Hopper

Hopper was our super-dog ... a frisbee fanatic.. but she's been gone for almost three years. Today was a blast from the past. Our stove had a recall on it and the GE guy came today to replace a connector. He had to pull the stove out away from the wall to make his repairs and what did he find other than crayons, a champagne cork and a toy screwdriver? One of Hopper's well chewed frisbie's ! I was sure I'd thrown all of them away!

Was that a reminder from beyond? Lili, my grand daughter, sometimes rings the doorbell hoping she'll hear Hopper's bark....

back to work

I think I've managed to put away everything from out trip and do a little outside gardening... so now it's back to "work".
I found a great vintage feed sack at an antique store in North central Tenn... my husband found two slide rules ( one of the "things' he collects) too so it was a great morning. He has cleaned and waxed his slide rules and I have turned the feed sack into two bags/work baskets/ buckets and still have more burlap to work with.
I had such fun with the burlap bag that I emailed Kansas City's coffee roasting company and asked about their coffee bean sacks.... they wrote back super fast and offered to give me several! The Roasterie air roasts their coffees and has many blends. AND the company is super involved with non-profits such as WaterPartners. I picked up the bags and they are SUPER with great silk screened graphics.
I also worked on a new bear! I finished "Drew" this morning and posted her on BearPile.

I've also been working on getting the "Artist Bears" blog train organized... Nancy D told me what she was giving away... now I need the rest to do the same.

Finally pictures!

herding fish

It rained a little last night after a good day! Maybe we won't get mildewed after all. My brother-in-law decided that it was his last opportunity to have two male helpers to move his fish. The catchout pond... the big ones go here waiting for customers to catch them... was sorely in need of more fish. The longest raceway... the runs where the fish grow big enough to go to the catchout pond... was FULL. So my husband and two brothers-in-law took the old truck loaded with an old freezer down to the raceways. They put water in the freezer then with the aid of a screened divider worked the fish down to the end where the truck waited. Then Terry used a large net to move them to the freezer. Then they drove to the catchout pond where the fish were again netted and THROWN over railings into the water.... I was the "photographer" and have LOADS of pictures! It was amazing. After they finished the raceway was empty and smaller fish were herded, netted and moved from their smaller raceway to the bigger one!

I will try and download some of the pictures... I think I have about 300 in the camera... later tonight. Well... it's later and I discovered we didn't bring the cable for downloading pictures into the computer! So pictures will have to wait!

Rain rain go away... come again after we leave!

It has rained with a vengeance! It has rained so hard that the water coming out of the mountain is full of mud! You can hear the gushing streams from far away and the trout are trying to cope!
I feel like we will be mildewing before long! Last year this area was in a severe drought... this year all the streams, ponds and lakes are full to overflowing!
But seeing family makes up for all the discomfort....
It rained again last night and today. The fish's water is clearer so they can find the food my brother-in-law feeds them. Yesterday, they couldn't. The rv park pool is almost filled to overflowing and considering the pool is 40' long and 10' in the deep end, that's a lot of water!

This evening Priscilla told me the 2nd longest Tennessee yard sale ( Hwy 52 Yard Sale) is this coming weekend..... last year they had over 550 vendors! We may have to stay longer than we thought! Hwy 52 is just miles from here!

Tomorrow I will put some "rushing water" pictures up!

Vacation mode

We are headed to Tennessee! Bob's brother and his s.o. have a trout farm and rv park. Another brother is visiting from Rochester, NY.... so off we go for a small get together!

Mama and Mia are off to Connecticut

Maghee's friend's Mother and sibling are off to Connecticut... after spending a short stay in my etsy shop!
I love these little guys! They are small... Mama is 3.5" long and the babies are 2.75". They have Ultrasuede faces, German glass eyes and perle cotton noses ..and a little steel shot to give them weight.
When my mother was a little girl in Krefeld, Germany she would bring hedgehogs home from her wanderings in the fields and woods. I never thought to ask my mother what her mother thought of this!