Merry Christmas....

The staff lunch and breakfast have been eaten...

The walnut-pear bread is baked...

The missing present has appeared...

(it was USPS not UPS)

the presents are almost wrapped....

and now I sit here waiting on a last minute gift for the MaleChild..

hopefully it gets here before the flash-flood warning rains move in...

The winning Christmas card picture is coming your way....

Sooo

I'm taking a little break until after Christmas...

Have the Happiest of Holidays...!!

ps....Enlarge card to see the frost on the trees....

I'm Done...!!

I'm Done....

done...done...done...!!

Let's see all the gifts are here...

Wait..

Where's the one for my brother..?

Checking Amazon...

It's Back Ordered.....!!!

Yaaaaa.....!!

Well

I'm almost done.....almost done....almost done....!!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Max....

went to the doggie spa, too.

But he was napping and didn't want me to take his picture...

he said...."they all know how handsome I am....now go away with that flashy thing!"

..Go For Your Dreams..

First Spa Day....

Yesterday was Meg's first visit to the doggie spa...

I was a little worried because of her separation issues...

But....she did well...

She had a bubble bath...a blueberry facial and her nails done...

the groomer gave Meg an A on her behavior report card...

He also trimmed the hair ball on the end of her tail...!!

She's sooooo cute...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Last year.....

..this is what we were doing...

The weather gurus are predicting "some" snow for this weekend...

but they're saying it won't be enough to stick...

I kind'a miss the stuff....

 

Did I realllly write that ...??!!**

..Go for Your Dreams..

What Did I Ever Do....?

..before online shopping...??!!

Just a few gift cards and I'm done...

The Christmas cards are in the mail and the house has had an explosion of Christmas cheer...

Now...

My back hurts soooo bad I can hardly walk and the basement is a sea of boxes...

Oh Wellll....

Like I said ... I'm almost done....

..Go for Your Dreams..

Snow Watch.....

..not this weekend...!!

Temps will be in the high 60's low 70's...

Are we sure it's December...?

..Go For Your Dreams..

They're Back...!!

the flock came to visit me yesterday...

they've been in hiding since before Thanksgiving..

Hi Guys...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

The Winner...!!

this is the picture that made the Christmas Card this year...

Saturday mornings frost was very heavy and the sunshine was just right....

A little tweaking and voila....

the Winner...

..Go For Your Dreams..

Finally.....

The Park's barn quilt square is in place...

Adds something...don't ya think?

..Go For Your Dreams..

Thinking....

of using this picture on our Christmas Cards this year...

What'da ya think? 

Gotta decide...!!  Gotta order this weekend...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Uck Ohhhh.....

It happened as I was sitting in the turn lane for the grocery store last Wednesday....

I had left work a little early to make the stop and get home before the holiday rush traffic...

Thank Goodness it could have been worst...!

The young man who hit me was extremely upset and I suggested we call his parents and then the police...which we did...

We have the same insurance agent and the officer who took the report was the young man that worked maintenance at the park this summer...

Everyone was OK and we all shook hands and hugged goodbye....

The joys of a small town...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

View from the Front Porch.....

yesterday at 5:24 pm...

to the West......Sunset

to the East Moon Rise....

to the South....Phillips Gap...

to the North my front door...!

 

Note:  picture of Phillips Gap was from last summer.....see the hummer?

 

..Go For Your Dreams..

Can You Hear Me Now...?!

(

 (7am this morning....sunrise over the mountains)

 

CityBoy and the male parental unit are off to the VA in Tennessee....

They are picking up CityBoys hearing aides..

I've teased CityBoy for years....the reason our marriage has lasted 39 years is because he traveled the first 27 years and has not been able to hear me for the past 12 years....

Hummmm.....

Hope he likes what I have to say.....

..Go For Your Dreams..

Change of Plans....

Seems Thanksgiving is gonna be at my house this year....

Yikes...!!

This means I have to dust and vacuum...

Wonder if the family would mind having lunch at the park...?

..Go For Your Dreams..

Rainy Days

and migraines get me down...

I'd been fighting a migraine headache since Sunday and yesterday I finally gave in to it...

ugh....!!

Pain meds are a wonderful things....

except

I can't drive while I'm taking them...

But

it was OK...'cause I think we got about 2" of rain yesterday...

A good day to stay in bed...

 

..Go For Your Dreams..

A Toddler....

Having a young dog is like having a toddler in the house..!

Meg....

she's made herself at home ...

she's got toys all over the floor and doesn't pick them up....

she's got an inside bark and an outside bark....

she gives lots of kisses and likes to cuddle...

she gets Max up off the couch and makes him play...

she loves the CAT...and her stuffed banana...!

she's a chow hound....can't get enough to eat...

cries when we leave and is over joyed when we come home...

