A Little South of North

5 ON SUNDAY

Here goes~~I've been wanting to do this for a while but kept hesitating...

1. Hooray!!  I found a great place to get the beads I use to make those ornaments!  If you want the address, let me know.  It's online.

2. I've decided to boot up my palm pilot!

3. Noah and Jori Beth are in Wilmington visiting the US North Carolina Battleship with their parents.  Beautiful day for it.

4. We have MAJOR sewage problems at the lake..ugh, yukky, gross!! 

5. We are having major work done at the cottage-besides sewer line replacement.  New decks front and back, elec. garage door opener on boathouse. 3 trees removed, and many more trees "topped", and a new drain laid in front of the garage door to the basement.  Whew!!

6. Two days ago I discovered Honey Crisp apples.  Yum!

7. Don't forget to get your flu shots!

8.  Went shopping with Lynne this a.m. and bought the 3rd. set of stainless in 6 months.

9.  I'm running out of ideas--Chamois is busy chewing on a Kong full of peanut butter, baby meat, green beans, and hard treats.  Then frozen.  That will amuse her for hours.  Time for me to read.

10. I am enjoying the series of books by Janet Evonavitch(sp?).  They are so funny~~but Grandma Mazur does not remind me of Mom.

Well, I tried..Now that I have read over them, they sound boring.

Big tomatoes~~Little tomatoes

Boy!  Do I have tomatoes!  The grape tomatoes are very prolific~no joke 15 to 20 EVERY day!  I keep a basket of them on my kitchen counter and just munch on them like candy every time I pass by.  They are so sweet!  I also pick 1 to 2 big slicing tomatoes evey other day.  So it's a good thing we like fresh tomatoes!  I'd give them away but all my neighbors are growing them, too.  And I don't can!!  I made a batch of homemade spagetti sauce once but it couldn't compare with Ragu so I won't be doing that again.  I think I might make some salsa, though.

We'll be making a trip up to New York in August then I think the grandchildren will be staying with us for a week.  I hope J.B. will learn to water ski that week.  She wants to so maybe we can get her up and around the island.  "Mom and Dad" would be so surprised if she did it.

While we are up North, Chamois will be going to Camp Bow Wow~~IF she passes her "test visit" tomorrow.  It's a great place and we can watch her from wherever we are, on the computer.

We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby C.  I feel so far away, but I hope N. will let me know as soon as it happens. 

I thought I might let my hair grow out just long enough to pull back during the summer but patience is NOT one of my virtues!  I can't stand the way it feels on my face and neck when it gets hot and humid here-like every day-so I clip it back with those funny looking clips and it sticks out all over my head.  I would not like it if someone dropped by unannounced and caught me looking like a freak!  So tomorrow I get it cut!!

I enjoy reading 'I Should Write A Book", "Crooked Pigtails" and "Incoherrent Ramblings" so much.  Then I look at the junk I come up with and decide not to ever write in this blog again.  This stuff is not entertaining even to me!

So MAYBE until nest time....

90's FOR A WEEK....

Or more, according to the weather man.  I can tell you right now that moving to Alaska sounds good to me right now.  I do not do well in the heat and humidity and we are supposed to be getting the three "H"s for AT LEAST 7-8 days.  The cottage will be closed up and we will run - well not run - down to the water then hurry back up to the air conditioning.  I expect this in July and August, but not the end of May and the beginning of June.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.  I might melt!  BTW, the 3 "H"s are Heat, Humidity and Haze.  Not pleasant weather no matter how you look at it.  Too hot even for golf, S.  The only  good (?) thing about the heat is it warms up the water. 

Enough of that!  I think that when kittens are young (Daisy) it is easier to have 2.  They keep each other company.  At least that's the idea.

Deb(Dutton)and Kurt Avellar are coming up this weekend.  They will stay with us and they will be looking for places on the lake to buy.  Lots or homes.  And they will be doing a lot of kayaking.  Without me.  Not in 95 degree weather-back to that, are we?-I will go early in the a.m. and they can continue on without me.  They go on for miles and miles.  Oh, to be young again!!   Not really.

I wish you all lived closer to us.  I have an abundance of Basil and am looking for people to give it to.  You can bet Deb will be taking some home.  I also have Oregano, Thyme and Chives.

Okay~~I've complained enough about the weather~~Can't wait to see all of you in July.  Love....

How Long has it been...

April 2nd!!  I really did wait a long time between posts.  No excuses~just lazy, I guess.

Seems like nothing has happened since the last one~but I hope my life isn't THAT boring!

We are settled in at the lake and we are enjoying the new room and the expanded kitchen a lot!!  Should have done it years ago.  Next is the retaining wall on the driveway.  It all gets done on "Lake" time and that is very frustrating.  They move to their own drum-beat up there, that's for sure!  Next year I want to do the 2 top decks.  They are sort of on a slant right now so we really need to get at that.  It's always something.  The joys of home and cottage ownership.

Mike is hoping to fly up to N. Y. sometime this summer.  Probably up to mid-state.  He is qualified in the Mooney, whatever that means.  Bigger and better suited to longer distance, I guess.  I'll come up with him-don't know when it will be-he leaves for France on Friday and has other trips lined up for work this summer so we'll just have to wait and see when he can get the time.

Chamois is doing really well.  USUALLY comes when we call her, loves to swim and does most of the day, hasn't had an "accident" in many weeks and is generally a good dog.  The vet is concerned about the amount of water she drinks-48-55 ozs. a day- and is testing her for diabetes.  I hope that isn't the case, of course.  We just have to wait and see what the tests show.  Might know tomorrow.

Amy and I put our toes in the water last weekend and then jerked them out and sat on our towels and watched the children-including their Daddy-freeze their little butts off in the water.  I won't be going in till we've had a few 90 degree days and warm nights.  That water is COLD!

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts in the future--but I really don't have a lot of fun things to write about--as you can see by this post.  Have a great summer--see you soon.

Pollen-Mobile

Hi all--Long time between blogs so here goes~~~

As you know we I am taking care of J & A's 3-count them, Ava,Pwerm and Rufus-3 small dogs for a week while J & A and family are in Puerto Rico soaking up the fun and sun.  So this morning I decided it was time to make my escape and took my pollen-mobile for a trip to the grocery store.  It was an hour of pure quiet bliss.  Never thought I'd EVER say that about grocery shopping~one of my all time least favorite things to do.  I love planning the meals and I even like cooking them.  But grocery shopping is a huge waste of time, when you really think about it.  You have to handle the items 7 or so times and it all turns to s--- in the end.  But I digress~~The pollen here is terrible to say the least.  We have 2 cars in the driveway-one white and one silver.  Now they are both chartreuse and that is not a good color for a car.  This happens every year but I'm still amazed at how completely the cars are covered overnight.  I think it will be all gone by the time Nand family get here.

Chamois is growing like a weed.  I guess I should have expected that and I don't see it as much as others do who don't see her all the time.  She still acts like a puppy--just a big puppy.  Things she does now won't be so cute when she weighs 55 lbs. or more.  So we have to be a little bit hard on her but it is all done with love--mostly, anyway.  She is bearing up well with the invasion, but the cats are not!  They aren't eating and when they do eat a little they throw it right up.  We I have blocked off the upstairs so the dogs are all down here and the cats have the run of the upstairs without dogs and that has made it a little better for them.

I got J and I sushi for lunch so I'd better hop to it and serve it.  I don't eat the fish ones, just the California rolls, which are vegetables and rice.  Those I like.  I also like Crunchy Rolls because although they are fish, they are deep-fried.  But when we go out I get chicken teriaki.

Have a great Spring~~we will be heading up to the lake soon so I will  probably not get to this very often up there.  Lindy

Long time~no blog...

I guess I'm repeating the title because it came up in blue so all I had to do was click on it.

I've been spending every evening till about 10:00 scanning some of the thousands-and I DO mean thousands-of old slides we have had stored in our basement for about 100 years.  I must say that they sure do bring back lots of great memories.  I can't believe I was ever that skinny!!  And Jon and I both had such dark hair!!  And HE even had some!  It has been quite a trip down memory lane.

Chamois is doing great!  I think she has the house training thing down except when she is hyper-excited.  Like when the grandchildren or their new dog comes over.  Then all bets are off!  Jon wants her to have the run of the house so she is upstairs now making all kinds of racket.  Pretty soon I'll have to check on her.  Poor kitties won't have a moments' peace.

