HEAT WAVE CONTINUES AS MAY COMES TO AN END

Up and out before the heat moves in this morning to get the chores done and get started on laundry and housework.
In the heat of the day I dried 3 loads of laundry and could have dried more. At one point I looked at the thermometer and it said 96.5 ,whew!!
I was glad to work inside today.
Later this afternoon I moved some chicks around to places that they will be cooler.
Mama Red and her babies got a new home today.
They will be a lot cooler in this rather than the brooder box they were in which only has one side open.

It was definitely a "pop sickle" kind of day today !
G-son loves his new swing Pawpaw hung for him.
I didn't get in the house until after 9:00 tonight, after my walk ,chores and gathering clothes from the line. Since I have about 3 hours of baking to do and have been thinking about changing my baking schedule I figured this would be a good day to see how the change works. So I will bake in the morning hours instead of late night hours.
I spent the evening downloading May photos and working on my blog book.

I cannot believe another month has passed already. It seems like time is picking up speed with each day.
May 2011 has been an interesting one weather wise for us ,we have went from below freezing.
To our current heat wave of record breaking 90+ temperatures. Storms have ravaged surrounding areas with hail and tornadoes, we have been bone dry at other times.

Hatched chicks on and off all month here and in the kindergarten class where daughter works.Finished an outside project we started several months ago and ended up with a new place to relax with a magnificent view.I spent countless hours with this little guy who is becoming such a young man.Curb Market business picked up some at the end of the month.
Avon business is all on internet now and moving along slowly but surely.
All in all May has been a good month filled with many blessings.
As it ends tonight I pray a special prayer for the upcoming month, that God's will be done and He continues to bless me and my family as we move into a new month.
Good Night and God Bless.

GOD BLESS ALL OUR FALLEN SOLDIERS

Memorial Day in our county has more meaning this year due to several of our local boys having been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan this past year. It makes me so sad for these young men's familys ,many of whom are the age of my boys and went to school at the same time and competed against my boys in sporting events. This was a ceremony at Forest Lawn cemetery to honor all our fallen soldiers. My father in law who served in WWll is buried in this cemetery. God Bless these brave men !

Whew !!! 90 degrees in May !!! And that's all I'm gonna say about that !!!! These bird pics I took today speak for themselves.
A hawk in a nearby tree.
A Carolina Wren at her nesting house.
If you click on these pics you will notice that both these birds have their beaks open but I can assure you they are not singing.
It was hot here today !!

Hubbie and I spent the morning doing yard work before the heat got so bad and drove us inside.
We fired up our AC last night so sleeping would be more comfortable. Usually we don't need the AC until at least the middle of June.
After lunch we made a trip to the newly opened Goodwill on our side of town. But the prices were high there.
We came back by Sam's Club and Ingles to pick up a few groceries.
Back home we caught up on some small honey do's and just tried to beat the heat.
I watered all my potted plants this evening as there is no rain in the forecast. Hubbie watered some of the garden plants.

I've almost let this month slip by me without finishing my decade photos for this month.
In May of 2001 we were busily celebrating another graduation. We had one last year so I was hoping the second one would be easier but it wasn't !!
During the month there were many award ceremonies to attend, here is one with #2 son and his closest friends all as NC Scholars.
Son is the 3rd one back .

Her's this same gang clowning around on Baccalaureate Sunday.

I believe he is happy to be graduating HS.

And the next chapter of life begins for #2 son and his class of 2001.

And yes I cried for the second year in a row !!!!

May is always an exciting month full of new beginnings each year for a group of new graduates.

Grateful to God tonight for the blessings of today.
Good Night and God Bless.

BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY

Church was special this morning, it was a continuing celebration of our Pastor's 20 years with us. Our associate pastor preached a very uplifting sermon and a young lady came forward wanting to be Baptized.
We said good -bye to some close friends who are headed off to Mass. until Nov. They work for the national park system and travel each year to work at different parks.

