Tag... I'm taking it.

So my sister, Patience, who has a great blog (Mastny Family) tagged me. Actually, she tagged anyone who reads her blog because she wants to know more about anyone who reads her blog. Since I'm not sure what she knows about me, I'm responding. Who knows. Maybe you'll find something out about me too! Maybe I'll find something out about me...

First (she was tagged twice, therefore I get two tags to respond to...): Six random things about me.

This is probably the hardest, since other people can probably give random facts about me better than I can give random facts about me... but here goes.

1. I've been to the top of Mt. Whitney, highest point in the contiguous United States. It took me roughly 12 hours to the top and back again. I'd do it again if I had the chance.
2. I stubbed my toe really hard about 6 weeks ago, and I'm STILL waiting for the toenail to fall off. It's a really pretty purple color still...
3. I like living on a farm and eating by lamplight and heating (and cooking on) a wood stove. I don't ever want to watch during the slaughter process though - it sounds really gross.
4. I buy ALL my shoes from the kids section when I buy new shoes -they're cheaper, and I get more comments on how cute they are (maybe I should avoid the velcro and princess shoes...).
5. I buy almost all of my kids' clothes at Goodwill or DI or another thrift store.
6. One of my favorite things to do is grocery shop. I could spend HOURS there - when I don't have my children with me...

And now - the second tag. It's a question and answer thing... and you'll get to know more about Andrew too... we'll see how well I know my spouse...

Q: Where did you meet your husband? At a barbecue that a friend of mine was hosting.

Q: How long did you date before you were married? We dated for 6.5 months. Apparently short dating and engagements run in our family.

Q: How long have you been married? 3.5 years

Q: What does he do that surprises you? Yesterday, he dunked one of LeGrand's diapers. And he also told me that he would do the laundry. (We use cloth diapers - to alleviate any confusion on why Andrew would be dunking a diaper that we were going to throw away anyway...)

Q: What is your favorite feature of his? I love that he's a good, hard worker. Plus, he's "handy with a hammer" (That's what Savannah claims - and it's true!)

Q: What is your favorite quality he has? Andrew has the ability to do whatever he wants to do - and do it well. He built a fence and roofed a canning kitchen and slaughtered a hog - all things that he wasn't raised doing...

Q: Does he have a nickname for you? Well... up until last Friday, he just called me Linda. Last Friday my name became Mud when I put a hole in the side of his truck hitting the mailbox - almost immediately after he told me NOT to wreck the truck. I'm hoping to make the transition BACK to Linda soon. Actually - he still calls me Linda, but I sure felt like my name ought to be MUD!

Q: What is his favorite food? Mexican. Although we have had Chinese take out more than twice in the past three months...

Q: What is his favorite sport? Andrew doesn't really have a favorite sport. He likes to watch the playoffs of just about everything (although I've never seen him sit down to watch bowling or golf or rouchambeaux...)

Q: When and where was your first kiss? On the doorstep of my apartment on our third (I think) date.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? One of the things we like to do is have very heavy snowstorms in a cup from Dairy Queen, more than anything though, we just like spending time together.

Q: Do you have children? We have rechargable batteries. Three of them. They don't sleep - they recharge.

Q: Does he have any hidden talents? Andrew makes really good omelets and fabulous breakfasts!

Q: How old is he? He'll be 30 on December 29.

Q: What is his favorite type of music? Some good, old fashioned Hank Junior! Or other old country music. He also likes Frank Sinatra. I know - not the most likely combination.

Q: What do you most admire about him? His ability to hold our family together when the going is tough.

Q: Who said "I love you" first? I did. On accident. I was talking to him on the phone, and when we hung up, I said, "O.K. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye." Kind of like I do when talking to my Mom. It was a habit that I just have never broken. After I hung up the phone and realized what I'd said, Andrew called me back to verify what I'd said. And I realized that I did, in fact, mean it.

Q: Will he read this? Probably not. There are no pictures. Andrew likes to see the pictures and doesn't really care what it says.

And lookie there. I answered all the questions without having to consult Andrew! I hope I got them all right!...

It's the Great Pumpkin! RRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or at least get a really great scared face.

I haven't decided if it's the thought of being left in with all those pumpkins that terrifies LeGrand; if it's the color ORANGE; if his feet are cold, or if The Great Pumpkin is coming, and he doesn't look good...

