These past few marvelous days have been spent mostly in my country home. As I shared in a previous post, I went up there Sunday and cleaned the house good while hubby burned mountains of trash and stuff. He loves a good fire and I am of the opposite persuasion on this matter. What I do love about his fires is the fact that junk disappears into fertilizer for the soil. All I have to do is hand him the papers and stuff I am cleaning up and WHALLAH they disappear. Monday we went up to spend the night since sundown began a High Sabbath called Feast of Trumpets . I did not cook the traditional fish because I cannot find any that is from the U.S. So, I made fried chicken, tatar tots, green beans, corn on the cob and homemade bread. I stood outside on the backporch that night with a full belly and listened to the bugs and frogs scream out praises to the Almighty Creator of this universe and just let my soul thrill to the sheer pleasure of being alive. The next morning, I slept really late because in the woods the sun does not come through my window to wake me so early. I woke up several times and thought it was too early to get up! I am posting pictures of what I saw when I arose and looked out the windows. What a truly incredible sight to behold. I saw nature in all its glory. I listened to the birds singing to God about how thankful they are for the care He gives to each one. Once again I just gave in to the delight of life....simple and pure. We spent the rest of Tuesday just....well.....just being. Yesterday, Baby Bear and I went back up there. Many things were accomplished thanks to the help of a friend. Last night we went to a fellowship gathering. We talked, ate and danced! What fun! I saw Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. They are an older couple I have not seen in about 8 years. They are very sweet and I enjoyed their company very much. Today I will be getting my pressure canner guage tested and accomplishing things around this house in preparation for the week end.
Please pray for Marli, she is in much pain with her back! This is particularly distressing to me because she is so far away from me.  To view photos associated with this post please visit my photo blog at  www.cammys-creations.blogspot.com

Cheers everyone!

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I have grown increasingly weary of the complications that arise when I add photos to this blog.  In hopes of maintaining a more peaceful blogging experience, I will be posting photos on this new blog.   www.cammys-creations.blogspot.com  For some reason clicking the link from here does not seem to be working so until I can figure it out you may have to type it in and then save to favorites.  :(

I have been editing so try this link   www.cammys-creations.blogspot.com

I like to add photos with every post.  If you check out this photo blog you will find the pictures from my previous post COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME.  I will state in each post  if there are pictures to match it on my photo blog.

Cheers!

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Well Folks, unless someone has sneaked into my garden and planted another kind of collard seed, those 1959 collard seeds are sprouting. I have had these seeds in MY freezer for at least 10 years. As I previously reported, they were given to me by my Granny Day. She had them in her freezer for many years. They were given to her by Aunt Annie Pearl, who is my Granny's sister. They may die tommorrow, but this morning those seedlings are present and very much alive in my raised bed garden! My Granny told me they were older than me and estimated 1959 was the year they were saved from collards in the garden. Amazing! God is so good to me!  I also have radish sprouting out there. I planted cabbage plants yesterday. I wish you could all smell my ginger blossoms. 

The garage took much longer than anticipated, which is usually the case with me. I always am too optimistic about what can be accomplished in a given time. I got caught up looking at childhood pictures of my girlies and their cousins. My mama had given me a box. I had never opened it and did not realize there were pictures in there. What a treasure! Also, I had been looking at doilies at the flea markets and antique stores. I had no idea that this box contained doilies handmade by my mother, my grandmother and even some made by my great grandmother. I am so excited!!!! I will be taking some before and after shots as I will be attempting to remove some old stains. I sure hope it all works out so I can add these to my decor. I am off to finish the garage! Who knows what I may find in there. Just as a sidenote, we had to postpone the farm work because we went into a much more major production in the garage than previously anticipated. I hope everyone has a wonderful productive day!

