The Panhandle Roughriders

old and maybe some newish pictures

2011-11-28T18:50:00.001-08:00

Just thought you would like to see this....

2011-09-23T17:06:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture of Daniel and I... it was taken at Naomi's wedding by my pastor's wife. The wedding went really well... you can see some pictures of the wedding on Naomi's blog... www.treasuriesofjoy.blogspot.com

Hannah

One thing to say....

2011-07-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd let you all know that I am now dating a man I met in Bible college. We are both liking being able to call each other more than friends. :-) This next year will be very interesting as he is going back to MB in the fall to take his carpentry college and I am staying here of course to take another year of college. So we will build and work on our relationship, and be thankful for the time we have had together and dream of the time when we can spend more time together. :-)
Hannah

A couple pictures of the wedding I attended

2011-06-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

Pictures

2011-06-10T19:15:00.001-07:00

And Another Post

2011-06-10T19:10:00.001-07:00

So I talked to Mom yesterday... Lydia, is working full time at the meat shop, Jesse is working full time for the people who he was working for during the winter. Ellie's shoulder is doing well, and seems to be healing nicely. The other kids are working around the place... with the garden and all such things. Mom is busy trying to hold the house together. Dad works off and on at a gravel pit... but that job is almost through, so they don't know what he will do after that. :-) Jesse and Martha have braces now... and they are enduring the pain that comes with that now. Poor kids... it's one thing to have the pain oneself... but it's another to know that your younger siblings are having to endure it. :-p I wish they didn't have to but God has his reasons for making our jaws to small for our teeth. :-)
Anyhow... I have a wedding to attend tomorrow... :-) That should be fun. I love weddings... though I have to admit that I haven't met a girl that doesn't :-)
Hannah

Long time away

2011-06-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

The family is doing well... Ellie had surgery on her right shoulder on the 24th, and it is healing well so far. Naomi and Jesse are busy planning their wedding coming up in Sept. My other siblings are all doing well, enjoying their work, Youth and life in general. :-)
Hannah

and more pictures

2011-03-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

Sara

listening to Pastor Brad

Ellie and Jesse

Zeke and Mom

more picures

2011-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

Jesse

Priscilla

Lydia

pictures

2011-02-23T17:43:00.001-08:00

Sara

Uriah

New family pictures

2011-01-13T14:51:00.001-08:00

Nice one... and then? :-)

Pyramid... Sara's hair really tops it off doesn't it? :-) Jesse T. Naomi's boyfriend took these pictures.

back to college

2011-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

2nd.... the party was a success.... of course there were few people than we had hoped could come, but that made it a little easier on me. I suppose in a sense I wasn't the most amazing hostess, but then I had Mom and all my sisters doing their parts. :-) We stayed up till 2:00 am.... late nights, gotta love them. :-)
Enjoying having Sarina here for the weekend, she always brightens my day. :-) Both of us have our troubles with various things at college, (mostly disparaging remarks that are so often made when someone is 'different' than others) so we can relate to each other in a closer way than most of the people up there. I'm glad that she's my friend, she's helps my lots and give me a good perspective on many things that I have a hard time sorting out in my head. :-)
Church today, and then going to a birthday party of sorts.... from there Sarina and I will drive to college.... actually I'll probably end up driving. :-) Its good to have my permit, even if the people in Nipawin wouldn't let me get it up there. LOL! Some people simply can't think out of the box they've created for themselves. :-) But that's okay, I have it now and I know that God had reasons for my not getting it till now. The 9 months will end in Sept. and its then that I can take my road test, I also have to find someone who will teach me the 6 hours of in car and 6 hours in class teaching. But God will provide that in His good timing. :-) I will look for it and ask that He provide and then I will wait for Him to provide. :-)
I should get everything ready to pack in the car.... and then we'll be on our way to church. :-) See or talk to you all later.... well maybe not all of you, but you are in my prayers. :-) Thanks so much for the prayers that you have offered up for me.
Hannah
Evening.... got here fine. Sarina drove on the grid roads and had me take over once we got to the highway. No real problems came up and its time to hit the grind tomorrow. :-)

home...

2010-12-23T11:17:00.001-08:00

23rd.... well this Christmas break has been interesting so far. My family has caught a flu, I had it worst so far (figures as my immune system was down coming from college and a release of stress) was sick one night got about 2 hours of sleep and was babysitting at the neighbors the next day, not the greatest idea by nightfall I was running a fever and had bad chills. After a good sleep I was feeling great again and worked at the neighbors again yesterday. This day is my last for this week, and next week I might have two maybe three days here. Wonderful ways God provides. :-)
25th is Martha's birthday.... 26th or 27th Naomi and Jesse come up for a visit, should be interesting to meet Jesse with the knowledge that he is Naomi's boyfriend.... 28th I go for my written test Lord willing... 29th I get my top braces off.... 31st is my 23rd birthday. And somehow I should work in two days of working here.... I go back to college on the 2nd.... :-)
Could you pray for a few things for my family? Please and thanks.... first our well has decided to quit working again, so please pray that it will start working and that we don't run out of water. Ellie is in major pain from her shoulder going out of socket, she most likely needs surgery but Dad and Mom don't have the money to take her to a specialists to get it looked at, she (Ellie) hasn't been able to sleep very well at nights and last night was really bad, so please pray for her. Also the fridge and stove need to be replaced.... they work but badly and a new stove and fridge are needed. So if you could please pray about these things.... I hope to help pay for part of my orthodontists visit from the money I'm earning here, and that will spare Dad and Mom a bit this month but they have no extra to spare for things. So please pray. :-) And don't tell them that I asked for prayer, they'll crash on me for asking for others to intercede with God. :-/ Thanks lots though and I know that they will appreciate the extra prayers. :-)
Talk to you later....
Hannah

youtube movie

2010-12-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

That Naomi posted of our family singing and playing. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5FwEOUK8xk

College is going well, and I'm learning more to let God have control over things. :-) He has stepped into so many ways in my life that I feel as if he were carrying me all along to get me here and set me on my feet for a bit.
Hannah

Family picture

2010-09-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

So here we are again.... Older maybe wiser, hopefully not worse looking. LOL!
Well maybe worse looking... You can see our "crazy" pic.

If you want updates of the college you'll need to ask me for an e-mail update. I don't intend to put it on here... since it's not of my family, only me. :-)
Hannah

From the heart and a blog post

2010-09-04T12:40:00.001-07:00

The songs Over and Over & If This is What God Wants.... mean so much to me. Each of them reminds me that God is always there, always faithful and that I need to take Him at His leading and follow without question. Too many times I've heard God and accepted but on my terms only. I wish now of course that I had accepted and obeyed on God's terms and plans for my life but somethings I have to learn over again. :-) After fighting with God for the past 10 months I finally gave up and the peace that flooded my heart and head. Yes I cried some, me who never sheds tears. :-) God has patiently waited, never giving me rest till I gave up everything to Him. :-) Yet through all my closed ears and no attention paid to Him, God was always there, He never left me to stand on my own, He always gave me the help that I needed for each trial I faced but at the same time He refused to grant me the peace that I wanted. So I tried to compromise... I don't know if any of you have tried to make an unconscious deal with God... it doesn't work by the way, just so you know. :-P I waited till it seemed like nothing could be done I'd just have to wait and pass the opportunity on by till next year. But God has always had other plans... LOL! I gave up everything to God, told Him that I was going to quit fighting His will and go where He wanted me to go... So down on my knees I watched things happen. He flung doors open so wide they flew off their hinges, people started talking about me, God had everyone set up.... and the love that had poured out has filled my soul to over flowing. I still don't know how everything came or will come into place... I know that God has a plan and that I simply need to trust. I apologize to you all for doubting God. I don't know if it's come across to anyone through what I've said but please forgive me for leading you astray if I have done so. Thank you so much for praying for me. :-) I love you all.
Hannah

2nd..... So 31st Dad and I went over to Covlins and helped process chickens... we ended up doing 200. Not bad for only a few people. :-) Got home showered and relaxed for a bit then went down to Brad and Carrol S. to talk about college. 1st went to Preeceville with Mom, Sara and Lydia. On the way we ran over a spike and flattened our right rear tire. (How it missed the front one I'm not sure) so we're trying to figure out how to change the tire (having never done anything off the sort before, not good position to be in) and along comes a Esso fuel truck. Thank God for friendly farmers. :-) He even couldn't figure out how to get everything in place or the spare tire down from under the van. It took him almost an hour to get the spare tire on. I'm so thankful God had him stop. Might never meet that guy again but I've been praying for him. :-)
In town I did a few things on the net while Mom and Lydia did some errands. Got home filled out the rest of my college application. Then I went through all my tubs (that I could find, I know I'm missing a couple that I need but I can't find them, I'll have to look again later) and started packing up what I need for college. I've got all but a few things packed and made a list of what I need so I can pick up the things when we go to Swan River on the 4th. :-) Went down to B. & C. S.'s place again , this time to send a fax of my application to the college and two other papers to some other people. Come Sunday early morning we leave for College. We have to be there in time for the 10:30 am college morning service. I actually am supposed to be there on the 4th but since I have an orthodontic visit they said as long as I got there for the morning service that would be fine. :-)
Only one Sunday with my home church. I miss them so much. But at the same time God wants me to move on so I have to accept that and miss them... I will have to make new friends. And Yes Jo, I will completely “CLAM” as you are so fond of saying. LOL! Thanks for sitting me down that last night for a talk. :-) You and Courtney are rocks in my world holding me down and hopefully sensible. Thanks so much for both of you being there. And for the rest of you being left out... what can I say... grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, close friends, acquaintances.... You all play a part in my life, maybe through music, maybe through being a relation but everyone of you through prayer and encouragement. So Thank You all so much. :-) I love you guys and wish that I could visit most of you. LOL! Some of you really should come visit me. :-) Well our family I guess, they'd love it if you'd drop by. You might want to give them a day's notice though, Mom would have my head if she knew that I told you to just drop by. :-) Take Care and God bless y'all.
Hannah

Busy at home

2010-08-30T09:08:00.001-07:00

So I hope you all haven't totally written us off. :-) We've been super busy. Made applesauce on the 25th.... 26th we went over to Covlins and processed chickens till 3:30 came home and helped with the last of the applesauce and then had movie night. 27th.... Mom and I picked all the beans (about 8 gallons) cleaned house and cleaned house and cleaned more house. Every time we turned around there was something more to do. :-) I went in with Mom to Endeavour around 3:45 and sent about 35 letters along with a few packages to the kids I was counsellor of during July. We got groceries and Mom got water while I was at the post office. :-) 27th I mixed up two batches of raised doughnuts before and during breakfast. I didn't get a chance to eat as Dad had Ellie and I go run and get our horses to take them down to the neighbours place to get bred. Since they'd supposed to be bred last year but the older stud wasn't any good we're getting a free breeding to a younger stud and hopefully they'll foal in 2011. :-) We also had borrowed a half Holstein cow (and her calf) for the milk and she was slacking off so we brought her back as well. We trailered them down, talked a few minutes then went a picked up a swing set from an older couple. Took the scenic route home... taking us through some very beautiful country. I love the country near the river. :-) Maybe because it's kind of like the mountains. :-) Got home around 10:30 and I had to started making doughnuts immediately. I had a glass of milk at 11:00... so I was super happy when Dinner rolled around. :-) I made doughnuts through dinner and stopped frying them around 2:30. coated lots of them with regular sugar and more with powdered sugar others I iced with chocolate icing I made some I left plain and some I tried to fill with jam... which didn't work out that well. :-) I think I made around 6 Dozen doughnuts. My feet were plenty tired when I was done. :-) I had time to practice banjo for 1/2 an hour for the first time since we got home. :-) Then we had to get ready for the corn fest. Which went fairly well. We made a few fumbles but the kids stole the show so they weren't to worried about us older ones doing the singing. Sara is such a clown. LOL! I love my siblings. :-) Sunday we had almost all our church family over for a welcome home party and also a B-day party for our pastor. :-) God decided to see how damp He could make our spirits by sending rain down so we had to move inside fairly quickly. :-) We played some volleyball in-spite of the rain and I reminded everyone again of how badly I play. LOL! At least I can have fun. :-) It was so great being back in church. Brad's sermon hit me in between the eyes I really needed it. :-) I'm so thankful for people who follow God and are willing to tell others of follow. :-) Lindsey S. took Naomi and I home for the night since we hadn't seen her new place. So that's where we are now. :-) Thank you so much for everything, we've felt your prayers. :-) I'll try to keep you up-dated about the happenings here. :-)
Hannah

moving around

2010-08-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

24th Well what can I say. We're home for a time. Lydia is should be leaving within two weeks to go train two race horses for John Arcand up in Saskatoon. Naomi will be leaving to live with Will and Michele for the winter at least, teaching piano and helping Michele with different things. :-) As for me.... I hoping to move to Regina for a time, and am planning to go to Bible college in Jan. up in Nipawin. I can only ask that you please pray for us as we set out on our new ventures. We each feel the need to leave home, and God has dropped something into each or of our laps and we hope to take those things and run with them for His glory. :-) Thank you so very much for praying for us. Your support is so wonderful. :-) Thanks again for standing by us.
We have applesauce to make, chickens to butcher and a multitude of other things to work out. LOL! Busy busy.
Hannah

back in Kennosee

2010-08-16T13:44:00.001-07:00

15th We're sitting outside the Inn of the Seven Sisters in Forget while Shamma and Michele are visiting with some people. :-) We went back to the festival for part of the day. Left around 3:30 stopped by Long and McQuade (music store for those not in Canada) and a bank then we went for supper at Jim M. met his wife and one of his daughters. They were very sweet... and Jim had toned down some from his camp profile. :-) Still a crazy Irish man but sweeter around his family. :-) Had a good visit got back to Frans' place at 9:30.... Gillian took Naomi and Lydia over to Nathan's house for a video and I took a little time on the net then crashed into bed around 10:30. They didn't get home till 1:00 but I was zonked so they didn't disturb me at all. :-) Michele went back to the festival right after supper at Jim's so Gillian drove us home. Come morning Michele picked up Shamma and then stopped by Frans' place to pick us up and we left for Kenosee. Stopped in Davidson for fuel, and then in Regina at Costco to do some shopping. And here we sit listening to music, Naomi's reading a book, Lydia's on her Ipod and I'm finishing up typing. :-) Have a great week... I might get a chance to send this out before we go home.
Hannah
16th we're all moved to Cabin/bunkhouse #2 and somewhat settled in for another week of camp. We'll have two cabin mates. Both of which we need to buddy up to. :-) They're in their teens but need a little over looking as well. :-) I need to practice for an hour at least today, hopefully more. I really don't feel quite yet ready for another week of camp/learning more banjo. My brain has enough for a week at least. LOL! But Hey, I ain't complainin'. :-) I have to work out the chords for that Texas Turnaround that was that Ben K. gave me the chords for at the festival. With my new chord chart I should be able to figure it out a little better. :-) I'm going to try for a few minutes of sit down time with Daniel K. to help me with some technique on the banjo, scales, more chords and so on. :-) I gotta run now. Take care. :-)
Hannah

