As It Was In The Days of Noah

As Hurricane Katia tossed its' windy mane off the eastern coast, Pennsylvania's rivers and creeks swelled with the heavy rains and roared wildly through our little towns.Larger cities along the Sussquehanna River were flooded,in some cases covering first floors of homes and stores.A friend of mine had flooding up to the roof of her newly renovated home.Below is a picture of the aftermath where the overflowing creek pried up the macadam roadbed in Muncy Valley  and swept it away.

What caused this stream to suddenly overflow within minutes into neighboring backyards? Usually, in the past,it never overflowed beyond the road or driveways.

Uprooted trees and branches were first washed downstream and blocked a creek tunnel that ran under the highway.  Once that happened, violent alternative pathways raged into the neighborhood yards tearing away oil tanks afixed to houses,propane tanks,cords of wood,yard decorations, old cars,sections of people's porches and uprooting more .Some of these trees impaled the covered bridge in Sonestown. Scariest was uncut firewood which appeared to be telephone poles flying downstream.

Years ago I found this scary picture of misplaced debris  during a heavy rainstorm.You just never know what's going to slide down these mountains in bad weather (:<

A Summer Day's Ride

Summer is not over yet,at least not until the end of the month.I love driving along gravel roads where the corn is green and the sky is a deep bright blue . A rich blue where cirrus clouds  travel in armadas above ,as a naval fleet travels below . You never know what you'll run into as you come to a crest and a turn .The sight can be breath taking or it can be a junkyard with loose churlish barking dogs gnawing at your tires.No junkyard here.This sight goes on for miles .There are no buildings or highways in the view.I like that. In a few weeks, especially the second week of October,all this will be completely repainted in brilliant autumn colors.

I continued driving down this road  searching for a 'goat rescue' farm.So,up the road, around the corner and down the hill to a 'Y' in the road."Let's take a left", I said to my son who was driving.  "You mean the road with the 'KEEP OUT !! 'sign nailed on that tree?" he answered. "Yes. That's a hillbilly welcome sign meaning,"Ya'll c'mon in" .They jes' foolin',.I said. So I searched for goats among the pasturing animals as we drove downhill  on the narrow driveway .As we approached the blue house trailer I noticed a HUGE bull with an enormous forehead  that projected like an overhead anvil.  Curved horns protruded with alarming length and were navigating in our direction. He wanted no part of our visit.He scowled and snorted.He pawed at the ground and let out a deep gutteral growl. No moo's for him.I waited in my husband's spanking new truck for the householder to emerge onto  the porch to see what we wanted. I wanted to know if she was the goat rescue lady.I was interested in buying a goat. No one emerged.Only 2 skinny electric wires separated the shiny new truck from this bull who was now bellowing and pawing at the ground with 2 hooves  stamping dust clouds  around his legs.He was clearly their 'Watch Bull' and took his job very seriously. We decided to 'take tea ' some other time and got out of there as quickly as possible.

All this beautiful corn is currently being harvested for fruit stands,then later for animal feed.Many of the fields had a great deal of wind damage and were flattened .My corn was flattened by the hurricane spin off winds before growing was completed .I had to buy my corn this year.

 Look how far you can see in the distance. Those are the Endless Mountains, the range that travels through north central Pa.

The Dining Room Chairs

My dining room has been the central focal point of so many happy family traditional gatherings since the 1970's.My first dining room suit was my Grandma Lawler's.I was born in November 1949 and she had this dining room furniture delivered for that Thanksgiving.I was brought home from the hospital on Thanksgiving.I cost my parents a whole $250.00 in hospital bills. I guess I was the turkey! (:>My grandmother died when I was 2 1/2 .Afterward, my dad inherited that dining room suit and when I was first married we used it for a few years.
But these pictures are of my current dining room chairs. We bought this furniture in the last half of the 1970's.I want to speak now of child abuse inflicted upon dining room furniture.Little girls are expected to help their mama's clean on Saturday mornings. Dust and vacuum.But little girls want to PLAY on Saturdays with little girlfriends.Hence, any impediment to Saturday playtime is met with great irritation and weasleling on "How to get out of dusting the gunge off the dining room chairs".I have YEARS of impacted peanut butter & jelly , dust and 'who knows what else' upon my dining room chairs.They just sprayed PLEDGE spray wax over everything and said,"I'm done. Can we go out now?" Hence, years of wax & gunge build up.I have tried naptha, every cleaner imaginable, and have even considered napalm. Then, a compassionate antique dealer told me he uses spray oven cleaner to clean furniture, but it takes off the varnish. I used it.It works.
Beutiful oak furniture should not be painted, but I had to do it.I visited Red Lobster for a yummy meal and Lo & Behold!! Beautiful red & green chairs!! So pretty, I couldn't take my eyes off them. I took a trip to Lowe's and bought a slew of paint to be applied in 3 stages.This is STAGE ONE: Basic coat. My son exclaimed ,"Mom, that's PINK!! (:<" Nope, that's the
bottom basic coat. These shall be red antiqued.So, I won't be able to do the next steps for a few days.This is CHAPTER ONE !! (:>

