I just wanted to share a hilarious little story...

After supper this evening, I got a terrible set of hiccups--you know those kind that rip through the diaphram very loudly. I was busy washing dishes and laughing while hiccuping. After a while, over my hiccups, I hear Granddaddy say something. I stepped around the corner and said, "What'd ya say?" He kind of laughed, his eyes twinkling, "Can you cut them down?" I laughed, explaining that I can't stop these things.

I returned to the dishes and didn't hiccup any more!! A few minutes later, Granddaddy remarked (I could hear him smiling), "I guess it worked." If that isn't what he said, it was pretty close. I just laughed again and retorted, "You scared them out of me!" I don't know if he heard me, but I think he might have. I was having spasms of laughter about that...though not nearly as bad as the ones that go with the following picture!
Picture
There! I'm laughing uncontrollably again! I do love you Katie!! You should be a comedian... :D This is a Danny Kaye face alright...
I hope she doesn't kill me for this...I love this picture and I just had to share! Normally, only her family sees this side of her. I have no idea why she was making this face and I had no idea she was making it until I looked at the pictures...then I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. :)

        Racheal

 
I decided to do something I have never done before...share my notes! (In edited form, of course.)

We got home from the 2013 Ligonier Ministries Conference, themed "No Compromise", this afternoon and I only have one set of notes posted so far...I'll try to get all of them up over the next few days. You can find them in the drop-down list under the "Links" tab or I have a link down the side of this page if you scroll down. :)

Anyways, I'll get to typing a whole long "whatchamacallit" about our weekend sooner or later...

        Racheal

 
Our SCV camp (along with the associate OCR chapter which Mrs. A just got going), had it's annual 'Family Fellowship' this afternoon starting at three. Just Katherine and I went since Savannah still isn't feeling quite up to being social and Mama just didn't want to go (instead, she painted the bathroom! It looks great!)

We arrived at about three sharp and soon were talking to Mr. Wade, his daughter Rachel (*has to stop and double-check that she spelled that right*), our UPS man's daughter (I cannot recall her name, but it starts with an 'L'), and various other people.  Rachel (and her sister Wanda--who wasn't there) are homeschooled, L and her younger brother Camp are not.

Around 4, with Mr. Leon still flipping hamburgers on the grill, Mr. Wade prayed and folks started digging in to the meal. It twert bad neither... :) I got made fun of by Mr. Wade for not liking mushrooms (didn't bother me--his daughter Rachel doesn't like the either, it turns out!)

After eating, there was a short business meeting--we (the SCV camp/OCR chapter--by extention) are going to be co-sponsoring another cross dedication ceremony up at F.M. (same place as last time). I know I said I would never film anything like that again...but I imagine for some reason I may be asked...and if I am--well, I don't very well see how I cannot NOT do it.

The business meeting concluded, Mr. Leon did a history lesson on how "Honest Abe" really wasn't such a saint. I didn't hear all of it very well because I was on the verge of a meltdown while waiting for an 8-year old boy to remove himself from the bathroom! I really did want to hear what Mr. Leon was saying, but I went to sit on the porch and with the wind blowing and my thoughts on other subjects, I couldn't mind as well as I wanted to.

After the history lesson, everybody stood around and talked some more. I think it was about 6:30 before Katherine and I left in the growing dusk. I had to feed the chickens when I got home. I didn't feed Snip or the cats since it was already dark. I imagine ol' Snipper will be very glad to see breakfast in the morning... :)

        Racheal

 
Well, now that Christmas is over, (or at least the first half of it), it's time for me to dump the clutch and get to some serious work. I'll be starting that by getting a space cleared out in the barn for me to deposit the feed bags, getting hay for my itty-bitty herd, and de-spidering the garage across the creek. That is today's battle plan.

