Trimming the bushes!

It's been crazy warm here....and I thought I'd take this opportunity to trim the bushes at the Siler City Airport.  They had gotten just a bit out of control -  I should have done the trimming while the airport was closed in Sept/Oct. 

Before

 After - I know, some of them look a little bare....that will fill back in quickly, I think!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I admit, I'm not a landscape artist.....but in a couple of weeks these bushes will look nice again!

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Christmas 2015!

The kids came over for Christmas day....

Having fun unwrapping presents....lines, etc. from Grandma and Frank.

Richard and Miranda gave Robert a 3-D printer!!

A trumpet mouthpiece Richard and Miranda had printed out - Robert says it will actually work!

Printing an octopus!

Here is a small 3D octopus that they printed while we watched.  Interesting!

Then the boys went out to play with their new toys - each of them got QuadCopter drones from "Santa".

Fun little toys!  (And they weigh less than 1/2 pound so they don't have to be registered with the FAA!)

Winter Cleaning on a Rainy Day

In our "dirty Santa" game, we ended up with a box of nice Rubbermaid containers.  (I actually nudged Duane to "steal" the box, since it wasn't my turn).

My "container cabinet" has, once again, gotten ridiculously overcrowded.  I DO give stuff (leftovers) away in containers.....but I always seem to gather more.

Here is the "after" photo - I sorted thru all of the containers and kept only the ones that I will really use.  Since the new ones nest so nicely, it should be easy to keep this drawer neat now!

And even more "purging" was done.  My Mom had given me a bunch of linens, including kitchen towels.  My "towel drawer" was stuffed to overflowing with an assortment of towels and dishrags that had grown out of control similar to the container cabinet.....

In similar fashion, I kept only the towels that I really use - (and a few that had "sentimental" value).  Easier to close the drawer now!!  And Duane has another big bag of rags to use in the hangar!

And lastly, I stepped outside to take these photos during a lull in the rain.

An amazing amount of water - running over our road and the big ditch roaring.  And temps around 75 degrees!  Crazy weather!!  Hope you have a great holiday!

Mountain Christmas weekend!

We had a fun-packed weekend in Hendersonville this past weekend.

First up was a visit to my Grandma Hall - she'll be 100 on March 21st!   She actually called me by name - I don't know if she really recognized me or if someone had told her I was nearby....but she seemed pleased to see me!

Wonderful visit - got to see alot of my aunts, uncles and cousins that I rarely see.

Then it was on to the McCraw's....

The McCraw siblings gave Granny and Cordy a new TV for Christmas to replace their ancient one!  We got that hooked up and set up.  That will provide some nice viewing this winter!

Granny and I wandered down to the garden plot to pick some turnips....some of those are gonna be tasty for Christmas dinner with the kids.  And I'm going to make some turnip pickles when I get a chance.  Yeah, you heard that right....turnip pickles!

And the final activity of the weekend was "my side of the family" Christmas party - hosted by  Eddie and Brittany this year.  Lovely home and party!

Duane being entertained by cutie-pie Conner.

Fun conversation with Trudi, Mom and Trudi's mom.

Fun!

I'm putting this photo of Brittany's refrigerator door for Teresa - thought she might like the "craftiness".

And Eddie kept Lilee occupied so that Momma could mingle a bit!  Sweet girl, but loves her Momma!

And the last event of the evening was our "Dirty Santa" gift exchange.  A great time with lots of "dirty" steals!

Beautiful sunrise

Gloomy now, but the sunrise was spectacular!

One camera setting....note the little bit of foggy mist down low on the runway.

And a minute or two later on a different camera setting.  Lovely!

Siler City Airport Ribbon Cutting

We had the ribbon cutting ceremony today at the airport....we gathered in the newly painted terminal building for coffee and doughnuts....

Then out to the runway on a beautiful December day for the actual ribbon cutting.  The Airport Authority,  town commissioners and some of the county officials were on hand to do the deed!

We had a great fly-over of the Bandit Flight Team - 

And Pat Hayes flew over for a little show too!  A great day and good end to a long runway refurbishment project!

Turkeys!

I caught some movement in the front yard - and saw this "rafter" of turkeys. 

I slowly crept towards the front door and got this photo.

I knew I needed to make sure that they didn't see me - I didn't open the door - this photo is thru the glass.

But even that was too much "threat" for them...they sprinted away.

Here is a closeup that I've cropped - a little fuzzy but you get the idea of how beautiful they are!

New Bern visit

Friends Cecil and Carolyn invited us to their house in New Bern for the night - to watch the "Christmas Boat Parade".  Local mariners dress up their boats in Christmas lights and decorations, then proceed down the river like a regular street parade.

Unfortunately, it was a very breezy day and the river was quite churned-up....I believe that limited the number of participants.  But there was still quite a show.  Also unfortunately, as I've mentioned before, my camera does not do well at night.....but you get the idea - boat with Christmas lights and tree.

And a pretty sailboat decked out with lights.  The other photos were too blurred to make out much!

In the morning, this was the view across the same spot off Carolyn and Cecil's deck.  Foggy!

We drove into the historic downtown New Bern for breakfast.  It's lovely.

All decked out for Christmas.  Even the side-streets!

We wandered around - Carolyn posing with one of the many "bears" around New Bern.

Another bear -  "Bern" is old Germanic for "bear.   The bears all over the city.

And by the time we got back to their place, the fog had lifted for a beautiful view!

WD 40 Broken cans

We always seem to have a couple of cans of WD40 around that have the spray button broken.  Unlike spray paint cans, these cans appear to have non-removable buttons.  And when they break off, you're just stuck with a non-usable, mostly full spray can!



But I got the idea that I could empty the cans rather than throw them out.

I just took a spoon, turned the can upside down and pressing hard on the broken stems....and here is the result!




I'll get a small spray bottle at the dollar store and see how that works!  I just hated to throw the cans away!

Senior ticket? Next stop, the old folks home!

I posted this on FB, but for those of you that don't see things there, I thought this was amusing.....

Last night, Duane and I went to see the last of the Hunger Games series at the theater.  We don't go to the theater much, but I've read all the books and seen all the rest of the movies in the series.  I wanted to see the last one "on the big screen".  Plus it has been rainy and miserable around here for the last several days!

I guess with my glasses on, I must have looked like a senior citizen.  I handed the VERY young cashier a $20 bill, told him what movie, he handed me the change and two tickets.

We wandered towards the proper theater door....looking finally at the ticket to make sure we had the right door.  (There are no "guards" at the very small Lumina Theater).

I was shocked to see "Senior" on the ticket....hmmm....I guess when I was that age I thought anyone over the age of 29 was a "Senior".  Oh well, I just took my $2 discount and enjoyed the show!