I took this earlier in the month, but it seemed to fit the weather today well.
[My camera is still away for repairs, although I did get an email and it should be returned to me soon.]

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I made yams, my mom made rolls and stuffing, and we enjoyed a feast at the home of friends.
Friday I went to a barn dance (the concluding dance of which was a Marathon Posties Jig, the winning set being the one which danced longest. We went for 45 minutes before one of our number had to leave, so we weren't the longest dancing set, but it was still lots of fun.)
Saturday we had a family from church over for dinner, which was delightful. We enjoyed sharing a meal with them and getting to spend time with them.
Today I've crocheted, helped little ones with school and listened to them reading, have read myself, and taken a walk in the wind.

Psalm 95:1-6
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

My Day

(The sunset November 5th.)

We cut firewood today. We almost doubled the size of our wood pile! There is a large fallen oak tree part way down our hill that we are working on transforming into winter warmth. Today Dad was cutting with the chainsaw, and the boys and I were loading the wood into the utility trailer.

There is something very satisfying about loading your arms with wood. I realized today that I'm a tree hugger. I just love hugging arm loads of wood and thinking about toasting my toes in front of the wood stove.

Growing up, there was a saying I heard so many times from a friend of my dad's that it has permanently etched itself into my mind. It goes like this:
"Do you know how many times wood warms you?" (pause...) "Three times! Once when you cut it, once when you split it, and once more when it burns!"

When the utility trailer got full, which it did twice, we'd drive the suburban up the hill and unload the trailer by the wood pile. Then we stacked it. The first time, dad stayed down to split some of the larger logs, so I drove the suburban up. When it was parked, I began to toss the wood from the trailer out into a pile.

The boys stacked it, with teasing yells of "You're trying to kill me!" Then I checked the stack before we went back down the hill. I still have to look at their stacking job, but they're getting the hang of it pretty quickly and doing much better at creating a neat stack that won't fall over or roll down the hill.

After we unloaded the trailer, I took the Suburban back down and parked it so that we could load the trailer again. When it was almost full, we went up for lunch. After lunch mom and I and the boys needed to run some errands, including going to play music and sing with another family from our church in preparation to go sing and play for a local assisted living home.

First on our town list was taking the recycle in. Unfortunately they were already closed. Next we went to the Post Office. I shipped my camera off to the Canon Factory Repair to have them fix the lens cover since it wasn't opening all the way. Fortunately it is still covered under warranty, and they think it will be back in two weeks. So then we visited the tiny music store just off the town square. Mom bought two guitar strings while a brother and I explored the dented can type grocery store next door. It looked interesting, and was. I found a box of chai tea powder packs. Yum. Also a good deal on tall white candles. Those will be nice for the Christmas season. Next we went to the grocery store, then we went to the family's house. They had been in town at the same time, and we saw them and exchanged greetings as they left the grocery. We got there and unloaded the guitar, cello, violin, and kids. After we had visited a bit, and practiced, it was time to go. This was about 5:45 pm, I think. I drove home.

As we pulled up the hill and into the drive, I noticed an unfamiliar light over by the tree by the white barn. Mom said, "What's happening with the lawn tractor?" As we got closer we saw what was happening. Dad was hauling ropes attached to a deer so that the deer would hang properly in the tree. Instant hubbub and excitement!

"Dad shot a deer!" exclaimed seven excited voices. So he had! He told us that he had been sitting quietly and the deer began to cross our land in front of him. She was a big doe, and we are all looking forward to some good meat! It has been a while since we had venison in the freezer. The heart is already in the fridge... I believe it is destined to be ground up, fried and put in chili.

So that was our day. A busy day, a great day, and full day.

This morning...

...my third little brother knocked on my door and brought me a cup of coffee. What a wonderful way to wake up! Especially since he enlisted the aid of Mom, who told him how to make it just right, sweet and with plenty of milk.
I was sitting there, enjoying my coffee, and looking out onto a blustery fall day, wet and windy, when another knock comes. It is little brother number two. He has a fork and a plate with an egg on it. Wow.

The rest of the day so far has been an inside kind of day. The weather doesn't encourage you to go out. It encourages you to brew a cup of tea, find a cozy corner, a good book, perhaps fuzzy socks, a sweater, and some crocheting, and curl up by a window to enjoy watching the fall weather.
Which, if you'll excuse me, is exactly what I'm going to do!

Psalm 130
A Song of degrees.

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning:
I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Fall

Hank

Hank being good.

(Warning! The bottom picture of this post contains dead chickens.) (There. Now I'm not responsible for anybody's nightmares.;-)

Here is the production line. The chickens start out on the upper left, then wind through each 'station' to the table in foreground. That was where I was working.

And here are chickens floating in ice water:

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to learn about chicken butchering. It was a bit of a surprise-- one friend from our church called to see if they could get a ride with us, because otherwise someone else was going to drive out and get them. Well, we weren't going, but if someone was driving out our way it would work for me to go. After securing parental approval and Mom making sure there was room in the car, I ran around like a chicken without a head, got ready, and headed out into a beautiful fall morning.

So I went to help a family who were butchering 300 of their own chickens, 16 of their turkeys, and 75 of a friend's. They had already started when we got there, but we were quickly given jobs. The process was set up as an assembly line. I was put at the end, with about five other people. We were checking for feathers, guts, etc, that had been missed earlier in the process. It was a clean and pretty easy job, and the only problem was trying to go quickly while still making sure nothing was getting past you.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, we sang at intervals while working. We sang from memory, so I couldn't sing each one, but the ones I knew I enjoyed singing and the ones I didn't I enjoyed hearing.

It was too busy to take pictures for most of the time, but after we took a lunch break at around two in the afternoon I took a few.

Then after lunch it was time to bag, weigh, label, and sort the birds. They were pulled out of the ice water we'd tossed them in after final inspection, bagged, and sent to the scale, where I wrote their weights on plastic bag tags, and then either someone else put the tags on, or, if the chickens were coming slowly, I did it myself. Finally, we were finished bagging! People started tossing water at each other, resting, and talking. A few people kept working, finishing off the gizzard cleaning.

It was a really good day. I wasn't squeamish, as I worried I might be, the work wasn't really complicated (at least what I was doing), and it was great to work alongside others in the church family!

Update:
You can read three other accounts of the day's activities from my dad, JFC, and Micah David.

Psalm 8

from the Book of Psalms for Singing

LORD, our Lord in all the earth

How excellent Your name!

You above the heav'ns have set

The splendor of Your fame.

From the mouths of infants young

You the power of praise compose

In the face of enemies

To stop avenging foes.

When I view the skies above

Which Your own fingers made,

When I see the moon and stars

Which You in order laid,

What is man so frail and weak

That You should remember him?

What can be the son of man

That You should care for him?

Next to God You have made man,

With light and honor crowned.

You placed him abover Your works;

Beneath him all is found:

Oxen, sheep and all wild beasts,

Birds and fish the oceans claim.

LORD, our Lord in all the earth

How excellent Your name!

AMEN!

Bug's Eye View