busy summer

It has been a  very busy summer.  Jim and I went

up to New York to visit friends after July 4th and had a wonderful time in the great Adirondack Park. 

Jeffrey and Lea Ann Rosenthal have a great cabin overlooking Sacandaga Lake in Mayfield,NY.  We

had such a great couple of days there, we stayed at the Melody Lodge in Speculator and then went to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake.  And of course we got up to the race track in Saratoga after stopping in to see Cathy and Rich Bennice, Jim's sister and her husband and were able to meet their new granddaughter Isabella, what a cutie !                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                    

Our art contest "Art in the Holler" is taking place at the Lake Lure Arts and Crafts Festival on Oct. 20, 2012.  We will be awarding our prizes  at 2 pm that day.  Look for the big tent and our sign. 

The Festival has sent out applications out to the elementary schools and middle schools in Rutherford County.  The applications have all the pertinent information on them.  Deadline for contest is October 12, and there is a drop off place at the Lake Lure Outreach office on Hwy 64/74. 

We hope we will have as many entrees as we did last year.  There will be 3 (1st) prizes of $25 Walmart giftcards, 3 (2nd) prizes of $10 Walmart giftcards, and 3 (3rd) prizes of assorted art supplies.

We are looking forward to seeing the beautiful entrees.  Last year it was such a sight to have them posted all around the small smoking barn.

we could use a little rain....

We have lived in Weddington, NC for the past 24 years and always, and I mean always, miss the pop up thunderstorms.  My daughter Morgan lives 5 miles away in Waxhaw and my mother lives in Indian Trail, they get all the rain.  Now I am not looking for any trouble from the rain gods, don't want storm damage (last week in a small shower we had dime sized hail) but for goodness sake, who put the umbrella over Weddington?  I can remember when the kids were younger and we belonged to a swim club maybe 3 miles away and they would call and say "come pick us up, it's pouring out and they have closed the pool", and I would say, "no way!"
We were up to the farm last weekend and it looked like there was alot of damage along 64/74 from a freak storm in the last few days.  At the farm there was water in our blue bucket on the deck (our scientific instrument in rain gauging) and everything looked ok, but the pond had not moved up the shoreline.  Every year Jim worried about our little leaks and our little springs.  This year I think he has finally understood what the farmer who sold it had told us in the beginning back in August of 2005.  He said "it goes up and down every year, some years it stays up longer".  The pond was built in the early 70's by Manuel and his father, King Logan Hill.  We worry constantly about the trees on the dam, (never, never let trees grow on your dam) but they have been there for almost as long as the dam.  They are huge pine trees and they creak and moan every time the wind blows hard.   Quite eerie.  Someday, (when we win the lottery) we will have the shoreline across redug and use that dirt for a new dam.  $$$$ our money pit.  At least the fish are happy, and Jim is happy fishing and watching our fish grow.  (catch and release of course)
John and Morgan came up with their 3 and Kate brought the boys up this last weekend.  The cousins had a wonderful time, playing in the sprinkler, chasing each other about, occasionally with a dustup.  ( what do you expect when you play super heroes?) John and Jim worked on the driveway, the dam and just about anything Jim could think of with his new toy, a professional weed and stick whacker...
Kate and I painted on our little canvases.  Dominic painted a beautiful deer with an owl in the background.  The littler ones painted on whatever paper I could find. 
I can't wait til Jim is able to help me chop down all the jungle items in the front and meadow.  We really cleaned it out in late April, but it's back..... The front meadow by the smoke house is just beautiful with black eyed Susans, chock full of them.   The orchard is growing little by little.  I don't think the goats or deer have been by in a while.  Small trees can really suffer from those munchers.
I will try and post a picture/video of the cousins dancing to Lady GaGa on the deck.  It was a hoot.
Living the life of Riley.....

