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I may have said before that we are not what anyone would call "dog people."  We originally brought our Jelly home to live with us for a very practical reason:  we realized that our chickens would be safer if there were a barking dog around to scare off the woodland critters. But alas, we have fallen in love with our Jelly.  How could you not, really?  Look at her!! The point of my reiteration that we are not dog people is to make excuse (general ignorance) for the fact that we failed to get her the customary female mutt surgery before she up and matured and got pregnant.  And pregnant she is! I have mixed feelings.  I love my dog, and i know that she is way too young (ten months) to be a mama, so i'm sorry that we didn't get the surgery done, and i'm concerned about her health.  At the same time, i have never observed a whelping (that's the vocab word i just learned for the birth of puppies), and i would like to.  I think it must be a wonderful experie

Last night, when i would normally write, my head was empty, and my eyes were sleepy, so i went to bed. Here i am now at 6 am-ish, ready to go. The most recent cold front is upon us since very early this morning, which means lots of pounding rain!  Later, "they" say it will be the great coldness, but for now, it's pounding rain. Do you know what that means for this pioneer girl?  That's right.  It means that the first thing i did at 5-something this morning, after kissing my hard-working pioneer man goodbye, was to grab a bucket out from under the roof's dripping edge and use all that glorious rain water to FLUSH THE TOILET.  AAahhhhh.  It's the little things that make life a little better smelling more lovely.  Since it takes 3 gallons or so to flush the toilet once, and we're still hauling water in jugs from other locations, the toilet gets flushed sometimes .  I have to say that's the only really unpleasant part about not having water.  We don

Today was a lovely day. DeAnna is a dear friend, whom i admire, and with whom i have the privilege of sharing family since she and i happen to be married to brothers. DeAnna and her dear children have been on the hunt for some excellent walking sticks. for some wonderful imaginative project they have in mind.  Today DeAnna and young Abel came to my house to continue their search.  We ended up doing a lot of exploring and chicken loving too. Abel made a wonderful chocolate cake, which they shared with us; i received jugs of much needed water and wonderful presents in my favorite colors, along with a lovely wonderful day. Here are some pictures of our day. Chicken photo shoot. From visit with deanna and abel jan 27 2010 From visit with deanna and abel jan 27 2010 From visit with deanna and abel jan 27 2010 And then showing Abel the awesome bottom of the roots of a downed tree. From visit with deanna and abel jan 27 2010 Here are some of DeAnna

In addendum to updates and whatnot.... When i reported on my time at The Call , I said that i estimated 6,000 to 8,000 participants. Since then i have heard estimates from 10,000 to 14,000. AWESOME. I also have for you the local newscast on the day's events here .

I was so sleepy last night that i didn't post.  If you were hanging on to wakefulness waiting for the post that never appeared, i apologize.  Haha! This morning, i am hoping for a productive day, so i will just give you some previews and updates or something. Updates: Chicken laid another egg yesterday, in the exact same wrong spot.  We're going to work on that today. My neighbors continue to cut down their trees - that's more of a backwards preview than an update. My water situation might be on the verge of a breakthrough.  But still, no running water at this moment. So no baking right now.  That raisin bread post the other day, was a couple weeks old.  I was having mercy on those who were fasting.  But for now, it seems any substantial baking would just further complicate the waterless situation. So off i go to eat breakfast, wash dishes in small amounts of water, drag the post fall brush to the fire pile, and stalk possible egg-laying chickens. Peace.

I was going to write this deep, pensive post tonight - about fire and symbolism and stuff. But then, i got a great surprise. One of my young ALMOST 20 week old pullets laid me an egg. From EGG I'm so pleased and proud, you would think i had lain it myself. Thus begins a new season of life and liveliness at ye ol' chicken farm. It re-opens the possibility of all our dreams and aspirations. It astounds me every time. If God can make a chicken lay an egg, He can do anything. And He can. Further information concerning the laying of the egg can be found over here . Yip Yip YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

First, i must offer my apologies.  Yesterday's post was not online until sometime today - this afternoon i think - because something happened with my home connection to Blogger, and i was unable to post.  I did finally post from my friend's house, which was apparently not having the same problem with Blogger. Today, i spent most of the day with said friend, who stole me away and offered me opportunity for bathing and good company, and much needed fellowship. Extra good stuff that is. There's nothing like the company of a God-given friend. And now i am off to bed a little early so that i will be fresh for church in the morn. Good night, friends.

