October 18-24, 2020 Canning, Gardening, Nature Appreciation, and Bible Studies

 

October 18-24, 2020 Canning, Gardening, Nature Appreciation, and Bible Studies

Hello Friends!

We continue to watch our church online each Sunday.  It is so nice to be able to tune into our church this way.  I appreciate the low dress code while on the sofa!  This whole month has been so fantastic to hike in.  I hike in our woods every day with our dog, Henry, and October is certainly a favorite month to appreciate nature and count my blessings.

Garden / Canning:

The garden is still doing well!  I am so surprised we have had such great weather for this late in October.  Everything is still producing and I keep picking!  I canned celery, green beans, and a special chicken bone broth with celery.  I am having such a banner year of canning!  It is crazy how much I’m storing away; I’ve had to turn my basement utility room into my backup pantry for all the jars! Dh built and painted another new raised bed frame for next year.

Bible Studies:

Both studies are going well, more and more of my time is spent on my Bible study each day.  I am enjoying the BSF online where I don’t have to wear a mask.  But, I am usually the only person in my church Bible studies---with the leadership sessions and the small group I lead.  No one else feels the need to wear a mask, and I tell you, the looks I have gotten for wearing mine!  It really makes me very uncomfortable but I don’t have a choice.  You’d think at church people would be less divisive, but I guess we are all human no matter where we are.

Chickens:

Dh made a new perch for the inside of the chicken coop.  It folds up and off the floor to make it easier for me to clean out the straw.  It is great!!!  I’ve also brought straw bales into the coop and placed it against the outside wall to build up the insulation for the winter since we have fewer chickens now.

Dd’s Progress:

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 2 sessions = 1:00 hour

Physical Education: 6 sessions = 4:20 hours

Reader 1: Competence by Gail Carriger : completed 8:00 hours

Reader 2: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien : 8:00 hours

October 11-17, 2020 Garden, Canning, Winter Prep

 

October 11-17, 2020 Garden, Canning, Winter Prep

Hello Friends!

Dh turned the table he had made for himself to use when he thought he’d have to keep his head down for another three months into his new rooter table.  He will of course tweak it for weeks now to get it all perfect.  He is making drawings for improvements already this week.

Chickens:

I continued working on the chicken coop, wrapping it up in plastic to prepare for winter.  We drove out to the farm where we buy straw and bought a bunch so we would be set up for the winter.  I am using the bales for insulation until we need to use them for the chickens.

Garden:

The garden is doing really well.  This week I canned greens.  I canned chicken bone broth from the bones I cooked down this week.  I’m still picking kale, green beans, celery, and Swiss chard.

Bible Studies:

Both Bible Studies are going well.  I’m enjoying the leadership training sessions before my Bible study each Monday night.  There was also an online leadership training course this week.

 

Dd’s Progress:

Dd worked a few times at Walmart and quit b/c they wanted her to work weekends in the beginning and she didn’t want to accept that as that would take her away from seeing her boyfriend.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 4 sessions = 55 minutes

Physical Education: 5 sessions = 5:00 hours

Reader: Timeless by Gail Carriger: completed 8 ½ hours

October 4-10 2020 Fall Leaves are Peak, Garden, House

 

October 4-10 2020 Fall Leaves are Peak, Garden, House

Hello Friends!

It’s hard to believe it's October.  I’ve been cutting all the varieties of flower heads I can to collect the seeds for next year---zinnia’s, coneflowers, black-eyed Susan’s, marigolds, morning glories, etc., etc.  So much to do and the time is running out.  But, with the cooler temperatures my migraines were less this week again; only one migraine.  We also had to turn on the heat for the first time!!!! Yikes! Already.

Garden:

Besides collecting flower seeds I also started collecting green bean seeds too.  I dug up both Rosemary plants and brought them inside where it’s nice and warm. 

House:

The weather was perfect for painting the second coat of paint on the doors this week; a sharp red color that looks great against our house color.  I’m still painting the white trim around the house, deck, and stairs.  Foundation walls—the chickens had pecked into the foam board around the trim of our house the first year we had chickens.  I’d been struggling with how to fix the ugly damage and finally figured out how this week!  Phew!  I am so glad I thought to caulk the holes and then paint the trim with the sandy deck paint.  It makes our house look a million times better!  I’m so glad!  This is a big job, but I’m working on it!

Chicken Coop: I started putting up plastic around the outside inner section of the coop.  Each year I have to close that little room up so they will have an area to adventure out to during the winter when it’s not too cold.  It is really hard to do, but I’ve started on it.  It’s a big job and takes many days of working on it to get it all perfect and completed.

