Brave Hearts and Fair Madiens

The view out the left side of the tree.

The view out of the right.


Summer has left us. With the rain, snow and frost the tree
is no longer safe to climb this year.
So the blankets must be taken down.
I wonder by the time the snow melts next spring
how many of the younger ones will join
the older ones in feeling "too old" to play in the tree.




I guess next year I should add "shake the blankets"
and then bring them in to the wash room......
Oh well, a small price to pay for a
summers worth of fun.

On a Velvet Pillow.

We were working out in the garden this weekend. Our tomatoes have been covered since Aug 30th and we go out everyday to uncover and harvest anything red then recover. Zac was bent over in the row picking from the plants in front of him. As I walk by I playfully bump him to see if he can balance himself before he lands head first into the tomato bush.

He doesn't even budge, just puts out a hand, steadies himself and says "Momma, you'd think with as much money as you've had to put into me this summer, you'd be a little more careful of me.... you know like set me up and display me on a velvet pillow." he straightens and continues his daydreaming "I'll lounge their all day and you could show me off saying "see, here is my million dollar child" or something."

I answer that back in the day if a man owed more money than he could pay they put him in a debtor's prison to work at hard labor until he could pay it off....

You could almost see the dream bubble burst over his head.

He follows with "Really? Well, my arms going to be all messed up again so I guess it will be you and dad that would have to do the hard labor."

"Boy, you have no sympathy.."

"I know, makes my idea of the velvet pillow sound better all the time doesn't it?"

"Pick boy, before I break the other arm..."

"Yes, 'em. You're harsh."

That part comes naturally when you're raising four boys.

Today is the 25th..

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;

and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous:

but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

So I suppose your wondering.....

I tried to tell God this wasn't going to reflect very good on Him. I've done a lot of bragging. Funny how he doesn't worry about our opinions.
Zachary is scheduled for surgery December 28th in the Boise Hospital.

They will be damaging the growth plate on his healthy bone and also cutting it to remove a section to bring it back down to the other bones length, fusing it together with a plate.
Dr. Showwalter has chosen to go with Dr. Mills' first assessment and not the second.

This song has been running through my head all day:

Life is easy when your up on the mountain

And you've got peace of mind like you've never known

But things change when your down in the valley

don't lose faith because your never alone!

You talk of faith when your up on the mountain

But faith is easy when life's at it's best.

Now it's down in the valley of trials and temptations.

That's where your faith's really put to the test.

For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley

When things go wrong He'll make them right.

And the God of the good times, He's still God in the bad times.

And the God of the day, He's still God in the night....

I was out in my truck after the appointment and my tears were fussing with me a little. I am worried about him going through surgery again. He gets so sick and was in so much pain last time. And here, poor Zac, turns to me and says "momma, I'm sorry I give you so much trouble." Then I really did cry. All I could say was "No, Zac" and shake my head.

Over the course of my life, I have seen other parents go through hell with their children. Mine have been nothing but a blessing to me. They love and serve their Savior with all their heart. I don't have any unwed fathers, My children preach constantly against drugs and alcohol, they don't lie or steal. They don't even know what P.O. stands for. My boys love and protect me like I was some treasure.
No, Zacky~D ...... my children do not give me trouble. Not even when they ~ and I are broken.

In fact, son, I don't know what true grief is.....

And fear not them which kill the body,

but are not able to kill the soul:

but rather fear Him which is able to destroy

both the soul and body in hell.

Autumn Blessings

Blessed Autumn and harvest to all of you... Autumn is a very pretty time of year here in the river bottoms. Leaves are changing and everything is preparing for the long winter rest. The frost has been hitting so hard that the pumpkins are no longer safe in the field and must be stored. We had a great harvest of them in spite of my whining two months ago that there wasn't a single pumpkin on the vine.. and the weather was never really pumpkin friendly. You need warm weather at night to grow big pumpkins, we didn't have warm anything this summer.

