We were just playing around, trying to get the plum blossoms in the photo. This one above is my favorite.

Congratulations girls on your diets or...... new lifestyles. I salute you and wish you luck. I too could stand to loose a few. 50 would be nice but since that is not reasonable, 5 will do for now. I am walking every chance I get and cutting back on food. I don't have a plan to follow, I don't think I could follow one if I did but I am trying something. A perfect day for me is to get up and drink a cup of coffee with Terry while he eats breakfast. When he leaves I go for my 2 mile walk with the dogs. I get back and eat one or two grapefruits. I have developed a taste for grapefruits lately, I love em! About noon I will open a Slimfast and sip on that until about 3pm and sit down and watch Dr. Phil and eat another grapefruit. Then start fixing supper and about 5 or 6 sit down and eat supper. I have accomplished that routine for about 3 or 4 days a week now and I am happy with that. Any day that I can just eat one meal a day I will accept. Since Christmas I have cut out sweets, chips and junk food so something has got to be better then it was. When I was sick for a few days I lost about 3-4 lbs but those pounds usually don't stay gone.

So I say, YOU GO GIRLS! I am feeling your pain.

Happy Birthday to youuuuuu, Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu.......

Here is my new teenager.

She likes her "Letters of Encouragement" scrapbook. She told me several times thank-you for taking the time. I want to thank everybody that contributed, everybody did a great job. Give your self a pat on the back. She will enjoy it for many years.

This is your page, Aunt Marge, thank you for sending the letter. It looks great. I was able to take the small photo you sent and blow it up to a 5x7 and it turned out great. There is a flap that she can lift over the letter then lift the first page to read the second page.
Sharon, I need a picture of you and Sis again. The ones we took didn't work right last time.

Lois helped me with her page, she had some cute little things to add to it. Bless her little heart, she is the one that said she didn't have any thing to write but handed me 6 pages when she was done.
Rachel, you have to show yourself soon, I need a picture of you and Sis together to complete your page. Your page looks good too.
Sarah, you did a good job on your letter. I guess it helps to be the one that was 13 the last. You can still remember what it was like.
Even Kenny had his two cents to say. Thanks again everybody, I believe it was a sucess. There was also 6 or 7 people from church that wrote her an encouraging letter too. The book is pretty full. Anybody that wants to add something is more then welcome, knock your self out.

The kid can fish! This is from the neighbors pond, taken about a week ago. No, we didn't eat it. It went back in so she can catch it again sometime.

Our Walk Today

This is one happy dog, can't you see that smile? She loves to go for a walk and I know that is a doggy smile.

These guys look like they are having fun too.

We found a little pond in the woods and did a little science for school.

Frog eggs anyone? This is a fascinating subject for 7 year old boys!

Whiskers found a good spot to cool off.

The pond was about a mile out from the house and it was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods.

We are on our way home now but it has been about a mile and a quarter. Timmy has been sick and was getting a bit tired so we had to take a few rest stops.

Always time for a little loving for Timmy's favorite girl.

"Do-Me-To" dog doesn't want to be left out

At about a mile and a half thats all, its over folks. He wasn't complaining but didn't turn down a ride.

The neighbors tractor looks like a good place to rest while......

Sis goes home for the 4-wheeler.

Help is on the way!

Now is she an angel or what?

Now, the race is on. This is the view from the back of the moving 4-wheeler.

You should have seen her when she flopped down in the nearest mud puddle. I tried to get a picture but she moved too fast.

Home just in time for breakfast. The country air is good for a kid. I think it was 3 pancakes before he quit.

Just a side note, Sis collected a quart of sap while the maple trees were running and we boiled it down today. Thats water in the jar but it represents the amount of sap compared to the syrup derived from it. It was good though.

She was quit proud of herself for actually making maple syrup herself.

