APRIL 2011 COMES TO AN END

Off to market early this morning,it was pretty crowded when we first got there with people waiting in line at my table.
Just before lunch they announced that the body of a young man from Mills River community in Henderson county who died in Afghanistan last week would be brought down the street by the market.
We all went outside to show our respect.
There were police officers from every local department and with fire trucks and even the MAMA helicopter hovered over the hearse. The chopper is almost hidden by the utility wires in this picture.


Such a touching moment and so sad for this family. He was flying in a training mission when his helicopter went down,killing him and leaving the man he was training injured.
He leaves behind a young wife who is 6 months pregnant and a young daughter.
Pray for this family please.

Daughter went over to the herb festival this morning and stocked us up on herbs.
Just about anything you want we now have !!

I picked up baking supplies on my way home and when I got here daughter was getting ready to go to a friends wedding. She made an offer on the house she's been looking at and they counter offered to which she countered. Whew, what a game !!! She's waiting to hear back from them on her latest offer.

G-son came to stay with me while Hubbie and #1 son went to Lowe's to get a new frig but they didn't have the one he wanted so they have to go back Monday morning.
They ate supper with us before they went home.

I still feel pretty run down,g-son has the sniffles so we may both be coming down with something. This evening we layed on his bed together and read books.

Today brings the month of April to an end and I can't say I'm to sad to see her go. This has been a month for the record books as far as weather goes. More than 600 tornadoes hit the ground this month shattering old records. Damage was severe in many places and many lives were lost during the month from storms that passed through the country.
Here in the mountains of NC we were some of the lucky ones with only minor damage from high winds and flooding rains.
This month has taken me back to the years I spent watching my boys play base ball every spring as g-son had his first team experience this year. A little young but he has made it through his first season with some good times and some bad times, smiles , giggles and tears.


We got our early garden planted and have been reaping the goodness already of a few things.
We made a trip to buy calves but came home empty handed because prices were sky high.
Made our bi-annual trip to the Pickens flea market for an enjoyable day.
I have 2 Silkie hens sitting on eggs right now and added 2 little pullets to my previous chick numbers.
All in all a wonderfully pretty month with all the glorious spring blooms that appeared this month.
Got a lot done on our old building tearing down project but now are considering something different than we were planning.
Daughter's house hunting occupied a significant amount of time this month but hopefully she settled on one.
A late Easter gave some special fun for the month .
Time is passing way to fast for me it seems,sometimes I feel like I am barely hanging on by the tip of my fingers being dragged along instead of living it as it passes. I'm so thankful that I have my Lord to look up to and know that He waits at the end of the line.

Good Night and God Bless.

PLANT SHOPPING FRIDAY

It is a gorgeous day today,the storms of the last few days are distant memories for us ,but unfortunately not for many folks you live southwest of us. Rescuers are still searching through the remains of towns for survivors of the Wednesday night's tornado out break.
The death tole reached 318 today and so many people lost everything they had.

After morning chores I headed up to church to work.

After lunch I went to a couple plant sales in the area. The first was at the nearby community college. They mostly had bedding plants so I wound up with this box of flowers to refill some of my pots.
Among my purchases there were Geraniums,impatients,marigolds,coleus.
This sale closed at 2 pm and I just made it through before they locked the doors.
I moved on to the next sale which was at an education center called the Bullington Center.It was once the nursery of Bob Bullington,thus the name , it encompasses 12 rolling acres that serve as an education tool for the public schools in teaching children about all aspects of gardening. There was quite a crowd at this saleI have never been here before so I decided to look around a little before I shopped. I loved this arbor and they told me it would soon be covered with a variety of blooming vines.I've always wanted a water garden like this one. It was filled with Japanese Iris and other water plants and the little waterfall sounded so peaceful. I have no idea why this radio was sitting here!I think this is my favorite picture place.