This pumpkin was my favorite for the year.... it just about grew into the "perfect" pumpkin shape. Did you notice I am missing a boy..... it is a cruel part of life that children grow up.

For the past sixteen years we have spent maybe a handful of days apart and now this summer I rarely see him.

Ah, back to the squash. We grow a lot of squash and beets for the livestock. They keep well and provide good roughage during the winter. We strive for the biggest production in the smallest amount of space. Often running vines through the corn patch as well. This year a banana squash grew up a corn stalk. It made for easy picking and someone jokingly stated we grew a banana tree in Idaho.

After a full day of harvesting we ate hamburgers and headed to the reservoir. The air was crisp and the spray refreshing. It was something to see how much the water had gone down over the course of the summer. The fish were frisky ~ jumping completely out of the water to show off their shiny scales. Eagles and Hawks were soaring searching for dinner while the pickings were still easy. It was pleasant. As we started to turn the boat back toward home we noticed another boat up a cove sending out a distress signal. There had been maybe seven boats on the lake the entire night. We went over to see if we could help. They needed towed to land. Rire reservoir has two docking ports, one on each side. The stranded boat needed to go to the Blacktail dock and we had put in on the dam side.... but what do you do? We were the last two boats out there.

The boat was Heavy, and the going slow... Darkness was settling in and we hadn't even docked the other boat yet. Even the ducks had settled in for the night. Finally, just as my mind was threatening to panic.... we docked the other boat, there was no time for proper introductions or thanks. We waved as the other boater offered to pay us. Shane said "No, you'll need to tow me some day..." We took off as we still had a 15 to 20 minute drive to get to our dock and there was little daylight left. As we sped away a wad of money landed in the bottom of our boat. There was no time to argue, we just kept driving. There was $25 ~enough money to pay for an entire tank of gas in the boat. I can't believe him.

About half way across the reservoir, the sun was gone, our daylight has shortened tremendously. Praise God for the moon, calm weather and a running motor. The water was like glass as we cut across it. Pretty if I could have just relaxed. Slowing when the reservoir narrowed we picked our way home. I am thankful that they are familiar with the reservoir..

David, sitting in the bow acting as lookout sees the lights of our dock. All ended well.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

I was starting to think our hay was not coming. We usually have our hay bought and stacked by the time fair rolls around. I guess with spring being so cold and wet, first crop was late and so it stands to reason that second crop would be too. But this was really late.

The farmer I buy hay from teases me quite often because I am picky about what I feed my animals. I won't buy first crop. False Tansy grows in the spring, once it has been cut it stays down for the rest of the year so it doesn't show up in the second cutting. False Tansy ruins the reproductive ability of a goat. It leaches all the iodine out of their system and ruins them. It's a yearly conversation between Gary and I....it always ends with him saying " Like I said ..what's wrong with that?" He's a cowboy .... he's above goats.

Gary's hay hauler it too big to get into where I want the hay stacked so we have him deliver it in the field and then stack it by hand... all eleven tons. This year we used a hay lift when the stack got high. It is a TRUE piece of farm equipment. We spent more time putting it back together than we did running it.

Almost done.....

The energy level always picks up when your on your last ton.

I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude

when the hay is safely stacked. And the food stored in the cellar,

Shane calls it my "warm and fuzzy"

To see the Lord provide once again is a very blessed feeling.

Will you people go to bed now?

Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

Deut 28 :5

Boy, Can you skin Grizz?

....sure are cocky, for a starving Pilgrim................

David and Cody have both killed a bear. This year it is Andrew and Zachary's turn to try. So far they have had a lot of hits at their bear bait sites but have not harvested one... Their Uncle Dan, however, did. And He brought it to me~e! I don't like bear meat. They are scavengers. And by all reasonable assessment what they eat...you eat. Yuck! Not to mention it is greasy and sticks to the roof of your mouth. No~ part of the pig family or no, I'll stick with the original white meat. But what is good on the bear is the hide. Soft, warm and pretty. Dan didn't bring me the hide though. Darn 'im. He brought me the carcass. So I did what any woman would do~ cry.

