I feel warmer already!!!!!!! Thanks Ian and Adam.

Friday afternoon I came home from picking up Mary-Kate and there sat this lovely pile of logs courtesy of my loving and generous sons Ian and Adam. They don't want their family to be cold this coming winter so they purchased this load of logs for us. Now we just need Ryan to come home on leave to saw and split it up into stove lengths.

If its a marshmallow world in the winter, what is it in the fall?

The snow has come to central New York. Last night my daughter got 12 inches of snow just 20 miles south of where we live. Here in Vernon we got a dusting overnight. Either the plow or the sander went through at 4:00 this morning. How wonderful it is to have a son who works for the town highway department. This calls for another pie or maybe a cake.

Today after we get home from Mass, Matthew and I will just stay home and keep warm. The wood stove has a roaring blaze in it and there is plenty to do with schoolwork and sewing projects.

Thank You Ian For Fixing My Brakes

Recently my car needed new brakes. I gave a call to my favorite mechanic, my oldest son Ian. He had me go to the auto parts store and get the parts that he needed. Then he set to work fixing them. I tried to think of the best way to say thank you for fixing my car and what I came up with was to make him his own apple pie.
He took it to work with him and shared it with the guys at the town barn. They liked it but they all declared that I need more practice making pies. (their way of saying, make more)

Mary-Kate's Grades

Mary-Kate emailed me her mid-term grades. I am very proud to post them here for all to see.

Computer App. Precision Farming A-
Computers in Ag Research A
Human Biology B-
Human Biology (Lab) A-
Nutrition Dairy Cattle B
Composition and Research A
Elementary Algebra A
Ensemble (Choir) S

Why you may ask is an Ag student taking Human Biology. The biology that she needed was full up so they put her in this biology class. She'll be able to take the other next semester I guess and count this as an elective. She gets so nervous when she turns in a paper or has to take a test but I'd say she is doing very well. Keep it up Mary-Kate, you'll make an excellent Vet.

How We Spent Our Sunday......among other things

Ian's sow, Carolina Ruby, gave him eight gifts for his feast day, one day early. Thank you Carolina Ruby for these lovely little piglets for the feast of the Holy Archangels.

I thought you were supposed to use your feet for that.....

This morning Matthew got up early and set to work pressing the grapes for me.

Around and around he goes turning the screw and making the follower go lower and lower into the oak bucket.

Out of the bottom comes the grape juice. He was able to press 1 1/2 gallons of juice from the grapes that we picked off of our grape arbor by the machine shop.
When he was done he started to clean up the press like the good boy that he is.
I think that the cheese cloth is a bit stained. Maybe that is why Matthew doesn't use his feet to press the grapes.
Anyway, the juice is in the pail. I mixed the campden tablets in and I will stir the juice daily for the next five days. The campden is to sterilize the juice and to prevent oxidation. When my neighbor comes home on Sunday he will tell me the next thing to do. This is the first time that I have ever made wine. I make cordial every winter but never wine. Matthew wants to try his hand with apple wine also. Should make for some interesting experimentation.

It's Ready To Go Back Into The House

This wood stove was taken out of our house after the barn fire that we had. For twenty-one months it has been in our garage. We have decided to put it back into the house.
So, over the weekend I sanded and sanded to get all of the rust off. Then I got some stove blacking and blacked it. Today I built a fire in it and let it burn for the whole day to cure the paint and to get rid of the smell.

I am looking forward to having fires in the morning and to being able to make the house as warm as I like to keep it. It is a very cozy thing to have that stove in the house.

Simple Woman's Daybook Monday 22 September 2008

Don't forget to stop by The Simple Woman for all the links entered in this weeks Simple Woman's Daybook.

Outside my window..... it is cool and misty and the temperature is only 53. No laundry is getting hung out today.

I am thinking..... about my SIL who just had surgery. I have been praying for her and my brother a lot lately. May God grant them the strength to weather whatever comes along.

From the schoolroom...... all is silence as Matthew and Brett take their biology test. Then there won't be much schooling going on as Matthew has to work Wed. through Sunday this week. Good time for me to get some much needed sewing done.

