Grandfather Mountain Highland Games

This past Saturday, Sara competed in two of the bagpipe competitions at Grandfather Mountain and placed in both!  Third place for piobaireachd and fourth place for 2/4 march.  Here is just a short slideshow of the day. . . :o)

Another slideshow design by Smilebox

Are you nuts?!?

For the past week, Dad has been working on the back of our house when not roofing someone else's.  Tearing the old siding off and (so far) putting up OSB.  But this morning, Dad and Ray ran into a surprise . . .

 Do you see it?  . . . or do you need a closer look?

 Yeah . . . believe me . . . you're not hallucinating!  The shower came when tearing down the soffit . . . that one board from up top.

We had some very ambitious squirrels. :o)

And to our amazement, it wasn't just pecans.

There were about as many pinto beans as there were nuts!

What you see here isn't all we got.  15 gallons of nuts were extracted in addition to what had fallen.  It filled up one-and-a-half big, black garbage bags!  And there is just a small, sneaking suspicion that we didn't get them all. :o)

The Sunny Side of Life . . .

 "Expect dry conditions for the next 6 hours. . ."

Or so the weatherman says. :o)

Bella's First Birthday!

It's hard to believe she's already a year old!!!  It seems as though we just brought her home.

Her birthday celebration was complete with party favors, cake, presents . . . leave it to Allison to completely spoil her! : )

She's come to recognize the word "birthday" and cocks her head in understanding every time anyone breathes the word.

You see, it comes in the form of treats. . .

. . . and lasts til the next one rolls around! : )

 

Happy Birthday, Bella!

Winter Bliss

 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Isaiah 1:18

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The weather advisory said it was going to snow throughout the day yesterday, so when it stopped after only putting down a few flakes in the morning, we thought it was just another of those bogus forecasts just to spike the sales of milk and bread. : )

Then yesterday afternoon, the snow dumped. . . literally.  It went from absolutely nothing to a white wonderland within about 10 minutes!

And, of course, there were a few brave souls who wanted to go out in it. : )

 As soon as it started pouring the snow, Allison decided she wanted to introduce Bella to it.

 Fudgie found her place of safety. : )

 And a snowy day just isn't complete without throwing a few snowballs!

She was warned not to hit the photographer, but the target -- ahem! -- conveniently hid behind me . . .

 Bella absolutely LOVED the snow!  At first, she walked around so stiff-legged she was waddling, but she soon figured out that she could walk and run in it. : )

 Going down the snow-covered ramps were tricky but doable. : )

 Hmmmm . . . going up was a different story, though.  Daddy had to push her up. : )

 What's up with this cold stuff anyway???

 Takin' a walk/ride. : )

 Not a bit colorful, huh, Christina???

 A view out our window.  Seriously . . . the snow was coming down so hard!

Compare it to . . .

 this view out the very same window about an hour later.

 Allison chillin' in her zebra bed.  Well . . . maybe "warming up" would be a better term. : )

 The snow-covered trees are BEAUTIFUL!

And then, the Lord painted the skies in such a way as to cause the prettiest red reflection.  Breathtaking!

 It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood . . .

Won't you be my neighbor?! : )

Hurricane Sandy

 More from Maryland!

Hurricane Sandy provided some aversion from our normal activities . . . such as taking baths and working on the projects and cooking and . . . I think you get the idea. Haha!  We did lose power for a little while, but we tried to find creative ways to spend our time.

 We tried to keep tabs on where the storm was actually going to hit.  At first, they were predicting it to come straight up the Chesapeake Bay . . . and make a direct hit where we were staying.

But the Lord intervened and sent the brunt of the storm north of us.

 

The view from the wall of glass . . . literally all windows.

 We were camping out in a pool house near the creek (if you want to call it a creek), but being well above water level we weren't in any danger of being flooded out.

 The view from the water side of the pool house.

 This shows a better perspective . . . taken right outside the sliding glass door.

 For the most part, it wasn't much worse than a bad thunderstorm, but Bella was ready to weather it out! : )

 During . . . not much exciting to look at.

 The next morning, we emerged from our safe haven to explore the damage.  Aside from the power having gone out, there really wasn't anything to report other than the leaves, sticks, and garbage cans being blown here and there.

 And the creek had flooded the piers.

 No electricity provided a chance to get adventurous, so Sara tested out her culinary powers by cooking breakfast on the grill.  Scrambled eggs, anyone?  Onions were off limits seeing as how there was no way to bathe. : )

 The birds flocked in trying to find something to eat.

 Allison helped them out by throwing bread to them, only this time, the pier was off limits.  Hmmm . . . wonder why. : )

 All of the stormy hues made the landscape picturesque with all the blues and grays.

 The end of this pier was visible . . .

 . . . but we would have had to do some wading to get there!

 Leaves, leaves, everywhere!

Sorry for so many of what must seem like redundant pictures, but the sky was constantly changing and making the landscape absolutely beautiful!

We were so thankful to the Lord for preserving us through what could have been (and was to so many) devastation!