Catching up.....again

Once again I have been gently reminded from the other side of the world that I'm behind on my posting.  :-)  Indeed I am.  So here goes.....

The weather has been both very rainy and very delightful.  Just not at the same time.  :-)

The UPS truck always gets a thorough barking at.

More t-shirts have been prepped and quilts finished.

Mom and Dad and I went to Meymandi to see Itzhak Perlman and the North Carolina Symphony.  We had great seats in the choir loft over the orchestra.

ED and LZF have found out that Grand #6 is a boy!  *happy dance*

I have no clue if the gosling is a boy or girl but it sure is growing fast.  It's neck is getting long and it's feet are huge!

The fence has been installed.

Of course all the North Carolina clay and the recent heavy rains mean we've fenced in a somewhat slimy mud pit.  Sigh.

The black wire disappears into the landscape as we had hoped.  Well at least some of it.  The mud pit still needs to be turned into something resembling a landscape.  :-)

The dog pen has been taken down (yay!) and listed on Craigslist.

Maisy had no qualms about investigating the new territory.  I think she tried to sniff every molecule in the yard.  Ngaire was a little less sure, and Ivy flatly refused to come out of the porch!  I am happy to report they are all at home with it now and running happily all over the mud pit yard.

The Tramp bought a "new" grill on Craigslist.  I think the feature that pleases him the most is the cup holders!  LOL  He never goes anywhere without a cup of coffee in his hand.

We finally installed a new light in the dining room and made sure it has daylight bulbs.  Finally my walls look the pretty blue they are instead of a weird greeny color.  It's a pleasure to eat in there now.  Before the color kind of made me sick.

Ivy was taken to the vet for another ear infection.  See that "can we go home now?" look on her face?

Oh look!  How cute.  (Not!)  They're digging to China.

What I didn't realize until I called them in was how dirty they were getting.  OMG!  That is one filthy dog!   Ivy has a white chest and white feet......usually.  And they smelled!  Putrid!  So she and Maisy had to stay on the porch until The Tramp got home.

Oh yuck.  No wonder.  The hole was full of water!  Sigh.  The joys of clay soil.

Good thing we had just bought a new hose for the back yard.  :-)  Now everything is sweet smelling again.

Friday I went to a workshop taught by Lyric Kinard called Apli-Punto to Go.  We had a great time and I really like the technique.
 

Kathie put a mermaid on the back of a denim jacket.

I decided to make a cushion cover for the living room.  I'm looking forward to finishing it.

Afternoon nap.  :-)

Yes I see you Ivy.  You are patience itself.  ;-)

Monday

So what do you do on a dark dull rainy Monday?  First of all, you find yourself amazed that the fence company called (!) at 7:30 am (!) and asked if they could come and install the fence posts. Well duh.  Yes!  We thought it wouldn't be for another week.  We were also amazed they were coming in the rain....but what do we know.  We were further amazed at the skill of the man backing the truck and trailer from the one lane curved road up our narrow steep driveway!  The Tramp says backing a trailer is a dark art and I'm inclined to agree with him.

The trailer was on the flat of the drive but the truck was kind of hanging there over the pond.  It rolled forward several times (scary!) until the brakes held.  One of the men found some rocks in our backyard to chock the wheels with.  Whew!

They cut down a few saplings that were in the way, waded through the muck and wet underbrush (it rained for hours last night!), dug holes for 32 posts, poured concrete in the rain and seemed to be cheerful through it all.  We chose black wire fencing so it will disappear into the landscape.    The pictures aren't great because I took them through the screens but you can barely see the posts leaning drunkenly there in their holes.

The line marching along the back.

That will be the 4ft gate.  The 8ft gate will be on the other side of the house.

Saturday morning we moved that whole pallet of wood fence pickets out of the fence line.  Thank goodness we did!  I would have hated doing it in the rain early this morning!  :-)

By the time they packed up to leave it was pouring and thundering.

I'm thinking it was easier to drive out of the driveway.  :-)  They should be back on Wednesday to install the rest.  Mind you it's supposed to continue raining through then.  It's pouring again right now. Yeesh.

