Antiques and primitives in MY HILL FARM SHOP

Hawks!!

Good evening --Long time no me on here.
Life is very busy for me now. Farmer man lives his life in bed now. I am here taking care of him AND
my Chickens.

It is getting closer and closer to spring and all the chickens are happy--Until the Great hawks invade the Hill. My girls and boys are all free range and that gets them in trouble. Early this morning when they all start going out to graze and enjoy the day, they all started screeching and flying toward the shrubs in the yard. I ran out and the hawk had one of my bantams and another hawk swooped down too.I ran toward them screaming and waving my arms, he turned her loose and she ran limping toward the shrubs and the other hawk tried to get her. I thought they got her because all the chickens were hidden by then. I went and fed them later and she was still with us but afraid and ruffled up.
This is not the first time they have been here, they come every day and have gotten one of my Japanese Bantams.
Every day now i will have to help them watch out for the hawks.

God Bless,
Love Aunt Maria
Marie

Flowers blooming early.

This January has been warm --cold--stormy, but no snow.I would like to have one snow that leaves the next day. I love to make pictures in the snow--Last year I made lots of pictures in the snow. I have one of my horse Ginger I just love it.

I have some little Buttercups blooming , I don't ever remember them blooming this early. In March, 2003 the year my mother passed away I picked one [SHE LOVED BUTTERCUPS] took it to the hospital for her and she passed on the 4th.

It was a beautiful sunrise this morning--Red skies in the morning sailors take warning. Well they looked like fire it was so red.

Love Aunt Maria[marie]

''Jesus Calms The Storm''

This is another of my found chalk drawings~~~~This is good for the times of our lives, to know I have a storm calmer at my calling. I daily call on Him to help me to do the right things on this road I am traveling.

I enjoyed my day today , I got to go to church and take Communion. My grand daughter stayed with Farmer Man. I haven't talked much about him lately but right now he is doing pretty good. He had a New Years BDay and he enjoyed it even if we did have to tell him it was his BDay. It is a new year and I am looking forward to a better year. I am going to get back to doing some painting and other things I like to do.

Gods Blessings

Love Aunt Maria[Marie]

"CALVARY"

I was looking for something in closet and found this picture. Thought I would share it with you.

In the '80s I would go to different churches and schools and did Chalk Drawings for the children and grown ups. I would have someone read the Bible story that went with the drawing as I did the drawing for them. Everyone enjoyed this little show and after I finished the drawings I usually gave someone in the audience the picture. I don't know why I still had this one~~~~Maybe to share with you.

May God bless you all.

Love Aunt Maria[ Marie]

Nannie's Black Dress

Hello everyone, I am glad to be back. My title today is one from a series of photographs taken in 2010. This picture is of me holding my beautiful white Silkies. They are such great chickens --rather shy but can be floggers to small children.
I started out four years ago with four now I have none.

The terrible thing is weasels and other critters of the dark nights come creeping in and steal them away. The weasel came and dug under the door one night and It looked like the Tasmanian Devil had been in that room where he was tearing their silk feathers out. He caught one and almost killed the other one. He had very few silk feathers left and his head was a mess. He hardly had one eye left. He killed one and [this is bad] a weasel eats the head off and gets only the blood [I told you it was bad]

Two nights ago something, probably a raccoon came and got the last one. I am sad the last one was the one I had to nurse back to health and he was so traumatized by the killing and attack ---that he stayed on top of a box under the hen's nest for 6 months and each day I fed and watered him there. He finally came out of the chicken house. When I fed the other chickens he followed me and I had a special place where I fed him and didn't let any other chickens get his food.

Silkies can't fly up to roost because of the silk feathers---So mine stayed on the top of a box or on the ground.

