Reminiscing...

...our silo climbing experience with our dear friends Emily and Hillary!

If you want to scare yourself to death but have a ton of fun at the same time....try climbing a silo!!

"Can I make it to the first rung??!"

(Its higher than our heads so we have to jump up to grab hold of it!)

Emily, getting started on her 80 ft. climb!

From bottom to top...Juli, Emily, Amy and Hillary

Grrr....almost there...my arms are tired!

Yay!!! We made it to the top! Kind of tired of looking at 80 ft. of concrete and metal rungs!

But now....

...down again!

If you ever have a chance to climb a silo; go for it! Its really fun and the view is beautiful!

Something Worth Reading

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall
we fortify against it?
"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and give us a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

Abraham Lincoln

When the Frost Is on the Punkin

This is one of our favorite poems! It describes Autumn so well and the unique writing style is neat!

:::

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock,

~

And you hear the kyouck and gobble

of the struttin' turkey-cock,

and the clackin' of the guineys,

and the cluckin' of the hens,

~

And the rooster's hallylooyer

as he tiptoes on the fence;

~

O it's then's the times a feller

is a-feelin' at his best,

With the risin' sun to greet him

from a night of peaceful rest,

~

As he leaves the house,bareheaded,

and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock.

~

They's something kindo' harty-like

about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer's over

and the coolin' fall is here-

~

Of course we miss the flowers,

and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin'-birds

and buzzin' of the bees;

~

But the air's so appetizin';

and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning

of the airly autumn days

~

Is a pictur' that no painter

has the colorin' to mock-

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock.

~

The husky,rusty russel

Of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin' of the tangled leaves,

as golden as the morn;

~

The stubble in the furries-

kindo' lonesome-like,but still

A-preachin' sermuns to us

of the barns they growed to fill;

~

The strawstack in the medder,

and the reaper in the shed;

~

The hosses in theyr stalls below-

the clover overhead!-

~

O, it sets my hart a-clickin'

like the tickin' of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock!

~

-James Whitcomb Riley

The view from my bedroom window. I love it!!


The cows amongst the fall foilage

Fallen leaves dotting a narrow cowpath

Thankyou God for Autumn!!!!

Flyin' High

(Photos by Amy of Nathan on the swing.)

So Long, Farewell...

~For now that is. Only two weeks more and I will see my awesome sisters again!!! Yay!!! I'm really missing them. Its just not the same with only me here and those two up there.

Amy and Kayla that is by the way. They are gone for 2 weeks to help a busy,busy farmingfamily with five kids under five and a pretty hectic life! :) Right now they have been milking their little hearts out in Chad's "lovely" (pretty messy actually)tie-stall barn with his bratty cows that kick your head off if you touch them on the wrong side. Ahhh...so fun!

So anyways its really boring around here without them! I especially miss them when I have to wash Amy's big, messy stack of supper dishes and do Kayla's share of the barn work! (I do like barn work but not a ton in succession!:)

Yesterday Amy called and we talked forever about all kinds of stuff....I can't imagine having her gone for more than two weeks! My world would fall apart.:( She can be bossy sometimes and I, stubborn and obstinate but we always get over it and have a great time together!

Today I got a letter in the mail from a very dear friend:) of ours and after I read it I thought,"Bummer! Amy would love to read this. Too bad she's not here!" Of course I'll end up calling her and reading it to her over the phone...is that ridiculous or not?!

And Kayla; fun, hardworking, quiet(and sometimes sassy:) Kayla....I miss her funny little ways and...well I just miss her! She's incredible! I was feeding calves and heifers and chickens and I walked past the shop and said sadly to myself. "Crud. No more playing basketball with Kay for two whole weeks." I know. I am SO selfish.

Aim and I skiing at Snow Trails! Fun fun!

Weekend With the Pawleys

Beware! Another long post!

We didn't really know the Pawleys very well when they came but we hit off really good and had a great time together!!

Nathan & Aaron hit it off great!

Wrestling as all good boys do :)

Lauren in a blur!

Devotions




Abby and Jo singing their little hearts out!


Everybody!!

Keim Lumber


A timeline made by the rings in this tree from Africa!! It is 400-500 years old!


We were impressed to see this on there!


Micah & Austin checking out some kind of purple wood

Guggisberg Cheese


The Pawley Family :)


Guggisberg Cheese


They happened to be making cheese when we got there so it was fun to watch for a while!
(Notice all those neat Swiss cow bells!!)


Standing in front of a fake "Swiss Alps" :)

Mohican State Park


Lunch together


Nathan and Aaron


Austin & Micah fishing in the Mohican River


Such proper young ladies!(Of course we all know better!)


Lauren, ready to fall off this boulder, me, trying to hide the grafitti, Amy and Kayla just perched there!

Tearing up the mountainside on a cool trail we found.

It was incredibly steep. Coming down....what a joy!

Jo and Abby running along the 'regular' path.

We went traipsing along for ever wondering where Lyons Falls was. We finally found it! Al though it wasn't much of a falls, the scenery was awesome!

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty..." Isaiah 44:3

"He brought streams also out of the rock,

and caused waters to run down like rivers." Psalm 78:16

We climbed to the top of those HUGE cliffs. It was kind of scary! One slip and you'd be toast!


Thoughtful ponderings...


Splashin' fun!


Good buddies!


Milking Time

Abby wiping dirty teats

Lauren can milk!


Micah & Austin...oh boy!


Goofing off (which they did the whole time they were here!)

"Can you take a picture of me in front of the brown cow?"


Austin wildly switching a milker!

Ice Cream



Our way of cranking ice cream! (Because our ice cream maker likes to buck around!)


The cranking is gettin' tough now! We needed two people to hold down that ice cream maker!

Lauren started this picture!

"Lets smile an Emily Brockett smile!!" :):)

The finished product! Sweet,cold,homemade, chocolate ice cream!! What could be better??

Watch out! Austin in thedriver's seat!
(Hauling all our picnic stuff up to the cabin)

Dishing out ice cream. Lauren was getting extremely licky!! (I wonder why??)

The dasher was very well cleaned!!

Everyone enjoying everything!

Girl's Time :)

Serenading nature...

Singin' in the smoke

Campfires,lanterns,hymnbooks....they all fit together perfectly