MDF, I can almost hear the "Bang! POW!!" while I look at those photos! They are terrific. Thanks for sharing.
Bet you can almost smell the gunpowder too.
Thank you all for your nice comments.
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Mike F.
May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
Well I thought I would stop in and say hello. I have finally caught up on some much need sleep.
This week end is the Blairsville Highland Games. It is one of my favorite games. Of course I will be dancing and also hosting the Clan Donnachaidh tent.
I have started my 3 day a month job and so far so good. It is a nice hospital and all the nurses I have met so far are so nice.
My son Aaron will be moving this month. He will be starting at North Georgia College. He is going to live with his sister (the one with MS).
So that leaves one child home. That will be so strange. But things change as the seasons do. My youngest will start college this fall.
Just a brief update on my daughter with MS. She is making a slow recovery. She suffers from terrible fatigue and she uses her walker to get around. Hopefully when she goes back to the doctor on the 17th we will get some good news.
Gwenlee, sounds like your life is very busy with change. I will hope and trust all goes well for you and your family. Know that you are in the thoughts of many. USN
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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato(427-347 BC) Philosopher and Educator
Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. Henry James (1843-1916) Writer
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Theology Professor
Well I am back, sort of. As some of you know my daughter with multiple sclerosis has been very sick. She was in the hospital for 10 days going through plasmapheresis. When admitted she could only move her left arm and hand. She got out last Wed. and is now walking with assistance. It will take awhile to recover.
My youngest graduated on the 23rd of May and the next day we had a party for her. She told me she had 15 RSVP so I planned for 25 people. I ended up with almost 50 people at one point of the day. And they stayed from 1 until 10 that day, I was so very tired.
And last I have started a part time job at a local hospital. This is on top of my full time job. I have a very full schedule.
Gwyn-I know what it is like to move from a place you have lived at for a long time. I got to a point that I stopped sorting and just put everything in big plastic boxes and put them in storage and have yet to look at them again.
CR how is the foot? Triple digit temp? Yuk, stay cool.
Well I have to go I have one mor night of work. Take care
gwenlee
gwenlee, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Take care. LOA
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"Few men are brave:many become so through training and discipline." Flavius Vegetius Renatus
"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strenght to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." Christopher Reeve
Hi everybody. It's good to see gwenlee back and I'm glad that Sarah is doing better.
I'll have to get some info on the Blairsville games this weekend - that sounds like something I'd really enjoy but I just don't know if the heat will be a factor for me. I can't handle it the way I used to before my GBS, so it's a little iffy. If I do go, it would be on Sunday.
Work is still pretty quiet but I'm happy to have a freelance project that I'm working on and also the quilt business to get up and running. One of the really nice things about the quilting is that my 14-year-old daughter is very gung-ho about working with me and, being very artsy, she is proving to be a valuable help. Also, since I'm working on some of the quilts that my mom started, it is definitely a multi-generational business. When I was at the county offices the other day to get my business license, the gal who was processing things asked me if my dad also quilts (since he and I are partners) - I said that I should just get him to take one stitch in every quilt and that would be his contribution.
Well, I'll try to post more and keep in touch.
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Check out my new blog at www.dilettantesdilemma.blogspot.com Patti, The Celtic Pretentious Wombat
If any of y'all can figure out how to do it, round up some of those rain showers and send those suckers down here to western Georgia!! We are BAKING.
I was watering some wilting Hostas on Wednesday, and my two horses came close to the fence watching. I took the hose into the pasture there and proceeded to gently spray the horses one at a time, and oh man did they like that - they'd turn this way and that so I could reach every place. It must have felt so refreshing! But when I was done, they each walked to a dusty place and proceeded to roll, roll roll over and over... when they stood up, they looked like big ole Cheetos! I laughed so hard I cried.
SB
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"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king..."
It's very strange with this weather here in Georgia. I have a friend in southern Illinois who is experiencing some of this flooding going on in the mid-west. He ws telling us that several of the levees to the north of them have broken and he sent his wife and daughter into Indiana to stay with friends until things get better. He said if we could pool some money for gas, he would come down and do a rain dance for us! This same friend had also experienced the earthquake several weeks ago in Illinois (they live 19 miles from the epicenter). My backyard is crunchy here in Smyrna - the weeds are surviving though!
