APRIL GOES OUT WITH A BANG (LITERALLY)

This last day of April 2018 broke cold at 32 degrees and beautifully sunny. Both g-girls were in great moods to start this week off. I tried to talk RL into staying here today because of a yeast infection she has that is really bad and making her uncomfortable but she insisted on going to school.
I had to chuckle as I headed out to get the chores done before we left at the memories of a time many years ago that I was doing this same thing with her brother. I don't remember why but I remember trying to talk him out of going to school one day when he also insisted on going.
She was happy when we arrived and went running right in and started to play with her classmates.
I came home and had breakfast then got weekly laundry started.
IR was napping and when she woke up we fed her and gave her a morning bottle.
She is getting so big !!!!!!

I worked on laundry and changing out bed covers all morning until it was time to go pick up RL.
She was in a great mood when I picked her up and was really hungry.  After she finished her little lunch I had brought her she konked out for a good nap.
Hubbie carried her inside and I'm glad we have 2 couches in our living room now . You can definitely tell it is Monday around here and everyone is recovering from a busy weekend.

Hubbie and had a quiet lunch and I went back to the laundry while IR woke up and had her lunch.

Her and hubbie sat out in the sunroom to give RL a chance to get her nap out.

When she work up and had her snack we were sitting in the living room watching TV when we heard a loud boom and the windows rattled in the house. Hubbie and I knew immediately what had happened as the TV went black and the lights shut off.

As I dialed the power company's number hubbie and RL went out to see if they could find the cause.

By the time IR and I got outside RL was pointing to the culprit. This large squirrel with burned fur from head to tail from touching the power lines on our transformer lay lifeless under the power pole.

Thankful for a very nice upper 60's afternoon to play outside while we wait on the power folks to reset our transformer and get our lights back on.

 Airplane !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully the 6:15 time to get the power back on didn't hold up and the power truck pulled up in about an hour.
RL had to meet them and tell them about the big boom and show them the squirrel. We all got a good laugh when she stood looking down at the squirrel and wondered aloud if he was "a nice squirrel" ??
After the power men left she helped hubbie dig a shallow grave for the squirrel and she said he went to squirrel Heaven !
D-in-love brought some friends kids home with her while their mom worked late and IR was enjoying the attentions of Emelia .

After everyone left hubbie and I did chores . I took the plastic window covers off my hen houses this evening. The overnight temps tonight are going to go back down around 40 but tomorrow it will feel like summer time with temps near 80 degrees.

We came inside and I blogged and then got ready for an early bedtime as we get this week started.

The good news of the day came this evening in a text from Re informing me that she had won the appeal filed by the girls other aunt Susan and gets to keep her nieces at least for now. There are a couple other hurdles to cross but it looks like God has His hand in this and that He wants these girls to be with Re and Aa.

On this last day of April as I look back over this month at the strange weather we have had I surely wonder what May will bring.

April has felt like a winter month instead of a spring month with many below freezing nights and lots of cold rainy and snowy days.

The month began with a wonderful Easter Sunday and an egg hunt with all the kids here.

Hubbie and I got out spring garden vegetables planted the first of the month between rainy days.

A sad memory for this month will be the loss of our 4-legged kid Bernie who had suffered with an enlarge heart for several years.

I had several batches of chicks hatch this month and purchased 6 baby guineas to help with the insect population around the yard.

I made a move at market when the neighbor by the door gave his tables up and I got to move on them to make it easier on us to get all my baked goods in and out of market.

Along with all this we had kids here most everyday this month to enjoy and watch grow up.

#1 son has gotten a fence started to expand his yard and is working on that.

#2 son has spent the month getting settled in his new home and getting all the yardwork done.

Daughter has spent the month working on getting a septic permit for the property she is buying and finally on this last day she got it okayed so she can move to the next step in buying it. She has got her house picked out and ready for the production line.

As God continues to bless each member of my family we are eternally grateful for the grace and love of a Wonderful Savior and Lord as we look forward to what He has in store for us in the next month.

God Bless and Good Night.

RETURN OF WINTER TEMPS TONIGHT

Sleeping a little later this morning came easier than yesterday. It is cool this morning at 40 degrees as I started out to get the chores done.
I put a macaroni and ham casserole in the crockpot and some corn on the stove for lunch and then we got ready for church.
Daughter and IR came over to ride to church with us today as son-in-love has taken a group of college bound kids from the Boys and Girls Club on a tour of the college of Charleston this weekend and won't be home until later today.

After church #1 son's family , #2 son and Re and her kids all joined us for lunch. We had green beans and biscuits to go with the mac and cheese and corn and everyone enjoyed the food and visit.
#2 son and hubbie headed on over to daughter's property to finish the work on the septic location and were joined by daughter and son-in-love while IR stayed here with me.
It didn't take long to finish the clearing and then they all headed home .
#1 son brought his laundry up here to use my dryer since theirs stopped working.
D-in-love helped g-son with his science project which I think is very impressive.

