Life In General Archives | Page 13 of 15 |

Squirrel Invasion

January 29, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

The squirrels love to hang out at our house. We’ve got many bird feeders, and the squirrels are happy to feast on what falls to the ground. Sometimes there are twice as many squirrels as this, out there. This whole area you see is going to be a beautiful bird sanctuary, when we get that far with our plans at the homestead here. We get LOTS of birds every day, and all kinds too. We love to watch the birds the most. If they only knew what a paradise we have planned for them. No doubt, the squirrels will stay too.

The kids know some of these squirrels from the others. A few even have names. We have outsmarted all but one, from getting up into our bird feeders. We don’t mind them around, but THAT is unacceptable behavior. And they know it. Only one manages to get up into one of the bird feeders, now and then. But he doesn’t enjoy his victory for long, as one of the kids always spots him, and someone is out there reprimanding.

We do love to watch their antics. They can be pretty funny sometimes.

That’s all for now. The next Christmas Craft is coming up! I’ve just been busy today with a little work. Even had a little quiet time to work today, after school and lunch, while the kids were at the youth center with Daddy ‘shootin’ hoops’. I accomplished quite a bit! But now it’s time for a good night’s sleep!

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More Time at the Horse Stables

January 24, 2009 By Laura 6 Comments

{A} has loved every minute at the stables with the horses, and learning every bit she can take in. The trainer said “She’s a natural.”

I am looking forward to her horse riding outside, come springtime, when she continues some lessons. When there will LIGHT and COLOR. And WARMTH. That will make for prettier photos, I think. These lessons have been nothing less than frigid. Even in the arena….just bitter cold. We leave with numb fingers and toes. And there’s always a smile frozen on {A}’s face, too.

She has to clean her horse’s shoes every time, before she rides him, as well as brush him. It can be a real task cleaning his shoes well, but thankfully he’s a co-operative horse. So that makes it easier than it could be.

He’s all ready to dress and ride. Handsome boy, isn’t he?

{A} has learned to ‘post’. Which is that bouncing you see English riders do, when the horse goes into a bit of a gallop. Once she learned how to stay in the saddle while ‘posting’, she was all set.

She’s been wearing her Daddy’s gloves to try and keep her hands warmer. Come to think of it, that’s my jacket she has on.

Yes, spring photos will be so much better.

These stables have little birds flying around all over the place inside. I forget what kind of birds they are. {A} would know, but she’s asleep at the moment. What a nice shelter for them though.

They also have a couple of rabbits. I approached their cage slowly, but I could tell my camera made this little guy nervous. He probably wet the hay a little, when my shutter went off. So I just took one shot. I heard rabbits can have heart attacks rather easily, and I sure didn’t want to be responsible for that!

Hey-Guess what??

On Monday I am going to start posting, intermittently over the following days/weeks, our Christmas Crafts reveals. Anybody been waiting for that? I posted the kids busy crafting gifts, right along through the pre-Christmas season. But now will come photos of the finished products, materials, tools and techniques used to make them, and where to get everything you need! We’ve been waiting to post it all, so we’re excited. Lots of COLORFUL PHOTOS and FUN!! So all you who may want to do some lovely crafty-gifts this year, for Christmas or anytime, get out your notepads! We’ve got at least a few ideas coming your way that we think you’ll enjoy. We sure enjoyed making them, and giving them to the people we love.

Until then!!

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Our Cozy Long Weekend

January 21, 2009 By Laura 10 Comments

We’d like to gush just a BIT more, about how much we are enjoying this wood stove. Honestly, I may never get over the sheer joy, of having it. We have gained a room to use in the winter! It’s open to our living area anyway, which is open to the kitchen, which is open the school/eating room… so it’s a perfect extension to the main space of our home. So cozy, and so beautiful too look out our windows, that surround us. We all just spend a lot of time in there — schooling, playing games, reading, chatting-all by the fireside. It’s been lovely!

This past weekend, we had a major shift of plans. We were supposed to have ONE more Christmas celebration on Sunday, gathering with my side of the family-all of whom live long distance. We were all so looking forward to it! But….the snowfall predictions put an end to everyone’s travel plans.

So instead, we had a relaxing weekend alone, together. There was plenty of good food to eat though, as we had just shopped for our big gathering!! So the eatin’ was good for days!! Still is, actually! lol

See that pan on the stove top? That is a delicious hot drink we have simmering. Want to peek inside??

