Savannah meets the Roost!

This is long overdue. Brandon, Melody and Savannah all came up to the Roost the first weekend in February, and we had a blast. We went to town on Saturday morning, had breakfast at The Pines, and then headed over to Farmer's Hardware to buy her a wagon. .....
We also read books.....
and watched cartoons.....

She met the girls.....


and learned to drive Moo Moo in the wagon!

The mouse wars are over for now!

Yes, the mice are gone for now....even after all this cold weather the past week and a half. I was even brave enough to thoroughly clean and put everything back in the drawers and cabinets. We'll see.........

And the house survived the cold weather perfectly - no busted pipes, leaks or other consequences - except of course, the power bill!

I spent the weekend cleaning, and Tom worked outside taking down some trees to improve our view from the deck.

And here are a few presents for the Roost that I forgot to include in earlier blogs.....

One of my colleagues at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation gave me this window hanging - it doesn't compete with Lee's message on her barn, but the sentiment is the same!

Tom's ex-wife gave us this great collage of family photos taken at Savannah's birthday party in November - it is our first hung picture at the Roost!

And Lucy found this great chicken for us - she now guards the "Twin Suite"!

Happy New Year!

We spent the holiday at the Roost....It was an interesting weekend, weather-wise. We planned to go up on New Year's Eve, but they were having gusts up to 70 mph, so we stayed home until New Year's Day. That day turned out to be sunny and beautiful. Rilla came up that day for her complimentary weekend for winning the "what's Tom doing?" contest.

Our neighbors, Donald and Brenda, came by to see the house and bring us a beautiful bouquet of flowers as a housewarming gift. That night, we all went down the hill to the old house, and Lee and Danny had the traditional New Year's meal - ham, collard greens and blackeyed peas for health, wealth and happiness during the new year.

We woke Friday morning to a beautiful snow... It was all gone by the afternoon, but it was beautiful while it was coming down!

We're still fighting the mice, but there's really only one stubborn one that loves the area under the kitchen sink. Tom will be meeting the exterminator up there this week, so hopefully the problem will go away soon......I'm tired of storing all my pots, pans and cutlery on the kitchen counter!

Tom cut down some straggly trees, and I finished ironing the drapes. That's about all we accomplished this weekend. My cleaning service in Winston gave us a beautiful apple pie candle that looks amazingly real for Christmas, and we brought it up to the Roost. It looks perfect in the kitchen!

Mouse wars.....

No pictures this weekend - too busy waging war on the mice! We have them under control, I think, except for one little guy living behind the kitchen cabinets. He is a brave little soul. Saturday afternoon, we would periodically check the bait under the sink, and it would had been moved every time, so he was busy eating during the day!

Sunday morning, I got up, let the dogs out, and then started inspecting the cabinets to see if he had run around that night. I opened the dishwasher and pulled out the bottom rack to see if he had managed to find his way in again, and there he was! I screamed, and slammed the dishwasher shut. He scared the @(#*@ out of me, and I'm sure I scared the #(#*@ out of him! We still can't figure out how he got in a latched dishwasher......

The good news was that there weren't any in the bedroom closet or anywhere else in the house. And this one ate enough bait that he shouldn't be around the next time we come. So, hopefully, the mouse wars are over for now.....

On a happier note, we actually saw some snow flurries Sunday after lunch as we were coming out of The Pines!

Great Gifts from Good Friends

We have had some wonderful gifts from our friends and family for the Roost....First of all, my good friend Glenda gave us this fabulous sign for our new place for Christmas. Our neighbors gave us a nice 27-inch television to replace the 19 inch one we were squinting at from across the room. My friend Sherree gave us two VERY nice deck chairs for the porch. And my Mom bought us a small breakfast bar to put in front of the kitchen island (since I wasn't smart enough to have them build a counter when I designed it!) It gives people a place to hang out in the kitchen without being in the way!

I have finished (almost!) recovering the "Charlie Brown" chair I bought at the consignment store for $25. I think it turned out pretty well and looks just perfect next to the hearth.

We were up this weekend, but the weather was horrible - here is what we woke up to on Monday morning......
But the most fun was when I arrived on Sunday to find there had been an INVASION of mice! All over the house!!! The kitchen cabinets, the bedrooms, the closets - you name it, they were there. Somehow they even managed to get in the dishwasher, which was latched. We put out lots of mouse bait, but needless to say, I didn't sleep well on Sunday night. I spent most of the day Sunday washing everything only to find on Monday morning they'd been at it again. We're going back up this weekend to see if we can get it under control.....Anyone got a black snake or cat they want to lend us??????

Thankful at Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at the Roost - and are so thankful for being able to spend the holiday there with our mothers and our girls. Thanksgiving day was beautiful, and Mom and I spent it cleaning, cooking and doing odds and ends. Tom worked outside cleaning up the fields. We cooked our Thanksgiving meal on Friday so our cousins, Lee and Danny, could join us. Lucy also drove up on Friday. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take a picture of us at the table!

Suzie is still afraid of the floor, but managed to get just a little braver as the weekend went on. She actually walked straight across the floor to the door one time!

Saturday before we left, Tom helped Danny and Lee decorate their barn for Christmas - they really look forward to seeing a pile of snow this year!

Snow, snow, snow!!!!

Yes, we actually woke up to snow on Sunday morning! Not a lot, but we had a good solid snow shower at 7:30, then off and on tiny flurries for the rest of the morning. But it was so windy that you couldn't get outside to enjoy it - the wind was howling at 20-30 miles an hour.

We took the dogs this weekend for the first time. Sister settle right in, but Suzie was terrified of the linoleum and laminate floors. Here she is cowering on the mat by the door where she stayed for almost a half an hour. We finally coaxed her into the den into her bed, but she wouldn't budge from there. We had to use a treat to get her back out the door to pee. By the end of the weekend, she was walking across the floor without a problem, but she still didn't like it!!!!