Uwharrie National Forest

 I forgot to mention that we stopped on the way to my sister's house at Uwharrie National Forest for a nice hike.

 

 

The usual - very shady with gentle creeks crossing.

 

We did notice lots of trees down across the paths.  Doesn't look like there is much attention being paid to the trails.

 

And lots of the paths are shared with horses....not my favorite since there's usually plenty of horse droppings....not complaining really....

Good fun and lots of exercise! It felt like I burned more than 793 calories in the almost 3 hour up-and-down the hills hike!!

 

Concord, NC

We had a really fun little visit with my sissie and her hubby.  It's been TOO LONG!

As usual, Kitten is lazing around on the floor.  She's very similar to another famous black cat - Obie at the senior McCraw's house.  Just the right amount of "aloofness" (not a lap cat, in other words).

I forgot to snap a photo of Jack-Jack - he's getting "geriatric" according to Teresa at 16 years old.

 

The weather was beautiful for a late afternoon little cookout in the back yard.  

 

Really fun to relax and catch up after so long separated. 

 

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Neighbors Dick and Lindy invited us to go with them to a local winery.  We had never even heard of it, yet it's less than 10 miles from our house!  It's called FireClay Cellars.

 

After a few small sips of various wines, we chose a bottle of nice cool white wine.

 

And we went outside to enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

 

And enjoyed sitting out near the vineyard.

 A fun spur-of-the-moment outing!

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Pittsboro, NC

Yep, still not a lot happening!  We took a nice long walk around the runway.  Went over and snooped at our neighbors new small sawmill.  Pretty cool.

And here's a view down the entire runway that I don't often see just from this elevation just because I don't  usually walk here.

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 We drove down to Lillington to Raven Rock State Park for an afternoon of hiking. 

We did a 5.3 mile loop - quite hilly.

Nicely done trail with good foot bridges

 

And nicely marked trails.

 

Lots of little babbling brooks - almost seemed like we were in the mountains, not the flat piedmont.

 

That's Duane sitting on one of the huge rocks at the river bank.

 

We packed in a light lunch and ate on a bench overlooking the river.

 

And this is Lanier "Falls".  I guess there isn't enough terrain fall to have a true waterfall.

Good fun and burned a few calories on a very pleasant summer day.

Pittsboro, NC

 I know it's not very interesting....but I spent literally the whole day transferring things over to my new little iphone and getting it set up and usable.  I previously always ha an android phone - so the setup/transfer was a bit difficult.  Lots of things didn't transfer - which meant I had to manually load them and figure out numerous ancient passwords.....

I love the little wallet though!  Fits nicely in my pocket.  (The smallest iphone they make).

 

Pittsboro, NC

 After all the rain yesterday, a beautiful day today!

 

In the flower bed, I had planted the tomato and pepper plants that  Keith and Denise had given us.  They're doing very well!

 

Hope to have a large crop of sweet peppers and tomatoes.

 

I had gone to the local farm supply store to get some grass seed and they had their bedding plants on clearance for $1.25 a 4-pack.   I couldn't resist and picked up a package of Rutgers variety tomatoes.  They're supposed to be heirloom type - not too large and very tasty.  Hope so!

Pittsboro, NC

 Just a rainy, dreary day.....nothing to report.   But the grass really needed some moisture....

Jacksonville, Fl to Pittsboro, NC

 We had an unevenful (the best kind) flight to Jacksonville.  

Always fun to sight-see from above.   Darlington speedway below.

 

Somewhere off over the lowlands near Charleston or Savannah.

 

And approaching Jacksonville.

 

At Sky Harbour getting fuel as Ed and Cathy pick us up.

To our home for the night - Ed and Cathy's camper at a nearby state park.

 Their friends John and Colleen had done a bit of 50th anniversary decorating while Ed and Cathy had driven to the airport to collect us. Good fun!

 After treating us to a nice little cookout lunch, we went over to the adjacent beach for a walk.  The anniversary couple (they were babies when they married 50 years ago!)

 

We went for a nice long stroll - the beach was not very crowded.

In the evening we went to the Sanddollar restaurant across the St. Johns river for a nice happy hour and meal.  Back to the camper at around 11pm - very late for us!!

