Farewell 2010

I don't have anything profound to say as I bid a fond farewell to 2010 tonight. It's been a very good year, in spite of losing my beloved cat, Cooper, to an untimely death, but fortunately that was my only greatest lost. I am truly blessed to have my 80 plus year old parents still with us and in good health, and the rest of my family near and far are also equally blessed with health.

Our new home!

It was a year of change; with saying good-bye to my old life and home, and embracing our new house, a new city and location in the country. A year of celebration; of my parents 60th Anniversary; of news that a son will marry; of news that we will be grandparents again, not once, but twice in the new year! It was a year of blessing, as is every year that I'm fortunate enough to pay witness to. I pray for peace, love, happiness and health to all, especially to those who are near and dear to my heart.

~*~ Happy 2011 to us all! ~*~

        

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There Go the Neighborhood?

It started again this afternoon. The beep, beep, beep, beep of heavy construction equipment. My heart sank, again! I wanted to shout, "Knock it off! Go home! Get lost! LEAVE!!" The angry expletives turned to simple pleads of "please, just go".

It began in mid November. The heavy machinery came, as did the flat bed trucks, ready to haul the fallen pine trees away that were felled on the wooded acreage directly across the dirt road from us. I lost count after 16 flat-bed, timber-laden loads lumbered down our dirt road. Nearly a weeks worth of machinery noise, 7 a.m.- 4 p.m., disturbing our country quite. And then, all was quiet again.

Several weeks have passed, and a new fear grips me..that now it's not just logging going on, but a clearing of land that may be happening. I want to believe perhaps a pond is being put in, or a new easier access drive. a  short-cut across their land to the dirt road that's happening. In reality, I sense perhaps a new home might be getting ready to be built. But worst case scenario would be a development of several new homes. Oh, how sad that would be. I will be heartbroken! I can't imagine having a lifelong dream of finally moving to the country, having only the woods and wildlife as our neighbors, shattered...the irony. I pray it's only my imagination getting the better of me. The new year ahead will prove what will come to be!

Ho Ho Home

Wonderful first Christmas in our new home! Our four kids and their spouses/significant others and five of our six grand kids spent several hours here Christmas night, the last stop for them all of the day. We hunkered down in the LR and exchanged gifts, munched on a table full of heavy appetizers and sipped either wine, coolers, beer, punch or soda. The night even blessed us with snow flurries (!!), which was so special for several reasons: a) our location b) to happen near or on Xmas c) to have the whole family together in one place to actually witness and enjoy!

I will say, initially, it was an emotional first Christmas here. I was so missing our sweet kitty, Cooper, who passed in February and always made Christmas even more special with his presence.  I miss that boy so very much!
It was also hard opening the boxes of Christmas deco's, and feeling totally overwhelmed, flooded with 23 yr's of past memories in the old house, and feeling like nothing belonged here. I had a mini melt-down when I opened that first box and began to sort through all the Christmas decorations that always had their own special place in the old house. I had to stop; I went to the window to watch the feeding birds out back and just let the tears flow..much to grieve before I could embrace the new. It was needed and cathartic, and helped me gain perspective to move on and enjoy the rest of the holiday season, which turned out just great!
Yup. Sigh. Welcome ho, ho, home :)

Buggin' Out..

A walking stick paid us a visit. They are just too cool!! Coming or going?

These other guys are quite unusual also. The red one, so brightly colored (!) moved very fast..couldn't keep up with it, thus the blurry picture. The other bug was quite large, carrying either a mate or a young one on its back.

Celebrating 60 Years!

