The WE2's

Brother sent me a pic of my grandson in his "back brace" and sitting in a special type chair. I'm so thankful he's keeping me updated. The main thing they are trying to accomplish at this point is to do some type of surgery to keep his spin straight enough that he won't need a back brace just to sit up. Thank you all for your prayers! Weather turned off quite "fall/winterish" so hubby removed the window a/c and we buttoned up that window. Removed the window fan from the kitchen and buttoned up that window. Turned the oil heater on low in the back enclosed porch and turned the furnace on! Also changed the a/c to heat at the homestead. We'll need to do the same at the Roost. Pulled my tank tops out of my drawers and vacuum sealed them up to take to the homestead and brought my thermal's from the homestead to here. Had really thought we'd be moved by now...but...it is what it is. Gave Abby-girl her monthly meds and dremeled her nails. She doesn't like the Holt collar but it's a must for me to be able to handle her while hubby does the sanding. It's just so much less stress for us humans! If we do it every month it doesn't take too awfully long and she gets a marvelous treat afterwards! Still have a turkey in the cooler...it's taking a bit longer to defrost but it will get there and I'll be canning turkey meat when it does. Still have 2 more plus a large turkey meat breast. Did get out Saturday and bought 2 cases of pint jars from our Amish store, but no lids. So glad I've set back quite a few as well as quite a few Tattler's. With that many turkey's I'll need those extra jars. Buying new ones just saves me the pain in the yaya of trying to clean up dirty used jars (the ones that were given to me...I have A LOT of them!). We're also planning to move the old refrigerator that was upstairs at the homestead, down into the basement/cellar and fix it up to use as a root celler. The basement is plenty moist but having the frig down there will protect our food even better, especially when the summer comes next year. Hubby will drill a hole for pvc pipe and cover each end with screen to keep any creepy crawlers out. It will be nice to be able to keep potatoes etc., for months instead of a week or two. Plans, plans and more plans. Praying each of you stay healthy and warm as winter approaches. Last I heard they said it will be cold winter for most of our country.

Update on Grandson. So far the doctors have said the L2 is not repairable and indicated that he will probably be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life unless they can come up with something different. He was flown to Craig's Hospital in Denver yesterday and daughter and grand daughter went also, to learn to be his caregivers etc. They will only allow 2 care givers, and only one per day so they have to switch off. Thank you all for your prayers. Hubby is still delivering flowers in the mornings when they have enough to deliver! But God is good...he was off one day and one of his regular customers called and needed him to do some asap work. He makes more per hour doing that than he does delivering flowers. The lady didn't buy the stove, so I'll make other arrangements to either get it sold or...take it to the Roost to be used by the renters...with the understanding that it's not a part of the rent, just there and if it stops working we'll dispose of it and they'll have to furnish their own. My week has been pretty much the same...fix breakfast, wash dishes, wash a load of clothes and hang them out, fix lunch, wash dishes, housework, fix supper, wash dishes, watch some news with hubby, give Abby her "bone" (Minty) for her evening snack, check out social media, read and then to bed. Will bring home another turkey and let it defrost in the cooler, then into the oven to roast, and then jar up another batch. Abby loves her "quart jar" of bits etc. Hubby puts on Nitrile gloves when he's shredding the turkey for me and then picks the little pieces, skin, organ meats etc, and we save them for her to have a few pieces as a lunch snack. I think that will leave only one??? Weather turned off a bit chilly, so each evening I've had to close all the windows and turn off the fans. Last night it rained for about 15 minutes...figure? They're saying perhaps a light snow Sunday, but not expected to accumulate. Still would like for the weather to stay relatively decent so we can take our rest and relaxation camp trip to see the fall colors, to celebrate Hubby's 70th and to have our Thanksgiving In The Woods....after the election of course.

Same here.

