Great Plains Rat Snake

   Benjamin and Noah found this snake on our road yesterday evening and Benjamin identified it as at a Great Plains Rat Snake which is a type of snake that we had never seen in our area.

Just FYI-it’s not poisonous.

Lydia

Time for a Fire!

   For the past couple of weeks I’ve been totally getting into the Fall mood (if not into the Winter mood.)  As soon as we had temperatures in the 40s at nights I’ve been wanting to have a roaring fire in the fireplace with some Christmas music in the back ground.

   Well, nobody has really been on the band wagon, but thanks to me they are humming the Christmas songs I’ve been playing throughout the house .

   However, tonight we were planning on making a camp fire outside and cooking some hot dogs over the fire, but it rained all day so we built a fire in the fireplace instead.  Mom made some chili and we had some Chili dogs for dinner.  We could cook our hot dogs in the fire from our dinner table.  Naturally we had s’mores for dessert.

    For those who are worried about my mental health:   Doubtless one reason I’ve been wanting is because we’ve been on a big Sherlock Holmes kick for the past few weeks.  In the movies it seems there is always a nice warm fire in 221B Baker St. that combats the chilling cold and damp fog of the London nights.

   Also, Christmas music really makes Christmas for me.  I love the classic tunes I’ve heard for so long.  I especially like the old hymns that (for some reason) are only sung at Christmas time, but can be heard while walking through Wal-Mart.

Lydia’s Studious Cousin

“So much work to do…it’s a good thing I have my coffee.”

Dancing Videos-Sep 23

   We had another great dance last Friday and you’ll find videos of most of the dances we did below.  The dances were called by Jeremy Suerman and these dances are organized by Christian Home Educator’s Fellowship of Missouri.  Thanks to Leah for the names of a couple of these dances. 
Progressive Gordon

This is a great simple dance that’ll break the ice and get you warmed up for the rest of the night.
Virginia Reel(s )


A fast paced-favorite that we did twice.  It may also be called the Violent Virginia Reel-if you watch the little boy with the cowboy hat on you’ll see what I mean.

Jefferson & Liberty


A dance that our family learned a couple of weeks ago and look’s pretty neat on video-especially if it was on top.  I thought that the lefts-and-rights of the long ways dances looked appealing to the eye as an organized chaos.

Patty Cake Polka

Heel, toe, heel toe…just a lot of fun…

Circassian Circle

One of our family’s favorites. Keep an eye out for the two guys who chest bump when they meet in the middle of the circle.
Hull’s Victory

A commemorative dance for Issac Hull’s victory in the battle between the U.S.S. Constitution (see photo) and the H.M.S. Guerriere.  One of my favorite dances because there is non-stop movement for the #1 couples.   My Mom and I danced together in this dance and as soon as we had reached the end of the line and were about to become #2 couples the music ended.  That suited me well because I hate being a #2 couple, I always want to be #1…wait, that didn’t sound right.
The footage is cut in the middle because my camcorder’s battery died.

USS Constitution in Boston Harbor 4/10                    Standing by the ship’s bell              

Working on Back Bathroom

  

We’ve been working with Glenn once again to get our back bathroom functioning again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We gutted the bathroom last year and had the walls repaired and repainted. 

 

 

When the new stone flooring was installed in the living room we kept the leftovers of tile, mortar, grout, trim, and backer board for this small 25 sq. ft. bathroom.  Laying the flooring for such a small area would be a great teaching experience.  

 

This video shows us laying the backer board:

 

 

 

 

 

Noah’s Trial Smelter

   After seeing how one of our friends smelted iron in his own clay furnace, Noah tried making a similar one just to see how it worked.  The air piped into the furnace from the pump keeps the fire very, very hot.

Four Wheelin’ & Campfires

  We finally got Kate to come down with us and go four wheeling at our Aunt & Uncle’s property.  It had rained that morning and the landscape looked fresh-but also a little moist.

   I drove a four wheeler that had a second seat on the back rack where Mom rode while she was video taping with her phone.  Because she was holding her phone, she only had one hand to hang onto the straps of the seat with so whenever we’d go downhill she’d slide off her seat and run into me .  (This explains the laughter)

We look a little villainous in this lighting

My Aunt and Lydia’s “Cousin”

   Noah wiping his sticky marshmallow fingers on a shirt (just kidding)

   As it got dark, my brothers and I (as well as Lydia) took a hike on one of the trails.  It was really dark, but using our flashlights would’ve stifled the adventurous part of walking in the pitch-black woods.  However, every time we’d turn the lights off Lydia would start whining in the darkness-apparently she is scared of the dark!
  We had a great time talking around the fire and eating a few s’mores before heading home.
Sep 10 11

Bailey Bunch

We had the Bailey family over for a few hours this afternoon and we had real blast with them!

We took a walk down to the creek

Walking (or being carried) through the field




Exploring an old lead mine


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Sep 9 11

Fall Dancing Lessons!

  We were a little more eager to go this time than we were this spring .  In fact, we were disappointed that we were late last week!
Sep 9 11

Lydia Sleeping in Benjamin’s Bow Case

Sep 6 11

New Family Table!

   This evening we picked up a table set that we found on Craigslist.  It was exactly what Mom was looking for and it included 8 chairs and a bench.  She’s pretty excited about what she’s been able to find on Craigslist-we got this set for about 1/3 of the original price and it’s only 4 years old.

   It’s fantastic to have a real dining table to eat at after using our outdoor patio furniture for the past 9 months.  This family table is really an heirloom piece and was hand crafted in England.

Working

We headed over to my Aunt’s and Uncle’s house to help them landscape their front yard.



There used to be a lot of unseemly plants and ivy growing in this area, so the plants were pulled out, the weed fabric was pulled up and we smoothed the ground out.

Sep 5 11

Lydia

Sep 4 2011

Preparing for Bow Season….

Firing a Trebuchet

Sep. 1 2011

Tire Trouble

 

We’re very thankful that God kept us safe during our road trip to Michigan.  A couple of days after we got back home Noah noticed that our front left tire had a large chunk taken out of it and needed to be replaced.   My Mom knew that that tire was getting old and had wanted to replace it before the trip.

Thankfully, we had no blowouts while we were hauling the canoe and trailer during the 1500 miles that we drive to and from and also around MI.

Sep 1, 2011

Time for War

  We had a great evening last week playing some war with our friends!  We had a few great air soft battles and ended the evening with some Axis & Allies!
   I love strategic games and because I am the only one in the house who does, I usually end up playing by myself.  I win every time.

Sep 1 2011