Finished Decorating (Almost)

I’m almost finished with the decorating of the inside of my mobile home. Kevin still has a cabinet to hang in the bathroom. I may pick up a few pieces here and there, but for the most part I am finished. I must say, it has been fun.

Now it is on to the outside. I bought a swirly piece to hang above the front door. I was going to put a fancy “A” but was told that could be a problem because of Auburn and Alabama. I told everyone I could put a “G” but that didn’t go over too well either. Since the “A” didn’t have anything to do with Auburn or Alabama, I settled for a swirly piece. I have also been planning the types of plants and trees I will add to my front yard. I am going to work on the front yard this year. I already put the birdfeeder in (with Kevin’s help) and have a lot of different birds feeding there.

I asked Kevin if we could put a “finishing” piece of wood across the back of the deck. I thought it would just look better, and he said yes. He would do that. I also plan to start looking for deck furniture. I would like a small round table and four chairs. Because the mobile home faces east, and the back gets the late afternoon and evening sun, I thought it would be nice to sit on the deck. I like to be outside, and, hopefully, it will be cooler on the deck in the evening.

I am thinking about getting a new camera. The one I have now works fine, except not for close-ups. I need one that will let me take pictures of the birds from a distance. Mine does not have a good zoom feature, and that is what I need. I have been doing some research and have narrowed it down to several choices.

Yesterday Kevin finished putting up my purple martin house that I received for Christmas. It is almost time for the scouts to come to check it out. Don’t know if we will have any nests this year. Everything I read said it may take a year or two. Most purple martins go back to their established nests. It’s the young ones that start looking for a new place.

I am working on several other indoor projects right now. The biggest one is printing pictures we took while full timing. I printed all my journals and put them in binders. Now I am working on printing the pictures to go with the journals. I also have them saved on CD’s, but I wanted copies that family could sit and look through.


We were lucky again this week. The tornadoes that hit Alabama were north of us. They were in the Birmingham area. However, we did have 3 ½ inches of rain. Yesterday and today are sunny, but rain is moving in again for tomorrow and Friday. At least I don’t have to water the Dawn Redwood tree. It has been getting plenty of rain!

Random Stuff

You’ve already read about the most exciting happening of this past week – The Fire. As I had said, it could have been worse. We are all fine.

We’ve been having enough rain so I don’t have to water the Dawn Redwood Tree. In fact, it rained most of last night. We’ve had a few cold days, but for the most part we are having a warm winter. That probably means we will have a really hot summer.

The birds have found my new birdfeeder. I don’t know what all the birds are. I’m still researching and learning. I do know I have cow birds, several different sparrows, cardinals, and a few I don’t recognize. I do know that the finches are starting to come to my finch feeder. I have house finches and purple finches. I think I also have golden finches that still have their winter feathers. I found out that golden finches have dark feathers in the winter and turn yellow in the spring. Anyway, I am having fun watching them.

I am in the process of planning what I am going to plant in my front yard, around my house and deck this spring. I am concentrating just on the front this year. I am really looking forward to doing this. I am getting advice from Kevin, Brian and Rita. I’ll let y’all know what I plant and take pictures.

Kevin has started his new job. He is a security guard at Columbus Medical Center. Renea has started taking classes to become an RN. It sure is busy around here.

I bought a new clock for my living room. I had ordered it online and it has arrived. It looks great. The screw was still in the wall from the clock I returned because it didn’t work. So, I hung the new one on that screw. Kevin hung my sunflower pictures that I bought for the kitchen. He also hung my pictures in the bedroom. These are family pictures. I bought a set of cubes (we used to call them shadow boxes) for my bedroom. Kevin has hung them. I put a few knickknacks on them. Also bought a new decorative pillow for my bed. I’ve been rearranging a few odds and ends around the house. Still have a lot to do, but I’m getting there.

Oh yea, the turkeys are still here. There were about two dozen in my front yard this morning. Gotta love the country!

