Sunday Salutations

sunrise

We got 2 more inches of snow overnight bringing our on the ground grand total to about 10 inches now.  According to our thermometer on our side porch we hit an overnight low of 4 degrees, but tonight it’s supposedly going to be only 30 with more snow.  Thirty degrees seems like a dream compared to what we’ve been having, but then on Monday we’re right back to bitter cold with a predicted low of -5.

I must admit, this bitter cold has been really testing my resolve, almost like it was sent to do just that.  Even though it’s the extreme opposite weather-wise and we still do have electricity (although it flickers at times when the wind starts hitting the 30 MPH mark..) I keep being reminded of The Derecho 2012 when we lost electricity for 11 days and during that time we were assaulted by a heat wave with temperatures reaching the mid 90’s..which is HOT for our neck o’ the woods!  But it produces the same kind of feeling, that of being involved in a prolonged abnormal situation forcing us to enact new steps and stratagems to cope with it.

Our little cottage was originally built as a “dawdi haus” (meaning “grandparent’s house” and I use the Amish term because that is the only culture that has such a thing, that I am aware of at least..) The farmer who lives behind us on his black angus cattle farm used to own our land back in the 70’s and built this cottage for his mother to live in, after she passed away he sold it and the land it was on.  Now we live here.  It has thick wooden walls, but they are not insulated.  We have one of those super deep artisan mountain wells and we replaced the well pump a couple of years ago and the water comes into the house through plastic piping from underneath the house, the underneath of the house is really nothing more than a crawlspace and so our pipes, if not dripped, easily freeze at temperatures below 20 degrees…so, as you might have guessed, we been having to have the faucet drip nearly continuously because we haven’t had a day over 20 degrees in nearly a week!

There is also the care of the livestock.  We have our goats on a bi-yearly breeding cycle, they only have kids every other year, they had kids in 2012 so they will be bred again in the fall of 2014. Goats, if they are milked regularly, which means twice a day with not more than 16 hours between milkings (I have my goats on a 10/14 schedule, which means I milk them at around 8AM and then 10 hours later at around 6PM, and then 14 hours later at 8AM the next day..), will easily produce milk for 3 years from one kidding.  But the key is you have to milk them always and everyday, you cannot take a vacation just because the temperature is hovering around zero degrees.  So, everyday, between milking the goats and hauling hay bales to feed them fresh hay and hauling them fresh hot water and feeding the chickens and collecting eggs and hauling them fresh hot water, I have been spending about 1 1/2 hours a day in this frigid freaking cold weather!

This is what I mean when I say that my resolve is being tested.  Even though I may be freezing my ass off, I can not stop milking…raw milk sales are illegal in West Virginia so there is no other way for me to procure this precious resource for my children, I must milk!  There is no way around it or way to do without it.  My children have not gotten sick in over a year (I have not been sick in over 4 years) and I personally believe that it has everything to do with the raw milk which is so good for the body, especially the immune system…it is what keeps us super healthy and is, by far, the most precious resource that our homestead produces.

When you milk you do not move, other than your hands, but the rest of your body just sits there making it very easy to get very cold in a very short amount of time, especially when temperatures are so frigid.  Whenever I milk in temperatures that are below 20 degrees, I wear 3 layers of clothing.  My base layer for both top and bottom is Omni-wool 20% merino wool long underwear, over that I wear jean leggings and then my 96% wool pants (thrift store find) on top of all of that.  For the top portion of my body I wear a cashmere/wool/angora blend sweater (thrift store find) over my base layer of Omni-wool and then my 80% goose down insulated winter coat.  I have a wool hat that I wear and then my coat hood over that.  For socks I have two layers, a close fitting cotton sock followed by my heavy duty 85% merino wool socks, my snow boots are waterproof leather with 200 gram thinsulate insulation (which isn’t much but I got ’em for 8 bucks in practically brand new condition from the thrift store, beggars can’t be choosers lol).  For gloves I have a pair of form fitting wool gloves without fingers so that I can milk comfortably, one hand holds that nice warm teat and milks while the other hand holds the jar of nice warm milk that I am milking into, so fortunately my hands never really get super cold….there is a silver lining to every cloud I suppose 😉

We use the deep bedding method for out goats, which means that we let their bedding pile up in winter so that it is anywheres between 18 inches and 24 inches thick, essentially creating a giant compost pile that they live on top of…stick a thermometer in there and you will get a reading of close to 120 degrees in the center of the pile, this is from all the microbial activity and the heat that it puts off helps to keep my goats very toasty warm in their unheated goat shed.  All of our chickens are breeds that deal with the cold quite well, they don’t seem fazed in the least by this extreme cold and their egg production even went up to a dozen eggs a day now that the light is starting to noticeably increase.

