{SnOw DaY #3 2011!!} Early morning snow and walking to work

 Early this morning snow was falling pretty good and then the clouds cleared and the sun shone bright and warm.  It was 15 degrees  and we were glad for that.
It was lower through the night. 

 Now the sun is out, it's 18 and our high for today will be up to 27 degrees, hopefully.

 Snow falling early this morning (above) and the boys checking the horses' water (below)

 Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go!  (below)

  Work can't wait and so off they go! (look closely in these 3 photos and you can see them walking) We parked the car at the end of the drive(below), so Dad and Big Sis are walking down to it.  The three younger ones are just joining them as they walk down the drive to the car, and then the kids will head back home for their breakfast.  

 

Speaking of breakfast...the newest member of our family(Gato) has found his. 

Yayee!! He's definitely a keeper!

{MoRe To CoMe!}

The rest of our {Snow Day #2 2011!!}

 So as the day went on, we were very productive.  My husband and our son made it back from town with kerosene for our heaters. The girls and I kept ourselves busy in the kitchen baking and cooking up a real 'comfort' food meal and our littlest son helped out by collecting snow from outdoors. We made a bunch of homemade chocolaty-chip wheat cookies, several loaves of whole-wheat bread, and a hot meal of fried potatoes, bacon and turkey bacon, grits and homemade gravy. We skipped the fresh eggs because my little chickens are taking a break from laying their eggs.  It's just too cold for them to produce right now. 

  We're not 'ALL' work and no play!  While the cookies and bread were baking, some of the kids ran outside to check on the horses water and then I heard it.  'BANG!'  'BANG!' 'BANG!', sounded on the back door.  They were all smiles and laughter as I saw all these bursts of snow on the glass!  "Mom! Look now!"  'POW!' Right into the glass again and loud laughter. I love it!

 Shortly after my husband returned, we heard an engine sound coming up our long, icy driveway.  It was our neighbor, Mr. Alexander.  He and his wife live on their farm, a short distance from us and he came down to see if we needed any help with our driveway.  In the background you can see where there were 3 cars parked. My husband left our car parked, up at the front of the drive, near the road. Mr. Alexander offered to run his grader back and forth to clear the ice and snow from our drive.  He did and it's better now.  Mr. & Mrs. Alexander are what you'd call real, down-home neighbors and honestly they're one in a million!  We should all be more like that! (We HAD neighbors like that 7 years ago)

 I've had such great helpers today!  Our nine yr old loves to cook. Here he's cooking bacon and fried bologna. 

 Bread is very much a part of our daily menu.  We purchase, store, grind(mill), use and consume whole wheat in many of our dishes.  Whole wheat bread, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, cupcakes, cookies, cakes, gravies, potpies, all kinds of crusts, and anything else you could imagine that could have flour in the ingredient list. Here our 10 yr old daughter is making bread in our bread maker. We use the bread maker just to knead the dough and then after its kneaded the dough, we take it out, divide it, bake it and then savor the warm, buttery bread, covered with local honey. 

Somebody is getting into the cookie dough!  My little bacon helper.  Our oldest daughter baked a bunch of cookies with puffed,brown rice, fresh oats and chocolate chips.  They were yummie!   

  Checking the horses' water and getting them up and running to get'em warm! 

  Diego can't miss out on any fun. He's the most friendly horse I've ever seen. Any time he sees his family (that'd be us) outdoors, he runs over (and I mean run), and nudges us until we sit on his back.  I think we're going to seriously work with him this spring.  He's not even been broken yet. He's so smart and willing to please his family.  It's kinda neat.

 Last of the day: pizza, tater tots and fresh, homemade chocolate chip cookies.   

{Stay warm. More to come}

{SnOw DaY #2!!} 2011 Making the most of it!

 So, I'm sitting here at my pc and the power has finally come back on.  We are all so accustomed to using electric and this is one reason my husband and I  have longed to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle out here.  We are moving toward that as best as we can.  One day at a time, right! So, here I sit. Keyboard at my fingertips and looking out across the land with all it's beauty and snowy glory before us.  Yesterday we all went out and 'played' in the snow before the sleet hit.  Later in the afternoon freezing rain fell and atop our 9" or 10" of snow is a 1" layer of hard, cold ice.  'Crunch!' 'Crunch!' 'Crunch!' as we walk over to my little chicken coop, or over to the horses to brush off the layer of crust ice on their manes. 

 This is the view from my back door.  I so enjoy sitting here in the mornings to read my Bible and take time with the Lord.  This morning was different, and we were bustling around making sure everyone was warm, because last evening we lost all power.  Just at dinner time.  Thankfully we had eaten a good dinner and we had our trusty kerosene heaters at hand.  God does provide!  Today the power has been restored and we are busy with as much as we can do inside just in case we loose power again this evening. 

 Laundry, baking, and cooking are on the agenda on the inside, for today. Trekking to town on these icy roads to retrieve kerosene is on the agenda on the outside, even though all roads are officially closed.  My husband and one of our sons went to town to get some kerosene.  We live about 10-12 miles from the nearest town.  That's not really very far considering. The roads we use to travel to town are mostly little, back roads though.  So, they're icy-slushy-slick roads.  

