Danny had a very unusual birthday! His daddy stayed home for his special day, and we decided to go for a load of hay from a farm near the town of Elizabeth. Just for fun, everyone decided to go along.  

The day ended up different than we expected! We spent quite a while just finding the right farm, but in the process of asking directions, found another farmer who had cow hay for much less than what the hay cost that we were looking for. So after picking up a stack of hay for our goats, we headed off to find the next farm that had older hay that we could use for our cows.

Sammy and the farmer getting ready to throw a big bale of hay onto the trailer. I don't know what we would do without our strong son.

In between farms, we went to Elisabeth to grab some sandwich fixings since our 3-hour escapade for hay turned into more like seven hours! We also visited the very cute antique shop there in town. It is the cutest place I ever saw! We did buy a couple things for a dollar!  Then we had to rush home to get supper on for our little boy who was turning five years old. Grandma and pa came to celebrate with us! We ended up using brownies that someone had given us the day before, for a cake! And since Danny had leftovers of a croupy cough, no one wanted him blowing all over their cake! So--we put his five candles in his piece of brownie, and was he ever happy!

Crystal took a picture of this beautiful pot of tri-colored fall mums that Jonathan brought home for me. He said he just knew I would love them, and I did! We set a couple winter squash by it that we'd been given from neighbors.

Below you see Rosie who has started a new dress, working on a second sewing machine since Carrie was sewing a new jumper on the main sewing machine.

Yesterday Jonathan found sweet red peppers for two for a dollar and brought us home lots to freeze. Those were huge peppers! The little children kept gobbling pieces! They loved finding little miniature peppers inside the big ones. Danny came in and chortled to his daddy, "Daddy, those big daddy peppers had baby peppers inside them!" We got a big laugh out of that.

Here is Hannah enjoying being part of the pepper-freezing bash.

Fishing

One Monday morning Steve Cunningham came very early to take Sammy and Timmy fishing with him in the mountains. Here is what they got that day!

Steve is showing the children how to clean fish. Then we fried fish to eat.

Below you see the children conducting a science experiment. We purchased several science kits for school this year, and this one is a miniature volcano. You can see the red "lava" bubbling out of the "mountain." The children had a very good time doing this experimetnt.

Sorry this picture is not very clear. We are on the cedar, Amish-made porch swing that I bought for our anniversary.

Here is one of those double rainbows we often see from our windows in the summer.

Pictures from Jonathan's Camera

Here are Sammy and Danny riding the chairlift up to the top of the alpine slide.

Sammy flying down the slide.

Mom zooming down the coaster! Can you believe it??

Jonathan said he wanted to give me a "real" ride. Hmmm. I knew very well that meant a very, very fast ride, but I took him up on it. It was so fun. These cars are made so you can take two.

Here the next day the children are sorting their gem stones they got at the gemstone panning site at the fun park.

Fun at Breckenridge

Sammy is arriving into sight in the very middle of the photo on the coaster, new this summer at the Breckenridge fun park. Jonathan decided to treat the children to a day of rides for all their hard work this summer, especially for holding the fort for us different times when we needed to get away. This was one of our favorite rides. You could go REALLY fast and know you were safe, strapped into the cart that is fastened safely to the coaster. If you look very carefully, you can see the mom of this crew coming down to the end of the coaster ride! I didn't have a lot of energy, but I did manage a couple alpine slide rides, and two of these coaster rides, plus two more with Jonathan! You can fit two people on these carts. It was fun being pulled up the mountain in the carts on a cable, and then coasting VERY FAST back down the mountainside. I was a little dizzy after Jonathan coasted us down, and he didn't even let it go quite as fast as he could have. There are controls so you can control the speed.

As for me, when I came down the other alpine slide, I came rather slowly, enjoying the daisies and chipmunk and just the peace and quiet. The second time I came down faster just because you are supposed to do it fast. I decided I liked it more slowly. I am allowed to like something different than others. I am allowed to go slowly. I am allowed to be me. And you are allowed to be you, too.
Hannah wasn't old enough for any of the rides, but she was allowed to ride the chairlift up the mountain to nearly the top where we took a short hike through pines and alpine meadows. I think that was one of my favorite parts of the day. Jonathan got this picture of the ones of us who went up. Those alpine meadows were full of different colors of flowers.

