Wood Cutting and 1st Squirrel

We heat our house using wood in an outdoor furnace. We do have other alternatives for heating, but this is free. Well, except for the time and physical labor involved. A problem arose when at the end of August, Matt broke his arm at work. With no wood cut yet for the winter, we were a bit anxious. Thankfully, he healed quickly and without surgery. The doctor said that usually that kind of break requires surgery, but he was out have the cast in 4 weeks. After an additional 2 weeks of recover and hand exercises, the bark started to fly. Matt's dad and my dad have helped cut which has helped a lot. Matt estimated 3 more full Saturday's of cutting, and then splitting in the evenings during the week will get us through the winter. Time changes the first part of November, and that means that the only daylight Matt will have to work is on Saturdays. So along with beating the snow, that's the push. These pictures were unplanned, explaining the haphazard outfits. I wish they would have been in coordinating fall outfits. This was one of the rare opportunities that all 4 sat still and looked at me. Usually someone is running off or looking down at their feet. I'm going to learn a lesson from this. Guess what our Christmas card will consist of this year? You're right! Chunks of wood.

Wyatt shot his first squirrel. He was

so excited and proud of himself. My Dad said that he was amazed at how

the woods comes alive in the early

morning. Shortly after this picture, the squirrel was dressed. Which means the meat was taken from it.

The plans are to make stew. Wyatt and Ellayna were very intrigued with

the anatomy of the squirrel. In fact, I wish now that I would have video taped it. They had many questions and comments as you can imagine. It ended up being a mini lesson in Life Science.

Sunday morning before church. I bought the shirts at the market in HCMC. There are little matching pants, too.

The kids love to ride in Papaw and Mamaw's old jeep.