Thursday, July 24, 2008

What a Heat Wave!


Well, we are just coming out of a six-day heat wave. Heat and humidity for six days straight. With the air on constantly and no windows open you begin to feel like your are in SuperMax!

Quite a storm last night. Not as dramatic as some perhaps, but a ton of rain. Today is much cooler, if still a tad humid. All the windows are open with a nice breeze coming in. The stream is gurgling away with a musical sound that we just love. Hopefully, no more extreme heat for awhile. It just gets to be too much.


Since most of the village stores are only open Thursday through Sunday the break in the H&H will be welcome to the shop owners for sure. The only folks who are probably not thrilled that the heat has abated are the kids at the swimming hole.

Next, post...history of the village with lots of photos.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Ole Swimming Hole




French Creek runs right through St. Peter's Village. It dances and cascades over huge rocks and bolders on its downhill journey. For the young and agile, climbing, jumping, scrambling, running and bounding over the rocks is great fun. I did it once and almost crippled myself. If you are up to it and can make it, there is an old fashioned swimming hole where youngsters can still swim and frolic. On hot summer days there is a parade of teenagers past our house on the way to swim. It's a scene that has an almost "Mayberry" quality about it. All that is missing is Opie and his fishing pole!




Saturday, July 12, 2008

In the Garden





Our backyard is bounded by a stream on one side and thick woods in the back. We have tons of birds, bunnies, chipmunks and squirrels. We haven't seen deer yet, but we believe that all the construction up in the hills behind us has probably frightened them away.


We have lilies that bloom in June. There are tiny wild strawberries and little, yellow, star-like flowers. We have window boxes on the house and on the shed planted with crawling petunias.


The view out the back is so lovely and peaceful. Here are some photos to give you a flavor of the yard.


In a day or so, we will take our usual walk and will post photos of flowers and fauna encountered along the way.


Thursday, July 10, 2008

Our Little Yellow House in St. Pete's



This is our little yellow house in St. Peter's Village. It's a twin and the door on the left is ours.




The first time we saw the inside of the house it took a bit of imagination to visualize what it would look like. The painters were still at it. The bathroom was being renovated. The kitchen was acquiring a brand new floor. Upstairs, the front bedroom had a big hole in the ceiling. The basement was like something out of an old Vincent Price movie...very scary indeed! The attic was hot, stuffy and still full of weird stuff. Yet, under it all, we could see the charm. Of course, the location was nearly perfect. Ah, the peace and quiet of country life in a quaint, century old village!




We have a lovely stream that runs down the side of the property. That's the view in the first photo above. There are woods in the back of the yard. We have a burn pit (which we never use) and a little brick patio that has seen better days. There are wild flowers, day lilies and scads of birds. I have seen birds in our yard that I have never seen before...blue ones, red ones, yellow ones and on and on.




Now that summer is here, we have added petunias to the window boxes and a decorative house flag graces the front. The yard is cleaned up, the fireplace in good order, the basement a lot less scary (although I hate going down there) and the hole in the ceiling in the bedroom is now a nice vent. Our furniture looks great and the house is cozy and comfortable. Who could ask for more?




...oh, the peace and quiet of country living! Bulldozers, jack hammers, dump trucks, explosions, banging and clanging all day long, five days a week. They are building an upscale subdivision on the hills behind our house! Across the street, there's an old red structure (like a barn) that is being gutted and renovated. There are piles of dirt and debris piled up nearly across the street from our house. Had we only known! Oh well, this too will pass.


We are happy, you get used to the noise and it is still very beautiful here. Our two cats, Buddy & JB, love sitting at the sliding screen door in the laundry room watching the birds, squirrels and chipmunks in the yard.



Someday the houses will be built, the barn renovated, the pile of dirt will go away. The Village will begin to prosper because of the new people and maybe we will even get mail delivery! And, a cell tower??? St. Peter's is a dead zone...who knew?






Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Tinky Crossed the Rainbow Bridge

We "adopted" Tinky 15 years ago. She had been abandoned by the people who owned her and was living outside on her own. Then she got pregnant. We only knew because we saw her carrying her kittens from under a bush in the front yard into the woods in the back of the house. She carried them one by one and there appeared to be four little ones. It was wintry and cold and wet, but there wasn't much we could do.


We finally decided that when the babies were old enough to eat, she would bring them to the feeding station and lo and behold that's just what happened...but there were only two kittens left. They were a pretty, smokey, gray color just like Mom.

We captured them and a woman who worked with me adopted them both. They were named Bonnie & Clyde and lived happily ever after.


My neighbor and I decided to chip in together to have Tinky spayed. The wonderful vet we took her to only charged us $40 to perform the operation because she was a stray. She needed a safe place to rest and recuperate after her surgery, so I volunteered our downstairs family room. She never left.


Tinky was sweet and gentle and never caused a moments trouble in her life. She was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago and needed insulin shots twice a day. Her right rear leg was weak and she limped, but she was still happy and alert and played with her "brothers". Her appetite was good and she had a sparkle in her eyes.


Three days ago she got very slow and appeared to have trouble moving much at all. She stopped eating and drinking. We knew it was time. So, Tinky crossed the Rainbow Bridge today and won't limp, or need shots or have trouble eating ever again. We loved her very much and miss her. She brought great joy into our lives. Goodbye, Sweet Princess.


Not a great day in the Village.