Truck Farming, Visiting, and Communing

I know it's been a long time since I added anything to this blog, but it's been because I've been busy...well, maybe a LITTLE lazy, but mostly busy.  So, here is an update on the scintillating activities of the Riggsbees!

Those of you who know us, know that we like to have our hands in the dirt, that we've always gardened, and that this is a major focus of our lives in spring and summer.  Stupidly, however, we really haven't gotten a grip on how to grow stuff up here in the hills.  Warmth comes so much later here than it does in the Piedmont of NC, so for the last two years, we have gotten a little ahead of ourselves.  I started squash and cuke from seed...I gave some cukes to my granddaughter and hers look really good...mine are anemic, as are the squash.  My tomatoes look okay, the potatoes are stupendous, the green beans are super, and the beddding flowers are good.  I don't know about the squash and cuke, and just damn forget the spinach!  Either we tried to plant when it was too cool, or when we composted our beds, we put in too much compost.  I do hold out some hope that the anemic plants will recover...they show a few signs, but I just may have to plant some more seed.  Well, I'm keeping a garden journal, so I now have dates to work with, as well as info on what is doing well and what isn't.  Still, I'm looking for bumper crops to can and freeze.  I'll let you know!

Truck Farming Begins!

Susan and Howard Gibbs

Susan and Howard Gibbs came for a visit in April.  I've known Susan for a few years as we have been in the same bridge club and also worked together at UNCC.  She is so wonderful and I am looking forward to her retirement on September 1...then she can come up here often!  Howard, her husband, has long been a favorite of mine (all the husbands help the wives when it's their turn to host bridge), and he is a total hoot!  He kept us in stitches.  We really didn't do much...had dinner with some friends of ours up here, ate, drank,.. laughed and played bridge.  It was a beautiful weekend, and I can't wait to repeat it!

Lauren Elizabeth Riggsbee

And. most special of all, our granddaughter Lauren Elizabeth had her First Holy Communion last weekend.  I went down on Thursday and had a root canal...yes, it was a lot of fun...went to Grandparent's Day at the school on Friday, and the communion festivities were on Saturday.  This is such a special day in a young Catholic's life, and we are always proud and honored to be witness to our grandchildren's communions.  Notice how beautiful she was in her Communion dress.  And, just as an aside, I have never thought of her as resembling my mother, but in this picture she looks like my mother did as a child and young woman.

Jon and Patti Riggsbee, Katie, Reni, and JJ

 I am going to Texas at the end of the month to keep granddaughters while their mother finishes the school year.  I can't wait.  Will chronicle that and send other brag photos!

Love to all.

J.J. Kitty and the Texas Tractor Girls

J. J. Kitty (1994-2011)

J. J. Kitty, cat extraordinaire, left us on Tuesday, March 22.  We had her for 17 years, and loved her very much, but her quality of life had declined significantly, and we could no longer ask her to suffer.  Her death was tranquil and easy, and we buried her in a pretty spot near our garden, so we can always be reminded of how much we loved her.

She came to us as 1/4 of a quartet of little black kittens.  Adam found them at the Cullowhee airport, took them to the Jackson County pound where we bailed them out for $35 a clip; and brought them home where they wrecked havoc until I banished them to the outside.  We gave away 3 of them, but Kitty had the best personality and we were successful in keeping her out of the clutches of interested persons until we decided that she was OUR cat.  She was always a good pet.  When we bought our place in the mountains we brought her with us back and forth.  The house was very rustic and mice were frequent visitors, but Kitty kept their population down easily.  When we would be gone, she would catch a mouse and "save" it for us.  She would deposit it on the floor on one or the other side of the bed, indicating that the "gift" was for the person who slept on that side.  Not only that, but she would not allow the other one of us to clean up the little critter.  She would do this by herding us away from it.  We got the message.  She will be missed.

Last week, the Texas Riggsbees came to town for a short visit.  They had been in the state for several days trying to see all friends and family.  Shanna's mother came also and we had a good time.  JR took the girls for a ride on the John Deere.  They declared that it was the most favorite thing they did while they were here.  After they left, JR and I hauled ourselves to Charlotte where we kept all five of them while the boys and their wives went to the first round of the NCAA tournament which was being held there.  It was fun, too.  Each of them has such  different personalities, and it's entertaining to watch how each of them reacts to his/her environment.  Below are some pics of the girls while they were here.  They'll be back this summer and I hope to have all the family up for a few days.

