Signs Signs, Everywhere Signs

A very common practice here in the county is folks making a little side money with scrap wood, maybe a young son uses his father's leftover lumber, or an older gentleman is keeping his hands busy making birdhouse or such.Then you hang up a sign for the whole world to see! Years ago my dad made saunas and the neighbors shuddered at the thought of him burning those wonderful cedar scraps when they could be making a perfectly good craft with the wood. So he collected the pieces in a box and routinely someone would drop by to gather them for themselves.
Homemade brooms are 'the bomb'! The one i took to OR got weather ruined and i couldn't wait to come home and purchase a 'REAL" broom again! This combination of sale items are an interesting mix......
I would advise anyone that is wanting to buy a quilt to follow one of these signs rather than going to a formal quilt shop. Besides the price being reasonable, you'll get to set foot inside an Amish family's home and most likely the seller is the seamstress.
I've never bought homemade soap, but it sounds nice. This array of signs was all in a days journey. It was one of those days when my camera was in the car and i had enough spare time to stop and snap.


NO SUNDAY SALES! ...never ever, not in Amish Country. To my knowledge every one of the signs you see on this post are at Amish homesteads/farms.
Go ahead! buy one, ......or six. Or, buy two and pretty soon you'll have 60!
No sign, but a typical Autumn sight.
Lots and lots of folks plant extra veggies and sell them right off the driveway or out of the yard. I rarely buy these items in the grocery store when they're in season here. It's just a no brainer! I took these particular pictures to show you that spelling is a non-issue, or so it seems. And here's to the right.....
......and to the left, depends if you were coming or going.I saw so many spellings today for 'Cauliflower' that i can hardly remember the correct one! I think this is it.

But, we all know what these folks mean.......
....even if they confuse 'flour' with 'flower'. cute, huh? Most of these little roadside stands are self-serve, with a small container for putting your money in. The 'honor system' is heavily practiced here and works well for the most part. Every once in a while you'll hear a report of someone hacking off with the 'money box', but it rarely contains more than a few dollars, because families will periodically empty the container through-out the day.

As many of you know, our kids speak Dutch, and sometimes an English word comes out extremely sloppy, but when you're with other Dutch speaking people, it's a non-issue. In Oregon, tho, some of those words were foreign sounding to our friends and down-right embarrassing to hear coming out of my kids' mouths. I'm sure i have my weaknesses, too, but i'm still blind to them, so i'll use this example from the kids:

Sometimes pumpkin gets pronounced punkin. I was told recently that there really is a sign here in Lancaster County that advertises "Punkins for sale"!!! My only excuse for the mispronunciation of that word in my household is that when speaking Dutch, that's how it's said. Sounds good, so you just carry it over to English and sure hope your friends know what you mean!

Would you care for a punk in your pie?!

Monday's 'Wash'

Monday is laundry day. One day, last Fall, i was driving across the county on errands and had my camera in the car. I snapped a few 'washline' photos for you.
Many many country folks have a line extending from the porch out to a pole of sorts. It's a double cord with a wheel at each end. You can stand at one spot, hang a piece of clothing, and then turn the wheel, hang another, and so on. I feel silly explaining this, but in Oregon i never saw any laundry out to dry, let alone these LONG lines we see everyday. Lines are very important for the Amish who have no electric dryers. No electricity at all for that matter.
This tall fence has deer in it. The towels are dangling above the pen.
I, too, love to hang out laundry. However, i prefer not to spread my family's underwear for all the world to see, but here in Amish country it's just another Monday!!!

Air dried laundry is so much fun to fold and smell. So lovely and crisp. I enjoy folding each piece as i bring it down off the line. It feels pressed and folds beautifully. No comparison to the mounds that come out of my dryer this time of the year. I'm just not die-hard enough to go out in 20 degrees, i have a dryer for good reasons! My mom had me hang out plenty of laundry year round as a kid. I'd wear gloves and still freeze my fingers. And at the end of the day, some of it was frozen stiff. Well, duh, it was TOO cold out that day!! But she always loved to hang whites out on a sunny day if there was snow on the ground. Claimed that the reflection off the snow was somehow brighter. What can i say, my mom has spotless whites, while mine always have a yellow hue.

I really missed my lines in OR. I don't have a sky high line, just a triple row out in the yard.

Any locals care to guess where the pictures were taken?

Winter What Nots

Just in case you forgot, we are remodeling our home.This was the livingroom look for a few days in December. Dave chose the coldest day to date to knock out the bay window and put in a new one that's bumped out a bit and offers more floor space for our future "morning nook".He hung blankets across the room to block the noise, dust, and the cold. It wasn't a bad day at all. And a few days later it was all cleaned up and the furniture was back in a single layer.I took this picture especially to prove to some of my girlfriends that Dave does indeed tear into projects without any given notice to the little lady. This day he decided to fill nail holes and paint our bedroom window trims. Great idea! and by the end of the day he even had our blinds hung. However....all without me having made the bed. Notice the tools on the bed? Well, that's HIS side of the sheets. When he was finished working and i finally got to making the bed I thoroughly brushed any grit off my side, but when i was preparing his spot I couldn't resist brushing ALL the remaining 'crumbs' to the exact spot where his back would lie that night!

