Wind, rain, and decisions

 

Boy howdy is it windy outside today.  The bad storms that hit the south have moved on through here, thankfully missing us and only leaving minor debris in its wake.

Two kitties had to survey the situation for a solid two minutes, trying to decide whether to go out or stay in.  Guess which kitty went outside?  Yep, brave KC…who was back inside (tracking paw prints) an hour later. 

I will wait till the rain is completely gone before sweeping away the pine needles, leaves and dirt.   Who wants to sweep twice?  Not me.  I have paw prints to clean up…and a kitty door to shut for the day.

My techie guru came back yesterday and hooked up (another) new wireless router and got all our stuff back online.  Yay for that!  Hopefully this one will have a longer life than its predecessors.  Sheesh.  What a pain, but this one has a good range and so far, I like it.  I had him make sure it would reach all the way to the TV downstairs so the kids can watch their movies on the big screen.  I’m a good Grammie.

He  who hesitates is probably right.

SHE (Missy) made the right decision.

Work and fun!

Before:

Middle:

After:

So it is now Monday, and MM is off to make another (cruise) dollar today, after fixing a muffler on one of his machines yesterday.  It is always one maintenance thingy after another when one is dealing with heavy equipment, but he’s the man for the job.  And he still loves doing it.  And rain is on its way to us.

The kiddos (and adults) enjoyed yummy cake and a good visit yesterday.  That Triple Chocolate Cake has become a family tradition that can’t be beat:

And no, Macey is not 3, despite the candle count.  At 13, who needs accurate candles?  Cake and ice cream are all that matter!  And they were good.

I finally got to meet Haley’s student teacher, but that is a story for another day.  He has quite the personality…and a lovely accent.  I am adopting him.

A day without laughter is a day wasted. ~~Charlie Chaplin

Mighty hunter, Missy!

I spied Missy sitting on that cross piece under the dining room table yesterday morning, and figured she must be guarding something.  I turned on the light.  Ack…a snake to start my day!

It was just a harmless snake, but still…not a great way to begin the day…and before coffee!  The broom and dust pan got him captured and then I released him in the woods, admonishing him NOT to return.

The soccer game was good yesterday; the land sale was really good; and MM actually took some time off and went flying to see if he could remember how (yes!).

This is the project he is currently working on:

The left side is kind of a “before” shot.  MM is cleaning out the right side…and here are some more of his cleaning tools:

The pine beetle infestation has done quite a bit of damage to this property, but the trees have been long dead, which makes it easier for MM to put them on the ground.  Easy is good.

So this afternoon is cake and ice cream time with our birthday gal.  And maybe a book for me later on.  That sounds like a fine plan for a Sunday afternoon!  Yep, I’m on it.  The deck is calling my name.

Tree hugging, trailers, and other stuff

This is the infamous tree hugger that MM is using to clear out unwanted small hardwoods, dead pines, and crappy pines.  He wraps those big arms around the tree, “hugs” it, then the cutter comes out and clips them off at the bottom.

Next, he takes them over to the burn pile.  Easy peasy.

And this trailer?  Nice, single-axle trailer, right?

Well, yesterday it had two huge plastic water barrels sitting up front and a pressure washer behind that.  One water barrel was half full, the other full.  Water is heavy.  Very heavy, especially when we are talking way over 100 pounds!

Jason needed the above contents ON the trailer AND delivered out to the development, and he had no time to come back to get them.  Amy was elected for the job.  She had to first hook up the trailer to the truck, unload it, load up the good stuff, and then drive it out there.

I happened to look up from my desk yesterday morning to see Amy standing beside the truck at the top of the driveway with both hands thrown up in the air…praying or swearing, I wasn’t sure.  Guess which?

I walked up the driveway, offered to help (since I could tell she was trying to hook up the truck to the trailer), but she said she was DONE…and had called Jason to tell him to come get this *&#% trailer himself.  He said OK.  Smart man.  Amy was on her very last nerve.

Not to be defeated (and fresh on the scene), I figured there had to be a way the two of us could manage this task.  I told Amy we first needed to siphon the water out of the barrels to get rid of all that weight so we could lift the tongue.  And so we did.  We are mighty.  We are smart. And it worked!

The two of us finally got the trailer hooked up to the truck.  She texted Jason to stay, we had succeeded!  He could keeping working at the job site. 

As she drove away to go off load the pressure washer, I told her to remind Jason that he had himself a good woman.  And she added, “And a good mother-in-law!  Thanks, Mom!”

I raised that girl right.  Canoe and floaties got delivered to the job site.  Mama Sanford and Daughter--we make a great team.

