My Favorite Pictures of the Month - October

During the month of October, I have many favorite pictures that fall into two groups: fire recovery, retrospective, and "outtakes."

FIRE RECOVERY 

Back on May 5, 2018, we had a fire that destroyed our two-story hobby shed, playhouse, and 15 trees. The fire also melted, warped, or damaged the back of our home, the deck, the car, and 14 acres of farmland. 

So, my favorite pictures are ones that show progress and completion of projects that have been going on for almost six months.

This is what my view was as I walked up the driveway and firefighters were still putting out the fire back in May. There are multiple hoses leading to the backyard because there were many fires and/or potential or fires - the hobby shed, playhouse, barn, yard, yard furniture, deck, and home that needed to be addressed. 

Here's the view now of the new two-story garage. It is moved to the north a bit - where the fence line is (behind the trash cans). The trees that burned had to be removed. 

 

The view now looking to the west is more open. Thankfully, there are still plenty of trees for the wildlife to use for shelter and food.

The siding on the house and the kitchen window were warped from the heat. About a month later, we had flooding on the entrance to the cellar/basement. That all had to be excavated, a new entry created, and drain tiling put in. 

We had to get two new doors - one for the basement and one for the cellar doors. 

 

The photo above shows the before picture (taken on May 5th) and the photo below shows both of these jobs completed.

This is another view of the cellar entrance with all the concrete work that had to be done due to erosion thanks to heavy rains and to create a more accessible entry to the basement.

The new deck top (shown to the left in the photo below) was built this past week too. It replaces one that my brother built in 1995 when we first moved her. 

It's bittersweet replacing items that are worn and/or damaged that served us well for decades. So many people or animals have walked across those steps, sat on the edge of the deck, or laid down to read or rest on it. So many memories. 

RETROSPECTIVE

With Sophia being a senior in high school this year, there are many "lasts." One of those was the last time Sophia would be going trick-or-treating. She asked that I curl her hair which I was happy to do. The picture below shows just the first round of hot curlers - 20 of them. It took 40 more curlers - 60 total - to do her hair. 

 

 It has gotten quite long over the past couple of years.

She said, as I was curling her hair, that it reminded her of the many times I would curl her hair when she was younger. We talked about the little wigs that the girls would wear to cover their buns when they sang in the children's choir. The black hair pieces had little pearls in them. They looked so cute. 

As I looked back on some past Halloween photos, I found two other years where I curled her hair. One was in 2007 when she was 6 years old. At that time, I used sponge rollers and bobby pins. Her hair was still fine enough to curl it that way.

By 2010, when she was 9 years old, it took 20 curlers to do her hair and we thought that was a lot. Little did we know that 11 years later, we would need three times as many curlers and a ton of hair spray.

OUTTAKES

For their costumes this year, they went as a bat and a witch. It was relatively warm, so they were excited that they could wear just a couple of layers of shirts and pants. No coats, boots, mittens, or winter hats this year!

The picture right before we took the one above is the one I took below. Although it isn't the photo you'd typically share with others, to me it one of my favorites because both of the girls are laughing. Their personalities and their great relationship with one another are reflected in the photo.

Another photo I like is Sophia with all our dogs. We finally got the dogs on the deck and either facing to the front or side. The dogs were all excited that we were back home from being at the homeschool co-op, so this was a major accomplishment in itself.

It was short-lived. Literally a second or two later, the photo below shows what happened. Dogs running off the deck, Danny getting whapped in the face by Cooper's tail, and Aspen wanting more attention. 

Scooby (the little cream-color pug/terrier) is 11 years old and he sometimes will chase Cooper around the backyard. It looks like he's headed out on a mission to catch Cooper. 

Chaotic and energetic is more reflective of the dogs...so, again, it makes me laugh when I see this photo.

It's kind of a hodge podge of photos this month. Yet, each one has a special meaning for me as I look at it. The photos are not artistic in any way...yet they represent turning points and everyday life at our farm. To me, these are valuable and meaningful qualities when choosing my favorite photos.