Music and more

2010-08-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

5th The kids left evening of the 3rd. 4th we sat around a talked till 2:30 then 7 of us headed to town, Lydia and I were payed for working here in June (Naomi had been paid before) so we were able to deposit those. F. Banga will pay us for July later. We did some shopping and then got a few minutes of net time at Michelle's house. That was an answer to prayer, I'd been really hoping that I'd be able to get the last month's doings off before starting on this one. :-) I don't know how much time I'll have to type in the next 2 ½ weeks but hopefully I'll get a few minutes. :-) Today we cleaned up, did/are doing laundry, put together all the campfire packs, the popcorn and the memo books for each week into the new bags for this year. That took us a couple hours to get everything in order. It's now 3:20 and I have two more loads of laundry to finish up then we'll be caught up on things. All our things have been moved to bunkhouse/cabin 4 ½ where we'll be staying for this week along with some young native girls who need some “moms” to be around. :-) Second week we'll have some other girls who come from broken homes that will need some mothering. :-) Anyhow I'll be talking to y'all later. :-)
Hannah
It's the 8th here.... my left hand fingers are all sore and the tips are red from all the playing. The last month of not playing took out my callouses seems almost totally. LOL! I've learned 4 songs and some harmonies to one that Daniel K. taught me last year. I have 3 class mates.... Garnet, who is just learning (he's in his late 40s or early 50s I'm guessing, but he catches on pretty quickly), Rob, has taken three finger bluegrass style for 6 months before this camp but old-timey/clawhammer styles are new to him. He's around 30, and his familiarity with the banjo makes his learning quicker. Elaine, was here last year and Daniel K. taught her several songs. But she wasn't able to record them or have them written out so she forget major parts of some of them. (She's in her late 50s to 60s , I think.) So that's my class. :-)
The concerts have been phenomenal as usual. The talent some people have... :-) I could listen to them for hours on end. Wow, and how they can work around so many different styles. :-) I love being around the music all day. :-) I'm having to type in sporadic moments.... LOL! And I need to close now. Maybe I'll get a chance later on. :-)
Hannah
13th..... it's 11:30 pm. The Johnny Arcand Fiddle festival has been very very wet/rainy, cold and rough. But I have learned some amazing things. For one how cold I can get when I don't bring leggings or a heavy sweater along. LOL! Two that one of my class mates from camp last year is a fantastic guitar and banjo player (which of course makes me “sick” since I have no such talent and he's only 13 :-) He also plays 5 other instruments. That is simply not fair at all..... some people like myself can play a bit but advanced in all areas is not possible for myself it would seem. :-) Maybe someday I'll be able to rock my world. LOL!
Michele had us in the tent and you can imagine how that was working out with the wind and rain. So tonight we're in Saskatoon as Michelle's Mom's place for a dry, warm place to sleep, and also to get some showers. :-) And on our way back out to the festival we're going to stop by Long and McQuade so I can pick up a banjo capo and maybe a chord sheet. :-) I have a basic chord sheet but I really want to learn some fancier chords like diminished and augmented chords, they sound so sweet in certain styles of music. I'm kind of pumped and happy right now, besides being tired. So if my giddiness gets to you I'm sorry. :-) Lydia and Naomi were practically jumping up and down after their workshops today... they had so much fun, learned new things and were with the most amazing teachers that they loved it tons. :-) I sat in on Lydia's workshops, so I ended up getting the know in on a really cool chord progression, that sounds incredible on the guitars and I really wanted to learn it for the banjo. Asked a few people to help me work it out and ended up Gordon took myself and the banjo along with the paper and pen and figured out all the chords and so on for the first three strings so it was easy. I practiced for 45 mins or so going over them but then we had to leave for coming into town. And I need to go shower now and hit the hay. :-) Soft warm bed tonight... AHHHHHHHHH LOL! ZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!
Hannah
14th... morning. So I'm back. The shower was wonderfully warm. :-) So anyhow.... I need to post this... go up and eat breakfast. Thank Fran (Michelle's Mom) for having us here. Ask Michelle if I can go with her and Shamma shopping. And I also need to do my hair up, it's still pretty wet from the shower last night. :-) But I'm not complaining. :-) I'm listening to You Raise Me Up.... it's such a beautiful song, and so so true about our gracious God we serve. God is amazing, he raises up to more than we could ever be on our own. :-)
Hannah

The month of July....

