Jack-o-laterns

Nick has been waiting all summer to carve the pumpkins we grew in the garden. He likes to carve scary faces... and I like ones with happy faces... so we have one of each.

Happy Halloween!

Pepper Costume 2

Nick has continued to mix and match for the perfect Pepper costume. Here is option #2:

She's a little polish dog with her babushka.

The Church

Melvin and Nancy own an old church up the road from their house- and what will be our house. It's a very cool old church built in the mid 1800's (I think around there anyways) and has been home to several demoninations over the years. It needs some TLC, but before a lot of time (and cash) is spent to renovate it, we need to decide what to do with it. No one really has any great ideas... so if you do have one, please share them!

I meant to get pictures of the inside (it still has the original benches and pipe organ)...but I was distracted... I'll get to that in a second... but first... some outside shots of the church.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story.

Recently, there has been some vandelism at our lovely old church. Several windows have been broken by someone who thought it would be fun to throw rocks through some of the windows. Since these were old windows- you know the kind with the wavy glass- AND a stained glass window -the windows are irrereplaceable.

Vandelism Exhibit A

Vandelism Exhibit B (this is the one that really irked me)

Last weekend, I saw a kid, he was probably 13 or so, walking up the gravel road with a BB gun just beyond the property line from the church. I slowed down, and when he saw me slow down, he ducked into the woods that borders the property. This was suspicious for several reasons...the least of which was why he had a BB gun.

Well, today, I walked over to the church to take some pictures for the blog. As I rounded the side of the church to get my side shot, I heard a rustle of leaves- and saw that same kid, BB gun in hand. About that time, he saw me and took off running. And after him I went... yelling at him to stop. I'm sure he thought he was being chased by a 12 year old...but I made sure he thought it was a mean 12 year old yelling at him. Unfortunately, I'm not as quick as I used to be and he ran off before I could catch him. Lucky kid too...because by running, in my mind he is admitting guilt, and I was MAD. And now I've seen him twice.

So...if the kid who has broken windows at our church is reading this... SHAME ON YOU. And you better hope one of us doesn't catch you, because believe me, I am the nice one.

For all of my friends and family who read this... if you have some wonderful idea on how we can use the church, please feel free to comment and share!! We welcome your suggestions!

Pepper's Costume

Nick and I went to Walmart last night. While we were there, I came across some dog costumes. They had one that was just perfect for my Doodlebug. I found what I thought was her size and threw it in the cart. When we got home, I, of course, had to put it on her only to discover that it didn't fit. She's too long and the hood wouldn't reach to her head. But today, Nick improvised with the costume by combining the doodlebug costume with a collar thing I had picked up at a dog show a few years back. I thought it was hilarious! Pepper did not.

Here's Pepper in her halloween costume. She's just mortified that we would do this to her. She won't even look at the camera.

She thinks this is just humiliating... you can just see it on her face.

Now all she needs is a bucket to go trick or treating for milkbones and pork chomps. Maybe she'd like it better if there were treats involved.

Girls Day

Yesterday, Nikki and I took the day off of work and had a girls day. And like we always do, we had a great time together!

Our first stop was a tour of the Monsatery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, IN. It's right up the road from Santa Claus and it sits at the top of the hill in Ferdinand. It's huge... and beautiful... and huge. So we decided it would be interesting to take the guided tour. The monastary is home to the Sisters of St. Benedict.

I know what you're thinking.... You toured a monastary as part of your girls day? It's not your typical girls day type outing, I know. But even if you're not Catholic, it really is a sight to behold.

This is the monastary church. If you think it's impressive on the outside... you should see the inside. And the ambiance of the church is so peaceful. It almost makes you want to be a sister just so you could bask in the peace every day- except for the whole vows thing.

It was a little dark, so my pictures didn't turn out like I had hoped. If you want to take it the true beauty, you have to take the tour for yourself!

Hallway between the church and monastary. Doorway leading into the church.

Inside of church and view from the front of the church looking toward the back.

The detail of the woodwork and ornamentation in the church is just awesome.

Can you imagine being the one who handcarved this? This, and others like it, circle around the altar.

Once we finished our tour, we headed down to the gift shop. Then we headed off to do the usual girl day stuff: we shopped at the scrapbooking store... had a nice lunch where we talked some more...and finished up our day with more shopping. Nikki and I were doing our best to stimulate the economy. I think we were quite successful! If only every Friday could be a Girls Day!

Strawberry Popcorn

Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I am all about anything strawberry. Even if you don't know me at all, you might surmise by the title of the blog that I have a small strawberry fettish. So when Nick wanted to plant strawberry popcorn in the garden...I was 100% supportive. I thought it would make a wonderful fall decoration (it does), but it's also edible. Nick popped up the first batch tonight... and it was just as good as the stuff at the movies- only better since we grew it and it wasn't laddled with butter.

Now we will have the perfect snack for our movie nights this winter!!

The Wheat Variety Plot

Nick and my favorite part about our new counties is all the variety plots we now get to take part in... corn, soybean, and wheat... we test them all here in Area 3.

Last week, Nick and I, with the help of Chuck, planted the wheat plot in Spencer County. The weather was beautiful... so we didn't mind spending the day away from our desks.

Nick while we waited for Chuck to get the planter ready.

Measuring the plot...

Chuck and Nick surveying the plot area prior to planting.

Nick and Chuck planted...while I was in charge of keeping the seed organized.