Sheep May Safely Graze~ J.S.Bach

I have so often thought of the idea of lolling about with nothing to do.Lovely thought! And so, I decided I would keep God's plan for mankind and do NOTHING!! This is the 7th year for my big garden. It is the Sabboth Rest for it. Last week I sat in my folding chair, on the 7th day (for me) reading a book.Something that would not cause my brain any disturbance at all, therefore it was, of course, about farm life. (:> I sent my sheep into the resting garden of plush green vegetation and watched them (with my WHIP). (I would not allow them any liberties, at all, to chomp at my grapevines.There was certainly enough vegetation to feed upon without THAT decimation!(:< !!! What is 185' x 185' of garden square footed?? These idiot sheep will find the only 2 trees in the garden to destroy and tear the bark off.Therefore, the whip.
We are clueless to the wisdom of God. He, Himself, rested on the 7th Day after He had done His work.Upon our days off, we use every spare moment to be as busy as possible.I have a list as long as a roll of Scott's toilet paper of things I need to get done.
Yet,the keeping of a Sabboth. What pleasure.How necessary to our well being. God kept it for His own well being. Are we superior to Him? Anyway, He will REQUIRE it of us. How many have you missed? You have no idea.
Several thousand years ago, King Josiah (a King of Judah) found the neglected Book of the Bible , probably Deuteronomy,and after reading it, became sick after realizing his nation was in severe trouble with God.
One thing you need to understand~~ God says, "I am the LORD, I change not!" The same God during Josiah's day is the same God, with the same mindset today.
The nation of Judah had neglected to keep the 'every 7 years land rest' for 490 years. That divides into 70 Sabboth rests for the land.Judah went into captivity for guess how many years??? Messiah showed up, guess how many years??? WOW!! The mathematics of God bowl me over! I think the people of King Josiah's day said, "Well, we don't do that anymore. That was for the ancients, but these are modern times." HAH! If you are familiar with your Bible, you will see that God gets His due. Hands down every time.

Red Beets

I should be enjoying the end of the summer, swimming in the ocean, fishing, picnicking, but NO! I am canning fruits & veggies and cleaning chicken coops for new peeps (meat chickens for the upcoming year).I guess I love homesteading more than vacationing. I'd rather be HERE than any other place on Earth. Yes, really.
Red beets are probably the more tedious of vegetables to prepare but HARVARD BEETS are the absolute royalty of canned vegetables. You may hate plain beets or pickled beets, but the recipe for Harvard beets (that I have been blessed with from the Pennsylvania Grange Society Cookbook) makes all that hard work so VERY worth it! (:>

I did not grow my own beets this year.I bought them from a local veggie stand.Would you like the recipe? #1 ONLY buy BABY beets. #2 I will send you the recipe upon request.(:>

My fruit trees are still in their adolescent stages of growth. They produce, but in smaller amounts. So, I still have to buy from the local produce stands. I like that anyway. I touch base with my neighbors who have been an immense help to me . They have taught me how to make sauerkraut,mix and stuff a sausage,recognize and treat an abcess in a horse's hoof,cure a corned beef,etc.
I have dwarf peach fruit trees, but their fruit is still dwarfed. I learned a hard lesson with mail order trees. My supposed MacIntosh apple trees turned out to be crab apple trees. My Freestone peach trees turned out to be a kind of peach that needs to be peeled and does not release from the pit.NOT freestone.My best deals came from buying trees form Home Depot. EXCELLANT trees!!
I cannot stock up enough peaches. My family and friends love them so! When they come to visit, they scan over the shelves of canned goods. Peaches are the all time favorite. How many
will I part with?? It's so fun to visit the farm and go home with 'take-out goods'.That is not a sacrcastic term on my part.Nothing makes me happier than sharing the happiness of this farm . I always can & freeze more than I can use.

CORN !!!!

Once again I'm freezing corn. It comes out so much nicer than canning it.I will probably have to buy a good portion of my corn this year. I only have a small patch growing next to the nursery chicken coop.
My daughter just bought 100 ears from a local farmer.Beautiful, perfect corn. She couldn't stop munching on it.Last year my cat had the same thought.He buzzed through ear after ear in a few short minutes a piece.
A nicely sharpened butcher knife is essential to kernaling corn. I played around with 3 until I grabbed my vegetable knife chopper.Whop! ~ Whop Whop !! I began zooming through the job.

I bagged up my corn in quart size zip lock bags,pressed it by hand to get the air out & also flattened the bag into a square for storage in the freezer.And so, I needed to find space. HMMMMMMMMM............
I've been foraging through the freezers looking for meats and veggies that are outdated. I need to make room for fresh newborn crops.My dogs are thrilled with this idea since freezer burned old cuts of meats are baked then cut into bite size chunks for them to enjoy.We'll get there. I have 50 chickens,13 turkeys, a pig in October....all that will need freezer space.I am so happy to have found www.Craigslist.com .One freezer I got for free , another for $50.00.I've done well with Craigslist.