MAY 2016 ENDS

As a dry month of May comes to an end we finally get some much needed rain as a rain late last night left 1/2 inch in the gauge this morning.
G-daughter didn't want to go back to sleep this morning so I got my day started early. While she watched TV I did the chores and then we both had our breakfast.
We had our morning walk which was under partly sunny skies but I could feel the humidity level rising as I walked.
Things always look so much brighter the morning after an overnight rain .
These Kousa Dogwood blooms seemed whiter today.

I am really loving these "clearance sale" flower pots I got from Lowes that hang on both sides of the back sunroom door..

As we passed the barn these three juvenile Doves looked as if they were debating whether to fly away or sit motionless hoping we didn't notice them.

As we came back inside g-daughter wanted her morning bottle early then she went down for a 1 1/2 hour nap.
While she napped I did housecleaning.
When she woke up we had lunch then she played while I did some vacuuming  so I wouldn't have to do it while she took her afternoon nap. She isn't feeling up to par today . We are hoping it is just her teething woes. D-in-love called the doc but decided against taking her into the office with all the sicknesses going around right now until she gets worse.
She went down for another 2 hour nap only a couple hours after she woke from the morning nap.
I finished housework and then listened to the rain fall outside as another 1/2 inch fell soft and steady this afternoon.
One of our 4-legged kids , Bernie hasn't been feeling well at all. At first we just thought it was probably his enlarged heart but hubbie happen to see him poop the other day and noticed what might be tapeworms. Hubbie dropped a fecal sample off at the vet's office this morning and they called this afternoon with the news that he does have tapeworms and also whip worms. He had to have more meds to add to his already healthy number of pills tonight to get rid of these parasites. He doesn't have a bad case of either and hasn't lost weight or had any other signs of worm infestation so maybe this will be an easy fix for him and make him feel better.
After d-in-love picked up g-daughter this afternoon I met daughter at the rental car place to turn in the rental car the Acura dealership had rented for her until they put a new airbag in her Acura. They finally fixed her car yesterday.
As this month of May comes to an end it has flown by as all the months lately seemed to have done.
On the first Sunday of this month our long time ,25 year, pastor preached his last sermon as he left taking a job with the Carolina Baptist as Minister of Missions.

 The weather for the month has been mostly cooler than normal with Blackberry winter coming at the beginning but getting only to the mid 30's for a few nights. We had only a small amount of rain this month as our garden vegetables we have planted haven't grown much at all. Even with little rain the Azaleas bloomed beautifully this year along with Iris, Roses and several other flowers in my yard.

 I made a trip to Charlotte at the beginning of the month with daughter and d-in-love to pick out a "mother of the bride" dress and we stopped in Ikea while we were there to make a full day of it.

G-son had a case of strep throat to begin the month but otherwise we have dodged the sicknesses that have been all around thankfully.
The wedding plans are getting more intense as the big day draws near. We had a bachelorette outing in Asheville for daughter and it was great fun as we pedaled the "pub cycle" all around downtown Asheville for 40 minutes before have a nice dinner and then painting at "Painting with a Twist".

 I had a wonderful Mother's day with all the kids here for lunch and some wonderful gifts.
We had a very sad Friday the 13th as d-in-love's dad passed away on this day after much suffering with kidney failure and a terminal infection where they amputated his leg. This is a picture of Tim and my #1 son fishing in Alaska several years ago.

 G-son had soccer games on every Saturday and a couple times I got to go see him play.

As usual for this month I have all my brooder boxes filled with chicks, even purchased some green egg layer chicks to ensure my green egg production will continue.

 I felt old this month as it came time for me to sign up for social security.
I ended the month with some fun things as we attended the "Knight's relay for life" carnival out at the high school with the kids and then went to the Garden Jubilee uptown.

We celebrated one birthday this month as Josh turned 36 on the 16th with a dinner at Outback .

 I got to spend a lot of time with g-son and g-daughter this month that makes each day special and fun watching them grow up and change each day.

And I can't believe this little girl is growing up sooooo fast !!!  38weeks today !!!!

