The Rooster and Red Buttons

      We used to have a chicken coop filled with 24 hens and one big rooster. Daddy had built rows of nesting boxes for them and everyday John and I would go out to gather the eggs. It used to be a lot of fun.
     We would try to pet the chickens and we'd talk and sing to them, occasionally Mom would give us stale bread and we would break off crumbs and throw it to them. It used to be really fun watching them run after the crumbs as we threw one piece at a time to make it last longer.
     One day Grandma came and brought a new dress for me. It was a light tan with a row of bright red buttons down the back. I thought it was very pretty and wanted to wear it right away. When it was time to go gather the eggs I went skipping to the chicken coop still happily wearing my new dress.
As we were gathering the eggs our big friendly rooster, turned into a huge mean rooster. I was happily gathering eggs when he flew at my back and knocked me down, my basket of eggs went flying and all the hens went running to happily peck at the broken mess. The rooster wasn't enticed by the sight of broken eggs and kept right on attacking me. I started crying and John ran to get Mom.
     She came running to my aid and shooed the rooster away, and helped me back to my feet. Once we got into the house and I got changed into a clean dress she held up the dress that was dirty from laying on the floor of the chicken coop and told me that the rooster didn't mean to hurt you he just saw the bright red buttons and wanted to eat them.
     I never again wore that dress while gathering eggs and the rooster was the gentle sane rooster he was supposed to be.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

1.  What's something blogging has taught you about yourself?

I have learned that I keep changing. When I read back over the first year or two of blogging there are quite a variety of things that no longer really apply to me. One is the utter loathing with which I used to view shrimp, and now I love them.

2.  Leftovers...are you in the 'reheat and eat' camp or the 'put them in the fridge until they spoil and then toss them' camp? What's your favorite thing to have leftover? What can you not abide as a leftover?

We try to reheat and eat all our leftovers, but there are occasional ones that slip through the cracks and end up being tossed. I always feel bad when that happens.

3. 'Me time'...your thoughts?

Tell me, what is that foreign concept of which you speak? Me time isn't really a thing for me unless you count blogging and writing as such. Though I do enjoy the few moments of quiet I have every morning before the rest of the family gets up.

4. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?

The three main things people approach me with for help are:

1. Writing/publishing
2. Homeschooling
3. Child training

I don't feel all that qualified to answer any of those questions, though I do try to always do my best.

5. If your childhood had a smell what would it be? Tell us why.

The smell of fresh wood shavings. My Dad had a woodworking shop in our basement where he made lovely dining room furniture. Our days were filled with the noisy hum of his machinery, and during Christmas season, the nights did as well.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

My daily walks and hikes have been reduced to staying close to the buildings. Making laps around the outside of the house or walking to the barn and back several times is as much as I feel safe doing during deer hunting season. I don't want to risk being mistaken for a deer.

Thanksgiving Potatoes

    For our family, no Thanksgiving is complete without these potatoes. We dream of them all year, but only indulge on this one special day.

 

Thanksgiving Potatoes

 

8 medium potatoes

1 - 8 oz package cream cheese (softened)

4 - Tbsp butter + small dollop

1 package Wind & Willow Bacon Stuffed Mushroom Appetizer Mix

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Milk

Salt

 

Peel and chunk potatoes, rinse in cold water and drain. Place in cooking pot. Personally, I prefer using my dutch oven. Cover potatoes with water, add half a teaspoon of salt, and a small dollop of butter. Bring to a boil. Cook until soft. Drain off water, and mash the potatoes thoroughly. Add cream cheese, butter, and the Wind & Willow mixture. Mix thouroughly. Add cream and mix again. Add milk a little at a time until the potatoes have reached your desired consistency. Taste to see if you need more salt ... adjust to suit your taste. Return to stove and heat, while stirring constantly. Dish out, serve and enjoy!

School Books and Shop Lofts

     One late summer day John and Sue Coffer stopped in for a short visit. Amid the course of conversation they were having over chocolate milk and cookies they mentioned the fact that one of their acquaintances was a teacher at a school that was getting rid of a lot of their older books that were no longer being used, and wondered if we'd be interested in them or at least storing them in the loft of our shop until they found someone who might be interested in them.
     Daddy and Mom agreed and several days later several vehicles came loaded with books and other school supplies. They carried everything up to the loft and then stayed for a few hours yet to visit and enjoy fresh peaches and cream.
     After they left we all went up into the loft and started digging through all the boxes. I had never seen so many books in my life and was thrilled with everything, there were boxes with paints, pastels, construction paper, microscopes, and any other school supply you could dream of.
     We took some of the things into the house and Mom got us started on some art projects. It was so exciting thinking of all the things we could do with everything we had.
     A few days later John, David, and I were playing in the sandbox when we decided to go up in the loft and look at more of the books and things that were waiting on us. We were soon settled contentedly amid the piles of boxes, looking at the pictures in the reading books, David soon got bored and started playing with the door knob. John and I didn't pay him any mind, the books and microscopes were much more interesting.
     After a while we noticed several wasps flying around and I told John to go get a fly swatter, he ran to the door but couldn't open it. I went to help him but couldn't turn the knob either. We tried to unlock it without success. The loft suddenly didn't look inviting as we started calling for Mom. She didn't answer and we started crying, the wasps kept buzzing around, the sun started going down, we were getting to be very warm, and our voices almost hoarse from crying by the time Mom heard us. She came with a key and released us from our prison.
     We were so happy to get back into fresh air again..
     We still enjoyed the days when Mom would say, lets go to the loft children. We would select some things to take into the house. We enjoyed the introduction of using a microscope and marveled at the way our hair looked and exclaimed over what was revealed when you looked at a drop of water. But we were never tempted to go to the loft without Mom.

Picture my Week

     Can you believe I didn't get any pictures of our Thanksgiving Day?! I don't know why other than I was too busy enjoying our day.

    Here are a few of my favorites from our week.
   
    One of our neighbors dumped off their fall decoration pumpkins to the cows. They absolutely loved them.

 

When trying to dig out our Christmas tree from the back of the storage room I saw all of our German books were covered in green mold. Nothing else was. Strange! I brought them down and cleaned them and laid them out to make sure they dry properly before returning to the storage room. Steven was fascinated with the weird squiggly letters.

 

We got our Christmas trees set up. So far I haven't been able to decide which one I like the best. The lights on the one in the girl's room don't work, but I love all the homemade ornaments.