I did my shopping here and wound up with another box,but this time I had blue berry plants and herbs with a hanging pot of my favorite sweet smelling petunias.
Back home I got all the bedding flowers planted and all of these except the blue berries and feverfew before I was interupted by the Direct TV serviceman coming to check my service problems.
He was a very nice young man and went straight to work updating several things that could be causing my problem.
G-son came in the mist of his repairs as #1 son had to meet a man that was buying a piece of equipment from him so I didn't have a chance to check things out before he left.
Now I have great service but the new remote won't turn the TV on and off. I have to use the old remote to turn the TV on and then the new one to do everything else. Oh well I guess you can't have everything !!!! I'll call them Monday to get them to walk me through hooking it up.
Hubbie and daughter mowed the lawn this evening while I watched g-son play in his sand box.
We had left over turkey chili for supper and then #1 son and g-son left and hubbie and I went to finish work at church.
As we came back home we found our driveway blocked by a broken down vehicle. We had to help her and the man she had called to help her push it across the road in an open gate so we could get in the drive . She got kind of huffy about moving the SUV ,I don't know how she thought she could just leave the drive blocked. People are very strange sometimes.
I have felt dragged out all day today,hopefully it is because I still haven't caught up on my sleep and not that I am coming down with something.
I iced 6 caramel and 2 chocolate cakes tonight. I'm getting to bed earlier tonight in hopes of getting back on schedule.
Praying for all the storm victims and their families and thanking God for my blessings today.

Update on D-in-love's wreck victim cousin, the doctors thought he had a stroke yesterday but found he hadn't which is a good thing. It is just a waiting game at this point,for the swelling to go down without problems and they will be replacing the ventilator with a tracheotomy tube to help prevent pheumonia. Sounds like his recovery is in God's hands.

Good Night and God Bless.

OVERNIGHT STORMS AND TORNADO SIRENS

Wow !!! What a night !!!!
Starting off with howling wind and rain so hard it was deafening on our metal roof. Then the lightening was endless with booming thunder. If you thought you could sleep you would be wrong. At about 2:30 am the tornado sirens went off and we only heard them on the scanner as it was so noisy outside it would have been impossible to hear them.
I prayed that if a tornado was on the ground that the people in it's path did hear the sirens.
Sometime after 3 am it quieted down and the tornado warning was lifted so sleep finally came.

This morning I woke to sunshine ,a washed driveway and planter pots strewn all over the yard but no real damage that can't be easily repaired.
Thank you Jesus for I know many were not so lucky.
In the southern states that these storms passed through they are still finding bodies,as of news time tonight there were 300 deaths and more were expected as some towns were litterly wiped completely out and they were still searching for survivors. My prayers go out tonight to all these folks.

The weather this April has bee historic, with more tornadoes than ever before in a month. Yesterday 25 out of the 50 states were dealing with some kind of weather related disasters.

I went to market today and had a pretty good day surprisingly. I think people were celebrating the horrid night.
After running errands and making a couple Avon stops I was home unloading when Hubbie came in from work.
After we got things put away I was exhausted and layed down on the couch for a quick rest before g-son's b-ball game at 5;30.
Daughter woke me up at 8:00 this evening asking if I was going to eat anything before she put the supper she had made away. I didn't realize I was that tired but my body shut me down for awhile I guess.
I did evening chores right before dark and hubbie came in from working on the washes in the driveway.
Daughter had done her baking while I slept so I started mine and it's a good thing I slept this afternoon because I finished baking a little after midnight. But I figure I couldn't sleep anyway.

Praying tonight for all the losses from the storms and very grateful for our safety in the Lord's graciousness.
Good Night and God Bless.

WE ARE UNDER A TORNADO WATCH AGAIN

Another cloudy,dreary morning. It rained and stormed during the night keeping me awake for a while soon after I got to bed. It doesn't look like it rained to hard but things are definitely wet this morning.
I spent the early part of the morning catching up on a stack of little things on my desk that I've been putting off. I renewed our cattle trailer tag online,canceled my cell phone insurance because of a rate hike they are having,called Direct TV about one of our TV's that the direct TV receiver takes on a mind of it's own deciding when it is going to play or not,tried to post some chicken adds on craigslist but couldn't get things to work and so on and so on,just a lot of time consuming stuff that I can now mark off my to do list.
I cleaned the floors then #1 son and g-son came for lunch and spent the afternoon with me.
One of D-in-loves 1st cousin's was involved in a car accident that killed his passenger and sent him to the hospital with traumatic head injuries. She is on her way down to Charlotte because the doctors don't feel like he will live very much longer. So sad ,he was only 20 years old.He was 14 years old in son and d-in-love's wedding ,he is the younger man in front with glasses 3rd from right. Please pray for him and his family.

