We did the trolley tour, Mike, Brooke and I. Mike is my nephew, Brooke is his wife and as far as I am concerned my niece. Loved having them. It was soooo damn hot. The bank said 94, but I think it was wrong. We had a great time though.
This is Brooke and Mike standing in one of the fire places at the Grove Part Inn. Aren’t they cute?
This is them outside with Asheville in the background. Did I mention it was hot?
Inside the trolley
How dare they put my likeness on the side of a building….humphhhhh!!!
Whenever we drive by this gas station, Ann says, “This is where the prostitutes hang out.” I have yet to see one, but I keep looking.
Asheville High School, not the one I teach at, but it is actually listed on the National Historic Registry.
The gravestone of William Sydney Porter aka O’Henry. There is always change on the tombstone, symbolic of the first line in “Gift of the Magi.” “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.”
I have company, but they are still asleep, so I thought I would get in a short blog. My nephew, Michael, flew in on Wednesday afternoon. It is such a good experience to spend time with him as an adult. He is thirty now, and honestly I just cannot believe it. He is a teacher in the Denver area, and it has been so great just sitting and talking with him. He is a really great guy, and I love his views….probably because they are so much like mine!! We have done a lot of running around, having good meals, and sitting on the deck just talking. Each night we sit on the deck until late, drink a beer or two, and talk. The one problem with the structure of Possum Manor, which is only an issue a few times a year, is that everything is open. The only interior doors in the whole place are the two bathrooms and the guestroom. So when Ann goes to bed early, as she has to get up at the butt crack of dawn, we really have to be quiet. Evenings have been nice, so being outside has not been an issue, and I have loved the time.
Brooke, Mike’s wife, flew in last night, so we all got to sit and talk. They got back here long after dark, and Ann was sleeping, so Brooke will get the house tour this morning. I have collected enough of my chickens’ eggs to make breakfast too.
What I had not noticed, as I have rarely been on the back deck after dark this year because it has been so dang hot even at night, is that I had not experienced the night sounds of Possum Manor.
There is nothing to see, as it was dark, but turn up your sound.
What you just heard are the Possum Manor Tree Frogs, and they have been booked into Las Vegas next spring.
I was finally able to get the photos off an old lap top which had tried to quit working. I found the first pictures of Brando, and this one is the night we got him home. We, mostly Ann, bathed him in the kitchen sink. He was soooo cute. He had those thinking eyes even then. He had a complete ear.
- Why is it that whenever I carry a twelve pack of toilet paper from the car to the house the plastic breaks and the toilet paper rolls around the yard and under the porch?
- Why is it that whenever I am somewhere where there are a lot of people and I smell someone with really bad body odor, I am afraid it might be me?
- Why is it I only remember that my cell phone needs charging when my head is on the pillow?
Side note. I was having worry about those wasp larva coming to life. I took a broom and knocked the nest into the yard. Then I worried they would come to life and kill the cats. So, I got it into a garbage bag I was taking to the transfer station. Then I worried they would come to life while I drove to the transfer station, get out of the bag and sting me to death. So, I put the top down and drove with garbage bags in my front seat. I tossed them out and got the hell out of there before they came to and wanted to come home.
No sign of them yet.
First, you have to hear about today. it was one of the hottest days of the summer, and our power went out for about three hours. I heard, “Boom!” and the lights went out. I did not care about the lights necessarily, as it was a bright day. But, the air conditioning went out, and I thought I would melt. I had had the oven on earlier, and I had heated up the kitchen nicely. It went off about 11:30 AM and came back around 3PM. Phew!
I made biscotti this morning. I believe the translation of biscotti from Italian is twice baked, which is what you do. You make it into log and bake.
After they cool a bit, you cut them into slices (on the diagonal). You then put them back in the oven and bake, and then turn them and bake more. They are really wonderful. I made gingerbread biscotti only because I had the ingredients for it. I am planning on making almond and chocolate chip tomorrow, after I go to the store. Oh, those are two different recipes not almond chocolate chip. lol
Now for the show……My favorite chicken, Little Bean, is the star.
This morning I cleaned out the chicken coop. If you could have heard them, you would have thought I was killing them all. They carry on so when I am in there with NO food. I have learned not to spend the time putting the clean straw in all neat and even. They put it exactly where they want it, so I just let them do it. This is the way I left the house for them.
I do the same with the coop. I put the straw in, and they decorate. I will get pictures tomorrow to show what they do with it.
I canned two jars of pickled beets. ( Why do they call it canned when it is really jarred?) No need to do more, as I am the only one who will eat them. They are really pretty.
I asked Brando Von Gogh how is ear was healing. He responded, “Give me a cookie and no one gets hurt.”
This is what one of the wasps nests looked like, after the tenants were evicted. I am guessing the the white are eggs. Maybe not.