Hannah loved playing in the water here at the "Pan for Gold" spot. A bag of dirt is poured into the screening pan, and the children wash the dirt out in the water. In the dirt are found several little "gemstones." Danny is inspecting what kind he got. All these activities were included in the day pass. I may be able to get more pictures posted later, from Jonathan's camera.

Pines and a very special Posy!

Mountain Photos

Sammy is trying to disappear before I snap a picture.Looking for special rocks on this rock pile. I liked the scenery behind it.
A camp robber pecking at a few corn chips on the ground leftover from our taco salad.

Mom and my dear oldest daughter on a rail fence by Windy Ridge.

My dear third daughter.

On Windy Ridge with Bristlecone Pines

Over the weekend we climbed a bumpy mountain road near Alma and Fairplay to visit Windy Ridge, a mountain ridge boasting hundreds of very old bristlecone pine trees. Some of these trees date back before the birth of Christ. You can see the ridge with pines right in the middle of the photo.Here some of us are, walking back from visiting the pines.
Sam and Carrie exploring.

A four-year-old climbs a 2000-year-old tree!

Here is a fat marmot we saw along the road.

Poses on Pines

Here is our Timmy on one of those bristlecone pines.Carrie trying to climb one, too. Ooops! Konk!
All the children climbed on this one. Timmy and Hannah are aiming to get into the hollow part.

Labor Day morning, after staying overnight with Jonathan's folks so we could get up and leave at 6:45 a.m., we drove to Memorial Park to watch the hot air balloon show. Below are two bucking bronco balloons being blown up. The balloon is laid out on the ground, and then blown up by a fan.

Here the balloons are going up as propane fuels flames to heat the air inside them.

Balloon Festival at Memorial Park in Town

You can see some of the thousands of people who gather in the early morning for this annual event.Another balloon being blown up.
I got this photo from underneath one balloon and its basket.

Danny sits on his daddy's shoulders, watching another balloon come down to skim the water of the lake. This is a feat that requires a lot of skill, as you want to only dip just a bit into the water and not go too far in! There are many cheers and whistles and clapping as the ballooonists successfully dip and then rise again without sinking!

Watching the many balloons float away into the sky.

Wild Currants from the Mountains

While up in the mountains, we found lots of loaded currant bushes near the mountain stream. Here we are picking.The bushes were just loaded! Some of them had several fat berries on one stem. There was something peaceful about taking time to just quietly pick berries. However, I still have a pricker or two in my thumb or fingers from all the tiny thorns on those bushes! We managed to gather about 2 quarts of berries, which isn't much when you compare it to other fruit, but it is a lot when you consider picking these tiny berries on prickly bushes!
Once we got home, we found a recipe for blueberry currant jam, and added frozen raspberries to one recipe, too. Here Rose has added lemon juice and pectin and a minimum of sugar to make our own jam!

Hannah loves to help! She is mashing currants or thawed blueberries with her masher.

Below, Carrie is taking her turn at another batch of jam.

Cisterns and Sisters

A cloud formation that we saw out our back door one day. Last week our cistern was almost dry, so Jonathan took the opportunity to go down inside it and clean it out. Hannah had thrown a cowpie into it a while back, once when they had the lids off and were checking the water depth. That cowpie, said Jonathan, was in there sort of fermenting, or however you would describe it.... So I was glad the water comes through at least two or three filters before we drink it! Plus there was plenty of dirt down in there. So Jonathan cleaned it out and fixed a leaking pipe at the same time.

The next morning, there was no water at all. Thankfully we were leaving for a few days away, but when we came back after four days, the cistern wasn't even half full. Jonathan figures the well is producing less than one hundred gallons a day for our family of nine. With less than ten gallons a day apiece, we are to drink, wash hands, bathe, launder, flush toilets, and water animals. That sounds like not very much till you read about the famine in Somalia where camels have to travel 40 or 50 miles for a drink, and that only twice a month.

Well, below you see two lovely sisters, sitting in a mountain meadow near Windy Ridge where we visited last weekend.

Here is mother and youngest little daughter near the same place. These particular mountains were rather bare in this area, but the meadows were full of pretty flowers.

Here is a family photo we took on one of those ancient bristlecone pine trees.