After that come booder building, coop building (I have to have this stuff ready by the last week in January), fence work, barn cleaning (I want to get the tack room cleaned out so I can use it as a tack room/feed room), and whatever else pops up maintenance-wise. I'd better have the mower fixed before spring, too. :)

When I putter through town to get hay, I think might stop at Tractor Supply and see what they charge for water troughs (or maybe I ought to just build some large wooden boxes for my brooders? I'll talk to Daddy about that later...) and compare with Byran's and Smith's. I much prefer giving my business to the feed stores because they are locally owned and operated rather than being a chain, but sometimes Tractor Supply might be cheaper. (Speaking of which...I wonder when they are going to put the Ariat boots on sale again...mine are getting plumb worn out. Even marked down though they still cost upwards of $50-$60...) Anyway, if I decide to build wooden boxes, I'll get my lumber at Do-it-Best. I will also need heat lamps (Do-it-Best), water tanks (those cost pretty much the same thing at all Bryan's, Smith's, and Tractor Supply--I've already looked), chick feeders, and of course feed.) And of course, I will need chicken wire.

Also on my list of things to do it oiling my saddle (and my boots). On top of that, Snip needs to be ridden. And that's just the outside stuff. Indoors I need to transfer video files and start working on my Cow Cavalry project again. I need to take this computer in and get the promised mega-hard-drive put in...

Oh, and let's not forget the usual suspects--the dirty dishes sitting on the counter right now screaming to be washed.

I'd better get to work...see ya later!

        Racheal

P.S. I wonder how much of this I can get done before Mama and Katherine get down... :D They are coming down for a couple weeks--once that big ol' snowstorm passes them! Yay!
 
Drum roll please....

*pauses, hand to ear, until she hears a stirring drum roll*

Thank-you...thank-you...

I am pleased to announce the Rebel Gray Socketeer webite!!!

Please check it out and tell me what you think. I only have two pairs of socks listed at the moment, but I'm well on my way to getting the first sock of the third pair completed. :) I'm really enjoying this knitting stuff.

The other day, one of our visitors asked me how long it took me to make a sock. I kind of laughed and said, "Well, that depends on how much TV I watch!"

Now, I just need to talk to Mrs. K about putting them in her sutlery...I don't think she'll have any problem with that at all. (Maybe I'd better figure out some nice tag thingy before Brooksville! :D)

        Racheal

 
I went to town this afternoon...did some grocery shopping after I poked around for a couple hours Christmas shopping. Now, if that was the whole of the story I was going to tell you, then this really would  be a VERY short story. However, it's not.

I went to Sweetbay last. Believe it or not, I got a parking spot right at the very end of the row--the end closest to the door. :) (I was driving the pick-up.) I hopped out and strode (like I always do in boots) across and started to yank on a shopping cart. It was caught on the one in front of it. While engaged in fruitless yanking, an older gentleman with a cane walked up with his grandson. I'm guessing the boy was about 13 or so...a good-looking, clean cut youngster. Anyway, the gentleman saw what was up with me and said something like this to his grandson: "Son, help her get a cart." The boy reached out and grabbed a hold of the carts and then said to me, "Push forward a bit." Seconds later, the cart was free and I was grinning from ear to ear, saying thank-you.

It sure is nice to know that there are gentlemen still out there. Maybe that grandpa will engrain it in the boy so much that he won't need to be prompted to help. The fact that I could have done it myself doesn't factor in...I was grateful for the help and by whom it was given.

        Racheal

 
This is just to say that my story 'James and Burke', is no longer going to be posted on this blog. I have started another website called "Stories By Racheal" where you can read 'James and Burke' and any future stories. Due to the amount of work it would take to move 'A Gray Kepi' over, I am just leaving it on here.

Anyway, let me know what you think of my new site.

        Racheal

 
First....for the first time in months I have added a review. This time it is on Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption. It's a bit more clunky than usual...I had difficulty in writing it.

Second...if you haven't noticed, along the top bar there is a new heading, James and Burke. I finally came up with the name for my Western serial idea and figured I might actually get a better grasp on it by changing it out of script format and writing in up as a story. So...take a stab at it and let me know what you think. (Read the side bar!!) The plan is to post a new episode every Monday (since that's my usual slow day it will probably be more likely to get done--besides the fact that I usually feel rather creative [writing-wise] when somewhat tired.) The main exception to the rule will of course be Mondays after reenactments...then I'll be writing reenactment recaps. :D

Third....wait! There is no third announcement...unless it's to say I got the Christmas tree up on Monday evening. ;)

 
Of course, everything that happens is ordained by God, so it's all providential timing. Sometimes though, it's just more obvious. Take this evening for instance. I had just fed Snip and on my way back to the house, I looked up and saw something black in the grass in the pasture. At first I thought it might be a cat, but that wasn't really a serious notion. Other than a crow (which I had just heard) I concluded it was either trash or a calf. About the same time I settled on that, this 'little bit' as Mr. Ricky would call it, got to its feet and started to wobble toward its mammy.