Avery Ana (almost 3)

Gracen Elyse (almost 5)

JR and I are going to do some spring planting today (cabbage, spinach, lettuce, onions, etc) and I will start some seeds for the summer garden.  Yesterday I planted some crocosmia and an Amethyst Falls wisteria.  I'll probably have to move it next year.  It is bigger than I thought and JR is going to have to build me an arbor for it.  I also need to get my dahlias and peonys in the ground.  I plan to do some canning and freezing this summer so the summer garden will be bigger than it was last year.  I'm ready!  Around here it is risky to plant summer crops before Mother's Day.  I didn't listen to the natives last year, and lost nearly all my stuff to freeze and frost!  This year, I'm going to be smarter!

Enjoy the spring time!  We love you.

A Nice Little Mini-Vacation and Beautiful Weather

Vicki Jaus trying to figure out how to repair a childhood dress

Tom and Millie Snyder with Nemo

Susan Gibbs

Susan Gibbs and Ann Baldwin

Diane Adams. Valerie Crockett, and Nancy Kramer

You know, the winter can be pretty bleak up here, cold, dreary, and snowy.  In addition to that, the dog has been sick and has to be medicated daily.  All this adds up to being confined much of the time.  But JR closed his office in Charlotte, and is now working out of our home, so I took myself on  a mini-vacation while he played dog-sitter.  On Sunday I went to Charlotte.  In Charlotte, I saw my friend Jarleth (actually I stayed with her Sunday), and visited with my sister. On Monday I did a little shopping, saw Jon, got my oil changed and my flat tire repaired.  Then I went to my bridge club meeting and saw all the BGs (Bridge Girls).  We never did get around to playing bridge, but it was a great time.  They're the best bunch of people in the world!  I even spent the night with Millie. On Tuesday, I went to Mama's in Greensboro and had a nice visit with her and my other sister and brother.  It was a great trip and I came home on Wednesday just in time for some more snow.  There was a small accumulation and it didn't keep me prisoner.  But the last few days have been beautiful, temps in the 50s to near 60, with bright sunshine.  It looks like it will last a bit longer.  Susan and Howard Gibbs are coming the weekend of the 25th and she wants it to snow!  Sorry, Susan, I don't think it will!

The pics above (not where I wanted them) were taken at Millie's house with the Bridge Girls.  I'm avoiding anymore snow pictures!

Sorry I've been away so long, but I've been nursing the dog.  There is a reason I wasn't a health care professional!

Love to all.

Lynn's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Week

J. J. Kitty, Cat Extraordinaire

It all started with J. J. Kitty.  She is a very old cat, brought to us courtesy of Adam during his freshman summer at WCU.  Being the  proverbial rescuer, he and his then girl friend brought J. J. Kitty and her three siblings to our home. How interesting!  There were two males and two females, all black without a single defining characteristic among the four of them.  We had to learn them.  Eventually, we discovered the J.J. Kitty was the best and while we entertained those who wanted a cat, we deftly managed to keep J. J. Kitty out of their clutches.  The other three went to other families, but J. J. Kitty stayed with us. She was so cute.  While I was reading my paper in the mornings, she crawled in my lap and batted at the paper, making me laugh and coming to love her so much more than ever.  Fast forwarding, she has become an old a feeble cat.  I took her to the vet and decided to give her one more cortisone shot to make her quality of life a little better, but the truth is that without that shot she has no life, and with it, she has little. I think that the next time it could be time to give her some peace.  I'm not sure that I can do it.  But that wasn't all in regard to pets.

Chester, the Lucky Dog!

Chester, the dog, had not really been doing well the day before, but when I took Kitty to the vet I thought he looked better, so I didn't take him that day.  Next day, he was not so good, so I hauled him into the vet.  Doug did a bunch of stuff and figured that he had some kind of infection or, maybe, hemolytic anemia.  He would know when we brought him back for some more blood work the next day.  The next day his hemo counts were lower, so we decided to take Chet to Greenville to the specialists.  It was snowing when we left for Greenville, two hours away. After spending a number of hours waiting for the diagnosis, we found that he did, indeed, have hemolytic anemia, a rather nasty autoimmune disease.  He has been at the vet for a week, but we are going to get him tomorrow (Friday).  He is stable and we are cautiously optimistic that he will recover. So, who knows.  They are old and I don't know how long we can keep them in a life that is meaningful for them.

Jim"s car in 14 inches of snow

There's been a lot of snow and the truck has been stuck in the drive, and I have a flat tire on my 4Runner.  JR managed to dig his truck out today and did some good on the drive with the tractor.  He has gone to Charlotte. Jon tells me that I should just come to Charlotte for the winters.  I will do that when I don't have Jim, otherwise, I will be here with him.  The winters, heretofore, have not been that bad.  Perhaps this is a passing fancy!  We only have fourteen inches as I speak!  I'll leave you with a pic.

It has not been a good week, but life goes on and next week will be better!

We love you guys!

White Christmas...No Dream!