One thing that I do not like is that the extreme cold seems to awaken some type of primal eating drive within me, I come back from being outdoors for an extended time and I am just SO HUNGRY!  It’s unbelievable the amount of food that I wish to consume because of this cold and it makes me want carbohydrates of all things! lol Steaming hot bowls of beef stew with thick slices of warm homemade bread smothered in butter!  Or nice hot bowls of oatmeal or biscuits and sausage gravy with eggs and bacon and it’s just unreal to me how hungry I have been.

The house has been most warm, we heat with a combo of kerosene heaters and wood and a few electric heaters scattered about, we’ve managed to keep it at a roasty toasty 72 degrees with little to minimal effort on our part, so fortunately that has not been a problem at all.  Just one more week of this and then January will be over… I don’t mention nearly often enough how much I hate January but I HATE January!..I do, I really really do.  We almost always inevitably get a warm up in February, so I just keep looking forward to that…and at this point even a few days of temps in the 40’s would seem like heaven! lol

A Short Story For You

I wrote this when I was 15 years old.  10th grade English class, the teacher gave us an assignment to write a short story, I don’t fully remember the specifics of the assignment just that we had a week to do it.  She gave us that class day to begin our first draft and I knew exactly what to write about, about a dream I had had the night before where a man was swimming and flying at the same time.  I wrote out this whole story in a matter of about 45 minutes and turned it in at the end of class, I got an A too 😀 (btw this is in original form with just slight grammatical and wordage corrections here and there…)

The Race

I am walking down a deserted beach, for the most part, until they end, where I see a small crowd of people have gathered.  It looks as though they are going to have a race.

“They haven’t had a race in years,” I comment to myself.

Desiring to get a better look at the action, I slowly walk my way down the beach and towards the crowd.  Then they spot me.

“Look!”, they cry out, “Look!  It’s him, the great swimmer!”

I back away and start to deny it, but it’s already too late.

The announcer of the race calms the crowd and then proceeds to ask me why I don’t race anymore.

I just shrug my shoulders, not really caring to come up with a reason good enough to satisfy this crowd.

“Too old?”, I reply.

“Aww, no your not, you’re only 28.”

I would never have told him the real reason, that I wanted to end my career on a high note 8 years ago.

“C’mon,” says the announcer, “Why don’t you swim in this race, for old time’s sake?  Swimming across the Chesapeake Bay should be a lot easier than that stunt you pulled 8 years ago!”

The crowd begins to cheer and the announcer smiles ’cause he knows he’s got me, and he has.

“But I’m not ready to swim!” I protest, “I’m not even in condition!”

“It’ll be fun!” replies the announcer with a wink and smile as he pats me on the back.

The crowd begins to cheer my name, this has gotten too far out of hand.  So, I agree.

I remove my shoes, socks, shirt, roll up my pants and step into the water. They hand me a number, Two…a vaguely familiar number.

I swim out to where the other swimmers are waiting for the race to begin. “This is gonna be real bad..” I’m thinking to myself as I get down into position and I hear the call, and the shot of the gun…

My muscles ache and my heart pounds, it’s the only thing I hear.  I am lost in myself fighting fatigue and nausea.  I can see land ahead, “just 4 or 5 more miles” I think to myself, “I can make it.”

I set into rhythm, right over left, right over left, right over left, kick and kick.

I am a prune.  I have been in the water for over two months now, maybe closer to three now that I think about it.  This giant bathtub, my curse and my dream, and the death of me if if I don’t keep my mind on swimming.

I force it back to rhythm, right over left, right over left…I look up for a split second at the boats stopped just for me, just slightly to me left so as not to run me over.  I focus in on my supply boat, people on deck, my support crew, waiting for my body to give out.  I can just almost make out the pensive worried looks on their faces.