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"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."" Psalm 91:1-2
"Be what you would seem to be--or, if you'd like it put more simply--Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." from "Alice in Wonderland"
It's very strange with this weather here in Georgia. I have a friend in southern Illinois who is experiencing some of this flooding going on in the mid-west. He ws telling us that several of the levees to the north of them have broken and he sent his wife and daughter into Indiana to stay with friends until things get better. He said if we could pool some money for gas, he would come down and do a rain dance for us! This same friend had also experienced the earthquake several weeks ago in Illinois (they live 19 miles from the epicenter). My backyard is crunchy here in Smyrna - the weeds are surviving though!
The weeds always survive. These weather extremes are not at all good for our food supply or humanity in general. I have seen pictures of your reservoirs with a small amount of water in the middle . As I recall from the news, states to your south are draining your water supply and you have no place to turn yourself. Though it would not be Constitutional, a redistribution of our population might be in order. In the 50's and 60's, other than occasionally in the Southwest, these severe droughts didn't seem to happen. We had less people then and we were more widely distributed. As I remember Georgia from the early 60's what most impressed me was "red clay", "green conifers", "gentle hills", "the heat" and "sand fleas". I was sitting on the wooden porch of a small garage getting something repaired on my auto when I noticed the fine soil just off the porch was popping up in little puffs. I had to go in and ask what was happening. They might have been joking with me but watching it kept me occupied for an hour. It must not take much to occupy me! Our rainfall in Ohio has been about right so far but most of the grain here is destined for ethanol production. I guess if they do a good enough job we could drink it.
Yes, we are waterlogged here in Illinois, but thankfully I don't live anywhere near a floodplain. Most of the flooding in northern Illinois is up north of Chicago in the Fox River Valley and Chain O' Lakes area. The Rockford area isn't taking any chances either, they're sandbagging all along the Rock River.
There are some very simple reasons for all this flooding in the Midwest. I won't get into some of them because it'll touch off a political discussion, so I'll go right to the main reason: We had an enormous amount of snow this past winter, so the ground was already saturated.
Yes, we are waterlogged here in Illinois, but thankfully I don't live anywhere near a floodplain. Most of the flooding in northern Illinois is up north of Chicago in the Fox River Valley and Chain O' Lakes area. The Rockford area isn't taking any chances either, they're sandbagging all along the Rock River.
There are some very simple reasons for all this flooding in the Midwest. I won't get into some of them because it'll touch off a political discussion, so I'll go right to the main reason: We had an enormous amount of snow this past winter, so the ground was already saturated.
Wow MDF 3530, you have the strength of mountains to restrain comment. I would not have been able to refrain from doing my jabs. Bravo. USN
We heard thunder last night here in Smyrna, GA - but, to no avail, no rain - just thunder! One other thing that I am finding very strange - we have the largest wild rabbit population I have ever seen - I counted about 8 last night as it was starting to get dark. Several other people I know in this area are experiencing the same thing - and we are not close to any wooded area either - just a few bushes in our back yard.
We heard thunder last night here in Smyrna, GA - but, to no avail, no rain - just thunder! One other thing that I am finding very strange - we have the largest wild rabbit population I have ever seen - I counted about 8 last night as it was starting to get dark. Several other people I know in this area are experiencing the same thing - and we are not close to any wooded area either - just a few bushes in our back yard.
Gwynhwyvar, In CT we pretty much have a thunderstorm and lots of rain everynight for the past couple of weeks. Everything is so green and growing fast, you have to mow too often for my comfort . One good thing about a wet spring is the Mountain Laurel, Ct state flower blooms profusely with a wet spring and we are in full bloom here. Sorry it has to be drought there.
See if any of this article explains your rabbit boom. It could be the dry spring has left fewer drowned nests, possibly they are on the move looking for food and water, local geography changes driving them out of their habitats, fewer owls, hawks and coyotes to prey on them, a cyclical population boom due to lack of disease.