Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 20th week of 2024? It's 58 degrees here this Friday morning. We got lots more rain this week & more rain is forecasted for the weekend. The mountain laurel beside the house is starting to bloom, some call it ivy. We put strawberries in the freezer. Kevin requested another pie, so I got more pie making ingredients when we went grocery shopping. Stuff in the garden is coming up. I discovered a different squash recipe in the church cookbook I'm going to try, maybe next week, using squash in the freezer. A coworker passed away after a brief courageous battle with cancer. I've got 14 more days to go till retirement, after today. I got in my 30 minute walk every day except on Mother's Day. I celebrated Mother's Day with my Moma last week so, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you what I did this week on Mother's Day, then I'm heading out this weekend to help prepare for Great-Grand's baby shower, walk with me...

I thanked Daughter for letting me borrow one of her kids for Mother's Day. I didn't
really plan it, it just worked out that way with everyone's activities going on. Even
though I had to work, we had a good day out on the lake between my shifts &
brought home 2 fish to cook.

I stopped by to pay respects to my Mother in Law. She was a Stay-at-home Mom
 & Housewife the years I knew her. Cooking, baking & quilting were some of her
 best attributes. She put several recipes in the church cookbook. I've made
cowboy beans on several occasions using her recipe from the cookbook.

Counting down to retirement,
2 weeks to go.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 19th week of 2024? It's 65 degrees here this Friday morning. We've had a lot of rain this week. There was an EF-1 tornado touched down not too far away. There was power outages & lots of down trees on homes & vehicles. Grand's ballgame was cancelled last weekend due to the rain. Moma's Birthday & Mother's Day lunch went on as planned. It rained about all day that day, so it was good to have something to do. I've continued counting down my last days of work & I've continued walking 30 minutes every day for my 31-day walking challenge, so far so good on those. We took the boat out for her 1st voyage after Kevin revamped a lot of things on her. Kevin picked strawberries from out of the garden, I made a pie. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you how our Iron Maiden floated. I'm heading out to a ballgame this weekend & I'll be working this Sunday since we've already done our Mother's Day things, walk with me...

Happy Birthday to this Birthday Girl.
Happy Mother's Day to my Moma.

 

After

* Our boat was ready for the water after Kevin had worked on her a little all along for about 6 months. The final thing was getting a battery. Here is a quick peak inside our Iron Maiden of before & after pictures & our 1st outing with her.

Before

She floats. We caught 3 fish & released
them. I caught 2, Kevin caught 1.
Mine was a bluegill & a largemouth
bass, Kevin's was a largemouth. 

  

Me taking a break from fishing
as Kevin continues to fish & cruse
 us around the lake. I actually caught
a fish here in this spot.

Here we go, cautiously down the lake. We stayed close to the boat ramp at 1st & made
 sure to bring 2 paddles, just in case. All went good overall. Our Iron Maiden needs
 a few more tweaks such as cleaning out the carburetor & working on some loose
wires. Also, about 2 gallons of water made it in the back end, so that'll probably need
 to be check too. 

She's 28 in dog years.
She's a sun seeker &
a stick fetcher.

Happy Birthday to Rose.
She was born 4 years ago.

I postponed walking this morning.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

22 days left to retirement.

Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 18th week of 2024? It's 60 degrees here this good Friday morning. The black cherry trees are in bloom & they are so sweet smelling. I'm on the count down for my last days of work this month. I've officially joined the Dull Women's Club in preparation to a retirement lifestyle. I've ordered a magazine subscription as a substitute to work comradery for recipes, what movies are coming up to watch & info on things going on in the world around me & such. People have asked me what am I going to do after I retire. The 1st things that come to mind are... 2 hour morning coffee quite time, meal planning more strategically - cooking things we keep stocked up in the freezer & things from out of the garden using recipes from that magazine subscription, the church cookbook & several cookbooks I have on hand plus all those other recipes I've collected through the years that I had planned to make one day. I have plans to finally & truly organize my pictures & make photobooks that I've had on my to do list for at least 19 years since the 1st Grand was born. Then I have thoughts of everyday feeling like it's a weekend. Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll show you our 90th birthday surprise for Aunt before I head out to Grand's baseball game this weekend & a dinner for Moma's birthday & Mother's Day combined. Also, Me & Kevin enjoyed a picnic & jeep ride last weekend, the wild azaleas were in bloom & lots of other wildflowers that I took pictures of that I'll share with you, come walk with me...

I came up with the birthday card idea,
Sister put it into action. Aunt is very
loved by so many. There was a big turnout
 of family & friends to celebrate her birthday.
 She received lots of cards & pots
of flowers. Happy 90th Birthday to 
Aunt Velva.
 

  

I saved room for a piece of the delicious
birthday cake made by Cousin, the same
one that made the cake for Grand's
wedding. Cousin is a wonderful &
true cake artist. 

*  Since I made a countdown of my last days of work, my mind wants to put off doing anything & everything till after I retire. They'll be plenty of time to do it then, I'm thinking. The overflowing dirty clothes hamper along with the small mound of dirty clothes beside it & the dirty dishes stacked in the sink told me otherwise, so there was laundry done this week & the dishes washed as usual. I started a 31-day walking challenge for May. I need to get some weight off & also eat less portions & have less to none sweets for my health to try to get those glucose & cholesterol numbers down or else... So far, I'm rocking it & have walked the 1st 3 days of May. I've been walking 1st thing in the morning after coffee time, of course. 

Some have asked if I was counting down the days
to retirement. I am now, 29 more to go.

* We hadn't been on a jeep ride in a while. Nature did not disappoint with all it's beauty. There were lots of blooms, these were some of the best pictures I took.

Asters

 

Yellow Flowers, Maybe Ragwort
The poison oak does not bother me.
Kevin steered clear of it.

Lady Slipper

  

May Apple

Wild Iris

 

Fern

Wild Azalea 

 

We went through several
fords in the creek.

Lunch, using the new lunch box
Daughter gave us for Christmas. 

  

It's me, sitting on the creek bank 
taking a moment to admire the 
beauty, sounds & smells.

Cucumber Tree

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been.