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE

Yes, it could have been.  And it happened on Saturday, January 14th, not Friday, January 13th. All of a sudden I smelled fire.  I checked my house and then looked outside.  Grass to the south of me was on fire and coming closer.  I got my coat and went outside.  By then Kevin was getting all of our hoses, Renea called the fire department and everyone was getting buckets of water from Kevin's pool and anywhere else they could get water.  Quite a few people were manning shovels. 

It seems that some people three houses south of us hired some workers to clean up their yard, and they started burning everything.  Now, there is a burn ban in effect.  It is windy as can be.  BUT.....they start a fire.  They didn't have any water because the faucet they hooked the hose up to was frozen and the hose broke.  Way to go!

Anyway here are a few pictures I took after the fire.

The first two pictures I was standing in my back yard looking towards the woods and Kevin's back yard.

Again, I was standing in my back yard looking south.  That is Kevin's shed and fence.

This is looking back towards Kevin's house.

This is the south corner of Kevin's fenced area and his next door neighbor's yard.

Looking south from Kevin's yard.

That is not a shadow inside the fence.  That is where the fire started to spread into Kevin's fenced area.  If it would have gotten to the shed that would have been bad.  There are lawn mowers, gas, etc. stored inside the shed.

Looking towards Kevin's back yard.

Just a quiet Saturday afternoon in Opelika.  Like I said....it could have been worse.  We sure were lucky!

BIRDS, MUPPETS AND OTHER THINGS

My family knows how much I enjoy watching the birds, so they gave me a purple martin birdhouse for Christmas. Kevin has dug the hold and put in the pole to put it on. He also spent two evenings putting the “house” together. It was a much bigger job than he expected. It is almost time to put it up. We have been told that the purple martin scout birds will be arriving around the first of February and then the females come next. Since this is a new house I’m not sure how many nests we will have. Have been told it may take a year or two. The “house” is in my back yard and I can see it from my window when I am working on my computer. I’ll take a picture as soon as the house is up and will keep you informed if I have any nests. I have a lot of birds coming to my new birdfeeder. Since the birdfeeder is in the front of the house I watch them from several places – including while sitting on my deck. Yes, it has been warm enough to do that. Luckily the rain has been happening during the night.

Renea won four movie theater tickets via a radio station, so she treated herself, Kevin and me to see the new Muppet movie. It was okay. The second half was good because it was like the old muppet show. After the movie we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. Kevin and Renea had been given a gift certificate to Cracker Barrel for Christmas.

I have also been told that I am now a great-grandma. Sarah and Adam had a beautiful baby girl on January 4, 2012. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz. Her name is Kallie Elizabeth. Mother and baby are doing fine (so is dad). This means my mom is a great-great-grandma. How awesome.

I’ve ordered a new clock for my living room wall. Will take a picture when it arrives. The picture sure looked good on the internet. I also ordered two wall hangings to go with the clock. Kevin’s To Do List is getting longer. This could be a problem, he started his new job today.

A Brand New Year

Yep, it’s 2012 now. Christmas was great. I came down with some kind of bug between Christmas and New Year’s, but I’m fine now. I am starting 2012 on a good note.

I spent a couple of hours with Kevin and Renea and their company on New Year’s Eve, but didn’t stay very late. Brian called at midnight, and I talked to him for a few minutes then went to bed. New Year’s Day I watched football and took down my Christmas decorations. They are now packed in boxes and Kevin will be storing them in his attic until next year. I am in the process of getting my house back in order.

I had to take back the beautiful clock I bought for my living room. It was battery operated and the minute hand would work on the down side, but not on the up side. So, I’m back to looking for a clock. I have also started planning what to plant in my front yard when the weather breaks. Of course, right now it is cold (20 at night and 40 during the day) and extremely windy. The wind blew so hard last night my bird feeders were completely empty this morning. The wind has died down a little, so I hope that doesn’t happen again. The wind blew so many leaves into Kevin’s pool that it almost burned up his pool pump. He leaves the pump running when the temperature goes below freezing.

We had enough rain in December that I didn’t have to water the Dawn Redwood Tree. However, we still ended the year a little over 8 inches short of rainfall for the year. Doesn’t look like rain for a few days now so I guess I will have to water the tree.

Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous 2012!