I ran into an old friend a few days ago, and she told me that she enjoyed reading RiverCliff Cottage. I was swooning with happiness — I love it when someone tells me they actually read this stuff! However, she added…”it makes me want to just move out to Mendota.” At that point, I realized it wasn’t my blog at all…it was the “infection” that runs rampant in Poor Valley. “Once you get that Poor Valley mud on your feet, you can’t wipe it off.” The infection begins with thoughts like…”those country people…they are making farming seem kinda neat. They’ve got something going on.”
“And it smells good out there with all that honeysuckle and hay.”
“What the heck? They’re getting together and trading around seeds and plants….starting traditions of sharing and community! Don’t they know it’s 2013?”
“And they are interested in each other’s endeavors….like sharing lemon balm with that nutty blogger who keeps trying to keep bees.”
Oh yeah…you know you’re wanting to “find a little land, put a little cabin on it…do a little gardening…do a little fishing and hunting.” I recognize all the symptoms.
Patsy from the Mendota Post Office called this morning and said “they are here!” The bees are here!! I went down to get them but my sister beat me to it. Here are the bees waiting in her den.
We “installed” them this afternoon, but two of the queens were dead. Didn’t survive the trip. Thank goodness, Poor Valley Bee Farm in Hiltons had some queens. Tonight, it looked like this at my little apiary…
Bees are setting up housekeeping and learning their way around. Mike was washing the car when they started familiarizing themselves with our property. Unfortunately, they were thirsty and he and a bee had a “run in” and he got stung in the foot.
It was a very busy day. Tonight is a two Advil night as my feet are really hurting. I’ve been standing on concrete working on my garage cleaning/reorganizion project. Here’s me working on removing the bottom vent of the freezer that’s in the garage. Looks like I had a wipe out. Thank you to my husband for taking such a flattering picture of me.
I’m making progress…here’s where I was yesterday…
And here’s where I am today. Lots still left to do but progress is being made!
Have a great weekend. I’m going to go see about those Advil now.
When someone comes to my house, they usually don’t come through the front door or the side door. They come through the garage and then onto the back porch. Here’s the welcome I give them as they trek through the garage….sweet, isn’t it?
Our longer-term plans to address the garage mess include painting the garage, but that’s not going to happen this week or this month. Still, something had to happen — the garage was a wreck! So, I started working on it — the hardest part was getting started. Since it was 90 degrees today, I didn’t stay out there all day, but I spent about three hours. It will take a day or two because I’m cleaning, sorting, deciding what stays and what goes. I started in the right hand corner and put everything on the table…can you believe all this junk?
I went over to Sam’s Club and got some boxes. I’ll spray paint them with chalkboard paint and use them to categorize and label things. These were great boxes!!
After a few hours of working, I stopped as Gracie decided that “enough was enough” and it was time for her to get attention.
I’ll get back on it tomorrow. It’s fun cleaning up this mess.
Look at me…I am in the “loft” in Mike’s shop…right up at the ceiling. If you look near my feet, you’ll see that I have white square things…they are components of our beehives.
On Wednesday or Thursday, our honeybees are arriving by the U.S. Postal Service. I love it that bees and chicks can arrive by mail. Gerald and I loaded his golf cart down with two hives to go set up my apiary. He’ll also have two hives in his apiary.
“Eat Sleep Go Fishing” …and raise honeybees!
Here’s my apiary. Only two hives in each apiary to start with this year. We’re not taking honey this year. We’re babying our bees. We’re going to treat them as our prized mean pets. In this picture, there are rocks under the lids to allow the hive to air out. Everything needs to be fresh and clean for the new bees.
Happy Sunday evening! This is about a wreath but before that…check out my daughter-in-law, Mary, and me taking a break from the Virginia Creeper Trail Saturday. This was so fun!!