Cheers to All

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As all of you know who read my blog, I like to buy Local.  I also like fresh yard eggs.  As you also know, I have been on the hunt for a reliable source of fresh eggs.  All my friends chickens are either molting or on strike right now.  Everyone that I usually buy eggs from is experiencing this technical difficulty with supplying me with eggs.  Wednesday, Lalonni scored some from a lady friend of hers and shared a couple of dozen with me as a gift.  I am showing you the picture because they are so pretty.  No, nothing is wrong with my camera. Some of them really are green and blue.  I have even seen some rose and pink ones from our chickens in the past as well as Khaki.  These eggs make me feel so nostalgic. The eggs had the same effect on Sister Bear. When Baby Bear sees this picture I expect the same reaction from her. Back when my girls were little....and not so little ...we had chickens.  When we moved to our farm (i.e. petting zoo) in the country, there were 78 chickens Ms. Judith was trying to sell.  She was so thrilled to find out I wanted them.  Unknown to her was the fact that I had been wanting chickens for quite some time.  They were a part of my history.  She gave them to me and she was so happy that her "girls" were going to be able to stay on the farm.  My little ladies promptly named every one of those chickens. I still remember Jazz, Cowboy, Black Betty, Bully, Lady Hawk,Cowman, Skittles, Vanessa(born...hatched later), Peep(our first baby on the farm,snowflake,Lucy.........well you get the idea.  Those memories are so precious to me.  The chickens had been there alone for about a month so they were pretty much accustomed to roosting where they wanted. This included the porches. So we penned them.  The first Sunday we were there, we were getting dressed for church.  I looked out of the window and there went Bully running across the yard with his household of hens.  Strange thing was, they were the only ones that managed to escape the confines of the pen.The roosters had fought valiantly for their hens and each rooster had staked out his household of hens. And now Bully had managed to free his women. Sister Bear, Baby Bear and I went running outside in the drizzling rain to capture and return them to their pen. It had been raining a few days and everything was so muddy.  We had alot less grass and brush back then due to the free ranging chickens. Besides, it was November. By the time Bully and his women were captured the girls and I looked like we had been mud wrestling.  We actually had been Mud wrestling with our chickens .  We quickly showered and still made it to Sunday School looking no worse for our experience.
Or there was the time I cut my eye on the knife tree trying to scarf the eggs the hens had laid under it.  We have Yucca bushes someone planted before we moved in.  I call them knife trees because that is what they are.  I was reaching under there to get the eggs  and cut my eye and my arm.  I learned the hard way what a Yucca bush is made of. Some of our hens managed to escape every day so the girls and I gathered eggs in the henhouse and under bushes and........ Our hens were always free range in those days whether we wished it that way or not.  We at least tried to keep them penned at night so they would lay in the henhouse before they went roaming around.
Just after we first penned the hens they stopped laying.  I guess it was a forced molt from what I was reading. I called my Granddaddy Senn and reported the problem.  He told me this  "every year, just about the time you need lots of eggs for your dressing and cakes at Thanksgiving, the hens stop laying.  In a few weeks when the days start to get longer they will lay." Sure enough, Dec. 25th, we got one egg.  The next day 3 and after that our refrigerator could not hold them all and I started selling them.  Another time when they would not lay in the summer my Granny Senn said" You've got too many roosters bothering the hens, get some of those roosters on the table.  When your hens get happy, they will lay."  She was right.  We separated the roosters and the hens began to lay. Another time when they went on strike, my Granddaddy Senn told me to "mix a cornmeal mush with some cayenne pepper."  That worked too. They quickly began to lay.
We had to have separate pens with a rooster and a few hens because those teenage roosters would really bother the hens.  We even lost a hen to this nonsense!  But that is a story for another day.
My daughters have actually watched a hen lay an egg. I MEAN UP REAL CLOSE! In my mind'e eye I can still see them with their rubber boots on traipsing around in the chicken pen. They spent many happy hours with those chickens. If I only knew then what I know now............... I would not take anything for the fact that they were raised in the country. I am so thankful God created us with a memory.  It is the only way for a Mommy to keep her little girls forever.  While I have some very painful memories that can make me cry in a flash, I have some beautiful ones captured in this weather beaten mind of mine. I have some that are bittersweet as well.
Yesterday, I met Ms. Lenora.  She is pictured in this post with her basket as she just finished gathering the eggs. I bought six dozen. I spent some time there with Ms. Lenora.  She is very nice and she loves those chickens. She even buys collards for them. I really enjoyed meeting her. There is nothing quite as relaxing to me as watching a hen happily scratching in the dirt for bugs. She does not have a care in the world.   I also met an older gentleman yesterday by the name of Mr. Boone.  He is 76.  He is retired military.  He is full of knowledge. I picked his brain about gardening. He doesn't mind sharing .  I enjoyed making his aquaintance as well.
I have included some pictures of the chickens so you can get an idea of what my definition is of "free range". Not to mention the fact that I just love chickens!
This week end should be a full one. I had planned to go and hear my Daddy sing and play but he is taking his horse camping so that plan has been canceled.  When the sun goes down on Saturday ,I expect we will rearrange our garage.  Then on Sunday we will work at the Farm all day. God willing that is our plan. Work usually helps with my funk. I am hopeful that will be the case this time. You know, idle hands are the devils workshop or something like that.........

Cheers everyone!

