More Biking....

After the church bike hike, Dan left our bikes on the rack on the back of his truck. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride again on Sunday afternoon!! :) It was another Beautiful Fall Day!! Normally on the 2nd and 4th Sundays, we have Fellowship meal followed by an afternoon service and then singing at a local nursing home/rehab center. Since we had our first night of revivals planned for that evening, the afternoon service was canceled, and because of the possibility of anyone carrying the whooping cough bacteria, we canceled the nursing home singing. So we had an open afternoon!! :)



God has truly blessed our family with good health and I praise Him for that!! I don't ever want to take that for granted!!



I wasn't sure I should post this next pic....beware, it is slightly graphic!! ;)

This was in the caboose on the train in town....they just recently opened it for the public to walk through...I hope they fix up the interior like they did the outside...someday!



Dan "warming" his hands over the stove... :)



Who's that peeking out the window?? :)



Another shot of the Apalachicola River....



Testing the waters...they said it was a little cool!!



*~*~*~*~*~*~ I have also been truly blessed with a wonderful husband!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*

*~*~*~*~And two sweet kids ~*~*~*~*

Danny (he will be turning 11 in 3 weeks!! :O)

And Tamara who keeps asking....how long is it yet till my birthday?! She will be 9 on Jan. 2. Which will be here before I'm ready!!



Dan showing how high the water got a few months back when we had so much rain....the river level was around 8 ft. on Sunday, but since Tropical Storm Ida came through and dumped a bunch of water, they are expecting it to get up to 16 ft. in the next day or two!!



A necessary rest stop on the way back up the trail....







On the last stretch....Tamara gave out coming up the hill, so we pushed our bikes together. :)





What a fun, refreshing day....



We are enjoying the nightly revival meetings with Allen Yutzy, from OH. He is a very interesting speaker and the children can't wait to go tonight to see what he has planned for the Children's Meeting. He also promised an object lesson for the adults. :)

I don't know if I will make it tonight. I have a dentist appointment this afternoon and suspect I'll be getting another tooth pulled. My back teeth are all bad and so rather than pay $1,000 to save each one, I am opting to get them pulled and get a partial denture...much cheaper in the long run, not sure if it's smarter though!?? And the thought of dentures makes me feel old!! :P Hoping that if they do pull the bad tooth, it will heal quickly...the last one I had done bled for what seemed like forever!!



Tomorrow my day is going to be filled with baking. The GEMS benefit auction is on Saturday in Tallahassee and we are going early Friday morning to help set up. Monroe and Ruby H. so graciously are allowing us to stay at their place overnight to save us a trip home Fri. night and back early Sat. morning.

This year, I have been assigned the job of photographer for the auction. I LIKE that!! :) Other years I helped at the bake sale, which was also fun! Praying the Lord will bless the auction and funds will be raised to continue supporting the volunteer chaplains and all the workings of this prison ministry! Come out if you are in the area!!

Biking....

Saturday was our church's annual bike hike. We normally go to Tallahassee to the St. Marks Historic Railroad Trail but this year, we decided to stay local and ride on the Blountstown Greenway. The part of the trail we would ride in Tall. is 16 miles long. That is a nice trek! The Blountstown path is only about 7 miles round-trip! :) Not quite so hard on the tush!

Tamara and I rode together the whole way....she is still a little slower and cautious than her brother and Dad! :) But since I have an old bike with no gears, I don't mind taking it easy, either! So we make a good team!! :)

Of course, we had to stop in town and take a break at the train!

Danny and Austin N. in the caboose....

Time for a drink break....

At the end of the trail, by the Apalachicola River, there is a path leading back through the woods. We had never checked it out, but were told there were ruins of an old saw mill back there. So we went and had a look....

There it is.....


My Mr. Clean and I .......

...as Mariann R. calls him since he shaved his head!! :) Dan says he's still working on the earring, I say he needs bigger arms and white eyebrows!! *HeeHee* :)

Danny and his friends, Jay and Austin, down by the water...

Troy sleeping...well, like a baby :) for Sherry....

The Apalachicola River....beautiful! Now we just need some Fall colored leaves to make it perfect! :)

Danny on top of the world...well, in this case, just the train! :)

Ruth Drawbond and I split from the group and rode a few blocks down to the Farmer's Market...
Alice E, Amelia G. and Glennys S. had a stand selling products they made.

The Smith's and Katy E. had a stand as well. They were selling baked goods and homemade jewelry.

After we all got back to the park, we had lunch! Chili soup is the tradition and it tasted wonderful on that cool, breezy autumn day!!

