Kayaking on the Flint River

Yesterday after yard selling with my mom (pictures of my finds to come soon) Keith and I loaded up the truck made some great sandwiches and drove the 45 minute drive to the Flint River Outdoor Center. The location we kayaked is in Thomaston, Georgia. We went to the outdoor center paid a small fee and they loaded up our kayaks and took us to the drop off point which made the trip down the river 5 miles. They say it should take about 3 hours to do it but it took us around 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Time doesn't really matter when you are having fun though. We actually were dropped off in Sprewell Bluff State Park and started out journey their. Here are some of the pictures of us having fun and being a kid.

I would like to say THANK YOU to the nice man and his two kids who inspired us to stop and have some fun floating down this little rapid. This family had their own canoe and we pretty much stayed in eye sight of them our whole trip. They were from Pike county and we had a great time interacting and talking with them.

Our kayaks taking a break while we play in the water a little.

Me, floating down a rapid that I managed not to go down when I was in my kayak. Somehow I went another route and got stuck and had to bounce up and down to get unstuck. So I had to go down it why not without the kayak?

Keith's turn...

And a picture of us right before we got out to play. This was taken by the nice man. I wish so badly that I would have gotten some pictures of him and his kids and emailed them to him. I have got to start doing what I feel I should do.

Hobbies

What are your hobbies? Mine are quilting, running, vegetable gardening, reading, kayaking, bike ridding, wood working and sewing.

Per www.dictionary.com hobby is defined as:

1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation

Per www.wikipedia.com it is:

is a spare-time recreational pursuit.

So why do our hobbies stress us out? I always find myself taking deep breaths. Is it because it is something that we enjoy doing but at the same time we set such high standards for ourselves that we are always striving to reach?

This is something that is on my mind as I am stressing about getting a quilt done for a family member. They are just glad to get it, they don't care when they get it so why am I stressing.

I would like to know if you stress over your hobbies no matter what they are.

My Garden Today

The garden as a whole!
The cantaloupe, I think there is a total of four.

My tomatoes, the fourth of July type.

An icebox watermelon. Only one is growing.

My sprouts. They are ate up by bugs but I am growing them just because anyways. I gotta get out there and spray them suckers.

Well, when we got back from the beach my lemon cucumber had taken over a whole bed and covered three regular cucumber plants and my sprouts. The regular cucumbers were drying out they were so surrounded. So I pulled up the lemon cucumber and the regular ones.

Then the beefsteak tomato plants had all fallen over so I pulled them up. So not much left growing but hey it is still my little garden.

It is my first year and I have already learned that we don't eat enough tomatoes for five plants. I think I will only plant two next year.

The Beach Alford Style

In July we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama with Kieth's family. Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Getting Attacked by Mr. Rooster

We always get the eggs in the evening as they lay all day. But yesterday morning I decided to go check their water and food. I went in all was well and then I decided to take a picture or two and Mr. Rooster did not like that. He started pacing in front of me and digging and pecking really hard at the ground like 2 inches away form my toes. I had flip flops on like I always do and he peck my foot really really hard. It hurt and my foot was feeling weird for a minute. But, Mr Rooster kept on pacing in front of me. Know I was trapped or at least feeling that way. Keith was not home so I was in the coop, nobody to save me or distract the rooster so I could escape. I was feeling a little scared and then something distracted him and he walked about two feet from me I had enough time to take a few steps towards the door and he came running at me. I kicked him but not that hard because other chickens were around and I didn't want to hurt them and then after he got himself back on his two legs he came at me again and I kicked him again and ran out the door. He then attacked the coop door but thankfully I was on the other side.

Playing Catch Up

Today I hope to play catch up and get everyone up to speed with us this summer.

So get your reading glasses on.

Please, How Do I Stop?

I am so over booked, scheduled, obligated what ever you want to call it. I always do this to myself and can never seem to stop. Between now and Friday afternoon I have to:

• Get my eyebrows waxed
• Make a baby quilt (about 3hrs), wash, wrap and deliver it
• Fold and put away close to 12 loads of clothes
• Pack
• Finish all cutting for my Uncle Randy's quilt for my trip
• Have my bangs and maybe hair cut
• Go to Auburn to buy a bike rack (I will save $50 bucks by driving the extra 45 minutes)
• Wash car and clean it out
• Organize getting the house feed

and I am sure I am missing something.

Please someone tell me how to be okay with having nothing to do. I seem to have to have every second and it is starting to seem like milli-second filled.

Some Extra Pictures for Fun

My Garden This Week

We went to the beach for 4 days and I came home to 3 cucumbers. As of today they are about 3 inches long. Yippee!! My lemon cucumber plant has 20+ flowers and it is growing taller each day but no cucumbers yet. It is triple the size of my regular cucumber plants.

I think that 2 of my tomato plants are infected. They looked a little shriveled before we left but since we have returned some of the leaves have brown spots on them but this is what I don’t understand is that when we left there was no tomatoes now it has golf ball sized tomatoes. So I am wondering if I should pull it out before it spreads or keep it to get more tomatoes. I guess I got to do some research to see what the problem is.
(DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE BETTER)


My red potatoes have flowered and now I am just waiting on them to die back so I can harvest them about 2 weeks after that happens. These potatoes are called Red Cloud and have red insides. So get ready for red mashed potatoes or potato salad.

The lettuce is ready to be picked for a final time and the radishes and carrots are done as well. In their place I have and will be planting watermelon and cantaloupes. The lettuce was very good and handy when I only needed a small amount like for taco’s or a quick sandwich. It will defiantly be planted this fall and in the future. I would say that I planted too much lettuce for our family and next year will scale it down. That way I will have more room for the things I can preserve like cucumbers and tomatoes. Well, as in other post my carrots and radishes didn’t do GREAT so nothing to brag on.

My pumpkins seem to be doing good. I have two vines growing and have had a lot of flowers over the past month and last night I noticed new leaves growing. I am not sure what is going on as you know I am new to this but I am just going to sit back and see if I get pumpkins.

The Quilt Is Almost Done

I am so excited; my first quilt is almost done.

Last night after cutting the fabric for the sashing and stones I laid out all the squares, stones and sashing to figure out how I wanted the squares laid out. I just love it and am proud of my color choices but it could not look this good without the help of Lain Stowe at Sew Much Fun.

I like the layout a lot and didn’t want to mix it up so I would pick up a square and a piece of sashing and sew those together and then come back to the living room and get the next and so on. I was on my last row of squares and when I walked back into the living room my cat was sitting in the spot where the square I was just sewing was suppose to be.

Then I took two squares to sew together and went back to get the third and she was sitting in both squares spot. This happened over the course of an hour as I was easily side tracked last night. But it was so funny and very cute that she knew not to get on the fabric. I guess she learned that she was not suppose to be on the fabric by watching me use the lint roller the other night to get her hair of my squares. I love my kitty cat.

I have one square that is a Snail’s Trail and it should measure 12” x 12”. Let’s just say that every side is not straight and is wavy almost. The seams should be ¼ “and a lot of times you could fix the problem by just making the seam smaller or bigger. But this squares is so uneven that I should have remade it but I didn’t have enough fabric and I went to Joanne’s yesterday and didn’t notice the pattern so I some how managed to make it look okay. I can’t wait to see how that one deformed square affects the whole quilt. This is my first quilt so I can’t beat myself up to bad I guess.

I took the fabric today to have my label made so I can complete the back and take it to Sew Much Fun for the quilting process. I can’t wait to post the completed quilt pictures. Check back you never know when it will be done.


Happy Quilting!!!