It’s a hot cider drink, and we had no idea how delicious it would be. I got the recipe from another blog, but I’ll be darned if I remember where!! I must say though……I wasn’t sure I was going to love it. Or even like it. But just the thought of the citrus aroma it would likely fill our home with, was enough to encourage me to make it anyway. SOMEONE would probably like it.

We were all set to give it a sip or 2, when it was ready. But it had to simmer for awhile first.

Meanwhile, we had a few things we could get done. Like…..undecorate our very Christmas-sy home, perhaps?! Yes, our tree has been up all of this time! Along with all of our other decorations (of which many of you have all probably seen, with all of the photos I took and posted. BOY that was FUN!!) And we really enjoyed them. But…we were ready for them to get packed up again for awhile! I must say…..our home looked a little….naked….for a day or so after wards. But it seems normal again now.

By the time that packing up was done, our cider was ready!! It sure smelled good. But still….I was leery. Mine was a very cautious first sip. One of the ingredients is orange juice….and the thought of warm orange juice was making me cringe a little bit. But as it turned out…..we all LOVED IT. Everyone had TWO cupfuls, and they all want to make it again very, very soon.

We brought the woodpile in, to keep it dry. Which I didn’t mind much, because I love woodpiles. Remember? We were wondering if any bugs would thaw out in there, and come come scurrying out! But none ever did, thankfully. Nonetheless, we’ll be thinking on better wood-storing ideas, when the time comes to stock up on a huge amount of wood.

The snow was really coming down some parts of the day, and it was nice to have no place to go, and just watch it….

and sip some more.

I’ve got to tell you a little bit about this pot on our stove too………

….. Since we talked a little about treasured family pieces, this is one of our own. It was in this home when we bought it. As I mentioned earlier, we had an inset wood/coal stove in a brick wall we knocked out when we added this sunroom, (and a school room/ eating area…..and a whole second story….). It was a black iron stove, inset into a brick fireplace, with a stone hearth. I did love the look of the whole stove/fireplace, with our crooked brick mantel, but we only used the stove itself a handful of times. Reason being, there were issues with the chimney, which really needed work, if not rebuilding! We felt it posed a possible fire hazard in the chimney. It let awful smoke in the house too. What’s more, it would have been very difficult to keep little ones away from it through those years, being dangerously hot to the touch. They are older now, and know better, of course. Anyway, we never invested in getting the chimney fixed, because we were holding onto our hopes and dreams of remodeling our home anyway, which we really needed for a family of 6. We were finally able to do that, and it has been our little dream come true….even though we still haven’t finished it. (But the journey has been gratifying!) So, the day that excavator ripped that old chimney, entire wall and stove off of our house….we saved this pot of course, before it was buried in the rubble. (My 3 kids, who were 4 at the time, napped right through that event, and woke up to a HUGE gaping whole, where the wall and stove/fireplace used to be, and into their suddenly very messy yard!) I love that the pot is L.L. Bean. That company has great stuff, but we never purchase anything from them because they are beyond our budget! But…we do have this pot!! I should add…..we only keep it filled with water, and it puts some moisture into the air.

My. That was a long paragraph.

SO! Here’s a really easy COMMENT assignment for you:

Say ” I “, if you’d like me to post this DELICIOUS CIDER RECIPE for you. It smells and tastes wonderful!! And you don’t even need a wood stove to make it…..any stove at all will do. It’s a perfect winter treat!

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Snow Sledding Fun!

December 23, 2008 By Laura 2 Comments

Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and our house is brimming over the edge with excitement!! I am sure it is in your homes and families by now too! The spirit of joy and celebration is definitely in the air here, as we prepare for the reflection of Jesus’ birth. It is solely the focus in our home and family, if you know what I mean. ; ) To see our children relish in the true joy of what Christmas is all about, with such overwhelming child-like excitement and happiness (which is so contagious), as we embark on all of our Christmas traditions, is such a fulfilling feeling as parents.

