I Live in a Rain Forest

For two weeks we had nothing but rain, torrential rain, two months worth in just a couple of days.  It does make everything look as green as Ireland!

Lots of fog, lots of humidity, just like a rain forest.

Never crossed our minds to check on the boathouse, so I headed over to the lake.  The dam was a good sign the boathouse was not going to be dry.

The water was up on the dock, the little garden was flooded.

Measured about 8 inches high at one point, blew the boards off the pump.  The cabinets were soaked along with the linens and everything was dirty and we had guests arriving in two days, so we got to work.

The scamper ramp is usually at an angle, shows how high the lake got.

Water will never reach my canine guests.  As you can see, my chains downward are starting as we have had so many guests bring their dogs.  We put on a two day minimum stay thinking things would be slower, but we have been booked solid probably because no one is working.

At home the water washed away my seeds and seedlings. Next year I am buying raised beds, I give up!

Washed out a good portion of the road, so neighbors will all have to pitch in to repair.

When the rain finally stopped and the sun came out, I at least had some flowers left.

Some things, like the teasel, loved all the water. They are three to four feet tall.

They will look amazing in bloom if a hurricane doesn't come along and knock them all down.

The ferns also grew.  I will be doing a fern bed where the bush died this winter instead of trying to replace it with another bush.

Pink foxgloves still in bloom that I can see from my kitchen window.

Hydrangeas are looking fabulous!

With shops opening again, I'm out finding new stock.

With sun, time to launder linens I need to put up for sale.

All with pretty embroidery

or crochet lace.

Hand painted

This week we had a unique visitor, a white squirrel.  A town north of us named Brevard is famous for their white squirrels and somehow one made its way to our feeders.  I followed "Minka" around for over an hour getting beautiful shots of her laying on branches in the sunlight until the ugly gray jealous squirrels ran her off.  Joke was on me, I did not have a chip in my camera, so this is just a photo of any ordinary white squirrel. Maybe Minka will return one day!

In rescue, this is Pepper, a one year old chow that has been on the run for two months in West Virginia, finally captured and considered a biter and aggressive.  

I raised $660 and found a rescue in Michigan that would give him a chance.  I found a transporter to drive the whole 10 hours with Pepper in a crate, but she got a brain injury from a seizure and couldn't drive, so it took me two weeks to find another driver.  Once out of the shelter he was not anything that the animal control officers said he was.

Here he is with Debra, his rescue, in Michigan.  He's doing great, very happy and active.

This is five month old Stud (named by his owner) who didn't want him anymore.  He was in Texarkana, TX.   I was contacted by a friend and instantly found a rescue in Texas to take him. 

Only took two days to find drivers to get him to his foster home in Austin, TX.  I named him Tex Mex.  Hoping we get updates on him soon. 

This is Barron, six years old, in an NC shelter that I am now raising funds for and still have not found a rescue that will take him because he is bonded with Cassie below, a pittie.  I will not stop until I find them a rescue and they are safe.  I have $555 in donations.

Poor Cassie looks so bewildered, but at least this shelter is keeping them together in the same run.

There are times I wonder why I work so hard to save dogs, and then I get something like this in the mail from an older lady in TN sending me a big check to use for whatever dogs I feel needs it.  

A nice way to end the week.

My Field of Scottish Thistles

Thistles were in full bloom about two weeks ago and now are going to seed attracting the goldfinches.

This is about as close as I can get to them using my cedars as a blind.  They are very skittish.

I was taking a stroll down to the stream and thought I'd video the field in full bloom.  These things are not good for dogs' paws!

Speaking of Canada . . .

Photos of our trip to British Columbia some years ago, actually quite a few years ago as we flew back home the day before 911.  We were really lucky because the following day all flights were stopped, and we would have been stuck in Canada for two weeks.  Not that that would have been a bad thing, but we had a lot of animals to get back home to.

This winter I started going through bins of old photos.  Many being thrown away because of sticking together or yellowing or not remembering what we even took them of or for.   I'm also looking for photos of my two nephews from when they were young so I can make them each an album for Christmas as my brother did not take photos.

These are some of my favorite photos of Banff and Lake Louise.  We did a lot of hiking, saw grizzlies and met a lot of people from all over the world as some trails required groups because of grizzly sightings.

This is the west side of Canada.  Years before we also did Nova Scotia, completely different and love both ends, but not doable for a summer escape, so Ontario or Michigan seem to be the only choices.  My friend in Alberta says "Come here!  People in Ontario are uptight!"  Don't think Calgary or Alberta would be one of my choices, though.

I was thinking as I go through all these photos, this will be a nice way to keep my favorites from all the other places we have traveled and do a travel series, Mexico, Peru, Morocco, Guatemala, Brazil.  

This is a place I definitely want to go back to, although that kind of hiking may be a thing of the past at my age.

So this week I'm back to sorting the bin of photos as last week when I was back to working on my garden paths I dropped one of the biggest stones right on the top of my foot.  Good thing Bob wasn't here with the way I screamed and what I was saying!  I think I sat for 30 minutes just trying to catch my breath.  Can't do anything for a hairline fracture, except rest, which I'm not good at LOL!  

The culprit!  I should have Bob weigh it, but it is 5 inches thick!

But I did get a few others in before the incident, and my path is coming along!

When I came across this photo of little Dave, I shared it to his Facebook page and told him he may have been the only kid I have ever held, that he was special!

The Search is ON!!

It's official!  The boathouse was put on the market right before the virus broke, but despite that, we have lots of interest.  The plan is to find a summer cabin to escape the late summer heat somewhere completely new and unfamiliar to us so we can explore a whole new area.  Above and below is the Village of Elora Mill in Ontario, which got me thinking, why not?!

This is a post on a blog I just love called The Grower's Daughter.  I had already been interested in the portion of Ontario located on the Lake Huron side, then I saw this village.  The poster also moved from the US to Canada to a town called Ridgeville closer to Niagara Falls.

Quaint shops and historic homes, but pricey.  The plan is in three to four years when we both receive our SS checks and Bob can work part-time and our number of dogs is down, that will be the time we can start our adventure north.  The alternative is the Superior Country of Michigan where incidentally chow friends have been moving to and got me interested.  Carol and Ben have been friends since Atlanta, and I have been involved in their adoption of two chows.  The photo below is Ben in a lounge chair next to Juno just taking in the view at the new home he built in Roger's City. 

Presque Isle is a draw to me just down the road from Roger's City.  We want to be on the East side so that we can venture into Canada if we end up finding something in Michigan.  We all know how plans go, but I will have a backup if this plan fails!

Another chow friend lives on the west side in a wonderful town called Charlevoix, but we want to keep the drive doable and be close to Canada.  Only time will tell!

Pandemic Humor

Homemade Pasta

My food trade with Mindy this week is fresh egg pasta.  Jamie Oliver's recipe from his book "Jamie's Italy".  Takes a LOT of eggs!

My first time, Bob had to come to my rescue.  He has always made the lasagna noodles, and this is our first time making fettucine noodles.

A pound of semolina does not go far.  I really thought I'd have so much pasta I wouldn't know what to do with it, but it will be enough for maybe six servings.

Drying on my Ikea clothes racks.

Finished product ready for delivery.  With my portion, I will be making CPK's Chicken Tequila Fettucine!