Prayer requests

Dec. 19th.... what's up folks? I hope you're all doing well. And those of you who are sick I hope you heal quickly and wont be in pain.
Hey could y'all pray for Gabrielle W. ? She had to go into emergency last week and have part of her intestine removed along with her gall bladder. She's in quite a bit of pain. Please pray for her and for her family as they have to deal with this. Pray especially that God will use this to bring Peter and Gabrielle's sons to Him. They're nice kids but haven't asked God to become their Savior. Peter and Gabrielle were saved last year. :-) Thanks.
It's warmer here... around -10 to -5 f the past couple days. :-) A real blessing from the past week or more with it being -35 f. :-) It's been foggy the past two days.... so that's probably one of the main reasons it's warmer. But I wont be complaining about the warmer weather. :-)
We have the three Covlin girls here for babysitting. I think we'll be bringing them home. The whole family came yesterday evening for a little visit and some music. I got out of playing.... not because I really wanted to, but the day before I had sliced the top of my middle finger on my right hand so playing banjo is out of the question. It's healing nicely, and it should be good to play in a couple more days. :-)
Dad put his back out again... that's twice since we've moved here. This last time he was hauling a Railway tie with Jesse and tripped over another one. I guess it pulled something, so he's been laying around the house a bit. Couple of the bearings on the sawmill went bad so he had to pick more up. The sawmill's been kind of silent anyway since it's been almost to cold to run it. I think Dad has to bring the gear shaft and something else into Endeavour to the shop so he can get it back together. Can you please pray that Dad will heal that also that the sawmill will be put back together quickly and correctly. Thanks. :-)
Wow we're being hurt and sick right and left... Thanks so much for praying. :-) Thought you'd enjoy this verse(s). Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy way; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Psalm 51:12&13
Hannah

More pictures

I love my litte sister.... she's getting big so fast.

Sara

Town, Candy recipe

Dec. 15th.... it's up to -15 f here... Yeah! :-) Only 10 days till Martha's birthday. She'll be 13, my little sister is growing up. :-) I believe I and Lydia bought her a present together but I might pick up something else depending on if I can find anything. :-)
Tomorrow Lord willing we'll be hauling Eugene's two Standardbreds back to his place and after noon we're meeting Murray who has 3 Dexters and 1 Tarantaise that we're buying.... well Dad's getting the 3 and Lydia's buying the 1. So we'll be in Yorkton for a bit, I'm hoping to go to the library with Naomi and I also need to go to Wal-mart and Superstore. If I want something special for my birthday dinner I have to pick it up. :-) And I also am down to one pair of leggings and those are rather thin.... :-) Not the nicest for winter weather. :-) I want to look at Wal-mart, see if I can avoid ordering from Sears.
Have y'all ever heard of Almond bark? Not the actual skin on the tree... :-) But white dipping chocolates melted and mixed with slivered almonds and craisins... (dried, sweetened cranberries) it's really good. As is Soda Candy. :-)
Soda Candy
You should get two 9x13 pans from this recipe, but it's kind of thin on the caramel.
Layer cookie sheet with foil and grease well with salad oil (or butter or any other oil)
Put one layer of salted soda crackers on foil to cover cookie sheet.
Boil 1 c. margarine (we prefer butter, tastes lots better)
And 1 c. brown sugar for 2 minutes
Spoon onto crackers and spread.
Bake at 350 f for 5 min.
Remove from oven.
Top with one 12 oz pkg (about 1 ¼ cups) chocolate chips
When melted, smooth out chips and top with nuts (if you wish that is we like it either way)
Tastes like toffee and your family will love it! :-)
Have fun.... :-)
Hannah

Cold and Youth

Dec. 12th. Well folks how it been going? Are y'all having fun in the snow? :-) It's been rather chilly up here, keeping around -30 to -35 C ( -20 to -30 F) Not exactly fun weather to be out in. :-)
Dad's been working with the sawmill but he can't stay out for long periods of time since it's cold so he has to do other things from time to time to keep himself warm. Jesse's not so eager to go help him any more but he still goes out at times to help. :-)
Went to Youth last night...we played road hockey. First time I had done anything with a hockey stick and for the first ¾ s of the game I wasn't sure exactly what was supposed to be going on, but when the puck landed in front of me one time I actually was able to send it toward to right goal and then I was in, occasionally hitting it and once making a goal on my own. YEAH! LOL! :-) We couldn't play long as it was so cold even with the moving around our hands were freezing. So we went in and played 4 square ball, which I was a total failure at. :-) We had used the brown paper hand towel stuff to make the lines and then we taped them down to make a square 10 x 10 feet and that we divided into 4 squares each about 5 x5 feet. Any how at end Jay S. (pastor's son) and Josh M. (son of Roy whom we helped with cows) were being pretty ornery to each other they happened to be in the squares when Brad and the other Youth leader were pulling up the tape and paper so they wrapped the two of them up in the tape. :-) I can't describe it all but it was quite funny when it happened. :-) We went down and had snack and then Rod T. ( the other Youth leader) taught a lesson on forgiveness. He really stressed how God says in Matthew 18 beginning in verse 21... when Peter asks God how many times he has to forgive his brother? And at the end of the chapter God says “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, it ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” We can 'forgive' in word only but God knows our hearts. If we don't forgive from our hearts we are not doing His will. In Luke 7:36-50 we read the story of when Jesus is invited into a Pharisee's house for a meal. There a harlot comes and she weeps over Jesus' feet, dries them with her hair then pours ointment on them. And God says at the end of this: “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” God is saying that as we forgive from our hearts our brothers who have wronged us, then we can learn to love them more as God loved us. I'm not explaining this very well.... sorry. :-)
Talk to you later.
Hannah

Cow work in the cold

3rd..... Yesterday afternoon Ellie, Lydia, Martha and I went down to Roy M.'s place and helped him and a neighbor for 4 hours work through 60 or so head of cows. We gave shots, poured on Ivomec (I think that's spelled wrong) and occasionally gave new tags. It was rather miserable working since it was around 0 f all day and the wind was blowing a bit. We had ridden down with the wind to our backs and it wasn't to bad of a ride but the ride home after back was pretty cold. The wind had picked up, temp dropped a bit and the snow was hard little 'flakes'. Not fun riding. :-) But we made it home without any mishaps and we were very glad to get into the house to warm up. :-)
I was wondering if any of you had John Denver sheet music? I've been trying to sound out a few of his songs. I've always enjoyed listening to him and I would love to be able to find music, so far I haven't seen any sheet music for his songs.
Youth is going to Yorkton for a Raise the Roof Music program, we'll be staying at home, maybe Dad will let us go next time. :-) Y2J is this afternoon, I don't know who all will be going, Naomi and Lydia are tired and I don't know what Ellie is up to. Guess I'll see when the time comes. :-)
Thought I'd close with this verse.....
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Isaiah 54:17
God is always with us. He will always work things for good if you are following His will and His way in everything you do. :-)
Hannah

December

Dec. 1st.... it's hard to believe that this year has moved to the last month. It was a pretty full year for us with moving, settling into a new place, and then leaving within a couple weeks to go down to Grandpa and Grandma Holters' 50th wedding anniversary, going to a new church, being allowed to help with Y2J and this past month being able to go to Youth. The girls getting in more horses that they're putting miles on, helping Covlins process hundreds of birds (it sounds weird to say that :-), us four eldest being able to go to music camp, I was able to work out a make-shift smoke 'oven'.... and those things hardly scratch the top of what new and exciting things we've done this year. :-) God has moved so much, he'd opened so many new doors (and windows). :-) I have everything to be thankful for.... God is an awesome God, he's moved mountains (figuratively speaking) in some areas. I'm so glad that He is my God and I can walk by his side.... when I'm tired and worn out he carries me through. :-) Thank God for every day and blessing that he sends. :-)
Music practice in well under way for the 9th, I found the chords for a couple songs on the net so that helps Lydia and I so we don't have to guess what chords go where. :-) Willie and June J. from church came over last Sunday, we had spaghetti with garlic buttered French bread, then pineapple upside-down cake with cream over the top for dessert. Afterwards we jammed for 45 min. to an hour playing and singing different songs.
Yesterday I put another chicken in the smoke oven it should be done in a few days. I'd love to be able to slice this one up so we can have it with crackers and cheese. :-) Martha and I peeled two logs for the bunk-house, not hard but slightly a pain since there were some knots. :-)
See y'all.
Hannah

