LAST DAY OF JUNE A BUSY ONE

Early morning excitement as daughter came in just before d-in-love brought g-son. Daughter brought Tipper, her dog to spend the week with us since she is driving to Crofton, Maryland to visit her college roommate and best friend who moved there a couple years ago.
She is hitching a ride with d-in-love to the car rental place as she goes to work.
When she got there they had a very small Fiat car for her so she had to upgrade to a hyunda accent to have more room.  She is driving to Greensboro where she is meeting her friend and her soon to be husband and her 6 month old baby boy so she can travel with them back to Maryland.
When they stopped for lunch she sent me this picture, where of where they ate.

I hope the food was good !!    They arrived in Crofton about 5:45 this evening safely, thanks to God for traveling mercies.
This is Megan's baby boy, he sure is cute and looks just like her with those dark eyes.

G-son spent the morning playing with a new linking bug set daughter bought him at a yard sale last Friday.

He kept calling me to come guess what each creation was. I could usually tell what they were but one I couldn't and I had to laugh when he said he didn't know what it was either.
I did laundry today and then worked on cleaning up downstairs.  I went through my canning shelf and threw out all the old stuff.  I have been putting this off for over a year and now it is done.I got the back two rooms cleaned out, now I only like the main big room out front, maybe tomorrow !!
The sun struggled to make an appearance today and finally we got 3/10ths inch of rain late this afternoon.
Thankfully the rain stopped before 6 so it didn't interfere with Aaron and Rebekah's appointment with the vet to have their cows pregnancy checked.
All but one is pregnant but not near as far as we thought. The vet didn't come out herself, but sent an assistant so I'm wondering if her measurements might be off  by a month or so because we have not seen any of the cows back in heat since last February. It is hard for me to believe the cows all lost calves, recovered and got bred back so that they are about 1 1/2 to 2 months behind what we thought.
Rebekah is really having a bad sickness day today, bless her heart.  I kept Evy and fed her supper while they went down with the cattle.  Happy Birthday to Aaron as he gets a year older today !!
I sent him supper and 1/2 of a caramel cake for his birthday supper since Rebekah didn't feel like cooking.
When #1 son came after g-son he said he had spent the day cleaning up last evening's storm damage all around the county.
Guess we were once again one of the lucky areas.
Bernie is thankfully getting back to normal.
As this month ends I look back at all the blessings this month held and feel humbled.
G-son finished his first grade year of school and daughter wrapped up her first year of teaching at the local high school.  Daughter and #1 son went on the youth trip to Myrtle beach,SC and g-son got to tag along. He made many new friends on this trip. He also went to his first cub scout camp and learned many new things.
Daughter was in one of her friends Kindra's wedding and we made the cakes for her reception. With the first Saturday being our spring Ole Timey Day at market, Kindra's wedding, Father's Day celebrations and the opening of the summer camps and return of the "snowbirds"  my market business has picked up significantly.
The first of the month was pretty dry but we have had rain when we needed it so the garden is doing great.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this past month and looking forward to what He has in store for my family in the coming month.
Good Night and God Bless.

STORMY AFTERNOON

Up earlier than usual on a Sunday morning to give medicine to Bernie before he gets his ration of special food. He takes his medicine without to much of a fuss, but he  is still a little weak.
After chores and breakfast I got ready for church. I am a greeter again this morning so I left earlier.
Church was good today. I was kind of surprised we didn't do our July 4th appreciation of all our servicemen but the preacher said we were going to do that next week, although it will be after the 4th it will be closer.
After church we had a smaller than usual lunch bunch as tomorrow is Aaron's birthday so his dad took them all out to lunch to celebrate and #2 son is golfing as usual.
We had roast beef, smashed baked potatoes, green beans and corn with sweet tea to drink,yum.
Everyone scattered after lunch in different directions, g-son stayed with me while his mom went shopping and his dad went fishing. He acts tired from last weeks activities at camp.
Just after he was picked up the weather turned bad for our area. This patch of dark orange sat over us for about 20 minutes and dropped almost 2 inches of rain.

This is the first downpour we have had since the new bridge and road construction began and there are major problems with water drainage down there.

This is a picture d-in-love sent me of #1 son trying to clear the stopped up culvert that runs under our driveways. If you enlarge  the pic you can see him among the orange and white barrels in the right side of the pic.