2010-08-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

26th... Peter and Gabrielle W. picked us up a little past 8:00 am and took us to Regina for the weekend. :-) We shopped for a few hours with Gabrielle then had supper, which was a dish of pasta and chicken, along with olives and tomatoes. Peter made it and it was very very good. :-) He kept saying that he wasn't a good cook... if you want a semi-fancy dish that looks Italian/Greece then ask him how he made the pasta and chicken. :-) After supper while Peter picked up two movies us ladies walked part of the way to Ray B. house which was about 8 blocks away from where P. and G. live. Naomi knocks on the door and Ray (who had no clue that we were in Regina) opened it... his eyes widened and his mouth dropped. It was so much fun talking and kind of catching up on things. We talked for 45 min. or so and then he had us listen to a song that he had recorded with a computer program. Upon returning home we watched Inkheart. We got to bed a little past 12:00 am... a bit later than any of us expected I think. :-)
27th.... Germany played England in the world cup soccer that morning at 8:00 so we watched it. Germany won by the way, 4 goals to England's 1. I'm not a great sport person... therefore I only ended up watching about half the game. I suppose I could get excited about games but it's just not something I feel I need to get involved in. :-) We walked to church at 9:50. It was good to have a sermon again.... something more familiar than what we've had in F. Banga's church. The catholic church has more singing, which I enjoy but I like a good sermon as well. :-) So I prefer something like our church in Endeavour or the one that we attended in Regina. No offense to those of you who are catholics. :-) Peter's brother and son had come to watch the soccer game and they came back for dinner as well. We had fully dressed hamburgers and then a store bought cheese cake for dessert. (which was very good, I haven't tasted a non-homemade cheese cake that tasted that well since... I don't think ever) :-) Gabrielle took her dog and us girls (LOL! That sounds funny) for a walk 20 min. after dinner. It was good to have a bit of exercise. After we got back we loaded very relaxed, and then headed for Kenosee. We listened to bluegrass on the way back since Peter and Gabrielle have satellite radio, so that was lots fun. :-) We also stopped in Arcola for fuel and Peter insisted that we get ourselves a frozen treat, it's been a while since we've had any treats like that. :-) We showed Peter and Gabrielle around the camp and then talked for 45 min. in the Kome 'n' See. The weekend was so much fun.... so here's another THANK YOU for P. & G. 's hospitality and friendship. It was lots and lots of fun. Thanks so much. :-)
Hannah
28th I painted the showers up at the pool. That took about 3 hours, mostly being tedious since it's not plain boards.... it's sheet metal, and all those grooves take time to cover with the green paint. :-) I have some problems with oil-based paint. For some reason, my eyes burn pretty bad and for 2-3 days after I have the feeling of the paint in my lungs. :-/ Though I am glad that it's me not Lydia or Naomi doing the oil-based painting, they've both had problems with their lungs (Lydia has had a cold hang on for a long time) so I shouldn't complain. :-) We ate lunch early since we didn't have a 10:00 am snack. :-) Loretta H. was here.... she drives bus for Carlyle and the kids had a day at the water slides. She wasn't needed for a few hours so she spent it at the camp. :-) Naomi and Lydia cleaned chairs, pressure washed the cement of the outdoor chapel and set up the chairs and benches while I was painting. I cleaned the painting stuff... then F. Banga had me mow around the evergreens. Places where the tractor mower can't get. :-) We hauled old boards to the old board pile behind cabin 4 ½ , sledge hammered in some boards near the outdoor chapel. Hauled one more bench up to the pool, took down some long handled broom/brushes for cleaning the pool. Then F. Banga told us to take the rest of the day off. Lydia and Naomi went to the Kome 'n' See, and I took a canoe out for ½ an hour. First time I've paddled a canoe, I've kayaked before. :-) It was fun, other than the canoe leaked some so by the time I got back to the dock my shoes, socks and part of my dress were wet. :-)
Hannah
29th.... moved to the MTC room #2 that morning. F. Banga told us to use the van to bring the loads over so I made two trips with that. It certainly helped. :-) F. Banga had gone into Carlyle that morning, returning about an hour after lunch. I started working on the flower arrangements, and Naomi took over wiring them to the frame. While I got more willow for another frame and for filler. We worked on them till supper. Lydia pressure washed the pool walk way. It was very windy, but I went out on the lake any way.... found myself going backwards half the time. LOL! Got in, showered watched a DVD on my lap-top. Then finished up watching a soccer match of the world cup with Lydia.
30th.... cleaned the Kome 'n' See cedar cabins in the bush with Naomi. That wasn't exactly fun. It would have been fine, but I haven't seen mosquitoes that thick for a long time. They were in big clouds hovering and diving. Yikes. Definitely not something I enjoyed doing. :-/ Finished the flower arrangements. They turned out okay.... I'm no hand at that artistic stuff. After lunch we were off.... Naomi and Lydia went to the MTC or for a walk and I took the canoe out. Got back around 2:30 walked over with the girls to F. Banga's shack/cabin. Met Tylene.... who did music at the camp for several years. She taught us three songs for teaching the kids. F. Banga made Hungarian noddles for supper. :-)
1st.... Happy Canada Day! :-) Cleaned up more things. Seems there's always something little that needs doing. F. Banga needs to take a walk through this tomorrow and see if we've missed anything. After lunch we were given till 4:00 off (which is where I am now.) Naomi and Lydia settled for different movies. I took the canoe out again. Did kind of a round circuit of the camp part of the lake. It's really hot today. But I don't think I got too sunburned. :-) Watched a movie when I got in. We're going to see a partial pow-wow and also the fire works this evening. :-) Should be fun.
Hannah...... later. The pow-wow isn't till the evening of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The fire works were great. But the mosquitoes were really rotten. LOL! It was worse than usual, since the day had been very muggy and humid. We didn't get to bed till mid-night. Myself some later as I had to wait for the shower since F. Banga told us we should use the main girls washroom shower instead of the ones in the MTC. Around 2:00 am I awoke to being splashed on. A terrific thunder storm had blown in and our window was open. :-) So I shut that one and two others that were open. Not much sleep with all the lightening and thunder playing over head.
2nd.... we all slept in this morning. Bad girls that we are we didn't get up till almost 8:00 am. :-/ Oh well. :-) Gordon Food Services rolled in early that morning. So we a bit of time putting everything away. Then some staff started arriving some in time for lunch others not. AL and Loretta H. came for lunch and also loaded up the last hide-a-beds. Good to have them gone. :-) After lunch Naomi and Lydia went for a short walk and I took the canoe out. Now I'm going to try to get some GED prep reading in. I want to take the tests after camp so I can say that I legally graduated. :-)
Several more staff had arrived by supper time and a couple more came in just as we were leaving for the Pow-wow in White Bear. The Pow-wow was interesting. And very neat. :-) The costumes were pretty incredible. We stayed there for about 1 ½ hours then the mosquitoes were getting bad so we went back to camp. Some of the staff/counselors watched a movie till 10:30 or so but we and several others headed for bed when we got back.
Hannah
3rd... we cleaned up the cabins again, did a wash with bleach water. I fixed part of the screen door of the music room. Tala (15 year old native counselor) helped us set up the sound system in the outdoor chapel. Other staff cleaned the pool, visited in the MTC and some ran to town. It was a lazy day. :-) I read/studied more in the GED book as well. Had a campfire, we don't know most of the songs that they sing around campfire but we will be learning them in the next month. :-)
4th.... got up at 6:52 and took a canoe out for an early (Yeah right) jaunt. So quiet on the lake in the morning, no power boats at the other end. Just me, God and the water. Well I guess the canoe and paddle help as well. :-) Church in Carlyle at F. Banga's. We sang as we did last time. :-) Got back around 12:30 pm had lunch and then talked some, read some till 2:00. Went and stood by the cabins that we're counselors of. I'm counselor of cabin 4 along with Tala, Jenna and Austyn (Austyn's 15 and Jenna's 18) Ours is one of the loudest cabins. They're all 10-12 and wow crazy. LOL! Tons of energy, and the things they come up with.... :-) But they're all really good kids, and although it takes a bit till they hush when you want them to, they all listen pretty well. :-) They had two times of swimming in the pool (with the instructors who can swim). Then we played three games of capture the flag. Lots of fun, I'm kind of known as the slow one. LOL! I've always had a bad time as sports. :-) Then we had snack and campfire till 9:30. The kids have to be in bed and lights out around 10:00 pm. In three of the cabins the male counselors slept in the cabin as well. The kids in the older cabins don't need a counselor with them at night. The rest of the staff had prayer time and hit the hay. The first bit is always on the rough side. Speaking about rough.... There's are some plastic rack things that the people put their shoes on outside the pool. They measure about 1 ½ in. tall, 1 foot wide and 4 feet long. Any how I ended up stubbing my left foot into the end of one of them and sliced two of my toes. :-/ I am such a klutz. LOL! 5th.... well it's late afternoon here the first day is almost gone by. We have about 4 ½ hours left before they go to bed. :-) Music actually went a lot better than we had expected it to. Which was a real big answer to prayer. :-) I was praying so hard last night, feeling very unconfidant as I lay in bed. :-) So, breakfast 8:00-9:00 am then three, 1 hour long sessions in the morning... different groups of people. And two sessions in the afternoon. :-) They all went pretty good, some better than others, but for the most part it was really really good. Naomi led us in prayer before each session, and we teach them 6 or 7 songs. Then comes the fun part, they all get a chance to play the instruments. Piano, fiddle, banjo and guitar. They all really enjoy that. It's then that we get to know them a bit more. :-) Do you know how hard it is to learn 35+ names in a few hours? LOL! I think I might have half of them down, but it's hit and miss for the main part. We have two rules/stipulations in the music room. First each group will be judged throughout the week as the best singers, doing all the motions, and the most obedient. The group who wins gets a prize at the end of the week. So that has helped with the incentive to be good for most of the groups. :-) The other rule is that they have to stand while singing.... so in between songs they can sit down while we girls get our act together then we/I give the stand up order, they have up to 3 (counted slowly) to stand up or they get tickled to death. LOL! Almost all of them stood up upon command but some needed a little extra incentive to get to their feet. Second or third time around the other campers can join in the tickling to get the stubborn one out of the chair. We end up pulling them out while tickling them and they usually stand pretty well for the song. :-) So now... I need to practice banjo. I did a couple sections of GED English and arts before this but I need to get in a few things before supper rolls around. :-) So see you later.
Hannah
6th.... after supper there was mass, and because it was cool we didn't do campfire. Instead we gathered them all into the MTC living-room area to watch part of a movie. They then had a snack and went to bed. Naomi and I led prayer, and then we had some B-day cake, as one of the counselors mother's had brought some. :-)
Morning dawned, prayer held, breakfast eaten, and sessions began. :-) Today it was a little tougher, the kids were more relaxed and were starting to push their limits. So we had a few times of crazy.... :-/ The worst was the last session from 2:30 to 3:30pm.... the couldn't seem to quit screaming, or singing the wrong song at the top of their lungs. LOL! Canteen, then most of the kids left for waterslides, mini golf or horse back riding. The few kids who stayed here took a survival walk with Daniel. :-) We three girls talked with Jesse (who's 15 almost 16) for 1 ½ hours, it was good to get to know him better. :-) The kids got back and we ate around 6:00pm. Talked with my cabin kids about doing the 5 min. skit on Friday evening for the presentation. I really don't have a clue about what to do and the other three counselors who are with that cabin, one (Tala who really hasn't a clue anymore than I do) will help the best she can but Austyn and Jenna who know more about the skits haven't done a whole lot with the cabin these past two days. Hopefully they'll come to our rescue later on. :-)
Anyhow mass at 7:00, I played the banjo there. Not great, interestingly the mic I was trying to play into wasn't working. LOL! So I wasn't to worried. :-) Then water polo... fun to watch. :-) I need to run... so talk later. :-)
Hannah
7th no extra curricular things today (horse back riding, water slides or mini golfing) so there were two free swims. And mass was at 5:00, supper at 6:00. Cabin cleanup 3:00 – 3:30 and inspection before canteen. No extra time for studying GED or writing here. (today's the 10th and I can't remember things properly)
8th people started getting sick, flu and cold. Two kids threw up... and several sound really rough. One from our cabin threw up, and another one was feeling really rotten so they slept all morning. But after lunch they were up around. Not doing much, but at least on their feet. Two of the boys in my cabin were asking questions about the bible... and stories of different things. So I ended up reading/explaining two bible stories to my whole cabin after canteen time. I had been really praying that at sometime God would open a way for me to be able to talk about God to them. And although I was reading/explaining to “only two” of them, all the others were listening. So that was a really big answer to prayer. :-)
9th.... last day. One camper was still sick and I had to clean up a couple times. LOL! Reminded me of being at home again. I have one of the strongest stomachs for cleanup duty, so I end up getting it a lot. :-) We only practiced two songs, since there was no mass that night. And then we chilled and I took the kids to the trampoline to play a ball game. Did a run through of the skit, handed out shirts. Signed shirts... I got my staff shirt signed by all but 4 people at camp. F. Banga, Clinton (the nurse, he says that since he might be famous one day he doesn't give out autographs.... LOL!) and my two sisters. So as Lydia said to me.... “is your shirt black or orange?” :-) the evening concert, skits and music went very well. The gift for the best group in music was a DVD of the first week of camp, pictures set to music. Naomi, Lydia and I took the pics, Naomi made the DVD and I copied it since my computer works quicker than hers. They were very happy to receive the gift. :-) Good byes were said hugs, hugs and more hugs were given. The camp emptied and grew quieter. By 9:00 only 7 people were left at the camp... :-) So quiet. And we're all like, we miss the kids. LOL! :-) But at the same time it's so nice to have peace and quiet. Watched part of the last Pirates of the Caribbean with the rest of the counselors but I went and showered and crashed into bed about half way through.
10th.... lazed in bed for a while, talking to the two other girl counselors and my sisters. Had breakfast, then cleaned out a cabin. And sat around. LOL! We're being lazy today. I've going to go clean bathrooms now though. :-) And the mess hall floor needs to be mopped but we might leave that for the other two maintenance guys who'll be back either tonight or tomorrow morning. :-) Naomi and Lydia are making cookies, and we're going to make pizza later on today. I also need to practice banjo. :-) So till later... or in a few days. :-)
Hannah
11th.... cleaned bathrooms, ate supper, watched Alice in Wonderland (the new one) then went out to the music room and watched The Beverly Hillbillies while the others watched a different movie in the MTC. Showered and hit the hay. Naomi has a cold so she didn't go to church with us. We sang with Brian and Tim today. Okay. :-) F. Banga took us to DQ for lunch then we got some things for the kids this week and also for us and B-day presents for some of the counselors. I'm in cabin 2 with Jesse and Stirling.... boys ages 10-12. So this should be fun. :-) The first free swim is just over.... so we'll have rules, supper, another free swim and then campfire. :-) I need to run.
Hannah
evening... played capture the flag again. Lots of fun. Campfire time was short, only a few songs.
12th every thing went well in music. Of course that's what happened last week as well, they were good the first day and then they lightened up and were trouble the next days. :-) With 85 kids here, they've been divided into 6 groups, and we're only doing 45 min. sessions so we can do 4 groups in the morning and 2 after dinner. While horse back riding, mini golf and water sliding is going on the others left here were put into three groups and taken on different excursions around the place, like 'rock wall' climbing, building a fort, or a nature walk. They've put survival in as a regular session with so many groups of kids. Mass went well, Sam A. and Stirling W. came and sang with us up front so that was fun. :-) played capture the counselor afterwards as is was nearly 10:00 so all the kids went to bed.
13th..... kids were tired and kind of on edge today just like last week. :-) Music went OK, but not great. Naomi has a pretty bad cough and she can't always sing. Praying hard for her and also for my voice since Lydia can't sing very well either. So really praying that God will make my voice hold out. Thankfully it's held out so far. :-) Played Red-Rover with lots of the kids and other counselors during the afternoon while the extra curricular things were going on. Had supper, mass and then free swim. Two girls from cabin 4 ½ were really home sick so I sat with them for a while, took them to the pool side and sat there for ½ an hour then brought them back to their cabin where they wanted to just snuggle in their sleeping bags so I left them to snuggle. :-) Snack and then bed.
14th.... music didn't go as well today, they were really pushing boundaries. The group (can't remember the #) that had been good the first two days really wrecked their chances of winning the prize with their behavior. Two of other groups were a lot better than them. It rained off and on today.... cabins were judged today as well, so that was interesting. :-) Going to try to play/sing If My Nose Was Running Money for Friday night. So I really hope that works. :-) Dance tonight..... so things were a little different, we had mass, supper and then cleaned up the mess hall somewhat. Put away all the chairs and tables. :-) I need to run, talk later. :-)
Hannah
July 31th..... what can I say? I have a very good excuse though. My computer cord disappeared.... it was there on the table in the afternoon but when I went to get it to charge my battery in the evening it was gone. So I was wasn't able to type anything about the last two weeks. After searching through all the rooms (thinking that maybe someone took my cord for a prank) and finding nothing I/we were looking through a variety of cords laying on a table that had been placed there a little time before(the last few days of week 4) and we found a cord... not mine but another computer cord, so I tried it on my computer and it works fine. We figure someone miss placed their cord and took mine home with them instead of looking for their own cord. I'm not complaining. :-) I'm just glad to have a live computer again. :-)
The two last weeks went well.... I had a good cabin both weeks. Started getting sick last day(s) of the third week and was sick with a cold the 4th week. It's cleared up pretty good. And my throat doesn't hurt anymore except in the mornings. I sound terrible, and am still coughing, but I was able to sing and take care of my cabin so I'm doing good. :-) Dad, Mom and family brought Jesse down yesterday (the last day of kids camp) and he along with Jason (who's 15) will be doing maintenance for the fiddling camp. We'll be staying here till the 23rd.... and on the 24th we have to go to Swan River for an orthodontic appointment. :-) The kids for kids fiddle camp are coming at 4:00 pm today..... they stay till Tuesday afternoon/evening and then we have two days of rest before starting the regular camp. There's only going to be 12 kids in the kids fiddling.... there were going to be around 25 but the Indian reservation at the last minute decided to pull all the native kids out so, it should be a fairly easy week. I and Naomi will just be around. Lydia will be helping teach guitar and we'll all go to sessions on how to teach music. :-) I need to go check the laundry.... I'm doing a lot of the sheets and also some towels from the MTC, and I need to get our laundry done as well.... then I'm going to take a dip in the pool. :-) I can do my back flutter and I'm working on my front flutter but it's a little harder keeping afloat. I also need to figure out how to actually “swim” :-) I'm better about my fear of water over my head, my stomach still clenches up nicely but I'm learning to relax and take deep breaths. :-) I played water Polo several times, and had lots of fun with the kids during free swims (where every one gets in the pool and chills or plays games, or talks, or swims... just generally having fun.) :-)
One last thing.... we have two support posts/ 2x6's in the music room and we allowed the kids to sign them this year. One of the kids who has ADD is a real handful during camp but he loves music and sings his heart out (he's 10, but looks about 7), everyone else seems to think that he's got little horns but we were looking over the signatures and we found that he wrote this.... “It's all about Music, Jesus and God.” WOW! :-) Even though he was pretty good in music class we hadn't realized how much he had been touched by what was being said, played and sang. If I were the crying type (LOL!) I would be sniffling right now. :-) What Mason wrote sums up everything I prayed for the whole last year, that we would overflow with music, love and be examples of God the whole way through. I know we failed in so many ways (humans do, it's not something we can cure) but I also see the lives that God has touched through us. And I say again and again Thank you Lord. :-) You'd have to know Mason (and understand what his background is... it's not pretty) to see the whole meaning and specialness of what he wrote. :-)
Okay I really have to run..... :-) Maybe sometime we'll get a chance to get to have some net time. :-) You'll be so bored reading about the last month you'll not know what to do with me. LOL! Praying for y'all. :-)
Hannah
1st.... It's hard to believe that it's August already. It poured about an hour after I typed the last post.... and then settled for raining off and on into the evening so we didn't have a campfire. I was really tired so I showered and went to bed by 10:30. Naomi and I helped in the kitchen today.... right at Dinner Naomi, Gordon, Shamma and Michelle went to play a gig at Cannington Manor. They called during supper saying that all had gone well with the music but on the way back Michelle's car blew a tire so Will had to go pick them up. During my free time from the kitchen 1:15 – 2:45 I hit the pool. Worked on my flutters and my dog paddle. :-) It was nice to have the pool to myself for a time. :-) Went back to the kitchen by 3:00 and began working on getting supper on.
I need to run now.
Hannah

Music, rain and more

2010-06-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

17th Joretta K. picked us girls up this morning a little past 9:00 to go play at the old folks home in Carlyle. It went well in-spite of the fact that we hadn't practiced the whole program in one shot before. :-) We did some town things and then she took us for dinner at A&W. We got home around 1:00 changed and went for orders from F. Banga, Naomi cleaned up a few odds and ends, vacuuming and removing leaves from the chapel, Lydia helped F. Banga building something and I put together several 'legs' for the couches, F. Banga had all the wood cut out so all I have to do was screw the plywood to the 2x6s. It poured really hard for a good 45 min. while we were working. F. Banga after we were done told us to stop for the day... stop for the day? LOL! We haven't even gotten started. But none of us complained that he wasn't working us hard. :-) We go out again tonight for a supper at the Knights of Columbus... should be interesting. :-)
Hannah
Later... ate, played music and got back. :-) It's raining again... supposed to rain 2 inches tonight. Like really really muddy out tomorrow if that happens. :-) Since we have mostly outside things to do F. Banga said that we'll have to see what it's like tomorrow before he gives out the day's schedule. We might take the morning off. :-) I need to go shower. :-)
Hannah
18th was totally lazy. :-) It rained off and on till late afternoon rolled around, and F. Banga gave us the day off. Some school kids had come for Thursday night to mid Friday and they left the bunk houses a real mess so I cleaned up those a bit before supper in-spite of the 'no work' day. :-) Adelaide and her husband Wayne (cousins of F. Banga's) are here for a couple days. They're lots of fun. :-) We watched the news about all the flooding in SK and parts of AB... rather rough going in a lot of places. Here it all runs off to the lake, so we aren't in super bad trouble, the pumps run pretty well almost constantly when it's raining though.
19th.... we worked hard. :-) Making up for taking the 18th off I guess. LOL! Naomi painted the 'boxes' for under the couches since we take all the legs off and F. Banga puts these boxes under them. The ones I screwed together afternoon of the 17th. :-) I can't remember what Lydia was doing but I swept some. parts and painted more of the floor dark gray. A place near the door for the three stoves for camp cooking, and also a square for the deep freeze. Then Lydia and I cleaned up the tables and chairs that were left. I was pounding the lid on the can of gray paint and ended up taking a patch of skin off my little finger of my right hand which promptly began bleeding,and Lydia was looking for the first aid kit in the mess hall and totally forgetting she took two steps onto the fresh paint. LOL! So there'll be a few repairs once it dries totally. :-) While I dressed my finger and swept the floor Lydia washed down some chairs. Some people showed up with an easy chair and couch and another person brought an office chair and it's foot rest so we unloaded those. Stopped for a break, Naomi went back to painting (there were 20 boxes she had to do) while Lydia and I began mopping/scrubbing the mess hall floor. We scrubbed it twice over with hot water and soap, changing the water 6-8 times a round. Then while it dried some after the second wash we cleaned up the storage room in music room #2 came back and did two rinsing go overs. Changing our water frequently. Once done with that Naomi had started cleaning the bathrooms. I ran up and checked the bathrooms at the MTC, they didn't need cleaning thankfully. And then did the floors in the bathrooms. That took a few mop buckets as well. And then we went in and worked on making supper..... very cheesy pasta. :-) It was extremely good. If I may say so myself. :-) We then moved a couch and chair out of the Kome 'n' See over to piano room #2 in exchange for a nicer set. And then Wayne and Adelaide took me into Kenosee to do our laundry. Read while it dried. :-)
20th Sunday... went to F. Banga's church. Helped lead the singing. All but two of the songs we had never heard off but we were able to practice before service so that was nice. :-) F. Banga left us at Michele and Will's place while he went to some other place for dinner, so we ate there, then while Will worked on Naomi's computer Michele called Emily K. (Who's around 14) over and we all jammed for 45 min. or so. Then we talked, looked over movies and books. F. Banga came and picked us up (can't remember the time) and we also picked up S. Lucille, on our way to Arcola for supper at Al and Lorreta H.'s place. We played some music, talked and relaxed. Ate, talked and headed for home.
21st.... painted the mess hall floor in the morning. Finishing up the last bit just before we left for Moosemin for our dental appointments. We had a few different things done than what's been done in Swan River. And they want to see us again in a month so we'll have to work that out somehow. Put the pump in the lake that evening. The mosquitoes are out with a vengeance thanks to all the rain we've had.
22nd Naomi and I painted the mess hall floor again, Lydia cleaned the eaves on the Kome 'n' See and then worked more on the mural. Afternoon I helped F. Banga screw the boxes (that I made and Naomi painted) unto the couches instead of the regular legs. That took most of the afternoon and into the evening as well. We ate at the Kome 'n' See since we weren't sure if the floor would have dried by that time. It rained that night.
23rd.... took trash to the blue bin. Helped move another couch this one from the nurses' station to Piano room #2. Naomi worked on painting the finishing black on the mural. Lydia and I loaded the hide -a- bed mattresses into John's truck. Then Lydia mopped the bunk houses and I mowed parts of the lawn. Fixed two benches... put up the curtains for the dressing stalls in the pool building. Early afternoon Lydia and I moved the chairs and tables, (with F. Banga overseeing and also helping some) setting some up for the staff and the first week of kids, then I swept the corner and painted it, also painted the other screen door. It's a little on the thin side (the paint on the screen door) but we have no more dark gray so it's as done as it can be. Oh Lydia and I also helped F. Banga clean up some things in the MTC. I also moved all the pop from F. Banga's shack to the mess hall. And that's all for now. I need to hit the hay. :-) Thanks for listening.
Hannah
24th just odds and ends today. Cleaned the filters for the pool. Not a real fun job... dead frogs, mice and shrews beside all the beetles and live frogs, it made for interesting working. :-) So many little things I don't remember them all. LOL! We had part of the afternoon off since F. Banga couldn't think of things for us to do while his mind was occupied with helping the man who was working on the pool heater. We moved some benches from the outdoor chapel to the porch of the mess hall and some more to the area around the pool. We had three ladies come for supper. They're all from Wawota... All of them worked in the kitchen here as cooks in the past years. The one lady is making curtains for the mess hall to match with the color theme, the grays and so on. :-)
25th I woke up at 2:00 am to a mosquito buzzing my head and for an hour and a half I tried to find it turning my lamp off and on, seeing it then not seeing it. Finally smashed it when it landed on my face in the dark. I wasn't too happy. :-/ So today I'm a little on the tired side. I absolutely despise having a mosquito in my room at night. (I guess at any time, night or day.) It was a hot day at Kenosee. And lots of mosquitoes as well. We try to avoid the regular repellents and in turn end up getting bit pretty well. We're hoping to get some natural bug off spray tomorrow when Peter and Gabrielle pick us up for an over night stay at their place in Regina. We'll be going to church with them, so that will be good as well. Then they'll bring us back Sunday night. Once again just odds and ends... the little things as F. Banga says. Moved the extra chairs and tables back to the corner. In the morning I put together a stand for the water spout just outside the mess hall... it's like a drink spout and had rotted away the old stand which Lydia had taken apart a couple weeks back. Any how I ended up holding the hammer wrong (typical me, I have never been able to hold it properly) so I have a decent size blister on the out edge of my right hand. Serves me right for not being able to hold the hammer right. :-) I vacuumed part of Piano room #2, and we removed the last hide-a-bed since another nicer couch is coming in a few days. Lydia rolled the cover back from the pool. Naomi vacuumed the MTC again. I had a lesson on how to run a skill saw. (I could probably cut something now... but I'd much rather have F. Banga do all the cutting. :-) I also was handed a weed eater machine and told to go run it. Never handled one, but this one was very light and easy so I cut the weeds the lawn mower couldn't get. Right now it's almost three o'clock and one of the ladies from the supper last night (actually the lady who making the curtains) is going to pick us up in a bit and take us to Wawota to their church thrift shop and also for supper with the other two ladies as well. :-) So I will close for now... I might be able to send this tomorrow but that's all iffy right now. :-)
Hannah
Okay I'm back.... We got a lot of stuff at the thrift store. Several boxes and bags. :-) Lots of books and several movies as well... besides all the clothes and other non-wear able or readable or watchable things... well I guess you could watch those other things. :-) Supper was great, we sat and talked for a few min. after we were done and then we had to come back to camp... At 7:30 we left camp for Club 19... the Kenosee golf club house/restaurant to participate in a jam. That was lots of fun. We played for almost 2 hours. :-) I love playing in a jam... when I know most of the chords of course. :-) And now we're back here... taking our turns at the shower. :-) See you later.
Hannah

