flowers and trees

ok. so basil may help keep away flies. it may not. that really remained to be seen... but the japanese beetles really liked munching away on the basil. and the marigolds. stupid beetles. look at what they did...



so the basil was all chewed up and sad. it did have some very deep roots, but i put it out of its hole-y misery and have planted some lantana, as well as some torenia. they are lovely flowers and don't seem to be attracting so many beetles.





we also planted a couple of trees. maybe one day, in 20 years when we are no longer living here, there will be big shade trees in this yard. we planted a bald cypress and a red maple.

a day at the pool

it was such a bright, hot day... i should have used our little lens cover attachment thingy. it probably would not have helped much on this day. (this was one day last week.) the girls love going for a swim in the pool. it cools everyone off and gives the grass a little water, too.

it may be hard to tell, but yes, cotton is laying underneath barley.

happy girls.

the view

i'm not talking about the tv show. i am talking about what i see when i sit on my patio. i realized i haven't shown anyone the lovely sites from our back porch, so here they are.

wind blown grass, sunny skies, and mountains to the right

new houses and more mountains straight back

the dogs love running in their yard

we planted an american elm tree, which is a sapling from the "survivor tree" from the oklahoma city bombing site (it is staked to the left)

our basil is growing!

some other new plants... a chili pepper (the tall one) and a banana pepper

you can see we actually have banana peppers growing. and the chili looks like it might bloom soon, too.

and here is dave. he likes when we go outside, too, but is content to watch from the inside.

doctor dogs!

no, it's not halloween... but we did decide to play dress up. harley was over and we had a good time playing with the dogs. inside and outside. but, as the girls love to wear clothes, they decided to be doctors. (no, this isn't what they will be for halloween... they will be something else for halloween. they may even coordinate with harley.) speaking of harley, here is a picture of the little cutie...



we were playing with the dogs' tug-of-war/make-shift rope toy that jay made... it is out of an old scrub shirt. so i found some extras so the dogs could play dress up.







wouldn't you feel assured if they walked into your hospital room?! you would get excellent treatment, some extra licking, a giant lump in your lap, and some left-over fur. what else could you ask for? but anyway, the girls love playing with harley and he loves playing with the girls. in fact, this is the effect on cotton and barley after playing with harley... and for it (and other things), we love him.

marshall family reunion

jay and i spent the weekend in kingsport, tn, hanging out with family on friday and saturday, in the hot shade. we were there for his mom's side of the family's annual reunion. the reunion is usually scheduled in july to coincide with kingsport's big funfest http://www.funfest.net/, but they decided to move it up to last weekend so the weather would be cooler. who knew a year in advance that the heat would come on the same weekend?! it was 98 degrees outside but uncle larry's porch, which is covered and includes fans, helped to make it a little more bearable. we ate good food and had a great time catching up with family. let me introduce you to some of our family:

jay's mamaw stella

little cousin dacota

from left to right: cousin barbara, her husband phillip, jay's uncle rick

little cousin nathan, dacota's big brother

the new puppy, peyton mcmanning

cousins christopher, scotty (dacota and nathan's dad) and jay

great uncle kyle (stella's brother)

the brave souls who sat on the open end of the porch

uncle larry

one of the other popular annual events is the "young bucks vs. old farts" golf match. this year the old farts were the winners. barbara was trying to get the men to behave long enough for a picture and jay decided to sit to take his... this was the best we could do. :) the younger guys and some of the kids were also having a good time playing "horse" after it cooled down a bit (you know, to like 90 degrees). larry has a great yard and house to host the event. (too bad God's air conditioning for outside is only winter.)

if the young ones could have stood still....

playing basket ball in the driveway

the porch

jay and i left late saturday night so we could pick up the dogs from their play days at sparky's. they are still recovering from their weekend. (i love puppy naps!) on sunday, jay's mom, pam, stella, and rick came over for a quick visit at the house and then we took them up on the blue ridge parkway to the pisgah inn and enjoyed some good food and cooler temperatures. the laurel is in bloom and the rhododendron are beginning to bloom and made for some pretty scenery. http://www.pisgahinn.com