These toys will get staged down by the lake to look cute for today’s land sale.  That’s where Amy and Jason both are, working at the sale; MM is next door on the future land project, trying to get it ready.  I have three kids…and a soccer practice today.

I have the easier job, and we all have perfect weather for our various Saturday activities.

Life is busy and good here in our mountain paradise, y’all! 

Cruise news!

I got an excited call last night from sister Nan.  She is going on her very first cruise this weekend!  I am so happy for her.  She has loved following all our cruises and will finally find out if she also loves cruising.  I’m betting that will be a YES.  She is going with another widow friend who has cruised lots, so I am confident she will be in great hands and will come home smiling.  And, they are going on Carnival, so I asked her to check out the piano bar and critique the BPE for me.  Girl, you have homework to do!

And in other cruise news, MM surprised me the other day by asking when the next bloggers cruise is going to happen.  Yes, Peaches, we are booked on the Breeze!  Woohoo!!!

Who is joining us???  And why do we have to wait till January to cruise again?

Have yourselves a ginger peachy fun Friday.  I have a sweet lunch date in about two hours.  Lucky me!

Lucky 13!

Macey is officially a teenager today!  How can that be?!!!  Happy birthday, sweet gal.  I so remember cutting the cord that set you free on your birth day 13 years ago (and your Mom crushing my hand during contractions!).  Spread those wings and continue flying.  You can accomplish anything you set your heart and mind on.  Yes, you can.

Grumps and I love you very much!

Enjoy your birthday season.  See you soon!

Who is ready for Triple Chocolate Cake?  Me, me, me!

Happy Hump Day!

It was hard to get these wiggle worms still for a group photo…on top of the boulder!

No problem getting these two to stand still, but no time left to first find a good background:

Brian and his gals took off before the photo session, so they are missing in this line up.

So last night was the final middle school concert, and our Macey gal rocked the percussion, from one end of the set-up to the other.  She loves it!

Mowing Man has a little trouble with his tree shear.  Bummer.  He will get it fixed, whatever it is.  He is multi-talented!

I have been spending time working on genealogy stuff, getting some historical photos and information on long-dead kin loaded onto my computer and properly placed in my family tree program.  In answer to the “why” question from one of the grandchildren last night, my reply was that family history is important, and it needs to be kept and handed down to future generations.

Today, I will be back at work on this project, but first…..yep, there is one of those.  Gotta get my dead router packed up and ready to take to the post office so I can get a replacement.  I have a loaner router, but it doesn’t always work.  Two routers have died.  Methinks I may have more than one problem going on.  Bugger to that, since I like being wireless, but I don’t want to keep killing routers!  Honest, it isn’t intentional!!!

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Have yourselves a ginger peachy Hump Day, and play nice!

Easter fun

~ Note:  This was supposed to be yesterday’s post, but our Internet provider decided to pick Monday morning to die, just before I finished typing, and stay dead ALL DAY.  Here’s hoping it will stay fixed!

Despite the sun being in their eyes, we got the kids to (mostly) stand still for a quick photo.  Say CHEESEEE!

Cheesecake!

See that boulder over Macey’s shoulder?  Yep, that one.  The same one that the three kids were climbing right after the above photo…before the service.  A little dirt may have been tracked into the nave.

We enjoyed the huge Easter Feast after the service.  I had two requests for the recipe for the marinated Roma tomatoes that I took.  The bowl was mostly emptied, too.  Good stuff!

The real fun began later with hot dogs, S’mores, and a campfire next door at Amy’s house…and a four-wheeler! 

And off into the sun they go…

Zoom, zoom…

Both kids are excellent drivers.  Seriously!  Yes, the short one is only five…almost six, but he has lots of experience already.  Lots.  That boy loves anything on wheels.

Good times and good food for everyone!  We had it. 

Spring has mostly arrived, and might be in full swing before the calendar is soon flipped to May.  Life is zooming here in Paradise, y’all!

Easter Blessings!

 

The Lord gave us life so that we may live it to the fullest.

Blessed Easter Day to all our family and friends!

Love,

Sandy and Dick

Good Friday to all!

 

In three short days, grief will be turned into joy!

And spring will (almost) be here (again):

This lovely photo is thanks to friend JC, taken by our hospital.  I need to go find this lovely dogwood.  This is gorgeous, and so much prettier than the white ones, which is the only type I have here, and they only have a few piddly blooms on them.

My intentions were good to do a TBT photo yesterday, but I had to be at church for the installation of another stained glass panel, so my feet hit the floor and I kept running all day (not literally, but still…).  Then when I got home, I worked on some genealogy stuff both before and after dinner, so the day was shot, and my mind never got back to blogging.

And now it is Friday and those things that were left undone……..are still here and still needing to be done.  Bugger.  My (worthless) assistants excel at napping, not DOING!  And MM is still mowing, and will be till mid-June.  It is a big job, but he is (mostly) enjoying himself…until the tracks come off the mower.  He maneuvered them back on where they belong.  He is good at his craft!

Have yourselves a ginger peachy day, and stay on track, Peaches.

Be sure to hug someone special!  Honey, you’ll have hugs AND clean work clothes waiting on you.

Tax day woes

No, not for these two:



They are actually touching...and not whapping!

Ansley and the high school chorus were supposed to be arriving from Chicago this morning, instead they have been stuck on the bus for about 7 hours in Indiana because of a HazMat accident.

Luckily, a state trooper guided the bus onto the shoulder of the interstate, got them turned around, and they are now moving.

You can bet the batteries on all their electronics are dead or near dead at this point.

I'm happy I'm not chaperoning a bunch of 15 year olds today! Poor bus driver. Poor chaperones. Prayers needed for safe travels!

Good luck to all the worried parents. It will be a Loong day for all, but the kids will bring home lots of mostly good memories. That's Ansley on the right end.




Safe travels!

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Monday birthday!

 

♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday, Dear Joy! ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you. ♪♪

Haley’s card class began celebrating Joy’s birthday yesterday with this cake, baked by Joan.  Yummm.

We managed to be creative and not get crumbs on our cards.  Crumbs, what crumbs? 

So it is Monday washday.  We had three kids overnight (they loved the birthday cake, Joan!), so I have a load of towels going now that said three kids have been dropped off at their schools. 

As a friend said long ago, “the two best things about grandchildren are headlights and taillights!”  We do love to have the kids here, but also love having our alone time.  Temporary is good!

A hug a day makes us a whole lot happier – Phineas

I’ve gotten a whole bunch of hugs already, thanks to those (mostly) sweet grandchildren.  Love them.

And I’m happy that Amy and Jason will provide taillights later, bless their hearts!

Palm Sunday story

 

The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. 

They also entertained a young husband.

Way back when, it was the annual job of my dear hubby and his brother, being farm boys, to go cut the fronds for church so the nice church ladies could clean them up and get them ready for Palm Sunday morning.

I got to replace Bob for this adventure the first year of our marriage.  Being the city girl that I was (and NOT a Florida native), I did not understand why some of the palm fronds were fully developed, and some were sorta deformed.  MM had to ‘splain to me that those “deformed” fronds were from the previous year’s cutting of the fronds.  Of course, he first told me that they were a strange, hybrid palm tree that grew that way.  Yeah.  Right.  Funny man.

And there was also the first time that he took me  shooting at the back of the farm.  He got me all lined up with the target, got the shotgun solidly in place, told me how to properly stand and sight the target, and then I pulled the trigger.

He is still living because while I was sighting in the target, he moved behind me so that he could catch me before I hit the ground.  That sucker packed a mean punch, and I would have landed on my behind.

I did learn to shoot well, thanks to him, and lots of practice.  That is a skill one needs to know when one lives on a farm, which we did for a number of years.  It was a great place to raise our children, by the way.

Yesterday’s photo scanning brought back lots of fond memories of way back then.  I still have about 189 pounds of photos to get done…maybe in this lifetime.

Have I mentioned that life is never dull with my guy?  Nope, it sure has been one big adventure after another.  Perfect?  No.  Never dull.  Life is as good as you make it, Peaches.

Will you look back on life and say, I wish I had,” or “I’m glad I did”? ~ Zig Ziglar

I’m glad I did!  How about you?

Saturday stuff from Paradise

My two helpers are (annoying) overseeing what I am doing today, in between serious napping.  They are wasting a perfectly beautiful day.  My two granddogs are hanging around the front door, but they don’t scare the kitties.  No sirree.  The dogs know who rules around here.

Our sweet Will has learned how to make those popular silicone loop bracelets, and was showing his handiwork to Joan at lunch the other day.  He made a bracelet for her, since she was so graciously praising him, and even gave him some $$ to buy more supplies.  I was heading to the WalMart just for that purpose.  He had fun spending our money, Joan!

Pretty dang good for a 5 y/o, huh?  This guy is learning early that girls like jewelry!  Smart boy.

So toady I have been scanning in some old photos into the computer…instead of doing some office stuff that I really should be doing instead, like IRS krappola…boring, but its gotta get done, and these two assistants are not helping one bit.  MM is off mowing, so I need to jump on this paperwork and be done with it.  Pronto.

But first…I need to move a gray paperweight.

Life is sunny and good, y’all!  Hope yours is, too.

Chilly Thursday in paradise

Mid-April and it was officially 32 here in the mountains this morning. Brrr. Missy snoozed in my lap (only because MM is not here) while I enjoyed my coffee.







And the score last night:
Gals-2
Guys-0

Yay, gals! We kicked butt. And they deserved it. Poor Dan couldn't even get on the board through several of the rounds. That happens occasionally.

My two orchids and basil plant are mighty happy inside in the sun room. I'm not sure where Spring went, but having heat on now is ridiculous. At least we have sunshine...and jackets.

Oh, and MM has a big goose egg on the top of his poor head. He was on one machine yesterday; got off that one and about knocked his head off when he didn't bend far enough to get into a different machine. I guess he forgot how low the other one was. Maybe he needs a hard hat?! Poor thang.

Life is bumpy, chilly, but good here in paradise. How's yours?

Mind your head!

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And the winner is…

 

Moi!

Here is the post I received last night from Paradise Hills Resort and Spa:

Congratulations Sandy! You are the winner! An impressive 53 likes! A record so far...
Come by anytime to pick up your bottle of wine.
We loved hosting you for Women & Wine —

Owner Ilke challenged all the ladies to post photos on Facebook of our visit last week for Women and Wine, and whoever got the most “likes,” would get a free bottle of wine.  Naturally, BFF Joan and I decided we would split the bottle if either of us won.

I did…and I will!  Lucky us.  Joan and I both look forward to the next event, as well as our free bottle of wine.  We’ll have the cab, thankyouverymuch!

Who wants to join us at the next event on May 7???  Women only!

Have yourselves a ginger peachy Toosday, y’all!

Life’s too short for fake butter, cheese, and people.

Saturday smiles

Except I am not smiling now, having been awake since 4:30. Oh well...

Haley wants to go shopping today, so we shall go. Ansley and lil Haley are joining us, so there will be plenty of smiles pretty soon. Coffee for now as the sun slowly finds these mountains.

Rain is expected today, but that won't matter.

Mowing Man is back working on a major job. The good news is that it is nearby...and he has an enclosed cab to keep him dry, and a handy dandy iPod to keep him entertained. He's a happy worker.

PSA. My free blogger app appears to be sneaking in some ads. It is NOT my doings. I do not intentionally advertise for fee anything on my blog. If I mention a place or product, it is only my own opinion. Period. Boycott any sneaky ad!

So there. That'll show those sneaky folks.

I am seeing a wee puff of pink now. Hooray, morning has broken. Life is good, and today presents another opportunity to enjoy it to the fullest. Do it!

Do you have your smile on?

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Fish, Wine and Art!

Jason took his buddy Alex fishing the other day, and Alex caught a BIG crappie—almost 2 pounds!  They caught 30 total.  Alex is quite the happy fisherboy.  I’m ready to try these, and will bring the wine!

A local winery is doing a Women, Wine and Art event the first Wednesday of each month, so  Joan and I went last night, and had fun (as always), along with several other women.  Faith’s sister Sarah was also there!  No, my artwork (a vase of daisies) is not gonna be displayed on our refrigerator, much less framed and put on the wall!  An artist I am not, but I am a good sport and will give most anything at least a try.  Painting is not my “thing.”

We did have fun, and will go back for more events there in the future.  You local gals need to join us for a great girls’ night out.  Before we left, Joan spotted 5 deer out sniffing around the grapevines…just beautiful.

We love living in the mountains, where life is never dull.  And for the record, it was 79 here, and 77 back in W Palm Beach at 5p yesterday.  MM and I brought spring home with us!  Yay for that!!!

Cheers, y’all.

Home, sweet home!

Towels? What clean towels? I haven't seen them!



Groan. I set them on the top of that chair, clean and ready to take back to the Moho, but someone knocked them down to the seat and enjoyed a nap on top!

We enjoyed seeing MM's niece and her family, along with sister Ginny.



Then on Monday we stopped in S GA to see Ed and Barbara, some of our earliest campers at our RV park.



Ed turns 90 in two weeks. Barbara hits that mark in September. Great people.

We got home Monday night, and are still doing the transitioning, cleaning, arranging, blah blah stuff. The best news is that we have seen most of the family and several friends already...and are making headway on settling in.

MM has a clearing job (again), so he is back on a machine working today. Near home. Yippee!

The kitties are happy they can go outside, then come inside and snooze on clean towels.

Everybody is happy, and life is VERY good, y'all! Hope yours is too.

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