Read the November News:
Sunday, November 28 - Another New Loveseat - It wasn't long ago that I got a nice hand-me-down loveseat that I put in our living room. (see New Couch, Oct. News) Today we unloaded another little couch that Granny bought me at an estate sale. It just matches a couch that I already have. (one that used to be Vicky's and then Granny's before Windy got it almost 10 years ago.) I was going to replace the old couch, but decided to keep them both and try to find a nice cover to put on the older one which is quite tattered. I just love the little shape of these love seats.
Here they are together in the sunroom.
Saturday, November 27 - The Second Thanksgiving - We arrived home from Kaufman late Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we got up and drove to Lubbock to run a few errands before meeting my family at my sister Misty's house in Wilson. More food and fun was had all day. It was great to see everyone.
Hannah plays with cousin Cim
James and Avery play ball.
James plays with his new blocks.
The dessert table.
Everybody take a bite! Click!
Playing guessing games.
Granny tries to coax a smile out of shy James.
Stockton's got a buddy now to fend off the little girl cousins.
Jim with grandson, Avery and daughter, Hannah. See all the pictures here.
Thursday, November 25 - The First Thanksgiving - Today we spent time with a very nice group of people near Kaufman, Texas. We had breakfast and Thanksgiving dinner and tons of desserts and snacks in between. Included in the days activities was a shooting contest, a costume contest, an art contest, a best dessert contest and much more. It was cold, but we enjoyed ourselves very much.
Atlanta worked very hard on the girls costumes. Everyone seemed impressed. The boys came up with their own outfits and looked very period, too. Be sure to check out more pictures at our photogallery here.
Carolina won third prize in the costume contest.
Stockton won first prize in the art contest.
Here's his winning picture.
Carolina got honorable mention for her drawing of Little Red Riding Hood.
Atlanta won first place for her costume.
Here's the whole gang of pilgrims!
The Moore's home where the festivities were held.
A big bonfire was kept burning warm and toasty all day.
Laredo in the shooting contest.
Tuesday, November 23 - San Antonio Video - After many trials and tribulations and discussions with my web server, I'm pleased to announce that I've finally been able to upload the photos from the recent trip we took to the Alamo and the film festival. Click here to see all the fun we had.
Monday, November 22 - Signs of Fall - Here's a couple of pictures that I took yesterday and today. Suddenly, everything's changed.
Beautiful and colorful leaves in the front
yard.
The last of the garden produce.
Getting Signs Ready to Sell - Speaking of signs, next week we are going to try to take some of the highway signs that we have left from a TXDOT sign job Nathan did several years ago to Canton to sell. We've been stacking, cleaning and taking an inventory of what we have.
Aspen and Nathan washing signs.
Atlanta Finishes Thanksgiving Costumes - Finally this afternoon she sewed on the last button of Windy's jacket to finish outfitting the girls for the upcoming Thanksgiving event to which the Shannon's are going. We will spend Thanksgiving day with some families we met at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival in October. Everyone is to be dressed in Pilgrim attire. It should be lots of fun.
Isn't this the cutest little pilgrim you ever saw?
Aspen had to have a jacket and skirt. Atlanta and Windy were able to use existing solid skirts that they already had from their civil war collection.
Laredo Shoots a Mule Deer - Tonight the boys had good luck and Laredo shot this nice 8-point. Unfortunately, it was a long way from the pickup and had to be dragged through lots of sand and brush. It was a large heavy one, weighing approximately 200 lbs.
Sunday, November 21 - Family Day - We had a fun day at home today. Joe Wells came for a visit and made it in time for church. For lunch we had chicken and dumplings with broccoli. Yum! After lunch the boys visited with Joe, Atlanta sewed, Aspen checked her chickens and Stockton and Carolina played with legos. Here's Stockton's star wars clone base that he worked on most of the afternoon.
He's explaining all the parts to Nathan.
Hunting - This afternoon another hunting party was dispatched. Here are some pictures that were actually taken yesterday when Atlanta, Cim and Laredo went hunting. So far, just a few turkeys have been shot. The deer keep jumping away.
Friday, November 19 - Pumpkins! - Nathan brought home some pumpkins before Halloween, but it was only in the last few days that I've gotten around to doing something with them. I've been cutting them in half and baking them and then removing the skin and saving the pumpkin in quart bags in the freezer.