Yep

Like a toddler...!

What's not to love?

ps....LobsterMan is still with us - minus a couple of legs....

..Go For Your Dreams..

It's a Tough Job....

But someones gotta hold down the dogs' bed....

Right, Misskitty...?

..Go For Your Dreams..

Good Morning....!

View from the front porch at 6:45 this morning....

..Go For Your Dreams..

Fall is hanging on....

But...

You know "ole man winter" is on the way when the weather guru's starting tossing around the phrase....."possible flurries for the mountains"....

I heard it twice on yesterdays local news cast...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

this "Sums" It Up.....

..Go For Your Dreams..

Time Moves Along...

It happens every Fall...

The Dillard Brothers appear out of the morning fog and mist to mow the acreage and "fix" the washed-out driveway...

It happened a little bit later this year due to the rainy weather we've had for the last few weeks.

But....now we look like this...

and guess what?

It's raining again...!

"So Long"....new driveway.....  ;(

..Go For Your dreams..

Hello...Old Friend..!

the Sun is out this morning..!

Shine brightly while you can ... the weather gurus are predicting more rain and fog by mid-afternoon..

..Go For Your Dreams..

OK...I'm Ready

this has been the view from the front porch for the last few days....

Wet and foggy!

Last year at this time we had snow on the ground...

I'm ready for some of those bright sunny cold days of a North Carolina fall...

but

this year you can keep the snow...

Thanks..!

..Go For Your Dreams..

11 Years Old....

we think...!

Misskitty had a birthday....

Since we first noticed her running around the woods in late October nine years ago we decided her official birthday would be Halloween...

The vet estimate at the time we rescued her she was 2 years old and we've had her for nine years....

2+9=11

Right?

Anyway......that evil look in her eyes makes Halloween the perfect birthday for the cat from Hell...!

We love you kitty....

..Go For Your Dreams..

Still with Us.....

Lobster Man...!

He's missing two felt legs..but..he's still here..

this could be a record for the Guinness  book..

..Go For Your Dreams

Hanging Around....

the weather is nasty....cold and raining....but the back yard still has a little color hanging around.

And

It's almost time for the Christmas Tree Harvest..!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Past Peak.....

yep....the leaves have reached peak...

but there's still a few left on the trees

heading up the mountain to the park office...

..Go For Your Dreams..

Answer...

Yesterday I was asked if the "wooly worm" was a worm or a caterpillar...

Hummmmm?

So I looked it up....

the wooly worm is actually a caterpillar...

it does the usual things every good caterpillar does and then turns into this..

the Isabella Tiger Moth

..Go For Your Dreams..

Wooly Worms....

this past week the Wooly Worms have come out at my house...

the downstairs back porch has been alive with them,

So far most of them have black heads and brown bodies...

I've seen very few with black on both ends....I've seen several solid brown one...

But

Thank goodness NO solid black ones!

If the mountain lore is right this means a nasty beginning to winter and then things settle down.

At the Wooly Worm festival last weekend...the worms predicted very cold temps and very little snow for this winter.....most of the snow at the beginning of the season...

Could the little fuzzy wormies be right?

We'll have to ask the weather gurus....

Brahahahahahaha.....!!

 

..Go For Your Dreams..

 

 

Lobster Man.....!!

Max has never shown a real interest in toys..

Ohhhh

There was the occasional ball toss and the mandatory destroying of the Christmas toy.

But

Never an interest to "play" with a toy.

Now Meg that's another story...

So

Last Friday on the way home I stopped at the Goodwill store and dug through the stuffed toys and found a silly faced banana, a sleepy baby and Lobster Man.

Meg claimed the banana and Max actually pounced on Lobster Man.....

He's carried "LM" upstairs....downstairs....tried to hide LM in the cat bed....the dog bed...under the bed pillows....under his pillow....in the bed under the sheets....on the hearth....in the laundry room....under his blankie.....he's even sat on LM like an egg...he carried LM outside then let me hold it so he (Max) could take a potty break and then wanted LM right back....he's done everything but destroy it....

This is NOT like Max....maybe he needs professional help..

..Go For Your Dreams..

It's Coming.....

...the cold...!!

It's suppose to look like this Saturday and Sunday morning...

Temps are dropping into the low 20's and a heavy frost is predicted...

Wowziers....!!

Time to take in  the plants, animals and small children...

thank goodness my plants are all native.....the animals already live inside and we no longer have small children...

wheeeeeewwwww!

Guess we're safe...

.. Go For Your Dreams..

Color..??!!

Yep..!

We've got color...!

The leaves are at their peak, but there is a storm coming this weekend and we will probably lose most of them....

Hurry..!!

