Archive for April, 2009
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
In 17 short days, I will be traveling to Ireland with my mother for a week’s vacation. Since I was a teenager, I have always wanted to visit Ireland and when my mom asked if I’d be interested in going, there was no way I was going to turn her down. I haven’t really thought much about the trip until now. Instead of slowly building up my excitement, I usually don’t think about big stuff until it’s almost upon me.
Well, in this case, there is some advanced planning involved. We are traveling through a tour company, Tauck World Discovery, so much of the trip planning has already been done for us. I did have to get a passport, but that process is surprisingly painless. The last time I had a passport was in 1986 when I was a teenager. The process was definitely more arduous and time consuming than it is now.
While the trip itself is seven days, it takes a day to travel there and a day to travel back so we are gone essentially for 9 days. As such, I was able to find some wonderful innsitters from Michigan, Sue Kalis and her sister Anne, will be taking care of the Inn and my guests in my absence. The two have watched over several Asheville B&Bs as well as B&Bs in other states so I have no concerns about their abilities to handle the Inn. I also picked a week from May 10 – 17, which is before Memorial Day and before we get into the really busy season in Asheville. However, based on advanced reservations, the ladies will be busy for much of their stay.
We will be traveling from Shannon to Killarney and ending up in Dublin. We will get to stay in castles along the way, although no B&Bs. I have been checking the weather in Ireland and it’s comparable to our weather in Asheville. It appears to be about 5 – 10 degrees cooler, but certainly manageable.
I’m bummed that I won’t be taking my laptop on the trip, but I have been downloading games and other free applications on my iPhone so I can stay connected while away. Disconnecting from the Inn will be tough, but I’m sure I can do it. It’s leaving Brian and my baby children (the dogs and cats) that will be agonizing. I am already feeling pangs of separation anxiety from Jennie and it’s still 17 days before we leave!!!
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
This is turning out to be the perfect spring so far. Rain for a few days; sunny for a few days; more rain for a day or two. The temperature has been a little up and down, but I think it has finally taken a turn. I still see a few nights in the upper 30s, but the days are in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
This has all been great for the gardens around the property and I have spent as much time as possible planting new gardens and cleaning out all the trees and bushes that didn’t survive the winter. Thanks to my dad, the waterfall has been cleaned out and is up and running. I have to refill it every few days, but I always enjoy watching it when I’m walking by.
Down in the lower patio area and around the gazebo, I have been planting all new gardens. I even found a giant pile of slate buried in the back, back yard. It was obviously left over slate that had been used to build the upper and lower patios and it’s been buried under debris and mulch for many years. I have been pulling it out little by little and am building a new path on the opposite side of the gazebo. This is also an area where I just planted a brand new garden where none had ever been (up until last year, it was all overgrown and neglected). Today I put in spiraea bushes, purple pin cushion flowers, orange geum flowers, silver mound, and yellow Carolina jasmine to run along the fence. In addition, I had transplanted a Filburt tree and there were already some hostas and day lillies in the area. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so I wanted to get everything in the ground before the rain and so will take some photos in a few days to post.
Another garden I just planted runs along the lower patio walkway and in that area I planted some spiraea bushes, hydrangea, sedum, violas, catmint, golden oregano to go along with the tulips and lantana already in the section. If I was smart, I would have taken some “before” photos, but if you can envision empty space, you’ll get the picture.
Throughout the property, I’ve been busy filling my hanging baskets with petunias, ivy, ferns, and various other hanging plants. In pots, I just planted some succulents, boxwood, peonies, elephant ears, coleus, ferns, spiderwort, and many other perrenials. I prefer perrenials over annuals since they tend to come back each year, but some annuals are so beautiful that I can’t help myself.
I get a 20% landscape contractors discount at the local BB Barns so I shop there most of the time. They are more pricey than Lowe’s and Wal-Mart, but they have an immense selection and a beautifully enticing set up. While I’ve never been very good at gardening and remembering the names of plants, I am starting to enjoy building several garden spaces around the property. The exercise alone makes it worth it.
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
On March 18th, I noticed a very nice bird’s nest had been built at the top of the wreath on my front door. I was quite impressed with the job that the unknown bird had done so I took a few photos.
By April 4th, I was excited to see 3 beautiful blue Robin’s eggs in the nest. Every time I opened the front door, I was seeing a big robin flying around and it was obvious that the nest was hers. So, whenever I had to open the door, I tried to be gentle and make sure not to upset her.
Then, on April 7th-8th, the temperature dropped and we even got a little bit of snow so I was worried about the eggs. But, the momma bird was still around and had not abandoned her nest. Then, on April 9th, I came out to the front porch and I could see a little beak poking out of the top of the nest. I gingerly got up on a chair and took a photo of the baby bird, making sure not to touch anything. It looks like there are two unhatched eggs. I am hoping they will also hatch.
Of course, I will try to snap a few more photos in the coming days and will post them if there is anything new to see.
Oh, I love spring!
Update on 4/18: I have taken a few more photos of the birds. Unfortunately it looks like only one of the three eggs hatched, but the one baby appears to be doing well.
The first photo is of the momma bird sitting in her nest and the other two are close ups of the baby bird.
