June 2010--Tybee Island Vacation

For our yearly beach get away (3 sisters-in-law and children---no husbands) we decided to change from our usual Garden City, SC and try a new place. We decided on Tybee Island, Ga. It came with good reviews from friends. We rented a house at the north end of the island and headed down. As we were driving down, the sky darkened and by the time we got to Savannah it was raining so hard we couldn't see to drive. The thunder and lightening was horrible. The house we rented promised lots of room and had a basement with a home theater and that was to be Jacob and his friend, Brian Kahn's hangout. When we arrived, Saturday evening in the pouring rain, the basement had about 4 inches of water standing in it. That seemed to set the tone (or at least my attitude) for Tybee Island.
The house (or at least what didn't have water standing in it) was very nice and much more spacious than 'Recharge Inn' in Garden City. It had two decks and a long board walk out though the marsh to the water. The house was advertised as 'ocean front' However, being at the north end of the island, it was river front instead of ocean front. You could see the ocean from the upstairs balcony but at the end of the board walk was the Savannah River. The kids couldn't play in the water because it was very silty and crabs kept biting their toes and there were no waves.
On Sunday, the rental company came and sucked out the water in the basement and put fans down there to dry the carpet. The moldy, wet carpet smell was bad and the fans were so loud you couldn't hear over the noise in the basement. Jacob and Brian still slept down there even with water on the floor. The fans made it sound proof down there at night but they kept turning them off during the day. It smelled all week and when we got home, all their things smelled equally bad.
In order to enjoy the beach, we had to load everyone (and everything) up in two vehicles and drive to the public beaches and pay parking meters and carry everything a block or two to the water. If we came home for lunch, we had to repeat this procedure again in the afternoon.
There is no entertainment for the older kids on Tybee Island. No putt-putt, shows, or even fast food restaurants. There were no franchaised restaurants at all. Only local. There wasn't even anywhere to shop with out going to Savannah. Lora, Amanda, Jacob and Brian went to Savannah once in search of shopping and food.
The highlight of the trip was Captain Mikes Dolphin Tour. It was very entertaining and informative. We saw LOTS of dolphins. Jeffrey had his own money and really wanted to do the jet ski rental. I was worried about him going by himself and didn't really want to go with him. My sweet sister-in-law, Kim, volunteered to go. Jeff had a blast and Kim said she had fun as well. I was grateful to her for going with him.
Our evening entertainment was doing "Just Dance" on the Wii. Good exercise and hilarious.
The week definitely improved after that first rainy night, but overall, I wasn't impressed with Tybee Island and probably won't go back.


Sheri and girls at Tybee Lighthouse
Kim and boys at Tybee Lighthouse
Addie, Ingrid, Carson and Weston playing in the surf
Carson and Weston

Tybee Island photo shoot

Addie and Ingrid had a photo shoot on the beach using Lora's camera. Here are some of their shots:

Jumping Jeff

Addie
Lora and Amanda-following directions and posing...
More posing.....
Ingrid

Tybee Island and Captain Mike's Dolphin Tours

Jeff


Looking down from the balcony on the rest of the gang doing "Just Dance" on the Wii.




A Video of "Just Dance"




Captain Mike's Dolphin Tour
There were lots of dolphins and they could be seen all over. This was a couple that were swimming around the tour boat.


There were lots of shrimp boats and the dolphins (and sea gulls) love to follow them.

Tybee Island, continued

Jeff on the tour boat. After this, he and Kim rented jet ski's and rode for an hour. He had a blast. This was something he really wanted to do.
Tybee Island Lighthouse from the Dolphin Tour boat
Jacob cheesin'
Weston on the tour boat


Jacob and his friend, Brian Kahn

June

Oops....Haven't been here in a while. Animals, garden, and work have kept us very busy. The garden is coming in now. We have been enjoying lots of delicious tomato sandwiches. Tomato sandwiches have been taken to a whole new level with addition of fresh basil pesto. Yum!!! The Cornish Rock Cross chickens have been raised and butchered. We lost almost a third of these chickens due to the extreme heat. It was triple digit temps here for at least week the middle of the month. We ended up butchering 98 out of 150 chickens. The other 300 chickens are growing and doing well. Running around the yard and scratching for bugs. Jacob has gotten his drivers license so he has been able to drive himself to REACH drama classes. Those classes only lasted 2 weeks so now he is staying up too late(or early) at night and sleeping too late in the morning. Jeff is still sleeping in his tent. He only missed one night due to the extreme heat and humidity. After a rain storm last week he moved his camp site to higher ground. He has covered the tent with mosquito netting so he can sleep with the end flaps open for more ventilation. Lora is still working at Piggly Wiggly but looking for a better paying job. She sent out about 30 resumes but nothing has worked out so far. Russell has been advertising on Craigslist for someone who wants cedar trees to come and cut ours down. He wants all the cedar trees surrounding our field taken down as he is planning to fence the field in the near future. Several people have come and cut quite a few trees but you can hardly tell it. When all the trees are gone, we may have to change the name of our farm as most of our "sunny cedars" will be gone! Well, this has been life on the farm for June...raising food, animals and trying to stay cool!

