Happy Halloween from Smoky and Sabrina

Smoky and Sabrina have a story to tell you about their Halloween collars.

Fay has this friend named G. Ann.  G. Ann has this really nice kitty named Gracie and Fay has met her many times, we have not met her.   Gracie looks like the kitty Fay and Bob had before us, Tanya.  Gracie has the same fur markings but has shorter fur and is very, very soft.   Fay says she has fur like a bunny.   Gracie really likes Fay and Fay feels the same way.   G. Ann has met us many times and when she made Gracie a Halloween collar she made them for us too.  Here are our photos with our new collars.

Sabrina says – I didn’t know what Fay was doing.  The look on my face is surprise and puzzlement.  My collar is orange.

Smoky says -I don’t like this one bit.  My collar is red.  Fay put my collar on and I ran away.   I didn’t know what was going on either.  Bob had to be really quick to get these two photos.

Fay thinks we look so cute.  Bob just rolls his eyes but he was a good sport and took the pictures of  Fay and Smoky.

No cats were injured in this Halloween collar dress up.  We were just confused for about 15 seconds and then our life was back to normal.   Hope you enjoyed our Halloween fashion show.

Happy Halloween from Fay, Bob, Sabrina and Smoky.

Photos of Greenville and the Blue Ridge Parkway

I made a slide show at Picasa of recent photos I took around Greenville and into NC.   You will see the Biltmore Estate grounds, Greenville, Furman University, Paris Mountain, Caesars Head State Park, Pretty Place (yes that is it’s real name), NC waterfalls, the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway and our back yard.

Click here to see the slide show.  On the far left click on slideshow.

Enjoying classes, our friends and fall in NC and SC

I can’t believe how the time flies by. Since my last post I have decided that I  am not a big Shakespeare fan.  I watched the three comedies as movies and even with the information from our great instructor I just can’t get into them.   I think the combination of the plays done in Britain with an English accent, old English language and the fact that the actors spoke very fast didn’t help.   I liked best the one that even though in English had subtitles.  The plots of the three comedies are all kind of similar and I don’t think Shakespeare treats women very well.  I have decided to stop the remaining classes and do woodworking instead.

The class “In Conversation…” where interesting people are interviewed is fantastic.  The last couple weeks we heard from a former governor of the Federal Reserve and the President of the Peace Center, which is like the Ordway or Orchestra Hall.  So interesting.  My special Friday class was on art appreciation and it was also great.

Our Newcomers group went on a Ghost Tour of downtown Greenville and we had a big party this last Sat. night.  Lots of fun.

In addition to these activities we had our friends Kris and Don from MN visit for 5 days.   We kept them VERY busy during the day but still slept in and were home at night.  I did a little too much walking on the day we visited three waterfalls so had a few aches and pains but they are gone now.

Today Bob and I drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the fall colors.  Depending on the altitude (between 2000 and 5000 ft) the colors are over or at peak.  It was 49 when we left our house about 11:30 and by the time we got to 5000 feet around 2 p.m. we could see that it had snowed a few hours ago and the temp was 30.  We were worried that there might be quite a few cars on the Parkway but it wasn’t crowded at all. I will let the photos speak for them self.  There are also some photos from our back yard and the Biltmore gardens.  Enjoy.

The Biltmore Mansion – 175,000 sq. ft., 250 rooms, house only footprint is 6 acres.  Build in 1896.

Biltmore Gardens

Beautiful little Lake Placid on Paris Mountain, about 5 miles from our home.

The Blue Ridge Parkway



Our back yard

Fall is our favorite time of year and we are so fortunate to live somewhere where it lasts a long time.  We should have color around us for at least a few more weeks.

Our new boxes

I know some of you have been waiting to see what the new boxes Bob and I have been making look like.  They are called band saw boxes because they are cut on a band saw.  We learned a great deal on these four boxes.  The wood is glued together.  We were experimenting with different finishes, how best to sand the boxes, etc.   All in all we are very pleased with our first attempts.  The inside of each drawer is flocked with brown flocking.   That was a new experience.   We had never heard of this technique.   It makes the inside look like fine felt.    I’m sure you have seen it in many jewelry boxes.  All are made of mahogany with cherry trim.  Since we made these we purchased or got from the library several good books and also found lots of videos on youtube.com.

Here are the simple one drawer ones.  Bob made the larger one and I made the smaller one.    The larger one is about 9 inches long.  We call them the whale and the dolphin.

Here is a close up of the whale.

Below is the large two drawer box I made and it is called Boulders.  It is about 8″ by 6″.

This next box is a two drawer one Bob made and it is called Open Air.   It is about 9″ by 6″.

Out of some leftover pieces we made a couple little frames for our favorite pictures.

Bob has the wood ready for the next four boxes and we have our patterns picked out.  Thanks to a generous friend we have a lot of mahogany.  We also have some birds eye maple and black walnut and a couple other woods I can’t remember right now.

Quite a step up from pens, don’t you think?

Fall in the mountains

Every day the trees by us have a little more color. Today is 75 and sunny and very clear. I don’t think I have ever seen the mountains this clear. They are still 40 miles away but so pretty. I didn’t take this photo but it shows what it looks like.  Without a doubt this is my favorite time of year.   I love the way the air smells and soon we will have a full moon to look at.

Soon we will be going up to Asheville to see their colors. 

This morning Bob and I finished our four new boxes so I will take some photos of them to show all of you.   We are pretty pleased with them. 

Smoky and Sabrina are doing well.  They love being outside and dart around chasing invisible things.  They have both been very cuddley.   Sabrina often won’t let me out of her sight.   Doesn’t exactly want to be held all the time but sure isn’t more than 2 feet from me.   She begs for food terribly when I am in the kitchen cooking.  She hangs from my pants, if I have jeans on, or from the kitchen doors.  Smoky comes for food if he things she is getting something. 

They are both always downstairs with us if we are doing woodworking, sitting in the windows, rolling on the floor or on the workbench or shelves.  We have figured out that if we are using some finish with fumes we need to shut them out of that room until the air cleans.   Being so small I would think they could be easily affected by the fumes.

Smoky can’t seem to get enough attention from Bob.  I am hoping they stay well for along time.

 

I miss my soap opera

I know this is more than a week late. The 40 year old soap opera “All My Children” went off the air a week ago last Friday but I was on vacation and didn’t see the final shows until this weekend. I have watched it off and on since it started when I was in college and now it is no more, unless they revive it as an intenet show. I know it sounds silly but after watching these TV characters all my life I feel like I have lost some dear friends. The writers did a good job of tying things up and giving most of the characters a good happy ending which I really appreciate.

I can tell you one thing I won’t do – watch the show that is AMC’s replacement, that would be The Chew. Bob asked me if I would start watching another show but I don’t think so.

10 Safety tips

Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or a loved one’s life.
In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation…
This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, & everyone you know.

It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do:

The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide.

If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM.Toss it away from you…. Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you,and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy..The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS!)

The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go.AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF!

Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side.. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a
guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic:

STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked ‘for help’ into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point:

Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.. The police told her ‘Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door..’ The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, ‘We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.’ He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby.. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby’s cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.

10. Water scam!

If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a
burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.

Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbors!