We've been reading through Jeremiah. It's my fault, I freely confess it - I had slowly made my way through Isaiah, and wanted to go on to Jeremiah, so we decided to read it in our studies with folks. It's slow going - every couple of chapters, we read in Luke, to get something more hopeful. And, of course, sometimes the people we're with are reading somewhere else, so we read that together, instead. But let me tell you, I'm glad for the help! We read the 10th chapter today, and there's a verse there where the Lord says, 'This is my grief, I must bear it'. It just made me so aware how much it does grieve God when his people turn away from him; are careless with the gifts he's given, or refuse them entirely.

Today is an incredibly gorgeous day. It got down to about 22 last night, so this morning, everything was covered with frost. Now, there's only frost left in the shade. The air is chilly, but there isn't even a hint of a cloud in the sky. And we're surrounded by larches. (Although, I have now been told that /these/ trees are tamaracks? Up until today, I thought they were larch! Whichever, they're turning yellow. ;) And I plan to put a picture up when I've got a better connection.) I've never been anywhere where they grew - it's fascinating to watch the hills. All these trees that look like evergreens, are turning yellow! This morning, on first brief glance, it fooled me into thinking the sun was up already; but no, just all those yellow trees.
I wish that they didn't have to lose their leaves until spring; I could be much more content with long grey winter days if there were all these gloriously yellow and orange-leafed trees brightening things up.

It's a day that makes me want to go riding. Of course, there aren't many days that I wouldn't want to go riding in, so maybe that's not such a good description. ;) But maybe a hike instead - we're out of Thompson Falls a ways, surrounded by the hills and woods and meadows. Not another house to be seen. But it's also hunting season... either I'll have to wear orange (don't own any), or sing-song loudly, 'I'm not a deer, I'm not a deer...' all the time. Ugh. Besides, then I'd probably get shot out of sheer irritation as I scare all the real deer away. ;)

There is a store here called Three Dog Down. Back when Mom and Dad were visiting, we got wondering about it. Why on earth would you name a store that sells (presumably) down products (down comes from birds...) after dogs?? Dogs have No Down. And why three of them? I don't care how many dogs you get, none of them will have down!
Anyways, for those of you who were once like me, unenlightened and wallowing in ignorance; you may now become again like me! Not quite so unenlightened and a little bit less ignorant!

Once upon a time, so it is told, the people of the northern climes lived in ice houses, and with them lived their dogs. The people could be cold, often, if their fires went out or their clothing wore thin, but the dogs curled up under the snow, warm and cozy. The people looked at the dogs and they began to think. And from that point on, if it was a cold night, a certain dog might be chosen to sleep with you and keep you warm. If it was extra cold, it was a night for two dogs. And if it was really really exceedingly frost-between-the-stars cold, three dogs.

Hence Three Dog Down. These products says the company, are sufficient to keep you warm on a three-dog-cold night. Cheers.

Sandy and I are having a lot of fun being right on the spot here with the re-building of Ronan convention. Last week, we measured counters and picked out a border of wallpaper, and bought a fridge. Now we are trying to decide where to put which drawers and if we want them deep or shallow. The dishwasher has already switched sides of the sink at least 4 times. In January, we’ll be painting the brother’s quarters - they decided they don’t want bare plywood walls, can you believe it! I think we should paint the sister’s too... I don’t want pink walls. ;) But of course, my wants are considerably farther down the scale of importance (especially since I don’t even know that I’ll ever be here for preps!) and at least we HAVE paint and not bare wood.

Monday, we went back to the Bison range and watched them run their herd through. They weigh them, read a microchip, brand the calves and give them any shots they may need; then turn them back out for another year. This herd has one of the most diverse gene pools, they say. They try to keep about 350; if there are more, they send them to other ranges or sell them to private herd. I think we saw the biggest bull of the herd, too. There is a pneumatic sort of cage to hold them in while they take samples, and this one bull filled it entirely. His hump touched the top bars and his nose and tail reached from the front to the back. He was VAST.
We got to stand right above where they were working. There's a sort of wide walkway, and you can lean on the fence and watch from above. That is, if you're early enough or lucky enough to get to the fence! There were at least 9 schoolbuses full of kids, plus all the other interested onlookers! But we did eventually work our way close enough to see. :)

And last little bit of trivia. Did you know you can padlock a piano? I never did - but the one in the hall we use on Sundays is padlocked, well and firmly. Good thing both Sandy and I can sing, because we certainly won't be using the piano for the hymns.

Still updating.... (just in a different post because of being a different subject).