Shawfest 2010

Saturday we spent the day at Shaw Air Force Base watching an airshow. It was a very warm, sunny day (around 90 degrees) but there was a nice breeze and a beautiful blue sky. We knew the traffic would be bad because it was expect there would be about 70,000 people there. We rode a shuttle bus from the mall and were dropped just outside the hangar. That was much better than fighting traffic and walking to the flightline. We met Amber and Loren Purcell, Nate Purcell and Joe Singleton and the workers, Jim Holt and Warren Harper on the flightline around noon. There were lots of interesting shows and air demonstrations such as Wing Walking and Air Ballet but the main attractions was the U.S. Airforce Thunderbirds. They started their show around 3:30 and it was as good as always. The F-16 is an amazing plane and certainly puts you in awe of the US Airforce. We had a very enjoyable day and only got a little sunburned. Getting off the base was more diffcult that getting on due to communication problems as to where to load the buses going to different places. We had a very nice day but the air conditioning felt good in the van!

Shawfest 2010

Thunderbirds preparing to fly.

All eyes on the sky

Amber and her friend, Amanda

Jeff and Warren Harper

Shawfest 2010

Jim Holt

Loren and Nate Purcell awed by the show!

Showing off the Thunderbird design on the bottom of the plane as they go by in a knife edge pass.

4 Thunderbirds in flight

Thunderbirds lined up on the flightline after the show

Shawfest 2010

All 6 Thunderbirds flying in classic formation.


A lone Thunderbird
Jeff at a display


Jeff on a jet

Jeff at a static display

Jeff's tent

Jeff ordered a US Army surplus pup tent from E-Bay for $8. He has had a great time getting it all set up and sleeping under the stars. He says the fresh air makes him sleep better. He has slept in his tent everynight but one for almost 2 weeks. It rained one night but he stayed dry with the rain fly he put over the tent.

4/14/10 spring time garden

Working a little along to get my garden back in order. I planted Swiss Chard and Spinach and covered it with a row cover. I was surprised to uncover it today and find such lovely plants. I ended up picking 4 baskets of chard and 2 baskets of spinach.



Colorful Swiss Chard

Broccoli and Cabbage. Rosemary in the pot.

April 8- new chicks

Russell and Jeff went to the post office this morning and pick up 800 chicks. I think the postal employees were glad to have them off their dock. 800 chicks make a lot of noise! 300 of the chicks went home with a friend, Todd Brown. Russell and Jeff had the job of unboxing the remaining 500 chicks. They were divided up in to 12 brooder boxes with heat lamps to keep them warm and food and sugar water. We have 100 Cornish Rock Cross chicks which will be our meat chickens and 50 Golden Comets that will be our laying chickens. The rest will be to sell.


A cute little Barred Rock chick.


A handful of fluff...2 Cornish Rock Chicks in Jeffs hands


Trying out the new watering system we installed this spring.


Happy chicks staying warm in the brooder pen.

Pig kissing 3/2010

Sunny Cedars Farm provided the pig for the Tuomey pig kissing contest. This is an annual fundraiser for the March of Dimes. A dollar will buy one vote for your favorite Tuomey employee. The 5 employees with the most votes get to kiss a pig. March 26, we caught Miss Penny and brought her in the house and gave her a good scrubbing. Once with "people shampoo" and once with dog shampoo. She really objected to being in the water but she sort of liked the scrubbing. Dr Grier was the recipient of the most votes.

Miss Penny after her spa treatment.

Comforting a nervous piggy.

Dana Oxendine from L&D and her daughter, Marley who wanted to kiss the pig, as well.


Dr. Grier holding Penny.

March 21, 2010

We are preparing for the shipment of 400 baby chicks that will be coming April 7. We have poured a concrete floor in the brooder house. We are excited about no longer having to shovel out the dirty sand and shovel in fresh sand each spring prior to chicks coming each spring. We will put wood shavings in the floor of each pen and rake it out and replenish it as needed. The discarded shavings will be good for the garden. We are also putting in an automatic gravity watering system. Russell and I worked on it all day Thursday and got most of the watering system plumbed. We tested it and were thrilled when it actually worked!! It is all taking shape. I'll post pictures soon.

Weekend at Ron and Cindy's 3-13-10