bench, daisy, dora and riley, jim walking with 3 labs, hannah and frank-where's penny

another fun weekend

Kathy and George Garner came for a relaxing weekend with their labs, Dora and Daisy.  The dogs did not even have to be on the invisible fence collars, they were so good.  We just sat around talking and eating and walking on down to the pond to have the 3 labs swim and watch Jim do a little fishing.  He is becoming a fanatic!  He loves seeing how big our little bass have become, and the grass carp are humongous.  We watched the catfish swim around and make circles in the mud for spawning beds from the upper deck.  I meant to get a close up picture of the circles, they are very interesting. 
Jim and George went up to Randy's place in Old Fort to get the bench we had drawn up designs for. (on the back of a napkin, no less)  Randy did a pretty good job interpreting the chicken scratch design.  I will try to load a picture of it on this blog page.  I forget from time to time how all this technology works.....We'll run up to the Black Mountain festival in August to see him again.  Jim said he has made a really neat fire truck. 
The meadow around the old smokehouse is just beautiful with black-eyed Susan's and rudbeckias.  (Probably the same kind, but some of the flower heads are very large, almost 4.5" inches across.)  The meadow over the septic field is not quite as pretty.  We hope to cut that all back again in a few weeks,  (didn't we just do that 2 monthes ago?)  The glads were up though and they still put on a good show.  The knockout roses are not as happy as they should be.  And the butterfly bush by the deck is a good 14' tall with gigantic blooms.  You would think that I nuked it with fertilizer, but I did not.
At home in Weddington, the vegetable garden is going strong.  I was pretty late putting most in because I was traveling.  But the first set of corn already has tassles.  I have gotten a lot of green peppers, some delicious banana peppers, and I picked my first yellow squash today.  We got almost 1.5" of rain yesterday and I have vowed not to be a slave to watering the gardens.  Mulch, mulch and mulch.
Lots of tadpoles in the new ponds, but there must have been a hawk attack on a mockingbird.  Lots and lots of feathers, no carcass.  Still have my 53 fish going strong.  I think I am going to get a heron decoy from The Pond Store in the next few weeks, I am a little worried about future visits.  George and Kathy were saying they had lost all their fish, and they had real koi.  George said every year by Thanksgiving they would have had a visit from one of the herons on our lakes.  I have seen a heron by my little pond at least 3 times and it has been in early winter.  Last time was when he/she put a hole in my little pond liner and took 2 small koi.  The rest of my fish are just Walmart brand goldfish.  Some are orange, some are spotted and some are just plain green.  Oh well, living the life of Riley.....

May went by so fast......

Had a wonderful trip to Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland.  The weather was what I had expected, pretty cold and rainy.  Even snow in Scotland.   Our tour was of rural landscapes and everything was so beautiful.  Different on both islands but just beautiful.  Their mountains were smaller but very picturesque. 
On another note, we welcomed our 7th grandchild, a girl, Keegan Lyla Fahy on May 30.  She is just precious.  And she was born 7 weeks to the day after #6, James Petros Sarantopoulos.  Baby James is growing in leaps and bounds, already 9lbs+. 
We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with Kate and Xavi and Dominic, Morgan and Zoe, Lily and baby James, David, Amanda and Kent, Oma(Betty), Jim and I.  It was fabulous weather, and lots of fishing.  However, Jim was disappointed in not having caught anything.  (David did)
Weekend before last we installed a brand new pond, waterfall and small creekbed.  We redid the old pond, now to be known as lower pond.  John had done all the digging in the monthes before.  David and John helped us on Saturday, Kate and Sammy helped us on Sunday.  It is just what I had wanted.  I had seen Jonathan Parks' pond last year and got a really bad case of pond envy.  We had 58 fish, lost 2. May have to redo the dam as some of the water being pumped to the upper pond is not making it back to the lower pond, oh well. 
Hope to be meeting soon with a woman from the Lake Lure festival to start making arrangements and plans for our art contest, "Art in the Holler 2012".  And Randy Lowery called last week to say our bench is done.  So we hope to pick it up and see if it can be our prototype for a future outdoor furniture line. 
Babysitting Charlie, a yellow lab/setter cross (we think). He is a handful.   Reminds me of  my Dooley.  Big and goofy.  He loves to bother Riley and Riley is pretty patient about it.  However, Frank, Penny and Hannah try to stay away as much as possible.
Had a wonderful time last weekend with John and Jennifer Davis.  We spent Saturday on Lake Lure boating about.  It was great weather and we loved looking at the wonderful lakeside houses.  If you are ever up to Lake Lure, rent a pontoon boat and spend a few leisurely hours on the lake.
Well, signing off for now, living the life of Riley....




