Easy Come Easy Go Snow

Today did not go as planned.  I was going to head up the grade after getting my car inspected and was going to hit Lowes and get potting soil and mushroom compost for Monday which will be 70 degrees and a host of other little chores.  The weather said sunny and in the high 40s.  Then the sky turned gray, and it started snowing. We just happen to be in this little spot that was getting unexpected snow.  First snow of the year. We did not get any end of 2019.

As it is in the South, it came this morning, got a few inches, and by this afternoon turned to rain and is almost all gone.  Cold and gray, time for a fire. 

Some snow scenes.

The tulip tree is loaded with buds.

This guy has returned a little early.

Lord Roman is not impressed.

Princess is feeling much better after a rush to the ER and an injection, multiple baths, 7 different medications.  They shaved the whole underneath of her body and half her face!  They could at least have made it a little more even, she looks lopsided, but fur is making its way back.

So will try again tomorrow getting my garden supplies for the upcoming heat wave next week!  What a difference a day makes!

CHOW PAWTY!

My friend George and his friend Rubi arrived from Gulfport, MS, 2 am Friday morning with the six abandoned chows from Arkansas.   They spent two nights at the farmhouse since no hotel would allow chows, let alone this many!

I brought Lord Roman down to meet the gang and to show them what a real chow looks like!  At 89 lbs. he was wondering why these guys were so small!

This is Stevie, one of the twins, and my favorite.  He is now in a home in NJ, and his new name is Milo.

 Bob meeting the gang.

Carol and Maggie arrived Friday evening to load them up and get them on the road to a meeting place in PA, but the storm came in and they ended up looking for a hotel at 3 am, one that would allow dogs and got very lucky to find one.

This is Preacher, named that for non-stop talking, but he was very quiet while here.  He is going to my friends in Michigan.

This is Molly.  Darryll and Norma came to pick her up and foster her in NC.  She will be going to MA to her new home with Andrew.

Midnight is the biggest and was in charge of the pack when abandoned at their home for almost a year.  There were 20 dogs at this home and animal control took all the dogs, except for the chows. This guy will also be living in NJ.

Hard to come up with things to do for two days when confined to the property because of so many chows.  Took walks to the pasture.  I made a big pot of chili and batches of chocolate chip cookies, we sat around and caught up.

The big porch came in handy for nap time.

Preacher, who will also be named Milo.  It was funny that two people picked the same name for their chow.

George found this on his way home.  We all got a good laugh.  I said I could win big money on a bet on this!  I'm sure Kitty his wife would love this to be true! So, needless to say, not a drop of paint was applied to my trim, and I am still cleaning up from the visit.   Tomorrow is another day!

New Year, Old Projects

Yesterday was 70, sunny, and we had our hike to Mount Mitchell planned again, but it did not happen.  I had a vet appointment scheduled for Princess on Monday, but she took a turn for the worse, and we ended up at the emergency vet.  This hike was originally planned for my birthday three Sundays ago, but it rained on my birthday, and last Saturday when we were going to try again it snowed up on the mountain making it difficult to get to. Today it's raining, but it is opening the camellias that I can see from my bathroom window.

I brought in a handful of mock orange and scotch broom branches that are loaded with buds to force them to open in the house adding a nice scent to the room.

Bob's reading room is first on the list to finish.  I still have some trim to paint and the ceiling needs scraping in spots and painting.  We replaced the antique hooked rug that was in the room, the moths made a mess of it.  It took me a while to get the courage to throw it in a dumpster, but Randy was having a sale at the Frog & Swan and I bought this one at a pretty good price and it works nicely.

I still get angry at our contractor and plumber, who when putting in the shower on the other side of this wall, destroyed the original wallpaper in this spot.  It could have been taken down and reapplied, that's what I would have done if I was here watching over their work, but I wasn't, so I have been looking online trying to find just one roll of flocked ferns in gold with a silver foil background . . . nearly impossible to find, so I hide it with a row of paintings, which looks ridiculous.  Need to get Bob in the attic on the off chance a roll is up there.  

I never planned for this room to go "gold" even with the color of the ferns on the wall, but then I found this antique lamp and then the shade, and it started the color theme.

The base is black marble and the globe is a swirl amber glass and I love it.  I just happened to have the shade in a closet and it looked perfect on it.

Then there's this shade that I just found for $3!!!  I had seen one similar a few years ago at an antique store on a lamp, they would not separate them, and they probably would have charged me a lot just for the shade.  Patience pays off, this one was in a thrift shop on a shelf in a back room, in perfect condition, raised velvet ferns and I love it!

Looks pretty good with the wallpaper, doesn't it?  

On a sad note, my bush was not going to make it, and I finally had the guts to start cutting it down.  This spring I will look for a replacement that matches the other bush.  Things are getting old around here, and they don't last forever.  

Busy week ahead.  My rescue friend George is on his way from Gulfport, MS, with a copilot and six chows who will be staying at the farmhouse Thursday and Friday.  Need to get it ready, make chili, get supplies for the dogs.   Norma and Darryll will be here Friday to get one chow, Molly.  Ben will be here from Ohio to get his adopted chow Preacher.   Carol is coming from Virginia to get the rest and take them to PA and CT.  Crazy!!