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.