Sandy gave me the best birthday present of all! She'd asked me the other day what I'd like to do, ideally, for my b-day, and I'd said 'Oh, if I could do anything, I'd go horseback riding, but that won't work. Mom and Dad are coming, etc, etc.' So this morning, she said she'd fixed it all up!
We had a beautiful ride. I think I was on the tallest horse I've ever been on - or nearly, if not quite. His back was at about my chin level, and the stirrups were almost to my waist. I had to climb onto the back of the four-wheeler to get on, and I didn't dare get off during the ride, for fear of never getting back on again!
We went along a sandy dirt road that made a big loop down the hills into the river bottom and back up again. Horse A (mine - we never did learn their names, bad us) was of two minds about this riding business. He rather thought he liked it at first, and we did a bit of trotting and cantering; then he seemed to realize we were Going Farther, and got a little rebellious. But after going in circles in the road for a while (because he wouldn't go forward and I wouldn't go backward!), we came to an agreement: he would do what I said. ;) And, as I said, the ride was beautiful. It wound down through pine and aspen trees, along the river, back up through a thick grassy sward, and took us about 2 hours total. The whole time, the mountains to the east were visible, snowy and with the sun lighting them up. For a while, after we turned on the loop and were heading back again, the river was just beside us, those mountains were in the background, and I felt like we really should be on the front cover of a Country Magazine!
When we got back, it took me a few minutes to straighten my knees back out to walking position - along with being one of the tallest horses I've ever ridden, he was getting close to being the largest, too. Oh glorious day. :D

It seemeth to me it is time for an update!
Saturday, Mom and Dad arrived for a visit. They stayed until today. Monday, we had planned to go to the Bison Range near here and watch the annual round-up - at least until we found out that it wasn't until next week. But we went anyways; just drove through. It's a hilly area of who-knows-how-many acres, all fenced into various humongous pastures. Very pretty, especially with the fall colors starting. We saw some buffalo right up by the road; then several different instances of deer. Then we stopped at a little rest-area right at the top and walked out on the path there and... dumdumdum... heard an elk bugle. This was very exciting, until Dad (who had gone on ahead) reported back. It was a guy standing just below the edge of the ridge out of sight. Bah.
BUT! Just around the corner, we saw REAL elk! Three nice bulls, feeding along casually and ignoring the deceitful guy around the hill. And just after that, we were inching down a hill and saw, below us on the next switchback, a bunch of cows - and with them, the biggest bull yet. It was fascinating to watch them. We shut the car off, rolled down the windows and tried not to breathe loudly. We were close enough that we could hear their hooves in the dry grass; could hear the bull talking to the cows - he made a noise rather like water bubbling; and we could hear him bugle, which he did. A lot. We also got to watch him chase a few strays back into the herd, and then start to shepherd the whole bunch along. I think he wanted them to come towards us, but they weren't having any of that (CARS! You've GOT TO BE KIDDING!) - so in the end, they went up over the ridge and into the trees. That alone was worth having missed the roundup. After that, we ended up seeing several more bulls; no more avec harem though.

I learned the value and definition of submission again. It just hit me so clearly - this is why the kingdom works. There was a small situation and one person said: So&so has said this, and here is how we want it to be. A while later, the other party involved said: That situation - they said this and we said this and WE feel... (I braced myself) it should be the way they would like it.
Instant resolution - from something that wasn't, but could have been a problem; to something that never will be a problem. I need more of that spirit.

Sojourn in the 1800's

I feel like we've been living in another century - or at least partly! - these past two weeks. Cooking on a woodstove, doing laundry in a wringer-washer, hand-cranked ice cream, hand-pressed apple cider... The other day, the guys cut the neutral line in the main electric circuit that went through our kitchen, and it didn't faze us a bit! We shut off the lights, the fridge grumbled and revved, and our lovely wood stove went right on cooking supper without a blink.
I love, really really love, (as well as thoroughly enjoy) cooking on a woodstove. Of course, it's very handy to have an oven thermometer - I wouldn't want to try it without. I didn't try making bread in it, but I did bake muffins and they turned out great. I can't really say I've done all that much personal cooking on it - though I made sausage gravy for breakfast - because most of the cooking has been someone else's plan, and I've just watched the fire and stirred and chopped as needed. But I did make both plum and chokecherry syrup, and applesauce all myself. (That makes it sound like I did no cooking either - that's not right...) Anyways, suffice it to say, I likes the wood stove. It's great fun, as well as warm and cozy, (ok, so I don't really want to try using it mid-summer either!)

AND, I think that Anna and I can justly claim to be the first ever to make caramel mocha macchiatos on a woodstove. :D Did I forget to mention I made Dorlene's caramel sauce? Or mostly did - it somehow ended up being thinner than hers. I don't know what I did wrong, Dorlene. It tasted good though! And ended up being just perfect for froofy coffee drinks. We made extra strong coffee, stirred hot cocoa mix into it, and heated the milk to steaming on the stovetop. Here's the recipe: 1 squirt of Hershey's chocolate syrup. 3 tsps of caramel sauce. Pour coffee in to about 2/3 full. Froth steamed milk in a 1 cup glass measuring cup with a teeny-tiny battery run frother, and fill the rest of the cup. Stir around a bit and serve. We got rave reviews.

Every day, I've thought of things that would be fun to post - but every night, I am too tired to type anything at all. Or think, for that matter. And the thinking's the difficult part. So... uh... I can't remember the best bits.

There's a bear that frequents the plum orchard.
Dan came flying out in his snazzy red helicopter (over which I drooled and drooled).
We slept outside several nights. It was gorgeous - I grudged having to go to sleep for wanting to watch the stars. I saw several brief shooting stars, and one that went across nearly half the sky.
Oh! And if you're wondering - we picked the apples and plums and chokecherries ourselves. :)

Now it's nearly done. Tomorrow, everyone who hasn't already left will be gone. And I should be packing - so this is nearly done too.