2011 IN REVIEW

 

The seasons have been extreme this year--It was very a cold and snowy Winter which included a blizzard, the Spring was very wet with floods, the Summer extremely hot setting records, and the Fall beautiful.  I filled this picture page in with my Mother's Day trip to E.R. when my Blood Pressure spiked because I changed medicines.

We got a full range of it all this year.  The heat was stifling this summer and it dried up the yard--which meant I had to water.  What a change from our flooding in the spring.

We weren't far from the F5 tornado that hit Joplin.  That storm produced for us a lot of rain and a double rainbow and a beautiful sunset.  Joplin did not fair well at all.

My sewing has been hit and miss----

  I didn't get a picture of all of my projects though.  I spent a lot of time on my flowers and in my garden.

 

Football was big for us this Fall.  My nephew, Scott kept us entertained--his High School team excelled so well I think a game or two was on ESPN--Tons of fun. 

I also completed several Bible Studies--Leviticus, Exodus, one on prayer, and John 14-17--what a blessing.

Something I'm not too proud of is I lost 30 pounds and gained it all back.  I was losing weight because my BP was intolerant of carbs, then I discovered Diatomacious Earth which allowed me to eat carbs, which was so nice, but I went overboard.  2012, I hope I do better with this one.

A BLESSED DAY

We had a very nice time together with our Missouri kids and grand kids.  It's such a joyous time getting together with family.  

Saturday I cooked, sewed, and cleaned. I forgot to take pictures of the gifts I sewed, and now it's too late.  I also made three pies. Sunday morning before church I set the table while my hubby peeled potatoes. I put a couple of roasts on to cook while we were at church.  My sister and I sang a duet at church.  I'm 61 and I still get nervous singing for an audience; you would think by now I would get over that---I've been singing with my family since a was a little girl.

After church we finished cooking, and enjoyed our family.  I took the picture below so I'm not in it--which is just fine.

We had roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, a veggie tray, sweet potato casserole, rolls, cup cakes, cherry pie, pumpkin pie and whipped cream--Yum!

First Snowfall

Our first snowfall accumulation--looks about like an inch with a possibility of more before noon.

It's suppose to stay below freezing today, tonight, and possibly tomorrow too.  My hubby just called from work and said it's real slick out, and a lot of traffic is backed up.

Not much happening around here.  I'm on row 28 of my applecores.  I've been working on it a little hit-and-miss.   I've also been visiting my Bro-in-law in the hospital occasionally and sister who is setting up there with him.  His chemo and radiation starts today--pray for them.

Black Friday

Another yard work day here on Black Friday--sure beats fighting the crowds at the stores!  We got the front yard and east side-yard cleaned up and ready for winter---I forgot to take pictures though.  It took me a little bit to get going since I have been sick this week, but I finally did.  I took down the fern on the front porch, and hubby and I noticed that this evening some purple finches were hanging around looking for it.  I think they have been roosting in it at night.  It's probably some of the finches that hatched in the nest that was in the fern this spring.  I took their home down---*sniff-sniff*.

While we were working in the yard we smoked the turkey that was thawed in the refrigerator.  I cut it in half so it wouldn't take as long to smoke.  It took 10 hours.  It was a very nice day outside--beautiful weather with temps in the 60's.  Here is one half of the turkey.

I got six bags of meat---that will make six meals for us.  I am freezing four of the bags.

A very good day. 

The rain is suppose to start tonight; it will be cooling off, and snow flurries are in the forecast for tomorrow night and Sunday.



Fall Yard Work

                                                             

Saturday I dug up my elephant ears---This is how they looked this summer.  Big and beautiful.

I am posting about this so I will remember how I did it, in case I want to do something differently next time.

First I cut off the tops.........

Then I dug them up and removed most of the dirt.

Here are the tools I used; a spade, claw tool, and, knife.

Next, I lined them up across the yard, and with the slope of the yard going away from me I hosed them real good to get the remaining dirt out.  The first two are done here.

Here they all are cleaned up and ready to dry out in our garage.  I have about 16 good sized ones, and 18 small ones.

My hubby cleaned out the dahlia bed.  We both worked very hard.  He also cleaned out the gutters at our house and our daughters.

We both caught some kind of 24-hour bug Monday, and have been in bed for a day.  He came down with it first, and I came down with it 6 hours after him.  He went back to work  this morning.  I'm still running a low grade fever--I hate being sick.  We had to cancel our Thanksgiving plans so our grandson Cole wouldn't get this because of his treatment he's going through.  Bummer!!

 

Fine Fall Day

We are having a beautiful Fall day here in the Ozarks.  The above pic is a collage of pictures I have taken this Fall--some from our yard.  The pic below is our backyard--the big tree and patio.

The front of the house below, taken last week.

This mornings sunrise--gorgeous!

We don't have many days left of the beautiful foliage because the leaves are coming down like crazy.

The weather has been beautiful.  Today's high expected to reach 70--not bad for mid-November.

The pond has had to be cleaned out twice to remove the leaves, so hubby got some hardware cloth to protect the pond from leaves falling in it.  Looks like it's working.

Leave It There

My sister and brother-in-law are having to deal with some hard things, and my thoughts and prayers are with them.  This particular song came to mind this morning, so I thought I would do a post about it. 

Here are the lyrics:

If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Refrain

Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Refrain

When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don’t forget that God in Heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Refrain

When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He’ll go with you to the end.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Refrain

I also found a video of the Statesmen singing it.  And here is a video of a kid singing it in his van, and one with some famous country singers here.  Here is Gaither Vocal Band:

I know when I'm having a hard time dealing with life's issues, a song helps me keep my eyes on Jesus.  I just try to memorize the words by singing them either in my head or out loud--usually in my head, or I hum the tune and say the words in my mind.

