Christmas time in Colden

Our famous upside down Christmas Tree arrived again in good fashion with lots of help for decorating.

The gang is all here!  Time to have a party...

Even Jack Frost showed up.

 Jen and Madeleine sneak a kiss under the mistletoe.

One of the hunters gave Jim some venison and he and Jake cleaned it up and cooked it for dinner one evening.  It was delicious.

Sarah baked us our traditional gingerbread house this year.  We had a team of folks participate in the decorating.  Theresa jumped in as team leader and did a GREAT job.

Winter Musing...Jim style

 It is that time of year again where Jim brings in his creative doings from his wood shop.  He made some lovely cutting boards.  He even put on his clean work clothes to wear while coating and massaging the bare wood boards with mineral oil.  It makes a big mess but oh, how beautiful they become.

 Some of the boards he put a single strip of black walnut and cherry.  Here you can see a  board that is bare vs the oiled boards.

 He doesn't look too happy, does he?

Once the oil hits the wood it is almost like watching a print come to life in a darkroom.  I have several boards and I use them everyday.  He is also working on ornaments and clip boards too.

Welcome Mr. Winter!

This is a view out the front door this morning.  Looks like Mr. Winter has found us.  Traveling home last night was really tricky, but...I got home just in time.  They had closed down the Thruway and Transit Road.  Whew!  Snuggled in last night and made some gingersnaps and looked out at the snow, just the way I like to end the day.  :)  Cheers!  Stay warm...

Getting ready for turkey day!

 Saturday was the Great Perogie Making Day at the homestead.  Beth, Emily, Jan, Peter, Madeleine, Jen and Amanda spent the afternoon a delicious assortment of our traditional family perogies.  It was a great deal of work but LOTS of fun too!  Amanda has the magic touch for mastering the dough.  It comes out tender and fries up like a puff pastry, Aunt Jean and Bopshe would be proud!

 Jim and Sarah have started their own tradition making BIG batches of applesauce.  Peter was our apple washer and I think he enjoyed it a bit too much?  Na, he had fun too.

Jim and Sarah starting off and when they were down with this batch today they have over 24 quarts of warm yummy applesauce.  It is amazing, everyone raves over it and it is simply SEVERAL different types of apples, a cup of cider to begin the cooking process and LOTS of cinnamon.  No sugar at all.

Jim is now, Certifiable....a chuckle placed here...seriously though...

Jim has earned his NEW YORK STATE TRAINED LOGGER CERTIFICATION !  He can now add that to his resume and accomplishments.  Yay, Jimmy!

Sally came back out for one more joy ride...!

 EARLY one morning I was out with Jim to put away Sally the Sawmill for the second time this season and I found some FROSTY fall leaves on the ground. 

 Sally came out again for a large black walnut tree that my dad called Jim about.  An electric company had to cut down the tree to put up some new wire.  Jim was thrilled as the black walnut is very rare in this area.  I swear if it were a woman I might have been jealous of this excitement over this tree.  :)  He was genuinely enthusiastic.  He claims this may have been a once in a life time opportunity.  You go, Jim!

 He estimates that he got 200-300 board feet of lumber, along with various limbs.

 He cut a few boards extra thick for up coming projects.

It was really interesting to see the logs when he split them.  The were actually more green than black and after the air hit spilt limbs it became more of a dark brown color.

A fall adventure...

So every couple of years Jim gathers his many collections of metals and takes it to a scrap yard. I asked him if I could go along and he was surprised and said, sure. He fitted me in clothes that could get caught and torn while unloading and we were off.

Just a sample of how he cleans up the wire and stores them in buckets.

More STUFF that was under the aluminum.

Everything unloaded and waiting to get a cart and hit the scale.

So we got a bit over $600 and a lottery ticket...wooo hooo. It was really interesting to look around and watch all the scrap from large to small gathered and making the world a better place. And it is always fun to go on an adventure...a day without learning is a wasted day!

A fabulous final day in October...

What a wonderful surprise to wake and find mother nature has decided to show off. I have a chance to use the screen door and smell the fall and see the colors! Yay!

