more deer

New Calendar

HERE!

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~powell/Calendars/

This one has Mama and other birthdates that were missing.

A dozen

at least, and maybe more, right across the road from my house...

Working...

Cubby hole painted, hallway painted, TV moved to new area.

We bought a electric paint sprayer. It is making the panel painting go much faster and it covers the paneling better.

Oh see what I see

These 5 deer are on Dan Norton's just across the fence below Clayton's pond. This is the first change I have had to get a picture of them since I got the new camera. I am pleased with the results.



We have seen as many as 9 at one time.




Kelly's horses yesterday. It has been really, really cold and disagreeable. We have been working on the house. It is looking really great. I think today we will move the TV into the new area. It is all painted and it looks so much better.

The little grand babies are here now. They both have a bad cough, but are doing fine otherwise. Robert is back in school and Hannah starts Jan. 4. I am so pleased that they are going to school and learning new things.

For Helen, Wish you were here

Freezing cold, Blowing Snow.

Wish you were here,

And I was there,

Because I know,

There, it is not,

This Damn Cold!

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to me

Our microwave died yesterday, so I went after work and got a new one. George uses the microwave dozens of times a day to warm his coffee, so we really needed it. I like this one much better than the one we had. We rarely use the mirowave for anything except warming things. The one we had would beep when it finished and keep beeping every 30 seconds or so FOREVER unless you hit the clear button or opened the door. George says that after 10 minutes or so it would stop beeping, but I don't thing so. But, I could never stand it for 10 minutes. This one beeps 3 times as it finishes and then leaves me along. Also, if you put 1, it immediately starts and runs for 1 minute, push2 and you get 2 minutes and so one. Truly 1 button operation.

Today, I think I may go buy paint. George has the wall done and the subfloor down in the new living room addition. He and Jr are supposed to put up the trim on the wall today or maybe later this week end. Then it is on to painting. We will have dinner at the neighbors, (Laura's Mom's) tonight. I am cooking a turkey tomorrow, but we may be here by ourselves. I have on of those Thanksgiving 40 cent turkeys and I am cooking it. I will slice and freeze the extras. There will likely be many extras, but it only cost about $6 for the whole bird. George can eat Turkey for weeks instead of crow.

Working on the railroad

We moved the computer today. It is now next to the kitchen by the TV. When we get the living room floor in and the room painted, the TV will be moved over into where the computer was, and we will move the computer over centered between the window and the kitchen.

Also, I have went through drawers and drawers and drawers and thrown away many many things, organizing what is Left. We are packing much less baggage today.



This shows the empty room where the computer was. The door is gone and the wall is ready for George to put in the section where the door was. He got the pieces he took off down all in one piece each, so he will cut those to make this wall. He also took out the old carpet today. We plan on finishing the sub floor Christmas weekend and painting the whole thing New Year's week end. We plan on getting a good start for the new year. Then, it is on to the kitchen. It is all going to look so much better all painted country white just like the back bedroom.

It felt good to throw away so much of the clutter in the drawers. I am going to have to do the same thing with the kitchen.

Booooooo!!!!

Son sent me this photo of Emmy taken at Halloween. I think the one on the left is Emmy, but I am not sure. Doesn't it look like it was just made for this frame?

I haven't gotten far in cleaning up my junk. I haven't even gotten all the presents wrapped.

Today was the end...

Of my Christmas shopping. I had not bought anything except this second hand jewelry box and the second hand golden butterfly pin for Hannah and a big remote control truck for Robert. (and and expensive camera for myself) I took off at noon today and went to Harrison, thinking I would go to Branson tomorrow and finish. The traffic was already terrible at noon in Harrison. After having a few Helen moments in traffic, I decided I was not going anywhere tomorrow. I went to Walmart and got all the kids presents.

I had decided I had made a mistake in not buying Hannah a remote control truck like Roberts. She has lots of dolls and when I thought about it, I knew she would want something that moved like the truck. She would not be happy with a simple doll when brother had a truck that roared. Robert's was only $19 at Thanksgiving and it came with a battery charger. The only comparable ones they had today were $50. I found her a smaller red remote control car made for toddlers (2+ years). It is big enough to compete with Roberts truck and simple enough that I don't think she will break it.