More work

2010-06-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

10th so town was a success. :-) I'm sure you got the e-mail so you know what's up. Our lap-tops wouldn't connect to the net so I had to put what I had typed on my USB and use one of the library computers to send it off. We stopped by S. Lucille's place for coffee before heading home to a dinner of left overs. :-) Naomi, Lydia and I did the dishes then went up to the Mother Teresa Center and watched 2 vids... the first totally sucked. So we did a lot of fast forwarding. LOL! It wasn't 'Bad' but the acting quality made us groan. The other we really enjoyed and also learned a few things from. :-) We got to bed at 9:30... we try to keep it close to that time, if we can hit the sack before then all the better. :-)
11th This morning dawned rainy... seems that's the usual. LOL! Maybe God will send some warmth this weekend though. :-) We worked on cleaning up the mess hall some more then Lydia and I worked on taking apart the rest of the door/divider things. (by the way there were 17 total I apparently wasn't seeing properly.) Measurements.... around 8 feet tall, by 4 ft, one sheet of plywood from Dawson Creek, B.C. To be precise. :-) and one sheet of a softer board (I can't remember for the life of me what it's called... you use it for pinning thing to with thumb tacks like for a Sunday school lesson.) any how those are screwed together with 4 ft x 3 in x 5/8th in and 7 ft 4 in x 3 in x 5/8th in boards on either side of the sheets of wood around the edges. (I'm doing a lousy job explaining this.) They're quite heavy, and of course rather awkward. This afternoon F. Banga decided that it was taking Lydia and I too long with only the cordless drill so he sent over an electric one and Lydia ran that one. And with that working we finished the rest in half the time it was taking us before. Mainly because the electric drill takes the screws out ½ a time as fast as the cordless. Which Lydia was so very kind to point out. LOL! :-) Once done we were very happy... :-) and went over for more orders. :-) He had me mow in front of the bathrooms so it wouldn't look so ratty. Ever mowed in the pouring rain? :-) Well not super bad rain, misting to harder rain it shifts upon occasion so it's not really bad all the time. :-) The mower tends to not throw the grass out the side (like it's supposed to) when it's really wet, rather the grass builds up on the frame and tries to stop the blade from running. Kind of a pain but what ever, just needs cleaning from time to time. Any how it looks better now. :-) Then we did some dishes, and F. Banga told us to rest till an early supper was to be had around 4:30. And now we're being lazy... well not lazy, relaxing after our days work. :-) I'm gonna crash the banjo and get some practicing in. My hands are sore, they hurt from working with the drill in the cold and wet but I'm hoping they'll not hurt to bad playing. :-) Some girl scouts are here for the weekend... and they're tenting. I don't envy them in the least. It's supposed to warm up late Sat. and Sun. so I hope they have an okay time and not stay too cold. :-) F. Banga told us to go though the old T-shirts from the last couple years of Boys and Girls camp and pick out as many as we wanted. So we grabbed one a piece for us and some for the kids as well. They'll enjoy them when we get home. :-)
Many thanks for bearing with my ramblings and the many mistakes I make. Most of the time I type right before bed and I'm pretty knackered... :-) So take all the crazy sentences with the knowledge that I'm tired when I'm typing them and I don't get much time to correct or read through them before sending them out. Thanks. :-)
See y'all.
Hannah
12th that day was pretty lazy. We had the morning off and then when 1:30 rolled around S. Lucille came by and we girls along with her and F. Banga went to a B-day party in Wawota. Julia was turning 80 years old, she had worked several years ago at the camp in the kitchen as head cook for over 15 years. We brought our instruments along and played for 45 min. or so, just as back ground music.
13th... was really lazy. We sat around and read books, watched movies or stepped outside for a few minutes to enjoy the sun that peeped out most of the day.
14th was busy. :-) John showed up to help F. Banga get the little tractor mower running. We girls hauled out hide-a-bed mattresses and cleaned up piano room 2 again since all but 4 or 5 of the couches have been removed to be replaced with couches not so worn out. We painted parts of the mural, and I did the second coat on the green cupboard. F. Banga had forgotten to get more paint rollers so we weren't able to paint all the pool-side cabins but Lydia and Naomi were able to get one side painted with hand brushes. I mowed more lawn while they did so. When I stopped and looked at the time it was 4:20 and F. Banga hadn't returned from town (he left after our early lunch to attend a meeting) so I mixed up some things and put the herbs on the ribs and did potatoes, Naomi and Lydia came in and had a sandwich to tide them over. F. Banga arrived about half way through the cook time, so we sat. talked and relaxed waiting for supper to get done. The ribs were a little tough mainly because they were cooked a little hasty due to the fact that I wasn't watching the time and F. Banga hadn't returned to do them. But it was all okay and we were hungry. :-) While taking the mattresses out of the couches, I was putting back the springs/frame for the mattress and was pushing the couch back against the wall when the frame work bounced back for some reason and slammed into my lower lip/jaw. So it swelled up fairly big, and the inside of my lip are nice black and purple imprints of my braces. :-) So for one moment imagine what it felt like.... have some one take a 1 inch pipe and smack your lower lip/jaw area, then imagine having braces, wire brackets stopping your lip from coming against your teeth... and you get the idea of the bruising and swelling I have right now. :-) Rather interesting drinking water and eating, with a swelled, bruised lip/jaw. It's not super bad (now that I've complained enough) and I wasn't thinking it was to bad but then I hadn't seen myself in a mirror all day till this evening... LOL! I showed Naomi and Lydia the inside of my lip.... they both winced and had various ways of saying owwww. :-) So I try not to smile much because it hurts, and also take care of how my lip is positioned over my braces. It should heal up soon since the bruising is inside my mouth. :-) Any how I'm tired and need to hit the hay.... it's late... well 10:00 any way. Late for me and I need to be getting up around 7:00 tomorrow. (which by the way is not early, if I have to I can pull myself up at 6:00 but we don't need to be at the mess hall receiving orders till around 8:00 or a little past so I have some lee-way. :-) (or maybe I'm just lazy. :-)
Hannah
15th Naomi washed the windows in the mess hall while F. Banga took Lydia and I into Kenosee to pick up two couches and one love-seat, once back we unloaded them, then helped F. Banga and John with a few little things. Lydia and I cleaned up around the camp fire area. I mowed grass and Lydia pulled the weeds from under the benches. That took most of the morning. Afternoon came and Al H. brought another couch and one chair. With those out of his trailer we hauled all the canoes down to the lake side, and then Jerome (he's an older man from Kenosee) showed up with his small tractor and we loaded all the hide-a-bed couches into Al's trailer. They both left about an hour before supper. Naomi washed the outsides off all the windows at the MTC, which took her around 5 hours to do. We put away what we'd been doing and had sat down to a movie before supper. F. Banga dropped by the MTC and asked us to unload some lumber that Alvin had brought before supper. So we unloaded it and stacked it in the storage of the outdoor chapel. We all had supper, Alvin staying as well. He was caulking the cracks in the floor where they had replaced the rotten places. After supper we finished the movie. My mouth was doing okay till evening came on and then it began bothering me again, so I quieted down. :-)
16th Lydia and I unwrapped a pump down by the lake... it's sitting in a frame that chicken wire and netting had been put on, screwed and stapled. Naomi started helping F. Banga cook things since the deanery meeting is here this month. After we were done taking down the netting and wire, Lydia went back to taking apart some wood platform near the pool building and I mowed lawn again. Finished mowing, and was sent to help Lydia (who had finished taking apart and was working on painting more of the mural) and painted two 'people' a nice bright blue. :-) There's interesting colors on the mural this time around. :-) F. Banga told us to quit about 45 min. before dinner was ready and we knocked off for the day. The meal went well, there were 7 others besides S. Lucille, F. Banga and us girls, they had their own table and us girls sat in the background (which we didn't mind at all) :-) We left to brush our teeth and then came back to clean up all the dishes. :-) We practiced some music since we've been asked to play tomorrow at the old folks home. And we're going to go for supper (some people who work at the camp mostly in the kitchen) and on the way back from there F. Banga said that we'll stop by a rodeo and watch for a bit. Should be interesting. :-)
Hannah

