Wordless Wednesday

Nice Deer Stand

Over in the fields that lead to the woods behind and old house, someone has built this nice deer stand.  The old house is used as a hunting club.  We are particular when we take our walks during hunting season.  I have never hunted, though I do have a gun.  Mine is for protection. I received mine for Christmas in 1999.  I shot it once and hit what I was aiming at, then put it up.  Sometimes when we have visitors that want to do some squirrel hunting, they use mine.  I was sick today and didn't feel like taking a walk with my husband. I did ask him to take pictures since I wouldn't be going. I think he did a pretty good job.  Next time I hope to go.  We are telling ourselves that we are going to start eating better and getting exercise and hope to be able to dump some of the meds we are taking.  Pray for us to be able to do this.

Wordless Wednesday

Snow topped Bales

This picture reminds me of sugar coated cereal.  Wonder how the cows like it? 

This is the amount of snow we had left around lunch time on Sunday.  Some churches in town postponed services. The roads were fine, so I can only assume the steps might have been frozen and they were afraid someone would get hurt.  We just had church services Sunday morning and Sunday night.  No Sunday School.  I thought the snow was pretty coming down.  I also welcomed the sunshine on Sunday to melt it all away.  I am looking forward to some of those 70's we've had lately.

Stop Spending One Dollar Bills

I saw this today.  This information came from Neil Broortz at Townhall.com...

Now, here’s what I want you to do if you think that you just can’t save money; that there’s no room to cut back.




I want you stop spending one-dollar bills. STOP … completely. Now. Do it.



Here’s how you do this: When you leave home every morning the only currency you have with you are $5 dollar bills and higher. Not one single $1 bill anywhere to be seen. Furthermore, during the course of the day if you happen to come into possession of a $1 bill you will cram it into a back pocket or some obscure corner of your purse. That $1 is gone. You cannot touch it. When you get home you will put all the dollar bills you’ve hoarded into a jar or stuff it into a box, not to be touched until the end of the month.



I want to be completely sure you know how this works. You’re on the way to work and you decide you need a cup of coffee at the local convenience store for your drive. The lowest denomination bill you have is a $5 bill. You know that if you buy that coffee for, say, $1.90, you will have a dime and three $1 bills in change, and that those $1 bills are, for all practical purposes, GONE. They cannot be spent for the rest of the day. They cease to exist. You put them away. And no .. you cannot use them for a tip or at a toll booth. Pull out another five, or higher, and ask for change. Then you have even MORE dollar bills to put away.



Yes. We’re going to be completely anal about this. If you owe a coworker a dollar for something, hand them a twenty and get change. You’ll have a ten and a five you can spend later, but four $1 bills go into that back pocket. Or you can fish four quarters out of the bottom of your purse.



Now if you can’t afford to do this, the solution is simple. You don’t buy that cup of coffee. Keep that five for the toll and get some of that free coffee your boss provides at work. Oh, sure --- some coworker will have made a pot using two bags because that’s the way THEY like it, but you’re the one who decided you couldn’t go without spending that change from the convenience store.



Once again, at the end of the day all of those dollar bills you’ve been socking away go into hiding. A box would be great --- one you cannot see into. No need to be tempted.



OK, big spender. We’re now at the end of the month. It’s time to see what you’ve done. Open the box and count those $1 bills. Now my experience over more than 20 years of promoting this savings scheme is that most people who would swear that they could not possibly save any real money will have well over $100 in that box. At the end of the year they’ll be approaching $1,500 --- and these are the worst-case scenarios. Many save a great deal more than that.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Drive

What can be behind this large magnolia tree.

A front porch and a big house.

All boarded up on this side.

Almost all boarded up on the back.

Too wet to check out the other side.  If old houses could only talk!!

Memories...

I'm getting old, but I wanted to walk to the back woods behind my mother's house one more time.  My cousin, sisters, and I have peasant memories playing back there in our younger years.  We would grab a vine and swing across an
 old canal back there.  My granddaddy had also dug a pond back there by an overflow to water some cows he had back there in  a pasture.  As you can see the woods is all grown up and we could not get through the briers to try to find the pond.

Husband walking along the woods trying to find a place to go in.



We finally gave up and headed back. This is about one third of the way back. The green top house was my moms. Lots of new houses have been built on the road frontage, but the fields are still being farmed.



Almost There. We can see the back of the house.



At last back to the back yard. My grandfather built this home for his wife and family.  This is still the back of the house. There is a grape vine behind me.  The room on the left is the kitchen and the room on the right, mama used as a dining room.  My grandmother used that room as a sun room.  She always had a room full of flowers next to the windows in the winter time.

This is the house from across the road. It has a nice cement floor on the front porch and banisters made of brick and cement all around.  It was a fun place to play at grandma's house. And a wonderful place to visit when mama and daddy lived there after Grandma's death.  So many memories.

                                                             All of these pics can be made bigger by clicking on them!

Seasons

I think Summer is my favorite season.  I love Spring, but my allergies don't.  I'm ready for Winter to be over.  So many people are sick with colds, flu, etc. 

We cooked some of those "frozen" collards today.  The next day after the ice had melted, you would never have known that they were so drooped the day before.  I knew they would be even better and they were. A lot of people will not cook collards because they stink up the house too much.  My husband takes the pressure cooker (after I have washed the collards, and placed the seasoning and the meat in the pot and have everything ready to cook) out side and cooks the collards on a gas burner.  Then he brings the pot back inside and I empty it quickly and wash up the pot. The left overs are put into bags and put into the freezer for later. 

I remember a time when I was much younger, that a snow storm caught us unaware.  Everything was froze. No water. No electricity.  We had oil heat so we could stay warm.  Mrs. Cannon, an older lady in the neighborhood, had water and my husband went to her house to get us some.  He came back with collards and sweet potatoes as well as water. We warmed them on the heater and that was some good eating.

Mrs. Cannon also taught me how to can stringbeans. She was a very wise woman. She always had a good supply of food in her house.  She knew to fill the bathtub with water whenever storms were predicted. The old house she lived in is overgrown with small trees and weeds. You can hardly see the house. But throughout the seasons, you will see some daffodills peeking out, and later a rose will shine through. And I think of her...

Through the dirty windshield

This is from our Saturday ride.  I had a craving for Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  After we picked them up, we circled back to run by my mom's house to give my sister a ring she wanted.  Today the doughnuts are gone and so is my craving. Satisfied for another six months.

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving
 Between my Lord and me.
I cannot choose the colors
 HE worketh steadily.

Oft times HE weaveth sorrow
 And I in foolish pride
Forget HE see the upper
 And I, the underside.

Not till the loom is  silent
 And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall GOD unroll the canvas
 And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
 In the Weaver's skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
 In the pattern HE has planned.
                                 ~copied