7th Anniversary Video of the Pierce City F-3 Tornado

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This video will be shared with our church on Sunday to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the F-3 tornado that nearly devestated the small historic town of Pierce City, MO.

We moved to this area after the tornado. We did not experience the struggle of rebuilding this town and community. But after doing the research to make this video, I have discovered several things... the people here are dedicated, resilient, faithful, and generous!
We are so very blessed to call this community our home.

Due to some copyright issues, the sound has been disabled... this version is a silent video.




and now an FB video embed that may work better for some of you...

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There's Always Something New!

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I forget each year how much work spring is around here... but I also love it! This certainly is not the time of year to kick back in the swing and put our feet up! We spent last weekend getting the garden prepped and ready for the next round of nature's goodness.
We re-carpeted (I know that sounds a bit bizarre) our pits. We have 4 total: one dedicated to greens and herbs and the other three for the usual stuff.
I've already planted our spinach and lettuce in it and you can see they're coming in nicely... along with some weeds!
This year we added two half round planters at the front of the garden: one for raspberry bushes Courtney bought at Lowe's and one for a bucket load of strawberry transplants a co-worker gave to him this year.
Courtney has an affinity for using natural rock to build planters. We have natural rock edgings, walls, and planters all over our place! If you know Courtney, you know the boy loves rocks!!
We added blueberry bushes last year - four of them. Two different varieties, and they seem to be thriving quite nicely. We'll continue to pinch blooms most of this year and let the bushes pour their energy into building a strong root system... the harvest will begin next year. I can't wait!!
Our thornless blackberry bush has multiplied many times over since we bought this place 5 years ago. Boy do I love this bush! The blackberries are huge! We choose not to spray any of our plants around here, so there's nothing like going out and picking a big fat ripe juicy blackberry right off the bush. Grace usually walks around with blackberry stains on her shirts in the summer... thank goodness for play clothes!
And, of course, no weekend here is complete without a round of chicken chasing by my little Gracie. That girl is like the chicken whisperer... she can catch the most skiddish of them!
Courtney got to borrow our neighbor's tractor this weekend and move a little (more like a LOT) of dirt around. But of course, he couldn't resist getting a picture taken on it with his favorite girl!

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Winter Wonderland

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Our 6 inches of snow out here sure did a number on the place... it's beautiful. The chickens pretty much held up in their house, but Courtney did go out and try to make some paths for them thru the white stuff... and Grace went to help, of course. There was a bit of sledding as well too.


Back inside where it was toasty warm, we had a rodeo with cowboy Garrett. Yeehaw! Ain't he a cute li'l feller?

And then there's Grace. She's also somethin' ain't she?

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Let it Snow. Let it Snow. Let it Snow!

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Yea for us! It snowed 2" overnight!!
So, we decided to go out and do a little light sledding, trail-making, and snowman building!

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Fall Farm Foliage

I love these old dogwoods, oaks, and hickories.

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What's Goin' On at the Farm

Grace loves the neighbor's tractor. Daddy thinks he wants one too... except he'd like a big orange one with a front loader. Keep dreamin' Daddy...




Courtney has also developed a love for GIANT sweet potatos. This one we dug out of our garden... it's a freak. 8 lbs. 18.5” around and 13” long


And here's bathtime.
Garrett has really grown to love and enjoy bathtime. He likes the warm water and how Mommy makes funny faces at him. And occasionally, if we're really lucky, we have a fountain in the tub too. HA! ;-)



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Life Is Good

Life really is good. I woke this morning to a beautiful fog all over the valley. What a view off my back deck!

I also wanted to share some picks of some of our critters out here.

We have some beautiful birds out here... Shakira and Buffy are our two new exotics... the chickens with the "fluffy" cheeks. They are "Easter Egg" chickens; called this since they lay eggs that are green, blue, pink, you name it. Pretty cool birds. And FULL of personality. That's right... a chicken with a personality. We've sure got em' out here!

Oh yeah, and I CANNOT forget Zelda... that poor dog. She got "make-upped".

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Hoover SteamVac Silver - The Before and Afters

Awhile back I had made a post on Facebook regarding my complete and total awe of the ability of the Hoover SteamVac Silver carpet steam cleaner vacuum... Well, here are my before and after photos. Some are more impressive than others... some drastic changes just couldn't be captured by the photos. I should also admit here that we're working with an older Berber carpet... about 10 years old now... and it's been through some rough stuff out here in the country!

Fireplace BeforeFireplace After

Couch Floor BeforeCouch Floor After

Grace's Door BeforeGrace's Door After

Living Room Entry BeforeLiving Room Entry After

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Some Catching Up to Do...

I'm a little behind on posting some pictures, so this will be quite a montage.

Fall has arrived in our neck of the woods... finally. It's been a late year around here for the turning of the leaves, but we have some nice color. I really love our place, especially in the fall! So does our dog Zelda. She was kinda funny the way she was almost posing for pictures yesterday... silly dog. But Grace ADORES her. They're like playmates. I mean, out here there isn't much for playgrounds and parks or even neighbor kids. She really pals up with Zelda though.

We had a good Halloween. We decided to drive into Springfield to my Dad's neighborhood and do some trick or treating there. Grace went out with her cousin Elijah (who was a cowboy, of course!). My little chicken went door to door "Treat or treating". She wouldn't say Trick. She'd also let out a "Ba-gawk" every now and then too. That would frequently get her extra candy... like that's what she really needs!

The next day we spent some time at my dad's house doing yard cleanup. Boy was that place a mess! It was nice to get the patio cleaned up and livable again though. Courtney spent quite a bit of time wacking down tree limbs & trying to figure out how to stuff them into our little trailer so that we could haul them away.

And then, there's always the Jeep pictures. Of course, I had to take one of the boy with his Jeep. It happens every fall. It's the fall Jeep portrait session. So, then the kids piled in an old (and I mean OLD) little powered Jeep at Dad's. Of course, they needed their Jeep portrait too!

I guess I'll end this post with some more fall pictures from around our little place out here.
Did I mention that I LOVE fall???

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