got there, I  went inside the Humane Society Thrift store so that I could get a receipt for the donations. And who do I see but our neighbor Mary from down the road! (We only have one real neighbor on our road.  There are five houses, but the rest of them are vacation cabins.  Mary and her family and Moshe and I are the only fulltime people on our road.)
      Well, Mary immediately asked me if we wanted seven baby chicks. I went and got Moshe, and he said, "Yes."  So, about an hour later, Mary brought us the babies.  They are the same size as our chicks - a couple weeks old.  They are tame like ours, having been held and petted since "birth".  Tonight, after dark, Moshe will put the new babies in with Pretty Face and her two chicks.  Won't THAT be a surprise when she wakes up and has all those babies!!!
     So, Mary stayed and visited with me awhile after we got the chicks settled in the temporary cage, with chicken mash, water, etc.  We were talking about our various pets, and I mentioned that I had given up on CassPurr - figured he must be dead or gone in someone's car and ended up in Florida or something.  Mary said, "No. I just saw him at Mr Smith's house a week ago."  To which I said, "Where is Mr Smith's house?"  And Mary replied, "Right next door to you."
     I knew that the man nextdoor had been up here for a week or so.  I also knew he had gone back to his regular home a couple days ago... So, Mary, Moshe and I, plus various and sundry cats and dogs all walked through the woods over to the Smith cabin.  I spotted Cassie first; he was resting on an old cushion up near the woodpile in the corner of Mr Smith's yard.  I called him.  He talked to me.  He came up to me and I picked him up.  We both purred at each other.  Just like the old days.

CassPurr on the front porch

    
So I carried him back through the woods.  Home again, home again, jiggity jig.  I opened a can of his food, and, he is a happy, happy boy.  He has since inspected the entire house, and, apparently, it meets his approval.  Last I looked, CassPurr was sleeping with the teddy bears on the guestroom bed , just as if he'd never been gone.
     The baby chicks are in their temporary cage on the counter in one of the bathrooms - with a heater going in the room to keep them warm.  Cassie is contentedly sleeping.  Moshe is reorganizing the shed now that all that stuff is gone.  I'm cooking supper and typing this blog.  And poor Moxie is beside herself with all the activity;  she really wants to be with the new chicks, and she really wants to be with Moshe, and she really smells the supper cooking, so wants to be with me.  She hasn't even noticed CassPurr yet...

     Like I said, "What a day!"
    
                Shalom y'all - twyla

Me, Moxie, and Jesus (to the rescue)

Moxie visiting with Miss Congeniality..

     Yesterday upon returning from grocery shopping in town, I stopped at the end of the driveway to get the mail.  I was surprised - no, astounded - no, mortified -  to see that Pretty Face, our Mamma hen, was outside her little broody coop.  She had somehow burrowed under the "courtyard" fencing, and was frantically trying to figure out how to get back to her chicks... She was clucking in a distressful way, and the peeps were peeping loudly.
     Meanwhile, having heard the sound of my Jeep, down the winding driveway comes Moxie the Wonder Dog.  We have been showing Moxie all the chickens, including the babies, every day, and explaining to her that she is their guardian... giving her instructions not to hurt them, not to bite at them, not to pick them up, etc. She is a very good dog, and she really likes the chickens. Even when they peck her nose, she just keeps on wagging that ol' tailbone!  We had, just that morning, put Moxie into one of the chicken coops with the chickens... (She was much more scared  than the chickens were.) She, of course, proved harmless to the chickens. She often sticks her head into the coops when I am collecting eggs and petting the chickens.
     Nevertheless, my heart went pitter-patter at the sight of Moxie bounding down the driveway, with me trying to soothe Pretty Face enough to pick her up and return her to her babies.   ( Oh, my, what if ??? )
My fears were completely ungrounded.  When Moxie got near me, she saw Pretty Face and knew that things weren't quite right.  She went around the pen and herded Pretty Face towards me.  Pretty Face puffed up (a  fear/protective action much like a cat puffing up for a fight), but easily allowed me to pick her up and put her back in the broody coop.  Her babies ran to her, and she covered them and comforted them. I was amazed at the string of events.  It was as if  Moxie and I were meant to rescue Pretty Face - all for the sake of the baby chicks.
     A couple thousand years ago, Jesus, up high on one of the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, looked down on His beloved city and wept.  He cried out, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem... How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a mother hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!."  When you look up the word "wept" or "cried" in the Aramaic or Greek translations, it translates "wailed".  Jesus didn't just shed a quiet tear over His people; He wailed loudly.  Love is like that. Protective. Comforting. Of us. His baby chicks.
                                   Shalom, Y'all - Twyla

Busy, but Blessed

One of my watercolors...