Since i have been an adult and away from my dear mother's wonderful kitchen where true from scratch delights are made, i have always been disappointed in things the grocery store offers with the same names.  One of these things is Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I have been more than once disappointed by a plain old loaf of bread with some cinnamon and raisins sprinkled in the dough.  That's it.  No artistry.  No pull-apart layers.  Just a big ol' fraud. So during our recent cold snap, i requested and received from my mom THE CORRECT Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe. Here's basically what you do.  You make the bread dough like you're supposed to, and you let it rise, and then you roll it out into a big rectangle.  And then, you smear water and then a bunch of cinnamon and sugar all over it.  And then you roll it all back up like a little doughy sleeping bag and put it in the loaf pan.  Let it rise again and then bake. THEN, when it's done, you let it cool, cut a sli

Tonight, i am very sleepy and cannot summon the content of a decent post. However, i will give you a hint of what is brewing in my little brain to write in the future. What is a buddy burner, why i want to make them, and how i did it wrong - possibly with pictures and demonstration. Why i am going to have way more sun for my garden than i thought possible. Bread that you can unwind, like it's supposed to be. Overcoming well-less-ness (the lack of having a well) - still in progress. Good night, friendly readers.

Today, i got some great story-telling pics of my chickens and my beautiful Jelly. Generally, Jelly is a grazer, meaning i feed her, and she takes half a day to casually eat a tiny bit of food at a time.  But the chickens have recently learned her secret and how much they enjoy some good puppy chow for a snack. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 Poor Jelly.  She was really hungry too. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 Who could ignore those 'help me' eyes?  So i took the bowl and moved it right by Jelly. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 The chickens didn't really catch the hint. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 Soon, Jelly figured out she was going to have to eat a little faster. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 Ah! Finally! Jelly gets to eat her lunch. From jelly tries to eat her own food jan 20 2010 And now

The Call-Houston was a good experience.  I love large gatherings of like-minded Christians.  It feels like a little bit of Heaven to me. Here i am with my cohorts - or the particular cohorts i rode with (i guess everyone there was technically my cohort; i just didn't know them or ride with them).  I'm the one in red.  Hahahahaha! Here's a cool picture of the marchers. I think the whole thing turned out a little bit different than expected for everyone.  Apparently, the organizers of this event were not expecting the huge turn-out that arrived.  I don't know what number they expected, and i don't know what number turned out, but i have some numbers that will help give an idea. First, the city of Houston would allow only 3000 marchers at one time.  I know we had two phases of marchers, but i think we actually had three.  I was in the last phase.  In addition, there were 600 people lining the freeway, wearing LIFE tape over their mouths, and there was some

Today was mostly as predicted. I am sunburned, i have a swollen ankle, i am pooped, and i am glad i went. And i will have to tell you all about it tomorrow.

O.k., are you ready? This one will be fast. Today, i... did not go to church (because i love the people of God and did not want to subject them to my 1 1/2 weeks-without-a-shower-odor) did laundry at the washateria (i love that word) prepared chicken feet for transport cleaned out the truck in preparation for tomorrow's escapades prepared chicken container for tomorrow refreshed chicken coop bedding completely forgot about feeding my husband, who did not forget and thankfully is a great cook fed and put away chickens had the great pleasure and delight of showering at relatives house (way groovy shower and amazing feeling of cleanliness) cleaned kitchen and washed dishes with rain water (i am so cool) burned garbage after dark folded and put away laundry posted blog (this is a faith statement - i assume i will actually post this blog) Tomorrow, i plan to (Lord willing) get up really early capture chicken named Soupy and contain for trip to new home NOT forget

Hot Diggity! I had SO much fun this morning! Last night, when it started to rain, i put a big stock pot and a 3 gallon bucket under the drip line to catch water to help with our current inside water shortage.  It rained lightly last night, but this morning started to come down heavier.  I was delighted this morning, when i looked outside and found this. From catching rain and fixing well From catching rain and fixing well Awesome! The water in the dirty red bucket could be used for only one thing, flushing the toilet. I immediately snatched it up and did just that. Woohoo! It's the little things that really make life a lot better. Then i put the bucket back outside (this time with a little bleach to clean it out), and it started to rain a LOT heavier. And it was refilled in less than half an hour. So cool! But i didn't really get to having fun until it stopped raining, and i discovered the creek. Whenever it rains very much, an impromptu creek

