Thursday, March 23, 2017

Spring!

Spring is here and the Carolina Mountain Conservancy hikes have begun!  Unfortunately, I missed the first one, a hike to five waterfalls not open to the public.  The next is a hike to Frying Pan Mountain to the tallest NC fire tower, I won't miss that one!



Hostas are emerging .  .  . 

. . . and I have the lettuce now planted outside, tomatoes next.

The double kerrias are in bloom.

Camellias are still going strong ,and the fountain is up and running.





I've started planting underneath my ancient magnolia, and the hostas my mom brought on her trip here last year are pushing up through the soil.  They should be full and pretty by time she gets here on Mother's Day.


I've been transplanting a shade plant, I have no clue what it is, underneath the magnolia in between the hostas.

I'm finding these plants in the ivy.  I'm sure Kelly will be able to identify them for me.

Mahonia berries.


Inside I've been scraping and sanding walls in my bedroom.  The curtains came down, and the shades went up giving me full view of the outside with these big windows.  I like the plain, clean look of the shades.

As you can see, lots of scraping to be done.




A test strip of the new color "Sesame".  I think I'm really going to like it.

Rescue update:  Coco in VT now very happy!  "Religion, is a smile on a dog!"  Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians


Jazz was saved from an GA shelter, we raised $1000 in funds, and he will be going to a new home in WVA.

Tommy D from an NC shelter will be going to a chow friend in VA for foster.  Seniors are my specialty!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patty's Day from the McCunes

husky paradeHUSKY PARADE



Minnesota faction of H2M2.  Might change my breed one day! Check out the cute green tails!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

A Tag Sale'n I Must Go!

Wasn't expecting this tag sale to be such a good one.  I spent two hours digging through things and getting so much for just two and $3 apiece!



I found this neat British folding hiking chair/walking stick in the garage.  Had to pay a whopping $6 for it.  It has a leather seat!

Lipper and Mann bluebird salt and pepper, which go for $35!

Embroideries and vintage purses.

Hammered aluminum trays.

This is an antique miner's lunch box and I found a deco mushroom light bulb inside!


After the sale, made my way to the lake.





Only a few hours of painting, didn't get far.  Winds picked up, so I will be back later to do some more. 

My neighbor had mentioned to Jake she was hoping I would paint it a different color than black.  I did!  This color is called "Deep Forest".  I think she is going to be disappointed, but I like it!



We had our dusting of snow which disappeared within hours, but the temperatures have dropped and the skies look cold!  Not a fan of cold weather anymore.



This weekend it will be back in the 70s and I will be back at work, but until then you will find me inside in front of the fireplace!

Monday, March 13, 2017

Kelly's Azalea Garden at The Log House





Kelly posted her azalea garden on Facebook and I wanted to share to my page.  I remember when Bob and I looked at The Log House and seriously thought about buying it, but it just wasn't the right setup for the amount of dogs we had, especially with two separate packs needing their own space, but oh how I wanted to live there.  We saw photos of the azalea gardens from the past and they needed Kelly's expertise to prune and feed and get them back to what they once were and she is doing a fantastic job.  This weekend we had a dusting of snow and Kelly did a before and after.  It is such a wonderful place! Click on link and enjoy the tour!

Tour Beforebefore


Tour Afterafter

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Boathouse Update

The boardwalk is in, and I can't tell you how much we love this easy walk from the stairs to the dock without stepping on cinder blocks and walking on wet pebbles.  Should have done this years ago!

Jake restacked the rock column that was thrown under the stairs by the previous contractor eight years ago. 

Now to pick a deck stain to match the old dock, yet another project.


As anyone who has renovated an old structure knows, when things get ripped off, there is usually a can of worms opened and that happened with our siding we were going to just repair, but now has to be replaced.  There was never any flashing on the bottom and the water just kept splashing up and rotting things away. 

We were going to replace the roof, and I was picking out the roofing to go up when we found out that the siding should really be replaced, so now we will be patching the roof.  Jake suggested we also replace the dock on this side where we need to attach the new kayak launch, so that was done, too. 

I have been painting for three years now and will probably have to have the paint roller surgically removed from my hand.  I changed the color slightly from plain old black to "deep forest" a green that is almost black.  I can't wait for the day the boathouse, farmhouse and main house all have their coats of paint and I can sit back and finally enjoy it all!

Have to be careful painting on this little dock, water is too cold to want to plunge into right now.

Our boathouse neighbor, Dave, has two boathouses that he connected with a waterfall.  It is impressive and sounds so soothing.  That's Dave and his friend below.  Jake and I are up on the street looking down.


No rescue work to speak of this week, just helped a senior Akita get out of shelter in Memphis for a Florida Akita rescue.  Instead, I offered to cook a meal for a man in our community that had a water heater blow up in his face and got third degree burns on his face, hands and arms.  His wife had just had back surgery three weeks prior.  They own a large horse farm, so volunteers were doing barn chores and cooking meals for all. 

My meal consisted of orange almond salad with a balsamic reduction, chicken divan crepes and a chocolate roulade sponge cake. 



Everything was labeled and packaged.

Enough for Eric and Tracey and the three girls doing evening barn chores.



Another new route to their farm to deliver the dinner, barns and old homes along the way.


Renovatio' Farm is their big, beautiful farm.

 I went to the stables to deliver dinner.  No one can be around Eric because of chance of infection.  He just had cadaver skin grafted to his hands, but said to be in good spirits and healing well.

This is their home with a panoramic view of the mountains, which could be better seen in person due to the fog and it being dusk.   There will be a dinner for all who contributed in the coming weeks at a local restaurant so the couple can thank all who helped.