Pittsboro, NC

 I voted by mail today.  Easy Peasy.  If you know me, I'm pretty sure you know how I voted!!

 

Dropped it off at the post office.

 

And I got an email less than 24 hours later that it's on the way with Ballottrax.net.  

 

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

We've been watching the British comedy/drama series Doc Martin over the past few weeks.  I have a few seasons to download.  And our internet absolutely sucks.....so I've been going to the library where they have excellent high speed internet.  Unfortunately the library remains closed, so I have to sit outside with my mask, on a hard metal bench and let the download run on my computer.

I just take my Kindle and read for a while.  Now I've got the entire 9 seasons on my computer. 

Pittsboro, NC

 It rained.  And rained.  And rained.

 

 So, nothing was accomplished with dirt....and probably won't be for a while.  

Pittsboro, NC

 Dick invited me up to pick some grapes - they've got more than they need.  So nice of them!  Muscadines and Scuppernongs.  (I looked up the spelling - I didn't realize there were two "n's" in Scuppernong! Also not sure which is which and the internet is not really clear!)

 I got right to work - I need some jelly for the winter!

 

Cooked the grapes and ran the pulp through my food mill to remove the seeds and skins.  Strained the pulp thru cheesecloth - rendered a lovely clear pink juice that I forgot to photograph.

 

Heated the juice to a boil - very foamy!  Added a package of fruit pectin to make sure I end up with jelly and not syrup like I have in the past!

I managed to get most of the foam off the top - ladled into sterilized jars, sealed and processed in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

 

Happy with the results - a very tart and tangy jelly.  11half pints and a little extra for toast tomorrow morning!

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Duane decided to go on and take one of the big oak trees down - knowing that it would not survive having it's base buried so much.  I was at the house and heard the great big "crack" as it fell and the "woosh" of the leaves hitting the ground was attention-grabbing!

Then Duane proceeded to haul all the brush and logs away to the burn pile - the tractor with the grappling jaws makes that chore sooooo much easier than dragging it all by hand!

And the rest of the day was mostly Duane smoothing out the mucky dirt on the bulldozer.

Pittsboro, NC

 I know you're probably tired of seeing dirt photos.....But that's what's happening around here all day!

 

 The dirt is rather "mushy", sortof a wet clay.  The dump truck got stuck and Duane had to push him out.  No worries, they just pile and smooth some more dirt on top of the path.  Time-after-time....

 An amazing amount of dirt got moved in one day!

 

Duane will smooth this all out with the bull dozer, ready to add some more!

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Back to the earthwork prep at the house.  

Duane pushed over a couple of trees that will be in the way.

Going, going...

Tim-ber!!!

 

Next was just a lot of chain-sawing and piling the limbs on the brush-pile.

Brush pile ready for a bon-fire, but it was too windy.

Next chore was taking all the rip-rap away from the exposed pipe.  There was an amazing amount of it!

Another chore done.  Now they'll be able to connect the new pipe to this one.

And it finally was calm enough to burn the brush pile - and yes, we got a burn permit.

 

Then Mike, our friendly contractor got to work clearing a path for the dump truck to bring the dirt.

And this was the end of the day - most of the brush pile burned. Ready to start hauling some dirt tomorrow!

Oriental, NC

 I'm using photos that Cathy sent me from Oriental.  Ed and Cathy have just returned to Oriental after a couple of months visiting relatives in their RV.  They were greeted with extremely high winds from the north/northeast.  Winds from that direction push water up our creek - we've seen it touch the dock but we've never seen it overflow the dock!   Love this photo with the heron on the dock.

 

 

We left the mini-van parked at the lot while we left in the pickup a few weeks ago.  Cathy texted me a few hours later that they had moved the van to a higher spot.

 

 This is a later photo she sent - amazing! 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 You never know who or what you might see around the airport!  Our soon-to-be new neighbor stopped by with their cool restored old car for a visit.   I'm not sure but I think it may be a Model T....

Pittsboro, NC

 We had heavy rains from the left-over Hurricane Sally.

The neighbors pond is almost full now!  It's going to be lovely once all the grading and seeding is finished.  See that big pile of dirt on the other side of the pond?  It will be moved next week over to our yard!

Pittsboro, NC

The flowerbed surrounding our big drain pipe will be covered over with the installation of the new pipe.  So I spent the day digging up all the flowers/plants/bulbs.  Amazing number of daffodil bulbs - kindof like digging for clams.

 

 

I'm sure I left 100's of bulbs buried, I just ran out of steam!  I'll get the last of the iris plants pulled up after it rains and the ground is a bit softer.

 

 

And Duane has been working rebuilding the lift cylinders on the loader.

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

Not a lot happening, just doing some house chores.

But soon the yard will look a bit different.  Our new neighbors are going to give us a bunch of dirt from their pond excavation.  The low area here will soon be leveled with their terrain.  

And I made a lovely fried-tofu curry for dinner.  Then I bored Duane with a few episodes of Doc Martin....

Pittsboro, NC

Look what came in the mail today!  

I vow that I will not vote twice......I'll trust but verify that my ballot is received at the election board by tracing it on line at ballottrax.com - pretty cool.

Pittsboro, NC

 Time for the Mooney annual inspection - wow the year flew by!  Trying out the new mechanic at Siler City.

Pittsboro, NC

 Today would have been Daddy's 81st birthday....and I usually post a photo of him.  But my sis did a special post and I'm just going to direct you there.  Affectioknit

Pittsboro, NC

 We loaded up and drove back to Pittsboro.   The batteries are charging well and I'm glad to have that saga mostly over!  

On our way out we stopped by the mailbox - and there was a surprise inside!

My sweet sissie sent me some of these spices.  I had commented that I loved it but couldn't find it local.  (She had given me my first bottle in my birthday package earlier this year).

 

Now I have plenty!  I'll vacuum seal a few of them to make sure that they stay fresh.

The spice is an blend and it's just perfect for my taste, I guess.  It's salty, savory and a bit of "heat".  I've been sprinkling it on much more than greens.  Broccoli, green beans, chicken breast, etc. 

Always fun to get a surprise!

Oriental, NC

 The sunset was pretty last night....

But then today we have downpours.....

Oriental, NC

 I don't know if you remember but we bought a large anchor several years ago. The thought was that we'd put it out in the creek to use as a hurricane mooring.  Unfortunately, CAMA (Coastal Area Management Act) changed their rules last year and we can't install the mooring.  (Well, we could theoretically install it, but it would require a huge expense of marine surveyors and lawyers....)

So we gave up on that idea and advertised the anchor for sale.  (It was just in the way in the hangar).

Our buyer asked us to bring it to him, so we set out for a bit of a drive....we don't get out much lately so this actually was a bit of fun!  

Pretty scene in Washington.

 

 

And the pretty little town of Bath.  We've been to both of these places on the boat.                                  

My photography skills were not the best - but this is the buyer using his crane to lift the 500lb anchor off our pickup.  He's going to use the anchor on a  commercial fishing boat.

And we relaxed a bit on the way back, riding on the ferry from Bayview to Aurora.  Nice to get that done and off the "to do" list.