Thankful Thursday

My sweet wife, Linda and our precious Rocky. If I didn't have these two in my life I would be one messed up old man. All Linda has to do is hear me say anything about something or somewhere I like and before long she has made arrangements for me to have an item or travel to the place I desire. She is always doing for or thinking about others and is definately my better half because without her I would be one sad critter.

Our little "man" Rocky the element that truly makes our house a home. His unconditional love to both of us can add calmness to the worst possible day. The only thing he really requires is love and we are overflowing with that for him. When we return after being gone for either an hour or a week he greets us with such enthusiasm that in the excitement he pees wherever we are at the moment so we do try to choose our point of contact.

So today I am thankful for my constant companions that make my life richer and full of joy.

Wordless Wednesday Swamp Beauty

Celebrity Dairy Goat Trip Pictures

Entrance to Celebrity Dairy B & B in Siler City, NC

Loving on the goats

Still loving on the goats

Goats being milked: when they come in they go up a ramp and assume the position with their head through the bars and they are locked in place eating while the milking is in process.

Concentrating on eating while waiting to be milked.

Needing relief from an abundance of milk.

More goats chowing down waiting to be milked.

One of the few Lamas that have.

Lama taking a break

So young and sooooooo cute.

They will stand on anything, even a bucket.

Wanting to be rubbed and loved on.

A pen full of young goats.

Entrance to a chicken farm near by.

Take a picture of me next...

Climbing on rocks in their spare time.

At the entrance of Celebrity Dairy is their chickens that provide eggs for our breakfast and to sell to the public.

A lot of chickens.

Always thinking the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Boss rooster.

The kitchen at Celebrity Dairy

The dining room for the gormet breakfasts

A dresser in our room with a decorative front.

Fireplace in the dining room

An awesome place to eat in Siler City. Bestfood Cafeteria, great food and great people.

Entrance to Bestfood Cafeteria gift shop.

Saturday at the Celebrity Dairy

Well Linda & I made it to Siler City, NC and found her Aunt Frances at the new Independent Living facility she has just moved into. Had a nice time talking about family stuff and had a great lunch.

Later in the afternoon we checked in to the Celebrity Dairy B & B and spent some time outside with the goats. They have 64 milk goats and their utters were really large with milk. When it came time to milk them 18 were directed into the milking room and I thought it was so great that they seemed to know exactly what to do going up a ramp and sticking their heads through metal bars to get at the food and triggering a device that closed on their neck preventing her from leaving that station until the neck device was released. The attendant has two nozzles that slip onto the two teats and it is all milked in a minute or two.

The most fun so far was playing with the baby goats. They were so friendly and all of them wanted attention at the same time. I hugged more goats today than I think I ever have before. I wish I had 6 or 8 of them at home but that would not be practical so I guess we will have to keep coming back to this B & B to get our goat fix.

I understand that they will have goat cheese available tomorrow morning and I will be getting some to carry home. It is almost time to find the bed and call it a day so take care blog family and I will be back later tomorrow probably after we get home and then I can post some great pictures of the goats and a large pen of beautiful chickens too. Good night folks.

For My Lady Bloggers - Enjoy

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for birthdays. Today marks number 64 for this old guy and I can remember back when I thought someone in their 60's was really ancient. Now that I am actually living those numbers and being around my Aunt Katie who will be 103 in September my thought pattern goes from ancient to young as you feel. I can remember back to a time when I honestly thought I would not see another year but God helped me through that time and taught me that trying to make it through this life without Him is truly a lonesome experience and one without hope. Now I greet each new day with a joy for what it may show me and for what I may be able to do for someone else with God's spirit in me.

Journey Back in Time With Me to the 60's

I would like to invite you to journey back in time with me and my friend Shady Dell over at Shady Dell Music and Memories as we transport you to the years of 1966 and 1967. There you will be entertained by the top 10 music that I loved and made me happy. It is a mixture but all wonderful and I hope you enjoy it.

When you get there you will see as I have one of the best blogs in the blog world. If you have never been there before I have no doubt you will be going there a lot in the future. Thanks again Shady for putting together my top 10 in such great style.

Wordless Wednesday

Medoc Mountain State Park

I have posted about Medoc Mountain State Park before but this video actually tells more about the history of the park and is very entertaining. It is about 15 miles from my home and a lovely place to hike and explore. Enjoy the video.

When she was young

One of my all time favorite musicians has to be Barbara Mandrell and this video is one when she was young on Johnnie Cash's show doing what she does best. I hope you enjoy it. Brings back happy memories for me.