Back home we had #1 son, g-son and daughter for lunch. I gathered lettuce and onions from the garden to make wilted lettuce again today.
#2 son is golfing and d-in-love is working.
After lunch I planted the herbs and plants I bought yesterday.
This is a hanging basket I got for only $10 !
I also bought 2 more Citronella plants to put in our covered patio to help keep mosquitoes at bay while sitting out there.

I didn't get this yesterday but this is a tomato plant that I got on clearance at Walmart a couple weeks ago.
Ate our first tomatoes of the season from it today.

Remember the old wagon wheel spokes I bought last fall?
Well I thought they would make nice flower pots and they sure do .And I don't have to water these!!!

After everyone left today I took a long walk. The weather has been hot again today 86 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

Snowball grazes in a field of clover .

After relaxing awhile and listening to my new Indian flute music CD I worked on my blog book. I have all 2009 edited now and just have to go back over it one more time before publishing it. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

As I walked today I prayed a prayer of thankfulness just looking around at the beautiful world I am graced to live in, I am so thankful that God chose to place me where I am and surrounded by the people that love me.
Good Night and God Bless

MARKET, GARDEN FESTIVAL,PASTOR RECEPTION, BUSY BUSY DAY

Up extra early to get to market before the crowds descend on main street's "Garden Jubilee" festival.
It was hard getting up earlier especially since my hip woke me up in the wee hours of the morning and I had to get the heating pad out before I finally went back to sleep.
Never the less I made it to market and found a parking spot near the door,got unloaded and set up with Hubbie helping. It was a busy morning.
Daughter came in about mid morning and helped the rest of the day. We sold a lot but still had some left.
I sent 2 cakes to church to the reception for the Pastor's 20 year anniversary with us. Another lady picked up a cake here later so I got rid of most of what we had left.
After market daughter and I headed up on the street to the festival.As I followed daughter along the hot street in the blazing sun and 85 degree temperatures it didn't take long until we had to make a trip to the cars to unload our arms.I love this picture with the mountains and clouds in the back ground.

Loved these "green" lanterns and chandeliers, daughter bought a small one but I didn't have a place to hang one.Liked these green ones best !!

This I did have to have one of , I am putting it in a flower bed just outside my sunroom and also #1 son can use it for a pattern to make some.

This was one the interesting booths, I thought these herb baskets were a great idea, they also had salad baskets full of all different types of lettuce.
Ever see a weeping cedar tree or a weeping white pine tree??? Now you have !!!!


A true record breaking flower !!!!!!


The back of daughter's jeep, and the back seat was full also !!!!
We had put all the curb market things in my van so it was full before we started shopping.
I thought this was a great festival, there were a lot of different vendors with unique things at very reasonable prices.
We had a great time just looking at all the plants and crafts.
We also bought some seed bead jewelery ,I'll take pictures of later and I got a CD of restful Indian flute music I can't wait to hear.

#1 son, g-son and Hubbie helped unload and then we all went to church to the Pastor's 20 year appreciation reception. The fellowship hall was packed with people there in his honor.Our Pastor is a wonderful,Godly man and has raised his kids in this community and been an active member of the community for 20 years. I feel our church has been truly blessed with such leadership.
And of course we are Baptist so there was food, lots of it so we had supper there and g-son had a great time playing with his friends.

We came home ,daughter went back to her dog sitting job and #1 son, g-son ,Hubbie and I sat outside and enjoyed a relaxing evening together.
Again tonight I'm blogging at 10:00 in hopes of an early bed time.
I am pooped tonight, between the heat and all the walking I feel like I could sleep for days !!
Truly feeling blessed tonight for this day and all the blessings in my life.
Good Night and God Bless.

