Rain, Inside Projects, & Madison, GA.

                 Wednesday 3/19/2014

We have had many days of rain, clouds, highs in the low 50's. You might say we haven't been "Happy Campers" lately. Also these kind of day's are when you wish you didn't have your adorable little 4 foot pal. One day it just rained constantly. Back at the old home in CR, we had Mallery trained to do her business in her litter box. Our Nest is too small for a litter box, so she needs to go out at least 3 times a day. She is not crazy about the rain either, so sometimes after I get her and myself all dressed for the rain, she get's outside and says, "This is for the birds" and heads back to the door of the Nest. Her yellow raincoat is too short and doesn't cover her bum. Her pink raincoat doesn't have a hood, so I combined both coats to cover as much as possible. She doesn't like the hood because it interferes with her peripheral vision, but mom doesn't want all her head hair sopping wet.

One night before it started to rain, she fussed and whimpered in her kennel every 5 to 10 minutes, while Joe was sound asleep snoring away loudly. She knew the rain was coming from far, far far away, and was having her anxiety of rain moments. Needless to say, it is real hard to fall asleep when just as you start to drop off, you get a whimper, or a whine or if that doesn't work a very softly yip to let me know she isn't going to sleep, so neither are you. After over an hour of this, I  got her out of her kennel, and put her leash and harness on. Next I tied her leash to her kennel, leaving only about 3 feet in length, allowing her to just reach my side of the bed. She got under the covers and slept next to me all night. Early morning after the rain had stopped, she decided she wanted to find somewhere else to sleep on the bed, but her leash wouldn't let her go any farther than by my side. (She has fallen out of our bed 3 to 4 times, and hurt her back, so I can't take a chance on her wondering around the bed anymore in the dark). Because she was frustrated that she couldn't get where she wants to, she of course starts to fuss. I put her back in the kennel, and she started her every 5 to 10 minute whimper, whine, yelp routine all over again. To make a long story short, I was very tired the next day, and Joe, had a wonderful night of sleep. Men just don't know what it is like to be a mother!

In this picture you can see Mallery's cataracts real well, which is causing her all the problems with night blindness. I was told by the vet that they do cataract surgery for dogs now. Who knew! Depending on the cost, maybe it would help with the rainy night sleep problems. It might just be worth it, so she could just sleep with us again. The good thing is Mallery loves it here at the North Shore Resorts, when it is not raining. All she wants to do is go for walks. There are lots of squirrels, so she is constantly smelling trees. I think it reminds her of her back yard in CR and all the squirrels she use to chase.

While we have been here in Greensboro, GA. we have seen these Bradford Pear trees blooming everywhere.

The Bradford Pear trees are only ornamental trees.

They bear a very small non-edible 1" fruit that is not visible due to the green leaves in the summer, but birds eat the seeds and scatter them all over with their droppings, thus wild Bradford trees everywhere.

In the fall the trees leaves turn a deep red color for beautiful fall color.

The only pit falls of this tree is that the flower blossoms are suppose to have a unpleasant smell, which I didn't notice, and they only live to be 25 years old. The wood is weak and they split during wind storms. One blogger recommended the Yoshino Cherry Tree over the Bradford Pear because it has the white blossoms but is a stronger tree that will last.

During our cold and rainy days I found some inside projects to do like make these No Bake Cacao Hemp Brownie Bites. These are very easy to make. You just mix together in a food processor: 1/2 cup hemp seed, 2T cacao powder, 2T dried blueberries, 1T honey, 1T coconut oil, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Wet your hands with water and roll into balls. Refrigerate or freeze and enjoy. The recipes make 8 balls and here is the Per serving information: (1 ball): 93 calories, 5 carbs, 6 g fat, 4 protein

Another project I did, was to make some homemade hand liquid soap. You need 2 bars of this kind of soap. I wanted the Unscented baby mild soap, but the health food store was out of it, so peppermint was the one I used and it was just fine.

You need to grate the 2 bars of soap into a bowl.

It took me about 15 minutes to do this and I got some good arm exercise to boot! Next you boil 1 gallon of distilled water in a large pot. Turn the water off and then throw in your grated soap. Stir occasionally and let it sit for 12-24 hours. When I went to bed, it looked like yellowish colored water. I though it was not going to work.

In the morning it had thickened up and looked like this.

 I blended it with a mixer because it had separated a bit from the water.

Lastly I poured my handmade liquid soap back into the empty gallon distilled water jug.

Mark your jug, liquid soap, so you don't forget what it is. Because you added soap to the gallon of water, you get about 1/2 a jar more of the liquid soap. You can add the liquid soap to any hand soap pump. (Water down to the consistency you like). I added 2 T to a foaming hand wash pump I had, and added the rest with water. It is a bit weak, so I will probably add 3 to 4 T of the liquid soap next time to the water until I find the consistency I like best. If you want a frugal toxic free hand soap, give it a try.

Yesterday we ran into Madison, GA. which is 20 miles away from Greensboro. As we drove through the historic downtown, we enjoyed all the old homes.

Madison has a population of about 4000.

It had a very cute town square with lots of neat little shops to explore. I wish we had come here earlier during our stay in Greensboro, so I would have had time to return to look around some more.

We were on a mission to go to Wal-Mart and a health food store so we didn't have time for browsing.

I love all the old southern front porch homes.

I read this online about Madison, GA. "Most of its nearly 100 Antebellum homes have been carefully restored, which led to Holiday Travel magazine's naming Madison "The Prettiest Small Town in America." In 2001, Madison was voted the #1 Small Town in America by Travel Holiday Magazine".

Joe has always liked the look of this style of home.

Tomorrow we leave Greensboro, GA and take a road trip to a Super Wal-Mart in Columbia, SC.