nature – abearsthimble2

Oct.16…. A this and that catch up…

Sept was a busy month with picking jewelweed and making it into soap to treat our poison ivy rashes.

There was also three weddings that we attended. The first wedding was in Pa ,held at a wedding barn. It was beautiful!

We grilled the beef brisket for this wedding. We grilled the meat in Ga on our big grill then packed the wrapped brisket in three large coolers . We left late Friday evening ,arriving in time Sat morning to the reception for slicing the brisket and putting in it cookers to keep warm.

Then we went to Md to attend two wedding ,one on a Friday a niece on hubby’s side,on Saturday a nephew on my side.

We left Thursday evening to cross the Chesapeake bay bridge tunnel,for Hurricane Ian was kicking up some winds causing an alert there. We cross safely late that night with a sigh of relief.

We had a lovely weekend ,that quickly came to an end.

Hubby loaded up some door sections from his brothers business,that he have ordered for a job to do that week. Off we headed for home never once thinking that Hurricane Ian had a surprise ahead for us.

We arrived at the bridge around 3:00 pm Monday,to be told we couldn’t cross for there was an alert 2 , that meant no vehicle carrying cargo in the back of pickups allowed on the bridge. Winds were not to subside until morning. We then decided that waiting in the truck all night was not our cup of tea, we promptly find a hotel,relaxing the rest of the evening,getting a good nights sleep ,had a good breakfast in the morning . we were on our way back to cross the bridge by 7:30 am with no problems. Here a photo of the waves.

Remember this old house ? It is here in Tennessee, nestled in the hills,it is also in need of some care. It was left go for quite a few years,with windows shot out, trash left inside…(and outside), and a small fire damage where the wood stove was.

We are going to gut the house down to the frame and outside wall. The main structure of the house is good, we still are pulling up the old flooring to be sure the floor foundation is fine. Here’s some more of the mess we are making.

Now we need to get some dumpsters to load all this mess into.

Some random photos from Ga and Tennessee.

Our little camper set up while we work on the old house. At one time it

looked like this…

Until the next update in my small world… Take Care!

July 21….. Christmas in July…

I have a finish!👏👏😄

Now on to my Indian summer paintings. I won’t finish these by the end of the month,it will be fun to see how much I can get done. This painting gives me the fall feel in summer.

I wanted to get this posted earlier, the Internet was down…. So I had to be patient 😏

July 13.. Christmas in July….week 2

I didn’t get much done …. As you can see..

Little photo was where I started, the larger, what I painted this week.

We went to Tennessee for the weekend ,the place needed mowing up,the weeds were as tall as I am.😮

What it looks like now…

We have a camera up on the ridge,look who we saw…. My son also happened to see one while hiking.

It was a lovely cool weekend with days in the upper 70* and one morning it was 60* out….. it was wonderful!

The lane that leads to our little clearing.

That’s it for me.

March 20… To the hills …

Life for us is going to take on a new adventure. We sold the garage door business to a younger couple,and they are also buying the farm with it. The office and shop are on the farm so we were glad that they were taking the whole farm.

Why did we sell? Well, we started the business when the boys were all home needing something to do. They are all grown ,going their separate ways. Hubby isn’t in to hiring,just don’t need that headache,he says.

We purchased a parcel of land in the mountains of Tennessee awhile back,now we are looking at restoring the little house on the hill that has been sitting empty for a good 15 years.

The side walls were done like this.

I started with removing the old drywall, it’s a messy job!

We will be living in our camper for a year ,first to give some assistance to the new owner in running the business,and then it will let us work on the old house at a more leisurely timeline.

Some views of the place…

I took this picture last fall, the old barn has the old logs …

Steven wants to repurpose the good logs to put a little rustic log cabin up on the hill where we found an old chimney.

There’s much work to do with clean up,but it will be worth it as it is a beautiful place of wild country.

A view from one of the mountain ridges,that’s on our land.

I have a feeling that my old quilts and the old house are going to be happy to be together.

Oct.1 …. just a little random post….

It has been awhile since I have done a this and that post.

First some photos from the camp site. We have lovely days with perfect temps.

There was a black duck and a hornets nest that I tried to capture but it was a little rough out there,and the duck wasn’t into having a photo taken.

Hubby made himself some grilling racks that he was very happy with… and I was even happier for he did most of the cooking. …Even made pepper poppers .😋

Then my granddaughters brighten my days with beautiful smiles or a story.

Of course , I’ve been sewing …

There a ten knotted quilts ready to go to CAM this week. It is nice to have that off my list.

Here they are waiting for the binding to be sewn,Which took me three days to do.

May 31… flower and birds…and…

Whatever else I happen to photo..🤓

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted some of the flowers that are happily blooming …so here goes.

Gladiolus ,these I planted fresh this spring after a vole eat a large amount last year.. anybody know how to keep voles away other than getting a cat… Caroline ( the Rottie) isn’t cat friendly.

Blooming cedar?
Nope it’s honeysuckle growing in amongst the limbs.

Ruen drake looking pretty
And the arrival of more ducklings to replace the ones a skunk got in one night.