CLOUDY DAY BUT NOT MUCH RAIN

I'm writing this on my laptop tonight as for some strange reason I cannot access my blogger dashboard from my desktop. GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I thought blogging was supposed to be a stress relief not a stressful agitator !
Apparently it is my computer since I can access the dashboard from my laptop.
Anyway today has been a pretty normal Friday. The morning was a damp one with clouds and misty rain for most of it and temperatures stayed down in the low 70's all day.
I delivered an Avon order after chores and decided to ice cakes before going to work at church,just to shake up my routine a little.
I iced 12 caramel cakes,ate lunch then headed to work at church.
After finishing there I met daughter back here with the 6 late hatched chicks from school. The other older chicks took right to the new ones and they are getting along fine.
That makes 18 chicks in the brooder house.
Hubbie brought home a sub from Subway for our supper tonight and as soon as we ate we headed back to church to finish work there.
The skies finally cleared late this evening and when I checked the rain gauge there was only 6/10 of an inch in there.
It's been a relaxing night around here as Hubbie and myself are pretty beat tonight. There have been a couple nights this week that I haven't slept very well and it has caught up with me.
I'm writing this at 10:00 then I headed to the kitchen to ice 3 chocolate cakes and I off to an early bedtime for a change tonight.
Also if anyone has any advice on how I can straighten out my desktop please share. When I go to my blog there is no sign in spot at the top. A part of the sign in page is showing but I can't make it go up or down to click the sign in button.Like I said I don't think it has anything to do with blogger because it is fine on my laptop. I'm very frustrated at this point.
Thankful tonight for a loving God who I can turn to anytime and all the time.
Good Night and God Bless.

SLOW MARKET, STORMY EVENING

Woke by the ringing phone from a call inquiring about the bush hog Hubbie has for sale. It was kind of a suspicious call, as the caller apparently was confused about the size of the bush hog. He said it's a 5 foot right ,I said no it's 7 foot,then he said ,yea that's what I want. I told him to call back and talk to Hubbie.
After finishing the morning chores and recovering the older chick's box in case it rains before I get home I got loaded for market.
I noticed that there was no traffic on the streets of town on the way in and no traffic is the norm in here today.
I've been trying to import my book to my lap top but no luck. I'm bored to tears !
I have sold some so I am thankful for that and the day's not over yet. I've sold all the kale greens Hubbie picked last night except 1 bag.
I gave up on the computer and decided to crochet tops on a couple towels,at least I got some thing productive done !!
I must have brushed by some poison ivy with the side of my neck because I have 1/2 of my neck from adams apple to backbone that is broke out in bumps and itchy today. I put vitamin E oil on it this morning and hopefully that will cure the bumps quickly.
Another hot morning but already at noon the sky is filling with clouds. I'm hoping to beat the storms home,but I shut all the windows this morning just in case they beat me !!
Got all my errands done plus an Avon delivery and made it home with only cloudy skies.
Unloaded and got things put away,already see one thing I forgot in my attempt to buy for next week. I decided last week that shopping twice a week shouldn't be necessary.
So today a made a ghost list of what I thought I'd need next Thursday and bought for it.
On Saturday's it would be nice to get home earlier and have time to do other things.
It'll take me a week or two of trial and error to get it figured out I'm sure.

The skies grew very dark and threatening quickly this evening.In the back of the house.And the front it looked like the severe thunder storm warning was going to be warranted.
Hubbie and I rushed to get our evening chores done dodging the lightening .
Back inside we relaxed to watch the storm move in,crossing fingers and toes that we didn't get hail.
As quickly as the skies darken,after only a brief shower of much needed rain, the storms were gone. I have mixed emotions about that as we desperately need rain but we don't want the quarter size hail stones that some counties west of us got.
So we got what we got and I'm happy with that and thankful to God that we didn't get severe storms.
My neck is more broke out tonight and more itchy,oh joy, reminds me how much fun poison ivy can be !!!
I baked 6 caramel,3 chocolate,1pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes tonight.
I had thoughts of putting the baking off until tomorrow as I'm pooped out tonight but I knew if I did something would come up so I'm sitting here tying this at midnight waiting for the last cakes to come out of the oven.

