Catch up

On July 29th, I worked at the USO helping put together 650 deployment packs, and 600 rack packs.  It was the first day I got to wear my official volunteer name tag.  (You have to put in 24 hours of volunteering to earn a name tag! I have a total of 34 hours now) These are the nice kind that attach to your clothes with a magnet.  Nice.  No pin needed.

We had a thunderstorm Saturday afternoon and then we drove to Beaufort (Beaufort on-the-Sea, their full name I guess).  We bought a few things at the Farmers Market like peaches and a gluten-free lemon bar that you would never know was gluten-free.  I also found some sourdough bread there. It is really, really sourdough.  The crust is so tough I can hardly cut it, but that makes it really crunchy and chewy for toast!  Spread with some blackberry jam...yum. It came from a bakery in another town:  

http://wildflourbakerync.com/Breads.php

They also have a cafe, so maybe we'll get to try it sometime.

I have to tell you, I have never felt humidity like I have here. When we are in the car, the a/c is on of course, but the minute I step outside, my glasses fog up and I can't see for a few seconds!  I feel like I have to cut through the air before it's breatheable!  The temperature at the market yesterday (about 7 p.m.) was 88 degrees and the humidity about 70%.   Never felt it like that before.

We have a storm on the way again today.  Thunder and lightening happening as I write, but no rain yet.  I'm glad we are getting some rain again; earlier this week I was having to water the impatiens 2-3 times a day because of the heat. (We don't have any covering on the patio and no shade).  The temps may only be in the 90's, but the "heat index" is considered the low 100's.  The weathermen have the "feels like" phrase that they use all the time.  Like today's:

(Although our thunder started around noon here!  Sometimes the thunder makes me jump right out of my seat! Like just now!)

I need to get some more items listed on my Etsy shop:

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/PicketfencesVintage

So I will close for now.  Thanks for reading my dribble.

Well people, we did it.  We moved over the weekend.  We are still settling in of course, but at least the heavy work is done.

We had a local moving company come and pack up a 26 foot UHaul truck that Elaina drove "like a boss" putting it in her words.  There were 3 strapping young men from the moving company that worked and sweated in high 90's temp. with about the same in humidity. Elaina has used this company before, so she knew they were good, but I was impressed.  They introduced themselves, shook our hands coming and going and were pleasant and polite all day.

So, we no longer live off of Burgaw Highway and Haws Run. Now we live off of Piney Green and "Old Thirty."  I love the street names around here.  So North Carolina. Have I mentioned there's a lot of trees here?  From this picture you can see what is behind our backyard.  Nothing but trees.  Some pines and some hardwoods.  There's probably deer and other creatures "out there."  I don't expect to find them inside the house like at the old house!  We do have a swallows' nest just inside the front porch area.  I think there are babies in there.

(Our house is where the pin is.)

Elaina did a herculean job of cleaning at the old house on Sunday and emptying boxes at the new house to try and get the kitchen set up.  She had to go to work this morning and I'm sure she had some sore muscles to take with her.

I'm getting settled in my new bedroom and bathroom and happy to have a home.  The owners had some wild choices in paint colors but I'm learning to like them! My room is half hot pink and half lemon yellow!  My bathroom is kind of an electric green.  I had to go to Walmart today and buy different towels and a bath mat.  In white!  I decided that was the best way to go.

Bad pic. but it IS hot pink

Elaina is letting me have another smaller room to use for my Etsy stuff and I can set up my sewing machine in there.   Because we now have a garage, I was able to empty my unit at Autrey Self Storage.  (Remember, Mr. Autry delivered a chair to me from my storage unit?)  All my stuff from California is now in our garage. That's saving me a little bit of money!

If you could pray that I will be able to have a home of my own sometime soon, that would be great.  I'm happy and grateful to have a place to live, but I have lived in other people's homes since about 2005.  I think it's time!  Thanks for reading!

USO Story Time

I'm just getting around to posting this from July 12th.  It was "Super Hero" story time at the USO.  Fifty military families were expected today, and I know that at least two extra tables were set up after it started, so I think more came than were expected.

They had construction paper masks to color, temporary "tattoos" to wear and a photo booth (kind of) to take their picture flying over Gotham City.  Many kids were wearing super hero costumes.

