Spring is coming early.

Next week it will go down to 12 degree's.  But I just found bulbs coming up around the house and in the garden behind the fish pond.  Of course, we just bought this house in July so I have no idea what these are or why they are trying to come up.  It was 25 degree's last night.  Not the time of year for flowers. I guess
they might be crocus?  My husband took our motor home in to be winterized today because it was costing us a fortune in propane to keep the water pipes from freezing here.  In Florida we did not have to worry about that as much.  I walked around the yard trying to take some photographs of the birds here.  Things

seem different here in winter from Florida.  In Florida I had dense woods. Here I have hedges, woods at the bottom of our hill. But in Florida I lived in the woods itself so I had huge flocks of birds. I miss that here.  I see bluejays and red cardinals but they do not seem to come to the feeder. All I get are chickadee, titmice, these rosy finches and a few sparrows.  We do have bluebirds around but they do not come to feeders.  We have not had any snowfall at all and my dear husband is depressed over that. He said he came here for snow and now it does not snow.  He bought a toboggan and all.  This is all the news.  Here are a few photographs from around the yard.  Enjoy.

Christmas is Over

And I feel a sense of relief.  For me it is a lot of anxious shopping, cooking.  The Christmas I would like to have will never happen. Because for that to happen my husband would have to agree and share in my desires.  I would have liked to serve in a Soup Kitchen on Christmas Day.  Or cooked and invited a lot of single, elderly or homeless people to dinner.   And to adopt a family having a hard time and buy presents and food for their holiday.  One year a neighbor and I adopted a family through social services. We bought for the entire family and besides toys and clothes included a grocery gift certificate for turkey etc.  It was the best Christmas I have ever remembered.  The true idea of Christmas.  Instead we have our 3 year old

grandchild who gets so many toys, twice being the only child of a divorced couple.  And a very spoiled granddaughter who travels far just to get the best and most expensive presents.  That is not really Christmas.  Christmas is in giving of yourself.  Not just material things.  No snow.  Today rain and maybe ice by tonight.  Not the nicest winter thus far.  Tiny certainly enjoyed his two Christmas presents. I have a toboggan ready for sledding for Tiny and me.  Bring on the snow.

ps a bit of a repair

 That link would not work.  Lets try this.

http://theamybrenneman.com/notebook/

I found a lovely celebrity blog. It is so real and special.

http://theamybrenneman.com/notebook/        I found a lovely Celebrity blog.  Visit her.  She is great!

And also look at the website.  It is beautiful with a sort of indian spiritual kalideoscope motiff.  We have had cold rainy drizzle and temperatures around 40.  Is that not the worst weather.  Cold, I don't mind. Snow I don't mind.  But rain and cold.  brrr... Or cold and sleet. Ugh.  There will be no white Christmas here in Franklin so say the weathermen.  But on the worst day of the year. I will go and look at this sunrise photograph my husband took here in the backyard one morning. And I will remember, after winter comes spring.  The tree is decorated. We have a few gifts. My husband bought me a new purple martin house to go on our pole. I cannot wait until March to put it up.  I also have two new movies to watch on Christmas Day. The last Harry Potter movie and The Help.  (a book I read and loved)  My little dachshund is soooo funny.  I can't leave his two presents wrapped under the tree because he would just open them or worse, hide them. So since he can't seem to find anything under the tree he thinks is his. He stole my husbands ear muffs from under the tree because they are not wrapped. And they are furry. and of course all his dog toys are furry.  It was hell getting it away from him. He turns into a hell dog guarding his prey.  He has also taken to sitting on top of the wrapped present which my cousin sent me.  Its soft. He thinks its a dog toy but its a nightgown.  lol.  You just have to love Tiny.  Merry Christmas   ♥