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Today I planted my Fall Garden.  I cleaned out all the summer plants and tomato cages and a few weeds.  I fertilized with some organic chicken manure, some mushroom compost and some earthworm castings.  Then I planted onions, garlic, collards, (these seed are from my Granny Day and have been in the freezer since 1959 for those of you who know me, you know I have to try.......).  I also planted mustards, turnips, 2 kinds of carrots, and 5 kinds of lettuce. I still have to buy Swiss Chard seed.  I worked in the garden and then took a bath and went to the orthodonist.  He made an appointment for me to get my braces off on Tuesday.  Whooohoooo!!!!!!!!!  I have been wearing them for 3 and 1/2 years.  I also wore them as a teen for ....you guessed it 3 and1/2 years.  I got married in braces when I was 18 and I was widowed and then remarried while wearing braces yet again a couple of years ago.  Funny how things work out sometimes. I am much older than 18 now.  For Petes sake, my daughters are 20 and 24.    Anyway, I am ecstatic at the possiblility of eating again without barbed wire in my mouth.  If my teeth turn out nice I will post pictures if not ....well......................no pictures. I had TMJ.  I hope that is all cured now.  I had blood work yesterday at Dr. Wool's office to recheck thyroid after being on medication for a 8 weeks.  I do not think it has been that long but...oh well.  I go back next Thursday to get results and consult with her.  Next week I plan to be at the orthodontist on Tuesday getting my braces off, the orthodontist on Wednesday getting my retainers, and the Dr. on Thursday.  It makes me tired to think of all those extra days out and I have dollar signs chinging in my eyes because all of those appointments are in other cities. I am not complaining (or I do not mean to be).  I am just rambling. I am very thankful that God has blessed me with a car and with a good Dr. and a good orthodontist.  He has blessed me abundantly in many ways. Thank you God!!

Cheers everyone!

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The news around here is........there really is no news.  I just know that some of you must be praying for me to have a drama break!  Thank-you.  This week end was hum drum.....It was absolutely wonderful.  My hubby (Papa Bear) and I spent a whole two days just resting and piddling around.  It was fabulous.

I don't have any new things to share that I have been doing.  Since I hurt my back two weeks ago I have really been taking it easy.  It does not hurt anymore Praise The Lord!  My husband and I do praise and worship dance and he bought me some new red shoes for dancing.  They are light and my inserts will fit in them.  They will do the turns on carpet without catching(this is why my knee is popping.)  He is so thoughtful.   :)  He makes me swoon!  I just love red.  They sort of remind me of Dorothy's shoes....you know on the Wizard of Oz.  :)

My sister is a single mom.  She started a new job (much better one Thank you Lord)   and she has to be there very early.  My husband and I have started having her drop off my 12 year old neice for an hour in the mornings.  Then, either my husband or I drop her at school.  We do not want her home alone to catch the bus all by herself.  This is a new experience for me.  I homeschooled Baby Bear all the way through and Sister Bear is 24.  She only went to school through the third grade.  As you can see, it has been a very long time since I was getting someone off to school.  It was nice though.  This morning we were able to pray together and read the scriptures.  She really liked that. I am also able to provide some good nutritious food for her to start the day off right.  My sister is working full time and going to college full time.  She is pregnant and doing it all alone.  So once the baby gets here,  I will be taking care of it pretty much around the clock. My life is about to change drastically.   We will all need your prayers.  Thanks in advance!

The down time has been nice!  Tommorrow I am getting 6 just butchered, free range, chemical free, pesticide free, all natural chickens.  My neice says that they are homemade.  :)

I have been doing much research about where our food and vitamin supplements originate.  Do your research!  It is very important!  I have found out some pretty shocking things.

Hugs to all,

Cammy

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Friday night, we went to hear my Daddy sing. He did a great job. It was so much fun. He plays in a band called the Renditions every Friday night. They do gospel, old country and pop oldies.  We go to see him and hear him sing and play frequently. Ah...the good ole days. This brings me back to a much simpler time.

Saturday Hubby and me went for a walk at Fort Toulouse. We walked down to the River. We had a wonderful time.The scenery is gorgeous there. It was so romantic....

Saturday night we went out with friends. We went with Jo Jo and Forrest and we had a blast. It was a perfect double date!

Yesterday I put up snapped 31 pounds of green beans and Hubby shucked 70 ears of corn. I put up 17 quarts of Green Beans, 24 quarts of purple hull peas, 44 quarts of corn, 1 gallon of Bell peppers, 2 quarts of banana peppers and 24 cubes of basil. It took me 17 hours including the snapping but it was worth it.

Today I went to the doctor. For those of you who do not know, I have been dealing with some abnormal blood work since July 1st that was potentially very very serious. Today I was told that it had returned to normal. A big thank you to God. Praise the Lord of Creation! Tonight I am feeling very blessed and very grateful. Words cannot express.........

