Life lesson for Drew: The Mule doesn’t work in snow, the 4-wheeler can also get stuck, and Dad doesn’t like to stop what he is doing to help dig you out! After a lot of shoveling and some pulling, Drew now knows how to get things unstuck!
It’s hard to believe February is almost over. It always amazes me how quickly time flies. We decided to do our phenology wheel journaling for February today. It’s fun to see what each of remembers most from the month. We pulled out our nature journals too and went through them to remind us what we observed and what we studied on those days we couldn’t get outside. (Which was most of the February as there was just too much snow and too many cold cold days.) We are starting to really enjoy these phenology wheels now that we have two months filled in. Our nature year all in one picture!
It really hit home today that spring is on its way. Along with a wonderful warmer week, today Drew spied our resident chipmunk out running around. Hibernation must be over! We noticed him last year living around the oak trees and today he was out running all over the cave and around the yard and trees. Drew and Possum would go from one dining room window to the other watching him run around. Drew was entertained and Possum was wanting to eat him. It’s a good thing there was a window between them! And he was a great addition to our nature journals!
I am loving these two samplers and the story behind them. They are the first two samplers in a 12-month series of samplers by the very talented Beth Twist of Heartstring Samplery and the series is called Sunday Stitches. Each sampler is inspired by one of Beth’s favorite hymns. The first in the series is titled Amazing Grace, a hymn I love. February’s is titled Be Thou My Vision. I wasn’t familiar with this hymn but I listened to it on YouTube and it’s such a beautiful song. I’m so looking forward to getting to know the hymns I’m not familiar with, listen again to the ones I do know, and to stitch them in sampler form.
Yesterday was my dad’s birthday! We made him a German chocolate cake, his favorite, and had supper with him and mom. We went to their house so they didn’t have to be out in the cold in the dark. It’s just too cold for that. We are blessed that both Dad and Mom are in good health. They still live on their acreage and although they rent out their farm ground and only have two goats as far as livestock, they stay active keeping the timber going and keeping the place up. It takes a lot of work to live on an acreage and I can’t imagine Dad living anywhere else. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself! The two pictures above are of Dad, Ronnie Rae, and his twin sister, Konnie Kae. We lost Aunt Konnie to cancer a few years ago and miss her greatly. I am so thankful my Grandpa and Grandma had so many pictures taken of them. They are a treasure to have!
It is cold and white in our neck of the woods. We are experiencing the longest stretch of cold weather we’ve had in a long, long time. I think today it’s supposed to get up to 1 degree. Just walking to the mailbox this morning was brutal! And we have lots of snow on the ground, with ice underneath. It is not fun to be outside right now and it’s been so hard for Drew. Last week he took his little pop up tent, loaded it with blankets, warmed up a bowl of soup and had his lunch out there. He lasted about 20 minutes each time which surprised me and it was a nice break for him. He’s struggling with being cooped up in the house.
We did some watercolor painting using watercolor pencils on our homemade paper and that was fun. Drew wants to make more paper now but I told him we needed to wait until we could do it outside as we had water everywhere. We plan to try our hand at coloring the paper using natural dyes like onion skins and red cabbage. Something I hope to do at Easter too when we dye eggs. Something to look forward to!
Saturday we got the call that our deer meat was ready for pickup in a neighboring town so we dressed warm and headed to Washington. I have to say it was nice to get out of the house even if it was originally for a drive to the locker and back home. But on the way our daughter called and talked to her dad about a smell they had in their master bathroom and what it could be. Jeremy had to work and wouldn’t be able to look into it until Sunday. As we would be so close to their place anyway we decided to head over there after picking up our order and see if Joe could help.
Joe decided the issue was a snow blocked vent on the roof and he wasn’t sure he could get to it without help so we spent the afternoon playing with grandkids and made plans to head back over the next day. So a weekend of staying home and keeping warm ended up being a fun weekend spent with grandkids! We had a lunch of tacos and taco salad and I took a dessert I had made. Then I had the grandkids color some plain seed packets I had and we picked out some flower seeds to put in them from my stash of seed I had harvested in the fall. Their great grandma has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and we thought she might enjoy a little bundle of flower seeds, homemade body butter and a rice bag Abby had asked me to make for her. We know the kids’ Great Grandma and Great Grandpa very well as Abby married a local boy and we’re a small community. I’ve known them both my whole life. Caroline worked as an associate in the high school library when I was going to school there and she was there when Abby and our two older sons where there. She is a wonderful cook and always has a big garden. We’re praying she can enjoy a little gardening this summer.
I always enjoy watching Joe playing with the grandkids. He loves to wrestle and play games with Braxton and it’s been so many years since we’ve had a little girl in the family that it’s fun to watch Joe playing with little Bayah. She is this sweet tiny little thing that loves anything pink, her books, and her dolls but she couldn’t wait until after lunch because she told me was going to jump on pillows, stand on a blanket and punch Grandpa! She is definitely small but mighty. She has no idea just how small she is!
We decided to try making paper today. Drew had lots of help from Possum until the blender was turned on. Then Possum high tailed it out of the kitchen! Drew started out gung ho but soon lost interest. That might be because I didn’t know what I was doing and had to try three or four times to get what I thought looked like paper! We have two sheets drying now and hopefully tomorrow we will have some homemade paper to try our hand at watercolor painting on. Next time maybe we’ll try coloring the paper and/or adding some dried flowers. I always enjoys a project that can be done all with items we have here at the house.