Monday Morning Motivation

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to Him will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him." 1 John 5:14 KJV

Check out what we found today

Let me begin by telling you a story. Back last November after following the blog "creating my own little nirvana" being posted from an orphanage in Russia I wanted to get involved so I went shopping and bought a lot of stuff that I thought would benefit small children. It's amazing how much great stuff you can find at "Dollar Tree".

I finally got it all together and shipped it to the orphanage. I wanted to get some kind of confirmation that the package arrived but never heard one way or the other. Well, last monday I got home from work and there was a box sitting on my back porch. All that stuff had made it's way back to me after all this time. Now I had the decision to make regarding what I should do with all this stuff.

After some research I settled on an orphanage in the quaint town of Oxford, NC known as "The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford". In 1855 the Masons of NC purchased 109 acres at Oxford from E.H. Hicks for $4,480. Since then many building have been built and many children have received care with no support from the state or federal governments.

They have homes on campus that accomodate about 8 children each with a married couple (man & woman) living in the house with them. They give the children stability and a sence of mother & father always there. The couples work for 20 day and get 10 off with alternates stepping in for the 10 days

The children attend public schools and can literally stay there from new born to the age of 24. During this time the home for children makes sure they are educated through high school, college and even masters degrees if they desire to go that far.

Linda & I carried the box of stuff I had already shipped once and also 3 boxes of craft materials donated by Ms. Katherine Collins. There is a room on campus devoted to nothing but crafts so those materials will be put to good use.

If you feel led to help them continue to serve children giving them a christian, family environment you can use this address:

The Masonic Home for Children at Oxford
600 College Street
Oxford, NC 27565-2758

The Administration Building

Some of the homes.

Swimming Pool

The Gym

Their Church

Kitchn in the Children's homess

Bedroom

Let's Have Some Fun, OK?

I am so amazed at technology today because the link I am providing you with for this first fun activity displays all the information for your birthday in less than 5 seconds. Go here and have fun.

Now for those of you that like playing computer games this one is fast action and you will probably have fun with the graphics. Try it out and have fun here.

Another neat application allows you to play with a ball using your curser. Not as exciting as the previous one but have a go at it here.

Hope you had some fun with this and hope you have a wonderful weekend.

wordless Wednesday

A blog sister needs our prayers

Many of you follow and know Annah over at When red means go. She is a wonderful friend that lives in Miami and needs our prayers desperately. Her precious Bruno pictured above has a condition that just came on him that now prevents him from doing all the things dogs love to do. Running, jumping, exertion, being on the bed, going up and down stairs, etc. My heart hurts for her feeling of helplessness at this time so it is time for us to have a conversation with our Heavenly Father on their behalf.

I'll thank you in advance for helping in this time of need for one of our close blog family members.

Spring has sprung in Halifax County, NC

Saturday Assortment

Today a group of my company co-workers, Linda & I met at the local Cracker Barrell restaurant to celebrate the retirement of our friend Myrt Perry. Her last day was friday a week ago. She is pictured here in the purple with Bubba her hubby. They are both retired now so they can start spending some quality time together without the pressures and stress of employment. We had a great time of fellowship and promise to not be strangers in the future. Linda was taking this picture.

I am not the best at close up photography or any photography but felt I had to capture a flower that was growing in front of the restaurant. A little blurry but it sure was beautiful in the sunlight.

This is an orchid that was on the dining room table at my daughter Rachel's house where we stopped on the way home. More pictures of that in a little bit.

Any time we have to travel to Rocky Mount from Halifax we try to make sure and visit my Aunt Katie for at least a little while. She was doing awesome today and was sporting a new short hairdo from this past week. A lady came by the house and did it there so she did not have to make the trip into town. We had a wonderful time talking and hearing stories from her youth.

Aunt Katie's dog Polly has her own couch and was making good use of it while we were there. As a matter of fact she was snoring for a lot of our visit. She is a lot of company for Aunt Katie & very spoiled.

After leaving Aunt Katie's we stopped by to check on my two grandsons and found them doing great. This is Matthew looking good in his red today with his blonde hair like his mother.

Kaden, the older of the two is always a live wire and maybe you can tell he loved to be in front of a camera. He is growing up sooooo fast.

Here they are together standing in front of the aquarium. Most of the time they are very, very noisy but they do love each other very much.

Well my friends for half a day that was quite a full morning. Tonight Linda & I have a date with some of her cousins that she has not seen in quite some time at a local restaurant near us. Should be a good finish to a very beautiful & sunny saturday. Have a great rest of the weekend my friends.