Aahhh, the long gone days of summer.....

As we start to see temperatures dip into the low 30's and 20's just about every night now, I thought I would post one picture to remind us of the wonderful summer we had. Our family has started a tradition of going to Raystown Lake at least a couple of times each season. It's a beautiful man-made lake that actually covers what used to be a large town. There are plenty of places to camp (which we'll be doing next year, if God allows), swimming, and boating. David took his kayak this summer, and he and Bryan had a great time paddling around and trying to avoid the speedboats! We were blessed to have some dear friends of ours go with us a couple of times, and they have a boat! Bryan was able to ski, and the girls and I all tubed - great fun! David is still trying to get his confidence up to get those skis under him - he will next summer for sure! Adie decided that swimming was the thing to do here at the lake, and she took off like a fish without her swimmies! We all look forward to next summer, and making many more memories at this beautiful spot.

Our last fall outside project!

So here is our newest outside project! We had a rather boring front yard, rarely used... The girls never play in the front - since all the toys and the fence are in the back. Bryan and I worked on this for about 3 days - planning the shape, killing the grass (lots of fun for Bryan!), and then raking and shoveling LOTS of topsoil! We built the rather eclectic rock wall... mostly to hold the dirt up! Neither of us are engineers (should've had Pili build the wall!) so we'll see how long it stays up! Then we planted about 150 bulbs - various wildflowers, tulips and daffodils. The two mums down in the tip will be replaced by a Japanese red maple tree next spring, I hope! Twenty bags of mulch later, we are "almost" done! We have a friend who is going to deliver a large "sitting rock" that will go where the tiny little rock is now in the middle of the garden (to the left of Adie). I'm praying that this will turn into a beautiful spot for some spring pictures!!

Go Mommy!!!

I just got back home from running a 5K!! Now, for some people, my time might be better described as a slow jog... I did 3.2 miles in 37 minutes. Those of you who remember the length of my legs will understand, that speed is not-too-shabby for someone who is not described as a "runner"! It is only the second time I've run a 5K and not stopped to walk during the race! The first one was earlier this year with Bryan. I finished 3rd in my age group.... just don't ask how many people were in my age group!! HA! Next year I'll move up an age bracket, so maybe I'll improve my standings!! A dear friend of mine (we went to high school and college together) and I have committed to running the Air Force half-marathon next Sept. We'll see how that goes. I'm trying to convince Bryan to run it, too, since he was in the Air Force for 7 years. A pretty cool accomplishment for a 50 and 40 year old (next year!).

We had a great week this week - I had my birthday celebration that lasted almost all week! I love birthdays! I'm probably the healthiest I have ever been - and it's exciting to know that the best is yet to come, if God allows me more time!

The girls continue to excel in school - Pili is breezing through her studies, and Adie is picking up bits and pieces as we go along. She is not quite ready to sit down and do anything "formal" but we do lots of learning while moving - Adie is quite the dancer! Pili continues to make great strides in her gymnastics. She is amazingly strong!

Today Daddy and I are going to dig a new flower bed in our front yard, for all the new flower bulbs! For a woman who whined through every summer of gardening - I am becoming a gardener! We even tilled a garden for vegetables next spring! It's about 10 feet wide and 24 feet long. Hopefully we'll get lots of fresh veggies out of it! It is also a school project - Pili and Adie will share in the work. We'll keep you posted. Speaking of growing things - Pili and Adie planted apple seeds from a Fuji apple - our snack one day. And guess what - we have 4 little sprouts coming up in the planter!

We hope everyone has a wonderful fall weekend! God's blessings! The Meckes'

Not all experiments come out exactly right.....

