New Beginnings...

As mentioned in my last post Im going back thru old posts replacing photos when I can find them...but the  years, 2013-15 seem to be the hardest hit area...so MANY of those posts will remain like the frame  of a house burned down...thank you greedy YAHOO. 

 This digital world; easy come easy go eh?   

                                                    saw this in the mechanics junk yard

So my van's in the hospital and won't be let out till I pay the ransom That's why I don't like dropping off a vehicle to a mechanic at an end of a week, but that is how it goes.  So I went nowhere.  Its been gone a week today...It took 4 days just to tell me, it needs some work and he has  to order the parts and Monday was a holiday so that slowed the process. 

Im currently working on a Florida 2016 post  It was good to remember that trip with Casey riding shotgun with me...I sure miss him.   Every single time I walked him in FL someone would warm me about small dogs and alligators.  I guess I looked stupid to them...lol So I've been jumping around in the old posts...found a few old photos in Facebook..,here is one. 

                                                        
                         he was so small and vulnerable...but he had the heart of a lion
                                           and the soul of  an ancient gentle butterfly.

Around the Homestead

Annie yesterday 

Annie today

Thank you Annie, but you keep it...

She chews up stix for fun

and bark sometimes

The sun brings out the cold blooded herps...

Spring is not far off the Plants are ready 

Daffs creeping up thru the leaves

Flossie

 I have more photos of Annie than Flossie, because she follows me around, Flossie has mobility issues so she stays put more..

Her chronic leg troubles from the old ACL tear and now even a front leg seems gimpy and gives her pain. They are in their senior years now and they are happy to just lay around out in the yard and bark at the occasional things going by on the road, sometimes it's a horse and rider, sometimes its a walker with a dog off leash and sometimes its the UPS man they always bark at his truck whether he stops or not...Fed Ex too,  Dogs are so smart. 

                                                                   
                                                                            Flossa-rator last spring 

I nicknamed her Flossarator cause she is like the terminator when it comes to stubbornness, She never gives in...she just defiantly grins and walks away.  

The yard is a buzz with birds getting ready to hi tail it in a couple months...I'm going to miss these little Red Breasted Nuthatches and the little squeaky call...the sunny day brought them all out to the feeders.  

It's good to have them around.  I've started getting the yard cleaned up for Spring... my fruit trees are all setting buds, I guess I should fertilize them now, Give a boost to hopefully bloom...If the deer don't come to browse on them all will be good.  

Peach tree Sapling

The Purple Finch female still looking gorgeous

The last time I went to what I call the Sparrow Fields, they had put in a sign in book in a mailbox here's what I found when I opened it,,,

                                         

                                                                 Click middle to play

The inauguration went very well I thought, I hope all learned a lesson, when someone is obviously lying, NO One should agree with that, IT has to be called out for what it is, this includes the news media.  Extremists from both sides need to realize we live in a bubble, it will never be perfect; harmony is the one thing we can hope to achieve.  A call to action that harms one over the other is NOT the way. We dodged the Fascists bullet this time.  We got a taste of what a Dictatorship would feel and look like, LIES and half the voting population actually fell for it.  I hope there is a reckoning for them to come out from under that veil of lies. 

there she goes again..

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Lee State Park

June and July HOT, humid, and uneventful.   We locals have to endure it and lacking funds for travel right now we have to make what's close at hand an adventure.  It's been many years since I visited Lee State Park.  We made a fact finding run one day, then my sis and I came back after the holiday to spend some time, hike, picnic, bird, and have a float! There is no admission, and that means the Visitors Center is open for only one hr per day Su-Thur and 11-5 Fri n Sat. 

There is a campground, an equine camp, and a primitive camping area.   The main camp has water n electric and a dump station.  A host was present and those sites are $17 a night, according to the website.  I think you could get a site for one night without a reservation since they have a 2 day limit to make a reservation.  

There is a couple of artesian wells with icy cold water coming out... a great spot to cool off hot feet!

A small wetland is off this short boardwalk we heard common yellow throat singing all around us there...

There is a swimming area and we took a float after a hot walk on the main boardwalk! It is not a long walk, it hooks up with a trail around the ponds also.

Saw the green anole...one of the many lizard species found here

the blue grey gnatcatcher

NO crowds and that is the best part.  The trees are lush and mature this area is a flood plane so a little swampy...and there is def some good birding this Northern Parula came within arms length to check us out.  

A life bird for my sis!  And we both got this county bird the Wood Stork flying up high we spotted 8 all together.

                                                                        

We had a wonderful time and saw 22 species of bird.  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

here is an aside:

There was a notice posted in the ladies room that I thought was very interesting,...it was about a study done in 2014 by the National Audubon Society at the Beidler National Forest, Dorchester County, SC.  That's in the low country of state.  Prothonotary Warblers were fitted with GPS leg bands.  One of the warblers was recaptured and the leg band was still in place and still working.   It had flown through Florida, Cuba, Central America, down the Pacific coast of Colombia and back to Four Holes Swamp — an odyssey of 4,000 miles.  The study found nearly all of the wetlands birds wintered in a relatively small area of coastal mangrove and inland forests in northern Colombia — an area that is being heavily logged.