Yesterday we cleared out a pathway (LOL) to get the electric stove out of the kitchen and onto the front porch. Then tarped it over. A woman is supposed to come sometime this next week to take a look at it. If she doesn't buy it I'll just list it on FB's market place or Craigs List (maybe). It was my Mom's and was treated very well. It's a closed coil electric and self-cleaning so I don't intend to take a beating on it. She'll either pay the asking amount or I'll list it. Today we emptied one of the small chest freezers, defrosted it, washed it out and then dried it, moved it temporarily to where the stove was, then re-loaded it. Even had room to take a few things out of the upright meat freezer and the refrigerator freezer and put in it. Hubby will be finishing up the bathroom pretty soon and I'll be moving things around in the livingroom so we can somewhat live with it, then call the internet service etc., to get that stuff up and running and then...we'll sleep in our travel trailer for a few nights while we get our bedroom area cleaned and a platform built for our memory foam mattress to set on. No more box spring things! Those are worthless. Then...we'll make plans to rent a storage unit to put everything from here into for the time being so we can shut it down and get it sold. I got some very shocking news Friday. My grandson was shot in the back at a convenience store, shattering one and damaging another vertibrae (?) L1 and L2. Good news (with over 200 people in my prayer chain praying) is that he's off the ventilator, talking and they fitted him with a back brace so he can sit up. His life will probably be changed forever, but who knows what these doctors can accomplish with "super glue"! Anyway...they're trying to decide which hospital to move him to where he can get some rehab etc. I guess he's dealing with it like most would...perhaps spending the rest of his life in a wheel chair or ??? He's only 20 so that's a long time to look to. Prayers will be appreciated! My daughter still refuses to communicate with me in any way. I only heard the news from a brother and have not heard anything else from him. She's got most of the family bullied. I have "one" source who is faithful to keep me updated. I'd love to just march right up there and ask him if he wants to see his "other" grandma...but with the CV they'd run me off at the door probably. He communicated with me for a short time about a year ago when he got saved and was asking some questions that I had to be very careful about answering...he knows something is fishy with the way his mom has treated me but again, she stepped in and he stopped all communications by blocking me on FB. So...it is what it is. God is the only one who can cleanse a bitter and hateful heart. They're talking about taking him to a Colorado hospital...with the CV they may find that the restrictions there may be even worse than in our state! When my brother was dying of cancer, his wife couldn't even go in with him. That's one reason he decided to spend the rest of his life at home with her rather than in a hospital with nurses, aides and doctors. Hubby had one quadrant of his dental work done Thursday so that's over with. He'll get the other one done in a couple of weeks or so. We're eating totally out of our pantry and freezers etc., and using the dollars he's making delivering flowers weekday mornings to pay for the dental work. Glad we set back stuff! Pulled a nice siced fully cooked roast been from the meat freezer today, thawed it and cut a chunk off for roast beef and noodles and then cut the rest in nice sized "roast" chunks, vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer's here. Figure we'll get 19 more meals off that bugger! Dessert? We found some chocolate dipped banana slices in the freezer...they were quite tasty! Sleep well peeps!

And jewelry...ie...rings! Not to mention long acrylic nails...ugh.

Noticed that also Jeepers. Is it always anonymous now?

We'll be accessing our extended pantry and freezers for a bit. Going to take the dollars to start hubby's dental work. They'll start this Thursday. We'll be just fine eating from our pantry's for a couple of months without any serious depletion...IF...we can re-stock we will. If not...we'll still be okay. He just need to get this done. Bad teeth affect ones whole body. He's being much more diligent in brushing 3 times a day and using the waterpik in the mornings and evenings. I finally got caught up with my kitchen "mess" ... and the dehydrator trays are washed and drying, so I'll put them away tomorrow. Four trays of yellow cherry tomatoes ended up in just under a quart jar...LOL They're so sweet that the leather tray was sticky and so were my fingers, so I added a dessicant package before I vacuum sealed the jar. Love my brake bleeder for quick jobs! Also got 4 lines of laundry washed, hung out to dry and now are folded and put away. Tonight was a pizza night. EZ on the cook who was on her feet most of the day. Hubby got the wood work done on the bathroom project so now will put in a transition piece...then...then...then! LOL Was hoping for me and Abby-girl to take a walk with hubby when he got home but I was just too tired and still had clothes to fold, pizza to bake and plates to wash up. Perhaps tomorrow night? Taking my Vit. D and Zinc plus our other supplements but it sure does feel good to get out in the sunshine. My clotheslines (4) are under our carport here. They dry just fine but no sunlight. They still smell wonderful because of the warm breeze/winds though! Made up a batch of carpet deodorizer for the carpet in the living room here. It's 10 years old (Berber) and has Abby-girl to deal with! LOL We're not replacing it when we sell this place. It's just a remnant and doesn't go wall to wall any way. When we put a remnant down at the homestead's living room we'll go with Berber again. It's wonderful...in my opinion.

Snood's?

