Dog Days of Summer

Gathering buckets full of my indigo blue and indigo rose cherry tomatoes.  The large Brandywines are starting to turn red.  

I love how they start off indigo and turn either pink or orange with a touch of indigo on the top.  They are very sweet and we have so many that I am going to start drying them in the sun.

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 I have been using them in lots of salads and other dishes, but can't keep up with the amount ripening so fast.

Since it has been so hot, work on both houses has slowed and I have turned my attention to dog rescue even more.  Last week was a significant week for me.  Seven out of the nine dogs I have been working on were saved, two lost.  The one above is Kix in a small, rural shelter in Florida.  I ended up with both a rescue and adopter for this boy and was lucky enough to find a girl in Florida to go to the shelter to pull him and foster for a week while I set up transport to Atlanta for Bob to bring him to NC where his adopter's grandmother lived.  He was actually going all the way to Minnestota!

In just one week, Terry fell so hard for Kix (and so did her pibbles) that she could not put him on transport and the person adopting was not happy, and Bob and I did not get to meet him, but I think this home was better suited to him.  Just look at him on the sofa with his head on Terry's knee!

Then there was Wanda in LA.  This sweet old dog gave me my 15 minutes of fame in the rescue world.  I started posting her Sunday night, and by Monday morning I had 4,000 comments and $650 in donations for a rescue to step up and save her.  Leave No Paws Behind was that rescue.  The founder personally contacted me to thank me for saving her.  I was beside myself.  The story even made the paper.  

No hope for Wanda: Product of human neglect dog loses will to live

Examiner.com

This is Lenny who went to the shelter and pulled Wanda.  It was such an exciting day.  I had hundreds of friend requests and personal messages from the US and around the world, which I tried to reply to all.  I think the most touching one was a girl who wrote me from New Hampshire.  She was on the bus going to Boston for her job and saw Wanda's story and started to cry, so she wrote me to see what she could do.  I had so many messages like that, it was very rewarding.

You can see the change in her face, she knows she's out of the shelter and being saved!  She is actually smiling.  I don't think I'll ever work a dog like Wanda and get a response like that again!

So back to business, the renovation business, that is.  This is the farmhouse porch before.  I have been painting it while giving my old cat some outdoor time.  I am painting the walls Woodrow Wilson Whitewash from Valspar.

This is the finished product.  To me it looks like the farmhouse got a crisp new white shirt.  I love how clean it looks.  I also painted the door and window in Clove Brown by Benjamin Moore.  The same color I've been using in my sunroom.

I cleaned the settee and chair and placed some old ladders and washboards around, a little old painted bench.   As you can see, the boxwoods are doing fantastic since I planted them last spring.

Hung my folk art possum.

Bob placed my old iron cow bell beside the door.

This really is a post that should be on my My Tiny Farmhouse blog, but since nothing has been accomplished at the main house, it filled some space.

I did remove some privet at the farmhouse and plan to put in a beautiful blush colored crepe myrtle.  I splurged on this bush because I have been doing some depositions in Asheville and it was at a Lowe's up there and they are the only place to carry it.  It is called "Black Diamond" and the leaves are almost black.  I can't wait until it blooms next year. 

This past weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the power has gone out for hours at a time during the hottest part of the day.  Friday Bob found the unit to be frozen, Saturday, who knows, Sunday a tree fell on a line, so we decided to go to the boathouse to see if there was a breeze.

We thought we might as well eat dinner there, so stopped and got a pizza.

I guess a lot of people had the same idea, there was a lot of activity on the lake, and, yes, there was a nice breeze with a storm coming in.

Paddlers

Rafters.  Next weekend, time for a swim and a spin around the lake in the kayaks.

This is my deaf/blind chow Daddy.  Daddy has been getting me up every night at 1, 2, 3 am to just sit outside and do who knows what.  A friend of mine wanted me to post his photo with a halo, but I had a better idea.  I went through my Halloween stuff and found the devil horns to take a photo and give her a good laugh.  Daddy hasn't earned his halo this week!