Youth

28th.... wow last night was really great!!! We went skating on a slough about half way to Endeavour, and because the night was so pretty and neat we skated for close to 2 hours. We played tag for a while then moved into Fox and Geese, I ended up tumbling a lot and my left knee is slightly swollen and rather discolored as a result. LOL! But I'd go skating again tonight if we had a slough close. :-) We quit playing Fox and Geese about ½ hour before we left the ice and just skated around then we scrapped the skiff of snow off the ice to make a large 'face' I ended up 'breaking' the poor guys nose, his eyes were touching, he only had three hairs, and his tongue was sticking out. LOL! But today it's snowing so it's probably covered up by now. :-) We went to the church and had a snack and Brad talked about Temptation.... is it sin, where does it come from, can God tempt us.... and so on. We got home around 12:00, We spent more time on the ice than was thought we would I believe. :-) Lots of fun... today a lot of the kids are groaning that they're sore and aching. LOL! I'm not really sore other than my knee and that will heal up, Mom kind of freaked when she saw the bruising... LOL! Poor Mom she had to be settle with a skate klutz when she had me. :-) Lydia says I've won the prize of our skating club... BIOS..... Bumbling Idiots On Skates..... LOL! I told her I'd rather do without the prize. :-)
Dad's been sawing a lot the past couple days. They're working on the flooring and the porch flooring for the bunkhouse. I think he has a few of the logs for the walls as well. :-) He's enjoying his sawmill, Jesse usually is there and helping him, sometimes Zeke helps out as well. :-)
I need to go get lunch on.... Janeen is bringing the girls over this afternoon so maybe when we drive them back I can post on the blog. :-)
Hannah

Smoked chicken, movies

27th.... the chicken I put on to smoke turned out tasting real good, I'll be doing that again pretty soon, Lord willing. :-) Peter, Dad, Ellie, Lydia and Jesse went hunting a couple times but they haven't seen any moose yet, I think Dad has a doe tag left so he'll probably try to get another one to stretch our supply of meat. I'll probably try the jerky again if we do get another deer. :-) I'm thankful that the chicken turned out, all the family liked it and it partly covered for the fact that the jerky tasted so awful... LOL!
We practiced music today, not many songs that I can play on the twangy instrument but I'll stumble through somehow. I want to look up the chords for a couple songs so I can just do finger rolls.
Janeen brought over the girls and Ellie gave fiddle lessons to Kate and Emma... Emma seems a little young so Ellie said that she should wait for a while before she takes more lessons. Janeen wants Naomi and I to watch the girls for a couple hours tomorrow afternoon as well since they have a meeting to work out. So a little more income again. :-) I'm still praying that God will move and I can find something that will help with the financial problem I have here, in Melville we had our cows to bring in the money but here nothings come up yet. :-) I'm sure God will lead or stop as He sees fit. :-)
Dad cracked down on my watching movies not on movie night so I have to cram what I can in on Thursday nights so I don't get into trouble again. I think the main reason is I get into the movies.... (reading a book I do too) I laugh a lot and that reminds Dad that I'm not out in the living room. I am thankful we have movie nights.... last night I watched two National Treasure movies. :-) They rank kind of with Indiana Jones in adventure and so on but the time is present day not 1950s. I got Naomi some other films for tonight while we're at Youth... keeps her entertained. :-) I'm glad she hasn't been restricted on videos... at least not yet and I hope she doesn't get restricted, she has a harder time doing other things than I do in the long evenings when you want to be alone away from the noise of the kids. :-) I'm just praying and hoping things will look up and we can get along OK here. :-)
Brad will be picking us up around 7:00 for Youth it's almost 6:00 now.... I should re-do my hair and see what I have in the area of clothes, not too dressy and not too raggy, I have a few things that range in that direction. :-) I'm so glad that God has blessed me with lots of things to wear and have around. :-)
TTYL....
Hannah

Jerky, music

23rd.... The last doe that Peter shot he gave us half of it and I cut up some of it to try to make jerky out of.... I layered the strips in a pan with salt which was what an old book said to do.... then I converted an old stove into a smoker, Dad cut the hole in the bottom for me and I smoked the meat... today it was done so I tried a piece, it was as if I ate a spoon full of salt.... YUCK!!!! Totally gross... LOL! Well trial and error I know now not to put so much salt on the meat and I'll know to rinse the meat before I put it to smoke. So if Dad gets a moose this week I'll kind of know what I should do about the smoking. :-) Mom says she feels like a red-neck having an old stove in the garden belching out smoke.... It does look a little crazy, but.... :-) It works so I'm not gonna complain. :-)
Sunday was Steppans week off and David Silver from Hudson Bay came down to do the main service. He talked about sin and how it can actually lead you to a healthy place, because if we have sin in our lives that means that God can work in us and through us. Very good sermon. :-) After church we went over to Pete and Rose Steppan's place (Brad's parents) in Preeceville, at 3:00 we went to the old folks home where there was a short service and we sang a few songs. They asked us back on Dec. 9th at 3:00 again for ½ hour of music, so Naomi spent part of this evening putting together our books. Since Ellie's on fiddle I'll probably be on banjo, Ellie might bring her mandolin as well. But we'll have to see what songs Naomi picks out. :-)
So that's about all around here....
Hannah

Sawmill

19th … Dad and Zeke got home well and happy. Dad wanted us girls to help him set up the sawmill but it ended up that we never did help him with it. The setting up process took longer than he expected and we didn't have anything to do.... that afternoon Neal Fenske came over and he helped Dad and Jesse set up the sawmill. I played with the kids and an old stove that was left on the place. The kids love it when some one plays around with fire and includes them. :-) Went riding that afternoon, and again yesterday.... it's nice to be back riding. Martha rode Shiloh again, and she was an angel as usual. :-) I think I'll see if Martha can ride her several more times this winter and then in the spring/summer I'll try selling her. Today we're over at Covlins to do up about 70 turkeys. I'm not sure how long that will be taking. They only have two killing cones so it might go a bit on the slow side. Us 4 oldest girls are going to Y2J earlier than usual so we may have to drive back on our own. I guess we'll see what happens.
Hannah

General news

16th.... Dad and Zeke should be home soon. They decided to take two days to drive back as it took 21 hours to drive out to 100 Mile House. I'm sure they'll be tired all that driving and the time change.
Y2J went well. Only Ellie and I went as the other girls were gone to town, Martha watched the little ones at home. We worked more on the angels for Endeavouring Through Bethlehem, I think we have 50 or so ready to put together, that wont be enough to pass out to everyone though so I'm not sure what we'll be doing.
Friday evening was youth and Carrol was having a Mary Kay Christmas thing at her house so on the way past Brad dropped me off there. Jesse, Ellie, Lydia and Martha went to Youth. They had lots of fun from their telling and they enjoyed being with kids around their ages again. They ended up staying in Endeavour till 11:30 or so having good biblical conversation and fun, on the way home Brad picked me, we got home around 12:15... am.... very rarely does Youth go that long they normally get home around 10:00 pm. :-)
I strung Joe Sorgen's old-time style banjo for him, gave it back on Sunday. After church Peter and Gabriele gave us half of a doe Peter shot from our yard and came out for dinner as well. Then the girls played a few songs and Ellie gave Peter some pointers on the accordion. They've become close friends with the younger kids and the older ones enjoy being around them as well. Nice people. :-)
Hannah

Nov. 11th

Nov. 11th Chicken butchering is over now.... we'll probably be doing the turkeys either late this month or early Dec. I think there's around 50 of those but I might be wrong. They take a long time to process since they're to big for the killing cones. I think Sam wanted Dad to try to build a few larger cones so we can butcher them faster.
Dad, Ellie and Lydia went over to Covlins yesterday to finish up the bagging and they brought Tess over when they came home for dinner. I watched her till around 8:00 pm then brought her back. Janeen wanted to get some paper work done but she wasn't able to do as much as she was hoping. So I'm sure Naomi or I will be watching the kids sometime soon. :-) I'm thankful for the income. :-)
Jesse and Naomi are feeling out of place... in their backs. :-) So Dad and Mom and several of the kids are going to accompany them to the chiropractors in Canora, tomorrow (Lord willing) and do shopping as well. I think they're going to Yorkton to do clothing/shoe shopping. I will be staying at home with some of the younger kids, I think Martha will be staying home so she can watch the younger kids while I'm at Y2J or if Martha goes along I'll probably bring the kids to Y2J. :-) I'm sure everything will work out. :-)
I watched King Kong directed by Peter Jackson (who directed The Lord Of The Rings). That movie is on the freaky side... LOL! It was well done of course, but I found that there were only one or two humor spots, so I would term it rather dark. But the acting was really good and the over all picture was great if you like wild animals and creepy crawly insects.... :-) I also watched a Monty Python movie but it wasn't the greatest, there was some humor but I think my taste has changed and I found the movie more boring than funny. But that's just me, I know Naomi likes Monty Python and I think Ellie kind of likes him as well. :-)
Lord willing Dad, Jesse and Zeke will be going and getting the sawmill on Friday. They'll probably get up early (3:00 or 4:00 am) and drive out to B.C. to 100 Mile House. I'm not sure when they'll be coming back. I hope the Sawmill guy wont put Dad off again, this has taken 2 months longer than he said it would take, and three extra weeks after telling Dad it was ready for the second time. Please pray that everything will go somewhat smooth and Dad will be able to pick it up without any problems. Thanks. :-)
Hannah

TLOTR.... some pics

I really like this picture of Miranda Otto from The Lord Of The Rings movies... neat. :-)
Hannah


http://img-nex.theonering.net/images/scrapbook/orig/9429_orig.jpg

Chickens again...

