Bees for me!

Yes! Just what I need..another hobby! Ha. It is in motion. It is now a reality. I am getting my first colony of bees. My mother-in-law is always in the right place at the right time and she met an elderly gentleman who is giving up the bee business and he has graciously given me my first start of bees. I got a look at them this evening, but I will have to come back with a smoker and set the hive back on it's bottom so I can seal it up and transport them. I will update when I get them home.

Birthday #32

I had Brandon take me fishing for my birthday. He says he's glad he married a country girl, as I am a cheap date! We used to go fishing a lot, but nowadays it is hard to get to go, toddler in tow. We didn't catch a thing, but we really enjoyed the quiet time together.

It was a wonderful early fall afternoon, a little cool and the woods had that sweet smell to them that makes this my favorite time of year. We got a kick out of watching four squirrels across the creek harvesting walnuts that had not dropped yet. Every so often a walnut would hit the water with a loud plunk. It would have been funny to see a squirrel swim!

The second picture is of a chicken mushroom growing at the base of a dead oak tree on the opposite creek bank. I have been on the lookout for a chicken mushroom for several years now and this is the first I have seen. It would figure it would be OUT OF REACH. They are supposed to be a very tasty edible mushroom and have no poisonous lookalikes, a good beginner mushroom.

After giving up on fishing, we took a walk on the trail above the creek and found the pawpaws just beginning to ripen. We brought home a plastic bag full. Ava loves them and ate a whole pawpaw herself. They are very nutritious and high in protein. You have to get them early before the deer, turkey and other wildlife find them.

I love this time of year! I had a very pleasant birthday.

Now that's how you eat a tomato.



Ava enjoys the perfect tomato.



Ava eats tomatoes like a chicken. She’ll poke some to see if they’re ripe. She’ll take a couple of bites from each one until she finds the *perfect* tomato. This is the carnage I find afterward.



My new niece

[caption id="attachment_18" align="aligncenter" width="477" caption="Baby Addyson"][/caption]

Addyson was born last Sunday, September 6th.  I forgot how tiny newborns are!  My sister and her husband got home around 8pm from the hospital.  I didn't want to bother them so late, but they said come on down.  We were tickled pink to be the only visitors they had that evening.  I got to hold her for 2 hours straight!  Makes me want another soon!

A whole new world...

Ok, so I saw a really cool blog on a gardening forum I like to frequent, and driven by covetousness I find myself here!  Not like I have a particularly engaging lifestyle, but I do have a cute toddler and an obsession with chickens, so I figured, why not?  This looks like it could be a quick and easy way to keep posted with family and friends (I sure hope so, because I can't afford to waste much more time on the computer...ha).  Here we go... :)