ever are up

leaving soon for uk and republic of ireland

My mother and I are making preparations for our little tour of the "Rural Landscapes of England, Ireland and Scotland" by the the tour group "Go Ahead Tours".  Very hard to pack for 16 days.  I am of the "bring as little as you can get away" mindset, hoping for some time in a laundromat.  But let's face it,it is very hard to find that many nice casual outfits.  And as my family and friends will tell you, I am not known for good fashion.  As evidenced by the time my then 15 year old son, Matt, begged me not to please not go get the mail down the driveway at the same time he would be dropped off by his friends coming home from school.  Or my son David who told a friend that he couldn't possibly have seen me at the grocery store in my work jumpsuit,  (carhart of course).  But alas, it was me.  It is a wonder I have not been nominated for that tv show, "What Not To Wear".
Now that my children are much older, this year they are 34, 32, 30 and 26, they have come to terms with my hit and mostly miss fashion sense.  My mother serves as the family fashion police.  But I will try very hard not to embarass my mother on this trip. 
When I return I hope to post some pictures of our trip on this blog and tell a few stories.  And if any of my UK readers want to reach me, I will be getting my email at my GuardsFarm@gmail.com site during the trip. 
Living the life of Riley....  

culloden

Today is the anniversary of the horrible battle of Culloden in Scotland.  It was a brutal massacre by the English army. The last battle for freedom. Those who were left alive were imprisoned and either executed or banished from Scotland forever.  Many were put on ships to the New World and some found the mountains of North Carolina to be much like their highland homes.

 Here's  to the brave Scottish families who settled in the North Carolina mountains!

newest baby

We are proud to announce the arrival of newest grandson, James Petros Sarantopoulos.  He is such a handsome fellow.  Oma and I took Xavi (Figueroa) to see him today after James' sisters Lily and Zoe went home with their dad.  Then  Oma and I went in the evening to see the Indian Land Elementary School's production of "The Wizard of Oz", in which Dominic Figueroa portrayed a munchkin.  It was a precious production and very innovative in the staging process.  We enjoyed it immensely.
Last weekend at the farm, Jim and I took another load of log house debris to the dump.  We measured for the back  window of the kitchen and I will be on the lookout for a replacement.  I will try and find something at the Habitat Store, but sometimes I find things on the side of the road.  I might call Tom Ratliff, a builder we know, to see if he might know of someone doing reno work. 
At the dump, there were the cutest 2 shepherd looking puppies.  I cried to see them foraging around.  Jim said they probably live around there and tramp about on the mounds all the time.  I will believe him.  Down the street from the dump is the kill shelter.
Oh, if I could only save all the puppies and dogs.  I just finished reading a book called, "City of Thieves" about the siege of Leningrad during the second World War.  (Benioff)  It was a  quick read, funny and sad.  But there was a section in it talking about the foolish plan by the Russians to use their dogs as suicide/homicide bombers on the German Panzer tanks.  Cruel.
So I can only pray to St. Francis when I see strays now.  Jim says I have done my duty and will not allow further rescues.  I am so lucky that he allowed me to rescue throughout our 35 years of marriage.
(at one point we had 7 dogs).  We give them love, shelter, food and basic medical care.  However, no dental appointments.  So here's to Sam (1) '76-'84; Jessie '84-'99; Frannie '85-'95; Thumper '89-'01; Elvis '91-'97;Potter '93-'03; Jack '93-'09; Sam (2) '96-'11; and Dooley '98-'04.  These are the years they lived with us after "we" were found.  And of course we have our Penny and Hannah since '01; Riley (only dog purchased, a gift from my children) '04; and Frank '05.  May they continue with our legacy of long canine lives. And here's to my children carrying on this legacy of rescue/adoption.  In our family the count now stand at 12 dogs, Matt's dog Manny just being adopted out to another family.
 I am not going to mention our cats at this time....mostly because at this point we are suffering in the Weddington house from neighborhood cats who are coming by to leave their scent under our screen porch!  (cats should live indoors!) 
To anyone who reads these posts, (now over 500 readings throughout the world) please feel free to comment.  We realize many come through our website and are interested in "an American family".
But please, no haters....
Living the life of Riley......

