Beauties of Nature

We have been getting rain at least daily and sometimes multiple times daily here.  The grass is growing like gangbusters and everything is green (various shades) which makes for real beauty.

A few nights ago we were under a tornado watch but the weather didn't really develop into much until very late (like after bedtime), but around 6:00 p.m. I noticed some interesting clouds, so I grabbed my digital camera and went outside.  I ended up walking down our lane, down the gravel road and back up the other lane that come into our farmstead.  The views, looking in different directions, with different amounts of sunlight, front-lit and back-lit were pretty incredible.  And I also got some photos of the sunset over the horizon.

Saturday evening on our way home from the homeschool conference, there were quite a few storms brewing on either side of us.  We managed to avoid all but a little bit of rain, but as we approached home there was a beautiful pink sunset with sun rays showing through the dark clouds.  Was sure missing my camera.  While we had it in the vehicle, it was in the very back and we didn't have time to stop and get it to take pictures.  Hubby was trying to get home before dark so he could do a few things before it got dark and another storm hit.

A couple days ago, I hung a decorative wooden birdhouse on a nail on our porch.  Lo and behold, today, we have a couple of wrens, just singing their hearts out as the build a nest it in.  It is right out my office window and I am really enjoying their diligent work and beautiful songs, given the gray, cloudy backdrop that the weather is giving us.

Sorry to disappoint but I didn't get a card reader yet and it seems that my laptop and my camera dock, don't like to work together.  Hopefully this weekend, I can get one.

Getting in Shape and Losing Weight

Recently someone on one of my email lists posted a challenge to see if others would like to join her in a quest to lose some weight.  After some quick banter online, about a dozen of us took the challenge and we'll be working on losing pounds, inches, and/or various other goals (ie. getting into this size clothes, etc).

I used to be very fit and participated in all kinds of sports in high school.  Haven't done anything like that in years.  Also I am very busy, so it is difficult to fit exercise into my routine.  I know that watching my calories and drinking more water are easy to incorporate into my routine.  Here are the ideas I came up with so far for exercise:

walking (with a neighbor) - which I already committed to, but can't seem to find the time to do (frustrating)
biking - would have to be one of the kid's bikes as I don't own one
Fitness DVD - Have one or two of these
Dance Dance Revolution - or some other fitness thing on Wii (don't own Wii Fit but am considering it).

Would love to hear your suggestions as I need to get going on this.

Thanks in advance.

The Day After the Primaries

Well, my selection for Governor candidate lost yesterday in the primary, but not without putting up a good campaign.  He stood on principle and got the word out and let people know where he stood on the issues that matter most to them.  I must commend him for not doing whatever is politically correct in order to get the Establishment (political party) vote.

Evidently not enough people in our state are suffiiciently irritated (lighter word than I am thinking) about the financial condition of our state, activists judges who legislate from the bench and the general downward spiral of society.  I had hoped that the last couple of years would have made it easy to see what is going on right before our very eyes, but evidently too many people are blind to the reality of what is going on, our rights are being eroded, private sector business is being taken over systematically by government bailouts and inflation and taxes are eroding everyone's paycheck.

Shame on us for being blind.  Thankfully, I know God has it all under control and perhaps we will learn the lessons he is trying to teach us.

A number of other candidates did win their primaries yesterday, standing on principle and I will continue to support each and every one of them through the general election. 

Primary Time!!

If you live in Iowa or a handful of other states, then today it is your civic duty to go vote in the primary election.  Given the condition of our state and our country, we need to send a message that it isn't politics as usual any longer.

There are many good candidates running who believe that the Constitution means what it says and will stand up for it.

So go out and do your part by participating in the election process and let your voice be heard.

If we don't get these candidates on the ballot now, it won't matter as much when it is time for the general election.  Then it will be politics as usual.

Go vote!!  We are headed to the polls right now!

God Bless America!

I Did It Again!!!

Yes, I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon! My life gets hectic and even though I take tons of pictures and take pictures nearly every day, I rarely seem to get them posted here. My camera dock has not been playing well lately with my laptop, so I am considering buying a card reader the next time I get to the city. Then there will be no more excuses.

I am in the process of learning to take over the webmaster position for our website: Thankful Harvest. We are still working on getting our shopping cart features workable and I will also be blogging there about our farm.

On the home front, there is much mowing to be done, laundry and cooking as always, trying to finish up a few school subjects in the next 2 weeks and getting a list of curriculum to buy for next year put together, so I don't go way over budget. This week we are doing swimming lessons (got rained out tonight, so we'll make that one up Wed. night), hosting a meeting and then have family and friends coming over the weekend.

So I will keep taking pictures and maybe someday I will get a bunch of posts done so you can see what we are up to around here.