We are anxious to get back to the lake.  It's cold here now but soon it will warm up and then we are outta here!!  I don't know what will happen with the blog--being on dial-up might make a difference.  Maybe not~~we'll see.  We are hoping that we will have lots of "family" company this summer.

I guess I should get back to scanning. 

Status Report

Hi all~~Here is an update on Chamois.  She is growing like a weed and if we could get those razor blades ~~some people call them puppy theeth~~removed or at least worn down, she would be a MUCH more pleasant dog to be around!!  She's really good~~comes on command, sits on command and shakes on command.  Now if she would poop on command, outdoors, and pee on command, outdoors, we would be thrilled.  Actually, she is even doing better on that front, too.  Only 1-2 pee accidents a week on average, and hardly ever poops inside!!  So all in all she's doing well.  She has her 12 week checkup tomorrow so we'll know more then.  I'm hoping that she will be completely house trained in the next week or so.  I hope they can give me some more ideas tommorrow on that subject.  I don't know how to put a picture on this blog thing so I'll send a picture separately.

We are anxious to get back to the lake.  Our new verticals came in and we want to get them up and be sure we like them before our grace period runs out.  I think they will be o.k.  But we have had some cold weather here (at least for us).  The cottage takes a long time to warm up in the winter so we don't go up much except for a day trip now and then to check pipes.  David (builder) is putting in a new retaining wall in the driveway and we are anxious to see how that is coming along~~or IF it's coming along.  He promised it would be done by Spring and I hope it is because I want to do some planting around and behind it.

Anybody ever heard of "weeping love grass"?  A nurseryman advised me to use it on bare patches and slopes at the lake.  I'm going to look it up as soon as I finish this.  I know I'm going to plant white clover on the huge place that was dug up for the new septic system.  That should be easy and require little to no care at all.  I'm also going to plant it in my backyard here in Cary.

Have a great day and have a wonderful birthday, E. 

I guess it's "dog"!

On Dec. 20 I clearly stated that we would NOT be getting a dog any time soon.  Be careful what you declare in writing!!  As you all know~we HAVE a dog.  Chamois is a sweet 8 week old Golden Ret.  who won me over when I first saw her.  There were 10 puppies and she is the only one who ran over to Jori Beth and sat right in front of her and just stared up at Jori till Jori bent down to pet her.  Then she was all wiggles.  Jim, Amy, Jori Beth and I drove 2 hours to Kinston, NC to "look at a puppy."  Ha!!  Jim had me figured out before we left the house.  He asked me why I didn't have a collar (I did but he didn't know it) or a leash.  And did I have food for the new puppy at home.  I really didn't have food and I did have to run out that night and get some.  The only things I had were the name and the collar.  So far it's going quite  well~~The sleeping thing is good~the peeing thing is a pain in the neck!  She pees ALL the time.  I think since she was an outdoor dog she thinks she can pee just anyplace.  She is learning (or maybe I am just so aware of her signs) to try to hold it till I can get her outside.  She already knows how to "sit" no big thanks to me.  She does it all the time and I just praise her to the skies every time.  She is very good with the collar and leash.  I was suprised at that.  She is a great rider!!  Thank goodness because a lot of her life will be spent in the car.  We are going to call the fence people tomorrow and get a couple of estimates.  That will make life a whole lot easier.

So now we are dog people again.  Complete with all the joys and tribulations that a puppy means.  The cats are NOT happy.  We hardly ever see Baily anymore and she is not eating very well.  I'm hoping that will change.  When we do see her we try to give her a lot of attention but she is very stand-offish right now.  Gracie is not giving up her spots in the house but she is snappish and hissing a lot at Chamois.  But Chamois just doesn't get it.  She insists that Gracie play with her and finally Gracie just leaves in a huff!  SHE is eating.

That's about all that is going on in our lives right now.  Noah and Jori Beth are well and happy and Mike and Deborah are having great success with Cat Angles and Jim and Amy are fine, too.  Amy will start school in the Spring and is looking forward to that.   Have a great New year, everyone!!!

Dog or no dog?.....No dog for now.

