The Girls' Weekend

It started on Friday and it just didn't want to stop. I'm talking about the snow. I was concerned that our girls' weekend might not happen and I was so disappointed. Diane was not feeling well, and wasn't going to be able to come and then the weather was thrown into the mix which didn't mix too well with driving. Tina called Saturday morning and asked what the weather looked like for the day. It wasn't good. I took a scientific look at the weather and checked forecast.weather.gov. Lake effect snow was the forecast for the day. Bob took a different look at the weather and went outside to measure the amount that had already fallen.

It measured 12 1/2 inches on the picnic table - Saturday morning.

It was only 9 inches at the bird feeders.

Checotah loves playing in the snow. Look at the snow on her nose.

Punkin and Checotah are keeping Bob company as he takes water from the house to the barn to give fresh drinking water for the chickens and Bootsie the barn cat.

Tina took into consideration the weather report from both Bob and myself and decided that it would be best not to come. She would call Sunday morning for a weather update and if the weather looked better, she would come on Sunday. Bob received several telephone calls from church members to let him know that they wouldn't be able to make it to church. I suggested that he close the church, but he would hearing nothing of that. When we arrived at the first church, there were already three cars in the parking lot. We were both surprised to see so many people at church. I had to play the piano and then tell the children's story. I told the story about when Francie cut her hair, tried to hide the evidence by burying the cut hair in the back yard. Her punishment was memorable for the entire family and still is a topic of discussion at many family gatherings.

This is the first church we had services at Saturday morning.

As soon as church service was over, we left to go to our second church service about a 35 minute drive. This is a picture from out of our front windshield driving up I-81.

This is the second church we went to on Sabbath. There were only four people that made it out to church. However, they had a great potluck. Homemade lasagna, Spanish rice, winter squash, and more . . .

After lunch we headed out for our third service another 35 minute drive. Within 10 minutes of leaving, we noticed that the snow was disappearing and by the time we reached our destination there wasn't any snow on the ground.

As we headed home, we soon were back in snow country. These cows looked so cold and were just standing there with no where to go. I think this one was wanting us to take her home with us. Just look at those sad eyes.

We passed by the Christmas tree farm where we cut our own tree each year. It's going to be more difficult to chose the perfect tree if the snow doesn't melt. The snow sure looks pretty, doesn't it?

Sunday morning Tina called early and once again we checked the weather reports. It looked good so Tina packed her car and headed for New York. I was so excited I could hardly wait for her to arrive. The drive only took her a little over four.

When she pulled into the garage, Bob and I started helping her carry stuff in. I couldn't resist asking her how long she planned on staying. You wouldn't believe all the stuff she brought!!! Tina brings everything but the kitchen sink too!!! Just like me!!! She has the neatest "things" to make cards and scrapbook pages. I was so excited to get started. Of course we talked, and talked, and talked, and then talked some more. Oh, we had so much fun!!!

Tina helped design cards for the Christmas Open House Bob and I are planning to have the second Sunday in December. They are so beautiful!!! I told Tina she should teach a class. She is really good.

Tina has all kinds of equipment for making cards and scrapbook pages. She also showed me some of the cards she had made and they are so cute. I just love them. I took pictures of each one so I can try to duplicate them in the future.

Here's one of the cards that we made for the "Christmas Open House" The snowflakes have glitter and a crystal bead in the center. We didn't have time to complete the inside, but my friend Barb is going to help me with the verse and printing.

Tina and I decided to take a little walk around the perimeter of the garden and orchard. It was great. The dogs enjoyed going with us. At the back of the orchard we saw deer tracks.

Punkin loves going for walks.

Checotah loves the snow. This is her first winter and first snow. When she is naughty, she gets tied in the yard. We have a dog house for her, but she won't go inside it. She lays outside the dog house watching the snow fall. Crazy dog!

We made homemade bread.

Date nut cookies

Cranberry orange nut muffins

We checked the weather report Monday night and the reports weren't good. Tina decided it would be best if she left early Tuesday morning. I was so disappointed. She called me a little after noon and had made it home safely. We had such a great time together. We went shopping at Joann Fabrics, bought some adorable patterns to make for our grandchildren. Had a list of things we wanted to do and only started on the list. I'm looking forward to Tina coming to visit soon I hope.