Picnic Table:

Dh is still working on fixing up the old picnic table.  Unfortunately, it rained on his freshly painted boards last week so he had lost some ground there. 

Dd’s Progress:

Dd hurt her back this week.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 45 minutes

Physical Education: 4:40 hours

Reader: Heartless by Gail Carriger: 7 hours

September 27-October 3, 2020

 

September 27-October 3, 2020

 Thrive Restarts, Rainy & Cold, Canning, and Bible Study

Hello Friends!

I felt better this week and was able to get back to being productive again.  I only had one migraine day this week.  Dd and her boyfriend celebrated their one-year anniversary of dating.  My, what a complete change in my life since we let her go on her first date a year ago; I never imagined I was giving blessing to losing my Dd so quickly and completely.  It has been such a surprise to me how much all our lives have changed as a result.  I’m happy for her to grow up, but thought it would be a gradual experience.  I also didn’t expect it to be such an assault against me personally. She has really decided to separate herself from me completely to become her own person, to be an adult, but with no tenderness or grace.

Thrive Bible Study Begins:

Monday night our church’s women’s Bible study began again!  We are doing Genesis by Jen Wilkin this whole year, two workbooks.  It was great getting to meet the ladies in our circle.  I’m looking forward to trying my best to love these ladies and try hard to be the best leader I can be.

Close the Pool and hot tub:

Even though we didn’t open the pool this year, because we found it had a leak last year, we still had to repeat the process of closing it once again to ensure it would be winterized with fresh antifreeze.  This year for the first time it wasn’t such a hard process and didn’t take very long to do!  I guess we are getting better at it.  Dh closed down the hot tub this week too.  We found it has a leak too, so we closed it down earlier than we had to.

House:

Dh fixed and replaced the stairs on the back deck.  Over the past few weeks, Dh has been fixing up the old picnic table and this week he completed the woodwork and started painting it.  He also put back up the garage lights that we had to take down when we painted the house.

Canning:

I canned green beans this week and have more tomatoes in the crock pot cooking down to paste.

Dd’s Progress:

She had her drug test for Walmart this week.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:15 hours

Biology: Apologia: 5 sessions = 1: 15 hours

Physical Education: 6 sessions = 5:00 hours

Reader: Blameless  by Gail Carriger: Completed:  7 hours

 

September 20-26, 2020 

Antibiotics, Migraines, Zucchini, Painting, Group Sorting for Study

Hello Friends!

Tough Week… I’ve been working so hard on painting the house and deck, garden, and canning that I’ve run myself down.  Whenever I overdo I get bladder infections; which happened this week so I had to go on antibiotics after having to go to the doctor’s office twice this week.  I also had five of the seven days with a migraine.  We had a family meeting with Dd and it was quite the blow-up.  She isn’t talking to us now.  So, all-in-all it was a really hard week.

Canning:  I had been cooking down tomatoes last week, as I have all month, and canned the tomato paste this week.  It looked really good!

Garden:

The new seedlings are coming up in the hoop house!  Things are looking well for our fall/winter garden.  Since we have dug up all the potato beds, Dh planted parsnips and turnip seeds there.

BSF: Bible Study Fellowship: Genesis

I’m doing BSF on Zoom this year.  Last week was our first week and I never really had a chance to say anything, but this week I was able to participate and feel more comfortable with the group of ladies.

House:

Dh was painting and replacing stairs on the back staircase this week.  It is a small staircase but on the dark backside of our house.  The case wasn’t built well and it looks like Dh will be having to remake most of it and reposition it off the ground so it won’t rot. Dh also painted the stairs and protected the wood.    I painted trim white and painted our exterior doors red.

Dd’s Progress:

Dd applied to work at  Walmart; her interview went well and she was hired.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:20 hours

Biology: Apologia: 2 sessions = 40 minutes

Physical Education: 5 session = 3:15 hours

Reader: Imprudence by Gail Carriger: Completed: 10 hours

 

September 13-19, 2020 BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Starts, Painting Deck, Anniversary, Canning

 

September 13-19, 2020 BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Starts, Painting Deck, Anniversary, Canning

Hello Friends!

I have started working on the new Bible study materials for both of the groups I’m going to be in this year; one as a leader and one as a student.  Fortunately both my church group (Thrive) and BSF are doing the same book of the Bible again this year so I’m doing both groups.  This year we are doing Genesis, and last year we did Acts in both groups.  I started working on both workbooks this week, although only BSF had actually started.  I had the Thrive leader forward me the audios of the lectures for me to start listening to. I’m so excited to start both new series!

Painting the Deck:

I’m still diligently working on getting the deck painted and protected before it gets too cold to paint.  Besides the deck, I’ve also been painting the white picket fence around our decking.

