Honest sweat, good rest

Now Chris joins me to enjoy a good fire and land cleared by helpful sons. Titus inspects the area as usual. Not sure what he's looking for; but probably something nasty to roll in.

Lumberjacks: Chris and Jon

Jon and Chris carry a good-sized cedar trunk to the fire. I'm grateful for their assistance...as you can see I can only do so much before I need to "supervise operations".

More Clearing near the Bridge

Chris tries his hand at chainsawing a cedar tree to free up a larger cherry tree. Jon taught Chris the chainsaw basics and let him at it. Jon and Chris worked hard to clear about a dozen trees near the bridge. We're slowly making the road safe to travel in case of a forest fire.

There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known,


And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;


While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;


And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God art present there. (Isaac Watts)

Once again, Sarah's photography of God's wonderful creation...in things small, but beautiful in design. So much surrounds us, if we only take the time to think on God's amazing worksmanship!

Sarah captured this photo of a few wild flowers in the fields near the house. There is SO MUCH beauty in God's creation...if we would only take some time to see it! Thanks, Sarah, for taking time to capture this for us!

Sarah made this pretty flower arrangement (from Jane's garden and the field) and has some nice composition in this simple photograph on our side porch. We don't sit out there very often...due to the less than comfortable metal chairs. This is close to the door we use most often when coming and going from the house (the kitchen door). Jane's flowers have been beautiful this spring and summer!

Sarah snapped this shot near one of our old Maple trees in a late May evening. She loves photography and (I believe) has a "good eye" for capturing the beauty of God's creation.

We had a full moon on a nice evening this summer. The moon was much bigger than it seems in this picture. The summer has been unusually hot and we have had the A/C on more than I would like. The lack of rain has made the yard and field brown vs. it's typical green.

Our one peach tree brought some good fruit this year, but the squirrels and deer raided the tree after this photo and took it ALL! We had to cut down the other peach tree this year, so we're now left with one peach and one pear tree. Here's a picture of this beautiful fruit...prior to the raid.

Our only siting of a Black Snake on the property this summer (thus far). This is unusual for our years here to date. We generally see black snakes several times during the summer. Perhaps there leaving because the mouse population has just about disappeared. Here you can see Dufus (Titus) getting close to another nip on his nose....which was avoided with a few stern warnings. The snake was about 4 feet long and soon disappeared into the woods.

Easter dinner on the front porch with Jon and Ana. They came to help on the farm; and we ended up breaking up the remainder of the concrete foundation in the back yard. There's always something going on!

Went to the symphony with my love...and Sarah, Jon and Ana at JMU. It was a GREAT time; despite having to get picked up on I 64 (the bridge was washed out). Later we came home late and braved crossing the stream. Then we got Ana's car stuck on the house side...trapped! It was an "interesting" few days:)

Sarah poses for a quick picture as we are soon to leave the wedding of Matthew Davis in Chattanooga, TN. We enjoyed a nice trip to the big celebration with "Uncle Chris" coming along for some GREAT fellowship.

Titus watches the creek rising above our bridge. This water would later rise to wipe out our bridge and cause us a significant set back (financially) to get things corrected. Such are the "joys" of living in the country and having only ONE way to get in and out of the farm.

Here we all show our cards so nicely written by a loving mother and wife! Jane's poetry is not always comparable to the great poets, but she has an ability to communicate her love and appreciation. I wish we could only express it back to her in the same way!

Jane set a beautiful table and I set a good warm fire for a nice family gathering to celebrate Valetine's Day. Jane loves preparing and expressing her love for our family on occassions like this. She has a "gift" of blessing others when she prepares food, and writes letters of love to each of us.