Reunion Place

This is what I was hinting about yesterday in my post.  The bridge named after my husbands family.  Just past the bridge is the "camp ground"  where the reunion takes place every year without fail.  This year was the hundred and twenty-first annual reunion.  As you can guess there are the old folks who know each other and lots of young people that only a few know.  Unless you go every year, you're in the dark as to who belongs to who.

Many years ago I started a painting of the bridge, and never finished it.  The clouds are finished, but the lower part is just an under painting.  It's in oils, and I just haven't had the inspiration to finish it.  MY BAD!--as they say.  I went ahead and hung it anyway.  I mostly finished the bridge, but I need to finish the trees, grass, and road.  I have a picture of the bridge that I took years ago that I was going by, where the floor of the bridge was just boards.  It's paved now, and I can't remember if there were guard rails in that picture or not, but here it is, as is, with my hubby standing on it looking over the edge.

And one with the light off.

You can see the Finley River in this picture.  The water level is a little lower than normal.

Our baby daughter is taking pics on the bridge here.

Here's a view looking north from the other side of the bridge.

My handsome hubby.

Looking into the water from the bridge.

Now, looking down river to the west from the bridge....

and to the east, up river.

Here's the camp ground which is just past the bridge.  There is a well by the pavillion.  They bring in stoves, refridgerators, food, cooking equipment, and a cook. 

Also a portable bathroom or two. It takes place in August, and

it lasts for a week, and many bring their tents, etc., and camp on the grounds. 

The kids play in the river, and float it on inner tubes.  Sometimes they have hayrides, and things like that.  Sometimes they have a little entertainment.  There's a big dinner every night where the local family members contribute dishes for pot luck to add to the meal.  One cousin has a motel in the nearby town where many stay; he is also a state representative. 

On Friday night before the meal everyone lines up on the long north side of the pavilion for a picture, and they use it to send out invitations for the next year on a post card.  It's a pretty big deal.

After the meal on Friday night they have a business meeting which includes read obits of those who have passed on, skits, songs, plus many other business type things where they elect officers for the coming year, collect money, and so on.

My hubby's father is pretty proud of his family's traditions, never misses, and knows alot of the people.

Country Roads

We went for a drive after church and lunch yesterday.

The leaves are beautiful--pretty close to peak in their color now.

The country roads are just beautiful.

Just look at the color of these oaks.  Oaks aren't really known for their fall color, but these have some beautiful color.

I like the beautiful sky reflection on our windshield.

We went down to the Finley River.  Here's Erin checking the water's temperature. 

Our daughter brought her camera, too, and I know her pics are better than mine.  These pics are okay though.

Erin and hubby here.  It was such a beautiful day that the Lord made.  I marvel at His creation.  Mere words cannot express the beauty and sheer wonder of it all.  I'm thankful for the eyes He gave me to see it.

Here's hubby and me at the river bank.

This next picture is leading to my next post about something down by the river.  It's in the extreme background, but I don't think you can make it out.  Don't you just love a mystery?  My kids will know what's down by the Finley River.  I'll tell you about it next post.  There's just too many pictures for one post, (unless I could learn how to post pictures like Martha Stewart, that is).



Birthday and a Ballgame

It was my hubby's birthday yesterday, so we had the kids over and celebrated.

Erin found these amazingly large marshmallows.

This was a fun-gooey-sticky time for the grand kids.

I fixed dinner for us all:

Roast

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Carrots

Mashed Fauxtatoes

Spinach Salad

and our daughters brought:

Rolls

Baked Beans

AND

Chocolate Cake

Our youngest granddaughters helped Papa blow out the candles. 

We also went to see Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, who are 89 and 94 years of age.

After all of that, birthday boy and I settled down to watch from the seventh inning on, of game 7 of the

World Series.  Yea Cardinals!  What an exciting Series.

It was a busy day for me, and very enjoyable

(except for one bump in the road).



Excitement

This is actually a picture of my nephews Joplin Football Game, but I didn't have my camera last night, and I can't post without a picture--that would just be wrong.

We saw two ballgames yesterday, and both were exciting--I am now hoarse.  I hollered a lot at the first one.  My nephews team won again 35 to 7 against Republic.  This game was more of a challenge for them. They won their division, and now they go to the playoffs.  It was fun watching my nephew play; it might have been his best night this year.  We also saw history being made.  Doriel Green Beckham set the U. S. record for High School in the most yards rushed.  He's quite a player and I'm glad I got to see it.  This morning my throat is still a little raw.  I get excited. 

We came home to watch the most exciting game on T.V.  Our Cardinals came back again to win game 6 of the World Series--that was stressful and exciting.  I got pretty excited here at home too.  I thought I was going to miss the game, and I did miss part of it.  When we got home the Cards were behind by three runs, 4 to 7, and it didn't look good, then they caught up a couple more times, and won in the bottom of the eleventh inning, 10 to 9.  It was just wow.  I just love a good ball game, and I had two in one night.

Fall Ball Games

We been watching a lot of ball games lately.  Friday night my nephew had a football game.  He's a Running Back and he carried the ball quite a bit.  The crowd was cheering him with "Great Scott!"---His name is Scott.  He made quite a lot of yards.  I think the score was our 56 to Marshfield's 6.

We've also been staying up late to watch the World Series--"GO CARDS!"  I think it is starting to catch up to me.  I fell asleep yesterday afternoon on the couch, and it took my hubby's banging around to wake me up--That's not like me.

We had a fire last night since there was no game, boy it sure gets dark early now.

I worked on my apple cores until it was too dark to see.  I'm on row 23 now.  Yea!