September is nearly gone

 

Above is the rag rug I made in July. The rags (old sheets) were some I had for many years. The "white sheets had roses on them, so a bit of the print shows in the rug.

I have not done any crafts or sewing in the woods. I did a lot of mending. A lot of cleaning, a few big projects,(new cat enclosure) maintained the other 2 RVs, set up Corgi Cottage, cleaned the Lodge and the attached garage. 

Each night going to bed stiff in pain. But it is all worth it. We moved here in 2016 from the lake. But we owned this land (with house, garage and farm buildings we tore down) for 17 years. We have really gone through all of our things here- with 4 loads to the dump. If we don't use it it should not be "stored". Donating isn't an option, our things here are super well loved. We bring our old stuff from home. 

This year we only were able to come here for the month, but we got so much done, it feels good. Even if I'm stiff. :o) I accomplished my goal!

I'll do a new post next month on my fascination with rag rugs. I made the one here especially for Corgi Cottage. And yes I called the new RV "Betty" before but it just didn't fit. Neither Grandma liked camping anyway! ;o) I don't think they'd feel slighted in the least!

Katherine my granddaughter I've raised, is our nature, wild life photographer. She's 17 now. Above a spider we love to watch. He makes huge webs incredibly quickly!

Elizabeth (18) my namesake, granddaughter I've raised, caught a big Garter snake. This is the biggest they've caught so far. It is in a 5 gallon aquarium - just to give an idea of  length size. It looks skinny, I think its hungry!

Katherine caught a salamander. I love these. We used to catch them quite a bit bigger around here when I was a teen.

And toads- so many toads, frogs and tree frogs. Everywhere! They drive our puppy crazy! She wants to chase them! When my sister 3 years younger and I summered in this area, we played with our toads like they were live dolls. I used a tissue, tore holes in it for their arms and made a jacket for mine.

Our cats Pippi left, Bunny right. Pippi is a Dwelf Bambino Sphynx. She has the "elf ears" , she has shorter front legs and short back legs, and she is hairless- BUT they do get fuzzy in the winter! Our Violet who is a Sphynx never gets fuzzy. Bunny is a Bambino Sphynx, short and hairless. Pippi was an after thought- not planned, she had a broken tail from birth, no one wanted her- we did! They are 2 and 3 now. Violet is 5!

Samson just turned 25. Wow! we worried so much about his heart we never thought he'd see 20. He's doing great. Playing soccer here with the teens. That's a burn cage left.

We celebrated 2 birthdays this month on the same day. I saw these bubble guns on A*m*a#zon. They looked like fun. Every one from 13 - 25 loved them!

Samson posing for Elizabeth. This soccer ball is too hard for him to kick far. Sometimes he's outside every day, busy. Other days he's a couch potato who refuses to take out the garbage! ;o)

Usually up here the boys wear socks outside. They rarely like to go in the grass. If they do go in the grass, they have light weight summer shoes and socks. 

At home they wear hightops with AFOs. (foot orthotics) Here we are more relaxed. This fall they wanted to go barefoot! The weather was warm so I said o.k. They see that I/Mom never wear shoes or socks anywhere, if I can get away with it. I've been known to forget to bring my shoes home when we leave here at the end of our visit! (I only have 2 pair- not a shoe person!) I tease that shoes and socks are against my religion. ;o)

Above Moses loves using his feet to push his rider. Pauly at the table- he loves that table. Mercy laying down.

The boys have a lot of the same shirts. When there's a sale I buy as many as I can. Often I can't get assorted colors. We also do laundry here every other day(in town-washer)- so as clean clothes come in from the dryer we have here in the garage- they put them back on clean in the a.m.! 

Julius and Jacob. Julius loves the folding camp chairs. He sets them up and gets out the toys.

Pauly above having a snack of rice, veggies and hamburger. They eat anything I cook now. The first 7 years he was very picky- no mixed food and only meat if its hidden (pureed). So he ended up not eating very balanced food groups. That's why they still eat 4x a day. However now they eat meat- yeah!! Chicken, pork, tuna, everything chopped. They eat it in their veggies or noodles/rice. If it takes too long to eat it separately they won't finish. Here in Minnesota we are teased for cooking lots of "hot dish". (google it ;o) Yes they eat a lot of hot dish. :o) The only fruit they really like is bananas! Or fruit flavored yogurt! Bulgarians LOVE yogurt!

Moses with Pauly. Moses is still picky about how much he eats. Its hard because we'd like him to eat more. But that would cause a battle. We have to avoid that at all cost- he's super stubborn and very strong when he's angry. 

Julius loves the bubble guns. He's inching his chair into them!

Moses went inside- he hated the bubbles! He watched from the window when he dared!

Julius shooting bubbles, left, Elizabeth standing, (wearing shirt made by me :o) Mercy standing, Noah far right.

