Halloweenies

My One and Only Political Post

Regardless of who is elected, the only way any change will come to America will be through "we, the people".

*Be* the change.

: )

End of political message.

I've been meaning to Update...

but I kept forgetting, and now I've forgotten what seemed so important to blog about. lol

Oh, yeah...Fireproof. The movie. Daddy and I went Thursday to see it...we got up late, then hurried to get ready, because I checked online and it started at 1, so we hurried and got to the theatre in plenty of time. There was only one other couple there, an older couple, probably up towards their 80's. Anyway, Daddy and I got to pick the best seats in the theatre, because there was no one else there, and I got to stand up and move around as I needed to (because of my back--pulled muscle) without worrying about getting in someone's way. Oh, and the movie? GREAT!!! We were kinda wary at first...it was hard to think of Kirk Cameron as "captain" for the FD, but he grew into the role. ; ) The only stinky acting was the doctor, but you really don't care, because he's in a stinky role, anyway. ; ) You don't *want* to like him. lol I LOVELOVELOVELOVE the music video for the movie--"While I'm Waiting"--I've been watching it over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3b2jw1rjBc

Afterwards, we were going to go out to eat, but I sneezed and my back seized up, and I only managed to limp to the food court, so we ate there, then went home. Except that Daddy wanted to stop on the way home for some BBQ peanuts, and they had...CHICKEN PAWS! (LOL that's what they are called on the package) I was SO excited..."Oh, LOOK, they have Chicken Feet!!!" The stock boy was standing there, and looked at me SO strangely. lol I suppose it was the first time he had heard that. ; ) But, really, they are good, and you simply CANNOT find them anywhere. (Strange, isn't it?) lol They were a bit greasier than I remembered....it's been since I was a kid since I had any...but they *do* taste good. ; )

The Anna-ism For Today.

Today Anna and Daddy have spent nearly all day with the metal detector, digging up riches. Well, pennies and bits of metal, anyway. : )

I went out to crack out some walnuts, and she came up to sit with me (and eat walnuts), and said, "I'm SO glad I don't go to school. If I did, I would have missed digging up my first wheat penny today!" : )

*I* am glad she gets to spend time with her Daddy, digging in the dirt, finding pennies and talking about things. (As I went in, I heard her say, "Diamond is a bad influence sometimes." lol)

It's After 2 in the Morning...

and I'm still online. I keep going from one thing to another, then I thought I might blog about what we've been up to.....and I'm getting *really* sleepy, and should be in bed, but Daddy is watching stargate atlantis, or something, in there, and I hate to bother him.

Anyway.

After our first big find of last week, we went back and...are you ready for this?....found ANOTHER batch of artifacts! More tools this time, and lots of flakes, not so many nicely shaped arrow-spear points, but the tools are AMAZING! And I did the stupidest thing...Emma dug out a sandstone, and I said it was just sandstone, it grows naturally where we were digging, so it's probably nothing important and she tossed it away. Later, we realized it was (DUH!) used for sanding. I'm SO stupid sometimes. lol *However* thinking about it made me realize I know of two other places where sandstones are peeking out of the ground. I wonder..... ; )

Researching the artifacts has made me interested in geneology research again. I've *finally* gotten to my grandmother's third-great grandparents, I believe. They're harder to track than a weasel! I spent hours in the library geneology room today, and only got one census record worth keeping! At least I found *somthing* though. I guess I could really say I found two things...because the census record was in a different county than I had thought, so I need to check that counties records instead of the county we live in. I am hoping the "far" library will have the information, so I won't have to drive an hour to a library to which I have never been to look. I need to get online and search, but it's too late tonight.

My DH claims to have Chocktaw (sp?) blood, so he's wanting to find out more about that, and I'm trying to follow both lines of my paternal grandmother (her maternal and paternal), so I've got too many irons in the fire right now, and the names get all muddled in my mind. I'm trying to make myself concentrate on one name at a time, but it's HARD! ; ) I'll be looking, see another familiar name and go off in that direction. ; ) Then there's all the fun of finding a book that proclaims "______ family history" and it's a name I need, but some odd different branch, and I hope, and check through it, and then the info isn't what I need, and I've wasted that time.... : (
lol I told Daddy I was wanting to find the information i need like we found the arrowheads...just lying there waiting for me. ; ) (Actually, that *is* how I've gotten most of my family lines traced. Just wait until someone else traces it and put the information online, then copy it down. lol)

I should say something about what my girls have been up to, also, this week. Well...Anna has drawing a lot of pictures of our Indian friend sitting and chipping at his flint, and Emma has been playing with Meez online. She's having a BLAST Meezing. lol

Anna has also been decorating our house for H'ween. She has some Barbie dolls hung by their necks from a tree, and a pair of pants and shoes with deer bones sticking out in the front yard. She also carved her pumpkin, and painted it up like an Indian. ; )

I Simply Can Hardly BELIEVE This!!!

This is SO cool!

