November 22-28, 2020 Thanksgiving

 

November 22-28, 2020 Thanksgiving

Hello Friends!

This week’s church sermon was given by John Dickson, a frequent guest host for our church.  I really enjoy it when he visits us!  Even if this time he had to Zoom in from his home in Australia due to the travel restrictions because of the pandemic.  He really gives a lot of good things to chew on!  I enjoyed his sermon so much on Sunday that I watched it again on Monday!

Bible Study:

I spent a lot of time on Bible study this week.  Attending two Bible studies mean a few hours of study each day and some weeks I get really engrossed in the material; like this week!  Due to migraines, I really try to stay a week ahead in my lessons in case I have to take a week off reading.

Hiking:

Due to hunting season, I’ve been walking Henry on our front roads and staying out of the woods as much as I can.

Working from home:

Dh has been working from home a lot this week.  It is nice to see him on the computer working away throughout the day.  He doesn’t get interrupted all the time like he does at work and says he actually gets more accomplished when he works from home.

Thanksgiving:

Since Dd and her boyfriend are in quarantine, we ate our Thanksgiving meal outside on our deck.  I bet we will all remember this very unique meal!  I put thick towels on each of our metal chairs to help keep us warm and we were all bundled up!  We had our traditional lobster meal, but this time we had Dd’s boyfriend joining our circle.

Dd’s Progress:

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions = 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 3 sessions = 1:20 hours

Physical Education: 1:45 hours

Reader 1: The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien 6:00 hours (Completed)

Reader 2: The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien 3:00 hours

November 15-21, 2020

 

November 15-21, 2020

Hello Friends!

Migraines:

I had a headache or migraine all but 2 days this week.  I didn’t feel good this week.  Dh seems to be over his sickness, but I was still fighting it.

Power Out:

We lost our power on Sunday; it always amazes me how often we lose power here in Michigan.  I had lived my whole life with very rarely losing power- maybe 5 times in my life?  Here we lose power about 5 times each year.  This time our power was out for two days.  We had to take our cans to the gas station and fill them all up again since we ran the generator for two days.

Christmas Boxes:

I mailed out three Christmas boxes this week.  With the pandemic, I decided to get out our Christmas boxes as early as I could!  I only wish I had mailed out a box of books to my brother’s sons—I just don’t know if they would still be interested in the types of books I send?  I just don’t know.

Hunting:

Dh and Dd went hunting together on Wednesday and Thursday.  They saw deer, wild turkey, and a coyote!  They just enjoyed being out there and didn’t shoot anything.  They had a good time together! Big Bonus!

Donating Camry:

We *FINALLY* donated our old Camry to NPR!  I have been begging for this for about three years now!  Now it is out of our outbuilding and on to greener pastures!  Yay!!!!!!

Dd’s Progress: Dd’s boyfriend’s co-worker tested positive for Covid 19 so Dd was isolated this week.  She kept downstairs when she was home so we weren’t exposed to her too much.

German: DuoLingo: 7 sessions: 1:10 hours

Biology: Apologia: 2 sessions: 1:00 hour

Physical Education: 6 sessions: 4:20 hours

Reader: The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien: 6:00 hours

November 8-14, 2020 Sick, Snow, Hunting Prep

 

November 8-14, 2020

Hello Friends!

This was a hard week, Dh was sick (started last week) and I started with migraines and ended up getting sick too.  It wasn’t a very productive week, but I did manage to get some of my Bible studies worked on before I got sick.  We had rain, sleet, and snow this week.

Rowing Machine:

Dh has been trying to exercise more by using our stationary bike.  We’ve had that bike for over twenty years now!  He has been wanting a rowing machine for over a decade and as an encouragement for him to like exercising more, we bought a rowing machine this week.

Pizza and Mandalorian Friday Night:

Dd and her boyfriend came over for dinner and to watch the latest episode of The Mandalorian together with Dh and me.  It was nice having them over.

