Bilbo has finally made it to Malaysia! He can warm up and enjoy the tropical surroundings after playing in the snow in Sweden! You can click on the photos to check out his adventures in Malaysia or click HERE.
New growth on the hydrangeas, and some of the daffodils popping up
Kiki being lazy as usual...watching what goes on in the garden.
New growth on the roses
Glad to see the cold didn't hurt them to much.
The walking iris however didn't fare so well. Maybe it will pull through.
Woodland phlox
I love the see the foliage change colors on the Nandina.
Hydrangea
Butterfly Bush
I filled up the bird feeders. Hopefully I can get some good bird photos soon!
Hydrangea
Hydrangea
I found this on the hydrangea...apparently the wasps made themselves at home!
Hydrangea
Clematis
They stick a sprinkler in the tree and freeze it! Everyone passing by will be in sheer amazement...including me! However, the weight also breaks the tree...no worry....just tie it back up later!
We don't see ice a lot down here...
so we are forever amazed by it when we do see it. I know all of ya'll up North are just DYING laughin!
This is my neighbors tree.
I should have gotten a picture of him 4 days later, with a ladder and some rope tying it back together.
It was nice to look at for a few days.
I am too scared to freeze my trees.
I'm pretty sure they would die.
There were atleast 6 trees in my neighborhood that were froze.
It doesn't take much to amuse us down here, just a little water, and freezing temperatures will bring hours of joy.
When we ate, we had the grown-up table, and the kids table. I always wanted to sit at the grown-up table. Now, I choose the sit at the kids table.
We would all sit on the front porch for hours, then move to the back yard once the shade got right. It was hot no matter what. Grandma and Pawpaw didn't have an air conditioner....just some oak trees.
We would sit in the back yard and swing until it got dark, or the mosquitoes were about to tote you away.
Rocking in the heat of the afternoon, until the night of dark fell upon us. You never got cool, it was always hot. I remember one summer I had chicken pox, and my aunts took me up there. I thought I was going to die. Heat and chicken pox don't mix.
At night, you could hear every cricket, frog, and cicada within a 2 mile radius. It was and is, the sound of heaven to me. A peaceful, calming sound.
We would jump these fences, crawl underneath or whatever we had to do, to get to the other side. No telling how many holes we ripped in our clothes. We didn't care.
We would gather chestnuts from under the trees
There was a trail through the woods that led from my grandparents house to my uncles house....no telling how many times we walked this trail, or rode the four-wheelers.
We would fish in the pond. We usually swam in my uncles pond. It seemed more swimmer friendly. I look back now and wonder how many water moccasins were sitting around me in that pond.
Or on the creek banks as we played around. I loved to play in the creek. I told myself that I would come back when it got warm, and play in it this summer. Look at it...how could you not want to!
Every Christmas my Pawpaw would load all of the grandkids onto a trailer he had made that attached to his tractor. He would pull all of us over to the prairies where we would pick out a Christmas tree. We would haul it back and decorate it. We somehow always manage to cram 20+ people in their tiny living room, with that big 'ol tree.
This is where I learned about hunting. My Pawpaw, dad and uncles would all go hunting. My grandma would sit out on the porch. Everytime she heard a shot she would say," That sounded like Jerry". She was usually right!
I always wanted to do what the boys did. I was the oldest girl grandchild, 4th oldest grandchild (out of 11). Apparently no one seemed to care that I was a girl, and they let me do what the boys did. This is where my love of the outdoors began
When I think of my Pawpaw....I think of his tractor. He was always on it. Always pulling us in the prairies on this tractor,
always plowing,
always working.
I never saw any danger when I was there. My parents, and my aunts and uncles just let us run around and be carefree. I guess they never worried about what could happen to us. I guess they figured that they survived running around there....we would too.
We would build hay houses in this barn, and play for hours. I never worried about snakes or spiders...just how big to build my hay house.
We would listen to the Martins as the nested in the house.
We would sit by the fire and try to stay warm. Many good storied were told in front of this fire.
The doors are old and weather, but still in tact.
The house was a "shotgun" house. Now for ya'll non-Southerners....a "shotgun" house is a small house that you can open the front doors, and shoot a shotgun out of the back door. The house has 6 rooms. My grandma was always telling us grandkids to "get on the other side of the house". I think that is funny now....because the house is only 2 rooms wide!
My brother now has my Pawpaw's old Dobrough guitar. It is OLD! It still sounds good, even though it is more for looks now. 
My brother took these photos of my Pawpaw when he was in high school. That was a long time ago. He had a photography class and shot these of my Pawpaw. They are some of my favorite pictures.
This one especially.
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