It began Christmas morning, before good light, as a white cloud coming across the valley; its backdrop a thin band of red (soon obliterated) above the ridges where the sun usually rises.  When it ended in the late morning on Monday we had a foot of snow.  It was (and still is) breathtakingly beautiful.

Although we were unable to get down our drive for a bit, I don't feel so bad about being "rapunzeled" this time.  There are several reasons for this:  1) Jim is here, so I'm not stuck alone with just the animals; 2) the whole east coast got this one; and 3) I've learned what to expect so it's not as scary as it was last year.  It was a happy and peaceful holiday!

The picture at the top is of a tree that we call the "Charlie Brown" tree. We bought it the Christmas that my father was terminally ill.  It was an ugly misshapen tree, and we had little hope that it would turn into a beautiful plant.  Yet, here it is, eleven years later, a lovely specimen.  I have interpreted this transformation as proof that the corrupt will be made beautiful.


The following pics are the same view at different times during the storm.

Mid-morning Saturday, Dec 25

Early afternoon, Dec 25

Late afternoon, Dec 25

Dec 26, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We love you guys!!!

RAPUNZELED...AGAIN

The snowy driveway...at the bottom where it isn't steep.

Honestly...I don't know about this weather.  We have had this place on the ridge for 14 years, and we visited it regularly (until we moved here) in all seasons.  Never, never, never, have I seen weather like these last two winters.  We, only one time, were unable to get up the drive.  We were snowed in for four days once over the Christmas holidays, and my sister and her friend Abby were snowed in once.  But, OMG, what a change the last two winters.

You have, of course read the saga of last year, but this one has started similarly.  Geez.  It snowed Saturday night.  Adam was here and when he left on Sunday there were about 3 inches on the ground.  By Monday morning there were seven.  JR and I went down the mountain to buy chains for the truck, but since the snow was soft and wet, he didn't need them to get back up.  Then he left.  It was very cold and I didn't try to get out, though I did move my car into the sun so some of the white precipitation would excuse itself.

The drive going down...I slipped all down this area.

Expecting icy conditions today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the temperature had risen during the night and that instead of ice, we had rain.  The temperature stayed well above freezing during the morning and about noon I decided to brave the elements and head to town.  The snow was slushy, there was no ice, and I figured that I could just get into 4-wheel drive and take myself down the mountain.  WRONG!!!

I slid down the hill, only managing to stop myself before running off into the woods.  Luckily, I remembered how to turn the wheel during a skid.  I could have chosen wrong, you know. I stopped the car, put on the brake, got out, walked back to the house, canceled two appointments set for tomorrow, and called JR to tell him that when he comes home, he'll have to walk part of the way.  Not sure how I'm going to handle this winter stuff.  My doctor suggested that I get some exercise with snowshoes. Maybe I'll park my car at the bottom of the hill and snowshoe down, dragging my belongings up and down in a sled!  Can you imagine?  The other option is to be sure I always have what I need, so I don't have to go out!

However, the silver lining is that the snow is pretty and we will probably have a white Christmas!  One of the benefits of snow is that it decorated our wreaths. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thanksgiving at the O'Connors!!!

Lynn and G...I promised

Usually,our family has Thanksgiving together...parent(s), siblings, cousins, grandchildren, etc.  However, this year conspired to change tradition.  Adam is is in Texas; some of Jon's in-laws were coming from New York; my brother and his sons were going hunting; my sister and her family wanted to have their first Thanksgiving in their new house, my other sister was going to Mama's, and who knows what else went down! 

  So, JR and I decided that we would use this time to move some of his Charlotte office which has to be closed by the end of January.  On Wednesday, we cooked our turkey (and froze most of its carcass); made the trimmings, and ate a lot!  That meant that we could go to Charlotte on Thursday and spend the time working.  However, Gina, Jon's mother-in-law, discovered that and invited us to come celebrate with their family.  How could we resist?  So, we journeyed to Charlotte, got a room at the South Park Marriott (the presidential suite, no less...not as good as you would imagine)...and went over there.  Such fun has been had by no one!!!  There were 11 children and about 15-16 adults.  Non-stop laughter, jokes, and family pathos.  What more can anyone ask for?  Thanks, G and Tom.  It was great!!!  The pic at the top is my other favorite "mother-in-law". Gina.  I love her just like I love Judi  And now for the other pics!

The O'Connors..aren't they big?!!!

9 of the 11...too cute

The Kellys

And the Riggsbee's...we need some more!  Adam?  Jon?

 And, I hate this program...the pics never do what I want them to do.

But...I talked to my friend Bev today.  I love you Bev.

Plus, it snowed here last night and is snowing now.  How exciting .  ( I'm hoping for a milder winter!)

Love to all and Merry Christmas or whatever!