Noah is bubble gun crazy! He can "squeeze" the trigger really good! So we let him shoot 2! He loved it!!

Mercy became giddy from the bubbles. This sweet love has come so far in 7 1/2 years. She's a teenager now, and she reminds us every day! We are so blessed!

I'll leave you with some scenery that Katherine took. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Katherine knows how much I love night pictures. The moon at dusk.

                                 The road at almost dark.

The neighbor across the road flooded some of his land for duck hunting. The moon among the dead trees. I wanted her to take a shot like this with our Pine trees. Maybe next year. I love the color of the sky. 

                 The leaf colors were unbelievably vivid this fall.

Behind the garage about 200' away our "gold" trees are always stunning. My favorite- they look like the sun is shining on them, they are so bright in person.

Thank You for stopping by. (((HUGS))) everyone

God Bless! These times are hard

Please leave a "hello" if you have time! :o)

Till next time-

Eliz~

oh- and this made me smile today-

Baby cakes is almost 9 weeks old. She sleeps like this 90% of the time. Our other Corgis just lay flat on tummies with legs sticking out. Rarely on their backs unless in their crate. This girl is too much fun!

If its September we are in the woods

Above Faith taking Martha our lab out the back door of my "Corgi Cottage" (think Tasha Tudor :o)

*blogger set the picture this odd way :o( *

So the news never ends here!

Everyone is growing up so fast and changing so quickly.  

Our current family, fourteen people, are ages 13 to 66. Tom is stuck with 2 old ladies in his life, SP and I. SP has been in our family 31 years. Amazing. None of the adult children out of the home visit her, even though she blessed their growing up lives tremendously.

 Two young women here are now adults- ages 18 and 19. Samson is 25!  Next year 5 will be adults- including Noah! With the Coronovirus this years our homeschool graduates were unable to enroll in College fast enough for Fall. 

Our youngest 3 kids are 13,13,13! It feels like I blinked and those sweet preschoolers grew from 3,4,and 5 when they arrived to now 13. 

Above is my new craft room in Corgi Cottage.  Those are Ikea kitchen cabinets- Isaiah my sweet son put them together for me. They were a perfect fit.  I wish I could show the whole room. To the left, the front wall, there is a desk and cabinet built in. The desk holds my sewing machine, the cabinet holds a small stash of fabric. To the right is my Koala sewing cabinet- great storage plus it opens to a big cutting table. I have ironing and mending on there now!

This lamp above was waiting 35 years to be completed. I re-did the lamp shade. Gold wire around top and bottom and thousands of pearl beads strung on gold wire. It is a bit too heavy and has fallen off. But I should bring a hot glue gun and permanently affix it. I painted the lamp base white as well. Did not paint the art deco marble ornament. :o) Kids are already chipping the paint- but it still makes me happy!

To the left you can kind of see the desk with chair. I don't sew in here, I sew in the living room and watch british TV and of course American Politics on utube! (USA-USA-USA)

My dream kitchen! I cook for 14 big eaters! I have been able to crank out the food gourmet style! Room for an air fryer, 2 crockpots, my trusty toaster oven- Its amazing!! Residential 15.3 cubic ft fridge- 2 freezers! Love- love- love this kitchen! And the kids are loving the food. Last night blueberry cobbler! I have never had so much room- not even in my kitchen at home, which I hate.

Speaking of hungry family! Above my sweet gift from God, my son Isaiah now 16. (he never! wears his glasses- ugh) He is 6' tall! I was 47 when he was born by emergency C section- you do the math- I am old ;o)  After he was born (6 months old) my first born daughter died. I questioned God a lot while grieving her death and getting to know him while my heart was full of grief. So bittersweet. We are very close. He hopes to join the military after graduation. This year driving lessons!

Above Pauly- 13 years old. Such a sweet young man. Full of personality, but always too serious. He's very hard of hearing and he has Autism also. 

And oh my- Mr Trouble! Moses, now 15- no way!! He's still on growth hormone- because he wants to do big things. It was so cool to watch him realize when "he" could reach his own things on the kitchen counter- "he" did not need our help!! Love it! The hormone hasn't helped as much as we hoped, but we'll keep him on it until he's too old. He wants to be independent, he wants to be tall like Isaiah! Moses was my first son adopted from the orphanage to like me, and learn to love me. The boys did not like women - from living in the orphanage. Noah especially freaked out from white lab coats at the Drs. One day Moses came over and rubbed his cheek on my arm so sweet. Then he would stroke my arm. He likes to be hugged, praised and noticed when he works hard! Its fun to encourage him! 

