Ian is Here!

Raising three girls hasn't really prepared me for a two year old boy. There was Mitchell, of course, but he was...well, he was not Ian. We've had a lot of fun though. A ride on Papa's four-wheeler. We also went to Lowe's and we went to the coffee shop and we swung by the funeral home. I had to show him off, you know.

Cartoons playing in the background once seemed a real distraction from my reading or internet surfing but I've discovered a new appreciation for them. Ian actually stood still for 2 or 3 minutes in a row.

He's a fine feller...

The Man With The Green Thumb

Even after losing his balance and falling in the creek...
and breaking 9 ribs...

he had started the garden...

we added to it...

weeded it...

watered it...

and nursed it along, with his advice and help...while he couldn't.

Anyway, I went to Tom's house this afternoon because he said the beans were ready to pick.

And they were. And so were the black-eyed peas and the squash and the cukes, and oh, there's a cantalope that didn't make it into the picture. He's always had the greenest thumb I ever saw.
He's amazing. To look at him today you would never know what he'd been through.

He's driving, fixing his own meals, going to the post office. Word has it he's planning a trip to Florida. I'll bet he works a little fishing in while he's there.

He's tough, buddy!

Cat House

Aren't they cute? And they're free!! Be the first one on your block to get one of these fine mousers. Hurry, while supplies last. They won't last forever!

Peek-A-Boo!
Oh yeah. The big one stays.

Typhoon or Squall?

Paul and I went fishing on Monday...

They said it might rain...

Sorta looked like it might...
Thought about suggesting we leave..
But it was a long walk, and, well, you know...

Thank goodness for bridge pilings. The sand blowing through
there would take your skin off!

By the way, the boat in the video below was a beautiful
red boat that looked new and the wind blew it onto the
sandbar there at Matanzas Inlet and they were still there
when we left, trying to push it off.

Emma Shopping

Here's a picture of Emma helping Nita shop...
By the way, am I the only one who has to refresh occasionally to get pictures to come up on blogs? Just wonderin'
Oh, Sarah...pictures......... (thanks)

10-11-2008, Download, Nita's Camera

Catchy title, huh? Really though, every once in a while I'll see a bunch of good pictures on Nita's camera and decide that I need to pop 'em on my computer. The problem is, they are usually accumulated over several days (read, "events"), forcing a "stack of stuff" blog post. So, without further ado.....
My previous post on Rache's 4H baking didn't include anything in the way of preparation so here's a few pics of that.
Ready to take to the judging....

After the judging....

Ian judging....

Ian being Ian. Sweet, I mean....

About that. Kids are really something but a grandchild IS different. You hear that from people but until you have one it doesn't really mean so much. It's hard to explain. All I know is I like it!

Emma (daughter #4, sorry Mike & Sheila) and Ian. He had this tongue thing going while they were here. I think it had something to do with teething.

Brother Ty held revival at Clinchfield Baptist last weekend. Three men came forward and got baptised. Oh wait, Bro. Ty was one of them. That explains Pastor Paul up in the Baptistry.

Bro. Ty and Maid Bekah following the ceremony.

Can't seem to get away from that hamburger cake.

Tea party's are very popular here.

Mountain Glory. Rachel always helps me as I do my DBA duties. This year, Anna was here and was up early this morning so we drafted her to help too. We were there at 6:30 a.m. to help the vendors get set up, as usual. Rache and I have been doing this for many years. Freddie Killough says that she figures Rachel will take over for her some day.

Well, that clears the slate. We're leaving for St. Augustine on Monday morning so maybe I'll have something good to share from our trip.

Wow...lots poppin'!

It's been a while since I posted and today was pretty event filled and picture worthy so here we go. Sarah and Ian arrived around 3:30 today, Rachel had a 4H contest and Bekah had a marriage proposal. More on some of that later. Meanwhile.....
Rachel had eight entries (every category) in the 4H Bake Off, Senior Division today. Six of her entries took first place (purple ribbon) while four of those took Best of Show (earning two purple ribbons). Each purple ribbon earned her $10 for a total of $100. That's a pretty good incentive for kids to get involved in 4H, I think.
This coconut pie must have been especially good. Only half of it made it back home!
I love pumpkin roll and this one was a double ribbon winner.

Apple muffins.....

Angel biscuits.....

Buttermilk biscuits.....

The banana nut bread won a red ribbon. I think it had something to do with our oven not being level.....

After the judging we had a hamburger cook-out.

Oh wait, there's a ribbon there. Did my hamburger cooking win a ribbon? Uh, no....

It's a cake. It won Best of Show too.....

The bun is made from yellow cake. The meat is made from chocolate cake. Marshmallow Fondant are the tomatoes, onions, lettuce, sesame seeds and cheese. The mustard and mayonnaise are made from frosting. The pickles are green Fruit Roll-up Stackers. It took several hours to put it all together. Great job Rache!!

Rachel says that next year she won't have so many entries and that's OK but we'll see...

Next year is a long way off.

Ian's Visit

Ian came to visit us recently.

Oh, Paul and Sarah came with him.

Don't want to leave them out!Too sweet!

Sarah seemed to always have plenty of help taking care of Little Feller.
Sarah, I know you're going back to work soon but that's a little too
gung-ho isn't it? With the nurse's cap and all?
He love him Mama!

And then they had to go.

We'll see them all again soon.

South of here.

Can't wait!

A Week Away

I thought this might be a good time to wrap up a week spent in St. Augustine that was supposed to be more than just Bekah, Tyler and myself. Kenita was unable to go because of back problems which will be addressed soon, and because Bekah has classes this was the only opportunity she would have to go South this Summer. The pelican above followed us for over half a mile at 28 mph on one of the days we spent fishing on th ICW. He seemed to want to stay with us as we traveled up the waterway. Below is a picture of a manatee which was one of a "herd" of them we came upon that day. They weren't giving us a lot of skin to take pictures of but we did see one that had been hit by a propeller. The cut was real pink in color.

After taking the boat out we took it to the local car wash to clean it and happened across this little family of ducks. Mama Duck was hissing at me as I took the picture. She was moving her brood away from the mean old human but I was just trying to get a decent picture.

A few pictures of the place in St. Auggie...

We thought seriouly about taking the boat out in the bay for the Fourth of July fireworks show but decided against it since I've never navigated in the dark. We drove in as close as we could and rode bikes into town. Although we regretted not going in the boat, it was probably the best thing because getting out of town was a lot easier on bikes than it would have been in the boat.

When we first got downtown there was a military band in the plaza and they were fantastic.

There were a lot of boats in the bay, too.

Since we got there so early, we rode the bikes around town for a while. This picture and the next two were taken beneath the Tiffany windows of the Flagler College dining hall. I just looked up as we were leaving and this shot presented itself.

Odd man out...

Ah...young love!

Odd man out redeux...

Casa Monica at dusk.

Morons at dusk.

And...some of the show...

I have to say, it was the best fireworks show I've ever seen, especially the last three minutes. The finale was awesome. Just a constant, solar plexus pounding show.