Laverne and Buddy

Hello Everyone !

Labor Day

Hope everyone is enjoying their day off. College Football games are on and the hint of Fall in the air. A great time of year!

We were blessed this weekend with a visit from our dear friends from GA. Laverne and Buddy. Our friendship started in a rather bizarre way. You see, Dudley and Buddy worked at the Nuclear Plant together, and knew each other for years. But separately, Laverne and I knew each other through the arts community in Augusta. It was at one such huge art show that our husbands were helping us set up our booths and they ran into each other, Dudley introduces me to his friend Buddy from the Plant, and then Buddy tells me that his wife Laverne has a booth in another part of the building.... recognizing her name, a new relationship between the four of us began..and has lasted, thru the up's and down's of life's changes all these years, and for that, I am grateful.

So, their quick trip to the mountains was a welcomed one. We spent much of the time on the front porch, as usual, and catching up with grandchild's pictures and all of our children's progress. All was good. Dudley made an excellent dinner and we stuffed ourselves silly. We always eat well when we get together with them. Both men are excellent and innovative cooks. The evening was very late when we went to bed and only in the morning did we find out that Laverne had trouble sleeping. Now, I have trouble sleeping in a strange bed, as alot of people do, but Laverne didn't sleep because after hearing the stories that we told of the wild life and especially the bear sightings around here, she was scared and heard 'noises' all night. Poor Buddy, she kept him up too. !! I think they had a great time, but were probably eager to get back to their quieter less wild neighborhood! I love you Laverne, you have enriched my life, and the amount of laughing we have done over the past few years has surely increased our life expectancy 10 years!!, another 10 years to have you in my life will be a blessing !

The swans are in the Blog again. They never are too far from trouble. The feeder was broken into Sat night and we were up at 4am with the spotlight looking at what was making all the racket at the pond. Raccoons again. Dudley made a special bolted top and we'll see how that goes. Then we noticed that the underwater aerator was 'bubbling' funny. So with Buddy's careful supervision, and the swans and Laverne and I looking on, Dudley donned the waders and went into the pond. It turns out that the air hose was off and the connection broken, You see, the swans have a grand time going under the water to 'play' with the bubbling machine, they position themselves on top of the rolling water at the surface and even have tried to pull the actual aerator up out of the water, we had to weight it down. So who knows how it broke, but I have my suspicions. I have asked Brian to help me start a website so I can write about my swans in depth. They are fascinating and I think other swan keepers could benefit from our cumulative knowledge. When that is up and running I will surely let you know.

Well, thanks everyone for reading my Blog, I hope you are enjoying the mundane things that are my life. What does that say for those of you that are reading this? But I am glad you are, because it is for me, and for you.
Love , Sandi