     Wow.  I can hardly believe it's Thursday already.  Where did the time go?
     Okay; Tuesday was my birthday, and I was gone almost all day.  Among other things, Moshe and I went out for a late lunch.  We went to a wonderful local restaurant.  Even though we live up in the mountains, "ten miles from nowhere", there is a REAL restaurant in our little town, with a REAL chef, and REAL food - everything made on location.  Wonderful. We savored every bite and every moment. We even brought home a doggie bag for Moxie and salad greens for the chickens.
     Wednesday was a trip to the Farmer's Market.  It's about a thirty-minute drive one way.  We purchased more apples, sorghum syrup, and Jerusalem artichokes.  On the way home we stopped at a roadside stand "to get an onion", and came home with a fifty pound bag of them.  I also have a big basket of local pears that a neighbor gave us over the weekend...
     Soooo... today is definitely a food prep/canning/drying/freezing kind of day. I'm going to plug in the portable CD player and sing along as I work.  Moshe has a big list of chores, too. Lots of projects for building more storage shelves, fixing a leaky toilet valve, finishing the shelves for our dehydrator.  Life is always busy and interesting around here.
     I have the best husband in the world. Are we perfect? No. Absolutley not. But, we are a great team. When we have a problem, we talk it out, work it out. We are committed to each other. As Moshe said yesterday, "We have our problems just like everyone else, but, I took my wedding vows seriously."
     Busy but blessed.  That's me.
                                                         Shalom y'all - Twyla

Moshe & Me... dressed up silly for a birthday party

The Party Dog

Moxie, the party dog, wore her hat for a couple hours.  Good dog.



          Yesterday we drove down the mountain - again.  This time it was for a birthday party.  Lots of relatives.  Tons of food;  ridiculous amounts, in fact, not that I am complaining...  Wow.  What a table, loaded with every person's specialty.  I  didn't even taste everything.  But, what I had was delicious. The party was at lunchtime, and we ate so much that when we got back home, we didn't bother with supper. It was so good to see relatives I hadn't seen in two or three years! 

          I drove the trip home, and Moshe and Moxie both dozed while I drove us back up the mountain.  We arrived home before dark, which is always preferable for me. After doing the few necessary evening chores, we simply collapsed into bed ,  and watched an old Disney movie.  We got more entertainment than we 'd bargained for... Towards the end of the birthday lunch, I realized that the young kids were sneaking all kinds of food to Moxie under the table.  Although Moxie eats "people food" with almost every meal, we eat natural, organic, good, REAL food.; she doesn't ordinarily get any sort of processed food, fried stuff, sweets, etc.  Oh, boy,  she had gas !  Sheesh!  I'm glad her little bed is on the floor next to Moshe's side/not mine!!!  Poor dog.  She was still "having emission control problems" this morning. (Somebody call the EPA... please!)

"I'd like one more spring roll, please... Oh, and another piece of cake."

                                           Shalom Y'all - Twyla

  

Peep and Bo-Peep

Peep, born a few hours after Bo-Peep

Bo-Peep, the firstborn

Well, the photographer is back from his trip to Atlanta, so we have a few  pictures of the new babies, Peep and Bo-Peep. (Two chicks so far... we will wait on the other egg a couple more days.)  We are amazed at how tiny and perfect these chicks are.  They are bright-eyed and alert and demonstrating "chicken behavior". So cute! Walking and scratching the straw, cuddling up with their proud Mommy.  Pretty Face is, indeed, very proud of her young 'uns... But, she knows and trusts
 us, so she allows
 us to hold her babies.
 Even the dog stuck
 her head in the little
 broody coop and
Pretty Face was
casual about it.
 We are blessed.

