Summertime, Summertime, Sum-Sum-Summertime

The last day of June is about gone! The days are already getting shorter, and 2009 is half over.

Sheesh.

The date may say it's almost July, but you'd never know it by the weather. After being close to looking around for ark instructions not long ago, the switch was flipped to PERFECT. It's in the low 70s, forecast to ooch into the mid 70s over the weekend, and breezy. Sunny skies with a few clouds. Perfect.

Perfect for working outside, which Randy's been doing a lot during his summer 'break,' his 'break' bein' just summer football practice and tackling (ha) the endless list of projects around here. His true break will come when he returns to the daily grind at school. Granted, he has had some pretty good helpers, so he's gotten a lot done.

Perfect for the wildflowers, which are bursting forth all over.

Perfect for visitors.

And for sleeping? Absolutely perfect.

The Christmas in July folks should be thrilled with Mother Nature's predicted cooperation this Saturday (9am - 8pm), as should Zaloo's Canoes. In fact, we should all be thrilled. And we are!

If you've been pondering a quick trip over the 4th weekend, give us a call! Sami's been polishing up her socializin' skills just for the occasion....

Supervisors, Supervisees, and Whatever Else Keeps the Mountainbilly Mama from Working

Randy, supervised carefully by Emma, replaced the (broken) rock work in front of the cabin steps with brick pavers.

Emma made sure he did a good job. And it does look spiffy!

Meanwhile, Kali was exhausted after a day of playing in the pond and walking up and down the cabin road, supervising Emma supervising Randy.

In another meanwhile, Supervisor Sami was slightly irritated that the big rocks in the cabin parking area were a tad hard for breaktime... which is just about all the time.

Lots of hummingbirds at the cabin and at the big house. Since our big feeder is right outside the kitchen window, it's a wonder the kitchen ever gets cleaned. Oh, wait, maybe that's why it doesn't get cleaned....

Lots of summer bloomin' around here, too!

And the blackberries, which are ALL OVER, are coming right along!

Off to see what Randy's up to now, seein' as how he's outside while all three supervisors are sacked out (on a rather grungy carpet and a rocker).

Sunny Skies and Exercise

This is what we've been graced with the past few days. BLUE SKY!!! The weather has been terrific, once we got past a bit of mugginess on our first 'dry' day last week. The water in the ground is finally going somewhere, and Randy and I are tackling outside projects one iota at a time. Of course, we'll need a lot of iotas in order to accomplish even half the list, but we're happily forging ahead.

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox mentioned this video of Wynonna doing her aerobics routine, and you must check it out! You may get some pointers for your own workout.

Or not.

Joanna was the former mama goose to Honky Tonk and Tootsie. We took them - Honky Tonk and Tootsie, not Joanna - and enjoyed them for two summers and two winters, until Tootsie earned her wings prematurely and Honky Tonk retired as a BGOF (Big Gander on Farm).

Joanna also offered us a pig. We didn't take her for a couple of reasons.

Make that a couple of tons of reasons.

We already had Big Emma.

It's Raining, It's Pouring, the Forecast is Boring...

I would say I can't believe it's the 18th, but I say that every time I finally make my way back here. Well, not that I can never believe it's the 18th, of course, but that so many days have rushed by since the last update. Where are they going? Is there a fire?

One of the reasons it's hard to keep up is that every day for the past six weeks or so has looked identical to the one before.

Exhibit A, B, C, D....

Flash Flood Watch/Warning. Severe Weather Watch/Warning. Severe Thunderstorm Watch/Warning. Tornado Watch/Warning. Repeat after me.

Yawn.

A few days have been downright entertaining for us mountainbillies surrounded by water and ground that squishes when you look at it.

This is usually a trickle at best

Our little creek is usually, um, little.

And it's usually not brown.

We were thinking of Noah, wondering just how he built that ark, when we had our first potential boarder.

Don't worry - we have a pair!

We did have blue sky for a little while this morning, but it's acting like we need drought relief again (we don't). Much more rain, and the fish will be on land and won't know the difference. Much more rain, and we'll be in the pond and won't know the difference.

I'm sure everyone wants to get in line to make reservations now! That number to call, the one on your screen, is 1-800-499-3555!

And join those for whom there is never a moment of joy quite like the present. No matter what.

Off to find some ark directions, whether Kali needs them or not....

A Hint of Ashe County Summer Fun!

Summer Calendar of Events (so far!)

A few event highlights from the Ashe County Arts Council summer newsletter (check site for details):

Gallery Crawl: June 12, July 10, August 14, September 11, October 9 (2nd Friday of each month); 5-8pm

BackStreet Park Summer Concerts (4th Friday of every month); 5:30-7:30pm: 

June 6 - Southern Accent

July 24 - Adult Supervision

August 28 - Amantha Mill

September 25 - Crooked Road Ramblers

Visit West Jefferson for much more!

Ashe County Little Theater: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, June 25-29

Christmas in July: July 3 (evening) and July 4 (9am - 8pm)

Ashe County Little Theater: Walking Across Egypt (August 20-22 - 7:30pm; August 23 - 2pm)

Visit Angel Mountain Cabin for more things to do!

June Scoop

Woo-hoo! Only two days after getting this blog started, and I'm actually posting! See what happens when you don't waste time with that housecleaning nonsense?

This is not a replacement for the cabin site; it's just a replacement for future newsletter updates. For some reason, the page started pulling all kinds of funny stuff when I tried to update it. The text I'd just typed would vanish when I tried to start a new paragraph, and photos vanished whenever they felt like it. The type was still there, as were the pictures; I just couldn't see anything. Drove me a bit bonkers.

With marbles and sanity too sparse to deal with such pranks, I decided to move the newsletter to a blog, since that seems to be the rage these days. And here we are!

SO... since the last update, we've found ourselves in another new month! It's hard to tell, though, since we've had rain for what seems like 7 months. No complaints, though, as we are officially out of the drought, according to the drought folks and would like to stay that way. On the other hand, we'll need flippers before long. 

Randy's been working on 'Angel Mountain Park' below the goldfish pond, and it's looking right spiffy (see bench above!). If it would stop raining, I might be able to get some decent pictures, but I can vouch that it will be nice back there. Our next big (cabin) project will be a real trail from the cabin so cabineers can get to it more easily. Matthew will be home for a brief respite from his new coaching duties and will be delighted to put his old football muscles to use, I'm sure.

Things are bloomin' around here! Most of them are probably weeds, but as long as they look nice, it's fine by me. If Katie would come home, you'd have some impressive pictures of them; as it is, she's been flitting from Cape Hatteras (photo class) to Charleston (friend visit) to moving into a little house with a good friend/fellow photo major to puppy-sitting (for a WEEK!) to starting a new job next week. Okay, so maybe she does have a few legit excuses for not gracing us with her presence. 

We found another of Kali's $$$ orange balls (but don't tell her)! Only 4 more to go....

I'm sure there's more to report, but my brain fuzz is waterlogged....

Cheers -

Helen (Mountainbilly Mama)

And We're Off! (In More Ways Than One...)

Greetings! 

This blog will be replacing the current newsletter page on our cabin site, as the web site program is spooked on that page. There's been lots of wackiness on that page only, and I don't need any more fuel to the fire in that department.

For previous cabin newsletter updates:

 2009 (Jan thru May)

 2006-2008

It will take a while to get this set up because I am a super sloth in the tech world. In addition, I am working on a blog a friend and I started at the end of January - The Suite Life of Lucy and Ethel (thanks for asking!) and a new blog we're trying to get set up. More about that one later.

And for even more about us, go to The Jeffrey Journey!

Welcome.

Helen