day after Easter

Well, we are up here at the farm again.  Last weekend was very eventful.  We went to Hendersonville to visit Stuart Van Meter and his wife Caroleena (sp).  They have a beautiful place up on a mountain.  About 70 acres with chickens, even Jim was impressed with how pretty they were.  (I thought I might have Jim convinced to let me have a few, but no dice....)  And a very nice lab named Ria. 
There are several log buildings on the property and Stuart has done the renovating work on most of them.  In particular, a house that was rebuilt and written about in "Cabin, a Mountain Adventure" by Barbara Hallowell.  We purchased the book and have enjoyed reading about the Hallowell's family excursion into log house rebuilding.  It is a wonderful read and very nice to have seen the property.
Stuart was showing us how to chink our old house.  We are almost ready to take this on, one side at a time...
The next day we met an old friend of Jim's (from 1st grade!) and his wife at Black Mountain for lunch.  It was a very pleasant day and we ate outside at the pizza place on the hill, cannot remember the name.  Then we drove to Old Fort to see our old friend Randy Lowery to talk about log benches.  We sketched one out and hopefully he will be able to make it in the next few monthes.  He is very busy with the craft fairs right now.  His wife is very sick right now, and we wish her a gentle but full recovery.  And he told us about how he lost his mother beagle and four of her pups to the coyotes.  That scares and saddens me.  He told us that he has bought bells for his other dogs to wear.  The bells seem to confuse the coyotes. 
We know we have had coyotes up here.  We saw one a few years ago when our little Hannah (who looks like a small coyote)  went up our mountain after a snow storm.  She has a bit of brain damage from being hit by a car when we found her 12 years ago.  We worried all night, and drove and walked around calling for her.  At one point we were driving down our street and we saw her, I got out of the car and called her but she ran away.  I followed her but could not track her.  (This was happening at about 2 am)  Early the next morning we hiked up our mountain because we could hear her.  She was up there and could not figure out how to come down. She must have followed the deer up there. Then we realized that what we saw and thought was her was actually a coyote. 
So now at night, before we go to bed, I take the dogs down to the pond with a flashlight and a big stick.  I make plenty of noise, even growl a bit to scare the bears and coyotes off!
Living the life of Riley....

looking for advice

It has been a long time since I have written.  Been very busy with planning my mother's 85th birthday,(it was a surprise and success) trying to get the house in Weddington ready for spring,  getting the vegetable beds ready for planting and having great fun with the grands. 
This weekend we are heading back up to the farm.  Last weekend I hosted 5 ladies from our sages and pages bookclub.  We had a blast, went up to Black Mountain to shop and lunch.  Back to the farm for good eating and drinking and lots of talking, with periodic periods of stargazing.  We were able to see Venus and Jupiter.  Although I could only identify Venus for sure. 
So at the log house we have finished taking out the ceiling in the living and kitchen areas.  Was very dirty work.  Tomorrow we are hoping to meet with a man in Hendersonville who has restored a few log houses and get his advice on cleaning and chinking.  Et cetera.... Then on Saturday we hope to run up to Old Fort and see Randy Lowery and get an idea on the log chairs and benches we want to have him build for us.  We are looking for a few items to represent and sell on our website and through Etsy that are influenced by the  Rustic Country Chic lifestyle we are trying to brand for Guards Farm. 
Hopefully we can help some mountain artisans by giving them another avenue in which to show their products to the public. 
I probably have mentioned that we have decided to go another route with "Art in The Holler".  We will continue with the annual art contest, but are hoping to participate in the Lake Lure festival in October with some items to sell and show.  Once the log house is finished being brought back to life, I would like to use it for a couple of either antique tag sales, quilt/fabric, or furniture sales.  It might make a good venue during certain times, and Mary Lynne Knowles, a friend from the bookclub has said she can help me with marketing ideas. 
We still hope to help with the Rutherfordton Fall Festival, Morgan said she might be able to be there to help and maybe Amanda  and David can help with the 5k race.  We will be at a wedding that weekend along with Sammy and Kate.  Hope all my readers are having a great spring season.  Living the life of Riley.....