At any rate, this picture makes me laugh. Hard. I shouldn't laugh at my son's apparent terror... I just tell myself it's the picture I'm laughing at - not the terror.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins - Everywhere!

Yesterday, I took LeGrand and Margaret to a pumpkin patch. I had ulterior motives. The obvious first being that I wanted to buy some pumpkins, and I didn't want to go to the store to do that. Pumpkins were $1.00 each. Any size, all for a buck. I bought 10. I'm going back today to buy another 26. NOT that I need that many pumpkins, but while at work at the temple, we were discussing what we'd done during the day, and my excursion to the pumpkin farm came up. I'm getting pumpkins for everyone so that they can do their own carving. I draw the line at sticking my hand into someone elses pumpkin goo. Works well for me, I end up with 26 ones... and the vending machines only take ones... Yay me!

The second reason we went is because I finally decided it was time to get my picture get taken. No, you won't find those shots today - my friend Kristen (not my friend Kristen in MO) took the pictures, and she's going to get them to me later. You'll find my pictures here probably sometime next week. And I wanted to take some pictures of Margaret and LeGrand.

It was a happy time... most of the time.

Margaret loved climbing on the massive pile of pumpkins - LeGrand wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Margaret was intrigued by the fact that her feet kept getting stuck. "Mom! I am tuck! My peet are tuck!!!"

Oh, to be two again and not worry about squishing the squash... And LOOK! It's that ever elusive when the camera comes on smile from Margaret!

Deep Freeze

Not much exciting has happened. EXCEPT for the fact that we've finally got a chest freezer. And yes, if I were to be crazy enough to stick my chest in it, it would freeze. I think I finally feel like an adult. When I was a kid, I thought that you had to have a super huge freezer in order to be a great adult. Now that I have one, I'm certain that it's not the case. Having a freezer just makes for more room for ice cream. Which we currently don't have any of. What a shame. I'll have to fix that. Soon.

Instead, this wonderful freezer that we have came from Sears and had to be special ordered. Yes, it's special. The thing gets down to -10! So if ever I really miss those cold winter days in Alaska, I'll just go climb into the freezer and ask someone to moniter the door until I want to get out.

What else do I find wonderful about this freezer? Well... not only does it have three baskets that hang on the top to put Sausage and Bacon, Beef Steaks, and Hamburger in; it has dividers that divide up the bottom of the freezer into either squares or rectangles - to suite our needs. It makes organizing extremely easy. No more of the digging and freezing your little toosh off just to get that last package of bacon! Now, the bacon is in its own little basket - shared only with sausage...

I am in food storage heaven.

Pressing Matters...

Did I say matters? I meant APPLES!

So, for the past few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in various sorts of canning projects. One week we made Apple Pie filling and Grape Juice and Prune Juice and Canned Plums and Canned Apples and Apple Sauce and Apple Juice and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting as well.

Last week, however, I took a break from the canning and picked apples. One of the nice things about living in the country is that there are PROBABLY a few places to pick apples - either that, or neighbors who are kind enough to give you apples. Fortunately for me, there are both. Add to that some wonderful friends who love picking things too, and you've got a party!

A friend of mine found an orchard that had u-pick apples for 35 cents a pound. GREAT price, since in the store the same apple type is selling for well over a dollar. So, we went. The intent was to fill the back of a pick up truck with apples. Mind you, I was NOT about to PAY for that many apples, since that's a lot and I don't think his scale would have been able to handle that weight - but instead, we asked if we could pick up the apples from the ground.

How could this be? Well... we have hogs. We just didn't tell him that we only have 3 hogs, and that we were planning on squishing the juice out of the apples before giving them to the hogs. So... graciously, the orcharder (sort of like a farmer, only without the animals...) allowed us to pick apples off of the ground (and for his graciousness, we promised to come back next year and we also bought some apples - 110 lbs worth as a matter of fact...). Filling the back of the truck took the better part of the day - and I only wish I could have seen the look on Kristen's husband's face when she came home with their pick up full of apples...

That was Friday. Saturday, the fun began. And when I say fun, I mean work being fun...

A few weeks ago we purchased an apple press.

An OLD apple press.

And, after Andrew re-built the barrels and the tray that goes underneath it, we had the press up and running on Saturday! The end result? 55 gallons of delicious, crisp apple cider. (12 of which we gave away to those who helped in any way possible.)

