Out of Touch

Well, I have been out of touch for awhile but around here spring and summer are just plain busy! Had to get the garden in, enlarge the fence around the house, try to keep up with the growing grass - well, at least try to get it cut between rain showers.

We are caught up on the rain - meaning they say we are out of the drought!! We had 8++ inches in May and so far this month we are over the 2 inch mark. This also means that we are lucky to have two days of sun in a row.

I have gone tomato wild this year. So far I have 21 including; yellow pear, Mr. Stripey (heritage), Mountain pride, Better boy, Roma, Cherokee purple (heritage), and German pink (heritage). I have about 1/2 determinate and 1/2 indeterminate. Hopefully we will have a great harvest and I can can some sauce. The sauce I canned last year tasted great and I just loved reaching into the cupboard, grabbing a jar, opening it and knowing that I did this.

While we were working on enlarging the fence (in the vain hope that Fergus, the escape artist, would say in) we found that we have some giant snails! These two seem to be racing to the top of the stump.

I won! I won!

Spring? Really? NOT!

Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous! The sun was shinning, the breeze was warm (after the gusting quit on Saturday), the clothes were slowly swaying in the sun on the line.


I took the crew out to Todd for a doggy play date. They were defiantly feeling the spring! You might think that having 9 little dogs would create all kinds of havoc but they all just get along so well. Siobhan and Smokey play zoom dogs –Fergus gets in on this sometimes if he is tired of running with Angus and Monty looking for deer. Charlie and Bear really just hang with the humans and BJ..well she was inside pouting because she had just had a bath.


I took both of these pretty flower pictures on Sunday. I love the orange daffy! I have no idea what the other little flower is but there were a ton of them growing in the woods. Can you see the leaves just starting to unfold?




And as they say ...An Appalachian spring does not really start until May…until then its all just a tease.

Today we are having snow flurries.

In like a Lion

This is the last snow we had in Feb. It was about normal for what we have been getting the last couple of years. Not much really - maybe 3 inches.

This is the snow we had by Monday morning! 12+ inches!!! Now this is what I remember from childhood!

It is beautiful! Until you have to drive in it. I will admit I stayed home for most of the day.

Here is what happens to small balck poodles in really deep snow!

It took me only 10 minutes to get the coats on them.

We stayed outside for about 30 minutes.

Taking the coats off, getting rid of all the little ice balls attached to fur and moping up the floor took 40 minutes...

Spending time with the crew in the snow...Timeless!!

In a winter wonderland

Doggies delight in a Winter Wonderland

We have had yet snow storm. This one left us with around 5 inches of fluffy white snow - and a wind chill below 0.

So of course I bundled myself and the doggies up and out we went. We went through the woods- checked on the places, I assume by the amount sniffing and peeing, that small critters live. We checked the mail. Then on down the road toward home.



Monty just tumbled Smokey and Smokey is on the rebound. Maybe I should say that Smokey is now out for revenge.




Here is a happy shot- Lacey and Fergus came running through. Then took off through the yard to check out the new house being built below us.

Monty has a mission and he has now taught Fergus and Lacey to help--- the mission is to pee on all of the construction workers car tires.

Little Bear is ready to go in.. and Charlie was already sitting on the porch by the door.

Old Man Winter has come aknocking at the door.

Local news headline "Winter weather ties record low temperature". We had our first dusting of snow yesterday, it was enough to close down school for the day but not much else. I do not mind cold weather - actually walking in a light snow is wonderful- but the winds that we have been getting are gusting up to 40 mph and are just a bit to brisk for me.

I am doing a series of photos of the back side of Grandfather Mountain - I have one from earlier fall with more color on the trees. So I decided to drive down the parkway on my way to work today and take one. I did think that there would be more snow left but..

I was not the only person who was out taking photos. There was another lady and I have to admit I had camera envy. Not that I know much about cameras but hers was bigger then mine.

Photo for friday

I took this a couple weeks ago- I call it toad home. I was playing on Picnik.com today using some of there gizmos and this is what I ended up with.

Fall Color

Each year I take a new photo of Grandfather Mountain. This year it is from the deck of a house on the other side of Foscoe. The colors were not peak yet but I do like the little bit of wispy mist.

My favorite way to view the fall colors is to stand in the middle of a forest and look up. With the sun shinning through the leaves it is like being inside a stained glass window.