First Company

We were so excited to get our "first company" on the land. Fred and Elaine ( Chuck's sister) came for a very short two day visit. The first day we showed them around the land and our little town. Then, we ventured into Decatur where Elaine and Fred stayed for the night. We took them to our favorite "BBQ joint" and we were treated by Fred paying for our dinners. Thank's Uncle Fred! The next day, they came out to Brambly Pines early for breakfast and then we headed for the day in the forest. We hiked to my favorite waterfall. There is where we had our picnic lunch that I had packed. After finding our way up the stream and along the canyons for a little bit, we headed back to the explorer. Chuck happened to take the wrong turn when the road came to a fork and we spend awhile trying to find our way through the valley and back into the forest. Fred did a good job of reading the map from the back seat. I am never a help with map reading since I get car sick if I don't look out the front window. We found our way home just in time to head to our home town auction. You can buy really good BBQ for dinner there (which we thank Uncle Fred for paying for again) just before the auction begins. It's a really fun night because you just never know what they will be selling. This time we ended up biding for a scale and a veggie roaster for the grill and got them both. Oh yeah, we also bought a washer and dryer but didn't have to bid on it. One of the Shelton boys, knew we were looking to buy a set and he took us in the back and asked if we wanted it and if we did, they wouldn't put it up for bid. Of course we jumped at the chance since we would have paid the same amount for just the washer....so it was like getting the dryer for free. They are even going to store it for us until we can get the gravel down the drive ways and can get to the barn. Keep your fingers crossed that the rain stops soon because Chuck has the drive ways all ready for the gravel. My days at the laundry mat are numbered.....yippeeee!!!!!!

RED

We left Chuck's truck in Florida and had planned on him going back to get it when it was time to pull the camaro to Alabama. Wellllllllll....since we have been living in the " mud" for the past five months, we decided we really need a 4 x 4 truck. Ryan is going to try and sell the truck in Florida and we have been looking for another one up here. Last week, Chuck saw an ad in the small home town paper for a 1998 pick up. We called the guy and went out the next day to see it. Come to find out, the four wheel drive gear was broken on it and that was the purpose of us buying another truck. On St. Patrick's day, we headed to town to run some errands, like to the post office and the library. Well, the post office is next to the local Ford Dealer and we pulled into their "used car lot" and there was " RED". A pretty, 4 x 4 pick up truck and even newer than the explorer. ( 2004) Of course the " used salesman" came a running! lol. We drove it around a couple of the streets in town and fell in love with it. Got a price on it, which was waaaaaay over what we had planned on paying for a truck. We told the guy we would " think " about it and get back with him. It only took a trip to Walmart for some shopping and some talking about it and we decided we would buy it. We really need another dependable vehicle and this would probably be the last truck we would have to ever buy. Right from Walmart....we went back and bought the truck. It was a scary thing to do but we both feel we did the right thing. Sure hope the "stock market" does well in the next couple of months...LOL. Any ways......his name was going to be " Big Red" but that is the name of Mac's big red truck in Cecil and our truck isn't near as big as his...so Chuck says his name has to be just " RED".

quilting retreat

My quilt guild goes to a three day quilting retreat, twice a year. I was invited to go for one of the days with my new friend Betty. OMG! It was wonderful! It was about an hour from home, on the side of a cliff, over looking "Smith Lake". It was a beautiful B&B called " The Red Rooster Inn",with huge rooms used for sewing, scrap booking and family reunions. There were two dining rooms and lots of bedrooms/baths. The food was wonderful! ...as we just had lunch there but snacks were provided also. What a fun day I had with all my new friends and getting to go to some place new. I certainly want to go back!

Four hours later....

The other day, after lunch we decided to walk down to the mail box to check on the mail. We kinda got side tracked. It's easy to do on 22 acres of land. We walked through the garden and then on the way back, we went off the trail and ended up over in the BNOE woods. Then, we decided to walk down to the back fence line in the back five acres. I hadn't been back there since we moved here. We saw our neighbor's ( librarian/neighbor/friend) house and even saw her horse that we didn't even know she had until about a month ago. On the way back to the barn, we found this rusted enamel pan that must have been in the woods for about 100 years.! Notice how " blue the sky" is in the pictures. The song is right!....."Alabama where skys are so blue!" Once we got to the barn, we both got involved in some projects. Chuck made us a boot rack for the porch and I played in my "sewing corner". Four hours later from " just going to the mail box" we were back at the TT. That is how our days go up here most of the time. Time flies!

It's SPRING!

It's official! It's SPRING! even if it's not on the calendar just yet. (March 20) The daffodils are blooming and I have them in the TT and in the bud vase in the explorer. My Iris and Crocus are all blooming also. I planted some tulips about a week ago and the guy who sold them to me said they should be blooming by Easter....which is when Shell and Genavive are here. I planted some 'Primroses" in the window boxes on the porch, yesterday. I haven't seen primroses since I was in Ireland. They are so pretty. I'm so happy that everything is going to be blooming when Fred and Elaine come up to see us this week. It's not even suppose to rain until they leave too....yeah!!!

