Summer Zoomed By!

Somehow the summer zipped through, blessing me with laughter, good friends, and several 7 Acre Wood visitors along the way. I've neglected this blog, but not life.

Joyful summer events included these:

• hosting a "thank you" gathering for over 30 friends and workers who supported me in my 2008-2009 efforts to erect and convert the 20x25 foot metal building dubbed "The Ark" into living space;
• sharing my 7 Acre Wood with three friends and two relatives who came and spent days with me in Virginia;
• planting butterfly bushes, mums, irises, and wildflowers on my property;
• (finally) erecting two blue bird houses;
• moseying around my 7 Acre Wood, doing nothing except appreciating the sights and sounds;
• visiting locally with friends and neighbors;
• walking the dogs with nearby friends, Harold and Leslie;
  
• mowing the roughly 4 acres of cleared land with my trusty Toro self-propelled mower and my "almost new" riding lawn mower (decadent!);
• cooking on my new gas grill (mmmmm!)
• planting, tending, and harvesting a wonderful summer garden with nearby best friends, Harold, Leslie, and Diz;
• enjoying "Ordinary People" as an outdoor play with friends Bruce and Elizabeth near Staunton, Virginia;
• visiting friends in Charlotte, NC and in Staunton during the summer;
• visiting family in NC;
• having my sister Patty and brother-in-law, Ron, come to see my place for the first time!
• taking photos of the moon-lit sky at night so as to celebrate how my mountains look in the distance;
• taking photos of the grey-fox scat to confirm the depositor's identity;
• delighting in seeing the grey fox as he traveled quickly along the road as I returned to my 7 Acre Wood late one evening;
  
• eating scrumptious meals brought to me by a neighbor Richie who cooks great green beans and delights in sharing extra food;
• soaking in the hot springs at Warm Springs' Jefferson Pools;
  
• visiting and eating with Tim, Penny, Danny, and the crew, especially for Saturday-night dinners!

I hope each of you celebrated many wonderful moments with family and friends over the summer months!
Enjoy, Anne

skunked! ...and more

My roommate from prep school of 4-years, Barbara, came up Wednesday for a three-day visit. She brought her golden retriever, Gabby, with her for the visit. It was the second time Gabby had been here...but this trip proved to be a bit more eventful. The first night, Gabby met the neighborhood skunk around 10 PM. Within minutes we were bathing Gabby with shampoo, then diluted dog shampoo, then baking soda and warm water. We think the best combination turned out to be Dawn dishwashing liquid and vinegar mixed together; Gabby got that Friday evening, and smells soooo much better.

I used the propane oven in the Palace Annex for the first time to cook a couple Moravian chicken pies for B's first night here. I also got the Palace bookshelves and computer desk primed and painted... it all looks great!

While Barbara was here, we did the following:

• cooked veggies from B's garden;
• actually let Gabby out of the Palace when she started barking the first night, thinking she'd stay on the deck and see what was out and about;
• rushed outside to check on Gabby when her barking revealed she'd left the deck, saw white foam around her mouth, and smelled the skunk oder immediately;
• bathed Gabby to get the skunk oil off her at 10 PM the first night;
• left the skunky towels outside on the drying rack to air them out;
• finished organizing the carport;
• watched "Mr. Holland's Opus" while it rained and we ate nachos (2nd time I'd used the oven!)
• borrowed movies from H and L to watch;
• bathed Gabby again, trying to mitigate the skunk smell;
• relaxed in the Jefferson Pool for 40 minutes - and my rib moved back into place;
• went to Hidden Valley Recreational Area to traipse around the Jackson River with Gabby;
• visited Pam and Ron at their Hidden Valley Bed & Breakfast and got fresh eggs there for Saturday's breakfast;
• had pizza and salad at Jason's, sitting outside with Gabby;
• put together my new gas grill until we saw the main component was dented in and the unit will have to be returned - phooey!
• bathed Gabby, still hoping to de-skunk that sweet dog!
• visited with Diz when he stopped by;
• cooked a super omelet with B's veggies and Pam's fresh eggs!
  
  It's been great having company on my 7 Acre Wood. Next weekend it's possible I may have two more NC guests. That would be awesome!

4 July - a day of freedom

I detest painting, so on Saturday the 4th, as I primed the shelves and computer desk inside the Palace, I kept reminding myself that I was grateful to live in a country where a single woman could own and have the opportunity to maintain 7 acres in a beautiful area in Virginia. I spent perhaps six hours preparing, priming, and painting, and by seven, I'd decided I'd had as much fun as I wanted with a paint brush in my hand...

After getting cleaned up, I headed to visit neighbors and had a delightful late-night dinner of pork, white beans, cole slaw, lima beans, homemade bread, and peach cake. Mmmmm! There's nothing quite like ending an evening with friends to know one is blessed. Many thanks to Danny, Tim, Penny, Buddy, Diz, Jean, and Leslie for sharing the evening with me!

Friday, 3 July - organizing on site

Although it's been over five days since Harold and I tackled the carport last Friday, I will still be able to list a good many of the things we accomplished in the four hours we worked together on my 7 Acre Wood 3 July.

Of primary importance was bringing some organization to the carport. There's still a bit of disarray, so a photo won't be forthcoming (until I've done a bit more work), but we made great headway as H installed a third shelf/tool rack in the middle of the carport. Dad had given me a packet of assorted plastic coated hooks the Saturday I departed for Virginia, and those are now holding my weed eater, gardening tools, and a variety of other implements that were heretofor scattered about or clustered in the corner. Two ladders now have places to rest, and paint, oil, chemicals, and lubricants have their spots on the shelves.