I was already snuggled in, carefully staying on my side of the bed, when he crawled in that night. He bounced right back out, and with a hint of surprise stated that there's a bit of grit on the sheets. He brushed them onto the floor without any complaint and climbed back in. I never said a word.....until now!

Read the shirt........you decide!


We had a lovely snow on Saturday, December 19th.
My snow-capped shrubs.

Tradition has it that i make donuts on the first snowstorm of the year. We invite the neighbors and have a grand time of fattening up and fellowshiping at our dining room table. This year was 'catch-up' time as last year we were in Oregon and no one filled my shoes. Typically about 25 people shuffle in and we devour about 6 dozen glazed donuts! That's allowing some to carry out plates for a brother or a mother that couldn't make it over.

Somewhere around 15-18" fell on Saturday and church services all thru-out the county were canceled for Sunday morning. This is all except the Amish, who never cancel. This family had the pleasure of getting out the sleigh today. That's not possible every year here in Lancaster. Because of the weekend, road crews were not so quick to clear the back country roads.


And then Christmas......Meg loved her hat, scarf, and Chi.All her gifts were from the neck up! Yeah, she's a teenager.My husband and kids went a little crazy on me!! I didn't know that i needed a Magic Bullet, but i now know that i did and i do! I love it especially for salad dressings.
We gave the kids this four-wheeler and today as the snow melted and the rain fell, Brooke rode around and around and around.

Brooke took this shot of a slug out on the walkway. Adorable, if a slug ever was!

More random pics on the way. Thanks for coming! Love to all from the Nissleys

More House Updates

These pictures were taken and uploaded a while back, but i will journal and share and later show you more. I know, i know you all don't believe me. Dave and others built a front porch for me back in November. I say 'for me' because i've been asking for one for 17 years and i don't remember Dave ever pining for one, so i feel pretty special to be given this luxury. In fact, as he was still working on it i came out to investigate one of the kids' actions and then i proceeded to yell out orders from my perch. After i'd settled the matter, i turned to Dave with glee and said "i feel like a queen on her throne!" His response was laced with anxiety as he asked:"what have i gotten us into!" I love my porch!

The back porch/patio is more or less his. He designed and built the patio around the existing screened in porch back in 2002. Now he made a new porch and will rearrange to patio a bit. He saved some gorgeous furniture from Vintage Gardens and this will be a family paradise next summer.Most of this backside is newly painted with our new colors. The rest will patiently wait until Spring.

A better view after construction is cleaned up. These days i have a new picture window, too, so keep watching. I just want to make sure that you have a taste of the old, so that you will appreciate the new with me!

Remember this picture? The bathroom in September.....................

The bathroom in December! Not bad, huh? Britt picked the paint color, and we 4 females shopped together for towels and decor. Still a few touches to be made......

This is Josiah's new room. It's a portion of what was Meg and Brooke's huge room before we left for OR. We added a bit to our upstairs and were able to split a large room into two medium-sized rooms, thus having 3 rooms upstairs. Previously Josiah slept on the first floor, across the hall from Dave and I.

What fine restaurant with outdoor seating, you ask? That's our fireside porch set. Another piece Dave 'saved' for us. Actually, i think we'd sell it still since it's not exactly what we had in mind for here. In the meantime, it is gorgeous, especially with the snow.

This post is dated way back the day i uploaded the pics, before all the rest of my pictures got loaded to Dave office computer when we switched to a new one for me. Now Dave's office is not even close to being luxurious. It's hardly even comfortable and i have been avoiding it like the plague. I know if i go out there, i'll start cleaning and i do not really want to clean my way to my pictures. so in the meantime...........i'm without all pictures taken before December '09.

I'll put on my ( actually they're Dave's) muck boots sooner or later and figure out how to transport them back into the house. Note: i'm not delighted with this situation.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you care.

Long Overdue from Dave

Hi to all our friends in Oregon.

As you may suspect I have been busy since we came back to Pa in August and again since I came home from my three weeks of Elk hunting that Lil told you about. But I am not as busy being busy as we were 2 years ago. Rather it is a more relaxed busy, of working around the house on our remodeling project. Thus far we have enjoyed it. At first it was causing some of the normal stress between Lil and I that you might expect a remodeling project would. But I must say that she is so easy to work with and after I finally convinced her that my way and ideas were far better everything has been going well.

Isn't she just cute?