But on Saturday, there was finally enough snow to really play in! We went sledding!! Well, Kid-Daddy and our kids did—I took photos, which is still playing to me! What made it even more fun, is the snow kept on falling while they played in the winter wonderland. It really made it all the more exciting, if not a bit of a challenge for the photographer. lol. Still got some fun shots though. My frozen shutter hand was worth it. It thawed, with a little pain. So just sharing some of their snow-fun-filled day before Christmas Eve and Day is upon all of us.

This one below cracks me up the way J is amused by the rope having a ride too!

Only A would wear her glasses sledding. And wear a hunter’s hat too, no less. She loves that hat.

The race is on!

Stunt Girl!!

Maybe not……lol

There were lots of giggles echoing in the snow hills valley!

And lots of climbing back up for another run…..

Now am I the only mother that LOVES these faces with a squished brow from winter hats?? Sometimes, I tie it just a little tighter than necessary, just to gush at how cute they are!

Who needs sleds? Not my fools.

But I love my fools! They just make for more laughter!

Catching snowflakes, of course. I love these shots…

What a day!! Good thing we had a big thermos of hot cocoa waiting in the van!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the fun with us, without getting cold!

Fall in All It’s Glory

October 26, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

What a GLORIOUS weekend it has been here in southern New England! We’d venture to guess this past week or so has been ‘peak’ foliage season, as opposed to the usually assumed Columbus Day weekend. Not only was this weekends absolutely beautiful visually, but we had very warm temperatures as well, so we really got to enjoy it!

The weekend started off for {A} with a youth group bonfire event. She had a really good time with her friends, singing songs, telling ‘ghost’ stories, and making s’mores! Over the course of the weekend, basking in the warm sunshine, she also spent an abundance of time with her wildlife friends. Chances are I’ll be blogging about that this week as well. All I can say for now is, she continues to amaze us with her love for nature, and it’s love for her!

We did get some much needed shopping done, and some house cleaning, as well as some very worthy house projects! (Well, Michael did the house projects.) For one, we have heat baseboards in the school room now!! After having put on our additions and finishing all of the interior ourselves, it was one project at a time. The floor got done just in time for Thanksgiving last year, I believe. Then we just never got to the heat. So although our school room is right off of our heated kitchen and the rest of our home, it was pretty dang chilly in there with no in-room heat source! Just like an old fashioned school room I suppose. But enough of that pioneer experience >> we’re happy to have heat in there now! Checked that project off our list!

Other than those accomplishments, we enjoyed the outdoors. Today we went on a little hike, and naturally, I brought along my camera. So I thought I would share some shots with you.

This first shot is of a horned caterpillar. We had never seen such an interesting little creepy-crawly before, but we did learn pretty quick that one of it’s defenses is emptying it’s stomach contents on you. YUCK!! (Sorry if that’s TMI….pretty gross indeed. But kind of interesting, in a gross-sort-of-way, don’t you think?). Anyway, the great thing about discovering this caterpillar, is that it solved a little mystery from last year! In researching exactly what kind of caterpillar this is, and learning it is a White-Lined Sphinx, we also discovered it turns into a White-Lined Sphinx Moth….which we recognized!! Last year, I had spotted one of these moths in the backyard, and I was ASTONISHED. I had NEVER seen such a thing. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me, what it was, and {A} didn’t know either. I was seriously afraid of it, but Michael wasn’t home, and I wanted him to see this thing! I nearly destroyed some of my plants trying to catch it. Was it a flying mouse? It sure looked furry enough!! But it flew like a hummingbird. (It is indeed described as a hummingbird-like moth. ) And it sure was SCARY looking!! I got it into a clear glass pyrex bowls, and it sure did put up a fight in there. It was so mad at me, I was afraid to ever let it out! The bowl had a cover on it, but he even seemed capable of taking off the cover. We could see in his eyes that he was thinking about how to do it. lol. So we put a big book, and a pair of shoes on top too, just for good measure! Eventually, Michael came home, and was just as baffled too, and disturbed. We just left it in the bowl for awhile, and then I let him let it go later. I stayed inside, though. With the doors locked. Did you click on the link above?? Check it out. Warning: NOT CUTE!!!

But here is the somewhat beautiful caterpillar it is first, along with a handful of the other shots I took. Enjoy!!

These leaves below are of a maple sapling, that has been growing right outside our schoolroom window. We’ve been enjoying watching the leaves change colors over the past weeks.

That’s all for tonight.

Hope you can come by again soon!!

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