This is how they look when cooked. The flesh easily peels away from the skin.
Today I cut up an unusual pumpkin that Nathan had bought. It was large and squatty and green when I first got it. Now, after a month of sitting around it had started to turn orange on the outside. Look what a beautiful color of orange it was on the inside! Nathan said the man who sold it to him said it made really good pies. We'll see!
Cut in smaller pieces with the seeds removed, ready for baking.
I've also been busy the last few days cooking turkeys. I bought a couple of turkeys on sale and cooked them in the pressure cooker after which I de-boned them. Cim and Laredo have also brought me a few wild turkey breasts (from their hunting expeditions) which also cook up nicely in the pressure cooker.
This meat is so handy when stored in quart bags in the freezer. Now is the time to buy up those cheap turkeys!
Atlanta's Latest Creations - Here are a couple of dresses that Atlanta made from special orders she received from Etsy customers.
A sheer white Regency dress.
A Rapunzel dress for a lady who does "Fairy Tale" birthday parties for little girls.
Monday, November 15 - Halter Training - Nathan and the boys decided to try and start halter breaking our two fillies, Pixie and Lorna Doone. They tried to fight it for a while, but soon realized what was expected of them. Before the session ended, they were being led around the pens docilely... mostly.
When they first feel the pressure of someone pulling on them, they set back and dig in. The idea is to not let up on the pressure until they take a step forward, then you give them their head and reward them with petting, etc. Soon they learn to just give to the pressure and walk forward.
Lorna, the black filly, and Pixie weren't too sure about all this unaccustomed attention from the guys.
School back in Session - Here are my three scholars working on their math this morning.
Sunday, November 14 - Return of the Natives - Finally, about 10:00 tonight Atlanta and the boys returned from their trip to Oklahoma. They seemed to have all had a good time and made lots of new friends. We took the time to download their pictures and look through them before everyone turned in. We're glad to have them home.
The girls at the Home School Alumni event.
The guys. (there's a couple of parents sprinkled in)
Saturday, November 13 - Fun With the Little Kids - While the older kids were out of town, Nathan and I tried to spend a little quality time with Carolina, Stockton and Aspen. Aspen and Nathan went hunting together several times and Stockton and Carolina kept Nathan busy playing games and reading books. I was even roped into a game of "Farmopoly" myself!
Friday, November 12 - Welcome Rain - It started raining this morning about 5:00. We got about 3/4 of an inch.
Aspen snapped this picture of her chickens reflected in a puddle.
Older Kids Leave for Oklahoma - Atlanta, Cimarron and Laredo have traveled to a small town north of OKC for a Home School Alumni get-together. They were very excited and got off about 10:00 this morning.
What's Old is New Again - Laredo showed Stockton the box with their old G.I. Joe's in it. He'd played with them before, but it had been a while. He's really been having fun with them. Carolina got out the Barbie stuff and fixed her up a house, also.
I caught this picture of a couple of soldiers enjoying a visit to Barbie's house right before Stockton jerked them back into service.
Carolina's version of a G.I. Joe camper!
Nice Outfit - I snapped this picture of Carolina's ensemble for today. Doesn't everyone wear camo rubber boots with a skirt?
The Mistake Cake - I needed to make a cake for a funeral in Northfield tomorrow. I decided to make two at once, so Nathan and the kids could have one, too. I chose to make a pound cake and decided to mix up the ingredients for two cakes all at once. Let's see, that's six sticks of butter, 4 cups of sugar and 14 eggs...I stirred them all up and reached for the flour only to discover there was only 1 cup left! Oh no! I searched the house over and found some whole wheat that we had hand ground, but it was much too course for a cake. So, I whizzed it up in the food processor for a while and sifted it, and got 2 more cups of usable flour, but I still needed 3 more cups. I knew I could hand grind some more wheat flour, but that would take a good while. I decided to grind up some oat flakes in the processor. So, the cake has a strange consistency, but still tastes good. The extra cake will make a nice breakfast cake for tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 10 - Red Tulle Update - Atlanta finished the two Alice in Wonderland dresses and mailed them off to Australia today. These are headed for a couple of sisters "down under". Won't they be pleased?
