Faith, Family, Food and Dogs

Going back over the photos this could be rounds 3 AND 4, but we'll just stick to Round 3. I'll start by refreshing your memory of what the front walk and around the porch looked like when I moved in last year. The really tall green plant near the front porch is called a Spanish Bayonet. My friend Steve said I would look like a pin cushion after I cut it down. The large grey-green cactus is an Agave cactus. Then I had this intrusive plant taking over the side and the back of the front porch. Now to clarify "Yard Wars" that means anything out side of my heated and cooled square footage,,,for example my back deck. It is no fun sitting outside when this is one of two light sources. This was the other. The porch light doesn't work and the bolt holding the bottom of the fixture on is so rusted that even after lots of PB Blaster I cannot get the bolt to budge. This is 2/14/2016. The Agave is gone and two new Sago Palm pups have been planted. I still need to rem...

I bet you're wondering where 'Yard Wars, Round One' is. There isn't a post for that. In Round One I sprayed weed killer all around the house and then some total vegetation killer in an effort to make my life easier. The spray combined with a few hard freezes helped me win Round One. This was the view was you approached my front porch late last year. See the tall, green stuff with the huge leaves? Keep these three pots to the right of the steps in mind, they will come up again later. Only one has a living plant in it. The other stuff is weeds or dead plants I need to remove. See it now? It had gotten totally out of control as the previous tenants apparently didn't do anything around the house. You couldn't get to the outside spigot nor the hose hanger on the back side of the front porch. Plus there was all kinds of trash down in there that couldn't be reached due to all the big green plants. I meant to take a photo from the porch looking down towards all...

One of my favorite things about Christmas time is all the lights. In a post last year, I think I mentioned how at Nan's house, I would turn out the bedroom lights then sit on the bed and look out the window at the Christmas light display two houses over. I'm like a kid at Christmas time with lights. This post is all about Christmas lights in my current neighborhood. Yes, its a tad late but that's life, First up is my Christmas tree. It was maybe 6-feet tall but it was the best one I could find that would fit in my place. On Christmas Eve, my son CJ and I took the girls for a walk around the block so I could take pictures. First up are my meager front porch lights. My only outside outlet was half-way back on the opposite side of my home. Several extension cords later this is what I put up. This is my neighbor's house next door. He ran his extension cords like I did. The blue lights have snowflakes on them and at first CJ thought they were Star of David lights,...

Cue the music,,, I really hate moving. The purging of stuff, the packing, the total mess the house or other dwelling becomes during the process. I moved in November, but by October I had pretty much trashed,,,in a good way, the house in Stokesdale. The living room was full of packing material. As was the kitchen. Even the master bedroom was a mess. I did not take a photo of the office or the guest room. That is where the bulk of the packed boxes went to live until moving day. With the help of the BEST neighbor in the world and another neighbor the U-Haul truck got loaded. Thank you Randy Winn for all your hard work! The drive down was smooth and uneventful. My crew of friends all showed up to help me unload the U-Haul. This is my kitchen once we were done unloading the truck. My new living room. And my new master bedroom. But me, being the crazy person I am, I stayed up until 2 am that night to get some of the kitchen unpacked. I was very grateful that my new manager...