Thanks Jo M. I was a beta tester for that wood stove company’s new model at the time. My daughter designed the fleur de lis pattern. This wood stove company cuts whatever designs you want on the andirons, top medallions and side leg covers in the metal with a water jet cutter. Her design was the most popular design they offered for a long time, and they still use it in their ads:
One great way to make use of old wax is to befriend your local pastor. For a few years Fr. Schultz has allowed Geralyn to run off with the candle stubs from our parish. She melts them down, reclaims the wicks and makes 3-day candles, great for 3DD! When any of my two priestly sons come home she pulls them out to have them blessed. In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti. Amen!
I can see why your daughter 's design was so popular, it's lovely. I checked out the website, they have some awesome stoves and they also have a drawing you can enter to win one. We have a small gas stove in the basement that we mostly use during power failures, but there's nothing like a woodstove.
Photo taken from my trailer door. She’s eating the birdseed I put out for the squirrels which is 50% cracked corn. A second one is farther off into the woods off to my right. By putting out a dozen apples a day I encouraged the local deer to come onto our property and now it’s a habit for them. We’re moving my trailer back towards the property line, right where she’s standing. Beautiful view. Currently I’m next to a big garage so my view out the back is blocked. Every day in my morning offering I thank God for placing me here in the midst of these woods, mountains and valleys, with the Shenandoah River just 5 miles away. I always joked and daydreamed about some day living in a trailer in the woods, that that was all I really wanted. And here I am.
I understand completely. There is a great and holy serenity in having woods to look at and deer who nose around the apple trees. Conducive to prayers of praise. God really does give us the desires of our hearts while He is working out the other gritty details like the conversions of our loved ones. I will always be grateful for living so close to real wilderness. It is a great great gift. I am so glad you have it.
AED is right. God really does give us the desires of our hearts. And then we wait on Him for the rest. Lovely setting.
On Sunday we finally planned to move my 30’ travel trailer farther into the woods near my friend’s property line, right where the deer was standing in the photos above. We hooked up his Ford E350 15 passenger van and tried to move it. Unfortunately after a year in the same place, the tires had sunk 4 inches into the ground and his rear wheel drive van didn’t have enough traction to pull it out. So I placed an “emergency” call to my brother-in-law Steve, and he and my sister and family came down from Harrisburg for the day to help. Steve has a brand new HUGE GMC 4x4 pick up with a 500 hp, 1000fp torque diesel. That monster of a truck had no trouble moving my trailer but by the time we got it all hooked up, it was too dark to maneuver it into the spot we had planned. I picked up a 3 point hitch trailer mover from Rural King this week, put it on my 4x4 Ford 27hp diesel tractor today, and, amazingly that compact 2600 pound tractor moved my 30’ 7000 pound trailer without spinning a wheel or making a single groan. I get more impressed with this little tractor every time I use it! Beautiful view of fields and sunset out my rear windows now! (Yeah, I probably overdid it today...)
None yet. Average is only two to three measurable snowfalls per winter here. Thankfully. I love snow but I’m way past the point of playing in the snow now.
Yes, it was my sister and brother in law’s 30 foot 2010 camper until they upgraded to a 32 foot 2018 a year an a half ago. It has a 12 foot slide out on the other side. I’ve remodeled the interior so it’s more appropriate for a single occupant.
Yes, I’ve been using it in there for almost a year now. You can see the chimney coming out of the roof in the last photo.
! Yes I see the chimney. We have an insulated metal chimney as well. They are great. You will stay plenty warm.
Pulled squirrel! This is the meat off two fox squirrels I had in the freezer. I pressure cooked them whole in the electric pressure cooker from frozen for one and a half hours in beef broth. (I just picked up a decent stove top pressure cooker from FB Marketplace “just in case” too.) Huge amount of meat for two squirrels! I already ate some of the meat. Falling apart tender and already delicious!! Fell right off the bones! I'm going to add Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce and put it in the oven for a bit then try it that way... Some people turn up their noses at squirrel meat. Others consider it a delicacy. Now I know why the latter says that. This isn’t gamey or odd or any other derogatory thing. This is simply delicious!
Looks yummy! I remember my son Ben telling me how to hunt squirrel with his '22 before heading up to the minor seminary in the late '90s.