Hopefully they will get in here and get this finished so they can redirect the water.
Hubbie and I had our own drainage problems as our gutters couldn't carry all the water and sent us out in the downpour to divert some of the water away from the foundation of our house.
At least it was over quickly !
After chores hubbie and I went to Walmart for some groceries for the week and then relaxed for the evening.
It's hard for me to believe that tomorrow is the last day of June and that 2014 is now officially 1/2 over !!  This month has been so busy it has really zoomed by.
Grateful for no damage during today's storm and thankful for the blessings of a wonderful Sunday.
Good Night and God Bless.

ROADSIDE BEAUTY

Up early and off to market on a cloudy, drizzly morning.
The vet's office called while I was driving to market and said Bernie was ready to go home. Hubbie was following me to market as usual to help me get set up so I told them he would be there shortly.
Daughter came in with her baked goods and then went with hubbie to pick Bernie up. 
I was swamped with customers after they left ,hopefully everyone got what they wanted and felt like they got good service as I struggled to get money and bag cakes for several folks at the same time.
Daughter got back just in time to help with the next frenzy of customers. We had a very good sales day.
Hubbie said Bernie was still weak but was very happy to be home. He has a couple different medicines and is on a very strict diet for the next week.
After market I stopped at Aldi to pick up baking supplies for next week and then came home.
On the drive through the country to my farm I noticed how pretty the roadsides are this time of year when these orange lilies and other wild flowers are in bloom. I was the only car on the road all the way home so I snapped these pics as I slowed to enjoy the beauty.

It has rained off and on all day today and the temperature hasn't gotten out of the upper 70's for a brief reprieve from the mid to upper 80's of lately.
Aaron and Rebekah had a wedding to attend this evening so this little sweetie pie spent the evening with us.  She is getting so big and she is so smart.

AH HA I found what I was looking for she seems to be saying.

Her favorite linking sections and nose hangers , it was fun to watch her try to put one on her own nose.

We had a great evening and she went to bed and went to sleep without crying which was a first.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

BERNIE GOES TO HOSPITAL

Mama said there'd be days like this !!!
This old saying definitely rings home to me this morning.  Awakened at 5 am by a very sick dog, Bernie this time. He was profusely vomiting blood and when he would try to have a bowel movement only drops of a bloody gel would come out.  Luckily we got him outside for most of this mess.
We noticed last night he threw up a glob of green grass but didn't thing much about it because that is how dogs cure their upset tummies, they eat grass.
Thankfully he stopped vomiting and drank water, an entire bowl full.
G-son arrived and I took him to meet his ride for his last day at Cub Scout camp.
Back home as soon as the vet's office opened I called and they said bring Bernie in ASAP.
I hadn't eaten any breakfast so hubbie ,who thankfully is off today, took him on to the vet.
He hasn't thrown up anymore blood ,just the water he drank and promptly drank another 1/2 bowl full but seemed to be keeping that down.
  I did chores and vacuumed and changed the furniture covers in the living room while waiting to hear from hubbie.
When the call came it wasn't from hubbie but the vet, Beverly who is a friend of mine. She said Bernie had gotten into some kind of poison and he was a really sick dog.  She wanted to hook fluids up and give him a series of shots to try to get the vomiting stopped.  Sooooo,  hubbie admitted him to the hospital and came home.
We racked our brains trying to think of something he could have gotten into.  While we were walking around outside my brother who now is also off on Friday's said he had just heard a car crash about our driveway.
We went down to check it out and found our mailboxes broken off the post.

No one was there but the track of the car was evident as it has gotten in this ditch and jumped across the drive into our mailboxes.

Hubbie fortunately could fix the boxes and he found another post so all we lost was several hours of his time fixing them back up.
Grrrrrrr ,   I hate when people know they damage your property and don't stop. One more week hopefully and this road will be closed and when they open it back up it will be changed forever and this curve will be gone.
Back at the house I had a quick lunch and tackled my cake baking for the day. I baked 12 caramel,4 chocolate, 1 coconut and 4 pound cakes.
By the time I finished all these the promised rain had started, just a nice slow rain without any thunder or lightening.
Hubbie came in from working in the garden and said he thought he knew what made Bernie sick.  He had sprayed the tomatoes with calcium/ chloride spray to stop the blossom end rot and he thought Bernie had eaten some of the grass under the plants where the spray had dripped.  He would have been attracted to the saltyness of the grass.  I called the vet's office to tell them this in case it might make a difference in his treatment.   A calcium imbalance could explain his excessive thirst and the irregular heart beat the vet heard.
D-in-love sent me this picture of g-son's closing ceremony at the scout camp. His "Wolf" age group received their patches for the completion of camp, he is the third from left.

