Janney Furnace War Between the States Re-enactment

As many of my readers know, this Hay Clan is very interested in our Scottish and Southern heritage. One way to celebrate that is our annual attendance of different Scottish festivals/highland games. Another way we have recently added is to attend reenactments of different war between the states battle scenes.

Now my husband and his family are not new to these events, but this was a first for me and the girls! It was truly a sight to see and we enjoyed the experience greatly!

 

The girls are pointing to two Hays men from Calhoun County that fight for the CSA.

 

The Woodsman, Little Bit, Miss Priss, D and Papaw in front of the furnace.

Little Bit and Miss Priss strolling along chatting about all they have seen. Miss Priss is wearing her dress from her school project about Mary Custis Lee which you can read about here.

The Union soldiers getting ready for battle.

Scarlet O'Hara with her new fan.

The CSA soldiers getting ready for battle.

The awesome and very LOUD canons!

What a beautiful day for a reenactment!

The CSA soldiers are not doing so well here and the battle was over.

 

 

Later that evening, a true southern ball was held. It was a really cool experience. I felt like I was watching a scene from Gone With the Wind itself!

The all couples lining up to bow to the host couple.

 

 Dancing a Virginia reel

 

The whole day was so much fun. Unfortunately the girls missed the evening events, but after telling them all about it I doubt they will miss the next one!

 

 

More from the Woodsman

Around here Winter tends to keep the Hay clan indoors a little more often than we would like. If you have to be indoors, you may as well make the most of that time and do something you enjoy. The Woodsman uses this time to do all his carving. Summers are so busy he doesn't have much time for carving, so he looks forward to the break winter offers.

 

Here are a couple of the pieces he finished this winter:

 

This is a serving platter with a celtic cross a friend customed ordered.

 

He used coffee grounds in the carving to make it stand out.

A beautiful ladle.

Kuska - Scandinavian wooden bowl.

The gentleman wanted this bowl to eat cereal from!

A second Kuska.

And this one he wanted to use for coffee!

 

 

Raised beds

One of our (many) projects this winter was to build a few raised beds in a little fenced in area in the back yard. The reason we wanted the beds fenced in?..... RABBITS. These little rascals won't leave my green beans alone and I am quite tired of it!

 

Soooooo, I talked my wonderful hubby into putting them altogether for me!

 

We gathered dead cedar trees from around our property.

The Woodsman cut them down to size and make stakes from smaller branches to hold them in place.

He assembled four 4x8 beds using just the cedar.

And they turned out beautifully!!!

The girls just thought it was fun to play on the tractor.

After building the beds, we then had to fill them. So we drove around the woods in the tractor and collected some good humus dirt (lots of good naturally composted materials). Then we went to the creek and collected lots of sand to add to it as well.

Once we had our good dirt, we also added some peat moss and manure we bought from the store.

 

These beds are gonna grow some great veggies! Can't wait to get started planting!!!

 

 

Awards Day - 4th grade - 2013

Again being a SAHM has afforded me the opportunity to attend all school functions. At the end of the year Miss Priss was part of the annual awards day ceremony. She sang with the choir (which we forgot about and didn't send her shirt - oops!) and she received her A honor roll award! Way to go Miss Priss!

 

 

 

Not only is she beautiful inside and out, but she's pretty smart too! ;)

 

 

Burns Dinner 2013

We have recently become members of the Caledonian Society of Alabama. The CSA is another Scottish organization that brings fellow Scotsmen together to celebrate their heritage and just simply enjoy each other's company.

 

This year we attended our first Robert Burns Dinner. This dinner is a celebration of the life of Scotland's most famous poet. His claim to fame is the Auld Lang Syne (Old Long Song). You may not know it by name, but I guarantee you sing it on New Year's Eve. Hear Julie Andrews sing it here!

 

 

It's a pot luck dinner (my fav), so everyone is asked to bring something. Of course I brought a dessert and what better than shortbread cookies for a Scottish dinner!

I used my new shortbread cookie pan my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. I just love the celtic knot designs! And they turned out pretty tasty too!

The Scottish flag cake my mother-in-law made. Man she is talented!

Of course the tradional family photo! Thanks Pop!

The Ian Sturrock Memorial Pipe Band.

Bringing out the Haggis!

The host presents and cuts the haggis.

Then he reads a Robert Burns poem about haggis and invites everyone to have a bite! (Yuck)

The music for the evening was wonderful! It included fiddles, banjos, guitars, bag pipes and the talented Jil Chambless vocal.

 

The kids enjoyed dancing to all the wonderful music and Little Bit had quite the new little admirer.

Little Bit trying to talk Miss Priss into dancing with her.

No luck, so Little Bit continued to dance on her own. I know she slept great that night!

My scottish girls!

 

Finally convinced sister to dance with her! They were so cute and did such a wonderful job. I would love to put them in lessons for the Irish Set dancing, but the closest place is in Birmingham and its just too expensive. EEk. Maybe one day! For now they are having a blast making up their own dance moves and doing quite well at it too!

 

Snow-ish 2013

Alabama weather is always crazy. You just never know what you are going to get. Temperatures can range from 14*F in the winter to 112*F in the summer. Sometimes it snows 3 feet and sometimes its 75*F in January.

For the past couple of winters we have managed to get a pretty good snow fall, but this year was a little disappointing. It tried to snow, but nothing would stick and we were left with a wet, muddy mess!

 

Looking down into the woods. The snow is falling, but all its making is a big mud puddle!

Miss Priss in the shop trying to stay dry and warm.

Little Bit wanting so very badly to play in the snow.

At least you can somewhat see the flakes falling!

Snow 2013

 

NEHS 2013

NEHS or National Elemetary Honor Society is an organization that honors children with good grades and good behavior. You have to have both to be asked to join! And of course Miss Priss qualifies all the way around! We are so proud of this young lady and all that she accomplishes!

 

Waiting for her turn.

 Receiving her pen and certificate.

One happy young lady!