Look what we found when we got home tonight! 4 of the little stinkers. We didn't even know she was preggers. They gestate for 90 days and we have only had her for about 2 months so she was pregnant when we got her. They are about an inch and a half long, not counting the tail. Born with all their hair and with their eyes open, ready to run in about a day.

Ed shoots em, Terry feeds em. I guess it takes all kinds. This could be the one we raised from a baby one year. It's a cute one anyway. This is the view from my kitchen window. I see him or her every morning when I get up and start the coffee pot. He can see me too but doesn't seem to mind.

I planted some tulips today, about 4-5 months late. The neighbor gave them to me last fall and when she did she said, "Today would be a great day to plant them." Well, I didn't plant them that day or the next. I figured hers will be blooming soon and she will me looking to see if mine are blooming too. I hate to disappoint her but maybe I can just say that I got them in the ground a little late. Think she will notice?

Look what I found in the yard today! Now doesn't spring make you so glad to be alive? It does me. Today is the first time I have been home on a warm day and been able to be outside and enjoy it. I just had to go for a walk. I am glad I have the dogs to more or less make me walk. They have gotten so fat and lazy this winter that I have to get them out and get some exercise. That makes it good for me because I think I have gotten fat and lazy this winter too.

I decided to walk around the 9 acre field in the front instead of just out the driveway. That is where we want to build our cabin some day. It is fun to stand there and try and imagine what it will look like. I think I have decided that a smaller house will be better. I first wanted a large cabin like, 30'x50', but that seems so overwhelming to accomplish, especially on our income. I have been thinking that I could survive in a smaller house. Maybe, 25'x30', one bedroom and a loft upstairs, one bedroom, a nice big kitchen and a decent size laundry/boot room downstairs. If I invest some of the money that I would have put in a larger house and use it to create a more organized space I could be happy.

Wow, I'm impressed! It is blurry but I just had to snap this shot. She had just turned off the TV so she could read a book. I have been trying for years to get her interested in reading, a pass time that I have enjoyed for years, but had not had much sucess. She got interested in some mediaeval era movies and then found some books at the library about that time and managed to actually finish a book or two. The one she has here is about 3 inches thick and it took her about a month but she did finish it today and can't wait for the library to open so she can get some more.

Rachel, I need to know how to contact you on the internet. Do you have an email address? Is it the same as before? Do you have a Yahoo name? Same as before?

We went and got our taxes done last night and this was the first time since we have been self employed that I didn't get a stress headache or stomach just thinking about going. I have even threatened to quit self employment and go get a job because tax time was so stressful! Not this year, I think I finally got a handle on it. I probably shouldnt say that, then something else will pop up but this year I had it laid out for the tax preparer and all she had to do was enter the figures, hit the right button at the bottom and it all popped out the printer! I made Terry some spread sheets for each day of the week with headings like, Gas, Maintenance, Bought Logs, Sold Ties, Sold Lumber, Paid help, etc. Every night when he comes home he has to fill that out and at the end of the week I add that info to my Monthly Expenses and Income spread sheet and by the end of the year I add up each months income, subtract the expences and there you go. That seems like a lot of work for what little we made but we got back a nice piece of change this year, mostly because of Sis and her earned income credit. This time of the year I always wish I had about 6 kids, but only if I can give them away after tax time again. We wont be going on vacation with our refund, that is for sure. Just will be able to get caught up in outstanding bills with it but I thank the Lord that we can do that much!

Seen any of these lately?

Terry came to Bea's and picked us up this morning. Church has been called off all day so I vacuumed the living room floor, straightened the kitchen, messed on the computer for while and took a little nap in the chair. Sis went out to play in the snow with the dogs for a while and apparently left a few of them outside because I can hear them squealing to come back in. Their toes must be cold.

Terry went to the shop to try and sell something but there have not been alot of people stopping in this weather. It only takes one though, to have a good day. Somebody stopped late in the day last week and bought $250.00 of junk furniture to repair. Can't beat that.

I am looking forward to enjoying a nice quiet evening at home.