The month ended with the second named tropical storm of the season coming into Isle of Palms, SC on the 28th bringing flooding rains that closed several major roads.
Memorial day ended the month with grateful thanks for all the brave men and women who have lost their lives fighting for the freedom of this great country we live in.
Our garden is coming along slowly with little rain this month.

 Our potatoes have the tallest vines we have ever had, hope this doesn't mean there is no potatoes under them !!! ???  The rabbit guard is 28 inches tall and these vines tower above it.

This beautiful sunset among the clouds ends this final day of May 2016 as I bow my head and humbly thank Lord Jesus for all the blessings I received during this month and for His unconditional love shown to me each and every day.

God Bless and Good Night

GRATEFUL MEMORIAL DAY

Thankful Memorial Day to you !!!
As we remember all those who fought and lost their lives so that we could have the freedoms we have on this day makes it a sad but proud day for many families. Interesting info  on this wall !!!

Thanks to the snow days this past winter today is like any other day for us here. G-daughter arrived at 7am as mom and g-son went to school. It is an early dismissal day for g-son but d-in-love has to work a regular schedule today.
Daughter got a chance to celebrate with some of the high school students where she teaches as she drove one of the bus loads of students out to Forest Lawn cemetery to take part in the Memorial day celebration out there. There are many veterans buried here including hubbie's dad who served in WW11. This is the North Henderson HS chorus .

G-daughter was out of sorts today for some reason and didn't want to go back to sleep. Finally falling asleep for about 45 minutes.
I got up and did the morning chores feeling a bit out of sorts myself this morning after not sleeping very good last night after my nose stopped up and my throat felt sore.
Thankfully after a hot cup of coffee and breakfast I felt much better.
G-daughter acted like she felt better after she ate also.
Hubbie tried putting a new antennae on the kitchen TV since the reception in there keeps getting worse and we have to keep moving the antennae around all the time.
While he worked on that which took all morning, and then it didn't work so he had to put it back like it was with the old antennae, I got laundry started.
G-daughter refused her late morning nap so she played while I changed the furniture covers and vacuumed in the living room.
I did 3 loads of regular laundry and an extra load of bed sheets today which I hung out in the "solar" dryer. It is a hot day with temps in the mid 80's and sunshine so the air conditioning inside feels good today.
We had lunch then hubbie went to pick up g-son while I got g-daughter down for her afternoon nap.
G-son was glad to get some time off school before the EOG test start tomorrow.

With him inside to listen to the monitor I watered all my potted plants this afternoon.
I also got all the new plants from the Garden Jubilee set out in their pots. I bought these hanging pots at Ikea last month when we were there and have been waiting for these $1 herbs to fill them up. I thought I was going to hang them in the kitchen but there is never any sunlight in there so I already had a hat rack here so this made a perfect place in this sunroom window for it .

The bottom pot contains "Christmas" Basil, Oregano, parsley, Ginger Mint  while the top pot contains Marjoram, Thyme, Caraway and berries and cream Mint.
I also planted more Basil and several mint varieties in outside pots including Spearmint, Peppermint, Orange, Lavender and a couple very aromatic soft leaf  herbs to ward off mosquitoes under the front porch and the outside covered patio.
G-son was excited when he got to go get his sister out of her crib when she woke up. She loves him so much !!

Mom came after them shortly to go home to get ready to go to a friends house to cook out tonight.
Hubbie and I worked in the garden a while this evening. We got all our panels put up so the beans and cucumbers will have something to climb when their runners begin to form.

I also moved some chicks around. These oldest 5 chicks were put out into the Silkie lot with their mother hen yesterday and are doing fine. 2 of them even went into the house to roost last night without any help from me.

This red Silkie hen and her 6 chicks have been in a smaller brooder box since they hatched so I cleaned this old rabbit cage that the older chicks had been in out and gave them a cooler place with lots more room to run around.

I still have the white Silkie hen with the 4 remaining chicks after I sold 5 of them Saturday and the 6 Aracuana chicks that I bought in the bigger brooder boxes.
After supper hubbie and I sat out in the outside patio and watched the rain come across the bottoms until the cool breeze that brought it ran us inside for the evening.
We are getting rain tonight from the outer bands of Bonnie as she is still sitting over the coast after her landfall yesterday.