Suddenly my stomach churns, I stop to tread water, “Not again..” I mutter to myself.  I swallow hard and breath evenly, I don’t need this, not now, not when I am so close.  I swallow hard again and my head spins, I’m going to pass out.

All of a sudden, in the distance, I see something under the water swimming towards me.  It’s green like a large algae bloom, I blink in an attempt to clear my vision and then sitting in front of me is a huge frog. “What the..” but before I can finish, the frog very matter of factly says, “Hello” and then bobs back underneath the water disappearing from sight.

Very strange.

I quit treading water and begin my stroke again.  Try as I might, there is now no longer any denying that my body is giving out on me, my legs are numb and at times I have to glance behind me just to make sure that they are still there.  My head spins again and I unwillingly stop and tread water, as if beckoned by some unknown force I suddenly look up into the sky and I see, flying towards me, two perfectly white birds, doves.  They swoop down and stay aflight in front of me, like hummingbirds, hovering just a couple of feet above the surface of the water.

“We have come to help you” says the one.

“You can not do this on your own” says the other.

I instinctively begin to refuse, but then I think about it, I really do need the help.  I grab onto the birds and pull myself up out of the water, for their size they are very strong and sturdy little birds barely burdened by the weight of my body.  As they lift off slightly and my feet dangle just a few inches above the surface of the water two very large fish poke their heads up, just underneath my feet, and ask if they can help too.  I laugh and say “Sure, why not!”.  Each one gets underneath a foot and again, just like the doves, the are quite strong and sturdy, seemingly unhindered at all by the weight of my body.

The birds flap and the fish swim and I hear myself all the while…right over left, right over left, kick and kick, right over left, right over left…I am skiing and sailing, flying and floating, impossible.

I feel utterly weightless.  I am out of my body and out of my mind.  It feels like I am swimming, I know I am flying. My muscles still ache but it’s beautiful.  I am going faster than light now, this isn’t anything at all like swimming!

Higher I go, and coming up fast.  I can see the crowd on the beach..men, women, children, old people come to cheer me on.  I am above them all, looking down.  I watch the crowd watch a man, he has just reached shore and is staggering onto the beach removing his goggles.  Looking much like a drowned rat he collapses into a heap on the sand.  Paramedics rush to his side, quickly picking him up and putting him on a stretcher, drying him off and checking his vitals.  He looks delirious and very weary, but the grin on his face is unmistakable.

The one dove taps me on the shoulder, his eyes full of kindness, he speaks thoughtfully, “We have to go now.”

“No, not yet!” I plead.

“Our work here is done,” replies the bird.

As tears come unheeded streaming down my face, the doves fly off and the fish fall from the sky and back into the ocean.  And I feel myself fall, falling and falling, I drop through the layers of clouds and then open my eyes.

I see faces, a little girl, all of eight years, holding a bouquet of flowers out towards me, smiling her toothless grin.  I hear cheering and much commotion behind me.  I gaze around me and before me, my vision blurred by tears.  I look into the crowd and see a man dressed in a sharp-looking suit with well manicured hair and a microphone in his hand making his way towards me, pushing aside a cheering bystander he stands beside my stretcher, microphone outstretched, another man holding a camera and bright light bring up his rear.  He looks a me, square in the eyes, plastic smile plastered in place and in a clear voice he asks “So how does it feel to be the winner of the first ever trans-Atlantic swimming race?”  And I am back with myself.

Garden Wrap-Up 2013

100% Organic Lacinato Kale, my very favorite type to grow

Every year we grow a garden.  This past year’s garden was not one of our best years, the weather was very very very wet and for that reason the temperatures were also somewhat on the cooler side.  We also did not grow any vegetables from the curcubit family (cucumbers, squash, melons etc.) because garden 2012 was the year of the vicious squash beetle bug invasion and so, in hopes of starving them off, we decided to take a year off from growing the type of veggies that they like to eat, so garden 2013 had none of those veggies…no cucumbers, no zucchini, no pumpkins 😥 ..but, despite that, we still managed to grow plenty of veggies and most all of them (except for the tomatoes!) did quite well.  So I will recount to you our top 5 favorites for garden 2013 🙂

Dragon Langerie Wax Bean

5.  Dragon Langerie Wax Bean – A dutch wax bean, this bean is beauty full!  We grew many different types of beans and this one was my favorite overall, not just because of looks but also because of it’s disease resistance.  Because of the extreme wetness a good many of our beans would slowly succumb to rust overtime and need to be pulled out and replanted, all except for this type, it had no disease issues whatsoever and gave me a large main crop and a bumper crop in early fall before finally giving up the ghost.  The taste is very beany and the texture quite firm even when cooked, they also made great pickled dilly beans using homegrown dill and garlic!