I helped tape the words "BAM" and "POW" and "WHAM" onto the walls.  Cupcakes with Batman on them, and red velvet cake pops with Spiderman on them were among the treats on the dessert table today along with boxes of pizza donated by Hungry Howie's Pizza.
"Howie" thanked the director for the opportunity to supply lunch for this event.  So great.

(I served lots and lots of pizza to moms and kids)

"Spiderman" read the story to the kids while they sat on kid-size chairs and small blankets spread out on the floor.  Every child got a Little Golden book story of the "Super Friends."

Terrible picture, sorry.

Not sure who it was, but a reporter seemed to be taking pictures and interviewing "Wonder Woman" and "Clark Kent" (USO staff).  I didn't see anything about it on news, but may have missed it.

I think it was a very successful event judging by the amount of people and the amount of food that disappeared! 

Nothing Permanent Except Change

After living here at "Little House in the Big Woods" since November 11, 2015 (me that is), we are moving.  Elaina is ready to begin the process of becoming a Foster parent. This is the beginning of realizing a dream she has had for many years.  She has known since she was a child that she "would love other people's children."  This is an exciting time, but it means a move to a much larger house.

I think we both have "love/hate" feelings for this Little House.  It is an adorable house on the outside and has a beautiful backyard. It has the feel of a cabin and basically sits in a forest. (All of Eastern North Carolina is a forest!)

Backyard last Fall

Backyard. Creek runs
behind the fence.Every time I try to count the trees back there,
 I lose count.

However, and that is a big however, it is very small on the inside and not conducive to fostering children and housing a senior citizen like me.  Elaina is a great cook and the kitchen just doesn't work for anyone who does anything more than warming food in a microwave.

This is the new backyard.
It's huge and has forest behind the fence.
(Everybody here has riding lawn mowers.
Can you guess why?) The lot is 1.09 acres.

Will have to learn to use an electric stove again!

This is the house we are moving to later this month.  Much bigger and newer!

I'm sure this the beginning of a new life for Elaina and some kids looking for somewhere to belong.  Happy to go along for the ride.

Burgaw Sale Score

Today, June 30th, I went on a little adventure.  I once again visited the town of Burgaw.  The first time I went, there wasn't much to see, but today was different.  It's about 35 minutes from home and...you guys!  I live in THE country!  

The drive is on NC 53, a two lane road, through farms and fields and TREES.  This state has more trees than California and several other states combined!   I passed hog farms, blueberry farms, corn fields and farm houses (and log trucks). Where there isn't a farm, there's trees and foliage so thick you can't even imagine.  Crossing a section of the Cape Fear river, you almost can't tell there's a body of water in there because of the thick foliage.  There's no sense in taking photos of the trees.  There's just no way to capture the enormous amount in a photo!

Anyway, an auction house in Burgaw advertised on Facebook that they were having a huge sale today, tomorrow and Saturday. I hadn't heard of them before so I made plans to go.

Stover Auction House

 I got there a half hour before it opened and there were already cars in the lot with people waiting for it to start.  We had to sign in on a sheet of paper on the door.  They were going to let you in, in order of arriving.  I was 18th.  Someone came out and offered pieces of paper marked "SOLD" so that if you found something you wanted you could put your name on the paper and leave it on furniture pieces.

I wandered the aisles looking at everything.  If I could have transported furniture items, I would have!  As usual, I go for things I can carry and sell on Etsy.  It was fun going through some linen items like tablecloths and aprons.  The room was packed and I waited in line to pay for almost an hour.  All in all, I spent $30 total and came away with about 10 items.  The prices were great and many items that I can post on my Etsy shop:

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/PicketfencesVintage

It will be a few days before I post the new items since they need washing, ironing and research before I can do that.

After I left the sale, I visited a thrift store and two antique stores in town.  There were several more antique stores I could have gone in, but I was pooping out by then.

I  think I heard their staff say they will have another sale like this near the end of July.  If I'm able, I'll be there!

USO Event

On Tuesday this week, I worked at a USO event for kids and their moms.  This was a usual story time day, however this one was special because the Jacksonville Fire Department came to do a fire safety program.

I'm guessing there was at least 100 moms (one dad) and kids that came to do a craft, see a puppet show, learn about fire safety and eat lunch.  These would be spouses and kids of active duty military, (mostly Marines, since those are the ones closest to this USO facility).  Moms were herding toddlers while carrying a baby and trying to get them to their table.  The story time days are for kids up to 6 years old but I'm willing to bet most were 4 and under!