Love Aunt Maria{marie]

Seasons of Life~~

The spring and summer have almost left us and i have not posted for a few months.
I have been in the flow of life changes~~~~~Really not the kind of changes that I really wanted. Old Farmer Man has dementia, as I have mentioned before, the last few months have been much worse for him. He had UTI several times and then pneumonia that was very bad. He couldn't walk and spent 44 days in Nursing Home. He still can't walk but I brought him home anyways. Hospice Compassus is helping me out. A nurse comes two days a week and an CNA comes three times a week. He stays in bed most of the time. My children all help out and  I am so thankful for that.
Friends offer to help if I need them. I never know when I will need someone to come and help get him up during the day. I thank God for good neighbors and family and church family.

I don't have much time for anything but caring for him. I did make some fig preserves and blackberry preserves. I made my wonderful corn relish from my corn in the garden. I did these things in between running back and forth while he was in nursing home.

He is much happier home even though he doesn't realize he is at home. He just knows I am with him all the time. I am very glad I could bring him home~~I hope he can spend the rest of his days here.

I made some pictures to share. Hands tell a story of a long working man's life. Now they lay still only to touch the dog are reach for my hand or hug the children and others. They reach out to visitors to shake their hands and wave bye bye. LIFE CHANGES.
WE all face them.

LOVE AUNT MARIA

[Marie]

May Flowers and Baby chicks

Hi to those that have wondered where I have been. Taking care of my husband has become pretty time consuming. I will take care of him as long as I can and hope that is always.

I still go out and feed everything and take pictures but have to be sure I can see him or know he is taking a nap. I do not stay out long if he is napping.

I am planting a few things in the garden and plan on planting some more.

I have a new hatching of bantam chicks that I set under Big red hen and she hatched them all 12.This is the picture I will show tonight .

Love aunt maria[Marie]

Spring Flowers

I am long overdue---It seems things get more and more difficult here. I am glad spring weather has been showing up--where I can go outside and breath. I will try to get back to my blog more often.

My little silver tailed Bantums are so special --here they are standing in my wild iris that I was trying to photograph and the came to get in the picture. Elvis is the one to the right and he comes to the front porch and looks in the long glass and starts crowing for me to come out and give him a hand out. He will crow for everyone that comes so he became Elvis. The other one is not gentle and will not come to the porch but I named him Jerry Lee anyway. I talk to you all sooner I hope.
Love aunt marie[marie]

Gifts from above!!!

Sunshine ---Right now it is the nicest gift we have had in a while. I love spring and am so glad to see the little buttercups sticking their heads out. I did love the snow but all this cold--boy was it cold to go out in the morning to feed the chickens and let them out. Had to go into the house to get water from kitchen sink to water them. Broke holes in goat water and Ginger breaks hole in edge of pond for her and cows. No matter I love taking care of my animals. I do not know how the hens could lay so many eggs in the cold but they have been doing very well.
Omar has not been going out much and we have stayed home more because of the flu. My great grand babies have had it and some of the older ones too. I told them we didn't want them coming with a fever because any time Omar gets something it is worse on him now. I think they are all feeling better. Angela and Dianna have had it but are better. Angela is coming tomorrow to stay with her dad while I go to church.

This afternoon I was out feeding chickens and gathering the eggs. Out of the corner of my eye a movement and looked and had a gift entangled in the fence and tree ---two colorful balloons flowing back and forth in the wind and I thought ---balloons for my Valentine Gift. Someone had enjoyed them a while and then they got loose and floated through the sky to my house and lodged in the fence. It was so colorful against the winter background.

Proverbs 4:5
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.

If you want wisdom you have to go after it. It takes resolve--a determination not to abandon the search once you begin no matter how difficult the road may become.
From Life Application Bible---New International Version

Have a wonderful Sunday.
Love Aunt Maria[marie lane]





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Crops?

I have a crop of chickens right now and they are beautiful but eat-eat-eat-. I have all these beautiful roosters that I am going to sell when spring springs a little more.I also have a lot of hens, I will probably sell some of them. I am getting a dozen eggs a day now.
They didn't lay like that when it was snowing and freezing.