Hardnecked Variety of Garlic called “Music” (100% Organic)

4.  Music Garlic – This year, however, was our best garlic year ever with LOTS of big fat bulbs (the above pictured is only about half the full harvest)…we grew 4 different types but the type called “Music” out-shined the rest of them by far!  And the taste is very hot and even sweet, I use this garlic everyday in the food that I cook and we still have about 2 pounds of it left and it stores quite well in a burlap bag in the corner of our unheated laundry room 🙂

Hungarian Szamosi Dark Tobacco – HUGE plants with the HUGE green leaves

Tobacco leaves hanging to dry from the ceiling beam in the living room

3.  Hungarian Szamosi Dark Tobacco – Garden 2013 was our second year growing our own tobacco and it went even better than the first year!  We grew six plants of this tobacco and the seed packet said it was only supposed to get 3 feet tall but these plants got WELL OVER 5 ft….I am 5 ft. 3 in. and they were taller than me! and they had profusions of the most beautiful flowers that I collected seeds from and saved.  Most of this tobacco finished up early and began to die back in late August and early September.  Just this morning I tried some of the first bit that we harvested and dried, aged almost 5 months, and the flavor was very rich almost like hickory smoke with a hint of earthiness like mushrooms and cedar bark…much more flavorful than the Virginia Gold Tobacco that we grew in 2012.  Although I recently tried some of the Virginia Gold about a month ago, it was about 16 months old then and it was very smooth with an almost buttery undertone with some oak mixed in, almost like a really good Chardonnay.  I must say, I am very much enjoying growing my own tobacco and plan to do it every year from now on!

Budapest Pepper

Budapest Pepper Plants (in front)

2.  Budapest Pepper – These little light green, slightly spicy, very sweet hungarian wax peppers did unbelievably well for us!  This was our first year growing them so we grew only 4 plants but they grew in such profusion that we were eating them several times a week for either lunch or dinner.  My favorite way to eat these is to slit them open in the side, remove the seeds and membranes, and then stuff with homemade homegrown goat cheese and then bake in the oven, covered, at about 375 for about 30 minutes and then remove, top with salsa and sour cream and munch down! 😀

Paul Robeson Tomato (100% Organic)

1.  Paul Robeson Tomato – Even though all of our tomatoes, overall, did poorly this year we did have one that seemed to have stronger disease resistance than the rest…The Paul Robeson Tomato!  I had six of these plants, 2 dozen tomato plants in all of various types, and this one was the last to succumb to disease and managed to give me some tomatoes before they all finally died in late July.  The above tomato was one of the best of the bunch and I saved seeds from it which I hope to grow seedlings from for this year’s garden.  The flavor is very rich and deep classic tomato flavor, but with more complexity having nuances of smokiness in there as well.  I didn’t get enough of these tomatoes to bother roasting, much preferring to use the precious few for fresh eating, but as long as all goes well this year I am thinking that these will make some most excellent roasted tomato sauce!

Honorable Mentions

Golden Bantam Corn

Turga Parsnip

Who Is The Rider On The White Horse?

I became interested in Bible Prophecy at around the age of 17, it began with those “Left Behind” novels and other prophecy books released by Tim LaHaye and company…I’m embarrassed to admit that I even read some prophecy books by John Hagee back during that time *shudder*.  I fell hook, line and sinker for the whole “pre-tribulation rapture” bit (it’s a very appealing deception after all, mightily attractive to the flesh…) and believed in it wholeheartedly until the age of 19 when God began to open my eyes to deceptions that held me captive, it was also around that same time that I stopped reading any prophecy books coming from any mainstream christian preachers.  But, during my little foray into mainstream bible prophecy, the one thing that never sat right with me, even back then at the age of 17, was all the prophecy people teaching that the first seal of revelation, the rider on the white horse, was the anti-christ and…he’s not.  I didn’t know why I knew this or how and I certainly didn’t have the wisdom or knowledge to prove it back then, but I just knew that it wasn’t true!