update on house reno

We went up on Friday, February 10th with Kate and Sammy and the boys, Xavi and Dominic joining us that evening.  Saturday morning David, Amanda and Kent arrived early.  After a quick lunch of my famous squished sandwich ( large french or italian bread, split almost in half lengthwise and then hollowed out on one side.  Then layer salami, turkey, cheese, olives (whatever you have on hand), mayo and italian dressing (again, whatever you have on hand).  Wrap with plastic wrap and refridgerate with something heavy on it.  Next day, presto-great sandwich, slice and serve.  Let me tell you, a whole lot better than standing there making 15 sandwiches for everybody....., the men headed out for another afternoon of demolition of the inside of the cabin.  They were able to get quite alot done on Saturday and Sunday.  And run off to the dump with alot of trash.  The kitchen has now been demolished down to the beadboard and the kitchen sink cabinet has been taken out.  So now we have 2 rooms, and a partition for the bathroom where we will install a loft for storage.  Sammy still has not found any great treasures.  No confederate gold or artifacts.  But we did find a really nice cane someone had carved.  We'll hang that on the wall of the new log house. 
We had some discussions on what the future of  "Art in the Holler" will bring and have come to a decision that we will continue to host the art contest for the children of Rutherford County and award prizes.  But we are now thinking that we will have a booth at the Rutherfordton Fall Festival and ask them to help us with the contest.  Our location does not allow for alot of traffic.
We are now going to start focus on a few products which we will have manufactured.  We are hoping that the woodworker who had his booth at the event will help us with this.  And we are still looking at import business from South America as an option for a few products.  Our wonderful  upholsterer, Marjorie from Rumar Upholstery has indicated that she would love to help us with some other projects that we would sell online.  I will keep looking for products that can represent Guards Farm.  Living the life of Riley...

Fun times with alpacas and work on the old log house, circa 1870ish

Last week, Jennifer (bestfriend) and I took  Xavi to see the alpacas at Happy Hills Alpaca Farm in Monroe, NC.  I wanted to get some alpaca "poop" for my garden beds.  And they sell it for $1 per bag, $5 for already composted. 
They have a bunch of sweet sweet alpacas.  Very friendly and inquisitive.  They also have a wonderful sheep named Grace.  What a sweetheart, very friendly and hungry....  There is also a lovely St. Bernard who guards them.  Everything is fenced in but we do worry about coyotes out in our rural areas.  Actually, in Charlotte proper, they have worries about coyotes.  Some very scarey stories about pets abound. 
We saw the little studio that the owner has to spin her fiber.  It was very cute.  A dream shed, easy to do.  I should do more with my greenhouse and make it more cute, but I hardly finish the projects I need to do.  All in the presentation....
Xavi had a great time, Jennifer and I fell in love with the alpacas and now I dream about how I could maybe have a few at the farm.  But I would worry about who would take care of them when I wasn't there.
On Friday we set out for the farm with Dominic and Sammy and Kate and Xavi came up on Saturday.  Sammy has been itching to get into the old house and see if there are any "treasures" there.  It was a very rainy day. Kate and I cooked a big lunch and dinner and  Sammy and Jim worked all                   
Saturday afternoon. And then a little bit on Sunday am.  I helped to.  It was a filthy mess.  But alot was accomplished.  The ceiling  was taken off from the two big rooms, and the wall dividing the rooms was removed.  The big room is now 16 x 23.  Pretty big.  We saved most of the beadboards and I will be working on taking the nails out, sanding the wood side and priming the painted side so we can use them in other areas.  I am thinking of even using them in our laundry room.  That is the only room we have not finished at the new log house. 
I am hoping to post pictures on our website in the next few days, www.guardsfarm.com. 
Living the life of Riley......