This is a good day to update all my chicks since the last setter is hatching her eggs today. These are green egg layers and so far she has at least 4 out of the 6 eggs under her hatched.

The last batch of Comet chicks didn't do so well as only 2 out of the 6 eggs under this hen hatched and when I broke the eggs that didn't hatch they didn't appear to be fertile eggs???

The Silkie chicks had a pretty good number of hatchlings under 2 separate hens but this black hen took over all the chicks and the red hen wanted out of the box. Luckily this is the warmest brooding box and she isn't having any trouble keeping all these little chicks warm on these cold nights.

My 6 Guinea chicks that I bought are growing leaps and bounds under their light and seem to be almost fully feathered already.

Lastly these first hatch of the season chicks are really getting big and really don't need mama any longer especially since they are as big as she is but I am leaving her in with them for at least tonight to help keep them warm since their box is open .

After chores I took a nice cool walk around the lower pastures and then settled in for a relaxing evening.

Hopefully April is going to take the cold overnight temps out with it and May is going to bring in some more summery temps. It is going to feel like going from winter to summer all in this next week.

And we are about 2 weeks late in our area for this kind of warning this year.

I am just hoping that the low winter like temps end soon so I can get all my plants outside to their summer spots and get some fresh early vegetables from my garden.
Thankful for all the blessings of this day and for the love of Jesus Christ in my life.
God Bless and Good Night

GOOD MARKET SALES DAY

Couldn't take advantage of my extra sleeping time this morning as I guess my inner alarm is set for the g-girls 7am arrival  so I was awake at 7am today even when my alarm wasn't set until  8am.
I got chores done and got ready for market to leave right on time.
Daughter and IR were already there when we got there this morning.
There was a good crowd of customers in market all day today thankfully and we had a good sales day.
I had to man the office until our manager could go to the bank for more change.  Thankfully daughter was there to help hubbie with our table sales.
Hubbie left at noon to make our weekly trip to Sam's Club and then get home to finish some yardwork.
Daughter and IR stayed all day and helped with the table. IR was really good as usual and even took a great nap after lunch.
We love our new location at the door but it will take some getting used to maneuvering around everything.

Steve came in today and brought some more things they are discarding and we need to make a trip up to his house this coming week to check out some more things they are getting rid of before they put their house on the market.

Daughter helped me load up and we headed home.

Hubbie and daughter headed over to her property to clear another septic location and I stayed here with IR who was still in a great mood and playing quietly.

She finally tired out and took a nap just before daughter and hubbie got home. They still like about an hour of work but daughter needed to pick up her groceries at Walmart at the curb side service and they only do it until 6pm.

Hubbie and I did chores and watched Rocky play with this little mole he found. He didn't kill it he was just tossing it and then chasing it when it tried to run away.

Rocky is getting more and more free time since he is staying around the yard now instead of running off.

We put all the dogs Soresto flea collars on tonight and put flea drops on Pumpkin the cat. This method has served us well at keeping the flea population down around our house.

I took a nice long quiet walk this evening in the nice sunny warm, upper 60's evening. 

Tonight was a relaxing evening for us both.

Thankful for the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

BUSY FRIDAY

Friday, yay,  Up to get chores done and get RL to pre-school. She was in a better mood today thankfully but still complained of not feeling good.
I stopped and filled up with gas on the way home this morning and then had breakfast while IR had her cereal.
Hubbie and I debated on what we should do first today as we had several things to get done.
He tried to get IR to sleep while I got all the plants upstairs and downstairs watered. I was hoping to get them outside for the summer this weekend but Sunday night's mid 30's temps prediction stopped that.
IR wasn't ready for a nap so we decided to clean house this morning while she watched cartoons.
Hubbie vacuumed while I dusted, cleaned all the glass and cleaned my bathroom. He cleaned his bathroom. We finished in time for lunch.
IR was ready for a nap after she ate. Hubbie went outside to work in his shop and I started my baking.
I baked 6 caramel, 2 chocolate, 2 pound and 1 pan of brownies.
IR slept almost 2 hours and then her and hubbie went outside on this mid 60's sunny afternoon. It is a bit breezy and feels cool unless you get in a spot out of the wind.
I finished my baking about 2:30 and sat outside for 30 minutes soaking up some vitamin D sunshine.
Daughter came after IR and they left to go to a fund raiser workout at TRX facilities with the other coaches and faculty at her school. She is in the purple shirt standing in the back.

Hubbie mowed the lawn this afternoon and I got all the decorations Steve, my market neighbor's wife sent me yesterday out of my Honda and hubbie's truck and organized them by holidays and then drove to Dollar General to get some plastic storage containers to keep them in down in the storage shed.

