WE HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY

When you are have fun time flies. The past month has been extremely busy. We have been to Florida twice. Our first trip was to Ocala to see Hubby's cousin and her husband. The next trip was to St. Augustine to see a close friend. Both trips were great, but different.

We visited a horse farm in Ocala, which was really a cool experience. This farm raises thoroughbreds and trains them to race. They have had trained several famous horses that have won big. This farm was 460 of beautiful rolling pasture land. We met the yearling trainer who gave us an excellent tour of the entire farm. We met the training manager and the birthing manager. That's not what he is really called, but that will have to do for now, because I don't recall his exact title. He is the manager of the area of the farm that over sees the mares that are waiting to give birth and then cares for the colts and mothers after birth. We also visited the cemetery. Our guide told us they only bury the horse's head and heart. I was going to ask what happens to the remainder of the horse, but was distracted and never had an opportunity to ask, in other words, I forgot to ask. Maybe that was a good thing. We did ask why only the head and heart and he said, "that's what makes the horse run, their head and heart, if they don't have it there they don't make it as a race horse."

We had a great time in St. Augustine. It has been a very long time since we had been in that old city. Our dear friend took us on the grand tour. We visited beautiful old churches, rambled along ancient streets and allies and we ate at great restaurants. We had great shrimp at a place called "Osteens". If you are even in St. Augustine be sure to stop there to eat. It was very cold and windy at the beach. We only left our vehicle long enough to take this photo to prove we were in Florida.

We had a family of Carolina Wrens in our bird bottle on our porch column, but for some reason they abandoned the nest. I know for sure one egg hatched, because I saw the baby bird pop it's little head up to eat when one of the birds flew in to feed him. We have no idea what happened to the one that hatched, but after two weeks Hubby took the bottle down to clean out the nest and we found four other eggs in there. One was broken, but the other three were still okay. We are hoping another family will build a nest in there. We so enjoy watching them.

I'm posting random photos of our two trips, the birds and the quick project.

Hubby was volunteering at Historical Jonesboro yesterday and said he needed a haversack for his keys, wallet and cell phone. I asked him what type of fabric would have been used during the 19th century and he stated, probably canvass. Well, I just happened to have some left from his wool vest project. So I ran upstairs and whipped out a haversack for him and he was a happy camper. This is probably the equivalent to a briefcase. Haversacks were in use even in the early 18th century and were a vital part of the soldier during the American Revolution.

The garden has been planted and most of the vegetable are up and thriving. Well, except for the corn the squirrels dug up. We have declared war on the squirrels, especially after we had one on the side porch, up on the hand rail and then was climbing the post the bird bottle is on. They might be the reason our little birds left their nest. Squirrels are rats with fluffy tails.

Hopefully, we are going to get to fish before it gets too hot. We are too busy if we don't have time to fish.

We still miss our Oscar Snuggles terribly. He kept the rabbit and chipmunk population down. Yesterday we saw four big rabbits down in the back yard and the chipmunks are digging up my flowers. The squirrels are trying to take over, and I almost stepped on a big snake in the side yard. Not good. I never realized how our kitties helped keep so many critters under control. We may have to rent us some cats.