The freezer is coming on Thursday. Until then, we have the majority of the cider in the refrigerator downstairs on the coldest possible setting (and we're keeping the door closed to keep the cold in...) and the remainder is in two of the three freezers we have downstairs. We've talked about opening a little roadside stand - but making cider is too much work to sell it for $6.00 a gallon - which is what the other stands are selling theirs for.

In the meantime - if we can get more apples, Andrew is up for turning the crank!

Phonics...

Savannah has been excelling in school; particularly as a reader. The other day we were on our way to school and Savannah said to me: "Mom, I know what those buttons there say."

Not wanting to miss out on what she might have to say, I said to her: "Oh yeah? What do they say?" Her response was classic: "AM and FUMM." And then came the kicker... "Mom, what's a FUMM?"

I was tempted to tell her it was the last part of the phrase the giant says when playing hide and go seek with you, but I didn't think she'd get it...

"Fee Fi Fo Fumm..."

Overheard...

So I've been listening to Savannah and Margaret lately as they play. Sometimes I intervene, and sometimes (like today) I wait to see what will happen. The following is an actual conversation between Margaret and Savannah.

M: "Banana, may I play wit your baby?"
S: No.
M: NANA! I ted, may I play wit your baby!?
S: No, Margaret. I'm playing with it.
M: Nana... (and then, holding up her fingers) One... Two... Bee... Pour... Bive... Tix... Seben...
M: MOM! Nana won't let me play wit her baby!

I quickly went out to the garage and shared that laugh with Andrew.

And then, with Savannah out of the house and Margaret in the bathroom, I hear this:

M: MOM! Tome twickly! I need you! I drop penny in toilet and it is in the way! I need to go bathroom!! Please tome help me! It is in the way! I tannot pee! The penny is in the way!

It should be noted here that Margaret had been in the bathroom for about 5 minutes, sitting... and I was at the point of telling her that she probably should just get up and try again later. Guess she just needed some thinking time...

Putting on a rubber glove, I went to her assistance. After which she said - talking to herself, I'm assuming since there was no other person in the bathroom... "All better. I finally did doe to dah bathroom... no penny in dah way..."

Sometimes it's hard for me to keep a straight face. It's better not to.

The Circle of Life...

For some, seems to revolve a lot quicker than for others. Now, I'm not talking about the mortality of people here, I'm talking about the fact that we seem to live in the Turner Triangle of Cats.

Seriously. We have had six cats on our property since December, and of those six, we have one. And we just got her Wednesday. Cat number 1, Sam, disappeared while we were in Coeur D'Alene, ID. He was an excellent mouser. Cat number 2, Tiger, disappeared the day after LeGrand's baby shower. Cat number 3, Oreo, disappeared the day after we got him. Cat number 4, Princess Tiger Lily (not named by me, by the way), disappeared two weeks after Oreo. Cat number 5, Kitty Cat, got hit by a car yesterday, and is still lying in the driveway. Don't ask me why - I don't know.

Who hit her? I don't really know. I have a sneaky suspicion that she was up under my car and the car poifed her out when I got close to the end of the driveway. Either that, or she ran out into the road and was hit and then somehow ran back to the driveway. OR... I could just own up to the fact that I may have run over the cat. How? I don't know. All I know is that I looked out the window and saw this little kitty who had just lost her ninth life. There is no more.

Cat number 6 is currently (I hope) hiding under the porch where she has been since we got her. We have seen her in the past 24-hours, but I haven't ventured outside yet this morning to verify her continued existence. Perhaps we need a full grown cat instead of a kitten...

Margaret seems to think that our squished cat is lying down and taking a "map". It's the longest nap I've ever seen a cat take! And it beats her walking around the house saying, "Our tat dead. I want to play with our dead tat..." (ALSO heard around here when she finally saw that the "tat" wasn't moving...) We're NOT letting her play with it.

So why do I write about such a morbid topic? I'm searching for suggestions on keeping cats alive in the Turner Triangle. At first I thought it was the chicken (I mean... Kitty) hawks. Then I thought that perhaps there's a coyote who likes cats... Now, I'm beginning to think we're just plain cursed and doomed to have mice around for the remainder of our lives. We're praying that this new cat stays. And we're not naming her. I've noticed a pattern: name the cat, and the cat disappears. Seriously. We have NO IDEA where they're going. There's not been evidence of cat pancakes, they just one day are gone. Vanish. Into thin air. Gone. Good thing it's not the baby...