Dominic and James
sweet cousins
Monday, June 25, 2012
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.....
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.....
Monday, June 11, 2012
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
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
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