 

Jacob left age 15 and Julius age 13. Julius has ADHD- big time. We started meds 2 years ago. Julius is- "curiosity killed the cat". He is curious to try anything. Jacob is still very non-compliant- his choice- he thinks he's funny and tricky if he can get away with avoiding all of us, or avoiding any type of independence by just sitting. We poke and prod him all day to do anything! And he can do a lot- if he will. Julius can be a bully- but he is also fearful of a lot of things. He still fears baths.

Left Noah now 17. He still needs surgery on his scoliosis. I am  dreading it, because he'll be so far away. I worry he'll be afraid without us while being in such a different environment. The Drs make it sound so easy- they say-leave him and pick him up 3 days later? They don't know what he likes, or how he likes to eat, or why he cries. I wish we could get this done closer to home. However I could possibly stay in a motel with SP and Tom and I could switch off being with him. Or Isaiah and Tom could go and stay in a hotel, and be with him. With Coronovirus how does that work? Here in our city 3 of us had hospitalizations/surgeries and only 1 person, the same person, could come with us, or visit us the whole time- very limited hours. But it was better than no one.

We have been praying for those on the West Coast with the fires. Last week the smoke blew all the way from Oregon to northern Minnesota. It looked like this above- that's the sun. 

All of the Fall colors were muted above from the smoke. Surprisingly the next day was not as bad and then it was gone. I hope that was a good sign that the fires are getting under control. 

Above the beautiful view without smoke. This is down our front road. The leaves turned late this month, but once they started they rapidly changed color. We needed more rain. It's been drier than usual this summer/Fall. Only one rainy day this month. Altho we had snow already with sleet a couple days. 

And now my puppy :o) She is the 3rd Corgi we've owned. The first lived 14 1/2 wonderful years. The second lived 5 years- He had developed a skin infection that could not be cured and he chewed on himself constantly. I lost my Sassy (lab) 3 years ago. She was such a goof. Odd for a lab, my other 2 labs are both serious, and the boy is head strong. Corgis have always been my love. (oh and my dog Snow- my 120 pound white shiloh shepherd- I'm too old for big dogs now :o(

So yes, I've changed her name. I know. But Faith hated the name Spunky. Faith is my "crazy dog lady" (so named by her sister) Faith helps with the dogs a lot. Faith and Tom wanted to call her Baby. They picked her up and drove an hour back home with her, seriously hoping to name her Baby. But I said no because we called Faith Baby until she was 10!! So no. 

But then as I was putting puppy out this week I said to her- You are such a baby cake! And that was it. Babycakes. That is her name. She actually responds better to it than Spunky- go figure! 

Babycakes has been the easiest puppy we ever potty trained. She tells us when she has to go!! She's incredibly smart. Here in the woods inside Corgi Cottage you can hear through the walls easily. One very early morning Babycakes was whining to potty. But I didn't hear her right away, it was 3 a.m. But the Barred owl heard her and hooted outside my window- very close! I got Babycakes out of her crate, turned on all the outside lights- opened the patio door- and super close I hear the Barred owl again- I was shocked! I yelled "Get out of here you bad owl". Thankfully I did not hear or see the owl come any closer to eat my puppy! So above you can see we covered the potty pen to protect her. 

The next night the Barred owl was back. Good Grief! Thankfully the 3rd night all was quiet and I could hear them far off..................until  I heard a LOUD "WHOOOOOO"  near by from the Great Horned Owl! It was not as close as the Barred owls had dared to get- but it was close. Thankfully that was the last night of any owls. The Barred owls often get chased off by the Great Horned Owl here. Our yard is about 3 acres mowed, at night we leave a light on in the middle of the yard, we have rodents everywhere! I have a mouse a night- killed by a trap inside Corgi Cottage. We're closing up holes outside of Corgi Cottage- but until we find them all- ugh! So its great here for owls- but they do not get my puppy. 

We also have Coyotes- loud coyotes. Some nights they get together and yap and snarl! THEY Are not getting my puppy either. Thankfully they have been very quiet here now- or is that a bad sign? as in they are stalking? Babycakes potties super quick, so we are out and in! Plus its been 30 degrees out at night!

  

Babycakes spends most her days looking adorable and charms us silly. And I mean silly, because she's had only 2 accidents in a week and we fight over who's cleaning up after her. Good grief- we've lost our minds over cuteness! The teens even run to clean her potty yard! Yet if the labs go nobody wants to pick it up!!

Why oh why would anything want to eat this sweetness?

Last but not least our house. Lysa 18, and Isaiah painted the house for me. I love the color! The neighbors hate it. Isaiah was home yesterday and took a picture of our new fence on one side. That's not our yard or trees. That's our fence, the side the neighbors see. :o) We have new, very LOUD angry (cussing) neighbors. Our wood fence on their side was falling down after 20 years. We had fenced for the boys around the yard this year and now replaced the fence on this side. 

Hope I haven't bored you all ;o)

So glad you stopped by! 

Please say hello!