I have rested this evening trying to get my sciatic nerve to calm down after all the stooping and bending today as I planted plants and carried the panels to the garden.
As this Memorial day ends I say prayers of thanks to all the fallen soldiers over all the years of wars.
May they know that their sacrifices did not go unappreciated. God bless their families.

Thankful for a loving caring God.
God Bless and Good Night.

SLOW SUNDAY 1996 MAY MEMORIES

A nice cool cloudy Sunday morning greeted us today. After chores I had time to have a nice breakfast instead of the usual hurried meal bar and coffee while I cook things for lunch. Since lunch is a crock pot full of beef stew which has cooked all night and a 7-layer salad which I made last night along with a big cake of cornbread the only thing left to do this morning was heat up the corn on the cob.
It's nice to have a Sunday morning like this every once in awhile!!!

Church was good today from Mark 8:36-37.
Our lunch bunch was #1 son's family, daughter and Josh and Aa's family. Poor EL had to be taken to the Urgent Clinic early this morning and she has an ear infection. Bless her heart.
She didn't act too sick but neither her nor BB would eat any lunch today.
They left shortly after we ate to go home after a long night.
One of g-son's friends, Walker , came home from church with him and they played outside after they ate until it started raining.
They all went home so the boys could play games on their I-pads. And this little girl got a nice relaxing nap on her dad's chest as the cool afternoon made porch sitting comfortable.

Hubbie who was late getting here for lunch from a short Deacon's meeting cleaned up the kitchen. I am tired today from the activities of the last couple days and just did nothing all afternoon which was really nice.
We turned our air-conditioning on last night for an early turn on this year as we usually at least make it through May before I don't get to wake up to the sounds of birds singing !!
The rain sprinkled around all afternoon but never really even dampened the dust . As tropical storm Bonnie makes landfall near Charleston,SC she is dropping flooding rainfall in the area closing roads , including interstate 95 in places.

This evening the temperature really cooled off as if it had hailed somewhere and a beautiful rainbow appeared out of nowhere without any previous rainfall.

To finish out the decade pictures for the month of May in 1996 daughter and #2 son  had spring pictures made.

Daughter graduated from the "Dare" program that was put on at all the elementary schools during those times to warn students about drug use.
She is receiving her completion certificate in this blurry pic.

And she is in the center of these pics with her classmates.

Unfortunately due to money shortage this program has stopped but is trying to be revived now under the name "camp Glow".
Grateful to God for a restful Sunday filled with reflective time and wonderful memories.
God Bless and Good Night.

GARDEN JUBILEE SATURDAY

7am wake up call came way too early for me today after my late bedtime.
As I stumbled through the chores and got ready for market I sure hoped the day would be worth all the extra work I had done !!
I had 5 Silkie chicks to round up and take with me for a lady to pick up at market today. She is an egg customer and has been trying to hatch some with an old incubator with only a couple chicks hatched.
I sell 1 month old chicks for $5 each so she took 5 of the 8 I have for sale now.
Hubbie and I put them in an old orange box I had saved and put some feed and water in old lids  so I wouldn't have to open the box at market. The chicks quietened right down and no one even knew they were there. This gave me an idea of how to sell them maybe. I am going to make a sign and post it at market .It would be much easier than having folks come to the farm  to pick them up.
Market wasn't as good as I had hoped but it was a decent sales day. Most folks just walked through market on their way up to the street festival.
Re and daughter met at market and went up for an early morning trip with EL and BB. They found some nice deals on plants. When they got back poor EL was not feeling well at all.
Re took the kids home and daughter went home to mow her grass and help Josh do yard work at her house.
Hubbie had left early to get out of the crowded downtown and picked up groceries at Sam's Club on his way home to work in the garden.
Daughter came back at 2:00 and helped me pack things up then we went up on the street to see what we could find.
The temperature was mid 80's under full sunshine now and the streets were much less crowded than earlier since the day had heated up.

We saw some interesting and beautiful displays as we went up one side of the street and down the other.

 Loved this feed sack pillow but the price tag of $39 made me walk away.

 Daughter did get this with the outside trim being made from wood out of an old hotel that was torn down in town.

