After the rain

I had a load of gravel dumped in the driveway this past week to fill in the grooves causedby erosion. Then I bought 50 bales of hay to help slow down the erosion and hopefull begin the seeding process on the hillside. I haven't spread the hay yet. I need to get that done before the mice make an apartment complex out of it.

A bit of good weather this weekend kept me from doing my chores inside. I am making a set of bookcases that are on track to be completed this year or maybe next year. We'll see how bad I can procrastinate.  Julie and I went to Lowes and the grocery store today. I bought a machete and a big pair of loppers to help knock down the brush in the side yard. I was excited about trying out my new toys,even though bookcases were the scheduled agenda item. I figured I would hack away for a little while until I got bored or tired.  It turns out I got wore out trying to wear out the brambles and weeds growing on the hillside. 

So I turned to arson. 

I grabbed an old newspaper and a couple of packs of matches and proceeded to burn the hill down. After the brush caught fire,I realized that I would probably need a hose and maybe a shovel to prevent the fire department from joining me in an inpromtu BBQ.   

I hosed down the flames after about a third of  hill was incinerated. It sort of looked like the aftermath of a napalm party.  

Julie and I then went to visit the guy who sold us the hay. He told me that his wife had sheep for sale and offered to have us take a look. I got to talking to him while I was at his ranch and discovered he used to be a band during the 70's that had a couple of radio hits, which I thought was pretty neat. He gave us a tour of his studio, which was awesome and a couple of CDs he has recently created. He now has a Christian band that he plays with today and occasionally tours with.

Anyhow, we promised to buy 2 sheep to pick up in a couple of weeks, so we really need to get busy clearing the land and building a shed. One of our neighbors raises pygmy goats, so Julie and I talked to her on Sunday. We might have a farm in short order. If I can find a mule, we'll have a full set. I found out that mules are very good at protecting livestock.  I'm not sure if our dogs would be up to that task. 

Winter .. the long story...

Well, winter in Georgia may be on the exit -- but winter in New England, particularly this portion of New Hampshire is here for quite a while longer. We are probably looking at another 2 full months anyways.

One thing about this time of the winter is that the sun starts to get a lot stronger. The front of our house faces the south, so we get the southern exposure in the late morning, early afternoon. On a good day, we will leave the front storm door open and it heats the kitchen area..... ahhh...nice.

On Sunday, the news kept saying that the southern part of NH was below zero... way below zero. Funny thing - we were at zero.. we were actually warmer for part of the day than the southern part of NH and Maine.. however, it didn't last long.. We have now been colder than Alaska. Alaska was 50 degrees last weekend, we were below zero.. hmm... so what about global warming.. does this mean New England is the new antartica? Hm.. I suspect one of these mornings on my walks with the dogs, I will come across a polar bear.. it wouldn't surprise me.

Our bird feeder has been a virtual hot bed of wings and feathers. We have had everything from woodpeckers to pine grosbeak - which are absolutely beautiful. The bluejays and cardinals are actually sharing the feed with the squirrels.. I have to fill the feeders every other day..

Mel goes for his follow-up visit today - so hopefully he will be able to start physical therapy. We are dreaming ahead of spring and fishing, hiking and anything that is not related to snow..
which we will get more of tomorrow.. but south will get more than us! :)

Love to you all.. stay warm... and watch out for polar bears.

Roofs, Rain and the little things that catch you by surprise

By all appearances,  winter in Georgia is heading for the exits, which is a good excuse to get back outside. We have been attempting to clear a patch of heavy brush on a hill beside the house when the weather cooperates and we feel ambitous. It's kind of slow going, using a scythe and a push mower. The rocks, trees and brambles make it a bit of a challenge, but we want to get it cleared before the weather warms up and the black widows overrun the field and scare us back inside. 

We are planning to get a couple of sheep and goats this spring to keep the hill cleared so we'll have to add a fence around the perimeter. We ordered a dozen Dominique chickens for pickup in March. Those are the dark gray birds with little flecks of white. The feathers were used as stuffing for pillows. We are going to use them for eggs and meat, not necessarily for pillows.

