Black Cats, Burra Burra, & Blackberries

I have a picture laden post today. Josh & I have had a lot of fun on our day off from work, and I had my camera with me the whole time. I apologize because they are out of order. I haven't quite mastered downloading all the pictures in the appropriate order, and it is a bit of a headache putting them in order, especially at 10:30 at night. I'm going to start at the end of the day and go forward.


This picture is from Memorial Day 2008. It was my parents' first trip up to the cabin, and we planted a cedar tree that I had potted from their house back when I was in college. I wanted to bring that tree with me when I got married.

I showed you the above picture so that I could show you this one. My cedar tree is flourishing one year later.

The next three pictures are our kitties. Isis & Athena enjoy the outdoors, so I took one of Isis, & Josh got a picture of Athena. That's the only one Homer would let me get of him. He's so skittish that he doesn't go outside much. In fact, he decided to hide most of the day

Josh also took over the camera as I went berry picking. I have mentioned the wild blackberries in our yard before, and I had a fun, but thorny, time picking them. Yes, they have been ripening, and we are reaping the benefits!

Athena & Isis both joined me while I was picking. They follow me around meowing for attention. I got fairly deep into the berry patches, and at one point Isis had been on the porch, and she came bounding through thorns & thickets to reach me. Athena had already followed me down there. I think they're protective but also very curious.
Here's what a lot of our bushes look like now. Some of them are laden with blackberries, but most have only ripened halfway.

I am quite proud of this picture. The berries are in a translucent white bowl, and I wanted to get a picture of them. I probably picked close to 100, and there are still more. I didn't even reach one half of the yard. The picture turned out fantastic. Don't they look delicious?

Berry picking was the second half of my day. The first part involved Josh & me going on a van tour of the Copperhill & Ducktown mines. It was really neat to see the reclamation of the areas that were devastated by the mining industry.

There are some pictures of some mines, roast yards, areas where they have planted & worked on water treatment, and then some from the Ducktown Museum as well.

This is a view of an area that they have left as it was to show what happened to the environment. God's awesome in that even without people making efforts to fix this area, nature is still running it's natural course to heal the land. The water in the "lake" is actually filling an old mine that collapsed years ago.

We've had a great day. Besides the tour & the time outdoors we took time to go to the dump, IGA, Piggly Wiggly, & spent some time watching our usual evening shows. I took a nap during Knight Rider this evening. I must have worn myself out.

I'm sure there is much more I could write about, but I'm starting to get tired, and there is always tomorrow. We have plans to eat at Red Lobster, go to Josh's old church for fellowship & fireworks, then we'll rest up for a "short" day at church Sunday. There's only one morning service.

Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend!

If you are interested in more information about the Copper Basin project, visit the following websites. It's really neat what they are able to do by planting trees & grasses and creating natural wetlands that will naturally clean the watershed.

www.glennsprings-copperbasinproject.com and www.epa.gov/Region4/waste/copper

Introducing Homer

Spot the kitty!

What's that?

Yes, I really am that big.

*yawn*

I got home too late to blog, but I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of Homer, our third cat who has yet to be officially shown on bearcatfeet. One day I'll sit down and introduce you better to our kitties & their personalities.

It's about time . . .

Finally, I get the chance to curl up on the love seat with my laptop, a warm blanket, & the bearcatfeet blog. Sorry I abandoned writing for a week. It's been busy, and I'll attempt to play catchup.

Last week was a very long week at work. It wasn't physically tiring so much as it was emotionally exhausting. Satan was working last week to cause dissension among the daycare workers & on top of it there was a flood of bad news that came in about several good Christian people in our community. It was a very discouraging week for me, so I was relieved to see Friday come around.

I taught a class about scrapbooking to some teens at our local library Thursday afternoon. My sister heads up the teen program there, and she asked to me to help out. After that Josh & I headed home, and I spent the night resting from my week.

Friday was spent cleaning, because we had a shindig at the cabin on Saturday. Thursday comprised of laundry, dusting, dish washing, mail sorting, book sorting, vacuuming, & mopping. By that evening Jenny & Jud (Josh's sister & her husband) came up for the evening. Josh made a fantastic buttery spicy shrimp dish (I wouldn't know since I don't eat shrimp, but everyone else loved it), and I ate a peanut butter & jelly sandwich (Mmmm!). Jenny had brought some cheesy garlic mashed potatoes which were also very yummy. We stayed up late talking & enjoying fellowship together. I also made some Jello, Raspberry Sweet Tea, & Lemonade for the next day.