..Go for Your Dreams..

ps.....Meg did well and is soaking up lots of luv'n

What's a Feist....?

 Several bloggers asked...

...Well...

the most common name is Mountain Feist or Treeing Feist...

they are a small hunting dog very similar to a Jack Russell in size and temperament,

usually trained for hunting rabbits or squirrels...

They are very popular in this part of the high country.

Meg is a Feist - Beagle mix...she has the Feist body and coloring but she got that Beagle face, ears and big brown eyes...

"Smile for the camera Meg!"

...see the tuft on her tail.....that's where it was broken and is a "Z" shape.

Today is her big day with the cute Vet....they had a meet and greet on Saturday when we took Max for his "itchy" shot and all things seems to be going well.

..Go For Your Dreams..

Meet Meg....

Meg comes to us via a local humane society...

She was dropped off by someone who found her out in last Sunday's horrible rains...

they could not keep her so they brought her to a "no Kill" shelter...

She was on "hold" for 72 hours - time  for the owners to claim her...

Thursday was the last day of her hold and Friday she became ours...

Humane Society thinks she's a Feist/Beagle mix...about 2 years old...she weights about 10 pounds...is housebroken...she has wonderful manners...at some point the end of her tail has been broken and as a result she has a tuft of fur at the end and Monday she will be spayed, chipped and get the remainder of her shots...

She's going to meet the "Cute Vet..!"

The shelter would spay her for us....but...they send the animals out to Asheville for the surgery, which is a 3 hour drive one way and then keep them over night...

Nope....no can do at this house...!

We'll pay a little more and have the cute Vet do it then being her home for recovery...

Max approved her at the shelter and now they are  working things out...

The shelter said it could take up to two weeks to adjust...

All is well for now....

..Go For Your Dreams..

Cross Your Fingers....

and say a little prayer...

Hopefully we have found a new companion for Max and love bug for us.

Right now she is on hold at a local Humane Society.

If no one claims her today......tomorrow she is OURS...!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Staycation....

Yep...

I decided to take a stay-at-home vacation...

CityBoy is in Florida with my male parental unit....

The databases at work are still off line...

We're in that in-between time at the park....summer is over and it's too soon for the leaf-lookers.

(All though if the lookers don't hurry the color will be gone....trees turned early and the recent 12 days of rain put alot of leaves on the ground...)

Sooooo

Here I am doing things that only I want to do...

Visited every quilt shop with-in 35 miles....

Finished my knitting class...made a little hat that I don't have pictures of yet....

Working on a hexie baby quilt...

Piddling around in the house working on projects I've been putting off...

Checking the internet several time a day for a new friend for Max..

And

My blood sugar has been twenty points lower for the last few day...

Proof that stress is bad for your health...

and the powers that be spend millions of dollars for research on that....

they should'a just called me....!!!

..Go For Your Dream..

Crossed Over

Mia, the Mountain Diva crossed over Friday afternoon after a long struggle.

We tried everything, but she gradually grew weaker and weaker.....we knew it was coming.

Then she took "the decision" out of our hands and crossed over in my arms as I was putting her in the car for another trip to the cute Vet.

She's at peace now.

She was a good bowzer and will be greatly missed.

..Go For Your Dreams..

Hey Guys......the Flock is back....!!

Even in the rain....

Look who came to visit yesterday.

Hello.....old friends!

..Go For Your Dreams..

Pill Caddie.....

..for the dog..!

Mia decided late last week to stop eating...

Which caused a major panic in our house..

because

she is our chow hound...

The Vet is stumped.....he not sure where we should go with treatment...

So

she's on heart meds everyday...breathing meds every other day.....steroids twice aday....antibiotics twice aday and a water pill every third day...

You think I could remember all that?!

I wrote it down on the back of the vet bill....drove straight home and dug out the little pill caddie I use for traveling...

Look at all those little bugger in their own little sections...

Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer...

..Go For Your Dreams..

Turning 65.....

When I realized that I'd be alone on my birthday I thought I'd check the old bucket list and see if one of the items could be checked off......

Knit a pair of socks..

Perfect...!

Now it's been 40 years since I knitted anything....

sooooo

there's this cute little fiber arts store in town named

-Foxfire Hollow Fiber Arts-

and they give classes - I signed up for the beginner class...

After all it's been 40 years..!

Saturday was cold and rainy.....the best day for a old/new adventure.....an introduction to round needles....bright yellow yarn....sharing stories..

I'm about half way thru my little hat and next week I'll learn to decrease and increase....

I remembered more than I thought I knew....

Once I get this reprogrammed in my head it's on to the sock class....!!

..Go For Your Dreams..

They're Back...

the jet jockeys are back.....leaving all those contrails in the sky...

A sure sign of Fall..

..Go For Your Dreams..