I helped at the craft table, which was a challenge for me, but it worked.  This is what the kids were making:

In case you can't tell, it's a fire engine.  Having kids spread red frosting on graham crackers was the challenge. I'm sure they were taken apart and eaten by the time they got back to their tables!

The kids loved the puppet show, the firemen and getting to see their equipment up close.  

A local pizza restaurant donated pizzas and there were cupcakes and cookies galore.

On Wednesday, I went back to the USO and helped with a Rack Pack party.  There was probably 10 of us filling sacks with the essentials that Marines can use when they get to their barracks upon returning from deployment. They get toothbrush, shaving gel, deodorant, wash cloth, etc. so all that is available to them no matter what time of day or night they get in.

The "party" can be a bit chaotic, but somehow it all works and everyone pitches in and gets it done.  We put together, or repacked almost 1000 rack packs.  There was still a little time left,so we started on some deployment packs, which have different contents.  (The USO can always use donations of travel size items and wash cloths!)

These two events put me over the required 24 hours of volunteering in order to get my own USO name tag.  

Whoo-eee, now I can look like an official USO volunteer.

I look forward to more of these events.

Friendly Lady

When I first got to North Carolina I didn't venture out too far, but one day after I'd been here about two weeks, I decided to stop at a little antique store on Burgaw Hwy.  There was a sign out front that said, "Home Fires Country Store."

The sign out front said, "Park in Back."  All there was, were tire tracks in the grass leading to the back of the place, so I drove to the back and parked.  I went up to the door and walked in but there wasn't a soul around.  I could tell it was an old fashioned antique and country-like store but no one there!  Here's a picture I got from Google maps.  Unfortunately it's not very good and was taken in the winter so you can't see how pretty it looks now, but it's an old, old house with little tiny rooms. I think the roof has probably been painted or replaced by now.

After looking around a few minutes, an older lady came in the door and said hello.  I'm pretty sure she just came from across the street.  I guess she figured if she had a customer, she should come over to the store!

Anyway we started talking, and she said her name was Caroline. She asked where I lived and I told her "Off of Haws Run" since I was so new I didn't know what else to tell her.  She knew right where that was because she grew up on Haws Run, in this house:

Mama's House

Mama's barn

 She told me it was her "Mama's house."  But, "She's been gone a looonng tiiimme  now."  Then, "But you never get over losing your Mama!" Oh gosh. At that time, I broke down in tears and couldn't stop.  I told her I had just lost my mother and had just moved here.  She gave me a big hug and comforted me. She was so sweet about it.   It was so embarrassing!  I ended up buying a book from her and went home to cry some more.

Skip ahead a few months, and I was out at a USO thing this morning and decided to stop again at Home Fires on my way home. She's only open Thursday through Saturday, so I knew it was a good time to stop.

Once again, there was no one in the store, but I knew that if I waited a few minutes, she would show up.  Sure enough, in walked Caroline.  

I'm guessing she is in her mid to late 70's and very spry.  She looked at me like she knew me and I reminded her that I was the customer that cried while I was there before and she remembered me. "Don't feel bad, we all do that honey."  (How could you not remember the weepy customer who cried) 

We chatted for a while about the store and her "Mama's house."  The house is empty but she goes over a few times a week to "feed the kitties and check on things."  Currently the house is surrounded on all sides with corn fields. They might belong to the neighbor on the side, or maybe they are rented out for that purpose.  She would like to rent the house that contains the store but hasn't found any takers. What fun that would be, to operate a store in that little house!  It's so small, it's like a doll house.  I know business is extremely slow right now but the summer months bring tourists. She said she only had one customer in May!  (I hope I'm not her one customer in June!)  I know she doesn't do any advertising, or have a website, etc. like businesses need these days.   The place needs work, but she does her best to keep things up.  She has been trimming bushes around the place, and even put up a small railing for the porch steps and was proud to tell me she mixed up the ce-ment and poured it herself for the post.

She is a sweet lady and probably would have talked for much longer if I had stayed.  Other than other USO volunteers, she's the only person I've had a conversation with!  I bought two things from her, one marked $1.00 and the other marked $.50!

I told her that IF my sisters come in October, I promise to bring them in the store.  She said she would be looking forward to that!  Me too, sisters!

Nature and New Skills

I haven't written in a while but was thinking lately about how much "nature" there is here.  When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do was go camping.  I loved being out in nature and enjoying the trees and birds and everything that goes along with camping.