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

But some snow would be nice.  We finally got a Christmas tree.  Tiny sits under it.  He thinks he is
outside.  Hoping he does not lift his leg on it.   Wishing we could be with our kids this Christmas.  My husband does not really like to drive on the holidays and the kids do not have anymore time off from work.
For Christmas I have a new purple martin bird house.  It is a triple decker one.  When we bought our house
it came with a purple martin bird house and tall telescoping pole.  But the house was falling apart. So Tractor Supply had their martin houses on sale.  I cannot wait to put it up. But the birds won't  be around
until about March.  No leaves left on the tree's.  We had a very light light few snow flurries one night.
But it did not even put any white on the ground. I want Tiny to see snow falling.  Big snow flakes.
No one ever comments on my blog anymore.  Maybe I will quit writing it.  I need to think up a surprise
for my husband's Christmas present.  I hate that he has no surprises.  He loves surprises. But I am not
very good and shopping for them.  I get all anxious and end up buying shirts or pajamas. I just cannot
pick out good gifts.  Some people have the knack.  For one thing, my husband does not read, his only
hobbies are geared around anything new in electronics.  Like, how many gadgets can you buy.  How many zip drives does he need.  I can't afford huge big screen televisions.  He does not like video games.

I think I have bought him every tool known to man.  I am running out of idea's.  Tiny will have two presents under the tree. But he can smell them right through the christmas wrapping so his presents will have to be put away until the day of.  Right now Tiny is guarding our lighted snowmen. He thinks they are a stuffed animal.  He is a very strange dachshund.  Later people.   Or not.  so quiet in here lately.  Here is our lovely treetop.

Fall came and went. Winter hung on. BRRRRR.....

"You're so Vain.  You probably think this song is about you."  Sorry that's playing on my computer and now I have it stuck in my head.  I love Carly Simon.  Why are all my favorite singers aging out.  Oh, that's right I'm aging out.  Aging out.  Know who put that term in my head.  Well, I have this huge blue spruce that I love.  It started getting some brown needles in the center.  There is a forest ranger down the road. So I stopped in there.  And he came down to look at my spruce.  Guess what? He said, "This tree is aging out. It's going to have a case of the uglies.  Best thing to do is just rip it out."  What!!!!!!!???  I thanked him kindly and then forgot about it.  Rip out  my beautiful blue spruce cause it's aging out.  I don't think so.

So, the leaves changed color.  We were down in Florida taking care of doctor checkups and moving the last of our furniture for middle two weeks of October. We missed the best leaves up in Asheville.  But there was still some color left here in Franklin.  I love Fall up North.  Nothing like it.  Florida just does not have the seasons. Of course now we are freezing.  But I love that too. We got our propane tank and bought an extra gas heater.  Between our gas logs in the fireplace and the gas heater on the sunroom. It is now toasty warm in this house. Except for our bedroom.  It faces the front of the road, North exposure and it never warms up in there.  (I could go r-rated with that statement but not going to)  So, we bought an electric blanket for the bed.  Dual controls. Love it.  Why did I wait so long to try electric blankets. Oh, that's right.  I lived in Florida for most of my 65 years.  Well, there were jaunts in Texas, North Carolina and Ohio.  But I guess now, you could say more of my years have been lived in Florida. At least the last 23.  And the first 21.  Wow, I never thought about it like that.  Moving or transfering a lot as we did for his job was not easy on children growing up.  Oh well, water under the bridge.  Can't go back and change it.  We are still waiting for the contractors over at the school to dig us a new well.  That's because they blew up our well with their geo thermal drilling. And if they put cracks in any of our foundation they are going to fix that too.  A friend told me that Petchickens.com is taking orders for chicks now.  She said I better get my order in quick. They go fast.  These would be delivered in the spring.  I don't even have my chicken coop yet.  I better read up on chickens. I don't know enough about them.  When you can put them in a coop or outside. Maybe at three months?  Here are a few Fall photographs before all the leaves fell.

