Time For a Little "Cache-ing" Up.....

It's been quite a while since I've blogged... Mainly because not much has been going on in my life that would be considered "blog worthy"..... The thing that has been taking up most of my spare time is my new passion with geocaching.

Since our 32nd wedding anniversary was on a Thursday, Steve took the day off from work the next day, Friday, the 4th. We had such a wonderful day together. We got up early and took off in the convertible for the mountains. Our destination was Grandfather Mountain. By the time we got to the entrance to Grandfather Mountain and found out there was a $15.00 per person admission charge, we decided to save this location for another day. We will go back and spend the night in the area so we can start out at the park first thing in the morning.

Instead of Grandfather Mountain, we spent lots of time exploring Banner Elk, NC. We saw some really great places and found a number of hidden geocaches. It was a really great day for the two of us. One of the caches we found had a geo coin in it. The coins are registered on a web site and anyone is invited to take the coin, log onto the computer and let the owner know that you've removed the coin, and then take the coin elsewhere and log its new home in so someone else can find it and move it to another new home. This particular coin was an Appalacian Trail coin engraved with the AT logo and the word "Virginia". Once I got it home I found that it started out in Virginia and traveled to Wrightsville Beach NC and then hopscotched over to Banner Elk. Steve and I took the coin home and re-placed it on Saturday while we were out geocaching. Here's where we found this geocoin:

On Saturday (9/5) we wound up finding another 3 or 4 caches, placing the Appalacian Trail coin and having a fun day. By the time we were through with our couple of caches, we were hot and tired and ready to go home and get some water.

This past weekend we decided to go to Andrew Jackson State Park, which is less than 5 miles from our house. There is a series of 5 geocaches placed in this park in memory of a man who loved the hobby and is no longer with us. We set out on Sunday afternoon, thinking 5 "finds" would be an easy afternoon's fun. The first two were very easy and simple to find. The third one just about did us in. It turns out (I should have read ahead on the web site) that the folks involved with this series of caches are all from this area. Grew up in the area and are used to tromping all through the wooded areas. The third cache took us over an hour and way, way, way off the hiking trail. At one point we wandered right out of the back of the park into a farmer's field. We saw grape arbors, beekeeping equipment and a couple of tractors. More than a little concerned that we could wind up on the business end of a shotgun, we ducked back into the woods as quickly as possible. However, all our tromping, stomping and searching finally paid off. We finally found the box, buried in the ground, and were nicely rewarded!! We found another trackable item in this box. It's not actually a coin like the last one, it's called a Travel Bug. We took this little "ingot" with the idea that we would take it to Gatlinburg with us and give it a big boost on its journey. This is what the Travel Bug looks like:

Front: Top says "2006", then "Geocaching" and bottom says "Not another Micro!"

Back: Top has an engraved item number and bottom has engraved tracking number

Once we got the thing home, I went online to register my find. This was when I got a really big surprise. This particular coin began its life in 2006 in Berlin, Germany!!!! It's been all around Europe and to Thailand before coming to the States. It got to the US in Michigan, it's been to Illinois, NC and SC, and I'll be bringing it to TN. I'm really excited about this particular find. I can't wait to log in the location we leave this bug in the Mountains.....

I'm getting excited about Chris and April's anniversary gathering in the mountains. Can't wait to see everyone and have a GREAT time. See you all there......

Love to all.......

It's ALIVE!!!

I've been working on a project for a couple of weeks and finally got Steve to help me complete it last evening, after dinner. I am SO excited and PROUD to present the rebirth of.............................

.................................................................................My neon palm tree!!!!

I had to order the rope lights on line. I shopped and shopped for them. It was much more difficult and time consuming to find rope lights than I expected it to be, but I finally found the right colors in the correct lengths.... WOO-HOO for that. I paid more for these replacement lights than I paid for the entire thing 5 years ago, but believe me, it is well worth it!!!!

I also cooked an awesome dinner last night, of which I am extremely proud. I was very busy all day and didn't know what to fix. I opened the fridge, pantry and freezer all at once and took inventory. I wound up making a home made alfredo sauce with chicken and broccoli in it and served it over fetuccini noodles. It was the best alfredo sauce I've ever tasted. Unfortunately, I will probably never be able to duplicate it exactly, since I just "threw" it together and didn't really measure anything.

