Fire!

We wanted to burn some of the trees that Peter cut down from our backyard. Finally! We have our own house and are able to do things like this. We were very excited! And responsible... We called the city and the sheriff's office just to make sure we were following all of the rules.
We found that there is NO burning in Pinehurst city limits. What?! Not what we wanted to hear! After asking a few more questions we found out that as long as we had an elevated fire pit with a cover, we could have a small fire. So we headed to Lowe's (we don't have a Home Depot) and got the deepest fire pit we could find and started our adventure.
Using our new extra-large clippers, we cut apart the trees and started burning. Then the firetruck showed up...
Somebody called the fire station on us! The guy who came to talk to us was very nice and said that he was sorry to ruin our day but there is NO burning allowed in Pinehurst. We nicely explained that we understood the rules and we were well within our rights according to the sheriff and explained what we were told earlier that day. The guy looked at our fire pit and went to get his co-worker. The new guy saw what we had our fire in and approved. He stated that the fire rules are new or vague or something along the lines that nobody really understands what is going on. He apologized for the trouble and they left.
It is always something with us! :)

Blue Lights...

There were blue lights bouncing off the wall... I look outside, and there is a visitor in our driveway...

Natasha had a tail light out and they pulled Peter over as he was pulling into the driveway to let him know. No tickets. :)

Graduation

Late on a Thursday night, we hopped in the car and headed to Ft Benning in GA to see Jesse graduate from Ranger School! We got into our room at 2:30a and were up and moving again by 7:00a. Long drive and a short night, but it was a great day! We got to see multiple demonstrations that the Rangers are expected to do - it was an amazing show! Peter and Jesse's dad got to pin on Jesse's Ranger tab - both very proud to be a part of things. After a huge lunch at Cheddar's, we were on the road again, headed home to take care of our furry boys at home. We are so proud of you Jesse!!

Silly boys!

They obviously both don't fit, but they don't care!

Scout

While the shelves were going up, Scout had to keep himself busy too!

Getting organized

During their visit, Dad & Su came over to help us put up our new shelves we got from Sam's Club. They are amazing. Two sets turn into three by sharing one shelf from each. It stretches the whole side of our garage. It isn't as organized as it can be, or should be, but it is a good start.

Couldn't say No

Scout is the newest member of our house. He is about 2 and is said to be a possible mix of Catahoula leopard dog and Rottweiler. He is good and he is bad. Since he is a rescue dog, there are a few things that we will have to work with like marking, chewing and obeying.
Switch doesn't really care about him either way but Bro likes to hiss, chase and harass him. They will hopefully learn to all get along soon.

The End

Peter didn't realize how many strings of lights I put up!

Power Tools!

Our palm tree :)

X-mas time!

Christmas trees now come with the option of legs...








My favorite Christmas decoration!

Snake

I found this little guy belly up on our deck the after the first frost we had right after Thanksgiving when I was putting up Christmas stuff outside. He was frozen solid. Peter thought that we should rescue him. Of course :)
He brought him inside and made him cozy on a plate over the register. The snake did warm up and start to move. The cats thought they got a new toy so we had to put our microwave cover over the plate to protect him. I also thought it was a good idea to contain him! Snakes in my house - Yuck!
I am not sure if he got too warm too fast and died or if the moving was just him thawing. Either way, the poor guy didn't make it. The whole time I just kept thinking what Peter would have insisted that we do with him if he did make it...
He ended up in the woods. Where he should have been all along.