ONE MONTH can go by fast RIGHT?

Last day before heading back to work after the holiday break ....and a gorgeous fall day here so had to go out and enjoy it!  We went to Sandhills Wildlife Refuge...about 15 miles from us..

We took a hike around the dogs enjoyed that...and we spotted a few cool things; the grasses are awesome this time of year.

there is photo blind wayyyy back behind the lake, toward the upper left in this photo...

trouble is the birds wanted to be far from the blind...

Best I could tell there was Canada geese, ring necks, and coots, and at least one Pied-Billed Grebe

back to the other side of the refuge

a couple of birds came to check us out...

and a curious Robin

TOMORROW big changes here! WE have to replace 2 floors in our house! They said a MONTH omg not looking forward to the invasion.  BUT It has to be done.

We both enjoy our privacy so to not have it is gonna be nasty and we dont really know what kind of shape the house will be in during this renovation!

SO even though I think it is good to live in the here and now, this time IM ready to zoom this clock forward to Dec 24th!

PEACE

THANK YOU!

                                          

I am thankful to each of you that stop by to say hello and share your life via blogging with me!

...and I am thankful for the bees, without them we would have nothing to be thankful for on the Thanksgiving Table!

We are traveling over the River and Thru the Woods to the IHOP in Irmo, SC for a pancake brunch with my SON... since he will be eating a traditional meal at his GF's family table later.

I recall my most favorite Thanksgiving EVER was many moons ago my son was about 12 years old, we decided to go to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving! IT was deserted since all the tourists normally leave right after Labor Day, the hotel rooms were half price, and there was no line waiting to play put-put golf!

We ate our meal at an all you can eat buffet there was no cooking and no dishes to wash. WE enjoyed the time we shared together as a family. IT was special!
Hope y'all do something that turns out to be a special moment for you.

Fall is a good time...

TO Plan for the Future!

I'm a big believer in growing my own herbs and so outside my back door I have rosemary, parsley, sage, and I always plant lots of basil in pots.   I save the seeds each yr from the basil and use it to start a new batch in the spring... and bring at least ONE pot indoors before frost, to eat fresh basil until it finally gives up and begins to die back...which can sometimes be well into December!  I think its a good idea to buy an extra packett of seeds when I buy, just in case THE unexpected happens, who knows?  SO while the shelves of retailers is crammed to overflow with cheap Christmas decor, I can pull out the seeds I tucked away and get an early start on my gardening for next yr.  I normally buy extra arugula, spinach, and parsley seeds so I can get a jump on the growing season...you're supposed to start indoors 6 weeks before your last frost, well for me that means I need my seeds to be in the dirt and on the window ledge by March 1.
I dry the herbs and grind them up to use through the winter...

So I save the shaker bottles when I run out of Ms-Dash and other spices...and I fill it up with my own dried herbs, I put a letter on top such as an S for sage, P for parsley, etc!

sage

Rosemary 

I dry the herbs in old baking pan, just let it sit around in a dry location and once the herb is dry enough I use the Magic Bullet to grind it up....

FLICKR ATE MY PHOTOS

Then in the storage containers it goes....

It makes me feel good to know that I CAN grow some of what I eat and I can preserve and save some for the future..its not exactly gonna save me if 12.21.2012 is the last day of civilized life as we know it but I can at least sprinkle a little flavor on my cardboard if it comes to that!

Another way to plan our future is to get out and vote on Tuesday, I voted early with my Mom, people over 65 can vote early and so can their care givers...so my vote has already been cast and counted!! I believe our governing system needs to be completely revamped but UNTIL that happens we have to go with what we have. 

 

PEACE

Another door opens...

SO the news is...

as of 10:30 EST today Im again a single woman! FINALLY....Yep married since 1975 separated since 2001 and now divorced today.

AND the offer was accepted so I do keep the property!!! WHICH thrills me cause I really want this land to pass onto my son...and so forth and so on....keep it in the family and not have it sold to a complete stranger. 

All that  news said and done...now the bad news

I HAVE to come up with the money in 30 days or be in contempt of court OUCH!

SO, Hi Ho Hi Ho Back in Debt I GO!!

Without the help of my family I would NOT have been able to make this offer...so BLESS YOU- MY SISTERS!!!

PEACE

Hiatus

WELL looks like we have to use the new interface like it or not I don't do well with change especially when its not my idea.  HA!!.

Wanted to give y'all  a heads up that Im on hiatus from blogging for a while,  having a time crunch lately..
 and its not fair that I don't have time to come by and visit your blogs so I best just keep my mouth shut for a WHILE!   Actually my Mom returned home and so its a lifestyle change for me and my sister is also visiting for a month..So the time I used to spend blogging is now spent visiting with my family..

WE did a hike last week and enjoyed this great waterfall so here's some photos from that, hope y'all don't forget me!! Ill be back soon!

Annie

floss

Jim

PEACE

GLORY DAYS

ALL last week I was sporting 2 black eyes and fire ant bites on my left foot!! Course the 2 black eyes were not on my left foot they were on my face! AND still are but not as bad this week....I called it the week from Hell..the grass bagger fell on me while I tried unsuccessfully to slide it on top of the tool shed...and while I was engrossed in photographing some butterflies I stood in a fire ant hill...they let me know right away I was NOT welcome there and since its the south and summer flip flops are the favored footwear...SO OUCH!!

BUT NOW...FOR the first time in a LONG time the windows are open! Finally a  beautiful cool day; sunny and breezy - just perfect.  Had a great girls night out last evening with my best girlfriend at Outback, blooming onion and garlic mashed potatoes, and all the beer I could guzzle and still drive home... yeah I had some  amazingly bad breath this morning...lol

and then I did some birding today...YES Sondra,  there is a Santa Claus!

