August 15, 2009

Making applesauce.	We went to Mt. Pleasant for church on Sunday then came back to Papa's for a big dinner with the entire family.  Mother fixed us a great lunch of savory steak, baked hominy, squash pie, green beans, fresh tomatoes, and cake with fresh peaches & blueberries.  We were able to get packed up and left for SC by 2:45.  We drove a decent part of the drive along with my brother Duanes.  We got home to a house with no water.  We found out right before we left on Friday that we had a major leak under our house so I had just turned it off at the meter.  We can turn it back on for short periods just to get water to function.  I guess I'll have to crawl under there tomorrow and try to fix things.
Enjoying our new porch rocking chairs.	Ina Sue couldn't do the normal Monday washing because of the water being off.  We brought home a bushel of Ginger Gold apples from VA. so she started working on making them into applesauce.  She ended up with 27 pints to freeze.  I went in to work for most of the day but came home a little early to work on our water situation.  I ended up just disconnected the old water service to the house and instead tied in to some new PVC that I had buried several years ago for irrigation.  That got the leak taken care of and most of the house back on line but I still have one toilet and the ice maker that still needs to be tied in to the newer PVC.  By supper time I could tell that Ina Sue was getting pretty stressed with the situation so I sent her to McDonalds for an iced mocha while I bathed the children, washed the dishes and straightened up the house.
Sewing as a family project... :)	Ina Sue was able to do the laundry on Tuesday.  She said it was a humongous batch.  Betty & Carolyn Heatwole picked up the children in the morning and took them swimming in the pond for a little.  I came home from work a little early again and worked under the house on our pipes until after dark.  I ran into a problem with not having the right fittings but thankfully was able to borrow what I needed from Myron Brubaker so that I could get the water turned back on.  Everything seems to be working now except for the icemaker.  Ina Sue made us sloppy joes, zipper peas and fresh apple salad for supper.  After supper she worked on getting the clothes folded and put away.
Our little duchess.	I went off to work on Wednesday and Ina Sue took the children over to Deb Hochstetlers for the morning.  She had very kindly offered to babysit so that Ina Sue could study to teach Sunday school on Sunday.  It poured down rain for a while in the morning.  Ina Sue fed us a nasty sounding but delicious dish for supper.  Bran and beef stroganoff over noodles with zipper peas, stuffed peppers and cantaloupe.  After supper we put together a puzzle with the children.  I played with the children while Ina Sue got our Quicken finances caught up.
Carolina Sue picking peppers.	Baked oatmeal, fresh peaches & kiwi for breakfast on Thursday.  Ina Sue did some sewing today while I was at work.  She and the children made up a big batch of monster cookies.  For supper we had grilled chicken over fried rice & veggies.  I worked most of the evening under the house trying to get the icemaker going again.  I think I got it going after about 3 long trips under there.  Ina Sue cleaned in the kitchen.
Landon & Savannah playing in the closet.	Friday was very ordinary.  I had a full day at work and stayed a bit late in order to have a meeting with James Stover about possibly helping out on the Radioshack side of the store while Tracey is out with her baby.  Ina Sue did her weekly cleaning.  After I got home we had some leftovers for supper then a restful evening at home.
My helpers hauling limbs to the burn pile.	Saturday was a great day working at home together.  I had fixed us my favorite breakfast casserole the night before so we had that for breakfast.  Then I went outside and started trimming branches.  Our pecan out behind the garden had really gotten bad with branches hanging down almost to the ground.  I trimmed it up really good and also trimmed some of our dogwoods.  It took quite a while to get all the branches hauled back to the burn pile.  Ina Sue pulled up our zipper peas.  After lunch the children took their naps while I mowed the yard and Ina Sue cleaned out the minivan.  She also swept the front porch and scrubbed the back porch.  After the children got up I took them along with me to town to wash the minivan and pickup supper for TacoBell.  I think their 89 cent chicken burrito is a wonderful buy and can pretty much make a meal in itself.