Things I Can Promise You

I'm still making jam - peach this month, but I didn't take any pictures.

Keeping bees is no easy chore (and my hat is off to those with more than my 2 measley hives), but it's well worth the reward.


While picking your own blackberries is well worth the resulting desserts...



The CHIGGERS that accompany picking your own are SO NOT WORTH THE PRICE! (Thankfully, no pictures of that.)

Road trips with the nephews are a total blast!

Especially if you let them be in charge of the camera...

Mostly, though, I promise you that I DO NOT POSE THESE ANIMALS!

A New Addition and A Beer Tree

June has been a quiet month for cabin building. Deathly quiet. So to bide my time, I've been canning and preserving. It's my new favorite thing. I've put beans and tomatoes in the freezer, I dilled green beans and I've made several preserves and jams, including my latest, blueberry lemon preserves.


Have you ever tried to stir 6 cups of blueberries and 6 1/2 cups of sugar? No easy task, but eventually it looks like this...


And then this...


And it is SO GOOD! Jay's new favorite request: "Can we have TOAST for dinner?" He is, afterall, the Idea Man.

Several weeks ago, Jay discovered a half-starved kitten in the empty lot next to his shop. Being freakishly in love with small critters, he fed her what he had in his shop refrigerator and decided the poor thing couldn't continue to live on taco meat. He caught her and I stopped by and brought her home, promising him we would find a home for her. We took her to the vet the next day to get her checked out. And OMG, she's totally the cutest thing ever...


We figured she's somewhere around 8-10 weeks old. She loves and purrs and headbutts and wants her belly scratched, and CAN NOT get enough food...


So we tried (not very hard) to find her a home and we were totally unsuccessful and after 10 minutes of trying really (not very) hard to place her, we gave up and named her Ellie Mae.


Because, really? How could we give up that face?And she fits in pretty well - there's JUST enough room on our bed for her...


Jay and I just curl up on the floor now at night. Hoarding? Where's the line?

This weekend, evidently Brian heard my silent screams and he rounded up a crew of gentlemen to give up part of their Saturday and come finish the roof over the back bedroom and complete the side and back porches. Hugs and thanks to Brian, Matthew, Jon, Dave, Aaron, SouthKnox Randy, Jonathan, Mike, Bentley, Jason, Jim, Tim, and David.

We woke up early Saturday and by 7:00 a.m. the trucks and tool trailers were rolling in. Ladders went up, tool belts went on and they rolled.




And after all the hammering, measuring, drilling, leveling and whatnot were done...

I have, hands down, the BEST LOOKING beer tree in all of South Knoxville...