I can't hardly wait for my iris to start blooming again. I aquired a few more colors last year so it should be a pretty site. I thought this was such a pretty picture, much prettier then what is outside my window right now! You can have the snow, I'll take the pretty iris.

Well, guess what! It thawed out to 32 degrees and I heard the sound of spraying water under the house. This time it is under the kitchen sink and we will have to dig a wiggle hole under the foundation and the ground is frozen so I don't know how soon we'll get this one fixed. This is really getting old!

Wow, it is warm in here tonight! We shut the door to the bed room and hung a blanket over the kitchen door and that leaves the woodstove to heat the just the living room. You could strip naked and be warm in here now but I think I'll pass on that. There is a small heater in the bedroom and a gas wall heater in the kitchen so it won't get too cold there but it does cool off significantly.

Anybody tired of winter yet? It has been under 20 degrees here for more than a week. I think 40 degrees will really feel good.

Okay, I'm awake now!

Meet the newest member of our Zoo. It is called a Degu. Don't ask me to explain what that is, you have a computer, look it up. It is hard to explain. She is friendly but very fast. I am always afraid she will get away from me and if she ever does get away we probably can't catch her. She eats basically what the rats do, just without the sugary stuff.

I am sleepy! Bea hasn't slept for more then an hour for the last two nights and I am bushed! Good night.

It is 1 in the morning and I don't think I'll even go to bed tonight. Bea went to bed about 7 tonight but has not been asleep yet, I've had to go calm her down a couple times already and I see no sign of sleep. Looks like it will be a long night. The only good thing is that I have my computer to keep be busy while I have to be awake.

I think Terry got our water fixed this morning. I left Sis at home to help him and she said it was fixed. We need to re-plum the who outfit under the house. Seems like as soon as we get one fixed, it busts some where else.

That big German Shepherd is still here at Bea's, living in the basement. He wants up here in the house real bad but since that doesn't go over very well he'll settle for the basement. I put a found dog ad in the paper that will come out Wednesday. I hope it gets a response.

Well, did I have a premonition or maybe I just go by past experiences? Anyway, I am sure I got my laundry done. We kicked the water pump on tonight and I heard the water spraying and hitting the under side of the floor! I have bottled water to get us through but it sure puts a cramp in flushing.

I don't know where this little bananna came from, I just found it on my computer and thought it was cute.

Brrrr.... it is cold out tonight! We (Sis and I) are at Bea's tonight and I am glad. She has a gas furnace and I can turn it up as high as I want and not have to worry about the bill. It is probable warm at my house too, as long as you are in the living room by the stove. The dogs will appreciate their heat lamps tonight.

Yvonne mentioned doing two days worth of laundry, I was doing laundry the last two days too. I was behind in the laundry department because I was afraid I would run out of water and didn't want to buy a load of water. With all this rain we have been having our cistern was filling up so I grabbed the chance. I want to get it done before the weather turned cold in case the pipes froze too. The drain pipe always freezes when the temp drops. Anyway, what was so funny was that Terry went to the shop yesterday and wanted to know if I was coming out. I said I wanted to get the laundry done first and would be out when I got it done. Well, about 1:30 pm I called him and he ask me what I had been doing all day. I said I was doing laundry just like I said and the last load was in the machine. "Bull-ony!" he exclaimed, "It doesn't take THAT long to do the laundry!!" Sounds just like a man, doesn't it?

When we got to Bea's this morning we were met by a new face. A very large, very skinny, male German Shepherd decided to move in. Now, what? Mom said 'they' told her not to feed him but she couldn't stand seeing a starving dog begging for food through every window so we found something he could eat. Since it will be so cold out tonight we brought him in to the basement. I'll keep you posted, don't know what we are going to do with him.

Now why do I keep finding hickory nuts in my laundry baskets???? Strangest thing, every time I go to do a load of laundry I have to remove the hickory nuts. Any ideas?