Been just plain old busy! Our farmer friends have called us several times to come "glean" their green beans, yellow beans, yellow cherry tomatoes and loads of green tomatoes. He's been ill and we were all concerned, even though we socially distance when we go pick, and don't go in their home. He tested negative and doesn't have the flu but is severely anemic. They're still trying to figure out what's going on. He doesn't have Lyme's or any other tick born diseases. Very confusing for them. Soooo...I've been busy canning green and yellow beans, dehydrating the cherry tomatoes and putting all the tomatoes (green and red) in the freezer for another day. Hubby went for his dental and the news was not good. He's got a lot of dental work they want to do but we just don't have the dollars, so we'll just have to take it a job at a time when the dollars are there. He grew up hating milk and wouldn't drink it. He's been a DR. Pepper addict for years and only in the past 3 years changed over to Diet...but I can't convince him that all those bubbles are not good for teeth. I drink Green Tea in the bottles or water...and of course my coffee...3 cups a day max. His morning job of delivering flowers is going well and we're getting better at getting up. I have started getting up at 6:30 and he comes wandering in about 7...because Abby-girl goes and tells him he need to get up! LOL Changed all the bed linens this evening and put the wool blanket between the mattress and sheet, and put the fleece blanket on the bed. Then find out it's going to be pretty warm tonight! LOL So I turned the ceiling fan over our bed back on! LOL I'll get the laundry started tomorrow. Glad we're having nice breezy weather. Makes drying the clothes outside much quicker. Hubby's making progress on the bathroom project. Just so much micky rigging that they did on the floors! Had to shore up another beam between the 2nd bedroom (our pantry now) and the new bathroom floor. We removed the door and he's going to build a nice shelving unit in it's place. Will be nice to have shelves to sit things on even if they're not really deep. Fragrances, decorative items etc. as well as combs and brushes (instead of using up counter or drawer space in the vanity), hair pins, lips etc. He put me an outlet where the vanity will be and a hook for my hair dryer. I don't use a hot curling iron. I'm letting my hair grow back out. I will never cut it again except in length! I'm not sure if I read it here or where...but the tip on mosquito bites really did work! Just in case it was someplace else...rub the bite with Peroxide, then dab your finger in some Vicks and then dip it in salt, then rub the bite. It stopped itching almost immediately and never did whelp up. For me? That's a miracle! Bed time!

We used to clean out houses and the only thing that really worked was spraying peroxide on the floors. Check for steadfastness if you spray on carpet, we sprayed in closets first and it worked without removing color. A friend of ours had a terribly old cat and their house stunk so bad. When the cat went to kitty heaven they tried the peroxide and it worked for them.

Went shopping today for some canned pumpkin (the real stuff)...can't believe the price...but went ahead and bought a dozen cans for our pantry and six cans for step mum. We enjoy pumpkin muffins, especially during the holidays. Rather have them with ice cream than any pies. Tomorrow hubby will use my small mower to get the mowing done in the garden area. It's really tall so he'll have to raise the deck and take smaller swatches. It just doesn't have the horsepower to do tall and heavy grass. I'll be doing some more preservation work. Need to re-package two 5# bags of potato shreds and a bag fries as well as some fish fillets. Also picked up some more yogurt. Will take it all to the homestead tomorrow afternoon. Son also gave us a bag and some extra's of onions so I'll drag out the Vidalia onion chopper and get those vacuum sealed and ready for the freezer. We love shredded potatoes with onions and bell peppers with our breakfast meal. Monday is pretty much here and hubby will start his part time job. Going to be a BIG difference for us! We're used to me getting up at 7 and having my morning coffee, and hubby getting up at 8 to read while I fix breakfast. We're not used to getting out of the house before 11:00! But having extra income will be a good motivation!

Sweet potatoes here are sky high and forget about finding any canned ones ... they all have sugar which we won't eat and won't feed to Abby-girl if we needed to.

Got many more jars of coffee beans vacuum sealed up and washed up the used quart jars we were given at an estate sale a couple of years ago. They're really nasty so I rinse them out, put a dab of dish soap in each jar, fill them with my 140 degree tap water and let them set for an hour. Then scrub them good inside and out and rinse them again in the hot water. Set them on my dish dryer pad and let them set for the next day to make sure they're completely dry. We still have a ton left that are stored in a metal closet-thing outside under the homestead's back awning. They were given free and we just hauled them box after box into the truck, then into the metal closet, and decided it was time to use them for things like vacuum sealing and save my new jars and previously used jars for food. Funny sound under front end of truck, took it back and mechanic took a ride with hubby and it's a bearing thing that would need the complete hub replaced. Told hubby drive it until you can't stand the sound anymore, that will keep you from running it until it fails. Love our old school mechanic that isn't chasing "our" dollars! Then when hubby went to homestead to mow, his fairly new Troy Built self propelled mower wouldn't start. Kept jerking the pull cord from his hand and he was afraid it might catch his hand and do bad stuff so he quit. We have a fella in another small town (where the Roost is) that works on mowers very reasonably, so will probably load it up and take it to him. Most of the locals put you on a waiting list for weeks! He'll have to use my smaller self propelled mower. We have a regular mower for this yard and another regular mower that he uses at the Roost. Hate to admit it but taking on that part time job is going to really help for stuff like this! Jeepers...hubby said if Abby starts stealing pens and pencils she's in really bad trouble!