Hopefully for the last time this year we're over doing chickens at Covlins again. This batch is larger than the others so we'll have over 200 to take care of. We did 150 this morning and after an hour or so for lunch we're going back out to finish. :-)
Naomi and Cilla came over to help with the kids and to get dinner on. They're having a bit of a rough time as the kids are being on the naughty side but so far Naomi says she's holding out. Cilla is a great help playing, but she too sometimes needs watching. :-)
Church was good, there were different speakers this Sunday and then some missionaries from Madagascar were there and gave a presentation for the main service. There was a potluck after service, my only complaint about church potlucks is that there are so many good things to have and you never have enough room to eat all you want to. LOL! :-)
See ya.
Hannah

Firewood and more

5th.... Ellie's sewing up some dresses for Cilla as she has managed to rip or stain all but one or two of her good dresses. :-) I remember being at that age.... LOL! I've been asked to make her up some slips later on after Ellie gets a couple dresses out of the way. :-)
Later..... Naomi called Carrol and asked if she were going into Preeceville and Carrol was just heading out the door, she picked us up and we'll probably be going home around 5:30 or so as Carrol has to pick up Jay (15) from football practice. I am so thankful that God has let us be here, I hope that we can be a blessing to these people as they are to us. :-)
We did some firewood yesterday, moving it up to an into the bin. Dad did some cutting he's finishing out the pile today and then we'll be ready for more wood to be brought in.
Dad's hoping to be able to go out to B.C. On Monday and get the sawmill but the guy still wont give Dad a day when the sawmill will be done. Please keep praying for that to work out. :-) Thanks
Hannah

Dad Shot a Deer!

Nov. 2nd...... Well we're into November now. This past year has been really full of doing things. ;-)
Church was good. We went to Sunday school, watched a church film on transformations had some prayer. During the main service a lot of the Panther's football team from Preeceville showed up. Naomi, Lydia and I did a special song, I believe it was written by Mac Lynch.
We got home and ate dinner, then Peter and Gabriele came over to go hunting. Naomi, Sara, Ruth, Gabriele and myself stayed in the house while the others went and tried to push some deer out of our leased land. They came home empty handed only to see three does out in our hay pasture, Dad was able to shoot one though he didn't aim high enough so it wasn't a killing shot. They had to trail the doe for a while before Dad got another shot at her, then they came home and hung the doe in the wood shed. I made a bit of supper and they sat around and talked till almost 9:00. :-) I think Lydia's going to do up a little deer meat for dinner. :-)
Janeen Covlin had a Bluegrass CD, 20 songs all from different bands. It's pretty good, I enjoy listening to it. One song they have on it is Folsom Prison Blues, I think it's a Johnny Cash song. It's a catchy tune, though the wording could be changed. :-)
3rd On the Sawmill we're having problems again. The guy called Dad last week and said that the sawmill was all ready to go and they were just waiting for the man from MB to pay for the skiders and then they would ship it out. But he called on yesterday and said that the sawmill was being assembled and he was having health problems and Dad would probably have to go out and get it. He was very vague as to when the sawmill would be done, or when Dad would have to get it. Please pray that he will be honest and quit stalling and that we can get the sawmill soon. Thanks. :-)
See y'all.
Hannah

Hunting Movies

31st... Some of the family went hunting with Peter again.... Peter shot a moose twice but they lost it. Only Lydia and Jesse went out hunting with Peter this morning. I hope they get something. :-)
We baby sat all the Covlin kids on the 28th at their place. We also helped clean house, fold laundry and cook. All in all it was a busy day, a little straining but it worked out better than Naomi or I expected. :-)
We've been doing up our carrots... Washing them by the 5 gallon pail full, cutting them into bite sized pieces, blanching and then freezing them. It should work good for making soup in the winter. :-) I think we have 3 pails left, Mom was talking about leaving them for fresh eating but that could change. :-)
Y2J went great. Naomi and I led singing and also did the game. One of the little girl excepted Christ as her Saviour yesterday!!!! I am so glad and happy. :-) I walked with a couple girls down to the store where Mrs. Fenske picked me up later.
I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night. I'm not great with little insects... LOL! Those ants had me shivering. I don't think I'd ever be able to live in a tropical country mainly because of the little crawlies. :-) But I am glad that Indy finally gets married in the end. I'm gonna see if I can persuade Dad to let the older kids watch it... I think it ranks a notch above the other movies since there's no crazy guy/gal stuff. :-) I know Jesse would love seeing it and I'm sure he could find something that would help him in history and geography. :-)
That's all for now. :-)
Hannah

Church, Youth

26th... Sunday was great... for the most part. We ended up getting to the church late, even with driving over the speed limit the whole way. And us girls were doing music for the morning service, so no time to practice or set up anything. :-( We were so shaky, but people said we sounded OK. Whatever, I think they were just trying to make us feel better about it. LOL! After out 'bag' lunch I asked Dad if we could go to youth, and he said yes! Cool! :-) After waiting around for almost an hour the youth leaders loaded us into vehicles and we left for the high-school gym. We played a variety of games, the first swat which was a little confusing since you had to know peoples names to play. Then Ryan S. a guy from college gave his testimony. We moved on to I Have Never, which is kind of like Have You Ever. Krystal another college student stood up and gave her testimony and we moved on to the last game, called Conquer.... A rather intense game the 30 some kids were divided into 4 groups and sent to the corners of the gym, Krista (singer and college student) was the director, and she would say something like “Group 3 conquer group 1” and group 3 would run over to group 1 and try to get as many people away from the group as possible in a certain time limit. Those who were captured had to join the conquering group. It was rough and tumble but mostly you just hung on to your team as hard as you could and tried not to be pulled out. :-) Afterwards there was prayer and we went back to the church. We left right after we got back from youth. It was a good day and other than being so extremely nervous while playing music I enjoyed it. :-)
Naomi and I are watching Emma and Tess for today, and maybe again tomorrow. We'll bring the home around supper time. :-)
Hannah

Hunting, church

Oct. 24th.... well it's kind of misty and foggy this morning. But I don't think it's super cold out. :-)
Ellie, Lydia and I took down the rest of the garden stuff and pulled the old plants into a pile. It should have a weeding but I don't know if we'll be doing that or not.
Peter came up yesterday morning and took Dad, Jesse and Zeke hunting. Jesse and Zeke saw two bull moose but Jesse only had his bow with him and couldn't get close enough for a shot. Dad was jittery and he shot three times at a doe but missed her. :-) Ellie, Lydia and Martha went with Dad and the boys in the evening but they didn't see anything.
Naomi and I went to Y2J.... I helped some with an experiment. Carrol asked if we would do the singing and the game next week so we'll probably be practicing a bit in the next week.
On Sunday church is going to be in Swan River, a meeting of three areas of churches (there's more than three churches going to be there) and we've been asked to do the special music for the morning service. Naomi isn't going as she thinks the long day is going to be to hard on her so Ellie, Lydia and I will be doing the honors :-) Martha was laughing about us singing harmony and she says.... “If there is any resemblance to real harmony it's completely coincidental.” LOL! :-) I sure it'll go fine and we'll be blessed by the fellowship and the preaching. :-) We have to bring lunch but supper is provided.
Dad's not feeling well, he's kind of out of shape for walking and the miles he walked yesterday have made his hip act up, could you please pray for him. I think he's also put out about missing the doe... missing isn't easy on a man's pride... (or a womans for that matter) Thanks for praying. :-)
Hannah

Firewood and more

Oct.20th.... More firewood. Didn't do any wood of Sunday but we've been bringing in pretty steady. Yesterday we brought in one load in the morning, after lunch Dad started cutting the logs into stove length pieces and the boys were stacking them in the bin. We should be heading out again for another load soon.
I pulled/dug the last three rows of carrots. We have 6 buckets of them in the garage waiting till we find a place to put them. :-) Now we need to take down the trellis for the peas and cucumbers and take the rototiller to the garden before winter hits seriously. We'll have to avoid the strawberries as they happen to be in the middle of the garden. :-)
I believe we're heading to town this afternoon. Dad and Mom have some banking to do and a few other things to pick up.
It was nice and frosty this morning... almost looked like a skim of snow on everything. Hopefully the sun will come out and warm things up a bit. :-)
Later... we didn't get a full load of logs since Dad ran out of gas. We did a little over half what we usually do. Right now we're on our way to Preeceville, Dad's loaded the back of the van with gas and diesel cans so it's gonna be a rather fumy ride to and from town. But you gotta do what you gotta do. :-)
See ya.
Hannah