We found our share of goodies and made it back to the cars in a couple hours.

 She left to head back home and I went to Ingles to pick up some things for lunch tomorrow.
I made it home around 5:30 and hubbie and I rested while we listened to the evening news. The second tropical storm of the season was named today as Bonnie heads for the SC coast.

#1 son's family walked up to get some staples for g-son's stapler he won in the games last night and he got a turn carrying g-daughter in her carrier.

 After chores hubbie and I both were exhausted and spent the evening resting as we watched this beautiful sunset with the arrival of the clouds from the coastal storm's outer bands already making their way inland.

Grateful to God for a pleasure filled day as I strive to glorify His name in all that I do each day.

God Bless and Good Night.

KNIGHT'S RELAY FOR LIFE

A busy Friday morning as g-daughter arrived at 7am to get things started. She only slept about 30 minutes extra this morning after she arrived.
She played while I did the chores. We had our breakfast then I started my baking list for the day. I baked 12 caramel, 2 chocolate, 1 carrot, 4 pound , 1 blackberry wine cake and a pan of lemon bars.
Memorial day Saturday is usually a busy day with the garden jubilee on main street in town.

At 10.30 I stopped to give g-daughter her morning bottle. She ate but didn't want to take a nap so I put her back in her entertainment saucer and went back to my baking . As I listened to her babbling to the characters on TV all of a sudden grow quiet I peeped to see what she was doing and found this !!!

This is the second time she has fallen asleep in this saucer.

I picked her up and took her to the crib and she took her morning power nap of about 30 minutes.

The resiliency of babies always has amazed me . That they can go from the picture above of sound asleep to this picture in less than 45 minutes and be so happy about it !!!!

She us rolling this walker all over the kitchen as I finish my baking. She is learning quickly to maneuver it so she can reach anything she wants on my shelves.

We had lunch and she had her afternoon bottle and went down for her afternoon nap. I did some housework while she slept but in trying to be quiet I have decided I need to come up with a new housework schedule that doesn't interfere with her nap time, hmmm.

The day is beautiful with the sun brightly shining in the 80 degree temps with a few stray clouds passing by.

When g-daughter woke up it was a nice day for some swinging. She loved the swing !!!

After d-in-love picked her up and hubbie got home from work we hurried through chores early and picked up EL to go with us out to the high school's annual "knight's relay for life" carnival. Re usually goes to this but she and BB are under the weather so she let EL go with us while they stayed home to rest.

The NC National Guard set this inflated obstacle course up to go through and it was a big hit with all ages !!!

G-son didn't hesitate to make his way over all the obstacles .

EL was a little more cautious and it took her a couple times starting and getting off  before she ran the full course.

A couple of high school students helped her get up her courage.

All the soldiers were very impressed with her strength as she was determined to do whatever g-son did and he was a very good "big brother" and taught her how to climb the rope ladders. And after she got through the course the first time wanted to do it over and over.

After the fourth time through she was so tired she just couldn't gather the strength to do it "just one more time" so this guy put her on his shoulders and carried her through it.

Inside there was food donated by a local restaurant  that we all enjoyed. Josh came in after I made this group pic.

G-daughter enjoyed her first Knight's relay....

The kids loved all the games and the food making booths.

And EL loved dancing with the dance team as they entertained .

The last stop was to let g-son have a drawing made of himself. This high school boy's name was Levi and he was very good. I have a feeling we might be hearing of him famously some day soon !!

We left about 8:00 with three tired kidos and headed home. I was wondering if EL was going to make it the 1 mile home before dropping off to sleep ??

It was so wonderful watching these two have so much fun together tonight !!

As hubbie and came home to finish chores before dark we both felt like we could have gone to bed right then but this day wasn't nearly over for us.

I iced cakes the remainder of the evening while he washed the eggs and got things racked up ready to be loaded early in the morning.

He went to bed at 10:00 but my day didn't end until 1:30 am on Saturday morning when I finally put my tired head on the pillow !

Thankful for the strength God gives me each day and thankful for the blessed love of these littles as they are the light that keeps me smiling on these long work and fun filled days.

God Bless and Good Night.