Good morning to you!

Well with the guys being gone this weekend I suggested to Michelle on Friday evening that we do a jigsaw. I have not done one of those in years but we had 3 new ones here lying around - 2 Thomas Kinkade & one clock. Michelle says, “Well we’ll never get the TK finished in a weekend so let’s do the clock!”

HAH! When we started this on Friday night I never thought we were going to finish by Sunday but after some long hours we got it finished & now it is hanging on the wall. It is a BIG clock - 51inches long. Unfortunately Hannah got hold of one of the pieces. Fortunately it was an end piece so we are going to get a tiny ‘gold’ plaque engraved & stuck on there to cover up her chewed piece. We had to do this on another puzzle that Michelle & I did way back & we lost a piece. We just stuck the plaque on there that said “Made by Michelle & Mum, 2003″ & nobody is ever the wiser. In fact it is neat as it reminds us of when we actually did it.

This morning when I went out to let the turkeys out there was a beautiful dragonfly hanging from the net on the top of their pen. It was quite happy & even cleaned himself while I was there. I tried to move it so that it could fly out the door but it just wrapped its feet tighter around the net.

When I looked later it was gone. Just look at the details on it wings - INCREDIBLE!

Right now we have a surplus of milk here as I have not had time to make cheese so this morning I took some of the fresh milk & made yogurt. THEN we had whole wheat pancakes with organic lemon juice & local honey on. YUM! YUM! Now what we call a pancake, you would call a crepe. Our pancakes are alot thinner than the ones made over here. I fried them in Bossy’s butter to make them taste even better.

Hope you all have a great week.

Liz

Well folks - hope your weekend was a good one. Michael was NOT happy with his performance this weekend - in fact disgruntled is probably a better word. Like he said last night he doesn’t mind if he doesn’t win a race but it bothers him if his time is slower.

He came second in all three races! SO he needs to get some good rest & swimming practice in this week for the finals this weekend.
His time on the 400m was 5:14.90 SO that makes Wendi (#11) the winner.

Congratulations Wendi!

Well this week’s giveaway is another ‘Christmas in July’ giveaway. The Rubber Stamper is Nov/Dec 2005 PLUS a stamp from our SonLight Impressions line - Mary & Jesus so just right for your Christmas cards.

Here’s the question for this week’s giveaway:

How fast will Michael swim his 400m on Sunday (July 29th)? Last week he swam it at 5:13.95 - his fastest ever. Normally he swims it in 5:14 something. Please make your answer minutes, seconds & hundredths of seconds. The closest one will be the winner! Obviously this competition will end after the race & I’ll let you know on Monday.
Happy guessing!

Liz

….. in the house!

Yes these chicks should be living outside all the time now BUT we don’t have anywhere safe for them at night. We have some sheds but they are not in the right place & someone was supposed to be coming this week to move them to a safe haven but hasn’t turned up yet. SO each day we take the chicks out & bring them in at night.

The nights are FINALLY cooling down. Last night was the first night we could open our windows in ages & it felt really good.

The mosquitoes are absolutely awful but we are irrigating so only going to get worse. This year our ditches are not holding out well & last night the neighbor, who does the irrigating, said that FOUR ditches had washed out so it is quite a mess down there. Of course once the water’s flowing there’s not that much we can do about it as everything is soggy. Bossy is enjoying soaking herself in the irrigation ditch each day - a good way to cool off.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Magazine Giveaway coming up next.

Liz

Howdy folks!

How’s your week going? Ours is still HOT! Up in the 90’s again today & the mosquitoes are horrid. I donate blood to them every morning! LOL!

Michelle made a beautiful loaf of bread today which I took a photo of BUT for some reason it didn’t work so can’t share it with you as it is now half eaten but it was yummy.
Once the orders had gone out this afternoon I needed to start work in the kitchen. We had run out of yogurt so that was first on the agenda. I made 1/2 gallon & used a different culture this time so will see what it tastes like in the morning. The last one was REAL sharp, in fact it almost bit back. Then I made custard (which should now be cold enough to enjoy) followed by this bowl of mozzarella cheese which I grated so as to be ready for home made pizzas tomorrow.

The piggies will be pleased to see me in a while when I take down the whey left over from the cheesemaking. I have kept two cups back for the pizza crust tomorrow but we don’t need the rest. It takes two gallons of milk to make that small amount of cheese & there is probably one & a half gallons of whey. The pizzas will be yummy though, even if I do say so myself!

Well that’s all my news for today. I’m going to eat some custard, read the local newspaper & then head out to check all the animals before it gets dark. They are finding this weather hot also. The ducks are not laying & we are not getting too many chicken eggs either

Oh yes, Hannah had her one year check today. She is 31″ long so very tall for her age & 21 lbs. All was well & the doc was pleased. We have a GREAT doctor here in town.
Take care,

Liz

Thank YOU for all your comments & well wishes for our camping trip. I have to admit that I have never read The Odyssey but noticed that alot of you read it in High School. Michelle was reading it for pleasure. She is an avid reader - now moved on to Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare & has informed me that she has ordered the movie, which is apparently funny, & that we all have to watch it. When she said to Michael that she was going to force him to watch it, his reply was “You and whose army!” LOL! After watching Julius Caesar he vowed never to watch another Shakespeare so we’ll see.

Anyway the winner is #35………………………………

BARBARA

Congratulations! I’ll have another giveaway later this week if all goes to plan. Thanks for joining in on the fun.