Jessica and I have been organizing the workshop for a few weekends. Our first Saturday in the barn I decided to examine the roof closely. I had found some wet spots inside the barn and wanted to make sure the stuff inside was going to stay dry. I began to apply some roof patch but the roof is in such terrible shape it will need to be recovered or replaced. We are negotiating with the previous owners to get some resolution, although from what I've heard from the real estate lady, they aren't going to pony up to fix the roof. We'll see what happens.

The rain that is causing havoc with our barn roof is also giving us trouble with our driveway or lack of a driveway. I have had to get towed twice from my own driveway and yard. Georgia clay has the consistency of grease when it is wet and it doesn't take much to cut deep ruts in the stuff, which makes the trip up the driveway impossible. I am getting a load of driveway gravel delivered today so it doesn't get any worse.  

We bought our seeds for the garden. All the usual stuff, except the ground where we plan on putting the garden  has never been turned. If we turn up some arrowheads and clay pots that would be a bonus.

Time to go, the bird feeders are empty and the bobwhites are hanging around waiting to be fed.

We hope all is well with everone. Let us know how you're doing. 

T

Greetings from the Great Northwoods

Well, we had a heat wave today.. 27 degrees felt like spring.. The birds were flying all over the place enjoying the sun. I went out snowshoeing, unfortunately, the snow is so deep that I sunk up to my hips.. so that ended that. But I enjoy snowshoeing.. can't wait for Mel to recover so we can go together. We had some great times last year snowshoeing, looking for antlers.. We want to do that again.

Snowmobilers found our pond today and are out there ice fishing.. great day for it. I don't think anyone caught anything, but they seem to be enjoying it. There is a small village of bob houses not too far from here - those guys go out fishing no matter how cold.. even -25.

Mel is recovering nicely.. its a little slow for his liking, but he is doing well. He was outside all day today, which made a world of difference for him.

Enjoy the day!
Love to you all.. Kathy

Winter Doldrums

The holidays are over, except of course Martin Luther King Day and the coronation of our new president.  

Now, it's sort of quiet,  just looking through seed catalogs and waiting for the Girl Scout cookies to arrive. 

Jessica is back at school working towards her Masters of/in (?) education. She is training to be a biology teacher. She is excited about the process. She has come up to the house to help me organize the workshop in the barn. It is a slow process, but we are starting to see progress. 

 Julie and Jessica will be starting a quilt soon. 

I suggested they may reach out to Kathy, Mom and Amy to be part of a virtual quilting bee. 

Any body else want to join? 

Bethany graduated in December from Shelton State College in Tuscaloosa as a fitness trainer. She is still working at Franklin Financial.

Robb is plowing ahead with his doctoral work in metallurgical engineering. He's doing a lot of research in nanotechnology. 

Andrew likes his classes at Gainesville College. He has some classes with Jackie. He is still working at Beef O Brady's.  He has been a big help up here when he comes up. Our next project together will be clearing the hill beside the house for a small pasture.  

Julie and I are planning to add some sheep and goats. Grandpa/Dad has volunteered to help build a chicken coop so we are getting closer to the farm. 

Julie's Aunt Garnet passed away earlier this year from complications from leukemia.  I think there is a memorial planned this summer in West Virginia for her. 

Her brother Greg lost his job at the hospital as a cabinet maker. If anyone has a need for a top notch cabinet maker, please let me know and I will put you in touch with him. He is willing to travel. By the way, I can personally vouch for the quality of his work. He creates outstanding furniture that are heirloom pieces. 

Julie and I are well. It seems there is ALWAYS something to do up here.  This house is one extended home improvement project. We mostly finished the stonework for the woodstove. Julie is going to trim out the edges with a cake decorator and wet cement. 

I've cut and split what I thought would be enough wood for the season, but the cold lasted a little longer than I anticipated, so I might need to add more to the pile soon, so I don't have to buy those $3.99 bundles from the grocery store.  

I have learned a lot about different hardwoods, sassafrass and birch split easily, oak and hickory are tougher and leave lots of splinters in my hands and locust is yellow inside and grubs like to live underneath the bark. 

 I'll be starting bookcases for the spare bedroom next. And then we will be replacing the roof on the barn. 

