FUN MONDAY AND SUMMER RECAP

Up early to get the chores done on this cool low 50's morning. I needed a jacket this morning with the breeze that is blowing the cold front through our area.
Little Evy came over to stay awhile so her mom cold get some sleep after working all night at the hospital.
She is the happiest little girl ever and is so much fun to play with.  This morning she spotted this big slide and had a wonderful time playing on it. Doesn't everyone slide on their tummies ?????

She plays hard when she plays and this day was perfect for outside playtime !!
We had lunch and don't tell mommy that she was  having a "burping" contest with hubbie after she ate !!!!

Fun,Fun, Fun !!!!!!!!
Mom woke up and came over to play with us for a little while before naptime.  We gathered some squash and pumpkins from our garden and Evy was not happy with them in her wagon.

After they went home for naps I went with hubbie down the mountain to Columbus,NC to his dentist appointment. He needed a couple large fillings so I would have time to shop in the thrift stores in the area.
The little town of Tryon is a favorite place to shop for me.

 The signature metal horse greets all visitors to this sleepy little town.

 I found several little things in the shop and then headed back to Columbus to pick up hubbie. We stopped at a fruit stand for some late peaches and muscadine grapes and then went to check out the wood stoves in a shop across the road from the fruit stand.
We met a very nice , very informative salesman at the store and learned alot about the wood stove brand he sold. It is definitely a candidate for our replacement project.
They sold the Pacific Energy stoves which are made in Canada.

If anyone has had any experience with these stoves please let me know your views on this brand.
We got home around 5:30 and had supper with #2 son who came by after doing yardwork all day on his day off.
Brrrrr!!!! It was a chilly chore time tonight and just as Fall comes in tonight at 10:29 the temperatures are plumetting into the low 40's overnight.
Fall is my favorite time of year and this year is starting off wonderfully with a week of cool sunny weather.
The summer of 2014 was a summer to remember as the old road that has gone by our farm forever was replaced with a new higher bridge and road to prevent flooding issues in the future. The road stayed closed for over a month causing extensive detours.

During the flooding in 2004 hurricane Ivan

                                        
                                        Today after the new bridge and road were finished.

This has also been a great gardening summer and I preserved a lot of the produce from it with help from Rebekah and daughter, we spent many hours in my kitchen canning.
G-son spent the lazy days of summer here when he wasn't at scout or basketball camp then in late August he began his 2nd grade year of school.
D-in-love changed jobs in August and began working in the same elementary school that g-son attends so he rides to and from school with his mom which means I don't get to see him as much as I have for the past 7 years and that has been a big adjustment for me.
I have helped out with Evy whenever I can and she is growing up so fast.
D-in-love had a false pregnancy to the disappointment of all of us  this summer but they aren't giving up.
We spent a week vacation at Ocean Isle Beach in July for a nice time together.
The weather has been very tame for a mountain summer this year,not to hot and not many storms. There have been no hurricanes that have made it inland this far and only one that got close enough to the coast to do any damage so far. We are only up to the letter "E" in names.
Market has been pretty busy this summer.
I am humbly grateful for all the summer blessings of this past season and am looking forward to what God has in store for me and my family as we strive to follow Him in all we  do as the Fall season comes.
Good Night and God Bless.

REFLECTIVE SUNDAY 1994 MEMORIES

A nice sunny Sunday morning as I did chores and headed up to church.  I replaced the flowers on the communion table and then visited with my cousin before the service started.
Craig, our associate pastor, conducted the service today as the senior pastor is on his 2 week vacation.
He did a good job and the singing was very good today.
Everyone made it to lunch except #2 son who is helping a friend move from Tennessee today.
Everyone left except daughter who brought Tipper, her dog over to get hubbie to help her shave her hair off.  She sheds and by keeping her hair cut very short it cuts down on the amount of hair in daughter's house.
I took a nice break and did some reading.
After they finished cutting the dog and daughter left hubbie and I made a trip to Sam's Club to pick up some supplies.
I got my first bottle of Air Borne today as my throat is a little scratchy,guess this is the season for it !
We got everything put away and I went back to my reading while hubbie watched a race on TV.
As I watched the weather this evening it looks like the first day of Autumn, Tuesday will usher in the coldest morning air since last spring.

Continuing my decade pictures.....
In September 1994 #1 son was in 7th grade at Apple Valley middle school and was on the wrestling team.  This is the only year he wrestled and I was very glad because I did not like this sport at all .

This is his school picture that September.

#2 son was in the 6th grade at the same middle school that year.

 Daughter was in the 4th grade at Edneyville elementary school.

