To all the animal lovers

I didn't think I would be writing this so soon after just posting my last blog but because of developments this week I decided to write.  I thought this week would just be a routine week.  Working hard on the walls and getting them done; going swimming at the indoor pool (and taking a glorious shower); just going about our normal (abnormal life) but I guess, it turned out to be rather an exciting week.  We were really working hard on the walls and have managed to build them up almost to the top level.  Tom and I have to make adjustments for the stove pipes and septic pipes but I think that we are pretty much done with cinder blocks!  Yeahhhh, praise God.  Natasha was a great help this week.  She has become an expert in mixing cement.  And you should see her muscles!  Quite impressive.  Sean stayed home this week to shoe and spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Thank you for feeding him.  He is pretty much like his father.  Eats a lot!!!  And I don't know where he puts it.

I have to add too, and this is part of the title, that we have a lot of new pets on the property.  They love Logan and are quite drawn to him.  He has given up much of his precious blood to them.  Yes, the mosquitoes are out!  I think we have killed about 10 of them!  And they just keep on coming.  But that was not the reason I wanted to blog.  You all know how much I love my animals.  I think I have my grandfather to thank for that.  I used to bring stray cats home (who produced more and more cats) and I even rehabilitated a hurt pigeon on our balcony when I was really small.  I'm sure my mom was really happy about that one.  All my animals are very precious to me. 



Squirrel!!!!  Cat?!??!?!?!





 Now this dog that we have right now is quite a character.  He is hilarious because he is just such a goof.  His breeding is very mixed, some German Shorthaired Pointer (about 90%) mixed with Border Collie and perhaps some Lab or Pitbull.  His Pointer is the most prominent character and he chases everything that smells interesting.  When he goes on vacation to the farm the cats at my friends house also disappear until he has left.  He is part of the reason why we bought ten acres; to go running around.  So needless to say he has had a great time up there.  He loves the smells and chipmunks have become more careful.  It is quite funny when he goes after a chipmunk, they usually yell at him.  But no harm has been done by them.  I hope you can picture him, bounding happily after another animal to chase.  It is quite amusing to watch.  He is a smart dog and has to learn that there are some animals that are not chasable.  He has had a squabble already with some not so cute animals.  A month ago he was chasing what I thought to be a rabbit.  Off he goes bounding after it when we hear this yelp.  At first I thought he had snapped his leg by stepping on a log, or some such thing, but he came back licking his bleeding nose.  Feisty rabbit!!!  Several seconds after that we saw a cat sitting on the row, silhouetted against the sun.  You can be sure the pain in his nose was forgotten and he wanted a word with it.  We restrained him and as the cat turned to go its merry way, we noticed that it was not a normal looking cat.  It was a fisher cat. He had squabbled with a ferocious animal and that animal had told him to beat it.  That was a long time ago but I think Chet has avoided them since then.  He was stung by bees just the other day and even ate one.  No harm done.  Next second he was off again.



Precious litte thing.

                                         





We were coming home from our glorious shower/swimming on Thursday.  It was dark and rainy and Chet was happy to be free as we opened the car door.  We were walking back to the shed and he joined us.  He was shaking his head and we all thought that he had an animal in his mouth.  In the flashlight light it looked like he had grass sticking out of his mouth.  Tom told him to drop it but he was just shaking his head.  I heard Tom exclaim, " Oh no!" and drag the dog to the shed.  There I saw that it was not grass.  Chet had found our porcupine and it had found him.  Natasha turned on the generator and Logan held the lamp and they both prayed as we plucked the quills from his mouth.  He was really good about it, helping Tom to pull them out.  I am happy to say that all the quills were removed.  He was pretty chipper the next day and no marks were found on him.  But I sure hope he learned his lesson.



Awwww

  

 Thank you for prayers for my mother.  We talked today and she sounded chipper.  She has developed an allergy from taking the medicine to cure the Shingles and she looks and feels aweful.   We are sad they aren't coming right now but their plans are to come in November.  I don't know why!  The weather is certainly better now then it is then.  But they can help us with snow removal.  I hope you have a great day and week. 



Anne 

A heart condition and the remedy

I can't believe that the date today tells me that it is September 21.  How in the world did this happen?  It seems only yesterday that I was writing my last blog.  A lot has happened since then and God is still on His throne and in control, how awesome is that?!?!? 


I will start with our journey about 2 weeks ago.  The setting is Stonecrest Dr.  The culprits: Natasha (the protagonist), Sean, Logan and Anne.  The setting: the living room.  Picture this:  Tom, we will from hence forth call him the victim, asked his daughter to spend the weekend with him in VT due to the fact that Logan was suffering from a slight head cold and looked pretty much white, a usual condition when he has this cold.  I, call me the co-victim, needed to tend to my little buttercup, since he was suffering (RIGHT) so badly.  Sean had other plans and didn't really plan on going up that weekend.  He has been quite helpful and Tom didn't want to push him into helping all the time.  Plus he was really not himself anyway.  So Tom figured he could spend some quality father-daughter time chopping down some extra trees for beams, since Tasha really loves that.  Well, surprise, surprise but the protagonist wanted nothing to do with the plan.  She was in tears and just didn't want to go up.  Even the tempting offer to go swimming did not sooth her.  So finally Sean stepped in and decided to take her place (kind of like Christ did on the cross for us when He payed our penalty; but of course really not at all).  But unlike Christ, he really didn't sound like he wanted to go either, and was just doing it because Tash wouldn't go.  Well, if anyone knows Tom as well as I have come to know him, in the ohhh say 25 years I have know him, you will know that he don't stand around and dilly dally.  He just does his thing and if no one comes along to help, well, he does it anyway.  Call him stubborn, if you want.

