JUST DROPPIN' IN

We're just droppin' in
to say "HI"
and to show you our new friend.

Actually, he doesn't let us get too close to him.
But we think he's cute
and would like to know him better -
if you know what we mean.

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

AN AWARD FROM HOLLY

We wish to thank Holly and her Mom for passing on an award to us. Our Mom answered the questions - and is having a hard time posting, by the way. If you don't know Holly, please go by and visit.


1. What would your perfect day consist of?

Both of my children and my husband would be here. And of course the Scotties. I would cook for everyone and we would just sit around and talk with each other.


2. How would you describe yourself if you were an item of clothing?

Comfortable, soft and faded - blue jeans or a sweater.


3. What hobbies are you currently working on?

Absolutely nothing at the moment! But my husband and I just finished a broom making class - and I have just received some broom corn seeds in the mail -we'll see how they grow! I have dabbled in many hobbies over the years and need to get busy using up some of the supplies I have collected.

4. Walking in the woods in wellies or bare foot on the beach?

Walking in the woods.

5. Have you ever hugged or sang to a tree?

Definitely


6. Growing your own veggies or nipping to the supermarket?

I would love to grow the veggies but I have a very brown thumb.

7. Have you found anyone exciting in your family tree?

Everyone in my family tree is exciting to me - there are a lot of heroes there.


8. Slap up meal in a posh restaurant or fish ‘n’ chips from the wrapper?

Fish and chips. It depends on where I am at at the time - I love to be waited on in a nice restaurant.

9. Which element do you most resonate with, Earth, Air, Fire or Water?

Fire.

If you haven't done this, please feel free to take it and pass it on.

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR

We are planning to be
"out of the office"
for a few days.

It's that time of year,
when cousins come to visit.

And the wonderful aroma
of home baked foods fill our kitchen.

Friends and family gather
to celebrate their heritage
at family reunions.

And if we're lucky,
Mom slips us a bit of the caramel icing
from Granny's black walnut cake.

We'll still be sniffing around your blogs -
because we can't stay away,
but we probably won't be posting
until next week.

Have a fantastic weekend,
XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

WE LET MOM AND DAD GO TO MABRY MILL TO TAKE A CLASS

We feel so fortunate to live close
to the picturesque
Mabry Mill.
In the Summer,
Mom and Dad
love to go there for breakfast.
Mom says they have the best
grits in the world.
We wouldn't know -
she never shares them with us.

Mabry Mill is the most photographed
grist mill in the world.
Mom and Dad have seen paintings and photos of it
in such places as the Philippines and France.
This is a picture of it that Mom took
several years ago -
the handsome couple in the foreground
is our Granny and Pa.

As you know from our previous post
about the mill,
Mom is very interested in learning
Appalachian Mountain Arts.
Last year they learned to weave chair bottoms
and this weekend they learned to make brooms.

This is the pavilion where classes are taught -
you can see some of the instructor's brooms
hanging around it.

This beautiful broom corn
was grown locally at the Brinegar Cabin.

Here you see some of the items needed
for making brooms -
the black cording is wrapped around a tensioner,
and the broom corn is in the foreground.
You can barely see the dried stems in the
handmade Appalachian Egg Basket.

Meet Ranger Diane,
demonstrating how to make a turkey wing broom -
the ladies watching her are all
Blue Ridge Parkway Volunteers.

This is the class picture with the finished product -
you probably recognize Mom and Dad,
but if you don't,
they are the only two wearing hats.
Mom made a Turkey Wing Broom
and a Hawks Tail Broom.
Dad made 2 Turkey Wing Brooms
and a Hawks Tail Broom.
We have heard them talking about
growing broom corn on our farm.
Hmmm - Rocky Creek Brooms -
has a nice ring to it!

Here we see Dad with his finished brooms.

And just so you don't go into "Scottie withdrawal"
- a picture of our little ladies.

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

THE FIRST ONE

As many of you know,
when you have more than one dog
it is almost impossible to get a good picture
of all of them together.

This morning we told Mom
we wanted to spend some time
in our pen
before it got too hot.

We were so quiet
that she wondered what we were up to
and when she saw us,
all in the same corner,
so she took the opportunity
to photograph our pack
through the window.

And this is the first picture we have
of our whole pack together.


Have a fantastic Friday
and a glorious weekend.

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

IT'S TRUE COLOURS THURSDAY - RASPBERRY

Good Morning,

Welcome to True Colours Thursday.
True Colours Thursday is the brainchild
of Miss Blue.
Should you wish to play along,
just leave a comment on her blog
and you're in - it's that simple.
The colour for today is RASPBERRY.

Our Mom grew up on the "Florida vacation".
It was such a delight to leave
the cold mountains of Virginia in February
and go to the warm sunny shores of Miami Beach.

She was always on the lookout for the orange roof
and the Simple Simon weather vane
of Howard Johnson's Restaurants.
(in fact she would love to purchase one-
if you could point her in the right direction,
email us at rocky creek scotties at yahoo.com)

She knew if they had a meal there,
that she could have one of her favorite treats -
raspberry sherbet.

