Friday

Well it was another beautiful morning with a temp of 58 about 6:30 AM. It was overcast most of the morning but by the early afternoon the sun was shinning brightly and had warmed up close to 80. There was a breeze which kept it quite comfortable. After my quiet time and a breakfast of farm fresh eggs, grits and ham I headed out to check on the gardens. I hand watered then headed down to the basement to work on the ceiling. I managed to finish it by about 4 o'clock then did a little cleanup as we were having the Dalton Gang for supper.

Nancy made potato salad and sauteed green peppers and onions while I did Italian sausages on the grill and the Dalton's brought wilted lettuce salad from their garden and Kay brought a fruit dessert. It sure was good eatin'. Afterwards we headed out to play several games of "corn hole" with Kay, Gerald, Andy, Caleb and myself. The girls all took off to the top of the mountain on the golf cart while we guys played the game of corn hole. The bugs became so bad after about 5 games that we decided to head in and play Sequence.

Well that was another story as we guys really got smoked by a score of 4 to zip. That's right it was a smack down as Nancy, Mechelle and Kay whupped us like the candy "good and plenty". Tough night for games but the food was good and the laughter was plenty as well. Well the Rays lost a tough game to the Bosox last night and are now about 5 games back of them for first place. We are looking forward to seeing Paw Paw and Adeline as well as sister Dee and her hubby Mike and their daughter Kelly tomorrow for lunch as they will drive down from Woodstock, Va. LATER

Thursday

Well it wasn't quite as chilly this AM as it's been the last couple of days; we went from 45 to 58 today and it reached the upper 70's by late afternoon. It looked like rain until mid-morning then the clouds dissipated and bright sunshine took over. After an early morning rise around 6'ish I had a bowl of oatmeal with a peach, blueberries and a banana after my quiet time. After eating I headed out to check on and to water the gardens. Its been since last Saturday since we've had any real rain.

I headed to the basement to get started on hanging the Styrofoam 4X8 sheets to help with covering the insulation in the ceiling. It started out nice but quickly changed when I discovered the walls and ceiling are not squared to true, so I have some seams and a few ugly pieces that are not as I would like but the ceiling is getting covered. I doubt few people will ever see my basement. We took a break for a bowl of soup for lunch then headed out on our hike for the day to the top of the mountain. It was a little chilly in the shade and no humidity which made for a great hike. We came back and continued hanging until nearly 5 o'clock. We decided to call it a day in the basement and started getting supper ready. I put a couple bone-in pork chops on the grill and Nancy made a salad and peeled fresh carrots. We had a visitor(Carson) while we were getting ready to eat but he declined to eat and settled for a Dr.Pepper.

After supper we took the golf cart out to the mailbox and picked up our weekly newspaper then I hand watered the new seedlings in the veggie and flower gardens. It was 8:30 when I finally called it a day outside. I have the Rays playing the Red Sox on the Internet and once again they are losing in the middle innings. They lost last night as well to the Bosox. The Bruins won the Stanley Cup last night over the Canucks and they were the team that beat our Lightning by one point in the 7 th game of the finals. Sure made us(Lightning) look in a different light as the team that beat us won it all. Well not much else as this coming weekend will be a busy one with something going each day and night. I will post some basement pics another day. LATER

Wednesday

Brr it was 45 this AM and stayed pretty much in the low 60's for the day with little sunshine and none after lunch. The morning was much the usual with a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, peaches and a banana after my quiet time. I headed out to the gardens after eating to check on any deer damage but saw none. We were heading off Galax for a stop at Wal-Mart and then onto Lowes for some material to close the ceiling in the basement.

We got home around 1 PM and had a bowl of leftover soup from last night for lunch then I unloaded the material into the basement. I jumped on the mower and finished mowing the yard in the back woods and by then our lunch had setted so we took off on our hike of the day to the top of the mountain. We cut the hike a little short as we decided to take our "mountain mom" a nice large bowl of last nights soup. I decided to throw a fishing line in her pond while we there but the bass had lockjaw to begin with but while we were there loosen up a little just before we decided to head out. I caught a small 10 incher then hooked a nice pound or heavier but it threw the hook just as I brought it up onto the bank. I decided not to keep the single bass so I didn't have to clean any fish. It began to rain so we decided to try again another day with real fishing worms and hopefully we will have better luck.

It was nearly 5:30 before we got back to the cabin, so we decided to start some supper. We had thawed out a deer tenderloin that Andy had fixed us up with last fall so Nancy fried it like fried chicken and I made a milk gravy from the dripping and we put that over white rice. Wow was that ever good eatin' and we licked the platter clean. Its overcast and in the 60's so its stay in the cabin where its warm. We have all the windows closed and Nancy is in sweat clothes.

Not much was accomplished today except for the trip to town, so tomorrow I will start on the basement ceiling. I almost forgot to mention the Ray's beat the Red Sox last night in baseball, LATER

Tuesday

Well can you believe it was 48 degrees this morning and it stayed just super nice all day long, I don't think it got much over 70 for the day. The morning was much the routine as I rolled out around 6:30, did my quiet time and poached a couple cackleberry's(fresh eggs from the Dalton Farm) and ate the last buckwheat cake with a piece of fried ham. This held me until we got back from our hike to the top then I finished the left over spaghetti for lunch. Wow does this cool weather work on my appetite.