IN the trees of the pasture I spotted this pair of what looks like immature pine warblers, but it turns out this is a yellow throated vireo...

Prairie Warbler, 

Upside down and gorgeous was the brownheaded nuthatch..

More nuthatches feeding high up in the canopy...

I heard summer tanagers, hairy and red bellied woodpeckers, chickadees every where, and white eyed vireos but too quick for photos...did manage a shot of this busy northern cardinal with a turn at the feeder..

A tufted timouse scolded me for a while then went on his way..

AND WTHECK is this thing? Found it devouring one of my potted plants...had to get my butterfly n moth book to look it up...

 LOOKS like graphic art.....Its called a saddleback caterpillar, and it turns into a rather dull brown moth...amazing, book says its a STINGING caterpillar ouch..I did move it but it didnt sting me, also had some black swallowtail larve eating the devil outta my parsley!

Flossie was showing off her beautiful tail in the breeze, she moved just as I pulled the trigger on this one but her coat was so pretty I let it slide...SHE's a tough keep cause of this heavy long coat its a grooming nightmare!

ANNIE was around but not in the mood for picture posing...see this house finch (below)....well I walked right up and grabbed her off this feeder, she is almost blind! So now she's in infirmary and receiving treatment for conjunctivitis...she should be fine a few days..

                                                              Good as new in a few days

Here she is in the treatment cage its small but I'll need to be able to catch her everyday and treat her eyes so smaller is better in this case I can catch her without a big "chase".

 

THE star of the weekend bird watch was a pair of Red Breasted Nuthatches that are hanging out in the yard !! ITS been fun to watch them...and thats NEW to my yard list! Usually see them a bit farther north, but they DONT know that....LOL..

NEXT weekend my MOM finally returns from Colorado! She went to stay a month and stayed a Year...lol  my sister will be driving her back and she will be with us for a month...and MY sisters and I  plan to do at least one waterfall hike...3 of us are having birthdays too..

One of us will be 56, one of us will be 59, one of us is 63, and one of us will be 88...

YA'll can figure out who is how old 'iffin you want to.

Im enjoying good times while I can! Hope you're doing the same where ever you are!

PEACE

on the Butterfly Trail

It's nice to have labor day off...it has been a partly stormy day; earlier it was hot and muggy so this rain may help.  First thing this morning I took the dogs for a walk around the block and spotted a few butterflies and late summer flowers (early fall?) some of the ones I look forward to all year long..so after I settled the dogs back in the yard I took off with my camera to get a few shots before the rain...

               

Like this butterfly Pea...I never see butterflies on this  i think the name implies the shape; it resembles a butterfly...

This painted lady is enjoying the blooming red sedum

I would rename this butterfly the orange admiral...here is the underside of the wing...the difference of the top side and underside of this Red Admiral is amazing.

This flower I love, its called the dotted monarda, its not satisfied to have one layer of showy flower, it has 3!  IF I had gotten a better close up you could see those dots on the yellow hanging flower petals, its barely visible here.

The Gulf Fritillaries are everywhere right now...it is one of my very favorite butterflies...the brilliant orange is amazing..here's the top side,

Another  favorite butterfly  is the Buckeye! Always makes me think of Ohio...the Buckeye State, but I think thats due to all the Buckeye trees there!

AND although the chances are 50/50 that Im wrong this could be the caterpillar of the buckeye.

Lots of sulphurs around but they wouldnt sit for a photo!

Good to have the day off and now only a 4 day work week...thats something to smile about

HA! had to toss in one of my food faces!!
That was part of my dinner last night....have a great week!!!

PEACE

Morning Guests

Two does brought their fawns down the road and stopped to grab a couple of ripe persimmons by the edge of the driveway...Great way to start the day!

Photog Day!

Well my last post was a bit of a downer, I wish life could be hunky dory all the time but ANK...it's not so anyways as I had hoped I got out with my sister when she visited and it was a beautiful day! Cool and breezy, fall is on the way.  We visited the state park that is less than 5 minutes from my house so I guess I should be making my top 10 list of things that help me defeat  the grumpies? eh? I will save that one for another time.



The water lilies were really showing off today! The lake was full of flora! Ran into some other "amateur photogs" and we compared notes on what was interesting at the lake today..They got a good shot of the Blue Heron my sister and I flushed out of the back cove of the lake.  We didn't get a shot of him but sure enjoyed hearing him ONK at us as he flew away with long legs dangling..I like the wavy movement and  reflections of the trees in this photo and the highlight on the fern!

                   

Once again I enjoyed the cattails by the water they are starting to bristle out with seed...

I don't know all the plants I encounter

I didn't plan this shot but it sure looks planned! I love when good things JUST happen don't you?

this was a PLANNED Depth of Field shot..I don't know the person in this kayak but I think the kayak in the bokeh really helps support the "witness" of the reed stalks in the foreground! Whatta you think?

We've had a fair amount of rain lately and mushrooms are all over the place, my dogs (the girls) LOVE to go "shrooming" they know which ones to eat, I DON'T so I watch...but apparently butterflies know which ones to eat too!

The eastern tiger swallowtail male and female

A lady strolling a very cute boy of about a yr old pointed out this lovely writing spider...

                  

IT looks like all the turtle nests have been raided and only the wrinkled and dried up shell casings remain...Raccoons maybe? I'm only guessing these are turtle nests..you can see the hole where the eggs were dug up..

Around the backside of the lake my sister who has a great eye for spotting, found 2 Woodstocks resting in the high limbs of the Cyprus trees..

                
and here is the other one...they were a bit far away so some grain here...

                                  It was a fun day out!!! I was hugged by nature!!

PEACE