Hey

2010-06-10T15:18:00.001-07:00

Hey y'all,
29th F. Banga gave us the day off, it rained like it had been for the past few days. And in the afternoon we were taken into town for a a bit of time at the library while F. Banga did some running errands. Back home nothing exciting happened. :-)
30th Sunday. We stayed here.... Naomi took a walk that morning and Lydia and I walked that afternoon and took some pics of little bits and pieces around us. :-)
31st, Naomi's 24th birthday. I had tried to get in contact with some friends around this area but they all were to busy or were away so F. Banga called two ladies up to come and have a surprise evening meal for N. We painted, cleaned and kept ourselves busy doing odd things that day. :-) The meal went really good. :-) Naomi had no idea we were planning anything for her so she was happily surprised. We played some music afterwards and then Naomi showed them (F. Banga and the two ladies) pictures of our horse trip and a few others of the family.
1st..... we painted, and painted, and painted... LOL! Evey time we turn around it seems there's just another door or something else that needs some paint. I think we've almost come to the end of it now though. We have another coat to put on some cupboard doors and some regular doors and then we'll be pretty much done except for the floor which will be done later this month. Tonight F. Banga is going to drop me off to do the laundry while he, Naomi and Lydia will be putting together some music books. and getting more things figured out for camp. I've been trying to practice music but the past two days I failed to practice. Hopefully I can get in a few minutes this evening in between getting the laundry done, showering and getting ready for bed. :-)
So talk to y'all later.
Hannah
2nd while Naomi and Lydia washed the windows at F. Banga's 'Shack' (Not.... it's a very beautiful little mansion... very very nice, rock and beams, I'll try to get a picture to y'all someday.) I worked on painting the second coat on cupboard doors, trim and two other sets of doors. F. Banga had gone to town earlier that morning to get a few things, when he returned he put me work painting all the tables a sunshiney yellow. :-) So I painted them for the little bit of morning left and all afternoon. Lydia helped me for partial of the afternoon once they were done with the windows (F. Banga says that his windows have NEVER been as clean in all the 6 years he's had the shack as when Naomi and Lydia cleaned them. They're pretty happy. :-) Naomi worked on the Mother Teresa Center just a little cleaning. Then F. Banga told us to rest for ½ an hour while he fixed supper for us and for Al and Loretta H. we were happy to see them again. Al brought along his fiddle so we had some music and generally enjoyed ourselves. :-) After they left we relaxed for about 45 min. and then F. Banga took us for 1 ½ hours to a wake for a native man who had died a few days before. It was definitely interesting. :-) I have to admit that I enjoyed hearing the drums and it was really incredible how they men could hold that high pitched cry/chant for so long... the talent they have. :-) Any how it was pretty neat over all. Of course your heart aches for the fact that they have no hope of salvation and you pray that they will come to the light. :-)
3rd.... we cleaned the Mother Teresa Center, moved all the beds away from the walls and vacuumed, swept and made sure it was nice and clean. Then while F. Banga went to a funeral we relaxed in the afternoon for a bit. Read and listened to music. :-)
4th F. Banga had a trip to Regina for a Dr. appointment so he told us to clean the nurses place (kitchen, bathroom, living room and three bedrooms.) also 4 or 5 ( I can't remember now) living places that hadn't been cleaned for a while. The nurses' place was pretty clean, I washed and swept, Lydia did the windows. (it was all linoleum flooring), Lydia also cleaned the windows of the other rooms. Naomi vacuumed and knocked down cobwebs. When I was done with the nurses' station I knocked the cobwebs out of two of the rooms Naomi was vacuuming and also beat 2 smaller floor rugs that didn't want to clean up with the vacuum cleaner for some reason. After an earlier lunch Naomi and I weeded F. Banga's flower beds while Lydia screwed the handles back onto the cupboard doors we painted. And then we sat and were lazy. LOL! Mid afternoon I was going for a walk when I noticed that the people renting the MTC were there so I dropped in and asked them if they needed anything and also laid a fire for them. (F. Banga had asked one of us to do so before he left for Regina) once that was done I took a short jaunt one a trail by the lake and ended up being chased out by wood ticks. I have never had so many ticks on me. Ugghh, I didn't walk very far down the trail before I opted to return for a supper of pizza and then we splurged and made ourselves ice cream floats. :-)
5th dawned a beautiful day, partly cloudy but warm. F. Banga showed up and says “hey lets all go out to the farm.” so we hurried to brush our teeth and get our instruments. It's about an hour or a little more the farm that F. Banga and his brother own. On the way there we stopped at two churches... the first was a Lutheran church that not only was close to 140 years old and in it's original shape, but the stained glass! Wow oh Wow! It was so so cool. So incredible I've never seen stained glass so well done. It was really really neat. I got lots of pictures, Naomi did as well. :-) We wandered the grave yard for 15 min. or so headed for another church which is where F. Banga's family attends and also has the grave yard that he and his family will be/are buried in. It also had some stained glass but it wasn't as well done as the Lutheran church. We got to the farm just in time for a dinner of hamburgers. :-) After doing the dishes we tromped outside for some horse working. Lydia was given an offer of an Norwegian Fjord if she wanted him so while she worked with him, Naomi and I took pictures, and petted the others. F. Banga and his brother planted some trees F. Banga had been given, when a short shower sent us inside for about ½ hour or so. While we were inside, Naomi called the family for a chat. And we learned that Dad had sold Coyote, and then Delmar (F. Banga's brother) said that since Lydia was willing to take the Norwegian Fjord that she should also take a grade bay yearling filly. Ended up Lydia said yes to both, and the arrangements were made that Dad, Mom and a few of the kids would come down and pick up the horses that afternoon since the farm was only about 2 ½ hours away from Endeavour. The rain blew over and we went out to have a wagon ride behind F. Banga's team of Norwegian Fjords. Any how we enjoyed the ride, Lydia and I were given a chance to drive the horses. We got home about the time to start supper. Dad, Mom and the kids arrived around 6:1 we loaded the horses and went to eat supper. Afterwards we played a bit of music (Ellie had come along, yes a fiddler. You have no idea how much we miss her playing. And she admitted to missing the back up as well. :-) They left, we cleaned the dishes, and left ourselves. :-) It was an interesting day to say the least. The trip to the farm wasn't planned at all nor was getting the two horses or having part of the family come down and pick them up. :-) It was a good day though. And I hope that over all God had the preeminence in what we said and did. :-)
So we'll talk to you later. :-)
Hannah
6th we went to Regina with F. Banga that Sunday.
7th... Naomi scrapped peeling paint off a mural for an hour or so. Then she joined Lydia and I painting the pool area... boys and girls change rooms as well as the life guard area in the blue building. I finished up after lunch and Naomi and Lydia painted one corner of the mess hall with dark gray. F. Banga wanted the corner done so we can move most of the tables down there and stack them out of the way. It had dried out some and I was able to get the lawn mower going, mowed a bit but then the rain rolled in and started pouring so I had to make a run for it. :-) Lydia and Naomi were vacuuming and washing the windows of Piano room #2 so I joined them for the last bit. F. Banga came home from a doctors appointment just as we were finishing up and he said that supper wouldn't be for an hour so we went and watched part of Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang and finished it after supper. :-)
8th I washed a cupboard preparing it for painting later on. Then helped put away and clean up the mess hall for a bit, before F. Banga asked me to clean up the tuck-shop. :-) It needed a good go over and that took about an hour. I ended up filling a trash can, and F. Banga gave me another Kenosee bag and two T-shirts to take home to the kids. :-) They'll enjoy them, I'm sure. I also made Jello. After that was done I went and painted the cupboard I had washed a dark green. It looks pretty nice. :-) F. Banga says we'll use it in the mess hall, near the phone I think, but I'm not sure yet till we move it. After Lunch we helped get supper prep, and then swept and moped the kitchen area and also a 12-14 foot strip of the very muddy mess hall floor near the kitchen. F. Banga told us to take a couple hours off when we were done with that, then we're going to a birthday party somewhere at 3:45, and coming home in time for supper. We're having 4 ladies over for supper, three of whom we haven't met as of yet. :-) It should be fun. I'm sure we'll have some music afterwards as well. The last few days have been really busy, making practicing hard to get in... well I suppose I could have skipped Chitty, Chitty Bang-Bang, but hey I wanted to relax not wear out my fingers. LOL! :-) So anyhow, till later. :-)
Hannah
8th only S. Lucille and one other lady came over for supper. We girls made pizza which they all enjoyed greatly. There wasn't really music just talking after supper.
9th.... Pool cleaning day. F. Banga and Al H. were hard at work when we arrived on the scene after breakfast. We scrubbed, mopped, and struggled to straighten out the pool lining for 5 hours. :-) Acid water for the mopping.... well not really mopping more scrubbing with the mop. Have you ever bent hours on end scrubbing with a mop, making sure you don't flip or splat any acid water on yourself for several hours? LOL! Our backs definitely told us that we had been working hard. :-) I think the worst part(s) were accidentally getting acid water on my skin upon occasion (burns anywhere from 5-15 minutes depending on where you get it, not fun.) and struggling to straighten out the wrinkles in the pool liner. Water has gotten underneath the liner seeping in from the ground and has created wrinkles, that seal themselves to themselves to the bottom when you're trying to move them. The suction was crazy, we pulled, pushed and groaned for a while then suddenly it started moving, and in a little while we had it straightened out as much as F. Banga wanted. It's most likely that with all our pulling and pushing on the wrinkles that we broke the suction from it being damp under the liner making it easier to move into place. :-) But we all said that the fighting with the liner was the worst. LOL! But hey it's done and we're all very glad that we were able to finish it in one day. F. Banga said that the pool cleaned up easier this year than the last several years so we're also thankful for that. :-)
10th we swept and mopped the mess hall this morning. One sweeping three times over with the mops. Soap water, rinse of plain water and then Pinesol for a last go over. All of us girls love the smell of Pinesol... :-) Then while Naomi cleaned the fans and set up tables and chairs Lydia and I sorted through the recyclable pop cans, beer bottles and water/juice plastic bottles. The water/juice bottles had the lids taken off and put into garbage sacks, beer bottles the dark brown ones set aside for recycling the others put in a garbage bag, and the pop and beer cans put through a smasher for recycling. Lydia and I were working both on the plastic bottles, me doing the glass beer bottles then F. Banga fixed the pop/beer can smasher so I ran that. What a racket... LOL! It's an homemade hulk of a thing and I was really wishing I have earmuffs it was so loud. But it's all done now, and we shouldn't have to do that till after camp again. :-) Once we were done with that F. Banga had us start taking from home made door/separation things apart. There's 8 or 10 of them and we got two done before lunch. I was handling the electric drill, Lydia helping me turn the things over and so on. We're going into Carlyle (Lord willing, if you get this then you'll know we did. :-) in about ½ an hour. So I'm not sure if we'll be doing anything after we get back or not. I hope y'all have a great day. Hey if I'm boring you then tell me to cut it out and I drop you off the e-mail. If you want info about the family at home you'll have to call them or drop by for a visit I'm sure they'd love to have you. If they've been getting as much rain as we have here then they'll need the encouragement. :-) J/K. LOL!
TTYL.
Hannah

Kenosee Boys and Girls camp

2010-05-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

26th.... so we're at camp now. We left around 7:00 am drove to Canora where Ellie had an chiropractor appointment. Her shoulder blade was raised out of place and her bicep out as well on her right arm. So she's not in to much pain now thank God for chiropractors. :-) Yorkton was banking for Lydia, us three girls being dropped off at Staples so Naomi could copy the kids songs that we will be teaching in July. Lydia and I grabbed a few things and helped her. Then we walked to Superstore, where we picked up the last neccesities for camp. Lydia and Dad went to the music store before we went to Wal-mart.... and then we were on our way. We ate just a little as F. Banga said that he was cooking dinner for us. And it was on the table when we arrived at 2:00 pm. Michele Amy was here to great us as well and we were happy to see her. :-) After eating, and unloading Dad, Mom, Ellie and Sara left for home. We talked over what needed to be done with F. Banga for a bit then set to work. Naomi and I are cleaning cupboards and washing all the dishes. (think hundreds and hundreds of dishes and you get the idea. :-) Lydia's painting the cooler, well today she only got a bit done of the primer. We have finish the hall, for those of you who know how large a room it takes to seat 130 or so people at tables you'll get the idea about cleaning up, once the dishes are done we move all the various things away from the walls and begin painting them.... So that's going to be a bit of a job. We also have to paint the floor. :-) Thankfully the ceiling was painted last year so we don't have to do that. :-) If today was a look into what we'll be doing, I'll be glad to crawl in bed by the end of each day. :-) I had no idea about getting net but.... I'll keep this going and hope to post of sometime. :-)
Hannah
27th.... today was busy. We started with breakfast at 7:45..... :-) Back in the mess hall, Lydia worked on finishing the primer in the cooler, Naomi cleaned up a range, swept and mopped most of the kitchen area. The two flat surfaced range tops had been let to rust so I was given a large rectangle thingy that I had to scrub the stove top with. I worked on those for an hour or so, then moved on to washing dishes again. All the cups and some plates before lunch, after lunch Lydia was done with the primer in the cooler and she and Naomi began helping me on the dishes, they dried and put them away while I washed as many plates again and bowls and more plates and more bowls. :-) I think I was over the sink for close to 5 hours today. And yes my back is telling. :-) I was finishing up the last 4 drainers of bowls and plates when F. Banga asked us to work on getting ready so paint. So we moved the tables, chairs, more tables and loads of other stuff away from the walls. Lydia and Naomi took turns sweeping 10-12 feet away from the walls. Then while Lydia taped over the outlets I moved the rest of the chairs and Naomi finished up the sweeping and we began painting. And painted almost the whole thing. We are so happy to have the walls almost done. We need to do some touching up and a bit of it will be ladder work (which I'm not really looking forward to, ladders always seem to 'wiggle' under me. :-) And Naomi will probably touch up the last window trims. And we'll wash and dry and put away loads more dishes tomorrow. :-) But hey we're all happy and very glad that things are moving along as quickly as they are. (I'll keep that in mind when I start complaining again. :-) Oh and by the way it's raining here.... :-)
I forgot to say yesterday... Naomi somehow forgot all her dresses at home. I have no idea how, but she somehow managed to get all the way down here without remembering them. LOL! She was getting stressed out (which she shouldn't do because it makes her really tired and that means she could get sick easier) but then she read a quote on the wall where we're staying while we were unloading saying not to worry because God is in control, and she calmed down. :-) She's wearing one of my skirts for now (And more if she can fit into them) Mom and Dad will be sending her dresses down in a couple days. It was kind of funny but a little crazy at the same time. I was reading in Matthew this morning and it says in 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. LOL! I hadn't planned on having to offer Naomi the use of some of my clothing.... but I didn't mind doing so even before I read that verse. Just thought it was neat how I read it after Naomi needing some of my clothes. :-)
Hey if y'all haven't heard the song Praise His Name, sung by Sheri Easter.... that's a good song. I got it on MP3 so if any of y'all want it I could try sending it to you. :-) TTYL.
Hannah
28th so today we went over to the mess hall and F. Banga send us back with some milk and bread (there were a few things in th Kome 'n' See fridge already) and told us to come back at 11:00 when the hall had warmed up. We ate, read and relaxed some. Then while Naomi was reading, Lydia wanted me to do something with her hair so I played around with it. While that was going on F. Banga stopped by and talked for 45 min. or so. After which we headed over to the hall and started working. Naomi and Lydia finishing up the edging and also doing the tuck shop in gray while I began painting the cooler with oil based paint for a final coating. We stopped for lunch and then went back to work leaving the dishes till after supper for washing. :-) Around 2:00 pm John (a friend of F. Banga) came over to help F. Banga cut up tables to be used for shelves for the cooler. If I had to describe John in a few words.... LOL! Would be one of the first. He has a heart of gold though and in spite of his hilarious comments and flippant tendencies.... he was so, so funny to be around. He and F. Banga were going back and forth all afternoon. And us girls almost choked at times not knowing if we should laugh or not. I could never describe him well enough but such a nice man to be around and yet he reminded me so much of Zeke in a full grown body it kept us girls in stitches. :-) We ate, washed dishes and then hopped back to our place here. F. Banga said that tomorrow we relax and in the afternoon we'll go to town. He seems pretty happy about the rate we're moving through the work so far. We have to still clean lots and lots of dishes but that will work out soon.
I showered and was relaxing on the couch (Not laying down mind you, I don't like laying down unless it's in bed sleeping) when F. Banga came over with a couple bags of pop-corn (which unfortunately we can't eat with braces) a jar of juice and playing cards with a score sheet. Lydia went and showered while Naomi, I and F. Banga played 10 rounds of Wizard. Naomi and I had never played of course so it was rough for the first few rounds. Till we got somewhat of a hold. Naomi won with some 200 points to her score. (I can't remember her complete score) I found the game to be a lot of fun once I got kind of the hang of it. Once finished and Lydia was out of the shower we all had some juice, and us girls sang 3 songs for F. Banga. :-) And now I'm tired and so I'll be off to bed in a few. It's still raining, and the water is running like crazy around here. It's supposed to snow on Sunday. LOL! June 'eh? :-) You know I think God does this just to remind us that He is always in control and never should we worry about what's going on. :-) Speaking of which thanks for the prayers. :-)
Hannah

Kenosee Boys and Girls camp

2010-05-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Leaving and getting ready