Saturday also held a little bit of cleaning before we started having friends arrive at noon. We had a great time & hung out all day. Here are some pictures:

As you can tell, we had a great time talking, laughing, & eating good food. It was Jared's 29th birthday and Jenny baked him a cake & decorated it. I helped by putting the JM initials & candles on it. In the picture of me, I'm wearing earrings that Josh's parents brought back for me from their recent vacation. I call them my "wind chimes" since they make noise when I move my head around.

Sunday was a pretty normal day, complete with good food at Mamaw's, a Sunday afternoon nap, & two great sermon's from the pastor. Today was a surprisingly quiet Monday, and I had the opportunity to go grab some chicken salad & pasta salad from Jenkins. Josh & I have enjoyed a night of watching Knight Rider, A-Team, & Magnum PI. He is always a wonderful husband, but he has been even nicer to me tonight by making me a chocolate milkshake & washing the dishes while I blog. After that he spent some time out on the front porch enjoying a cool, clear evening. I joined him and looked at the mountains for a while, listening to the chorus of birds outside, and then I went back inside to blog more. ;)

Keep our childcare in your prayers this week. I've been seeking wisdom on how to lead & how to help boost our low enrollment numbers. God has given me some ideas involving weekly encouragement for teachers & a daily prayer time in the sanctuary. I am hoping that through my going to Him in prayer & inviting the teachers to join me, then we'll grow together as a team.

I'm going to rest now before going to bed & starting it all over again.

Sunday, a day of rest

I finally made it to the end of VBS, and boy am I glad. We had a great week with just over 300 teachers & students in attendance. Friday was a blur, with it being clean-up from VBS, set up for Family Night, & then break down that night. If you don't know, part of my job as preschool director is setting up the entire annex for preschool VBS because the daycare still operates all week in the regular preschool classrooms. So I have to clear those annex rooms out before I start on Family Night preparations.

I did myself a favor this year, and I simplified everything. It's a good thing too. With is being just a degree or two shy of 100 degrees Friday, being outside hauling things was atrocious. By the end of Family Night I was feeling nauseous and ended up sick to my stomach that night. I felt bad leaving a VBS mess on the front preschool desk, but I was very ill. At the time I thought it was heat exhaustion, but since then I've found out that it was a stomach virus. My poor sweetheart is home sick with it now. I caught it at the daycare, of course. I've talked to church & daycare people today, and I found out about almost a dozen people who had the same thing this weekend.

I spent Saturday being thoroughly exhausted, but I was at least able to sort & reorganize my purse (It was much needed), do some laundry, fix some things for Father's Day lunch the next day, & clean out my car. I also took the time to do some yoga which helped to energize me a bit, and it also took care of some of my aching muscles.

Highlights of my week were interacting with my preschool teachers who did a fantastic job. Working along with our hardworking church staff. Being with great workers for Family Night who cleaned up that night while I was inside feeling sick. Eating in the teacher's lounge (of course!). Playing in Miss Liz's water day on Thursday (I'll post a few pictures later). And, getting a few kudos along the way from teachers on the crafts & pictures I prepared for them. I respond well to positive reinforcement. Must be working with the preschoolers. lol.

Today would be a great day if my honey wasn't so sick at home right now. I wanted to stay home with him, but Sunday is one of my "work" days since I am church staff. I stayed in the preschool and directed visitors to classes, talked to our Sunday School teachers, and sorted VBS supplies. This afternoon was a fantastic Father's Day lunch at Mamaw's with hamburgers, cole slaw, deviled eggs, potato salad, baked beans, fries, & brownies with Mayfield ice cream (and caramel & Hershey's Syrup). The potato salad, baked beans, fries, & brownies were supplied by Josh & myself. After that Kimmie (my sister) & I went to Kohl's to look at the clearance racks. I got a sweater, long sleeved tee, & short sleeved tee for about $12.25. Yipee! I love good deals. After that I traveled over to Wal-Mart to buy a few things, and now here I am killing just enough time before keeping kids tonight.

With that said, I'm off to prepare a craft for tonight. Hope you have had a great weekend!

"Hump" Day

It's Wednesday, and VBS has passed the halfway mark. There is an end in sight! I'm entirely worn out, and I am looking forward to the weekend where I can prop my feet up & only have to worry about running around the cabin instead of the entire church campus. Keep us in your prayers tomorrow morning because it is the day we present the plan of salvation to the older children in the program. It's what this week is all about. Pray that there are open hearts and minds as children & teenagers hear the gospel.