That year my first cousin who lives in West Virginia sent me photographs of some of the art work that my aunt Winnie, her mother painted.  She was an excellent artist.
This is the letter that she wrote with the pics.

 This was supposedly painted near her early home up on Hoppers Creek where her and my father were raised.

 This apple tree was also in the yard of their farm up there.

I do wonder what inspired this painting. It looks like "sadness" or "loneliness" to me .

 And these last two are pretty random.

She was definitely a talented young lady. Too bad she had such a short life. She died in childbirth of my cousin who sent these to me who is named for her mother.
Looking at these pictures of my Aunt Winnie I could tell she was a bit eccentric for her time.

My dad always called me "little Winnie" as he said I looked and acted alot like her with my spirited disposition, hard headedness and my appreciation and wonder of the beautiful things in nature.
Too bad I never got to meet her. Thankfully my cousin and I have kept in close contact through the years. Too bad also that neither of us received her artistic talent.
  R.I.P.  Aunt Winnie.

A perfect way to end a perfect reflective, restful Sunday, watching the cattle slowly graze across the pasture as I sipped hot tea and enjoyed the coolness of the early evening.

Grateful for the blessings of today and the memories of yesterday.
Good Night and God Bless.

BLUEBIRDS OF HAPPINESS

Hubbie was up earlier this morning to go up to church and help Rebekah get set up for the yard sale. Aaron is working today and she needed help with the heavier things she had for sale.
He came home and we loaded the van and he followed me to market and helped me get set up then went back to church to take care of little Evy during the sale.  Yea,  he had a hard job this morning !!!
I had a pretty good market day  with more people coming though today than the past couple Saturdays.  Nice cool, sunny weather seems to bring folks out and about more.
Daughter took her volleyball team to Watauga county to a tri-match which they won today, they left at 7am and got back at 9pm for a loooong  day !
After market I checked a furniture store in town for a dining room table like I want but no luck. I stopped at Aldi for baking supplies and then came home at 3:30.  Hubbie was getting ready to mow the lawn and helped me unload.
He had went over to daughter's place to let Tipper her dog out and he did some yard work while he was there, so he was late getting started on ours.
After I had a snack I went to the garden to pick green beans.  Our bean vines are turning yellow and this will probably be the last of the bean picking for this season. We still have lots of peppers and our butternut squash are looking good. We are also still getting tomatoes and a few yellow squash and cucumbers from the late plantings.
I did chores and then took Sadie  for a long walk along the bottom pasture creek banks where she could hunt and sniff all the critters that live along the creek. 
These mushrooms had a vibrant yellow color this year.

Luckily I had my long lens when this flock of Eastern Bluebirds decided to play tag along the fence line.
First there were 5 little bluebirds sitting on a fence and fence post and in flight.....

Then there were 4 little bluebirds sitting on the fence and fence posts.....

Then there were three little bluebirds sitting on the fence.....

One flew away and there was two little bluebirds sitting on the fence and fence post...

Now there is only one little bluebird sitting on the fence post giving me the eye for scaring his friends away .

A little further down the pasture I noticed some fluttering up in this dead tree and spotted this Gold Finch keeping a weary eye on Sadie and me as we walked by.

A beautiful late summer afternoon with perfect temperature and setting sun.

I came back up the hill, made myself a hot cup of tea and sat out in the patio to watch the sun sink over the horizon.
Going............

Going .......................

Gone..........

A beautiful end to a busy kind of hectic, up and down week,ahhhhhh  .
God is so good all the time and I stand in awe of His mercy and love.
Good Night and God Bless.

SIGNS OF FALL

Up and out on this busy Friday morning.  After chores and breakfast and a short walk in the still cloudy, cool morning it was into the kitchen for cake baking time. I baked 6 caramel, 3 chocolate, 5 pound and 1 apple wine cake. While the last cakes baked I took all the heat elements out of my stove top and gave it a good cleaning. Canning season always leaves a mess around the elements.
I had a late lunch then took a break out in the still cloudy afternoon to check out my new book I bought yesterday.  I skimmed through it to see if any of my ancesters were mentioned but I didn't seek any so that take the urgency out of reading it, haha !!
I cleaned out one of the smaller brooding boxes after moving the mama and 2 chicks into a bigger box. I still have 1 mama and 2 chicks in the other small box but don't want to put them together with the ones I just moved yet.
I pulled all the chickens some weeds which they greatly appreciated and then did the chores.
Rebekah came by to get some racks to hang clothes on at the church yard sale tomorrow. We helped her load up her things for sale.
Daughter brought her baked goods over after she finished helping the youth bake cookies to sell tomorrow. The yard sale is a fund raising project for the youth.  You rent a space for $10 then keep your profits from what you sell.  They had about 70 spaces to rent out but only about a third of them got rented.  I think they needed more advertisement.
On my walk today I noticed a lot of signs of the coming fall season.