2010-05-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

24th.... well only one more day at home. :-) funny how time passes so quickly. Before we know it we'll be back home again and wondering what we should be doing for winter. :-)
21st was good... we got our teeth adjusted, Lydia got another expander this one only for her back molars since they didn't move quite enough with her original one. I got my last two brackets put on and Naomi ended up getting springs on the wires to make her teeth move apart faster. :-) After that lovely work was done we headed for shopping. Ever tried to make a decision when your mouths aches so bad you can't think straight enough to walk properly? LOL! But we managed to get mostly what we need the rest we'll have to pick up in Yorkton on our way to Kenosee. :-) So when (or if) you think of us please please pray that we will be a light for God. It's a catholic camp, yes and we'll be facing unsaved people outside of that every day. Pray that God will always make us strong to be true witnesses for him. :-) Thank you.
Dad and several of the kids headed down to Ketchen Lake Bible camp to help clean up Sat. morning, I, Naomi and Mom mixed up and cared for all the preparations for Sun. meal. :-) It began raining in the afternoon so they came home early and we ended up watching a few movies. After the little guys were in bed we watched The Patriot. Wow! That's a neat period film. I would only recommend watching it if you don't mind a lot of battle scenes. I know that Naomi will be doing a review someday on it so I wont give anything away. I enjoyed a fair bit of it but after watching about half of it I was really glad that they had a lot of breathers and humor giving you a chance to recuporate for the next battle scene. :-) Extremely well acted, Mel Gibson plays that main character.
Sunday.... Fun, laughter, good food, fellowship, windy, rainy, volley ball (I didn't play), Uno, Spoons, and good byes. And all that after 2:00 pm... LOL! We had three families from church over and Eugene from Yorkton as well. There was Pizza, Jello, Veggies, dip.... ice cream, cheese cake and sherbet for dessert. :-) The sermon was a wonderful encouragement, especially right before we leave. I've been doing some soul searching and God gave me a reminder that he not only is there but as I wait patiently for him to come he will come and take me up out of where I am. The text was Psalm 40:1-5. I'm going to miss church. :-)
That's all for now... I have no idea if I'll get net time while we're gone or not. So.... until later. I'll keep praying for you all and hope that you are blessed beyond measure while following God in this life. And if I do get net time I'll keep bothering you with what He's blessed me with. :-)
Hannah
I've had many responses back from the apology that I sent out. I thank you for your concerns and for the advise that many of you responded with. I do intend to watch my step more, reminding myself that there are other people reading my posts. Sometimes it's easy to forget that. :-) Thank you and God bless.

Shiloh selling and quotes

2010-05-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

15th.... Y2J went well. The lesson was on the10 plagues in Egypt... we're almost finished with the craft which is a wind thing (I can't remember the name. But it twirls in the wind) I think we'll be finishing it this next week. And then Y2J might be over for the summer but I'm not totally sure. Youth was out at the camp. :-) We cleaned up the riflery area for ½ hour then played soccer and moved onto one game of capture the flag. We had snack and lesson around the fire. :-) Afterwards several of the kids stood around while Brad was talking to some parents and told creepy, scary stories.... about perfectly preserved people, the wax works that aren't really wax and how the one guy found his wife fainted on the basement steps and a mountain lion below her... the lion had entered through the basement window. It was one of the better Youth nights. :-) Mosquitoes aren't super bad yet so we didn't get eaten alive. After dark they pretty much went away so sitting around the camp fire was fairly comfortable other than being a little chilly. :-) I think around 25 kids came to Youth this time... normally we have around 12-15 that attend regularly. :-)
Today the people who looked at Shiloh are supposed to be coming and picking her up... I'm really praying that they will come through. :-) I'll probably will drop by later to finish this post out. :-)
They came... :-) She was well behaved and loaded nicely, I'm so thankful that I can pay off the rest of camp now. :-)
I thought I'd drop y'all a couple quotes...

Always go to people's funerals, or they wont go to yours.
What happens when you get scared to death twice?
It said “Insert disk #3” but only 2 will fit.
Maintenance Free: When it breaks, it can't be fixed.
Why isn't there mouse flavored cat food?
Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of it.
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.
If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

TTYL.
Hannah

Just the regular....

2010-05-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

10th So, How's it goin' folks? :-) So far we're managing here... not great but not rotten either. :-) Thursday (6th) Y2J... “Uncle Harold” did the lesson. He's a ventriloquist and has a puppet named Willie... it was a good lesson about Elisha and the soldiers of Assyria who came to capture him. :-) Friday I worked with Shiloh on her feet, the people who are buying her asked if I'd work with her a bit more on her feet and trailer loading. They're planning on coming up on the 15th or so. :-) Youth that evening was in Yorkton for Raise the Roof music. It was OK, but not my favorite. We went to McDonalds afterwards for a snack.... I have a extra thick strawberry milk shake. :-) I spent the night at a family's from church since I was staying there all Sat. to baby sit/watch over 5 kids from 3 different families so the parents could go quadding. It was a pretty good day. :-) They took me home around 8:00 pm or so.
Sunday was very good as usual. :-) God shook me a few times for not trusting in Him to provide what I'm praying for. So I trying to remember that God can work miracles and that He does answer prayer, all the while I'm also trying to keep myself from doubting that He will move. :-) I'm glad I have God to lean on. :-) Eugene came over for dinner/lunch and stayed till around 8:30 pm. Grandpa and Grandma left at 4:00 am this morning. Scared me when they started the truck, they were parked right under our window. :-) It was a good visit for all of us. :-) Could you pray for their safe travel?
Tomorrow Lydia has an orthodontist appointment in Swan river.... Lord willing Naomi and I will also be going along. I need to get some things before we go to camp and Naomi needs to do a lot of net things. Hey y'all should check out her review blog.... Ponderings it's pretty cool. :-) I think more people need to visit and see a Christian view on a lot of movies and books. Yeah I know a lot of them y'all might not watch... and there's been times when Naomi's said “ugh... that one's not coming close to being on the blog” so y'all know what she says on her ratings you can trust. :-) Unless y'all don't like what/who we watch then you wont like any of them. LOL! Check it out anyways.... and I know that she'd love it if you left a comment or visited one of the ads. :-)
Lord willing the three of us girls leave for camp on May 31st.... thanks for the prayers and please keep praying for wisdom and peace as we face a new way of life for a few months. :-) Thanks.
Hannah

Greetings

2010-05-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

May 1st.... hard to believe that Ellie is soon to be 20. :-) She's quite the elegant lady.... when she wants to be. LOL! Her mischievousness is still present but not as prevalent as in her younger years. She's suffered some disappointments and that has added to her quietness in the past couple years. She's following God, and still is a great tease, she plays music very very well. :-) So if any of you know a young Christian man who would like her.... LOL! Send him on up. :-) She'd have my head if she knew I was writing this. :-) Oh and Naomi's going to 24 end of this month... and Lydia's 18 in July. So... Young guys head for SK.... Endeavour area and I'm sure we'll be able to set up a couple marriages. :-) But I must remind you to forget about me... I don't know as I'm cut out for it. But then God could work miracles (as the saying goes “And pigs can fly” (which they can... in airplanes) :-) Besides there's a few things I want to get done before I land a husband and load of crazy kids. :-) But off that.....
Ladies Time Out was last night.... it went fairly well. The evening was very enjoyable. :-) I'll try posting a few pictures later so y'all can see some of what went on. And I'm sure Naomi will be giving a much more detailed post on her blog... www.treasuriesofjoy.blogspot.com So you'll have to be content with the pictures on the family Blog. :-)
Some people came and looked at Shiloh today.... it's was rather miserable for horse looking snowing pretty good and keeping around freezing (0 C, 32 F) but Shiloh was on good behavior as usual and the girl was very pleased with her. They'll call us back later and tell us their decision. I'm hoping that she sells of course since she will finish out paying for music camp. :-)
Hope to see some young guys around soon.... “wink” :-)
Talk to y'all later.
Hannah

4th It's started to snow here again.... we've had 4-5 inches over a few days. It's melted off mostly during the day, but still we've got snow. :-) The creeks and sloughs are filling up again. And the cattle men are thankful in this area for the moisture. It was looking like it was going to be a really dry year then God sent the rain and snow. Now we're thanking God for the moisture and praying that He'll send some sun and heat soon. :-) Farmers (well I guess every one else to) are never content with what they have. :-) Human nature is hard to fight.... the spirit may be willing but the flesh is definitely weak.
5th The people who came and looked at Shiloh called today.... said that they were sending the check in the mail and would come pick her up the weekend of the 15th. Thank You Lord! I've been praying a lot that she would sell for what I was asking for her and that she would sell before we went to camp. God moves in wondrous ways does He not? :-) The money I receive from Shiloh will finish paying for music camp so the money I earn from working at the Boys and Girls camp will be put in the bank. :-) Thank the Lord for His answers to prayer. :-)
Speaking about prayer those who read this please pray for two ladies in our church. Janice Y. and Joann B. Janice just recently was diagnosed with cancer, they don't know if it's spread or how serious it is, the cancer clinic has yet to call back. So please pray for them, Janice and Clint have three daughters ages 13, 12, and 7 and this is really hard for them all. For Joann... she's had cancer before and is having some tests done again because of some complications that have come up. We're not sure that Joann is a believer so please pray that this will bring her (and her husband Tom) to God. Pray for strength and peace as these ladies face this struggle. Thank you so much. Clint, Janice and their girls are some of the nicest people and strongest people for God in the church. Pray for them please, pray for all of them. Thanks. :-)
Hannah

Greetings

2010-04-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Well folks it's been a little bit.... I can't remember what all I wrote last. :-) We went to Swan River on the 21st for our orthodontist visit. Naomi and I received heavier wires on our brackets, and different color elastics (one thing that you might be able to look forward to:-) Lydia was looked at and has an apointment on May 11th to get her braces on. She's only getting top braces. And should only have them on for 6-8 months depending on how well her teeth move.
Thursday Mom drove most of us kids into town to do our hospice service.... only problem we had was that Naomi forgot the music books. So... LOL! We improvised from memory for 45 min. of entertainment. :-) It wasn't bad, though it was the first time we had done without books.... I think we should get more into doing that, then we don't have to stand in one place we could move around (except for Naomi on the piano) while playing. :-) We've said no more hospice services till after we get home from camp so that will probably be in Sept. some time.
Friday.... I went over to Covlins for some time on the net. I'm trying to sell some extra clothing and a couple crochet baby blankets. To get them out of the way and also for extra cash, which I'm short on right now no money making lately. :-) Maybe God will open up a door for more in that area. I can only keep praying. I'd really like to work on getting my drivers license... if I can't get it now (in the next couple months) I'll Lord willing be working on it this winter. Homeschoolers can take a course in Preeceville at no cost since it's in the school system so that's what I'll try to head for. Dad and Mom said that I'll have to find my own way to get to Preeceville though. :-/ So that puts a bit of a damper on getting my license. Maybe by fall they'll have softened some(not super likely, although God has worked miracles in the past year or so regarding some of their rules/ordinances). Or maybe God will line up other rides for me. Prayer is the only thing I can do in that area. :-) Or maybe I can stay with some good friends in Regina and do the course there.... they have offered before but we couldn't take them up on it last winter, maybe this winter. :-)
Hope y'all have a great day. Thanks for the prayers. :-)
Hannah
The test for Gun class was last night (26th) they have to send the tests into Regina where they will be graded and sent back. :-) This morning Father Banga called.... with another proposition for our summer. I'll tell you more later but please send up a few prayers for us for wisdom. Thanks a lot. :-)

More for Sale things

2010-04-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all I put more things for sale on the other blog. Check 'em out. :-)
www.panhandleroughriders.blogspot.com
Hannah

Hey

2010-04-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Youth was soccer... :-) We Holter kids had never played before but with Brad, Rod, Jay and Josh around you learn very quickly. They all give suggestions even if you're not on their team. :-) A few of the many mishaps that evening... Ellie and I "sandwiched" Rod who was on the opposite team and we were all trying to kick the ball... Ellie accidentally kicked Rod extremely hard in the shin... she bruised her foot. Rod has a hard shin. LOL! :-) I was hit in the head with the ball while in defense and they didn't make a shot, then Jesse kicked the ball and it ended up hitting Brad in the eye, and it is now quite black. LOL! But the over all was a fun filled evening. We watched Louie Giglio for devotional. Every time I listen to him I find another gem that God has prepared for me to hear. :-)
Sunday I went with Brad, Carrol, Jay, Pete and Rose up to Nipawin, to the Bible College there for the graduation ceremony. It was neat to see. :-)
Hannah

Ruth... Sara

2010-04-19T13:19:00.001-07:00

Busy

2010-04-16T16:33:00.001-07:00

April 16th.... On the 14th several of us went down to Brad and Carrol's to watch the sheep shearing. Brad set aside several fleeces for me... I still have to find a way to clean them, tease them apart, card and then spin them, but for right now I'm only going to work on getting them clean. If there's rain I could just set them out on a rack of sorts and let the rain clean them but the rain we had for a couple days has left and it's nice sunny weather again. So I need to find another way to clean it. :-) So if any of you have any ideas on how to clean the wool I'd be glad for the suggestions. :-)
Thursday, Carrol picked Naomi and I up about 10:45am for a LTO meeting at the church. We figured out a lot of things, tied up most of the loose ends, looked at clothes, hats and accessories. :-) Then the three of us stayed in till Y2J. While Y2J was going on Naomi, Trisha and I washed the 150 glasses for the LTO. We'll be using them for the floats and also for the favors. You'll love them if you're intending to come. :-) If you want a ticket you can e-mail us and we can get you one or two or what ever you want.... But we have to have them bought by April 26th . So let us know or call Carrol to reserve for you... you can e-mail Naomi or I and get her phone # or call us (which would be more reliable since we don't get net very often) and those who could come I'm sure know our phone #. :-) The Tickets are $8.00 per person. The time 7:30 pm at the Endeavour gym. The date April 30th . (you can always ask for directions to. :-)
Gun class is over for this week.... Wednesday we had gun handling night, teamed up into teams of two and went through all the different kinds of rifles, shotguns, muzzle loaders... going through a fence with your partner and then alone, and going through all the different shooting positions. It was fun to have a hands on night. :-) The test is going to be on the 26th... (at least they are hoping that works) those of us who are going to take the federal test (so we can apply for our PAL, Possession and Acquisition License) will be going to the teachers place on Thursday night (there's no regular class that night) and take more rifle handling and some other things to ready us for the federal test. Then on Monday we'll take the federal test right after the regular course test.
This post is long... things have been happening this week. :-) One more before I close. :-)
Dad called the church Thursday and asked us if it's be OK to do ½ hour of music at the trade show in Preeceville today.... we said “yeah” so we're set up for 4:00 pm today. We're going in early so we can do any shopping that we need to do, banking and net time. We're doing a few hymns, three kids songs, and lots of fiddle tunes. I think we have a little over ½ hour of music, but it always goes a little faster on stage. So we should come out fine. :-)
Y'all have a great day. Been praying for you. :-)
Hannah

Pictures

2010-04-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

God versus Humans

2010-04-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork that men must turn one way of another on facing Christ in me.” Jim Elliot
It's an interesting quote, and yet how we should wish it for our own lives. There was once a German doctor who had been in Hitler's Youth and army who said while speaking to a British church, “I am concerned with the casual quality of the faith of youth. You do not give to Christ anything like the devotion which German youth once gave to Hitler.” How can it be that we can “worship” a human and yet we refuse to give to God the ruler and creator of the world a second thought. As humans we fail so miserably... why should any one want to follow us and yet we make that mistake every day, we allow our thoughts to be more on our fellow humans than on God. We look up to them and not to God, we let them govern our emotions, they plan our lives, they en-bond us and because we're afraid to follow God for fear that people will think us “weird” or “crazy” we cover the voice that tells us that all is not right and keep stumbling though life. How I wish that more of us would lift our heads above the ground and off other people and into the sky, look up to the Savior and you'll find that your feet will move to higher ground. No, not everything is perfect but you will have God beside you (or carrying you), the peace and joy no one can take away. Yes you will get in the dumps, but think of what God has done for you and your heart will be lifted again. “Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord. Our God you reign forever, Our hope, our strong deliverer. You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God, You do not faint, you wont grow weary, you're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, you lift us up on wings like eagles.” (Not sure who wrote this song I think it was Chris Tomlin though) Keep your eyes on God... and remind me if I tend to fall by the way side, don't be afraid to slap me and pull me back to the high ground, I know I fall all to often when I take my eyes off the light. Thanks for the prayers. :-)
Hannah

The Wonders of Your Cross

2010-04-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

Nothing quite ranks with this song....

