One thing you can count on is...

SO  much can happen in such a short time....I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to move into my house. So I moved in last Sunday I can't believe its only a week seems like a yr. I don't know that this arrangement will be the best in the long run, will be permanent, or whatever....but for now its good! One day at a time eh? Mom is in full support of my decision...now I can have some space to prepare for my future whatever it may be...I love her God knows so I'm right here a stones toss away.  And now she has a spare room for the other sisters to pitch in and help out, and already that has happened much to my great happiness as we got a helping hand and a lovely visit from one sis this weekend. 

and there was light!

The electric has been shut off since 2013...finally it's back on.  

So all I've done is move stuff from point A to point B.  I'm probably the only person you know who moved using a garden tractor...LoL...it didn't make sense to use the van and trailer as I could bring the garden trailer door to door!! 

Good news --all my plumbing works...well  I haven't tried the dish washer yet as I am just happy its not leaking  I don't really cook I enjoy eating raw veggies--and I microwave a few things.. I have not  thrown the breaker on the cook stove yet...In case my wire repair sends me to  that old sparky home in the sky... so I have to purchase a new fire extinguisher first JIC. 

all I have is Antenna TV might get satellite when it's time for the Walking Dead 7 in the fall...or I'll watch it at Mom's she actually got to like it since I've put her through 6 seasons of it..lol but to be fair she put me through 10 yrs of Matlock, Bonanza and Virginian repeats. Her memory is such that she could watch the same episode every day and not recall it so it's always fresh and new to her. 

TV is not that important to me...I prefer music! And art projects so NOW I have place to do that.

 setup the 3rd bedroom as a multipurpose room for sewing, art, and other crafty projects. 

Found one problem with a switch that turns on a light it is NOT wired to...:o))?? Take it with a grain of salt.... will worry about that one later too...don't need that light right now.  I had all the rooms set up except the bedroom and that' s where I'm working now.  The bed is up of course and who knew I had so MANY books, CD's, Tapes, and such...The dogs are a bit confused but I think they will figure it all out in time...they can come and go between both homes so they are getting lots of exercise...LoL. 

I went with the blue green on the seat cushion. 

 I'm spinning my old LP's from the 70's its kinda neat to hear this old stuff again, eating veggies and  humus, and staying up late, (okay till 10:30 at least) and Mom can turn her Westerns up as loud as she wants them to be :o) --we got the medical alert thing for her and I pop in and out all day to make sure she is good and help with pills, meals, the cleaning, all that jazz you know. She is not to cook on the stove top but she can microwave the heck outta stuff...and today we cooked up a huge pot of her favorite Pinto Beans so she has only to heat and eat.  

It takes a village...this way the sisters can come and help out and have excuse as it has been there is on place for them to sleep and have a spot of their own for personal time and I completely understand that.  

It's impossible to be everything and have anything left over for yourself so this is to help me make it through the long haul, I need not explain that to y'all as I'm sure you can understand I need to get myself ready for the next stage of Mom's life the one where I am going to need more hands on deck.  I made the decision 10 yrs ago to move back to SC to help my mother, to buy my house back, and to eventually live in it..so this move is 10 years in the making--if I am nothing else, I never give up!

I still have a few projects to complete and soon work will begin on that and I'll update as I go along...

and we hope we can get back to our town trips...we need a break from all the work.

welcome home....

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

No Clics here....

My passport arrived last week, I'm happy the State Department didn't find any reason to deny me, I did get a little worried as the application asks for your past spouse's birth date and I realized I put the wrong year down for my X--anyways it doesn't matter,,,it's good for 10 years! I will definitely renew it next time and not let it expire...we won't discuss what my age will be then~

We have had some wonderful weather--on at least one occasion.... mixed in with some not so wonderful weather!  OH so perfect what we call a Blue Bird Day! But not every day has been that way.... the other day when I went out I stopped at the Wateree River to check the cliff swallow nests, and there was not one bird there!! All the nests were empty.  They raised em up fast! A few were flying around picking bugs out of thin air but no body in the nests.  The sky sure was threatening..and the river was full almost flood stage.

Soon after I snapped this the sky opened up with a deluge!! So I'm at Lowe's again typing in my van in the pouring rain!! It has rained at least 4 inches while I've been sitting here....wondering if I will actually get to go inside or not!!  Imagine a pipeline of this rain going to Africa or CA...I just don't get it...

So far it's rained every day since Saturday the last nice day and the day I had intended hiking on the Palmetto Trail ....but didn't happen, maybe more on that topic in another post..  On one of the "going to rain any minute" days I went up to Lake Wateree, it's upstream of this river location not much was happening but a few things caught my eye...like this Eastern Kingbird he followed me around for a while.

I could barely see an Osprey nest on this island....pretty far away with my binoculars...

this is a zoom of the nest, it's a bit grainy...

see osprey on nest and the other on the left side of photo

I wished for a kayak to paddle out of course they would have flown away...A couple of geese had their youngsters up near the volley ball court 

I didnt even notice the young in the water till I saw this photo on my comp screen, 3 of them.

There is this really old and really big prickly pear cactus near the boat parking area and it was blooming I've been wanting to break a piece off and get one of these giants started in my yard...

and next to a mail box for comparison 

This northern mockingbird had a meal waiting...bird version of take out I guess..

