Tis the Season

We have been spending a lot of time at the pond the past few days. Watching the wildlife, catching newts, salamanders and tadpoles. The frogs hang out along the edge of the pond and as you walk towards them the jump in. Yesterday one didn't jump. It just hung out. G touched it and it hopped a few inches away and again stopped. Not much later we realized a second had joined her. Again, if touched they didn't go far. The call of spring mating must be strong to pretty much ignore boy children and their antics.

Tank Sitting

What an unusual place to pick to open presents...that's G!

Monkey Cake

G decided he wanted a monkey cake - not a Curious George - just a monkey. As an after thought he said it should be a banana cake. So this is what I came up with.

G is 6 (almost)

G had his birthday party Friday night. Nothing fancy, just his friends over to play and a cookout. Luckily we are good friends with the parents of most of the boys' friends so when we have a party we all have a good time. The kids had a scavenger hunt and one of their prizes was a wildlife collector. So off to the pond they went with the net and caught red spotted newts and tadpoles. Once it got dark we had a bonfire and several of the children took a flashlight hike up into the woods. All in all a great time had by all.

I sat down to write about my father's move here. However, I can't quite get my thoughts together. The basic information is he is safely at the assisited living home. The first part of the move was easier than I expected. Later, finding out the reasons for the initial ease, was tough. It has been a stressful week. My way to get through stress is to put my head down and get through it. I think this has been the toughest stress to get through tho we are all hanging in there. So, instead of getting serious I played on the computer and came up with one of those silly

Your Aura Colour is Orange.

Oranges are daredevils. They are individualistic, fearless, physical, cunning, conquerors, danger-lovers and thrill-seekers. They have been known to tilt at windmills.

Find out what colour your aura is.

quizzes. I say silly because the answer to this one is not me at all. Yes, I am individualistic and physical. I try physically challenging things but when it comes to major decisions I never jump and rarely even step. So does that mean this is the hidden me or is just totally off. I admire people who are devil-may-care. Sometimes I try to be that way but rarely make it. Maybe I got my catergories mixed up, who knows.

Trillium

Finally getting these loaded.

Ramps

Bloomin'

What a wonderful day. One of the reasons I love living here is the moistness of the woods. It is not as moist on our side of the mountain as it is over in NC tho now and again we are blessed. This morning began with a nice, misty, fog. It then continued on to a cloudy, rainy day. On my late afternoon walk I startled deer from above the pond and took pictures of lots of new growth. I saw ramps, branch lettuce, trillium, bloodroot, larkspur, foam flower, comfrey. The rain really made some of the apple trees bloosom out and the lilac bush. I also found a huge, strange lump of hosta out under a tree. I have lived here 10 years and those hosta have never showed their heads til now. Besides that they are not near any of the spots we think old homesteads were, just at the base of a tree. They almost looked dumped but that makes no sense. I'll have to do a little research to see if hosta grow wild.

We will finish out the day with a bowl of chili, a glass of wine and some Van Morrison outside with the setting sun.

The secret is out

C has been working so hard the last few weeks. His karate class has been working towards their spring demo. They have been working partly in secret. G and I take C to class and then go do something else as it is pretty boring to sit and stare at an empty room. Last night we finally got to see it all come together. Most of what they did was what they have been doing on a weekely basis: workouts, kicks, punches, kadas. What they were doing in secret was a stick kada put to music. C looked so confident and sure of himself out there. He really did enjoy himeself. We all did. The older class also performed their kadas, some including 'weapons' and some pretty fancy kicks. Two older teens in particular are a joy to watch. Their strenght and fluidity are so well balanced. C admires both boys and hopes to be able to do what they do some day. I like that he sees what hard work can do.

C also tested for his next level belt. He is now an orange/purple belt!

Tulips are bloomin'

I knew this blogging thing would take back seat to spring chores. I miss reading about what is going on in my on-line friends lives tho it is grand to be outside working on these glorious days. We really haven't spent all our time working we have done a fair bit of hiking and playing as well. The boys managed to paint the bottom of the greenhouse and were big helps in getting that pile of mulch out of the truck. We have done a goodly amount of cleaning up around the farm. Cleaning up the wood splitting place, getting all the wood stacked for next winter, making trips to the dump. I added strawberries last year and tho many succumbed to various things the survivors sent out shoots and the bed is half full of plants. Both bee hives survived the winter tho we are behind in their care. Guess they didn't like that as our strongest hive left us. Hopefully we can split the second hive.

DH has had success in the bio-diesel department. He ran his first batch through an engine and it started first time. He is also proud of his new toy - a front end loader. I am the saver in the family and any big outlay of savings gives me pause but it was a great deal. A neighbor broke the frame on his tractor and needed to sell the loader to fix the tractor. We could never have afforded even a regularly priced used one so this was a bargain. M went to move some dirt by the pond and discovered the water is spilling over the dam so it has almost paid for itself already.

