Saturday

Well today was another busy day after a 7 AM wake up and by the time I checked the porch thermometer it was up to 46 degrees; I learned from Norm on top of the mountain at 5 AM it was 39 degree, Brrr. Wow we haven't felt temps that cold since around Christmas so today was a winter day in Florida as the temps stayed in the high 50's most of the day and with the breeze it felt even colder. Anyhow after a cup of hot green tea and my quiet time Nancy made a mountain breakfast of sausage patties, fried leftover 'taters and a couple eggs over easy on top and I washed it all down with a V-8.


After breakfast I headed out to check on the gardens and then warmed up the golf cart as I needed to haul the chainsaw, gas and oil as well as an ax out to the back woods yard. Since it was so cold it was a great morning to do some tree cutting down and sawing up. This type of work will cause you to work up a sweat and after about an hour I had taken off by long sleeve shirt and was working in a t-shirt despite the temps in the 50's. I worked on a taking out a stump for an hour after hauling and stacking the cut up oak tree. Nancy wanted to ride out to the mailbox and while she got ready to head out  I loaded up a sack of fertilizer and fed the front and back yard. Once again walking up and down this property is a job itself so I took a break as Nancy drove.

I took the clippers with me and trimmed low hanging branches on the way out to the mailbox. I cut and Nancy helped by picking them up and discarding the cut branches in the woods. We stopped and visited with Shirley at her cabin then visited with Russ as he was also out in his golf cart. We headed back for a bite of lunch and it was nearly 1 PM. After lunch Nancy wanted to mow the back road that our trail through the woods empties out on. Last week we walked one day when the grass was still wet and it was so high it nearly reached our knees. So I loaded up the push lawn mower and the weed whacker on the golf cart and off we went up to the back road. We mowed probably 1/8 mile and trimmed low hanging limbs as well before heading back down to the cabin.

 We then got ready to take our daily hike up to the top of the mountain. I returned some articles I had borrowed from Joe about the Hatfield's so we first stopped at their place and visited with them for about a 1/2 hour. After leaving them we saw Norm our widower and West Virginia buddy sitting in his truck. He was resting so we stopped and visited for awhile and I did my good deed for the day by tying up his tomato plants for him. He rewarded us with some fresh home grown lettuce and green onions. After our visit we headed back down the mountain to our cabin and my what a difference the mowed road made plus the smell of fresh mowed grass was awesome. It was nearly 4 o'clock and I remembered from last night the Rays were playing the Orioles at 4'ish. I took my boots off and kicked back for nearly 3 hours and watched a good game but it would have been better if the Rays had won instead of losing 2-1. Nancy made a fresh salad and we added fresh sliced mushrooms, green onions, fresh herbs from the garden such as basil, oregano and cilantro to a frozen pepperoni pizza. I never knew a frozen pizza could taste so good.

After the game and supper I headed out to burn trash and picked up a trash can full of sticks from the back woods yard which was used as tinder to help burn the trash heap. I carry out anything that won't burn to the landfill but burn the rest. I then worked up a method to help keep the crows from pulling up my corn seedlings that are starting to poke through the ground in the upper garden. I strung baling twine across the fence and attached white Wal-Mart grocery bag across the corn planted area garden. It's not the prettiest display but if it keeps the crows out of my corn and it grows and matures to where I can eat some hot ears of corn with butter dripping from my chin then its worth it. Well Nancy called that it was after 8 PM and I can feel the temp dropping once again. Supposed to be another chilly evening which will require an additional quilt on the bed, Yeah!!! Well that's about it for this busy day, LATER