Hunting:

Dd and Dh have decided to hunt here in Michigan together.  Last week Dh and I put together some deer blinds out of branches and camo fabric in our woods and this week I got all the tubs of hunting gear and clothes all together in our spare bedroom.  I washed the items Dh thought they might need and I think they are all set for this year.  Due to the pandemic, and Dh’s brother moving into the family farm in Indiana, they can’t go hunting in Indiana like they usually do.

Bible Studies---going really well for me.  I am enjoying learning from the other ladies in my two groups.

Dd’s Progress:

I’m having trouble getting the progress sheets back from Dd---so I guess this was another week off?

November 1-7, 2020 Election, Hoop House, Chicken Coop, Hiking

 

November 1-7, 2020 Election, Hoop House, Chicken Coop, Hiking

Hello Friends!

We had our first snow on November 1^st!  This was a big, big week as the election was held; although we filled out our ballots and drove them to the local dropbox already.  I was in high anticipation waiting for the results.  Like so many people in this country, I felt incredibly strongly about the results of this election.  I have never felt so strongly about an election before.  I had a hard time sleeping the night before the election results were announced.  I feel like a major burden has been lifted off my shoulders now.

Hiking with Henry combined with Heather:

This week instead of sitting down to chat with Heather, we decided to both go for a walk while we caught up with each other.

Hike with Lori at Wittenback Nature Center this week.  It was so nice to be invited out for a hike!

Chickens:

With the weather so much colder and winter upon us, I worked on the plastic wrapping of the inner sanctum of the chicken coop a few times this week.  I’m really trying to do a good job and provide a warm and dry room for the chickens to visit during the day and get some sunshine and dirt, at least until it gets too cold and they have to stay down in there inside coop in our outbuilding.  This was my biggest job this week.

Garden:

I had to weed the hoop houses this week.  I also transplanted spinach and swiss chard from the garden to the warmth of the hoop houses.  I am getting a good amount of greens to enjoy!  I am hoping the hoop house stands up to the winter snowfalls this year.

Bible Studies:

Both studies are going well.  Last week at Thrive we shared our stories with each other, which is always so great in helping form deeper friendships.

Pizza & Mandalorian:

Friday night Dd and Seth spent time with us.  Dh picked up pizza for them to share and we watched Mandalorian.  It is nice when we get some time with Dd each week.  She continues to spend all of her free time out and about, which makes the few hours we see her unique.

October 25-31, 2020 Extra Hiking – Beautiful Fall Leaves, First Sleet, Winter Prep

 

October 25-31, 2020 Extra Hiking – Beautiful Fall Leaves, First Sleet, Winter Prep

Hello Friends!

This week was basically the welcoming of winter.  The first of the week the leaves were gorgeous and by the end of the week, the leaves dropped like crazy.  It is amazing how when the leaves decide it’s time to go they all just do a mass exodus!  This year it fell on Halloween and with a beautiful orange moon.

Also on Halloween, we had our first major freeze and sleet.  I was glad I had already brought down my winter clothes boxes from the attic and refilled the hallway closet with winter coats!

FaceTime:

Heather and I have been enjoying weekly visits on FaceTime.  I’m so thankful for such a faithful friend, year after year!

Bible Study:

This week I went in an hour early to my church Bible Study to meet with my friend Jeannine to discuss our lesson together.  It is nice having people as interested in the material as I am to discuss in depth.  I really like both my groups this year.  Last year, with BSF, I didn’t connect with the ladies very well, but found the study very well done.  This year I find both the ladies and the material equally interesting.  I have ladies that really are digging in and bringing a lot to the discussions.  I’m really amazed at Genesis, so much more than I realized.

Hiking:

I spent extra time in the woods this week, due to the beauty at its height.  Such a wonderful last week of October!  I remember our first October in Michigan in 2015 and there had been snowstorm after snowstorm with mass accumulation of snow.  People had assured me that lots of snow were normal for Michigan, but I’m beginning to think they were just taking advantage of newbies!

Dd’s Progress:

Reader: Blood of Elves by Gail Carriger: completed: 8:00 hours

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