The Wonder Of Your Cross
The wonder of Your cross shall be our meditation
To gather in that shadow when the sun went down
To weep with those who though that You were leaving
You were leaving Jesus
The humble Kind Who never wore an earthly crown

To steal away at night when the took down Your body
With love and tears to leave You in a borrowed grave
To go with Mary to the place they laid You
Where they laid You Jesus
And in the morning find the stone was rolled away

The cross O the wonderful cross
What glory what victory I've found
I'll come to the wonderful cross
And my whole life I lay down

Were Heaven's praises silent in those hours of darkness
Your Holy Spirit brooding 'round that empty throne
Until the declaration He is risen
You are risen Jesus
He is not dead behold He lives forevermore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShxaHauPmAA

God of Comfort

2010-04-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
It's wonderful how God is a God of comfort... and yet we must not lose the real picture. God is a God of comfort and because we as Christians are comforted by Him we need to go out and comfort as many people as we can. Spreading God's love and peace in this world as we live our lives.
This past little bit has been the Easter week/end and so on. We need to remember that the real reason we can celebrate is only because Jesus raised from the Dead! There would be no rejoicing in anyones heart is He had not risen. There's a song that Robin Mark (a praise song writer and singer) sings called No One Like You Lord....

No One Like You Lord
You are the stone that the builders rejected
A rock of refuge where my pride is broken
A sure foundation when the sand is sinking
Where we are built upon like living stones

There is no one else like You
There is no one like You Lord
There is no one else like You
Son of man and Son of God
Son of man and Son of God

When from the cross You to the depths descended
The hosts of hell conspired to make You captive
But every chain of sin and death You've broken
And triumphed over by Your mighty power

I want to run the race You've set before me
Even to share in the suffering of the cross
That I might gain the prize for which You called me
To be with You Son of Man and Son of God
To be with You Son of Man and Son of God

Then from the earth You to the heights ascended
Where You are seated at Your Father's right hand
Forever pleading for the souls You've captured
Forever watching as You call us home

Son of Man and Son of God
Song of Man and Son of God

A strong reminder that God is unfathomable and no one can come close to matching Him. We love and follow a wonderful Savior who will never leave us even in the deepest valleys or the narrowest openings. He is and will always be with us who are Christians! Thank you Lord!!!
Hannah

For Sale

2010-03-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all...
I'm putting some things for sale on our other Blog.... www.panhandleroughriders.blogspot.com we left off the "The". Don't ask me who or why. :-)
Any how check it out.
Hannah

Braces and colds

2010-03-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

March 23rd..... we're on our way to get braces and some fillings... Namely Mom, Naomi, Lydia, Ezekiel and myself. :-) We've been working on getting over our colds... most of us are doing OK. Naomi still has a rotten cough, Ruth and Martha are taking naps every so often, but they seem to be on the mend. The rest of the kids have coughs and general getting over illness feelings. Thanks for the prayers. :-)
Ellie and Lydia played offertory last Sunday, they chose to do a medley for Canon in D and As The Deer... Ellie played Mandolin and Lydia guitar. Every one enjoyed it.... :-)
I didn't go to Youth on Friday, in stead went to a Ladies evening... Supper and then watched a Christian comedian movie. The gal was from Georgia... I believe her name was Anita Renfroe. She was good, clean and funny, yet you had a time to think and understand God as well. :-) She sang a couple songs as well... They were more along the lines of 21st century southern gospel. Some drums and electric guitar. They were OK, but..... :-)
5 of us kids are getting our hunters safety course in April... we have to fill out a form or two before we can start. And go over a book of rules and so on. I'm not sure when exactly the classes are, but I think it's early April. And I think we'll be wanting to take the PAL class as well, which would allow us to buy and/or sell firearms. I'm not sure how much it will all cost.
See y'all.
Hannah

Colds

2010-03-17T14:18:00.001-07:00

March 16th..... So how's it been going for y'all? Most of us here are down with colds.... Ruth has been battling a fever and a pretty bad cough for the past several days and Naomi has had a hard time talking at all.... So once again I ask prayer for our healing. We seem to not be able to throw this cold out the window, by the time half the family is well the other half is sick and around we go again. I had thought that I would miss this one since it's taken me a good three weeks to feel any effects... but I've found a slight sore throat and a runny nose are my companions now. :-( We've canceled our singing at the Hospice on the 19th... we simply can't make it. Mom says she thinks the main reason we get sick so often is because we're living in tight quarters and also that we can't seem to keep ourselves in vitamins due to the fact that cash is short around here. I noticed that when I was on certain herbs (I had bought them in powdered form and made capsules from them) that if I did get sick it was a very light touch and I was over in a day or two... so I'm hoping to be able to order the herbs from the states and get back into taking them. (I haven't found a Canadian supplier) I don't like having to be dependent on taking herbs/vitamins to stay healthy but if it does the trick then I'll do what I have to do. :-) Maybe someday my immune system will be strong enough to handle illness without catching it. :-) As for the tight quarters theory I know that that is a huge problem.... in our house in MT I rarely got sick, Naomi, Ellie and maybe Dad would get sick but the rest of us didn't usually get anything but the flu when it was going around.... probably due to the fact that the house was quite large and we had enough space to go around. Here in SK we've always had small houses and we noticed the increased illness immediately... So what can I do?!? Pray that God will make the house bigger or pray that He'll send some young men along to help out some of the older girls? :-) Or as Martha says.... “You know if God killed off some of the family we'd not get sick as much.” LOL! She can think of the silliest things when she's tired. :-) But I'll stop complaining now.... I'm glad we have a roof over our heads, and in-spite of the trouble a large family can cause I'm thankful for all of us. :-)
Till next time.
Hannah

Devotional

2010-03-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

I was reading my devotional and it was talking about the verse in Hebrews: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.... “Faith is like dropping a letter into a mail box. Faith, with assurance, drops its letter and lets it go. Distrust on the other hand holds on to a corner of the letter and wonders why the answer never comes.” That hits pretty good, I've been faulty of that a lot, not having faith in God to answer my needs, I hold onto the corner and worry about it. I need to trust and let God take care of the problem, He will show me what to do, how to do and when to do, but I need to let go of my worry and distrust and let Him take the lead. :-) I've been worried about several things this past year and the last several weeks have been getting down to the grit in my patience, thank God for the reminder to keep trusting Him and the reminder that He sees all and will open or close every door that He sees fit to. :-) My God is a wonderful God! :-) I need to simply trust my pains, worries, hopes and ideas to Him, He will answer if I let the “letter” go. :-)
Hannah

Prayer requests

2010-03-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

Prayer request....
Y'all probably remember me talking about the Mennonites that Dad, Ellie and Lydia stayed with while they were looking at land in MB before they looked at SK.... any how the one young family they stayed with lost their little boy in Feb. also the other family lost their elderly father as well. Please pray for them in their time of pain. They are very nice and good people, and the pain has to be so much losing a loved one. Please pray that God will help heal the emptiness that the deaths have created for them. Thank you.
Hannah

Hey

2010-03-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

March 6th.... Lydia has her expander in as of the 3rd.... she's doing well, though it can be hard to understand her at times. :-) I'm pretty much over all the pain. :-)
Nothing really exciting has been happening here. It's been around the freezing (32 f) and above during the day the past few days. And the sun is shining so we've been trying to get outside more. It feels good to not have to wear gloves or a hat when walking. March is coming in like a lamb... but I'm sure we'll have at least one (if not more) storms before the winter is over. :-) It always seems to warm up nicely and then gives a couple last kicks to make sure we remember to be thankful for the spring, summer and fall months. :-) We're waiting on some money before we can buy the garden seeds, this year we hope to get the garden in a little earlier than last year, but we'll have to see how the weather turns out. :-)
Watched a few films this past week... Batman Begins is a clean film about Batman... it's could be under the name of 'horror' for frightening images.... Steven Speilberg does the directing on it. (he directed the Indiana Jones films).... and if you like teaching/school films I would recommend you looking into seeing The Emperor's Club it's a movie that will make you think seriously. For a non-Christian production it has a lot of lessons that are valuable in the Christian life. Though it is rated higher because of a couple shots with women the film is very good and teaches if you are willing to hear. :-) I also read The Door Within Trilogy and I would love to see those in film... it's a neat set of books. If you like reading about fantasy/ allegories then you'd enjoy the trilogy. If not then steer away from them, since they have a lot in them. :-) I enjoy reading that sort of book occasionally to mix with down to earth books that take very little imagination. :-)
Talk to you later.
Hannah

March 7th.... There's a very wonderful passage in John where Jesus is praying for his disciples....
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:20-26

It's amazing to read.... think deeply. God prays not only for his disciples “but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” that is so wonderful! It's just another reminder that God is praying and interceding for us, that he will never let us go. Once we are saved we are One with Jesus and the Father! Thank you Lord for the wonderful grace that you've given us!!! Hallelujah! :-)
It gets to me to read and know these wonderful and powerful truths. Thank you Lord! :-)
Hannah
Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out.--Tillotson.

Braces

2010-02-26T12:20:00.001-08:00

Feb. 24th.... Today is Dad's 48th birthday. We had Au Grauten potatoes and hamburgers with cheese slices on them... and his traditional cheese cake as well.
Lydia had a form made for her expander and a couple rubber bands put in so when she goes in on March 2nd to get the expander put in her teeth will have spread enough to get the wire in-between them. I had two teeth pulled and my upper set of braces put on. Right now it's achy but not sharp pain unless I clamp my mouth shut. I have to swish saline solution in my mouth at least 10 times a day... for a few days and then I can ease to 5 or 6 times a day for a week then 3 times a day for another week. I can't chew any food right now... so it has to be all soft enough for me to either mush or break apart with my tongue. :-) This morning we were doing music practice and I was concentrating and ended up clenching my teeth together... owwww. Not good. :-/ Right now I'm holding off on taking Advil since I don't really care for having pain killer but it's kind of digging in so I'll probably have to take more late in the afternoon. :-) Next month I should be getting two more teeth pulled on my lower jaw and that set of braces put on. I am so very very thankful that God has seen fit to allow me to get braces. I've wanted and prayed for them for several years, so thankful that it could happen now. :-) Next on the list of prayer would be to marry some of my sisters off and being able to make a steady income. :-) And a lot of other things but those two would be the most prevalent. :-) So... would you join me in my thanksgiving and as a side note ask for spouses for my siblings and a job/income that I can count on. :-) Thanks....
Hannah
P.S. The first day is always good... yesterday (26th) and this morning, the pain is pretty bad. Mostly where my teeth were pulled, and the Advil doesn't cut out all the pain. So I'm not feeling the greatest right now. The only thing I'm kind of worried about is that it's worse when I talk and we have to do our music program at the hospice this afternoon. I'm really praying that I can sing, since I have several solos, besides the fact that Naomi and I are the only ones singing, except when the kids come up. If you're around to read this at 3:30 pm our time then please pray that I'll be able to sing and that the music will bless those we are singing to. Thank you. :-)

Quotes

2010-02-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd drop you a few quotes to help out in your day. :-)

Relationships come and go but chocolate is forever!

Little Jackie didn't bother to look out for worms in the apples. He thought he'd let the worms look out for themselves.

I'm not over weight,
I'm glad to report,
According to the charts,
I'm just 3 inches short.

A foot is a great device for finding furniture in the dark.

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.

Hey could you pray for Cilla... she's been having stomach cramps for the past several days and been in a lot of pain. Thanks. :-) Sara is doing better... her leg doesn't cause her to much pain anymore, and her fever is clearing up thanks to the anti-biotics that were prescribed by the doctor in Kelvington. Thank you for the prayers for her. :-)
Hannah

B-day, movies...