We did chores and then I started icing cakes and getting things ready for market.

Tif changed the color of her hair and I love it !!  She's been a blond ever since I've known her but I really like her as a brunette.

G-son's school had a dance today in a hot gym and he danced the afternoon away and was really pooped this evening. That's him just in the pic on the left side in the crazy sunglasses.

I can't believe his elementary school days are coming to an end in just a few short weeks !!!

My how time is flying by right now and all these kids are growing up right before my eyes.

G-son getting ready for middle school, EL getting ready for kindergarten. Seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my rocking chair rocking these 2 to sleep and looking down into their innocent baby faces.

Thankful for the blessing of the gift of watching these kids all grow up .

God Bless and Good Night.

MAMA SAID THERE'D BE DAYS LIKE THIS !!!

Whew !!!!!!   What a day !!!!!
Thursdays always start out hectic but this morning a whiny RL got this day off to a real interesting start. Nothing pleased her for breakfast or anything else today.
I got chores done and then loaded both the girls up and headed out. All the way to pre-school RL went to great lengths to find things to whine about. She didn't want IR to touch her carseat or even look at her. Poor IR didn't know what to make of the situation and just sat quietly in her seat all the way to RL's school.
RL clung to me and didn't want to go into her classroom but the teacher took her and RL went willingly without tears.  Jodi, the teacher said all week has been bad for RL and she thinks she might be cutting a back tooth.
IR and I went on to market and met hubbie. IR was asleep and slept through us unloading and getting set up and we even got our biscuits that hubbie stopped and bought ate before she woke up.
I had a pretty good selling day with a couple orders and other things selling off the table pretty well.
Steve the market neighbor who had the two tables at the door came in and cleared his things off his table today and gave up his market stock. He and his wife are selling their house here in town and buying an RV to drive around until they decide where they would like to buy a house.
They are both retired and their kids are all spread out around the state so they have no ties in town except for Steve's mother.
I bought all his shelving and the refrigerator behind his tables and also Lynn his wife sent an entire truck load of decorations and other things that she used in market .
We loaded my Honda and hubbie's front and back seats in his truck with all these things.
After Steve left hubbie went to run his errands while I fed IR her lunch. Connie, IR's other g-ma broke a tooth yesterday and is at the dentist today so IR gets to stay all day with us.
She was a very good girl and entertained herself with cartoons and walking the aisles in her walker.

When hubbie came back we began moving some of our things around to the tables at the door that Steve just gave up  as this will be much better for me to get in and out with my things.
Another lady that has a sign making business is moving to the 2 old tables that I have had all these years. She is really nice and will be a good neighbor.
We stayed after market and mostly completed the move. I will take pictures on Saturday when everything is in place.
It will take some getting used to but I think it will work out much better for us and all our baby gear.
We worked for 2.5 hours and didn't leave there until 4:30. Thankfully I had went to the bank earlier and only had to stop by the PO on the way out of town.
Hubbie and I will have to go back to Walmart tonight but we need to get IR home to meet her mom and eat.
After we got the Honda unloaded  I fixed hubbie and I some "lunch" since neither of us has eaten since our biscuit this morning. Daughter and IR had a bowl of the vegetable beef soup also.
She and IR went home and hubbie and I did chores . There was another 1/4 inch of rain in the gauge this evening from the rain that started just as we left market and has continued lightly all evening.
There are thunderstorm warnings for the areas south of us this evening and I can hear pouring rain as I sit hear and type this at 10:00 tonight.
Hubbie and I made a trip to Walmart earlier tonight and then he watched TV and I caught up my blog post so that we both can get an early bedtime tonight to rejuvenate for a busy Friday.
Thankful for the good health and strength that we are blessed with each day and for all the blessings that some times go unnoticed in a busy hectic day.
God Bless and Good Night.

SPRING BLOOMERS

Both girls were here early today to get the day started. I did chores then took RL to her pre-school. I was concerned that she might get another "stomach ache" on the way there but she was her happy old self today. Shouting out "school day yay" when the church came into view  and went running into her classroom.
I made a stop at Ingles to pick up a few things on my way home and IR was ready for her breakfast by the time I got home.
I ate then started my baking. I baked 4 pound cakes and 1 pan of brownies.
The weather is still dreary even though it hasn't rained anymore since daylight. There was another 7/10ths inch in the gauge from the overnight rain.
I did get outside while IR napped and walk around the yard taking in all the beautiful spring flowers that are blooming this time of year.
Seems the Azaleas are really showing off this year and seem to be brighter than in years recently past.

These last ones are a couple of my favorites with the pink blush inside the white blossoms and the frilly edges on the dark pink ones.

The old time Snowball bush is getting ready to look like a fluffy white cloud when all these blooms turn white.

The Lunaria or Money Plant is much taller this year and looks so pretty in the bed in front of the house.

