Where does time go

Were does time go? A year ago Lovely sister #1 was pregnant, now I have a beautiful nephew. Sir is 4 , into being a girly girl and in looking after her new bro. Lovely sister #2 in back in a cold Kentuck, at least for now. And I am still loving my home and yard.

I do love the holidays but after spending weeks getting ready I just don't know what to do with myself. Ok, I will take down the holiday decorations, add to my Christmas card list for next year and... If I am really honest- I will kick back and read the great books I received for christmas, peruse the garden catalogs, watch sappy movies and do absolutely nothing.

My 4 legged family has grown in the last month. Smokey Joe has moved in permanently. He came over to visit (and to work on housebreaking), it is now permanently. I never thought I would have a poodle. He is a love bug, a bit dizzy, doesn't seem to understand why the cats won't play with him and has springs instead of legs. He has learned to sit, walk on a leash, and the housebreaking is about 95% - if is really cold or windy he has to be forced to go outside..and you have to watch or he will just run from one door to the other- then you will have a potty inside.

Charlie and Monty are taking Smokey Jos arrival in stride. Charlie has decided that Smokey is fair game for the bate and switch game (Smokey has a chewey- charlie starts squeaking a toy- smokey jumps up to see what charlie is doing - charlie drops toy, grabs chewey and runs). Monty does not seem to mind Smokey - unless Smokey is being overly hyper, barking and jumping and occasionally landing on Monty. The you see little Monty teeth and hear growls- I can't blame him, I would not like it either.

Catching up after ThanksGiving...

Well, It seems like it has been forever since I have been on here to post. We had a great Thanksgiving, with family and friends from all over. I always say that I am just going to try a bite of all the great food. This year I actually tried to do that...and still felt like I should be rolled downhill hill home. uggg...

Now, We can get ready for Christmas. I am looking forward to decorating this year. I found a really great faux white Christmas tree that is small enough to go on top of the entertainment center. (Yes, my lovely little princesses, Fiona and Moragan, will demolish it if I put it lower). I have also decided to try a nice wide ribbon on the stairs instead of a garland.

With the price of gas (most) everyone in the family has decided to try making most of our gifts this year instead of driving to a store. If nothing else it will make Christmas day interesting. I am making Sir a sleep pillow. I ordered the Hops and Lavender last week and it should be in soon. I thought I could order just a little Hops but no..I will have something like 40 cups. I may have to learn how to make beer!

Falling for Fall

If anyone wants to know how to jump start a Toyota Prius email me. Not only was I watching Moms pooches for a couple of weeks but I was suppost to drive the car. Ok, so I thought that it was no big deal not to even start it for a week and a half. WRONG!

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So after I called the dealership and got passed around to a couple of people. I was finally talking to a guy in the shop. He was great walked me throught it step by step - FYI the battery is in the trunk and the trunk has an auto lock when the power is dead. Then he said that I need to actually drive the car for awhile to charge the battery. No more just jump starting and just letting it run.

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I decided to load the pooches up and take some fall pictures. I have to say it was fun to drive around for over an hour and not even use 1/8 tank of gas.

is 5 dogs to many?

As many may know I have been puppy sitting so my house is quite full..5 dogs and 4 disgruntled cats. Ok, so maybe I have finally realized just how many animals I can handle at one time but that is a personal thing.

What I have come to realize is that if you are on the greenway or in your car - say at a drive thru- people can not seem to help themselves from making some sort of comment. "Wow, how many do you have in there?" " Are those all yours?" " Do you really have 5 in there?" You get the idea.

All of this has made me want to do one of two things. One- call all of my friend with small dogs, ask them to let me borrow their dog for a day, then drive around and go to the greenway (at say 5:45pm). Just to see how many stares and comments I can get. Two- Ask each one of the people who has made a comment if they would actually say to a mother with 5 human children in the car.

lovely sister #2 will be here in a few weeks with her movie camera, so I may just have to go with option one.

Maybe I should just look at them and say "Hey, this is nothing. I used to drive around with around 3 hundred pounds of dog -3 Rotties- in my Jeep. "

Feels like fall

Evan though we have not had our first frost it is really feeling like fall. All the 4 legged kids are feeling it too. I actually had the heat on the other night.

It was a great weekend to be in the yard doing all the cleanup for the year. On Saturday I thought I'd run over and recycle some paint cans, on the way I say a sign I could not resist- 3 family yard sale. Now, I don't consider my self a garage sale junkie but I do like to see what they have. This time I hit paydirt. I found a HUGE composter..with turning crank and stand and they would deliver it too me!!

Bird with a view

Well, It has been awhile since I have been here. Sometimes work just gets in the way of life. Moms has gone on vacation out west and left me with the whole show to run and a gaggle of pups to watch. Yes, I did say gaggle. When you have 5 dogs all under the age of 6 (three of them about 3 and 1 only a year old) and weighing from 5 lb to 16lb, I just can't consider them a pack. Well, my kitties may consider them a pack..a pack of mess! Smokey Joe got a good smack from Indy when he decided he was going to push Indy out of the food bowl he was eating from. Smokey has not tried that again, now he just sits there waiting for Indy to finish and helpfully cleans up any crumbs that are left. He has also learned that kitties do not like it when he walks up behind them and licks there bottoms.

I have confess that last night I did something I really never thought I would do...I forgot Lacey in the car.. Well, Lacey is moms new little shitzu/mix girl and she is a bit scared to get in and out of the car so I have to lift her. When we got home last night it was late and I was really looking forward to the focaccia that I had picked up earlier from Stick Boy, so when the other 4 jumped out of the car running to bark at a tree, I just grabbed the bag and walked into the house. About an hour later I was looking all over for Lacey, calling and calling. I felt like a worm terd when I looked over at the car and there she was sitting in the car seat just waiting for me to lift her out.

Fall has finally started to come on the mountains and hopefully we won't have that first hard frost until the trees have had a chance to put on their show. I was over in Trade, TN the other day and on the way back Snake Mtn. was just beautiful. Trees with their bright fall color at the top bleeding down into a deep green at the bottom. My fingers were just itching for my camera which I had left at home. uggg!

The photo above was taken on Junaluska Rd about a week ago. I tried for the photo of him/her landing but it is just a bit fuzzy. Makes me think of the song that goes..."I can see for miles and miles..."

The ten laws of gardening.

THE TEN LAWS OF GARDENING!
1. Nothing ever looks like it does on the seed packet.
2. Your lawn is always slightly bigger than your desire to mow it.
3. Whichever garden tool you want is always at the back of the shed.
4. The only way to ensure rain, is to give the garden a good soaking.
5. Weeds grow at precisely the rate you pull them out.
6. Autumn follows summer, winter follows autumn, drought follows planting.
7. Evergreens go a funny shade of brown in the winter.
8. The only way to guarantee some colour all year round is to buy a garden gnome.
9. However bare the lawn, grass will appear in the cracks between the patio paving stones.
10. "Annuals" mean disappointment once a year.

Ah yes...it is so true.
I found these at http://www.organicdownunder.com/tenlaws.htm which means that it is true on both hemispheres.