ITS A GIRL!!!!!

Good news!!

Yesterday Mrs. Sustaire, after a 2&1/2 hour labor, delivered a healthy baby girl. She weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces and she is 19 inches long. She has red hair. Carol is doing very well and will Lord willing be back on her feet in 2 or 3 days. The women are going over to visit her today and take her some food from fellowship. We are also assigning dinners, and trying to help out as much as possible. Congradulations Sustaires! We pray that this baby girl will have a happy life, and grow to glorify the Lord in all her ways, and praise and thank Him for a quick and safe delivery.

Bunker Girls

A wagon for Helen

Hello,

We are having a cool, overcast day, and some rain, but not much. Today Mom went to laundry, and us girls made a wagon for Helen while she was gone. It was fun, and it worked nicely, only Helen is still working on the "WHOA!" command. We went into the woods and found a nice, long, straight mesquite branch and chopped it off. Then we removed the twigs and cut it in two. We used Robert's old trycicle wagon and hammered them into this, one on either side. And hammering through mesquite is not easy. Then we found a leather strap and nailed the ends it into the othter ends of the poles. This we put over Helens back and tied a rope from one pole to the other, over Helen's chest. Jennifer and Tracy both put a hand on either side of Helen's halter and she pulled it nicely, but, like I said, Helen needs a few more lessons in "Whoa".

Tracy made spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner. And Mom made wheat rolls. YUM

No Sustaire baby yet!

The Bunker Girls

Canning....canning....and did we mention canning??

Hello!

Tracy has been canning today. She has canned 3 quarts of green beans, 2 quarts of tomatoes, 3 & 1/2 pints of peaches and 2 & 1/2 pints of peach jelly. Busy day! We are getting a nice crop of Blue Lake green beans and the Lima beans are about to start producing, too. We have 38 quarts of green beans in the root cellar from just this year! We are very blessed with a wonderful crop this year.

Robert is doing very well, last update he said he had been fishing and caught a lot of small fish, but not any keepers. He is having fun and should be home on the 18th.

We watched The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again last night while we snapped green beans. It was funny and we really enjoyed it.

Well, no Sustaire baby yet!

Bunker Girls

Sunday Fellowshippin'

Hello,

Today we had singing at the Antes and sang two new songs : "In the Sweet By and By"and "Go, Tell it on the Mountain". Tracy made a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and sweet tea. We ate at the Santa Anna public park. There were horseshoe pits there and the men played horseshoes after dinner. Tracy went with and watched the children while they played on the monkey bars, seesaws, sildes and swings. There were a lot of stickers that got stuck in our shoes and socks, but we had fun. It was nice and sunny.

Last night we had Q and A, then we sat on the screened deck and fellowshipped.

The Siffords canned the tomatoes they got from their garden. It turned out nicely. And the Antes canned 15 jars of salsa and 2 jars of jalapenos. They got the jalepenos from Shoppin' Baskit at 3 pounds for 1.00. Canning season is in full swing here in the community, if you haven't yet noticed.

Well, No Sustaie baby yet, and we are still praying Mrs Sustaire, and hoping she has a safe and quick delivery soon.

Until next time,
The Bunker Sisters

Nothin Much...

Hello!

Today we had breakfast chili and tortillas for ...well.... breakfast. It was yummy. After breakfast we sorted laundry and headed off to the laundrymat (is that spelled right? laundromat...laundry mat.....dunno.) After laundry, we went to Alco Duckwall's ( a mini Wal*Mart) and Tracy bought fleece for a baby blanket for the Sustaire baby with some savings. She made a no-sew blanket. And then we went to the Shoppin' Baskit to get groceries. Then we went home and hung out laundry on the line. Whew...busy day!

We watered the garden yesterday. We have some big watermelons and Hubbard squash. We got a sprinklin' of rain, but ot enough to wet anything.

Well... not much going on around here. No Sustaire baby yet!