Yes, for those of you who are giggling already... let me just tell you that bread does not always rise just because you put yeast in it! Pili and I had a wonderful time mixing some cranberry crunch bread this morning. I covered the dough and set off outside for a relaxing jog while the girls rode their bicycles along side. I checked the dough in about 45 minutes, and found that it had not raised one little bit... then I remembered that you should have the dough in a warm spot. Yeast likes warmth... so, I turned the oven on low and placed the bowl on top of the stove. Our house is a little on the cool side - the nights have been dipping down into the upper 40's, and Mommy loves a chilly house in the fall! The only warm place for that dough was on the stove! Well, that did the trick, and we happily dumped the now risen dough into the bread pan, punched it down, and waited for it to raise again so we could actually bake it! Well, that whole second raising thing never really happened. It tried, but I think it just decided that it was too much work! After waiting an hour - I actually went out and mowed the backyard!! - I decided to just put it in the oven and bake it and see what happened. It came out ok - a little flat, but it tastes pretty good! We are going to have it tomorrow with our lunch when our friends from VA get here. Our dear friends, Mark and Patti, and their two children are coming up for a visit this weekend. The girls are thrilled!

We did one other experiment that turned out better! We made butter from heavy whipping cream. You simply put it in a jar and shake it for about 15 minutes. We each took a turn shaking the jar, and Pili said it was hard work! Adie was just about in tears at the end of her 5 minutes. I explained to them that back in colonial days, women couldn't just run down to the store and pick up butter when they ran out - they had to get the cream from the freshly milked cow, and then churn it. Pili said she would rather do without! HA! We added a little salt for taste, and it is pretty good! We'll use our freshly made butter on our flat cranberry bread tomorrow!

School is such fun - and it's even more fun when things don't work as perfectly as you've planned. Our whole life is for learning and teaching, and the most fun of homeschooling so far for me is that my little girls are learning life as we go along day by day. They interact with all sorts of people throughout the day, and they can carry on a polite conversation with anyone they meet.

I promise, one day soon I"ll post more pictures of the girls riding their bikes!
Love to all,
Mommy

Remember Old Yeller?

I do - well, sort of. I haven't thought of that book for years.... Our family had some excitement over this past week that brought that story back with a vengeance. Monday afternoon, the girls and Tucker (our 95-pound black lab) were in our backyard playing while I worked in the kitchen. Tucker isn't one to bark much, but he started having a fit, and the girls were yelling for me. I walked out the back door to see a black dog on the outside of our fence. Tucker and this dog were nose to nose through the fence posts, and Tucker was barking rather angrily. This is not his temperament at all - he's a big baby - so I walked over to shoo the dog away. It didn't run at my approach, so I told the girls to stay inside the fence, while I went out of the gate to run the dog off. After I walked out and closed the gate behind me, the stray dog turned, and I saw horrible damage to it's jaw. It was basically missing half of it's jaw, and I could see a gunshot wound to it's snout. My first thought was that the poor dog must have cancer or something that had destroyed it's jaw... but not having ever seen the dog in the neighborhood before, I decided that the best thing I could do was just get it out of my yard. It wasn't wearing a collar, so there were no tags to try and read (now I thank God for that... I might have tried to read them to find an owner). The dog wasn't aggressive towards me, but tucked it's tail and trotted slowly off, in and out of our garage, then across the street and into the corn field that is behind the houses directly across from us. I didn't think anything else about it until a few hours later.... my neighbor called me to let me know that the state police and animal control were out looking for this dog... it was rabid. My heart went into my throat! After saying a loud prayer of thanks for God keeping me safe as I went out within a foot of this dog.... I thought of Tucker. He was in this dog's face, pitching a fit.... of course, now I knew that he was behaving this was because he knew something was wrong. He was protecting us. I called the vet just to double check on the possibility of rabies being transmitted through saliva without a bite occurring.... to quickly put your mind at ease - Tucker is fine. However, our neighborhood quickly became a not-so-safe place to be. The dog showed up in several backyards over the next couple of days - and managed to escape police and animal control many times. We didn't let Tucker out without going with him, and the girls stayed inside for the most part. We did go bike riding on Tuesday afternoon, and twice saw the state policeman that was patrolling our neighborhood! Quite the excitement for this quiet, sleepy little farming community. As of today, I have not heard if the dog was caught or found... I can't imagine that it would be able to survive for long with it's injuries. Pili and Adie had to learn that not all dogs are nice. They also learned that Tucker would protect them if he needed to.... that made Mommy's heart happy. We thank God for His protection during this little episode, and it makes us even more thankful for the "normal" quiet that we enjoy here in Shippensburg!