Memorial Day Ride

This is Leroy. He greeted me as I drove up to the house. He looks and barks big and mean but he's a big baby. He also likes to lean, which at 150lbs + starts to become a problem if you aren't paying attention.

Betsy took me riding today. I was terribly excited since its been about 6 years and one horse kick since the last time I went. I think the horses were pretty excited too.


This is Faith. I rode her. Sweet girl. Lucky for me, she doesn't like to be dirty so I didn't have to brush her too much.


Faith getting her reins on.

I took a picture of Lou too, which is the horse Betsy rode today but dagonit I still need that new lens! It was a little too dark. So instead we have this picture of Betsy!

We had lots of fun and are planning to drag the boys out to go with us sometime soon. The horses got some apple treats and a wet rubdown when we got back. The apple treats smelled so good I have to admit I was tempted to try one myself! Next time I will take the camera on the ride because the trail we went on had some beautiful scenery and wildflowers. Happy Memorial Day!

April showers bring......this stuff!

These are new iris bulbs that were an anniversary gift from mom.

You just have to love all the blooming stuff out right now. We must have had a great spring because everything is busting out.

I was kind of bummed the other day though. We did our annual cleaning of our pond and our frog, Frieda (yeah we named her, look further down the blog in the April section and you will see her) got freaked out and we didn't see her for days. Well apparently she hopped two yards over to our neighbors that have a pond also. He cleaned his yesterday and low and behold, Frieda suddenly appeared back at ours.

Now, last night we thought she was gone again because we had a bunch of friends over and Brad brought his sweet pup, Balen. Balen happens to be a lab. Our pond happens to be full of water. Do you see where this is going? Yeah, he went for a swim. But alas! Frieda was still here today. She must not have been too traumatized!

Hope all of your flowers are blooming like crazy. Enjoy the pics!

Somoa's eye

These will be tall Bengal Canna plants in a month or two. They are tropical and splits from AJ's plants. I love the blue pots!

These are my peonies. They smell divine and look so soft!

Little bitty bug on the peony bud

Goslings near my office.

More goslings

Curious ducks

Home Renovation

I have been meaning to post some pictures of all the stuff we have done to our house over the 4 years we have been here. This won't be all of it but here's a start. Before and afters

Master Bedroom


Fish Pond

After:

Outside front:

After:

Kitchen Before:

After:

Bathroom Before:

After: Bear in mind that its small and hard to photograph

Living Room:

After from a few views:

Just a list of stuff we did:

New Roof, Windows, gutters, shutters, siding

Completely ripped out the bathroom and put all new everything

New paint in every room

Tore out carpet in living room to reveal hardwood

New floor, bigger dishwasher, new countertops in kitchen

Completely redone landscaping including retaining wall in front

Other miscellaneous things.....more pictures of other rooms to follow

Dinner Last Night

I decided to photo one of my recipes. Here goes!

This is something I call Smoky Mountain Chicken. Not really sure why, I think I had a similar thing at a restaurant back home. Anywho, its a really great taste and not much skill required!

You need:

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (depending on how many plp you are feeding)

Bacon

Bar-b-que sauce

Shredded Cheese ( I use a colby jack blend but whatever you like will do)

Scallions or Green Onions

Tomato

I simply season my thawed chicken with a poultry seasoning. This one is from Sam's and you will start to use it on everything. Its yummy!

Then go outside and turn on your grill. I mean, fire up the charcoal, nah who am I kidding, I use a gas grill. I put it on high heat. Then right before you put the chicken on turn it to medium or low. The point is that you want the grill to be screaming hot but then cook the chicken slowly.

You also do not want to go back in like 2 minutes and turn them. Unless you like chicken stuck to your grill. I hardly ever use oil on my grill. Basically, when the meat doesn't stick any more, its ready to turn, then you get these nice grill marks. Okay, while that is grilling, start cooking your bacon. Then put it on a paper towel to drain some of the grease off.

You can also go ahead and cut up the tomato and green onions. I cut the onions with kitchen shears. Its easier.

Once you flip the chicken you will baste that side with bar-b-que sauce. And say hi to your cute husband watering flowers. Such the landscaper! Oh and he loves having his picture taken, can't you tell?!

As I take the chicken off the grill to my plate, I pour a little more sauce on it and cover with the cheese. That way, your grill doesn't get all messy but the heat from the chicken melts everything together.

Then cover the chicken in the crumbled bacon, (oh yeah, crumble the bacon), green onions and tomatoes. I served mine with zucchini cakes from here. I love this site. I actually made her strawberry shortcake cake last night too! It is out of this world. Possibly my new favorite cake.

Hope you enjoy!

Inspired

Okay, I have really gotten into blogs and I have always loved dogs and photography is one of my favorite hobbies, hopefully one day to be a source of income. So, what do all these have to do with each other? Well probably not much but that is until I saw this the other day.http://www.erinvey.com/bark/ I absolutely adore her stuff. So, along with doing a few portraits on the side I decided to start my dog part of that adventure with my own pooches. They are so photogenic after all!

This is her normal position

It was raining and Rosco wanted to go outside....but he hates rain.

I dont' even know what to say to this one.

peek-a-boo! Look at all that extra cute wrinkles. How come that is only cute on dogs?

Last one, really close up!

Hopefully soon I will have some of these of Ziggy, my friend's goldendoodle.

You can take the girl outta the South......

Okay you know the rest of this saying right? "but you can't take the South outta the girl". Its also imperitive that you spell it outta, not out of.
I had to drive to Ashland, KY today for work, which I realized after I got there might as well be in West Virginia. Lucky for me most of it wasn't on the highway, which meant I got to feel like I was back in the country. Beautiful rain this morning and then sunshine on the way home. I also ate lunch in Katie's Corner Cafe and had homemade chicken and dumplings and Sweet Tea and when I say Sweet Tea I mean Syrup with Tea and Lemon! Yowser! It was good. Anyhow, I took a few photos. I do not in any way condone or encourage chewing tobacco but that barn was too cool not to take a picture of.

So, it was a nice day out of the office. Then I got back and had an email saying we are going to have a kite day at work! How fun is that?