The Nantucket Door Knocker

Called the Nantucket Door Knocker because this was the nautical themed door knocker I had hoped to place on my Nantucket house one day (yeah, right, ha-ha).  

Believe it or not, this was found in a log cabin antique shop in the mountains of Georgia, far from where it was probably supposed to be. I had never seen children mermaids before and really can't find any information on this knocker from the maker's stamp.

It is very heavy and looks just right on this big, heavy door replacing the wimpy little knocker that was there.  The brass has turned a nice verdigris to match the copper gutters, which have also turned with age.

Next on the agenda is finding a light for the front wall of what used to be the garage, now Bob's man cave, and lights up the driveway.  This witch's hat is really unique.  Blue Moon is an antique lighting store in our town, and they have fabulous vintage lighting, and they even let you bring them home to see how they will fit.  I originally wanted a lantern to hang from the peak, but with our winds, that might not be a good idea.

Last night at dusk on a walk with the dogs, the skies are looking like an early fall.

The Big Sale

The local church had their yard sale today and I was there before the doors opened, unlike last time when I arrived 90 minutes after.

Not as many "finds" this go-round, but a few neat things to put in my Etsy shop and on Ebay.

Bamboo posing in front of newly painted house.  

Geisha posing in front of brick portion of house.

All the rain brought a lot of bright mushrooms.

My friend's housewarming gift.  

A gift from my friend Vickie.  She is really having fun making vinyl for her friends and selling them, too!  If you look close, you will see the chow pattern. Placed it on the back window of my car.

I never get tired of the view from the post office. 

The corn fields on the way home are intertwined with every color morning glory.  

Interesting moth on my front door.  Looks like a sword.

My first moon flowers!

Surprises!

Before Photo

Took Scout to my friend Vickie today, a two-hour drive one way.  Vickie will have Scout until Thursday and will be driving him north to his rescue.   Left the painter at home to start the job.

I was so excited to see what a drastic change it makes for the better!  The brick really stands out against this color and even the ugly asphalt roof looks better!  This is the sneak preview!

Home for just a few minutes and I get a call to come to the gate.  Surprise bouquet of flowers from Scout!

Gonna miss that sweet guy, and Vickie said he misses me, couldn't settle down in the car and was looking for me.  We both got attached so fast.  

Dog Days of Summer

Scout, a shep/chow blend.  My friend Jana at the shelter contacted me about Scout hoping I could place him in rescue.  I knew this would be hard, he's more shepherd than chow, but thanks to Amy with the Sebastian Foundation in Lancaster, PA, he will be safe. 

Once home, I noticed how stinky he was, so a bath was in order with some nice smelling tea tree shampoo.  Much better!  He was a very good boy getting a bath. 

Took Scout to the Purple Onion in Saluda, a dog friendly town where he could eat with us outside.  We were meeting a new friend there for dinner. 

Everyone wanted to pet him and commented on what a sweet face he had.  I think he will find a home quickly. 

This is Brett Allen, producer of the tv show The Best of The Best on Discovery Channel.  I was contacted by a California rescue friend looking for a chow rescue to be featured on the show.  Since there aren't any in NC, I directed Brett to Forever Dream Senior Sanctuary in my town of Tryon.  He was running late, so we didn't eat together, but he stopped by the restaurant for me to meet his chows.  Next time he's in town I will have him over for dinner. 

Small world, especially in chow rescue.  This is Winston, a chow Brett adopted from my friend Denise with Houston Chow Chow Connection.  Didn't know that until Brett and I started talking.  I didn't know he traveled with his chows!   It's fun to meet so many people through rescue. 

Just a couple photos of the sky driving home with Scout.  Three weeks of storms and rain.  Looking forward to fall.

Back to painting this week.  Almost finished the second coat in the hallway, but I shifted to the reading room for a change of scenery.  Will post photos this week!

The Dreary Hallway

As soon as my short vacation was over, I started the task of scraping and sanding the hallway in preparation for painting.  I have dreaded knowing that one day the next item on the agenda for painting would be a hallway with peeling paint on plaster walls and nine doors, front and back to paint, but it has to be done, and so I began.

Not only the scraping and painting, but all the doors and floorboards looked as though they hadn't been scrubbed clean in decades.  The paint was yellowed from age or maybe the house once had a smoker.  It was gloomy and dark and has been bothering me since we moved here, but there were other rooms more important to do first. 

Have I mentioned I hate scraping?  I think I hate sanding even more.

Then once it was all finished, everything, the ledges, the walls, the ceiling, the floor needed to be vacuumed to get all that dust up.  

Just that process took four solid days from morning till evening to accomplish, and now ready for paint.

Oyster white is what I have been using on ceilings in other rooms, so it was continued into the hallway.  You can really see the contrast in this sample.

Two weeks later, first coat completed on everything, matte on the walls and ceiling, satin on the doors and floorboards.  Now, to do it all over again with the second coat, but you can see the difference it has made.  My hallway is now clean, bright and welcoming!

The tomatoes are coming in strong now, too many to eat and keep up, so time to give a few to my neighbors Kendall and Jim.  I made some homemade ranch dressing and brought that along so they could have a salad with dinner tonight.

Their house is the next one up the road from mine.  They live in the original farmhouse on the road, named for Kendall's family, Page. 

I was hoping these crepe myrtles were on my property line, but they're not.

This is their farmhouse, barely visible because of the 100 year old boxwoods.

Yes, that is the path to the front door.  They are doing some repairs on the porch.

Love the stacked stone.

Wish I had the barn, I could foster a lot of dogs in there!  They said I could have it, if I could find a way to move it to my property.  Evidently, Kendall has a lot of stuff stored in there that Jim would like cleaned out.

I spied this in the yard.  Would love to get a flower pot in that!

Continuing past their house you see the mountains more clearly.  Kendall's family owns 150 acres back here and two more homes. 

Rock walls line the gravel road.

This is the younger farmhouse which is totally renovated.  I have yet to meet the couple that rents it.  I have seen them walking their dogs.

There is a little stone bridge over a stream.

And this is KONO, a 13 year old chow that was in the Memphis, TN, shelter.  I got Kono out of the shelter and all the way to Sag Harbor, NY, to a rescue friend that adopts seniors.  This was the hardest save yet since I did this all on my own with no rescue backing. 

I needed to set up a transport from Memphis, to Columbia, SC, where a transport friend Dione would then drive him to NY without the requirement of him being neutered, which I would not do at his age, and without a two-week quarantine in order to get a health certificate.  I had to find an overnight for him since this was such a long transport, so he spent the night with my friends Rich and Pat (Rich above) then my friend Chantal in Knoxville picked him up to meet Joe who took him to Dione in Columbia,where he spent the night and made his journey to NY the following day.  

Here is Kono with his new mom and dad in NY.  It takes a lot of man hours and people to save one dog!  We have since found out he is deaf and blind in one eye, but very happy to have a home.  He is one lucky boy!