The RESCUE

We left the apple orchard yesterday.  We were driving on Hwy 64 which is a four lane highway.  I happened to look down along the road as we passed this beautiful pond at 65 mph and sitting right there at the edge near the tall grass about 2 feet away was this teeny, tiny kitten.  I immediately started yelling at Scott to turn around and go back because this little thing was going to get hit by a car for sure.  So he turned around and we headed back but Scott was convinced he would be gone by the time we got back.  But the kitten wasn't and we were on the wrong side of the road.  So we had to drive by it AGAIN and turn around.  As we turned, this little old lady was driving by and she was sooooo close to the edge that we just knew we would watch this little thing dart in front of her and die right before our eyes with our three kids watching.  Fortunately, the kitten never moved until we pulled up.  I jumped out and called for her as she started into the road (with an 18 wheeler coming not far behind) and she turned and ran straight for me and let me scoop her up.  There were two barns and a house so we drove down to the driveway of the home to see if this might be one of their barn cat's litter but the house was abandoned as well as the barns.  So we looked around for the mother and she was no where to be seen.  We ended up driving home with this little lost kitten who is probably around 5 weeks old and very, very tiny.  Scott called the SPCA and they want a small fortune to take her in or to have her checked out.  So we got her home - we still can't really determine if she is a boy or a girl because she is so little but the kids are calling it a HER.  And that went from calling it HER to ANNABELLE .... we gave HER some milk which she drank .... and then we ended up putting her in the sink to give her a bath because she was nasty dirty and covered in fleas.  That resulted in her exhausted, starving and at one point, Scott and I looked at each other because we thought we killed her after her bath.  She lay there not moving and we really thought she died.  And this resulted in Scott going to get something for her to eat since milk wasn't a good option and not working ... to Erica giving him $5 of her money to buy ANNABELLE a toy  ... to the crate being set up in the garage ... to buying Dawn Dish soap and another bath to finish getting her clean and getting any fleas left ... to putting a few drops of Chip's medicine on her to keep her free of fleas ... to setting up a little area for her to play in the garage ... seriously, somebody stop the madness!!!  So here we sit ... with a tiny 5 week old kitten in our garage with a play area of boxes and a carpet to scratch on and three kids that have fallen in love with a little tiny rescued kitten with no home and a mom who is highly allergic ... needless to say, ANNABELLE will not be living indoors with me but I "might" be willing to share the garage and yard with her ... but this still is up for debate ... I put Spencer's DS in the floor beside her so you could see how small she really is.  And Chip?  He is like, "Didn't we just do something stupid like this 9 months ago and it went bad??"  LOL!!  Dumb dog .....!!!!!!!!!!  We will see but either way, we went from a relaxing day off to learning so much about abandoned animals and three hearts that are sensitive to a little lost kitten.  

Millstone Creek Apple Orchard

Well, it was Friday morning (yesterday) and after walking Lake Pine, we decided to take the day and have school outside the house.  So we went to an apple orchard and picked apples.  They were a little limited on supply ... we found out that the orchards in the mountains lost 80% of their apples this year because of weather.  So the orchards have been sending workers to pick apples in other places and selling at their stores.  There were plenty of rotten apples on the trees and lots of apples in the tops of the trees.  So Erica became the picker up high as she sat on Scott's shoulders.  All in all, we picked a huge bag which was plenty for us.  Yesterday, I made an apple spice bread with a praline glaze.  I thought it was very good and the recipe from Southern Living magazine, minus pecans.  Today, I am going to make a pie and maybe some apple turnovers for later next week.  The last picture is Scott admiring his apple he picked AFTER breaking off a huge limb on the tree!  I was like, "What the heck are you doing??!!!"  LOL!!  I think he was trying to get kicked out of the orchard.  Erica and Jack were side-tracked pretty quick with all the flowers they wanted to pick.  It was a very simple, little orchard to pick at it and nice to get away for the morning.  And they sold apple slushies.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  We didn't try it  I just didn't think it sounded all that great!  

Meet the New Neighbors

Meet our new neighbors.  We are trying to figure it out but I am pretty sure there are four new to the group.  Tonight, we saw six of them together after dinner.  I hopped on my bike and took my camera to get some pictures of them.  They are really beautiful.  And then you have Erica and Jack ... attempting to stay quiet ... fat chance!