I spent the afternoon doing some bird watching.
Saw the first Indigo Bunting today at the feeders.
This pair of Gold Finches are so pretty,especially the brightly colored male.Mrs. Red Winged Blackbird is pretty in her toned down colors.And this is a giant sand bird who visits my yard often.I also notice Hubbie's carpenter bee traps are working.

He saw a man making these on TV, got the instructions and now we have them hanging all around our house. They aren't to pretty but if they cut down on the damage these boring bees do to our house it will be worth looking at them for a while.

We fixed a big spaghetti supper for everyone tonight and then while daughter baked I did weekly paperwork and payed bills.
Then I iced 6 caramel and 3 coconut cakes.
I'm typing as fast as I can because the promised storms are here. We are under a tornado watch, the wind is howling and the rain is coming down hard and side ways outside. Every clap of thunder seems to be getting closer so I'm off to bed to cover up my head and pray .
Good Night and God Bless.

2001 DECADE PICTURES

From the look of the skies this morning I thought today would be a rain out for sure but still this evening no rain has fallen. Mind you I'm not complaining,I'm just sayin' !!! With the clouds all day the temperature didn't get out of the mid 70's so it was a nice cool day.
I worked inside all day catching up on house work and laundry and I'm happy to report I'm back on schedule,whew, that's what a week off does for you.
I had 5 cakes to deliver this afternoon and then had to pick up more baking supplies at Walmart on the way home.
When I got here Hubbie was over at #1 son's house helping him put a new fan on his heat pump which quit working again. Speaking of #1 son, I'll ask for prayers again for him as he saw his new knee doctor today and he is recommending that he go ahead and have his knee redone now to save the wear and tear on everything else. If you follow my blog you know that after his accident last June he drew a knuckle head doctor who set the plate and pins wrong when he fixed his knee. Today he found out his knee is 16-20 degrees off to the outside. He is seeing another trauma specialist next week who will actually do the surgery to see what he says.

After chores this evening I baked 6 caramel,3 chocolate, 2 granny pounds, and 1 blackberry wine cake.

I also took time this evening to go through pictures to look for some April 2001 decade pics. I know back then we had #2 son getting ready to graduate. He was finishing up a stellar highschool baseball career by playing in the state playoffs which ended in the 2nd round .
He was their first baseman.

In this year we also got to watch our nephew (hubbie's brother's son) pitch in his first college baseball game.
He got a scholarship to UNC@Greensboro to play baseball. Did well until he hurt his shoulder.

This month also was the time of #2 son's senior prom.
Elected king of his senior prom was an honor. There is an interesting story behind that suit he wore to his prom.
He found out that one of his friends was not going to go to the prom because he could not afford a suit. With Thrift Shopping in his genes,hahaha, he told his friend to come go with him and they would buy suits at a thrift shop,so that is what they did, his suit cost all of $5 including the shoes he found. I actually thought it looked very good on him. It looked better than the $200 tux he rented the year before.He got his mom's attitude of "I'm what I am, like it not".

Last but not least I'm thrilled tonight because due to this blog I've met a cousin who I didn't know that was searching our family history like I am. We've been e-mailing info all evening,it is so interesting comparing notes.

Thanking God for a wonderful blessing filled day and asking for his guidance for #1 son and the decisions he is facing.
Good Night and God Bless.

WHAT'S BLOOMING ????

Sunshine and warm temperatures started the day as I took care of the chickens and dogs this morning.
After breakfast I started some laundry so I wouldn't have so much to catch up on tomorrow since I did no cleaning of any kind last week.
I took a walk around the farm to see what was blooming today.
My Iris are starting to put on show. I have several colors and these are the 2 that always bloom first.








This Columbine that spent the winter snuggled in the greenhouse is blooming nicely now.