It is good for me that i was afflicted, that i may learn Your statutes.  - Psalm 119:71 The Benefits of Hardship I use the word 'hardship' very casually here. I mean to say that what i'm experiencing should not really be classified as a hardship but rather an inconvenience or temporary lack of luxury. We have been without running water on demand in our home for almost a week. We have not been without any access to water. That would be a hardship - and possibly death. What we have here is simply less than ideal - and a little stinky. Since Sunday, we have been carefully biding our water supply, carried in in jugs from work or kind local businesses that let us fill up. We've been using paper plates, trying to take it easy on the dishes, and getting creative about how to clean them. Today, i started with i think a little less than 5 gallons of water in jugs - and a kitchen full of dirty dishes - and an "enough already" attitude. And today, i lea

Sometimes when i sit down to write a post, i have no idea what to say. Today is one of those days. There are things going on in my life and in my mind that aren't quite ready to write about. So i want to continue to ponder before i spew lifeless words onto the cyber-page. There is possibly progress with the well that WON'T cost us thousands of dollars. Further research and consultation has revealed that we might have alternatives to actually drilling a new well. In fact, we PROBABLY have alternatives. So that's good. 'Cause Bethy really needs a shower. Yesterday, i had to swallow my pride, douse myself in baby powder, and go to church with greasy hair. No one let on if they noticed that i smelled like a LOT of baby powder veiling something else very unpleasant. I sat far away from other people in the congregation so they wouldn't have too much time to catch my scent. I was actually not intending to go - with the whole lack of shower situation - but a

I didn't used to be a controlling person. I'm still not a controlling person. But sometimes i see the allure. It's easy to want to surround myself in things i think i can control.  But the great human frustration for Christians and for non-believers, is that control is never attainable. And what if it were? What would we do about controlling our own imperfection? It turns out that absolute control would not even be beneficial.  Because then our circumstances, the things we control, would be limited by our own imperfections and finiteness.  They would be limited what we have in ourselves.  And contrary to popular opinion, everything i'll ever need is not found within myself (unless you refer to God, who lives inside me). Our lives would be poorer for having lost the richness located outside of ourselves. We can't even control our circumstances by allowing only positive stimuli.  We cannot predict every effect of every stimulus.  The possibility of comp

May all who come to you be glad and joyful. May all who are thankful for your salvation always say, "How great is the Lord!"  -Psalm 40:16 (Good News Translation) I am thankful for a home in the woods, dear friends, a husband who adores me and whom i adore back, family who is faithful and kind and loving, abundant provision, freedom of religion, a God whom i know personally and who loves me undeniably, opportunity to grow, courage to try, people who read my blog, pets who enrich my life, a happy peaceful heart, and a warm bed.....and much much more.  How great is the Lord! What are you thankful for?

"It looks as though we may get to get a new well sometime soon," i say, smiling mysteriously. "Isn't that expensive?" you ask, alarmed. "It might be, but God must be going to provide for it. 'Cause we need one!" Yesterday afternoon, after having heated the well pump for two freezing nights in a row to ensure we wouldn't lose water to the cold temperatures, our well stopped pumping water anyway. I must be up for a challenge! Digging and or repairing wells is one of the few things my hubby doesn't have experience with. So, he thought he was going to talk to an amateur well expert at work today. But said expert was not at work. BUT all the other experts at work were happy to offer their advice on the situation. So after consulting several different people, online resources, and his own deep thinking, my hubby took the day off work today to tackle the problem himself. Before i go on, please allow me to explain the well. Until t

From life A week from tomorrow, i expect, hope, and plan to participate in the bound4life justice march in Houston. We're protesting the establishment of what would be the 2nd largest abortion facility on the Earth, which appears to be targeting minorities in the Houston area. And by the size of the facility, they're planning to kill off an entire generation of minorities in our area. The potential for death that this place would have is absolutely nauseating! This event is very heavy on my heart right now. 'The Abortion Issue' has become so normal and overlooked, i think, by many Christians. I don't want to be one of them anymore. Thousands of babies are dying all the time, and i don't think we can afford to be complacent about that. When i use the words 'protest march' and 'abortion' in the same paragraph, some people might imagine bombs and guns and yelling and whatnot. So please let me clarify. This event is organized by The Call

