Hurricane Irma: The Weekend I Took 9 Dogs to Church

I'm sure everyone reading this blog has either experienced hurricane Irma or seen it on the news.  Just for the record though, I will mention that it was the largest recorded storm in the Atlantic (outside of the Carribean) with peak sustained wind speeds of about 185 mph.  It was larger than the state of Florida, and predicted to travel right up the middle of the state after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.  That's a strong storm!

Because it was so strong and we live in a mobile home, we deemed it would be prudent for us to get out of the way, so we evacuated to church.  A number of other families had the same idea, so we all got to camp out Sunday afternoon - Monday morning.  It was so much fun!

For those who are wondering about the title:  I have a litter of 6 Border Collie puppies right now, plus my three breeding dogs.  I couldn't exactly leave them behind, so they got to come along.

"Over the sandhills and through the swamps, to Mamaw's house we go..."

Sunday afternoon after church, the whole family, including Duncan, loaded up and headed over to Mamaw's and Bompa's.  We stayed overnight, and celebrated my 23rd birthday, and Frank's 1st birthday.  It was a fun time!

Warning:  This is a long post with lots of pictures.  I had lots of fun posting them; partly because the day is still fresh on my mind, and partly because I got to it before Savana!  :)

Frankie started a new workout program.

(Isn't he just as cute as he can be?!)

"If I faithfully lift weights, I will be strong.  This is serious."

"You know, Mama, you should lift weights too!  It's good for everyone."

Snapshots from Our Vacation, 2016

We left for Kentucky and Michigan on June 29th, 2016, at about 1:30 AM.  We don't normally leave that early, but my aunt and her family were leaving the next day (well, really the same day, since it was after midnight) for New Mexico, and we were helping them finish packing and loading their van.

We made it to Kentucky around 3:30, June 29th.

A Very Special Announcement

July 1st, 2016, is a day that Farrah will always remember...

For on that day, just at sunset on the shore of Lake Michigan, she was asked the most special question of her life...

And she joyfully said "YES"!

We are excited and blessed at the way the Lord has brought Farrah and Joshua together.  He has led them both through courtship, as Joshua first approached Daddy, and later talked to Farrah in a group setting with all the parents.  As their relationship grew, they became closer and their hearts were knit together as they felt the Lord leading them toward marriage.

Now we get to watch as they plan the wedding and their new life together.  I have seen Farrah blossom in new ways, and am looking forward to having Joshua Siefka as a brother- even though he will be taking my sister to his home state of Michigan.

"The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad."

Psalm 126:3

*I hope to post the fuller story about Farrah and Joshua later.*

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt. 5: Homeward Bound!

Like all other good things, vacations must sometime come to an end, so we said packed up, said goodbye, and headed back to Kentucky.

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt. 4: Michigan Visit

From Kentucky, we went to visit some friends in Michigan for a week.  We had a wonderful time!

We:

 Sang around the campfire,

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt. 3: Trip to the Zoo!

On our last day in Kentucky, we were privileged to be able to visit the Louisville Zoo with PaPa and Grandmother, Aunt Diana, Aunt Joy, and cousins Max and Livy.  The weather was delightful, and we were able to see in person many animals that we would probably never have the opportunity to observe in the wild.

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt.2: Kentucky Visiting

(Here are some photos from my camera, which had gone missing for a little while.)

A look at our living room a few days before leaving...  

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt. 1

This year we were blessed to be able to take a family vacation; the first one in seven years!

Sunrise in Georgia.

Life of Late...

     Actually, this is just a late post about life.  :)  It's been a really long time since I've posted anything about us...  For some reason book reviews are just so much easier to write than a "home life" post.  I'll just give lots of pictures, and some explanatory remarks along with them.

     First I have to back up to October...

Thanksgiving week with the Feldmans

Well, I've done it again- let the months slip by without posting on here a single time.  We've been really busy (as usual:).  Most of the time has been delightful, and happy, but as Ballantyne says "life is chequered", and there has been sadness too.

     For now though, here's some photos and a quick look at how we Feldmans have spent Thanksgiving.

     My cousin was getting married Thanksgiving weekend in Ft. Walton Beach, so we traveled up there for the wedding.  On the way we stopped at my grandmother's house for a day or two, for Thanksgiving.
   

Poor Winnie never struggled- she was convinced that she was dead the whole way to the farm.

How many girls does it take to lift an 80lb. sheep into the van?  (Savana had to help too!)

     Before we left we took my goat Mabel to the farm she came from, so that she could be milked while we were gone, and also hopefully get bred.  At the same time, we dropped off my sheep Winnie to get bred as well.  It was hard figuring out transportation though, as we don't have a trailer or hitch on our van.  We ended up just hog-tying Winnie, and I sat in the back seat and held Mabel's collar.

Russell enjoyed feeding Justice his apple.  He was so cute- opening his mouth at the same time J. did.  I think Justice ate more or his apple than Russell!

All the tasty food!

The dessert table.

Some of Mamaw's decorations.  (I think Savana took this photo- but I'm not sure.)

