We Filled A Pew!

For the first time in over 5 years I was able to have my entire family (except Tim) sit in Church with me.  We literally filled the pew!  Carrie & Daniel, Jenny, Nate & Rory, the Celis family and a couple of friends.  It is weird for me to sit in the pews in the sanctuary because I am usually in the choir loft but now that I am a visitor I have to sit with the parishioners.  It was Youth Sunday do the youth led the church service and they did a great job.  We were all concerned that Rory would not make it through the service but with all the help we had in our pew she was wonderful.  I got to show Rory off to some friends and everyone was glad to see Carrie and Jenny too!  After Church we all went to La Nopalera for lunch where we met Lisa so she could join us.  It was a nice way to spend a Sunday!

A Beautiful Wedding

Yesterday I attended the beautiful wedding of Cheryl and Evan St Peter.  I have watched Cheryl grow up from a cute little girl into a beautiful woman and I had the honor of attending her wedding too.  Congratulations Cheryl and Evan.  I wish you many years of happiness together.  Cheryl is Bob and Robin's daughter.  We have been wonderful friends for over 20 years.  Congrats to you both too!  At the wedding I enjoyed seeing old friends again and getting caught up.  Rory was my date and she was really great during the ceremony and reception!  Way to go Rory!  It was a nice day and a beautiful wedding!

Just Rory and Me!

I got to spend my evening with Rory!  Just Rory and me and it was a great evening!  Jenny and Nate went out to dinner with friends and asked if I would watch Rory and I said of course I would!  We had some dinner, played with some toys, read a couple of books but Rory's favorite thing to do was to play with my phone taking selfies.  Rory is not camera shy and she know what the camera is so we had some fun tonight snapping a few pictures.  It was so nice to have this opportunity to be with Rory.  At bedtime we snuggled a little bit then I laid her down in her crib, turned on her music and dhe went right to sleep.  Thank you Rory for a great night and thank you Jenny and Nate for going out so I could be with Rory.

A Fun Day

It was a fun day especially since I spent it with my kids.  Something we have not been able to do in 5 years.  We did all sorts of things and between Carrie, Jenny and I we covered a lot of area. We visited a new store, in Orange Park, Old Time Pottery. What a great store!  If you are decorating or redecorating this is the store to come to for items.  It is huge and if you can't find it there then you don't need it.  We spent some time going through the entire store.  Rory really loved it mostly because of the wide aisles she was able to walk around and window shopped at her level.  We went to lunch at Cici's Pizza, something else I have not had in quite a while, then split ways.  Jenny and Nate took Rory home for a nap and Carrie and I did some shopping.  We spent most of the afternoon shopping.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon together again with Jenny, Nate and Rory.  Later last night I stopped by the Church and said "Hello" to the choir and even went to Dairy Queen after Choir.  It was great to be with my friends again! All in all, it was a great day!

Hello Orange Park! It's Good To Be back!

Lisa and I had an eventful drive yesterday from Parrottsville, TN to Orange Park, FL.  Uneventful drives to me are the best.  It was an easy trip until we reached the downtown area of Jacksonville where we were met with a terrible rain storm which was okay but in a construction zone?  Yep I could not make out lane markers much less the road.  I got through it safely, dropped off Lisa at her kids place in Jacksonvillr then headed over to Orange Park.  I even got to "enjoy" the Buckman traffic.  It was all worth it when I got to see Jenny and Nate and, of course, Rory.  Then on to see Carrie and Daniel and their new home they purchased a few months ago.  All are well and if felt good to be together again.  I have a lot of people I want to see so I better get busy!  It is good to be back!

One Year Already?

One year ago today we arrived and started our new life here in Parrottsville, TN.  The RV has been in the same spot for one entire year. At first it seemed weird not having to move to a new spot every one to two weeks and I think we are pretty well adjusted to just staying put.  Of course our location makes it a little easier.  With great friends like George and Lisa and a beautiful view how could we not be content.  We are rural and we are getting use to it too!  We have accomplished a lot in our first year here.  I have a Crafty Cabin which is wonderful.  We built a storage shed and filled it with a washer and dryer and a freezer.  We bought a golf cart and Tim has fixed it up so we can use it all over the farm.  We bought a new car, experienced our first winter with snow in over 20 years and still managed to squeeze in a three month trip out west and Hawaii.  We learned all about gardens, harvesting and canning.  We have made created some things around the farm and with each new job around the farm it looks nicer and nicer.  We have seen and heard lots of wildlife and farm animals.  Turkey and deer like the orchard along with some neighboring cows that broke through the fence just to destroy some crops.  It has been a wonderful first year all due to George and Lisa and their farm.
Today Lisa and I are headed south to Florida.  We have a wedding to attend.  Tim and George wanted to go but since we have our daughter's dogs and George and Lisa have Roxie now they will be staying here at the farm.  I am so anxious to get to Jacksonville so I can see family and friends.  Even though Parrottsville is home now I will always consider Jacksonville home too.  So here we go!

Hot Water On Demand

Yes, hot water on demand!  Something we have not had in a while.  Planning on when we need hot water has been our life for a few years now.  The hot water heater works well in the RV just making it instant has been a fight since day one.  We have gone through so many heating elements on it when we were just using electricity with it that we were replacing them every month or two.  So we decided to give up on using electricity and went to just gas.  Well we did not want to waste gas keeping the water hot when we didn't need it so we would turn it on and off but then had to plan because it took some time to heat the water; especially in the winter (4 hours).  Now we have it on demand again thanks to Tim and a regular house hot water heater. 
George had given us a hot water heater for the shed that was in his house when he bought it.  He didn't need it so we used it just to heat up water for the washing machine in the shed.  Tim decided to make that our hot water heater for the shed and RV so now I will be able to just turn on the faucet and have hot water!  I know it may not sound like much to you but it makes me a very happy person having hot water on demand again!  Thanks Tim!

What's For Dinner?

I know I have shared recipes from time to time and I will be doing it again but with a new title.  "What's For Dinner?" will be a regular feature in this blog especially now that I am "experimenting" with new recipes.  Tim is a meat and potato man so sometimes when I make new recipes I have to be careful with what is in it.  He is not one for trying new foods.  So, with that in mind, I decided to try a new crock pot recipe.  It was good and Tim loved it.

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:
4 frozen chicken breasts
2 lemons
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 Teaspoon lemon pepper
1 Teaspoon parsley
1/2 Teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Place chicken in slow cooker.
2 Pour the juice of one lemon over the chicken
3. Add the rest of the ingredients (except lemon)
4. Slice the other lemon in thin slices and place on top of chicken

Cover and cook for 6 hours on low.  Serve with rice, potatoes or noodles and a veggie!

It is a pretty basic recipe but the flavor is amazing.  Give it a try and if you do let me know what you think of it. 

Going To The Mall

Lisa and I had a Mall day yesterday.  I have not been shopping at a mall since I was in Hawaii with Jenny, Nate and Rory.  Parrottsville and Newport do not have malls so we decided to head over to Morristown.  The mall there is smaller than most but it still has some great anchor stores like JC Penny, Kohl's and Belk.  We were on a mission - to find Lisa something to wear for two weddings next week end.  We are both attending a wedding in Jacksonville next Saturday but Lisa has an added wedding to go to and needed something that she could wear to both. Well after visiting most of the stores Lisa found her outfit.  So mission accomplished and after doing all that shopping we decided to treat ourselves to lunch too.  It was kind of fun just to go and look around the mall.  Thanks Lisa for a nice day.

Douglas Dam

We went to Douglas Dam yesterday.  Douglas Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the French Broad River in Sevier County in Eastern Tennessee.  The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority which built the dam in the early 1940s to meet emergency energy demands at the height of World War II.  There was such a push by President Franklin D Roosevelt to build the dam that is was built in record time (12 months, 17 days) that has not been beaten to this day.  Douglas Dam is a straight reinforced concrete gravity-type dam that is 1705 feet long and 202 feet in height.  It holds the 28,420 acre Douglas Lake that has a 513 mile shoreline.  The dam was named for Douglas Bluff, a cliff overlooking the dam site prior to its construction.  Douglas Dam is located 32 miles above the mouth of the French Broad river but the dam does not have any navigational locks. 
Douglas Dam has a great recreational area with camping, fishing, a marina, a swimming beach, lots of picnic areas and viewing areas of both the dam and the lake.  The campgrounds (three of them) are very nice. It is a beautiful area and it gave Tim the camping and boating bug.  The beach area is very nice and on a hot day it would be very inviting.  There are several picnic tables and benches at the headwaters and the upper areas of the dam.  It is a great place to plan a day of relaxation.  We will be returning to Douglas Dam soon.

