Grow Little Ones....Grow!!!

We stopped by the garden yesterday to put in some cucumbers and were amazed to see..

Everything we put in last Monday already coming up!

Onions...

Beans...

More beans and corn!  How exciting!

Does this make us farmers??

May...

Our good friends Jerry and Sylvia are letting us use this great garden, and we are taking advantage!  Stu is walking between two rows of tomatoes, we also have some onions, beans, hot peppers, corn and soon...fennel.  That should keep us busy for the Summer!

A few shots around the yard.  We've been doing a lot of landscaping...Tis the season!

 

My little herb garden is doing well.

We got these two watering troughs and two wash basins at an antique shop dirt cheap, perfect for a little close to home garden.  Tomatoes on the left and eggplant on the right.

Just barely coming up...arugula on the left and dill on the right.

Here I've got peppers starting and my mint, lemon balm and a couple of mums that survived the winter.

Before we left for South Carolina last month we started to build this rock wall.

And yesterday we did this section, I'd like to say we are done, but I think the best I can say is that we have more done, that we have to do!

It looks pretty good already, but wait until we get done... I know I can't wait!

Stu's lawn still looks great, we are keeping our fingers crossed that this one will last through the Summer.

We started working on the apartment above the garage.  It's exciting to see some progress being made, finally!

This will be the kitchen.

Across from that will be the living room and "office" tucked in the dormer.

The back half will be the bedroom with the walk-in closet on the left.

The bathroom.

Looking toward the kitchen and living room.

Can't wait to get it finished! And the projects continue...

April Update

Wow, I have been really negligent in my blogging duties!  I guess I could say that we haven't been doing anything, but that would be far from the truth.  Anyway here are a few shots I took back in April with the good intentions of posting right away...

We had a pair of titmice birds shredding our welcome mat for nesting material.

Kitty is adjusting to life in the woods just fine....ahhhhhh, the good life!

 

We had a nice long 3 or so week vacation planned in April, our first long trip with the motor home.  Well...  it was having some problems so we cancelled our first leg of the trip to Alabama.  The repairs took longer than we expected/hoped so we cancelled our second leg to Jacksonville, FL and just decided to drive the car down to my folks place in South Carolina, so our 3 weeks turned into 4 days.  Oh well, there will be other trips...

So, while in vising my folks, we took a sightseeing/dolphin cruise. 

The cruise left from Hilton Head Island.

 

Cute little harbor town, but very touristy!

There she is, the Vagabond.

 

Stu, ready to set sail...

It was incredibly windy, I didn't think we were going to get out, but with some fancy maneuvering we were under way.

Modest beach homes along the shore.

We did actually see quite a few dolphins, but trying to time it just right...

 

Forget about it!

Just managed to get little bits of the tail fin.

 

Heading back into the harbor.

 

Lunch at the Krazy Crab!

Nice parking job on my part...I must have really been hungry!

So now my folks are back in Maine to enjoy the Summer...

Porters Creek Trail

Back on the trails today (Wednesday)!  This time we did the Porters Creek Trail, about 2 miles each way to our destination, Fern Branch Falls.  Much easier than the hike last week, but just as enjoyable!  What a beautiful day!

You are going to see a lot of creek pictures...

The wildflowers were in full bloom!

Stu enjoying some creek-side action.

Eeeeeeekkkk!  I'm so not ready for snake season already!  The girls saw a copperhead snake right on the trail on the way back!

At roughly two-thirds of a mile several old stone walls will appear on your right, remnants from the Elbert Cantrell farmstead, who settled in the Porters Creek community in the early 1900s.

We saw a deer really close to the trail.

She didn't seem too bothered by us!

The Ownby Cemetery dating back to the early 1900's.

So sad... mostly children.

Crazy tree, it must have grown around something like another tree or stump that has long since gone.

This bridge I can handle...

Ok, this rickety little "bridge" looks interesting, if not scary.

If you could see my knuckles they are white... I've got a death grip on that railing.

Stu was brave enough to go back and take some pictures.

The wildflowers were just amazing!

Check out this rock...we can't get flowers to grow in our "dirt" and these flowers are growing on rock...

Amazing!

I can't remember the names of all the flowers we saw today, but these are called Dutchman's Britches.

Fern Branch Falls, 60 feet high.

The trip wouldn't be complete without testing the water!

Now it's Stu's turn.

A short hike of roughly 250 yards off the main trail will take you to the John Messer farm site, which includes a cantilevered barn built around 1875 by John Whaley.

The lofts were originally used for storing hay, loaded conveniently from wagons pulled into the driveway between the cribs. Cribs were livestock pens, while the sheltered area under the overhanging loft provided space for storing equipment and grooming animals.

The cabin on this site built by the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club in the mid-1930's. Members of the club were permitted to use it as an overnight facility until 1981.

The club used the logs from three dismantled Whaley cabins, and constructed the cabin around an existing chimney fall.  It's heart breaking to think of the thousands of families that had to leave their homes when the land was purchased for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park...for the greater good, I guess.

Deeeeeeelux accommodations!

And move-in ready!

This was the "Spring House" the creek or spring runs through the middle of it, that is where water would have been collected for daily use. 

Heading back to the main trail.

On our way back down...now on to lunch...a local BBQ joint, yahooo!  I'll race you down! 

Until next week...