This is why Protection of land is soooo important!  Mature woodlands are hard to come by anymore...I wish people who have the resources to bring land back to it's native state would do so because if they don't where are these wonderful birds going to live, nest, find food?

A national forest gets logged, the area in Columbia is being logged...this disturbance could cause the demise of many warblers...yes birds adapt but there is a tipping point.  Large areas HAVE to be set aside and left alone!!

Homestead Baby

This was a Gift! (thank you SIS) I'm trying to get acquainted with it. The hard part, for me, is keeping my finger on the right thing.  So a learning curve is in progress.  I don't have a smart phone, and this is not a phone, but it has a camera and so I took this photo with the Fire tablet, and uploaded it to Flickr using the fire bluetooth, and SILK, the browser of the tablet.  Of course I'm at home so I used my awesome WiFi, for which I'm so happy. I dumped Verizon it was worth the $150 dollars they charged me to get away from the horrible service I was getting from them. It will be interesting to see how many free wifi spots I can find to use the Fire with as I travel. Sis has one too. SO far I like it.  I have taken to reading your blogs on it in the morning with my coffee it's better than having the heavy laptop in my lap..but it sure makes it hard to type out any kind of comment.







Other happenings around the homestead:

 Boy we've had a lot of rain lately and rain means humidity...Whew...like 70% and sometimes more.   That means sweat and way too much of it...while doing nothing! You will sweat just thinking of being outdoors.  But one thing the heat brought to my attention is what's going on in the pasture and the martin grouds, check it out...

                                                            Great Crested Flycatcher

These birds nest here every year.  I'm always so happy to know they are being successful with their nesting...and I'm happy to provide space for them to nest.  They always like to put a snake skin in their nest, when I clean out the gourd each yr It's always fun to see what they consider a snake skin, its sometimes just some clear plastic and sometimes it really is a snake skin, We have plenty of snakes around here, and lizards too...

An anole, they change color depending on what they are sitting on...here is his shade of coppertone!  They inflate that red sack under the chin to attract mates.  

  

This northern cardinal 

This particular bird loves to perch right outside my window...he has a favorite branch.

I tried to get a decent shot of the Blue Grey Gnatcatcher, a dogwood twig got in the way then he scurried off so fast I couldn't get another shot before he disapeared in the heavy cover. These little birds are fast movers!

Some of the wild flower transplants, Rudbeckia.

Doing well so far...and the rain helps too.  

Tuesday I will be voting! So happy we have a chance to regain some seats in the Senate.  SC is one of the states having a midterm election.  I am putting my vote on Archie Parnell! The Dems threw some money his way so I hope people have seen his ads on the TV and the signs on the roadsides...I do believe it was the lack of Signs that added to the defeat of Hillary...people seem to follow the candidate whose name they have seen while moving through their lives the most.  I wish politics could be like it was in the old days when people backed candidates and not corporations.  Lately politics make my head spin about like these Moon Shells I picked up on the beach in TX.  Some people call these Shark Eyed Moon Shells.  I found a whole handfull of perfect ones, they were laying all over the place. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story time: OUCH!

Although sorry seems to be the hardest word, I don't think so.  I remember from my teen years.  I only heard it once.  I was 17 so that tells  you how dang long ago this happened!! I wanted to drive Mom's car, the only car we had, to Charlotte, NC to a concert to see the group called America! The group actually formed in England where they met while being station with their fathers who were in the US Air Force.   They had that song "A Horse With No Name".  I laid out my plan,  me and my 3 girlfriends ages 16, 17, and 16, would pile into mom's car drive 160 miles to Charlotte, see the concert, stay over one night and then return the next day.  Simple as that...and she listened quietly and then she said just the one word...

"NO"

Stung like a wasp it did. She was right of course. 

PEACE

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

Time is like a blank canvas...

Since I changed my data allowance my online time has dwindled...as I said before I sit in the parking lot at Lowes when I have to go there and upload my trillions of photos..lol but lately I haven't had a reason to go to Lowes..so I work in the yard tending to spring, 

the Anole is wearing his bright green skin right now but he can become brown at the drop of a hat!

...and I work on my house... tending to projects 

This is the old enamel table that was my potting table, it is now my kitchen work island! I didn't like the heavy cart you can see in the background so moved a few things around and love this "open leg" plan here...I put rollers on it and some stretchers to stabilize the legs a little and its perfect!!

  

if it looks a little off it probably is, hey I did it my self------but see the cart now up against the wall on the left...I dislike the yellow.I repainted this kitchen to not have the yellow and there was yellow again, so I taped off the wood and painted it with the same grey as the cabinets..much better!