Harvesting and Weeding

The garden is coming to an end and there are only a few crops left that are hanging in there.  There is a bunch of butternut squash that can be picked but Lisa read that they can stay on the vine for a while until we are ready to pick them.  There is only one small problem - weeds.  We spend a good amount of time in the garden just pulling all the weeds that have taken over the beds. We concentrated mostly in the butternut squash bed. That same bed had the zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pumpkins and watermelon.  Since those crops are through the weeds took over and we let it but now the butternut squash area is cleaned up and free of weeds.  The tomatoes are still giving some fruit and the green peppers are actually turning to red peppers and we finally got a good size red pepper yesterday.  The Okra, well let's just say there is plenty of okra.  We dug up some more sweet potatoes and carrots and we even got one more bowl of green beans.  So last night's dinner was ham steaks and vegetable rice with carrots and butternut squash from the garden.  It was good!  Today is suppose to be dry and beautiful so we are all headed out to do something fun.  Check back tomorrow and see what we did!

All Is Good

My colonoscopy went well and I am done for awhile.  I have to say I had some very good care while in the hospital.  The Newport Medical Center is where you go to have this procedure done and I had to go last Friday to pre register and do all the hospital paperwork.  All I had to do yesterday is walk into Outpatient Surgery and tell them my name.  They took me to a room right away and an hour later I was in the operating room.  It went quickly.  I did wake up before they were done with the colonoscopy but I wasn't in pain and they were almost done.  Actually it was kind of cool watching the inside of my colon.  So, that is done and I am good for a while. Yay!  The rest of the day I was in a state of drowsiness.  I just could not stay awake.  Lisa was kind enough to fix dinner for us so we had a great dinner.  Thank you Lisa!  So, I am hoping I will be a little less drowsy today so I can get some things down.  We will be doing some more harvesting in the orchard and I have some door prizes to finish up.  All is good!

Prep Day, Two Ways!

Yesterday was prep day but in two entirely different ways.  The first part of the day I spent in the Crafty Cottage prepping with all of the items needed to make 10  sets of door prizes with four cards in each.  I had to gather all the different paper, stamp sets, tools, etc.  I then began work on prepping for each card.  I cut all the paper to the sizes I needed, including using the Big Shot, so that I could just stamp and put the cards together.  That took most of the day. 
At 4:00 pm I still had not heard from the hospital as to what time my appointment would be for my colonoscopy.  I finally called and left a message.  They finally called me back around 4:15 to let me know I had to be at the hospital by 8:00 am.  I don't know if they forgot about me or what but at least I finally had a time which meant it was time for me to begin the second prep and that is for me to drink that "wonderful" solution they give you to clean you out.  The first three or four glasses were fine but after that it was awful.  It took me about three hours to drink the 4 liters of liquid but I did and it did what it was suppose to do too!  So now I am ready for the procedure which, I heard, is a breeze.  I will let you know how it goes in tomorrow's blog.  Wish me luck!

Creating A Door Prize

I am happy to say that after Tim repaired my Big Shot it worked perfectly and I was able to create some pretty cool door prize card packs.  I am so glad that it worked otherwise I would of had to use my back up machine that would do the job poorly.  So, I was able to figure out four cards and now I get to recreate them 10 times each.  Once I get the door prizes done I will then begin to work on Christmas Cards for Pam's SAS in November.  I know it seems early but for crafters it is Christmas time.  This is when it all begins for me.  Hmmm, maybe I should put on some Christmas tunes to listen to while I work?  Nah, too soon!
I also have the pleasure today  to be on a clear liquid diet.  I have a colonoscopy on Wednesday so today is prep day.  Nothing but liquids and they can't be red, orange or purple.  I can eat lemon or lime jello and drink chicken broth; Yum!  I am still waiting to hear what time my procedure is tomorrow.  I know it is happening but the Hospital has not called with a time.  Check back and see how much fun I had drinking the solution.  Woo Hoo!
I also want to take this opportunity to wish my mother in law, Mary,  a very Happy Birthday.  She is in Peru celebrating her Birthday, Jim's Birthday and their Anniversary.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Crisis Averted