Liz

I know, I should be busy packing orders & I promise I’ll get there in a few minutes but I thought I would share what we had for lunch.

I went out about 11:45 & it was already 96 degrees! AND I had to put a long sleeve shirt on else I would have been lunch for the mosquitoes. My new spinach & onions are doing wonderful but need a few more days before I can pick them. The tomato plants are LOADED - mostly green but got enough red ones to eat for lunch. The potatoes are now alot bigger so only needed to dig up one plant. Took the piggies the tops as they LOVE them.

SO we ate:

• Fresh potatoes
• Spinach - picked earlier
• Onions - the older ones that are now quite large, lightly fried in butter - tops & all
• Fresh tomatoes
• And to my surprise I found a sprig of parsley growing out there so picked that too.
• Freshly laid eggs which I hard boiled & then Daniel helped me peel & slice. Well he peeled the two he wanted & sliced them! LOL!
• And to finish it off, home produced, cured & smoked ham

What a treat to eat a meal that came completely from here - that doesn’t happen that often. I am really enjoying the garden this year so hopefully next year we can be a little more adventurous & grow more variety. I’m living with the weeds, just pulling them away from the tomatoes & spinach. Some places they are higher than my waist - incredible.

Have a fun day - I have to get back to work!

Liz

Well we’re back safe & sound! It was a HOT weekend in the high 90’s. Thankfully there were some trees to give some shade but I still sweated buckets & was really glad of a shower & air conditioning last night!

This was home for the last two days:

Michael had a good weekend swimming. Yesterday he broke the pool record, as well as his own, by swimming the 400m in 5mins 13secs & 95hundredths of a second (5:13.95) Yes the hundredths of the seconds are very important as in the 100m he missed breaking the pool record by 6 tenths of a second & he was MAD! As he finished his race he looked at the score board & went “Aagh!” BUT their relay team broke the pool record in their medley relay so it was a good day all round. Next week is divisionals & then it will be finals.

Daniel enjoyed camping & playing on the slide. The first night he was able to go swimming in the paddling pool so he was thrilled. Yesterday morning a little visitor came to visit:

He/she stole some of our breakfast sausages & we gave it some water. Unfortunately later Daniel got stung by a yellow jacket on the back of the neck & then whilst he was taking a drink another one stung him on his forehead. Poor little guy was then terrified for the next couple hours. Every time a piece of grass touched him he thought he was getting stung again & screamed. Today his forehead & back are swollen.

I don’t know about you but when I am camping or traveling I eat ALOT. And yes we did eat some junk food this weekend BUT also ate a large amount of cherries, strawberries & raspberries so not all bad. I had taken some of Bossy’s cream for the strawberries & they went REALLY well together I chomped cherries & nectarines all the way home yesterday to stay awake. Not much sleep when you are camping in the park PLUS with the days up at 99F it was rather warm. We had to keep supplying the cooler with ice to keep the perishables cold.
Hannah had a good weekend here with Michelle - thank you Chelle! Richard got on with a project that has to take top priority here for the next couple weeks so that was good. He didn’t too mad at milking the cow BUT he did leave the hose on in there all morning so things are a little soggy!

You’ll laugh at this - last night I opened the mail whilst eating a sandwich & made two piles - trash & good. Threw the trash in the bin & went on to something else. Michael came in & because the trash was smelly outside decided to go to the dump. A while later I came back to the table to move the mail from there to my desk & all I found was the trash pile. Where was the “real” mail which contained several checks. Horrors of horrors, I had thrown the wrong pile in the bin! LOL! SO off Michael & & I go to the dump - he jumps in the big dumpster, finds the right bag & lo & behold I find the right mail. I am SO thankful I found out last night as by today it would have been buried under mounds of everyone else’s trash. It was also nice that no one was there watching us!
Supposed to get to 104 here today so we are still baking.

I will be back tonight with the Ribbon Iron winner.

Have fun!

Liz

…..weren’t doing what I was doing at 10:30pm last night!

I had gone out to the cow barn to shut the cows in and noticed that the wheelbarrow of manure was still sat there so decided to throw that into the pigs. That made them happy! Then I went back & started cleaning out the barn. You may or may not know this but cows urinate ALOT! Gosh when Bossy goes, she goes! LOL! Well she seems to have a favorite spot & it was kind of getting soggy & stinky so I forked all that up & yes it filled another wheelbarrow full. Out I go again to the pigs - remembering of course that it is DARK!

Come back & then clean up Chuck’s & T-Bone’s area, then throw down a bit of straw. We have started using DE (Diatomaceous Earth) in order to get rid of the flies. We don’t like to spray & also do not want to use any chemicals on Bossy due to us drinking the milk SO then I powdered them all with DE & dusted some of the barn areas.

Came back in about 11pm & Richard was doing the dishes - what a good guy. I was kind of whiffy & he said “Pheweee you smell like a farmer!”

Hope you all have a great day - gotta go let the ducks & chickens out now. Going to be another hot one here.

Liz

who did take a shower before rolling into bed last night!

Well I promised you a good giveaway this week & here it is!

A BRAND NEW Ribbon Iron & Ribbon from Pebbles Inc.

All you have to do is leave a comment to this question:

Who wrote THE ODYSSEY?

You can blame this question on Richard & Michelle! (This is what Michelle is reading at the mo!)
I will pick a winner some time on Monday as Daniel & I are going camping with Michael this weekend for swim team. You can think of us surviving the outdoors in 100 degree weather!