We hung the shelf in the laundry closet (which may eventually have water) and I learned a bit about my new Ryobi drill and the Stanley screw drivers/drill bits Dad gave me last spring. We moved a few items in the wood rack, so the riding and push lawn mowers now have a place to live...

Battery maintenance, garden weeding, a bit of sorting, and visiting with friends brought the day to a close... Things are looking better on my 7 Acre Wood, slowly but surely.

of Oz, light rain, and painting

It's funny how the measure of a day is often meted by the last hours of the day. By that standard, this day has been a blessing...

I slept 'til 8:30 and had breakfast (fruit and yogurt) in the small fridge in the Ark, ready for the morning meal. It was quite cool; wearing flannel pajamas and a long t-shirt, I headed to the Palace to use the laptop and eat breakfast on the couch...as close to breakfast in bed as one gets! The day's work yielded these results: the infamous PTPI (pot-to-piss-in) is now totally painted (well, the pot's the same, but the wicker holder has a fresh coat of spray paint and looks great); two wooden hangers that will hold flower pots have been polyurethaned and are ready for the porch railing; and, yippee!!!, I painted the trim on the Palace door. It took me nearly as long to affix the blue painter's tape as it did to paint the yellowing vinyl grid. I'll give it a close look in the daylight tomorrow, and if it needs touching-up anywhere, I'll do that before removing the tape and giving the windows a final cleaning. I was so eager to get the painting done that I didn't even see that I'd missed a strip until I got ready to paint that upper left-hand area!

Tomorrow H and I will tackle several projects: hanging a third rack in the carport onto which I can hang tools; organizing wood on the wood rack so that a bin can be freed to house the riding lawn mower and push mower (thus freeing the carport to house two vehicles again); hang the closet rack in the laundry area so I can actually hang some clothing up in the Ark; and mount the smoke alarm.

My roommate from prep school, Barbara, is coming up Wednesday with her golden, Gabby, and I'm eager to have my 7 Acre Wood look presentable for company. The last three guests I've invited haven't made the 4-hour journey from Winston for one reason or another. While it's always a disappointment when friends can't come up, a 4-hour drive is a long way to some people. For me, the 190-mile journey simply takes time. It brings me to a place where I am at peace with myself and am surrounded by beauty that I never take for granted.

Today's sounds included hearing the machines in nearby fields baling hay. Although I cannot see the state highway from the cleared portion of land, my property is bounded by 614, so I hear an occasional car or truck rumble by. Sounds travel easily in the country...

From morning through mid-afternoon, the sky leaked periodically, enough so that I moved the items I was painting/polyurethaning underneath the carport and alternated tasks until the rain stopped and I could paint the grid on the Palace door.

Painting is one of my least favorite tasks, so I phoned H and L and asked if I could join them for the afternoon "puppy walk." After a relaxing walk and an extended visit with the barn cats, we had dinner: a scrumptious salad, primarily from our garden - lettuce, cabbage, spinach (all ours), plus carrots, celery, tomato, cucumber (grown by my dad), and onion. Add to that leftover onions and potatoes cooked this past Saturday, and we had a tasty meal. We've been blessed with dessert almost nightly - carrot cake takes days to eat when there are only three to consume it!

I stopped watching the Wizard of Oz just after the tin man joined Dorothy, Toto, and the Scarecrow... first time of my life that I haven't closed my eyes when the house fell on top of the wicked witch! (I'll admit to not having watched it as an adult...) Still, there's something about ending a day with friends that makes even a paint-filled afternoon seem like a day worth repeating! I suppose that's a very good thing: I've got a book case, five shelves, and a compter table still to prime and paint....I hope to finish that by Monday!!!

Rest well, friends. Anne

Step by Step

I'll be asleep by nine tonight! I've worked to organize, clean up, and start "yard work" over the past three days. Yesterday found me riding the used Troy-bilt lawn mower I bought from Dave last month. What a treat! It replaced an older Sears riding mower I bought from neighbor Dave last year (he fixes mowers, chain saws, and other small engine items). Thankfully, he took the old one in as a trade-in.

Today I used the Toro push mower (it really does start with one pull) to work on the edging of the knoll and around the Palace and driveway area. It all looks quite nice. Charlie, friend and local electrician, asked why the mowing stopped on the knoll and I explained that I like having the wildflowers available to enjoy and cut. He likes flowers, too, so he understood completetly.

Tomorrow Harold will come over and I'll help him add another rack under the carport so we can finish hanging the assorted tools that were stored in my enclosed work trailer that we emptied when we loaded it up with furniture in March. I washed my two stepladders that had mud and paint on them from this spring's construction work, and they cleaned up nicely. They're ready to hang in the carport if we get that far tomorrow. To me, the carport organizing and adding one more shelf will take four hours, but I'm assured a couple is all that's needed.

Charlies knows someone who wants a Buck Stove, so the Baby Buck may have a home before too long.

I'm going to crash early tonight...should be asleep no later than nine. I'm pooped!

I've quite a list of "projects" to tackle...first on the list is getting the bookshelves and computer desk in the Palace primed and painted. If I have that done by the 4th, I'll be thrilled! Once that's done, I can place all my books in the bookshelf and straighten up the remaining space in the Palace. I have three boxes of books in the attic, so those can be placed on the shelves as well. That will be exciting! I haven't had access to my books in four years!

Rest well....

I might be finished