 This bee likes this sweet little morning glory bloom nestled in the chickory plant.

 The colorful Heart Heel is a sign of cooler weather.

Gourds all around.

Muscadines hopefully will be ready before the first frost.
I spent the evening icing my cakes and getting things ready for market tomorrow.
Thanking God for the blessings of this day and asking for guidance always for tomorrow.
Good Night and God Bless.

TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE IVAN IN THESE MOUNTAINS

Market was slow today but I am thankful for the order I had and the few things I did sell.  I had plenty time to visit with the friend who was standing in for the neighbor down the isle again.
After market I added a few stops to my regular routine errands. I went by the historical museum to purchase a couple books about the history of the community I live in, then stopped by Steinmart, a clothing store to check out their sales as I had a couple coupons I needed to use. I found a couple really good deals in there.  My final non-regular stop was at the meat market to pick up some fresh beef roast to have for our Sunday lunches.
This market is now under new ownership and I thought the prices had certainly increased. We will have to see if this meat is that much better than Aldi or the Ingles meat to see if it is worth the higher price.
After stops at Aldi and Walmart I made it home at 4:30. I had things for daughter and Rebekah and got everything unloaded and divided up just as hubbie came in from work.
Rebekah picked me up at 5:00 to go out to the volleyball game that daughter coach's in.
D-in-love and g-son were already there.
You can tell daughter is not happy with the play of her team.  The JV lost in 3 sets and the varsity won.

 Little Evy loved watching the game with all the action as d-in-love and her mom talked.

We left after the varsity made quick work of the first set as it was Evy's bedtime and my chore time.

This will be a long picture laden post tonight and it will get my decade photos out of order but today is the 10th anniversary of  when Hurricane Ivan came through these mountains.  He entered the coast of Alabama on September 16 as a catagory 3 storm, causing 13 deaths.

Only 10 days earlier we had been dealt a flooding blow by another Hurricane named Francis. She hit Florida and crossed it as a catagory 4 storm causing major damage there before turning up our way.

We got a lot of rain and flooding with this storm but the winds weren't bad, we felt lucky to be able to clean our fences off and get them back up after the 8-12 inches of rain from this storm.

We were not so lucky after the added 6-10 inches of rain and flooding of Hurricane Ivan as you can see in these pics the fence is gone. The ground still saturated from the floods of Francis  just couldn't absorb anymore when Ivan came through.

This was the worst flood we had seen in years or have seen since.  The water was so high and so swift you couldn't stand in it knee deep without getting your feet swept out from under you.

As usual someone thought they could drive through the water and got their car swept away into the trees and caused a swift water rescue from the rescue squad.  They launched their boat through the neighbor's gate on the other side of the road from our driveway. 

Hubbie and #1 son talk with a neighbor's daughter as they watch.

 #1 son watches.

 In this picture you can see the blue car which only had one occupant thankfully who was successfully rescued.

 This was the car after the waters receeded which was very lucky to have caught in these trees instead of swept further down the flooded bottoms and probably flipped over.

With this storm also came strong winds which blew down power lines and put everyone in the dark for days.  We were without power for 5 days as workers got overloaded with all the outages.Lucky for us we had a generator for some small appliances.

We had many trees blew over around our farm but luckily none fell on anything. That wasn't the case everywhere as a man that we knew on the other side of town was killed when a limb came through his roof and hit him as he layed in bed.

#1 son surveys the damage.

After the waters started going down hubbie and I recovered this water tank and hubbie got to ride while I pushed it.

During this storm Snowball our milk cow delivered a bouncing baby boy as if nothing were happening on the outside.

It took many days to get things around the farm cleaned up and all the fences put back up after that storm. We bought telephone poles to hopefully hold on to our fencing if these floods get this bad again.
There was a land slide in Macon county which killed several folks and destroyed many homes on a mountain side over there with all the rains from these storms. All Western NC saw flooding where there had never been flooding before, even the Biltmore Estate suffered major flood damage.
This is some pics form the Biltmore area of Asheville  and the Swannanoa river.

And the devastating land slide in Macon County.

Prayerfully these kind of rains don't come around very often but when they do they cause a lot of damage in these mountains where houses occupy many of the mountainsides.
Praying God doesn't have it in His plans to send us this much water again anytime soon, but also recognizing that He has a grand plan and He will guide us through it with His love.
Good Night and God Bless.