     In Ft. W. Beach we stayed in a condo on the ocean, just a few rooms down from my other grandparents (who kindly rented the condo for us), Aunt Diana and Uncle Gary, and cousins Hannah and Clara (Clara's brother was the one getting married).  This was a treat as they all live in KY and we don't get to see them very often.  My great Aunt Linda and Uncle Butch were also just a door or two down.

     We all enjoyed the beach, especially as there were very few people on it.

A beautiful sunrise on the beach.

Emailine and Russell loved playing in the sand.

I love this picture of LilyAnn!  You can see both her shadow and her reflection on the sand and water.

Lily Ann walking down the beach.

     We traveled back on Sunday.  We had originally intended to visit Mt. Zion Bible Church in Pensecola, but by the time we left the condo it would have been too late to get there in time for the service.  So instead we just headed home.

     We were blessed to be enabled to take that trip, and visit with our relatives from KY.  I will try to post later about the other events around here during the last few months.

Fun on the farm~ planting sugar cane and camping out

God has truly blessed me with a wonderful family.  Although we may not run all over town to attend orchestra, riding lessons, soccer, basketball, etc, we really have more fun than many other families who do so.  We are privileged to live in the country on a lovely little farm, with great neighbors, a lake, and of course each other.

     Yesterday, I finally found time to pursue a little project which has needed my attention for quite some time- namely, my sugarcane patch.

As you can see, sugarcane loves our garden's soil.  To put this into perspective, the post to the right is 7'6" tall.

Farrah has kindly allowed me to plant it in the garden, but this was with the intention of cutting it, and planting a larger patch somewhere else.  I don't know if we will ever mill the canes and make juice, syrup or sugar out of them, but they are good animal feed, so it's worthwhile for us to have some growing.  I decided to plant it on the west side of our pasture, in what used to be part of our fernery.  (It's tree fern, not leatherleaf which is what most of our neighbors grow.  Tree fern grows under oaks, not black "saran" like the L.L.)

     First, I made the furrows.  I only made three- about eight feet long by 5" wide and deep.

Me hoeing out the furrows.

Then I cut the canes, and Bo and LilyAnn helped me strip them.  This means that we pulled off the leaves to uncover the buds on the stem so that they will grow.  I think that they would grow without being stripped, but that doing so speeds up the process.

Bo and LilyAnn stripping canes.  (Actually, in this picture, they were distracted by trying to figure out how to suck cane juice.)

  

We then carried them up to the furrows, laid them in, and covered them over with dirt.  Well, really, Bo and LilyAnn did...

Covering the canes in the furrows.

Now we'll just have to keep it watered (it's a long way from the hose, pray for rain!) and hope that the frost doesn't kill it before it's got a good root system.

Later that day...

Daddy spontaneously decided to allow us to camp out down by the lake.  It was actually Savana's idea- we were going to burn an enormous brush pile down there, and she suggested a camp out.  We were all delighted of course when he consented to the plan, and spent the last half hour of daylight, (and the first half hour of darkness) setting up before returning to the house for a while to clean up, eat popcorn, and have a "fizzy drink" (i.e.  carbonated water, fruit juice concentrate of your choice.)

Here are a few photos of the bonfire and camp...

I put Evan in front of the fire to show perspective.  In this picture he was asking me to please hurry up, it was too hot for comfort.

The pile had been formed of brush we'd cut earlier this year while clearing by the lake's edge, and so was mostly leafy stuff- branches, young trees, lots of palmettos, etc.  The tall flame only lasted a few minutes, but looked really neat while it did.

Bo as a fireman, which he thinks is the most fun job in the world.  (Though I don't know how effective half a bucket of water would be on a twenty or thirty foot flame...)  For those of you who didn't read the survey Mama took of our little guys, check it out here.

When we returned to the house to clean things up, Daddy had a voice message on his phone from our neighbor across the lake, who was calling to tell us that a big black bear was in her yard, and warning us to be careful.  We knew that there were bears in the area, in fact the dogs ran one off our property a couple months ago.  I wasn't too concerned, knowing that black bears are usually peaceable, and don't attack without provocation of some sort, but Mama looked up "black bear attacks" on Google, and came up with a Wikipedia article listing all the fatal black bear attacks for the last 30 years in the USA.  For some time there was doubt whether we would be allowed to sleep outside or not, but Daddy got our eyes back on the Lord, and finally Mama consented to our proceeding with the plan. 

Savana putting the finishing touches on Evan's tent.  The object hanging in the background is Bo's enclosed jungle hammock, which he slept in for the first time last night.

Savana and I contrived this tent for Evan, since the mosquitoes are too bad for him to sleep in the open air (his preferred way of camping out) and we only had one working tent big enough for him- the other tent being barely big enough for William and Justice.

A photo LilyAnn took of the lake this morning.

Farrah and Russell at the campfire this morning.  Photo credit:  LilyAnn

We didn't see hide nor hair of the bear all night long, though the dogs barked a good deal.  I'll leave off with the verses which make up a Scripture song we sing at our church, and which I had on my heart this morning when I woke up:

Psalm 27:1, 4a, 5, & 7

1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid?

 4a

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in house of the Lord all the days of my life...

5

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion:  in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;  he shall set me up upon a rock.

7

Hear O Lord, when I cry with my voice:  have mercy also upon me, and answer me.