Uriah has Chicken pox

Oct. 16th, Well Uriah has chicken pox. Poor kids' covered with spots. :-( He'll receive a fair amount of treatment though... LOL! Everyone is giving advise to Mom as to what to rub on him or what sort of bath to give him. :-)
Brought in one load of logs for firewood this morning, and after lunch we headed out again, Ellie, Lydia and I worked for an hour or so then we had to come in to get ready for Y2J. (they finished out that load while we were gone) Carrol picked the 4 of us up... the kids were pretty good, they're working on painting a note pad holder for the craft. Carrol was in charge of the game and Edna taught about God leading the children of Israel through the desert, and how God is always in control and everything will work out even when it's hard to see. :-) Jay had football game in Preeceville so Carrol left early with Trisha for Youth tonight... Elfreda drove us home. :-)
I notice the I'm not wearing certain clothes again, so I have a closet clean coming up then pack away what I don't normally wear. :-) I have a couple skirts I really like, I think I'll be making myself another one or two of the same pattern and use my old skirts... they're really wide and since I don't need to ride in them having culottes I can use them for an easier and nicer skirt to wear. :-)
So till later...
Hannah

Firewood

15th, had Tess over for baby sitting today. She's pretty good playing with Ruth and Cilla, just needs watching like more little kids. :-)
Dad and some of the kids got one load (back of the truck full) of firewood this morning. Ellie and Lydia fixed the rest of the fence so now the horses and cows can go out to pasture. I believe Dad is going to pull up one of the bins this afternoon and we'll put the stove length wood in there. Probably we'll get another load or two today and until we have 12 chords we'll keep hauling wood into the yard. :-) Hopefully that amount will tide us for the winter.
Movie night tonight... The kids were arguing about what to watch. But finally the vote was watching The Princess Bride... LOL! Dad's favorite movie. :-)
Brought Tess home which is where we are now. :-)
Hannah

Getting better

Oct. 13th, We did around 100 chickens today, just finished up that pen that we worked on two weeks ago. The last batch wont be ready for a few weeks yet. The shop was heated in the floor so that was a really blessing to work in. :-)
I'm feeling quite a bit better, my eye is still slightly out of it and a lot of what I look at has a 'cloudy' look to it. But it doesn't hurt, Thanks for the prayers. :-) Lydia and the rest are all feeling well, as far as we know Uriah never got chicken pox. So that's rather interesting. :-)
It's supposed to get up to 11 C in a few days. I think that's when we're gonna try digging up the potatoes and carrots. I'm not sure where we'll be putting them for storage, the 'cold' room doesn't have much room for vegetables.
We also have to do some fire wood, we don't have very much left in the garage. I think we'll probably get a load in the back of the truck for now and later get more. We need to fix the fence in the alfalfa for the cows and the old hay pasture for the horses. I think Dad and some of the kids did some fencing today after we came home from Covlins.
Dad got a call from the sawmill guy today... he said the he was waiting for a part to come in and Dad says that in spite on the long wait with no word he's gonna trust that the guy is telling the truth. There might be a shipment going to Winnipeg, MB in a couple weeks and Dad's sawmill might be sent over with that, we'll just meet the hauler somewhere along the #1 at an equipment place so they can unload the sawmill. Thanks for praying about that. :-)
Hannah

Pox, snow..

Oct. 10th, mid morning. :-) Lydia and I spent the last three/four days as pretty miserable people. She mostly with itching and I with pain and an eye that's causing trouble. But I think today Lydia's feeling better, Mom had Naomi pick up some calamine lotion when Carol picked her and Ellie up for Y2J yesterday afternoon and that's helped Lydia quite a bit, now her sores are starting to scab over. I'm feeling pretty good, but have a few tired or light headed moments every so often. I'm back pulling what I can, doing my chores and so on. My right eye is blood-shot and painful since the evening of the 8th. I'm not sure what the problem is with it. My worst time is walking near windows... the snow on the ground makes it smart and tear up. But it's not super bad if I keep my hand over it. I can't look at the computer screen for super long before it gets to painful, but I thought I could do this over short periods. :-)
Yes we have snow, it started a few days back. We've gotten a few skiffs and had them melt off. This morning the snow is starting to drift, making us all remember how wonderful this place is situated... Not! The wind break was planted badly and it funnels the wind and snow into drifts in front of the gate and also several places down by the barn. Making it a rough time getting out to do choring. But we have to remember that the people who built this place moved from the old country. So that does help throw a light on why the house was built the way it was and everything was set up on the farm the way they did. So next spring I'm sure we'll put in few weeks putting in more wind break and fixing up more problems that were left for us. :-) I'm just thankful for the house and barn. :-) In spite of the problems they have, I'm plenty glad we have them. :-) I really wouldn't look forward to not having a house to live in. :-)
Today those who feel up to it are going to a 60th wedding anniversary celebration for the pastor's parents in Endeavour. I think it starts at 2:00 pm. Most likely it's only going to be Lydia and I at home.
I think I finally got the program that makes my computer play DVDs. And just in time as well... Naomi's AC power cord finally quit working so she has to pick up another one before her computer will work. I'm not sure how much that will cost, she'll probably have to order it in from Nasby's in Melville, where she and I both bought our computers. CareTek.... great computers and great friends who run it. :-)
We're supposed to go butcher the other half batch of chickens on the 13th, Tuesday. Day after the Canadian thanksgiving. :-) They were planning to butcher today but I guess it wasn't working out. My only complaint?.... is that on Tuesday I'll probably be well enough to go work again. 'groan' And today I would have been able to stay home. I guess God doesn't want me to miss any chicken events. LOL! :-)
I think that's all for now. :-)
Hannah

Which Literary figure are you?

Hannah

More... computer

6th, All but Uriah have chicken pox now.... Jesse says the reason Uriah doesn't have chicken pox is because it can't catch up with him. LOL! :-) Ellie's throat is pretty swollen so she can't eat without pain, pray that her throat eases off soon. Thanks. The rest of us aren't feeling to bad, some pain and itching but not horrible. :-)
Mom needs to order from Sears. So we'll probably be going into Preeceville today. I hope to get some time at the library and do some stuff on my long list.... I keep finding things I need to work on. My computer has an aversion to playing most DVDs so I've been trying to find a program that I can download/install to my computer that will let me play DVDs. So far I've tried downloading three different ones and I can't make heads of tails of them, not that it made any difference they all said that they wouldn't work on my computer. So round 4 is coming up. Hopefully I have the time I need to do it. :-) I have to admit to being a dunce when it comes to computers. :-( Maybe if I had the smarts like Naomi I'd have figured this out before now. LOL! But God didn't send me that, so I'll have to stumble along with what He did send. :-) God must have different plans in mind for me than being a computer geek. :-)
Talk to you later.
Hannah

Chicken pox

Oct. 3rd Well it's still a bit chilly here, last night it might have frosted. But I haven't gone out and checked yet. Yesterday we did 159 birds at Covlins... 5 of them were turkeys, they weren't very big only around 12-14 pounds apiece. It want rather slow as there weren't as many people, Naomi was over and she helped for a bit but she tired out after an hour. We had a late lunch and then Dad drove us home. I ended up cutting one of my fingers again, but it's not to bad, though I forgot to put salve on it last night so it was sore this morning. We went back in the evening after supper and helped bag and price the chickens. They had us eat some pizza with them as well. :-)
Carol Stepan picked up Ellie, Lydia and I and took us in to help withY2J. It was a good day, we stayed inside, did some singing, a question game, the lesson and a craft.
Almost all the other kids have come down with chicken pox.... Jesse, Martha and Sara are the most miserable right now. They've been taking tea baths and slathering down with Aloe gel/lotion. I've not had symptoms yet, though that could change pretty soon. Lydia says she feels like somethings coming on, Ellie has it, Zeke and Uriah so far don't have any spots, Cilla and Ruth are itching... you know.... :-) a rather sick family. :-) But if we can get it over with them we'll not be able to get it again. :-) Thanks for the prayers.
Brought in the onions, they're under a fan in the garage on a sheet of plywood. Mom and Lydia were working on the tomatoes. I filled the dehydrator with applesauce on plastic wrap and put a load on to dry for fruit leather. We all enjoy that in the winter. :-) I think the garden will be harvested in the next few days and prepared for winter.
So till later. :-)
Hannah

Applesauce

27th we've made close to 400 quarts of applesauce (it's around 390 or so). We cooked the last apples yesterday morning and early afternoon. (28th went and got more apples not many but we'll get a few quarts from it.) My hands are a little sore from holding a knife for almost all day and pulling out the stems for the past two days. :-) But they'll be fine soon. We had some nice apples and they cooked down really well but one tree that we picked several tubs of was a small, hard and sour apple. They didn't make super good applesauce but we'll be glad to eat it this winter. :-)
Ellie bought some dexter cows... one of which gave several of the family members a merry chase this morning, she left a calf behind so she's a little on the ditzy side right now. Hopefully she'll settle down soon. :-) Lydia wants to get a tarantaise from the same guy so that cow might be coming up here soon as well.
Went and got 40 or so chickens yesterday evening... Dad thought we would be catching them and had 4 of us kids along but the people we were getting them from had them already crated up so we just had to bring them home. It's going to be nice to have chickens around again. We always seem to run out of eggs. :-) Guess that comes from having a large family to feed.
See y'all.
Hannah