I thought the meal was going to be a disaster at first, because when I was compiling my ingredients on the counter, I knocked a jar of minced garlic on the floor and it shattered everywhere. I worried that this would be an omen, but it just forced me to mince my own garlic and (probably) made the dish all that much better!!!

Steve agreed with me that it was some really, really good alfredo sauce. When he got through LICKING the serving spoon, I was afraid he was going to lick the serving bowl too!! Luckily I got it off the table before he could grab it!!!

I hope everyone is doing well. I, like Sue, sure do miss the blogs of the past. Please don't leave blogland forever. We all miss your stories!!!

Love to all......

Another Fun (but hot) Day of Geocaching!

Today, Steve and I went to Rock Hill, SC to run some errands. Since we knew we'd be there, I printed out a few geocache sites to investigate while we were there. Unfortunately it was around 100-degrees today, so we didn't spend as much time "playing" as we would have liked.

The first cache we looked for, we did not find. It was in a public park and we were at the posted coordinates, but no luck. There was a huge stand of green leafy bushes which I am sure is where the hide was located. We've decided to go back in the fall or winter when it's not so hot and hopefully some of the leaves will be gone.

The second cache we went after was a pretty easy find. Part of the reason for that is this one was located in such a way that someone in a wheelchair could participate in the find. Since this was the case, we knew it would be very close to the concrete path through the public gardens in downtown Rock Hill. Once we reached the coordinates, we both just scuffed around in the ivy ground cover and Steve came up with the box. We signed the log book and were on our merry little way.

The third cache we went after was at a city recreation area. There were pools, playgrounds, picnic tables, and a large facility with work-out equipment and public meeting rooms at this location. When we pulled into the parking lot we both got a close hit and realized we had parked almost on top of the cache. Steve took off with his handheld unit (which has a handy arrow on the screen pointing in the direction he must travel to find the coordinates) and I took off with mine. Due to the dense tree cover, Steve had some problems with satellite transmissions (his hand-held is very, very old). So, he was on one side of this particular grassy area and I was on the other because my GPS said I was in the right place (and his said, albeit very slowly, that HE was in the right place). I'm so thrilled because I found this particular hide. I realized at that point that Steve had found every single cache we had logged, so this one was very special to me.

Since it was so darned hot outside we decided to call it a day at this point. We'd only been at it a couple of hours, but the heat was killing us. We came home and I got on the geocaching.com site and logged our finds (and our one DNF - did not find). It was a very fun day, all in all.

In anticipation of our upcoming trip to Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge, I got online to check for geocaches in that area. Since I don't know the exact address for the cabin, I decided to use Dollywood for a reference point. I put in the address for the entrance to Dollywood and found 101 hidden caches within a 10-mile radius!!! There's no way we'll have time to do that many and I'll narrow down my search parameters before we get there, but I'm getting very excited about finding some hidden treasure in the Tennessee mountains!! Anyone interested in going "hunting" with us, my main advice would be to be sure you have some comfortable walking shoes to wear. Most of the hidden caches are off the beaten path, but not out in the middle of nowhere..... I always wear my tennis shoes when we take off for our adventures. I don't think flip flops or sandals would be best for this activity.

Until next time.....HAPPY HUNTING!!!

Love to all.......

Geocaching ROCKS!!!

After more than a year of "investigation", Steve and I finally took the plunge yesterday and went Geocaching. For anyone who doesn't know this term, it's like an elaborate game of "Hide and Seek", using your GPS, played out all over the world.

The first thing I did was to sign up with a geocaching web site. I get an e-mail from this organization once a week listing "caches" all over the world. Since we were headed to Monroe, NC yesterday for some errands, I plugged Monroe into the geocache search engine and got pages and pages of "caches" in the area.

Once we chose our area, I chose four different locations to search for "finds". I printed the pages. (I could have just put the co-ordinates into the GPS, but I was afraid I'd get the locations confused.) We took off for Monroe armed with THREE GPS units. (Go figure, two people and three GPS's...hahaha)

Anyway, we put the coordinates in Steve's GPS in the car and got to the area of the hidden cache. Then he took his handheld and I took mine and we plugged the coordinates in them and left the car to look. Some of the hidden caches are very very easy to find and some take a bit more investigation. All of the hidden caches have paper inside for the "seekers" to sign in that they found the item. People are encouraged to leave something in the caches as well, but we had nothing with us to leave except our signatures. Some folks just leave a penny or other coin. One of the caches we found had a large zip-lock bag inside with all kinds of stuff in it. There were pencils, pens, golf balls, small toys and lots of interesting stuff. One had a business card from a police officer from another area of NC.

In the end we wound up finding three of the four items we were looking for. At the one we didn't find, we were run off by "muggles" (people who are not involved with the game and don't know what's going on). We were tromping around in their front yard and they pulled up into the driveway to ask what we were doing. We pretty much just appologized and left.....tails between our legs!!!

Of the three we found, one was in a shopping center parking lot, one was in the mulch in front of a historic house in the middle of downtown Monroe and for the other one, we had to hike about 1/4 to 1/2 mile into the woods and find an old metal ammo box that was hidden underneath some fallen trees. I think I can safely say Steve and I are now BOTH hooked on geocaching. It is nice for us to each have our own hand-held GPS because between the two of them we can get really really close to the items.

We're thinking about printing some out for our trip to Gatlinburg and anyone who wants to go "hunting" with us is invited. This new hobby got us out of the house and walking / moving around, as well as finding some new areas we've never been to before.

At this point I'd like to HIGHLY recommend this hobby to anyone with a GPS. From the research I've done, I know there is a large concentration of "cachers" in the Lancaster area, as well as all over SC and NC. They hold "meets" so you can meet others who love the hobby and at these meetings, they usually hand out some not-previously-disclosed caches in the area and people take off like the start of the Indy 500 to be the first to find any given "hide".

I'll keep you all posted on our adventures. I think we're going to work on a few in Lancaster in the upcoming weeks. There is also a state-wide geocache in South Carolina where participants have to find at least one "hide" in each county in the state. I'm positive we're not up to that level yet, but we're excited to get out and find some "stuff".......

Let us know if you decide to try your hand at this. I'm sure you'll like it if you try it.

Love to all.....

...And A Good Time Was Had By All

I can't believe I'm the first to blog about the Great July 4 Weekend in South Carolina!!!

Everyone began arriving on Thursday afternoon. Mom and Dad were here. Mike, Michelle, Hannah and Heather were here. Bill and Deb came and they brought Sydney along for the fun. All totaled we had 11 people (plus Dixie) here for the long weekend.

As usual, Steve cooked and cooked and cooked some more. We had WAAAAAAYYYY too much GREAT food!!! Steaks and baked potatoes, hamburgers and hot dogs, Pulled Pork and BBQ Ribs, along with all the sides and snacks in between. In the evenings we cranked up the fire pit and made S'mores. I'm still full (and so is my fridge)!!!

On Friday afternoon Dad, Debbie and Sydney went across the street from my house and picked some blackberries on the vacant lot over there. I made a peach and blackberry cobbler for dessert. It was really good!!

The BIG culmination to the weekend, of course, was Saturday evening, July 4. We had BBQ for dinner with potato salad, cole slaw and rolls. Dessert was vanilla pudding with blueberries and strawberries in it. After dinner, Steve set up our big screen and showed the NASCAR race on the back deck. The guys all enjoyed that. (Of course, the first 6 or 8 laps were a bit hard to see because it was still too light outside.)

Once it got good and dark outside, Steve set up the fireworks he bought. When he started setting them off in the driveway our next door neighbors came out and brought along an entire arsenal of fireworks from their house. The general concensus was that they spent at least $500 on their display...... and we got to benefit from it!! The show was the best I've seen in several years and we didn't have to go anywhere to see it!!! I got a few pictures of the show, but the battery died in my camera shortly after the begining, so I took a bunch with Bill's camera, since he was helping with the show.

One of the other highlights of the weekend was on Friday when Uncle Steve (again attempting to sustain his "favored uncle" status) allowed Hannah to drive Aunt Peggie's little car. I'm not sure I've ever seen a bigger smile on Hannah's face!! He then took Heather for a ride and we got some pictures of her in the little green car.

I suppose I should report on poor Dixie at this point. Most days she sleeps off and on all day long. With so much going on, she probably walked 500 miles over the weekend. She rarely sat or layed down at all. She spent all day yesterday (after everyone left) asleep and today she only gets up long enough to change position!! The worst part was that yesterday morning I realized no one had fed her in a couple of days!!! I felt really bad, but EVERYONE told me she didn't go hungry. Evidently she had lots to eat, even if it wasn't dog food. I fed her yesterday, but her dish still isn't empty. I guess I didn't need to worry about her, after all!!!

And now, before anyone else can "tell" on me, I have another confession to make. I've done it again. Again, I contend it was a TOTAL accident..... I've killed again.....

There was a beautiful green and yellow frog living on our sliding glass door. On Thursday evening it jumped off the door and into the mini fridge. I had to get Mike to get it out. He threw it out into the yard and the next day it was back on the door again. On Friday night I went out to the mini fridge just before I went to bed to refill mom's glass. When I was through, the door just wouldn't close. It felt like something was caught in the track, but I didn't see anything. After a couple of tries, it just closed....no problem. Then on Saturday morning I noticed my beautiful yellow and green frog was sort of "jammed" between the two doors...... A very sad day...... Once again, Mike came to my rescue and "disposed of the body" for me....... I'm not sure Mother Nature is going to continue to allow me to live with her little critters. I'm just too clumsy to live in harmony with the "smallest of the small"...... I'm sorry little froggie.....

Today is Monday and Steve took the day off from work because we originally thought folks were staying until today. It has worked out well for us, though. We've got things pretty much put back in place and put away until next time.

Thank you to everyone who came. We had a SUPER GREAT time. The invitation still stands......whenever anyone is ready for a weekend (or longer) off, come out to the country and stay with us. We've got plenty of room and love to have the company.....

Until next time.....

God Bless the USA .... and ...

Love to all....

A (Not So) Quick Trip To Helen

On Sunday, while driving home from our trip to Atlanta for Jessa’s Graduation Party (which was really GREAT), Steve and I were talking while he was driving. Somehow the conversation turned to Mom and Dad and the Aunts being in Helen. Steve suggested that I should drive over and spend the night. When I asked how far away Helen was from our house, Steve replied that it was only about 2 ½ or 3 hours. This sounded like a GREAT PLAN to me!!!

When we got home I called the ‘rents and made the arrangements. Then on Monday I got on Mapquest and checked out the facts. (Yes, I know I should have done the fact-checking first…..but it’s a little late for that now!!!)

My first Mapquest search showed it would take me almost 5 hours to drive to Helen from Lancaster. When I e-mailed this information to Steve at work, he told me he didn’t think that was right….(Of course he knows more than Mapquest, right????)

I then went outside and brought my GPS in and plugged the address into it. The directions were VERY different from those I got from Mapquest. (Mapquest said to travel NORTH from our home and Garmin said to travel SOUTH from our home.)

Being EXTREMELY directionally challenged, this was cause for GREAT concern on my part. I had no idea what to do. I’m the kinda girl that just turns on the GPS and follows blindly. If I wind up in Wyoming I figure I must have taken a wrong turn….it couldn’t be the GPS!!!

Anyway, the GPS said it would take just shy of 4 hours to get there. I liked this info much better than the Mapquest estimate of 5 hours!!

So, on Tuesday I set off at 8:00 AM for my 4-hour trip to Helen. Much of the trip was on back roads. Of course any road warriors out there know that back roads can be a recipe for disaster. I was delayed by construction twice, stopped by an intersection crash once and one time traffic stopped due to a tractor having fallen off the edge of the roadway and rolling over into a field. Long story short, it took me about 4 ½ hours to get to Helen.

I was so happy to make it there all by myself (along with my trusty GPS). As we ate lunch we caught up on everyone’s lives.

After lunch we went to Cleveland to visit Babyland General (birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids). Most of us have been to Babyland General before and I must say, it is looking very tired and worn out. The good news is that a new home is currently under construction and expected to be completed in August. I always enjoy a visit to the cabbage patch. When a new baby was delivered (“Mama cabbage is now 10 leaves dilated….”) the nurse asked for people to name the new baby girl and she was given THREE names. That was a new twist for me!!!

When everyone had their fill of the cute little critters, we headed back to the condo in Helen and fixed dinner. We spent the rest of the evening just visiting and resting up. (I’ll let dad blog about the condo itself. I’m sure he’s got more inside info than I do.)

In the morning after everyone had breakfast we went into Helen and walked around for a while. We had lunch in town and then went back to the condo so I could begin my journey home.

The trip home was EXTREMELY uneventful. No construction, no car crashes and no tractors falling off the side of the road. I made it home in just under 4 hours. THAT was really nice. I didn’t have to stop for gas or anything else, so it was just a straight shot. I had to put the top up about half way home because I was starting to feel cooked in the hot sun.

All in all it was a great trip. I was very glad to see the aunts (and mom and dad, of course). I know the rest of the Atlanta clan will get to see them this weekend. I’m sure they will regale you with stories of their exploits in the mountains. Don’t forget to ask them about the stairs leading up to their condo unit…….That will start the groans and stories, I’m sure.

Here are the folks as we arrived at Babyland General in Cleveland:

....And a bit of nostalgia for those who haven't been to Babyland General in a while:

Until next time…..


…….Love to all…..

So, it's been a while.......

........Since I blogged! No news there!!


We all say “I haven’t blogged because I have nothing to blog about”, *OR* “I haven’t blogged because I’ve been so busy…”. Well, folks, here’s the truth:


I haven’t blogged because I’ve been too lazy!!!! Them’s the facts, folks!!


So, here’s what’s been going on with the South Carolina contingent of the family:


Early in May we went to Texas for a visit. We had a really great time. Katie already blogged about the trip here, so I’ll just give you a few of the highlights from my perspective:

We had so much fun playing with Maddy and (literally) watching a new tooth show up in her mouth EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! ;)

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Buffalo Gap Historic Site. Thank goodness Katie shared some photos from that trip because I forgot my camera!! (What sort of grandparent am I????)

For some reason, Steve decided we couldn't make a trip to Texas without coming home with some real, authentic cowboy boots, so we each got a pair. I've always heard that cowboy boots are some of the most comfortable footwear you can have. I must agree with that assessment. Here's a view of what we bought:

Steve's Boots:

Peg's Boots:

Pretty snazzy, huh??? Now we'll have to learn how to do the "Boot Scoot Boogie"!!! LOL

Also, while we were in Texas we celebrated a wonderful Mother's Day. Steve and Bryan took care of all the meals for the day and Katie and I ate like QUEENS!! It was really nice.

I got a great gift from Katie, Bryan and Maddy. It was something I asked them for and then promptly forgot I did, so it was a GREAT surprise as well! They gave me copies of some photos Bryan took of the Nashville skyline. I took some similar photos and lost them on my old computer before I had the chance to print and frame them. Of course, Bryan is a much better photographer than I am, so I was thrilled that he chose to share his pictures with me!! I'm going to hang them in the room off the den in our downstairs. I've already dubbed this "The Nashville Room". (I sure hope we don't get transferred too many more times. I'm running out of rooms to decorate after cities we've lived in!!! Ha Ha Ha)

We were home less than a week when we took a trip to Nashville to visit Chris and April. The real reason for our visit was to celebrate Chris's birthday. It was a very nice, quiet and laid back visit. We went out to eat too many times and Chris and April kept us very well fed while we were there. Since we were only there for the weekend I didn't get to visit with my friends at the City of Brentwood, but we did meet up with our dear friend, Danny, for dinner on Saturday evening.

Since we got home from Nashville I've made two more trips to Landsford Canal State Park to try and get pictures of the Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies in bloom. The first time I went the flowers were in full bloom, but it was so windy that they were all facing away from the shore and I couldn't get a good "full face" photo. The second time I went, it was almost too late. So, I've resorted to the internet and "borrowed" a copy of a really great photo of one of these georgous blooms. They really are quite beautiful:

This past Saturday we took a long and scenic drive to Mocksville, NC. This town is in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina. The Yadkin Valley is known for its great wines. We went to an open house at the RayLen winery. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful location with live music and lots of fun. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours each way, but we put the top down on my car and just enjoyed a really fantastic day.

On Sunday we took a little ride on the motorcycle. We rode to the State Park I mentioned above and took some photos, then headed back home. As I said before, I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the flowers, but I got a couple of good ones of some wildlife:

A Blue Heron

A great big turtle sunning himself on a rock!!

I also saw something quite interesting on my nature walk. After I took photos of the flowers, I was going back down the trail toward the parking lot to go home. I heard someone approaching me from the rear and he quickly overtook me and continued on ahead. I can't believe I was clear-headed enough to snap his photo. So many thoughts were going through my head when I saw him, but most of all, "Now where did I park my kayak???"

He had absolutely everything he needed to go kayaking (the shoes, the paddle, the boat skirt) EXCEPT THE BOAT!!!!!! I was quite amused by this scene.

I guess I'll leave you with that thought (Where's the boat???).....

I hope to overcome my laziness and blog more often, but I'm making no promises.

Mom and Dad, have a great trip to Helen!! Give the Aunts a big hug and a kiss for me.

Everyone else, I'll see you all this weekend at Jessica's graduation party!!!!

Love to all......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILL!!!

Just a quick note to wish Bill a very, very happy birthday!!

Just a year ago we were on a luxurious cruise ship heading to the Alaskan wilds. This year Steve and I are in the Texas heat enjoying our first grandchild and you and Deb are getting ready for a wedding. What a difference a year can make!!

Hope you have a great day. Can't wait to see you guys real soon.

Love ya!!!

It's been a couple of weeks . . .

. . . so here’s an update on what’s been going on……

I believe my last blog was about Easter and the completion of our deck. Since that time we:

1. Went to Savannah for the annual Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament. We had a good time as usual and saw so many good friends. It is always so much fun to see our long-time friends and catch up on things. I realized while we were there this time that we moved to Savannah just about 25 years ago. Unfortunately we only lived there for 2 years, but we’ve got a lifetime of memories in that short time-span. We were lucky enough to be there for a festival on the riverfront. There were all sorts of craft tents set up and I was able to start my Christmas shopping!!! YAY!! Also, there was a car parked there that belonged to a SCAD student. He painted his car with chalkboard paint and takes it all over the area for people to write on it to their hearts’ content. Then it rains and he starts all over!! It was lots of fun. Here’s my pic of that:

2. We’re still working on some of the landscaping in our yard. We added 6 more junipers on the other side of the stairs for the deck. We added pine straw to the first set of junipers we planted and…… I’ve been working along our driveway for a long long time. I am meticulously digging up all the grass growing next to the driveway because Steve planted some Iris bulbs on a whim. The Iris plants have begun to come up and some have even flowered this year!!! So, removal of the grass and addition of pine straw was in order. I’m almost through with this project and hope to finish up today. If I don’t, it may be quite some time before I conquer the grass…. :( Here are some pictures of these projects:

3. Last weekend we visited Landsford Canal State Park in South Carolina. It was a really amazing park. It seems back in the 1800’s the safest way to get to this area way by boat up the Catawba River. There were some rapids in the river that prevented safe passage, so a canal with working locks was installed. According to the signs in the park, Irish immigrant stone masons cut and installed all the stone to complete the locks and canal. They worked using a plan drawn by a Scottish immigrant. It was very informative and educational. The canal is no longer used and overgrown. This park is home to the nation’s largest area of flowers called Spider Lilies in the country. We were a couple of weeks early to witness these plants in bloom. When we get the chance to see them I promise to get some good photos and post them. There is also a pair of American Bald Eagles that lives in this park. We didn’t get to see them, but we plan to go back soon and see if we can spot them. but here are a couple of photos of this trip, too:

4. I visited the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!

I read about this in Southern Living Magazine and decided that since it was in my new little hometown, I couldn’t pass it up. There is an artist in downtown Lancaster who works with metals. He has constructed many beautiful works that can be seen throughout the State. In downtown Lancaster, there are benches along Main Street that he constructed. Steve and I admired them from the first time we came to Lancaster, but didn’t know the history of them. The artist’s name is Bob Doster. When asking for directions to his studio, he simply tells people to look for The GREAT WALL OF CHINA. So I went in search of it and here it is:

Get it? Great wall of china!?!?! (If you don't get it,

double click on the photo to enlarge and see all the

CHINA that makes up this wall!!)

Some of the benches downtown:

5. Last, but CERTAINLY not least, Steve and I are leaving tomorrow for a very long weekend visit to Abilene. We're coming home next Tuesday. We are so so so excited about it. I can’t wait to see both of my ladies (and Bryan of course)!!! When we made the plans (according to Steve’s work schedule), we didn’t realize it was Mother’s Day Weekend. What a GREAT added bonus!!!! I’m sure Katie and I (with Maddy’s help and permission) will blog about our escapades in Texas.

Until next time…….


Love to all!!!!

This could take a while.....

WARNING!!!

I'm going to take a page out of Katie's book and start out with a warning.... This may take a while, so if you don't have some serious time to devote to this blog, you may want to put it off until you do. I can go on for hours when I have nothing to say, but I have PLENTY to talk about tonight, so go get a nice beverage of your choice, a comfortable chair, and kick back, because here I go.....

