Service in Susanville for Medic Crew

     Service in Susanville Friday for helicopter crew - California State Wire - Fresnobee.com

Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones today.
Thank you for your service in helping those in need.

The Christmas Quilt and Other Surprises!

(I must apologise for the poor quality of the pics...I love my cottage but the lighting in here is horrible and the camera seems to pick up on it every time.)

Here is my basket of Christmas scraps. I believe one of the names for the pattern I am using is called "Split Rail"? I have been sewing strips together and then cutting them into five inch blocks.

Then I spent a few hours trying to get this right. Because the lighter strips vary, I was trying to not repeat the same one too near each other. Not really possible when you are using scraps, but I think I did pretty good.

Then I had enough of the same blocks to put around the edge to tie it together.

TrapperDude said, "You did?".

Smarty pants!

I did this in between cutting up the lamb and helping him make lamb stew for his meeting today.

And we got a phone call from our friend, TrapperGeorge, wanting to know if TrapperDude would be at the meeting....but of course, its mandatory...so he is going to bring us

one

whole

homemade

Italian Proscuitto

that he and the Mrs. make each year!

A WHOLE PROSCUITTO!!!!

And dear hubs is going to stop at the what we call the "cheese place"....

http://www.rumianocheese.com/

and get us a wheel of Dry Jack Cheese..oh Merry Early Christmas to me !!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

The goats had some visitors yesterday.....

these show up in a group of about 60 each morning, around the front of the house, back up the side to the water trough behind my bedroom and then they have a morning siesta...then they roam down the driveway into the orchard.

this one visited in the afternoon...

can you guess who won't be making a return visit?

Busy Way to Begin the Week!.

Every other Monday is payday.
Yippy Skippy!
That means it's also pay-the-bills day.
Not so much yippy....
but I get to buy groceries and that's always a blast!!
(Look, I gotta keep lookin' on the bright side....food in house means we can have something good for dinner...although I happen to LIKE popcorn for dinner!)
Really, I like to do all that stuff, it makes me thankful God has blessed us with the means to live, and with the holidays coming, I got to get the fruitcakes made!
So I shopped, paid bills...hit the thrift stores....found this old tin.....

the tin was rather grimy but washed up nicely!

and, technically this is called a coffee pot but I'll use it for tea...and a tray...

 a sewing basket AND pinking shears...all for $12!

 I baked TrapperDude an apple pie.

WOW.

TWO! Count them TWO successful apple pies in a row!

Miracles still do happen!

I sat down just in time to hear the queen of the goat herd, Matilda, sound the "Goat Alarm"...

something was out there and she wanted me to know about it.

So did lil Mose...

he had the other two babes backed up by the older goats at the gate and he was a stomppin' and snortin'.

Outside I went...they were all looking up the hill, but I couldn't see anything...til I squatted down and scanned the hill.

....There he was...

...Dang coyote.
Back in the house to get the shotgun I keep in my bedroom
(doesn't everybody??)
and out the back slider.
He saw me and trooted off.
Not for long. Me and the goats seen him come back.
TrapperDude was on his way home so I got the little ones into the barn. The older girls wouldn't go in...they were going to stand their ground. 
Great, just what I need, heroic goats!
We watched the coyote head into the creek and then he was gone.

TrapperDude got home and used his calling finesse for a bit, but nothin' doin'.
Coyote's haven't done much but oogle at the older goats in the past, but the babes were out in the pasture and are still small enough to be slicked up for a snack. Tomorrow they stay in the barnyard and the big goats can head out to pasture as the coyotes are less likely to bother them.
Now lions? Them are another story. Lost four to lions, one I watched as he dragged off my favorite doe a few years back. During the DAYTIME!!
Who me? Bored? I wish!!
Here's hoping Tuesday is quieter.
Oh. wait, gotta butcher a lamb....ah, well, food in the freezer!!
And need to get wood up to the cottage...
somebody needs to clean up the veggie garden...
somebody??
Anybody??

For Sunday Thought - Forgiveness

A few years ago I read the book, "Amish Grace"

about how the Amish community forgave the man who murdered the children in the schoolhouse.

It was a big help in aiding me to forgive others and to understand how one moves on.

Recently someone asked me how to forgive someone who had wronged them.

I know that I am forgiven

and in order to be forgiven, I must forgive.

But then I was asked,

"How do you forget?"

Constant prayer and walking in the Spirit is what comes to mind.

A constant communing in your heart with God.

Easier said than done.

But practice makes as close to perfect as we'll come in this life.

And each day we put one foot in front of the other.

We go on

for Him

and through Him we are healed.

Thoughts and Prayers

Today, I get to spoil my oldest for awhile and feed him LOTS before he goes back to work this afternoon.
(funny, I thought he was on vacation this month??)
He is safe with us today.
Everyday I have to give him to the LORD for safe keeping...if not, I think I would be beside myself with worry about his safety.
You know, bad guys aren't called that because they obey the laws!
Today, some in our country are burying their loved ones after the Ft. Hood murders.
Closer to home, a medi-flight copter went down this morning just out of Susanville...

Mountain Flight Helicopter Crash
Three crew members died in the line of duty.



Everyday we go about our business.
Some of us doing ordinary tasks,
some doing heroic acts.
Whether ordinary or heroic in deed
let us remember to be thankful for each moment the LORD gives us
and tell those you care for how much you love them and are thankful for them.

"Giving thank always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ: Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."

Ephesians 5:20-21

Pink Saturday

This is such a lovely view....

from last weekends' "virtual" travels online :)

Have a good weekend!

Day by Day

"Day by day we are given not what we want but what we need.

Sometimes it is a feast and sometimes .....

...swept crumbs

but by faith we believe it is enough"

                                      ~Barbara Brown Taylor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is where I have set up my sewing....

looking out the klitchen sliding door.

It's rather hard to open as the house has slipped downward a tad, so might as well make good use of the light!

This is my view when I am sewing...

gazing out back at my "wildflower" garden
that is now just a "wild" garden!

As I swing to my left to get a snack....here's the kitchen...
all of it.

Here is my basket of Christmas fabrics that my friend Em gave me. They were her grandma's.

I added some my Mum-in-law had and I think I will have enough for a twin-size quilt.

I don't measure when I use up scraps, I just make'em up, sew the together and ya get what ya get!!

Here is the baby quilt I was making for the baby Sis lost about two years ago.
I calle it Grandmas's Flower Garden. Maybe one day, if the Lord chooses, there will be one...or two...

Again, these are some fabrics from Em's Grandma

And the back. It has tiny blue ribbons on it :)

I'll finish it and put it away. God will make it known  to whom it should go to :)
Hope you enjoyed a peek at my cottage.
I am off to muck out the barn...yipee skipee
;-)