Alright, I made it into dog food. My dog food recipe calls for two pounds of ground meat per batch and after the boys and I had it all butchered, ground and wrapped up we had enough for over 25 batches of dog food. And that's why I'm singing!! Chief and General's grub was getting low and I don't know how you look into those big brown eyes or stare at all that slop chop drool and tell them there just isn't any thing left except fish. They don't like puppy food made from fish, so times are pretty desperate when I make it that way. Here's the recipe they swear by:

2lbs ground meat
( I use what ever we have at the time.. wild whatever, duck, chicken,fish,goat,rabbit, left over roast or taco meat etc.)
4 cups rice
12 cups water ~ sometimes if I have extra milk I will add it.
veggies
( again whatever, zuc, crookneck, a quart jar of beans, carrots or corn.) DO NOT use onions~ they are toxic to dogs. Thanks, Cody, for setting momma straight.

Put the meat, rice and water into a dutch oven and bring to a boil, simmer until meat is cooked and all water is absorbed. I add a little salt to this.

If veggies are raw cook them in a little water otherwise dump the jar into the blender and puree (stealth health) If I leave them chopped the dogs kick them out of the bowl.
Add puree to rice mixture and stir. Store covered in the fridge.

***My disclaimer*** I am not a nutritionist. I have only been feeding my boys this way for about eight months and only time will tell if my way of thinking is truly healthy for my dogs... some nutrition deficiencies would not show up until my dogs are old men. BUT people managed to keep their dogs alive and fed for years and years before Purina came along. There has to be a way of doing it for ones self.
The only draw back I see to this food is ~it is soft therefore will not clean their teeth like a dry kibble would. I give them bones to keep their teeth healthy.

I make this batch about every 4 to 5 days for my two Newfies... if you have a disposable dog ( you know.. the flushable size) you may want to cut it in half so it doesn't go bad in the fridge.
Let me know if you try it.

Check Your Trap Line Daily....

First you need the history.....My boys are trappers. Trappers to the core. But they are also boys who tend to get careless on occasion. Some traps do not kill instantly and I feel it is cruel to let animals sit in them without being disposed of as quickly as possible. So I am a broken record around here during the winter.. "Check your trap lines daily..."

Now, in our main bathroom there has been a smell.... a horrible smell for the past two days. I have scrubbed everything in it from the toilet to the walls and I cannot get rid of the smell. My man keeps asking me when I am going to clean the bathroom because the smell is terrible. I was almost in tears because I HAD cleaned it~ many times over!

Well, last night I was getting all the trash ready to be hauled and when I opened the cabinet for the bathroom trash.........oh! the smell. Behind the trash can was a mouse trap that I had set... and forgot.

There was my smell... a dead mouse at that stage where....where your eyelids curl in and your lungs send out an involuntary "Cease and Desist" order because the pain of breathing in is just more than your nose can handle. Oh, it was AWFUL!!!

I was down in the cabinet cleaning up the mess when one of the boys (he's lucky I didn't turn around to find out who.) walks by and says "Hey mom, check your trap lines daily!"

If my lungs would have been working he'd have gotten an ear full. But as it was they weren't.
And, after all, it was good advice from his mother.....

Bloom where you are planted

We have rocks at the entrance to our drive way. In front of those rocks is road base. tons and tons of road base. My mind refused to comprehend road base..... The dirt around our home has spoiled me to the point I do not understand the statement
"soil too poor to grow anything."

So this spring I planted some of my favorite sunflowers right down in the road base in front of the entrance rocks and waited patiently for them to bring me a smile.

I was not disappointed. Today as I left to take Bethany to piano lessons I looked at the bare spot in front of my entrance rocks and to my surprise one stubborn, stubborn, stunted sunflower had made his way into the world and bloomed to brighten my day.

Don't get me wrong, I have fifty plus other sunflowers in a patch sharing their beauty with all who pass, I love them ...... but they will never be as beautiful as this little flower.