...as is...

i know i have promised pictures of the house since we moved in.... and i have some pictures. just be aware that we have been slacking up some on the unpacking of boxes and still have not hung up any pictures, as we are waiting to decide about painting first. but, this is our house from front to back. consider this your "tour" that will look better the next time you see it! (and, of course, there are some pet pictures, too, showing off their favorite parts of the house.)

our humble abode (today is a beautiful day!)

we thought we would add a little humor to everyone's visit (read the doormat)

the living room (not normally so unkempt)

the dining room (aka dog and box central)

guest room (catch-all room)

the office (most of those boxes are empty.)

the laundry "hall" (with door leading to garage)

the kitchen

master bedroom

the man room, i mean, garage

our little plants... basil and marigolds. helping to keep the flies at bay.

our back patio, complete with his and her adirondack chairs which jay assembled and i stained.

appropriate door mat for the back door

new bones. the dogs favorite part of the house.

dave showing you where he likes to lay in the sun :)

laughter is the best medicine.

so maybe it is just me, but it looks like barley is totally cracking up in this picture. (i was uploading a bunch of pictures to walgreens for my recent order and clicked on this one, but when it is smaller, you don't really see the detail. after picking up the pictures, i was thumbing through them and this one made me laugh out loud.) maybe it is because i know the true personalities of my dogs so well. take cotton, for example. the look on her face in this picture is clearly saying, "barley is so stupid. why did you pick this puppy? there were others to choose from. i know there were. clearly, i am a fine specimen of labradors. barley... not so much. she's embarassing me." and sweet barley, is just sitting there with her huge smile, so huge she had to close her cute little eyes, and if dogs could laugh, i think she would be doing so out loud. just like i laugh at her very frequently. so take it from barley and from me, laugh. it'll make you feel better.

summer breeze/ makes me feel fine

ok. so i am totally ready for the summer to get here and stay. we have been enjoying some lovely weather here and i am looking forward to when the warm temperatures come and stay. jay tends to like the cold and wintery days. don't get me wrong, i love to curl up near the fire and enjoy some hot tea or hot chocolate and wear my warm scarves and sweaters. but i also love the warm breezes that blow. (although, living across the road from a dairy farm... the warm breezes do not smell so good! mmm... "country livin'!") anyway, i decided to give the blog a new look to encourage that summery feeling. so let me know how you like it and if the colors seem to work. (and you can find your own new, cute template, by following the link on my page to cute blogs!)

a baby blanket

ok. so last spring i tried to knit a baby blanket for courtney. i had only been knitting for about 2 months when i attempted to tackle such a large task. it didn't turn out so hot. i still have the mess of yarn... i may let dave lay on it. haha so, when i found out my friend from work, rebecca, was expecting, i decided maybe i would try to make a blanket again. and i did. and it turned out beautifully, if i say so myself. little baby hank is due may 31. i hope i can share a picture of him enjoying his blanket one day, too. but here is the finished piece.

reconnected

we finally have our dsl hooked up... at least until cable gets added down in our part of the neighborhood. right now we have dish network and att. sooner or later we will have mediacom. anyway. we are back and i will take some pictures and post them soon of how the house looks with our stuff in it. you'll have to mind the boxes that are still strewn about but it is taking shape. also, change of address cards will be hitting your mailboxes soon, so watch for those! we'll be in touch!

no internet

we still have internet at the apartment (which is where we are now) but not yet in the new home. so after tomorrow i will be on here just every now and then until we get our dsl installed... and att doesn't know when that will be. so once we get things back rolling and download some more pictures, we will get things posted again. if you need to tell us something, call our cell phones!! we will also get out change of address cards in the next couple of weeks, too. thanks for hanging in there!