Bunker Girls

Washin' day and more canning

Hello

Today we have been washing a lot of clothes by hand. Tracy cleaned out the rabbit cages and filled their mangers, feed boxes and water bottles. They are getting bigger and are eating more lately.

Today Robert will arrive in Saranac Lake, NY. He called us this morning and was excited because this is their last day on the road. He said he is having fun and he went to Starbucks this morning and got a hot chocolate. He was in Columbus, Ohio for a while and got to go to the zoo there.

Tracy canned four more quarts of green beans yesterday ( Jennifer was doing laundry). She is getting better at canning.

The antes got a lot of small peaches from a friend in Santa Anna and Mrs Ante made peach jam on Sunday and gave our family a jar. We went over and helped her at her house.

We watched Savage Sam last night. It is sequel to Disney's Old Yeller and has all of the same actors from Old Yeller. We borrowed it from the Ante boys.

Well, that is all that is going on here at the Ranch. No Sustaire baby yet!

Bunker Girls

The trash bag of tomorrow.....

Hello!

We are doing well. Today we picked 8 quarts of green beans out of our garden. And we picked 5 quarts of tomatoes. Jennifer and tracy canned all of the green beans plus two quarts we had in the freezer. It was fun, but it was a all-day task since this is only the third time we have done it. We now know just how long it takes to pick and snap 8 quarts of green beans. Lord willing, we can provide a picture next blog.

Robert is in Columbus, Ohio. He went to the zoo there and should be in New York by Wenesday. He was excited and said he go to see a kangaroo. We are missing him and can not wait until he gets home.

Tracy went to Mr. Kimball's blog and read about the invention of the granola bar. Good thinking, Mr. Kimball, we love granola bars! Our dad told us a story of how he invented the orange juice carafe at Dennys and he wrote about it on his blog. Tracy invented something, but it is not half as useful or yummy. The Glad Company should start selling trash bags in small, narrow boxes that just fit in the bottom of you trash can. They can sell them in different sizes of boxes for different trash cans. The janitorial society will love them. And they will not hold as many trash bags, so the company can sell more of them. It might just work.

Tomorrow is the Sustaire baby due date! Have a nice day everybody.

Bunker Children

Aunt Noodle and New York

Hello,

Robert left yesterday morning. He is in Smyer right now and is leaving for New York on Saturday morning. His cousin, Townsend, is with him so he has someone to play with.

On Tuesday our Aunt Tracy ( Tracy was named after her) and our Grandma came to visit. They rented a cabin right next to Lake Brownwood. They came to our house and picked us up and took us back to their cabin. We went swimming, played in the "sand boat" ( the owner took a old boat and used it as a sandbox) and and then we went to Taco Bell. We spent the night at the cabin with Aunt Tracy and Grandma and in the morning we went and saw the horses that lodged not far from the cabin. Then we went swimming again.

We went swimming off of a dock, so the water was a good 6 to 7 feet deep. Everybody had to have a boogie board or a noodle with them ( noodles are long foam floats). Tracy learned to dive and Robert and Jennifer loved doing cannonballs. Before we jumped or dived we had to give Aunt Tracy one of our floaties so that she could give them to us when we came up. We started calling her Aunt Noodle and the name stuck for the rest of the visit. We had a cookout and then it was time to say goodbye and head home. Aut Tracy was going back to Houston, TX and Grandma would come and pick Robert up to take him to her house and then to New York.

We could not find Pedro for a while this morning. We drove around the land and even on the county roads. We got worried, but then he just come walking up in the corral to get a drink. Unharmed, and wondering what everybody was so riled up about. Silly little steer......

Well,that is our news! Still no Sustaire baby yet!

Bunker Children

New York,mud,chickens, and fun stuff like that.....

Hi again!

Well, we got a little more rain yesterday, but just enough to make the ground muddy. It was so funny, we were rushing to get the goats brought in and the rabbits covered, because we saw the cloud coming, and the it just started POURING! We all got soaked, and we were trying to run back to the cabin in the slippery mud. We were laughing so hard.

