Around the house

In between guests we have been working on a few small projects around the house.  I painted up the plant shelves in the foyer just in time to start my fall broccoli crop.

 

The garden has been producing quite well with all of the recent rain and I made my first batch of completely home grown salsa!

 

Matthew and I worked in the rain and dark one night finishing up a small section of permanent fencing for the miniature horses.  The rest of the fence will have to wait until we are done grading the back two acres (we will still be using portable panels until then).

 

Although we did not plant or even grade the back of the property there is a lot of grass coming up so I put up some temporary electric fence in order to let the big horses enjoy it.  There is actually enough grass that the horses are eating less hay right now!

 

My flower beds are blooming nicely and I cut some flowers to put on the table while we had guests.

 

One of the last things on the barn to-do list was to paint the roll up door.  I started painting this morning while it was still cool out and managed to finish before the shade disappeared.

 

I got a lot of use out of Matthew's ladder Christmas present!

 

Finally, here is a glimpse of what I will be working on this week.  I have enough tomatoes right now to make some spaghetti sauce and hope to make one more batch of salsa once the rest of the peppers ripen.

Sam and Emerson's Visit

Last week my college roommate/my other half came for a visit.  She brought her fiancé Emerson and we spent the few days mostly visiting but also sight seeing.  We rode the horses, went to the beach, ate lots of fresh garden veggies, and went swing dancing.  It was wonderful to see them both and I can't wait for their wedding next spring!

 

The cownose rays were swimming in the shallows along Tybee Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the rays close to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam and Emerson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam and I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also played a board game that Emerson created and is now taking to publishers.  We really enjoyed it and hope that we can buy a copy soon!

 

 



Beach Buddies

I am way behind in my blog posts, partly because we have been busy with company and partly because my computer has been commandeered to play world cup games on our TV.  So here are some of the many photos from our activities.

 

Two weeks ago we visited with some friends staying on Tybee Island.  I met them through the science center a few years ago and each year they come for several weeks in the summer.  The kids are very interested in marine (and other) science so we visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island one day.  (Most of the photos are taken by our friend Megan.)

 

We also spent a few days hanging out on the beach and Matthew even joined us after work on Friday.  Here Lauren and I are telling some people about horseshoe crabs.

 

We did some beach combing as well and I found two shark teeth!

 

Lauren and I with Megan.

 

On Saturday Lauren and her husband Matt took us all out on a boat to Wassaw Island.

 

Wassaw is a national wildlife refuge so there are very few people.

 

Matthew's classic explorer pose.

 

Group shot!

 

 

Matthew and I.

 

 

Part of the beach is a boneyard beach because of all of the dead trees.  The roots of this tree made for great climbing.

 

We found a leatherback sea turtle carapace along the beach.  It had already been necropsied (it had a red painted X on it) but the size was impressive!

 

We spent some time floating and swimming off the boat.

 

And did a little cast netting near the marsh.

 

On Saturday night Megan and two of her kids spent the night with us before heading back home.  The kids enjoyed the horses and both rode Spice.

 

We also played some games including foosball.

 

And pool.

 

And Sorry. 

A Celebration and Goodbyes

Last week I made a quick and unexpected trip back to Michigan for the funeral of a beloved cousin.  She loved to have rootbeer floats on camping trips and here is a photo of one of the most creative flower arrangements I have seen. 

After we celebrated Stacey's life, I used the remaining days of the trip to say a few goodbyes to our northern friends and family.  My parents are closing on their house at the end of the month and I'm not sure when I will make the trip again.

 

Here's our yearly family photo.

 

We snuck in a horseback ride at Ft. Custer state park, my first summer job and a frequent trail riding location.  Mom is on Doni (they brought him with them to MI because he is difficult for other people to care for), I am riding a friend's horse named Merlin, and Ken, in the middle, sold me Rabi 16 years ago.

I also had lunch with friends and my mom and I visited some of her family in Indiana but I forgot to take any photos of those visits.  The morning before my flight back to Georgia Mom and I drug the canoe out onto their lake and went for a paddle through a couple of nearby lakes.  This is the channel that leads to their lake.

 

Among the cattails we found a red-winged blackbird's nest.

 

And the mute swans had six eggs in their nest.  I still can't believe the size of their eggs!

 

Here's mom in front of their house, which they designed and helped build.  I'm sure that they will greatly miss the house and all of the nearby family/friends but not the long, cold winters or the buggy summers!

 

Finally, a view from the deck that you can see in the photo above.

Beach, Gardening, and More

We finally made it out to the beach this weekend.  Although it was very windy, we enjoyed relaxing on the sand and Matthew played some "volleyball" games with our friend Edward.

 

My garden has been coming along nicely as well.  I dug half of the potatoes this week and pulled a few carrots for us to enjoy.

 

Some of my carrots are getting pretty big!  That's a quarter for reference.

 

And I used our slicer to make my own matchstick carrots for salads.  Much tastier than store bought ones!

 

We've also been enjoying fresh lettuce, broccoli, and snap peas.

 

The hydrangeas in the front of our house are actually blooming this year.

 

Last weekend Jane and Richard stopped by our house on their way to Florida and dropped off two beautiful new pieces of furniture.  The first is a stand for my two quarantine fish tanks.

 

And the second is a matching coat rack for our mud room.