Hunting Season

Hunting season was lots of fun! It took everyone's participation.

Tyler and Emily went to check the deer feeders.

Tyer stood under the deer feeder so Daniel could line up the deer camera. The little red dot is somewhere on his clothes.

Cornelia helped fill up the deer feeder with corn...

...and Daniel

Stephen put on all of his hunting gear
and Cornelia and Daniel.

Daniel is barely visible.

And here's the crow.

Daniel also killed a deer with his bow.

Till the next season...................

More work being done

How is everyone?

It was good to hear from Aunt Dean, to read Jill's post, to read Kerri's post and to read Jennifer's posts. What a blessing to be able to hear and see from each other so easily.

Oreo came home. They performed surgery on his leg and he's still walking with a limp but he will get better.

This week the electricians came and put down the wire from the road to the shop and from the shop to house. Entergy came today and put up a pole at the road and then one beside the shop and gave us electricity.

Now we have lights!

Cupola

Joe completed the cupola on the shop. Doesn't it look great!

Did you already know what a cupola was?

The weather vane is two deer and pine trees. Very appropriate!

We also spent some time cleaning up and burning some trash. I'm keeping an eye on the fire while sitting on the bench Daniel and Cornelia gave me for Christmas. I love it!

Poor Oreo

Oreo Hughes had to go to the Doggie Doctor this morning.
Oreo didn't come when Joe went to the chicken house this morning. When Joe got back, he found him still in his house and when he came out he was holding up his right front leg.

An xray showed that Oreo's elbow was dislocated. We left him at the doctor's and he said he would try to put it back in place when he caught up with his other patients. Later the doctor called and said he had put Oreo to sleep and tried for 45 minutes and couldn't get the elbow in place. The doctor was going to keep him comfortable over the weekend and when the other doctor comes in on Monday they will try again. If that doesn't work, they will perform surgery to fix it.

We assume Oreo was hit by a car. He has a few other scrapes - on his head and on his back right flank. His lower lip is also swollen. I'm sure the doctor will be able to fix him up.

New House Moving

The new house is coming! They moved 2 pieces yesterday and will move the last one either Monday or Tuesday.

It was amazing how they got it through the ditch, down the winding road and between the trees. The Remote Trax they used could navigate it any direction with only inches to spare.

The first piece took much longer. By the second one they knew exactly where to place it to make the turns.

And the shop is almost done on the outside.

We're excited. You'll have to come see.

Happy Birthday, Jennifer

Jennifer was born 31 years ago today at 4:03 PM weighing 7 lbs 20 inches long. Her daddy said he got his little girl.

She was the prettiest little girl!

She was an outstanding student and graduated from Oklahoma State University.

Then she married her great husband, Mike.

Now she has a beautiful daughter, Emily Ann.

And a family that loves her very, very much!!!!!!!!

We're very proud of you!

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

Rockettes

The Rockettes were in Shreveport last night presenting their Christmas show. It was fantastic!
This link will show you pictures http://christmas.radiocity.com/. If it comes to a city near you, get your tickets.

The last part of their performance was the story of Baby Jesus. What a surprise! Nowadays it seems that it is not appropriate to include Jesus in Christmas. The audience was very vocal in their appreciation.

I went with my 4 girlfriends (they're pictured in my first post). You can imagine the laughing going on in that car on the trip down there and back. I think we need to get out more often.

As I was enjoying the performance, I kept thinking that Emily and Tyler would like to see the dancing teddy bears, Santas and toy soldiers. What fun! While I was gone, Tyler called. He asked his Granddaddy where Grandmother was. Granddaddy told him I went to see the Rockettes. He asked, "What's a Rockette?" Granddaddy was a little vague on what he told him.

Foundation for the new house

Men came today to pour footings for the new house.


On Saturday we used spray paint to mark where the trenches for the footings need to be.

The runners will be every 8 1/2 feet. You can just make out the orange lines.


Joe used his truck and trailer to pick up a small trackhoe that he rented locally. He unloaded it.





Then he began to dig the trenches. They needed to be at least 6 inches deep.


Daniel helped, too.

The rebar was put into each trench. Then filled with concrete.

The finished product.

Hot dogs & S'mores

The last night everyone was here for Thanksgiving, we had a bonfire and coookout in the backyard.

Tyler borrowed his Granddaddy's flashlight. He walked over to an area beside the house where he had been before.

When he came back with the flashlight we asked him what he had needed the flashlight for. He said that was where he was hunting deer and he wanted to see if there were any spiders or snakes . He said there weren't any so he went back and started shooting deer.

Stephen had a better idea than that. He gave Tyler one of his headlamps. And they went off to check things out.

Then it was Emily's turn walk out into the dark with the headlamp.

We had fun!

Two Special 3-year olds

Tyler and Emily slept in Grandmother's and Granddaddy's bedroom during Thanksgiving. Mike's mother had gotten toddler cots from Sam's and sent them to my house to be used by the little ones. They loved them. Tyler said he was on a camp out. You can see how soundly they were sleeping. Every morning they would wake up and start whispering to each other. Tyler would ask Emily what she wanted to do today. Then they would start naming. These are some of the things they named.

Raking leaves was always the first thing named.


Second was play games - Memory Match or Candyland.


Then it was ride the Mule and 4-wheeler.



They enjoyed everything they got to do.

Their early morning conversations would start with whispering but would gradually get louder to full-out giggling. Then they would look to see if Grandmother was still in the bed and would join me there. The things you can learn from two 3-year olds early in the morning.

Thankful Thanksgiving

There were many things to be thankful for this year. All of the children were home for the holiday. They are well and we had a wonderful time being together.

Uncle Robert, Aunt Peggy, Kelly and husband, Eric came for lunch on Thursday. Afterwards we went to the new farm.

We missed Uncle Charles and Aunt Judy. They had planned to come but got sick.

We had family pictures made. It was not a pleasant experience at Wal Mart and the pictures are not good, but they are pictures of us.

Tyler, Carter and Emily are so cute and so much fun.