Maran Hen

My new little Maran hen Asti gifted me is laying!  Her egg is dark brown and so pretty!

 

Weeping Willow

Phinnie and I went over to Pop’s pond.  Our neighbor’s trees were so pretty.  The weeping willow’s long limbs were swaying in the wind like arms and their maples still had leaves!

 

Beaver Moon

Hope  you see the moon tonight.  What a gift to see the beautiful November moon.  From all the frost covering the Meadow, I could understand why it’s known as a Frosty Moon.  A more common tag for it is the Beaver Moon.  November’s full moon signals the beginning of the winter season. It is dubbed the Beaver Moon because Native American hunters set traps for beavers during this time in the year to harvest their furs.

Decorating Alone

Sigrid’s Angel

Laura is decorating her tree without her three girls, but she still holds them in her heart and hands.

Angel Ingrid and angel Astrid 

Sigrid has her first Christmas tree in her little apartment. 

Ingrid’s tree

Astrid’s tree

Ole Christmas Tree

Ada is helping decorate their Christmas tree.  My angel made an angel for the tree.  She created many of the decorations out of pretty paper!

Ada will be excited til Christmas.  She is the light of the tree.

 

Watching it all Pass By

 

I am so easily amazed by nature.  I don’t know what the clump of white birds are!  Maybe egrets or pelicans.  I spy them when I walk and they are always in a tight wad.  I suppose for warmth.  The Heron is always fishing and gives me a cranky glance at my intrusion into his space.  

Barges are fascinating to observe.  They’re just huge flat bottom rafts.  The first settlers in America moved mainly by water.  George Washington founded two barge companies, first, The James River Company and then the Potomac Company.  The first barges were moved by polemen not tug or tow boats.  Spiked poles were used to fend off nearby vessels or a wharf to keep from colliding. A longer pole was used to maneuver and propel the barge.  This has given rise to the saying "I wouldn't touch that [subject/thing] with a 10 foot  pole”.  The first Renfroe’s came to Arkansas before statehood by water from Wayne County, Tennessee by way of the Tennessee River then  the mighty Mississippi.  They floated into northeast Arkansas and settled.  They farmed but mainly they were trappers selling furs.

Robins Galore

My yard was full of robins this morning.  They wanted a drink from the bird bath but it was frozen.  I took water out for them.  

Robins are the largest song bird and belong to the Thrush family.

 

Thanksgiving History

Astrid and her friend Faith were up early this Thanksgiving. They ran the Turkey Trot in Conway—over 4,000 signed up.  Both took 2nd in their age category.  Asti was 2nd out of 101 in her age group.  Congratulations! 

After all the Thanksgiving feasted ended, I went out to lock the chickens up and was rewarded with a beautiful end of the day.

 

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful.  I love sunny days, wild flowers, the beautiful sky. My life has been good.  My Lord provides each time I am in need.  My cup runneth over.

Simple Cookie Recipe

 Sister Fleta requested I post my cookie recipe.  Since I’m not the greatest cook, I’m smiling.  The dough part of my cookies doesn’t have lots of sugar so I feel I can have a couple with coffee and not be on a sugar overload.  

1/2 cup real butter (should be soft not melted)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon soda

Mix all this together with spoon.  I don’t use a mixer too much mess to clean up.  Mix it up til all absorbed together.

Add one egg and mix well

Add a cup and 1/4 of quick oats.  I’ve used whole oats but these cookies have ver little flour so the quick cook are best.

Add 3/4 cup of raisins, cranberries or dates.  

Add 1/4 cup of white vanilla chips

Mix all this up really well.

Last add 1/2 cup of flour.

I bake them on parchment paper.  Make balls the size of a walnut and squash down with your hand.  This only makes one pan about 12 to 16 cookies.

Bake at 375 for 14 minutes.

Sometimes I use caramel or butterscotch chips.  When I use them I use brown sugar instead of white.  I make sugar cookies same way.  No oatmeal, no chips or fruit.  I use 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cpus of flour in the sugar cookie.

So here you go Fleta—my simple cookie recipe.

School Days

Greta got her school picture!  She looks like her sweet grandmother Gelica!  Ada looks like me.  Ada is also a stinker like me and Greta is turned like Gelica.

 

Miss Ada looks more like her Gigi!

Maintaining

These four friends are trying to maintain their relationship past high school.  They chose different colleges, but last weekend Sig and Taviah traveled to Fayetteville to attend a Razorback game with the two that are going to college there.  In high school they were nearly always together so it’s been difficult to be apart.  They are adjusting, creating some new friendships, but trying to maintain their old ones too.

Sister Fleta is here.  I took her to supper at a restaurant that is well known here.  In May it burned.  It had been here since the 1950’s.  They reopened recently.  Food was good, service great, and atmosphere pleasing.  Fleta ordered country steak!  She couldn’t eat half of it, but all is well because I brought rest home to Phinnie!  Phinnie says he recommends the Old South!  I do too!

 

Company

Astrid loves the outdoors.  She trail rides with Logan.  He tried playing soccer because she loves it.  They are a team.

I walked here and carried my umbrella as it rained off and on.  A gust came up and blew my red umbrella inside out.  These three took off running like they’d spied a ufo!  Rain eased off and Laura texted that we could walk at Lake she thought.  So I went a second time.  We didn’t get rained on at all!  

I noticed the oaks are turning.  They are about the last tree to drop their leaves here.

 My sister is coming to stay tonight.  She’s off all week.  At 75 she still has a full time job with Tyson’s.  She been there a long time.  She does computer reports about chicken.  Lots of numbers in excel.  She gets 6 weeks vacation each year.  She uses it smartly.  They’re off Thursday and Friday so she took 3 days and has a week off. Sister Helen is in Arizona for a couple of months.  This picture is almost 10 years old.  Helen moved to Arkansas that year!  Fleta and I are glad she moved home!

1927-2023

There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.  Rosalynn Carter

 Rosalynn Smith Carter

August 18, 1927-November 19, 2023

My idea of how a First Lady should look and act—Rosalynn Carter!

Hen Party

Helen saves her old bread and puts it in the freezer.  When we visit, she’ll usually have a garage bag of bread for my chickens.  I gave them the last of it today.  They’ll be sad tomorrow.

Someone got a new grill and gave Eric their old grill.  It is one of those green eggs.  He grilled us a steak.  It was really good.

 

Ada’s School Picture

Erin said Katy was me—Gigi and the teacher did not understand what Ada said.  Hope she is thankful for me.  I am very thankful for her.

Got Ada’s new school picture!  I think she’s wishing she had glasses to wear.  These are Erin’s off the shelf readers.  I don’t recall ever wishing I wore glasses, but by my early 40’s I started having problems seeing and since 1994 I have worn glasses.  I keep thinking I’ll get cataract surgery and won’t have to wear them anymore, but that hasn’t happened.

 

Lady from Treat, AR

My sweet friend Mary Bourne brought a wedding gift to Logan and Astrid Roberts!  She embroidered two pillow cases!  See the hearts!  💙

Old friends are gold and ones from the Mountains are pure gold!  Mary came down from Treat today!  She amazes me—93 years young!

See how little she is in the car.  She was almost 5 foot at one time but now she tiny!  She said she read you should be able to see the end of the hood of your car to drive safely!  “I can’t anymore”, she said.