Just a shot out of the front door...

I made an apple tart today and it was SO easy. I took a Pillsbury refrigerated crust (just 1) and filled it with cut apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, cloves, flour, and pumpkin pie spice mix. The little burst of ginger in the mix was terrific. I pulled the crust around the apples and used a egg wash and sprinkle of sugar on it. I also cook all my pies on a oven warmed pizza stone, this always helps the bottom of the crust to cook through. Super easy and yummy!

The grass is growing...!

This picture was taken just minutes ago...check out the grass! Wooo hoooo...

A finished summer project and some vibrant fall colors to enjoy!

Yes, it is finished the the next step is waiting for the grass to grow! This summer the project included one structural engineer with a vision, 11 truck loads of gravel, 1,500 lbs. quickcrete, 20,000 lbs. retaining wall units, 1 custom precast cap, 1 special order light, 6 cubic yards concrete, 20,000 lbs. of open pavers, 20 lbs. of grass seed, 9 bales of straw 1/2 truck load of topsoil, compost oh, of course one beautiful supportive wife, and the sidewalk and driveway ~ PRICELESS. :)

Looking up at the hill from the top of our road...lovely.

I love the blue sky and sunshine against the trees in our yard. Fall is my all time favorite time of the year. One of the reasons to love Colden.

Enjoy!!

Yep...it is that time of year for Sally the sawmill to come out and show her stuff.

Woman Cave and Peter size fun

I just wanted to offer you a little peek at what goes on in my woman's cave, the place also known as our basement. I do most of my coloring on an old draft table that Jim brought from his office.
This entire muse started one day when I walked in an AMAZING store Buffalo Stamps & Stuff on Sheridan Drive in north Buffalo. Jim calls it kindergarten class, but I call it getting through the trials of Menopause and smiling! :)

I couldn't sleep last night and decided to bring a few stamped images to life. The artist that created these stamped images (and the ones below) is Mo Manning. I cannot tell you how much her images make me smile, I just cannot put it in words....yet. LOL

I am going to start another blog that will lean more towards the woman's side of things...I haven't launched it yet, but soon to come will be discoveringmuse.blogspot.com

I hope you will enjoy...

Peter is a VERY lucky boy! Molly brought Butterscotch down for a visit to Mom & Dad's and there was much laughter to be heard and lots of running around. Peter has a great time at the farm and he makes us all smile.

More progress...

Now the fun part begins...we are doing the landscaping around the driveway and sidewalk..yay!

The driveway has 3,500 holes that needed to be filled and with a stick I tamped it down...each hole I tamped on average 8 times (average), can I tell you that my shoulder was none to happy with me that evening. Jim will plant grass seed and cover it with straw and pray to the rain God.

Now we fill in with top soil and and put down more grass seed and straw.

Taking a break from the back breaking project...don't worry I have a meal planned that is fit for a KING. Toss in a shot of southern comfort and his ass sitting in my glider chair that I bought for myself (oh well, the next grandchild and he will have to take a number) and life is good.

Cross your finger and hope for rain!

Drum Roll please...

The driveway is looking wonderful, a few more pavers and this part is finished!

Jim putting down the LAST paver...I think he may be excited. :)

Ooooh la la!~ Yep, he is a happy camper. Next phase is some topsoil and putting a sealer on the sidewalk.

A gloomy Thursday afternoon...

I thought I might drop in a picture of some beautiful flowers that I bought myself or the flowers that I tell Jim he bought me. :)
Tops Markets has great healthy roses and they are usually on sale and I found these coral lovelies for $9.99. It is the little things...and after being a good chute director I figured I deserved them.


Tonight, Jim put down more pavers and I caught him looking over his work and I can guess that he is starting to see the end? I was right...it is a project that he would like to finish. If you listen carefully, you can hear one of his many "other women" calling him...Daisy the Dozer (parked across the street) that is. LOL
She is looking for some quality time but she will have to fight me for those stolen moments. ;) After all, I help feed her hydraulic fluid. LMAO