The jewelry box has an angel on top and plays Hark the Harold Angles sing. I added the red and green felt hearts and the butterfly and bug pins. I already had that little doll. It has always made me think of Hannah. It all looks really cute and is inexpensive so no one will have to feel bad if she loses all the accessories.

Tomorrow, I have to move my junk out of the computer room come living room so George can start putting in the plywood for the floor. I will not be going shopping till after Dec. 25.

Recipe

Progress. The walls are down. Now to take up the carpet and put in the floor. Then, George has to take out the door and that used to go into this room and fill it in. We are leaving about 6 feet of wall along the hallway but we want the door out as it would now be a door to nowhere. After the floor is in, I think we will paint the living room area and then take the kitchen cabinets out and do the floor and paint in there. Right now it is a mess, but George is cleaning up as I type.



George's sister Wanda sent me these chocolate chips that she bought at hobby lobby along with a recipe to make these chocolate covered cookies that she says are like the Girl Scout cookies. She sent a sample and they are really good. You use a bag of these chips and a box of vanilla wafers. Melt the chips in a large bowl in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time watching closely. She says it takes about 90 seconds to melt them. Do not over heat. Then dip the wafers in the chocolate completely covering them. Take them out with two butter knives. Slide one knife under the cookie to lift it and use the other knife to knock of the excess chocolate. Lay the cookies to dry on wax paper. They are good and it sounds easy. I plan on trying it this week end.

Working on the railroad

Or something like that. Today, George took down the wall between the living room and the computer room. The short wall down the hallway still has to go, and he has to get the studs off the wall and the ceiling, but at least it is started. I can see it is really going to open up the space.

My plan is to put the TV on that wall next to where the computer is now and ring the couch and chairs around the TV with their backs towards the kitchen. After we get the floors and kitchen done, I will get new living room furniture, but until it is all done, we will use this. That way the new furniture will not get dirty while we work on the house.

This is the extra bedroom with the painted walls and the mis matched furniture painted black. The little window seat was a cabinet that was between the living room and kitchen that we took out years ago. I painted it black and made the cushion for the top. I painted all the furniture black. It was differing shades of brown. The bed is the maroon one I already had with Betty's rails. I even painted the lamp shade black.

This is son's family picture that I had lost. George found it somewhere today while he was taking out walls. It was very dirty, so it was under a couch or behind something. I missed it about 6 months ago. I did not know what I had done with it and thought about asking Laura if she had an extra, but hated to admit I had lost the one they already gave me.

This is in my bedroom. I was seeing if my camera would take good photos of pictures and photos. The first digital camera I had did a good job of taking pictures of pictures, but the last one did not do well with this.

New Camera

I got a new camera. This is the water tower over across the hill on the old Peden place. I took the picture from the top of the Morris hill.



This is brother's house from the top of Morris Hill.




This is a bird.

Now, the whole story. Saturday morning, we have deer down in our pasture, on our side, closer than they usually are. I went looking for my camera and could not find it. I looked for over an hour. I could not get George interested in looking for the camera. He kept talking about the deer. I had decided I would just get a new camera. The flash is broken on my old camera and I do not think it takes as good a photo as it used to. I found the camera in the bedroom where I had put it after looking for an hour or more. By t hat time I was excited about getting a new camera so I did.

It is a Canon sx20 with a 20x zoom. I think I will like it. If you enlarge the pictures, you can see more about how they actually are.

While I was on the Morris hill, I saw a wild turkey, a new pond and cattle on Lois' hill side, and that the Morris house has a new green metal roof. The gate is still across the road and this time I only walked to where the hill started breaking off, not all the way down.

burrrrr

Yesterday the weather channel said it was 18 degrees. My theometer said 20 degrees. There was frost everywhere. After the sun came out, we had birds all over the yard. And by afternoon, it had warmed up enough that it did not feel too bad.



This is a picture taken from the end of our place, the corner next to the road where Daddy had his garden. You can see how much George has cleaned it up. It did have dozer piles filling almost the whole holler. If you click and enlarge it, you can see George's yellow salt block he put out for the deer in the foreground. He say a bunch of deer yesterday, but only one on this side of the road. He is always seeing them down in the pasture, and when I look I can't see anything. At least not until he tells me exactly where to look. We enjoy watching them.

