Morning miscellany

    This is a lazy sort of day, sitting on the front porch with the remnants of a single cup of coffee, left over from yesterday and rewarmed, not my favorite, but not wanting to waste it.  I used to save it for iced coffee, but only when the brew is decaf so I can actually sleep at night.  This pound is high test.

 

I never tire of this view.

     The pups are chasing each other around the yard that again needs to be mowed.  Many of the farmers here are cutting a second mowing of hay already.  Last night in the relative cool before dark, I attacked the garden and compost area with the weedwacker and can now at least walk the paths and see the beds.  I still need to weed the beds and get some fall plantings in along with cover crops for the beds that are done for the season.  The tomatoes are producing copious quantities, some being frozen whole, some cooked into pasta sauce while there is fresh basil and oregano and homegrown onions and it too is being frozen.  There are enough jalapenos to can a few and make fresh salsa for snacking and saucing.

     As I have previously blogged, we live on 30 acres in the midst of hayfields and pastures. When we returned from Florida, I found evidence that one or more of the little four legged mousey critters had gotten by the cats and sneaked inside, so the traps had to be pulled out and set.  The first night we caught a large field mouse, last night a much smaller one managed to get only a leg caught and caused so much ruckus, that hubby woke me to help him figure out what the racket was and where it was coming from.  I guess the traps will have to stay out for a while longer as they never come in one or two.  It is a bit more challenging finding places to put the traps that the pups can't get into.

     Another swift built a nest under the eaves of the garage on the south side of the house.  This has provided me with some amusement as they dive bomb the pups when they are in the back.  They usually attack from behind, swooping down as close as they can come to the dog's back or head, causing a confused start by the pup.  It has interrupted their daily business more than once.  Interestingly, they are learning and tend to move farther from the house now to avoid the mystery attacks.

     Our basement contractor returned over the weekend and he and a helper pulled up both the leading and end edges of the bamboo flooring that they had installed that had buckled so badly that we did not  want to walk on it.  It has been trimmed to leave, hopefully sufficient expansion space to prevent it from happening again.  It has been down all summer and should have expanded as much as it can.  This also necessitated putting a dehumifier down there to try to remove some of the moisture, and requiring 2 or 3 emptyings of its bucket daily.  It is a basement with most of 3 walls underground, even though the remaining wall is south facing and exposed.  This problem has forced us to use our A/C consistently for most of the summer, which we haven't done since moving here 6 years ago.  I have very mixed feelings about that as I love the sounds of the birds and bugs that are a benefit of peaceful mountain living.
    
    The second project that son did when he was here was to cut the stringers and shelf boards for me to finally install shelving in the linen closet nook in the downstairs bathroom.  The installation was completed over the weekend and all of the spare linens finally have a home, not in dresser drawers.

    Summer goes on, hot and humid, though the temperatures have returned to seasonal hot, not the upper 90's of June and the mountain nights are blissfully cool.

Sunday thankfulness

The beauty of our mountain space.

 The summer flowers, this seems to be the yellow month.

The ability of one son to take his Mom's idea, design and build the structure often using leftover material from the house construction.  This is the new root cellar storage unit.

This Memory

A moment from the past.

Place is Shrine Mont, Orkney Springs, VA, a retreat enjoyed by my family since I was about 8 years old, a gathering of family and friends for a week of fellowship, fun, and food.

Event is the Christening of our daughter in 1983 in the stone Shrine, in front of these family and friends.  This is also the site of her wedding 2 years ago in front of family and friends.


Cast of characters: hubby, eldest son, 8 1/2 month old daughter, The Reverend Newt Wilbur (aka Big Daddy) and me.

Her christening gown, slip, and bonnet had been hand sewn and smocked by me for this event.

The week of this annual gathering is approaching and I regret that this year we will be unable to join them.

It is good to be still

I have loved every minute of the past month with our children and grandchildren and I miss them deeply, regretting that they are far enough away that visits are infrequent.  But, it is good to be home, sleep in our own bed last night with no noises in the house other than our own quiet talk, the night breathing of my love beside me and the rustle of the pups as they find their comfort spot in their crates.

Today will be routine, laundry from guest beds, some gardening time if I can stand the heat (perhaps this evening as the sun drifts below the peak but the sky is still glowing in its aftermath).  No pressing items on our schedule, nowhere we have to be, no one to entertain.  I do love this quiet, unscheduled peace to rejuvenate from the flurry of the past month, but I miss my family already.

On the road again...

I have left hubby and the puppies home to drive to Northern Virginia to return our son and grandson to their home, rather than putting them on the bus for 4 1/2 hours.

Yesterday, son and I with some assistance from hubby, built an great, huge, and enormously heavy unit for the root cellar/industrial part of the basement, that part that was not finished this winter.  The unit has two 6 feet long by 2 feet deep shelves of 2 by 6 tongue and grove boards for holding canned and dry goods, plus 3 other shelves of hardware cloth for the curing and storage of root vegetables and winter squash.

