A Smelly Story

God's amazing creatures come in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes.... and smells.

A week or two ago we were "fortunate" enough (okay well maybe fortunate is not quite the right word:) to run into one of God's more, umm, shall we say, scented little mammals.  You see, Josiah had set out a couple of live traps when he had his meat chickens out in the meadow, and one morning we were eating breakfast and noticed an unidentified object stuck in one of Josiah's traps.  Josiah and Dad headed out, ready to dispatch the troublesome animal, but soon had to call for reinforcements.  It was a skunk!!

Armed with my camera (to document the story) and a pitchfork (to help open the trap) I trotted off to assist in the stinky rescue.  After many futile attempts, and amid the stomping of the little fellows feet, we managed to open and prop up the front door.  Problem solved right?!  Wrong.  He wouldn't leave.  We tried to persuade him out (picture three adults calling and whistling to a skunk as if it was a disobedient puppy) and we tried to intimidate him out.  It was during one of these maneuvers when he released his back up plan.  Dad and I were South of him, Josiah was North of him, and the wind.... You guessed it, was coming from the North right towards Dad and I!  Wow! He certainly was equipped with a very powerful defense system.

When the smell had died down a bit we began our rescue efforts again.  We just about had the back door open, when.... He walked out!!  Just like that - he waddled his way to freedom.  Suddenly, to our rising horror, he turned, looked at us, then ignoring our shouts and pleading cries of "No NO! Don't go back, PLEASE!!!!" he proceeded to reenter his happy little home, also known as our trap.

Uhuh.  Pitiful isn't it.  So we left him there.  He wasn't going to come out if he didn't want to anyways, so after wasting an hour or so of our morning (besides the adorable pictures of course:) we finally did what he wanted us to do.  We left him to his own devices with both doors open just in case he ever decided to go in search of a more suitable abode.  And he did, but not until lunch time, and of course he left in secret silence, not even saying goodbye or leaving a thank you note. 

So much for the gratitude of animals.

~Chs

Just a little bit of Snow

(I apologize for the how long it has taken for these photos to appear.  Mumsie, Faith and I just returned from a trip which will be one of the posts forth coming.  But the pictures are still relevant as it snowed again today and Josiah made an even bigger snowman!)

 Here at last are the promised pictures of the little bit of snow that we received on Friday.

 Sadie Rose wasnt quite sure what to do with the snowflakes as they floated down around her, but once they landed she decided that they were perfectly harmless and quite edible!:)

 

At first, on Thursday afternoon, the snow came down in big fluffy flakes.

 

Falling silently to the ground where they quickly melted, as it was not cold enough for any to "stick".

 

 The next morning, however, we found that during the colder night hours it had continued to snow, and now the deck and all other wooden surfaces were coated with a fine dusting of pelleted snow.

As soon as I was done with chores that morning I went up on the deck and preceded to attempt to make a snowman.  It was a bit difficult since Sadie had decided that she loved snow, and would gobble up any snowballs left unattended.  Josiah soon joined me, and was determined to make a snowman bigger than my baby 8" tall creature.  The sparrows watched and commented while Josiah went to the fort to collect enough snow for his last ball.

The completed snowman was indeed larger than mine and managed to stay intact all day long, despite the warm sun and air.  We are very thankful for our taste of winter a little ahead of time, though Josiah says, "I won't be satisfied until I can shovel it!"  ;)

~Chs

SNOW!!!

This morning we woke up to one of the miracles of God's ever changing world.

Snow

Yesterday (when Mumsie, Faith and I were at the Pregnancy center where we volunteer) large fluffy flakes began to cascade from the gray sky, turning the world, as we saw it, into one giant beautiful snow globe.  One thing I have noticed about snow, is how silent it is.  Just try walking down your driveway/road during the next snow.  Everything is muffled and dim.  Soft, and gentle.

Peaceful

While I did not have my camera with me when I was marveling at this winter's first snow flakes, Charity (back home) did! So I will be sure to post her pictures later, as well as some photos I captured this morning, as Sadie Josiah and I played in the dusting of snow left behind last night.  I will ever marvel at God's changing seasons, and the joy and wonder each brings.  I am ever grateful for snow, a

Miracle

~Chs

  

The Crime and the Detective

 We awoke one morning to find a crucial part of our establishment missing.  Namely our mailbox.  It had been brutally buffeted and flung off its place of prestige upon the solid metal post placed there for the sole purpose of holding the mail box.  So ferocious was the assault that the post itself was dug out of the ground, substantially bent, and was found laying flat upon the grass in disgrace.

 The situation was so grave that we called in a professional from Dewey's detective agency. (aka Josiah)

Mr. J.T scoured the premises and came into the kitchen an hour or so later with an arm full of car parts.  Ahah!!  We now have a suspect.

Mr. J.T used his detective skills to piece together the miscellaneous articles of plastic, metal and glass.

One cup of hot carob and 50 some minutes later, Mr. J.T had come to a conclusion.

His hypothesis ran thusly:  "Someone in a large vehicle of Truck relations, probably in the color black, fell asleep at the wheel and gradually drifted off the road.  This person was rudely awakened by a crunching sound and the unforgettable feeling of the vehicle hitting a resisting inanimate object.  The Truck most probably side swiped our mailbox, leaving it's right rear view mirror and pieces of its bumper behind as proof."

So ran Mr. J.T's reading of our problem.

Being the helpful and multipurpose person that he is, Mr. J.T (Josiah) then proceeded to assist in the installation of a new mailbox in place of the battered metal that once stood across from our driveway.  Thus concluded the case of "The missing mailbox".

~Chs

PS. If anyone happens to come across a Black Truck with a missing right rear view mirror, would you please inform the owner that we found their missing vehicle parts;)

Cider and Doughnuts!!

This year, in addition to our normal variety of harvest, God blessed us with the opportunity to pick apples. For free!  A good friend of ours is the owner of a large mature apple orchard, and she offered to let us "adopt" her orchard.  So we did and have been there many times picking bushels and bushels of mouth watering fruits. 

Despite the fact that the trees need trimming in a bad way, they were loaded with apples and soon our garage began to fill with boxes of spherical fruit waiting to be processed in one way or another.  We soon came to acknowledge that we had way too many apples to just be made into apple sauce, and so we began a search for a cider press.  But, cider presses are expensive and though we looked here and searched there, we could not find anything near our price range. 

We were about to give up in despair, when once again God worked in a seemingly small way, and led us to look in the right place at the right time.  So now we are the very proud owners of a cider press.

Of course we couldn't keep all of this new found wealth to ourselves, so after a try to make sure that everything worked, we began to invite over families to help make and taste our new found product.

The Ostranders and Fultz from church came over one Friday afternoon and before they did we got everything ready for a delightful time.  Doughnuts were set to rise in the kitchen...

and a ferocious boy and a laughing mother cut up apples in the garage.

Everyone wanted to get a turn at the wheel, whirling it around as the apples were dropped in and chopped up.

In the kitchen, I set up a doughnut workshop and had some pretty adorable helpers rolling and cutting out the doughnuts.

Everyone wanted an apron so I passed out the ones with our names on them which provided lots of laughter and not a little confusion. 

Tiny and Sister took turns flipping the doughnuts or rolling them in powder sugar or cinnamon.

Mr. Blue eyes, (with powder sugar on his nose;) my faithful assistance in all things baking.

When all the hard work was accomplished, we gathered outside for our well earned tasty treat.

The perfect autumnal snack:  Doughnuts and Apple Cider!

Doughnuts came in three varieties.  Powder sugar, Cinnamon and Sugar, and plain.

Apple cider provides an excuse for wonderful times of fellowship and we mean to repeat it as much as possible in the coming weeks.

~Chs

Visit from Wisconson Friends

Last Saturday we all stayed up way past our bedtime cleaning, baking, and setting up, all for one purpose:  A visit from our new found friends from Wisconsin, the Metz family.  Faith and I were blessed to be able to meet some of the older children at the WIT conference we attended in August, and we were delighted that the whole family was able to come up to meet the rest of us.  Following are some pictures from the wonderful (but too short) time that we were able to spend with the Metz.

Elizabeth, Nathan, and Eva have beautiful voices and treated us with some wonderful God glorifying songs before our dinner.

After we ate, Josiah took the golf cart out to show Nathan around our property.  It was quickly filled and overloaded with laughing children hanging on as Josiah drove in and around our paths.

God blessed us with a beautiful day for outdoor fellowship, with blue skies and a warm sun.

Little Naomi enjoyed the swings very much, as did the rest of the children once their "ride" was over,

and the parents enjoyed talking and watching the children from the elevation of the deck.

The tire swing was another favorite (as always) and Josiah was kept busy giving pushes.

Smiles ;)

When we were all tired from our frolic outside we gathered in the living room where we talked and exchanged stories, while Faith taught their Grace how to tat.

We all had a wonderful time of fellowship and enjoyed the Metz's singing talent extremely. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to come visit us Metz!  We hope to see you again soon!!!!

 ~Chs