Not Quite M-T

Well, the back room was M-T (just say it). We painted it, all the walls and the closet doors. George and Greg put down the plywood for the floor. It is not quite M-T now. It has a bed on the floor and the TV because the kids slept there for 2 nights. It looks so much better now. Hannah says it is so pretty.

I have got to get the bed painted and put up. Then, I am going to spray paint my different shelves black and put them in there. I think it will look good. It already looks much better then it did. Painting the ceiling a solid off-white really improved the room and painting the dark paneling helped also. the ceiling had wood strips between the panels. It looks so much better all white.

But it is no longer MT. But it is almost MT.

Robert's Story

Has anything exciting happened in your life today?

Yesterday, I took the pretty red headed baby shopping because Wednesday is her third birthday. It was a great success. First, I asked do we want to shop for clothes or toys? TOYS!!!!!! No clothes for the red head.

But, first we had to go to 'Donalds and eat. She is really easy. Once we had eaten, she said, 'We go home now?' But, we did not, we went to Target and looked at toys. She picked out a little barbie doll thingy with two little 3 inch dolls and a bunch of tiny bangles that I know would be lost within 5 minutes of opening the package. So, I steered her to a BIG little peoples doll house. It opens up and has several pieces of little furniture that is attached and can not become separated from the house and lost under the bed. It has a door bell and a phone bell and the two love playing with it together. Then, she wanted one of those tea sets that come with 45 pieces. More things to scatter all over the house. I steered her towards a talking tea pot that teaches something. I did not even look to see what. Maybe shapes or counting. It had only a teapot with an attached lid, two cups, one plate and 3 pieces of plastic food for the plate. We got that and she loves it also.

Then, we went to Walmart and got something for brother. She is a true little sister. She really wanted to get Robert a car. She says, 'Robert likes cars.' But, I decided on a tool set with a battery operated screw driver, bolts and a plastic board to screw them into. Oh, yes, and a carrying tool caddy that is just right for him to carry. He likes to put things in things and carry them around. They both love the screw driver.

All and all it was a wonderful shopping trip, Hannah was very pleased with big bags of toys. When her Mama got home she was so excited to tell her 'Look Mommy, I got lots of toys.'

They are all here, including Mommy and Daddy. We are going to work on the back room today. Last evening, Robert and Papa got in the truck and drove off. No one knew where they went. When Robert gets back he runs in and tells his Mama. Crash! Got stuck, push button. Crash! I could not understand all the words, but it was obvious he was telling a story. His Mama interpreted the story for us. When Papa came in, we asked him what happened. They took a salt block down in the pasture for the deer. They got stuck. He pushed the 4x4 button and they got unstuck. They got in the back of the truck and pushed the salt block out. Crash!.

So, the big even of my life is Robert told a story.

M-T

back room ready for plywood subfloor, paint and new window screen.

Today is the day that we may finally really start on my plan to renovate the house. We have already bought plywood to start the floor in the back bedroom. Before we do anything else, we have to put in the new 'subfloor' in the back bedroom, take out the wall between the computer room and the living room, take out the kitchen cabinets, and put new subfloor in the computer room and the kitchen. We will have no more computer room. Just one big living room, kitchen area.

George has moved everything out of the back room. We are going to home depot today to get a small sander and paint. Paint for the walls and ceiling in the back room and paint for Aunt Effie's bed I got yesterday at Betty's. It has peeling paint, so I think I will use my bed with Betty's rails, but I am going to sand down Aunt Effie's bed and paint it for Jackie. Betty gave me an extra set of metal bed rails that are for a different type of bed, but Greg the welder can fix them so they fit this bed. Jackie says she wants silver for the bed. I do not agree. I may get both silver and black paint. I think black would look much better on the bed. Her bedroom walls are white, white, white. As in Not Off white but real White.

I am going to start painting the back bedroom. We are going to paint the ceiling also. I hate painting and I am not a very good or careful painter so the back, hidden room is a good place to start. I have thought about other colors, but I think we will just go with off-white for walls and ceiling. I am afraid that I will regret other colors, even very light colors, and I am sure I will be satisfied with off white. I will add color in things that are easily changed without M-T ing the room and painting the whole thing again.