I sat down to watch the rain and took a short nap before it was chore time .
We got 6/10ths inch of rain in the gauge from the afternoon rain.
After chores and supper I spent the evening icing cakes.
I have really missed Bernie today, I get aggravated at his barking at everything but a couple times today I was surprised by people walking into the house without any warning. Bernie's sense of hearing is so keen he will bark when a car just starts up our driveway.
I was going to call and check on him this evening but when I woke from my nap the office had already closed for the day.
Sleep good sweet Bernie and I pray that you are back to your old self in the morning and ready to come home.

Good Night and God Bless.

1994 BASEBALL MEMORIES

G-son was tired this morning with only a couple days of camp left I think he is pooped out already.
After meeting his ride to camp I came home to get ready for market. After my busy day yesterday I am feeling pretty pooped myself. Daughter came over this morning to help me get things to market then stayed and helped all day.  We had a good day for a change on Thursday. I told her she had to start coming if her presence was going to generate this much activity.
After market I ran the errands then met up with daughter again at Lowes and Aldi.
At Lowes I found some "clearanced" perennials that I had to have, have no idea where I will plant them !
I got home and unloaded the van and had a snack before hubbie came in at 4:15.
Alicia brought G-son by about 5:00 and we dug up some Lemon Balm and Oregano to get her a start in both these plants.
Daughter called and needed me to come out to the school and film her in her classroom for one of her on-line teaching classes.
I came home and had supper before I did chores.
Aaron, Rebekah and Evy came by after giving their cattle some shots and we had a nice visit while I got to play with sweet little Evy.  She is growing up so fast.
To finish out my decade pics for the month this is some pics from June 1994.
#2 son was selected for the little league all-star team and his team won the district championship that year.

My nephew was also an all star baseball player and was one of the area's best pitchers that year.

That's how our summers back then were spent.  We were somewhere on a baseball field for most of the summer watching games.
Grateful to a loving Lord for all the good memories of travel and fun with my kids.
Good Night and God Bless.

MIMOSA FRAGRANCE

After dropping g-son off with the lady he rides with to scout camp I headed to Walmart for the second morning in a row. I took several orders yesterday so I needed more eggs, milk and oil.
Back home I fed the hungry chickens and let all the dogs out for a run before having breakfast.
After I ate I took a walk in the fragrant morning air. The air around our house right now is filled with the sweet smell of these Mimosa Tree blossoms.

The fluffy pink blooms look like a huge pink cloud.

I went to work baking cakes this morning. I baked 24 caramel,4 chocolate, 3 pound and 2 blackberry wine cakes before stopping about mid afternoon.
No time for a break today as I need to get all these iced.  I ice 6 caramel cakes at a time and it takes me about 45 minutes to get the six done. My back can only take a couple icings at a time at this rate.
I iced 6 then took a break to wait for g-son to get here as Alicia is bring him here to the house today.
She is a very nice person, she teaches out at the local middle school.
He is having so much fun at Cub scout camp and learning some new things.
They are shooting BB guns, his targets look like he is a very good shot.

They also are learning to handle a bow and arrow.

There was a water slide today for some "cooling off" fun.

They also got a volleyball lesson from the local high school volleyball coach.

After a short visit she was on her way and g-son just barely had time to grab something to eat before his mom picked him up for church. #1 son is having to work overtime tonight to repair a hole that is in the middle of the interstate.
I did chores and then did the weekly paperwork and payed bills.
I spent the rest of the evening icing cakes. I finished just before midnight and literally fell into bed.
I fixed 21 cakes just to fill tomorrow's orders.
Tired but happy for the business.

Grateful to God for the precious blessings of this day.
Good night and God Bless.