The surprise garden party for my parent's 60th anniversary turned out great, and they were none the wiser. It was just us five kids and their spouses and children. The day was gorgeous, sunny and warm. 
We started the gathering under the canopy with appetizers, wine, beer and sodas..my folks thought that alone was great, just that we could all be together on their special day. A little later, a limo arrived. Dad saw it pull up out front, and said, "that's odd..they must be lost". Little did they know it was for them! They were totally surprised..a champagne limo ride with just their children included to destinations of their choice. They chose to give us a guided tour down memory lane of all their favorite haunts and hangouts, schools, etc while dating and during their early marriage (in the neighboring town).
While we were all away, our sisters-in-law quickly decorated the back yard swing with white balloons and crepe paper, and pulled up some chairs and table benches in front of it. Upon returning, we surprised them with a ceremony of reaffirming their vows as they sat on the swing (one of my brother's "officiated"), exchanging cute little mood rings, while bubbles filled the air after the "I do's" were exchanged. With some special music, they danced to their song. There were tears in all of our eyes. We then had our fill of some great catered food and as evening grew dark we all sat around the fire pit in the woods and roasted marshmallows till we couldn't hang any longer and hit the bed.
 
It was wonderful. They were amazed how we pulled all the details and arrangements off without a hitch, especially with my sister and I out of state, without them knowing a thing. They thought it the greatest gift. Actually, the gift is ours, to have such loving and wonderful parents. We are truly blessed!  
Love you, Mom and Dad, and wish you many more happy years together!!

Winter Garden

Got back from NY and decided it wasn't too late to get a little garden going, of winter veg. So bought some T-posts, some flexible fencing (hardware cloth?), some manure and compost, some veg and seed and dug right in. I have a small rototiller that helped speed things along breaking up the soil and mixing the amendments in. I planted plants of broccoli, collards, cabbage and kale, and seeded a separate bed of winter squash. I also planted seeds of spinach, Swiss chard and rutabaga, and some garlic cloves. I've not tried growing any of them, other than garlic before. So, I believe, all being cool weather veg, I hope they'll do well. Everything is up and growing, so far. I made it a long and narrow plot, 2' x 20' ft, as I read deer won't likely try to jump into a space that's too small. We'll see! I love all the winter veggies, and would be real tickled if I managed to grow a few myself!

Family Changes..7 and 8!

The grand kids (l-r): Will, Jaycie, Alex, Dawson, Abby and Brody

Well, I'll be darned. Just found out I'll be a grandma, again!! Just before going to NY my daughter informed me she and her husband were expecting their 4th child next April (we're all thinking it's a boy..she'll find out next month)..excitement enough there. And now I just found out my step-son and fiance (who are to be married in February 2011) are expecting a baby, too..in June! That will be grandchild # 8!! Wholly molly!! Our kids are keeping us on our toes with all these grand children, but we love it, and are thankful we're young enough and fit enough to enjoy them. We are blessed! Hope both pregnancies go smoothly and without a hitch!

Wildlife Friends..

The turkeys from a few months ago are back..saw the rafter of 10, more grown since then. We always call out "turk alert!" to let each other know they're spotted and to come look. The little covey of bobwhite quail have been regular visitors, sometimes several times a day, to the seed I throw on the ground for the birds everyday..so cute! And a young doe had been stopping by to nibble the seed on the ground nearly every day, but haven't seen her for the past week or so. Hope she's okay. Nicknamed "Deary" by my sister, she has a scar on both shoulders, which always helped me identify that it was her. I've seen a few spotted fawns together across the road, and a mama and her yearling out front. I love it! I made a little chart, placed on the door inside a kitchen cabinet, where I notate which species I saw, how many, the date, time and location around the house..just for fun. Aaah..I love seeing the wildlife!

Broken Pond..

Don't know what to do with the little ornamental pond the previous owners built. There must be a leak in the liner, as every time I fill it, the water level drops and stops at the same level. I'll have to completely drain it and see if I can find the hole. But not now. Maybe once all the leaves have dropped. I just put a net across the top so it wouldn't fill with a foot of leaves (like when I first saw it last year). 
Previous owner said the pond is just a child's plastic pool with a liner over it. Can't find where they had any tubing to go to the waterfall, or electric to pump it, for that matter, yet rock is stacked for the falls. Hmmm. Then they surrounded it by rock, cementing the rock together, which will not make replacing the liner easy without being able to easily remove the cemented rock. It's not done well at all. I'd like to redo it so it looks more natural, one day, like the one I had to leave behind at our old place (I miss it!). But for now the two little frogs in there who found it call it home:)

Summer or Fall??!

