Catching Up Again

BEAUTIFUL bounty! We are eating like a king & queen! Even though it has rained and mildewed most of the vines and all of the ground, we are able to harvest some mighty tasty veggies. The corn is AWESOME this year. I only wish you could all see my Englishman trying to eat corn on the cob. SUCH A HOOT!

Zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet pepper and lettuce. SOOOO good. As the temps are beginning to fall now, and the ground is getting soggier and soggier, the tomatoes have slimmed out, and we are running out of most things squash. The bell peppers are still going gang busters and the beans are just beginning to arrive. IT's been a VERY interesting growing year. I'm glad we don't try to do this for a living! It will be interesting to see the potatoes and what shape they're in. Seems like a slimmy year with a lot of reports so far.

The lady in the blue blouse is our good friend Janine. Paul met Janine at Christa's Country Store when he worked at Garden Metal Works. We became fast friends. She is celebrating her 30th anniversary of her 21st birthday this Sunday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANINE!!!

The guy in the salmon colored shirt is Janine's beau, Mark. The 4 legged guy in the front of the picture is Brown Dog, who has another name as well, I just don't remember it. Mark just celebrated his 50th birthday about a month ago. It was a great bash. Mark is an X-ray tech at the hospital where Paul was a patient and was significantly comforting to us in the emergency room. Thanks, Mark! I won't go in to the whole story here, but it was a great help. Also Mark has a wonderful talent for cooking food and drinking special beer! Janine and Mark were kind enough to invite us over for dinner last weekend as Paul was still "poorly". They had freshly seared Tuna w/ rice and lovely veggies. Paul even got to try edamame for the first time. A great evening, thanks, guys!

This picture does not do this view justice. The dimensions don't show off on screen like they do in real time. This is Janine's view from her front yard. It is, simply put, breath taking.

Remember the baby goats??? They came to visit last weekend. OMG! They are SO cute!

The red collars belong to the girls (2 of them). The blue collar is the one and only male of the batch. He acts like a boy, too! STUBBORN! Mr. Boone is trying to lead train them so they'll walk on the leash. Success rate on that is still pending. Not a great percentage to date.

They've decided that a bit of follow the leader would be fun ....

They also decided the tarp over the woodpile is not as tasty as the briers ...

soooooo, off they go to find a greener pasture! SO FUN!!!

Here's a shot of the little boy, just couldn't leave him out!

Mr. Boone came and picked them up in his gator (similar to a 4 wheeler but with a wagon on the back). Mrs. Boone was trying her best to lead on of the girls down the road. Nothing like the simple life to make you grin from ear to ear!

We have all kinds of things going on, and with all the visiting to the hospital I've not been very good at documenting it all. I'm sorry for that.

As Paul was released from hospital, my sweet boss was admitted with pneumonia. He's still in there and trying his best to get well enough to be discharged. But they're holding on to him with determination that he needs to be stronger still. Please send good thoughts out to Hugh for a full and speedy recovery.

Jennifer heads back to Japan next week so again, please send good thoughts for a safe and successful trip. She is (believe it or not!) teaching fitness over there. She has some great stories about the cultural differences and such. Be safe, Honey.

Shannon and I are trying our best to get our art stuff together as we have a show in October up here. I have a very pitiful inventory today. I'm hoping in 2 weeks to remedy that and have a bunch more to display. If only I could clone myself ... I'd send the clone to work so I could have fun at home being creative! HA!

Paul is back at it (thank goodness). I don't think he's back to 100%, but he's a LOT closer than he was this time last week! He's been carving away at the "handy man" type jobs he has. I think he's put his name in the "Christmas Tree work" pot, so hopefully that will keep him busy for a couple of months. Fingers are crossed! It's getting very creative now, on a financial note! Always makes for an adventure in many aspects. Whoo hoo!

The dance program will start back at Crossnore in a couple of weeks. I'm SO glad. I've never been this docile for this long. Good grief!

Our friend Caroline seems to be doing much better and getting stronger every day. We are truly happy for that.

Blessings to all,

Paul & Cheri