Living here reminds me of the same feelings. There's a forest in the backyard.  Pine needles could be swept off the deck every day, but seems like a lost cause.  Birds fly in and around the yard and sing all day.  I've never seen a bright RED bird fly through my yard until now.  One song of the cardinals sounds like they're saying, "pretty, pretty, pretty."

There are squirrels scampering around and breaking into walnuts and pine cones on the deck railing.  Abby thinks she can catch them but they're too fast for her.  
I've seen caterpillars that are the strangest looking critters.


   But they turn into these:

Of course there are a few things I'd rather not deal with like the salamanders, lizards, and mosquitoes.  If the lizards and salamanders stay outside, not so bad, but I don't want them in the house.  As far as mosquitoes go, I have very bad reactions to the bites, so I'm trying to stay away from them as much as I can.

This guy lives on the front deck

Then there's the morning I woke up, went into my bathroom and found a frog in my sink.  Yes, a frog.  I called Elaina to come in with her "frog catching device"  (plastic container with a lid). She's used to doing the catching.  We think he came in on something else by accident.  He was more scared than I was.  
I know, I know, the lizards and frogs will eat the mosquitoes, so God bless them.

I've been making use of my sewing machine too.  I learned to make a pillow case with french seams and border. Thanks to youtube tutorials.

I made a little bag with an old hankie for decoration.  I'm still a novice, so I haven't tried anything too complicated, but I'm willing to keep trying.

Never too old to learn something new I guess!  Thanks for reading.

Memorial Day Weekend

Elaina had 5 days in a row off from work, so it's been nice to have her around more than just the nights and weekends.  Friday we went to New Bern and visited two of our favorite antique stores and a flea market that I hadn't been to before.  We had a nice lunch here at Morgan's Tavern and Grill:

They served fresh croissants drizzled with honey while we waited for our food. Delicious!

On Saturday Elaina did some more gardening and got our flag up on the front porch.  On Sunday, she barbecued hamburgers and corn on the cob and I made a three ingredient "ice cream."  I won't make that again.  Just not the same as REAL homemade ice cream.

On Memorial Day, we went to the Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery for the service there. There was some seating under tents but many more (like us) were standing.  It was in the high 80's and very humid.  I had to stand under a tree for a little shade.  The Young Marines organization were handing out water bottles and with some help from a few veterans were bringing in a few more chairs, being offered to women who were standing (like me!) There was a prayer offered by a chaplain, the colors were presented and the national anthem was sung.  Some members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart spoke and recited a poem.  At the end we sang God Bless America.

It was all very moving. What impressed me the most I think, was the obvious veterans in the crowd who didn't just stand when the colors were presented, or the national anthem was sung, they stood at attention.  Young veterans and older veterans alike in their shorts and T-shirts and flip flops.   You know it when you see it!

So glad I got to do that.  I haven't been able to go to things like this in the past. I had other responsibilities.

I also got to meet our future congressman, Taylor Griffin.  Well, we hope he's our new congressman. Primary is June 7. If he wins that, he will probably win the general election!

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USO Baby Shower

Today I volunteered at the USO Jacksonville.

They held a baby shower for any active duty and active duty spouse expecting a baby or have had one between April and June.  Twenty expectant moms and some of their babies and/or kids attended. Some are due any day, and others not until June sometime.

When the moms signed up they were asked what their cravings are.  So the refreshment table had the following:

1. Gummy worms
2. Swedish fish candy
3. Sourpatch somethings
4. Mashed potatoes
5. Hot dogs
6. Cupcakes
7. Chocolate chip cookies

A fun example of how the USO aims to serve the military and their families!  They played some games, had a speaker from the Naval Hospital and the ladies were given a laundry basket full of baby things.  This was a chance for them to get to know each other too.

I helped set up tables and chairs, and get some of the food ready for the refreshment table.  It was a nice day and I'm sure the new moms enjoyed themselves.

If you want to see pictures, you can go here: 

https://www.facebook.com/USOofNCJacksonville/

I went to a couple of thrift stores on my way home but didn't find anything worth mentioning.  When I got home there was this

huge butterfly in the front yard.  The wingspan was probably a good 8 inches across.  I wish the picture was better, but he kept flying from blossom to blossom and he wouldn't hold still!

Well, that's life for today.  Thanks for reading!