OVERNIGHT RAIN MAKES BLOOMS POP

G-son was here early this morning to have breakfast and get ready for another day at Cub scout camp.
I met his troop leader at a store just out the road so he could hitch a ride across town with her and her son.
After she picked him up I stopped by Walmart on the way home.
I did the chores and had breakfast then took a walk in the muggy,cloudy morning.  An overnight rain had left 4/10ths of an inch in the rain gauge and left the air laden with moisture this morning.
The rain seems to have brought things to life as I walked and noticed all the pretty blooms that popped out this morning.
The rain was evident on the leaves of the Voodoo Lilies.

Different colors of my Lilies are blooming in the front yard.

These pretty Morning Glories are one of my favorite morning sights.

The Hosta's are blooming.

Along with my Oakleaf Hydrangea.

To my surprise this transplanted Mountain Laurel in the bed with my Azaleas is blooming.

I'm sure the birds are keeping a close eye on these blooms that will soon turn into tasty Elderberries.

I love the early morning walks on days like today with all the beauty of early summer to enjoy.
Back inside I started laundry and housework.
Daughter came over here and Rebekah picked her up so they could take Evy swimming at the pool in the development that #2 son has a lot in.
The sun is peeking through the clouds and the cool morning is warming up so maybe they will have some warm sunshine while they are there.
I took several cake orders today to go along with an already large camp order I have for Thursday.
I changed out some decorations for the month of July today. I love these new placemats I found to go with my lighthouse theme out in the sunroom.

Some other summertime decor that I got out today included my shell collections.

These patriotic vases were purchases from my last Pickens flea market trip.

#1 son got home in time to pick g-son up from the drop-off point so hubbie and I watched the news and then did chores early to beat the rain that looks like it is headed our way.
Dolly is much better today and has slept most of the day to recoup her strength. She is eating and drinking normally again thankfully.
To get a headstart on all my orders I made 8 pound cakes tonight.
It is 11:30 and the last ones just came out of the ovens so I'm off to bed to rest up for another busy day tomorrow.
Grateful for the strength that God gives me each day and for His unending love or all His children.
Good Night and God Bless.

CUB SCOUT CAMP BEGINS

Another Monday without g-son here is strange. He is going to cub scout camp this week and since today was the first day his mom took him to have a look around at the camp which is being held at Etowah elementary school.  All other days this week he will come here for breakfast and I will take him to meet his friend and his mom who is one of the troop leaders at the camp. This is him and his friend Andrew, looks like they are having a good time.

Brings back memories from mine and my boys days of summer scout camps !!
I had to go to the doctor in Asheville this morning and the clouds were hanging low and stormy looking on the way over there.

I discovered that Monday morning is not a good day for an appointment,it took me over an hour in the office today.
After I left I stopped by Walmart and Target on the way home.  At the top of the mountain coming home I ran through a brief rain shower but it was dry and sunny when I got home.
After a late lunch I spent some time checking little Dolly over. She isn't feeling well at all and last night she got me up 3 times and hubbie up once to go outside for a bowel movement.

I called the vet and they said bring her on in just to be on the safe side.  There is no blood in her stool and she had no fever but her little stomach was really gurgling so they gave her some fluids because she hasn't drank any water or ate anything today. They also put her on some probiotics for her intestinal tract in case she has an infection trying to start, which is what her yellow stool would be a sign of.
I can tell after one dose of the probiotics she is feeling better and she has not gone to the bathroom all evening.  She still is eating and drinking very little but is sleeping more peacefully than she has in a couple days.
Hubbie picked g-son up from camp while I was at the vet's office and when I got home his dad was here also. He was a tired little boy but I think he had fun.
As I did chores and walked around the yard I noticed this "clearance" rose bush I bought at Walmart is blooming wonderfully.

And this barrel that I planted flowers and herbs in just outside my sunroom window is really doing good also. I am carrying a lot of water these days keeping all my new plants hydrated while we wait on the promised rain .

Played with Evy tonight while her dad filed his horse's feet. She loves the big slide in the back yard.
I was so busy laughing and playing I forgot to take any pictures.
Hubbie and I ended the day sitting out in the patio watching the clouds roll in.
Grateful to God tonight for a blessed day and thankful that Dolly's illness doesn't seem to be serious.
Good Night and God Bless.