So we are sitting in the living room, Tasha is drying her tears (I think they were crocodile tears) when Tom takes off and there we are.  I am fuming on the inside because I wanted to go and it seems that I was the only one who really wanted to, and because he took off!  Sean was pretty ticked because he had offered to go and once again his father took off without anyone, getting the job done alone.  And Tasha (tears again) crying because she felt guilty that Tom was going to be up there alone.  Logan was fine with the whole thing, he had his Wii.  After things semi calmed down (not really, since there was a lot of stomping on Sean and my part and sniffing on Tasha's part) we got to get some schooling done.  Sean was upset that Tom was going to be using the power tools without anyone near by, rightly so.  I came to the conclusion later that day, that I needed to be where my husband was because the enemy was having a field day with me, and I let him.  So talking to my hubby (he used his cell phone!!!!) we decided that I was to come up Saturday, with or without the older ones (still pouting and fuming, remember).  That night I had a chat with them again and I informed them that I was going up.  I just had this feeling that we all needed to be together up there.  The enemy can do a good job when we let him and when we are separated, spiritually or physically.  Well, this family was both. 

We all decided to make the trip in the morning.  And lo and behold we were not alone.  My brother-in-law Doug and his family and a couple of windows ventured up with us.  What started as a bad day turned out to be a really nice weekend.  Sean was out of sorts the whole time but he was wrestling with a lot.  I think we are all learning that this building is difficult, and that God is working on our hearts.  Today we talked about a commandment of Christ's: Be servants to all.  Well, we have to ask ourselves, are we?  Because then none of these issues will arise.  Christ is working in all our hearts, each addressing things we need to do. 

The week was a good one, and our cinder blocks arrived before they were supposed to.  The Subaru was feeling a little down, but since then it has had a pick me up.  I was glad Sean was up with his cute little truck (someone at the youth group called it a baby Ranger) because we had transportation when the Subaru needed a rest.  Actually, the Subaru was in a sort of cinder prison.  The blocks were dropped off on the driveway and we couldn't get the car out until all the blocks were moved.

While we were moving the blocks to the foundation Sean discovered a mama mouse and baby.  Thank you so much, Miss Judy, for solidifying the desire in Sean to assist little critters like that.  We didn't touch that skid at all and mama was fed some peanut butter (although Chet may have beaten her to it, his favorite treat). 

Sean worked like a wonder again, and Tasha (having discovered that she was building some major muscles) pitched in like crazy.  I was on cooking duty and scraping the top of the blocks.  We build half the walls up really quickly and were able to conduct school in our house with the walls partially finished.  It was kind of neat.  We spent Thursday building and moving the blocks to unblock the Subaru and then Tom decided to have a cold.  Very inconvenient!  How could he.  We came home and spent a couple of days recuperating.  On Saturday we were blessed by spending my father-in-laws birthday with him and the rest of the family and now we are up here again.  My parents, who were supposed to be coming this week, had to cancel due to illness of my mother.  Please pray for healing for her, since she is quite ill it seems.  The kids and I are disappointed as is my sister, since we had a lot of fun things planned.  Fall in New England is a fun time.

The remedy for a heart condition: Christ.  And I think we all learned a lesson that week.  I hope you are all well, and enjoy the pictures I am finally able to post!  There are a few that are from before we poured and while we were pouring.  Enjoy.  Anne

Some how to's and some how not to's

This week we spent 5 days straight in Vermont.  What a challenge!  I always wonder why our house has not sold, but after this week I am really thankful that it hasn't.  It is so nice to come home to a shower and civilization.  My father-in-law always jokes about us being pioneers.  It is funny to me to but really I guess we are doing something people don't usually do.  Although if you ask anyone in VT, they all built their own house and are all lumber-jacks.  It is really quite funny.  After five days of working in the sun, well, we were ripe for a shower.  Natasha was stinky, Logan was really stinky, Tom if you went near him you would pass out, and I, well, I smelled like a beautiful Lilly of the Valley.  Right, sure!  I couldn't stand my own smell after yesterday.  Ahhh, the luxury of indoor plumbing!  I have been in places around the world where people have none of this luxury and yet they live happy lives (don't ask the people they live with, though).  Yet as "civilized" Americans we can't even make it without that for long.  My daughter was hoping for a shower by Wednesday.  She did not complain outright but you could see it in her face that she was longing for this luxury.  Well, pioneers don't take showers, they bathe in the stream!  And after last week's rain our stream is flowing good.  However, I haven't been that desperate to try the stream shower yet. 