This morning at the literal crack of dawn, I was harvesting a substantial box of produce to bring with them and half past the crack of dawn, we hit the road in order to meet an internet  repair guy at their house just after lunch.  An afternoon of helping son repair a leaky toilet that was patched at least three different times in the past, resulting in the purchase of all the interior parts of the tank and a new water line in 3 different visits to the plumbing store has restored the functionality of the fixture.  We are all quiet now, pursuing tasks in separate rooms and winding down for the night.

As their family chose to use public transport up here, I am going to help him with one or two more errands that would result in either extended bus rides with the 7 year old or walking 10 blocks with a heavy flat of goods, then head home to the mountains tomorrow morning.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen many pounds a day, so I should be busy for a while at home just preparing them for winter use.  No more travel in my future until late August when I will return up here to help with childcare as I did last fall when they start back to school a week before their son.

It has been a wonderful month long visit with our grandson and seeing our son again.  As a gift from his stay in Mexico, he brought me this beautiful blouse, hand made by the indigenous Mayan women in the region in which he stayed.

Summer break?

     It seems that life has encroached on my blogging, or else perhaps, it felt a bit like the blog was getting mundane.  Posts have been considered, then rejected for various reasons, too routine, too repetitive, too boring.
     Actually, the past month has been quite busy, we have had our eldest grandson visiting us so his Mom could work and his Dad could take an intensive language school in Mexico, and selfishly because we miss our weekly overnight visits we had on weekends when he lived only a dozen miles from us.  We have travelled to Florida, with him for twelve days, visiting our daughter and her family and all going to Disney World together.  We have added a second puppy to the household, and quite an energetic little gal she is.  Our youngest son and his family visited for an evening.  And our eldest son, upon returning from Mexico has arrived to visit and early this week return to his home with his son.
     In the midst of all of this, we were in the path of the derocho storm, though fortunately suffering little to no visible damage.  We haven't walked the woods to see if we lost any trees yet.  The garden and lawn needed intense care after 12 days of neglect in the hot season while we were away.  The newly finished basement floor buckled and has required twice daily care of the dehumidifier running to try to keep it from getting worse until the contractor can resolve how to deal with it.
     In the 6 years we have lived here, we have never had a summer this hot, between the heat and the humidity threat to the floor, we have run our A/C for the first time and much to my surprise, the house has been dustier than when the windows were open all spring, summer, and fall.  This I don't understand and must attribute it to having two dogs in the house now and having a 7  year old that runs in and out of doors constantly.  This has increased the housework that must be done. 
     The season of garden plenty is upon us and food is being put away for the coming winter months.  This takes an hour or two most days to harvest, clean and prepare for storage by curing, blanching and freezing, pickling, or making into jam.  We await the blackberry harvest for a double batch of jam.
     I expected all of this to generate more photos and more text for the blog, instead it seems to have become less important to take the time on the tablet to compose and prepare.  So I will leave you with my apologies for being a slacker, maybe to your relief and add a few photos of the missed blogging time.

Adjustment and Readjustment

   Prioritizing all of the tasks that accumulate in a household even when you are absent from it requires readjusting to routines.  Getting back on the treadmill hasn't happened yet, but the other day to day tasks seem to be falling back into place.  I did manage to get the vacuum run on the upstairs and main floor this morning.  The garden is progressing, still need to either get the weedwacker or a garden fork into the aisles as the "straw" I put down was hay and I have an awesome stand of some sort of grass in the pathways and in any bed I mulched with it.

The yard hadn't been mowed in more than 3 weeks around the house and over a month in the extended lawn area.  When I do a big mow, it is about 6 or 7 acres and it really needed it.  To mow that, even with the tractor takes about 4 or 5 hours.  Part of it was done yesterday and finished this afternoon while hubby and grandson went to the Frog Pond, a local kid friendly pool.

It seems like I have done at least 2 loads of laundry every day since we got home and I did laundry at my daughter's just before we left.  I don't know where it is all coming from.

Shadow is adjusting.  She gets into playful tussels involving teeth and claws with the beast.  She  is a smart littl dog, having already mastered, sit, down, and kennel up on verbal command.  She is doing fairly well on leash training, but does stress on car rides.  It is amazing how much drool one little 30 lb pup can generate when stressed or carsick.

Sunday Thankfulness

We are grateful for a wonderful trip to Florida to visit our daughter and her family for 12 days, including the Disney World excursion.

For our son and our daughter-by-love sharing their son with us for several weeks.  He is our eldest grandson and at 7 is so much fun.  He shared our Florida trip and has become fast friends with the Mastiff pup, who now weighs in at a tiny 102 lbs at 6.5 months.

For our youngest son and his family for making a stop for dinner and visiting last night on their vacation, hope you are enjoying your camping trip.

For our newest family member, the 4 month old German Shepherd pup we picked up in South Carolina as we motored home from Florida.  She is adjusting well to the household and is beginning to hold her own with the beast.  He actually ran from her this morning.

For the rains that are producing the garden bounty, allowing some putting by for the winter months.

For the cool foggy mountain morning, knowing it will be hot and humid later.

Home with addition

 Our vacation travel is over and we arrived home safely to find that the air conditioner did indeed come back on, the refrigerator and freezer both seemed to hold the cold well enough  for the contents not to spoil.

