Fun Pens!

I admit I have a pen fetish, and every Christmas my husband surprises me with goofy or unusual pens in my stocking!  He got these at Spencer Gifts this year.

They write nice, too!

Winter Lettuce

We've had great luck growing lettuce over the winter so far this year, despite the temps dropping into the teens on many nights.  We cover it with a thin, woven, white cloth the locals call "tobacco cloth," which the farmers use to cover their tobacco seedlings as they grow.  It lets the light and water in, but keeps the cold out, at least enough that it doesn't damage the entire plant, only a little bit around some of the edges. 

Perhaps next year I'll try planting iceberg lettuce, which is more suitable for cooler weather.

Kitty Walk

Doug has two of our four cats trained to stay with him when he takes them out for walks -- Rosie and Mokkah.  In the first picture, Rosie walks next to him; Angel is in the foreground.  Angel has to be leashed because she tends to run and hide if I turn my head away from her.  She has ME trained!  She'll only let me touch her; she'll have nothing to do with my husband.

Mokkah asks where are we going next??

Tilly

Our latest cat (we now have FOUR!), Tilly, who fancies herself a member of the Red Hat Society!

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails

I've been taking a lot of pictures this year of eastern tiger swallowtails.  I find it fascinating that the female can have both a light and a dark form.  

 A few days ago I was pleasantly surprised to find dozens of these winged beauties enjoying my sunflowers! 

Sky Watch

These sky photos were taken in past years, as long ago as 2005, after thunderstorms.

We get some awesome sky views here in the "holler" but I haven't seen any as intense as it was on these days.

I wanted to post this on the Sky Watch blog, skyley.blogspot.com so decided to awaken my blog so that I could add it.    We actually have high speed internet now (yeah!) so perhaps I'll do some postings now and then!