TODAY WAS SO SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL I GOT OUT AND TOOK SOME PICTURES OF MY ROOSTERS I AM GOING TO SELL. I DID A LOT OF WORK TODAY AND NOW MY INJURED SHOULDER IS HURTING BAD.
I HAD ANOTHER MRI AND GOT THE RESULTS FRIDAY. THE DR. SAYS I DO NOT HAVE A TUMOR IN THE BONE LIKE HE THOUGHT. THANK GOD FOR THAT. THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE FOR MY SHOULDER. I HAVE TO ADJUST TO THE NEW LIFE WITH A SHOULDER THAT DOESN'T WORK SO WELL.
I KNOW I WILL ADJUST AND IT WILL GET BETTER THAN IT IS NOW.

Uncle Omar is still getting worse. He thinks i am the hired help sometimes. Sometimes he knows I am his wife and sometimes he doesn't. He tells me every morning how bad he feels and how much his back hurts. He can't walk very well and doesn't have strength in his legs much . I tell him he has strong arms and i have strong legs so we make one good man. We have to laugh about whatever we can find to laugh about. He can tell some of the most amazing made up stories you ever heard of. I listen and laugh.

In Proverbs3:3 "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablets of your heart."

Love Aunt Maria[Marie]

Proverbs 2:7

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

" He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless." Prov 2:7

God gives us wisdom and victory but not for drifting through life or acting irresponsibly with his gifts and resources. From my "Life Application Bible."

How well do we use God's gifts? I sometimes wonder what I am supposed to do. Do you ever wonder that? It seems there is always some type of crises in this life and we need to look to God for answers. I know it is not easy when something comes along that we really do not know which way to go. That is when we ask God for his guidance and that Wisdom.

I am happy to say I am going to be a great grandmother again. Kara and Wayne, my granddaughter and husband are going to have a little girl and naming her Anna Brooke.
This will be the 12Th great grand baby. I am blessed by God mighty.

THE SNOW JUST KEEPS ON COMING AND MY CRITTERS JUST KEEP ON HAVING TO HAVE MORE CARE IN THIS COLD WEATHER.
IT IS SO COLD AT NIGHT BUT MY GUINEAS ROOST IN THE PEAR TREE---THEY DO NOT LIKE SNOW AND WILL SIT IN THE TREE FOR 3 DAYS BEFORE THEY COME DOWN , THEN THEY FLEW TO THE GROUND THAT DID NOT HAVE SNOW AND THAT WAS UNDER THE PORCH TO MY CABIN. WHEN I FEED MY CHICKENS I FEEL LIKE THE BIRD WOMAN ---THEY ARE SUCH PETS THEY FLY UPON MY HEAD AND MY BACK WHILE I AM GETTING THEIR CORN OUT OF THE BARREL FOR THEM. I RAISED ALL OF THEM AND THEY ARE SUCH PETS. I HAVE ABOUT 50 NOW AND WAS EVEN GETTING FROM 7 TO 13 EGGS EVEN IN THE COLD---THAT IS VERY GOOD FOR THIS HARSH WINTER ON THEM. WHEN SPRING GETS HERE I SHOULD GET 3 OR 4 DOZ A DAY.

OMAR DOES NOT FEEL VERY WELL --EVERY DAY THE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING HE ASKS ABOUT IS HIS DEAD SISTERS, BROTHER , MOTHER AND FATHER. HE CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY NO ONE TOLD HIM ABOUT THEIR DEATHS. IT IS SAD TO LISTEN TO HIS QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM. I HOPE SOMEDAY HE WILL STOP ASKING ABOUT THEM. IT MAKES ME SAD TO HEAR HIM TALK ABOUT THEM AS IF THEY JUST PASSED.

I HOPE TO GO TO CHURCH TOMORROW --ANGEL WILL STAY WITH OMAR AND HE WILL TELL HER LOTS OF TALES. HE CAN REALLY MAKE UP SOME THAT SEEM BELIEVABLE.

HAVE A GOOD SUNDAY,
LOVE AUNT MARIA[MARIE LANE]

Proverbs1:7

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Prov. 1:7

The book of Proverbs focuses on God--his character, works, and blessings--and it tells how we can live in close relationship to him.