The Lilac in the back yard doesn't have many blooms this year at all and I sure have missed that sweet Lilac scent when I go out in the back yard.

Unfortunately my Almond bush didn't make it through the winter this year so I'll be looking for a replacement plant for this corner pot.

After daughter came in and fed IR her and hubbie went over to her property to measure another septic location for approval.

She finalized the changes she made to her new house this afternoon so they can get it in the production line.

She is working with R-Nell builders out of Rutherford county and they seem to be working hard to get her what she wants.

#1 son met them over there and helped make sure the measurements were correct . 

Now they have to clear another 100 x 50 foot section of the woods for the inspector to be able to make sure the septic field will fit.

When they got back daughter and IR left and hubbie and I did chores.

A short rain shower continued to keep things wet outside later this evening.

We watched Survivor on TV and then I spent the rest of the evening getting things ready for market.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the love of our precious Savior Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Good Night

RAINY KID FILLED TUESDAY

Up to greet both g-daughters this morning to begin another rainy day.  Another soaking chore time this morning and another rainy drive to take RL to pre-school. RL started complaining with a belly ache when we were almost to her school but when I asked her if she wanted to go home or go to school she choose to stay at school . The teacher said she would watch her closely and call if she complained again.
I came home and had my breakfast and fed IR her breakfast and bottle.  Re brought AD by to stay while she ran an errand so she could do her school work.
She finished her school work and played with IR a little while before she got picked up.

RL complained again at school with the belly ache so d-in-love left work and went to pick her up and spend the afternoon with her to try and figure out what is going on with her.
Hubbie, IR and I had lunch and then went to Fletcher to pick up chicken feed since they had a sale on the feeds.
We also picked up Re a bag and dropped it by her house on the way home. It rained all the way there and back a light but steady rain.
We had to wait awhile for a break in the rain to get the feed unloaded and into the feed shed.
Flash has found a good dry place to hunker down out of all this rain in this really nice dog house that #2 son made.

Back inside both hubbie and IR took naps and I did some little chores around the house trying to refrain from a nap that messes up my sleep at night.

There was a kindergarten introduction at the elementary school this evening so Re brought AD, CO and BB over here while she took EL to the event.

A still napping IR had to share Pawpaw's lap without even realizing it !!!

EL had a great time at her new school and she is excited about getting to go and disappointed she has to wait several months for school to start for her.

After they all left hubbie and I did chores quickly to try to beat the heavier rain that was headed into the area.

There was another 7/10ths to go along with the inch from yesterday in the gauge and the heaviest rain of the day fell after I got inside tonight.

Hubbie and I had a restful evening to recharge for another busy day coming tomorrow.

I am really looking forward to the weekend and hoping the forecast holds up for some rain free days and warmer temps.

Thankful for the strength and health that hubbie and I are blessed with and for all the other generous blessing we receive each and every day by the grace and love of our precious Savior Jesus Christ.

God Bless and Good Night.

RAINY MONDAY AND 2008 APRIL

Monday morning is made harder with the pouring rain today. I got soaked getting chores done with the wind blowing the rain sideways.
I took RL to pre-school and came home to have my breakfast and get IR hers.
IR took a long nap and I got laundry started while hubbie gathered some firewood to build a fire in the wood stove to fend off the dampness and cool high 40's temps.
IR was still sleeping when I went to pick up RL. I stopped by the PO on the way home to mail last weeks bills that were still in my car.
Hubbie was asleep also when we got home. Both he and IR woke up as he brought RL in to take IR's place on the couch.
The three of us had lunch and then I did more laundry while hubbie entertained IR trying to keep her from waking RL.
It has rained all day with the wind and cool temps making this a very raw day outside.
When RL woke up the girls got in some playtime before their mom's picked them up.

After the girls left we tried to watch the news but both of us wound up taking short naps before chore time.

I got wet again doing the chores this evening with the rain still coming down. I emptied 1 inch so far out o the gauge but the heavy rains came in after dark tonight so we are wondering what we will wake up to in the morning.

Since this is the only picture for the day it is a good day to finish up the April decade photos. Back in April 2008 G-son was into everything anyone did around here back then and wanted to help.

We made a trip to Oak Island that April and stayed on Davis Creek which was several streets back from the beach . The weather was cool so getting in the ocean wasn't a big part of this trip but of course g-son who was never afraid of the waves had to test the cool ocean waters under the watchful eyes of his aunt T.

Aunt T had an inflatable canoe but it didn't work like she had hoped so g-son dry paddled it in the house.

G-son and Pawpaw did a lot of porch sitting.

The girls rented scooters and Hubbie and #1 son got to try them out.

The girls rode all around the island on them and had a great time.

It sure doesn't seem like 10 years have passed since this trip !!!!

I am forever grateful for the wonderful memories with my family.

Thankful also for the wonderful blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night