Our plan this week was to start the walls of our basement.  We decided, after prayer and calculations (I actually did some calculations in my head!), to go with the free standing cinder block wall with the surface bonding cement on the outside and inside.  The first level has to be mortared to the foundation, but the rest does not have to be (I am so glad for that).  We messed around a bit at the beginning of the week, looking at sights around the area and meeting with our new friends up the road, which was a blessing.  On Wednesday we finally got our act together and visited Tom's favorite store in Claremont, NH (30 min North from us).  Please keep that number in mind since there will be some calculations to be done.  After spending 3 hours in Home Depot, Logan even wrote about it in his daily journal, Tom had bought all the necessary supplies.  They needed to be special ordered from another store and would come within 2 weeks.  Well, great.  We still needed to be building this house.  After all, my parents are coming at the end of the month and need to be able to pitch in and help a little.  

So Tom decided to rent the F350 truck Home Depot offers its clients.  It is a great deal, the first hour only costs $20.  So the plan, it really was a great one of course, was for Tom and Natasha to take the bricks and mortar necessary for the first layer to the property in this rather good size truck.  Logan and I were to stay in Claremont and wait.  It would have been a waste to take the Subaru back and forth. Everything was loaded onto the truck; by fork lift mind you.  My husband and daughter took off, smiling and waving.  Logan and I went and did our stuff and decided to wait for them at McDonalds, on account of the indoor playground.  I also called Sean, who stayed in CT because he was shoeing this week, to inform him that his father is now driving an F350!  He was, to put it mildly, quite put off and refused to talk to me (not really but he was quite upset because we didn't wait for him to come up).  First hour passed quite quickly.  Now, remember how long it took us to get to Claremont?  That is correct, 30min give or take a bit.  Now Tom and Tash had to unload everything so give it another 15 min if they are super strong and fast.  Then 30 min back.  Now, you math wizzes out there: how many minutes is that?  That makes it over an hour.  Not a problem, we thought it would be tight time wise.  After about 2 hours I was starting to get a little upset, not to mention bored!  Finally, my cell phone rings.  My daughter informs me that they are leaving the property and she would tell me about it later.  Now I know there is a story to this!  After 3 hours I see them pull into Home Depot.  Naturally I inquired what had happened immediately.  

And here is where the how not to comes in.  When driving a truck, even a rather large truck like the F350, it is really important not to drive on sandy soil, which on top of being sandy is a little bit muddy.  My husband, and I love him dearly, decided that even though he is becoming muscle man, did not want to carry 3000 lbs around the property and so he drove to the house site.  We did this with my awesome little Subaru and drove all around the house without a problem.  Since then we have had a lot of rain.  The sand was a little slippery and Tom decided, for once in his life, not to listen to Tasha's really sound advise.  She advised him to not drive in the dirt!  She could have said "I told you so," after, but she is a wonderfully obedient daughter and didn't.  So for about an hour and a half they were trying to get the truck unstuck!  And that was not a small feat.  Tom smelled burning rubber at one time.  Of course, I had to share this news with Sean immediately and he graciously accepted my call.  He laughed hysterically and felt better that the huge truck got stuck just where his little Ranger got stuck in the fall.

Yesterday we were able to put up the first layer of our wall (hence the how to part).  It was hard work, especially because presently the sun is still beaming down on the slab, making it very, very hot and sticky (hence the smelliness).  Tom and I layed out the blocks (all right, Tom did 99% of the work here) and marked where they would be square, since having a square house would work best.  Then we marked every 4 feet and after we (actually he) moved all the blocks off the marks, Tom drilled holes into the cement for steel bars.  Those we placed into the holes and then we (yes I helped with this part) mixed the mortar and Tom began the long process of putting the mortar down, in the hot sun.  I encouraged him (from the shade) and helped him level the blocks once he finished a series of blocks.  Finally, Tom was quite done, the sun had set, and it was my turn to mortar.  That was fun.  We finished the work at 7:45 last night and wanted to go to the indoor pool to take a shower (refresh your memory to the reason why by reading the beginning of this blog if you must).  It was closed!  So we dragged our smelly selves back to the property.



As I lay up in the loft, hardly able to breathe, I recalled Psalm 23, my favorite Psalm when I can't sleep.  "The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want,.."  I have to warn you about something.  Be careful of what you are praying about.  God will give you your wants.  He is our good Shepard.  It won't be money, or power or riches(in most cases), and we won't have an easy life,  but once we have decided to follow Christ, there is a good chance that He will give us some of our wants just  because He can.  Well, years ago, before Tom went to Iraq, I had prayed about wanting adventure.  I sure got several in the last years.  So, I will conclude with this:do not tell your daughter you prayed for adventure after staying in Vermont for more than 3 days without a shower!  The outcome is..... well, I am still alive.
Have a blessed day.

Here is a picture of Logan in the loft: