The Alabamian Camel again

We had a fun Saturday morning. Listening to " click and clack" on PBS radio, starts your day out laughing. We bought several plants on sale in town and stopped at Publix for our weeks worth of food that we can't get at Foodland. On the way home, we noticed that the Alabamian camel was close up to the fence so we stopped to take some better pictures of him. I wanted to pet him so badly but the fence is electric so didn't even try. ....plus, I kept thinking that any minute he was going to spit in my face...lol. He is so cute though. I wonder how many more camels live up here? This is the funniest place ever! I love it here!!!!!

Pig Road

We started out to Decatur this morning to pick up a few things at Publix and to stop at Marvins to get some plants that they had on sale. Chuck decided to go the way of " pig road". Chuck is always taking a different side road to town to see where it comes out and the last time we went down this road, we didn't stop to take pictures of the pigs. This morning, we did. There were a bunch of baby pigs in the pen and they all came running to the fence when they saw me. They were sooooo cute. I told Chuck I would like to have a baby pig if they just didn't grow up to be big pigs. Pigs sure do make a mess of the land! I'm sure they would LOVE rolling in our mud right now.

Green House Day

I went down to work in the green house this morning. I gathered all our plants and seeds we have been collecting to plant come Spring. I took the radio out of the barn and had it sitting on the "rain barrel" outside of the door of the green house. As I was busy planting my little seeds in the egg cartons that I had saved, I thought....how could it get any better than this? The radio was playing " Sweet Home Alabama" and the cows in the pasture were " mooing". It was 39 degrees outside, but almost 70 in the green house. About 25 feet away, was my big bed of daffodils, almost ready to bloom.
Yep, those are "brown stag horns" you see in the picture. They aren't totally dead though. They each have some green pups on them so I am sure with living in the warm green house until it's warm enough for them to be outside, they will start to come back. Even if Chuck had built the green house when we first got here, it wouldn't have done any good. We didn't have the power for the heater then. It broke my heart to see my plants all brown but I will have so many different plants up here to keep me happy and as I said, I think the stag horns will come back. Tomorrow, I plan on dragging the tiller down to the garden area and start tilling. It's going to take me awhile to get it done. We have LOTS of veggie seeds to plant and I'm going to plant a " cutting flower garden" also. I am hoping to get the help of Shell and Genavive with my planting, next month.

Funny for today

Today's " something different" happened to be a camel. Yep....driving down Hwy 24, there he was! Unless you look close and see his " hump" you would think he was just another horse in the field. I was wishing he would come closer to the fence so I could get a better picture of him but maybe next time.

Laundry Mat Characters

It's been around 40 years since we had to go to the laundry mat. Times haven't changed too much at one.....only the price of what it takes to wash...$1.75 a load and 25 cents for 6 mins for the dryer. When Chuck was in the Navy and we would go do laundry, most of the people you would come across was in the same boat as you.....in the Navy, so we actually made some friends that way. Well, I don't think I want to be "friends" with the laundry mat characters these days....lol. You never know what you are going to see or talk too. Last week, three teenagers came in with a ton of clothes. They didn't bring their dog and it's food ....they brought their dirty clothes in that BIG dog food bag. When they put the first load in the washer, they all stood around it and watched it for about 15 mins. You would think they never saw a washing machine work before...ha. Then, there was this old lady with her grown son, doing their laundry. When it came time to put the soap in the washer....the old lady used dish washing soap!!! I always bring a book to read while we wait but most of the time, I get entertained by the characters of the laundry mat.

Lunch with Uncle Sam

Last week, we went to Huntsville to run some errands and when it came lunch time, we decided to go to Barnhills Buffet. There used to be one in Decatur but it closed for some reason but we knew it would be a good choice for lunch. As we were sitting there eating, in walked Uncle Sam....lol. This old man had a real beard and long hair ( Chuck's is going to look like Uncle Sam's if he doesn't get a hair cut soon) and he had on a July 4th hat. I had to really try hard not to laugh, as he walked by. lol. You just never know what you are going to see up here. Alabama has to be one of the most entertaining States.

A Taste of Spring

A couple of weeks ago, I went over to the BNOE yard and cut some branches from their forsythia so I could force them to bloom. It only took less than two weeks to bring Spring into the TT. Yesterday, my first crocus bloomed in the front flower bed to the TT. The last two days we have had a taste of Spring, weather wise. It's been in the 60's during the day. I opened the windows in the TT and we had lunch on the porch, today. The rest of the afternoon, I worked in the flowerbeds while Chuck worked on the water pipes. We did go down to the garden and planted a big rose bush that the BNOE gave us. While we were down there, we turned the compost pile and put a layer of pine needles and oak leaves in it. Our Spring weather is just a taste because it's suppose to rain tonight and tomorrow. Then it's going to turn cold again. I mean COLD! Our high is only going to be in the 30s for the rest of the week. We might even get more snow. That is OK though because its on the downhill side of winter and I will have to wait a whole year to see the pretty snow again.