I had to wear a long sleeve flannel shirt as it was that cool while transplanting some lettuce into the garden then I headed into the basement to give the fridge a second coat of paint before we headed out to the top for our hike of the day. We saw Ms. Helen outside working in her yard so we stopped and visited awhile as it was the first time we had see her since last November. She seemed thrilled to know we were back on the mountain for the summer. After leaving her we headed on down to the cabin and had lunch. After eating I headed back up the mountain on the golf cart as I saw some straight small pine saplings that were dead and I wanted to use them to hold the shower curtains I was going to install in the basement around the commode and shower area; as the basement is wide open so this will give a little privacy for those who use the basement potty. I peeled, sanded and stained the saplings then cut them to size. The area will be much like a hospital room privacy curtain.

Nancy fixed a large pot of pasta fagioli with the left over ham bone and wow was that ever good and tasty so we invited neighbor Gerald to eat with us as he was here alone. After he headed out I weed whacked and edged the yard then climbed on the riding mower and mowed the yard,it was just starting to get dark as I finished and the temp had already dropped down to 64 so I started a fire and burned the trash as well as some dried wood scraps. Wow did that heat feel good. Well Nancy was out with her camera once again so I will post a few pics(if blogger will allow me too), LATER

Monday

Days like this are why we invested in mountain property in 1992. Wow is all I can say!! The morning was pretty much routine as I rolled out of the sack around 6:30. There was enough dew on the roof we could hear it dripping from the bump out onto the main tin roof. It was so quiet and still and except for a lonesome crow off in the distance there was no noise. After my quiet time and a leftover buckwheat cake I headed out to check the gardens. Since we had no rain Sunday evening the gardens had started to dry but was really to wet to attempt any hoeing.

I headed over to our "mountain moms" place to help her to smooth out her gravel driveway. It seems since all the rain and runoff there were ruts, gully's and a washboard effect. I loaded a large wooden pallet and a chain into the truck then headed over to see what affect dragging the pallet behind her garden tractor would have on the driveway. Well it was almost like having a tractor with a blade as the affects were great, plus she wouldn't have to hire someone with a tractor to scrape her drive. We filled in the ruts and smoothed out the washboards immediately as she drove her tractor and I raked and kept the pallet in the road. That only took an hour or so and then I headed home to work in the basement.

I gave the camouflaged extra refrigerator in the basement a base coat of white paint then headed out to loosen up the soil around the bedding plants. It was getting close to lunch as Nancy was finishing up hanging 2 loads of laundry. Wow is that a comfort sight to me with having laundry on the outside clothes line. I remember as a kid we always washed on Monday and it was my job to build a fire under a black kettle that we heated the water for the ringer washing machine. I grew up where we had no running water or a water heater or any indoor plumbing in the house and of course no clothes dryer. What an experience but I never gave it another thought.

I had received a call from a fellow pickle ball player I introduced the game to last summer and he called about having a foursome around 5:30 at the Roaring Gap Country Club so I had a large lunch with lots of carbs(leftover spaghetti)as I knew I would need the energy and I did as we played for 2 solid hours outside. The sun was hot but it was a splendid day with just enough coolness or dryness in the air to make for some great play. Wow was there ever some great rallies and close games, it was non-stop action!!!

I got back close to 8 PM and Nancy heated up the leftover chicken stir fry, green beans and some pasta, Yumm!!! I almost forgot to mention neighbor Gerald arrived in the early afternoon from Raleigh for a day or so and then Carson(Rays grandson)visited a couple times during the day. Well that's about it except for some basement work. LATER

Sunday

Well it was another cool morning with lots of wetness left over from last evening storms. The clouds stuck around most of the day and just after lunch we got a shower but nothing like the last couple of days. There was a little thunder and deep rumblings in the distance but as of now we have held off for this day. I think we've had 5 plus inches since Friday afternoon.


The morning started out around 7 AM and after my quiet time I had a leftover buckwheat cake for breakfast. Nancy was putting together a large pan of spaghetti that she was going to bake with cheese on top for the Relay For Life fund raiser luncheon after church this morning, wow was that ever a large pan and we served less than half of it. There was so much food leftover that we gave some to our Dalton friends and our mountain mom Helen and we still have enough for another meal or two. It was good but does that ever expand once it hits the tummy.

I got home in time to watch the Ray's beat the Orioles on channel 640 and they came away with 2 out of 3 game wins. The Red Sox and Yank's are leading the division but the Rays are still in the hunt. We took a walk to the top of the mountain after a snack for supper and although it was overcast and looked like rain it stayed dry. After getting back I managed to loosen some of the soil around some of my bedding plants but it's still pretty wet in the garden. We could use a couple days with out down pours.

Well not much else is going as tomorrow I'm heading over to scrape Helen's driveway as there are deep gully's caused by the excessive rain runoff. LATER

pic from Corrine's graduation party