The Hill at Oso Lago.

We picked up some cabbage and broccoli that a local online-friend (Hi Rachel!) had started too late in their fall garden.  We hope to be able to salvage it in the greenhouse. We will see. I am not sure how well big plants will transplant.  So here is a little bit of greenhouse glam for your eyes:

The onions are doing good… you’ll notice Noah’s little peas are going pretty well… we’re going to string it up and watch it climb!

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Today, I am thankful for opportunities to serve others and just be neighborly. The neighbors across the street are elderly. The wife is on oxygen and is in iand out of the hospital, the husband is more mobile and drives, but is on oxygen also.  They have someone who comes over daily to provide care for them.  She herself is older (but not nearly as old as they are).  While I was shoveling the driveway (whew is this snow wet and heavy) I saw her brushing off their car.

They had a plow truck do the drive, but that doesn’t include shoveling to the door or around the car.  I went over and shoveled around the car and up to their door and had a nice talk with their care-provider.   It’s funny, but the first thing she said as we talked was… I don’t think young people shovel walks very much, I used to be able to do my driveway and walks without much problem, but I am older now.  I responded by saying that we all get older, none of us get younger.  She then went on to talk about the hard times that are coming.  She said we are in for very tough times and that young people could probably make some money by shoveling out driveways and things like that. I agreed they could and went a little further and said that it would be even better if we just all cared enough about each other to do it when we saw the need for each other.

It was a very pleasant conversation.  I finished shoveling and came back home… telling myself to go ahead and take the time to put your boots on next time you are just going to go out for a moment.

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I am thankful for wood heat today.  Nothing feels warmer to me than wood heat from a nice fire.  We live in the snow belt of NW Pa. and we are getting blasted today with some snow.  That fire feels good.

At about 5 pm today we had about 3″

At about 9:30 we were up to 6 inches.  The Lake Effect Snow Warning says we should get between 6 - 12 by the morning.  The roads are covered here on the hill and I don’t know that the bus will be coming up the hill tomorrow.  We will see though.

Today I am thankful for the decrease in gas price. I know it will only be temporary, but I am greatly thankful nonetheless. I got to take the kids to the mall.  Now before you complain about that not being a very “homestead-like” thing to do, you’ll be happy to find out that our primary purpose of going to Erie was to go to the Salvation Army Thrift store (a good-sized thrift store with a good selection) to purchase winter boots for my kids.  We actually bought Hosanna a pair of boots for her birthday (new ones at J.C. Penny’s) and the other two school-aged kids needed boots.  So for under $10.00 we bought both a pair of good high quality boots. Oh, and we combined the trip and picked up a bunch of late-started cabbage plants from some online-friends over west of Union City also.  They are tucked away in the greenhouse.  Not sure how they will transplant… but we are going to try it.

While there, we decided to walk the mall.  It was a horrible, rainy, over-cast day and all the walking did everyone good.  It helped the kids not to be pent up at home and it reminded me (again) how much I dislike the modern consumer driven, fashion-conscious culture.  That said, Millcreek Mall has to be the busiest mall I have ever been to, and I’ve been to numerous malls.

We are funny and get funny looks I am sure.  We actually bought (since we had skipped lunch to go walk around) 3 pretzels from “Pretzel Town” and a Large Pepsi and we shared them. Cost = $10.00 and then we bought a bag of assorted mini-cookies (can’t remember the name of the vendor) for $4.50.  We were big spenders yesterday, LOL.

The hit store of the visit… K.B. Toys… it’s the first time my kids have ever been to one and they didn’t know that there are stores filled with ONLY toys.

This is going to sound like a weird one, but I am thankful that we have a good local public school for the kids to attend.

We homeschooled them in Ohio.  It was just a better education really and we enjoyed a lot of th ings like the flexibility and the adventure of learning.  When we moved, we check out the local school district and found it to be a nice school and the teachers were delightful.  They weren’t hostile to a lot of things we hold dear and they had fairly high academic standards.

We felt it was important (since we are here in a new community and planting a church) to be as involved as we can be.  It’s been important for making the kids feel at home here and we’ve been well pleased with the solid teaching and good moral basics that the teachers seem to have.

I am always amazed when I read about the battles that parents have in school over things like the pledge of allegiance.  I just read a story about that, and honestly after reading the story I don’t think I really understand it any better than I did before I read the story.  It just made me shake my head.

Today I am thankful for encourgement. I received some encouraging phone calls today.  God knew I needed them and he placed me in the mind and at the finger tips of those who could be an encourgement to me.

Amazing when that happens.

I am thankful for kind, helpful people, who take a little bit of their own time to help others.

On my free garden tractor (you may remember it from this story), I also received tire chains and a plow. I decided a couple of days ago to pull the mowing deck off and put the plow on.  We’re officially done mowing this season.  Actually I haven’t mowed for a good month or more.

While installing the plow, I found out that I am missing two brackets that are the pivot point that mount to the pins on the frame. I made a couple of wooden brackets to test it out and it worked… but the wood is just too thick and I don’t think it would hold up well for pushing snow.

So I did what every good postmodern homesteader does… get on ebay and see if I can find the brackets.  After searching for a bit, I found a complete plow set up just like mine… (well, except that he had the brackets that I don’t have). He wanted at least $100.00 for the whole set up and is in New Hampshire… I don’t have that money to spare and the trip to NH might be hard to explain to my wife.

So I took a chance and asked if he could measure the brackets for me.  He actually emailed me a complete measured and blueprinted scan.  He took the time.  He said he’s been in the same boat before and would be happy to help.

So today, I am thankful for someone who took a little time and was kind and sharing.  I hope I can do the same for someone else.

Today I am thankful for hope.  We’ve recently had a major change in our government and part of the driving factor was “hope”. I don’t agree with the votes for “hope” that gave us our President-elect, but I didn’t agree with votes for the guy who got 48% either.  I am pretty sure that my hope and their hope is different.

My hope isn’t tied into a political party or any group of men. The hope I have is also not a hope that is a synonym for “wish”.  My hope is a confident expectation.

In this crazy, mixed-up world, the days are lining up to be pretty tough ahead.  Tough financial times, hardships, uncertainty all are possibilities, but I can’t help but have hope for people and hope for the world.

In the toughest times, when we realize that we are really the benefactors of bounty and blessing of God, hope springs eternal. I believe that tough times could help strip us of some of the trappings that have put up so many walls between us, God, the world around us… even things like where our food comes from and just how blessed even the poorest of us are.

As the old hymn goes, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ love and righteousness.”

We got 4 inches of lake effect snow today.  Roads were still clear.  About 15 miles north of me they were supposed to get 9 by the time it was all done.

I really shoule be taking pictures… just been too busy.

Today, I am thankful for sites like craigslist, where I bought an almost brand new stainless steel sink and a nice American Standard faucet for $30.00.  The AS faucet is guaranteed for life (I think I will have to call and get a “rebuild kit” for it. I am also thankful for good used quality items.

I installed it today, the internals of the faucet have a little bit of a leak around the joint where they are all screwed together, but the whole sink and faucet were cheaper than the cheapest Home Depot Faucet ($39.99).

I’ll take a picture of it a little later.