But today, even though she still loves the sherbet,
her raspberries come in different forms.
And we know that some of these colours
aren't what you think of when you think
of the colour, raspberry.

In our garden, we have gold RASPBERRIES
that are ever-bearing.
They have green berries on them now,
but once they start to ripen,
they will bear delicious golden fruit
until the first frost.

We have red RASPBERRIES
that bear in the middle of the summer.

And the black RASPBERRY plants
that were started by Mom's grandmother
over 100 years ago.
They usually bear in mid-June -
and make delicious preserves.

And here we find Lilly and Ruairi
sitting on a RASPBERRY coloured bench
in the hotel room they stayed in on their
trip to take Miss Becky to her furrever home.

Have a wonderful day.

XOXO
Lilly, Piper, Carrleigh and Ruairi

PSA - BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU FEED YOUR PET

This morning we received an email that talked about the dangers of feeding grapes and raisins to your pets so Mom decided to check it out before she posted it. It lead her to this article below at Petalia. We asked her to share it with you.

Human Foods that Poison Pets

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Feeding pets food that we enjoy is not only wrong, it can also be fatal. There are some foodstuffs that humans relish which cause illness and death if eaten by pets. Chocolate, macadamia nuts and onions are good examples. Each of these foods contains chemicals which rarely cause problems for humans, but for dogs, these same chemicals can be deadly.

Chocolate toxicity Onion and garlic poisoning The danger of macadamia nuts Other potential dangers

Chocolate toxicity Chocolate contains theobromine, a compound that is a cardiac stimulant and a diuretic. When affected by an overdose of chocolate, a dog can become excited and hyperactive. Due to the diuretic effect, it may pass large volumes of urine and it will be unusually thirsty. Vomiting and diarrhoea are also common. The effect of theobromine on the heart is the most dangerous effect. Theobromine will either increase the dog’s heart rate or may cause the heart to beat irregularly. Death is quite possible, especially with exercise. After their pet has eaten a large quantity of chocolate, many pet owners assume their pet is unaffected. However, the signs of sickness may not be seen for several hours, with death following within twenty-four hours. Cocoa powder and cooking chocolate are the most toxic forms. A 10-kilogram dog can be seriously affected if it eats a quarter of a 250gm packet of cocoa powder or half of a 250gm block of cooking chocolate. These forms of chocolate contain ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate. Thus, a chocolate mud cake could be a real health risk for a small dog. Even licking a substantial part of the chocolate icing from a cake can make a dog unwell. Semi-sweet chocolate and dark chocolate are the next most dangerous forms, with milk chocolate being the least dangerous. A dog needs to eat more than a 250gm block of milk chocolate to be affected. Obviously, the smaller the dog, the less it needs to eat.

Onion and garlic poisoning Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger. Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number. The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness. Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

The danger of macadamia nuts Macadamia nuts are another concern. A recent paper written by Dr. Ross McKenzie, a Veterinary Pathologist with the Department of Primary Industries, points to the danger of raw and roasted macadamia nuts for pets. The toxic compound is unknown but the affect of macadamia nuts is to cause locomotory difficulties. Dogs develop a tremor of the skeletal muscles, and weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters. Affected dogs are often unable to rise and are distressed, usually panting. Some affected dogs have swollen limbs and show pain when the limbs are manipulated. Dogs have been affected by eating as few as six macadamia kernels (nuts without the shell) while others had eaten approximately forty kernels. Some dogs had also been given macadamia butter. Luckily, the muscle weakness, while painful, seems to be of short duration and all dogs recovered from the toxicity. All dogs were taken to their veterinary surgeon. Pets owners should not assume that human food is always safe for pets. When it comes to chocolate, onions, garlic and macadamia nuts, such foods should be given in only small quantities, or not at all. Be sure that your pets can’t get into your stash of chocolates, that food scraps are disposed of carefully to prevent onion and garlic toxicity and that your dog is prevented from picking up macadamia nuts if you have a tree in your garden.

Other potential dangers Avocado (all parts) - the toxic ingredient in avocado is called persin (toxic amount unknown). Mmost documented cases of poisoning have been in livestock that have eaten all parts of the avocado and in large amounts. The toxin may be confined to the leaves, bark, skin or seed but the flesh is thought to be poisonous to birds. Pear pips, the kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple core pips (contain cyanogenic glycosides resulting in cyanide posioning) Potato peelings and green looking potatoes Rhubarb leaves Mouldy/spoiled foods (keep garbage lid firmly on) Alcohol Yeast dough Coffee grounds, beans & tea (caffeine) Hops (used in home brewing) Tomato leaves & stems (green parts) Broccoli (in large amounts) Raisins and grapes Cigarettes, tobacco, cigars Xylitol (sweetener often found in sugar-free gum) Cooked bones - they can splinter and cause gut perforation, as well as blockages in the intestine, tooth fractures, and cooked chop bones can get stuck across the roof of the mouth Corn cobs - a common cause of intestinal blockage requiring surgical removal We'd like to add wine corks - since the picnic season is upon us, many of your peeps will be enjoying wine with their picnics - not only is a wine cork the proper size to cause a blockage if swallowed - it is also soaked with deadly grape juice.