My friend, Barb, came over this afternoon and we had a great time making pies. We made pumpkin and pecan pies and then a batch of snickerdoodle cookies. The time went much too quickly and soon she was on her way back home.

Barb making the snickerdoodles.

Barb said, "No More Pictures!"

The pies turned out picture perfect.

What a great weekend!!!!!!!!!

More Snow is on the way . . .

We woke up to more snow on the ground. It appears that we are on the edge of the lake effect snow that is falling. The snow plows have gone by twice this morning already. My cousin, Tony, has called a couple of times to let us know that he and Donna can't get out of their driveway and their road hasn't been plowed either. They live in Mexico, New York and usually get dumped on every winter. They won't be at church this morning. Then we received another call from a couple that won't be getting to church either. We probably won't have too many at church today. Since this is a three church sabbath, Bob checked with one of the other churches, and they are planning to meet. The afternoon meeting will be held at an elderly couple's house.

Tina called this morning and she isn't going to venture coming today. The weather just doesn't look good for traveling. The forecast is 100% chance for heavy snow all day. However, tomorrow looks better. We're going to keep checking the weather forecast, and hopefully she will be able to come on Sunday.

Now, I'm wondering if we should chance going to Michigan for Thanksgiving. The weather reports are snows a good part of next week.

Snow . . . Snow . . . Snow ! ! !

It snowed all day today and it's suppose to snow all night and all day tomorrow. It sure is pretty but, I'm worried that Tina and Diane won't be able to come for the weekend. We're going to keep checking the weather report to see if it changes. I have everything ready for them to come. Now what am I going to do with all this food? I had Bob go out and take a few pictures before the sun went down.

Our drive-way.
This is the county road in front of our house.

I think Bob is going to have to get out the snow blower in the morning.

I don't remember it snowing this early in the year in the four years that we have lived in New York. I hope this isn't the beginning of a long winter. (We're getting lake effect snow)

Another Potluck Blog

For the past three weeks I have been working and going directly to the church after work for evangelistic meetings. Bob did his first series of meetings using power-point. He's becoming computer literate. He did very well with each night's presentations. There was a good response from the community and great support from the members. He's planning a baptism the second Sabbath in December. During these meetings I also held a cooking school in Dexterville. There were approximately 40 people in attendance. We have several drawings during the cooking class for homemade bread which Bob makes the morning of the class. One of the members made this stained glass platter which was a nice addition to the drawings that night. I was very lucky, because the lady that won it was the aunt to the lady that made it and she already had one so after the class she gave it to me.

I love my stained glass platter.

Even though I've been busy all day and every evening, I do have Friday's off so I enjoyed doing some baking.

Five loaves of whole wheat bread.

An apple pie.


Homemade cinnamon rolls with a surprise when you flip them over.

Those cinnamon rolls turn into pecans rolls when you dump them over onto a pan.

Rachael's Apple Cake Recipe

I made an apple cake and took it for the members to enjoy after the meeting on Friday evenings. They loved it. Several people asked for the recipe.

Ryan, Lisa and the children have moved into their new home, but they haven't moved all their stuff out of our house yet. It's quite lonely now in the evenings. No little children running to me excited to tell me all about their day. While they were living with us, our garage became so full of "stuff" we could hardly even walk in it. Bob spent several hours working on cleaning it out so we could get both vehicles in it.

This morning when I went to get in my car I was so thankful that it was parked in the garage.
Because . . .

This is what I saw when I opened the garage door this morning. We have almost a foot of snow. Bob didn't get up early enough to use the snow blower on the driveway so I just used my four wheel drive and made it just fine. The roads had been plowed.

We haven't put all our summer things away yet. Like our picnic table. Maybe it will just stay there for the winter. It won't be long and we won't see it until spring anyway.
It's a beautiful snow, but I'm not quite ready to settle in for a l-o-n-g winter. We have snow much earlier than we have had since we moved to New York. It usually waits until December.