I am taking a small break, and then I'm going to focus my energy back on work. Yesterday was a good day at the cabin because Josh & I were able to spread lyme & grass seed on the tilled dirt. Hopefully we'll have more of a yard sprouting up within the next few weeks. Maybe some rain will visit the cabin today.

I don't forsee myself doing much yardwork tonight. I'm very tired, and I still have four hours of work left. I'm going to get back to it. Hope you have had a blessed day.

The Busiest Monday of the Year

Well, it was the first day of VBS, and I lived to blog about it. I am curled up in a fuzzy brown blanket, tired feet propped up in the recliner, and I am typing away on my laptop with thoughts of bedtime dancing in my head.

We had a great first day of VBS, and after I stopped running around getting supplies, setting up snack/rec, gathering attendance, distributing more supplies, and staring blankly around me as I tried to remember the next thing I had to do, I had the opportunity to enjoy a few moments of it. Being director can be quite hectic at times. I am very blessed to have very talented teachers this year. My favorite thing of the day was the teacher's lounge with its yummy yummy homemade food.

After I got home, I took the time to do some yoga before Josh got home. Josh & I drove separately today so that he could stay home this morning for some gravel to be delivered. I wasn't the biggest fan of Fat Burning Yoga; I much more appreciate the Joy of Yoga section of the DVD. As soon as Josh got home he set to work spreading some of the gravel out. I helped out a bit by picking up some trash from some freshly tilled dirt (Josh's grandfather brought his tractor up and tore out some brush & brambles for us).

I quickly got distracted, and I took the time for some photo ops.

Freshly tilled dirt. Eventually more grass/yard. It was a bunch of briers & weeds before Papaw's tractor.

Fresh gravel at the base of the driveway.

Gravel around the back of the house. Now we won't track mud in!

Strange bulb plant. What is this?

Beautiful mountain view. (minus the power lines)Creepy bug who was kind enough to pose for the camera while perched on some Queen Anne's Lace. Any idea what kind of bug he is? Strange fellow.Wildflowers I came across while I took a small adventure exploring some of our 9 acres.After picture taking I came in to shower & "make" dinner. Our dinner tonight was a delicious California Pizza Kitchen thin crust freezer pizza. Ham & Swiss with caramelized onions. Yummy. I could have done without the onions though.

Unfortunately, that's all I have time for tonight. Josh has already headed to bed. His head cold mixed with sore muscles from raking gravel for almost two hours have exhausted him. I don't look forward to sore yoga muscles tomorrow, but boy did I get a good workout between that & walking around the property. I must go get a good night's rest too, for tomorrow is another VBS day!

Saturday Adventures

A short story, mostly in pictures, which took place this Saturday afternoon.


I have been very excited as I have watched the wild blackberry bushes on our property bloom & then start producing berries. They're not quite there, but they are getting closer to ripeness every day. I decided to go take some pictures. Once the blackberries have ripened, I'm going to bring the berries and the pictures in to the center to show the kids.


As I was walking down the driveway (barefoot of course) to look at the berries & different wildflowers on the property, Athena began to follow me, meowing incessantly as she tagged along. In Athena language, she was saying "Love me! Pet me! Love me! Pet me!"
I veered off to start walking up a hill towards a tree on Aunt Jane's property, and I stopped to take a picture of some Queen Anne's Lace. I've been told to watch out for these because they can have chiggers all over them.
Suddenly, Athena spotted something on the horizon. What is it girl?
I gazed back towards the house at the area where Athena was staring intently. What's that speck in the distance?
Why, it's Isis! She came to join us.
Oh, happy renuion!
In other news, Papaw & Effie's pony had a baby pony this morning. We went down to see it.

The rest of our day has been filled with laundry, yard work, & dinner. Josh has done a fantastic job of preparing the property to have some gravel dumped on the driveway Monday morning. He has also gotten some areas prepped for seeding grass. He picked up a 50 pound bag of Kentucky Fescue to put down in the areas that need some grass.

Our dinner was a baked concoction of pasta shells, cheesy Ragu, hamburger, & sharp cheddar. It was delicious. Now Josh is putting some Disney pins in our book, I'm blogging, and then I'm going to do some VBS prep work.

I'd better get going before the day runs out. It's already flown by. Hope you've had a great Saturday.