Home away from home for a week

Last week Josiah Faith and I were privileged to house-sit for some friends of ours. Friends with 8 cats, one dog, two fish, and a flock of chickens. We had so much fun and the cats were so funny each with their own personalities.


This is Leonardo, he is one of the outdoor cats and has the distinction of being the oldest cat. He has quite the Kingly attitude, if he does not want to be petted or picked up, then he will NOT be petted or picked up! :)


Lovey is the other outdoor feline, and takes care of herself quite well. But every once and a while she will come up for some loving.


Indoors there are 3 "senior" cats and 3 kittens. Thomas is the patriarch of the house, fat, lazy, so heavy you can barely pick him up, and extremely laid back and friendly.


Ginger is part Siamese and of all the cats the most shy. When you do get a glimpse of her she is absolutely gorgeous, and she was quite a poser for the camera, as long as I stood far enough away;)




Then there is Sugar, a beautiful blue eyed Siamese, and the life of the party! Every night she would come into our room and have a play time. She adored Josiah's latch hook and Josiah adored her.

Cuddles is one of the kittens; she is a sweet princess so fluffy and soft.

And then there are the "twins", not literally, but they look so much alike that it took me all week to figure out who was who.

The only dog in a house of felines, Ellie is a very sweet, loving pit-bull lab mix.

We are home now, our friends having returned, and you know what? I almost miss the hectic two home lifestyle. Almost.... just not quite. :)
~Chs

The First Hummingbird of the Year

With high hopes, but relatively low expectation, Faith set out our Hummingbird feeder on Saturday. The next day, May 1st, to our boundless delight a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird visited the feeder! And he has been back every day since!

~Chs

Soul Feeding Flowers

“If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,

Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”



~Chs

"One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime."

His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea - and she gave a dose of it to Peter!

"One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime."

But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries, for supper.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit ~By Beatrix Potter

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
~William Wordsworth

I know My Redeemer Lives

Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³ And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
⁶ But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

Mark 16:2-7

The Buds of Spring.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

Where man sees but withered leaves,
God sees sweet flowers growing.
~Albert Laighton

"Happy is the man ... his delights is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."
- Psalms 1: 1-3

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail...

Actually, to be completely and perfectly honest, their names are not Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, but rather, Thumper, Benjamin, and Mr. Chub Chub. And now that you are completely confused as to what I am talking about, I shall return to the beginning and relate the events which occurred...... It was late in the evening on Sunday April 17th, the night had fallen and everything outside was cloaked in darkness. The Sauve family's one and only canine, with the appellation "Baby," was perusing the yard sniffing curiously around when suddenly she came upon a scent that intrigued her, and immediately began to follow her nose to the source. Inside the Sauve family had noticed how long their dog had been outside, and called her in. But not before they noticed some funny squeaking noises coming from the yard. So when Baby continued to want to go outside, some of the humans decided to investigate.

This is what we found. 5 adorable helpless baby bunnies. Two of them perished that night as a result of naughty Baby playing with them, but the other three survived and flourished. They are the little creatures name Benjamin, Mr. Chub Chub, and Thumper, respectively.


When they first arrived their eyes were still closed as well as their tiny little ears pressed flat against their adorable heads.




By the end of the next day though, two of them had opened their eyes, peering around at the big and scary world around them.


Now they all have their eyes and ears open, and are THE cutest things in the world. Yesterday I took the little bunnies outside for some time in the grass and a photo shoot.
(WARNING: the next few photos hold toxic levels of cuteness, proceed at your own risk)




Please call for visiting times for the bunnies. They have a busy schedule.



~Chs

A Day at the Auction

To be absolutely honest, I had never been to a real life farm auction... that is before last Saturday. It was a misty/rainy yet relatively warmish day when I headed out with Mr. Reiche and Matthew Bryson to a farm auction down the street. Josiah would have been in his element there, but unfortunately he was sick and Faith was busy, so I was the sole Sauve representative.

As we walked from the field where we had parked, the sound of the auctioneer reached us way before we saw him. Rattling away words and numbers in a dizzying way. As we came closer he became easier to understand, and then we rounded the corner and encountered a large crowd of people (90% of which were older men/farmers), all grouped around a wagon which was piled with the most miscellaneous gathering of items that I had seen anywhere in my life.

Mr. Reiche explained to me this was what was called the Jewel wagon. All the little odds and ends that could be gathered up around the farm were piled on the wagon for sale, and when I say everything, I mean everything. There were books, saws, traps, tin pails with rusted out bottoms, bushels baskets, wrapping paper, lunch pails full of bolts and screws, and many more items which I do not recall.

Slowly the auctioning left the Jewel wagon, and as the rain came down in fitful bursts, moved on to groups of larger items leaning on the ground.

Lawn Tractors, snow blowers, weed whippers, and even a bike were snatched up quickly, but I believe the item for which the bidding was the highest was a golf cart, which was sold for 1,000 dollars!

When the small equipment was exhausted everyone's attention was turned to the big boy toys=) Tractors.

The sun peeped out as the owner of the farm who was in his 80's started up each of the tractors and other equipment to "show them off". Smoke and noise filled the air as the huge "monsters" roared to life for a few minutes.

I believe this was the my favorite part of the auction, watching this farmer who had probably been working some of these machines for most of his life, rev them up for one last time before they were passed on into other hands.

~Chs

Happy Birthday!!

Monday was the 21st anniversary of Joshua Paul Sauve's birth.

We are very proud of our soldier, not only of the USA but of Jesus Christ as well.

When I asked Josh for suggestions of a cake shape, his answer was prompt and unhesitating. A HMM W V (Hum V). So I did my best and Josh was pleased with the results.

The day for Josh started out with our family tradition of breakfast in bed. His fiance Theresa came soon after, and was able to spend the day with us!

We are very thankful for Josh, and we would all appreciate your prayers for him and Theresa as their wedding day approaches.
~Chs

Shiloh and Manoah

Last week we were privileged to be able to take care of two darling children while their parents were at a conference. I had loads of fun with them, playing outside and in, and snapping pictures in between.

Please meet Manoah, and Shiloh! Shiloh is a little princess, and loves playing dress up, so I found a pretty pink dress for her and she was twirling around all day long.

Manoah, on the other hand was not so keen on dressing up, but I did get him to wear a newsy hat for two minutes. He is the cutest little stinker, and over the week I fell in love with all his little ways. He thinks he can talk and in a good mood will just chatter away at you in a language which you can't quite understand.


Shiloh's favorite activity was swinging. She could swing and swing and swing all afternoon if I let her. And though I got tired of it, she never did.

Grace had bought these adorable flowers from Michael's and one day I was able to make Shiloh stay off the swing long enough to take a photo shoot. Isn't her smile just adorable!!=)

Manoah had just woken up from a nap at this point and would not let go of the bright pink flower he had picked up, nor would he smile. Oh well, I think he is just as cute frowning.

It was a great experience and I would love to do it again when the opportunity arises!

~Chs