Here, There & Everywhere

This little girl was sitting in the dogwood tree waiting for her turn at the feeder.

What can I say about this one?

Another hummingbird: 

This past Wednesday Tommy, Bubba and I went up to the Parkway. It was a very foggy morning and we thought we’d have the road to ourselves since school around here started. We were wrong. There were lots of motorcycles and some cars. One of the first pull offs we get to when we’re on the Parkway is at Devil’s Courthouse. This is where my favorite tree is. I don’t know what it is about this tree but I have to take a picture of it in any type of weather or lighting. Cool, huh?

Our destination for the day was the Cradle of Forestry. They have two different trails—both about a mile each—that we enjoyed.

  

When we got to the end of the second trail we took a shortcut to the parking lot. As you can see, Bubba got on one side of this big pipe and Tommy was on the other side. Want to guess who won that tug-of-war?

It was an enjoyable day. And to make it even better, Anne and Cleg came up that day and spent a couple of days with us.

It might be because he cuts firewood so that I can have roaring fires during cold weather. :) Here he is cutting up wood from one of the very large trees that we had taken down. Normally we only have trees taken down when they’re dead or dying. However this one was removed so that it would open up our view to the mountain range. And, oh what a view it is!

  

I think I must have a gazillion copies of this same shot.

A couple of other shots from the last day or two. As I was standing on the deck looking down at Tommy working I noticed this butterfly on the Joe Pye weed. His colors were so bright.

We have a hammock on the deck that is a delight to relax on. While I was on it yesterday admiring the above view, I was not far from one of the hummingbird feeders. And, of course, I had my camera with me. Unfortunately, with the slight swinging of the hammock and the continual motion of the hummingbirds I haven’t been able to get a good focus on one of the birds yet. This one was getting ready for takeoff! We probably have between 15 and 20 at any given time fighting for the 5 different feeders we have. It’s rather amusing to be sitting out on the deck and have them zoom right by your head.

The heat was too much for us. So, we ran away again. :) This morning when I got up it was in the 50’s. Lovely!

We’ve been passing an old junk yard on our way up to NC for some time. I finally asked Tommy to stop so I could get a picture of this old truck. Unfortunately, there’s too much junk to the side and behind it to get a really good picture of the whole thing.

 

We’ve got lots of hummingbirds flying around. You have to be very careful sitting out on the deck as you might get hit by one or more flying to the feeders.

One of the last daisies blooming here. There is a hint of Fall in the air here and the lack of flowers blooming says that Summer is nearly gone.

Can you see why?

This is the area where we had the picnic the day after Amanda and Evan got married. Whenever we go to Wyoming we head up to the Snowy Range. Unless it’s winter and the roads are closed. :)

It was a year ago today that we welcomed Sara into our family. What a delight and wonderful addition she’s been!

 

Normally when we return from Wyoming it takes us a day or two to recover. This time Amanda came home with us and since she hadn’t been up to North Carolina in years, she decided we must go. We were home long enough to pack up and head to BG.

Hall and Sara came up for a night. I’m pretty sure they came up so Sara could play Mah Jongg with Amanda and me. :)

We took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at Devil’s Courthouse:

 

We then stopped at Graveyard Fields and walked down to the falls there. It was a beautiful day and there were tons of people all around.

I’m not sure what this plant is but think it’s pretty.

Monday morning, before heading home, we went up to the Pisgah Inn for breakfast. While the food wasn’t very good, the views are spectacular!

Back in town again, Amanda and I went to Marie’s house and visited with her and her darling little girl Libby as well as Emily, Gena and Emily’s cutie Charlotte.

 

Before we took Amanda to the airport she wanted to visit where Hall now works, the Chattahoochee Nature Center. We didn’t stay too long as it was so hot and humid. But I was able to get a few pictures and Amanda got to say bye to Sara and Hall.

It’s been a busy three weeks or so. We’ve had lots of fun but now I must go clean my house. We’ve got spider webs and dust bunnies like you wouldn’t believe. :)

Time to go home. We had another wonderful visit with Amanda, Evan, Moose, Molly and Penny.

Amanda decided that since she had some time between summer school and fall classes starting, she would ride home with us. She got to share the back seat with Bubba. Take a careful look at Amanda in this picture. :)

One of the things that I love about Wyoming, and miss a lot when we’re not there, is the wonderful sky.

I think this guy, who can be found in western Nebraska, was telling us to come back soon.

A day to relax and pack for the trip home. My cousin, Donna, who lives in northern Wyoming saw on Facebook that we were in Laramie. She said she wanted to stop by on her way to Steamboat Springs. So she and her grandson came about noon and stayed a while. It was nice to see her again.

After Donna left, Tommy and I drove out to the sawmill to pick up the wood Tommy had ordered. The guy had numerous carved bears at the sawmill and a totem pole.

On the way back to town we stopped to take pictures of this old barn.

The day started early for everyone—earlier for Evan and Snake than for us. We left the house at a little after 7:00 a.m. to be sure that we were at the first stop for Evan. Over the 70 miles of the race, there were 5 “official” aid/feed zone stations. Our job, as the PCPC—Penny Cat Pit Crew—was to be at each station to give Evan water, Gatorade, food, energy gels, etc. We would meet him at one and then get in the truck and drive quickly to the next. Evan did very well and cut about 30 minutes off his time last year and about 20 minutes off his best time. Way to go Evan!

Here’s Amanda handing Evan a water bottle at the first station:

Another handoff:

Part of the PCPC waiting for the riders to show up:

Getting ready for another handoff:

Where’s Evan??

A very relieved Evan at the Finish Line:

This was to be a lazy, restful day. While I waited for Amanda to get up, I walked down the alley to take some pictures of the flowers. Amanda and Evan’s backyard neighbor has the most gorgeous columbines. I’ve never seen any this color. Last summer Nancy gave us some seeds from this columbine. We have plants but no flowers yet. Aren’t these beautiful?

Then there are the yellow thistles:

And the yellow columbines:

When Amanda got ready we went downtown, walked around and did some shopping. We had lunch at the Italian restaurant which we had tried to eat at the night before. After that we went home got everything ready for the big day on Saturday. That night Evan wanted to go to the Cavalryman for dinner as he wanted to eat a lot before the race. Tommy and I were a bit disappointed. This is one of our favorite places to go for dinner while in Laramie. They did not have 3 of the wines we tried to order nor 2 of the appetizers listed (but we didn’t want to order). Amanda said that when she went into the restroom they had been painting and left paint cans, brushes and other paint stuff in the room and only one stall was available. The good thing though that the appetizers we did order and our entrees were pretty good. For those of us lucky enough to have the right seats, we could see this:

Not only could we see the magnificent sky and mountains, we watched these hawks—one on the top of the tree and one in the nest towards the top. Not something we’re likely to see at a restaurant at home.

Nest up—the big bike race day!