God Bless (((HUGS))) God is Good!

Eliz~

God is always the answer, nothing else compares

 

Suddenly in my 60's I have been whirling through life faster than a speeding bullet. This is not my new normal. My mother sold her house to live somewhere safer. Living in the world today, we no longer have normal. People need God more than ever. He is the way.  

Above is an August 2020 view Kitty took from the driveway. 

The 5th wheel on the left was for Mary Anne and SP. It had the wheel chair ramp. They loved it. Mary Anne died the next year spring. SP did not enjoy it without her.  

Last November JT moved in to our group home. He is a whipper snapper. Only 47 years old. This spring he and the men of the house- Samson, Isaiah and Tom came up here to set up "camp" for the rest of us, in hopes we could come soon. We had an August date to try for. Until JT's health took a serious turn and he is now with full time nursing in a facility. It was a sad time for us all.     

This week Moses age 15 above waving! (last year I was bored? and started painting the trim and garage doors of the Lodge. :o) A more Scandinavian look I think.

My granddaughter and recent home school graduate, Elizabeth (18) painted the whole house with Isaiah (16). They did an amazing job. There were only 4 small areas they couldn't reach- Tom did those. I splurged on aluminum around the windows and corners, no more painting them!

At home (above) again. Tom never trims the Lilac bushes- they were out of control. So my sweet Isaiah with help from Elizabeth of course, cut them down for me! Tom said they were dead now- LOL! They are 3 ft high already, right now. We trimmed them to be "even" when they came back. Next spring we'll thin them out.  We got rid of my dad's old wagon (left) AND we fenced in the whole yard for the boys with chain link. Now they can go in the yard- not just on the deck. They love it!

Above another pic from home- Julius is quite the Lego builder! He just turned 13. So now the three youngest- Mercy, Paul, Julius are all teenagers too! All three 13 years old! Noah will be 18 next year- crazy!

Our cat Violet at home in the closet, up on a shelf that she is forbidden to go on. Hmm I don't think she knows what "no" means. Silly cat. She's 5 now. seems like just yesterday she came home.

This is "Betty" (photo taken last April) named after my Grandmother's, both named Elizabeth. For my birthday we splurged on an RV that would accommodate our families growing needs and my age. We had considered adding on to the Lodge- but- the builders weren't interested. This turned out to be much better. A blessing from God. 

I had taken 29 pictures to post here 2 days ago. But the teens had put the camera on "manual" without putting it back to whatever setting electronics dummies like me use. So every picture I took was blurry. :o( I was very upset. This wasn't the first time they've changed the mode and ruined my plans. You'd think I'd learn. Since then it has rained 2 days- no new pics. sigh. I'm hoping that soon as I can take better pictures of everybody and everything! 

The "men" moved the ramp to this trailer. This trailer we bought in 2015. We "lived" in it while the builders finished off the inside of the Lodge. Isaiah and Elizabeth emptied the contents of this trailer into Betty for me. They did an amazing job! We fixed this trailer up for SP, JT and Tom. Why Tom? Because it has a 56" TV in the back (the one from Betty that I refused to have :o) and a 36" TV in the living room. JT was unable to stay with us up here. But Tom and SP have been loving it. Tom watches a lot of TV. SP watches TV and videos. Tom takes SP to the Library up here to check videos out! (car side)

We came up August 29th.

Darn blogger always adds my photos in "their" order. So the posts pics are kinda no rhyme or reason. In the Lodge (above) we put the 2 couches from Betty, and the 1 couch from SP's trailer. Mercy is sitting on my favorite chair from our first RV in 1991. It is nearly dead. So I gave it up for a new cheap, but nice glider/rocker. We always fought over sitting in that old chair. Now Merc has claimed it!

The road we live on in the summer. Always a beautiful view!

In the Lodge the teens are decorating, since I'm in Betty/garage/outside 90% of the time- they have free reign of the Lodge! Mostly I cook-cook-cook-and cook for 14 of us. And I prepare all the food, every meal. Youngest boys eat 4x a day. It feels never ending sometimes! I also mend clothes, clean the rvs, garage, and the Lodge as needed. Its a lot of work but we love it!

Above Miss Mercy taking everyone's ball! Sweet princess! Faith (19) did her hair cut this year- amazing job! 

I have a new puppy named Spunky. 

And no that is not her! That is Pippi our cat. She is 2 now. The 3 girls (cats) hated every minute of coming here this year. It had been so long since they last came. Violet scared my granddaughters Elizabeth and Katherine (17) with her violent screaming. I had not heard her, I was unpacking, Isaiah did hear her and she calmed down for him. My son loves cats- so I got him a tshirt that says "cat daddy"! :o)

New pictures- better update soon.

Thank You for visiting us, it means a lot to us

Praising God!

God Bless you all (((HUGS)))

Eliz~