And, Helen, when I get my new kitchen, I may get a mixer like yours for the counter just to make bread. I love making and eating yeast bread and it is one of the easiest impressive things to bake. I keep my flour n the freezer to keep out bugs, but, I try to remember to take it out of the freezer the day before making bread so it will be warm flour, if I can remember to get it out. Sometimes, I warm the bag of flour in the microwave. Remember Mama's big 5 gallon flour tin, and the lard bucket? Remember Mama buying lard in those green and white boxes? Do they still sell lard in boxes?

To Erin The Complainer, Shew Yourselves to be a Free Woman

To the INHABITANTS of the Province of North-Carolina.

Dear Brethren,

Nothing is more common than for Persons who look upon themselves to be injured than to resent and complain. These are sounded aloud, and plain in Proportion to the Apprehension of it. Our Fearfulness too, frequently augment our real as well as apparent Dangers. Let us adjust our Complaints or Resentments to the Reality as well as the Nature of the Injury received.

Excess in any Matter breeds Contempt; whereas strict Propriety obtains the Suffrage of every Class. The Oppression of inferior Individuals must only demand Tutelage of Superiors; and in civil Matters our Cries should reach the authorative Ear, when the Weight that crusheth from the higher Powers. ————But when imposed by the Populace, to the Populace our Complaints must extend.———— When therefore the Cry of any City, Province or Nation is general, it must be generally directed to the Source from whence the Cry is caused.

The late Commotions and crying Dissatisfactions among the common People of this Province, is not unknown nor unfelt by any thinking Person.————No Person among you could be at a Loss to find out the true Cause.————I dare venture to assert you all advised to the Application of the Public Money;————these you saw misapplied to the enriching of Individuals, or at least embezzled in some way without defraying the publick Expenses. Have not your Purses been pillaged by the exorbitant and unlawful Fees taken by Officers, Clerks, &c.————I need not mention the intolerable expensive Method of Recovery by Law, occasioned by the narrow Limits of the inferior Court’s Jurisdiction.———Have you not been grieved to find the Power of our County Courts so curtailed, that scarce the Shadow u/ Power is left./ This Body, however respectable, is intrusted with little more than might pertain to the Jurisdiction of a single Magistrate, or at least two or three Justices of the Peace in Conjunction.——In Consequence of this, very small Sums drags us to Superior Courts.———These must be attended with all our Evidences, altho many- at the Distance of 150 Miles. Add to this a double Fee to all Officers; hence we are made feelingly sensible, that our necessary Expenses, with the additional Costs, are equal, if not surpass the original Sum.

For what End was the. Jurisdiction of the Courts reduced to such narrow Limits'? Is it not to fill the Superior Houses with Business? Why has the Authority fallen upon this wonderful Expedient? Is it not evident, that this was calculated for the Emolument of Lawyers, Clerks, &c. What other Reason can be assigned for this amazing Scheme?————none Brethren, none!

Has not the Charges of Government been unnecessarily raised, to the great Encrease of the Publick Tax? Has not the Publick Money been intrusted in Hands of insufficient Persons, without sufficient Securities, or due Care taken in accounting for, and recovering the same? Has not this often reduced us to the disagreeable Necessity of contributing or paying by Tax the Sum once raised— but through Carelessness or Neglect, or something worse, uselessly consumed? To what doth this tend? is not the Issue manifestly the Impoverishment of the Country?—fatal Consequences.

The Exorbitant, not to say unlawful Fees, required and assumed by Officers,————the unnecessary, not to say destructive Abridgement of a Court’s Jurisdiction,—the enormous Encrease of the provincial Tax unnecessary; these are Evils of which no Person can be insensible, and which T doubt not has been lamented by each of you. It must have obliged you to examine from what Quarter Relief might be found against these sad Calamities————In vain will you search for a Remedy until you find out the Disease.

Many are accusing the Legislative Body as the Source of all those woeful Calamities.——— These, it must be confessed, are the instrumental Cause; they can, yea do impose some of these heavy Burdens. ————But whence received they- this Power? Is not their Power delegated from the Populace? The original principal Cause is our own blind stupid Conduct.

If it be queried, How doth our Conduct contribute to this? Answer presents itself——'We have chosen Persons to represent us to make Laws, &c. whose former Conduct and Circumstance might have given us the highest Reason to expect they would sacrifice the true Interest of their Country to Avarice, or Ambition, or both.