The rabbits are doing well. They are getting bigger and we cleaned their cages today. They drink a lot of water when it is hot, and we have to refill them every day. We take care of them together.

The Sustaires have six chickens now! They have three different breeds, but we only know one of the breed's name : Buff Orpington. We have Buff Orpingtons, too. We also have Rhode Island Reds, 2 Silkies, and a Arcauna mix that was a decendent of our beloved pet chicken, Stonewall that just recently died. She was full Arcauna and she was sooo pretty.

The Sustaire's baby is due the 17th of this month! We are looking forward to welcoming a new life into the community.

We had Fellowship at the Ante's house this morning. We love to sing! :) We now have 37 songs in our hymn book. Also, Mr. Sifford bought a book of the Psalms that are put to music and we are learning the first Psalm.

We are going to miss Robert, because he is going to upstate New York for a whole month! He is taking a road trip with his Bunker grandparents to the Bunker reunion in Saranac Lake, New York. After the reunion, he is going to Boston! Tracy went when she was 7 years old, too, and she went to see Niagra Falls in Canada. The extended Bunker family gets together every two years. In 2005, they had a reunion in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Our grandfather had rental properties in the mountains there. Anyway, we are praying for Robert and hope he has a blast!

Well, that pretty much is all that has been going on around here. Talk to y'all later!

Bunker Children

Bunnnies!!

Hello!
This morning we had fried home-grown squash, eggs, and Daddy had a pork chop from our own pig left over from last night's dinner. Yum!!

Today it is overcast and cool, and we just got done with our morning chores. We have had tons of rain and all the ponds are full.

Tracy has started up her rabbits again. She found them in the Thrifty Nickel want ads and called in on them. And since Daddy was going to Smyer that week, he offered to pick them up outside of Abiline. He got 2 females and 1 male. They are Californian meat breed and they will be ready to breed this October. We named the male Diego, and the two females we named Claire and Monica ( since they are Californian rabbits, get it??) They are doing well.

We found a wooden rabbit hutch that was just dumped in the side of a county road and we picked it up. It had two cages in it. It was in pretty good condition and just needed a roof and one new door. Dad has already added a new roof and is going to add a door soon. We have the rabbits in our store bought hutches right now. Diego and Monica are probaby going to stay in the store cages and Tracy will just move Claira into one of the cages in the wooden hutch. Then she will use the extra cage as a breeding/kindling cage.

Robert is reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott and Jennifer is reading "Great Stories About Horses" that we bought at a library sale. Tracy just got done reading " Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian" And wrote a book review on it.

Here is her review:

On opening this book, you can enter it with two mindsets:
1.You can begin it with a mind of indifference, as though you got it from a second hand shop for a quarter, buying it just because it caught your eye, or maybe you were wondering what a “ agrarian” is, anyway.
2.Or you can enter it with a mind of happiness, willing to pay any price for this work of a brother, a agrarian comrade, a encouragement to you. Someone who understands, who knows.
You can finish it with three mindsets:
1. You can finish it with a mind of indifference, wondering now why you would ever want to be one of these “agrarians”. Wondering what these people see wrong with milk, eggs and cheese from a grocery store.
2. Or you can finish it with a mind of happiness, encouraged now, excited to milk a cow you raised from a calf, gather brown eggs from your chicken house, and make cheese from your own milk.
3.You can finish it with a inspired mind, understanding Agrarians, ready to know and read more, ready to begin your adventure, hungry for more.
Mr. Kimball gives us a glimpse into his mind and thoughts. He gives us a opportunity to share his feelings and views. He uses common sense , wisdom and humor to raise his family and enjoy “The Good Life”. He gives his opinion and leaves it up to us to think it over. To decide which mind set we are going to leave with.
“ Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian” is a true blessing to all who walk this road. It is a glimmer of hope and happiness in a devastating downfall of society.

Well we hope you enjoyed it and have a good week.

Bunker Children