Now..about that wreath! Candace Powers Bennett is a distant cousin on my father’s side, and she is the great granddaughter of my mother’s best friend. That is all a lead-in to say that I recently copied her idea for a summertime wreath. She is a busy mom of two boys, great wife, and a very crafty lady. She is also a daughter of the King. I love her. She posted a wreath on Facebook that she whipped out last week. Shortly thereafter, a very similar wreath appeared on my backdoor.
Such a sweet, simple summertime welcome at the back door! Thank you Candace for letting me steal your idea. BUT WAIT…I think Candace’s had something else. Didn’t she have a “B” dangling somewhere? I, of course, needed a “B” too! Nevermind that I now notice I wired mine on upside down.
I had this grapevine wreath. It’s got some miles on it. It changes its look every little bit. Kind of like Madonna. Here it was in it’s “Snowman Phase.”
I really liked it in its “Christmas Phase”, but the birds kept flying over and pooping on my window in this phase.
And…lest we forget, here it was during its “Fall Phase” or, if you look closely, its “Women’s Lib Phase” when it went braless.
Other things this weekend…buying that 30 feet of wired burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 (1/2 price) made me literally dance with excitement. I’m thinking Christmas wreaths!
I haven’t taken you to the Barnrock Road project for a while. It’s raining outside, and it’s a mess up there. There is muddy water everywhere. I can’t leave the house and turn right in my new car because Snowball the Dog might bite my car again, and I don’t want to go on Barnrock because it is just a mess. I’m going to park the car and start swimming the North Fork of the Holston River to go anywhere. If you see me floating by, I’m headed to the Rally Mart in Hiltons for a BLT.
Here’s some progress on the road….Granny Bott’s house earlier this year.
The site today for the new road taken a few days ago when I was up that way. Hard to believe it’s the same place, isn’t it?
Let’s look at something infinitely better! It quit raining for a few minutes and I went out and took some pictures! What is the name of this flower? Is it mandevilla?
Here’s the border with the mandevilla or whatever it is called in it. Where the topiary thing stands is a “crossing” point for the cats, and every plant I put there is trampled and dies. I’m hoping that this will not be the case this time. I was weeding while the ground was damp so if you look closely, you’ll see weeds thrown in the grass.
I’ve never had luck with clematis, but I’m trying again in a new place. I’m hoping that this one doesn’t “wilt”. I put this in just before it rained today. Those are green pepper plants and flowers from plant class that I stuck in around the clematis. Hope they all do okay. I was hurrying because it was starting to sprinkle and I didn’t even bother to brush the dirt off the rock.
Oh yeah…how about those taters? A picture is worth a thousand words. Besides bragging isn’t polite.
And 20+ rows of green beans that are in the garden are gettng extremely weedy. We’ll rototill them when it dries.
Have you ever had a day that you are in such a bad mood that you could spit nails? This must have been the kind of day Snowball the Dog was having on Sunday. Here’s Snowball on a happier day leading his goat parade up and down Swinging Bridge Road. These goats know no boundaries. They must drive Snowball crazy.
It was a less organized scene when I drove into the goats on Sunday. They were scattered and stressing Snowball. I stopped, and Snowball walked up and lunged at the back of my car. I heard a noise like I’d run over a limb. I thought, “Did I run over Snowball’s paw?” However, Snowball was standing there smirking and giving me the stink eye. He even strutted a little. Paws looked fine. While I still did not know where the noise came from, Snowball appeared in fine health and all of the goats appeared fine. I started to move the car forward again–this time with Snowball’s approval.
I got home and noticed this. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????
Mike was out of town, so I took the car down to my brother-in-law’s for a look-see. He said…”see the scraping followed by the puncture marks? Snowball has bit your car and then yanked this piece out.”
So as my car which I’ve affectionately named Cracker and treated so well (no eating inside this car) has her first wound, and it was a dog bite!!