For they have lived a life of ease...

He grew when he shouldn't have.

He grew in spite of his surroundings.

He didn't care how hard it was.

He grew anyway.

He did well.

The Human Jack

If a tire needs changing and no jack doth appear..

Find the Holverson boys and harbor no fear...

With two on the front and two in behind

You'll have it all changed in a moment of time.

Then off you will go, be it sage brush or snow

hunting deer, elk, and rabbit or even buffalo.

For what is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh

Fall is for hunting and not for rest.

They will fill up our larder, as full as can be.........

But I prefer beef ~ Shhh, don't tell on me.

Not really, I am very blessed to have so many skilled men in my life, who provide plenty of meat for their family. And it is good.

Thieving Wolves....

Idaho hunters are being bad mouthed for killing wolves in Idaho. Connecticut based "Friends of Animals" (I'm not actually sure "what" animals they are friends with~ obviously nothing the wolf eats...) But Friends of the Animals is encouraging everyone to boycott Idaho potatoes as long as wolf hunting is allowed. Would you like a little piece of sad history? In 1990 a bill lay on the desk of then Gov. Cecil Andrus that if passed would become the most restrictive state abortion law in the nation. If he signed it, guess what everyone was threatening to do? Boycott Idaho potatoes. Andrus caved and vetoed the bill.

I don't claim to be a very smart person and I am far from a Saint. But there is something seriously askew in a culture that will boycott potatoes for killing a thieving mangy dog AND boycott potatoes for allowing a human being to live.

Hunting is part of Idaho's heritage, a heritage that includes wiping the wolves out to protect ourselves the first time. If you don't like it ~you should have picked a different state to put them in. With a family of ten people, we eat a lot of potatoes. We will be standing in line this fall, to hunt wolves and buy potatoes. And we will apologize to no one.

This is Good.

My summer has been an emotional roller coaster. Starting with Zachary's accident on Mother's day down to last week when Dr. Mills told us Zachary would need a second surgery. It has been two days since our CT follow up and I have not written the results. The truth is........ I don't know how to. I don't know how to put into words the emotion.

First I want you to know that I do not believe in "Faith Healing".
I do not believe that a preacher or anyone for that matter can slap someone on the head with an oily palm screaming "Be healed in Jesus!" and when that person rises up he is wonderfully healed.

What I do believe in is fervent prayer.

I believe in God's love.

I believe in God's goodness.

and I believe that God has healed my son.

On Tuesday morning we went to Dr. Mills office. Now, Dr. Mills is a steady Eddie, no emotion, no drama, no personality......... it's what bugs me about him because when I am upset everyone else should be too.

But today he was struggling, talking in circles, using words that were so far over my head.....
The CT scan was on his computer. He kept zooming in and out on different pictures and bone fragment and then he would point to the x~ray and shake his head. The way he was acting just made me sick and honestly for the first five minutes I thought my son was dead in the water. Finally he leans back and says "I just don't know what to tell you but the damage is not showing where I saw it first in the x-ray............

Then it hits me, he is upset because he thinks he was wrong not because something is wrong...

So I stutter out "This is good?"

He is agitated because I am stupid. "Yes, it's good, but obviously I have two conflicting reports so you will need to see a specialist out of Boise to confirm what I am saying."
The second opinion I didn't even have to ask for.....
He continues "If he concludes that the damage is on the inner part of the arm instead of the outer part where originally shown then we will do another follow up in three months and postpone surgery, at least for now........". I didn't here the rest.
My mind just kept screaming "This is good!" "God is good!"
I was so distracted that when I left the office I left everything there.... the disk with the CT scan, the copy of the x-rays, everything I needed to take to Dr. Showwalters. I guess I will need to pick that up the next time I am in town.
We see Dr. Showwalters on September 25.

God is good. To Him be the glory.

Blue Skies never fade...

Sorry, I don't even know what to call it but I thought the clouds looked pretty.