Long Hot Week

Wow, what a scorcher it has been this week! But I guess it is July in Texas so what else did we expect? The heat during the day is tolerable until it stops cooling down at night. And the lack of rain adds another negative to this heat. Although, everyday we go through this heat we get one day closer to fall! This heat can really interfere with the initiative to get things done but it's all good, right!?! Like the fact that laundry dries really fast in this heat! And IF you find any mud it does not last long so no need for mud shoes. And no mosquitos to worry about -no moisture! And the Mesquite pods dry out really fast! Seriously though, one thing I like about Texas is that we get a good balanced dose of all four seasons. We don't have a long winter and short summer or vice versa. And in our winter we get short spells of warm days but I guess I am partial to Texas since I have not lived anywhere else!



I ground some Mequite flour up this week and had Tracy mix it in her tortillas. It was yummy! She did a blog about it so check it out . I need to get a larger amount ground up into flour and try it in my bread.



Sarah has finally learned her letters(she will be 5 on Saturday!). It's funny, I heard that boys are tougher to teach than girls. But I had Robert reading at the age of 3 and Sarah has been a whole different student. Jennifer was reading by the time she was 4 and Tracy was 4 also I think. When she was young I had her in day care until she was 5 and I got to quit my job and start homeschooling. What a blessing that was! But Sarah Finally reached the age when things I taught her actually stayed in her memory. I knew it would finally click for her but I did not think it would take this long! She really is enjoying it too. And she really does great with her Bible memory verses. Very little practice and she's got it.



I hope you all enjoyed the video of Michael. Thanks to all of you that voted! Michael's mom sent me some pictures from the same visit and here is one of the children, Sugar our puppy, and me. Michael is not in it because I think he was perfecting the Double Ringer Dance for when Logan Ante returns!
Have a great sabbath!
Danielle

Cross Stitch, Mesquite, Horseshoes

It's been a great week. I finished my first cross stitch project. I had started it awhile ago and I did not know anyone who knew how to cross stitch. I found the kit for $3.50 at Dollar General and thought I would give it a try. Well the instuctions weren't that good and I ended up doing it wrong, kind of. I used too many strands and when it was time to add detail by outlining things of course it was difficult because it was too tight. It was put up for a good while in my sewing bag. Then Tracy started embroidering and I saw her using less strands and realized what I had done. I was going to throw it away because I had found another inexpensive kit to try. Kris Ante talked me out of that and I worked on it some more. Then my friend, Lori, taught me how to do a French Knot and I finished it. Here it is:







I found a book that got me cross stitching again. It was at an antique store in Mason, TX and it is called Picture it in Cross Stitch. It had ideas for births, weddings, greeting cards, and family trees. I am really interested in doing a family tree soon. I am going to do another project first then on to the tree. The book shows you how to make your own pattern on graph paper and it has all kinds of cute ideas.



We have been processing a bunch of Mesquite pods. A 5 gallon bucket is filled almost everyday. We just pick them up off the ground.

Then we snap them into smaller lengths and trash any parts that aren't good. There is a wide variety of ways the pods look but, in general, if they are hard and have beans in them then we can use them.

The shorter sections can be used for a variety of uses. We are primarily using them for coffee and tea right now. They can also be ground up for flour. After we get them to this stage, we dark roast them. We are using a solar oven(borrowed from the Siffords, thanks!) and the propane oven in the children's motorhome.

After we roast them, as we need them, we grind them in a coffee grinder. Coffee drinkers tell me it tastes good. I am not really a coffee expert. I like all the stuff you add to it! For other reasons I have all but given coffee up. I need to stick with my hot tea if I want a warm drink.

OK, so here is the real reason everyone is here today. Michael posted a goofy picture of me first and claimed I was blackmailing him. Not true, like I said before, I was threatening him. Here is the video. The lady in it with Michael is his sister, Tracy.

Shabbot Shalom,

Danielle

Off the Subject of Agrarianism....

OK, Michael says I am "blackmailing" him in his blog post today, not true! I only threatened to post the Double Ringer Dance video. I will not lower myself to revenge tactics after he posted that goofy picture of me but I will respond to peer pressure. So if you want to see the video, "PLACE VOTES NOW!!!"

More Later,
Danielle

Goathouses, Bulls and Fireworks!!!

Since my last post many things have happened. I did that post early in the morning before Michael left to go to Pennsylvania. Thank you to all of you that helped that trip happen. It was a long one for Michael and he is glad not to be doing that anymore. He used to be gone for 2-3 weeks at a time when he worked for the Prophecy Club.

Shortly after he left we had community work day and Mr. Ante, Mr. Sifford and Mr. Sustaire moved and basically rebuilt a goat house for us. Here is the finished project:
Thanks guys it looks GREAT!


We also welcomed Quitachon back to the land. He is a Longhorn bull that we had with our Longhorn cows. We returned him when we thought he was done with the herd. Since then we acquired a Holstein milk cow. She had never had a calf so we needed to solve that problem. That job is for Quitachon.


I took the children to watch some fireworks too. Aside from the Amerika worship we had a great time. They had a homemade ice cream contest. We got to buy a sample of the entries. I had birthday cake flavor and the children enjoyed the vanilla. That was some yummy ice cream!
When Michael came home he brought us a puppy. She is cute and there are some pictures on A Process Driven Life blog in today's post. Her name is Sugar and I joke that Michael named her after my one addiction! He also brought home a ministry student named Dusty.

Michael just brought in some peaches from our tree. I will be making peach preserves after I am done with the pig we got from the butcher.

Thanks to the Lord for the rain we received while Michael was gone! It made such a difference in the garden!! The amount of growth was amazing!!!!

In Christ,
Danielle