Dan held Troy for Sherry while she ate lunch....he is such a cute smiley baby!! :)

See!?? :) :)


It was that day we found out that Josh and Angie's two littlest ones had the Whooping Cough. Things seemed so scary since we realized that most of our church had been exposed to it and didn't realize it. Poor Josh and Angie had no idea that is what the kids had. :( The last I heard, the children seem to be doing relatively well. We were especially concerned about little Jasmine, who is only 4 months old. Forrest, the other child with w.c., is 1.
Sunday our week of revivals started, and Mr. Yutzy asked us to have special prayer that morning for Jasmine and Forrest and all of Josh's family...and then too, for our church and surrounding community to be protected from this illness. In the evening the Pastors and Elders went and had an anointing service for the Yoders.
So keep praying, if you would....this may not be over, but God has it in His control!!

Canning....

I thought I had waited too long to pick tomatoes this year, but on our way to church last Sunday I noticed the Tomato Farm near here still had signs out to pick your own, so Tuesday after sewing circle I stopped and picked a 5 gal. bucket full.
And this is what I did that afternoon.....


Smelled up my whole house, that salsa smell!! :)


I realized that 5 gallons was just not very much....I only got 2 batches of salsa from it and I had also wanted to try some tomato soup, so on Thursday, we went back and picked another 10 gallons. :)

My helpers.....


When it is near the end of the season, they bring in Mexican's to pick....as we were just getting started picking I noticed all their trucks lining up. I was thinking, Uh-Oh!! We are going to be waiting awhile to get out of here!! But till we were done, the line was almost gone! The workers at the farm unload those trucks so quickly!!

Loaded down.... :) I left the bucket in the van as it got fuller and just walked up and down the rows, loading my shirt!! ;)

Look at all those wasted tomatoes! I found a few good ones on the ground, but most of them had bad spots or were smashed!

Tomato fields....

Saturday was our church's annual bike hike (pics later) but Danny asked to have his friend Jay over after the ride and lunch was over. His mom agreed much to the boys delight! :)

The kids had fun playing all kinds of stuff....

While they were playing, I started on my first batch of tomato soup....chopped onions and celery and started cooking them.....then I added the tomatoes....

The children were more than willing to help crank out the soup!! :) Thanks to Alma for letting me borrow her Victorio Strainer!! :) I hope to be able to buy one some day!!


All together I got 4 batches of salsa, 12 quarts of soup and 2 quarts of Pico de Gallo!! :) I still have a few tomatoes left and want to make a little more pico today! Then I'll be ready to see no more tomatoes for awhile!! :P But it feels good to have the jars filled and on the shelf! Well, they aren't on the shelf quite yet. I need to clean up my big closet a little to make room for it all!! Sounds like a good job for a rainy day!!

One thing I enjoyed about canning was the time I had to think!! :) It seems there is so much going on in our lives and sometimes you just need to be able to be still and sort through everything! Be blessed~

We had a couple beautiful sunsets last week!!
This was Tuesday night....


And then Wednesday night....


Loved the texture of the clouds....


Father-daughter sharing a cup of coffee one night! :)

~Talladega Nascar Race~

I am way behind on updates....this past week was very full. Just didn't have time to sit down and do this. I will probably be doing a couple different posts through the day today!! :P

Last weekend Dan had the opportunity to go with 3 other men to the Nascar race in Talladega, AL. His friend Roy was able to get FREE tickets for them...and they camped in the FREE camping area! :) So it was a relatively inexpensive trip! I'm glad Dan had the opportunity to get away and have a good time with the guys!
Since I didn't take these pics, it feels kind of weird to be posting about them, but I thought it only fair to include the events of Dan's life since this is a family site!! :)


This was the guys set-up....they slept in sleeping bags on lounge chairs under the green tent. :) It turned out to be a COLD weekend and they weren't fully prepared for that! :P

Keeping warm by the fire. I should have posted the pic of their "coffee pot" sitting in the fire. Can't camp in the cold without coffee!! :)
L to R - Roy Pickron, A.T. Peyton and Kevin Vinson.


Roy

Danny's favorite driver is Jimmie Johnson...the Lowes driver!

Recognize this guy?? The King!! "Cars" fans know all about him!! :)

Kevin and Dan (they had tickets that allowed them to go into the pits before the game on Sunday!!)

Jimmie!!

The race underway! :)


The kids and I had a good time while Dan was gone. Us wives met at Kay's house on Saturday for lunch. After we left there, the kids and I went to Tallahassee to do a little shopping and ate supper in the mall. It was Halloween and I figured the stores would be empty with everyone out trick or treating. Well, I was sadly mistaken!! The Mall was FULL....the had trick or treating in there! Each store was giving out candy! :P So, we didnt' stay long and instead went to Michaels and spent awhile "shopping" there....dreaming is more like it! :)
We were all glad to have Dan back late Sunday night! He had my favorite cologne on....wood smoke!!! :) :) :) It took a few days to air out his sleeping bag!
Him and Danny are making plans for next year....I guess that means Tamara and I will have a mother/daughter weekend. Any ideas??