Jon heard a racket in the bathroom, and when he looked around the corner, Gizmo was attacking the TP.  He will play with anything!!!

 

I was a little too late to get the real picture.  Jon spritzed him with the water bottle, and the culprit took off, leaving this mess. 

 

Anybody want a cat?    ;D  

 

 

 

Just kidding.  We love him.  He makes us laugh.

 

Here are some delightful sunflowers from me to you.  HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

 

I hope you plan to plant sunflowers in your garden this year.  They are so cheerful.  And the good news is:  you only have to buy seeds once.  After that just save a few seeds from the flowers and plant them the following year.  And on and on, like that.

 

It's too early to plant sunflower seeds this year;  wait until May to plant the seeds, and you should have big beautiful flowers by July.  But it is time to start planning where to put them.  Read the package description carefully, to determine how tall they will grow.  Some Mammoth sunflowers grow 12 FEET tall.  Those are the ones we plant to attract the birds, and other pollinators to the garden.  We see bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies all coming for the nectar.  And when the seeds are ripe, other birds come for them.  Everybody loves sunflowers.

 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

 

 

 

We didn't see any wildflowers, or leaves on the trees yet, but we did pass this interesting tree, a big, old White Oak.  

 

Interesting for two reasons. The white painted blaze up high is a sign that we were on the Appalachian Trail, and the scar visible beside the blaze, running diagonally to the bottom is a sign that this tree was probably hit by lightning at some point in its life.  This is what the scar looks like if the tree survives the hit.

 

I can't remember seeing any lightning trees in our neighborhood, but I'll let you know when I discover one.

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!

 

 

 

Wednesday was such a beautiful day, we went up to Blood Mountain for our daily walk.  The trailhead is about 5 miles past Vogel State Park on 19/129.  Blood Mountain is part of the Appalachian Trail, about 30 miles from the southern terminus at Springer Mountain.  We often see through-hikers on this trail.  And on a spring or summer weekend day, we have seen hundreds of people.   But on Wednesday, we hardly saw anybody;  I counted about 20 people over the 4.3 miles.

 

I took this picture to show you the terrain of the trail.  This IS the trail.  The whole trail isn't this rocky, but a lot of it is just like this.  A little different than walking the Five Forks loop.  ;D   We hike up about 2 miles, and it takes about an hour and a half.  We rest at the top, then the trip back down only takes an hour.  Easier going downhill than up.  But a really nice hike either way.

 

Next time you're looking for an adventure, go to Blood Mountain, it's a great hike in all seasons.  

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!

 

When we walked the loop on Monday, it was warm, but there was still a little snow and ice around.  

 

I took this picture looking down into the water;  you can even see a bit of ice on the surface.  See all those dark dots?  They are frog eggs.  We see them every year about this time, and watch as they hatch and grow into tadpoles and then into frogs.  It is fascinating to see the progression.

 

Next time you're down by the creek, be sure to look in the holding ponds.  All three ponds have frog eggs in them.  

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!

 

It didn't take very long to do, so we thought we wouldn't get caught.   But at the very end of our painting, two cars drove by:  we were caught in the act of graffiti art!!!  Oh well...it was FUN!!!

 

And, she makes me smile.  Reminds me of Carmen.  

 

HAY SWEETIE AND ME!!!

 

Jon and I started repainting the haybale snowman on Thursday.  Mike put away the folk art snowmen, and brought me enough spray paint to graffiti the entire neighborhood.  I promise I won't do that, but I do intend to repaint the haybale.  Just waiting for another nice day.  Stay tuned...

 

I'll take a picture of the new/old haybale.  Maybe we can make this thing last til next winter.  

 

I miss Patty and her creative ideas, but if you have any suggestions for seasonal decorations, let me know.  I'm open to all ideas.

 

HAPPY VALENTINES!!!

 

I know we are all dreaming of spring;  I even checked my seed stash today, getting ready to plant;  but the truth is:  it is still mid-winter.

 

We saw these icicles today, below Troy and Tom's house, and they don't seem to be melting any time soon.  Oh well.  

 

Just keep dreaming of spring, and before you know it, it will be time to plant, time to get outside, and best of all, time for daffodils!!!

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

We walked down to the mailboxes last week, and took this beautiful picture from the meadow.  

 

You can see the houses at the top of Five Forks Drive, and if you look to the left you can see another hill.  That's where our house is, just under those pine trees.  You can't see our house, but those trees are next to us.

 

You sure can't see this in summer, when everything is green.  Thought you'd like to see a pretty picture of winter.

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

There are so many funny stories from my years at Sunnybrook Day School.  Here's a good one relating to Arts and Crafts.

 

One day at Show and Tell, a very shy little friend shared with us a sock puppet she had made using a scrap of fur.  When I asked her how she made it, she flipped her puppet around (it was on her hand) to let the puppet speak to me, and said:  "She made me with Arts and Craps."

 

Can we ever walk into a Michael's or JoAnn Fabrics store without thinking of that?  NOPE.

 

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!