Some Mallard on the dock...

A killdeer was showing me her tail feathers, very impressed!

she may have eggs in the grass so I didn't bother her...

back at the homestead after 10 yrs waiting...my old fashioned pear has 5 pears on it...they are up so high will I be able to pick them?  At least it finally got tall enough so the deer can not eat them! 

and since we're on the subject of homesteading..


I finally got around to that window! Okay here is the result...I like it all the light comes in but you don't look right out and see the ceiling fan of the porch!

a closer look at the window film....

Originally I purchased one that is like a stained glass with dogwood flowers etc...but that was way too busy 

I got my 33 LP's back in the old record stand this one was purchased by us way back in 1964! It came in a box and at age 11 I put it together!!  It's still standing strong..

Other areas where I'm working are in the master bedroom...trying to arrange all the furniture to see if I can keep everything I want to keep...remember this big oversized "coffee table", it was way too big for the living room so it will become a window seat!  One of these fabrics will be the cover!

My battery is running low and the rain has slacked so off I go inside to get a can of white spray paint! Hope you are having a good day with rain if you need it and without if you don't!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

The Pee Dee Region!

Friday before mother's day...so as a gift to my Mom we did another town trip! This time it turns into 2 towns since they lay close to each other.  Society Hill and Bennetsville, SC .  Both of these towns are located in what is known as the Pee Dee region! Named for the Great Pee Dee River that runs through the region and that was named for the Pee Dee tribe of Indians who lived her before whites took over their world!

Mom viewing the Pee Dee 

Much of the history of these 2 towns are basically the same with deep roots in Pre-Revolutionary history and Civil War history..Would have loved to do the self guided walking tour but walking is one of Mom's big problems so we did some windows down looking, I got out for a closer look at a few spots.  The townies of Society Hill grew rich on the legacy of cotton...when blacks were slaves.

Society Hill Veterans Park Kiosk 

There is a cotton trail, it's a 90 mile stretch and I believe I'd love to do that when the cotton is high!..If you have never seen a field full of cotton, its quite a spectacle looks like snow!  There is a cotton museum in Bishopsville, SC it's only 18 miles from us.   We stopped and snapped this shot of the old Society Hill's 1828 library building.  

Then on to Bennetsville, we stopped at the visitors center, which is housed in the D D McColl house c-1826

I realize now I chopped the top off the house! Drat, my photography is not up to par...but you can see how charming this Queen Ann Style home was back in the day and it was moved here!! HOW in tarnation did they move this big brick mansion not once, not twice but 3 times!! 

I like this building it says McCall Block on top of it....and its across the street from the Marlboro Co. courthouse...

the Breedeen Inn 1886 a bed and breakfast in town...

At the end of town is Wallace Lake,...

We took a sandwich out and had it by the lake...saw a few birds there too..

A list of birds we saw included Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, Northern Rough Winged Swallow, Cliff Swallows, Red winged Black Bird, Osprey, Cattle Egret and Blue Grosbeak!

Upon leaving the lake we passed a road sign that pointed to Colonel Kolb's tomb...had to go see that so we turned off and here is the story..

he is buried about 50 yards from the Pee Dee river..

And there was an American Redstart...

There's more to see in this town than one visit could bring back so who knows we may return!  I was able to Log these on my lists on Waymarking.  I am new to it and my first Waymark was rejected as it was already listed! Once I get the hang of it I know I would enjoy doing some geocaching. 

Time...well spent!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Flora and Fauna of Goodale Park

I worry about those pitcher plants and so I check them regularly...I was a bit early on my last walk around to see the blossoms so I went back today.  Caught them just right this time..

And I thought the count was down to only 2 clumps but I found a third it has moved itself closer to the water so now its more protected.  Im really happy about that...no mower is going to get it there..now if only they don't bulldoze, they recently had a ditch witch in there to drain a new bog WHY I don't know its supposed to be a natural area so a bog is perfect but anywho they are trying to drain the bog so I hope they don't run over these pitchers. 

The water lilies look great.....Last time I saw that immature male Orchard Oriole and this time I saw a mature one..he wanted to show me his backside...fine by me, awesome color!!

I made this video of a gray catbird singing....I had no idea they could sing this beautifully...

                                        

later on the other side of the lake another one was following me on the path...I was busy trying to get a shot of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo but the Gray Catbird was just sitting pretty while the cuckoo was way up in the nose bleed section of the trees so I aimed at the catbird instead!

I always spook the Great Blue Heron and he makes a quick escape to the backside of the lake...

there is a large patch of this small yellow flower I can't find the ID on it yet...it sure is pretty

 Found at least one water Iris in bloom, 

as well as  honey suckle 

and some Virginia Sweetspire is growing by the lakes edge...

this Red Winged Black Bird tried really hard to hide from me...but he did show off his shoulder patches!

and the Northern Cardinal was enjoying a good rain puddle bath! 

I guess this wolf spider is hoping to get some gnats and mosquitoes from his watery perch...check those fangs...."shudders"

LOOK at the amount of rain we had in a hour long downpour yesterday!!!  This is our front yard!

It did soak in pretty fast and left behind some serious erosion in the yard...

Time...well spent!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.