God blesses each one of us in different ways each day and all He expects in return is love.
Good Night and God Bless

HOT ROUTINE WEDNESDAY

Another hot one !!! After chores this morning I sat outside to have my tea and caught this little character in the act of having his breakfast...
I put this feeder filled with large bird treats to try to keep the Pileated Woodpeckers from tearing up the outside patio. The squirrels have has a feast and the woodpeckers still would prefer the carpenter bees burrowed into the rafters of the patio.

I cleaned floors all morning and after lunch I cleaned off the porches and did some re-arranging.
Whew !!,it's hot but thankfully the 15-20 mph wind is keeping it from being miserable outside.
After supper I went on my walk around the pastures. I almost stumbled on this fellow in the path.
Each time I see one of these tortoise I marvel at God's intricate handy work.

I love this time of year on my walk because it is so fragrant. We have an abundance of wild Honey Suckle on the hillside surrounding our bottom pastures.
I love the smell !!!

We need rain and they are predicting that we are going to get storms tomorrow,hopefully with this red sky at twilight the storms won't be bad ones.
After doing weekly paperwork and paying bills I iced 6 caramel,2 chocolate and 2 coconut cakes for tomorrow.
The high today was a balmy 85 and at 11:30 tonight it is still 68.

God is good all the time.

Good Night and God Bless.

IS THIS MAY OR JULY ???????

Man it's already hot early this morning,when I looked at the thermometer in the new chick's brooder it said 100 degrees. Of course the thermometer is under the light in there and this morning the chicks were definitely not under the light. I opened the front of the brooder box and turned off the light. The morning sun hits the chicken houses,but by noon they are in the shade so that works out good for them when it's hot.
After chores and breakfast I did laundry and housecleaning ,taking only a short lunch break so I could get all the work done before the hottest part of the day. We haven't turned on our air conditioner yet and with cooler weather predicted for the end of the week I'm hoping to wait.
I hung a load of towels out on the line to dry and it only took about an hour to dry with the hot sun and wind that is blowing today.

I decided to put the new breaker strip in my bedroom to hopefully stop the sound of the lightening that comes from my clock radio. In order to get to the plug I had to move the bedside table and crawl on my side around and behind our head board. Well I got in there,got the plugs switched and then for some reason I found I couldn't back out. Hummm, I thought about who I could call and then realized I had taken my phone off so I wouldn't scrape it on the floor. I wriggled and wriggled and finally got myself out . I was laughing so hard I know if anyone had come in and heard me they would have deemed me insane !! I've a feeling I will be sore tomorrow.

On my daily walk this evening I passed by this gorgeous Queen Anne's Lace .
Hubbie's grandmother used to gather these,dry them and spray paint them all colors to sell for dried arrangements.

Each spring I am amazed when these beauties bloom.These wild yellow Iris's are often called "queen of the swamp", but in my yard they are far from any swamp. They have thrived for years at the top of the hill and this year with the dry weather have had only a few blooms but are a special treat.
Here is a poem written about them.

THE WILD YELLOW IRIS

"THOU ART THE IRIS,FAIREST AMONG THE FAIREST,
WHO,ARMED WITH GOLDEN ROD
AND WINGED WITH THE CELESTIAL AZURE,BEAREST
THE MESSAGE OF OUR GOD"

by: HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
(1807-1882)

As I turned back toward the house the sun was dropping behind the trees.
I made it back to the house just in time as #2 son and Hubbie finished exchanging haircuts and #1 son and g-son came by to visit for a little while.

I baked 12 caramel cakes,2 coconut ,2 chocolate and 2 pound cakes tonight.
The high today was 86 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. May have to fire up the AC early this year !!!

Thanking God for the blessings He pours out on me everyday.
Good Night and God Bless.

