Blueberry season

So I know that we're now heading into winter but I need to catch up so much that I'm starting with our blueberry haul this season.

Mrs Rudy told us about the blueberry bushes at the bottom of the property and said that we'd get an ok amount out of what was there come blueberry picking time. Man, she was not wrong!

I personally enjoy the odd blueberry pancake and eating them right out of the punnet and Storm subscribes to my way of thinking as well. The girls? Well Kendall has always been more open minded and despite having eaten them before (sparingly I might add) was a little hesitant about eating them off the bush. Sydney has never been a "blueberry lover" but the novelty of eating them off the bush really got to her and she was converted into such a blueberry fan that we started calling her Sydney Blueberry. Kendall's name has now become Kendall Peakablueberry.
 
Anyway, here are the pics....

 Storm picking the delicious yummies...

 The girls realy enjoyed the fact that they could just walk up and pick the berry they wanted and eat it. I suppose we could have waited until we washed them but where's the fun in that?

 Showing off the pickings...

Anyway, having the bushes down the back has really appealed to my desire to becoming semi-reliant on the land and it helps that they're also incredibly delicious!

We've been able to provide the a couple of the neighbours with a couple of bags as well as freezing quite a lot. Note to self: get a bigger freezer as the plantings that I plan for next year are going to give me a haul! Can I get a woot woot?
Cannot wait for next summer's crop!

YIIPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!

Yay.

I have my laptop back.

I'm going to get back on board with piccies as there's a bucketload of stuff to catch up on.

So happy to be able to catch up on this.

Won't be long until I'm back on track.

Can't wait.

Catching up - Part Deaux

This post is all about some of the critters that we have here.

Now it's not like we're in the bush and our neighbours are like 6 miles away. No, the house is - I want to say rural - {well there are horses, donkeys, goats and a llama down the street} but not farmland. We are completely surrounded by woods with huge trees and bristly underbrush that requires quite an effort to get through it. There's the occassional open space and creek/boggy/marshy area to provide a resistance that is a pain in the butt.

We have snakes (so far we've had direct contact with 5), tortoises (2), frogs ( a real mixture), toads *even more so!), spiders (they put out daddy long-legs to shame!), raccoons (haven't seen them but seen the evidence that they enjoyed playing on our porch!), deer (3), foxes (well it might be just one but we've had two encounters with them), various birds and a myriad of insects.

The snakes have been ok except for one. Our neightbors across the road actually have a bigger body of water on their property and it appears that the copperheads and cottonmouths prefer that to our property of woods and small creek. We've had encounters with a brown rat snake and a black one too (this was the one that got into the office via the window and scared the living daylights out of me!), a king snake (Woody - our next door neighbor told us that we want this snake around the house as once you have one of these all other snakes will stay away and thankfully these are not the same as the king snakes back in Oz). We also had an encounter with a gold ringed timber snake and another that we just saw the tail of. I don't like snakes and I know that they're more afraid of us than we are of them (but I swear that theory was sorely tested when that one came sliding through the window and plopped on the floor in the office!) and I really hate to kill things (except cockroaches. I hate cockroaches!) so I hope that the snakes have heard my requests that they stay away from the house and leave us all alone. My only worry is the dogs (especially Oscar) as their desire to go into the muddy creek right now to cool off is putting them into (potentially) harm's way as the creek is frightfully bushy and uncleared.

We had no idea that we had turtles in the area. Our neighbor's son and his friends are "herps" - Herpatologists..well training ones anyway. But they know a bucketload of stuff about the critters in the area. Anyway, one day the collection of boys asked if they could take a look around our property and check out snakes etc. They found no snakes (granted it was early evening) but found our skinks (such pretties with blue tails) and another lizard that I forget the name of but it looked like a frilly necked lizard from Oz just smaller and then one found an Eastern Box Turtle. He took it with him (which kinda took me by surprise but he's responsible). Since then we've found another one and got some pics.

Frogs and toads abound around us and I cannot tell you how excited I am that we have such a wide variety as well as the amount. We have Leopard frogs, tree frogs, pickerel frogs and bull frogs. The toads I canot tell you the names of except there's woody loooking ones, grey ones, brown ones and red ones. We have a wide range of sizes too from ones that hide in my herb garden that are no bigger than my pinky finger nail to tadpoles that are surviving in the pond that are the size of my thumb and still haven't grown back legs as of yet. The bull frogs in our pond haven't grown as big as I've heard they grow but our neighbors have the ones that you need both hands to pick up. Ewww. Mr Bully in our back pond and I are working rather successfully towards a great relationship. He grunts when I talk - typical male!

Anyway, here's my pics of what I've managed to get so far. I wish I had my camera on me all the time when I walk the rounds but it's too bulky otherwise I'd have a lot more pics to offer you. I love that we have such a wide variety of animals and stuff for the kids to grow up around. So happy here.

Oh well. Here they are...

Outside our screened-in porch sliding doors on the bushes.

 Hunting for the snake that came in our office window with our neighbors Russ and Christy. Yes it took three to catch it. I had the kids and the camera!