I spent most of the day working in the Crafty Cottage creating door prizes for my sister Pam's SAS in September.  Pam had just sent me a whole bunch of new stamp sets and gadgets to play with and to help create some door prizes.  Things were going great all morning but after lunch a crisis occurred.  My Big Shot, which is a machine that cuts and embosses paper for me quit working.  The door prize I was working on all dealt around the use of this machine.  So I took the Big Shot up to Tim and he took it all apart and after finding the problem he fixed it and I was able to get back to creating.  Thank you Tim!  The Big Shot is an expensive machine (around $100) so replacing was not an option.  Check back in a couple of days and I will have my creations posted.

A Big Harvest And Football

NFL Football Pre Season has begun and with the starting of football season it means the ending of the crops we have been harvesting the last couple of months.  The garden that George and Lisa have planted have given us all a bountiful of crops and yesterday was no exception.  We picked a bumper crop of green peppers (40 plus) and the green beans are still hanging in there.  The tomatoes are still going strong and we picked two watermelons hoping that they will be good.  The mites that has been eating all the vine fruits and vegetables have not attacked the two that we picked.  We picked a lot of carrots and the rest of the beets.  The okra is still producing well and the sweet potatoes are beginning to pop up.  We picked 7 to 8 of them.  Lisa even picked a few onions.  We will still be able to harvest some more crops but we do realize that it is coming to an end.  We have enjoyed the produce that we picked from the garden and last night the cooked carrots that Lisa fixed were delicious.  Football was on the TV most of the day (the NFL channel was playing re runs of the first pre season games).  It was a good day all around.

We Have Flowers

Our neighbor Cheryl was busy while we were off "playing" at great Smokey a Mountains National Park.  When we got back to the farm we saw some flowers the were plants around our new sign.  It was a nice surprise and a real challenge.  The area where we placed the sign is pretty much rock which made it very difficult to place the sigh and fence posts.  She found out the hard way with the flowers too!  Cheryl was able to get a few flowers in the ground which has made that little corner on the farm looking pretty good!  Thanks Cheryl it was a great surprise.

Laurel Falls

We all decided to have a fun day yesterday and headed over to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to hike the Laurel Falls Trail up to Laurel Falls.  The Laurel Falls trailhead is located about 4 miles from the Sugarlands Visitor Center and is the most traveled trail in the entire park.  The trail ascends Cove Mountain (elev. 4077 ft).  The trail is referred to as the most trampled, beaten and worn down path in the park.  Due to that the trail has been paved by the park with black concrete to help prevent any further erosion to the trailside.  The trail to Laurel Falls is 1.3 miles and climbs about 374 ft in elevation along the trail.  It can be a crowded trail and is only about three feet wide.  It does offer an easy hike to the falls and has wooden post markers, 13 of them, that are posted every 0.1 mile to guide the hikers to the falls.  Since it is such an easy climb the trail stays busy.  The trail winds through a second growth dense forest that has never been logged.  It is one of the few forests in the park that has not been logged.  There is thick Laurel through the forest and along the trail which is how the falls got its name.  After climbing the 1.3 miles you reach Laurel Falls which is an 80 ft multi-level waterfall and one of the must magnificent in the National Park.  At the falls there is a small foot bridge that crosses the falls and leads to a small rocky ledge to stand and enjoy the view.  It is a very crowded area so most people visiting the falls do not stay very long.  You can dip your toes into the falls and get close to the falls for pictures.  Once you reach Laurel Falls most visitors stop the hike there and then descend the trail back to the parking lot.  The trail does continue another 3 miles up to the summit of Cove mountain.  It is a dirt path through the woods where just before you get to the summit you reach an old fire road and a fire tower.  The Cove tower is one of three original fire towers left in the National Park.  At one time visitors could climb up the tower to get spectacular views of the mountains but it not deemed safe anymore to do so. 
We enjoyed our hike to the falls and although crowded it was still worth the hike.  We brought a picnic lunch with us so we ate our subs sitting on rocks while enjoying the view of the falls.  It was a nice way to celebrate our 32nd anniversary.