January days

Usually in January we go on some sort of vacation.  We have gone to Florida a few times, to Arizona once and if we don't go anywhere we try and spend a few more days up at the farm.  This year I guess we won't do either.  I am not disappointed, but it it has been  the way we celebrate our anniversary
in the past 10 years.   This year will be our 35th anniversary. A long long time.  Some years better than others, most years quite wonderful.  Last year was a pretty good year.  No one got too sick, no frightening health tests.  Let's hope this year will be the same.

The weather has been very strange lately, not really settling into winter temperatures but cold blasts from time to time.  When the temperature drops below 30 degress or so, I have my heater set up for the greenhouse.  It is on a timer to go on every so often, maybe 5 times per night for about 15 minutes each time.  Last night I had it set for a regular cold night, not realizing the temp dropped lower than 22 degrees.  When it gets that cold  I set the heater at a different level of temperature.  I went to check on the greenhouse this morning and it seems the cold was a little too much for some of the plants.  The begonias are now done for, and the lovely tree that Kathy Garner gave me last summer (it had outgrown her space and her time) seems to have some brown leaves.  I think it is a type of ficus, the leaves look like ficus but they are different in spacing.  We will see what happens later this spring.  Last year I had a major malfunction when the door blew open during a very cold night and I lost alot of plants.  I thought I had lost the mandevillas but they dropped their leaves and came back from the dead in the spring.  So I guess so far this year I have lost the geraniums and begonias for the rest of the winter.  They always perk me up.  The ferns all seem ok.

I don't really use the greenhouse for starting seeds, I use my dining room table, which drives my husband crazy.  After they have sprouted I will put them under lights and move them day to day.  When the weather gets a little more dependable, say some time in March, I will move some seedlings to the greenhouse.  It really depends on the temperature.  And I check the temperature every day to see how cold it is going to be.  So in the greenhouse are the plants that I have in the garden every year, cast offs from neighbors, things I find on garbage day.  I am always amazed how many plants people throw out when they get tired of them. Lots of tropicals, some everyday houseplants.  They usually only need a small amount of tlc (tender loving care) to recover.  I end up with lots of mums every fall that I can usually get to survive in my outside gardens. 

This week I hope to have my son David come down and help me get some cow/horse/alpaca manure to spread on the big beds.  There is still 120 days til we plant and that is the rule of thumb for spreading manure on vegetable gardens.  Last year I was convinced by my husband, Jim, to just get compost.  I was not very happy with the results.  And this year he wants to put in irrigation on the lawn and my gardens so I will not be held hostage by the hot weather.  I will be so excited to not have to line up people to water all the gardens every time I leave for a few days.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year, living the life of Riley......

so why is the tree still up?

Ok, ok, so I planned to take the big tree down at our house in Weddington.  But I couldn't.  Really.  I got a case of the blues.  We had the best Christmas and New Year holidays ever, and I started feeling a bit empty on Monday.  So, what did I do?  I went and got my grandson Dominic to spend a few days with, followed by his brother Xavi and it is now Wednesday night and all the Christmas decorations are still up.  So tomorrow, I promise, I will start taking stuff down and packing it away. 
We had a lovely surprise when Lea Ann and Jeffrey Rosenthal stopped by on their way down from New York to Sanibel.  They were here for New Year's eve, it was spectacular.  (very lowkey, the way we like it)  Hopefully they will stop on their way back up to New York.
It has been especially cold this week, had to keep the heater on in the greenhouse.  John S.  dug more and more of the new pond on Monday.  It is really taking shape.  It will be a long process, but after we get that done and prune back all the shrubs on that side, I will be able to plant more flowering shrubs and trees.  And with all the dirt that is being excavated, I can fill some more of the big beds up further.  I'll need more compost of course, but let's hope that the garden can be even more productive this year.  And I think I am going to try my hand at making my own pots for seedlings out of compost.  This is always how I start the year, so excited about planting a bumper crop of vegetables.  Lots of fun to work in the dirt. 
Then I have to think of what we can grow up at the farm too.  Living the life of Riley.....