But on a more serious note we have been learning to work together on our many decisions and I praise the Lord for the many things we learned in Oregon when we spent more time together than normal. It really was good for our marriage. Speaking of marriage's.... I pray that all you couples in DaySpring are doing well and our growing in your love toward each other and God. I really do miss you guys, and it is no stretch to say I think of you most days.
This is a picture of the west side of our house newly painted and new Windows.

This past week we had out Pastor Mark Potter help with the painting upstairs in the bedroom. He is a perfectionist in painting and did a wonderful job.


Now I need to metion politic's. Id did not realize until I live here on the east coast again how far away it feels on the west coast. I think there might be a false sense of security and safety from the decisions made in Washington.

Well that isn't true. And when you live here it does not feel true either.The decisions being made will affect us coast to coast! Things are reaching the point where every day we wonder what next? and nearly everyone I talk to mentions our government in a negative note. I realize that I in particular may have been living in a false reality during our time in Oregon, but surely I am awake now. This past week I took Megan and Brit and some school friends to the Rally against this health bill and For SMALLER GOVERNMENT in Washington. We really enjoyed our time, but I was reminded that we need to fight and win these battles. These are serious times and many future generations are depending on our victory. I would encourage you guys to pray again like we did last year during the election season. Call your Senators every day. You know the most disappointing thing I find when I listen to our current leaders is the refusal to honor the Lord. Even on Thursday as we heard from the most conservative members from the house I never heard Honor or mention to God except in the vague context of 'God, family and country.'
This needs to change. We need to pray for a leader to begin leading the other leaders and the whole country to realize again our dependence on The Providence and graciousness of God.
Let's pray for this leader to rise up!

Guys the following picture is an average Farm here in Lancaster. (notice the slotted tobacco barn Lil mentioned earlier)
And this picture is us behind the zoo fence in the busy East looking west wishing we could come out to visit the rest of you hippo's and penguins.

Last week we were talking about when we might go visit again. I was lamenting that it takes weeks of time and thousands of $. Then dear Brooke said.... "Just for the record , I never said I wanted to go to Oregon, But I never said I didn't either. I think it was worth it!"

Your wishing he could see the mountains again, Nissley

The Hunters Are Home Again

Last year, just after elk season ended, Dave already planned to travel west this Fall. He's never even traveled to Potter County ( a popular hunt 4 hours from home) but now he's fallen in love with Eastern Oregon and simply had to try his luck again. And it was bad again. Actually, Dave is skilled in many areas and i think it's more fair to say that his skills were bad. He admits that he had numerous chances. He missed some, and he hit some. He had lots of action and saw many elk. He also put on 140 miles on foot!
Let me give a brief account: Dave and Chad flew to OR on Sept 9 where Dave's truck that he'd bought in June was waiting for them. They hunted together until the 21st when Dave took Chad to Spokane airport to meet Phil and Richard who flew in that day. Those 3 guys had plans to hunt in the Bob Marshall in MT. Dave came back to OR until the 25th, then he drove over to MT to join his brothers and friend for their last few days. Dave walked 9 miles back to the guys who'd been taken back with horses by Marion Eash. ( Marion took himself and the horses home again, leaving these guys for the fun of their lives) Richy got his elk one of the first days and Phil got one the last day. They'd called off the horses saying they can walk out with the one elk and an extra guy ( Dave) to help. In the meantime Phil shoots one and they sure had their hands full!! Dave and Chad told Phil and Richard to load themselves with as much meat as they could carry and when they were finished D and C took as much as they themselves could carry. So in the end the meat was split 4 ways! I am grateful.

Dave and Chad then drove home arriving here on Thursday morning, October 1.

The kids got to say hi to Daddy, see the meat, the horns, and the hairy face, then it was time to meet the bus. The men did a fantasic job of keeping the meat cold in the Montana creek and then packed it into coolers for the road trip. We took it to a local Amish butcher shop where it weighed in at 275 lbs!
Phil and Richy's prizes.

We kept meat at home for our big party this evening. Because i know how much fun it is to have the skiers get together for a meal after their trips, i knew that we wives, the hunters,and families needed to have a debriefing. Seperate facts from fiction. Lies from truth.

Josiah watches with wonder. Was this really in the woods last week? Am i really gonna eat this tonight?

What a feast! Besides the 4 hunters, we included parents, a few sisters, and Wayne and Lydia, Richard's brother. It's an all-you-can-eat Elk Fest!

Let the man have the best!!

Looking at pictures was a highlight. Montana is breathtaking.

Most of the pictures were Richards, taken with Beth's pink camera, and he did a super job as narriator. Amazingly the meat was finished at 3pm, which worked out wonderfully. It was divided and taken care of this evening.

Counting and sorting.

Hats off! to these two mighty hunters. You're two of the best! We sure appreciate the meat in our freezer. Hopefully next time Dave will be able to give,too. But we do know that he called Phil's in to 10 yd's for the kill!!

See Shelly's blog for more pictures and stories.