It's Our 32nd Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Tim!  Wow, 32 years and we are still going strong.  It sure does not seem like 32 years and it has been a great 32 years.  Tim and I have celebrated our Anniversary in 5 different places in 5 years due to our traveling.  Here is a break down:  2011 we were in New Mexico, 2012 we were in Waterloo, IA, 2013 we were in Carlsbad, CA and in 2014 we were in Lake Geneva, WI.  This year we are celebrating our anniversary by going to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park then out to dinner later on.  In our 32 years together we have two beautiful daughters, one lovely granddaughter, lived in 5 different cities, owned four different homes and have traveled all over this country.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful family and great friends.  So, Happy Anniversary Tim; I love you!

The Secret Project Is Revealed!

The only secret about this project is that I have not shared it with you while we were working on it.  Instead, I wanted to be able to show the project after it was finished.  When we got back from our trip in mid June one of the first things George had requested was to design some kind of "MASH" sign. Do you remember in the TV series "MASH"?  There was a sign post with cities listed on it and that was the inspiration for this sign.   Anyway he wanted a sign so that whenever someone would pull up to the top of the our hill they would know who lived where.  There are three families here at the top of the hill; the Smiths, Franciscos and us.  On occasion there have been visitors that did not know where to go when they got to the top of the road.  I designed a sign that would give that information in a glance.  While Tim and George were tearing down the garden boxes in the orchard they saved all the wood and that is where I got the wood for the signs.  Tim and George cut the wood to my specifications and then planed the wood so I had a smooth surface to work with.  It took three days for me to work and finish the signs and I think they turned out really well.  While I was working on the signs Tim and George, after deciding where the sign was going, worked in getting the post up for the sign and then decided to put some fences up to define the whole corner.  Tim put poly on the signs yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon the signs were put up.  It looks great and in George's words, "It turned out better than I thought it would!"  I will take that as a complement!  I have posted some pictures of the whole process of the "MASH" sign.  It was a fun project and now it is a helpful tool too!  So now the secret project has been revealed!  What do you think?

The Dog Days Of Summer

It is definitely warm here in eastern Tennessee.  Florida warm with Florida humidity.  Tim and I have been pretty lucky the past four years not having to deal with humidity even when we were in New Mexico and Indiana dealing with temperatures over 100 degrees.  The past few weeks we have felt we were back in Florida.  The good thing it won't last long and the humidity will go back down to what we are use too.  Unfortunately every thing we have been doing for the "secret project" is outside so the humidity has been a factor.  The dogs are even feeling the heat and go outside for a short time and then are ready to go back inside and enjoy the air conditioning.  Around dinner time we even had a "Florida storm" that did not last long but brought a ton of rain in a short amount of time.  It also brought a nice view of the mountains after the rain quit.  Check back tomorrow for more progress of the secret project.  One or two days it will all be revealed.

The Secret Project Has Begun

The secret project is not a secret from anyone here at the farm but am I am keeping it a secret from you until it is complete which should be in a couple of days.  We are all busy working on it and yes, there are pictures but I will only post one as a tease until we have completed the project.  So, check back in a day or two and see what the secret project is! 

A Garden Dinner

It started with grilling burgers and ended up with Tim, George, Lisa and I enjoying a garden dinner.  Tim ate the potatoes and green beans (green beans from the garden) with his burger and Lisa, George and I enjoyed cucumbers, butternut squash and beets.  Lisa fixed the butternut squash using a new recipe she found and it was delicious and the beets she fixed two different ways.  The first way was boiled sliced beets and the second was mashed beets.  Both were equally delicious and I loved them both.  Freshly made beets are the best!  Thanks Lisa for making the beets and squash.  Of course on the hamburgers we also had the bread and butter pickles that Lisa and I made.  It truly was dinner from the garden and we all enjoyed it.  YUM!