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” ~Revelation 6:1-2

First of all, this rider is on a white horse…Jesus, later on in Revelation, rides a white horse!  The prophecy peoples would say that the white represents a false peace, that this peace would be achieved through smooth speech and flatteries, coming to power by deception (given a crown) and not force hence the bow with no arrows.  And that he would go forth “conquering and to conquer” through bringing a false peace to the entire world.

Secondly, I knew that in ancient warfare the archer was always the first line offensive force in a battle, the archer strikes first.  I knew intrinsically that God would not allow “the battle to end all battles” the great battle to take back planet earth (which is what Revelation depicts) to be initiated by mankind through their false messiah…a.k.a. “the anti-christ”.  NO, this present world system has a timer set on it, they’re being allowed a certain amount of time upon the earth to have “their kingdom” run by Satan and his minions and when time is up God and his forces, the other 2/3’s of the host of heaven along, with his “ground forces” (that be us…hopefully you see where I am going with this now?) will easily put down the enemy and usher in The Kingdom Of God.

The rider on the white horse is God’s first line offensive in the battle to take back planet earth…it’s as simple as that.

This first line offensive, the ground forces of the battle to take back planet earth is “he who overcometh”.  In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation it talks several times about he who overcometh and what he shall inherit, what he shall be given, what he shall receive and then from there it goes into the first seal which is the rider on the white horse who is given a crown, a bow with no arrows, and goes forth conquering and to conquer….the first clue here is the “conquering and to conquer” which should actually be read “went forth overcoming and to overcome”.  This is the greek word “nikao” which means to subdue (literally or figuratively) — conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory..and in 24 of the 28 times that it occurs in The New Testament it is translated as “overcome”.  Twice as “conquer” once as “prevail” and once as “get the victory”.

This goes all the way back to Jacob and the meaning of the name “Israel”.

“And he (Jacob) rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And when the man saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with the man.

And the man said, “Let me go, for the day breaketh.”

And Jacob said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”

And the man said unto him, “What is thy name?” And he said, “Jacob”.

And the man said, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.“

And Jacob asked him, and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.”

And the man said, “Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?” And the man blessed him there.

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” ~Genesis 32:22-30

The name “Israel” means “Overcomer”…he that overcomes, he that prevails, he that gets the victory.

You notice how Jacob was winning in the wresting match?  It even looks as if God fought a little bit dirty there by causing Jacob’s thigh to go out of joint during the fight 😆   Jacob would not submit to this “man”, would not submit even to his own father and stole his brother’s blessing through trickery and deceit.  This man, Jacob, his name meaning “heel grabber, supplanter” would submit to no one, not even His Creator and so he had to be injured (much like Paul talking about his “thorn” keeping him humble) in order to get him to submit, all the great ones always need to be brought low before they will submit.  This man had power with God and with men and overcame them BOTH.

A supplanter takes over or takes the place of someone else, usually on purpose. Supplanter often refers to governments and rulers of countries, and it comes from the verb supplant, which evolved from the Latin supplantare, meaning “to trip up or to overthrow”…hence “heel grabber”.  Jacob was the beginning of Israel through whom would come the Messiah and all who believed on Him would then become apart of Israel as well.  The Israel Of God has nothing to do with the manmade country that was given the name and it includes, of course, those Jewish people who believe on Jesus as Messiah but it is not limited to just the Jewish people but includes all people of all cultures or races who believe on Jesus as the Messiah.

Paul refers to this event as “The Manifestation Of The Sons Of God”.

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (adopted into his family “Israel”)

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” ~Romans 8:15-25

Paul said that all of creation is looking for “The Manifestation of The Sons Of God” which is the followers of Jesus coming more and more into their full power (which can only truly be achieved through martyrdom and resurrection), surpassing even that perfection that we had in the Garden Of Eden.  Mainstream churchianity bible prophecy teachers would instead have you looking for “the anti-christ”, the false messiah, as the event which heralds the beginning of the end for planet earth and this is WHY there is no rapture for we believers are INTEGRAL to the battle!!