Sundays

Sept. 21st Had a great Sunday. The sermon was on glorifying God at all times, in actions and talking. It hit pretty hard, I tend to do a bit of complaining and it was good to be reminded by someone else that since I'm saved I have a lot to glory in. :-)
After church we went to the pastor's house for a hot-dog roast with the rest of the church. After the meal us kids went to the lawn and played a variety of games including, Frisbee, tag, football, soccer, Have You Ever and a 'war' of sorts picking on certain people to be 'bombed' with frisbees and balls. :-) It was fun and plenty of exercise.
Naomi's feeling a bit better, she's been taking black tea baths and that has been taking away a lot of the itchiness and pain. She says that after visiting the natural gal and having her feet rubbed and kind of a massage done it cleared up a lot and she seems to be over her fever for now. Thanks for the prayers for her. :-) Prayer is a blessing, and to be on the receiving end of it..... :-) Thank you very much.
22nd we're in Yorkton, Dad had to pick up some seals for the loader so he can fix it. So we've made it a long shopping day. :-) I need to pick up some banjo stuff, including strings and a capo, I should have gotten them at camp but I forgot. I was a little muddled at camp. :-)
I'll close for now.
Hannah

Chickens

19th Spent all day yesterday over at Covlins with some of the family butchering chickens. We did 255 chickens. That's one batch and there's two others that we'll be doing in the next month or so. They have a good set-up, there are several cones, a dunker and a plucker that will do three chickens at a time. So it goes pretty fast. I ended up being the one washing the chickens after they were gutted. I ended up somehow giving myself two skin scrapes so my fingers are somewhat tender when it comes to being in water or soap. But they will heal fine I'm sure. :-)
Naomi's kind of sick, we're not exactly sure what it is though we're thinking it's chicken pox.... hopefully she will heal quickly. She's pretty miserable right now. Mom is taking her to a natual gal in Preeceville so we'll be able to know how treat her properly. Could you please pray for her? Thanks.
I recently joined www.banjohangout.org so if you play and want to be a friend drop me a request. :-) I'm hoping that I can learn lots and share what I can.
See y'all.
Hannah

Hunting season

Sept. 17th Well it's rifle hunting season, we've had a fair amount of traffic though it's not the week end yet. I'm sure the roads will be pretty full then. :-/ Can't do much about the dust, it's been dry and the wind is blowing toward our house, Dad's been complaining a bit about all the dust and those crazy hunters that have to drive fast... I almost asked him if he had thought of this problem when we bought the farm, after all we were warned by several people that our road would be pretty busy come hunting season. But I suppose it's fun to complain about things you can't change... LOL! I know I do it at times. :-)
I practiced banjo for a bit yesterday, then I had to go set table to lunch.... it's going okay, I'm so thankful when one of my banjo teachers lent me two beginner banjo books. I'm sending them back to him, now that I was able to scan them onto the family computer. Since music stores are so far away from here and they mostly carry guitar things I'm very grateful to have all the help I can get. :-)
Covlins want us to come help butcher chickens tomorrow. That's gonna be a full day. I can't say I'm looking forward to it. As chicken butchering isn't my favorite job, but it has to be done, I think this year we'll be butchering for/with them for 100 chickens or so. I guess we'll see. :-)
I might ride today, we'll see how Millie's foot looks. The other girls have done a couple short rides, wearing red, orange and they once tied a bell to one of the horses necks for safety. ;-) Archery season is a bit safer for riding in but it seems a lot of rifle hunters don't care what they shoot at as long as it's big... :-/ We've heard a few stories about hunters who have shot cows that didn't look anything like a deer, elk or moose. Not all all good and not all are bad either, we just have to take more precautions in rifle season. :-)
That's all for now. ;-)
Hannah

Ordinary

I have Tess over for baby sitting again, played with her Ruth and Sara almost all morning. Fed her early and put her for down for a nap. From which she just woke up. I'll take her over home later on this afternoon.
Doctored Millie's hoof again. It's looking pretty good for how much it bled. Couple of the girls are going riding this afternoon.
Helped Dad pull the pump from the well. I was on the rope and after the water level It was really rusty so I got kind of orange. :-) Hopefully putting the new pump in will go well.
Not very busy, went to town yesterday, got the rest of a friend's birthday gift and also looked at some other stuff.
So I'll sign off for now.
Hannah

Riding

Had a good ride 12th afternoon. Millie stepped on a piece of glass and cut her left front foot. I tried to put a make-shift bandage on it using strips from my over shirt but she lost that soon after. She wasn't limping so I just left it. But when we got home I found that the cut was a lot longer than I had realized and she seemed to have lost more blood than I thought before. So I tried soaking her foot in Epsom salt water, but she dumped that after a few minutes. So I put Iodine on it then smeared it with salve and bandaged it up with vet wrap. Hopefully she'll heal up quickly. :-)
Dad spent all day at the Covlins helping them plumb the meat shop. They helped us lots getting started here so I'm sure Dad is glad to help them out. :-)
Have a great day. :-)
Hannah

More of the same

Sept. 11th Made applesauce morning of the 10th. I also made another zucchini cake for supper, and while it was cooking I changed the banjo strings. After lunch Ellie, Lydia, Martha, Zeke and I headed for the horses. Muckers and Kid led Ellie and Martha for a merry chase around the pasture but Millie was a good girl and let me catch her without to much trouble. :-) We all saddled up and were going to head for a ride but Al was limping so Zeke couldn't go with us. We left for Endeavour and made the 13 miles in 1 ¾ hours. :-) A man from our church asked us to drop by their place on our way out of town so after mailing the letters and picking up some of the mail we went over for a few minutes. I can't remember how long it took us to get home but it wasn't that long. :-) Dropped by Covlins on the way home and saw their new meat shop being built. It was a good ride, and I'm sure we'll end up doing it again in the future. :-)
12th Weeded strawberries yesterday afternoon. Then helped plant new plants. Three of the girls went riding, I stayed home and later made fried potatoes for supper.
Dad went over to help Covlins with the plumbing of the meat shop. Not sure if he'll be home for lunch or not. Mom is trying to figure out who all needs coats for this winter. Several of the kids need either a good or a play, or both and Sears has their coats on sale so we'll probably be putting in an order soon. ;-) There was a coat left here that might do for a town coat for me. Last 2 winters I ended up using one coat for both good and work. It turned out okay but we weren't living on a farm... :-) So after this one is washed I hope it will shape up so Dad and Mom don't have to buy me one. :-)
Talk to y'all later.
Hannah

Just the regular....

Sept. 9th , thinned and weeded two rows of carrots morning of the 7th but it started raining so I chickened out and headed for the house. Late afternoon we went and looked at a milk cow on the way home we stopped by the Covlins and did some net time. Dad and some of the kids went and picked up the cow around 7:00 pm. I stayed home and helped Mom do some scanning also did some other things. 8th dawned gray skies and a bit nippy. Mid morning it cleared off and I picked two ice cream pails of yellow beans from our garden, a few cucumbers and some tomatoes. That afternoon Dad, Mom, Sara, Naomi, Ruth, Lydia and I went to Preeceville. Us older girls did net at the library, then Lydia and I went over to the drug store to get Mom and birthday present as it was her birthday. :-) It rained a bit while we were in town but no more than a sprinkle. Once we got home we ate supper that Ellie had prepared.... enchiladas. :-) Those were good. After wards we had ice cream and chocolate then a neighbor dropped by and visited for a couple hours.
Today I thinned and weeded the other rows of carrots. Picked one tree of apples as they're getting over ripe, and helped pick the raspberries. I was going to go riding but Millie was of a sour attitude today so I walked after her all over the pasture, and ended up closing a couple gates so she was in a smaller pen, I caught her, led her out to the main pasture and let her loose. Hopefully she will understand that getting caught isn't something terrible. Since I couldn't ride I came in and made a Zucchini cake which we will eat tonight Lord willing. :-) And now I intend to practice the banjo for a while.
Hannah

more

Well nothing special or really exciting has been happening here... Mom's getting ready to start teaching the kids on the 9th, Dad didn't do anything to the well pump but he did finish Naomi's hope chest, it looks pretty swell. :-)
The kids went riding again and I had to stay home and make bread... but I'm not gonna whine to badly. :-) Sunday we stayed home from church again, some of the little kids are sick, and Naomi has allergies again so I guess there's a valid excuse as to why we didn't go. I miss being in church though. You don't realize how much being around other Christians helps your walk with God until you can't be around them any more. :-)
Y'all should try out a movie called Facing the Giants.... it's about football in a Christian school... I really enjoyed it. :-)
I need to weed garden today if it doesn't rain, it is over cast but no sign of moisture yet. :-) I just finished practicing the my banjo... well no not mine, Lydia owns it. :-) I finally got into the books that one of my teaches lent me at camp.
And on that I'll close this. Have a great day... and God be with you. :-)
Hannah

