Just a little slice of life in the American Redoubt....
I love hosting tea parties and use just about any excuse to do so. My excuse this time was autumn! Rather than having the party at "Little Shouse on the Prairie", I decided to host the tea party at the lake in an antique "Summer House". The day dawned bright and beautiful - a perfect setting for a picture perfect afternoon.
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| Gathering fall tea party essentials |
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| Put in a basket for easy transportation |
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| The fire is built and the table set |
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| Tea was enjoyed by mothers and daughters alike |
Pressing cider is a much anticipated autumn activity. Our friends hosted a pressing and we wasted no time in accepting their invitation. We took a 6 gallon demijohn to fill so that we could make a batch of apple cider vinegar. It was a perfect, crisp fall day with cider and conversation flowing freely.
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| Pouring apples into the "apple eater" |
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| Getting ready to press |
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| Straining the cider |
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| Just a small portion of the 100+ gallons of cider that was pressed |
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| We happened upon a road full of cattle |
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| Following at a respectful distance |
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| Keeping the cattle moving |
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| I'm wondering where this cowboy put his horse? |
And there you have it - a slice of our life. Have a wonderful weekend.
Sadly, the cowboy put his horse where most have these days. Out to pasture. All of our neighbors except one use three wheelers and quad runners. At some stockyards they pay extra for cows that are used to horses because horses are still the best way to move them in the lanes and sort them.
ReplyDeleteThe guy in the photo is wearing chaps so he may have had a horse. I know my other half would never walk after a herd of cows when we have a dozen or more horses that could carry him and keep him safer - above the herd. Numerous horses have stepped between him and a charging cow when he was on the ground tending their calf. It takes many, many hours in the saddle to have a horse that will do that for you......
natokadn
It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteDixie Chick
Pretty neat stuff. Things like this never happen where I live, and I do not live in a major populated area.
ReplyDeletePretty sad for us over here.
Blglovin' had this post in the mix it e-mailed to me today. Absolutely lovely!
ReplyDeleteexcellent post...Shadowfaxhound
ReplyDeleteI just love your slices of life posts. I get submerged in news sites, come out feeling discouraged and down right in desperate need of a cleansing shower. Your post remind me what really matters by turning my focus to my own many blessings. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love the tea party day you had....Wish I lived somewhere where the tea party day still
ReplyDeleteexisted.....Also love the fireplace in the summer house......
I have a friend who lives in NW Montana and they still use horses to herd their cattle....He is a guy
from Chicago who married a ranch gal years ago...learned to ride a horse and now does ranching....
They have over 500 acres there. Open beautiful sky and land...Would love to be there if health would allow.....
Thank you for the beautiful post for me to read.....
When can I purchase your cook book from you personally? Let me know....
Love from NC
Enola,
ReplyDelete(captaincrunch)
You guys have a normal life up there in the real world.
Out here in civilization things are beyond screwed up.
My mother grew up on ranch until she was 18 and she went off to college. She hated ranch life and wanted the finer things in life.
Now over 50 years later I can't get her to move out of Suburbia onto a ranch. I'm stuck where I'm at. I'm willing to suffer greatly. I been to boot camp in Chicago in January and been so many harsh and unforgiving places in order to separate myself from the comfortable suburban life that I grew up in. I'm willing to feed hogs, work with cattle and shovel 'horse hockey' all the day long to live in a normal environment.
The only thing I would really miss if moved to a normal place would be all the surfing I do.
On another note'
Things in this country will really start to deteriorate once the government goes into default. I'm expecting the worse where I live at and almost no one is prepared. Many of the "free stuff Army" will go active and so will I with the help of some trusted neighbors to defend what we have left.
On the national scale, looters, rioters nationwide will force the feds to declare martial law (that's what many of them want) Gun confiscations will follow, shootouts in the streets with gun owners, looters, the free stuff army, federal troops and federal troops that have 'left the reservation' in all it will be complete mayhem and rival anything in Syria, Somalia or any random East (or West) African dung heap could offer.
Meanwhile those of you in 'normal life' will be living in much nicer conditions than the rest of us. You guys wont have to worry about 'stacking'em' high and deep like the Spartans at Thermopolea.
I will make the best out of living here. I got some really good neighbors and friends and I know a great many "like minded individuals' (and I can go surfing)
I would have really like to have herded cattle like my grandfather and great grandfather on the family ranch (which no longer exists) but that's the way things are and I will make the best out of any situation I'm stuck in.
Enola,
Delete(captaincrunch)
found this link to back up some what I as talking about above.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/is_obama_creating_a_martial-law-ready_military.html
much of that article is based on "connecting the dots' but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. Its probably a duck.
Enola,
ReplyDeleteA beautiful slice of life :-)
Enola,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me that my life SUX!!
Enola,
ReplyDelete(captaincrunch)
This is off topic but bear with me, you may find this very interesting. I have an old friend who is a retired Army officer who was stationed in Suadi Arabia back in the 90's before 911. He took some leave time, rented a Land Rover and drove to Jordon to visit Mount Nebo. He was not supposed to leave Suadi but back then you could get away with it.
He told me the story after he returned from his tour. My friend made it okay from the base to the Jordanian border and they checked his passport and saw his brown skin (He's Hispanic) and thought he may be a Muslim and let him through. When my friend stopped for fuel or anything else, that brown skin helped him blend in and he had no problems on his journey.
When my friend made it to Mount Nebo and made his way to the monastery he said you can feel 'a power" from the area, a sense of power that he could not really describe (that was the most fascinating part) He took many pictures and walked around checking out the ruins, then later in the day he left and returned back to base in Suadi Arabia.
What made me bring this up was with all the turmoil in the world of man, I got to thinking about the 'bigger picture' in life and the memory of my friends adventure came to mind. We focus on the small things and forget about the big picture. Places like Mount Nebo have outlived goverments, kingdoms and countries for thousands of years. If this country (America) falls. It will be because we have lost site of the bigger picture in life and God has turn his back on us.
I actually feel better knowing that its not the end of the world if the United States fails. There are other things much more important than this country and that will also be around for all eternity.
On a side note' my friend did not visit the four tombs below the ancient church/monastery. I as reading that 'Mose's tomb' may be forever lost to history on Mount Nebo.
Enola I wished I lived near you! I have been a reader for quite a while and your glimpses into rural life are so lovely. We used to live in the country and my most cherished dream is to move back!
ReplyDeleteThis Soldier wishes there was a way to get posted in the Redoubt.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful life you live. I loved all the pictures as they brought back memories from when I was a kid and we lived on a ranch. Thank you for sharing such lovely photos.
ReplyDelete~Angela from Alaska