Garden:

I’ve been picking green beans and tomatoes.  Last week I had picked our grapes and we made grape jam!  The best thing we make is our grape jam---so amazing!  Words just don’t do it justice, so I won’t even try to the party that goes on in your mouth with our jam!  We are digging up our potatoes and canning them as well.  This year for the first time I’m canning celery as well as jars of celery mixed with other greens for my soups.  On Friday I did three different canning batches; pretty good for me.  This is such a crunch time for getting everything canned and not wasting all the work from my summer garden.

Anniversary:

Another anniversary for Dh and I!  Twenty-two years already!  We worked the whole day, most notably I got spinach planted in the hoop house and canned green beans.  Dh made me two frames for raised beds for next  year’s garden as his gift for me.  One of these years we will do something special to celebrate.

Dd’s Progress:

Dd said she was camping at her boyfriend's house again with friends.  I don’t see her much but hear she is still working on her last two subjects.

German: DuoLingo:  7 sessions= 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 4 sessions= 50 minutes

Physical Educations: 5 sessions = 3:15 hours

Reader: Prudence by Gail C arranger: Completed: 13 hours

September 6-12, 2020 New Diet (no eggs), Painting deck, Caning, Garden

 

September 6-12, 2020

 New Diet (no eggs), Painting deck, Caning, Garden

Hello Friends!

I’ve been doing a vegetable exchange with a friend from last year’s Bible study, her name is Teresa.  She has lots of tomatoes and I have lots of green beans, so we exchange our extra produce with each other.  Plus, it is really nice to see a friend during the busy summer!

New Diet:

I’m trying to adjust to my new diet.  The hardest part is not having eggs!  I came to Michigan and was so excited to raise my own chickens and eat our own eggs, but now I can’t eat the eggs that I work SO hard getting!!!  But, if that helps with my migraines, I’ll try anything.  Dh is trying to make our normal foods without eggs—Sunday he made pancakes with applesauce instead of eggs and they were okay (not great, but ‘ok.’)

Garden:

I’ve been canning more this week—tomatoes in crockpot turning into a lovely paste…kale…  I pulled up the tomato plants and turned those beds into fall beds by putting the hoop house frames back in the bed.  Now I can really get prepared for cooler tempts and planting lettuce, spinach, and kale.

Bugs: I’ve been spending way too much time picking bugs off kale!  This time of year is the worst for bugs and I go organic and fight the bugs with my perseverance, and I do try a LOT!

House:

Dh is still working hard on the deck and I’ve been coming behind him and painting it.  We bought a special deck paint that has some filler in it that fills in the cracks and makes the wood look better and newer.  It sure does a really nice job! We bought the wrong color at first, so used that to spray under the deck for weather protection and then painted the top of the boards with the really good stuff.  We did a good job if I do say so.

Dd’s Progress:

Dd and Hailee camped at her boyfriend’s house.  They put up a tent and spent Friday and Saturday having fun outside.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions of 10 min. = 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 4 sessions = 50 min.

Physical Education: 3:15 hours

Reader: Changeless by Gail Carriger: completed 10:59:00 (11 hours)

August 30-September 5, 2020 Veg Exchange, Decking, Bible Study Prep, Garden, Deck

 

August 30-September 5, 2020 Veg Exchange,  Decking, Bible Study Prep, Garden, Deck

Hello Friends!

In the ongoing saga of trying to figure out what I can do to reduce my migraines I’ve been going to one of those alternative medicine places.  This week I had another appointment and they went over the results of my stool sample which they use to determine your food intolerances.  This is actually different than the skin test my dermatologist did for me twenty years ago—at least the foods that I reacted to were entirely different!  It is just amazing how I am averse to 80 percent of foods.  No gluten, no dairy, no eggs…  I’ve had to loosen my low FODMAP diet regulations a little just to get by and so far that has been okay.  Anyone for a life of salad?  Apparently, I’m all in!  I am trying everything I can to get over all the migraines, but really it’s hard to work around the elephant in the room; which is that hormones are my problem and there isn’t much I can do to effect having hormones.

 

Garden: 

Another week of canning and blanching.  I always enjoy fresh green smoothies throughout the year and by blanching my greens I can have that.  Then when I can my greens I can have my greens in my bone broth homemade soups; which never sounds as awesome as it is!  I even broke out my dehydrator and started on some of my herbs—like basil this week.

Decking:

Dh is still working on replacing old boards with new replacements.  He is doing a great job.  This was a much bigger job than he thought it was going to be.

House:

I’m still working hard on the outbuilding and spent most of the week on this job.  I’m still caulking and painting and making good progress.  I found some open areas on a seam and some bee activity that I needed to do extra caulking on.