Now, I am not talking about real bloodshed fighting and all that but spiritual warfare, which is wielded in HOW you live your life (Faith without works is DEAD.).  If you notice The Rider On The White Horse is given a crown and bow with no arrows…

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (a prophetic picture of Jesus riding into Jerusalem).

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water (water = holy spirit).

Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope (which is like saying “bondservant of Christ”): even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

When I have bent Judah (the tribe that Messiah came from) for me, filled the bow with Ephraim (Joseph’s half gentile/half hebrew son representative of the completed Israel of God), and raised up thy sons, O Zion (God’s People), against thy sons, O Greece (This present world system aka Rome, Mystery Babylon, etc.) and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning (HE is the arrow!): and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones (a reference to David, they may look puny and small and weak but they shall posses the power to slay giants!); and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.

((btw the imagery here is awesome! …They shall be filled like bowls at the corners of the altar…those bowls were filled with BLOOD from the sacrifice who is Jesus, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices…they shall drink as though drunk and be FILLED with the blood = Power of His Sacrifice!))

And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. (and there it is “given a crown”) ~Zechariah 9:9-16

And here is another image of Israel/The Overcomers as The Rider On The White Horse:

“The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Thou (Israel) art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;

With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.” ~Jeremiah 51:19-24 

Monday Morning Musings: I’ve Got My Ass-Kicking Boots On!

I’m not usually the kind of girly that gushes over shoes but I just ordered these boots on Friday through Amazon Prime and got them in the mail this morning and I am so in love that I must talk about them! 😆  I got them as a replacement for my muck boots, the rubberized run of the mill basic farm type boots (‘cept mine were blue and had butterflies on them) …they were Kamik Brand and after 3 years they were finally worn past the point of wearability having cracked and split in three different places, patched them with some duct tape for a little bit but that could only go on for so long before I would have to purchase another pair.

I did HOURS of research, I knew without a doubt that I wanted knee high boots and I wanted them to be dark brown and 100% leather with minimal styling/decoration.  Basically, I wanted something made to last forever, and I think these will!  They are extremely well-made, you can just feel the quality ooze from their every pore, and they are waterproof with some type of special anti-microbial lining that is supposed to keep ’em from getting stinky.  I’ve been wearing them around the house since I opened the box, have them on right now as I type this even, they are super comfy and very warm….haven’t worn them outside for chores yet, the tread is not suited for hiking but definitely good enough for milking and all the basic “in and out” chores that I do, like getting wood for example.  Plus they are stylish enough to wear when I have to go into town (which is only 1-2 times a month, but still, a girl wants a shoe she can wear with confidence! 😉 ).  I highly highly recommend these boots 😀  If you’re interested, you can find them on Amazon Prime at this link.

That being said now, I’m feeling sprightly and have been thinking a lot about this blog and what I want to do here, where I want to take it.  There’s been a couple things that keep being pushed to the forefront of my mind that I should talk about in upcoming posts.  Number one has to do with prophecy and end times and churchianity end times propaganda.  I’m sure most of you have seen my post where I de-bunk the pre-trib. rapture and I have more to discuss along those lines, primarily having to do with the first seal and the rider on the white horse (who is NOT the anti-christ btw) and my view of Revelation in general which, having been out of churchianity and, except for 2 small occasions where I was personally invited, have not stepped foot inside a church for over 10 years is uh…different, to put it mildly 😆

Needless to say, I really have no respect AT ALL for the prophetic insights of mainstream christianity and in actuality fully believe that the church’s “prophetic view” is deeply rooted in Satan and NOT in The Holy Spirit.  I could write many many blog posts on this topic alone, but have not because I don’t want to be lumped in with “them”.  You know, the people always talking about “the end of the world!” and it’s all gonna burn etc. etc. frankly it makes me ill because true prophecy has NO ROOT there.

Unlike the majority of churchianity, I don’t want my Lord to swoop down and rescue me “superhero style” and then burn up the world in a fiery blaze while I’m safe in his arms watching from a distance…I, actually, rather like earth and I like people, mostly.  There are some truly evil bad guys out there working the dark magic shit but for the most part humans and humanity is lovely …from a distance 😉 … But, in all seriousness, there is still A LOT of goodness on this planet and I don’t think God is gonna be bringing the big “Smackdown” anytime soon.  I could be wrong on that, but I still see much here worth saving and redeeming and restoring…there is no reason to burn it all to the ground just yet.

