It's Cold....!!!

Remember the poinsettia.......seems to be thriving...

It's 3:45 in the afternoon and it's 67* on the front porch......whoa mama....!

Sooooo....i put out a little touch of fall.....

And it's raining....
Been raining since early this morning...

I thought it was a good day to stay in and do nothing....
Unless you count...

• an early morning hair appointment for color and cut
• two loads of laundry
• cleaning out the refrig.....ratatouille cooking in crock pot
• playing with the new camera
• making 2 more squares for the memory quilts
• pulling all the threads out of one square and starting over
• pondering why i couldn't get my purse camera to focus this AM and then realizing i had it on MACRO......ugh!.....missed the baby burro that lives down the road.....

Maybe tomorrow i'll do nothing....

Nope....CityBoy's off.....that means Wal*Mart and the grocery store....

Oh Wellllllll.....

Enjoy

Ole Mountain Woman......

In my quest to become an "ole" Mountain Woman....i've learned some of the folk lore we " ole" mountain women live be .... is a little strange.....

Like this fog in August thing....

As the lore goes.....everyday in August there is a foggy morning....you should put a bean, marble, pea, pebble, etc. into a jar, bowl, glass, etc.....

A small item for a light fog or a large item for a heavy fog.....hummmmm

Then when you count at the end of the month... you will know how many light snows and how many heavy snows you can expect during the winter.......

The guy at the hardware store has been correct for the last twenty-some-odd years....

Another ....hummmmmm

Then you've got this black squirrel...bees and wasp thing....

If the bees and wasps build their nest up high......it's gonna be a bad winter...

If you see a black squirrel .....it's gonna be a bad winter.....

Now all of this brings this fairly new "ole" mountain woman to ....today!!

Heavy fog this morning......wasp nest being build under the 30ft over hang of the house.....black squirrel ran across the road in front of me driving to work.....

Does this mean another bad winter...???!!

No Wait...!!

It's still July.....whewwwwww...!!!

Enjoy

Ps........did i mention the "good ole boy"...driving the rusted-out truck....eating the Egg McMuffin that waved at me......what does that mean......???!!!

Playing with the new Nikon.......

A new close-up for Princess Mia

The Queen Bee....MissKitty...actually looked into the lens....
.

and The Crown Prince...Max....check out the chin-on-the-rail trick....

Enjoy

Ohhhhhhhh Man....!!

Max here....

Just when i had that peeking thru the hair....soulful-sad-eyed Johnny Depp look down to a science...

Mom said....

"you need a Hair Cut...!!"

The only thing i hate more is a Baaattthhh.....

Hey....hey...!!...careful there's an ear in there somewhere....

Ohhhhh....the cat.....princess Mia and dad are watching.....

Ahhh....the male child is taking pictures...!!

the humiliation.... :(

Whoaaa....... are you gonna snatch me bald....!

Take it easy....!!!

Whew.......almost done....!!

Did you leave me any "neck" hair.....??

You know Princess Mia chews on me..!

Had to post these pictures of Max.....his facial expressions are priceless....

Enjoy

Yes.......Yes.....Yes....!!

Rain......Glorious......Rain......!!

Yesterday....mid-afternoon.....about 3 hours....!!
Everything looks green this AM!!

Weather gurus ....your dart hit the right square this time.....congrats!!

But....if you send more today....could you leave out the thunder and lightening....???

Scares Princess Mia and she has to hid in the male child's room ALLLLLLL night...
Thanks

Enjoy

Front Porch Sitt'n......

This is where i'd like to spend my day....

But....with the temps soaring into the 90's and the empty refrig and pantry situation......
I guess it's off to do the errands.......ugh....:(

Maybe this afternoon....
And BTW....Mr. Weather Man....."where's that rain you predicted for the next four days..?"

Enjoy

Hummmmmmm..........

When i first saw this picture....i thought....

Ahhh look....he's sunning his self......little did i know at that time...