I continued to go toward the fence as I was going to see if I could get a gender ID on it (I didn't--it can be so hard to tell when they are newborn). As I went I heard the floater valve in the water trough hissing. For some reason I glanced that way. Then I looked again. Clearly, some of the jostling the cows do around the water trough had knocked it crooked. Water was pouring over the side as fast as the valve could pump it in. (Or faster.)

Being my own self, without hesitation, I plowed out there. I hopped over the puddle around the trough to a little space where I could actually land. I tried pulling the still nearly full trough. "Stupid. Of course you can't move it!" Hmmmm.....

Standing on my little 'dry' spot, I janked my boots and socks off, tossing them across the puddle (good shot that...the boots landed one on top of the other!) and hauled my jeans up to my knees so I could wade around in the mid-calf deep water. Over the next several minutes I tried various means of shifting the trough. At one point, I was standing on the edge with it tipped as far down as I could pawing the water out between my feet. I'm surprised I didn't get much wetter than I did with that operation. I found an old soda can in there, wedged in the 4 to 6 inch deep mud, as well as some other interesting trash I could have cut myself on. I ended up scooping many, many handfuls of mud out and throwing it, "Splash!" into the surrounding area.

After a while, I hollered at Savannah, who was on her way to the house after watering the garden, to please come and help me. I had managed to shift the thing ever so little, but I needed some help. So she came out and waded in after making some comment about, "This is how you get parasites." Gee, thanks a lot, sis! :D

She had the smart idea (okay so I had the idea, but I wasn't smart enough to carry it out) to bail out the trough. She went and picked up the coffee can I carry Snip's feed in and brought it out to me. I bailed the trough most of the way out and scooped out more mud. Then, the two of us moved the trough...I stuffed some more wood under the lower end and took the stick out of the floater valve (I'd jamed one in to keep the floater up so the water would quit running).

Job done, I collected by boots and socks, went to the hose and sprayed the exess mud off me. Walking back to the house, in a put on, bow-legged kind of walk, ending each step with something of kick (an attempt to lose some of the extra water), Savannah told me I looked fashionable--two tone pants! Ya...so what... :D

Anyway, because a calf was born today, I saw that the trough was spilling over...so I could fix it. God's providence is awesome...and sometimes humorous.

        Racheal

 
Whoa. Hold the time! It's already DECEMBER???
 
Where did the summer go? What happened to half the list of stuff I was going to do and just didn't get around to? (Maybe a broken collar-bone in August helped that?)
 
On the other hand, I have done quite a bit this past summer. So, I guess I shouldn't feel too guilty about not getting that barn cleaned out yet (though I'm going to at least see if I can get started on that before New Years.) That is going to be a massive job as the men in my family have no organization skills and not only is there Granddaddy's mess but Uncle Rod's trash on top of that. (By the way, I'm not REALLY picking on the guys--I have the some of the same problems myself.) [And to be honest...some of the mess is mine. :D]

Life wanders on...it is kind of funny; I go through spurts where I work like a horse for days on end, then I have slumps where I don't get anything but the dishes done. (That's a bit of an exaggeration.)

Ever get that panicked feeling because you are feeling overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done? I think I may get that next week...but I'm not even going to think about it until then (and after I finish the SCV video.)

Today we are (hopefully) going to have fun...in an hour or so we will be head out of town, out of county to a Christmas Party at the Hendry House. This is the house that Captain Francis A. Hendry lived in after the War Between the States. It's a SCV thing and we will be going in period dress. I know the A's will be there (he is going to wear his uniform), and I think most of the other people from the local camp were planning on attending. I hope Tom and Dolly are there. I really like Dolly...she's a bit of a character, but very nice.

SOOO.....we'd better start getting dressed here pretty soon. I have to eat breakfast and feed the horse.

        Racheal