Our dogs houses have all been moved back on the porches (which I don't like the look of). Bob thinks they need their houses there so they can see what's going on inside the house without having to be out in the wind. This is Checotah's first time to experience snow. She is just loving it. Our chickens are also experiencing snow for the first time and they aren't as happy with it as Checotah. Bob went to let them out this morning, and a couple of them went out the door and immediately returned to the chicken house. The others didn't even venture out. The temperatures have been in the 20's and low 30's. Bob's trying to figure out how to keep the chicken's water from freezing. We don't have electricity in the barn. We have a heated water bowl for the dogs. There must be some way to keep the water from freezing. What did they do in the olden days? Bob's dreaming of having horses and a sleigh so he can go for a ride on the property. It would be lots of fun. Well, I guess I should stop for now. I need to get a good nights rest. We're suppose to get some snow flurries tonight. We usually get lake effect snow and that makes for more than just flurries.

I'm looking forward to this weekend when Tina and Diane come to visit. They will be coming on Saturday and staying until Monday. I've got all my menu's planned and Tina and Diane have ideas on crafts for us to work on. I can hardly wait! I'll try to do better at posting while they are here. But, no guarantees.

Pumpkin Butter

The morning after . . . the results . . . at the bottom

My friend, Cathy (she lives in California), has been making pumpkin butter and has inspired me to try. We have quite a few pumpkins out of our garden and it would be a shame to let them go to waste. She sent me her recipe which sounds really good and it uses maple syrup which we have plenty of. However, Dore (my other friend that lives in California) sent me a crock pot recipe that I decided to try since it can cook all night while I sleep. I'll put it in the jars before I leave for work tomorrow morning. While I've been watching the election results I've been taking pictures of the steps for making pumpkin butter. Please remember that I have never done this before, so these steps may give some readers quite a laugh.

The first step is to place a freshly washed pumpkin on a cutting board.

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove all the seeds.

This is the pumpkin with the seeds remove.

Place the pumpkins cut side down in a baking pan.
Fill the baking pan with about an inch to an inch and a half of water.
Bake in a 400 degree oven (375 degree convection oven) until a fork goes in easily.


This is the pumpkin after it has been baked. Be sure to drain the water off because if you leave the pumpkin sitting in the water, the pumpkin will be watery.

Once the pumpkin has cooled enough to handle,

scoop out the flesh into a bowl and discard the skin.

Then you need to puree the pumpkin. I thought I would use the equipment I used when I made applesauce, but that didn't work. It just made a big mess.

Then I decided to mix it in my Kitchenaid mixer.

Bob said that wouldn't work and I should put it in the blender.

So, I put the cooked pumpkin in the blender. And it worked.

The pumpkin pureed perfectly. I had to put it in small amounts though.

Then I placed the pureed pumpkin in my crock pot, added 4 cups of sugar, 2 Tablespoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice. I'm going to cook this on low overnight and then first thing in the morning, I'll put it in jars and seal them. I'll store them in the refrigerator for up to six months. I don't think they will last six months.

Thank you Cathy and Dore for your inspiration, encouragement, and recipes. Now, you guys just need to come out so you can taste it. I'll make some homemade bread if you'll come.

This morning I got up early and finished making my pumpkin butter. I placed clean jars in the oven to warm and the jar lids in a pot of water on the stove top. Once the jars were hot, I filled them and sealed them. Once they have cooled I will store them in the refrigerator.

This is what the pumpkin butter looked like when I went to bed.


This is the finished pumpkin butter after it cooked all night.

The aroma in my house when I woke up this morning was wonderful!

Here is the finished product. I tried some this morning on dried toast

and it was delicious!

Last night I also baked four additional pumpkins and scooped out the pumpkin and instead of using the blender I used my food processor to make it smooth and that worked much easier. I filled zip-loc bags with two cups of pureed pumpkin and placed in the freezer. I made 8 bags. My pumpkin pie recipe calls for two cups of pumpkin, so I'm all ready for Bob to make 8 pies!