I should remember to take walks often. Today, in the afternoon, when it was sort of warmish-er than it had been, i gained courage and bundled up and went for a walk in the frigidness outside. My motives for going had nothing to do with enjoying the day or getting some exercise - but i'm so glad i went. Going for a walk around the woods on our little piece of land helps me remember my dreams, my humble ambitions. When James and i walked onto this property for the first time, we fell in love with it. And after we came to live on it, we had a desire to make the most of it - and to know it. Both of us knowing only a little bit of what it means to live off the land or to farm or garden, we started having big dreams for our little piece. And the more i think about it, the more it seems to me that i can know so much more of God when i use the land the way He had in mind. In the Bible, when He placed His people on their promised land, He gave them all instructions to farm the la

brrrr! I am strongly against deep cold in the deep south. Anything below 20 degrees is nothing short of abusive for a Texan. Thankfully, the Lord has designed that these sorts of torturous temperatures are to be endured here only once every 15 years or so - maybe longer. And i am truly THANKFUL. However, a nice warm-fuzzy has resulted from this harsh coldness. Jelly, my normally outside-loving dog, has been spending a lot more time than normal inside with me. From jelly jan 2010 Here she is trying to sleep on my kitchen rug. I say trying because she looked so sweet and warm, and i was going to get down on the floor to take a nice sweet close-up, but i made a noise and woke her up. I'm not a dog person - never really have been. But Jelly steals my heart. And now that she's growing up a little, and i'm getting a little better at communicating with her, i'm enjoying her more and more. So here's to Jelly, the future Greatest Chicken Dog in the Wo

Now and then i've heard one person or another mention having eaten buttermilk pie during the holidays. I think mine and my husband's response has been similar...something like, "EWWW!" The name Buttermilk Pie - simply doesn't sound good, like fish yogurt or moldy cheese ice cream, it just seems wrong. BUT i've been very curious. People say it's really good. And i have some buttermilk leftover from my holiday baking (i don't know how long it takes buttermilk to actually spoil, but i don't want to wait around to find out), along with leftover pie crust dough, so i thought i'd give it a shot. I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. I love that site! Reportedly, this recipe came from a 94 year-old lady in Arkansas who had made a whole lot of buttermilk pie - so i'm assuming this is THE stuff. I made the extremely simple recipe exactly as - or with the exact ingredients - described in the recipe. I almost never mix them in the sa

Last week, my husband and i had a cold. Sometimes, i think the worst part of the cold is the aftermath - the part where your body is getting rid of the after-i-had-a-cold-crud, and you start doing weird things like coughing until your eyes pop out or getting weird headaches that stay for days or whatever. On Sunday, i think it was, my hubby got his after-i-had-a-cold-crud : a deaf ear. Nice. Something has settled in an inconvenient place, and he is nearly deaf in one ear. Yesterday, i set in with a cough that put me to bed for nearly two days. But yesterday it made me sort of hoarse. Not so much in the way that it took away my voice - but more in the way that it made me want to talk a certain low-talking sort of way so as not to interrupt the temporary non-coughing balance of my coughing area , wherever that is. I'm not exactly a loud-talker to begin with - or so it seems. I've even been accused of mumbling by the not-quite-hearing-impaired elders in my life. B

Last night, my sleep was significantly awesome. I was SO comfortable. And i would wake up every once in a while - and barely glance at the clock - and then it would feel like i had slept for hours and hours before i woke up again only 20 minutes or so later. I LOVE that! Then i would just drift back off to sweet wonderful sleep over and over. Sweet sleep. Then this morning, and all day, i'm sick. Great. Hoping for that sweet sleep to return this evening.....but with wellness in the morning. yeah.

