Took the kids for a walk in the woods the other day. It started to rain 5 minutes after we left but managed to clear up quite nicely a few minutes after our taking shelter under a couple trees. :)And as we didn't get eaten by bears (which I heard after our outing, have been out in abundance) I am here and able to post a few pics from our jaunt. Sorry about the large amount of them, but it seems like when I sit down to post one, if I put off the rest for another day I never get them posted.

Hope you're having a swell day. :)

Jode































Obviously no one ever taught this bush that staring is rude.






An overpass

Here is one for you Manda. :)
Muffinless
Big Bunny

Jody (who is hoping she's not the only one with a weird sense of humor. :D)

Another letter of Knox's, this one penned to the Assembly of the Church at Striuling

"Because the daily decay of natural strength doth threaten me with a certain, and sudden departure from the miseries of this life, I exhort you, Brethren, yea, in the fear of God, I charge you, to take heed to your selves, and to the Flock over which God hath placed you Ministers. What your behaviour should be, I am not now, nor have I need, as I think, to express; but to charge you to be faithful, I dare not forget: And unfaithful ye shall be accounted before the Lord jesus, if with your consent, directly, or indirectly, you suffer unworthy men to be thrust into the Ministry of the Church, under what pretext sorever. Remember the Judge before whom we must give an account, and flee this, as you would esthew Hell fire. This will be an hard battel, I grant, but there is a second that will be harder, that is, to withstand the merciless devourers of the Church Patrimony. If men will spoil her, let them do it at their own peril and condemnation: but communicate not ye with their sins, of what estate or rank soever they be, neither be consent, nor silence: but by publick Protestation make known to the world, that ye are innocent of such Robbery, and that you will seek redress thereof, at the hands of God and man. God give you wisdome, strength, and Courage in so good a cause, and me an happy end." From St. Andrews, Aug. 13. 1571. AB. Spots. Hist. of the Church of Scotl. p. 257.

A Letter of Wholesome Counsel,
Addressed to His (John Knox) Brethren in Scotland

".....Often it is that God's elect are held in such bondage and thralldom, that they cannot have the bread of life broken unto them, neither yet free liberty to exercise themselves in God's holy word; but then God's dear children do not loath, but most greedily do they covet, the food of their souls. Then do they accuse their former negligence, then they lament the miserable affliction of their brethren, and then they cry and call in their hearts (and openly where they dare) for free passage to the gospel. This hunger and thirst does prove the life of their souls. But if such men, as having liberty to read and exercise themselves in God's holy scriptures, and yet begin to weary, because from time to time they read but one thing, I ask: Why weary they not also every day to eat bread? Every day to drink wine? Every day to behold the brightness of the sun? And to use the rest of God's creatures, which every day do keep their own substance, course, and nature? They shall answer, I trust, because such creatures have a strength, as oft as they are used, to expel hunger, and quench thirst, to restore strength, and to preserve life. O miserable creatures! who dare attribute more power and strength to the corruptible creatures, in nourishing and preserving the mortal carcass, than to the eternal word of God in nourishment of the soul, which is immortal! To reason with their damnable unthankfulness at this present [time], it is not my purpose. But to you, dear brethren, I write my knowledge, and do speak my conscience, that so necessary as the use of meat and drink are to the preservation of corporeal life, and so necessary as the heat and brightness of the sun are to the quickening of the herbs, and to expel darkness; so necessary also to the life everlasting, and to the illumination and light of the soul, are the perpetual meditation, exercise, and use of God's holy word.

And therefore, dear brethren, if you look for a life to come, of necessity it is that you exercise yourselves in the book of the Lord your God. Let no day slip or want some comfort received from the mouth of God. Open your ears, and he will speak even pleasant things to your heart. Close not your eyes, but diligently let them behold what portion of substance is left to you within your Father's testament. Let your tongues learn to praise the gracious goodness of him, whose mere mercy has called you from darkness to light, and from death to life. Neither yet may you do this so quietly that you will admit no witness. No, brethren, you are ordained of God to rule your own houses in his true fear, and according to his word. Within your houses, I say, in some cases, you are bishops and kings; your wife, children, servants, and family are your bishopric and charge. Of you it shall be required how carefully and diligently you have always instructed them in God's true knowledge, how you have studied to plant virtue in them, and [to] repress vice. And therefore I say, you must make them partakers in reading, exhorting, and in making common prayers, which I would in every house were used once a day at least. But above all things, dear brethren, study to practice in life that which the Lord commands, and then be you assured that you shall never hear nor read the same without fruit. And this much for the exercises within your houses......."