 

Best quote ever

   "HERES TO THE CRAZY ONES, THE MISFITS,THE REBELS, THE TROUBLEMAKERS,THE ROUND
PEGS IN THE SQUARE HOLES,THE ONES WHO SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY. THEY'RE NOT FOND OF RULES,
YOU CAN QUOTE THEM,DISAGREE WITH THEM,GLORIFY OR VILIFY THEM,BUT THE ONLY THING YOU CAN'T DO
IS IGNORE THEM BECAUSE THEY CHANGE THINGS. THEY PUSH THE HUMAN RACE FORWARD,AND WHILE SOME
MAY SEE THEM AS THE CRAZY ONES, WE SEE GENIUS. BECAUSE THE ONES WHO ARE CRAZY ENOUGH TO THINK
THEY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, ARE THE ONES WHO DO." STEVE JACOBS 

Packing Packing Packing

How do we ever accumulate so much junk?  We are down in Florida packing as much as we can to have moved back to our new house.   Cleaning out closets and drawers.  Yikes.  And right now we are in the middle of a Nor Easter storm.  Code for NINE inches of rain non-stop.  I hope this winter goes fast.  And I sure hope I get back up North in time to see my leaves change in my yard.  Wow, the wind is really blowing outside.  I had to clean out my fish pond.  The pump had stopped. It was clogged with algae. I wish someone would buy my place in Florida who loves birds and goldfish and ponds.  I worry so  much about my yard down here.  It looked so neglected.  I went to a high school reunion up in Franklin, NC. At least three of my old classmates from Miami live there.  I guess if you grow up in heat, you want cool mountain air when you get old.  If you grow up in New York, you want Miami heat.  lol.  I will have to make this short.  We don't have reliable internet down here.  Later.  When I get back home.  Wherever that is.

This is entire post is dedicated to Maude.  She knows who she is.  


I was never a follower in school.  And for that I am grateful.  Because there were so many friends I might have missed if I belonged to the cheerleader, football, click crowd.  I had one friend who sat out in the breezeway and played his guitar between class changes.  I had another friend who was going to be an entreprener.  He is a millionaire now.  He was a late bloomer and married late in life.  I was very shy.  My mother put me in modeling class to try and bring me out.  That just taught me how to apply makeup but did nothing for my social life.  If anything, taking modeling then labeled me as a snob somehow.  I have no idea how.  Then after graduation my parents sent me to Paris France for a year
to help out my Uncles huge family of four kids.  That was probably the best experience of my life. It opened up other cultures and the world for me.  If any teenagers are reading this.  And if they don't fit
in with any groups.  Have faith.  Be proud that you are not a lemming following the crowd.  My favorite quote from the For Better or Worse cartoon is this.  "Maybe I am different because I was put here to make a difference."  And that is a very powerful statement.  It was spoken by one of the first gay teen characters in a comic strip.  Bloom whenever you are meant to.  Everyone is different.  All great people in society were non-conformers.   Mama Cass sang it best.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC7zSY5O6FU&feature=related

The Taj Mahal of chicken Coops

I saw today on a website the most fabulous chicken coop I have ever seen.  The man  built it for his wife. I think he lives in the midwest, Idaho maybe.  It has separate coops, joined in a hexagon shape, each have their own separate runs, it must have 25 coops and a brooder running up the center.



Best Chicken coop

I walked down to the creek last week.  I had been meaning to do that for weeks.  But it is down hill but then a strenuous up hill climb back. But I made it. Ralph was worried because the road is narrow with little walk room and windy.  Not a lot of traffic but they drive fast on this country two lane.  And we have already had cars lose it on the curve and end up in our front yard.  The creek is very lovely. On the left side I think the farmer or someone put in river rocks, and made a little waterfall. Because on the other side of the bridge the water runs slower with no river rocks.  Also good news.  The well man came out and dug our well 90 feet deeper and he hit a vein, granite rocks went flying, water gushed up.  100 gallons

per minute.  And he said, you won't have to worry about water anymore.  I am so glad. I love these tree's and could not live here if I couldn't water them.  And since then we've had tons of rain.  Funny.  Here are a few photo's of my walk.  How are things DB?

Felicity Quite an actress and comedian in training.

Tiny is quite fascinated by a two year old and her toys.  He keeps stealing Woody her doll from Toy Story and her baby doll.  Then there is a lot of screaming and chasing.  He loves chasing her during a game of tag.  He is not quite sure why everyone is chasing each other but he trys to join in.  I am sure he will be napping a lot when all this company returns home.  Today I will have besides my son Paul and his wife, also my cousin Pam and her adult son Jonathan.  I am not cooking for that many people. It has been difficult enough to cook for a 2 year old. She only eats, grilled cheese,  Totino pizza rolls (the plain cheese ones) Chicken Mcnuggets, and Macaroni and cheese and spaghetti.  I had forgotten how picky two year olds are.  hmmmm....  Robert is 37 years old. I think he waited a bit late to start a family.  Especially when his father and I are 65 and 67.  Tiny and I both will be taking naps next week. ha ha.