The other thing that I really feel must be shared is more about gardening and homesteading and the lifestyle that I lead.  Especially things having to do with self-sufficiency and maximizing your time and potential as a stay at home wife/mother.  I know that most of the people reading here are probably stay at home moms, mostly homeschooling, mostly homesteading OR at least interested in the lifestyle to a certain extent.  First of all, I HATE how people are “sold” lifestyles and how they so easily buy into them.  Oftentimes people will just naturally assume certain things about me just because I am homsteader and I live in the mountains of West Virginia.  Yes, I do have all my teeth…Country Music is alright but it’s not my fav (I much more prefer heavy metal..) ..No, I don’t make moonshine 😉  …I don’t own a truck or a 4 wheeler, never been “muddin” and I never plan too…I’m no fan of NASCAR, as a matter of fact I greatly dislike ALL automobiles and believe we’d all be better off going back to riding horses for transportation (but I DO like beer, wrestling, football and shootin’ guns! LOL..)…these are just examples, but I just want to show that you don’t have to be a “redneck” to be a homesteader and live off the land.  So, stay tuned for more on these topics! 😀

Re(used)solutions VS. The Real Solution

Resolution.

Re – prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion.

Solution -The act of solving a problem, question, etc.: the state of being solved:
a particular instance or method of solving; an explanation or answer.

How many years in a row have you made the same New Year’s Resolution?

Was it to lose weight?  That’s a popular one!  How about save money?  Or get out of debt?  How about waking earlier or going to bed earlier? Getting organized? Having a more positive attitude?

Did you follow through with it?  Did you change?

There’s a popular saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.”

Making the same New Year’s Re-Solution (Reused Solution) every year is insanity!

I have a Real Solution and it’s very simple, everyday I choose to be a better person than I was the day before and it has nothing to do with the date on the calendar.

“It’s all very simple. But maybe because it’s so simple, it’s also hard.” ― Natsuki Takaya

There are two paths, the old path and the new path and each tiny decision to purposefully choose the right path snowballs into a course of action and before you know it you are cruising down the path without even realizing it.  Just as you can choose to do the wrong thing (and it is a choice, despite the lies you may tell yourself, in all honesty the devil really can’t make you do anything that you do not already want to do! Remember this.) you can also choose on purpose to do the right thing…personal feelings be damned! 😆

Now I am not saying this is easy, at first it is very hard.  But where have your “reused solutions” gotten you in the past?  You’re still walking down the same ol’ wide path to destruction along with the rest of the zombies.  I’m not saying you need to make a complete 180, I’m just saying step off the road for a second, look around, take a deep breath…maybe walk down that narrow trail through the woods for 20 or 30 feet and take in the cool air, the smell of greenery and life, and relish in the feel of soft dirt over hard hot asphalt.  After all, If you don’t like it, if it seems noxious and overly burdensome, you can always go back to the highway.  But, odds are, you will not want to go back, there is something addictive about choosing to do the right thing and once you begin doing it you find that you actually want to keep doing it…and that’s crazy, I know!  But it’s true 😀

We are the sum culmination of our choices, for better or for worse.  Everyday you have made wrong decision after wrong decision to get to where you are right now and it hasn’t been an easy road has it?  And it’s going to be equally as hard to make that first right decision but with every right decision you make it becomes easier to make the next one.  Doing what you have always done is just going to get you what you have always got and Time moves constantly whether we’re ready for it or not.

Tomorrow you will be one day older than you are today and there is NOTHING you can do to change that or stop it, but you can become a better person than you were the day before….either way, Time does not stop, tomorrow you will be different than you are right now, you will change!  And HOW will you change?  Your choices will decide the course of your transformation and there is no such thing as not choosing…you must choose, and even in the not choosing you have made a choice and that choice will lead to more choices which, over the course of time, will reveal itself in the person you are becoming and have become.

So, let’s STOP the insanity and purposefully choose to do what we know is right.
And THAT is The Real Solution.