 Here is my favorite tree. Covered in ice and snow. 

 On Sunday, before the storm hit, the kids and I cleaned out our big wheel barrow and set it next to the house.  We thought that if it snowed alot, it would fill the wheel barrow up and then we could scoop out some fresh, clean snow. That's just what we did!  And it made some of the best snow cream ever!! We decided to top it with chocolate syrup and then since I don't eat dairy, I put chocolate and strawberry on top of mine. It was simply dee-lish!! 

{more to come}

{SnOw DaY!! #1} 2011

This is one of my favorite trees! It's gorgeous covered in snow.

Last night, the snow began to fall and we all went outside to 'play' in it!

But not for very long...brrrr....it was too too cold!

 

 This morning we woke to a snowy land...far, far away!

 Well, it was just in our pasture

 

 Time to go play again!!

 We are packing the snow down to make a good trail for sliding

 More to come!

Just a little note:

Busy times at the Wisener household.  I haven't forgone blogging, I've just been busy moving, homeschooling, doing my own classes and trying to get unpacked. 

It's funny how we have all this packing up to do BEFORE we move and then after we move into our new place it seems like we have EVEN MORE unpacking to do.  Boy, where did all this come from.  I don't even have my wifi installed yet. I am sitting in town, outside a local coffee shop...called "Rooster's Coffee Barn". Fitting title, huh. The weather has been so bad, the people can't get down my drive. Yes, we are far, far out.  We had to have another load of gravel poured.  I think that makes 12 or 13 loads.  

We did get my chicken coop moved today.  And all my chickens!  We left most of them inside the coop and they just went for a ride.  After we set it down and opened the door, they had a strange look on their little faces.  Too funny!

I am trying to post some about our move.  Thank the Lord we are just about finished.  Just  have to finish the fencing around our house, move the horses and their tack, set up a watering hole and then move a big freezer.  My sweet husband has not stopped.  We are gonna have a great spring!

A Trip to Amish Country-Tennessee

Last week for my birthday, we took a day trip to a nearby state to visit an Amish Community. The night before, we packed a huge pic-nic basket and carry cooler with lots of homemade goodies, homemade bread, muffins and sweet tea for the trip, so we wouldn't need to use the dreaded 'drive-thru' or stop at the convience stores on the way there or back home.  It made the trip so much more enjoyable, because I knew we were going to feel better the next day.  We went with our good friends Jeff and Bridget Koehoorn and their two boys, Tanner & Jody.  Since all of us like the outdoors, it made the day even better.  Such a great way to celebrate my birthday...

Here's  a little photo gallery of the day...heading into the Gorgeous state of Tennessee

I always enjoy seeing the ridges of the mountains as we pass by

On the way we saw these rolling hills...

 And this breathtaking valley!

 

 Here we are entering into the Amish community. We reserved a wagon for us all and arrived  that morning.  It was ready and waiting on us, so after walking around the little gift shop we all boarded and off we went!! Isn't this home charming?   Notice there are no electric poles/lines. I would love to have that clothes line in my back yard...talk about hanging out some clothes!!  They do not use any form of electric at all.  Their homes are very simple with little to no yard ornamentation.  Very beautiful though.  Very simple and lovely!

 

 This is a working saw mill, where they cut their own lumber to make everything from homes, outbuildings, sheds and workshops to furniture, wheels for buggies and tools.  Nothing is made using A-N-Y    F-O-R-M  of electric.  It is made using 'MAN POWER ONLY'.  

 

 Here is a beautiful home place.  You can see where the garden was and will be this spring.  They grown most everything they consume. 

 

 This is our driver/tour guide.  He was so friendly and very accomodating to us as a group.  Since it was about 20 degrees, he put gas heaters in our cart and put a cover over the top to keep the wind out.  It was very, very windy that day.  Micaylah is actually driving the horse and buggy herself!!  She was a little nervous at first, but then found out it wasn't as hard to do as she thought. 

 

 Garrett and Kyle are very interested in something across the road.  Our buggy seated 11 people and we had 10.  They have another buggy that seats 15 or 16.  Next time we will need to bring more friends!!

 

 Jeff and Bridget are enjoying some cuddle time...you two are sooo cute! 

 

 Austin is now driving the buggy.  He decided to give it a try too. 

 

 Camille is driving the cart now!!  Hey!  Keep your eyes on the road!  :)

 

 Austin and his Daddy are having some cuddle time too!  Sweet guys!  I love 'em!

 

 This little country store was probably one of the highlights of our trip.  There were more things in this little store than my little camera was able to capture. 

 

 This is the front of this little country store...look at the front. Isn't is so quaint!!

 

 Here are the proprietors...Grandma and Grandpa!!

 

The kids are taking it all in and of course, laughing, cutting up and being silly!

 The day was so pleasant and it seemed like it took only a moment to come and then go.  We visited with 'Grandma and Grandpa' and then we were on our way back home.

Thanks for coming by to share our trip with us!