 The caught product - a very angry, pissed black rat snake! I couldn't get any closer as it got out before I could and dropped down two stories out of the office window.

 A tiny leopard frog.

 I mean tiny. And we had hundreds of them!

 I love turtles and want to get some red-eared sliders for the pond.

 Sticking his neck out after a while. Felt like it took forever with me waiting silently with camera in hand.

 Oh and here's some piccies of Storm mowing the back. He loves the ride-on.

I'll try and get back soon with more pics.

Catching up - Part Uno

It's been a while. I know and I'm sorry. I wish I had some super excuse that could explain my absence in posting but apart from the lack of the laptop (and having to use this gargantuan thingey) there is no excuse.

Sorry. I'll do better.

So I'll start where I left off last post. The Blue Ridge BBQ and Music Festival in Tryon, NC.

It was a warm day and from the past few outings we figured out what we did and didn't need to take to these events and packed the big stroller accordingly. On the bright side it was easy to find and at only just an hour away it was a really easy drive for the kids. Parking was a breeze and not a lot of traffic considering the amount of people there. On the not so bright side (meaning us) we had to change the tire inner tube on the stroller out of the back of the volvo with two children anxious to get going and people staring at us. It took at least 20 minutes (note: even though the tire says 16 inches it truly isn't so just shove it in and hope for the best - you'll waste time trying to play nice-nice with it) to get going but once we did it was a short walk to the event gates.

 We came through the gate near the BBQ competitors. It was interesting seeing all the set-ups that everyone had and the smells were very cool. I began to think that it was going to be an average event when we turned the corner and crossed a bridge and a field just opened up to show everything that was there and a whole bunch of people. 

  There was actually quite a lot happening at the event which was a nice change to some of the events we've gone to in the past. There was a classic car display, a huge area of rides and sideshow alley, a craft area, the food vendor area, a small kiddie play area, a riverbank and a lot of open space that had some cover but not a lot :(

Anyway, Storm grabbed a beer and I (rather predictably) headed to the craft area. The girls stayed in the stroller partaking in a snack which was great. After checking it all out but rather disappointed as it was sooooo busy we headed to the kiddie play area to let the kids out and about. They had a ball and it's great to see them really coming out of their shell and talking to other kids in the play area (it's still a work in progress though!)

 Syd having soooo much fun!

 Sliding with Kendall.

 A cold beer with Daddy.

 After playing under the cool trees we headed to the food vendors to grab a bite. After waiting in line for 20 minutes we found the vendor that we had chosen had run out of brisket. It seems that we had arrived later in the day and they were all sold out. They had also thrown out their last batch of chicken (too dry) so all that was left was pulled pork and ribs.

Well we were hungry and unwilling to stay out in the hot sun waiting in another line so I had the pulled pork sandwich and Storm had the ribs. The most stupid action of the day belonged to me when I put their "BBQ" sauce on our plates without checking the flavour first- it was so hot and peppery and even Storm found it unpalatable. (I ate mine without the sauce!)

 Ribbing out...

 Whilst we were enjoying our lunch we were listening to the band on stage. The girls danced and enjoyed it a lot. (We're considering taking them to proper dance classes -ballet and tap. I find out more about a place that a friend takes her daughter to next week!). (Syd does dance though it doesn't look like it right now!)

 It wouldn't be fun without a hat...

 or two...

 Anyway, after enjoying our lunch (and before the sauce took its toll on my stomach!) we headed to check out the classic cars. Some of them were so cute and all were well done.


I couldn't believe that the line for the BBQ was still going strong even at 3pm in the afternoon!

 The big kids area with some rides and sideshow alley.

 Cute cars - one for each kiddoe!

 I thought that I would include this piccie to show the size of the trees around the area. I am stunned at just how tall some of these trees are!

 So, we headed home (me with a dodgy tummy but I wasn't about to see how dodgy on one of those portaloos!) and both agreed that it was an enjoyable day. We're currently on the look for the next event to check out.

Back in the saddle again....

Ok. Now I still do not have the mini laptop up and running which pains me so, so much. Storm is in the process of working with HP to get the restore date back to where it needs to be to see if that fixes the virus that I picked up while cruisin' the blogs one night. We need a software thingey that costs under $100 (we are assured by the Geek Squad) and I cannot wait for it to be fixed! I am using the PC and posting during work hours which will make Storm fume as I always complain that there is never enough hours in the day for me to do my work stuff. But in my defense I have questions for him about the stuff I'm working on right now and since he's on his "Daddy-date" with the girls and since his phone has run out of charge (they watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse whilst at the DMV getting my car registration done!) he is uncontactable! Hence I have some free time...

So, now you have the background of the laptop saga I am going to provide you with some background and piccies of what we've been doing (to help balance out the amount of text that has been on this blog lately.)

Moving on...
Ok, so that we can learn more about the area we've made a promise to ourselves that our weekend will be spent with one day doing errands/chores etc and the other day will be spent on daytrips to various places that take our fancy.