I never reported on our Easter "festivities" and I'd like to chime in with that. A couple of months ago April called to see if she and Chris could come to our house for Easter. Of course the answer was a resounding YES!!! But, in the ensuing weeks, Chris wasn't able to get off from work and April had something important come up with her family, so they had to cancel. That was OK, we learned a long time ago to roll with life. But, in the meantime I had talked with my friend, Malinda, and told her Chris and April would be here for Easter and if she'd like to come up and spend the day with us she was more than welcome. Well, once Chris and April's plans fell through, I forgot all about poor Malinda. On Good Friday she called and asked if she was still invited. I told her that everything had changed but she was still more than welcome to come and spend the day with us. Her children weren't able to come home from school for the Holiday and she was going to be all alone anyway. I did, however warn her that I wasn't planning a big, festive, Holiday Dinner, since I thought it would just be Steve and me. As a matter of fact, on Friday I had absolutely NO IDEA what we were going to have for our Easter Dinner. Long story short, we wound up with the traditional "Easter Hamburgers" on the grill. All in all it was a very laid back afternoon with good food and good friends. Isn't that really what the holiday is all about???

Then, on Monday of last week I was out in the front yard with Dixie when I noticed that she had gone into the edge of the woods. This was unusual because we have an electric fence that should prevent her from making it to the woods. I went around to the back of the house to the control box and found that the fence was completely dead. I checked the circuit breaker box and couldn't find one that was tripped, so I had done as much as I knew and had to turn it over to the "expert", Steve. When he got home from work that night he checked the circuit breaker box as well and declared that the outdoor outlet should be connected to a GFI outlet in the house. We went all through the house and checked all the GFI outlets and couldn't find one that was tripped. The next day I went through all these steps again and still found NOTHING. When Steve got home on Tuesday, he ran an extension cord out the window to make the fence work again and then I could at least let the dog out by herself. We decided that the outside outlet must be defective and Steve would have to replace it on Saturday.

THEN IT HAPPENED......

On Thursday I went out to the freezer in the garage to choose something for dinner. I opened the door and water gushed out all over my feet. I realized the light was not on (and it should have been) and I had to take the final step and poke some meat. Sure enough, it was thawed and warm!!! I had checked the GFI outlet in the garage previously and it wasn't tripped. Now i was really stumped. What I didn't know was that there are TWO GFI outlets in the garage.....the one I checked next to the freezer and one directly BEHIND the freezer. Sure enough, the one behind the freezer had tripped and we lost EVERYTHING in our freezer: Steaks, Pork Chops, Chicken, Vegetables, Frozen Bread Dough.....EVERYTHING WAS GONE!!!!

Oh well, at least we solved the problem with the outlet and the dog fence without Steve making unnecessary repairs!! On the down side we lost about $300 worth of food!!!!!

Now on to the BIG NEWS:

According to "Mine Cap-i-tan" (aka Steve), our new deck is OFFICIALLY COMPLETED!!!! There are still a few minor cosmetic items left to be done, but overall, the deck is finished. This is EVERYONE's official invitation to come and spend some time relaxing with us on our newest outdoor space. We spent most of Saturday finishing up the last few items, namely the handrails on the stairs, and placing all the furniture strategically in our new space. Then we had to go out and get a small table and chairs for our smaller deck. We planned on having some folks from Steve's office over for a BBQ last night, but there was a miscommunication on date and time, so we just had a nice dry run by ourselves. I used the small candle holders we bought for Katie's wedding to give us some light and atmosphere. I put some small landscaping pebbles into them and then used tea light candles. I think they turned out pretty nice! We are looking forward to many many happy hours on our new deck. Here are some pictures........

The new stairway by candle light:

Candles all around the deck:

Lovely fire in the fire pit:

My newly repurposed candle holders:

Steve on the phone reporting to Bill that "The Deck Is Done!!!"......

This afternoon we did a little landscaping next to the deck. We put in about 20 blue rug juniper plants on the hillside by the deck. We planted these low-growing plants around our mailbox in Nashville and were pleased with how well they filled in the area. I expect it will take a couple of years before these little plants completely fill in the area, but at least it's a start!

Here's our little landscaping project:



And last but not least..........

Our new Bistro Table set:




Ok, now it's time to stand up and get your circulation going again. I'm sorry I took so long. I promise to blog again soon so I'm not so windy next time.....maybe ;)

OFFICIAL INVITATION TO ONE AND ALL:

THE DECK IS OPEN

AND WE'RE WAITING FOR VISITORS!!!!!

Love to all.....