Our 2nd Hike on Labor Day

I was able to convince the family to go for a ride and we found a second hike to take.  This one was labeled by the state park division and it was labeled EASY.  So this was easier to convince them to try again.  We did get to see a very pretty waterfall and listen to a forest ranger talk about the types of birds we may see.  She was very knowledgeable and could actually make some of the bird calls as she pet her stuffed animal bird.  That was a little strange but I don't think she realized she was doing that.  LOL!   This was a hike that everyone at least smiled on!  The boys made some friends with the kids at the next campsite and played football.  I think those were the same kids who were up at 7am the next morning yelling 3 feet from where we were sleeping to.  There were 3 families and 9 kids under the age of 9.  Let's just say it was less than controlled chaos in a 30x30 foot space.  IT WAS CRAZY!  

hi Labor Day Weekend

We went camping when we finally found a place that had some empty sights!  We ended up in Spruce Pines north of Marion and near Boone, NC.  The weather was very pretty;  a little warmer than we thought it would be.  But we had a great time after we worked out some of the kinks of setting up.  It seems like every time we go, we forget one little thing or the order of setting up the camper.  We have said we MUST put together a checklist.  Have we done this yet?  Nope.  Oh well!  At the campground, they gave us a map with the hiking trails.  So I picked one of the shorter trails for us to hike together.  It was around 2,500 feet - 1/2 mile so I thought that was perfect and we would arrive at a waterfall.  Well, the part where the hiking trail was not classified as easy, moderate or difficult did not turn out in our favor.  We left our site around 12:00pm.  We thought we would be back for lunch before 1pm.  That was wishful thinking on our part.  About 15 minutes in and walking uphill at a steady incline of about 30 degrees, we had to stop and catch our breath.  We then proceeded along with our ONE water bottle and trusty map which Scott was cursing for not telling us that this was a DIFFICULT hike.  We were stepping and climbing over some fallen down trees, roots and rocks.  At some point, I think we stopped and considered turning around.  We didn't have our phones either so we had no idea what time it was.  We were the "unprepared" hikers.  We would have asked the time from another hiker but couldn't BECAUSE there was none!  We didn't get the memo on this trail!  

So after huffing and puffing and about passing out twice as we watch Erica and Jack whistling with their hiking sticks, we finally made it half way.  Spencer stayed with Scott and I.  I think he was praying for us and that we wouldn't die on the trail.  But as we made our turn to the waterfall, the trail went down.  When I say down, I mean straight down.  It resembled a staircase but there weren't stairs.  There were only rocks, roots and trees to navigate on and hold onto.  Scott was mumbling under his breath because as we headed down, we realized we had to come back up!  I think he was silently bitter with me which I didn't blame him one bit.  I was bitter with the map as I took very small sips from my water bottle which we had all been sharing.  Right about as we are half way, it was then that Scott's feet went out from underneath him and he landed flat on his back on the muddy slope.  He laid there for a second and I just stopped and waited.  He got up and kind of glanced back at me with the "die" look.  He took two more steps and slipped and fell flat on his back again!  At this point, Spencer and I are now covering our mouths with eyes wide.  And then after Scott slung the water bottle into the woods (the ONLY bottle we had) along with the map and yelled out a few choice words, Spencer and I started laughing to which Scott then burst out laughing as well.  It was hysterical!  Erica and Jack missed it because they were cruising through the trail whistling with not a care in the world.  You have to understand something.  Jack does not hike or I should say, he has never hiked without complaining.  He does not like to sweat.  So for him to hike along with Erica at what we felt was a pretty rapid pace was shocking for him!   But we did arrive at the waterfall.  It wasn't so much a waterfall as much as a "trickle" fall.  It was, well, lame.  And we were exhausted!  So we rested for about 20 minutes while the kids played in the 6" wide stream and turned to go back.  We took 20 steps and stopped for 15 seconds until we reached the top of the stupid mountain and got to actually walk downhill.  Erica and Jack must have ran the whole way back because we lost them but found them at the campsite in the reclining camp chairs.  Let me remind you of something.  We left around 12pm.  We arrived back at 3:10pm.  I think Scott and I both died in the chairs and slept for over an hour outside.  And then we decided that Bear Den Campground needs to alter their maps for people like us!!!  

The Nile River

We have been studying Ancient Egypt with the boys for our history.  I have learned many things that I have either forgotten or never learned at all.  We have watched many interesting videos through the History Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet about this.  I have definitely found ways to incorporate these channels and the internet this year into our little classroom.  We have been studying the ocean animals and we watched one of the most beautiful 2 hour movie called Deep Blue.  We absolutely loved it!  It was amazing!  But today, we did a little project about the Nile River and the flooding of the Nile yearly.  We are going to flood our own little river once a week and watch the grass seed grow.  I will have to photograph the final result!  I hope those little seeds grow!