Tuesday

Well it is so nice to wake up with such stillness, except for the crickets chirping and to be surrounded with such color beginning to overtake the deep green of the trees. After my quiet time and a cup of hot green tea with some leftover buckwheat cakes I headed out just as it was breaking dawn. After a quick walk around I got ready to head to the top of the mountain to pick the last of the blueberries that were starting to dry on the bush. I picked about a quart as that will be the last of them for this year. My are they ever tasty especially for livening up some boring oatmeal. After picking the berries, I noticed a large hickory nut tree that was showering down its nuts, some I picked up a couple handfuls and will later on a rainy day crack them 'cause they are a pain to crack but taste oh so good.

I got back from on top in the golf cart then started a load of laundry; seems the brass fitting the washing machine is hooked up to has a tiny pin hole leak which is shooting water so until I can get to the hardware store and get our friend Walt who is a retired plumber to make the corrections I had to engineer a way to wash clothes and not flood the basement. So with a little grey duct tape I made a bandage around the fitting which caused the water to drip into a bucket and not spew around everywhere thus we were able to wash clothes and keep the basement dry. I grew up on a farm and 3 things we used most often for temporary repairs were; bailing wire, twine and black electrical tape(I don't think grey duct tape had been invented yet). While the clothes were washing I decided to bottle the blackberry wine I started in July. I had so many berries from such a good crop this year I tried to do to much instead of making it by the gallon; I tried to do 5 gallons at one time. Well that was a mistake although the wine isn't bad it has no kickapoo power(not that I wanted it potent but its a stretch to call it wine) to it so I really have some great blackberry juice. Next time its a gallon at a time and I need to use yeast for wild berry wine makings. Bread yeast didn't do the trick!

Nancy and I headed out to the top of the mountain for the first of our 2 hikes of the day. There was a slight breeze which made for an awesome walk and just enough leaves on the ground too hear a little crunch. The sun was quite warm with temps near 80 but pleasant. We ran into Ann and Sandy Cline our on top of the mountain neighbors who come and go quite often so we stopped and chatted with them for 1/2 an hour before heading my to the cabin for a lite lunch of; veggies with ranch dressing dip and a bologna and cheese sandwiches( Nancy loves this combination when we travel for some reason so we finished the last of them).

After lunch I got out the riding mower and it cranked right up and mowed the yards even though the grass wasn't really too high it evened it up and really made the place look groomed. I did a little edging as well but the grass has pretty much stopped growing for this year with just some stragglers shooting up here and there. It was a beautiful afternoon with bright sunshine, no humidity and just an awesome day for being outside. Afterwards I suggested since we were having neighbor Gerald up to eat supper and to watch the ball game we should take our second walk of the day.

We heade down down the hill then up the back road which runs along the ridge behind us then across the back road up to the Leslie Place. On the way up the ridge we had to stop several times as its a good 1/2 mile or so climb up before reaching the more level back road. It was good to feel the muscles reacting to all this strenuous activity. On the way we ran into Jetta walking her dog Zeke. We visited with her for awhile heading on back to the cabin and taking a golf cart ride out to the mailbox. There is lots of color in the woods and I would venture to guess this next week will be the peak for this Fall. We are planning on heading up to the Winchester, Virginia area this weekend for a family get together so we will take the Blue Ridge Parkway part of the way at least up to Roanoke before picking up the interstate for our northward trek.

After the ride we came back and did some little stuff like; taking the wash that was hanging in the bright sunshine with the gentle breeze, on my how good the smell, picking some herbs for the supper and watering the potted mums and then just relaxing on the deck listening to the wild turkeys calling back and forth to one another in the woods. Supper was a success as I had brought 3 frozen rib eye steaks with us and Nancy made a super pot of dried black beans over white rice and a fresh salad. I did the steaks on the grill with a little hickory wood chips which gave it a nice smoked flavor and the juicy pinkness of the meat was delicious, Superb! I only wish the RAYS would have played better ball as they along with some questionable umpiring made for the end of their season. Texas has a couple great pitchers and I look for them to win the World Series. This win was the first ever for their franchise in post season play, so we know how they felt for 2 years ago it was the RAYS first time to go to post season playoffs. Good luck, Texans!!

Well the night was long and after getting up while it was still dark this morning it was time to say Good night John Boy!! LATER