 Had a good sleep and a good breakfast with Ed and Cathy - but time to head out for home as thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon.  Leaving Jacksonville you can see the pretty bridge.

 

For the first hour or so, we were in and out of the clouds.

 

But by the time we got back to Siler City, the air was clear.

Fun trip and always fun to have an excuse to fly/celebrate!

Pittsboro to Jacksonville, Fl

 On our way this morning to Jacksonville, FL for our buddies from What It's 50th wedding anniversary celebration!!!

Pittsboro, NC

 We've been trying to smooth out the newly seeded lawn area.  It was very rough and lumpy when we left last fall - nothing we could do at the time because it was so incredibly wet.  We had to just seed it and leave since it was time to head to the Bahamas.

But now we've been tilling up areas, moving dirt around to fill in low spots.  And picking up rocks....lots and lots of rocks.  

Unfortunately, it's going to be sunny and hot for the next week.  I suspect most of the grass that is left growing will die off.  We'll seed it again and hope for the best again this fall.

Pittsboro, NC

 This morning a doe was happily munching on the tender grass/weeds at our front door.  She looked up for a moment when I came to the door to take the photo.

 

Then she proceeded to munch on the grass some more.  I guess I didn't look like much of a threat.

Pittsboro, NC

 We flew over to Asheboro to do some paperwork and update some databases with the high speed internet there.  

 

Always something cool going on at the airports!  A business jet was on the ramp when we pulled up (I don't know who it is...)

Pittsboro, NC

 A quick followup to yesterday's post concerning the two t-shirts...

I had some left-over purple dye from a couple of years ago - twisted up the t-shirts and dyed them.

Turned out pretty good - with all the swirls, you can't make out the armpit stains anymore.   Not perfect but now I'll still be able to wear them.

Pittsboro, NC

 Finally, a post that is slightly sailing related....

Our sheets for our berth on the boat were worn out.  I've got two sets - they're standard queen size.  They're all-cotton, high thread count Better Homes and Garden brand and very soft.  But they didn't wear well.  Just 6 months and one of the bottom sheets has thin spots and small tears.  Maybe something about the fact that we're slightly salty sometimes affected the wear.  Anyway.  Time for a new set.

At the local Target, I found this deal - looks like really nice sheets - 600 thread count and all cotton.  On clearance, my luck.  Really nice heavy "hotel" sheets. 

 

I do need to back up a bit - I promise it will all make sense.

 Two of my favorite shirts - (both given to me by Miranda and Richard) have unfortunately gotten bleach spots on them.  This one was a gift to tell us that they were engaged.

And this one they found at the Variety store in Ocracoke many years ago.  Both are well worn but I hated the bleach spots.

 

So I decided that the solution was to bleach out the color and add back color....

 

 

Even though one little drop of bleach will leave a white spot, it takes a huge amount of bleach to actually bleach out all the color.  I used my last 1/2 gallon on these shirts.  This one was stubborn but I figured it would be enough.

 

 

And now I'll tie the two stories together.  I figured if I was going to mix up a batch of dye, I should kill two birds....

White sheets are just too "clean" looking for the boat.  I wanted a bit of color - so I treated the sheets with soda ash (to help set the dye) and tied them up with string for tie-dying.

 

The fitted sheet.

 

 

Four pillow cases.  (yes, isn't that cool that it comes with extra? I guess that's what you get with a sheet set that was originally $70!)

 

And the top sheet.

 

I'm using a standard Rit liquid dye this time which requires hot water.  So I put every large pan I own to boil.

 

Out to the yard - all the items in the (clean) mop bucket full of hot dye.

 

Stirred and let set for 1 hour.

 

Back into the kitchen for rinsing.  I then bathed everything in white vinegar to also help in setting the dye.

 

So - a partial fail.  They shirts turned out a lovely color....but the dye seemed to enhance a stain at the armpits.  

 

These shirts are many years old, so not surprising that they are stained - but you couldn't really see it before.  So - I will tie-dye these shirts with a swirl pattern to hide the stain and get back to you.

 

But I'm really happy with the sheets.  Spread out loosely on the guest bed.  Just the right amount of random color.  They'll be lovely on the boat.