UP Earlier than the alarm....

I'm not sure why I got up at 4:30 but I just can't lay in that bed a minute more this morning. I'm enjoying my first cup of coffee in the REAL quiet of this day. The cats were fine with me up early - early breakfast for them.

The Newspaper delivery man went by about 10 minutes ago and it must be a pretty easy route now since so many of us just read the News On-line these days. The State always has someone sitting in the front of our grocery store on the weekends trying to get people to subscribe by offering a "FREE" copy of the Newspaper that day. I wonder what has become of the people that used to deliver so many Newspapers- probably a lot of them have had to find new work. When I first moved here in 1982 there were actually TWO Newspaper's delivered each day - The State in the morning and then in the afternoon you could get The Columbia Record. Times certainly have changed. My Mother-in-law gets aggravated with The State as they always end articles with - "read more about this On-line"; she doesn't have or want a computer. I think they are missing the mark with her generation; a lot of them just don't want to embrace the technology.

Speaking of finding new work - Scott has two phone interviews next week for jobs more fitting to his abilities so we have our fingers crossed that something will become of one of them. He really needs to be solving problems for someone instead of doing re-work. Both Businesses are with-in driving distance of our house so we would not have to move anytime soon.

The Boys!

These are "nap lures" NOT cats as one might think. Their job is to make the humans in the house VERY sleepy at about 1 PM each day... and they work SUPERBLY! Tesla conned me into a 2 hour nap this afternoon.

I've got quite a few projects in the works that I may post about tomorrow.

Today (Thursday 9/16) I made "must-go" soup to get some things cleared out of the refrigerator. I also made biscuits and it was all real good and filling. Tomorrow we will have mild Italian sausage and cabbage; beans and perhaps a salad.

I'm going to go "play" in my sewing room now.

Fall Weeds

Yesterday Scott and I drove up to our 10 acres and walked around the place and fell in love with it all over again and decided to call the Realtor and take it off the market. It had been for sale for over 90 days and we decided that if it had not sold by that point we would do our best to just hold onto it.

Scott was smart and took an allergy pill before we left; I on the other hand did not and the place is overgrown with lots of Goldenrod and Mustard growing and blooming all over; so I'm sneezing my head off this morning. We need a Governor for the Gravely tractor and Scott says it will cost about $80 so I'm going to have to pinch extra hard to squeeze that amount out of our tight budget as we have to get that place mowed but can't afford to pay the neighbor to do it this year. We are thinking about having the pines harvested on our land but worry about the mess that the Loggers always leave behind. It would be nice to make a little money off the place somehow - perhaps make enough to pay that land off a bit faster. It's just a thought though.

The grass seed that we planted last winter has come up and grown in nicely where the Loggers had cut across our property and then cut us a road of sorts through the woods in payment for the damage they had created. We have a couple places that are still washing real bad and we will need to bring in a BUNCH of gravel to create a real driveway back to where we want to build our cottage. Greg is talking about building his own cottage and 3 bay garage up there as well. We will see what the future holds - perhaps his future wife won't like country living.

Well it's cleaning and laundry day and that dog of ours needs a bath BADLY before it turns too cold to give her one. So she will be my first chore so that I can clean that bathroom as soon as I am finished with her.

HAPPY MONDAY!

Odds and Ends from Yesterday's Walk

The River is VERY low - I don't believe that I have ever seen it quit this low. You can see many rocks that are normally under water and in places you can see the muddy bottom nearly all the way across. The boating channel is quite easy to see now but I would worry about get stuck in the mud.

Some days we just spy something unusual; like a bit of old tile sticking out of the Riverbank. Each day is unique and most enjoyable. The plants are putting on one last show for us all to see - a few more blooms and it won't be long until the absolute explosion of color occurs before we are able to once again see deep into the woods of winter.

If it snows this year we plan to walk by the River during the storm - it will be magical!

Nature's Preparing for Halloween

Yesterday we went for a lovely walk by the River once again. I just could not resist photographing Mother's Nature's Halloween decorations... the spiders have been quite busy..

Longing for the Mountains

I so wish we could take a trip to the Mountains of NC; Eat diner at Iannucci's is Skyland, NC and hike some. Perhaps stay overnight and walk around Asheville the next day. Perhaps in May we will be able to afford to do that for our Anniversary.

I've really been quite the Sloth lately - lots of sitting around not doing much of anything - gotta find some energy and get moving again. I really do have plenty to keep me busy around here - just haven't seen much motivation out of myself. Time to make some lists of tasks that need to get completed before it turns real cold. I'm thinking about doing a real deep clean on this house - washing walls and baseboards and going through more "stuff" and getting rid of it. I took what I had pulled together for a yard sale to "His House" for donation. I got a tax right off slip and no huge headache from having the yard sale. It felt good to get it all out of here - I was tired of walking around it.

I have a bunch I'd like to get done in our yard as well - more lists! As I said there is a BUNCH that needs doing around here.

Squishy in my Mailbox and More

When I went out to my mailbox today I discovered a wonderful "SQUISHY"... the best thing to find in ones mailbox. In it I found the small bag and I say "SMALL" but really mean BIG as this is nice and deep and has LOADS of extra pockets. The bag was part of a "Small Bag" swap with my on-line quilting group; I sent 2 FQ's, some trim and closures to my partner, Lisa and she added a fabric and her talents to make me this awesome bag. Right up my alley too... KITTY CAT'S ALL THE WAY! LOVE IT!!!!
HA HA... An Alley Cat Bag!

Yesterday I worked some more on the Batik Quilt and got it all laid out and the rows pinned together; ready for sewing. I got one row sewn together and the rest are still waiting for me. I also made two pillow tops using the remnants from the strips used to make the block units. I will add something to make them a perfect 12x12 pillow. I'm debating whether to keep these pillow tops of a sort of remembrance of this project or to include them with the quilt as part of the gift. I'll come to a decision by the time it's all ready for mailing. I haven't been feeling too well the past couple of days and have been sleeping a good bit - I think the Fall Hibernation bug is trying to hold me down.

Tesla has been sticking quite close to me and cutting up every chance he gets to have his belly rubbed. I think he is the only cat I have ever had that has enjoyed his tummy rubbed. Such a goof ball and when one of us leaves the house he pines and pines and carries on meowing and meowing.

Yesterday morning I had the windows open and the front door as well and I caught sight of movement on the front porch - a Morning Dove was gathering grit from the front porch; not in the least concerned about any of the neighborhood cats. It kept looking in the front door so I grabbed the camera and took it's picture before it caught sight of me.