Dry Falls Highland North Carolina

We went to view Dry Falls yesterday in Highland North Carolina.  I had procrastinated long enough. I just do not enjoy the windy road leading up to Highland and the Falls.  It has tight curves that never straighten along with drop offs with no guard rails in places. It is also very narrow.  My son Robert and grandbaby Felicity are visiting so they wanted to see waterfalls.  It is quite magnificent. But the climb back up from the falls is quite tiring.  I just do not have the energy for long uphill hiking.  You can even walk under the falls.  And they have added a wheel chair viewing area.  Before if you were in a wheel chair you could not even see the Falls from the parking area.  And the old stone path going down to the Falls is quite rough in places.  No sign of Hurricane Irene up here in the mountains.  I guess we are too far away. But we sure could use some of her rain.  It has been at least five or six days since we had any rainfall.  Son number two, Paul and his wife Megian will arrive today at 3pm before Robert and Felicity depart to go back home to Pensacola Florida.  How sad that it has been at least 3 years since Robert and Paul were together.  Families are just so spread out now.  I have one son in Atlanta, one in Pensacola and a daughter and son in Palatka Florida.  None of these cities are that far apart. Maybe a day and a half  apart but the kids never get together.  Maybe living in the mountains was a good idea if it gets my kids to visit at the same time.  New living room furniture is being delivered today.  We are all tired of sitting on lawn chairs.  Felicity is quite the helper in the kitchen. She helped me make spaghetti and a peach/cherry pie.  She loves cooking.  She is also quite the comic and makes up her own jokes.  Her favorite character at the moment is Dora The Explorer.  So Grandpa and I bought a Dora comforter and pillow for her bed. Thank goodness the new twin bed arrived before she did.  Tonight until Rob and Felicity leave for home in the morning, Ralph and I will have to sleep in our RV.  We only have sleeping for four.  I bought purple verbena, an orange honeysuckle, and purple cones flowers for the deck. Then I bought these tiny little humming bird feeders to hang on the planters on the deck. One little hummingbird has already found them. It was Felicity's first experience seeing a hummingbird. Unfortunately he got a bit too close and she thought he was a bee. She is very afraid of bumble bee's.  We have a lot of them up here.  

Day Lillies

The yard in my new house is full of spent daylily's.  I have no idea if I am supposed to cut off the dead stalks.  Or wait until Fall.  There are two many to dig up.   I am sure they have not been divided in at least two years because no one has lived here for two years.  (I think)  The husband of this house was the gardener.  His wife did not garden.  I can feel his ghost here.  Because he was elderly and has passed on. We are having the well drilled deeper as it is going dry or has become what they call,  a low yield well. And to do that they will have to cut down the river birch at the corner of the garage.  They can't get their drilling rig in here with the tree in the way.  Makes me sad. It is a beautiful river birch.  My husband does not even seem to care.  He said, Its just a river birch.  They aren't that good a tree, are they?  Sad.  All tree's are good.  Tiny seems a bit better than he was in Florida. But he gets more itching when it gets hot. Luckily summer seems to be over up here.  We have not had to run air conditioning in days and days.  Here are my dead day lilys.

Exhaustion is my middle name.