Everyday stuff

Rode a short ways afternoon of the 3rd with Ellie, Lydia and Martha. I found that Millie likes jumping a lot over the many logs on the trails, but I don't have the least clue how to ride the jumps. LOL! Oh well it gives those behind me a chance to laugh. :-)
Morning of the 4th we picked Nanking cherries and raspberries at Stehr's and then went over to Youngs and picked raspberries, beans and a few peas. Came home for a later lunch, roast beef sandwiches, and salad. After lunch we worked on getting everything we had picked cleaned and processed. I made two batches of jam, freezer and the canned type, which was all we had pectin for. Mom and Naomi went to town to get some more things for canning and several of the kids went riding, I stayed in the kitchen and watched the canning and kept an eye on the cherry juice that needed to be drained every so often. Read a good Louis L'Amour book while doing so. :-) Nothing like good old westerns to take your mind off the heat and noise of the kitchen. Thankfully I wasn't so oblivious as to ignore what I was supposed to be keeping an eye on. :-) After Mom and Naomi came home we ate supper, then Dad and Mom went walking, Ellie took over the canning of the beans and I practiced banjo with Sara looking on. :-) Sara seems to prefer guitar music to banjo but she was polite to me and only fussed for some of the time. LOL! :-)
Our well is being troublesome again, but Dad thinks it's more related to the pump than the well. He and the boys are going to pull the pump today sometime and see if he can find anything wrong. Hopefully it will be something that Dad can fix, being as he was the main pump man when he worked for the well drilling company in MT. :-)
We girls and Mom need to can a few peaches, and put away all the canned things from yesterday and all the sauerkraut from a few days back. It had to sit out on the counter for 3-4 days before we could put it down in the 'cold' room which isn't real cold right now, but it will chill nicely come winter. :-) After lunch I think several of us want to ride for a few hours, maybe we'll stick to the roads and I can pony Shiloh from Millie. I can't do that very well on the back trails we've taken the past week or so that we've been riding. :-) I have a hard enough time working with one horse dodging branches and trying to make it over fallen logs, I wouldn't make it very well with two horses. :-)
So till next time,
Hannah

Work

Picked Nanking cherries at Stehr's around 10:00 am (31st) after going home five of us girls went over to finish weeding garden at Covlins and also to weed the flower beds. We're done with that job now. :-) The kids went riding after lunch I had to stay home and make bread, and I read a book, washed a large amount of dishes and generally was lazy. :-)
Today (1st) I gathered almost all our cabbage, leaving a few small heads for later fresh eating. While doing that Mom and the girls brought in beets, carrots and potatoes to make borscht.... I'm not sure how many quarts we made but it's around 20 maybe more. After we had done the cooking of that, Naomi, Lydia and I drove over to Covlins and Janeen paid us we also had some net time. Though gmail wouldn't work for almost the whole time we were there and only the last 15 or so minutes could we access our e-mails. Oh well. :-) Net connections may be fussy at times but you know you really have nothing to complain about since you're just thankful to be able to use it. :-)
Once back home Mom had started the canning of the borscht and cherry juice so I went ahead on slicing up the cabbage. Only problem was I busted our older electric slicer after only 3 cabbages so we had to finish slicing with our hand held slicer. Jesse thankfully filled in on that as my wrist was already aching from cutting up all the cabbages into quarters. I know I'm a whimp, but I think I ended up cutting some 25 cabbages into quarters.... :-) We have to pound the cabbage (with 2 Tablespoons of sea salt per cabbage) for 10 minutes to get the juices flowing. I think it's another way to torture sore wrists... LOL! So I ended up trading off with Ellie and Mom on the batches. I can't remember how many quarts of Sauerkraut we made, but it will have to do for winter. :-)
So that's what we've been doing around the house. I'm think Dad is still working on the hope chest in the shop. Zeke cut his finger cutting out a sword/long knife so he's not been able to do a lot. The cut will heal quickly so he'll be back in swing soon. :-)
Mom wants to can peaches tomorrow, we were able to pick up two boxes, not much in our family but they will add color a few times. :-) I love canning fruit, peaches, pears, cherries.... and I even like canning apple sauce especially when we have enough apples to make over 300 quarts of sauce. :-) It's only then that the job seems worthwhile. That can be a tiresome job, but if you know that hating it isn't an option then you can at least become thankful for that time of the year. :-) Putting up food for the winter is so rarely done by most people these days, I feel sorry for those who've never canned (or froze) any produce. But that's just me, I like working with my hands sometimes. :-)
Hannah

Blog post

After Tess woke up several of us kids along with her headed over to Covlins to weed their garden. 5 of us worked for an hour and made a lot of progress, another hour should clear it up the rest of the way and we hope to do that on Monday (31st).
I was able to practice banjo yesterday evening before the kids were put in bed so I was glad to get that done. :-) I just went through what I was taught at camp, I'll have to work on the two books that Joel lent me later. :-)
Our neighbors across the road are cutting their hay today. I love the smell of freshly cut hay. :-) Once it's cut it will be a great field for riding in. We were given permission to ride in the field this spring, once you reach the other side of the field there's a path leading about half a mile into the bush that takes you to a road way in between two lakes. It's really pretty back there. :-)
Lydia was just practicing guitar, I think Chris will be proud of her. :-) She always gets boost when we go to camp, and since she was in a class her level this last time she's really moved forward in her playing. :-) I enjoy listening to her play.
Okay enough for now. :-)
Hannah
Went riding after lunch, rode around the provencial forest (Porcupine forest) for a bit, on quad trails and deer trails around swamps through “creeks” and so on. I'm going to try to work on Shiloh in a few days as well, maybe pony her saddled off of Millie for a few miles. But that I have to do on the road not on a bit of a trail that has branches and trees falling over it. :-) It's hard enough riding it, and to pony on it would be pretty bad. I got ran into a few trees as it was. :-) But not too banged up.
I made Naomi and myself a hair tonic solution, hopefully that will help my hair with the split ends and roughness. I don't want to get it cut/trimmed so I'm hoping that I can keep it healthy by babying it. :-) I wore it down for the first time in months the last night at music camp, just a little more dressy. ;-) I do wear it in a braid when we go riding, and of course I always sit on it. Did you know how hard it is to post (while you're trotting) and be sitting on your hair? LOL! :-) Naomi has a bit of dandruff so hopefully after a few application of her “tea” will clear that up. :-)
Have a great day.
Hannah

Afternoon

Been picking raspberries, peas and beans again, they're all tapering off so maybe one more picking and we'll be done with them for this year. We didn't get a lot but enough to add a little variety to this winters food. :-)
I have Tess Covlin under my care for today. :-) Right now she's taking a nap. After she gets up several of us kids are heading over to Covlins to weed their garden. We're doing what we can to earn money for fiddle camp next year. We really need to get in the reservations for both weeks soon if we're going to make it in. :-) I love camp and I'm more than eager to work hard so I can go both weeks next year. :-)
It's been sunny and on the warm side the past 5 or so days. I'm so so glad that we're getting some heat. Although it's a bit late for the beans we just might be able to get some corn from our very late patch. :-) Next year should be better, and Lord willing we'll get the garden in earlier than we did this year. :-) Ron Young baled the hay he cut before, and then he cut a little bit more, not sure when that will be baled. He's a very busy man and we're so thankful that he was willing to come cut and bale the hay as we have no equipment. Thank God for good neighbors. :-)
I mixed up ice cream today, that will probably be made this evening or maybe tomorrow afternoon if we decide to have any one over. I think Mom is making some cinnamon buns for sweets. She's also canning the raspberries we picked today. I've been kind of busy and not had a whole lot of chance to practice banjo.... seems the time I have time to practice is in the evening when the little guys are in bed and I don't want to disturb them. I'll find a way to practice though. :-)
TTYL.... :-) Take care.
Hannah

more pictures

Instructor picture
Whistlepigs
Ellie, Gordon Stobbe, Lydia, John Arcand, Hannah, Naomi, Michele, Buzz

pics

Kim de Laforest and Shamma Sabir
John Arcand
Gordon Stobbe

more pics

Daniel Gervais up on stage with backup
The Whistlepigs... Fred Keller (Mandolin), Chris Jones (guitar), Joel Olson (Banjo)
Fred and Joel leaning into the mic.

camp pictures

Naomi's teacher Geoff Horrocks.
Anthony "Buzz" Bzdell
Ray Bell (guitar) and Daniel Koulack (Double Bass)

Poem

I've always liked this poem about wind....
The Wind Across the Prairie

The Wind across the prairie
Plays a melancholy air
Through the harp strings of the grass;
It breaths a soulful prayer
Against vermilion boulders,
It ripples fields of grain
Into shimmering lakes of green and gold,
And bears the scent of rain.

The wind across the prairie
With organ-voiced sigh
Sings a hymn to all the rangeland
In the haze of earth and sky.
The lone horseman ponders
As he feels the wind’s soft breath,
The grandeur of the prairie
And its song of life and death.

The wind across the prairie,
Like a sculptor’s careful hand
Carves upon the earth and stone
The splendor of the land.
With a voice both cruel and tender,
It sings its song of time,
And bends aside the mundane things
To show us the sublime.