We were out today and while Daddy was waiting on us (we were cracking walnuts) he picked up a piece of flint from the road. When the girls went down to where he was, they each immediately found an arrowhead in the road! We started looking on the bank next to the road, and they were ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!!! We were literally sticking our hands in the dirt and coming up with four or five every time! It was SO awesome!

From what we've read so far, they are from the Early Woodland period...2,000-3,000 years ago! It's so amazing to think of someone chipping flint into points 3,000 years ago! And leaving their trash for us to go through. lol (There were some jokes about dumpster diving through a 3,000 year old dump.)

(And we didn't just find small arrow points. There are also spear points, scraping tools, chipping tools, and Emma found an antler tool...I read what it was called, then (of course) forgot.)

Apple Butter, Anyone?

I made my first batch of apple butter! I'm so proud of myself! ; ) Actually, I thought it was too sweet...the recipe called for four cups of sugar, which *I* believe was too much. Next batch I'm going to try three. But, even though it's a bit sweet, it still tastes like...get ready for it....apple butter! Frankly, I was surprised. lol It even LOOKS like apple butter.

It rained today, so I couldn't sit on the porch and peel apples, so I'm waiting until tomorrow to put another batch on to cook.

In other news today, Anna spent most of the day writing a story. She stopped for a couple brief moments...once to go with us to take Oscar to the vet to get his stitches out...yay!...and she let me have the computer to check my e-mails this morning, but other than that, she was on the computer typing from 10-4.....and when I printed it, it was two pages long...well, actually one and a half pages. When I think of her sitting there, thinking SO hard to come up with just what she wanted to say, finding the letters on the keyboard, and spelling, I'm impressed! And people say kids won't work unless they're made to! HA! She asked for help spelling a few words this morning, then started writing them how she felt best...but I'm going to refrain from putting any of them on here, because I don't think it would be nice. Let's just say...she spells like I do. ; ) But she's cute, so that more than makes up for it. lol

Emma was on their computer most of the day, and Daddy has hidden himself away in the bedroom on his computer, so it's been fairly quiet around here. Except for the occasional dog/cat fight...I got a water gun to shoot at them when they fight, and they are fighting less. Oscar barks at it when I hold it up. lol

Oscar did the cutest thing. He has a toy mouse that vibrates when you pull a string on it's tail, and he's learned how to pull the string and make it move! It's so cute. He holds it between his paws, and pulls the string with his teeth, then lets it crawl away a little, catches it and pulls it again. SO cute! : ) He was nervous about going to the vet. I didn't want to see them take the stitches out, so I was going to stay in the waiting room, but he wanted me, so I had to go back, and then he climbed me like I was a tree! lol He was good, though, while they took out the stitches, and then he was SOSOSOSOSO happy to be going home instead of being left alone there again. : )

I napped some today....I stayed up until 4:30 this morning watching videos on you tube. I didn't realize time was getting away so quickly, until suddenly it was 4:30, and I was tired. I *LOVED* this one, though...Andy Griffith looks SO old...and cute as can be...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvKgnkIN8C8&feature=user

Preparing for Winter

I've been busy the last week or so, trying to get some foods put up for winter.

My uncle made molasses, and while we were at his house for that, he invited us to pick apples and pears. OH, BOY, You don't have to ask us twice! lol He had the coolest apples...black ones.

This is one of the black ones, and a regular one we got off another uncle's tree...I think they're Winesaps. The black ones are Arkansas Black, or Black Arkansas. I thought they were really cool. Anyway. ; )

Daddy cleaned out our garden spot, and the girls' garden spot, and found a watermelon on Emma's plant that she didn't even know was there. The vine was dead, so he picked it, but it wasn't quite ripe...almost, but not quite. She ended up carving it like a pumpkin and putting it one the porch with a candle underneath. lol I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

The girls are getting ready for H'ween again....they get SO excited about it's coming they can't wait and start putting up decorations as soon as October begins. Anna did most of the decorating and did it well, too. : )

I've been making salsa, putting pears in the freezer, and today I'm going to try my hand at applebutter...crockpot applebutter, that is. We're probably going to buy some from my SIL's mom's ladies group, but we wanted to try our hand at making it, too.

We found chinquapins and chesnuts, too, and walnuts, so we've been in nut heaven. lol I'm going to try to get a chinquapin tree started....I might try a chesnut tree, too. I "had" a walnut tree started, but Daddy *accidentally* mowed it down. He's *very* allergic, so I suspect it might not have been an accident. lol I'm hoping I can get some trees started in pots, then move them outside when they're big enough. I don't know if it will work, but I don't have anything to lose by trying.

I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/ ) and am inspired to do more with my little patch of ground. Also, to eat more locally produced foods. We went to two farmer's markets last weekend, and I got lots of peppers (which explains the salsa, lol) and okra, tomatoes, pumpkins...seems like there should be something else....I can't think...Anna is barking behind me. ; ) One of the booths at the farmer's market had water buffalo....I would have liked to try some, but we weren't going straight home, so we didn't. Daddy says maybe next time maybe we'll take a cooler. I think they only have about three more weeks that they will be open, so we might not make it back to get some.