Wisdom is what we all want and I ask for it often---In knowing how to deal with things in our life that is not easy to deal with. How to answer questions on a daily basis--Of some things that I do not even know what he is talking about.

We have had some bad days lately . We both had a virus, I had it first and then he got it a few days later. He got so sick we had to take him to hospital and they kept him a day and night. He was very dehydrated and after he got fluids and stopped being sick at his stomach he was ok. He doesn't even know he was in hospital.

On last Monday I went out and made lots of beautiful pictures in the amazing snow we had. I made one picture at the barn in a pile of lumber with snow on it was a broken cross --Or that is what i see and I liked it and today I am sharing the picture with you.

Did you make any kind of change for this new year--I am going to say something on Proverbs each time i do my blog. I hope I can do something each week.

Love aunt maria{Marie}

A New Year --2011

Christmas went by like a breeze and then the New Year was here and Farmer Man had his special bd Jan 1. He loves being the vocus of the day even if it is everyones special day before they go back to work. He always bragged about having a holiday for his BD. All the daughters came and some other members of the family. Our pastor Bro. Doug came and we had black eyed peas, hog jowl, turnip greens and corn bread , all for good luck for this 2011 year. We had much more to eat too. Ham and biscuits yum. Lots of other things like I made some Chess Squares I had been wanting for some time and they were delicious.

I have still got pain and problems with my shoulder. I haven't been on here much because it hurts if I stay on long using my arm. I have to go back to have another MRI.

The picture is of my sister Deb and her children and grandchildren and our two other neices. This wasn't his BD hardly but he enjoyed the attention he got that day.

Farmer Man is getting worse all the time but he still goes out with me , if he feels like it, in the afternoon to feed the goats, while I feed the chickens and gather the eggs.
I have to direct him as to what to do sometimes. This New Year will be a good year I just know. God will direct my steps and help us through.

If it snows tonight I will have some good pictures tomorrow. We could get 7 inches wow!!

Love Aunt Maria[marie]

Treasures!!!

The last few days have been so messed up.I was enjoying my day last week with the girls and ate at Macaroni grill and broke loose one of my teeth--It didn't fall out but Fri it popped right out of my partial. I called the dentist and they are always out on Fri. I was going to take it to them on Mon. but I had this idea that I could glue it in with a tooth repair kit I got at the Dollar store--So I glued it in just like it said. Sat morning I ate breakfast and it was swallowed----Yes I said I swallowed my tooth. I did not look for it I went to dentist today and they put me in a new one and now I can calm down. By the way Angela told me what did I expect --The Dollar Store---I could have made up me some wallpaper paste and would hold as well. I got a little anxious about it being the very front tooth. I felt half naked.

I am taking Farmer Man to Day Care tomorrow and coming home and see if I can get things done---I had special things I had planned to make for the family but it has not materialized and is probably not---not in the way I wanted it to. I have another easier plan it will work. Christmas is all about Jesus and I do have my Nativity Set out where the children can talk about it.

Natty my cat is always looking out the window and I caught her in a new place---the kitchen window with the Christmas cactus and the Poinsettia. If you notice in the picture is a pile of rocks-these are treasures My Farmer Man brings me he picks rocks that are interesting some look like little animals some have a special shape some have shiny stuff in them and some are colorful and smooth. This is the little boy that I know now.
I keep the rocks I have them at lots of places sometimes I put them in a flower pot and he gets them out and shows them to me again.
This is OK I have always liked rocks too.

Love Aunt Maria[marie]

Christmas!!!

How did it get here so quickly this year? My year has been fast running through the valley. That's where i have been this year with my Old Farmer Man getting worse and my fall last Feb. I have battled with pain and confusion . I know my God has been with me through it all and we will come out of the valley soon. There has been some very good days and I am thankful for them. There has been some sad days ---when he looks at me every morning and asks where is his sisters and dad. I try diversion but he will keep on until I have to say again they are all dead. Then he tells me with sadness in his eyes,"That makes me sad."

