The Hunnicutt Homestead

Chestnuts & Chopping Wood

The boys are getting stronger each day, especially as we have them refilling the wood bins each morning now.  It is a part of their daily chores to go to the woodshed adjacent to our side porch, and carry in several thick logs to pile up in the log bins next to each wood stove and the dining room fireplace.  Additionally, they bring in kindling and newspaper.  Our stoves are heating our house very well.  We don't have a woodburning stove upstairs but it never gets colder than 65 upstairs so far, even on nights down in the 20's.  I love the smell of the fire and the coziness of it as well.

M & D are getting stronger and faster as well.  The girls are very helpful, especially with preparing and clearing the table, putting laundry away, and M has been feeding the cats and dogs once in awhile.  D recently got her ankle support braces and it has been interesting to see her get stronger and faster already.  Tomorrow I meet with their preschool teacher to see how they are doing in school.  I'm actually looking forward to it as I know they love school and the teachers are always so tickled to see them.

This evening I sent the boys out to gather chestnuts.  We finally managed to discover that the prickly balls falling from a large unidentifiable tree were actually Chinese Chestnuts.  C and I pried one open to reveal a large amount of moist yellow "meat" on the inside.  We each tasted it and it was slightly sweet.  I decided to buy a chestnut roaster for the fireplace as well as a chestnut knife to score them so they could expand while roasting.  It sounds as if we really need to buy another tree or two so that they can pollinate one another and thus perform better.

We've also discovered mice in the house.  Thankfully I am not one to freak out over mice, but I do not like being startled suddenly by an unknown critter.  I was laying on the couch in the living room talking with S the other night and noticed movement down on the floor behind him.  I yelled "mouse" and pointed towards it.  Shane jumped up and searched with a flashlight for awhile but it had already escaped.  We suspect that we really need to move filling the holes leftover from removing the old hot water boiler system to the top of our priority list now.  In the meantime we've set a couple of traps.  I long for an indoor cat but our allergies and asthma can't tolerate one indoors.

I baked a beautiful loaf of bread from scratch today using a sourdough starter.  It was called Pain de Campagne or French Country Style Bread.  It had a touch of rye flour in the recipe.  S & C loved it.  I'm not used to kneading anything for 10 minutes but I actually enjoyed the working of the dough in my hands.  It was kind of rhythmic as well as soothing.  My mind was able to relax and drift to different thoughts as the boys were outside and the girls were napping.  Making bread can be a relaxing past time as well as a wholesome addition to the table.  Plus it is just really cool to say, look what I made!

I am reading a book by Shane Claiborn called The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical.  I am enjoying this book so much more than many in the Christian genre because it is challenging many "Christianese" assumptions and ways of thinking.  It is also not a bunch of generalizations for someone who has been studying scripture for awhile.  Claiborn challenges those of us who are Christian and have assumed that to be Christian one must also fit into the labels of "conservative", "Republican", "decent", "patriotic", etc.  I enjoy being challenged to either change my perspective or defend the one I currently have.  This book is causing me to do that.  He also brings a lot of personal experiences and stories into the book so it is not a cliche' but very touching and eye opening to our Christian family cross-culturally.  If you haven't guessed, I recommend it.

Tomorrow is another dentist day, M needs another crown and D has a cavity.  I had to rechedule N as he threw a big tantrum and refused to open his mouth.  His nexy visit is simply to be a "happy visit".  Fortunately they didn't charge me for his wasting everyone's time.  It was very strange, he was fine up until she was ready to use the polisher and then he freaked out.  I think maybe the 2 yr old screaming down the hall may have contributed to his reluctance.

Lots of love to you all who are taking the time to read this...keep in touch.