He had been very busy....eating with the speed of a "bunny"....

Look at those little teeth chomp into the apple.....!!

And they're in the corn feeder.....!!

Maybe the deer are not to blame for the cleaned out front yard buffet every night....

Hummmmmm.....???!!!

Enjoy

Working this Weekend......

Have a great and wonderful weekend....

Get out and investigate what's surrounding you....

And don't let the little things in life...get in your way...!!

Enjoy

For Paula in Texas..........

Look....look....there are the flies.......one on her forehead and one on her nose.....!!

The amount on her legs was just tooooo gross to publish.......

Flies are Reeeeaaalllyyy bad this year..!!

And Paula........look at that beady little black eye.....giving me the LOOK!!

Love this new ZOOM lens..!!

Enjoy

It's here......!!!

The new Baby...!!

Introducing Nikon...Colorpix P100..

She comes complete with all the bells and whistles....

P...S....A...M....???...Gott'a learn all that....

Shutter speed......amount of light to use with the flash.....??

MACRO......???

Portrait..??

It has 26X zoom.......whoa!!...Mama!!.....i can see the birds eyeball and the flies on the deer...!!

I've studied the manual.......it's in "Greek".....at least to me it looks like Greek.....!!

I guess it's time to teach this old dog some new tricks....

Enjoy

Look What I Did.....

I finished the table runner that's been waiting since March...!!

I've used this pattern before and this Moda material.....

But this time i added a little button/material flower......just for fun...!!

and i'm pleased with the backing...binding and the quilting....!!

I also finished two more blocks on the memory quilts i'm working on and feel the urge to make more..!!

Does mean the Mojo is back....??!!

Enjoy

ps.....they are all white-tail deer....BlackFace and her daughter are the only ones we've ever seen with those markings..........strange!!!

It's a Party......

and the guests seem to arrive around dust.....

This is last year's doe, we named BlackFace (on left) and what i believe is one of her fawns from last year......maybe Jill....(she sure looks like Mama)...

They showed up yesterday after the doe with Thelma and Lou had finished the buffet...

So.....i rushed right out...threw more apples and corn.....can't have anyone going hungry...!!

For those who asked.......i used my little Canon SureShot A550.....with as much zoom as it can give me......i was standing on the front porch.....the deer are in the front yard....within 50 feet of the house...

After i get the pictures......i play with PhotoShop....to improve the shot ..... then crop....save .....and pray for the best......!!

Nothing fancy....just a small pocket camera and a computer program....

Whew..!!....just counted....the herd is up to six already...(if i count the little buck that shows up occasionally)......maybe CityBoy needs a second part-time job .....

Gott'a pay for the feed somehow...!!!

Enjoy

Double AaaaaaaHHHHH....!!

Look who showed up yesterday......

Twins!!

That's it...!!
I said i wasn't gonna do it this year....
Can't stop myself....!!!

Yes....!!.......i've named them......!!

Thelma and Louise....
(hope Louise isn't male......oh well.....i guess i'll just call'um Lou)

Enjoy

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh....

...first fawn of the year...!!

Enjoy

Yikes....!!

....do you remember this....!!??

Or this.....!!??

Now that we're in the middle of a major heat wave....

These pictures look appealing...in a strange sort'a way.....

Enjoy

Thankful Thursday.....

Most of the time i forget to be thankful for all the blessing i have surrounding me....

So many things i just take for granted and go about my daily routine...

This morning driving to work i started to list my blessing in my mind.....

What a shock to realize it took me almost the entire drive....a good 35 minutes.....with very little "hard" thinking...!!

However.....please put me in your prayers......the state has to cut the state parks budget by another 2.7 million dollars........looks like "they" may cut time off my job.......again!@!!***

Hey....at least it's a job and i love

it and i'm very "thankful" for it....!!

Enjoy

They're Gone.......

Yep....they loaded up the "Jetta" stagecoach and took off in a cloud of diesel fumes.....

Headed for hot-Atlanta...!!