Yes, my table needs refinished. But it’s such a daunting job and Joe keeps saying he wants to build me a table. And we bought this table years ago with some money my grandma gifted to me. And this is the table that we use every day and have for close to 30 years. Oh the stories this table could tell. Lots of meals, crafts, games, laughs, tears, talks, arguments all around this table. And the wear and tear shows. But I’ve decided rather than hide all its faults in pictures, this is our table, this is us, and no hiding what some may consider the ugly!
Anyway, my mom made me some placemats. And I love love love them! I know how hard it was for her to pick out fabric that she thought I would like. She doesn’t appreciate my choice of dark, prim things and she lets me know that! But, she picked these out all on her own and they are perfect! They will definitely be taken off the table before we eat, craft, homeschool or whatever. I want to keep them nice!
It’s cold here in my neck of the woods. And snowy. We have lots and lots of snow this winter. I just came in from taking care of the chickens and my toes are cold and my cheeks are cold. I was doing pretty good until I decided I needed to shovel off the patio as we got another skiff of snow this morning. I love love love winter and snow but these zero and below temps are not fun. It’s even cold in the house since I refuse to turn the furnace up. We just layer, pile on the blankets when we’re sitting down, and this year I’ve made rice bags and boy do they help!
Last week was tough as Joe was gone most of the week. And this week is the same. We have gotten so spoiled over the past year as he hasn’t had to travel. Last week he was only 45 minutes away which even though he’s not home, we at least know if absolutely necessary he can come home or we can go to him. This week he’s out of state. The only positive to that is he’s there to hand over the account to someone new so he shouldn’t have to go again. Yeah! The last time he was there was last year. We weren’t sure he would be able to get home due to the quarantine and the state shutting down. He made it home and the next day everything shut down. Scary times!
We had been so used to him traveling. He had slowed down considerably over the years but he still was gone quite a lot. But over the past year, he’s been home. All the time. And after an adjustment period for all of us, we settled in and loved it. He’s slowly been going out and to accounts and been gone during the day for part of the week and that’s as it should be. But again, it was an adjustment as we had gotten to used to him being here all the time. There have been so many negative aspects of this pandemic but being able to spend so much time together has been a blessing that I have cherished.
Another positive of the pandemic has been homeschooling. Something we had been thinking about doing became necessary at the end of the last school year and then we decided to carry on this year. While challenging, very challenging some days, it’s been fun. A fun new project we started at the beginning of the year was a nature journal. And then the darn winter weather hit and getting outside and exploring really isn’t possible right now. There is just too much snow and it’s too darn cold. So, for now we’re taking what we study in Science and our Mammals unit and we’re transferring that into our nature journals. As you can see, Andrew drew his food chain but then he decided to embellish his journal with a turtle with a food bowl in its shell. I never know what he’s going to come up with!
I’ve been doing a little stitching these past few cold winter days. Yesterday was the perfect stitching day as we had a blizzard. I was thankful I could stay home and not have to venture out as it was pretty nasty out there. I didn’t even have to chore as Joe was home and took care of them for me! I finished stitching a couple pieces and pulled the threads and started a new piece last night while we watched an old episode of Survivor. I have to have something to do with my hands while watching TV or I fall asleep! I like to stitch up a few before I sew them into pillows, dye them and stuff them. Spring themes seem to be my patterns of choice lately!
We celebrated Candlemas and Groundhog Day yesterday. I surprised Drew with a day of celebrating mixed in with school work and I think he enjoyed the day. He asked if we would celebrate Candlemas every year! I found it interesting that he has never liked Groundhog Day and never wanted to talk about it or know if the groundhog saw his shadow or not. But he was open to studying it yesterday and he even chose to draw a groundhog in his nature journal. A groundhog with a top hat on!
For Candlemas we talked about what Candlemas is and how we’re halfway to spring. That seemed to excite me more than Drew! I had not ever heard of Candlemas so it was interesting for me too. We brought out the beeswax candles we poured awhile back to use in our celebration. We did some fire experiments using the candles and for supper we ate pancake stacks by candlelight. We had just read the chapter in Farmer Boy about Almanzo’s mom making him pancake stacks so that made it even more fun! It was nice to have a little celebration on a cold winter day.
I’m sitting here munching on dehydrated apple chips from the apples we picked at a friend’s house this past fall. They sure taste good on this cold, foggy winter day! I’m thankful I broke down and bought a dehydrator. I got it thinking we would make beef jerky and so far, that’s the one thing we haven’t tried!
It’s been a quiet few days around here. It’s cold and there’s lots of snow on the ground. I enjoy these days and would enjoy them even more if Drew did. He needs to be able to get out and run. Being cooped up is not for him. We’re planning a trip to the library later this week. We have to make an appointment to be able to get in. Hoping to find some books for our mammal study we’re starting and hoping to find a good book for him to read. With all the books in this house that his siblings read you would think something would grab his interest but so far nothing.
I’ve been busy stitching orders and am finally caught up so last night I switched things up and stitched a chicken. No reason. Just ran across the free pattern, had some fabric begging to be used and ran with it. A little bright spot in the kitchen to cheer us up on these cold winter days!
Drew learned to run the snow blower and got to put it to use over the weekend. He thought it was fun to try and bury me in snow! We went on a road trip before the snow hit. Joe showed us where they hunted for deer and told us about the hunt! Drew and Rambler must have gotten bored, they both fell asleep! There’s been a lot of fort making going on and I’m ready to have my living room back! And then there’s Possum, just enjoying being King of the Castle!