Tuesday, November 9 - Website Maintenance - I spent most of the day adding some new properties to Jim and Sunny's real estate website. They've really got a lot of listings now. The latest house they've listed is a castle! Check out their website here.
New listing for Caprock-Realty.com. A beautiful home in the Cooper School district.
Monday, November 8 - Off to Work Early - Nathan and the boys left out this morning with quite a caravan. I don't know how much you can see in this picture, but they had one of the John Deere 7810 tractors and 20 ft. shredders on the 40 ft. trailer behind Nathan's pickup, and then they took the white Ford utility-bed pickup with the stock trailer behind it so they could take all three zero-turn mowers as well. It was such a pretty sunrise that I had to snap the picture.
Mini-Army Recruits - Stockton and Carolina came up with these outfits this evening for a game in the tree. Since Stockton has outgrown some of his army clothes, he let Carolina have them. I hate to tell her this, but she's the same size he is. The clothes are a little small.
Sunday, November 7 - Supper at the Phipps - We went to visit the Phipps in Turkey tonight and as always, had a great time. Regina had made a huge crock pot full of meat, potatoes and carrots in gravy and I brought these breadsticks to go with it. We also brought brownies and a cobbler which gave us three desserts since she made pumpkin bread. Yum! The kids made short work of it all!
A garlic and herb blend and fresh parmesan cheese in the dough make these very tasty.
Saturday, November 6 - Ranch Roads - Our neighbor across the river, Brent Brown, had a Cat hired yesterday to do some dirt work. After they finished there, he came to our place and started on our ranch roads which are so washed out (after so many huge, fast rains this year) that we can't drive down them. He's supposed to come back tomorrow and work some more.
Bubbles! - Stockton and Carolina found some bubble wands that Mambo gave them, I think. They had a big time seeing who could make the largest bubble.
"Tulle-ing" Around - Atlanta's been working on a special order from Australia. Two Alice in Wonderland dresses (from the Queen-of-Hearts scene). The people requested extra red tulle in the skirt. Every time I go in Atlanta's room, she seems to be gathering tulle. I'll be sure to post finished pictures.
Friday, November 5 - Music Lessons and Shopping - Everyone except Nathan and Atlanta headed for Plainview this morning. While the kids were honing their musical skills, Windy was stocking up at Wal-Mart. We got home about 2:30 to find Nathan re-sowing some wheat.
He's somewhere out there on the wheat field. Don't the distant cliffs look pretty in the late afternoon light?
He gave the boys a job or two to do, and they also squeezed in a little work on their WWII fort.
Thursday, November 4 - Gathering Firewood - One of the things the boys did today was help their daddy bring several loads of stumps from Brent Brown's ranch where they had recently grubbed.
This used to be the back porch.
It didn't take us long to try it out. These crisp evenings and mornings are cozy around our woodstove.
Wednesday, November 3 - Dust Storm - We don't get these very often down here, but the north wind was really whipping up the sand on top of our wheat field today. You know its bad when you haven't been outside and you still have grit in your teeth!
Carolina and I were working on her Reading Workbook and she asked me what day it was. I said "Wednesday". She looks outside sighing and said, "I knew it"! (she's thinking Windsday)
Tuesday, November 2 - Election Day - Windy had to go early to the Northfield community center to help Betty with the polls. Eight people had already voted absentee, so that only left 8 or 9 more who might possibly vote, but the polls had to be open from 7 am to 7 pm. Cimarron got to vote for the first time today. We went to Lubbock tonight to retrieve our dog, Gypsy, who was staying with Granny while we were in San Antonio. We had a great feast and lots of fun watching the votes come in. Yeah! Conservatives!
Monday, November 1 - Hunting Season is Here - Cimarron, Laredo and Atlanta took time today to sight-in their guns. This involves shooting at a target and then looking at where the bullet lands and making adjustments to the gun scope. Since there was so much shooting going on, our dog Milo kept letting himself into the house to hide.
Tree House Cafe? - I'm not sure how this all works, but this afternoon Stockton and Carolina made this tree house, and seemed to be having lots of fun.
The next thing I know, Carolina's stirring up this yummy-looking soup.
If you haven't seen our pictures from our San Antonio trip, be sure to visit the last entry of the October News!