Trenching

We were finally able to rent the trencher so Chuck could finish trenching for the water pipes. It's all done, from the mailbox, to in front of the barn and on up to the TT. The only place Chuck wasn't able to trench was right up to the barn. It's too wet and the trencher kept getting stuck. He would try and pull it out of the mud with the tractor but the tractor would get stuck also. He's going to have to trench to the barn, by hand. We just might have running water to the TT in the next two weeks. We won't know how to act when we turn the faucets on and water actually comes out. Plus, we won't have to pack up and walk to the BNOE to take showers. I'm sure they will be as happy as us.

Waterfall revisited

We decided we would go check out the forest in the snow. Since the forest is south of us, it didn't get as much snow as we did, but it was still pretty. Since we are going to have company next month and want them to love the forest as much as we do, we decided to visit the first waterfall we ever found. It's one of our favorites and want to share it. We ended up hiking around 7 miles before the day was over and it sure felt good to get back to the warm TT and put our feet up.

Another beautiful snow day

Feb 15.....we woke up to another winter wonderland. I LOVE WINTER! I have been told that my favorite season is going to be what ever season we are in, up here. Spring will be here before we know it....with all of it's pretty flowers and glory.

The Green House

We knew we were going to need a green house up here but we should have made it one of the first things we did. Thinking that the stag horns and the other plants that we brought up here were safe in the barn.....we found out we were wrong. When it got " really cold" outside, it got below freezing in the barn. Needless to say, the stag horns are all " brown". I don't think they are dead but it will take years and years for them to ever be green and as big as they were. Chuck made a tent out of plastic, inside the barn with using the stack of boxes as the sides. He put two lamps with 75 watts light bulbs under the tent. It has kept the temperature warmer than was it is in the barn. It's just a little late, for keeping the plants pretty and green though. Next month will be time to start our garden plants and now I will have the green house to use. We have a little heater to put inside to keep the temps from being below freezing. One more project that is almost done.

Quilt Guild

Not knowing too many people up here, I decided to join a book club at the library. Little did I know that I would meet someone from St. Petersburg. The book club is a " stitching book club". You are suppose to bring your needlework to work on while we talk about the books. The lady who sat across from me the first night was working on a beautiful quilt square. When I told her that I quilted, she invited me to her "quilt guild" meeting the second Tues of the month. I was excited to go. Chuck dropped me off in town at the meeting and I walked into the sweetest, funniest group of women who all had the same interest as I have. Betty, who is in my book club, told me to call Chuck and tell him that she would bring me home. She only lives a few miles down our road. The more we talked, the more we found out the funniest thing. She lived in St. Pete for over 20 years. Her ex-husband was from there and he went to Dixie. Come to find out, he was in Elaine's graduating class and his brother went to JC with Chuck. Her daughter was born at Bayfront and went to Dixie. She now lives over by Bonnie Bay and her daughter's best friend lives on Dover Court, ( the street behind our house in the old neighborhood ) Sure is a small, small world up here. Betty invited me to come " spend the day" last Friday and she taught me a new quilt technique. I think I have found a really good friend that has a lot in common with me. I think there just might be some road trips shared, down to St. Pete in our future.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day was like having Christmas all over again. A couple days before, I went to the barn and dug out my big heart cookie cutter and the rolling pin. I cleared the counters in the kitchen ( it sure isn't like baking cookies in the house) and set out to make my Valentine cookies. Next, I spent time in the tiny studio and made the bag tops. That was fun. I have missed my cropping activities. The next day, Chuck and I set out and delivered my cookies to our friends. Chuck surprised me Valentine morning with a set of " Frogtoggs". It's a waterproof hooded jacket and a set of matching pants that we can wear when we go kayaking. We had to take my set back and get a bigger size to go over my clothes and while we were there, we got Chuck a set too. Now we are ready to hit the rivers in our kayaks. The day before Valentine's day, we got two packages in the mail. One from the Blomberg's......with a heart shape chicken print pillow that Christina made, one of Marina's black horses that we played with when we were kids.... ( I miss you girl!) a pretty pair of Valentine underwear (for me) a package of heart shaped gingerbread cookies and it all came in a pretty decorated with chickens, box. What a fun surprise! Then, we also got a package from Shell with our favorite candies.....heart shaped Reece's Cups and Valentine Peeps for me. I think it was the best Valentine's Day we have ever had. ....plus it was our first one in Alabama.

Buying the Box for the Tractor

We finally found a "used box" for the tractor. It will come in handy for leveling the drive way, clearing and it has teeth on the one side of it for plowing. We have had good luck with finding what we need from " the tractor guy" that lives a few miles down the road. We bought our John Deere from him a couple of years ago. The good thing about it is....he delivers for free.

More fun in the forest

I think sock monkey's favorite part of the forest was " lunch"....lol. It usually is mine too because it is spent at one of the waterfalls or a beautiful canyon site. By the end of the day.....he had hiked over 7 miles. Not bad for his first hike. You just never know where Sock Monkey is going to show up in Alabama. ...until next time.

Sock Monkey goes to the forest

Sock Monkey went to explore the forest. After hiking ( riding in the back pack) 1 1/2 miles....he saw his first waterfall. While trying to stay on a huge rock in the middle of the creek, he fell in and got his head soaked...lol. He experienced many spots of the forest before heading back to hang in the TT. More pictures following.......