I need not inform you, that a Majority of our Assembly is composed of Lawyers, Clerks, and others in Connection with them, while by our own Voice we have excluded the Planter.————Is it not evident their own private Interest is, designed in the whole Train of our Laws?————We have not the least Reason to expect the Good of the Farmer, and consequently of the Community, will be consulted, by those who hang on Favour, or depend on the Intricacies of the Laws. —What can be expected from those who have ever discovered a Want of good Principles, and whose highest Study is the Promotion of their Wealth; and with whom the Interest of the Publick, when it comes in Competition with their private Advantages, is suffered to sink?—nothing less than the Ruin of the Publick.————Have we not hitherto, in a great Degree, chosen such Men as have been described? Nay, have they not been such as are dependant in their Fortunes, with great Expectations from others, or enjoy Places of Benefit and Trust in the Government? Doth not Reason declare we might expect such cringing Vassals would readily sacrifice the Interest of the Community to the Idol Self? ————Are not such Persons utterly disqualified for supporting our Rights and Properties?——— Is it not high Time to seek an Antidote against such deadly Poison, before it utterly destroys us?

But you will say, what is the Remedy against this malignant Disease?

I will venture to prescribe a sovereign one if duly applied; that is, as you have now a fit Opportunity, choose for your Representatives or Burgesses such Men as have given you the strongest Reason to believe they are truly honest: Such as are disinterested, publick spirited, who will not allow their private Advantage once to stand in Competition with the public Good.

You grant the Prescription is sovereign: But how shall you obtain such? I answer: Let your Judgment be formed on their past Conduct; let them be such as have been unblamable in Life, independent in their Fortunes, without Expectations from others; let them be such as enjoy no Places of Benefit under the Government; such as do not depend upon Favour for their Living, nor do derive Profit or Advantage from the intricate Perplexity of the Law. In short, let them be Men whose private Interest neither doth nor can clash with the Interest or special Good of their Country.

Are you not sensible, Brethren that we have too long groaned in Secret under the Weight of these crushing Mischiefs? How long will ye in this servile Manner subject yourselves to Slavery? Now shew yourselves to be Freemen, and for once assert your Liberty and maintain your Rights————This, this Election let us exert our-selves, and show, that we will not through Fear, Favour or Affection, bow and subject ourselves to those who, under the Mask of Friendship, have long drawn Calamities upon us.

Should we now through Fear or Favour act as we have done, contrary to Duty and Interest; so far as we do this, we contribute to all the Mischief consequent upon it.———Where then is that moving Principle Self-preservation? Will you, can you, voluntarily submit yourselves to Ignominy and Want? These will agrandize themselves and swim in Opulence.

Have they not monopolized your Properties; and what is wanting but Time to draw from you the last Farthing? Who that has the Spirit of a Man could endure this"? Who that has the least Spark of Love to his Country or to himself would bear the Delusion?

In a special Manner then, let us, at this Election, rouse all our Powers to act like free publick spirited Men, knowing that he that betrays the Cause now betrays his Country, and must sink in the general Ruin.

And as the Inhabitants of Rowan could get no Indictments preferred against their Officers in Salisbury District, they had sent to us, and J— H—r went to their assistance; and by the Letter following you my form some Idea how Matters were carried on, viz.

Salisbury, September, 14, 1769.

Source: Herman Husband, An Impartial Relation of the First and Causes of the Recent Differences in Public Affairs Etc ([Newbern? N.C., 1770), 64–68.

Wanta Bes, Relatively Speaking

My hobby is finding dead relatives. I often get requests to help others find dead relatives. Often times, I am asked to find a fictional character in their family. They want to be related to some famous or infamous person from the past or want to prove their relative was a Cherokee Indian. Why is it always a Cherokee? Why does no one wanta be a Navaho or Apache or Iroquois? Often times, if I find a real ancestor for them, they want to shape the real ancestor to fit their fictional ideal relative. I can never understand why someone would want to hang on to a fictional relative so desperately that they would deny their real relatives.