The leaves are turning color and the many oak trees surrounding the house are dropping leaves like crazy. We listen to the acorns bounce off the roof as they drop from tree to ground. The squirrels are out there busy gathering nuts and we know it's Fall. But the temps are still summer-ish, in the 80's during the day, 40's or 50's at night. I dug out the sweats, ready for cooler weather, but it ain't happening yet! I'm ready for the change. But that's okay..I love Fall, and hope it sticks around for quite a bit longer!

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Grand kids Dawson and Jaycie..love the eeewww faces!

Boys Bake, too!

I kept grandson, Brody, here after school for a while the other day till his daddy came for him, and so to keep him occupied, we baked an apple pie for Pop Pop, to surprise him. Pop Pop loves anything with apples, and if it has cinnamon, all the better. He's got a real sweet tooth, anyway! So, when telling Brody of the plan, he said "but I don't know how to make a pie!", that's when Grandma (me) told him I'd show him how. First, we had to don the customary apron all the grand kids know they wear when cooking/baking with me. We proceeded to make the pie, and a mess and he had a blast doing it. And was Pop Pop happy and surprised!

Brody and his Dad..it was a good pie..yum!

Shedding It's Walls

We tore down the old paneling in my garden shed the other day to get to the wiring, which was all screwed up. We knew we'd have to do it when we bought this place. Had to first pull all the stuff stored in there to center of the room, then armed with pry bars and claw hammers, Pete, myself and our two good friends went to town tearing the walls down. Made fast work of it. Loaded the panels into the utility trailer to take to the dump Saturday. Lots of yuk mixed in with the insulation (mouse droppings) through the years, which will all be replaced when new walls go up. And once new walls are up Pete will build me a closet and shelves for storage and finally get everything up off the floor. Hubby helped friend Pat rewire it, so now everything is working as it should. Thanks guys!

Cheese Souffle'

Thought I'd try my hand at a cheese souffle'. Came out great and not that hard at all to make. Doesn't it look pretty? Lexi kitty thinks so, too. Love that shot. It's so her! She thinks her job is to be food quality control cat..wanting to taste any and every food item she can get away with. Sorry, girl :)

We're Back..Home from NY

It's been several month's since my sister came for a visit, then she and I taking the train to NY to celebrate with family our parents 60th wedding anniversary in August. What a wonderful couple of weeks. Time with my sister went all too fast but it was great to have her here at our new house and have some quality one-on-one sister time before the big trip home. We filled our time wisely! And need I say time with the folks and family back home was delightful. And it was great to have Pete drive up to spend some time with everyone before collecting me for the trip back to AL. Though I miss everyone terribly, it did feel good getting grounded again here and back in routine of daily life, surrounded by things I love in my little corner of the world. I've got so much to catch up on, including this blog!

Rural mail...

I get such a kick out of our mail delivery...a gal delivers in a rust colored pick-up truck with a US Mail bumper sticker on the tailgate. Our dirt road dead-ends, so they stop at the neighbors down there first, then us on the way out. I can always hear the truck when I'm outside, speeding down the road from quite a distance away..usually between 8:30 and 9 a.m. If I see a trail of dust around that time, I know it was the mail truck that just came by! Love it :)

Summer fun..

Our two youngest granddaughters were here this past wkend and spent the night. They're only a year apart in age and always have fun together. We made homemade pizza for dinner (I always have the grand kids in the kitchen helping to make something).

The 90 plus degree weather was ideal for pulling out the kiddie pool for them, tho filling it with the well water proved to be icy cold! They also had fun filling water balloons from the outdoor sink's faucet and throwing at each other. My sweetie and I loaded them into the car and then off for ice cream that evening. The next morning after breakfast, we spread a blanket on the front porch and played a few card and board games before it was time to go. Everyone enjoyed:)

Trying my hand..