They've been away from home almost two weeks and the boys are missing Dad and the BFF's....

It was great.....a good time was had by all.....can't wait for them to come back...!!

Now i need a day off to rest....

Enjoy

Am i MIA.....

No...!!

Just made a quick trip to .....

Tweetsie Railroad

For those of you who don't know......Tweetsie.....is a western theme amusement park in the Blowing Rock area....

It's small....it's old.....it's expensive.....it's corny.....the acting is strictly amature.....the train is a real steam engine......the food is good.......the ski lift is still scary.....the kids love the rides and the arcade.....can't miss the Fudge Shop or the Funnel Cake Factory.....it's fun....

The female child and the grands (including the grand dog) came in Saturday night and Tweetsie seemed the best why to spend a weather perfect family Sunday......

Enjoy

After.......

Sorry about the quality of these pictures....yesterday was a very hazy.....hazy...hazy summer day.....by 7:30pm the mountain had disappeared behind a wall of haze....

Anyway.....can you see the cabin???

We changed the color and now blend in with the surrounding trees and foliage...

This picture not only competes with the hazy ... but...the dust from my truck racing up the driveway.....

Squint your eyes...enlarge the pix and you can see the patio table, chairs and container garden on the new cement slab....needs a few more flowers....

And finally....... The new color!!!

We used Sikkens Stain and the rep told us this is the best color stain for the area we live in....

He also suggested that we use the left over stain (from the lighter color) as a base coat for the double coat of the new stain.....and that's what we did...!!

Now here's the draw back.......stain "must" be brushed on......no spraying...and each coat "must" dry completely before the next is applied!!!

Took two guys...with many brushes and really tall ladders.....over four weeks to complete!!

But....It's DONE!!!

Enjoy

Before.....

These are the before shots.....

The little cabin in the Twelve Acre Wood had a problem...

The stain on the logs was wearing-off on the NW and SW sides....

"What...!!....you say...!!??

The stain is less than 4 years old....what about the warranty.....??!!

Well...we used a name brand...suppose to be a "good, up-standing company".....

and you know what......they are!!

The Rep came out......he said.."yep!...you got a problem..." and approved us for enough stain to re-do the logs with a "double" coat".....

Wish all our issues were this easy to solve...

After pictures tomorrow...hopefully!!

Enjoy

Max's Way......

Just heard on the radio......today is....

National "Tell the Truth Day"

And Max is here to tell you that this is the only place to be on a HOT.....HOT.....HOT ....summer day....!!!

In the middle of the male child's bed ..... under the ceiling fan....!!

If i believed in reincarnation.....i'd want to come back as Max....

What a guy....!!??

Enjoy

Just dropping in......

......to say..."Good Morning"...

and let you know the HEAT is still on....

OMGoodness....now i've got another Pointer Sister song in my head....

"The Heat is On......"!!....da....da....da.....!!

Enjoy

Monday.......

it's a "back to" day...

Back to work....

Back to the daily routine....

Back to driving the same route....

Back to cooking the same things.....

Back to letting the dogs and cat....in and out....in and out.....

Back to watching the some ole stuff on TV.....

Back to pinching pennies.....

Back to being very thankful that i can enjoy all these "back to"....

In other words.....Back to normal......!!

Enjoy

Happy 4th.....

Happy Birthday......Little Brother...!!

Enjoy

TGIF.......

....Hey! Max here.......am i the first......to see the weekend creeping over the horizon....!!

Look at Mom's bag....she seems to have some sort'a plan for this weekend.....

Hummm.....hummmm....hope it involves lots of goooood food......love those treats from the table.....

I also heard some talk about going to the "Christmas in July" celebration on Saturday...wonder if they allow funny faced little black dogs...that like to sit in the windows ...pretending to be a cat....??

Well......this is Max signing off.....got bunnies to chase and birds to bark at....

Have a Great 4th and Happy Birthday Uncle Bruce......!!

Enjoy