I have found some almost relatives in Mama’s family that are almost famous, or famous for almost reasons. Mama’s grandmother was Phebe Ann Cox, and the Cox family were Quakers. The Quaker religion mandated that its members married only other Quakers, could not participate in violence, and could not participate in government. And, they kept better records, relatively speaking, than other Early American religions. This has made it possible to trace this branch of Mama’s family back to the 1600’s, father back than any of our other ancestral lines.

The first almost relative is Herman Husband, brother-in-law and step son-in-law of Isaac Cox. Isaac was Phebe Ann’s great-great-grandfather. Herman Husband married first Mary Cox, Isaac’s half sister, second Amy Allen, Isaac’s step daughter, and third Mary Pugh. You see, when a religion mandates you marry only within your religion, in early times, the pool of possible partners was very small. You can google Herman Husband and find out more about his life, because he was a major figure in early American history. His is a very interesting story. He was a leader and spokesman for the North Carolina Regulators prior to the American Revolution. He was a Quaker, but his alliance with the Regulators and other activities brought about his exile from their Church.

Herman Husband was an extremely wealthy land owner who was elected to the North Carolina legislature, and yet he was a radical sympathizer with poor farmers that made up the ranks of the Regulators. The Regulators were protesting against corrupt officials in their local government by refusing to pay taxes long before the famous Boston Indian tax incident. He wrote extensively on the subject of self government. If you read his “Shew Yourselves to be Freemen", except for the old world grammar, you could be reading about our own times. He says “In vain will you search for a Remedy until you find out the Disease.” After being elected to represent his neighbors, he famously arrived at the first legislative session, threw down a bag of hard money and said here are your taxes. We refuse to pay corrupt government officials. Herman’s story is overflowing with many wonderful patriotic quotes.
When the Regulators got into a gun battle with Governor Tyron, Herman Husband fled instead staying and getting killed or captured as did many of his neighbors. Herman Husband fled back to Somerset County, Pennsylvania from whence he came, hiding out on land owned by his friend and relative, Isaac Cox. Being a famous fugitive necessitated a change of name for Mr. Husband. He choose the name Tuescape Death, to escape death. Isaac Cox later sold this parcel of land to Herman Husband.

In spite of being in fear for his life, as evidenced by his name, Tuscape Death did not avoid the limelight in Pennsylvania. He remained an active participate in local government, still raging against unjust taxes. His vocal participation in the Whisky Rebellion resulted in his being arrested and marched to Philadelphia in chains in 1794. Although he was released from prison in 1795, at the advanced age of 70 plus years, he did not withstand the imprisonment well and died soon after his release. He received a pardon signed by George Washington in July, 1795, a few months after his death.

Herman was almost a relative, and he was and is a famous participant in early American history, but now for the wanta be part. When I first started searching the net for Herman Husband, I found stories about a declaration of independence that pre-dates THE Declaration of Independence. You can google the Mecklenburg Declaration and find what may or may not have been the first declaration of independence that is noted on the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina. Weather this document is fact or mostly fiction, Herman Husband is still an almost relative to be proud of.
And, this is not the only wanta be in this particular family tree. Mary Pugh, no relative of ours as far as I know and the third wife of Herman Husband, had a brother name James Pugh. James Pugh famously took part in the North Carolina Regulators Battle of Alamance with his brother-in-law, Herman Husband killing many government troops with his excellent marksmanship. Unlike Herman, James Pugh, did not slip away and avoid punishment. He was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. On June 19, 1771, James was escorted to the gallows where he was asked if he had any last words. The story goes that James Pugh had so much to say that, after 30 minutes of railing against injustice, he was silenced. His famously said: "The blood that we have shed will be as good seed sown in good ground, which soon will reap a hundred fold." Or did he?

Although this is the story that is repeated again and again by many of his descendants, other researchers have found that James was mentioned in his father’s will of 1794 as if he were still living and had a will of his own dated 1810 naming his wife Jane and his two known children. Odd that a man that went to the gallows in 1771 would have a will dated 1810. Either these two stories are of two different James Pugh’s, or, one of the stories is in error. The gallows quote feels like a wanta be ancestor story, but James is only an almost relative, so I am going to let him lay wherever his descendants wish him to lie.

Recipe

For disaster would be to send George to sit outside a store all night for any reason. If I really want him to do something, usually I can get him to, but I know he would not do this. He is going to town now and he is supposed to get me a paper. I may or may not have a paper when he gets back, but I have a better chance than he does when he sends me for stuff. And, I would not sit outside a store all night for him either.

I was not going shopping today, but it was 6:30 and I had been up over an hour and George was asleep, so I decided to go to Walmarts at Berryville. They are never all that busy. I spent more than I meant to. I wanted to get Hannah one of those doll things with the stroller, and all the other pieces for her birthday that was on special. I did not like the looks of it when I saw it. It was $19 and they had a nicer one that was only $30 regular price. When I take her shopping Monday we will see if this is what she wants. I did get her a doll for her birthday that Mommie and Daddy will love. You put its bottle in its mouth and it makes drinking sounds; take the bottle out and it cries a realistic baby cry. Hannah, the hard hearted, will love hearing it cry; Mommie and Daddy not so much.

Mostly I got stuff for me, a $13 crock pot, a $4 electric mixer, a $4 electric chopper and a 4 GB USB drive for $8. I did get the babies some $3 pjs and sweatshirts for Hannah's birthday. Buying the $4 mixer made me think of Helen. I am sure she has one of those stand mixers. I always thought they were more trouble than they were worth, getting it out, setting it up, cleaning it up, putting it up. The little one I have is avocado green and maybe I got it when I got married 37 years ago. After taking the new red one out of the box, I think I may just keep my old one and give this one to Jackie. The one I have is heavy and the new one is very light. I equate light with flimsy. The chopper is like the mixer, I would like to have a big food chopper that does lots of things, but I know I would never use it because I would be thinking about putting it together, taking it apart, cleaning it and putting it up. This one may have the same problem, but I am only out $4 if I do not use it. It is small and I found a place by the toaster for it. I can always give it to one of the kids later if I do not use it.

And, now, do you want my roll recipe? Every time we have a dinner here, unless it is a BBQ, Mama has to make home made rolls. I have been making rolls for 35 years, and they are one of the easiest things to make in my book.

My recipe is to dissolve the yeast in warm water (baby bottle warm) with a teaspoon of sugar to make sure it is still good. Remember the 8 year old can of pumpkin. Heat the milk in the microwave until good and warm. Use at least 1/4 cup of fat of some sort (oil, lard, shorting, or my favorite melted margarine). Use at least 1/4 cup sugar, but I usually use 1/3 cup and probably about 2/3 cup if I am making Cinnamon rolls instead of just rolls. Do not use just water, but sometimes I use half water and half milk. Thanks to Helen, I use only the egg yolk and throw out the egg white. Add the sugar, melted margarine and about a teaspoon of salt to the warm to hot milk. Add a cup or so of flour to this moisture. Beat it until it is smooth and elastic and looks like a bread base. Do this a few hundred times and you will know what I mean. Add the egg yolk (2 yolks for a large batch, more than 2 pans is a large batch). Beat again. Add the yeast mixture (use 1 package yeast for a small batch, 2 for a large batch or to hurry the process along, 3 or 4 for a very large batch, but I recommend making 2 large batches instead of 1 very large batch). Add flour a cup or so at a time and knead it in until you have dough that is right for bread dough. Make it into a smooth ball, put in a greased bowl, turn to grease the top, put kitchen towel on top and let rise til doubled or until ready to make into rolls. Pinch off roll size pieces, make smooth ball and put in greased baking pan. Place towel on top and let rise till doubled. Bake in 375 oven until done. Take a stick of margarine and run over the tops of the rolls when you first take them out of the oven. I use about 1/4 stick per pan for this. Most of the time these rolls are very good. Sometimes they are not. Helen's egg yolk in place of the whole egg helps keep the left over rolls moist for the left overs that you eat the next day. If you are going to eat them all within an hour or so, you can use the whole egg.

The real secret to making good yeast rolls is to enjoy eating good yeast rolls and being the only member of your household that is going to cook anything. If you want good food to eat, and no one else in the house is going to cook good food, you will learn to cook.

Thanksgiving '09

All the kids were here today and I am very thankful. It was nice enough that they rode the go cart and 4 wheeler a few times. The big girl and the little girl really do well together. They think a lot of each other. Emmy still seems like a little girl to me. It amazes me to see her being a care taker for the little girl.