Gardening 101

I know very little about gardening so this summer has been a big learning experience for me. My Grandpa Berg always had a garden and when I was a little girl and we would go up to Superior, WI to visit I would walk through his garden with him but that was pretty much the extent of it.  My Grandma Colley had a small garden in her backyard in Chicago but all I remember from that is picking her rhubarb with her.  My mom always had flowers and a couple of years we had a small garden where we grew leaf lettuce and cucumbers.  So, as you can, I have a vast knowledge of nothing when it comes to gardening. 
George and Lisa have planted a fantastic garden and planted all sorts of different crops to see how they grew.  From my previous posts you know that zucchini did very well along with cucumbers and tomatoes.  Grapes did and are still doing well and the okra is mass producing now. The green beans are doing great and I believe there will be one or two more batches to be picked. 
Yesterday we had some ups and downs in the orchard.  Some kind of mite got the vines of the pumpkins, watermelon and cantaloupe so we are hoping that there will be some more but it does not look good.  That same mite got the cucumbers so we are done with those but thank goodness we had such a good crop that we were able to can so many dill and bread and butter pickles for the future.  The corn was taken out by raccoons and deer but at least we got a taste of it.  The peas never really did much and jury is still out on the potatoes.  The successes yesterday were we harvested beets, carrots, onions, green peppers and sweet potatoes.  The carrots still have some growing time but the ones we did pick were delicious.  The beets look great and hopefully we will be eating some tonight. Lisa cut up the onion and added it to the grilled asparagus last night.  The sweet potato I will have to let you know since I do not care for them. 
All in all, the garden has been a success and a huge learning experience for me knowing when to pick, how to pick, etc.  I look forward to being more hands on next year and help with the preparation of the beds, plantings, etc.  Thank you George and Lisa for creating the garden and sharing all that has been harvested from it.  It has been yummy!

The Dogs First Week

Ace and Lily have been with Tim, Shadow and I now for a week and everything is going great.  They are two great dogs that have seem to adjust to life here at the farm.  Shadow, Ace and Lily all get around great and Shadow has even learned to leave their toys alone.  Of course the toys are only out when we are here to make sure there are no issues.  They are great when we go outside but poor Ace, who is the smallest, has discovered hills are not much fun.  While Shadow and Lily go flying up and down the hills Ace goes down great but on the third or fourth time of climbing back up he decides to stay at the top.  Roxie, George and Lisa's dog, is doing great and can now play with all the dogs.  Roxie got "fixed" a couple of weeks ago but now she is all healed and can  now run and play with all the dogs.  It is quite a sight when the four are all together.  There are times when Lily or Ace miss Jenny, Nate and Rory but it does not last long.  We had one moment with a toad that  was interesting,  Roxie came up to visit on her last walk for the night and there was a toad by the tree by the RV.  Lily, Ace and Shadow all looked at it and said Toy.  Poor Roxie, still adjusting to her new life of having a family to love and take care of her looked at the toad as food.  She would not let the other dogs get near it.  It was a good moment knowing that it could be a toy to all and that Roxie no longer has to live the life she had before she found the farm.  Yup, the farm has gone to the dogs!

Tis The Season

Tis the season!  If you have gone into Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joanns or AC Moore you may have noticed that Thanksgiving and Christmas items are already out.  Now you may think that these retailers are really pushing it for the upcoming seasons but for a crafter this is the time that you begin making your Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts especially if they are going to gifts.  For me, August is the time I begin planning some of my Christmas crafts.  I am already working on a Halloween project now.  As a crafter I need this time to get some of my items done.  Pam and I are already in the planning stages for her big Holiday SAS in November.  Tis the Season for crafters.

The Movie, "Vacation"

It was a fun day on the farm.  Tim and George went Golfing with our neighbor Reg.  They went to a different golf course than the last but did like it as much and it was farther away too.  Meanwhile, Lisa and I drove to Morristown to see the movie "Vacation".  I loved the original 1983 "Vacation" movie and so I wanted to see the new version.  I knew it was rated R but figured it was just for language.  Well, it was plus more.  I have to say that the movies are not a like at all except for going to Wally World and having a 'different' car.  The new version has some comical moments but most of it is just vulgar.  What could of been a fun and family friendly movie is instead one that will have to cut and bleeped just to show on TV.  The F bomb is used just as much as the or and is in conversation  and if you know me you know I hate the F bomb.  My advice is to wait until the movie comes to regular TV.  Don't waste your money or time on this one.  Sorry Lisa, my bad!

