Wet Monsoon - Magnolia Namnetensis Flore Pleno and BATS

So longing for sunshine and a dry surrounding instead of the soggy lawn that cannot even be mowed! The forecast however does not show such a sunny day in sight... 

Husband Pieter just managed to take this photo with raindrops from our Magnolia Magnolia Grandiflora 'Namnetensis Flore Pleno'.
 They have been blooming but no chance to take a good photo from the balcony.

Rain does make them look wilted sooner...

We did notice this on the driveway... just in front of the cat door?
What IS it.

Pointing to the Attic Gable Vent...

Our Kia Soul with Bike Rack is visible here as well.

Husband Pieter did go up in the attic to inspect...
There is the attic fan, in front of the attic gable vent. Installed in 2011 for Going Green... and for Saving Energy by removing the heat from the attic.

Holding the camera up high and yes, there are bats visible behind the screen!

There they are; little brown bats hanging onto the screen, behind the louvres of the attic gable vent.
Smart mammals for finding such a sheltered spot!

Probably those are juveniles...
But we welcome these Garden Critters to our property.
We have had bat houses for decades but hanging up high on a tree, how does one check on them?
Here it is visible that they are present.

4 Facts About Georgia's Batty Creatures of the Night: Did you know? A single bat may consume 3,000 insects in one night. (click on hyperlink)
Bats! | Georgia Outdoors a beautiful video (click hyperlink) Bats are one of the most important animals on earth...

No, I did not dare to get onto the attic.
Still healing my double (closed) pelvic bone fracture.
June 12 is the date the orthopedic surgeon gave me for having to be without pain; an indication of healing.
So I'm anxious for getting outdoors again, walking and biking!
Did not get to sing and dance at the annual Revue on May 19, at the theatre with my choir... A big disappointment but I understood that the risk of falling could have been disastrous.
So for the time being I've been a Georgia Rebel on Crutch!

Hope you enjoyed reading and thanks for your visit and comment!

Update: Sad that upon our returning home from the mountains at the end of July, 2019 we noticed that the driveway didn't need any sweeping up of the dry droppings.
Pieter did check on the attic and they were ALL GONE! 
Now I got mosquito bites and so did Pieter and before there were none in the driveway or near the home... WE MISS THEM! 

But the next year they were back and we're quite happy!

Related link:

{Going GREEN with Attic Fan} | post from 2011 when Pieter placed the Attic Fan

{Saving Energy and Our Attic} | post from 2013 where Pieter managed to save us more energy with mega project

Written by my husband Pieter: MEMORIAL DAY - FREEDOM HAS ITS PRICE

This post is written by my husband Pieter J.C. Vedder.

A very personal story, that highlights Memorial Day.

May the younger generation come to appreciate the true meaning of FREEDOM...

Over the years, the two most asked questions we have had to answer have been: where are you from (because of our accent) and also; do you like it here.

The answer to the first question is quite simple; we came to this country from The Netherlands almost 35 years ago and in 1993, we both became American citizen. 

Then the second question; Do we like it here? You bet! We both really LOVE this great country, especially the South and not the least, Laurens County.

Perhaps you like to hear a few reasons for our love affair with this country and especially with Georgia.
First of all, there is the ample living space for everybody. Compare this: the state of Georgia is 4.7 times bigger than The Netherlands, but has only about half the population. 

We once bought a lot in the Venice area of Italy, where we lived and we had to pay over 40,000 US dollars for approx 8,500 sq. ft.(0.195133 acre). We paid less here for a couple of acres. 

Taxes in the US are also lower then in most European countries (although the Democrats in this country are trying hard to match them). We also found it relatively easy to integrate in this community; the people in general are friendly and perhaps less nosy and envious then in Europe.

Then there is the climate. Okay, we might have some hot days and we have gnats and fire ants. But if you think that you are better off shoveling your car out of a pile of snow (we lived in Pennsylvania too) you may have it.

But what we appreciate most, and what many Americans, especially the young generation, take for granted, is the personal freedom. 

As a teenage boy, I have experienced what it means to loose your freedom. Especially the last year from the five years under German occupation has had a big impact on my life.
For months we have been under heavy artillery fire. (We lived close to the German border and the river Rhine). Shrapnel wounded me; we had to leave our home and village and had to evacuate to another part of the country etc. Many families lost loved ones as the result of bombardments. The Germans executed two sons 17 and 23 from a befriended family staying with us, my middle brother just escaping that ordeal. 