The boy is doing well. He loves ranch dressing. I had vegetables and ranch dressing dip. I think at home they may insist he eat other things, but when everyone was out riding the wheelers, MeMaw gave him a plate and a spoon and let him eat just dip. Then after he licked the plate, she gave him the whole bowl of dip and he ate most of it. They say they don't let him have ice cream for breakfast either.

We had a very good meal with one of Walmart's 40 cent turkeys, twice backed potatoes, green beans, dressing and home made rolls. I made a lemon pie with calf slobbers, a coconut cream pie, and I bought frozen pumpkin and apple pies. My family are not desert eaters. Only one piece of pie was eaten, but I sent two of them home with the kids.

We have marks on our wall that say Lane and Grandma November 24, 2007. Lane's mark was about 3 1/2 inches below Grandma's. We have a new mark for Lane 2009 that is about 2 1/2 inches above Grandma's mark. We did not make a new mark for Grandma, but I did stand by the marks and Lane said if we made a new mark for me it would be about an inch below the last mark. I think he was being a smart a--. He gets that from Grandpa.

We had good food and a good time and now I have 5 days off to do whatever I want.

Saturday we are driving down to Betty's and stealing a bed. Monday, I am taking the little girl out shopping for her birthday present. She will be 3 years old next Wednesday.

Of Beds and ???

I bought the babies a set of bunk beds at a garage sale. Well, actually a storage unit sale. They needed bunk beds because the room is very small. I am not sure they are old enough to sleep on the top bunk. I told their parents I would just let them sleep together on the bottom bunk.



I also bought this metal bed at a junk store. It was only $1o but it did not come with the side rails. I think Greg could make side rails from angle iron. I asked George how much angle iron for this would cost. He asked how much I would need. Twice the length of the bed. I thought he should know that. I think he thought I should know angle iron prices. He said it would not cost much. Now, I still don't know, because after 37 years I know that George's idea of 'not much' changes from hour to hour. When a 'thing' is advertised at $199.99 George will round it off and say it costs $100.

But, he got a letter from the state saying he can draw unemployment again for 13 more weeks. I am planning on him using this to redo our floor. He agrees, but he is like my mother, he always agrees with whatever anyone says even when he has no intention of really doing what he is agreeing to. We will see. Next week he may be out buying something new for his tractor instead of lumber for the floor.




The kids both trying to get on the ladder at once.






the bed with the pink stuff.

Memaw's girl.

And, Betty says she has a metal bed that belonged to Miss Effie that I can have. We are going down Saturday or Sunday after Turkey day and pick it up. If I like it better than the $10 bed, I will give this one to the babies parents.

I am making pumpkin pies. I usually just buy pies from Mrs. Smith but Wally world at BV only has the regular pumpkin pies, not the custard version I like. I bought the frozen crusts, but I made the insides from scratch. And what a scratch. I usually use a can of canned milk but all I had was a 5 oz can of milk. I knew it had been around for a while. The exp date was 11/26/09. That probably makes it about a year old. I bought a can of pumpkin, but while I was looking for another can of milk I found a can of pumpkin. It did not look like it was that old. I thought maybe last year. The exp date on it was 2005. The exp date of the one I got today was 2012, so the 2005 one was probably bought in 2002. I threw it out.

I did look for a recipe for the pies but could only find the regular recipe. I doubled the eggs from 3 to 6, doubled the regular milk, and put in 1 cup of sugar instead of the 3/4 I read in the recipe. I was not sure I had spices but I found a very old can of ginger and a newer thing of ginger from last year, an old thing of pumpkin pie spices that may be 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 years old, a thing of nutmeg that is probably a year or 2 old and several thing of cinnamon. I more than doubled the amount of spices using a eating teaspoon instead of a measuring spoon. We will see how it all works. Then, after I got it all mixed, I looked at the recipe again and saw it said 2/3 cup sugar instead of 3/4 cup so I poured in some more sugar, maybe 1/4 cup, maybe more, maybe less. I will let you all know if they turn out good. If so, you already have the recipe right here.

November 8th, are you sure?

We have had beautiful weather for November. We left the windows open last night and it was still warm in the house this morning. We have had 2 or 3 frosts but the morning glories are still blooming. I am not complaining, just commenting.

George went to Emmy's school this morning for show and tell veteran's day. He is not home at 2:45. I wonder if they held him back a grade.