It's Only Been Two Years

A couple of years ago, my daughter, Mary, asked me to take some special fabric she had and make her a scrub top. I agreed but since we were just before moving into our new home, and all that goes with that, I knew that if I didn't get it finished before the move, it would be lost from me for quite a while. Recently, I got a sewing bug when I was asked to split five table cloths in half for the Baha'i Center and stitch up the raw side to create ten table cloths. I came across the scrub top fabric and guiltily decided it was past tiem to get it done! Well, now I remember what my delay was in finishing the top in 2007. I couldn't figure out how to do the V neck. Now some might say what's the big deal but I had never sewed one before and the directions were very vague and unclear so I struggled then laid it aside until after the move. Today, was the time to deal with it. Wayne found a nice web site but its directions were no better than the ones I had. So after messing with it long enough, I finally got it done! Then I took a pic for all to see... especially Mary.

Nature's Wonders

Look what landed on my front porch yesterday









My blueberry bushes on the day of planting in April. I am amazed at how much they have developed in such a short time. See below.
Both bushes are just full of berries. We have a lot of stuff growing but nothing else that is very impressive yet...

In the Garden

I know, it has been forever since I have blogged. Been busy and could not think of anything interesting enough to keep from boring everybody. Here you see our garden efforts both flower and vegetable. The bird bath is surrounded by perennials that we hope will eventually fill up the surrounding rock circle. The other picture is of my pansys and some new annuals I just put out.

Well, that's it for now. Gotta lot of things to do so I will do more blogging later. Oh, and the greenery you see around that tree trunk that the bird bath sits on is the tree's attempt to grow new branches. Amazing, huh?

Down on the Farm

On the way home from Asheville, via the back way out Leicester Highway, last week, (Wayne, Eddie and I) Wayne says, "All right, look for a sign along the way that sells eggs and we will check it out." So I looked on the right and Eddie looked on the left to cover the area most efficiently. We were within a mile of our turn off to head toward our house when Eddie spotted a sign. It said "Organic Eggs and Feed, 2.5 miles as we raced by it. So we had to turn around and go back and then turn right onto South Turkey Creek Road. We crused along slowly until we came to a dirt road with an "egg" sign on the left so we turned. We had to cross a wodden bridge that said "go slowly across this bridge" and here is where we wound up. Boy, were we in for a treat. Chickens running around everywhere.
Baby goats, mommy goats, horses, guinas, and little piggies abounded.













This is Amber sitting next to Wayne. She thinks she is a dog so she snuggles like one. She had had twin kids but they both died (preemies who didn't make it) so she found her a new baby (who had its own mother) and she adopted it and began to nurse it herself. Now that kid really has it made. Two moms who love it dearly and all the milk one can imagine! Amber fell in love with Wayne's shirt and kept trying to nibble on it (goats only have top teeth and as such, have to really work on things to be able to get items into their mouths so Wayne's shirt was unharmed. She also began to lick Wayne's neck and ears (just like Buddy used to do, Cade used to do and Cadie now does). Remember, she thinks she's a dog. :)

Now let me introduce you to some of the Kings of the Hill amongst the chickens: There are 8 of them but I only got shots of a few. The first one is Foghorn-Leghorn and he thinks he is hot stuff(he crows the loudest).















Next is Spot. How proud he is. But not the noise maker of his fellow King.


Now the last one I am going to show is Star. Doesn't he just look like he thinks he is a star?
Each of the roosters are a different "make" of chicken and they pick their harem from those chickens who belong to their "make" (if that makes sense).








Anyway, we had a great time yesterday on our second visit to the Farm, known as the Double G Ranch (for the couple who own it who are Valerie and Lance Graves). This time we had gone to get Sara and Carmel and we took them with us as a special surprise. The horseback riding they got to do was a surprise for us as well.

Then and Now

This is Cadie last winter(late October). She actually had longer hair than this when we clipped her this week. We just clipped away at her hair until we got it where we wanted it and said forget the groomers! Too much money.


See results below! You'd think you were looking at two different dogs.


What a great before and after...

6" of snow and still falling

This is unreal, yet awesome. Snowbound in April. That would make a good title of a book, don't you think? We were supposed to have house guests today and tomorrow. The guys were going to go fishing... slightly postponed, to say the least. Cadie is having her usual good time playing in the snow when outside. We actually are in blizzard conditions up on this mountain. By Thursday all of this will be gone, most likely. Temps are supposed to be in the 50's to 60's. Today we are in the low 20's.

One of my "can't sleep" moments

Here it is, 5:17 AM and I am so wide awake you'd think that it was time to get up. I get tired of just lying there so sometimes I get up, like today, and find something productive to do. Then I may go back to bed and get a few more hours of sleep before rising for the day. I checked all of the blogs to be sure I was up to date. Saw that hilarious email pic from Tag of the winner in the dog obedience class. I am still laughing from it.

It is getting close to Spring and we are going to have to bite the bullet and shave Cadie's hide to get rid of all the mats within her 6 inch long fur. We have been dreading it because we do not have sheep shears and that is probably what would be the best thing to use... It must get done before we go to AZ the last of April, that's all there is to it. Hope to have before and after pics because one may not recognize her when she is clipped that closely. She has really enjoyed Eddie's presence in the house. They play frequently and she adores this. but then every time he comes out of his bedroom suddenly, she jumps up and barks loudly and scares my ears!! (an expression Bonnie used to say when a loud noise sounded off in her ears as a young toddler).

We visited my cousin, Anna, last weekend in Huntersville (now truly a suburb of Charlotte). Had a great time. We went to Charlotte's brand new Ikea! Yeaaa! And we also went to one of three Trader Joe's! Isn't that the greatest? Anna says she is impressed with Trader Joe's and plans to go again. Mmmmm, no surprise, huh? They drove us all over Charlotte and I nearly flipped! I don't even recognize this city any more. Except for the same street names I am just flabbergasted at the many changes that have been made. I did shoot some pics but haven't imported them into my iPhoto yet and my camera is not in here in the room with me. Don't want to wake others so, will post the best ones later. They have (a sometimes) elevated electric driven train going thru town for commuters. Can you believe it? We gotta make another trip to this city and look over all of these many changes again. The Carolina Panthers stadium is smack in the middle of town covering the ground that the first company Wayne worked for back in 1961, used to sit on. We were just in culture shock.

Guess that is enough rambling around for now. Need to get back to bed and catch some more zzzzzzzzs.