On further thought--we both decided that right now is not the time for a new pet.  We don't know what is going to happen in Florida or if we will have to go down there anytime soon.  I wouldn't want to leave a new pet here.

Christmas is almost here--there, too--and I guess I had so much running around to do that now that I am finished shopping and wrapping I'm kind of "let down".  Tomorrow I will do some more baking and candy making and that should perk me up.  I like the smells that go along with Christmas baking.  Noah and Jori will  be staying with us Sat. nite and that's always fun.  I have a couple of new movies to watch on the blu ray dvd player Jon got last week.  I can't tell the big difference but Jon says it's much better.  Sk--our tv is acting up.  The Samsung people will be here next Friday to look at it and hopefully fix it.  It cuts off the tops of peoples' heads and lops off the bottom of the picture, too.  Can't see what the flop is on the poker tour hands.  And we all know THAT has to be fixed right away as soon as possible!!  They say this is a common problem with these tvs and I hope once it's fixed it won't happen again. 

Gracie wants to climb the inside of the tree and although I don't want her to, I hope if she does it I have the camera ready if she pokes her head out.  Bailey just sits around looking at Gracie as if she is nuts most of the time.  Bailey is getting old and acts like an old person.  She is very sweet to J and me, but is not interested in making friends with anyone else including Gracie.  She is very healthy, just slowing down enough so that when she does decide to act like a kitten it's really cute,  She's almost clumsy about it.

Mike and Deborah have a georgeous Ragdoll cat at the facility.  A papered, $2500.00 cat that will go to some lucky person for $115.00.  They also have a beautiful purebred Persian named Princess Cadie that will go home for $115.00.  These cats have papers!  The Ragdoll is a beautifl animal named Chiqui (Chickie) and he is the sweetest cat they have ever had-except for Michaela, the blind kitty.  So it's fun for me to go up and play with the cats and then come home satisfied that I don't have a 3rd. one.  Go to www.catangelsnc.org to see the cats up there.  I'm not sure if Chiqui and Princess Cadie are on the site yet.  They are in quarantine because all new cats have to be in "Q" for 10 days after they enter the program before they can be adopted.  Enough of that.

I thought I had a lot of stuff to talk about but I have just rambled on and on about nothing.  So now I'll stop.

I hope you all have a very nice Christmas...I'm sure you will...and a happy New Year!!

Long time~no blog...

It's been a very long time--no excuses--just lazy.  When evening comes I'm done for the day, usually. 

Got my Christmas shopping almost all finished!!  Now I have to get the elves to wrap it all and put bows on.  Wish it was that easy.  I'll be spending all day~off and on~~tomorrow wrapping and "bowing".  Between times I'll set up the little reindeer in the front yard and set up the fake gift boxes on the porch.  Then my decorating will be done!!  Santa has realised this year that as the Grandchildren get older their "toys" get more expensive.  A LOT more expensive.  Can't wait till they are 16 and 17.  That will be fun.  Santa will probably get them car mats or something like that!  Usually by this time of year I've been to several craft shows but this year only 2.  Got some neat ideas, but no time to do them.  N. and J. will be spending the weekend with us and they--meaning mostly me--will be making their parents Christmas gift.  They want to make a kaliediscope (sp?).  I found a kit and we will do it this weekend.  I will also be winterizing the boat so this will be fun.  I tthink we are going to the lake this weekend.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful.  Mid 50's to mid and upper 60's.  Good time to go.  Hopefully David-builder- will have the shower door on and we can do the final inspection and have it over with.   A and J have a new puppy.  That makes 3!  They have a 7 week old Boston Terrier.  I'm not wild about the breed but they talked about getting a pit bull and I told them if they did I would NOT take care of it for them when they needed me to.  I think they knew I was serious.  The new puppies' name is Ava and she is cute but not THAT cute.  I'm still thinking about getting a Golden--I think Jon would like it eventually and I would like to get one before I get too old to care for it.  If they live 10+ years-that puts me at 75 or older when the dog is old and needs more care.  We'll see.      I think I hear the rumble of tiny kitty feet heading down the stairs--they want attention and I need to sit back in my recliner and watch a little TV and also stand by with the squirt bottle so Gracie doesn"t totally destroy the tree and the ornaments which she thinks we put there for her amusement.    Bye for now...