GARDENING , NEW CHICKS, ANOTHER KILLER TORNADO

Clouds are still hanging around this morning,although we got only two tenths of an inch of rain last night from all the clouds.
After chores it was time to work in the garden since Hubbie is off today.


The half-runner beans have a climbing screen now.



Tomatoes are staked and when we were finished all those weeds were pulled and fed to the chickens,who enjoy them thoroughly.
#1 son and g-son came after pre-school, #1 son is going to his new surgeon today to talk more about his upcoming surgery so g-son is here for the afternoon.
We went over to the local elementary school to pick up the 12 chicks from last weeks hatch since they had 6 more hatch this past week end.


I'm excited to see these guys grow up as there are some varying colors that I've not seen before in my flock. At 1 week old they are getting wing feathers and are very curious about everything.

The chicks that this red silkie hen hatch are now 3 weeks old and mama is beginning to look like she wants her freedom. Probably in about another week I'll add these to the large brooder box with the school chicks and she will be allowed to go back to her normal life.


She still has 6 chicks,one is hiding behind her in this photo.


The Orphington pullet and splash silkie rooster that are almost 3 months old seem to be doing fine in the silkie pen. They even went in the proper roosting box tonight on their own.
While I was working with the chicks, getting a light hooked up ,etc. g-son had the petal to the metal in his jeep going back and forth from the house to the barn where Hubbie was working.
We fixed a big supper tonight and had #1 and #2 son and daughter with g-son to eat with us.
After everyone left I walked around the pasture.


My walking partner Sadie enjoyed a nice cool drink from the creek. I noticed the water level in the creek had dropped drastically in just a short while.

It has been an extremely warm day, 90 degrees !!! With that kind of heat I was expecting storms this evening but thankfully they didn't happen.

Sadly yesterday a town called Joplin,Missouri was totally destroyed by a tornado that took a direct hit on the town,killing at least 89 people. Some of the press photos I saw reminded me of the tsaunami that hit Japan earlier in the year.



My heart and prayers go out to these people tonight. God bless and comfort them.
Good Night and God Bless.

FIRST WATER PLAY SUNDAY

Daughter made it home this morning just in time to go teach her Sunday school class.
Everyone made it to church this morning except #2 son and he is golfing in SC with friends.
That was also our lunch bunch for today. It was already hot this morning at chore time and it is really hot after lunch.
That calls for some water play for g-son.
Daughter bought these water guns a while ago and has kept them hidden until now.
They both got soaked but the cold water felt good on this 86 degree day in May.

We had a relaxing afternoon just enjoying the warmth of the sun and quietness of a Sunday afternoon.
I moved some chickens around today, putting 2 more of the chicks that hatched the 1st week of March out in the Silkie lot. The large black pullet and the Splash silkie rooster gained their freedom from their chick pen today. I debated on letting them out because they won't get chick starter now,only laying mash and scratch, but next week they will be 3 months old and the pen I had them in was getting pretty crowded. I'll watch for a couple days and see how they do. The pullet was accepted without even a peck, but of course the older roosters had to give the new kid rooster a lesson in the pecking order of things.
When I went up to shut the door of their house tonight the pullet was already in the house snuggled with the Silkies but I had to chase Splash down and put him in there.

We got a short shower of rain this evening that postponed my watering duties at least one day. There was thunder and lightening but it stayed in the distance as the storm passed.
We need a soaking rain badly for the garden, I pulled some weeds today for the chickens and the ground was so hard they broke off instead of pulled up.
Our forecast for the next week looks interesting,just hope the extra warm temps don't cause severe storms.

#2 son came up tonight and ate a late supper of lunch left overs and helped daughter move a piece of furniture out of her apartment into my basement.

I sat out in the sunroom and watched the storm pass while listening to the rain on the metal roof just relaxing and thanking God for the place He picked for me in His world.

Good Night and God Bless.