Thursday

Where did this week go?? This morning it was just barely 50 and Nancy had on the winter clothes and the oven on for heat, me I found it refreshing however, I did put on a long sleeve shirt until about 10 AM. After our usual quiet time, cup of tea(Nancy drinks java) I had my bowl of oatmeal but for some reason it not boring here, maybe it because I'm looking into the woods looking for some critter. Anyhow I was outside by 8 and starting on the morning routine of checking the gardens for deer damage and now cutworm damage. The little buggers got a beautiful cilantro plant that came up from last year, at least I have one more for now.

I worked on the riding mower sharpening both blades and then got the weed whacker out and once again went over the whole area. Nancy washed and hung 2 loads of laundry on the line and oh what a beautiful day for having clothes drying outside on the line. Just seeing that makes for a real down home feeling almost like comfort food. We took off around 11 for our first morning walk. Nancy had on a sweat shirt but as we headed up the back trail that runs through our property she quickly discarded it, leaving it hanging on a tree. We made the top after several stops and soon realized pickle ball and the dreadmill are nothing compared to just hiking up that steep mountain, but the beauty of the surroundings is priceless and well worth the pain we both incurred. We ran into Fred one of the year round residents on top and he was telling us about the winter storms with the snow, ice and wind. We had a great walk and we were both hungry by the time we got back to the cabin around 12:30. Nancy made a great salad and we finished the last of the Zuppa soup.

After lunch I worked in the garden and yard while Nancy jumped into the golf cart for a ride to the mailbox. I got my chainsaw ready to head over to Helen's place tomorrow morning as she has several trees that are down and need sawing up. It was close to 5 so we put a couple thyme coated pork chops on the grill and Nancy boiled up some new potato's and 1/2 runner beans that I had brought from garden in Florida, Yumm was that ever good eatin'. After supper I worked outside fertilizing the blueberry bushes and peonies while Nancy cleaned up. We then took our second hike of the day; up the steep trail but once we were half way to the top we took a different route. Really we just went in reverse from what we went this morning. We ran into Norman, an 83 years young retired Marine who is quite a character. He seemed very happy to see us again after 6 months. We had a nice visit then headed on back down to the cabin. I got a huge bon fire going so I could burn trash, here everything is either burned or carried out to the land field. Well it was nearly pitch black when I came in from outside. Today has to be one of the nicest all around weather days we have had since we've been here.

Well I will sign off until LATER.

Wednesday

Its so quiet here its hard to sleep or maybe its the promise of a day filled with lots of outdoor work. The temps were in the low 50's in the morning and didn't get above 63 for the day. It was overcast and looked a little like it could rain but the sun finally broke through after lunch and warmed things up a little. After my quiet time and a cup of steaming hot green tea Nancy decided to make buckwheat cakes with a banana in the batter as well as some home grown cackle berries, one that Caleb Dalton gave me was a double yoker. Thanks not only to the Daltons for eggs, but also to Gerald and Jodie for their yoker's as well. Mighty fine eatin' they were and all home grown.

After a great breakfast we called Amy our daughter as today she turned 27, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY, you have made both of us proud and what a super mother you are, we love you and your family deeply.

I ventured out to check on the veggie and flower gardens for deer damage but didn't see any new damage. I loaded up the golf cart with the spreader and a couple sacks of lime and grass seed to be spread on the back yard. I worked on that area for a couple hours before heading into the back woods to saw up a couple tree tops that had broken off during the winters heavy snow and ice storms. Neighbor Gerald came by on his tractor scraping our driveway and leveling out the small gullies from the severe rain storm on Sunday; did I mention we had over 2 inches of rain. Thanks neighbor!!!

Nancy finally came outside wearing sweat shirts and dressed for winter but did manage to work in her flower beds until lunch time. You wouldn't believe a bowl of hot leftover Zuppa hit the spot. After lunch we worked outside until it was ready to head over and pick up Helen and her brother Joe around 3 PM. Nancy and I had an appointment to get our pictures taken at the photography studio in town at 4 for the Cornerstone Church directory. We were pleasantly surprised with the folks in charge and they took several poses and we choose the one that suited us right there and now. Afterwards we headed over to the hardware store and purchased grass seed, cuke and squash seedlings before heading over to a local eatery, Browns Restaurant. Its a family run business and we have never had a bad meal there and this evening was no exception. We both had the meatloaf and Joe and Helen both had perch. We were stuffed with very good food and quite reasonable. We headed on back to Helen's and sat on the back porch in the warm sunshine until it clouded over again so we headed out for home around 6 PM.

We took off for a mountain hike and hope to once again make this routine a part of every day. We saw Jetta Browning on top and visited for a few moments before heading back to transplant the squash and cukes. Well its pitch black outside and American Idol is on the T.V. so will call it a day, LATER.

Pictures from Sunday

Well the morning started out with me a little later than usual, actually sleeping in to nearly 7 AM. The drips have been reduced near nothing as we had no real rain last night. After my quiet time and a bowl of oatmeal I ventured out to check the gardens and found no new deer damage. There was a very heavy dew this morning with temps down into the 50's and the roof was very wet and slippery. By 10 AM the roof began to dry as the sun light finally began to show on the damaged roof. Andy came shortly after letting him know the roof was dry enough to work on without sliding off. It took us about an hour to take out the damaged piece and replace it.

After we finished my roof Andy and I went over to our "mountain moms" house to check on her roof. Seems a couple shingles were flipped up by the strong storm the other day. After checking out her roof I worked up an area for her to plant the tomato, basil and oregano plants I brought for her from Florida. Nancy and dug some wild flowers out of her woods area that were beautiful. The spider wort and coreopsis were very healthy looking, so we planted two huge boxes of them in the circle flower bed. We also planted 24 annuals while waiting for Andy to arrive.

