Garden Oddities

Siamese twin squash. It's weird how they grow fused together sometimes!

 We've had more hummingbirds at our feeder this summer than ever before. You have to be quick and very stealth to get a picture of these guys. The least little noise or movement and they're gone in a flash.

Garden Project 2013

Every weekend for the past three weeks, we have been working on our garden project. We had a garden fence built, a garden path built and a new stamped concrete pad poured in our fire pit area. Yesterday, Trey, our concrete guy finished sealing the pad. We worked hard and have sore muscles, but it was worth it.

Love, love, love our garden path and new planters. Terry did a great job coming up with the idea. We used the decorative rock from our fire pit area for the path. We had just the right amount of rock.

The stamped concrete pad looks like an old cobblestone street. That's the look we were going for and Trey did a fabulous job!

All those little stalks are what is left of our okra plants. I cut them down close to the ground, then pull the stumps up after we have a good frost. I can't wait for spring 2014!

Bullet napping on his cat tree on a hot Wednesday afternoon.

Terry took this picture of spider webs in our lemon thread cypress. We've had a bumper crop of spiders and spider webs this summer. I don't mind as long as the spiders aren't on me.

Before and After

Our deck hasn't been stained in over 10 years, so we decided it was time. After Terry got home from work yesterday we started and got the first coat done. We used a deck wood restorer from Olympic called "Restore It." After one coat, the results were amazing. The second coat goes on this afternoon.

After one coat. Looking good!

Parting Shots from the Smokies

September 1st Sunset

Fontana Lake

Fontana Lake is located on the southern border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One of the prettiest lakes I've ever seen. It's right up there with Dale Hollow Lake. Just one of the many beautiful sights in Western North Carolina.

Fontana Lake Dam

Nantahala National Forest, Cherokee and Nantahala Outdoor Center-Day 3

On day three of our trip we had planned on taking the The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad ride through the Nantahala Gorge. The weather wasn't cooperating so we decided to take a road trip and explore the Nantahala National Forest, drive through Cherokee and check out the Nantahala Outdoor Center. You can click on the links to find out more info about the forest, the railroad and outdoor center.

We stayed in Cherokee long enough to check out the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort. We had never been to a casino before. On the way out of town I took this picture of an Indian statue. Terry said it looked like it was giving a Nazi salute :0)

Next stop was the Nantahala Outdoor Center which was right down the road from where we were staying. They have a kayaking and canoeing school and whitewater rafting trips.

The mist rising from the river was beautiful. It rained off and on while we were there which made taking photos tricky. We were worried about getting our cameras wet.

Terry on the swinging bridge. We took pictures of people white water rafting from the bridge. It was fun watching them go down the river. The water was very cold!

Moi on swinging bridge. I love these things!

You can see a guy through the fog on a paddle board.

Wild flowers on the river bank.

Taking a picture down the Smokey Mountain Railway railroad track.

This is the picture I took. We were both cold and soggy by the time we got back to the yurt. That was remedied by a nice fire in our fire pit.

Joyce Kilmer Part 2

This picture doesn't do this tree justice! Luckily Terry used to wide angle lens to get the shot.

We had to watch for fallen limbs on the trails.

Perfect round hold in this rock.

I'm pretty sure this is the tree where Tony's ashes will be scattered.

 

This fern covered boulder was at the end of the trail.