I took my camera out today and decided to take you to the Mendota Cemetery. Over a century ago, the Hamilton family donated this land as a cemetery for our community. I love this place. My father died when I was barely 16, and I found peace walking up the hill to visit with him. When I got my driver’s license, it was one of the first places I visited…on foot. I could not wait to show him my license. The Mendota Cemetery sits on a hill, and as you top the hill you’re greeted by a magnificant tree. I can see mother and daddy’s graves in this picture.
Old boxwoods planted generations ago…
A restful place.
The road goes in a circle. The grass is tall today, because we have been receiving so much rain.
Ahh…there’s our mountain in the horizon. Are you a mountain person or a water person? I’m a mountain person. I never feel safe unless Clinch Mountain is at my back.
Here’s my car, Cracker, recovering from her dog bite which you can learn about here. (A dog actually bit my car and pulled the back fender out before she was two weeks old. Crazy.)
And look at this…James Stickley. James was in the Virginia Infantry for the Confederate States of America. He survived that war, and it looks like he lived to be about 80. The Civil War…what I was taught to call “the late unpleasantness” by a teacher in the little school at the bottom of this hill.
Maintaining this cemetery is important. It’s a cemetery that continues to serve the families in the Mendota area with our time-honored practice of never charging a family in need. It’s not just a Southern thing. It’s a Mendota thing. It’s a Poor Valley thing…an Appalachian thing. We respect our heritage and those who rest in this quiet place on the hill.
I’ve blogged about the 2013 Mendota Cemetery Quilt several times. Here’s one. It’s called “I’ll Fly Away.” I believe this quilt is a girl. I picked “her” up at the post office today to take “her’ picture. She loves lying around on my porch. She’s a queen! I’ll get better pictures in a few days.
The talented Mendota women worked so hard on this quilt…many thanks to Chris, Linda, Margie, Lisa, Nancy and others who put in the required time. I pinned a few pieces. Once. My job is to help sell the quilt. I’m not sure how I got this job except that I don’t sew very well. I did get to sign it though.
We’ve sold 550 tickets and have about 1000 remaining. It’s a beautiful quilt, but we’ve got to sell tickets to a lot of people, so I started thinking about a way to get more people interested. I prayed about it. So much trouble in the world, and there’s me…”excuse me…God…I know there is a lot going on…but can You give me some insight on how to sell 950 tickets for a really good cause?” No lightening…no thunder…so I went to sleep. When I work up this morning, I had an idea. God is not just a god of big things…I believe He’s interested in small things, too. Don’t you? Here’s the idea that I woke up with this morning.
I’m asking everyone on the my blog to support the quilt and buy tickets. All proceeds benefit the historic Mendota Cemetery — a lovely place that has never turned a family away in need nor charged a family. It relies on your love and support. However, this is not the idea. The idea is that in addition to asking you to purchase tickets…I’m asking you to help me in ensuring that every state in the United States has someone who purchases at least two tickets for a chance at winning this quilt. I’ve got Wyoming and Minnesota locked up and it’s not even 5:00!! Who do you know that lives away from here who might help us out? Who would love to own this quilt? Who loves rural America where we have to work really hard to get our mowing paid for because we want to continue honoring a tradition of helping families in need? Who wants to help because it’s the nice thing to do? I’m not beneath begging!
I’m having pictures developed of the quilt..better ones than what I’ve posted here. If you reach out to a family member or friend in another state and ask them to purchase a quilt ticket (actually at least two…I really wish for five), let me know how many tickets and what their address is, and I’ll send the tickets directly to them with a self-addressed, stamped envelope so they can easily return the completed stubs and their check. Easy as sitting in a rocking chair..
Think about it and reply back to me on the blog or email directly to rivercliffcottage@gmail.com address. I love it that you take the time to read my blog. I’m sorry I must try and sell you tickets, but it’s important.
Here “she” is on the swing. She’d love to be swinging with you.
I love her. She posted a wreath on Facebook that she whipped out last week. Shortly thereafter, a very similar wreath appeared on my backdoor.
