A Fun Tour



Welcome to Jack Daniels!



Genavive, Jack and Michelle





Wood they make the charcoal out of



charcoal that the whiskey drips through in the tanks



After picking Shell and Genavive up at the airport, we met Kerri and Adam (remember Shell and I going to their wedding in Franklin, Tn. the first of October last year?)  and had lunch at the same restaurant where they had their wedding reception, in Franklin.  We wanted to walk around town and see all the cute shops but it started raining.  After our "good byes" we headed south to the "Jack Daniel's Distillary", in Lynchburg.  What a beautiful place with hills and pretty flowers and trees.  We had a really funny tour guide that kept us laughing the whole time.  No, we didn't get any samples but the guide did lift the lids on the vats and had us smell the fumes and I think you could get drunk by just doing that if you did it enough times.  It was really neat seeing all the steps it takes to make whiskey.  The last step...waiting six years!

Spring Break starts...

It's Spring Break again!!!  That means Shell and Genavive come for the week.  They flew into Nashville again this time because there were no direct flights into Birmingham on the day they were coming. We left the house at 8:00am to be there by 10:30.  Their flight was on time, so it didn't take long for us to begin our fun for the week.   

Mama again.

As Chuck and I were walking back from the neighbors of our neighbors, on Sunday, Chuck looked down and saw this baby squirrel under one of their huge oak trees.   I picked it up from keeping their dog, who was sitting about 50 feet from it, getting it.   We looked and looked up in the tree to see if we could see the nest where it had fallen from.  We couldn't see a nest at all.  Soooooo, I brought it home with us.  I know!  Do I know how to take care of a baby squirrel? Nope!  Chuck got on line and read all about it.  He made a plastic box with a lid, where he cut a hole and taped screen over the hole, for him to live in.  That way the cats can't get to him.   I found a piece of fleece for his blanket and put a hand warmer under a couple of the layers, to keep him warm.  We read what we should feed him and how often.  What in the heck, did we ever do without the Internet?   So now, I'm being a squirrel mama.  I know if he makes it to adult hood, he will be friendly to us and it will take a long time to get him to live in the wild on his own.  We will release him down by the barn to keep George kitty away from him.  We're suppose to build him a box and hang it on a tree for him to live in until he decides that he's a squirrel and can make his own home.  I have a feeling he will come inside to barn to visit Chuck when he's down there.  Let's hope I can get him to this stage in his life. 

Quilt Retreat



The front of the house



The back of the house that looks over the lake



The red bud trees are blooming everywhere



I had this area to myself. 



Smokey....wanting in

Last week I went to the Quilt Retreat that my Quilt Guild group goes to, twice a year. Once in the Spring and then again in the Fall.   It was at the Red Rooster Inn on beautiful Smith Lake about an hour from home.  I had been there a couple of times before, but it was just for a " spend the day".  This time I got to stay for three days and two nights.  It was so much fun!  The food was wonderful!!! and the best part was, I didn't have to cook it and when I was done eating, I just got up from the table and walked back to my sewing.  The dining room is three walls of glass windows where you look out over the lake.  We sewed from morning until night.  I did stop to take a few walks outside.  They had a very friendly smokey cat that wanted inside reallllllly bad.  He was so cute.  He got plenty of attention from all of us.  It's amazing on how much sewing you can do in three days of non stop.  On top of all the sewing, there were lots of talking and laughter with the sweetest ladies I know.  I sure hope I get to go again. 

Shade for the Deck.

Before......

Taking it all a part.



Ta da!



After....



I loved the deck off of the sun room but in the summer it was just too hot to sit out there or even grow any plants.  It was in the full sun all day long. I came up with the idea to put a pagoda over half of it and grow wisteria on it.  That would give us the shade we needed along with the umbrella over the table and chairs.  The problem was coming up with an idea on how to do it since all the posts were already short and how to make it go over the bedroom window.  After  Chuck, Troy and I, brain stormed, we figured out how it could be done.  First, Chuck and Troy had to take the railings off the deck and then take two of the short posts out so they could replace them with tall ones.  In two days, it was done!  With Troy's decorative touches on the wood, it turned out wonderful!  Now, to just plant the wisteria so it can get growing and give us the shade, along with the beautiful flowers that it will provide every Spring.   

Rooms in the Barn

Troy starting it all.



The bathroom, Chuck's office and loft



The Loft play room



All that " stuff" will be gone one day!

For four years now, Chuck had an idea in his head on how he wanted rooms in the barn.  We had it plumbed for a bathroom when they poured the floor.  After trying to clean out all the " stuff" we finally gave up because we needed a place to put it all.  Not just sitting it in the middle of the barn.  So, Chuck called Troy to have him come out and frame in the bathroom, an office and a loft, over it all.  Chuck is going to do the railing on the loft and the dry wall on the inside of the rooms.  He's going to put rough cut wood on the outside walls.  It only took Troy a couple of days to get it all done.  As soon as he had the steps going up to the loft, Chuck and I started going through " stuff" and putting it in the loft.  Of course there are still things that we are getting rid of.  It's amazing how you can live without things that you just thought you had to have one time in your life.  Chuck laughed at me when he put the toys from Shell and Genavive's childhood in the loft, because I arranged it like a little room.  I even have a doll and monkey that was mine when I was little, up there. Once the rooms are done, we can finish going through all the "stuff" and the barn will be cleared.  I'm hoping to have my skating rink back....of course I'll have to skate around the 1970 Camaro and a couple of work benches but won't it be nice to be able to work in the barn and not have boxes, boxes and more boxes every where!

Bradford Pear Trees

A friend of mine, in Florida saw the picture of the flowers on our Bradford Pear tree on the blog and wanted to know what a full size tree looked like.  All I had to do was walk over to our neighbor's Billy and Linda Whites to take pictures of their beautiful trees.  I can't wait until our four are this big.  They are ornamental only and don't bare fruit.  We do have two pear fruit trees down at the garden.  We're hoping to have lots of pears on them this summer.  If not, we can always go to our friends Jack and Gail's and get all the pears we want.  Notice how blue, blue the sky was today.  It was a pretty Spring day. 

A Touch of Spring

Forsythia



First tulips

 

Bradford Pear tree

 

My favorite...the daffodils

 

Hyacinths



Snow Drops





Helleborus



I walk around the yard almost every day and enjoy the signs of Spring.  It's been a crazy winter this year with warmer weather than the last two winters.  Spring tried to come early.  The tulips didn't get enough cold weather to be pretty as they were last Spring but they are trying to entertain me.  At least Winter went by fast and now we are into another wonderful season.  One of my favorites, up here....until the next one comes along.