Other writings of Knox

Enjoy your Lord's day. :)

Jode

My eight legged fiend..

My first fiend that I found in my closet.

So here they are, and please forgive the bookshelves as they have yet to be organized. :D

Before


After



Before


After


Before


After


And this is all it took! (minus a few things I couldn't find.) :D


Me and my floor


A mirror?

A few humorous goodies (please note the captions :D)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Okay, stopping there as I'm sure you know what late hours can do to a persons humor, and the effect might be gone by morning... :D

Jode

Received this one from Chris. Haha, the things people do for fun?

A couple pics of Genevie, who hasn't ceased to be both blue eyed and hair head bald. :D

Ok, so I've removed the vinyl tiles, the vinyl adhesive, yucky red stuff, and painted the first 2 coats of the base color. I hope to be able to do the second color this evening and the staining tomorrow, followed by the varnish on Saturday..so here's to hoping. That being said, here come some pics.

Almost as it is now, but for the second coat I've added.











Child labor..sometimes not such a bad thing (at least when the help it volunteered and even to the point of begging you to pllleease let them ;))










My fake wood frame, yup it works on more than floors. :D





The "afterish as much as I have as of yet shots" Mark has yet to fully order his books, so I'm kinda waiting for that I guess. :D

An attempt by someone at humor, after having read this (note the goat part). Needless to say the artist has joined a witness protection program after having been informed of what I did to the last people who messed with my photos in a paint program.

Updates on my renovations coming soon, but right now I have to put some kids to bed before they fall through the ceiling like a herd of elephants.

jode

Hey ya'll, if you come to my blog to use links to read the other blogs, I highly recommend that you check Mitch Taron's blog directly, as he already has a few lovely wedding pics up as well as an accompanying post. :D

Congrats to Darren and Laura (aka Mr. and Mrs. Harr)! :)
May God bless and lead you in your marriage as you seek to glorify him.

For those of you who thought I was beyond having any more problems, you're as naive as I am. :) At this moment I'm about to apply the second coat of polyurethane, but why I'm a typing while I'm wearing a repository mask you ask? That would be because after opening the can and finishing one strip I seriously started to consider that fact that Mr. Hardware man sold me the wrong can. Hm, doesn't clarify on the front of the can, better check the back..hm, I'm not see it, I'm not seeing it, "How to clean" paint thinner. Oh rats, yes it's oil based indeed and it smells like it too, cough, cough, hack hack. So after finishing the first coat with a shirt tied around my head so I wouldn't kill over, I went to the mall and picked up some thinner and a mask. Who's to really blame? I don't know, in either case it's Jody..yeah, that's right, in either case. The hardware guys name was Jody and I'm starting to think if something a little slow in the mental capacity goes with the name. :D Not to call him or myself stupid, but just slightly thought process impaired. On the bright side, I guess the floor will likely last longer, and that's not a bad thing right?


Well I better get to it before I suffocate in this thing. :D

Jode

Time for the second installment. As we speak, err, you read..ahh..I type, I am 3 coats of polyurethane, and putting the baseboards back on, away from being done! Or course, that's only for the one half of the room, but I'm trying not to think of that (and what an awful job I just did of that. So here they are.

After removal of tiles.


Need I say anything?


Some of the contents scraped from the floor, yeah ew is right.


Fifth bucket of water and still seeing red.


One little crater, two little crater, three little crater, four.

Before of right side - nasty glue on the edges. :D


Fill em' up


First coat of stain cover to coats of one shade and one coat of another shade.


Second coat of stain.


Eww, hm, I should find a good cancer center now, might come in handy.


Trying to envision



Polyurethane + Base boards = Complete. This is with 3 coats of stain.