So, it is Wednesday and we have been in our new home one week now.  And for furniture we have three camping chairs, two lawn patio chairs (we just bought those at Lowes) one twin bed, and a futon with double mattress.  we have a new fridge, new stove, new dishwasher, and new microwave.  Our well is sometimes a bit wonky. But we think it is all the filters the previous owner put on it.  Once we get a well man out to explain it, I think we will find the filters need changing. She also has a water softener on it which I hate.  I already have hummingbirds.  I bought a bluebird house but we have not put it up yet.  A contractor fixed the pilings or posts on the back deck so that is done. Then he tore out the trim on the dining room alcove and tomorrow he will bring sheetrock and we will have another bedroom instead of this hideous brick colored formal dining room.  The kitchen is as big as our living room and can fit a full size table with chairs.  The mountains change by the hour.  Sometimes at night they are pink, like this.  We will have the main bedroom carpet ripped out and replaced with wood floors like the rest of the  house by the contractor and he will redo the kitchen wood floors.  Our sun room is tile.  It really is a beautiful little cottage in the mountains.  We met the owner at the closing.  It was her husband a retired doctor who made the gardens full of everything you can imagine. Phlox, hydrangea, dogwood, camellia's, so many I can't even remember. Some I don't even know their names or what they are. He passed away.  His wife almost went bankrupt trying to pay for her medical treatments for breast cancer. She is getting chemo right now.  I wonder about a country where you go bankrupt trying to pay to save your life.  So, Tiny is getting used to wooden floors and sliding.  Our contractor has a female dachshund short hair, dapple.  I would love a girl for Tiny.  Sorry I have been absent. Been weeding, cleaning, weeding, cleaning, weeding.  Well, you get the pictures.  Work is good for the soul.

We got the house in Franklin North Carolina

Our closing will be July 26th.  I am researching what chickens to raise.  And hoping the farmer behind me might have some advice or the neighbor next door who seems to have some sort of animal pen in his backyard.  I have no idea how we are going to move after living in this house in Florida for 25 years.  We have both our houses here up for sale with a real estate agent.  My mother's house behind me and ours.  We decided it would be too hard to maintain two homes.  But if our's does not sell, for a while we will be able to have a winter home and a summer home.
The new house has been inspected and so far no big problems have arose.  Everything can be fixed for under
1,000 dollars. We need to rip out the carpet in master bedroom because the rest of the house is all hard wood floors.  I don't know why people want to put carpeting in their bedrooms.  I don't find it that much warmer.  And our little dachshund has rubbed and scratched off most of his fur in the two to three weeks we have been back home in Florida.  Our Vet gave me some allergy medicine (I refuse to put him on steroids)  It is either something in our environment, outdoors or indoors. Because his fur up in North Carolina grew in thick and beautiful. We were living up there for two months and he never looked healthier. I feel bad that I have brought him back and it has made him sick.  I am not sure I posted the video of our new home.  They said the owner will probably not come to the closing and that in fact many closings are now down long distance through email. I never heard of such a thing.  We have appliances to buy and living room furniture.  I cannot wait to start weeding her gardens.

Video on utube of our new home.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivBvHTfIp1I

Made an offer on a house in Franklin

Well, it's not a farmhouse, but it has two acres and is unrestricted.  Lots of garden space, mountain views. And the house and yard are beautiful. And the owner is battling cancer and is just trying to clear her two loans against the house.  Sad.  I hope we can buy it.  The views are so beautiful.  Its up in the mountains in Franklin North Carolina.

Heading for Franklin North Carolina

In the morning we are heading to Franklin North Carolina to camp for a few days to a week and look around with a real estate agent.  It is higher up in Franklin and about 5 degree's cooler.  We did write a back up offer on the old farmhouse. And we will wait and see if that sale goes through.  Maybe the buyers needed time to get enough money.  Maybe they will back out of the deal.  If so, then our bid will go right in behind theirs.  The two story farmhouse still owns my heart.  I got my hair cut the other day. I don't really know what is going on, maybe my thyroid is failing. But I can't seem to gain weight and my hair is getting very dry.  I get my thyroid checked again in October.  I hope we can find a farmhouse this trip.  I am so tired of looking.  It has been so hot here.  I think they broke records.  I saw some lightening bugs tonight.  My little dog was curious because we no longer have them in Florida.  Well, this is all the news.  Onward to Franklin.  Later. 

Murphy North Carolina

Well, I was going to post that we were putting an offer on the old farmhouse that I love. But someone else already has it under contract.  Now I am heart broken.  I will post photos of it but my heart is not in it. The realtor said we can write up a backup offer in case they back out of it.  They have a contingency that they have a long time to back out of it if they want.  But still I feel like it is gone.  I can even write how sad my heart is. We should have made an offer on it right at the beginning.  I will post more when I feel better.