Spring in South Carolina

After returning from Mission, Texas, we had several months to do maintenance around our home.  Brett had the to-do list and we felt confident we would reach our goal.  Little did we know there would be a few unexpected turns along the way. 

Our first excitement was traveling to The Citadel in Charleston, SC, to see our grandson, Lee, who was finishing up his first year as a knob. This happens to all the freshmen and hundreds can't get through it and drop out of the school.  Besides shaving their heads every two weeks, making them be slaves to the upper class, forcing them to walk in the streets at the school, and basically controlling almost every minute of every day, those who make it get to enjoy Recognition Day.  Lee stuck it out and got through it. 

We got to see his room in Golf Company where everything had to be neat and orderly.  Wow, he was never this neat at home!  

Lee on the left and his roommate.  

Lee with his sister, Katelyn, on the left and his girlfriend, Hannah, on the right.

It was quite the event and lasted two days. The first day they had  many different, and difficult, PE exercises to perform for the crowds of parents and  relatives who were there.  They really put them to the test.  The second day they marched down to Charleston for the final ceremony.  And with all the difficulty Lee had in his first year as a knob, he was also able to make it on the Dean's List so we are very proud of him.

  

After that we raced up to Richmond to help our younger grandson, Dane Matthew, celebrate his 11th birthday.  After a shopping spree, grandpa and grandma took him out to dinner.  

A week or so later we drove up to North Carolina for a doctor's appt.  When we stopped to get gas we noticed this smaller sized car near ours with a couple of pups inside.

The St Bernard puppy was in the front seat.  The license plates were from Alaska so it must have been quite a drive!

On the way home we hit some rain with ominous clouds off in the distance.  As we drove onto our road we saw one of our large trees had fallen over.  According to our neighbor, we were hit with a blast of high winds and some rain and this very large tree, with a small root ball, couldn't take the storm. 

That definitely changed our plans for the next several days.  Our good neighbor, Gary, and our daughter, Beth, and grandson, Lee, came over to help. 

Where do we begin???

Gary and Brett cut, Lee hauled, and Beth and I tried to loosen the dirt attached to the root ball.

After several days of cutting and hauling we were left with the base that had to be removed. It was a bear.

In the coming weeks we worked in our yard planting new grass in some of the areas and doing different jobs inside the house.  The weekend was given over to Beth so we could help her work on her yard.  She had her driveway widened, a pump for watering put in her backyard, and an in-ground sprinkler system put in.  

One would think that could be done easily except that Beth had many large trees cut down and moved from her yard and we had to clean up the areas where the stumps had been ground down and get the yard prepared for the sprinkler system.

We got the yard cleared and then the Captain build a flower box in the middle of the yard.  We also planted many of the shrubs alongside the house before the sprinklers went in.  

  

We finally got our work done and the sprinklers were put in and now she has lovely grass and plants.  Seems like the weeks flew by and it was already June and time to start getting ready for our trip to the Northeast.  Yikes!  What about the to-do list?  Oh well, it will still be around when we get back in the fall.  

Our good friends from Texas, Roger and Dianne Norris, took a road trip this year and stopped in to spend a few days with us. We had a great time together, saw the historic sights in Camden,went to dinner, floated in our lake and had a great time.  

Taking the pups for a hike.

Traveling with them are their two dogs, Bandido, and Poquita.

The four of us enjoying a wonderful Mexican dinner at Salud in Camden.

Relaxing on a hot summer day.

A view of our house from the dam.

Roger and Dianne traded in their Class A for a smaller unit this year and are taking it on a four month trip to the Northeast.  Currently they are in Maine and have been enjoying every moment. Now that is an adventure!

And now we are hitting the road again heading to New York to meet up with good friends from Australia and to enjoy all the fine wineries at the Finger Lakes.  Peace!