Hello!
Two
months have already passed by again, but I am still alive and kicking.
If
I don't get something out, I soon will have a book.
You
can feel autumn in the air with the cooler nights breaking up the humidity- a
welcome relief. Even though the leaves haven't turned yet, some are falling to
the ground. August and September are the months where not a lot of flowers are
blooming as the summer ones are all about gone and the fall ones are getting
ready to start. I'm still picking some green beans and tomatoes from the
garden. The raspberries, blackberries,
and grapes are over.
I've canned 13 quarts of pickled beets, 28
quarts of green beans, 18 quarts of tomato juice, and froze 14 quarts of corn.
I made 7 pints of grape jelly, 3 pints of plum jelly, and 3 pints of three
berry (raspberry, blackberry, & grape) jelly.
In
July, I checked my beehives later in the day as I forgot to earlier due to when
we'd finally would have a sunny day, I'd be busy hanging out wash, harvesting
veggies in the garden, working outside etc. I got swarmed and some bees managed
to get under my hat & netting stinging me six times on my throat, which
immediately began swelling. I took
Benadryl and put ice on my throat. It
was quite the painful experience and part of the hazard of keeping bees. Thankfully, by the next day the swelling was
under control.
My
duck house large water barrel level kept going way down despite all the rain,
so checking things out, I realized the gutter to catch the water that Dana had
put up years ago was draining the other way. All it needed was a post put
underneath to raise the sloping side up.
A fifteen-minute job surely. I
found my wooden post, but it needed cut and was too long for me to handle so I
asked Dwight for help. That's when I had a hand on experience of how
differently guys and girls think. Instead of simply cutting the top off, Dwight
got the "brainstorm" of cutting it part way through so the gutter could rest on part of it- to stabilize it
was what I was told. No problem. I had carefully measured the correct height
with a tape measure, but of course Dwight didn't take my word for it. Instead, he made a mark on the wooden post. Lo and behold, the post with its nifty cut-
out spot ended up about three inches short. So, while Dwight worked on raising
the gutter and positioning the post, I scrambled around to find some large flat
rocks to put underneath the post. An hour and a half later the job was finally
done.
After
two years, Dwight was finally able to finish putting on the rest of the metal
roof. I am very thankful as now I don't have to worry about any leaks when it rains, and the dark blue metal looks so lovely with my yellow house. It really
took it out of Dwight- it was amazing that he was able to do it all by himself-
so he was down for some weeks afterwards as he really pushed it. So, my sink and
the rest of the countertop still need to get installed. Dwight plans on
working on it this next week. I got my lilac floral kitchen border up and
painted my kitchen stools a lovely purple to match. I even was debating on
painting the large black coffee machine- I’m a tea drinker- purple too when Dwight
got the “inspiration” of building a mini coffee station right inside the pantry
door wall.
I
finally finished trimming all my hedges and overgrown enclosed garden but keep
having a left hand/thumb bleeds off and on now for over two months now whenever
I use my hand much.
I
rode down to Nashville to the Hemophilia center with Dwight the other week, who
was having a knee bleed, and stayed with my granddaughter, Annette, while Dwight
was at his yearly comprehensive clinic. It was great getting to visit with her
and Curtis for part of a day. We also
took wrapped Christmas presents- nothing like trying to buy and wrap Christmas
presents in the middle of August- so that everything could get sent out by the
end of August in order to reach Dawn and Randy by Christmas. I packed some Christmas decorations- that I
scrounged around for up in the hot attic- as it’s hard to say what will even be
available over there in the Philippines. This grandma wants to make sure that
they can celebrate Christmas no matter how hot it is outside when the Christmas
season arrives.
My
niece, Stacy, and her family, whose husband is in the Air Force and being
transferred from CA to NC, is coming by to visit us on their move East sometime
towards the end of the month. So, I’m
trying to get some projects accomplished before then. I’ve been painting the
hallway and hope to get all the trim painted and finished this week.
Dawn
and her family have gotten moved and settled into their house by the ocean. Each Sunday they are going up to a mountain
village to hold services where there is no church. The people there had never heard the gospel
until Dawn and Randy found them. Recently, William’s finger got swollen and
infected and he had to go on antibiotics.
It didn’t get better so after a week he was put on double antibiotics
and had to go every day to the hospital to get it treated and wrapped. Finally, after two weeks, his finger is now getting back to normal again. Each Sunday evening, I call and usually am
able to talk with Dawn for about fifteen minutes. It helps so much hearing her voice and
catching up on how her life is going as the mail still hasn’t gotten through
that I have been sending for over two months now. At the rate things are going
the stuff we ship by boat will get their first.
Mail from my house can get to Manila within two to three weeks, but from
there until it gets flown down to the island and then makes its way down
further to their village, things slow way down as there is no regular postal
service. Dawn says that from week to week you never know what will be available
when you go to buy food and supplies.
Next
week will make one year since Dana died. Although it is hard to fathom that a
year has passed already, God has been good to us. All the prayer support keeps
us going each day.
I
shall close for now on my end and get this out in the mail.
Until
next time~
Dorcas
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