Boys At Our Place (Poem)

Boys At Our Place

When you hear a fearful racket

Like a miniature cyclone

With some sounds so strange that surely

Their like was never known

While a mother listens calmly

Even with a smiling face

You may know it's nothing serious

There are boys about our place.

When there's famine in the cupboard

And the milk pail soon runs dry

And we can't keep bread or cookies

No matter how we try

When we vainly seek for apples

That have gone and left no trace

Hard times is not the trouble -

There are boys about the place.

When there's sawdust on the carpet

And some shaving on the beds

When the rugs are tossed in corners

And some chairs stand on their heads.

While, if a tool you're needing, we

All around the house must race,

We can know they're making something

Those boys about the place.

When the house is full of Sunshine

On the darkest kind of day,

And we have to smile at seeing

Some creative, boyish play,

And when eyes so bright and loving

Oft are raised to meet my face,

My heart pleads softly, "O, God bless him

Bless those boys about the place."

- author unknown

This poem is taken from the Keepers At Home magazine, Spring 2009 edition.

I think this poem would make such a good picture book! 

Here is a picture from my house:

Mr. In The Mid-west found these stove knob protectors at a garage sale. It only took my boys (5 and 2) a few hours to figure out how to get them off! Thankfully, they know better than to turn the gas on, so we don't need the protectors to deter the boys. 

Boys are a blessing! They are noisy, and cleaver, and they like to take things apart and make messes. But, I sure do love them, those boys at our place! :)

Lunch With Hubby (Poem)

Lunch with Hubby
By Darlene Miller

I canned a bunch of peaches,
And baked six loaves of bread.
I bandaged up the cow's tail
(No, I haven't lost my head!),
I made a batch of yogurt.....
Two whole gallons, don't you know?
It sure takes a lot of vittles
With six children on the grow!

I baked two cakes and iced them,
I do hope they'll taste alright!
'Cause we need to take them with us
To my brother's house tonight.
I filled up the ice cream freezer,
Then cranked till I was shot.
Yes, it took a lot of effort,
But we like that stuff a lot!

While the bread dough was a-rising,
And the jars were being filled,
Telephone commenced to ringing;
I'll admit I wasn't thrilled. 
But frustration turned to gladness,
And my heart cried, "Thanks a bunch!"
No, I can't turn down my husband
When he asks me out to lunch!

So I covered up the bread dough,
Stuck it in the fridge to keep;
Left the peaches on the counter,
Where they uttered not a peep;
Tidied up my wayward tresses,
Changed my clothes, and put on shoes;
Went to meet my precious sweetheart...
Tell me. What have I to lose?

I'll admit that when I came back
My poor peaches had turned brown;
And that dough, in spite of chilling,
Had puffed up all fat and round;
And the mess within my kitchen
Hadn't changed or gone away....
But a chance for lunch with Hubby 
Doesn't happen every day!

This poem is taken from page 8 of the Fall 2008 edition of Keepers At Home magazine.

This poem is so sweet and funny! It has to be based on true life circumstances. Who would have come up with the line, "I bandaged up the cow's tail," unless they actually had bandaged up a cow's tail? I had to laugh! The moral of the poem is true, too. Nurturing your relationship with your spouse is worth the price of over risen dough and brown peaches. :) 

Song of Solomon 4:10 

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

Make sure you let your dad know you appreciate him! 

Psalms 127:4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Living In The Present Moment

Living in the moment is not being distracted by the future or pontificating over the past. I think there is value in reflection and also in planning ahead. We need to maintain balance in our lives, though. I don't want to spend so much time thinking ahead to what might be, or brooding over what has been, that I lose the moment that I am living. I want to be grateful for the present. Now is the only time I really have. (not including eternity, of course.) I don't know what a day may bring forth. Right now I can do something that matters, why wait until tomorrow, next week, next month, next year,..............

Matthew 6:34 

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Proverbs 27:1  

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Italian Chicken Marinade Recipe

Italian Chicken Marinade

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup white wine vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)

1 tsp. Garlic Salt

1 tsp. Pepper

1 TBS. Worcestershire sauce

1 TBS. Oil

Up to 5 lbs. Chicken

Mix. Pour over chicken. Marinade at least 20 minutes. Grill normal size chicken breasts 7 minutes on each side. (The gigantic breasts from Aldi take 10 minutes on each side.) Remove from grill. Cover and rest 5 minutes before slicing.

This chicken is great served warm or chilled. Cold leftovers make a wonderful addition to pasta salad.

Book Report: Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America

Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America by Vladimir Dinets is a wealth of knowledge on where to find mammals. I don't know how Mr. Dinets has been able to travel to as many places, and get familiar with the areas, as he has. Mammal Watching is not as much of a hobby as Bird Watching, but Mr. Dinets expects that to change in the future.

This book is broken into several sections. In the first part of the book Mr. Dinets goes through the North American content region by region highlighting what parks and and wildlife refuges are in the areas and what mammals you can find there. Mr. Dinets goes into a lot of detail on where he has seen certain mammals and how likely you are to see the same types of mammals.
In the second section Mr. Dinets goes over each type of mammal and where they can be found. There is a short part on trapping animals for observation. The glossary is extensive.
This book can be used in a multitude of ways. If you are planning a trip, for example, and you want to look up the areas you will be visiting to see what type of mammals live there, you can go to the section that address that particular region. Another example is: if you want to see a specific mammal, you can look up that mammal in the section where that mammal is talked about and you can see a list of locations where that mammal lives.

There are not photographs of every animal that is mentioned, but there are a lot of photographs.

I learned a lot about mammals by reading this book. I had no idea there were so many kinds of whales or bats, or what a Coati was or a Marten was or a Pika was, I could go on. This book has fed my curiosity and left me hungering for more knowledge about mammals. I would really like to read an identification guide for these mammals or something that gives more details on the animals life's and habits.

Genesis 1:25

 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.