Monday was as wonderful as i had hoped. And then this afternoon, the mail came, and it got even better. I got an envelope from the Arbor Day Foundation offering to give me ELEVEN free...did you hear me? i said FREE...flowering trees for taking a survey and sending a donation of $10. Ten dollars! And if i'm one of the first 50 to respond, i get free coffee for a year! How cool would that be? I know i sound like a totally gullible something, but this made me very excited. The envelope and my donation is already in the mailbox. Now, i realize and have confirmed that my eleven free trees will be in the form of eight inch sticks with roots a.k.a., "in their dormant stage." But how awesome is that! We're in the mode of replacing and rearranging trees on our property so that we can have privacy and a garden. And now that we learned that one of the neighbors has plans to clear a lot next to us, we really need to get on that privacy part of the plan. How co

Ah Sunday night. One of my favorite times of the week. I know that the working world is saying, "Sunday night already?" But i am saying, "Come Monday; i'm ready." See, on the weekend, my loving husband, whom i cherish, love, and adore, is here, at home, pretty much all the time. And if he leaves, i pretty much go with him. And while i very much enjoy his company (thus i married him), and i delight in his presence, i really appreciate Mondays. On Monday, i'm on my schedule again. I can do what i think should be done when i think it should be done the way i think it should be done. And then i will be fresh and lovely and happy to see my husband when he returns home in the evening. As opposed to right now, at which time i am sort of ragged and sleepy and weary of the sounds of multiple Sunday football games and ... happy that tomorrow is Monday.

We did it! By it, i mean the chickens to freezer camp business. It was not as entertaining as last time, but it did have its entertaining moments. You can read about it in more detail on the chicken blog (this is to save the innocent eyes of the sensitive hearts from the graphic pictures of things they might not want to see). Just click here . So after that, my darling hubby spent some time cutting up the fallen oak in our front yard and then was very eager for cookies - which we do not have. So i made some. I just whipped 'em up. Then, we had had a late lunch, so i wasn't sure about dinner. And i asked the hubby. "How're ya doin' hunger-wise?" (oh dear, this is what a hick accent looks like, isn't it?) "mmm I'm o.k." he says. "You're not hungry? You're not gonna want dinner?" i confirm, clearly hoping for not cooking dinner. Then he began a sentence that i did not hear the end of, "I guess if

I wrote this yesterday in anticipation of today. It was scheduled to post a few hours ago, but something went wrong with that. After you read what follows this paragraph, it will make more sense that i'm telling you that we successfully dispatched our two roosters today in only about 2 1/2 hours, not including clean-up. The first time i ever dispatched chickens is documented here . Today, we started eating one of those roosters - the last of the three left in our freezer. Rooster and dumplings...yum. A great meal for a cold day - or a rainy day - or a cool day - pretty much any day except a hot and humid day. Now we have plans to do it again tomorrow - butcher more chickens that is - but this time i have help. Hopefully tomorrow will not be nearly as entertaining as my first experience. In forming our new flock, we acquired three Rhode Island Red roosters (for free from a friend - awesome), knowing that some or all of them would have to become dinner. A few weeks ago

It's nice to go back and remember what God has done in my life in the past year. Let's see. ~We completed our first ever whole year in a house we OWN. ~I "dispatched" chickens by myself - or any other way would've been new for that matter. ~I completed my first whole year as an official full-time homemaker....and liked it. ~We learned that when we want to, we can funnel our money in the direction of more important priorities than what is instant and gratifying for only a moment. ~I have experienced knowing that God is listening to me when i pray - more than any other time i can remember. ~We added 'backyard chicken farmer' experience to our repertoire, and i learned more than i realized was even available to learn about the inner workings of a chicken. ~God provided provision (redundant i know) to supply all our needs abundantly. And a thousand other things - and things that aren't bloggable. God shows Himself faithful every day to me...in ways that

Here i am! I've created a new blog. Call me a woman. I felt like rearranging the cyber-furniture, and moved here. I will be forwarding all my posts from the Re-I.D. me blog and Veritable Observations into this site so they will be archived together (for those of you who were worried about not missing a word i write). My blogger dashboard was getting sort of messy. What can i say. I'm more of a January cleaning person than a spring-cleaning person. January 1 turned out to be a beautiful day! We got a break in the incessant rain we've been having. But it's cold enough to help us remember it's winter. We slept in late and still got out and enjoyed the day. My chickens and my thoughts made me think i'd like a comprehensive blog - maybe i just needed a new setting. So today, i've cleaned, made chicken and dumplings, planned the processing of more of our backyard chickens, and designed a new blog. And it's only 5 p.m. Who knows what i might accomplish