Starting the Garden

Before the last round of rain, we started planting the garden with some of the cooler weather plants. Chuck went over the area with the tiller again and I started raking. It's hard to rake the grass and weeds out of red clay. As fast as I could rake, the robins were behind me eating bugs and worms from the fresh tilled dirt/clay. I got a kick out of them and started singing .. " when the red, red robin comes bop,bop, bopping along"....lol. Just as I finished planting my onion sets and my garlic, Charlotte and the boys came through the woods to the garden with a big bucket of " giant garlic bulbs" that she had pulled up from her garden, for me to plant in mine. She says they are big like onions and aren't as strong as garlic. They produce a big bloom in the summer, that you can pick and dry for arrangements. I also planted some cabbage seeds.....sure hope they come up. When, I was done, for the day, I put my " get growing sign" in the end of the garden. As Marina used to say....... " grow, damn it"! Oh! yeah! Chuck planted our big blueberry plant that day also. We have two smaller ones in the green house but will wait until it's a lot warmer to plant those.

snow pics

Everything is so pretty but our explorer..lol

more snow pictures....

playing in the snow

Pictures of our Forest snow day

Our funny little snow man!

Our March snow

We were suppose to get a " dusting" of snow today. HA! I don't think the weathermen can tell anything about " snow" up here. We woke up at 6:00 and it was coming down like crazy! Of course, when it snows, the first thing Chuck and I do is walk around the land and take pictures. We came back to the TT and were having our coffee, when Chuck says" we should go to the forest to see what it looks like". Sooooo, I gulp my coffee down and get busy making some sandwiches for lunch and then I go and put on layers and layers of clothes. Off we go! I made Chuck swear he would drive slow and not " gaulk" out the side windows ( he does that all the time and runs us off the road) or he had to let me drive. He promised. It's scary driving through the main road in the forest because that is the road that all the loggers use with their big trucks and they go like a bat out of hell. As we were driving on the main road, an SUV was laying on it's side in a ditch. Guess he took one of the many curves too fast. Any ways.....when we turned off the main road, the scene just got prettier and prettier. I don't think I have ever been in a more beautiful place ( other than Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland) in my whole life. The tree branches were hanging so far down from the weight of the snow. One of our favorite places in the forest is a lookout, where you can see the whole area of Moulton. It must have gotten the most snow. We played in about four inches. After driving down the road for awhile, we went back to the lookout to have our lunch. Meantime, it must be every one's favorite place because several trucks and cars had been there. While we were there for the second time, two other couples stopped and talked to us. They introduced themselves to us and told us where they live....lol. That is what everyone does up here. Chuck and I made a funny little snowman and everyone enjoyed him. One couple even had me take their picture by him. It sure was a very different day than what we would have had if we was still living in Florida. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Tilling

It's time to "till" up here. Everyone is getting ready to set out their gardens. We plan on having one large veggie garden, a pumpkin patch, a watermelon patch, a rose garden and a cut flower garden. I have a LOT of tilling to do. I got most of it done, yesterday. First, Chuck went over the areas with the tractor with the box teeth,to mark where I should till. Then, I got tilling! It's not an easy job but it was a bit easier since the clay had been wet from all of the rain. Actually, I had to wait until it dried out for almost a week. I knew I only had yesterday to get most of it done, because the forecast was " a dusting of snow" and then rain, starting at midnight last night. Tilling is rough on your arms and if you happen to hit a root from a tree....man!...the tiller feels like it's gonna jerk your arms off. As soon as I finished tilling, at least 20 robins were in the areas, eating something. I don't think it was worms....I think it was bugs. Good! I hope they eat as many as they can before we plant the garden. When I was done tilling, I walked down to the barn and found a trellis that I had bought years ago and had put it away for when we moved up here. I brought it back down to the garden area and started putting it together. I finished just before dark. Now, my rose garden is ready to be planted. I have two climbing roses and six regular rose bushes, in the green house, just waiting to be planted, once " Spring" comes. I've also started several seeds in hoping we will have little plants soon, for a head start on our garden. Another three weeks or so and everyone will be busy planting away, up here. What a fun summer we are going to have.

Running water!!!!

Mark this date on your calendar! March 1, 2010....we have running water....kinda. Chuck had gone out to check the water meter by the mail box, yesterday morning. He had called the water dept the day before, asking them to come turn the water on. I was cleaning up the TT and went outside to throw some dead flowers away and as I walk to the " throw away pile"....there was a hose and running water was coming out of it. I got my phone and called Chuck's to tell him that there was something funny, that looked like real water coming out of the hose. He just laughed and said he knew and for me to let it run for a little while. He was washing out the pipes. Soooooo, we now have running water outside but not inside the TT just yet. Chuck still has to get the right pipes for the "hot water" and then run them all under the TT. Maybe in another week or so, we won't have to go to the BNOE for showers and to get "cooking water". At least now, I have all the " dish washing" water I want.....yippee!!! I can do the dishes three times a day.