And We Are STILL Here... 2015 Edition

Goodness - here we are almost a YEAR since the last post. I promise we are not sitting idly by and watching the wind blow. Well, most of the time, anyway.

Before I forget, the cabin site became sorta haunted and will have to be rebuilt. Since no one HERE has a clue, my (Helen's) poor brother will be stuck with the job by default; however, he has zero time to battle web site woes right now, so we have a temporary one up! You can find it at http://jrm2149.wix.com/angel-mountain-cabin. 

I won't begin to try to catch up on the past 10 months, other than to say WHEW. Randy's 'retirement' is anything but; if it doesn't kill us, I suppose it'll keep us young. Or something.

The bees are buzzing, which is a really good thing after some frigid temps this winter. We aren't complaining! At least we don't live in Boston. Yikes. Bee Daddy is working on the hive stands, and soon I'll be able to join him... with my new hip! Yep, I'm almost bionic now, sure to set off an alarm or two. I don't care! One more week, and I should be free to get back to work in the flower beds and bee jungle. And unload some lard in the process!

A few of the hives that made it thru the winter!

The crawdads/crayfish/whatever have messed with the pond levels and Randy's sanity, but the recently discovered hole seems to have miraculously sealed itself up. The fish kids have stopped working on Plan B....

Honey has been with us almost 10 months and continues to be fun, sweet, and a bit rambunctious in the puppy sense (she turned one in mid December). She loves to run, run, run, and took full advantage of the snow!

She may be a little spoiled.

She loves snuggle time with her SC cousins, Emmy and Mae :) 

And speaking of spoiled, Honey's VA cousin, Maple, qualifies, too....

Meanwhile, Sami has somehow managed to flip over another year on the calendar and is 17.

She's becoming brave in her old age, daring Honey to come after her and threatening to claw her puppy eyeballs out if she tries. Poor Honey just wants to P-L-A-Y, although she's learning to be a little more patient around her big sis.

Maybe Sami just needs a nap...

We hope all is well with all of you, and we hope to see you sometime this year!

Still here... 2014 Edition

Why I'm amazed that so much time has lapsed since my last post is beyond me. The time has been zooming right on by for so long, I've given up trying to stay on top of things.

The Mountainbilly gerbil wheels have continued to spin! In a nutshell:

1. My mother released her CD, The Story of Noah's Ark, thru CD Baby! You can learn more about the CD (and Mom's remarkable story!) here.

2. Favorite Firstborn, Matthew, and Favorite Daughter-in-law, Jill, haven't been resting since getting married in November. They moved to VA, then bought a house that needed a fence for their baby, Maple. Randy - being 'retired' and all - built the fence mostly by himself, as the happy homeowners were busy working. Their yard is better than a dog park now!

3. While Randy was busy on the fence, I was busy on our nephew's wedding desserts! I wasn't sure it was safe to leave me alone in the kitchen with almost 20 new recipes (enough of each for over 200 guests!), but I survived, and despite ditching a couple of the choices, the 18 that made the final cut were purty tasty. When Randy was finished with the fence, he shifted effortlessly into wedding cake mode, making a 3-tiered Oreo cheesecake. Oink. The wedding was held in a small airplane hangar (our pilot nephew met his fiancee when she worked at the airport) almost 6 hours away, so we couldn't completely relax until the goods were delivered and the cake was cut. It was all beautiful, and as Favorite Daughter/Photographer Katie ended up taking pictures from beginning to end, there are some stunning memories.

The hangar:

A small section of the dessert table:

 The wedding cake (even more delicious than it looked!):

4. Bees, bees, and more bees! Randy has now retrieved bees from a felled tree and from the wall of a second-story shed accessible only by ladder. We're up to 11 hives now, all bustling along well and rewarding us with treasured honey! And... Randy's been teaching an introductory beekeeping class at the local community college this month. He's had a great time teaching, and I imagine the new beekeepers have had fun learning.

5. We celebrated Jeffrey's 17th birthday! Hard. To. Believe.

6. We have a new furbaby in the family! Long story, Katie and Favorite Son-in-Law, Paul, happened upon a sweet dog at the Charleston Animal Society (where one of their own furbabies came from) and asked what we thought. We apparently thought we were ready for another pooch, so they returned to the shelter with their own furbabies, Mae and Emmy, to see how they'd all get along. They acted like old pals, so that was that. We met Katie and Paul in Fort Mill, SC, to get 'Honey' on Father's Day... which was more fitting than we could have imagined :)

   

We can't wait to get Honey together with the granddogs, Emmy, Mae, and Maple:

             

Meanwhile, we're all enjoying our new baby! Well, okay... maybe not Sami.

And that's a sampling of what's been happening around here. Whew.

Until I come up for air again, happy summer!

Still Here!!!

I could hardly believe my eyes to see that my last post was in April. At least it was in 2013....

Things have been hopping around here since then. After a particularly grueling past few years teaching and coaching football (and baseball this past year), Randy retired from the education circus in May. No more insane commutes and school politics! 

Not one to skip a beat, he's kept himself occupied with our bees and mowing, tho with daily rain all summer, he didn't get everything mowed until a couple of months ago... and then the mower conked out.

At the end of summer, Matthew announced his engagement, so we put ourselves in overdrive in more ways than one. We considered ourselves food experts after our bakery days and catering Katie's wedding (actually, her wedding week) and figured this would be a lot easier.  

It may have been, had we done just the dinner food both nights and a 'cake.' However, Mr. Retiree insisted on becoming a master wedding cake decorator, and the cakes (yep, cakes) were gorgeous and delicious.

(The groom chose chocolate mint cheesecake. So Randy made TWO.)

We're now on a serious quest to shed some of the experimental pounds....

The wedding (on Thanksgiving weekend) was beautiful and fun, and we love our new daughter-in-law, Jill. Katie took hundreds of gorgeous photos, so we can relive the hoopla as often as we'd like and in our pjs if desired!

In cabin news, it was a busy summer and fall! We've been reminded numerous times what terrific cabineers we have :)

Meanwhile, it's time for Christmas?!? YIKES. That means it's time for the annual Winter Hibernation Special! From now thru March, 2014, nightly rates will drop to $75 for the first two nights and $50 for each additional night. And there's still chocolate!

Cheers to all!

                   

The Latest Bzzzzzz...

Greetings - it's already almost May! How'd that happen?

No matter - it's beginning to look like spring even if the flannel sheets are still in place. Hummingbirds are back and bossy, blooms are popping up all over, and the first of the new bee kids have arrived (unfortunately, our two hives from last year were among the 1.4 million others lost across the country).

You'd better sit down for this next bit of news. The cabin is now hooked up with fiber optic for the TV... and WiFi, for those who would like (or need) to stay connected a little even during an escape from the real world. 

You read that right - the cabin has ooched its way into the 21st century with internet, and it's wireless at that!

And don't forget the gift certificates to The Honey Hole.

So there's really no excuse now not to come :)