Turkeys on Parade

I'm home sick today, but the camp guy came in and woke me up this morning and said, "You HAVE to see what's in the front yard!" So I got up and this is what I saw! We've seen turkeys out here before, but only in small groups. We've never seen a group this big! It was impressive. Sorry about the quality of the video, but the camp guy was trying to get out the door and video them all at the same time!





Enjoy!
Jean

This good deed is for the birds...

So the boys and I made some homemade "suet" treats for the birds, since we're having this really cold weather (insert jokes about southerners who don't really know about COLD here).  These are a mixture of peanut butter, bacon grease, crisco, bird seed, oats, dried cranberries and breadcrumbs.  We put some on a pine cone, and the rest went into the muffin tins to be hung, or put in the suet feeders.  Definitely NOT suitable for anything but this cold weather, as they'd melt easily, but they work well for now, and the birds seem to be enjoying them.  They were all over them about 5 minutes after we hung them up!  I looked out the bedroom window this morning and the suet feeder there had 3 little birds right on it - 2 tufted titmouses (titmice?) and a chickadee. 

We're enjoying the snow.  We went down to the lodge and the labyrinth today to check out the snow, and eventually made it down to lake, but we didn't stay out since it was about 12 degrees here.  Daisy really enjoyed the romp in the cold, though.  While we were trudging along all bundled in sweaters and coats, she pranced and ran and went "crazy dog" all around us.  The boys got really tickled at her.  And me?

I got really tickled, too, because I got to spend some time with my handsome camp guy, my amazing kids and my darling dog in a beautiful setting on a snow day!

What's in a name?.... and my first contest!

I had the great fortune to be a summer camp counselor for several years when I was younger and made some great friends in the process.  Some I still talk to pretty regularly, and some not as much, but they all still hold a fond place in my heart.  One of them got married last weekend and when her invitation came in the mail, it had, of course, her given name on it, instead of the name we know her by.  "Bacon" is a nickname whose origin I don't know, but which has stuck with her since way back when, and has just sort of become her name to us.  Of course we knew her actual name, but it was just a name.  The girl, the person, was Bacon.  And I got to thinking about other people I know with nicknames like that.

I had a nickname with my family growing up, but my friends never really called me by it.  And today, only a handful of my friends even know that it was ever my name.  Only my sisters ever call me Bean anymore.  But I know other people like Bacon whose nickname has stuck with them.  People like Scooter, Spam, Moose, and Grits.  And although some people have unfortunate nicknames that they don't like, these people are, for the most part, happy with theirs.  And I will probably still call them these names when we are old, and trying to be dignified, because, in my heart, that is who they are.  And because I'm a little bit jealous of them...

SO, that said, here is the contest.  I am offering two bars of Jean's Garden Soap to two lucky winners, selected randomly.  To enter the contest, you must:
1.  Become a follower (not in an existential way, just click that you want to follow the blog, if you aren't already)
2.  Leave a comment telling me some fun nicknames you know - they can be your own, or your friends or loved ones, or someone you don't like, but you think they have a hilarious nickname.....
3.  Do both of those by midnight, Monday, September 14th, because that's when this contest closes!

Thanks!
Bean

The End of Summer

We had an event tonight that signals the official end of summer for us - dinner with the summer staff! They are headed home tomorrow, which means that the camp guy will be home a bit more often now - hooray! (Have I mentioned that I really like that man? All in all, it's been a good summer here.

Here's hoping that yours was a great one as well.