We heard this week that an apartment has opened up for my father in the assissted living place. We will go get him next Friday. I think about myself at that age (hope I live that long -87) and wonder how I will react to moving off the land. My father doesn't have the same connection to the land tho he has lived in his house for over 40 years. Not surprisingly he doesn't want to move. He seems resigned to it tho. All in all I think it will be good for him. Other men to talk WWII with will be the biggest plus. He is not one for traveling, never was. Hopefully he will agree to at least travel to our farm. G's birthday party the next week seems like a good time to try. We have lived on this farm 10 years and in east TN 15. He is such a non-traveler he has never visited us before. I think coming to the farm will remind him some of his youth growing up in a small farming community in Kentucky. I think once he makes the trip he will be glad he did. After all now we are just a 30 minute trip as opposed to a 5 hour one!

A Little Success and a Lot of Snow

I am not sure how people keep up with their blogs so regularly. I can see between planting time and harvesting time there won't be as many days inside to post. I'll do the best I can.

After temperatures in the 70's we hit a normal March spell and then we had three days of snow. All in all I think we had somewhere between 8-10 inches fall. Pretty good for 'spring'. The first day of winter here was around 70 so it is only fitting the first day of spring should be 30.

We finally were able to get out and start the repairs on the boat. M successfully dove under and 'fixed' the keel. I say fixed as that is exactly what he did in that he removed the bolt and we put the new cable in. I had driven the boat into shore and in so doing the keel touched bottom. The point of a swing keel is that it should 'swing' when it encounters an obstacle. Unfortunately we discovered ours does not swing. So, yes, even though our repairs were successful it really doesn't matter because as it stands the keel is now 'fixed'. In the grand scheme of things it is not that big a deal. Most boats have a fixed keel. Problem will be in ever getting it out of the lake. Our trailer is for a swing keel boat and there is no lift on the lake. So for now its just do our repairs on the mast, get it back up and start sailing!

The boys are excited about the possibility of chickens. C has decided he would like to to do most of the work and sell the eggs to the neighbors. M came up with a great idea for a geodesic chicken coop tho I think for now we will start with them being in the barn.

Beautiful Birth Day

What a day! Much different from C's birth day. It was the coldest night of the year! Not that we cared. We were warm and snug in the bed. M's parents cared tho. They drove from west TN in a van with no heat! Today tho is beautiful. It might have reached 70. C has been playing his new GB game and G has been drawing cartoons from C's new drawing book. I have begun the spring chores. I cleaned up 3 of the 4 flower beds. We walked around the farm looking for more orchard space. Now that the bees have taken over part of the old orchard we need more space. We decided there are two spots on the farm that might work. One we will need to wait til summer to check out the coverage. Both places will need a few trees removed. Mostly tulip poplars that we can use in the treehouse or for firewood. What started this new idea was someone gave us 2 pawpaw trees. We also want to plant more cherry trees. I also cleared branches from the paths. Not a lot accomplished tho a good start.

Where Does the Time Go?

C is 8! He has had three days of celebration. Thursday we took him to the local outfitter to pick out a pocket knife. M has toldthe boys as they grew that 8 was the magic number for a pocket knife. C picked out a nice Swiss Army. M told him he could have any one he wanted. C was very thoughtful in his choice. Being 8 he wanted some tools. Being wise he didn't want too many knowing it would be hard to carry. He finally settled on one with a couple of blades, saw, scissors, bottle and can openers and a few other 'standard' Swiss army items. He and M had the 'how to handle the knife' discussion. M got a 'you are the best Dad ever' for the day!

Yesterday we had a party. We had it at a local art gallery. They made sculpey necklaces and had a nice time. I remembered everything, down to the matches - except the camera!

This morning we had the family birthday breakfast. All in all I think he will sleep well tonight.

The Grotto

I'm still trying to catch up! I didn't take too many pictures on our trip. Here is one of a strange place somewhere in Iowa (I think). This was the boys favorite.

Back on the Mountain

The mountains looked so wonderful Friday as we cruised back into east Tennessee. I love to travel (especially when you have a friend with a hybrid!). Tho I love coming home more. The girl trip was a great success. We pretty much ate and drank our way across Minneapolis and St. Paul. We met many of S's friends and enjoyed the hospitality of her niece. The main reason for the trip was for N to have a meeting with the medical school as she was hoping to go to U of M in the fall. Unfortunatley it is not going to work out. Gladly, tho, N is a person of possibilities. Don't you love people like that (and I hope I am like that!)? Although disappointed she saw that that one closed door meant several others would open.

The boys had a nice time with their grandparents. It is amazing how missing someone can become a physical thing. About day 5. I am glad we could make the trip and be support for N but if there is another trip sans boys it will have to be shorter!

Driving across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin brought to mind how long some of those stretches are up in that area. As we are planning a summer trip to Wyoming I will have to think double hard on activities to keep the boys happy. They are excellent travellers and rarely complain on long trips tho it would benice to have some extra diversions.

And another from C

So now G has gotten into the anime act. Pretty proud of the 5 year old as well.