Trains

If you have a little one who loves trains, you must take them to Cheekwood this year for the current exhibit called Trains in Tennessee.

It is an outside display filled with bridges and tunnels that go through the trees and miniature models of many Tennessee landmarks.  It is a delight to walk through or just sit and watch.  We took Parker who loves trains and he was fascinated with it. At first he could not  decide which way to go!

He just ran from one side to the other!  I told him we could stay as long as we wanted, but he said, "Nana, I do everything in a rush!"

Cheekwood is a botanical garden and the trains are part of a special exhibit that lasts until the end of this year.  Despite the heat, we enjoyed some of the gardens on the property.

 This is the mansion at Cheekwood, built by Leslie Cheek who was in the wholesale grocery business in Nashville when he invested in his nephew's idea of developing a superior blend of coffee.  The coffee became know as Maxwell House and Leslie Cheek and his wife Mabel Wood Cheek built this house and garden in 1933.  It opened to the public in 1960.  It houses an art collection.

 

We had to visit the trains three times while we were there and we cooled off by wading the creek before we left!  It was a great way to spend the morning!

Sunday Afternoon on the Ponderosa. . .

I returned to the Ponderosa today after being away for over two weeks!  I've been helping take care of the newest grand kids aka the Ponderosa Stink Bugs!  I miss them already but their parents will do fine on their own!  I will go back when they get too sleep deprived and help out, but I was glad to get home.  It's true there's no place like home!  The first thing I did was inspect all the growing and blooming things, which are only alive because my parents were excellent caretakers in this heat wave.  So here's some Sunday afternoon scenes from the Ponderosa!

Odds and Ends

Remember the blog post about the squirrels who were eating my strawberries?  Well, this is my whole harvest--all I got from 200 plants!  Darn squirrels.

How can two very small people cause so much laundry?

Babies make the best faces.

 Reading to my two favorite boys!  Parker is taking part in the public library's summer reading program and he is just three books away from a free ticket to putt putt golf!

And for the time being these two are bossing around a bunch of grown-ups!!

And this one does not seem to mind sharing his grandparents with his new cousins.

Indulge Me

No cowboy was ever faster on the draw than a grandparent pulling a baby picture out of a wallet. -- unknown 

They're Here

It has been a special day.  Happy Birthday to Brooks and Brynn who arrived today around 11:45.  They are very close to the same size with Brooks being a bit larger at 19 1/4 inches long and weighing six pounds and 2 ounces.  Brynn is 18 and 1/2 inches and weighs six pounds and one ounce.   Their Mom and Dad are so proud and all are doing well.  Being good grand parents we have spent several hours today just holding them! Here where they live the cicadas welcomed them to the world today by loudly singing their songs!! And it seems there may be some fireworks in their honor tonight!

Just Waiting

  The number of people who call me Nana will increase by two this week with another little boy and a little granddaughter that we will meet on Wednesday, May 25th.

 So we are just waiting for them.  Every thing is ready.  They have lots of clothes to wear.

They have a comfy place to sleep.

And most important they have parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins just waiting to love them.  They don't know yet just how lucky they are to have a family that believes there's always room for TWO more and that sleep is over rated!

!#*!@%$!

For over twenty years we have tried to get along with all the critters who share the Ponderosa with us.  We would just like to have the yard and garden spot, and varmits can feel free to roam the rest of the Ponderosa.  But lately they have been entering forbidden territory!  They have become increasingly bold!  They run across the deck and swing from my hanging baskets!  They steal the dog food and dig up flowers.  They look innocent enough. And some people would even call them cute. 

We call them the enemy!  When our strawberries began to disappear it was the last straw.  First we tried the rubber snake trick.  After all it worked with the birds.

But they just sat right down by the snake and ate the berries, taunting us by leaving the pieces right there by the plants that we had planted, and kept free of weeds and grass and fertilized and watched every day when the blooms and then the berries appeared waiting anxiously for the first ripe berries.

We also tried pinwheels thinking the movement might scare them, but they are fearless!  We tried lowering the electric fence around the berries that we had put up to keep out the deer--no luck.

Well, enough is enough and now it is all out war.  We are taking back the Ponderosa!

That is if Peanut's shoulder can hold up.  He says it is very sore right now.
 We may have to call for reinforcements.