We haven't had a TV since we moved to Ellijay. Well, a point of clarification, we have TV and a DVD player, not much use for broadcast or cable TV. We'll rent movies from Wal-Mart or Netflix. This does allow us more time for reading, but I do miss football and baseball. 

We have had a LOT of rain this winter, the driveway has been impassable even in the truck. 

Something about wet red clay makes it like driving on grease, combined with the erosion across the driveway makes coming home an adventure. The sides of my truck have a coat of perma- mud stuck to them.

We hope the remainder of your winter is mild, your families are safe, you prosper and thrive through the tough times. 

New Year!

Hey Everyone!!

It's been a really long while since I've been on here. Just wanted to update everyone on what's going on with me.

Right before Christmas, Sophie (my dog) and I were at Petsmart trying to find her diapers (she'd been having accidents in her sleep). While we were there, I decided to check in on the cats that they're trying to adopt out and I fell in love with one. I really didn't want a cat (litter boxes, cats tend to be mean), but I brought Chad back to the Petsmart that weekend hoping he'd talk me out of it.... He did a terrible job! We brought home Callie and she and Sophie have been getting along pretty well. She's a beautiful calico cat with a brindle coat. I bought her some toy mice and she loves picking them up in her paws and flinging them across the room so she can chase them.

Some of you may already know that I've gone back to school. My first day of classes was this past Thursday. I'm getting my Master's degree in Science Education from the University of Georgia. The first day I was on campus, I actually saw a guy with a mullet (business in the front, party in the back!!).

Not being from the South, you may not understand what it's like to be a Georgia Tech graduate surrounded by UGA fans -- it's a little rough. Every time I go into the UGA bookstore and see all the red collegiate paraphernalia, I get a little nauseous --- that is how deep the hate runs between Tech and UGA. I'm a little nervous that I might get my car keyed since I have the GT tag on my car. But, all in all, the people I've met have been very friendly (not knowing where my allegiance lies), and I do think that this will be a great experience. I have only had two of my science classes, but I'm very pumped up about this semester!

I am also starting my own business this year. Last month, a mother of a friend of mine asked me to host a party for her Arbonne business. Arbonne is a health and beauty company with a focus on being "Pure, Safe, & Beneficial." I think the product is great, I love that there are no chemicals, no animal by products, and the stuff actually works. I'm still working 15ish hours at Ricoh (the copy machine company) doing special projects and training, but I'm hoping that I can be able to get my business moving and be able to support myself in school just with Arbonne. Next week I'm having my Launch Party, where I'll get to tell friends and potential clients and business partners about the products and the business. (For those of you in Atlanta, keep your ears open!)

I've been spending some weekends up at my parents' house helping Dad get his new garage/workshop/barn organized. Last weekend, we unpacked a bunch of boxes, got the tools somewhat organized, and went shopping for some bins & pegboard. He's got alot of space, we just need to get everything in it's place.

Mom and I are also going to start working on a quilt this coming weekend - I'm really excited about this!!!

Well, it's starting to get late, and I've been going on for awhile. I hope that everyone is well!

Love you all,

Jessica
(and Sophie & Callie)

Pictures to come soon...

Cameron's first Christmas

I



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. We sure did. Here is Cameron opening his first Christmas Present on Christmas morning.



Santa brought him exactly what he
wanted!

Happpppy new yeeeeeaaaaaar!!!

Happy New Year

Imagine, we are already on January 1, 2009. Another new year. Wishing everyone the best for 2009!

New Year's Eve in the Thebault's house was very quiet. As we are not travelling right now, due to Mel's mending - we stayed in for a quiet night at home. We watched a movie and had hoped to make it to watch the ball drop on Time Square. Mel couldn't make it past 11:45 - I figured I would stay up until after midnight.. unfortunately I fell asleep at 5 until midnight and missed the entire thing. Oh well..

The weather continues to be an issue here in the north country. We awoke this morning to high blowing winds. The temp on the top right in the picture is -5. The wind chill is -20 to -25. I took the dogs out this morning, and they looked at my like I was nuts.. they did their thing and immediately ran back in.

Well, here's to a brand new year... wishing health and happiness for the new year.

Kathy & Mel