Sorry bout the blurry photo, I think it's my decreased vision that is causing me problems with my photos...new glasses def have to get onto my to-do list! I like the grey better. 

Another project has been on hold for years!! My grammy's old table- top radio. This baby still has the innards, it works on a 12 volt battery! My mom and I stripped the finish long ago and so I put some teak oil on it and now its out of the attic for good!! It's a Philco 37-38, and it was made in 1936!

I've been hanging art, that piece above the radio was done by my son when he went to art camp one summer; he was still in grammar school...I love it --It's a pastel so that's why its behind glass...I also hung one of his oil paintings in the bathroom...I chose it due to the size and the colors are compatible with the color scheme in the bathroom, (Sallie, I just barely got the Lou in there...so I didn't break my promise!!)

More art to be hung (again I find a blurry photo), I have a pair of paint by number's that I did when I was 10 yrs old,  the pair are now half a century old!!!

More of my son's art that will be hung shown below, this one needs a frame...I adore the colors he used in this one....and the one in a frame already has yet to find it's forever wall from which to hang....I have a few more pieces of his work to hang, also....and those need frames. 

My son should have pursued an arts degree he has great talent!! He painted these when he was 8 or 9 yrs old!! Notice how he signed the painting with his initials right in the foreground..There is one landscape he never finished...it's really a nice one so I'm thinking of finishing it myself...I know If I ask him he will never get around to it..so it will be a joint effort--a later project. 

The porch wicker chairs are about to get some new cushion covers! 

I'm considering using some more of the fabric I designed for the Pony line...I have 2 yards of each pattern...so I may as well make use of it, the back covers laying over the chair back is some I made a few yrs back out of Sunbrella. I will get some waterproofing treatment to treat my fabric once I get them made.  The Avocado plant is outside for the summer on the porch it will need a repotting before it goes back inside in the fall. 

and in the ever present search for balance in my life I applied for a new passport my old one expired too long ago to just renew so I took care of that last week in a small town nearby, our post office no longer does it, yet the smaller town one did, weird?   

Time ...well spent!

PEACE

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

6th time around...the sun

Hope everyone had good 4th of July, my dogs Annie and Flossie had a birthday they are now 6 yrs old! I cant believe that...seems like only yesterday they were a pack of lost and unwanted 7 puppies... I found homes for all of them! We kept these two girls...almost kept 3 but at the last minute my X found a good home for Daisy Mae she was the runt of this litter.  The pups were starving and sick when we found them..

Daisy, Flossie and Annie all had Parvo a horrid intestinal disease, but I nursed them back to health they each got 30cc's of Ringers IV drip twice a day!!

We did it right on the kitchen counter I hung the IV bag on the cabinet knob and gave each a nice subcutaneaous dose of IV Fluids and IV antibiotics.. I kept them  cozy on warm heating pads, and eventually they all came around...I was prepared to keep all the sisters together but a great home on a farm opened up when a family's old dog was put to sleep due to his age and bad health so they needed a good dog to run on the farm, Daisy was the girl for the job..since she got well first! I WOULD love to see her again!! She had the shorter hair like Annie, Flossie was the only long haired one in the pack.

Spooning 

Shoes as a pillow?

 

Daisy Mae

 I hope she is happy and healthy like her sisters! 

Back to present day... 

Last weekend I finished up that East Wall on the project house..and did the demo on the South Wall..

! It was a LOT of work!!

                                                                before       

                                                                   after

Here is the Demo part....

                         And then i reframed and sheathed for the new windows...the openings are under the black felt paper, but I didnt cut it cause I had to wait till July 4th on a day off to install the windows!!

                                                                         

                                                 Before          

                                                 after

So on the 4th I installed the new windows and today I put up the siding

...although all those big windows were cool and gave lots of light all were rotten and I couldnt afford to replace each with a new window, so SOME are better than NONE.. I like the windows that slide side to side so thats what these are. The new siding matches perfectly!! YOU cant tell where the old is ---Check it out the color is perfect I had to order it so I went to  my Local Builders Supply and they hooked me up. I think I can afford a couple of small shutters...BUT what color???? And I have to cut a Gable Vent in the peak...that thing cost $40! I have 3 things sold on ebay to pay for it soon as they pay Ill go get the vent!

NOT all work today tho...

I had fun playing with this guy that lives in the BIG Hosta! One of the flowers opened up today so I wanted to photograph it, and THEN I saw something move--- a flirty flash of orange..

WHAT the........?

                                                               OH>>>>>hello!

                   

He has the perfect spot to hold up during all the rain we've had.. a total of 10.8 inches  in June and July has been WETTER so far!

 Makes me feel really bad for the ones out West who need some rain...wish I could send some your way...till next time...

PEACE