Yesterday I made a decision to try a new place to take him for the day. I can take him from 8am until 5pm with breakfast, lunch and supper but I will not leave him that long at a time. Yesterday I took him at 10:00 and picked him up at 3:30 --he made it fine and found others to talk to and people that knew his father and his brother. When I went in to pick him up he was waiting in the parlor, which is beautiful and all decorated for Christmas, "He told me he had been waiting on me all day." He was OK and seemed more alert. I thought the interaction with other people might be a very good thing.
I will take him again tomorrow. I pray this works out for both of us.

I had a good day out Christmas shopping with my granddaughter, daughter and two great grand babies. What a treat and sometimes funny.

Will keep you posted on our progress.

Love Aunt Maria[marie]

The Old and The New

The reason for my title to this blog is no matter how old something is we love to hold on to it. It can be tattered and torn but it might be home and we love it. The memories we have of something --if good memories-- makes us feel good to think about them. It is hard for my husband now with his dementia to separate the old from the new. Dementia is such a robber---It robs the person of everything as it once was. His home place burned this weekend although no one had lived in the house for years, and it was in bad shape, he went home every night in his mind. Last night when I heard it was burning i told him about it, it really didn't mean much to him he just said I had some things out there in the shed. That was one of the things he was always talking about the things he still had up there. He never gets up in the morning that he wants to know where everyone is at. He had six sisters and five brothers and they are with him every day. Tonight before he went to bed he wanted to know if his bed burned? I told him no,your bed is right back there where you sleep every night. He was satisfied with that answer. He is more like a child now and it is sad to see. So you see why I put the old goat house on. See the goat face looking out one hole in the shack and one goat standing looking out the front---they loved that falling down shack. We did tear that down and build them a new one and they love it too.

Love Aunt Maria{marie}

Being Thankful!

I hope all 2 of my friends that look at my blog had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
It was a house full here and all went well. I had to pull out all the chairs and put leaves in all the tables and still there is people sitting at whatever table or side table they can find. They even ate on the front porch this year. The children got to play outside in the dark ---we didn't eat until 4. We had a delicious turkey and ham. I had plenty of help cooking they all brought delicious dishes to share. We do have so much to be thankful for. Even though Farmer Man has dementia or alz. it could be so much worse. I am thankful he is able to be mobile with a cane and tell his tales and talk to everyone.
He did get nervous before everyone left. He tells me he is ready to go home---I tell him they have to go home we are already at home. It is bedtime now at 6 o'clock for him. We have to discuss where to put the dog and get her to bed. Where is his bed and am I going to sleep with him? I tuck him in and close his door to his bedroom and he feels safe and secure because he tells me to watch out for everything. This is part of the ritual every night but actually it starts about 2 o'clock in the afternoon every day.

With my shoulder being so sore all the time I was one more tired little lady when they all left. I sat up after putting him to bed to unwind and just be quiet but when I went to bed at 10:30 I never went to sleep until after midnight.

I didn't get any pictures for some reason the pictures I took were all blurry.
I always have pictures to post though so I will show you something.

Love Aunt Maria{marie}

Sweet Pears!!

I haven't been here in a while---I had to get a new computer my other one left this world.
I have been lost without it. I am going to try to get back to writing for i have some things i want to talk about.
It will soon be Thanksgiving--this week to be exact. All the family will be here I think --we will eat at 4pm. everyone will bring their favorite dish or dishes.All my girls are very good cooks. I have a ham I will bake. Angela brought me some of the finest turnips today and while I was at church she cooked the turnips and the greens that came with the turnips. We ate some turnips tonight for supper and they are delicious. The greens and turnips will be even better Thursday for our meal.

Christmas is soon to follow. I have things to get done like everyone else. I make special Tea Cakes i call my,"Chicken Whisper Cookies", I will give you the recipe later and pictures of the cookies.

Farmer Man is getting worse and that is a story too. I hope to get used to my new computer so I can write some of the stories i have to tell.

I hope all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for the love of God and his blessings everyday.

Love Aunt Maria[Marie]

Autumn Fun

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