As summer closes in on us

Welcome!

Today begins our blog. These pictures were taken on our recent Tour of the Falls. The one on the left is Triple Falls, and the right is High Falls. They were taken with my point-and-shoot camera, no fancy zoom lens or anything. Mike hiked to both of them while mother and I just admired them. We kept asking what in the world took us so long to get there?


This kicks off our new blog, so we easily share our goings-on with family and friends. Today's post runs the entire fenceline - time will demonstrate that we actually move very slowly toward our ridiculous number of goals. We don't actually have much to say, day to day. Please leave your comments - we'd love to hear your thoughts!!

Geneology


Today we celebrate Memorial Day. http://www.ancestry.com has made their entire collection of military records available to the public through D-Day. We signed on for a free three-day account yesterday, jumped in and were quickly swimming through our set-aside geneology research. First thing was to look up my father's service records. Guess what he gave as his occupation when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps? ACTOR!! He claimed to be an actor in motion pictures, also a motion picture director and entertainer. And here he is - just as he was in life - giving us a good story, and presenting the lighter side on a day of remembrance.

Since there was a war during almost each generation in US history, we have a number of records to find.



Then we worked at finding my great-grandmother's family. Despite much searching several years ago, records were holding her memory dear and she remained "off the grid." We wondered, what secrets did her life hold?



So when her name showed up on the MS Federal Census, listing her children right there - WOOOOO HOOOOO!! We found her and were able to trace her back through the 1900 Census, when she was 37 years old. Finding her in the 1880 Census is getting tough though. Her multiple marriages are complicating research, too. Finding a woman's maiden name is a major challenge.



Mike began researching his family, and found some very interesting records to send to his dad.



Gardening




We are expanding our former vegetable garden this year and building a fence around it. Our melon-farming of the past few years has been shelved in favor of a temporary herb garden. However, these melons don't give up without a fight, and Mike is going to nuture along a few volunteer melon vines.

Herb gardening is the greatest gardening!! It's easy, and you can eat the results without planning a menu around it. Our flat-leaf parsley is most productive, and we have plenty already frozen for the winter. The next project is making herb butters.



Thanks to Jane, and her major house remodel set to get underway in the fall, we will soon have a rose garden running outside the garden fence! She needs to move her rose garden, rather than bulldoze it, and we are most excited to be the future home for many of her gorgeous plants, as well as her 25 years of rose-growing experience to guide us along.



Dogs

The latest dog toy is our digital camera. What took us so long to make the switch to digital?!!!!???

Tillie went for her 6-month checkup and saw the vet who originally set us on the homecooking path. Dr B was stunned at her improvement and obvious, shining good health. Tillie is continuing to recover, becoming more and more active, curious, demanding, and engaged. You can only conclude that the Aussies were not getting the nutrition they needed on their former food.



Rowdy is doing great. Our Atlanta obedience teacher is encouraging us to aim to enter him in Novice Obedience in December! It will be a big step, and we'll see how we do playing the tough, tough game of competitive dog obedience.


Knitting



My progress on an easy lace stole from Victorian Lace Today continues. It's in Knitpicks laceweight alpaca, very soft with a pretty fuzzy halo, in a sky blue. Very yummy. I doubled the width of it so it's more stole-like than scarf-life. Incredibly easy - a 2-row repeat, and the second row is simply knit across. Pictures to be up soon, I promise!