Made my first small batch of peach jam..the no-cook kind. Just followed simple directions on back of pkg of Ball brand fruit pectin. Real easy, and good. My eldest son gave me about 12 peaches from his tree so I thought I'd try my hand at freezer/refrigerator jam. After peeled, cut and mashed they only made three cups rather than four that the recipe called for, so I ended up with four jars rather than five. It called for 1 1/2 cups sugar, but I would have gagged at that much (not a big sweets person), so reduced it to just a little less than 1 cup and it worked great..that really let the flavor of peach come thru without the over-bearing sweetness of the sugar. Yum! I brought him and wife over a jar to sample and came home with a bunch more peaches! Maybe a cobbler or pie this time?

Gobble gobble..

(Image from Google)

Turkey's out front..

Sitting on porch (yes, again..love it) with morning coffee, catching up with email, and caught site of a rafter of turkeys (five in this group..we've seen 12 this past winter) taking a stroll, stopping to munch, along side the side of the house down to the dirt road, then into the woods. Looks like a tom, a gobbler (he had the "beard", the long breast feather hanging from his chest), with his harem of females following behind. They often stop for the seed on the ground below the feeders. We see them quite often, and it never stops giving me a thrill each time I do! Don't see that in suburbia! I feel so lucky :)

Breezing along..

So tickled my new ceiling fan is up and giving off additional cool breezes in my kitchen.."foodie' that I am, I LIVE in the kitchen, and as open as it is, even with AC, it can still get too warm for my liking. My eldest son and his wife gave it as a Mother's Day gift and it's finally installed. We waited till most of house was set up and major unpacking out of the way. It replaced the two very ugly, very bright, shop-like fluorescent lights that I despised (you can see evidence of the unpainted part of ceiling after taking one down on right of pic). Much nicer ambient light. My son put it up himself while my sweetie was at work, a nice surprise for him to come home and find it up and running. Love it!

Steamy..

Whoo-wee! It's 4 pm and 101.3 freaking degrees out here with a heat index of 117 degrees (no doubt!)! Dang.. it's been consistently, brutally, hot and the high humidity adds to the misery. I headed outside this morning to give the poor young fruit trees a much needed drink, and by 8:30 a.m. it was already 91! I worked outside for four hours, getting some chores taken care of (I had to be nuts); then stripped out of my totally drenched clothes, showered, did a few chores inside, then in to town for some groceries/supplies. Back now and unloaded, I officially call it... It's "beer:30", as my sons like to say, whenever it's time to open a cold one. Sitting on front porch swing, sweating, but chilling out, and though not a big beer person, there's nothing like tossing back an ice cold brew when the temperature rises to help cool ya down!..ah, yeah.. starting my weekend right.! Cheers!

Little helper..

Abby, granddaughter #2, spent the night Sunday..the first of the grand kids to do so in our new house. We had a blast. I kept her busy doing chores. We refilled the hummer feeders, fed the birds, made more homemade laundry soap, did dishes, washed and hung clothes ("this is fun!") on the line, and when her Mom, sister and brother came to visit and pick her up, we all made two blueberry pies (one for Pop Pop, one to take home) from the gallon bucket of berries (from our one bush) I had frozen. My grand kids know when they spend the night we have quality/learning and hands on time..I don't feel required to whisk them off to the mall to shop, or take them to the playground so they have something to do, or let them sit idly in front of the TV or computer for hours..no, no. We do, and we talk, and we have fun while doing. I'm looking forward to many more fun memories and sleep-overs with them here in the new house :)

Rant..

What started out as a nice early morning walk found me gritting my teeth. More litter found strewn alongside our dirt road. Can't even take a nice walk without seeing someone's leavings! Who do these people think pick up their litter when they toss it out the car window?? Schmucks like me, I guess, cause that's just what I do when I see it along our road..I don't want to look at it trashing up our pretty little country setting, or the environment. People who litter are such slobs. They need to have someone slap 'em upside the head and teach them right. Grrr....

Fly away..

(Image from Google)

Aww..sadly just finished burying my first little wild critter since we've been here..a pretty little mourning dove found lying near the front of the house. Didn't appear injured or attacked by something. Wondering if it was the same little dove I saw sitting off by itself in one spot for quite a long time yesterday, feathers fluffed (not a good sign, it's not cold out), motionless. Poor little thing. I hate to see any critter die, I just love animals so much. Since I'd not yet established a good burial area yet for those in need, I chose a spot on the opposite side of our property from the well (a good thing, I guess), along the tree line. I know it won't be the last I put to rest while living here. Spread you wings towards heaven, little one.