Dd’s Progress:

After a few difficult weeks, Dd has put in her notice at her pizza shop.  She just has to get through the next two weeks.

This weekend Dd, and her friends are putting up our tent and camping at her boyfriend’s house.  I’m glad she likes camping out!

German: DuoLingo: 4 sessions: 50 min.

Biology: Apologia: 3 sessions: 1:00 hour

Work at pizza shop: 3 days

Reader:

Changeless by Gail Carringer: 6 sessions: 9 hours

August 23-29, 2020 Fall Planting, Canning, Dentist, Zoom Bible Study, Canning

 

August 23-29, 2020 Fall Planting, Canning, Dentist, Zoom Bible Study, Canning

Hello Friends!

Another week of watching church together with Dh online.  I have to admit to liking watching church from home and not worrying about the mask issues.

 

Hot tub:

Dd’s boyfriend fixed our hot tub and we have also enjoyed some time in the relaxing water!  It really is quite nice to look up at the stars at night outside with the woods all around.  There is a leak that we haven’t been able to find, so we are enjoying it while it lasts!  Dd has had her friends over a few times to share the experience with them.

 

Garden:

This week, I planted fall spinach!  I also canned almost every day; it was my priority instead of painting on the house.  It was nice being inside out of the sun! I canned green beans, kale, and tomato products---whole, sauce, and paste.  I have been running the tomatoes in the crock-pot for a few days to cook the tomato sauce down to a sweet caramel paste.

 

Health:

I went back to my heart/vascular doctor to discuss the findings from the stress test/echo test that I took last week.  They gave me new guidelines---compression pantyhose, drink electrolytes, no caffeine, keep up my running on the treadmill…. They said I was “too healthy!” Funny!

 

Dd Progress:

Dd continues to be very much independent and out and about on her own.  Between work and her friends, we don’t see her very much.  She does continue to fill out her homework sheet:

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions:  1:30 hours

Biology: Apologia: 4 sessions:  1:40 hours

Physical Exercise: 7 sessions:  9:45 hours

Readers:

Go Set A Watchman (by Harper Lee): Completed : 6:30 hours

Souless (by Gail Carriger): 1:00 hours

August 16-22, 2020 Green Beans, Canning and all things Garden, Painting the House,

 

August 16-22, 2020

 Canning and all things Garden, Painting the House

 

Hello Friends!

This was a garden week!  I had three small migraines, but my medicine, Nurtec, helped me to be able to continue getting things done and stop it from getting really bad. 

Garden/Harvest:

Twice this week, I picked and canned green beans.  I also canned tomatoes, kale, Swiss Chard, and basil.  Dh and I have been looking to buy more canning lids and they are out of stock at so many stores.  Because of the pandemic, many people have canned more than they normally do and we have a serious shortage.  I was happy with all the canning I accomplished this week!

 

Fried Green Tomatoes:

Dh made fried green tomatoes this week!!! A real highlight of my summer!!! 

 

House:

I’ve been scrapping the old paint off the outbuilding for hours, day after day!  What a big job!  The front of the outbuilding gets so much sun that this front wall was really in bad shape.  I’ve continued to caulk all the bad spots – which is tube after tube!  But, hopefully that will help our house to age gracefully.  By the end of the week I had started painting the outbuilding.

Dh worked on the deck—replacing old wood with new wood and supports.  He thought there would just be a few pieces to upgrade and quickly realized he opened a can of worms!!!

 

Health:

This week I had an echo and ultrasound on my heart as well as completing a stress test.  The results were all very good…thankfully!  I think the doctors have confirmed that the pains in my chest are due to diet and not a mechanical problem within my heart. 

 

Bible Study: Thrive:

This week the new Bible study leaders met at Rachel Norton’s house for a meeting.  It was kind of awkward with some people (cough, cough, me!) wearing a mask and the rest of the group not wearing their masks.  The mask decision has become such an awkward problem for me.  I just feel so uncomfortable with everyone not wearing their masks and commenting that they don’t agree with mask mandates when I obviously do want to avoid getting Covid.  Every Bible study group I go to I am usually the only person in a mask…but, it was exciting going to the first meeting for the new leaders and looking forward to the fall and starting a new Bible study with new friends.

 

Dd:

She was very depressed about her job at the pizza shop.  Things had been going so good for so long and now things are quickly unraveling.  But, she did get back to doing her lessons after a few weeks off for summer break.

 

Dd’s progress:

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:50 hours

Biology: Apologia: 5 sessions = 2:10 hours

Physical Exercise: 7 sessions = 8:30 hours

Work: 4 shifts

Readers:

Go Set a Watchman: 5 sessions = 3:15 hours

Dread Nation: Completed (2:00 hours this week)