This afternoon, I went to see my sister Linda. She has a huge pear tree in the back yard that is loaded with pears. I am about to cut into one to see if it is ripe enough to can. If it is.......can you guess my plans for tommorrow. :)

Well, thats my update for the week end.


Cheers!

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Hello Everyone,
This past week has been one of trying to get back on track. I started medication on July 21st for an underactive thyroid. It does seem to be helping with my energy level although I think the dosage still needs to be adjusted. If I did not know better I would say it is helping me to think clearer. I began making lists this week again for the first time in a long time. You know, prayer list, menu plan,Daily to do list....these lists really help me to accomplish more. I also started back on my college classes this week. All in all, it has been a productive week.
Yesterday I went to the State Farmers Market. I was able to buy 70 ears of corn, 31 lbs of green beans, potatos, bell peppers, banana peppers and peaches all from Chilton County. That satisfys my buy local in first tier which is within 100 miles. I also bought onions that are from Georgia. This is the third choice tier of my buying plan, which is the Southeast. And for the icing on the local cake, it only costs 68 dollars!
So Baby Bear, this is how the floor in your unused bedroom looks this morning.

Cheers Everyone!

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Today my husband took a day off work in honor of our anniversary tommorrow.  We decided to go shopping.  Of course we had to go to the local flea market to see what new treasures they had.  It was great!  We only shopped in the basement.  It has three floors.  We were there for about three hours!  Maybe next time we will make it to the ground floor.  :)

This is another great way to buy local and recycle! Since the store and all the vendors are local small business people, it just makes sense to shop here for those of us trying to support local folk.  Why give your money to foreign business.  Let's keep it right here at home. There is one tool booth that actually has tools made in the USA!  Since many things there are older, many of them are made in the USA and of better quality than our newer Chinese junk models of well...just about everything.  The furniture is real wood!  They have everything from 50 cent books to a $1700.00 wood stove.  And another great thing is that you can make a deal.  You know, just like Monty Hall.  They will actually call any vendor that is not there to give them your offer on merchandise. You can't do that at Wal-Mart or Parisians. If you stop by, be sure to ask where Jean's booth is.  She is a really nice lady I met today.

I really like old things.  I especially like old things you can still use.  We have some work to do on the cast iron water pot but I will post another picture after it has a little of Papa Bear's sweat equity invested in it.  The enamel Dish pan looks like the ones my grandmothers washed their dishes in. Ah the nostalgia.......
Check out the meat grinders!  Aren't they cool? They can be used for many things including chicken salad.   They are also made of cast iron.  I really like the solid wood bowl.  I plan to use it to make biscuits.  Ah......this truly was a successful treasure hunt!

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Hi Everyone,

Just for the record, the laundry detergent I made on July 7th lasted until today.  That is three weeks!  I have been very pleased with the results!  I am still trying to tweak the dishwasher detergent.  However, the apple butter is perfect.  I will try making yogurt again soon.  I used to make it but it is not turning out right now.  I am in pursuit of the perfect homemade yogurt!

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This has been a rough week. My sisters husband, Wyman, passed away Monday morning due to complications of Leukemia. He was 48 years old. He leaves behind a wife, an adult daughter, an adult son,and two small grandchildren whom he has raised in his home as if he was their daddy. He was ill for about a year. He had just lost his mother 10 months before. He was in ICU for several days before his passing so this has been beyond difficult. If you could all remember to pray for this family I am sure they would be very grateful. Please pray that I will know how to support them as they face the monumental task of living life without him.  I have been through this myself  and it freshened a great deal of painful memories, but I still feel helpless when it comes to comforting them.  Maybe just being there is all that anyone can do.

 Our eleven year old Lab passed away on Tuesday morning. This was extremely difficult. I realize that some people do not think very highly of animals but that is not the case with us. We get very attached to our furry family members. My friend, helped with the burial as my husband was at work and we had a very small funeral for him. He was a faithful, loyal, loving friend who will be sorely missed by the rest of his family, both human and furry. He was never in too big of a hurry to listen or to love on us and he was kind to everyone he met.

On a much lighter and happier note, my 2 year anniversary will be Saturday. So, that means we have already beaten the statistical odds as we are blissfully happy together.  I was widowed several years ago and this is his first marriage.  He is a wonderful, godly man and I cherish him.  I am very thankful to God for the gift of this excellent husband.  My daughters love him very much too.  Everyone loves him!  I cannot imagine my life without him and I hope I never have to.

I hope everyone has a great, productive week. Prayerfully, next week will be more normal and I will be out hitting up the local farms again

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