The garden is overgrown with weeds, the potatoes have died back and must be dug as well as the alliums.  We left a timer on to water the garden once the power came back on and it seems to have kept the garden and the deck and porch plants alive and well.

We stopped in northern South Carolina on the return trip to pick up the 16 week old German Shepherd dog pup that we purchased just prior to the trip and met on the way down.  She had never been in a car or a house, having lived her 16 weeks in an outdoor kennel.  It was 105 when we met her and the flies were tormenting her and her two male sibs that were left from the litter.  Though it was cooler, only about 80 when we picked her up, she was still kennelled outdoors.  She is a friendly little pup, but somewhat traumatized by the 5 hour car ride, being indoors, having the 102 lb Mastiff pup that wants to play, rough, and by having a rowdy 7 year old in the house.  As she rode home in my lap, after experiencing a few bouts of carsickness, so she has bonded with me quickly.

She was beginning to adjust to and explore the house, when we had to put her back in the car for a vet visit as the breeder provided no written documentation of immunizations.  She has now been given her initial shots including rabies and Lyme, plus microchipped.  She handled this better than the car ride.  So far, my attentivness and her sticking to me like a small shadow has resulted in no indoor accidents.

Ranger doesn't seem to understand why he can't roughhouse with her like he does with the dogs at the dog park.


Hopefully, Gizmo and Ranger will adapt quickly to each other and she will adjust to being a household pet.  She is adjusting to the harness and leash and hopefully, as soon as she will   take treats from me, training can begin.

And a good time was had by all...

Like all good things, our vacation has come to an end.  Sadly we left for home this morning, giving lots of hugs and kisses to our daughter and her two delightful kids.  Goodbyes to her husband were made last night as he leaves home at the crack of dawn for work.
We had a delightful week plus with them, with our 7 year old grandson getting along beautifully with our 5 year old Florida grandson and our 7 month old granddaughter taking only a few minutes to decide that we weren't strangers and fueling us with smiles, giggles and snuggles constantly.  Though their 80 lb Golden did not take well to the 100+ lb Mastiff puppy we brought with us, that too was resolved with a closed door, baby gate, or the use of the wire kennel we toted down with us.
The grandboys and their granddad enjoyed two trips to Siesta Key for some sand, sun, and splash time.  Daughter and I enjoyed not one, but two trips to A Good Yarn for Cascade Vintage for two projects for my granddaughter, some fleece that I will spin and knit into a scarf for my daughter, and a ball of Zauberball sock yarn as my "souvenir" from the trip.
Our two days at Disney World Resorts was overwhelming, hot, and so much fun with kids.  We dined at T-Rex cafe in Downtown Disney.  The boys got Legos from the Lego Adventure store, took photos in front of the various Lego sculptures, T-shirts from the world's largest Disney Store, and a new Mickey Mouse school backpack for the 7 year old.  We rode rides for all age levels (most of which were OK, but Space Mountain hurt my back and gave me vertigo), got hot and went back at midday to the All Star Movies hotel where we stayed  for lunch and naps and then went back to Magic Kingdom for more rides, dinner, and ice cream before collapsing around midnight.
Because we have dog and kid, we are breaking up the trip home with a hotel night about halfway home and tomorrow, picking up our new German Shepherd family member in route.  Once home, we will have to clean out the fridge and both freezers from the power outtage we left 12 days ago, but it seems a small price for the fun we had in Florida.

Independence Day vacation

    Today would have been my Mom's 88th birthday.  She loved celebrating her birth with the birth of the nation and the adopted birthdate of our very elderly Greek immigrant neighbor, whose sons and their families threw a huge neighborhood pool party with spit roasted whole lamb and all the potluck fixings from the large, but rural neighborhood.  I remember these parties vividly, always ending with a few fireworks and a gun salute out over the river.
     Those neighbors and my mother have passed on now.  My husband and I tried most years to participate with our children at a block party or swim club party followed by one of the fireworks displays at the oceanfront or Mt. Trashmore (yep, a park built on one of Virginia Beach's garbage dumps).  One year about 18 years ago, hubby went to Texas with his parents and sister to visit family, I packed the 3 kids in the mini van and drove to Clearwater, FL and spent the holiday with a friend and her 3 kid where we went to one of the causeways and saw firework displays from several communities.
     This year, hubby and I with our 7 year old grandson are visiting our daughter and her family also in Florida.   The boys have had a great time together, playing with toys and dogs and being taken once to the beach for some wet sandy fun with granddad.  Tonight we will watch the fireworks from the marina after having a cookout at our son in laws parent's house, then tomorrow, the whole gang of us are going to Disneyworld for a couple days of fun and excitement.  I have never been there and am pretty excited to enjoy the kids, big and little, enjoy the adventure.
     We left our mountain home in 100 degree temps, after the windstorm that devastated the  north east.  We had no power when we left, have heard from a neighbor that it returned about 48 hours later and cooled off to temps about what we are feeling here in Florida, but the humidity here is worse.  We hope that when we return home, the heatwave will have abated.