A Pleasant Surprise

                               Sometimes on the way home from errands I take the road next to ours to look at the cute homes and gardens. It's a winding road, you have to go slow, but that's okay because I like to look at everything along the way. 

                                    In my rear view mirror I saw this new farm stand and found a place to turn around to check it out.  It was newly built overlooking the huge flower garden alongside the driveway.  A variety of items including flowers, eggs, tomatoes, gourds, seeds and herbs.  

                                           I bought a bouquet of hydrangeas and a few orange zinnias to put in a vase and to support the stand and will drive by more frequently now to see what is available.  

                                       What I'd give to have a big swath of land that is flat and in the sun to grow my flowers instead of on the side of a hill!

                         At home in a vase.

 

Earthquake Craziness!

Thankfully I got these videos of Baby the fawn before Bob saw her jump the fence Saturday and leave with her mom.  

https://myfox8.com/news/5-1-earthquake-in-sparta-felt-across-north-carolina/     The earthquake was a five, and Bob said he thought he was dreaming when the bed shook. Maybe that's why the bears are coming in the daytime and the coyotes are howling in the afternoon, everything seems to be a bit off.  The past week we were without electricity and internet more than we had it because of non-stop trees falling down without any storms.  My phone was also lost or stolen, so I have been totally isolated with nothing working.  

 The bears are now showing up in the daytime, right outside the window eating up my bird seed, so taking them in at night is not helping.   It worries me because the dogs are out during the day, and I have heard bad stories from friends about when dogs and bears mix.  This bear had a huge bald stripe down his back like he had gone under an electric fence.  He was a big boy!

                      Might as well have some Kodiak Cakes in honor of our bears!

As they say, when you are going to have a big party, you clean everything that hasn't been cleaned in a while and the same goes for when you have a mouse in the house.  In our case, we caught 8 in one day, but we have the smart savvy ring leader that we just can't catch.  We use have a heart traps, catch and release, unlike my brother who likes to torture his poor mice.

They love my baskets, probably more than I do as I'm not a big basket fan, but have had these for many years, so out the door they went to be cleaned and will stay until we catch the last one.

They started out in this stack of baskets which I actually do like and have been adding to, all picnic baskets found at estate sales.  They were also in my afghan room.  All afghans stacked in the bedroom.  

Adding to the wild animals in the house, Bob has gone wild with his hair and beard looking like a homeless person and even going to court like this!

                                                             Pandemic Crazy!           

In the garden. 

                                  Baby left a few sunflowers!

                    In rescue.  Saving dogs doesn't stop if you don't have power, it just makes it difficult and stressful, but in the past two weeks I was able to help in the effort to save these dogs.  This is Blackie who lived with a senior lab in a kennel in NC. The owner died two months ago and family would just come once in a while and throw food in. The lab was only 23 lbs. because she could not get up to eat or drink.  She has now gained 7 lbs. and is walking again.   

                             Blackie shaved with a full belly and probably sleeping on a blanket for the first time. We got them out just before the hurricane arrived which surely would have killed Sandie the lab.

                              Kane went to Heart Rescue in NY. I set up the transport to his foster in NJ with volunteer drivers as we only had three days to get him out or he was going to be killed.  He is now in a home in NJ with another dog and doing great.

       Kane on the day he got out of the shelter with his first driver, Russ.  Jamie is the shelter volunteer who contacts me when she gets chows or chow mixes at her shelter. 

                 Dezol was in a shelter in Greenville, SC and went to my friend Catrina who took a break from rescue to have a baby but is now back in action!  Dezol went to a home in TN on a donkey farm within days of getting him out. He is doing great on the farm with another dog.    

     

  Catrina and Dezol    

The plan was to get started on this potting shed, clean it out, organize and paint it.  I have taken quite a few things to the church, but as things would have it, we had to have a tree taken down yesterday and today the HVAC system is being put in.

Look at the size of this monster unit on the right!  Our 35 year old Trane unit is on the left.  We will now have AC and heat pump to go along with the propane to be more efficient and to finally get heat to the back of the house, which we haven't had since we moved here.  This Trane should last for the rest of our life!  They were supposed to be here in April, so we were lucky it held out since we were having problems last summer.  Once installed, I will be back to the potting shed and hope to post photos soon of the new and improved shed!