One of the babies' eggshells

     Can you imagine what it must be like to peck your way out of an eggshell?  Let me tell you, this thing is tough!  I tried to separate the membrane lining from the outer eggshell, and couldn't do it! I read somewhere that part of the chicks'  development depends on their pecking out of the shell.  If you try to "help" the process, the chick will die.  It's sort of like the surfactant that premature babies lack because it develops in the last stages of pregnancy.  Preemies often succumb to respiratory failure due to the lack of surfactant. And so it is with baby chicks; they need their full time to develop.  The way God creates things is so miraculous, isn't it?

The proud Mama with her babies...

Shalom  y'all

     Twyla

WOW! WOW!! WOW!!!

     A very brief note today... Moshe had to go into Atlanta today to help a friend move.  So, I have "chicken duty".  I went out this morning, threw them some corn, checked their water, gathered eggs. 
     Then, I went to check on Pretty Face.  I moved her just a little bit, and spied a broken egg shell.  So, I moved her a little bit more, and, YES, we have at least one baby chick!  It is tiny and yellow and makes a very high-pitched little "peep".  Can't wait for Moshe to see it/them. (Don't know if there are more than one... I didn't want to disturb Pretty Face too much.)
     Isn't that exciting?
Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Update on CassPurr

Cassie with "Daddy"

     Two weeks ago I blogged about CassPurr.  He had been a naughty boy - wanted to play all night, and I didn't get much sleep as a result of his nibbling, chewing, licking, whisker switching, walking, talking antics...
     Oddly enough, the very day I wrote about CassPurr, he went out to do whatever cats do when they go out.  And never came back. I still expect that big blob of white fur to show up meowing at the back door.  I miss him.  Several people have said that someone probably took him.  He was very beautiful and very friendly.  Our nearest neighbor says that CassPurr sometimes came and sat with her on her front porch (the two-timer!)  If he went up the hill in back, there are a few nice houses up there on Ridge Road.  Someone could have thought he'd been abandoned, I suppose. (Although, he certainly never looked hungry! See photo above.)
     I hope he didn't get injured and suffer.  I hope he is with someone who is being very good to him.  And, I hope he keeps them up all night playing - at least every once in a while!
                                                                                                     Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Green Acres Photo Session

     Okay. A week or so ago I looked at the Internet homesite for Green Acres - the old TV show.  Moshe and I decided we could do a photo similar to theirs.  So, we started gathering items for our outfits and looking for a derelict homesite... (No, this is NOT our house!  Praise the Lord!)
     Moshe set up the camera with a ten-second delay, and my new banner is the result.  Hope y'all will enjoy it.  We sure did!
                                                       Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Update on Pretty Face

               Pretty Face is still faithfully setting on her three eggs.  (Now I wish we'd put more than three under her... Oh, well... maybe next time.)  She is quite the broody hen, seldom leaving her eggs at all.  Occasionally we will see her out in her "courtyard", taking a drink of water or a bit of food.  Then, it's right back to her eggs.  She reminds me of the old Dr Suess book, "Horton Hatches a Who".

               When I lift the top of her little broody house, she coos like a dove. She is such a sweet little mommy. I really hope her eggs hatch so that we have the privilege of seeing her with the baby chicks. 

Grama Harper's Chicken Yard

                               
My mother grew up on a farm, and she says watching a hen with her chicks is a sweet experience.  Approximate date for hatching: Oct 9th - less than a week away!  I am looking forward to posting pics of Mommy & Babies!

Shalom Y'all - Twyla

Goin' Down the Mountain

       Just a quick post this morning... About a year-and-a-half ago, my purse was stolen.  I lived "down the mountain" at the time.  Today we need to drive to the Barrow County courthouse for a hearing for the burglary suspect.  I may or may not need to testify. While we're there, we will visit family and friends - make a day of it - and, then, drive back up the mountain.
     We rarely drive down the mountain.  There's something about being here... We just don't want to leave...
Is it the beauty here? The general honesty and integrity of the people?  Or something more?  I believe there is a beautiful spiritual state here. 

     LORD, please give us traveling mercies today. Let us accomplish everything we set out to do; then, return us safely to our little farm.  Thank You for Your MANY blessings.     Amen.

         Shalom Y'all -
                  Twyla