I am thankful for..... a hardworking husband and children. We managed to get a lot of work done this past weekend in preparation for the coming months of cold weather. It is important that we do this together so that we remember that it is for all of us that we are doing it, not just mom and dad.

From the kitchen...... sausage, peppers and onions for supper. I need to use up the last of the peppers and tomatoes from the garden. I also need to do a baking of bread.

I am creating..... a peaceful and loving home where all who enter feel welcome. (I hope!!!)

I'm going..... nowhere today, I hope. It is a good day to stay home and doing inside things.

I'm wearing...... jeans, a pink tee-shirt and a green sweatshirt jacket

I am reading..... school related stuff. Have to keep up with Matthew in English literature and biology

I am hoping...... to get my sewing comissions done this week since I got a call about some more. I also want to get some apples to make some pies to freeze and some applesauce.

Around the house..... the sound of the washer doing it's job, the smell of freshly mopped floors.

One of my favorite things.... the sights, sounds, and smells of this season

A few plans for the rest of the week..... pick the last of the grapes and get them pressed so I can start a new batch of wine, cut the hops back so they can go into dormancy, buy bushels and bushels of apples for my family's apple eating pleasure, get the sewing done and the new projects started.

A picture thought that I am sharing with you.....

My favorite sight in the world. Three of the men in my life working together. I like to hear their deep voices and see the funny things that they do when they work.

Splitting Wood

I don't know what happens to my men when wood splitting time rolls around each year. Believe me the same disease doesn't afflict them when it is time to shovel out the pig pen or when it is time to mow the lawn. Only when there is a pile of wood that needs splitting. I often think that I should buy each one of them their own godevil; but I have a sneaky suspicion that it would cure them of the disease instantly and then I would get no wood for the stove and furnace.

Ian brought home a pile of wood this week and dumped it in my driveway. Wednesday evening the disease began to take hold of them.

They start talking about splitting wood. What is the best way to do it and what is the best tool to use.

Then one has to grab up the godevil and begin to show what his technique is. Ian is usually the first one only because he is the oldest and so he has been at this longest, except for his father, of course.

He would go at it all night if Matthew wasn't persistant enough to wrestle the godevil away from him so that he can get his chance to show off his stuff.

Now he hasn't been at it as long as Ian but he has determination to spare.

If nothing else that will carry the day for Matthew. (personally I don't like his choice of footwear)

Matthew is the only person I know who can talk and split wood at the same time. It must be all that excess energy.

After all of this talk, the patriarch cannot help but be inspired to visit his teenage years and set his hands to the task.

Move over teenage sons, the old man still has you all beat. He splits his fair share and reminds them all who it was that taught them.

There is a hint of the young man that I fell in love with.

Fortunately this disease is predictable and repeatable so I am assured of enough split and stacked wood to last for the whole of the winter. Thank God for testosterone!!!!!

What Should We Call Today?

The sun is shining it is calm outside and the temperature is a beautiful 49 degrees. Such a change from yesterday. Did I mention that we have electricity and water?

Laundry is done and everyone has been able to take a shower this morning. What a different outlook when you are clean and we have been to Mass this morning.

While I was at Mass I kept meditating on the fact that Our Lord and Our Lady certainly didn't have electricity and didn't take showers every morning and yet they lived holy and tranquil lives. So what is my problem? Why did I let yesterday's bump unsettle me so much? That should have be nothing to the peace of my soul, to the outlook of my life.

My reliance on God and my eyes always lifted up to him should be all that influences my day. Unfortunately each one of us has become so used to the conveniences of our modern world that the loss of any such is often enough to through us into a tail spin. Myself included. In retrospect I realize it is only just that, a slight inconvenience that I experienced. Had I wanted, or even needed to wash myself all I really needed to do was to go get water from the spring out back and I would have had all I could have needed and more. Sure it would have required a short walk outside of the house instead of to the kitchen sink or to the bathroom and it would have been cold instead or hot as I am used to. I could have lit the camp stove to rectify that situation if I had really wanted to but that would have required time which I really had if I had only gotten up a little earlier. All of these things our ancestors used to do without thinking about but which we find so burdensome. And so, again, why should I let any of this disturb my peace and tranquility?

Now if I can only remember this should the power go off again and I be without water and electricity another time. Then I know that the lesson will have been learned.