The first day of arrival they were ready for food and water…
Now they are lively and growing like weeds..

Yes, I know dirty water.. I just changed an hour before taking this photo.🤷🏻‍♀️
There are 4 magpie ducklings and 4 ruens

Here are some little birds that I seen while kayaking,here’s a video of them dancing.😄

A rag rug I finished up. Feels good to have that pile of rags out of the way.
And a new rug on the floor.
After a thunderstorm one evening last week,the sky was beautiful!

Have a lovely week friends.

April 24…. update on my world…🙂

My daughter is very good at keeping me informed on how the grand children are doing,and little sneak peeks into their lives!

Candice is a chip off the old block here, she loves her chicks as much as I do!

While her younger sister is the story teller..

Reagan is a good listener.🥰
My daughter in law has made masks for the business that we own,and the two boys (her and mikes boys) who thought that they were cool.

Here’s Mike and Hubby at work wearing them… quite the outfit.

The business has been steady,as we were essential to commercial business. Here they are working at a commercial warehouse, fixing a loading dock door.

We have had lots of rain lately making things so green,and fresh.
Here’s a few photos of nature

Any one in need of fresh farm eggs? It’s amazing how quickly 11 eggs a day add up. I can’t use them all , so I share with family and friends.
Praying for all my blogging friend’s good health.

March 29…. photos of my world

Spring is in full swing here on our little farm,so that means lots of out of doors work,…mowing ,weed whacking ,weed pulling,and mulching. Of course, it also means… sore muscles, blisters on your hands even with gloves on, farmers tan ,and ant bites.

However when it’s all done ,it’s so worth it! Here’s the big flowerbed almost done.

Not to many flowers blooming here yet.
There are around the house though
Azaleas,Gerber daisy,and amaryllis

We’ve had a real problem with predators wanting to get the chickens and ducks lately. Sad to say a pair of skunks got into the young ducks,eating three leaving me two😡…

Caroline took care of the hawk that got into the chicken pen…. no one messes with her chickens. She watches out for them even sleeping at the chicken pen gate. Caroline did try to get the skunks ,bless her for trying but the spray was to overwhelming.

Last weekend we were up to our lot. It was a lovely weekend with watching the osprey rebuilding their nest even saw a territorial fight between the osprey and bald eagle.

And a start of a beautiful day

We bought Leona an iPad so she could have screen touch because of not being able to use her hands.
Well ,if hands don’t work then a nose will.
Puzzles are a favorite past time for her.

Feb 16. A little of this and that …AGAIN

January has kept Leona ,grandchildren and I busy watching new life come alive. Remember the egg I showed a few weeks back.

Showing healthy signs of life.
As day 21 of setting the eggs came closer,my phone was kept busy with …MomMom ,are the chicky-peeps hatching yet, with the promise I would FaceTime them as soon as I saw anything happening ,…that was good for a few hours.😄
On day 21 , I saw signs of a tiny hole,and you could hear the bitties peeping.

It took about 45 minutes from starting to cracking out.

And here they are, all fluffy and healthy.

Also Leona was surprised with some ducks,and she is so enjoy watching them waddle around,they didn’t stay inside very long as a wet duck is a HAPPY duck.

And talking about wet..
We have had lots of rain ,look at these osprey nests(top pictures were taken with summer) ,they will give you a good idea just how high the river is right now at the camp site. We were there yesterday to check on the camper,and grounds.

And to think we would sit under the little cedar tree in chairs drinking coffee in Nov….now the water is about three feet deep.

There will be some clean up of plastic bottles that have come a shore..as you can see.

How ever the little flower bulbs I planted are thriving with the wet.

I finished the crocheted blanket for baby.

Nov.4… BRYOZOANS…or moss animals

Ever hear of these unusual aquatic invertebrates? I hadn’t until this weekend!

My hubby find the first one while we were out kayaking on the lake ,then I started looking to see if there were more,and it’s amazing what one doesn’t see right under their nose at times! Here are some photos of these unique invertebrates..

A little information that I found online says…

Each tiny individual bryozoan (zooid) is attached to a surface at its base. Its body has an outer sleevelike structure (cystid) and a mass of organs (polypide) that moves within it. An opening at the top of the cystid permits the polypide to slide outward toward the water, exposing a headlike structure (lophophore) crowned with tentacles, which filter food from water. At the slightest disturbance, the polypide and tentacles retract instantly.

Size:

Varies by species. Colonies are usually no more than 2-4 inches long or high but some can be 12 inches or wider.

Curious as to what they felt like, I was surprised to find that it was a jelly ,rubbery blob like invertebrate.

This weekend I was able to capture a rainbow,and fog on the lake

And there were some fall leaves,that were not just brown!

And how do you like Leona’s all terrain chair?! Beings there are no paved roads like a state park’s,it was tough trying to push her wheelchair down the dirt roads. I searched online for an all terrain wheelchairs or handicapped carts ,what I found were way out of my budget plan…$1,000 to 2,000..😳 I then searched for wagons with air tires,finding this one with a much nicer price tag, $50.00. It gives her a nice ride without the sides putting pressure on her hip bones as some of the strollers did. She is thrilled to be out and about again outside.