Poem

I've always liked this poem about wind....
The Wind Across the Prairie

The Wind across the prairie
Plays a melancholy air
Through the harp strings of the grass;
It breaths a soulful prayer
Against vermilion boulders,
It ripples fields of grain
Into shimmering lakes of green and gold,
And bears the scent of rain.

The wind across the prairie
With organ-voiced sigh
Sings a hymn to all the rangeland
In the haze of earth and sky.
The lone horseman ponders
As he feels the wind’s soft breath,
The grandeur of the prairie
And its song of life and death.

The wind across the prairie,
Like a sculptor’s careful hand
Carves upon the earth and stone
The splendor of the land.
With a voice both cruel and tender,
It sings its song of time,
And bends aside the mundane things
To show us the sublime.

More Update

Aug. 26th, 2009, Evening.
I somehow slept through my alarm clock again, I even had it up next to my pillow and still managed to sleep through it. :-/ Yikes I'm getting slack. :-) I would like to get back into the routine that Lydia and I had before Millie and Muckers went down to the studs'. We would get up every morning at 5:30 and ride some 6-8 miles or more before breakfast, I love going on long morning rides. :-) Everything is fresh then, and there's almost no traffic. :-) We usually would get home around 7:45 and breakfast would be at 8:00 am. :-) But unless I can get up at a decent time I'll not make it riding in the mornings. I'll have to see if Lydia and I can set our clocks to ring at the same time, maybe we wont be able to sleep through dual ringing. :-) I'm not the only one sleeping in, but for me I would really like to either ride or read my Bible and practice banjo before breakfast. I'm getting to bed on time (9:00 pm, no later than 9:30) but I can't seem to drag myself out of bed. :-) I'll conquer this problem, and you probably are bored with me going on about it so I'll go to something else.
Went and picked raspberries and beans at Stehr's (that's where Shiloh came from) we got about 2 gallons of raspberries and ½ a gallon of beans. Those we put with the ones we had picked from Youngs and made a small canner load so that's nice. :-) Purple and green beans from Stehr's, we have yellow beans and so do Young's so we'll have a large variety of colors for our winter plates. :-) I don't mind canning, but I'm still a little scared of the pressure cooker, you know, watching the poundage and making sure I don't blow the thing up. :-) I've never had a problem with it, I just prefer using a steam canner. But you can't can beans in a steam canner so.... I know my time will come this season. :-)
I worked on fixing a bin roof this afternoon after I had picked raspberries and beans, cleaned and washed both, and weeded part of my plot in the garden.... I really don't like heights at all. So I'm like inching around on the roof thinking, “What's going to happen if I fall?” I didn't end up sliding or falling and I was able to fix what I needed to. :-) Putting sheet metal over an auger hole so it's now somewhat rain proof. I'm kind of hoping to “fix” it up a bit more and be able to practice music in there, because as I am very much aware, Banjo is a very LOUD instrument and the house we're in is a leetle on 'de small side. (really let your accent roll here and you'll get what I'm talking about. LOL!) So you can imagine what happens when I practice, and the baby's trying to sleep, Mom's tired of noise, the kids are screaming in the living room over toys, Dad just came in from the shop and he's never been real interested in listening to us kids practicing, so..... :-) Hopefully with a few improvements this old grain bin will become a sanctuary for me to play (or is that twang) to my heart's content and not be bothering anyone but myself. LOL! :-)
I'm not sure when we'll be going into town so I can post these posts.... this is more than I've ever posted at one shot so far. I've only had three to post at one posting session before, pretty soon I'll be getting up near #10. :-) But I'll not complain, I'm just glad that I can post on a blog and keep people updated with what we're kind of doing, even if it's my opinion of what's going on. :-) I suppose y'all are getting tired of me dragging on and on. :-) So I will leave you for now. :-)
Hannah

Regular stuff

Aug. 25th, We've been given several gallons of raspberries from some people at church, picked our patch and a neighbor's so we have a few to put up. We're putting this batch into juice which we will can for winter use. After this we'll just can the berries with some honey and water for fruit in the winter. We might make a jam with Rhubarb as well, that always seems to disappear fast. :-) Since it rained yesterday I wasn't able to weed and after a week of no attention my part of the garden looks rather sad. :-( I was able to weed two rows this afternoon, hopefully I will be able to weed in-between the other rows tomorrow. :-)
4 of the girls went down to the Galbraith's to get Ellie's and mine fillies from the stud. I'm looking forward to being able to ride again, and also to seeing what kind of foal Millie will have next year. ;-) When Sarge (colt from my first mare born in 2004) was born I was happy to see that he was a paint, though just barely one, I never did train him before I sold him, he ended up paying for his dam, his castrating and his feed so the turn around was good. :-) I keep remembering when I was teaching him to tie, that colt went crazy on a rope but in the end he tied better than any of our older mares and geldings. Soft, silky coats on a new born foal, little spindly legs, running across the pasture to their mom, cute little tails stuck straight up in the air, and that first feeling of a baby taking a step forward on a rope without a fight.... :-) I love foals. :-)
I guess all baby animals are cute in a way, even snakes, lizards and spiders are “cute” at a young age. I'm not too favorable of those species though. :-) I don't mind salamanders so much... which could be seen at camp as I ended up putting one on an instructor's head one evening. LOL! Poor guy, it scared him for a bit. He has a horror of creepy, crawly things around his feet. :-) And yes for those of you who are wondering I have had salamanders on my person and snakes as well... not my favorite past time, and I will admit to screaming like a girl “gasp” more than once when met by reptiles of that sort. LOL! :-)
I should close this post... I need to work on dishes, practice banjo and get to bed at a decent time (like 9:00 pm not 10:00 pm). I've been sleeping through my alarm clock the past two mornings (that could be attributed to the fact that I was up till 4:30 am Sunday morning) and I've not gotten my Bible reading and music practice in before breakfast. I loved being able to get up at camp and go down to the fire pit in the mornings.... us girls would read our Bibles and then my sisters would leave and I would practice for 15-20 minutes so I was somewhat able to stay up with my class. :-) Here at home it's really hard to find a quiet place to practice and I don't want my music to suffer by my neglecting it because I don't want to disturb anyone, and when I play banjo you can bet that my family will be disturbed. LOL! :-) Okay, I will close for sure this time. :-)
Take care and God bless.
Hannah

Home

Aug. 23rd. Done with camp.... I will miss it. :-) I enjoyed learning how to play some banjo and I hope to learn more in the future. :-) Joel copied some music for me and also lent me a couple banjo books so I hope to continue learning that way. :-) On Friday evening we had a talent show and pig n' whistle programs. :-) Us girls did a song.... This Old House, played with Piano, Fiddle, Guitar and..... Banjo! LOL! I sang solo second verse and managed to fumble my chords but hey, not bad for only learning how to play the banjo a few days before. :-) I also played a medley of tunes with three other banjo students.... having a strumstick, guitar and two banjos in the group. It was an arrangement of Will The Circle Be Unbroken and Old MacDonald Had a Farm.... If I can I'll get Naomi to put the video clip into a format that can be posted on the blog so you'll be able to see/hear us play. It was a surprise to everyone in camp but those who played the song.... We had only been intending to play the bluegrass song but ended up adding this little ditty to the end to jazz it up... and yes it did jazz it up. LOL! :-)
Dad, Mom and the rest of the family came down for the student concert on Saturday and we drove/are driving home that night/morning as it is 3:08 am right now.... :-) We're all extremely tired.... :-)
Funny thing ran across the road just now.... we're driving through Sturgis and a fox ran in front of us. As you may be able to tell I am not completely with this typing.... but since there is no way to sleep I thought I would work on a blog post..... my fingers are like, “ummm we're like really tired, and we really don't want to work.” LOL! So I've been fumbling my typing a lot. :-) I should close now anyway... this post is probably long enough for now.
Hannah

Good afternoon

Dad, Mom and several of the kids along with Naomi, Ellie, Lydia and I went through Yorkton on the way down to Kenosee Lake. We picked up a few more things for camp including our supper.
We arrived at Camp around 4:30 or later (I can't remember, I should have written this down earlier. :-) Michele greeted us with hugs and then we met J.J., Lindsey and Gordon right there. :-) We unloaded the van of our stuff. Dad and Mom left after talking for a bit to various people. And us girls headed up to the Mother Theresa building to register. We stayed there for a couple of hours, went and ate our supper then back up to the Mother Theresa center for jamming.... well Naomi, Lydia and Ellie jammed I sat by to watch and listen. :-) Tuesday started out great, and continued to be through the whole day. There are 9 banjo students... (I think I'm remembering correctly) I was in a class with 4 others the first two sessions in the morning. Joel Olson is our teacher in the morning and Daniel Koulack is the teacher for afternoon. Joel is teaching us three finger style bluegrass banjo and Daniel is teaching us claw-hammer or flailing style. I am not the greatest learner in the world. I feel like I am closer to failing than I am succeeding some days. :-) I find myself liking both styles of Banjo.... and in-spite of feeling like my brain is over loading, I'm glad that I have a chance to learn both at the same camp. :-) I really should let Lydia do the camp stories as she has a better touch than I do.... :-) It's Wed. (19th) evening right now.... and I'm in the mess hall.... it's so loud in here with almost everyone talking, reminds me of cooking at Ketchen those two Mondays. :-) Until next time....
Hannah

