True friendship

1. When you are sad, I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!! 2. When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.. 3. When you smile, I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in... 4. When you're scared, we will high tail it out of here... 5. When you are worried, I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!! 6. When you are confused, I will use little words. 7. When you are sick, Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have. 8. When you fall, I'll pick you up and dust you off-- After I laugh my head off!! 9. This is my oath... I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask; -- because you are my FRIEND!

Don't cry over spilled popcorn

Stacy and I are back from our camping trip and boy did he keep me busy! I enjoyed it. Our whole family used to go every year till it became difficult to sleep at night. I feel the time spent together as family is extremely important, creating bonds. It is important to play together, to enjoy one another. I feel it is tying heart strings; a way to guard against satan. I experimented cooking over an open fire. I made popcorn and it was awesome!!! I’ve only ever made microwave popcorn before. I put in a little oil, salt, and the kernels, got it hot and kept shaking. When it slowed down popping, just as in the microwave, I pulled it off, dropped a glob of butter in and kept shaking till I was satisfied it had melted. Walla! Evenly coated butter popcorn that became my 2nd favorite food. The first being cheddar peppers from Sonic. May I recommend that if you try this, you do not use a pan with a loose handle? Yep, I did. And twice the pan flipped 180 degrees upside down and spilled all over the ground. Luckily it only takes about 5 min to make more. The last time it happened I burned myself and declared in frustration it was time to pack up all the fun and head for home. I tried making mac and cheese over the fire. I managed to make it, but it tasted like smoke, so was totally inedible. I tried frying deer meat and it tasted like fish and the fish had bones in it. UGH. We had to resort to roasted hot dogs. We swam, played volley ball, birdie, ring toss, and washers. We put the net up and played volleyball in the water. We inflated a boat and took a trip across the water and found a swinging rope. Boy was that fun to jump from!!!! I yelled like Tarzan. We played a couple of card games and watched the sunset. Camping makes me so much more aware of God. I feel so much closer to Him. So much more appreciative of what He’s made. Really I think I could spend most of my time sitting on the shore just watching. But I make the effort to do with Stacy what he enjoys, at least for a little while. It makes him sweeter. Stacy and I like to pack light and make do. It works out really well if we only stay one night, get totally exhausted and come home the next day. The less we take, the less we have to put away when we get home.

Wish you could smell this.

Honey suckle is my absolute favorite smell in the world. I love how it wafts through my window and permeates all of spring. There are so many memories tied to it. I wish I could post the fragrance for you to upload.

Sad thing is that a whiff of this gets mixed in with it occasionally. He belongs to the neighbors.

I gave Natalie a chocolate candy bar. She had it all over her hands, all over her legs, and feet. And look at the smile!

Here is some of my hives since I've put the honey supers on. When you open them up it smells like bananas.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, a couple of friends went with us to the park. We hiked trails and had lots of fun as you can see.

This is Sambo and Jemima come to serve a fried chicken dinner. Actually it is the same two gals who went with me to the park! They were serving a mystery dinner at their employer's. Mystery meaning, you don't know what the food has been renamed when you go to order it along with your utensils and desert. It's a hoot!

The Honey flow is here.

Been working on the bees lately. When I got the supers out to put on for honey, some of them had mildew on them. I researched it and found I could put them on the hives, and guess what? The bees will clean them up!!!!! Honey has small traces of mold spores, that's why it is so good for allergies. Can you believe what a miracle food God created? The world of bees is so complex only an intelligent creator could have engineered it. It is most definitely not the product of an accident.

In the Spring I have to check for wax moths and paint the boxes so they will weather better.Just last week I put some empty boxes on the above hives and yesterday when I went to check, they were already full of honey!

I have to guard against wax moths. They love the empty comb. They lay eggs in the comb and then as they grow they eat through the comb leaving havoc behind. A good freeze at just the right time will kill them, you can put the boxes in the freezer, or put moth crystals in while storing to deter them from coming.

Symbolically I was thinking sin is like those moths, and left alone, eats and destroys till completely unusable. But Christ's blood is like that good freeze, totally killing the sin and stopping it dead in its tracks. That's my sermon for the day. Hope ya'll enjoy my world of beekeeping

May happenings

I went to stir my trial compost pile and found a bunch of tomato plants.

I wonder what kind they are. Dad got part of his disability check and here is the resulting toy

Mom got these beauties for Mother's day from my brother and his wife.

My niece Ella learning to climb.

. The latest cold spell we had is blackberry winter.

You know this, because the blackberry bushes will be in full bloom.

Call me the Terminator

P.S. I did not take this picture, it is only a symbol of my skills

Last night I heard a noise. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a grey mouse run across the floor, into my pocket book, out again, and in again. Determined to get my pest, I set a trap. I went to bed and caught him shortly there after. We've also been having a terrible time with ants, and I've killed all that I can get my hands on. Here is what my friend Diane had to say about my killing spree: Here are some names for your ants before you send them to their destinies: A(u)nt Alice A(u)nt Eulah A(u)nt Diane (let that one live!) A(u)nt Gertrude A(u)nt Jemimah (give that one a dab of syrup for her last meal) :) of course A(u)ntBee ( be careful of her. If you try to kill her and she gets away, remember her nephew is the sheriff. I believe they call him A(u)nt Aylor or is it aunty Taylor? (Andy Taylor) :) And don't forget A(u)nt redenbacher. ( Pop her good!) If you're wondering how to tell the girls from boys you simply watch to see which ones hang aroung the sink and kitchen and which ones are on the dining table. The females in the kitchen and the males at the table hungry. :) Another way to tell is look for ants that crawl in a u shape. They're the uncle ants.

Can I Teach?

I am doing research on teaching school as I am praying on opening a private school next year. If you have any great tips, ideas, links, etc. please leave me a post here. I am a huge fan of Charlotte Mason and "unschooling". Most of all please keep me in your prayers. As God opens doors for me, I want to walk through them. I have had an unbelievable amount of students to tutor recently, some interested in full time. I have to investigate legal issues. I may just keep it to well structured tutoring, we'll see. I'll keep you posted as I seek God's will. Perhaps this is my calling, the fulfillment of my desire to homeschool?