So what else do you do on a rainy Monday?  You give your deserving sewing machine a really good cleaning.  From underneath.....

And everywhere else.

I also cleaned out my walking foot and it seemed to be full of black grease.  Yuck!

Then you get on with your sewing while admiring your almost fenced in mud pit.  Sigh.  :-)

Hello again. Twice in one day!

Does the banner at the top of the blog look different?  No?  Look closer.  No trash and recycling cans along the road anymore!  My friend Beth, up in New Jersey, took a few minutes and photoshopped them out and surprised me with the new version.  Thanks Beth!  :-D

Once I finished cutting all 32 shirts and stabilizing them, I puttered around the house and then wandered outside for a look at the pond.

The water is quite brown after the recent storm but the wildlife just takes it in stride.  Today I was attracted by the loud splashing and carrying on in the vicinity of the geese.  Well my goodness!  They were diving!  I've never seen that before.  It seems to be rather rare from what I can find out in a quick Google search.

Mom and Dad, as well as gosling all kept disappearing and popping up several feet away with much splashing and ruffling of feathers.  Now I wish I had taken a video.

The turtles gathered to stare at me.

Now the pond is well stocked the Heron has a local sushi bar.

Yes turtle, I see you!

Actually, the snapping turtles will snatch goslings and ducks from underwater so our neighbors are attempting to capture them with baited lines attached to flagged branches stuck in the ground.  I'm guessing we'd rather they don't eat all those expensive fish either!

Normally the heron is easily spooked and flies across the pond to avoid cars and people.  Not today though!  I'm guessing the pickings are too good.

This is Ivy in her Look At Me I'm Sitting And Excited About What May Be Happening Next pose.  Sorry Ivy.  The most exciting thing happening now is that we're going to bed.  I did 50 laps this evening and I'm tired.  Good night.  :-)

Catching up.....again :-)

Today is a gorgeous day.  Cool and sunny.  I've been cutting t-shirts and decided to take a break and see what was on my camera.  Ah!  These weren't on the camera, these came from Poyla.  Our sweet Stardust has celebrated her first birthday!  And she's going to be walking at any moment!

I finished these three quilt tops last week.

These two hockey jersey tops are for twins.  :-)

Well....some of us work in The Sandbox.

The five bluebird chicks have fledged and gone.  I cleaned out the bird house and have seen the parents hanging around.  Maybe we'll have a second set!  The geese have managed to hatch one gosling out of their five eggs.  The rest of the eggs appear to have been abandoned.

Our big excitement was the Friday before when the tree people came.  Lots of noise and equipment.  But we have a bit of open space now.

The Bobcat driver zoomed up and down beside the house dragging long tree trunks and carrying big loads of branches.  We were amazed at how expert he was and never touched the house.

The new view across the back yard from the right side.

The new view looking up.

The old view of the front of the house.  (click to see better)

The new view of the front with the persimmon trees gone (yay!) and fewer huge pine trees behind.  And a few branches were trimmed so the dogwood tree in the center of the front yard could have some air and light.

This Friday Carolina Fish Hatchery came to stock the pond.  About 1200 fish in all.  I am told we now have bluegill, shellcracker, channel catfish, koi, minnows, largemouth bass and grass carp.  I think some others were added at the last minute.

Lots of pollywogs mixed in.

Having the kids listen to the catfish "talk".

Amazingly, despite their excitement, none of the kids fell in.   :-)

Everyone "helped".

Each type of fish was shown off.

We had a good time chatting with the experts.  :-)

It looks awfully calm considering what's going on under the surface!  :-)

Saturday, before the deluging (record) rainfall came, we enjoyed the neighborhood pig pickin'.  Once we figured out the sauce was gluten-free The Tramp stuffed himself with pork while I stuffed myself with salads and desserts (groan).  I made a batch of Anzac biscuits to share.  It was fun seeing the blank looks when I was asked what kind of cookies I had brought and we had fun explaining to the locals what ANZAC day is all about.

On Sunday The Tramp built me a new desk.  :-)  Love that man!