Our poor, old Maudie is spending her summer sleeping on the front porch. She comes in when she wants, but usually it is only to eat and drink. Sometimes I do not know if she even knows where she is. It is sad. She is seventeen now, and our vet said only one in sixty cats lives to be that old. In her day, she was a great huntress. She, all by herself, reduced the population of moles in North Carolina.
Actually, they were driven up the mountain in a Prius. The hens are having a bit of a crisis, but by tomorrow they will have forgotten the chicks were even here. I will clean the coop out, put in new straw, and all will be grand.
I took a few videos this morning, in preparation for the chicks’ departure. I apologize for the choppiness of the film, especially at the beginning.
This morning I got up and made stuffed crescent rolls, some filled with semi-sweet chocolate, some with raspberry jam. They were pretty darn good. Then I made a second batch of dog biscuits. I am trying to get ahead in the biscuit department, so now we should quite a few weeks’ worth.
Our Black Eyed Susan bush has finally bloomed. I honestly did not know we had them.
Dianna’s D is finally finished. I might get it in the mail this next week. I have strawberry syrup to get mailed too.
What is a stacation? It is a vacation where you stay at home. We are going to do things around here. Today we just putzed around, and I started another good book. For dinner we grilled hot dogs (mine were turkey), and we included homemade potato salad ( I made pretty darn good potato salad) and Stella beer.
Mighty good way to begin a staycation. I also made cookies. Well, not cookies exactly, but more like bars. They were suppose to be fig newtons, but I could not find figs. So, I made raisin newtons. Had to boil up the raisins and everything. Then they are made into bars.
When they come out of the oven, you cut them into pieces.
They are ungodly sweet. I made a few of the bars with raspberry jam, and those are really good.
As I was typing this blog up, Ann yelled from the kitchen for me to see what was all over the dishwasher door and floor. She thought it was jelly, but I realized it was blood. Brando likes to lick the dishes as we put them in the dishwasher (oh, yes it is disgusting), but these dishes were clean, and I ALWAYS put the knives downward so they cannot hurt anyone. I followed the massive amount of blood on the floor and realized it was coming from Brando. We thought it was his mouth, but his head was covered too. What I finally realized, after I was completely covered in blood, was that the tip of his ear was bleeding. Actually the tip of his ear was missing, and he was bleeding profusely from where the tip should have been. He is not happy with me trying to clean him up, but finally the ear has stopped bleeding. I need to wash his head and neck off now, but he does not want to come near me. I guess we will take him to the vet tomorrow, but we do have antibiotic cream we could put on in the meantime. I gave him ice cream as a reward for being such a good dog and only smearing blood on the front door and bedroom wall. Ann laughed at me and said I was the best mother and the worst at the same time. That was because I let him back in the house while he was still bleeding because I did not want to hurt his feelings. I got this picture while he and Xena were eating their ice cream. We still have no idea how he did it. Ann actually searched the dishwasher for the piece of ear. Needless to say, we rewashed those dishes.
Antibiotic cream? Leave it alone? What do you all suggest? Right now he is laying on the floor, on the ear, so it must not hurt him too much.
My day began at 4AM…That’s right, 4AM. I took Ann to work. The plan was that I would take her to work and then come back and play some machines and see the casino’s new addition. All I can say is, “Oh my gosh that is just too early to go to work!!!” After I dropped her off I went to visit Carrie. Now, it was only 6:30 AM by the time I got there. We had coffee, talked, and then I went in and took a nap for an hour or so. I showered, and then I went to the casino.
I played the penny machine for an hour or so, and I had a good time. I donated twelve dollars to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I had no idea what I was doing. I only know when it paid off. The casino opened their new additions, which tripled its size. It is really beautiful.
I drove Ann home, and on the way we had dinner. I am honestly exhausted.
It only took a week, but Brando and Jack finally could be in the same room without fighting for attention. Donna left this morning, Ann is at work, and it is really oddly quiet at Possum Manor. I had plans to have my coffee out on the back deck, but it was chilly. How can it be so hot during the day and be so cool in the morning. I am certainly not complaining; the cool feels good.
My uphill neighbor, Maria, found the rooster a home. It is a good home on an organic farm. I will call the woman today and work out a time I can go and deliver him. I think he will be happy there, at least I hope he will be. I am sure he will not get yogurt or freeze dried meal worms, but he will be well fed and have lots and lots of company.
Middle of the week:
Last night:
Between Jack being here and the fireworks going off each night, Brando has really had a difficult week.
The babies are getting bigger. They need to stay three more weeks, and then they will be big enough to off and find apartments of their own.
Lucille is almost as big as the smallest hen.
My favorite, Black Bean, still jumps in the house when I am scattering feed. She still remembers I use to put dried meal worms in the box when the mamas were sitting on the eggs.
Have a new cross stitch project, but this time I will show what it is suppose to look like at the beginning. I need to finish the A and make a D for Dianna first. Oh, the summer might not be long enough.