Here again

Well here I am again... this is the third post to be posted today. LOL! I don't usually have so much to say that I have three posts to put on in one day. :-) I weeded the last 4 rows of my carrots in the garden yesterday morning. Naomi helped me weed rather than weed her flower beds but hey I wasn't going to complain about the help. :-) Ron Young cut most of our southern 40 acre hay field in the morning, he didn't get it all done but we were glad that he was willing to cut it. :-) Afternoon rolled in with a thunder head rumbling for a while then God unleashed the whole works..... an extremely hard driving rain with hail around the size of a thimble beat down on us for about 10 minutes.... then it slowed to just a soaking rain and the hail melted. Thankfully the garden and the hay look all right and not too beat up. :-) Thursday is movie night and we watched The Parent Trap and Dreamer.... both good movies. :-) This morning I weeded flower beds with Mom and some of the kids. Naomi was to tired to weed... between the rest of us we were able to weed the main ones that needed it. :-)
I'm kind feeling a little on the ill side.... sore throat and a little clogged up sinus I don't know for sure why it happened this time, but it might be related to eating some Toblerone Chocolate, I had noticed before that I had a slight reaction to the white Toblerone chocolate but I didn't pay to much attention. I guess I wont be eating that kind. :-) I've had the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate and neither of those bothered me.... so hopefully it's just the white variety that bothers me. :-)
Okay I'll close this for now. We're heading down to our neighbor's for a barbecue this evening. :-) Should be nice.
Hannah

Holter place

13th...... Well I ended up not riding Shiloh.... Martha did instead. :-) I was going to get on and Martha says, “I want to try this” and up she goes. Shiloh backed up some when Martha first got on. Other than that she acted like she'd been ridden all her life and this was old hat for her. :-) I am so happy for that. Ellie ponied her for a bit off of Cracker but Cracker and Shiloh don't get along that great.... LOL! So I ended up taking Shiloh. Since I had been intending to ride Shiloh I had put Lydia's colt saddle on her.... and Martha was going to ride Gray Girl... as you know Martha is small and her saddle reflects that. LOL! I ended up riding Gray Girl for some 6 miles in a saddle that was not only too small for me but since the stirrups don't lengthen very easily I rode feeling like me knees were up to my chin. LOL! It didn't look that bad but did I ever ache getting off. I stepped off twice trying to relieve the cramps that would hurt my knees and ankles. We went down to Stehr's.... they were happy to see that I had broke Shiloh (though Martha was a little embarrassed to be called the “bronc” rider. ;-) They were starting to extract Honey that day so we didn't stay long. Then we headed over to Covlins.... Bear (their collie dog) had followed the kids home the day before and we wanted to drop him off and hope he'd stay there. Even though we had one of the girls hold him while we left ½ mile down the road he caught up with us... so he's over here again. :-) Covlin's have another dog that goes around the neighborhood as well.... :-) he's a little dog.... anyhow this dog (Buddy) came up out of the grass right next to Shiloh's head, on her seeing side, she saw Buddy about the time I was calling to Martha to be careful, and Shiloh jumped, only about 3 feet then she walked on. Like nothing had happened. Martha of course didn't have stirrups because Lydia's colt saddle doesn't shorten to her length so she ended up in front of the saddle... pushed herself back and went on riding. Shiloh is very quiet and gentle, a horse that you must talk to.... she gets to the point that she has to be talked to. She seems to think that if you don't talk to her it means you aren't paying any attention to her. I think it's mostly because of her blind eye, she needs that voice to know where she's at. :-)
After supper Lydia, Martha and I rode down to Rockford. We got home around 8:30 to find that Naomi hadn't paid attention to the kids and they still had to shower. We had been hoping that Martha could jump in right away then the other two of us. But that didn't work out and around 10:00 I decided to just go to bed. I was to tired to want to stay up till 11:00 to take a shower and Dad and Mom still had to clean up as well. Hopefully I will be able to shower tonight. ;-)
Hannah

Here goes

Howdy y'all. I hope it's all been going good for those who read this blog. :-) We've been having some nice weather. Actually getting some heat the past three days. :-) On Sunday Brad preached... such a good sermon. All I can say is God knew I needed the topic. What are you really hoping for? What are you seriously looking for? Do you want to lead people to God or are you more hopeful about getting that new car, looking nice.... and so on. I was hit in-between the eyes so to speak. Thank God for good preachers. :-)
Sunday(9th) afternoon we had Fenske's over for lunch.... Neil and Elfreda with their children.... Trisha, Darren, Matthew and Dylan. There was horse back riding, potato gun shooting (actually it was green apple shooting) and they ended up staying for supper as well. Later Hudy's arrived and stayed for an hour or so. It was good to see them again. :-)
Monday morning found most of us down the road a few miles picking raspberries at an elderly couple's place, they go to our church. They had a large row that was heavily loaded and neither of them were in condition to do much picking. So they asked us to pick for our family. :-) They also send home a large amount of Rhubarb that they can't use, several onions and lots of radishes. God does provide. :-)
Monday afternoon those of us who had horses to ride headed out for Millers so Lydia could pick up Sugar the three year old they want miles put on.
Tuesday (today 11th) has been going well.... so far. That could always change. :-) I saddled Shiloh on Saturday and Lydia ponied her around the field a couple times. I saddled her again today and slapped the stirrups a lot... she calmed down quiet well. The kids were going for a ride this afternoon so I asked Lydia to pony Shiloh before they went and she did really well, so Maybe tomorrow I'll take the step and get a leg on either side of her. I do hope that the weather holds.... :-) I would like to tie her head around in the morning and then see about riding her in the afternoon. Am I nervous and scared? Yes very much so... LOL! I am no good at this colt breaking, but it has to be done. :-)
And on that I will leave for now.
Hannah

Nice day

The 8th has been good weather so far. I hope to work with Shiloh this afternoon. I would like to get her broke before we head down to camp. I guess I kind of chicken out when it comes to riding colts. I'm nervous about being thrown. :-) But I will do what I have to do even if I don't feel great about it. :-) When I broke Millie I had Bev Pilipow cheering me on.... She's such a great friend and gave me encouragement when I was scared and nervous..... unlike some other people who would rather laugh at my fears, though they have never tried breaking a colt. :-( :-) I'm very grateful for Bev putting her things aside and standing by me. :-) It's rare to find a friend that will do that. And I know I don't appreciate her as well as I should.
Evening....
I saddled Shiloh today, and had Lydia pony her for a couple rounds in the field. She did fine and didn't seem to have to many worries about the saddle. So that's a plus. :-) I also weeded part of the garden. Yesterday while I was walking a couple kids drove by in a silver truck.... later that evening Lydia and Martha were out riding and they met the truck a few times, the guys had been going into fields that weren't cut and ruining them by doing spins and driving around lots. Lydia says that she and Martha saw two or three new beer bottles as well. Any how Brad Steppan called a neighbor who's field had been ripped up and he called the police... the police had found the truck and are looking for the kids who were doing the damage. Both of them had been in trouble with the cops several times before, and one of them might have served time before. And I thought we moved into a quiet area. LOL! Not funny what the kids did but strange that we're supposed to be so far out in the boonies and we still get rough traffic. I guess we can be glad that all of our fields are fenced. :-)
Hannah

Just another day

Well it's raining again. :-) It was nice weather for two days but today 7th it's been raining all day. :-) I think it's making up for lost time.
On the 5th Naomi and I drove down to Covlins so I could mow the lawn and Naomi could do computer stuff. I mowed for an hour paying for 2 quarts of cream so we could make ice cream. After mowing the lawn I posted on the blog.... and emailed some people.
6th in the morning Dad, Mom, Sara, Naomi, Lydia and I went to Preeceville. I went to the drug store picked up some stuff and then headed over to a garage sale. The elderly lady was soooo happy to see me, she said the no one else had been there the whole time she had the garage sale on. So to say she hung over me and talked everything up would be an understatement. :-) I was able to find a few things that weren't to old and also wasn't falling apart.... she talked and talked about a pair of turquoise slippers and she wouldn't let me leave without them. So I am now the owner of some turquoise slippers. LOL! Some people are so funny to be around. :-)
And today's raining so no outside stuff is getting done. I did go for a walk in the afternoon. Not to far.... and it wasn't raining to badly so I ended up not needing the umbrella I had brought along. :-)
Eugene came up last night, after lunch he and Blaire headed out for Saskatoon where Blaire's mom lives. Eugene said he'd probably drop by next week sometime so Lydia can give Blaire a few more horse riding lessons before we head for music camp. Only 10 more days till we head out. :-) Fun is on the horizon. LOL!
Hannah

Sara

more pictures

One of our roses.... And if you were coming to visit us this is the view of the our house. :-)