2010-02-13T17:03:00.001-08:00

Feb. 10th 2010
Well what's up folks? Zeke is now 11... as of yesterday. Amazing how fast kids grow. I feel like I haven't moved in anything since I was 15/16. Kind of a dead feeling if y'all know what I mean. :-)
Dad's moved to movies every night again... we kept the Thursday only nights for 8 months I believe. :-) Oh well, in this family you really don't know what's going to happen when it comes to rules or preferences. :-) The kids are watching one of the Christie movies right now. I watched them when we were in ID but can't way that they impressed me very much. Not my type I guess. :-) If y'all are gonna watch a horse movie make Hidalgo one of your first hits. That's a good movie, and is most definite to be a classic for all that see it.... well probably not all. :-) Peter and Gabrielle bought it for us. Thanks so much y'all. :-)
The Talent show went fine. The kids song was really good (I saw the Light) but Fraelic didn't turn out as well. Ellie was really nervous, Naomi lost her music... and so on. But no one else seemed to catch on that it didn't turn out like it was supposed to. :-)
Not a whole lot going on here.... been walking some, took Millie and Shiloh for a walk yesterday. They seemed to enjoy it. :-)
Hannah

Everyday things

2010-02-05T15:44:00.001-08:00

Feb. 1st Hey,
Youth was game night... couple games were going on. I landed with the Risk players as a partner to Lindsay Y. we were neatly quashed off the board after 7 or 8 rounds. :-) I'd like to play again this time on my own to see how it's like. Rod T. did the devotional, talking about how we need to use what ever we've been given or what we do (singing, sports, speaking, horses...ect.) to glorify God not ourselves.
Saturday morning Dad, Mom, Sara and Zeke left early for Swan River Dentistry to have Mom's root canal permanently filled and Zeke has a tooth that's been bothering him. He'll be going in again tomorrow (2nd) to get it filled and then later to get another cavity filled.
Peter and Gabrielle came over in the morning while Dad and Mom were still gone, they stayed till they came back, ate some lunch and we told them of the potluck benefit supper for Brett and Christine S. who's shop burned down so they came to that as well.
5:00 pm we left for the Okla community hall with some food in tow for the supper, we were among the first to arrive since we hadn't been sure how long it would take us to get there. We talked/listened some of us kids went out and played frisbee and some tag in the freezzzzzzzing cold (I was really wishing I had brought a ear warmer along, my ears were complaining) then came in and did more talking/listening till we headed home around 8:30 or so.
Sunday we were two or three minutes late to Sunday school so Brad teased us a couple times since we usually get to church before they do. :-) Sunday school was on praying for unsaved or struggling friends. And how God sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us and give us the power to overcome the trials, and the power to pray for others and face friends who want to lead us wrong or discourage us in our walk with God. The sermon was the first in a series on the Holy Spirit, Brad barely scratched the top (it was really good) so I'm looking forward to hearing more in depth in the next several weeks. :-)
See ya.
Hannah

5th..... Naomi and I went to a LTO (Ladies Time Out) meeting this morning. The date is set for April 30th... it's a 1950's theme. Not sure who's going to be doing the speaking, but Brad and Carrol's eldest daughter (who's been married almost two years) will be doing the singing. The special feature will be a sing-along and fashion show combination. Sounds neat all coming together. :-)
Zeke had his first filling done on the 2nd... Dad allowed Zeke, Cilla and Uriah to go to Y2J this week since it was only skating and lunch. I'll keep praying that he'll allow them to attend Y2J all the time. Well... when they aren't sick. :-)
We're participating in the talent show for the Musher's Rendezvous this evening. It should be interesting. We didn't realize it was a talent show till about a week ago, we had been asked to do two songs but there might be places you can 'vote' for your favorite contestant. :-) A new experience.
We have around 2 ½ feet of snow here... some times it's deeper in drifts and so on. We got another few inches the past couple days and it's been spitting snow all day today, so tonight we'll probably get some more. There's only been one week of -40 this year so far, we've landed in the -30s and so one but the past few days it's been ranging around 0 f. We don't have to light the wood stove in the living room very often, unless we want to do some more cooking. :-)
I have a prayer request for a neighbor and part of our church family. She's had breast cancer before and several ladies in her family have died from it, the doctors have found that it's back and things aren't looking very promising for curing her of it this time. Please pray for her and her husband, for strength and for grace and courage. Tom and Joann B. Thanks so much. Oh and please pray that we around the can be a blessing and an encouragement to them. Help us to be strong for them. Thank you.
Hannah

Still being sick

2010-01-27T09:27:00.000-08:00

Friday Jan. 22nd Being sick is getting old again. :-) For some reason we aren't dropping this, one person gets somewhat well and others get sicker, then the person who was OK goes down again and on we go. :-/ Naomi's not doing very well, her eyes got very blood shot and with her coughing she strained her eyes and her right eye burst a blood vessel behind the eye lid so it's looks pretty bad. She doesn't want to go to the doctor, and I'm not sure that they can do anything more than we're doing right now. She's taking lots of vitamins and different lung things hoping that she doesn't go into pneumonia again. It's been said that pneumonia doesn't ever go away... I really wish there was a way I could help her get better but right now all I can do is pray and hope God will start healing her. ;-) The rest of us are in various stages of being sick or getting better. Cilla isn't coughing quite as much which is nice though sometimes she just stands there and coughs without trying to stop herself. She's only 8 so that can be expected I guess. :-) I believe one of the main reasons we get sick is the fact that our family is almost always stressed about something. Something doesn't go right and it gets blown to kingdom come and with it anyone who stands in the way. :-[ I don't know how much we can help it, but someday I'd really love to be able to see how if other families react the way we kids have been raised to react. :-) Highly unlikely that I'll ever get a chance to see another family up-close though. :-) Most people are very good actors for a long long time even after you could call them friends.... things hidden come to light years into your friendship that you had no idea about. :-) But enough on us....
Youth is supposed to be in Hyas tonight. Brad, Carrol and Jay are going out of town so someone else is picking us up. We've been instructed to bring our skates.... I love skating in-spite of my tendency to take spills while on them. :-) I think my knees love the ice a lot more than my skates do. :-) It could be the fact that I didn't start skating till I was 16 and wasn't able to go skating very often then since winter comes early in SK, and we had to clear the slough to go skating in Melville. In Bonners Ferry we never went skating so being out of practice is probably my main problem. :-)
TTYL.... :-)
Hannah
P.S. Youth went well, there were a couple new kids who came. We skated then some went sledding down a short hill near the house, afterwards we went to the church for a lunch and the bible lesson. :-) We got home around 12:30 am.... :-) Naomi is feeling much better... she's not coughing as much and her eyes have cleared up a lot .

Church and Youth

2010-01-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

Sun. Jan. 17th ….Howdy Folks :-)
We've still a few people in the house who feel on the ill side but over half of us were feeling well enough to go to church this morning. We had Tom and Debbie T. over for dinner, they couldn't stay very long into the afternoon as they had chores that needed doing. We had a turkey dinner and peach pie for dessert.
Ellie, Jesse, Martha and I went to Youth on Friday. We skated at the rink in town for around an hour.... I only fell a couple times. :-) Martha had been feeling bad due to some stomach cramps (she sometimes gets for no apparent reason) and I had been intending to walk down to the store to get her some pain killer but a gentleman there had some and gave her a couple to take. :-) She felt well enough to continue skating after a little bit. We had a lunch at the church afterwards and then watched Loui Giglio (I think that's the way you spell his name) on how great the heavens are and how God always has us in his hand and nothing can ever take us out of that. It was really neat, and I learned a lot of things I didn't know before about different stars and so on.
This mornings Youth Sunday school Brad talked about the fact that we need to be examples to the unsaved kids who come to our Youth nights. Several kids who have been coming the past several Youth nights are not saved and have no knowledge of the Bible or God and we as Christians need to be examples of Christ living in us. Reminds me that I need to try to talk to other kids, I have a hard time coming out of my shell to talk to others... besides the fact that I look different from them so they are a little spooked about talking to myself or my siblings about anything. :-) Being 'weird' comes with that price though, I just need to swallow my own nervousness and forget about the fact that I'm different. :-) Something that I've found hard to do. I'm sure God will open doors (or windows) so I can be a help at some time. :-)
Y'all have a great day.
Hannah

Colds and teeth

2010-01-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hi y'all,
Hope y'all are enjoying the new year. :-) We've been doing OK here, though most of us are sick with colds. I was doing well but apparently I wasn't ever it far enough. Going to the hospice (which went well by the way) staying up till past midnight for Youth that night then going to the hospice again on Sunday to help with the service.... add going to Swan river to get the forms done for braces and a fair bit of stress thrown in and I'm sick again. LOL! I really sound like I'm complaining don't I?!? Suffice to say I'm hoping and praying that I can go to Youth on Friday evening. I don't like missing church, Youth or Y2J... maybe it's because I've had to miss out on those things a lot in the past several years. I have to admit to loving being able to fellowship with Christians outside my family. :-)
Mom had a root canal and an infected tooth pulled, she needs another root canal as well but I'm not sure when that will happen. Naomi and I need braces on both top and bottom Lydia needs an expander and then only braces on her top. Naomi and I have to get teeth pulled to make room for the others to move, Naomi one and I need 4 pulled. :-/ I'm thankful that God is allowing us to get braces. I think I'll be getting my top braces near the end of Feb and Lydia will be getting a form of some sort for her expander, then in March I'll be getting the bottom set, Naomi will be getting both sets and Lydia will get her expander that she has to wear for three months. :-) Please pray that all goes well and also that Mom can get her other root canal done soon. :-) Thanks
Hannah

Lots of Posts

2010-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Wed. Dec. 23rd Afternoon. :-) It's been snowing here steady since this morning. But it's not that cold, hanging around -8 C or +7 f. And no wind to speak of. :-)
Last night we went to the Youth Banquet at 6:30 pm...we went caroling for 45 min. or so before we ate. Afterwards we spread around the church talked to different people then Brad read the story of Christ's birth from Luke and afterwards we talked some more then people started leaving. We got home around 9:45. It was interesting being there. There were a few kids who don't usually come to Youth and they hadn't come for the fellowship or being with friends..... unfortunately. :-( So it ended up not being as good as most Youth evenings. I just hope that those of us who are Christians were an example an not a stumbling block to them. :-)
Dad, Mom, Sara, Lydia and Jesse went to Yorkton yesterday as well. Dad needed to pick up some different gears from the Sawmill and Mom needed to do shopping. Jesse bought himself a bow, I think it's a Mathew's but I'm not positive he's pretty happy with it. :-) Lydia picked up some new pillows and a set of sheets since hers' are wearing thin.
So there's nothing really exciting happening here. :-) Kind of boring right now, but that could always change.
Hannah

29th..... Martha's birthday went well... she received books, coffee and a mug along with a chocolate bar, Dad and Mom ordered her a set of sheets that have a wild horse theme and those should be coming soon. :-)
It's been hanging around 0 f, little above during the day. Yesterday was really nice out, sunny and barely any wind. I walked down to the main grid road, Lydia and Martha had taken couple horses out for a short ride and I met them coming back.
We seemed to have come in contact with a cold.... Cilla spends a lot of her time coughing at night. I have a slight sore throat and my ears hurt a little, hopefully I can get over it be Sunday since we want to do some special music. We're signed up for another show at the Hospice on the 8th of Jan. so we'll be practicing that soon. With the colds we aren't feeling to energetic to be playing or singing. :-)
Dad was able to get the gear box back together for the sawmill and he's done some cutting in the past couple days. I don't know how much work he's been doing on the bunk house, but it sounds like it wont be done till summer or next fall, depending on how much priority he puts on it. :-)
Peter and Gabrielle came up for Sunday and they came to our place for Dinner and stayed till 7:00 or so. Gabrielle is doing fairly good. She couldn't laugh much and by the time they were heading out she was looking really tired. I hope we didn't wear her out to badly. There's always so much going on around here that it's hard not to get tired even if you're not having to heal from surgery a couple weeks back. Thanks for the prayers for her. I know she appreciates them. :-)
Happy New Years.
Hannah

Dec. 4th.... Naomi's and mine special song was good. We made a couple people sniffle and lots of people thanked us for singing something so touching. :-) I love being able to touch peoples hearts through song. I can't witness or encourage very well by just talking, for some reason I'm always sticking my foot in my mouth, but in gospel song I can sing without wondering if I'm going to be making many mistakes or tripping someone up. :-)
The kids are still fighting their colds so it's just gonna be us 4 older girls playing and singing. Naomi says we're not going to do a set program like we usually do, instead just pick songs from a hymn book and we'll play a few fiddle tunes and waltzes so they can dance if they want to. :-) So it should be a more relaxed show this time. :-)
The weather's been fluctuating some, it was colder (-30 f) for a couple days last week and then it blow in some warmer weather for a day of snow and lots of wind from the south. Now it's above 0 f today. :-)
Have y'all ever heard of Blue Highway? A friend of mine gave me their gospel CD for a birthday present one year. I really like this song that one of them wrote called... I'm Asking You. Hope you enjoy. :-)
Talk to y'all later.
Hannah

Dec. 7th..... well more have fallen sick. Everyone but Naomi and Myself are to sick to sing at the hospice tomorrow. So guess who's going to be doing a duet? :-) I'm sure we'll get through somehow. I'm having to start out a few songs on the banjo.... I wish that Naomi had waited to give me that assignment till I actually knew how to start out a song. :-) Right now all I can do is hit a few chords and away we go. LOL! My vamping is getting better but I'm still doing my open G in-stead of the vamping position. I'm sure it'll come in time. :-)
It's back to cold weather again. We have several things set up for the wood stove in the living-room... Dad used a side of an old combine hopper for the back drop metal and he cut the end off our rain barrel and beat the the metal flat so it fit under (and in front of) the stove. Not classy, but it should work. He's intending to pick up the stove pipe tomorrow and then we'll be putting it all together and hopefully have more warmth in the house. :-)
Naomi, Lydia and I are taking up Mr. (Father) Banga on his request that some of us help do music at the Boys and Girls camp for the month of July this year. We will be paid some for it and that will help us with paying for music camp. Dad will bring us down there at the beginning of July and we'll stay down there till music camp is over. Almost 2 months of being away from home. It will be a good experience for us and for our family to get used to not having all of us older girls around. The younger kids will have to take on some of the chores that we were doing at their age.... like weeding the garden. :-) But Mom has encouraged us to go since she wants to work on the kids and not have so many older kids around. :-)
Oh and a wonderful answer to prayer we found a orthodontist so Naomi, Lydia and myself can get braces at about half the price we could have gotten them in the US. Dad and Mom weren't really hip on us getting braces before now, even when we were living in Melville but they've decided to let us get braces and they also are going to help pay for them! You will have to imagine our thankfulness that we are allowed to get braces and an added blessing on top that our parents are willing to help us pay for them, besides taking the time to drive us to the orthodontist. :-) God does move in mysterious ways. :-)
Hopefully I can post this tomorrow..... :-) Sorry it's been a bit long since I've had a chance to post, somethings went wrong and we didn't have the gas to drive over the neighbors to do any net things. :-)
Hannah

Prayer requests

2009-12-19T17:13:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-16T10:00:00.001-08:00

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

Sara

2009-12-16T09:58:00.001-08:00

Town, Candy recipe

2009-12-16T09:57:00.002-08:00

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

2009-12-16T09:57:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-04T17:04:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-28T14:39:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-28T14:38:00.002-08:00

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

2009-11-28T14:38:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T06:41:00.002-08:00

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

2009-11-19T06:41:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-05T10:40:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-11-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

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..

2009-10-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-10-06T15:06:00.001-07:00

Hannah

More... computer

2009-10-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-29T16:03:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-19T10:31:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T17:47:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-13T11:00:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

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....

2009-09-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

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

pics

2009-08-28T14:44:00.001-07:00

Kim de Laforest and Shamma Sabir
John Arcand
Gordon Stobbe

more pics

2009-08-28T14:35:00.003-07:00

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

2009-08-28T14:29:00.001-07:00

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

Poem

2009-08-28T14:21:00.003-07:00

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

2009-08-28T14:21:00.001-07:00