So far we've managed to do the local festival - Freedom Weekend Aloft - here in Simpsonville, the little town of Landrum, SC for antique consignments shops, pub lunches and a covered bridge and this weekend we're hitting Tryon, NC for a BBQ and Music Festival. You can imagine storm's excitement at the prospect of BBQ!

So let's cover the first two daytrips.

First, I'll start with the Freedom Weekend Aloft here in town.

Now we went on the Saturday which meant we did not see Colbie Caillet and Gavin DeGras which was a little disappointing but since I'm not one for crowds it was probably for the best. The weather was sublime with sunshine and a breeze which made for a really pleasant afternoon. We checked out some stalls and made our way to the frisbee/dog show. The girls love - I mean seriously love - dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, bugs..yes bugs, well practically everything in the creature kingdom so they were fascinated at this dogs and made sure to throw a frisbee for Rudy when we got home.

 And yes, we missed the proper gate to go in and see them and watched the pups through a fence.

 The amphitheatre. And before anyone asks - no I am not pregnant. I am back in the sugar saddle again and the beer doesn't help.

 We found the place we wanted to sit and the girls were enthralled with a couple of boys playing frisbee!

 And then the music came on (yes there is a band on stage) and the girls got their wiggle on.

 Kendall with Daddy.

 Sydney with me.

 Check out the "I love Simpsonville" sticker Syd has on her dress. It was given to her by a rep from the Chamber of Commerce. And just in case you're wondering, we all do. Love Simpsonville that is.

 After "dinner" (and I use that term so loosely) the girls wanted to get a birds eye view of the boys playing frisbee.

 Yes, if you look closely enough you can see a tick floating in the watermelon juice. Yes, this little sucker decided that my skirt was a good place to crawl across and paid the ultimate price - death by sugar (sound like me huh?). According to Woody (our next door neighbour) the ticks are running right now but shouldn't be as prevalent in a month or two. So far I've pulled a total of nine ticks from us all (only two had latched on to Rudy, the others were dead or going to be dead when I finished with them).

 The balloons started to blow up (there were about 30 of them blown up in the end) but the take off was cancelled due to the breeze picking up. Who knew what was so pleasant for us sitting on the ground would be so yukky for them to take off?

 We left soon after this as it was 7.30pm and the girls were getting bushed. It still took us 40 minutes to walk back through the festival and carpark to get to the car. That was so frustrating as we live quite close to the back entrance to the amphitheatre but that was only for staff and entertainers to use. Not thrilled. We could have been home in 10 minutes from where we were sitting. Oh well.

So, the next weekend we headed here to Landrum, SC. Now I didn't take any piccies of the town or the pub and it was quite cool in a small town main street kind of way. My hands were full of lamps (yes, I'm into brass lamps at the moment - but that's for another post) and other assorted pretties that we had bought. Between that and holding a child's hand to cross the road meant no piccies. Sorry, you'll just have to visit and insist that we take you there. I was disappointed that the Amish shops were closed so I do need to get back there to check them out.

Anyway, after lunch we decided to hit the oldest covered bridge in SC.

 So cute and iconic huh!

 Yes, the puppies Lolly and Py came too. They come with us everywhere and usually end up in my bag within 10 minutes.

 Posing with Dad.

 Yes, posing again.

 My turn to pose with the kids.

 In the water underneath the bridge. Quite cool at first but lovely once you got used to it. Not sure if I could go swimming in it though. Kendall had no qualms about going in and was quite happy to slip and slide on the rocks finding it hilarious each time. In fact she was a real giggling gertie that day.

 Syd joined Storm and Kendall walking through the water too. But she wasn't as amped about the slipping and sliding.

 It was a really nice way to spend the day. We're really happy p here. It's lovely to get back to seasons and greenery. We've missed green so much as between the rocks of Vegas and the dryness of Portland there really wasn't much green. Yes, the house is bigger than what we need but it's nice to have the space and who knows? Having two teenage girls in the house may warrant such space. We'll see. There's lots to do within a four-five hour drive and it's mostly stuff that we enjoy. I'm not a beachy chickee anymore but it's nice to be able to drive there in 3 hours. I enjoy being outdoors but not when it's stinking hot so here is a nice compromise for me. I cannot wait to see the seasons unfold (well maybe not winter but I'll accept it as the other three seasons should be beautiful!).

I'm also really enjoying being able to get into the garden again. Currently we have planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers (capsicum)s, squash, zucchini, herbs, strawberries (even though I have wild ones growing!) and watermelon. I have prepping to start from seeds with pumpkin, peas, brussel sprouts, more types of squash, arugula, beans, broccoli and carrots. I've been looking for the heirloom varieties and am desperately hoping that because something is purple (ie. the purple carrots, tomatoes and beans) that Sydney will eat them. Kendall? No problems with any of them. Am loving having this space and looking forward to a bumper crop so I can start canning/jarring - yes, I want to can/jar my produce. Time consuming but good nonetheless.

Anyway, enough ranting from me and I look forward to the next day trip tomorrow and will get pics up as soon as I can. Woo hoo!