The Crafty Cottage Sign

The Crafty Cottage now has a sign with its name on it.  My sister Pam was at the Del Mar Fair and came across a sign maker and being her generous self she decided that the Crafty Cottage needed a sign.  I guess great minds think a like because I had been looking at signs for the Crafty Cottage I just could not find one I liked.  When I checked out the sign site she sent me I found one I loved.  So Pam ordered it for me and it arrived just the other day.  Yesterday, Tim hung up the sign and it looks great.
Tim treated the sign with some extra coats of poly so it should be well protected from the outdoor elements.  Thank you Pam so much! The "Crafty Cottage" looks great!
Today is another "fun day" at the farm.  Tim and George will be playing golf and Lisa and I are going to Morristown to see the movie, "Vacation".  Check back and see how the golf game went and what we thought of the movie.

What Makes It In The Blog?

Their was a discussion last night at dinner with Tim, George and Lisa about what makes the blog and how I decide what to write about.  It is totally up to my discretion and I try to write about things that are hopefully interesting.  Doing this blog is a little more difficult than my travel blog, Travels With Ruth. The travel blog usually had something to write about because we were traveling but here at the farm there are days where nothing happens at the farm.  So when this happens I try to find something else; usually a recipe will be introduced.  Well yesterday there were two big projects going on at the farm but I am not sure anyone wants to read about it or would even care about it even though  both are necessary.   So to show that I am a fair person here we go.
Tim and George have been working hard on putting solar board under George and Lisa's house.  There are no pictures of what is going on for two reasons, 1. there is not much to see and 2. it is too dark for pictures.  The solar board project is still getting worked on.  The other project is the RV has a new sewer pipe.  We went from a flexible tube to a pvc tube.  Once again, no pictures because I didn't take any.  What I did take pictures of were the dogs out playing on the lawn, mostly for Jenny and Nate, and our view.  The dogs are doing great and seem to be adjusting well.  Lily did seem a bit blue last night after we FaceTimed with Jenny and Nate.  She is her old self again today.  I will have to share Lily's nickname with you but I will save that for another blog. 

The Dogs Are Free- Sort Of!

When we agreed to take Ace and Lily for a while so that Jenny and Nate's move from Hawaii to Florida could be a little easier we were concerned about Ace or Lily leaving the farm and trying to go find them.  So we set up the outside so that each would be on a lead while outside and not on their leashes.  Well day two into being here and they are free.  We did not intend on taking them outside with their leashes but when Roxie came over to visit Tim took them out with him and they were fine.  They did not run off and listened to us when we wanted them to come closer to the RV.  This is really good news for me because taking them out at night or early in the morning now means I don't have to mess with the leashes and I can watch them from the deck.  Now I go out with them, the dogs to their "business" and then come back up on the deck and we go in.  Even Shadow, who does not like to go outside when it is dark, will join them.  So now the dogs can walk around the yard around the RV and have some "freedom" when we are with them.  When I have things to do in the RV and Tim is working with George then Shadow, Ace and Lily will be on their leads.  They are really good dogs and have seemed to make themselves at home!

We Have The Pup Pups!

Our trip to Nashville was a success!  The puppies landed at 10:20 (early) and by 10:45 we had them and were outside walking them.  Ace and Lily were both very happy to see us.  They seemed to make the trip just fine.  They were also good in the car on the ride home.  At least they did not have to be in their kennels in the car.  When we got back to the farm they were greeted by all the dogs that live on or near the farm.  Roxie (George and Lisa's dog) was the first dog to meet them.  Then our neighbors' (Reg and Cheryl) dogs, Scamp and Dingo, came over to meet the pup pups.  We even got a visit from Rusty, the dog that is a bad influence on Shadow.  After meeting all the dogs we brought out Shadow.  All the dogs got along but there was a lot of sniffing going on. Shadow is being pretty good with two extra dogs taking away some of his attention.  I predict in a couple of days we will be in a regular routine and everyone, dogs included, will just let life happen.  I know Jenny, Nate and Rory miss Ace and Lily but don't worry, they are being well taken care of!  The farm has definitely gone to the dogs!