Hubby says it's that those are "sphincter" moments!

I know of several people who have had to have double bifocals...one for immediate reading and one for that distance between your regular vision and the arms length.

Vacuum sealed several more quarts of coffee beans. Got one case now but several more BIG bags to do! Washing the jars then they have to dry completely. Had two half gallon jars that I was putting crushed crackers in (Ball, and NEW!) and they absolutely would not hold a seal. Found out by turning them upside down on my counter, they rocked like Elvis! No wonder! So, I sent an email to Ball. Will see what they have to say. This was out of the third case, now I'm wondering about the last and fourth case... The florist that we have delivered for in the past, for special days, asked hubby to work part time, two hours (maybe 3) delivering for them. After talking it over, we decided we could use the dollars so he took it. He'll work the afternoons on our homestead project. He mowed the yard here this afternoon after he got home from laying down part of the underlayment at the homestead's bathroom. Only has a couple more pieces to cut and put down. Then the vinyl (I think). I just hung out another load of laundry and did my vacuum sealing. Abby-girl got herself in trouble TWICE today! First time hubby had left for work project and I went to bathroom to clean up and brush my teeth. Came out to find the had dragged my sticky notes off my end table in the livingroom! Second time, hubby went out to mow, I went to take clothes off lines, and came back in and again...she'd dragged them off again! I really raised my voice at her the second time which is something I rarely do. She knew she was being naughty because both times she was hiding in her crate (which is in the livingroom)! It's sort of funny really. When I wiggle my finger for her to come to me, she comes slinking to me like "I really don't want to obey that finger!" Last night we gave her the heart worm chewy and then put the flea and tick down her back. But...hubby's been taking her for walks when he gets home (before supper) and he didn't take her with him this morning and didn't take her for a walk this evening. Pouty dog!

Watched one of my favorite youtubers...Wipporwill Holler...and she bought a bunch of the REALLY old canning lids and plans to use them. Stay tuned?

She did an update and said the chicken was not a good turn out...so...I'll just stick with pressure canning all my meats! LOL Glad she posted it as a sort of "correction" though!

Did get to pick up the truck this morning. The power steering pump went out...in front of the vet's office. Thankful that he wasn't on the road some where! We won't talk about the 300$ drain on the chkg account!

...that my friends was my day!

Went ahead and bought 4 months. Already had enough of the flea and tick, so just took those dollars and put it where it was best used!

Watched Heidi on Rain Country and she dehydrates ground beef and chicken. I'm going to give it a shot soon! Brought all my bags of coffee beans here from the homestead so I can start vacuum sealing them in quart jars. My enclosed porch sure smells good when I walk in!

Made a WM trip to pick up a new waterpik-type machine. Those things work so good. Friends dentist told her to toss the floss and buy a waterpik. We have the one we were using but figured we'd better invest in a new one while the getting is good! Tossed the laundry in the homestead's dryer to dry while we went to WM. Hubby worked at the garage cutting some wood for son's project () this afternoon...but I did good...I kept my mouth shut! He said he needed to get the plywood out of his way. I did another load of laundry and will hang it out tomorrow...it's supposed to be nice. He bought some lumber at Menards for his garage wall/divider and said the lumber was out of this world! I suggested that perhaps we should take a trip to Amish/Mennonite country to one of their lumber mills and see what they're charging. May get a good bargain for #2 grade wood. Never hurts to shop around! Tomorrow we need to stop by vet's and pick up heartworm med for our girl. Only need one month this time and then we'll buy 3 months of it as well as the OTC flea/tick and we'll be set for until the first of the year. Depending on what happens we may have to stock up a lot of both come January

Thanks Jeepers for the info about the Theme. I tried the grey/chrome and it works SO MUCH BETTER on my laptop!

Spent most of the afternoon at step mums. She invited us down for fish...Walleye. She also fixed a potato salad and big biscuits...brownies with ice cream for dessert. Had a wonderful visit and fellowship about our Lord. Sent us home with some extra potato salad and brownies so we basically snacked for a late supper. Rain was off and on most of the day but that is sort of fitting for 9/11 in our opinion. I still get angry...and I still cry. Hubby's knee is pretty much back to what it was before. The Arnica gel and rest seemed to do the trick. He's always had a bump there, so that's a relief. He'll just have to be more careful about wearing his knee braces. Dontcha just hate it when your body says "enough!" but your brain doesn't?! Anyway...he can't cut wood/plywood when it's raining anyway. Right now there's no room in the garage and he doesn't need electrical cords running across the ground, even if he worked under our EZup tent. Basically just a lazy day for us...but he did take Abby-girl for a walk since she stayed home...worked off the cabin fever! LOL