Hot diggity damn..

Plans are now wrapped up for my sis from Seattle to visit us for five days here, mid Aug., then we'll hop the overnight Amtrak train from Birmingham (we've got a small "roomette" for sleeping) to NY (30 mi. north of NYC) for home to visit with our folks (it will be their 60th, we'll celebrate while there) and our three brother's and their families. So excited! This will be year three that she and I have done this and it works out great. She then flies out of NY after a 10 day visit, and I hang for a few weeks, after which Pete drives up for a week's visit, gathers me up and we drive home together. I'm especially excited to have my sis here (we're so tight anyway) since she's not been to our new home yet, has just seen the outside. So many things to share and new memories to make with her, I can't wait!! Yahoo and hot diggity damn!!

Motivation, or lack of..

(Finished, with more Lantana plants added)

Trying to find some energy to get my butt up and outside to finish mulching the flower bed out back that I created. Also need to get the clothes off the line that got rained on yesterday afternoon, and go turn over the compost pile I've recently started before today's predicted 60% chance of rain sneaks up on me. I look at several boxes still sitting in each room needing unpacked..losing my motivation. Maybe if it rains and I have to take it inside I'll get to them.
Coffee..more coffee!!

Hats off...

Watching the free Jimmy Buffet concert from our own Alabama Gulf Shores on TV (a commercial free broadcast) while waiting on my roasted chicken in the oven. Daughter and family are down there at the beach this wkend, and were hoping to attend. Wish I could be there, too! Looks like a fun, very large, supportive crowd, raising awareness for the gulf. Tho in a disastrous situation, the folks who live & make their living in the area all need our support. Alabama's gulf (and neighboring states along the gulf) is hurting with this oil spill. Bravo to CMT (Country Music Television) and Jimmy Buffet and his love for the gulf in generating tourist revenue and re-newing the spirit of the area!

Lexi; Birthday kitty..

Happy 15th Birthday to my little Lexi kitty!! What a sweet girl you are. You came to us at two years old, a little squirt. You had found your niche within our pet family and have seen the passing of Kit (17 yr's), Tater bunny (10 yr's) and Cooper kitty (7 yr's). You have shared your life with them all, always the sweet, docile girl that you are. Mama can't tell you how special you are. Happy Birthday, little girl! I wish you many more!

'Round to it..

Propane guy came with his truck and pumped in some fuel. Hot dog. Last time we got some was in March, three months ago. Now that we're living here, we'll be able to gauge usage a little better; was sporadic when we'd come here in the evenings and weekends to do work on the house. I feel rich, like I do when I fill up my car's gas tank now and then! We got to talking about the weather. He told me, in his deep southern drawl, that he heard on the TV that if we don't have rain by end of this week, it's predicted it might be a spell before we get any more. I countered how I hated using all that well water to keep my new fruit trees going. I wondered if this was typical country folk talk, and smiled inside.

Finally made a dent this afternoon in unpacking boxes and putting stuff away in our bedroom, the only room that I hadn't made much headway with. I mean, we have clean linens, clean clothes and unders and furniture in place; all the other miscellaneous crapola had been put on the back burner. Feels good to have most of the boxes outta there and enjoying that new livable space! As I unpacked, I found myself still weeding unwanted stuff out, a good thing. So much STUFF. I did enjoy, tho, taking some time to read thru some love letters, look at some old photo's and miscellaneous items from days gone by. Had to remind myself to press on and save the rest for a rainy day! So much still to do!

How in the world..

I always wanted a front porch..better yet, big enuff to have a swing. When we thought of building on our seven acres, I only looked at floor plans with porches. It was a prerequisite. Now, at this place, I not only have one large porch, but TWO..one out front, and one in back, and EACH with a swing. How lucky am I?? Question is, how in the world will I ever get anything done?!

Front Porch

Back Porch