We were lucky that we lived in the countryside (my dad was in the greenhouse business) therefore we always could find something to eat but the people in the big cities were really starving. When, on September 17, 1944 the Operation Market Garden started in our area (near Arnhem) dropping thousands of paratroopers to secure the bridges over the rivers we thought that the war would soon be over for us. We were wrong; we still had to wait almost half a year. 

Can you imagine the feelings we experienced when, in April of 1945 the American troops and their allies finally liberated us. I will never forget that day in April when we came back to our small village from our half-year evacuation, finding the greenhouses flattened and most of the houses ruined, including ours. We slept that night, rolled in an old carpet (we didn’t have a bed yet) and when we woke up, the sun was already shining. My dad put his arms around us and said; we are the richest family on earth; we are all free and alive.

Thank you America, we will never forget what you and your Allies did for us and we will never forget that so many young and brave Americans, among others, have given their lives for our freedom.

Margraten overview of American Cemetery in Limburg, The Netherlands

The pictures show the American Cemetery: Fallen But Not Forgotten in Margraten of the Province Limburg where Mariette is born and where we both lived. This is the final resting place for 8,301 young American soldiers. Freedom has its price!
The Dutch observe their Remembrance Day May 4 and Liberation Day May 5, but they've made it a tradition on the Sunday before the U.S. Memorial Day to pay tribute to the American service members who fought for freedom and are now buried at the cemetery in Margraten.
Today is the 73th time that they observed this.

Seen on one of the photos is: William A Mc Kenna Jr Capt 121 INF 8 Div Georgia Dec 25 1944…

Photos taken by my brother: Martin Van den Munckhof except overview cemetery.

Related links:

{Margraten - Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in my Province of Limburg}
12½ jaar L1 - Amerikaanse president in Limburg | President George W. Bush visits Margraten on May, 8 in 2005. He did stay at the Château Hotel, St. Gerlach and was very complimentary towards the Staff. Proud of my Province of birth Limburg!

President Honors and Commemorates Veterans in the Netherlands - Margraten, The Netherlands | From White House Archives May 8, 2005
Dutch Queen and Bush lead VE Day memorial | YouTube video

One More Patio Added

In the spring of 2014, I've written the post: Our Patio Tiles Are DONE! (see link below post...) and that was it we thought. All part of our Water Control program. We did leave out ONE corner without tiles because we still had our healthy Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc living there. See a post from a healthy shrub in 2011. 

BUT... our Hibiscus started looking bad and husband Pieter took starters last year, in order to rescue at least some 'Offspring'...

Meanwhile, with the photos of the tile boxes and all info, in front of me from the post about: Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning, I found them on the Internet! Home Depot had long discontinued them...

Yep, at a STOVER'S LIQUIDATION warehouse in Knoxville, Tennessee at some 7 hours driving distance from our home. They even were open on Sunday! So I drove there on June 11 of 2017, to pick up our order of 10 boxes with the Marazzi Orizzonti Sunset 12" x 12" tiles. 

We'd spent a night at a Hyatt hotel in Atlanta and from the warehouse I did drive straight home.

Photo is from April 26 after our pot plants had been moved back from the greenhouse and after all patios had been scrubbed clean to match this NEW one!

This is on March 10, a day that it was not 'wet'... We have had our share of rain this spring! 

Materials are inside front porch for protection.

Concrete is being poured by hand...

Our workers did a neat job!

See how green the wood work in our front porch was from all the rain and pollen...

That has been scrubbed clean too.

The old wheelbarrow functioned for mixing the concrete.

April 26 from the bay window area to the front with all our pot plants already out.

There are dwarf Mondo grasses growing along the edging.

New Patio Corner where the Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc once stood...

Left and right are now both tiled and looking a lot better!

May 20 and you can see that husband Pieter took this photo in-between showers.

We have had such enormous rain for weeks on end and more to come!

Our Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold is therefore not looking its GOLDEN BEST...

Sunshine makes all the difference!

We also missed good photo options for the blooming Yucca lilies... They're all gone due to so much rain.

Hope you enjoyed this update!

Will visit you within a couple of days, have been rather sick but am on the mend.

Thanks for your visit and comment.

{Our Patio Tiles Are DONE!} | previous post by me
{Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning} | previous post by me where you see the tile boxes and name info
{Our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy} | previous post by me