My one Rose that I bought last year has a huge bloom on it and it smells heavenly.
I am going to buy another one this year in a different color.



My old timey Snowball bush is covered with blossoms this year.



This double Clematis is starting to bloom already.



Most of the azeleas are bloomed out but a couple that are on the shady side of the house. This one has blooms that look like little carnations.


And this bright pink one has the largest blossoms of all on it.



Love the huge leaves on these Hosta.

Lordy,Lordy what did I see as I rounded the turn toward the house??
We now have clean gutters and I have a few more gray hairs !!!! Thanks Hubbie !!!!

G-son came after pre-school while his dad mowed his lawn.
He loves the new sand box Pawpaw made for him. He is making toad houses with his feet.
Blowing bubbles in the wind........
We watched nasty looking storm clouds brew all afternoon and the temperature reached the low 80's with the wind blowing so we were expecting some storms this evening for sure.

Hubbie and I,#1 son and g-son and daughter met the realtor to take a closer look at the house she is going to make an offer on. There will be a huge amount of work to be done to get the house back to livable conditions but if the price is right it will be worth it.
It will have to be totally painted inside , all the flooring except the kitchen and bathrooms will have to be replaced, there are a couple door frames that are broken, the trim has been broken off part of the counter top in the kitchen, the garage door opener has been taken down and some of the window sills are broken loose.
From the looks of the dirtiness of this house it wasn't taken care of long before the foreclosure happened for it to get this bad in just 3 years.

The rain finally showed up during g-son's ballgame but thankfully no storm.I took this picture from inside daughter's jeep where we took cover to stay dry. The boys looked like they liked playing in the rain, the coach not so much !!!

We came home after the game and it had only rained just a little here but they are saying we are going to get rain all day tomorrow.
I took 2 cake orders today to deliver tomorrow so I baked chocolate cakes tonight.

We got the first fresh vegetables out of the garden today, radishes,onions and arugula ,mmmmmmm it sure tasted good.We had a good turnout on our potatoes, looks like everyone of them came up. The lettuce is almost ready to cut and then we can have some delicious wilted lettuce.This is the other side of the garden where we planted all the plants we bought at the flea market last week with the greens and onions .

God is so generous and gives us freely everything we need,if only we have the faith to ask.

Good Night and God Bless.

PRECIOUS EASTER MEMORIES and D-IN-LOVE'S 29TH B-DAY

GLORY IN THE HIGHEST FOR HE HAS RISEN INDEED !!!!!

The crowd waiting for the sunrise from Chimney Rock Park this morning.The lights of the homes in the valley start to flicker on in the morning darkness.And here it comes !!!!
We had a glorious service at church this morning with standing room only it was the way Easter service should be.

Today has been a wonderful day of relaxation and reflection for me. Here is some Easter memories of mine.
Me and my brother at Easter in 1958.
My only memories of my adopted step sister are the Easter outfits we got from her every year from New York where she lived.

Fast forward many years ........
Easter 1982 and here is my #1 son with his chubby cheeks ......

Easter 1983 with #1 and #2 son who was about a month old.

Easter 1984.

Easter 1985 with the addition of a days old daughter and little sister.

1986 Easter and I'm loving those suits .....

By Easter 1987 we lost the suits.

Easter in 1988 and we are all so happy !!!

Daughter with her Easter basket in 1989.
#2 son looking for Easter eggs at Hubbie's Granny's house. There were about 15 kids on his side of the family that always met at Granny's house for Easter lunch and had an egg hunt afterward.


#1 and #2 son on Easter 1990.



Daughter and me on Easter 1990.

After 1990 I could find no pictures of the kids on Easter. Hubbie's granny died so we stopped going up there and I really can't remember what went on in the years afterward.

Fast forward 16 more years and Easter pictures begin again..Only months old at Easter 2006 G-son had fun in his new sunglasses !!

2007 Easter .
Last year 2010 dyeing Easter eggs with aunt T was really fun..

Memories are so precious !

And last but not least Happy Birthday D-In-Love ,Hope your 29th year is awesome !!!

HE IS RISEN, YES HE IS RISEN INDEED !!!!
Good Night and God Bless.