I spent the afternoon fixing some broken fence around the lower garden, hoeing and pulling weeds while Nancy got supper ready. I grilled a couple marinated chicken breast crusted with oregano and thyme, yumm were they ever tasty, we also had black beans and rice with a little jalapeno pepper on mine as well as a little cilantro and garden salad. After supper we took off on our first hike to the top of the mountain. The fog was once again coming in and enveloping any view off the mountain, we did see our old friend Helen and her cat, Teddy who likes to follow us on our walk on top. On the way back down we ran into Ray and Audine and learned they were in the process of moving across the mountain to his sisters house. The winters are just to rough for them on getting in and out of our road. We will certainly miss them them but they won't be to far away. We got back just as American Idol was coming on and clearly think Lee is the best of the 3 singers tonight. Well its been a busy day and a great burden was lifted when we got the roof fixed. Thanks again to our friend, Andy "roof man" Dalton, LATER

Monday

Well what a day, actually the day has been a continuation of Sunday evening since I've been awake since 3 AM trying to overcome the emotion of having streams of water exit your electrical fixtures and then trying to figure out how to rectify the problem until a new piece of tin roof can be installed. Along with the rain the fog has taken over eliminating any opportunity of a little sunshine and the chance to get on the roof and resolve the "hole in the roof" issue. Andy the "roof man" called but the tin roof was wet and too slippery for any safe operation on it slick surface when wet, so we are planning to change out the tin strip that held the vent stack.

Nancy and I did the Wal-Mart scene in Galax, Va after battling the heavy dense fog on the parkway. We filled up with fresh gas for all our outdoor yard equipment before heading out to Lowe's. There we once again picked up more annuals; saliva, petunias, periwinkles and some more flower seeds before heading over Wal-Mart for a restocking of groceries. We finally got on our way home around 1 PM after stopping at Horton's for some buckwheat pancake mix.

The wet cool mist and fog kept the temp's in the 50's all day and never did the sun ever show its face. The cool,wet weather sure has perked up the seedlings I transplanted over the past couple days in between the rain showers. Ray Todd finally came by for a visit around 4 and visited for nearly an hour, he now has only one Blue Heeler dog which is quite unusual for him. After Ray left Nancy started on a pot of zuppa which was perfect for the weather conditions. We planned on going out and transplanting those 24 different annuals purchased today, but the rain started once again keeping us in the dry(except for the bathroom)cabin. Tomorrow is supposed to be a much warmer as well as drier day. Missing our grand babies, LATER

Sunday

Well here it is Monday morning and what started out as a great day on Sunday turned into an evening of concern. The night before or early Sunday found Nancy waking me up out of a deep sleep with the fear of a tornado striking the cabin, actually I believe it was just heavy rain and maybe some hail, at least it lasted no more than 15 minutes; anyhow the "Hillybilly patch" on the roof held and there were no drips. I thought I had a solution to the problem and didn't see any need to do further adjustments to the "patch."

We headed off to Cornerstone for worship after our bowl of oatmeal and were greeted like celebrities; lots of sweet hugs and handshakes. I was asked by many if we suffered any damage to the cabin from the severe winter weather. I explained our situation and how our friend Andy the "roof man" who along with his family are in our small group at Cornerstone was going to make the repair on Monday if the material was available. How sweet is was as many offered to check on our place next winter. It seems this type of damage was widespread through the county from the tremendous ice and snow build up on roofs; along with lots of gutters that were knocked down as well. We headed to our "mountain mom" Helen's place after church for a visit as we missed her on Friday when she brought the modem by the cabin before we arrived.

After a short visit we headed home and snacked until it was time to head over to Andy"roof man" Dalton's farm for supper and a get together with many in our small group. Andy had 2 deer hams on the smoker along with slabs of baby back pork ribs. There was all kind of delicious homemade dishes and dessert, yikes it a good thing there is plenty of work to do here to work off this good eatin'. We were entertained with the new Taj Mahal chicken coup and pen(will take a picture next time) Andy built for his many different breeds of chickens. Nancy took off down through the pasteur with a group to see their horses and new Alpaca, Fonzy. After eating we(boys) renewed our winning ways of whupping' the gals in Sequence and we even had a rookie to the game, Ted on our team. He caught on fast!!!

We headed home a little before 10 PM in a driving rain storm with lightening everywhere only to find when we entered the cabin water running out of the bathroom and into the basement, the "patch" obviously had its limits in the driving hard rain. We quickly found lots of garbage cans, buckets and towel's to clean up but the water continued to stream in through the bathroom and now was exiting through the overhead light fixtures. I turned off the circuit breakers and now had a new fear of a electrical short causing a fire. Needless to say it was sleepless in Sparta, actually Glade Valley. I spent the better part of the night trying to think of a solution to stop the water that was running off the steep pitch of the roof into the jagged tear which was stuffed with plastic bags, etc. In hindsight I should have used the old standby gray duct tape to cover the hole and possibly saved the water from running down into the cabin. I grew up on hay baling wire, twine and duct tape to temporarily mend many problems. Oh well!! Finally at day break I could stand it no longer so I tied a rope around my waist with Nancy keeping some tension on the rope so I wouldn't slide into the abyss and crawled out onto the roof; I managed to refit the patch which helped a little in slowing the drip into the bathroom, now there is 2 slowed drips where before it was flowing pretty steady.

The rain is steady now, but not a gully washer so we are thankful for that but the forecast calls for rain all day and evening until sometime tomorrow. We are just thankful we decided to come early this year for many reasons to check out the cabin and are we glad we did. The rain is a welcome relief to the gardens and flower beds only wish it would come again another day, LATER