Why I Have Six Yorkies in My Bed

Actually on occasion, I have seven - when my daughter visits or asks us to "puppy sit." Said puppy is my "grandpuppy" and while she is not with us all the time, she remembers and knows who we are. Anyone who believes that dogs don't have memories, let me assure you they do. When Mizzie comes to visit - pandemonium erupts and we have a wild and crazy time. First Zoie and Zack (the parents) attack her, and then the rest of the gang. They immediately run into my bedroom and have a free-for-all on my bed.

I am to Cute for you to be Mad

This is a daily occurrence and the main reason why my bed never gets made. In reality, life with six Yorkie puppies in our house everyday is a wild and crazy time because the puppies like to party - they are after all Yorkshire Terriers, which is very close to terrors - which right now is synonymous with termites - (they like to chew and are going through an exceedingly long teething stage). Besides toys, chewbones, every  paper product imaginable, we have glasses, cell phones, remote controls, every flavor of wood in furniture, pillows, foam, each other, and of course, anything that drops on the floor - such as this Jalapeno pepper, which fell on the floor while I was making "Garnachoes."

Teeth Marked Jalapeno 

So if anyone cares, I am a glutton for my Yorkie puppies and except full responsibility for their care and upbringing. Thet have been potty trained (sort of) since they were three weeks. They are healthy, have all their shots, and one by one or getting neutered. We never expected for Zoie and Zack to have five puppies, but even more so was the fact that I simply could not sell any of them, particularly after being there from birth through it all.

I am Lizzie and I Love to Kissie You

I watched as Zoie would rush into the puppy palace and nod her head then bark as if she was counting to make sure all puppies were accounted for.  Call me crazy - I am - crazy for my Yorkies and well not having a well-made bed --- who gives a d_ mn!

We no longer have a four poster bed that one needed a ladder to climb into. All the puppies can climb easily in and out, but more importantly, so can my husband, "Bud the Plumber,"  when the puppies let him that is.

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Why is Bethania North Carolina a National Treasure and a Landmark Town?

On June 12, 2011, the tiny town of Bethania, North Carolina will turn 252 years old. On this coming Saturday June 11 the town will hold a celebration honoring this event. Few towns in our country, even any country can boast of such extensive record taking, or documentation of family histories. Although the beginnings of Bethania are deeply rooted in the Moravian Religion which is the oldest protestant religion in the worlds, the town itself was settled by both Moravian and non-Moravian families. 


Bethania, North Carolina, is the last of its line,a pioneer town founded on June 12, 1759, out of the need to establish the roots of religious freedom. A historically significant town, Bethania is the first planned Moravian town lot in the Wachovia tract of North Carolina. Listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, the town became a National Landmark in 2001. 

Colonial homes, some still lived in by descendants of the first white Moravian settlers, line Bethania’s main street and are symbols of how so much of the town’s character remains intact. Simple yet elegantly understated, the homes represent the regional architecture of the colonial era in which they were built.

The homes have names, attesting to former owners. On the corner of Loesch Lane and Main Street is a tall, stately house that bears the name Johann Christian Loesch. Loesch’s son, Israel, was a U.S. representative during Reconstruction and president of the Cape Fear Bank and the First National Bank in Salem, which became Wachovia Bank. Across the street on the opposite corner is the Cornwallis house, given the name of a Revolutionary War general who spent the night in the home during a raid and subsequent encampment in the town.

Beyond the distinction of its Main Street homes standing as monuments to an earlier century, Bethania was once a thriving industrial and trade town. The Great Wagon Road of the colonial era brought soldiers, settlers and slaves through the town daily. The longest and costliest plank road of the pre–Civil War South ran 129 miles from Fayetteville on the Carolina coast and ended at the corner of Main Street and Loesch Lane.

What is unique about Bethania today is its history as a community that began as an experiment in melding cultures. Its first settlers were chosen from Moravian and non-Moravian families who created the town in a hostile frontier. In 1766, Bethanians helped found the town of Salem in the newly formed colony of North Carolina, thus contributing to the birth of our nation. 

My book, Bethania: The Village by the Black Walnut Bottom, published in 2009 by The History Press is not just a history of the founding of Bethania, but of people who carved a life from an untamed frontier. Many families grew, multiplied, and spread into other regions of this country. Eventually many would fight their own relatives in a civil war for different causes and even become permanently separated from their ancestry.

Please join the town of Bethania on Saturday June 11th. And if you are interested in reading more history of Bethania, excerpts from the book can be found at http://antiquesinbethania.com/bethaniabook%20excerpts.html.

Slave Cabin

The images in the book are from original glass negatives taken by J. L. Kapp around the turn of the century and modern day photography by Bowman Gray IV, whose recently published book, As A Man Thinketh and Bo's original photography, can be found here, http://www.blairpub.com/alltitles/asmanthinketh.htm or VISIT WFDD for an audio interview with Bo and I and David Ford.



   

Double Exposure: Meet the Stoap Twins (Part Two) by Bev Hamel

Give us your “elevator speech” about who you are besides being the Stoap Twins of Million Dollar Listing fame.

We are definitely individuals with unique personalities who happen to be best friends and love working together! Marissa is sort of the communicator, because both in real estate and in our personal lives she is the social butterfly. She loves making the calls, doing the planning, and getting people together for business or for fun! Julianna is super tenacious, she’s the negotiator. Julianna never takes no for an answer and is always coming up with creative ways to take our careers to the next level. Not to mention her ability to get us through any door or to the front of any concert without fail! We were raised on real estate by our parents, who have been top-producing Realtors for nearly 20 years. After getting our degrees from USC, we found that real estate was definitely in our blood… and that we loved the idea of pursuing a career together where we could achieve an unlimited amount of success. After all, you are your own boss in real estate, and the sky is the limit! What sets us apart from other agents is that you really do get two for the price of one! We each bring individual skills to the table and are an unstoppable team. Also, we are extremely hands on with our clients and extremely communicative. We take every phone call (seriously, at all hours!) to make sure the people we work with feel comfortable and know exactly what’s going on. We also have a rare combination of elements in our business: We’re young with fresh, creative ways of marketing and demonstrating the exciting lifestyle each listing can offer, coupled with a great deal of knowledge, several years experience, and literally growing up hearing about and learning about real estate every day. Read More at All Things Girl . . .