Happy 9th Birthday Thatcher!

Today is Thatcher's 9th birthday!  We celebrated with a doggie birthday cake that I baked...needless to say, both of the boys loved it!

I thought I'd post some memories of Bubba through the years.....here he is on his way home from Rainbow Bridges Kennel....our first day with T-bone!  And it was spent in the Jeep :)

 

After one of his adventures digging holes under the deck at the Taylor's Ridge house....."Dad....you're acting like mud is bad or something?"

Again?  Really?

Visiting the beach house for the first time

Belly scratch from Tom

 Thatcher's first snow

"Daddy....what the heck is that brown speckled thing that acts like a spaz?"



The beginning of a long tradition of sleeping on beds :)

One year old....and watching horses on the beach at the Outer Banks

Snoozing

Thinking

Hiding

Being dignified

Not so dignified

Sniffing

 Guarding (and sleeping on the bed)

Stinking (after being sprayed by a skunk at Gran's house)

Teaching little sister how to bark at things

 

 



183

The 183 miles it takes to drive between our current homes in the JC and WS has finally begun to take its toll.  A month or so back the Subaru (Roo) was the first to feel it.  On my way back to WS it suddenly dropped out of cruise control and had an error message where the odometer should be.  Fortunately, the car was driveable and I managed to make it back to WS.  After an unsuccessful round of repairs in WS, I drove Roo back to her home dealership in the JC where they have had her for the last month.

 

Then, last night Flo gave me her last ounce of strength to get me within 1.3 miles of our house in JC before she gave out entirely....and when I say gave out entirely, she made it to the middle of an intersection and then stopped completely...no forward, no reverse, no neutral, no clutch, no gears....kaput.  Fortuantely, she exerted one last spasm of energy (after a couple cycles of the light and lots of horn blowing) that allowed me to coast into the gas station just 20 yards away.  Here she is on the back of the tow truck for the 1.3 mile journey home.

 The boys got to ride in Flo while she was being towed...one of the silver linings of this experience is that Gator got to feel like he drove the Jeep home and unloaded it off the back of the tow truck.

After this experience.....there is nothing short of gratitude and thankfulness in my heart.  To think of all the aweful places Flo could have given out over those 183 miles....and she got me to within 2 miles of home.....she left it all out on the road, now that's heroic.

As she sits inert in the driveway, you may be led to dispair.  However, the Subaru people (who conveniently had Roo ready for me this morning) said that it sounded like a clutch (cross your fingers) instead of a transmission....which would be sooooper awesome.  They have offered to tow her in to the dealership and work on her.  Since the service manager is one of Bob and Ann's good friends, I have to again be nothing but thankful.

Sometimes, I can feel like God has abandoned me and struggle to grasp his will.....othertimes, devine providence just walks up and smacks me in the face.

And on the bright side, I dropped some brussel sprouts, swiss chard and kale into a row (tilled by big yellow) and used a row cover to get them going.  It protects the young plants from frost (which these varieties are somewhat resistant to) and flee beatles, which love to feast on plants from the cabbage family.

Spring Break Trip to the Zoo

Our big adventure for spring break was a trip back to the NC Zoo.  After going there woefully unprepared last summer, we were in much better shape this time around.  For starters, we all wore tennis shoes and brought the BOB Duallie.  This was a huge difference from our last visit and made it much more enjoyable.  We also started at the end of the Zoo that has the African animals because they are a bit more interesting than the North American ones.  I was struck by how amazing giraffes are....you read about them and see the pictures, but to see some up close, they are pretty amazing creatures.

 

Easter Morning

The Easter bunny decorated the tree we put up with puzzle pieces and jelly beans!

 The magic seeds grew into lolipops!

 Emily and the girls baked some bunny shaped cinnamon rolls.

 

 Two beautiful girls in their Easter outfits ready for church.

Our boys

Just a note that the boys are still around....but moving a bit slower.  Thatcher's 9th birthday will be on April 11....unfortunately the old boy feels every bit of his 9 years.  We  think he's developing arthritis in his hips.  He's a bit slower than usual first thing in the morning and the day after long walks.  But what can I say, they're just great dogs. 

Easter Mail

The girls received a package from the Easter bunny in the mail today.  It contained several magic beans and instructions for planting them.  So, the girls followed the instructions and planted the seeds using some of our seed cups and starting soil....we'll have to see what happens overnight!

 



Lily's Garden

Its that time of year again....Lily and I have our seeds started for the garden.  Our early starts include tomatoes, jalepenos, egg plant, cilantro, basil, and new for this year kale and tomatillos.  I've already used "big yellow" to till the "English Garden" once....the name given to our garden in the JC.  It'll get another round or four of tilling before we are ready to put everything in the first week of May.

 

Before that though, we'll put the kale out next week.  Kale likes the weather a bit cool and is frost resiliant....so we'll see how that goes.

Lily and I just couldn't handle being so far from our garden this spring, so we decided to use the beautiful dirt around one of the trees in the back yard to make a small raised bed.  We've got a few kale seedlings in it right now....hopefully squirrels like kale less than bird food!

Spring break

On the second day of spring break, we took a little trip to the playground.

That is, after an initial stop at Bis-ki-bill!

Where the wild things are

Apparently, they're at the Children's Museum in Winston-Salem. Thursday was the first day of a week and a half long spring break for the girls, so we decided to visit one of our favorite places!